He was obstinate in refusal.
The Scots now "fell upon the consideration of a band of union to be made legally," says Rothes, their leader, the chief of the House of Leslie (the family of Norman Leslie, the slayer of Cardinal Beaton).

Now a "band" of this kind could not, by old Scots law, be legally made; such bands, like those for the murder of Riccio and of Darnley, and for many other enterprises, were not smiled upon by the law.

But, in 1581, as we saw, James VI.

had signed a covenant against popery; its tenor was imitated in that of 1638, and there was added "a general band for the maintenance of true religion" (Presbyterianism) "_and of the King's person_." That part of the band was scarcely kept when the Covenanting army surrendered Charles to the English.

They had vowed, in their band, to "stand to the defence of our dread Sovereign the King's Majesty, his person and authority." They kept this vow by hanging men who held the king's commission.