Observations on the Means of their Improvement,’ 1796. He died 3 July 1819, having married (1) Jane, eldest daughter of Alexander Leith of Glenkindy and Freefield, and (2) Margaretta Henrietta, daughter of John Zacharias Beck, and widow of Brigadier-general Fraser. By his first wife he had an only son, who succeeded him in the baronetcy.
[Foster's Baronetage; Irving's Eminent Scotsmen; Gent. Mag. 1819, pt. ii. 91.]
HEPBURN, JAMES, fourth Earl of Bothwell (1536?–1578), husband of Mary Queen of Scots, only son of Patrick, third earl of Bothwell [q. v.], by his wife Agnes, daughter of Henry Lord Sinclair, was born probably in 1536 or 1537. According to Buchanan (Detectio) he was brought up for the most part in the palace—Spynie Castle—of his relative Patrick Hepburn, bishop of Moray [q. v.], a circumstance to which Buchanan ascribes his unruly and vicious career. Under the care of the bishop he probably obtained a more complete education than was then customary in the case of the sons of Scottish nobles. His extant letters and other writings show him to have been well educated. Certain books on mathematics and on military affairs which bear his arms indicate that he had studied the art of war.
Notwithstanding the divorce of his father and mother in 1543 (probably on the ground of consanguinity), Bothwell, on the death of his father in September 1556, obtained unquestioned possession of the titles and estates, as well as the hereditary offices of lord high admiral of Scotland, sheriff of Berwick, Haddington, and Edinburgh, and also baillie of Lauderdale with the custody of the castles of Hailes and Crichton. His father had died reconciled to the queen-dowager; and Bothwell, though professedly a protestant, became one of the most consistent supporters of her policy, even after the revolt of the protestant nobles. On 14 Dec. 1557 he signed the act appointing commissioners for the betrothal of Queen Mary to the dauphin of France. Shortly afterwards, when some of the leading nobles, jealous of the French influence at the court, refused to obey the order of the queen-dowager to make a raid into England, Bothwell, ‘notwithstanding he was yan of very young aige’ (letter of Mary Stuart in Labanoff, ii. 34), took command of the expedition, which, according to his own account, did ‘irreparable damage on the frontiers.’ From this time to the close of his life he appears as the consistent and irreconcilable enemy of England. Some time after Bothwell's early exploit against the English, negotiations were entered into for settling the differences on the borders. Bothwell, with other commissioners, met Sir James Croft, and on 17 Feb. 1558–9 an armistice was signed (Cal. State Papers, For. Ser. 1558–9, entry 350). Bothwell was also one of those who, on 30 Aug., agreed to meet the Earl of Northumberland (ib. 1283), and signed the articles on 22 Sept. for reformation of all attempts upon the borders (ib. 1359). At the same time the English commissioners secretly agreed to supply the lords of the congregation with a sum of 3,000l. to aid them in the struggle with the queen-dowager. Cockburn, laird of Ormiston, was sent towards the end of October to convey the money from Berwick-on-Tweed. Bothwell apprehended him on 31 Oct., by order of the queen-dowager, near Dumpender Law, East Lothian, and carried off the treasure. Only three days previously he had sent Michael Balfour, one of his servants, to the lords of the congregation to ask for a safe-conduct that he might come and treat with them. As he had pledged himself meanwhile to do them no injury, they regarded his seizure of the money as an act of treachery. Bothwell carried the money and his prisoner to Crichton Castle. Immediately on learning the calamity, the Earl of Arran [see Hamilton, James, third Earl of Arran, 1530–1609] and Lord James Stuart set out to Crichton with two hundred horse, a hundred foot, and two pieces of artillery (State Papers, For. Ser. 1559–60, entry 183). Half an hour before they arrived, Bothwell was warned of their approach and fled with the money. His castle was taken and occupied by a garrison. Two days were given him to make restitution, and when he failed the castle was stripped of all its furniture (Knox, Works, i. 459). On 9 Nov. he sent Arran a challenge to meet him on horseback or foot before ‘French or Scot;’ Arran replied that he could not meet him until ‘he had won back the name of an honest man, and in no case would he meet him before Frenchmen.’
After the lords of the congregation had temporarily evacuated Edinburgh, Bothwell and Lord Seton, on 24 Nov., entered Linlithgow, but hearing the common bell rung, hurriedly retreated, losing some weapons by the way (Cal. State Papers, For. Ser. 1559–60, entry 352). In December Bothwell was appointed by the queen-dowager to the command of eight hundred French and Scots soldiers, with whom he was sent to secure Stirling. From a letter of his to the queen-dowager, 15 May 1560, it would appear that she had resolved to send him as a special ambassador to procure assistance from France. The enterprise was full of hazard, for a diligent watch was kept round all the coasts of Scot-
