things ecclesiastical, to maintain peace and concord between the Crown and the Church, and in particular, to take order with regard to any enormity of which the King might complain in the conduct of the clergy. Representative as it was, this Commission never failed to maintain its character as the King's led horse, for, with the exception of the two Melvilles, Davidson, and Bruce, the moderate party now included all the leading men in the Church ; but, as every Assembly meant the appointment of a new Commission, it greatly concerned the King to maintain his influence in the Assembly, and with that view to fix at pleasure its time and place of meeting. Thus the Assembly, which was to have met at Aberdeen in July, 1599, was appointed by royal proclamation to meet at Montrose in March, 1600; in 1601, the Assembly fixed for July at St. Andrews was anticipated by the King at Burntisland in May ; and the Assembly of 1602 was postponed from July to November, and its place of meeting changed from St. Andrews to the King's own chapel at Holyrood. In thus asserting the royal authority at the expense of the Church James violated, or at all events suspended, the Act of 1592, which provided that an Assembly should be held every year, or oftener, at the time and place appointed by the King or his Commissioner in the last Assembly, or in their absence by the Assembly itself; and in the meeting at Holyrood in 1602 he agreed that this Act should be observed in future. Nevertheless, the next Assembly, appointed to meet at Aberdeen in July, 1604, was prorogued to July, 1605, before which date it was prorogued again this time indefinitely ; and it appears from one of his letters that James had resolved to dispense with Assemblies altogether.