co-operation against Bothwell. It being rumoured in March 1593–4 that Bothwell was assembling his friends and dependents, a proclamation was issued on the 27th for a levy of forces for his pursuit if need be (ib. p. 137), and on 2 April a second proclamation was issued for a muster at Stirling against him (ib. p. 138). Bothwell suddenly appeared with a powerful force in the neighbourhood of Leith. He proclaimed that he came to offer assistance against the Spaniards, whose landing, he said, was expected in a few days. His real object was to make a demonstration of his strength for the encouragement of his friends, and in the hope of bringing the king to terms. The king advanced against him from Edinburgh, and he retired slowly—‘as if none had come forth to pursue’—by the back of Arthur's Seat towards Dalkeith. On being charged by Lord Home's horse he had the best of the encounter, and it was supposed that he might, had he chosen, have captured the town. The king ‘came riding into Edinburgh at full gallop with little honour’ (Calderwood, v. 297). Bothwell retired leisurely to Dalkeith, and thence to the borders. He sought refuge in England, but was forced to leave by command of Elizabeth. He had to choose between delivering himself up and joining the northern earls. In September he sent a letter to the ministers of Edinburgh, describing his friendliness and destitution, promising to adhere to his religion, and offering to put off his appointment for a conference with the catholic earls till the ministers had discussed measures for his relief (ib. v. 347). He was soon in the north under the protection of Huntly and Errol. On 25 Sept. he ‘cast into the kirkyard’ a letter to the ministers announcing his alliance with Huntly, but offering to do them any service in his power (ib.) On 23 Jan. 1594–5 Scot of Balwearie delivered up the treasonable correspondence into which Bothwell had entered in August with Huntly and the catholic earls (Reg. P. C. Scotl. v. 205). Huntly declined to surrender him, although offered a full pardon. But Bothwell's case was now desperate. His association with the catholic earls proved fatal. The king demanded his excommunication by the kirk, and although Bothwell wrote to the clergy of Edinburgh offering to receive their correction for whatever offence he had committed, he was on 18 Feb. excommunicated by the presbytery of Edinburgh at the king's command. Bothwell passed northward to Caithness, where he continued to lurk till the month of April. The king sought to bribe an acquaintance of Bothwell, Francis Tennant, a merchant of Edinburgh, to betray him, but Tennant as soon as he reached Bothwell revealed the king's purpose (Hist. of James Sext, p. 344). Tennant supplied him with a ship to convey him to Newhaven in Normandy, and in spite of James's demand for his surrender he was permitted to remain in France (ib. p. 345). Some months afterwards he removed to Spain, and finally went to Italy, where he spent his later years. He died in extreme poverty at Naples in 1624. The bulk of Bothwell's estates, including the lordship of Crichton and Liddesdale, came into the possession of his stepson, Sir Walter Scott of Buccleugh, while Lord Home obtained the priory of Coldingham, and Ker of Cessford the abbacy of Kelso. He had three sons and three daughters. The eldest son Francis obtained a rehabilitation under the great seal 30 July 1614, which was ratified by parliament 28 June 1633, but the title was never restored. John, the second son, was prior of Coldingham, and got the houses and baronies belonging to that priory united into a barony in 1621. Henry, the third son, also obtained a part of the lordship of Coldingham in 1621. Of the three daughters, Elizabeth married James, second son of William, first lord Cranstoun; Margaret married Alan, fifth lord Cathcart; and Helen married Macfarlane of Macfarlane.
[Hist. of James the Sext (Bannatyne Club); Moysie's Memoirs (Bannatyne Club); Robert Birrel's Diary in Dalyell's Fragments of Scottish History; Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vols. iii–v.; Pitcairn's Criminal Trials; Cal. State Papers relating to Scotland; Cal. State Papers, For. Ser., Reign of Elizabeth; Histories of Calderwood, Spotiswood, and Burton; Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood), i. 232–233.]
HEPBURN, Sir GEORGE BUCHAN (1739–1819), baron in the Scottish exchequer, son of John Buchan of Letham, East Lothian, by Elizabeth, daughter of Patrick Hepburn of Smeaton, was born in March 1739. He was educated at the university of Edinburgh, where Henry Dundas [q. v.], afterwards Viscount Melville, was among his intimate friends. He succeeded to the barony of Smeaton-Hepburn in 1764, and thereupon assumed the name and arms of Hepburn of Smeaton. In January 1763 he had been admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates, Edinburgh, and from 1767 he was solicitor to the lords of session till 1790, when he was appointed judge of the high court of admiralty in Scotland. On 31 Dec. of the following year he was made baron of the exchequer. He retired in 1814, and on 6 May 1815 was created a baronet. He was the author of ‘The General View of the Agriculture and Rural Economy of East Lothian, with
