There was no post to which he might not have aspired if he had been a layman, or a priest of the Church of England.

But a Presbyterian clergyman could not hope to attain any high dignity either in the north or in the south of the island.

Carstairs was forced to content himself with the substance of power, and to leave the semblance to others.

He was named Chaplain to their Majesties for Scotland, but wherever the King was, in England, in Ireland, in the Netherlands, there was this most trusty and most prudent of courtiers.

He obtained from the royal bounty a modest competence; and he desired no more.