In the same month Gowrie informed the Town Council of Perth that he was going to study abroad. They retained him in the position of Provost. He went, with his tutor, Mr. Rhynd, to Padua, an university where Protestantism was protected by the toleration of the Republic of Venice, and where there was an Anglo-Scottish ‘Nation’ among the students. In ‘The Return from Parnassus,’ a satirical play of 1601, we find Gullio, the admirer of Shakespeare, professing to have studied at Padua. Gowrie is said to have been elected Rector, but I cannot find his name in the lists. He does appear in the roll of Scottish scholars, some of them characterised (unlike the English scholars) by personal marks. Most have scars on the face or hand; Archibald Douglas has a scar on the brow from left to right. James Lindsay, of Gowrie’s year (1596–1597), has also a scar on his brow. Next him is Andrew Keith, with a scar on his right hand, and then _Dominus Ioannes Ruthuen_, _Scotus_, _cum signo albo in mento_, ‘with a white mark on his chin.’ Then we have his luckless tutor, Mr. Rhynd, who was tortured, _Scotus cum ledigine super facie_. Robert Ker of Newbattle (‘Kerrus de Heubattel’) is another of Gowrie’s college companions. All were students of law. Magic was not compulsory at Padua, though Gowrie was said to have studied that art. {127a} Concerning Gowrie’s behaviour at Padua but a single circumstance is known. Probably through one of his fellow-students, Douglas, Ker, Keith, Lindsay or another, the report reached Scotland that the young Earl had left in Padua ‘a strange relique,’ an emblematic figure emblazoned; and had made, on the subject, a singular remark. The emblematic figure represented ‘a blackamoor reaching at a crown with a sword, in a stretched posture:’ the remark of Gowrie, ‘the Earl’s own _mot_,’ was to the effect that the emblem displayed, _in umbra_, or foreshadowed, what was to be done _in facto_. This emblem was secured at Padua, in 1609, by Sir Robert Douglas, who had heard of it in Scotland, and it was sent to King James. {127b} If such ideas were in Gowrie’s mind, he showed no signs of them in an early correspondence with the King. In 1595, James wrote ‘a most loving letter’ to Gowrie; the Earl replied in a tone of gratitude. At the same time Gowrie wrote to a preacher in Perth, extolling the conduct of an English fanatic, who had thrown down and trampled on the Host, at Rome. He hoped, he said, when he returned to Scotland, ‘to amend whatever is amiss for lack of my presence.’ {128a} Nevertheless, on December 25, 1598, Nicholson informed Cecil that Gowrie had been converted to Catholicism. {128b} In the Venice despatches and Vatican transcripts I find no corroboration. Gowrie appears to have visited Rome; the Ruthven apologist declares that he was there ‘in danger for his religion.’ Galloway, on August 11, 1600, in presence of the King and the people of Edinburgh, vowed that Gowrie, since his return from