eight hundred rixdollars, while his elder son, Gustavus, was appointed a colonel in the Swedish army. He at the same time received fresh instructions for the prosecution of the war in Germany (note of Swedish documents in Melville Charter-chest; Hist. MSS. Comm. 11th Rep. pt. vi. pp. 69–93; Fraser, Earls of Haddington, ii. 91–114).
Leslie had married in early life Agnes Renton, daughter of the laird of Billy, Berwickshire, but she had remained in Scotland in his absence, and he had managed to pay her frequent visits. In 1635, when he seems to have had thoughts of retiring from military life, he spent some time in Scotland, and with the assistance of his remote kinsman and intimate friend John, earl of Rothes, acquired the estate of Balgonie and other adjacent lands in Fife, and the estate of East Nisbet in Berwickshire. On 9 July 1635 Culross in Perthshire conferred on him the civic freedom (burgess ticket in Melville Charter-chest). In 1636 his relations with Rothes were drawn closer by the marriage of his second son, Alexander, to Rothes's second daughter, Margaret. On his return to Scotland in the year following Leslie announced his intention of carrying his wife and family to Sweden, but he seems to have contemplated transferring his services to the elector palatine (cf. Ruthven Correspondence, p. xiv). In April 1638 he was presented in London to Charles I, and expressed himself ready to undertake the leadership of an expedition for the recovery of the Bohemian throne for Charles's nephew, the elector (Gardiner, Hist. of England, viii. 388). He received a safe-conduct from Charles, dated 20 March 1637–8, for the safe conveyance of himself and household from Scotland across the sea on business from the king (original safe-conduct in the Melville Charter-chest). Leslie accordingly paid a very brief visit to Germany, but nothing in regard to the elector was effected.
Leslie had watched with interest the course of events in Scotland, and was in complete sympathy with the covenanters. He had not only taken the covenant himself, but caused ‘a great number of our commanders in Germany subscryve our covenant’ (Baillie, Letters, i. 111). He was generally marked out as the leader of the Scottish army in event of those hostilities with England which Charles I's ecclesiastical policy seemed to make inevitable in 1638. On 14 Aug. 1638 Christina of Sweden gave him, at his request, letters of demission, in which she testified to his achievements in the Swedish service, and his arrears of salary were paid in the shape of munitions of war—two field-pieces and two thousand muskets. With these arms he returned in November to Scotland, and had some difficulty in avoiding the English cruisers which were watching the Scottish coast.
Immediately on his arrival Leslie took the direction of the military preparations then going forward. He gathered together the most expert military officers as a council of war, saw to the levying and drilling of the recruits, sent abroad to Holland and other countries, not only for more ammunition and arms, but to impress upon any of the Scots serving abroad the duty of coming home; and he caused Captain Alexander Hamilton, who was better known by the sobriquet of ‘Dear Sandy,’ to cast a number of cannon, such as were used in field warfare on the continent, but were hitherto unknown in Britain. Leith he strongly fortified in order to resist the attack of an expected fleet under Hamilton, and he infused such a spirit into the covenanters that even the nobles and their wives put their hands to the work. Leslie fully identified himself with the cause of the covenant by appending his signature to the libel against the bishops (Gordon, Scots Affairs, i. 127).
The first active incident of the campaign was the capture of Aberdeen, which Leslie effected without a blow (State Papers, Dom. 1639, p. 39; cf. Gordon, George, second Marquis of Huntly). In March 1639, when the covenanters resolved to seize the fortresses, Leslie was sent to demand the surrender of Edinburgh Castle. He took very few men with him, and, after the constable refused to give up the castle, made a feint of retiring. But placing a petard on the outer gate, he instantly destroyed it by the explosion, and then vigorously assailed the inner gate with axes and rams. Before the garrison recovered from their surprise, scaling-ladders were applied to the walls, and without the loss of a man on either side the castle was in Leslie's hands.
As Hamilton with his fleet now lay in the Forth, and Charles was reported nearly ready to lead an army in person into Scotland, a general muster of the Scottish levies took place at Leith, and with one consent Leslie was formally nominated lord-general of all the Scottish forces by land or sea, and also of all fortresses (9 May 1639). Plenary powers were conferred upon him, and the whole estates assembled in convention swore to give him dutiful obedience. His command was to endure, they said, ‘so long as we are necessitat to be in armes for the defence of the covenant, for religione, crowne, and countrie, and ay and whill the Lord send peace to this kingdome.’ He claimed much dignity for his office, sitting ‘at table with the best of
