He was a man of profligate manners; had involved his opulent fortune in great debts, and even reduced himself to beggary by his profuse expenses;[***] and seemed to have no resource but in desperate counsels and enterprises.
* Haynes, p.

446, 448.
** Melvil, p.

53, 61, 74.
*** Keith, p.

240.
He had been accused more than once of an attempt to assassinate Murray; and though the frequency of these accusations on all sides diminish somewhat the credit due to any particular imputation, they prove sufficiently the prevalence of that detestable practice in Scotland, and may in that view serve to render such rumors the more credible.

This man had of late acquired the favor and entire confidence of Mary; and all her measures were directed by his advice and authority.