by escaping from Edinburgh Castle the day before that fixed for his execution. Stair, dreading a similar fate, went to London to seek a personal interview with the king, who had more than once befriended him, perhaps remembering his services in the Netherlands, but the Duke of York intercepted his access to the royal ear, and when he returned to Scotland he found a new commission of judges issued, from which his name was omitted. He retired to his wife's estate in Galloway, and occupied himself with preparing for the press his great work, The Institutions of the Law of Scotland, which he published in the autumn of 1681, with a dedication to the king. He was not, however, allowed to pursue his legal studies in peaceful retirement. His wife was charged with attending conventicles, his factor and tenants severely fined, and he was himself not safe from prosecution at any moment. A fierce dispute arose between Claverhouse and Stair's son, John, Master of Stair, relative to the regality of Glenluce, and, both having appealed to the Privy Council, Claverhouse, as might have been expected, was cleared of all the charges brought against him and the Master was deprived of the regality. Stair had still powerful friends, but his opponents were more powerful, and he received advice to quit the country. He repaired to Holland in October 1684, and took up his residence, along with his wife and some of his younger children, at Leiden. While there he published the Decisions of the Court of Session between 1666 and 1671, of which he had kept a daily record, and a small treatise on natural philosophy, entitled Physiologia nova experimentalis. In his absence a prosecution for treason was raised1 against him and others of the exiles by Sir George Mackenzie, the Lord Advocate. He was charged with accession to the rebellion of 1679, the Rye House Plot, and the expedition of Argyll. With the first two he had no connexion. With Argyll's unfortunate attempt he had no doubt sympathized, but the only proof of his complicity was slight, and was obtained by torture. The proceedings against him were never brought to an issue, having been continued by successive adjournments until 1687, when they were dropped. The cause of their abandonment was the appointment of his son, the Master of Stair, who had made his peace with James II, as Lord Advocate