a country, it was truly said, which was always endeavour- | politician, dropped his resentment on account of Catherine, ing to assert a superiority repugnant to every feeling of and professed to believe that it was time to bury these Scottish patriotism, whilst France desired nothing but remembrances in oblivion. The only obstacle to peace the friendship of Scotland, and had on many occasions betwixt them was the declared illegitimacy and exclusion assisted it in its utmost need, to maintain its liberty and from the succession of Mary. Henry lost no time in independence. The offer of Francis was accepted with getting over this point. He had no need to confess himenthusiasm, a select council was appointed to renew the self wrong; he had a stanch Parliament who would do treaty with France; Secretary Panter and Campbell of anything he required. Parliament, therefore, passed an Lundy proceeded to the French Court; an envoy was Act restoring both Mary and Elizabeth to their political dispatched to solicit the co-operation of Denmark, and rights. Nothing was said of their illegitimacy, but they others to the emperor and Duke of Bavaria, announcing were restored to their place in the succession. Thus the the war with England, and requesting that on this Parliament had gone backward and forward at Henry's ground, all molestation of the Scottish commerce should bidding, to 'such an extent, that now it was treason to be abstained from. Hamilton, the abbot of Paisley, was assert the legitimacy of the princesses, and it was treason appointed treasurer, in the place of Sir William Kirkaldy, to deny it; for if they were illegitimate they could not of Grange, a partisan of England; and the cardinal was claim the throne. It was treason to be silent, according made chancellor of the kingdom, instead of the Archbishop to the former Act on this head, and it was now treason to of Glasgow. refuse to take an oath on it when required. To such infamy did honourable members of Parliament stoop under this extraordinary despot. Well would it have been for the fame and fortunes of the cardinal if these energetic measures had been the only ones; but, elated with the success of his plans, he gave a loose to his persecuting disposition, and lost his popularity with a large body of the people. It was now sixteen years since the burning of Hamilton, but since then Russell and Kennedy had suffered at the stake, and the memory of these things had made a deep impression on the public mind. Protestantism had grown and flourished on the ground fertilised by the ashes of martyrdom, and Beaton having now the power in his hands, and the opposition of Arran being removed by his conversion, the cardinal made a progress to Perth, to strike terror into the heretics. Four men, Lamb, Anderson, Ranald, and Hunter, were accused of heresy, one of them having interrupted a friar in his sermon, and others of having broken and ridiculed an image of St. Francis. They were hanged, Lamb at the gallows denouncing in strong terms not only the errors of Popery, but the well-known profligate life of the cardinal. But the fate of a poor woman, the wife of one of these martyrs, excited the deepest commiseration. She was charged with the heinous offence of refusing to pray to the Virgin during her confinement, declaring that she should direct her prayers to God alone. For this she was refused the poor satisfaction of hanging with her husband, but was drowned-the death of a witch. Taking the infant undauntedly from her breast, she cried out to her husband, "It matters not, dear partner; we have lived together many happy days, but this ought to be the most joyful of all, when we are about to have joy for ever. Therefore, I will not bid you good night, for ere the night shall close, we shall be united in the kingdom of heaven." The year 1544 found Henry bent on war both with Scotland and France. Francis had deeply offended Henry by disapproving of his divorce and murder of Anne Boleyn, and by his refusal to follow his advice in repudiating his allegiance to the Pope. Francis had declared that he was Henry's friend, but only as far as the altar. Charles V., aggravated as had been the conduct of Henry towards him, by his divorce of his aunt Catherine, and the stigma of illegitimacy which he had cast on her daughter, the Princess Mary, was yet by no means displeased to observe the growing differences betwixt Henry and his rival Francis. He therefore, like a genuine This sorry "amende" being made, and accepted by the necessities rather than the will of the emperor, Henry and he now made a treaty on these terms: 1st. That they should jointly require the French king to renounce his alliance with the Turks, and to make reparation to the Christians for all the losses which they had sustained in consequence of that alliance. 2nd. That Francis should be compelled to pay up to the King of England the arrears of his pension, and give security for a more punctual payment in future. 3rd. That if Francis did not comply with these terms within forty days, the emperor should seize the duchy of Burgundy, Henry all the territories of France that had belonged to his ancestors, and that both monarchs should be ready to enforce these claims at the head of a competent army. As Francis refused to listen to these terms, and would not even permit the messengers of the newly allied sovereigns to cross his frontiers, the emperor, who was now desirous of recovering the towns which he had lost in Flanders, obtained from Henry a reinforcement of 6,000 men under Sir John Wallop, who laid siege to Landreci; whilst Charles himself, with a still greater force, overran the duchy of Cleves, and compelled the duke, the devoted partisan of France, to acknowledge the imperial allegiance. Charles then marched to the siege of Landreci, and Francis approached at the head of a large army. A great battle now appeared inevitable: but Francis, manoeuvring as for a fight, contrived to throw provisions into the town and withdrew. Imperialists and English pursued the retiring army; and the English, by too much impetuosity, suffered considerable loss. Henry promised himself more decided advantage in the next campaign, which he intended to conduct in person. This he had not been able to make illustrious by his presence; for he had been busily engaged with his approaching marriage to a sixth wife. The lady who had this time been elevated to this perilous eminence was the Lady Catherine Latimer, the widow of Lord Latimer, already mentioned for his concern in the Pilgrimage of Grace. She was born Catherine Parr, a daughter of Sir Thomas Parr, who claimed a long and honourable descent from Ivo de Tallebois, the Norman, of the time of the Conquest; and still more so from the Saxon wife of Tallebois, the sister of the renowned Earls Morcar and Edwin. His ancestors in after times included the great Nevilles, Earls of Westmoreland, the Beauforts, and, through the Lords de Roos, Alexander II. of Scotland. She was fourth cousin to Henry himself, but had been twice married previous to his wedding her. She was the widow of Lord Borough, of Gainsborough, at fifteen, and was about thirty when Henry married her, only a few months after the death of her second husband, Lord Latimer. Catherine Parr, as she still continues to be called, was educated under the care of her mother at Kendall Castle, and received a very learned education for a woman of 277 of the king. But it seems that his senses were too much fascinated by the charms of the handsome wealthy widow. to perceive the atmosphere of heresy which surrounded her. The fair historian of our queens has happily compared the elevation of the Protestant Catherine Parr to the throne of the persecuting Henry, to that of the Queen Esther by Ahasuerus; Protestantism in the one case, as the Jews in the other, was destined to receive its ultimate ascendency by this event; for Catherine Parr became the step-mother of Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth, and their active instructress, and thoroughly imbued their minds with her new opinions and the knowledge of the Bible, though she could not effect the same result in the those times. She read and wrote Latin fluently, had some knowledge of Greek, and was mistress of several modern languages. She is said to have been handsome, but of very small and delicate features. At all times she appears to have been of remarkable thoughtfulness and prudence, extremely amiable, and became thoroughly devoted to Protestantism; and she may, indeed, justly be styled the first Protestant Queen of England, for Anne of Cleves, though educated in the Protestant faith, became a decided Papist in this country. It was not till after the death of Lord Latimer that her Protestant tendencies, however, became known; yet then, she appears to have made no secret of them, for her house became the resort of Coverdale, Latimer, Packhurst, and other eminent Reformers, and sermons were frequently preached in her chamber of state, which it is surprising did not attract the attention older and more fixed bosom of Mary. The circumstance is joyfully alluded to in the metrical chronicle of her cousin, Sir Thomas Throckmorton : "But when the king's fifth wife had lost her head, When Henry opened to Catherine Parr his intention to make her his wife, she is said to have been struck with consternation; and, though a matron of the highest virtue, she frankly told him that "it was better to be his mistress than his wife." Henry, however, was a suitor who listened to no scruples or objections; and even with the most prudent woman, a crown being con The spring of 1544 opened with active preparations for Henry's campaign in France. During the winter, Gonzaga, the viceroy of Sicily, was dispatched to London by Charles, to arrange the plan of operations. An admirable one was devised, had Henry been the man to assist in carrying it out. The emperor was to enter France by Champagne, and Henry by Picardy, and, instead of staying to besiege the towns on the route, they were to dash on to Paris, where, their forces uniting, they might consider themselves masters of the French capital, or in a position to dictate terms to Francis. In May the Imperialists were in the field, and Henry landed at Calais in June, and by the middle of July he was within the bounds of France at the head of 20,000 English and 15,000 Imperialists. cerned, these scruples soon vanished. Catherine was tails, to the pillory in Windsor. Such were the critical scarcely a widow when her hand had been sought by Sir circumstances of Queen Catherine Parr, even in her Thomas Seymour, brother of the late Queen Jane, and honeymoon. In these plots the destruction of Cranmer uncle to the heir-apparent, who was considered the was not lost sight of, but his time was not come; the 'handsomest man of the Court. She is said to have favour of the king still defended him. listened willingly to his suit; but on the appearance of the great and terrible lover, who took off the heads of queens and rivals with as little ceremony as a cook would cut off the head of a goose, Seymour shrunk in affright aside, and Catherine became a queen. The marriage took place on the 12th of July, 1543, in the queen's closet at Hampton Court. The ceremony was performed by Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester. The two princesses, Mary and Elizabeth, and the king's niece, Margaret Douglas, were present; and the queen was attended by her sister, Mrs. Herbert, afterwards Countess of Pembroke, the Duchess of Suffolk, Anne, Countess of Hertford, and Lady Jane Dudley. Soon after the marriage, her uncle, Lord Parr of Horton, was made Lord Chamberlain, and her brother was created Earl of Essex. Yet circumstances almost immediately showed the danger But neither of the invaders kept to their original plan. which surrounded her. Gardiner, the bigoted Bishop of Charles stopped by the way to reduce Luxembourg, Winchester, who had married her, saw, nevertheless, her Ligne, and St. Didier. Had Henry, however, pushed on elevation with the deepest inward hatred; and within a with his imposing army to Paris, Francis would have fortnight after her marriage, he was plotting her de- been at the mercy of the allies. But Henry, ambitious struction, and commenced by an attack on those about to rival the military successes of Charles, and take towns the Court and its vicinity, who were known as holders of too, instead of making the capital his object, turned aside her views. A tool of his, one Dr. London, who had been to besiege Boulogne and Montreuil. The imperial amamongst the busiest of Cromwell's agents in the spolia- bassador, sensible of the fatality of this proceeding, urged tion of the abbeys, but who had now become as busy an Henry with all his eloquence during eleven days to agent of the Papist party, which was in the ascendant, push on: and Charles, to take from him any further commenced by giving information of a society of Re- excuse for delay, hastened forward along the right bank formers in Windsor, who were believed to receive coun- of the Marne, avoiding all the fortified towns. tenance from members of the Royal household. London when once Henry had undertaken an object, opposition made a list of these persons, and stated the charges only increased his resolution, and he lost all consciousagainst them, which Gardiner laid before the king, pray-ness of everything but the one idea of asserting his ing that a search might be made for books of the new mastery. In vain, therefore, did Charles send messenheresy. Henry granted the search so far as it regarded gers imploring him to advance; for more than two the town, but excepted the castle, being pretty well aware months he continued besieging Boulogne, and the golden that the queen's closets would not bear too close a opportunity was lost. scrutiny. Marbeck, a chorister, was speedily arrested for having in his possession a Bible and a Latin concordance in progress. With him were arrested, as his accomplices, Anthony Pason, a priest, Robert Testwood, and Henry Filmer. Marbeck was saved by some influential interference, but the three others were burnt, after having been pressed closely, and with added assurances of pardon, to criminate personages within the palace, but in vain. This preliminary step having succeeded, higher game was aimed at. Dr. Haines, Dean of Exeter and Prebendary of Windsor, Sir Philip Hoby and his lady, Sir Thomas Carden, and other members of the Royal household, were denounced by London and his coadjutor Symonds. This evident approach towards her own person, seems to have roused Catherine Parr, who sent a bold and trusty servant into court, who exposed the collusion of Ockham, clerk of the court, and London. Ockham was arrested, and his papers seized, which at once revealed the foul plot betwixt himself, London, and Symonds. These miscreants were sent for and examined, and not knowing that their letters to Ockham were seized, they speedily proved their own villany, and were condemned to ride, with their faces to the horses' But Francis seized on the delay to make terms with Charles. He sent to him a Spanish monk of the name of Guzman, and a near relative of Charles's confessor, proposing offers of accommodation. Charles readily listened to them, and sent to Henry to learn his demands. These demands were something enormous, and whilst Francis demurred, Charles continued his march, and arrived at ChâteauThierry, almost in the vicinity of Paris. The circumstances of both Francis and Charles now mutually inclined them to open separate negotiations. Francis saw a foreign army menacing his capital, but Charles, on the other hand, saw the French army constantly increasing betwixt him and his strange ally, whom nothing could induce to move from the walls of Boulogne. Under these circumstances Charles consented to offer Francis the terms which he had demanded before the war, and which he had refused; but now came the news that the English had taken Boulogne, and the French king at once accepted them. The Treaty of Crespi, as this was called, bound the two sovereigns to unite for the defence of Christendom against the Turks, and to unite their families by the marriage of the second son of Francis with a daughter of Charles. Henry, on his part, having placed a strong garrison in Boulogne, raised the siege of Montreuil, and returned to England like a great conqueror, as he always did, from his distant campaigns. 279 of the base design, and took precautions for his safety; only, however, to defer for a time the execution of this atrocious deed by the same hands, urged on by this detestable monarch. By the end of April, Henry was prepared to pour on Scotland the vial of his murderous wrath. A fleet of a hundred sail appeared, under the command of Lord Lisle, the High Admiral of England, suddenly in the Forth. The Scotch seem to have by no means been dreaming of such a visitant, and its appearance threw the capital into the greatest consternation. In four days, such was the absence of preparation, such the public paralysis, that Hertford was permitted to land his troops and his artillery without the sight of a single soldier. He had advanced from Granton to Leith when Arran and the cardinal threw themselves in his way with a miserable handful of followers, who were instantly dispersed and Leith given up to plunder. If Henry's campaign in France did him little honour, that which had been going on in Scotland under his commanders and allies, did him still less. His trusty friends, Angus, Lennox, Cassilis, and Glencairn, who had sworn in their bond to remain faithful to him till they had reduced Scotland to his yoke, in January, 1544, entered into the same compact with Arran, in order to escape a forfeiture of their estates for their repeated treasons, solemnly binding "themselves, and all other their complices and partakers, to remain true, faithful, and obedient to their sovereign lady and her authority; to assist the lord-governor for defence of the realms against their old enemies of England, to support the liberties of Holy Church, and to maintain the true Christian faith." As hostages for the faithful observance of this agreement, Sir George Douglas, the brother of Angus, and the eldest son The citizens of Edinburgh, finding themselves deserted of Glencairn, the Master of Kilmaurs, were surrendered by the governor, flew to arms, under the command of to Arran. Yet within less than two months did these Otterburn of Roidhall, the provost of the city. Otterinfamous and doubly-perjured traitors send an earnest burn proceeded to the English camp, and, obtaining an entreaty to the King of England to hasten his prepara-interview with Lord Hertford, complained of this unlookedtions for the invasion of the country, and accompanied it for invasion, and offered to accommodate all differences. by a plan of operations. These were, that a strong army But Hertford returned a haughty answer, that he was should proceed by land, a numerous fleet, carrying an not come to negotiate, for which he had no power, but to additional force, should go by sea, and it was added, that lay waste town and country with fire and sword unless it would act as a most useful diversion, if ten or twelve the young queen were delivered to him. The people of ships were sent to the western coast to act on the Earl of Edinburgh, on hearing this insolent message, vowed to Argyll's country-a suggestion, no doubt, thrown in by perish to a man rather than condescend to such baseness. Glencairn, Argyll's bitter enemy. A stratagem of the They set about to defend their walls and sustain the same kind had been successfully employed before by attack of the enemy; but they found that Otterburn, who Glencairn's advice; and the Highland chiefs imprisoned had tampered secretly with the English before this, had in the castles of Edinburgh and Dunbar were liberated stolen unobserved away. They appointed a new provost, on condition that they should harry the lands of Argyll. and manned their walls so stoutly that they compelled The disaffected barons urged Henry to put these plans in Hertford to fetch up his battering ordnance from Leith. execution before the arrival of the French army; but this Seeing very soon that it was impossible to defend their advice was followed in such a loose and desultory manner, gates from this heavy ordnance, they silently collected as that it failed of the overwhelming effect which it must much of their property as they could carry, and abanhave had, if ably executed. doned the town. Hertford took possession of it; and then sought to reduce the castle. But finding this useless, he set fire to the city; and, reinforced by 4,000 horse, under Lord Eure, he employed himself in laying waste the surrounding country with a savage ferocity, which no doubt had been commanded by the bitter malice of the English king. Henry, fuming with rage against the cardinal and the Scotch generally, exerted himself, as fast as an empty exchequer would allow, to muster the necessary army of invasion; and during the time which this occupied, he busied himself with concerting a plot of the most diabolical kind-the seizure or assassination of Beaton. Such dark transactions as this, which were only too frequent On the 15th of May, Arran, having assembled a conin the reigns of both Henry and Elizabeth, would not siderable force, and liberated Angus and his brother, Sir now be believed, if they did not stand in the abundant George Douglas, in the hope of winning them over by handwriting of the parties engaged in them in the State such clemency, marched rapidly towards Edinburgh. The Paper Office. On the 17th of April, Crighton of Brunston, English, however, did not wait for his arrival. Lord a spy of Sadler's, dispatched to the Earl of Hertford, then Lisle embarked a portion of the troops at Leith again, and at Newcastle, an emissary of the name of Wishart, who Lord Hertford led away the remainder by land. Both by made him aware of a plot for this purpose. Kirkaldy of land and water the English commanders continued their Grange, the Master of Rothes-eldest son to the Earl of buccaneering outrages, doing all the mischief and inRothes-and one John Charteris, were, he said, prepared flicting all the misery they could. Lord Lisle seized the to capture or kill the cardinal, if assured of the necessary two largest Scottish vessels in the harbour of Leith, support from England. Hertford immediately dispatched and burnt the rest; he then sailed along the coast, Wishart to London express, where the king, having in a plundering and destroying all the villages and country private interview heard the particulars from Wishart, within reach. Lord Hertford, on his part, laid Seaton, entered into the scheme most heartily, promising the con- Haddington, Renton, and Dunbar in ashes, and returned spirators every protection in his power if they were suc- into England, leaving behind him a trail of desolacessful, The cardinal, however, at this time became aware ❘tion. Such was the insane and ridiculous manner in which Henry VIII. wooed the little Queen of Scotland the castles of Dumbarton and Bute into Henry's hand. for his son. Lord Hertford, who conducted himself solely as the punctual agent of the monarch, confessed to those around him that Henry had done too little for a conqueror, and far too much for a suitor. He expressly refused to allow any sparing of the estates of his Scottish confederates, and this impolitic phrenzy soon produced its natural fruits ia the desertion and bitter hostility of many of them. Angus, Sir George Douglas, and their numerous and powerful adherents, whose demesnes lay near the borders, and who had so long laboured with a most renegade zeal and ability for his advantage, abandoned his cause in disgust, and went over to the cardinal. The only nobles left to Henry were Lennox and Glencairn-Lennox, a man weak, treacherous and vacillating; Glencairn, a host in himself, a man of great ability and extensive influence, but of no patriotism. So little did the cruel ravages of his country by Henry affect him, that we find him and Lennox, on the 17th of May, entering into a most extraordinary treaty with the English king at Carlisle. By this Henry promised Glencairn and his son, the Master of Kilmaurs, ample pensions, and to Lennox, the government of Scotland, and the hand of Lady Margaret Douglas, the daughter of Margaret, the sister of Henry. For this these traitor barons promised to acknowledge Henry as the Protector of Scotland-sad irony!-to exert themselves to the utmost of their power to deliver over to him the young queen, and the chief fortresses of the country, the town and castle of Dumbarton, the isle and castle of Bute. No sooner was the evil compact sealed, than the two renegade barons hastened to assemble their forces and earn their disgraceful pay. But the only fortune which they deserved attended them. Arran, acting under the counsel of the cardinal, met Glencairn near Glasgow, and after an obstinate battle defeated him. Glencairn escaped to Dumbarton, where Lennox lay, and that unprincipled nobleman resigned the castle into his hands, and set sail for England, where he received the promised hand of the Lady Margaret Douglas. Francis I. was so disgusted at this unnatural conduct of Lennox, that, suspecting his brother, Lord Aubigny, of some countenance of these proceedings, he deprived him of the high offices which he held in France, and threw him into prison. In Scotland the cruel raid of Henry, and the traitorous league of Lennox and Glencairn with him, produced remarkable changes. A general council of the nobles met at Stirling, on the 3rd of June, where Lennox and Glencairn alone where absent. The conduct of Henry seemed to have united all hearts against him. There took place a coalition of the Romanist and Protestant parties; but Angus, who was now bound up with the Scottish policy, had the influence to obtain the removal of the feeble Arran from the regency, and the queen-mother, Mary of Guise, elected in his stead; Angus, the mover, being made LieutenantGeneral of the kingdom. But the cardinal was too clear-sighted to lend himself to any such heterogeneous coalition. He still adhered to Arran, and the country became torn by desperate factions, which exposed it the more to the attacks of the English king. In August, Lennox sailed from Bristol with a squadron of ten ships, and a number of soldiery, for the coast of Scotland, to fulfil his promise of putting He soon plundered the Isle of Arran, and, sailing to Bute, made himself master of it, and of its castle of Rothsay, and delivered them, according to agreement, to Sir Richard Mansell and Richard Broke, to hold for Henry. The castle of Dumbarton, the key of the west of Scotland, Lennox felt sure of, having left it in the hands of Glencairn. But Glencairn had in the meantime gone over to the opposite party, and the officer in command, Stirling of Glorat, scorning such treason, not only refused to yield it up, but made it necessary for Lennox and his associates to escape with all speed to their ships. Scarcely had Lennox quitted Dumbarton, when Sir George Douglas entered it with 4,000 troops, and the Earl of Argyll, occupying the castle of Dunoon, fired on Lennox as he fell down the Clyde. Lennox, returning the fire, landed to avenge the attack, and speedily dispersed the Highlanders drawn out against him. He next ravaged the coasts of Kintyre, Kyle, and Carrick, and then returned laden with spoil to Bristol, whence he dispatched Sir Peter Mewtas to inform the king at Boulogne of the issue of the enterprise, who received the account of the conduct of Glencairn with his most hearty choler. Meantime, Henry's officers, Sir Ralph Eure, Sir Brian Layton, and Sir Richard Bowes, were ravaging the borders as mercilessly as Lennox did the shores of the Clyde. They were enabled to do almost whatever they pleased, owing to the unhappy dissensions betwixt the parties of the Governor Arran and the queen-dowager. The story of their burnings and spoliations has been preserved in an account called the "Bloody Ledger," in which are enumerated 192 towns, villages, farm-offices, towers, and churches as destroyed; 10,386 cattle driven off; 12,492 sheep, 1,496 horses, besides the account of other plunder and horrors. In November this miserable warfare seems to have slackened, but not so the feuds betwixt the different factions. In the beginning of that month the regent called a Parliament in which he denounced Angus and his brother as traitors; and, on the other hand, Angus summoned the three estates to Stirling, in the queen's name, and there issued a proclamation discharging all the people from their allegiance to Arran as the pretended regent. Once more the cardinal attempted to unite the clashing factions; peace appeared restored, and Arran marched to the borders to avenge the late injuries of the English, and laid siege to Coldingham, then in their possession. Suspicion and disunion, however, speedily broke out again; and the English becoming aware of it, rushed out upon them and put them to flight, though the Scotch were three times their number. Angus, who had the command of the vanguard on this occasion, Glencairn, Cassilis, Lords Somerville and Bothwell, were all involved in the disgraceful rout. defeat was universally attributed to the treason of the Douglases; yet, in the Parliament which was summoned in December at Edinburgh, they managed to clear themselves of the charge, but not from the belief of it in the minds of the people, which was soon sufficiently shown by both barons and commonalty refusing to serve under Angus when a muster was called in the Lothians. The The greater part of the south of Scotland now lay exposed to the inroads and devastations of the English. The |