An alliance between the Crown, the Church, and the burgesses was, in the circumstances, out of the question. It was rendered so, in the first place, by the constant recurrence of minorities. Any such alliance was impossible between 1437 and 1450; between 1460 and 1488; between 1513 and 1530. Moreover, the bishoprics were often private appanages of noble families,[14] and the burgesses were not desirous, so far as we can judge, of taking any part in political life. At times, the burgh records are full of instructions to the commissioners sent to Parliament. These refer invariably to administrative detail, never to great political questions. The burgesses were left to fight for their liberties alone and unaided. Scotland did not produce, till after the Reformation, a great middle class of country gentlemen. The smaller freeholders, influenced by their strong sense of clan and family loyalty, attached themselves to the great barons. They were, as we shall see, never really represented in Parliament till the reign of James VI, and not till religious questions assumed a position of importance did they find any bond of union with the representatives of the burghs. The growth of English parliamentary liberty is largely due to the coalescence of the knights of the shires with the burgesses, and no such alliance was made in Scotland before the reign of Queen Mary. It was in the General Assembly of the Church that they learned the lesson of combination. As we have already indicated, the most valuable work of the Parliament is its record as an instrument for the peace of the country. It was a court of justice, and the existing judicature of Scotland is directly traceable to a committee of the Estates. It was also the source of administrative order. Amid all the struggles of contending factions in the interests of which the Estates were summoned, there were always a few--bishops, or permanent officials, or burgesses--who desired to see some acts passed for the peace of the land. The kings, too, were never neglectful of this aspect of the work of Parliament. The great lords had no motive for opposing; it was always sufficiently easy to ignore; and, in point of fact, an overwhelming proportion of the many administrative pronouncements of the Estates dealt with details of burghal life, and largely with seaport commerce. When the Crown was powerful, acts were passed against the misgovernment of the great lords; but we know that they were almost invariably futile, although they offered, at times, a strong offensive weapon against a noble house which was, for the moment, in the minority. In this way they were used alike by king against noble and by clique against clique. In all that we have to say of the subservience of the Estates, this great work of administrative order must not be forgotten; nor is the student of municipal history likely to forget it. Parliament, too, was, if not the originator, the instrument of taxation,