Kirkaldy of Grange followed Bothwell with two vessels, and had nearly surprised him in the harbour of Lerwick, the fugitive making his escape at one issue of the bay, while Grange entered at another; and Bothwell might even then have been taken, but that Grange's ship ran upon a rock, and was shipwrecked, though the crew were saved. Bothwell was only saved for a melancholy fate. He took to piracy in the Northern Seas, in order to support himself and his sailors. He was in consequence assaulted and taken by some Danish ships of war. The Danes threw him into the dungeons of the Castle of Malmay, where he died in captivity, about the end of the year 1576. It is said, that this atrocious criminal confessed at his death, that he had conducted the murder of Darnley, by the assistance of Murray and Morton, and that Mary was altogether guiltless of that crime. But there is little reliance to be placed on the declaration of so wicked a man. Douglas, a boy of fifteen or sixteen, who had remained in the Castle. On the 2d of May, 1568, this little William Douglas contrived to steal the keys of the Castle while the family were at supper. He let Mary and her attendant out of the tower when all had gone to rest-locked the gates of the castle to prevent pursuit-placed the Queen and her waitingwoman in a little skiff, and rowed them to the shore, throwing the keys of the castle into the lake in the course of their passage. Just when they were about to set out on this adventurous voyage, the youthful pilot made a signal, by a light in a particular window visible at the upper end of the lake, to intimate that all was safe. Lord Seaton and a party of the Hamiltons were waiting at the landing-place. The Queen instantly mounted, and hurried off to Niddry, in West Lothian, from which she went next day to Hamilton. The news flew like lightning throughout the country, and spread enthusiasm every where. Mean time, poor Mary reaped the full consequences The people remembered Mary's gentleness, grace, of Bothwell's guilt, and of her own infatuated affec- and beauty-they remembered her misfortunes also tion for him. She was imprisoned in a rude and in--and if they reflected on her errors, they thought convenient tower, on a small islet, where there was they had been punished with sufficient severity. On scarce room to walk thirty yards, and not even the Sunday, Mary was a sad and helpless captive in a intercession of Queen Elizabeth, who seems for the lonely tower. On the Saturday following, she was time to have been alarmed at the successful insur- at the head of a powerful confederacy, by which nine rection of subjects against their sovereign, could earls, nine bishops, eighteen lords, and many gentleprocure any mitigation of her captivity. There was men of high rank, engaged to defend her person and a proposal to proceed against her as an accomplice restore her power. But this gleam of success was in Darnley's murder, and to take her life under that only temporary. pretence. But the Lords of the Secret Council re- It was the Queen's purpose to place her person in solved to adopt somewhat of a gentler course, by security in the Castle of Dunbarton, and her army, compelling Mary to surrender her crown to her son, under the Earl of Argyle, proposed to carry her thither then an infant, and to make the Earl of Murray Re- in a species of triumph. The Regent was lying at gent during the child's minority. Deeds to this pur-Glasgow with much inferior forces; but, with just pose were drawn up, and sent to the Castle of Loch-confidence in his own military skill, as well as the leven, to be signed by the Queen. Lord Lindsay, the rudest, most bigoted, and fiercest of the confederated Lords, was deputed to enforce Mary's compliance with the commands of the Council. He behaved with such peremptory brutality as had perhaps been expected, and was so unmanly as to pinch with his iron glove the arm of the poor Queen, to compel her to subscribe the deeds. If Mary had any quarter to which, in her disastrous condition, she might look for love and favour, unquestionably it was to her brother Murray. She may have been criminal-she had certainly been grossly infatuated-yet she deserved her brother's kindness and compassion. She had loaded him with favours, and pardoned him considerable offences. Unquestionably she expected more favour from him than she met with. But Murray was ambitious, and ambition breaks through the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude. He visited her in Lochleven Castle, but it was not to bring her comfort; on the contrary, he pressed all her errors on her with such hard-hearted severity, that she burst into floods of tears, and abandoned herself to despair. Murray accepted of the Regency, and in doing so broke all remaining ties of tenderness betwixt himself and his sister. He was now at the head of the ruling faction, consisting of what were called the King's Lords; while such of the nobility as desired that the Queen, being now freed from the society of Bothwell, should be placed at liberty, and restored to the administration of the kingdom, were termed the Queen's Party. The strict and sagacious government of Murray imposed silence and submission for a time upon this last-named faction; but a singular incident changed the face of things for a moment, and gave a gleam of hope to the unfortunate Mary. talents of Morton, and the valour of Kirkaldy, and other experienced soldiers, he determined to meet the Queen's Lords in their proposed march, and to give them battle. On 13th May, 1568, Murray occupied the village of Langside, which lay full in the march of the Queen's army, The Hamiltons, and other gentlemen of Mary's troop, rushed forth with ill-considered valour to dispute the pass. They fought, however, with obstinacy, after the Scottish manner; that is, they pressed on each other front to front, each fixing his spear in his opponent's target, and then endeavouring to bear him down, as two bulls do when they encounter each other. Morton decided the battle, by attacking the flank of the Hamiltons, while their column was closely engaged in the front. The measure was decisive, and the Queen's army was completely routed. Queen Mary beheld this final and fatal defeat from a castle called Crookstane, about four miles from Paisley, where she and Darnley had spent some happy days after their marriage, and which, therefore, must have been the scene of bitter recollections. It was soon evident that there was no resource but in flight, and, escorted by Lord Herries and a few faithful followers, she rode sixty miles before she stopped at the Abbey of Dundrennan, in Galloway. From this place she had the means of retreating either to France or England, as she should ultimately determine. In France she was sure to have been well received; but England afforded a nearer, and, as she thought, an equally safe place of refuge. Forgetting, therefore, the various causes of emulation which existed betwixt Elizabeth and herself, and remembering only the smooth and flattering words which she had received from her sister Sovereign, it did not occur to the Scottish Queen that she could incur any risk by throwing herself upon the hospita The Laird of Lochleven, owner of the castle where Mary was imprisoned, was a half-brother by the mother's side of the Regent Murray, Sir William lity of England. It may also be supposed, that poor Douglas by name. This Baron discharged with Mary, amongst whose faults want of generosity severe fidelity the task of Mary's jailer; but his could not be reckoned, judged of Elizabeth according youngest brother, George Douglas, became more to the manner in which she would herself have sensible to the Queen's distress, and perhaps to her treated the Queen of England in the same situation. beauty, than to the interests of the Regent, or of his Slie therefore resolved to take refuge in Elizabeth's own family. A plot laid by him for the Queen's de-kingdom, in spite of the opposition of her wiser atliverance was discovered, and he was expelled from the island in consequence. But he kept up a correspondence with a kinsman of his own, called Little tendants. They kneeled and entreated in vain. She entered the fatal boat, crossed the Solway, and delivered herself up to a gentleman named Lowther, SCOTTISH HISTORY. The Commission met at York in October, 1568. Much surprised, the English Deputy Warden. doubtless, at the incident, he sent express to inform The proceedings commenced with a singular attempt Queen Elizabeth, and receiving the Scottish Queen to establish the obsolete question of the alleged suprewith as much respect as he had the means of show-macy of England over Scotland. "You come hither," ing, lodged her in Carlisle Castle. Queen Elizabeth had two courses in her power, which might be more or less generous, but were alike just and lawful. She might have received Queen Mary honourably, and afforded her the succour she petitioned for; or if she did not think that expedient, she might have allowed her to remain in her dominions, at liberty to depart from them freely, as she had entered them voluntarily. But Elizabeth, great as she was upon other occasions of her reign, acted on the present from mean and envious motives. She saw, in the fugitive who implored her protection, a princess who possessed a right of succession to the crown of England, which, by the Catholic part of her subjects at least, was held superior to her own. She remembered, that Mary had been led to assume the arms and titles of the English monarchy, or rather, that the French had assumed them in her name. She recollected, that Mary had been her rival in accomplishments; and certainly she did not forget, that she was her superior in youth and beauty; and had the advantage, as she had expressed it herself, to be mother of a fair son, while she remained a barren stock. She, therefore, considered the Scottish Queen, not as a sister and friend in distress, but as an enemy, over whom circumstances had given her power, and determined upon reducing her to the condition of a captive. In pursuance of the line of conduct to which this mean train of reasoning led, the unfortunate Mary was surrounded by English guards; and as Elizabeth reasonably doubted that she might obtain aid from Scotland, she was removed to Bolton Castle, in Yorkshire. But some pretext was wanting for a conduct so violent, so ungenerous, and so unjust, that Elizabeth contrived to find one. The Regent Murray, upon Mary's flight to England, had contrived to vindicate his conduct in the eyes of Queen Elizabeth, by alleging that his sister had been accessary to the murder of her husband Darnley, in order that she might marry her paramour Both well. Now, although this, supposing it true, was very criminal conduct, yet Elizabeth had not the least title to constitute herself judge in the matter. Mary was no subject of hers, nor, according to the law of nations, had the English Queen any right to act as umpire in the quarrel between the Scottish Queen and her subjects. But she extorted, in the following manner, a sort of acquiescence in her right to decide, from the Scottish Queen. The messengers of Queen Elizabeth informed Mary, that their mistress regretted extremely that she could not at once admit her to her presence, nor give her the affectionate reception which she longed to afford her, until she stood clear, in the eyes of the world, of the scandalous accusations of her Scottish subjects. Mary at once undertook to make her innocence evident to Elizabeth's satisfaction; and this the Queen of England pretended to consider as a call upon herself to act as umpire in the quarrel betwixt Mary and the party by which she had been deposed and exiled. It was in vain that Mary remonstrated, that in agreeing to remove Elizabeth's scruples, she acted merely out of respect to her opinion, and a desire to conciliate her favour, but not with the purpose of constituting the English Queen her judge in a judicial trial. Elizabeth was determined to keep the advantage which she had attained, and to act as if Mary had, of her full free will, rendered her the sole arbiter of her fate. The Queen of England appointed commissioners said the English Commissioners to the Regent and his To have treated both parties impartially, as her sentence seemed intended to imply her desire to do, the Queen ought to have restored Mary to liberty. But while Murray was sent down with the loan of a large sum of money, Mary was retained in that captivity which was only to end with her life. Murray returned to Scotland, having had all the advantage of the conference at York. His coffers were replenished, and his power confirmed, by the favour of Queen Elizabeth; and he had little difficulty in scattering the remains of the Queen's Lords, who, in fact, had never been able to make head since the In the mean time some extraordinary events took battle of Langside, and the flight of their mistress. place in England. The Duke of Norfolk had formed a plan to restore Queen Mary to liberty, and was in recompense to be rewarded with her hand in marriage. The Regent Murray had been admitted into the secret of this plot, although it may be supposed the object was not very acceptable to him. Many of the great nobles had agreed to join in the undertaking, particularly the powerful Earls of Westmoreland and Northumberland. The plot of Norfolk was discovered and proved against him, chiefly by the declarations of Murray, who meanly betrayed the secret intrusted to him; and he was seized upon, committed to confinement, and, a few months afterwards, tried and executed. But before this catastrophe, Northumberland and Westmoreland rushed into a hasty rebellion, which 90 TALES OF A GRANDFATHER. they were unable to conduct with sufficient vigour. I recommended would have an appearance of timidity, All these successive events tended to establish the power of Murray, and to diminish the courage of such Lords as remained attached to the opposite party. But it happens frequently that when men appear most secure of the object they have been toiling for, their views are suddenly and strangely disappointed. A blow was impending over Murray from a quarter, which, if named to the haughty Regent, he would probably have despised, since it originated in the resentment of a private man. After the battle of Langside, six of the Hamiltons, who had been most active on that occasion, were sentenced to die, as being guilty of treason against James VI., for having espoused his mother's cause. In this doom there was little justice, considering how the country was divided between the claims of the mother and the son. But the decree was not acted upon, and the persons condemned received their pardon through the mediation of John Knox with the Regent. One of the persons thus pardoned was Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, a man of a fierce and vindictive character. Like others in his condition, he was punished by the forfeiture of his property, although his life was spared. His wife had brought him, as her portion, the lands of Woodhouselee, near Roslin, and these were bestowed by Murray upon one of his favourites. This person exercised the right so rudely as to turn Hamilton's wife out of her own house undressed, and unprotected from the fury of the weather. In consequence of this brutal treatment, she became insane and died. Her husband vowed revenge, not on the actual author of his misfortune, but upon the Regent Murray, whom he considered as the original cause of it, and whom his family prejudices induced him to regard as the usurper of the Sovereign power, and the oppressor of the name and house of Hamilton. There is little doubt that the Archbishop of Saint Andrews, and some others of his name, encouraged Bothwellhaugh in this desperate resolution. He took his measures with every mark of deliberation. Having learned that the Regent was to pass through Linlithgow on a certain day, he secretly introduced himself into a house belonging to the Archbishop of St. Andrews, which had in front a wooden balcony looking upon the street. Bothwellhaugh hung a black cloth on the wall of the apartment where he lay, that his shadow might not be seen from without, and spread a matress on the floor, that the sound of his feet might not be heard from beneath. To secure his escape he fastened a fleet horse in the garden behind the house, and pulled down the lintel stones from the posts of the garden door, so that he might be able to pass through it on horseback. He also strongly barricaded the front door of the house, which opened to the street of the town. Thus having prepared all for concealment until the deed was done, and for escape afterward, he armed himself with a loaded carbine, shut himself up in the lonely chamber, and waited the arrival of his victim. b Some friend of Murray transmitted to him a hint of the danger which he might incur in passing through the street of a place in which he was known to have enemies, and advised that he should avoid it by going round on the outside of the town; or, at least, by riding hastily past the lodging which was more particularly suspected, as belonging to the Hamiltons. But the Regent, thinking that the step held on his way through the crowded street. As he The Regent died in the course of the night, leaving The murderer escaped to France. In the civil wars of that country, an attempt was made to engage him, as a known desperado, in the assassination of the Admiral Coligni; but he resented it as a deadly insult. He had slain a man in Scotland, he said, from whom he had sustained a mortal injury; but the world could not engage him to attempt the The death of Murray had been an event expected life of one against whom he had no cause of quarrel. by many of Queen Mary's adherents. The very night after it happened, Scott of Buccleuch and Ker of Fairnyherst broke into England, and ravaged the frontier, with more than their wonted severity While it was objected by one of the sufferers under this foray, that the Regent would punish the party concerned in such illegal violence, the Borderer replied contemptuously, that the Regent was as cold as his bridle-bit. This served to show that their leaders had been privy to Bothwellhaugh's action, and desired to take advantage of it, in order to give grounds for war between the countries. But Queen Elizabeth was contented to send a small army to the frontier, to burn the castles and ravage the estates of the two clans which had been engaged in the hostile inroad; a service which they executed with much severity on the clans of Scott and Ker without doing injury to those against whom their mistress had no complaint. Upon the death of Murray, Lennox was chosen Regent. He was the father of the murdered Darn-ley, yet showed no excessive thirst for vengeance. He endeavoured to procure a union of parties, for the purpose of domestic peace. But men's minds on both sides had become too much exasperated against each other. The Queen's party was strengthened by Maitland of Lethington, and Kirkaldy of Grange, joining that faction, after having been long the boast of that of the King, Lethington we have often mentioned as one of the ablest men in Scotland, and Kirkaldy was certainly one of the bravest. He was, besides, Governor of Edinburgh Castle, and his declaring that he held that important place for the Queen gave great spirit to Mary's adherents. At the same time, they were deprived of a strong hold of scarcely inferior consequence, by the loss of DunDunbarton is one of the strongest places in the barton Castle in the following extraordinary manner. world. It is situated on a rock, which rises almost perpendicularly from a level plain to the height of the buildings are situated, and as there is only one several hundred feet. On the summit of this rock access from below, which rises by steps, and is strongly guarded and fortified, the fort might be almost held to be impregnable, that is, incapable of being taken. One Captain Crawford of Jordanhill resolved, nevertheless, to make an attempt on this formidable castle. He took advantage of a misty and moonless night to bring to the foot of the castle-rock the scaling lad ders which he had provided, choosing for his terrible experiment the place where the rock was highest, and where, of course, less pains were taken to keep a regular guard. This choice was fortunate; for the first ladder broke with the weight of the men who attempted to mount, and the noise of the fall must have betrayed them, had there been any sentinel within hearing. Crawford assisted by a soldier who had deserted from the castle, and was acting as his guide, next scrambled up, and contrived to make fast the second ladder, by tying it to the roots of a tree, which grew about midway up the rock. Here they found a small flat surface, that held the whole party, which was, of course very few in number. In scaling the second precipice, another accident took place: One of the party, subject to epileptic fits, was seized by one of those attacks, brought on perhaps by terror, while he was in the act of climbing p the ladder. His illness made it impossible for nim either to ascend or descend. To have slain the man would have been a cruel expedient, besides that bis fall from the ladder must have alarmed the garrison. Crawford caused him, therefore, to be tied to the ladder; then all the rest descending, they turned the ladder, and thus mounted with ease over the belly of the epileptic person. When the party gained the summit, they slew the sentinel ere he had time to give the alarm, and easily surprised the slumbering garrison, who had trusted too much to the security of their castle. This exploit of Crawford may compare with any thing of the kind which we read of in history. Hamilton, the Archbishop of Saint Andrews, was made prisoner in Dunbarton, where he had taken refuge, as he was particularly hated by the King's party. He was now in their hands, and, as they had formerly proclaimed him a traitor, they now without scruple put him to death as such. This cruel deed occasioned other violences, by way of retaliation, which, in turn, led to fresh acts of bloodshed. All natural ties were forgotten in the distinction of Kingsmen and Queensmen; and, as neither party gave quarter to their opponents, the civil war assumed a most horrible aspect. Fathers, and sons, and brothers, took opposite sides, and fought against each other. The very children of the towns and villages formed themselves into bands for King James or Queen Mary, and fought inveterately with stones, sticks, and knives. In the midst of this confusion, each party called a Parliament, which was attended only by the Lords of their own side. The Queen's Parliament met at Edinburgh, under protection of the Castle, and its governor Kirkaldy. The King's faction had a much more numerous assembly, assuming the same denomination, at Stirling, where they produced the young King, to give authority to their proceedings. The boy, with natural childishness, observing a rent in the carpet which covered the table at which the clerks sate, observed, "there was a hole in the Parliament." These words were remarked afterward, as if they had contained a sort of prophecy of the following singular event: Kirkaldy devised an enterprise, by which, if successful, he would have put a complete stop to the proceedings of the King's Parliament, nay, to the civil war itself. He sent for Buccleuch and Fairnyherst, already noticed, as zealous partisans of Mary, desiring them to bring a large party of their best horsemen, and joined with them the Lord Claud Hamilton, with a detachment of infantry. The whole were guided by a man of the name of Bell, who knew the town of Stirling, being a native of that place. He introduced the party, consisting of about five hundred men, into the middle of the town, without even a dog barking at them. Then they raised the alarm, crying out, God and the Queen! think on the Archbishop of Saint Andrews! all in our own!" According to the directions they had received, they sent parties to the different houses of which the King's Lords had taken possession, and made them prisoners without resistance, except on the part of Morton, whose obstinate valour obliged them to set fire to his lodgings. He then reluctantly 66 surrendered himself to Buccleuch, who was his near connexion. But his resistance had gained some time, and the assailants had scattered themselves in quest of plunder. At this moment, Mar brought a party of musketeers out of the Castle, and placing them behind the walls of a house which he had commenced building on the Castlehill, he opened a heavy and unexpected fire upon the Queen's-men. These being already in disorder, were struck with panic in the moment of victory, and began to fly. The scene was now completely changed, and they who had been triumphant the moment before, were glad to surrender to their own captives. Lennox the Regent had been mounted behind Spens of Wormeston, who had made him captive. He was a particular object of vengeance to the Hamiltons, who longed to requite the death of the Archbishop of Saint Andrews. He was killed, as was believed, by Lord Claud Hamilton's orders, and Spens, who most honourably endeavoured to protect his prisoner, was slain at the same time. The Queen's party retreated out of Stirling without much loss, for the Borderers carried off all the horses, upon which the opposite party might have followed the chase. Kirkaldy received the news of the Regent's death with much dissatisfaction, abusing those who commanded the party as disorderly beasts, who neither knew how to gain a victory, nor how to use it. Had he placed himself at the head of the detachment, as he had earnestly desired to do, it is probable that the Raid of Stirling might have ended the war. As it fell out, the quarrel was only imbittered, if possible, by the death of Lennox. The Earl of Mar was named Regent on the King's side. He was a man of fair and moderate views, and so honourably desirous of restoring the blessing of peace to his country, that the impossibility of attaining his object is said to have shortened his life. He died 29th October, 1572, having been Regent little more than one year. The Earl of Morton was next made Regent. We have seen that this nobleman, however respectable for courage and talents, was nevertheless of a fierce and cruel disposition. He had been concerned in Rizzio's murder, and was at least acquainted with that of Darnley. It was to be expected that he would continue the war with the same ferocious cruelty by which it had been distinguished, instead of labouring, like Mar, to diminish its violence. This fell out accordingly. Each party continued to execute their prisoners; and as skirmishes were daily fought, the number of persons who fell by the sword, or died upon the gibbet, was fearfully great. From the family name of Morton, these were called the Douglasses' wars. After these hostilities had existed for about five years, the Duke of Chatelherault, and the Earl of Huntly, the two principal nobles who had supported the Queen's cause, submitted themselves to the King's authority, and to the sway of the Regent. Kirkaldy of Grange, assisted by the counsels of Maitland of Lethington, continued to maintain the Castle of Edinburgh against Morton. But Queen Elizabeth, who became now desirous of ending the Scottish dissensions, sent from Berwick a considerable body of regular forces, and what was still more needful, a large train of artillery, which formed a close siege around the Castle of Edinburgh. The garrison were, however, much more distressed for provisions, than by the shot of the English batteries. It was not till after a valiant defence, in the course of which one of the springs which supplied the fortress with water was dried up, and the other became choked with ruins, that the gallant Kirkaldy was compelled to capitulate. He surrendered to the English general, who promised that his mistress should intercede with the Regent for favourable treatment to the governor and his adherents. This might the rather have been expected, because Morton and Kirkaldy had been at one time great friends. But the Regent was earnest in demanding the life of his valorous opponent; and Elizabeth, with little regard to her general's honour or her own, abandoned the prisoners to Morton's vengeance. Kirkaldy and his brother were publicly executed, to the great regret even of many of the King's party themselves. Maitland of Lethington, more famed for talents than integrity, despaired of obtaining mercy where none had been extended to Kirkaldy of Grange, and put a period to his existence, by taking poison. Thus ended the civil wars of Queen Mary's reign, with the death of the bravest soldier, and of the ablest statesman, in Scotland; for such were Kirkaldy and Maitland. From the time of the surrender of Edinburgh Castle, 29th May, 1573, the Regent Morton was in complete possession of the supreme power in Scotland. As Queen Elizabeth had been his constant friend during the civil wars, he paid devoted attention to her wishes when he became the undisputed ruler of the kingdom. Morton even went so far as to yield up to the justice, or the revenge, of the English Queen, that unfortunate Earl of Northumberland, who, as I formerly mentioned, had raised a rebellion in England, and, flying into Scotland, had been confined by the Regent Murray, in Lochleven Castle. The surrender of this unfortunate nobleman to England was a great stain, not only on the character of Morton, but of Scotland in general, which had hitherto been accounted a safe and hospitable place of refuge for those whom misfortune or political faction had exiled from their own country. It was the more particularly noticed, because when Morton himself had been forced to fly to England, on account of his share in Rizzio's murder, he had been courteously received and protected by the unhappy nobleman whom he had now delivered up to his fate. It was an additional and aggravating circumstance, that it was a Douglas who betrayed a Percy; and when the annals of their ancestors were considered, it was found that while they presented many acts of open hostility, many instances of close and firm alliance, they never till now had afforded an example of any act of treachery exercised by the one family against the other. To complete the infamy of the transaction, a sum of money was paid to the Regent on this occasion, which he divided with Douglas of Lochleven. Northumberland was beheaded at York, 1572. In other respects, Scotland derived great advantage from the peace with England, as some degree of repose was highly necessary to this distracted country. It continued, with little interruption, for thirty years and upwards. On one occasion, however, a smart action took place betwixt the Scots and English, which, though of little consequence, I may here tell you of, chiefly because it was the last considerable skirmish-with the exception of a deed of bold daring, of which I shall tell you by and by-which the two nations had, or, it is to be hoped, ever will have, with each other. warm, and Sir John Foster told Carmichael, contemptuously, he ought to match himself with his equals. The English Borderers immediately raised their war-cry of "To it, Tynedale," and, without farther ceremony, shot a flight of arrows among the Scots, who, few in number, and surprised, were with difficulty able to keep their ground. A band of the citizens of Jedburgh arrived just in time to support their countrymen; and most of them having firearms, the old English long bow no more possessed its ancient superiority. After a smart action, the English were driven from the field; Sir John Foster, with many of the English gentlemen, being made prisoners, were sent to be at the Regent Morton's disposal. Sir George Heron of Chipchase and other persons of condition were slain. Morton, afraid of Queen Elizabeth's displeasure, though the offence had been given by the English, treated the prisoners with distinction, and dismissed them, not only without ransom, but with presents of falcons, and other tokens of respect. Are you not well treated?" said a Scotsman to one of these liberated prisoners, since we give you live hawks for dead herons ?" 66 This skirmish, called the Raid of the Redswair, took place on the mountainous ridge of the Carter. It produced no interruption of concord between the two countries, being passed over as a casual affray. Scotland, therefore, enjoyed the blessings of peace during the greater part of Morton's Regency. But the advantages which the Kingdom derived from peace, were in some measure destroyed by the corrupt and oppressive government of Morton, who turned his thoughts almost entirely to amassing treasure, by every means in his power. The extensive property, which formerly belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, was a mine out of which the Regent and the other great nobles contrived to work for themselves a great deal of wealth. This they did chiefly by dealing with those who were placed in the room of the abbots and priors as commendators, by which word the Scots distinguished a layman who was placed in possession of an ecclesiastical benifice. To these commendators the nobles applied, and, by fair means or force, compelled them to make over and transfer to them the property of the abbacies, or at least to grant it to them in long leases for a trifling rent. That you may understand how this sort of business was managed, I will give you a curious instance of it: In August, 1570, Allen Steward, commendator of the abbacy of Crossraguel, in Ayrshire, was prevailed on to visit the Earl of Cassilis, who conveyed him, partly against his will, to a lonely tower, which overhangs the sea, called the Black Vault of Denure, the ruins of which are yet visible. He was treated for some time kindly, but as his arms and servants were It was the course adopted for preserving peace removed from him, he soon saw reason to consider upon the Border, that the Wardens on each side himself less as a friendly guest than as a prisoner, to used to meet on days appointed, and deliver up to whom some foul play was intended. At length, the each other the malefactors who had committed Earl conveyed his guest into a private chamber, in aggressions upon either country, or else make pecu- which there was no furniture of any kind excepting niary reparation for the trespasses which they had a huge clumsy iron grate or gridiron, beneath which done. On the 7th July, 1575, Carmichael, as War- was a fire of charcoal. And now, my Lord Abbot, den for the Scottish Middle Marches, met Sir John said the Earl of Cassilis, "will you be pleased to sign Foster, the English officer on the opposite frontier, these deeds?" And so saying, he laid before him each being, as usual, accompanied by the armed leases and other papers, transferring the whole lands clans inhabiting his jurisdiction. Foster was at- of the abbacy of Crossraguel to the Earl himself. tended by the men of Tynedale, in greater numbers The Commendator refused to yield up the property, than those of the Scottish Borders, all well armed or to subscribe the deeds. A party of ruffians entered, with jack and spear, as well as bows and arrows. and, seizing the unhappy man, stripped him of his The meeting was at first peaceful. The Wardens clothes, and laid him on the iron bars, where he lay, commenced their usual business of settling delin- scorched by the fire beneath, while they basted him quencies; and their attendants began to traffic with with oil, as a cook bastes the meat which she roasts each other, and to engage in sports and gaming. upon a spit. The agony of such torture was not to For, notwithstanding their habitual incursions, a be endured. The poor man cried pitifully, begging sort of acquaintance was always kept up between they would put him to instant death, rather than the Borderers on both sides, like that which takes subject him to this lingering misery, and offered his place betwixt the outposts of two contending armies. purse with the money it contained, to any who would During this friendly intercourse on both sides, a in mercy shoot him through the head. At length, he dispute arose between the two Wardens, Carmichael was obliged to promise to subscribe whatever the desiring delivery of an English depredator, for whom Earl wished, rather than endure the excessive torture Foster, on the other hand, refused to be responsible. any longer. The letters and leases being then presentThey both arose from their seats as the debate grewed to him, he signed them with his half roasted hand, |