Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

Dunfermline, burning all the images, idols, and Popish stuff in the same, and by means of Alexander Whitlaw, "a godly man and most affectionate to England," they assured Sadler that they would take the field after harvest against the French-only they wanted some more money, without which they should not be able to keep their men together. At the same time Knox sued again for relief for certain Scottish leaders whom he would not name, but whom Sadler set down as the Earl of Glencairn, the Lairds of Dun, Ormeston, and Grange, and Alexander Whitlaw. La Brosse and the Bishop of Amiens had arrived with a few troops at Leith, and more were expected. In this posture of affairs Sadler recommended the immediate spending of £4000 or £5000, which he thought might save the queen's highness a great deal another way. While they were getting ready this money in England the regent wrote to the duke, reproving him for joining with the Lords of the Congregation, and accusing him and the said lords of their practices with Queen Elizabeth. At the same time the regent spoke of a new agreement, offering to leave off fortifying Leith, to secure liberty for all men to use their conscience, and to send the French out of Scotland by a certain day; but the duke answered that he could do nothing without the Lords of the Congregation. The sum of £3000 in French coin was down at Berwick by the 10th of October; and from Berwick it soon found its way into the pockets of the Lords of the Congregation; but still those chiefs were slow in taking the field; and Sadler, through Thomas Randolph, alias Barnyby, told them that they ought to be more diligent in this great and weighty business. A few days afterwards Sir Ralph was still more pressing, telling the Lords of the Congregation that they ought "to take their time while they have it, and thereby prevent the malice of their enemies." Randolph, who was moving about with the Scottish lords, assured Sadler that something would be done presently, for the queenregent had set forth her proclamation, and the Lords of the Congregation had also set forth their proclamation "as vehement on the other side, with full determination to fall to no composition." By this time continual vexation and alarm had broken the health of Mary of Guise. "Some," writes Randolph, "think that the regent will depart secretly; some that she will to Inchkeith, for that three ships are a-preparing. Some say that she is very sick: some say the devil cannot kill her." In the same secret despatch, which, like most of the rest, was written in a cipher, Randolph says that the prior of St. Andrews has just sent to the Earl of Arran a powerful letter said to be received out of France, containing many news of the great preparations

making in that country against Scotland, with earnest advice to the lords to seek aid of England; "which letter," adds the adroit agent, "I guess to savour too much of Knox's style to come from France, though it will serve to good purpose."

The queen-regent by this time had conveyed all her property out of Holyroodhouse and Edinburgh, into Leith. At last, the Lords of the Congregation, with the Duke of Chatellerault, and his son the Earl of Arran, at their head, marched upon the capital: the regent, with the French and the Scottish lords of the Catholic party who yet adhered to her, withdrew at their approach within the fortified lines of Leith, there to await aid from France. The lords called a parliament, and summoned to Edinburgh all the gentlemen living upon the Borders, upon pain of treason in case of non-attendance. On the 22d of October Balnaves reported that all hope of concord had that day been taken away, by reason that blood had been drawn largely on both sides.' At the same time he pressed for more money, and asked for some English gunpowder. Two days after, the Lords of the Congregation themselves addressed Sadler, telling him that they had deprived the queen-regent of her authority, by common consent of all the lords and barons present at Edinburgh-that they had openly proclaimed her deprivation, had inhibited her officers from executing anything in her name, and had further denounced "her French and assistants" as enemies to the commonwealth. Touching the lords' request for more money and for gunpowder, Sadler replied that he trusted they would consider secrecy above all things-that he did not see how he could send them powder without an open show and manifestation of Elizabéth as an enemy to the French, who were then in peace and amity with her: and yet he adds, if they can devise which way the same may be secretly conveyed unto them, in such sort as it could not be known to come from England, he could be well content that they had as much gunpowder as might be spared from Berwick conveniently. And likewise for money, he was in good hope of having some to send them soon, but he prayed that they would use such precautions and mysteries as the importance of the matter and the honour of Queen Elizabeth required, and be more close and secret in their doings and conferences. Knox, who could rea

1 This blood was drawn in skirmishes outside of the works of Leith. Knox, in his history, says that there was skirmishing, but without great slaughter.

2 In praising himself, Balnaves seems to cast a reflection on his colleagues. He tells Randolph to assure their honours, the English commissioners, in his name, that the little money he

had brought with him had gone farther than £5000 would have gone intrusted to anybody else

[ocr errors]

the siege of Leith, all the charges should be borne for them; and that if they took Leith, in case of the French making any array by sea to invade Scotland, they should be met and hindered if their power appeared greater than the Scottish Protestants could reasonably withstand. Sadler entered completely into these views, and was of opinion that now deception could no longer be practised, by reason of the mischief which had befallen Ormeston. Succour was therefore sent in more boldly to the Lords of the Congregation, who, at last, beleaguered Leith. But in so wretched a state of discipline was this Scottish army, that at every sortie the French took them by surprise, and gained an advantage over them. On the 6th of November the Presbyterians, commanded by the Earl of Arran and the prior of St. Andrews, were surrounded in the marshes of Restalrig, and defeated with some loss by a portion of the French garrison. Their retreat to Edinburgh was nearly cut off, and when they got there they fell to serious debating, the end of which was, that the Earl of Glencairn, with some other lords, resolved to leave the capital in order to collect more men. But, finally, upon perceiving that the greatest part of their force, "which consisted of the commons that were not able to abide and serve any longer upon their own costs and charges," were all departing from them, the whole of the Congregation evacuated Edinburgh, and retreated to Stirling by night. At the latter place Knox finished a sermon which he had commenced at Edinburgh before the departure, and, according to his own account, "the lords were much erected" by it. He was, no doubt, the great animating principle in this remarkable contest: but, while he was preaching at Stirling, the queen-regent and the French re-entered the capital in great triumph. A.D. 1560.

son like a politician, had written to Croft or to Sadler, saying that the queen-regent "had plainly spoken that she knew the means how to frustrate the expectations of aid from England," by delivering up Calais to Queen Elizabeth; and he had evidently expressed himself as if he suspected that the English court was coquetting in that direction. Sir Ralph was very earnest in removing this doubt. He replied, almost eloquently. This letter was written on the 27th of October: on the last day of the same month Sir Ralph addressed Randolph, telling him that he expected every day some good answer from the court touching the money, and that, in the meantime, he forwarded by the Laird of Ormeston £1000 sterling in French crowns. As Ormeston was travelling from Berwick towards Edinburgh, he was set upon by Lord Bothwell, who took the money-bags from him and kept them, apparently for his own use. Ormeston reached the capital "sorely hurt ;" upon which the Earl of Arran and the prior of St. Andrews went with 200 horsemen, 100 footmen, and two pieces of artillery, to Lord Bothwell's house, trusting to have found him; howbeit they came too late only by a quarter of an hour." They, however, took his house and threatened to burn it to the ground, and declared the earl a traitor, unless he returned the money. This loss was a most serious mishap; but though both Elizabeth and her chief adviser Cecil were grieved to the heart by it, they soon sent more money. At the same time Knox (whose Blast of the Trumpel against the Monstrous Regiment of Women always grated harshly on the queen's ear) had excited apprehension, and jealousy, and disgust, at the English court by his advocacy of the Calvinistic discipline, and of political tenets that seemed both republican and democratic. "Of all others," writes Cecil to Sadler, "Knox's name is most odious here, and, Notwithstanding the effective therefore, I wish no mention of him hither."1 preaching of John Knox, and the But Cecil was as deeply convinced as ever of the reviving spirit of the Scottish Protestants, it soon necessity of supporting the Protestant insurrec-became evident that something more must be done tion. "It is here seen," he says, "by such to whom it hath been secretly committed, that the end of this their matter is certainly the beginning of ours, be it weal or woe; and therefore, I see it will follow necessarily that we must have good regard that they quail not." In this letter, which is dated on the 3d of November, he goes much farther than he had hitherto gone, authorizing Sadler to tell the Scottish lords that, if they would forthwith raise a sufficient force, and venture on

Two or three days later, in another letter to Sir Ralph, Cecil says, "Surely I like not Knox's audacity, which also was well tamed in your answer. His writings do no good here; and, therefore, I do rather suppress them, and yet I mean not but

that ye should continue in sending of them." Balnaves also had incurred the suspicion and dislike of Sadler and Cecil, and for the same republican tenets.

for them than the sending of money to the needy nobles; and when Elizabeth learned that the queen-regent was promised fresh supplies and troops from France, she resolved to make such preparations as should prevent the Scots from being crushed. Therefore, without altogether giving up her secret practices, or stopping her private subsidies, she began to prepare a fleet and an army. Her warlike preparations were soon rumoured abroad, and at this moment the French court really made her an offer of the immediate restitution of Calais, provided only she would not interfere in the affairs of Scotland. To this tempting offer Elizabeth replied, that she could never put a fishing-town in competition with the safety of her dominions; and she continued her

preparations, and intimated to the Lords of the Congregation that she was now ready to enter upon a treaty with them. The Scottish lords chose for their negotiator the able William Maitland of Lethington, who had now deserted from his post of secretary to the regent, a step he had been contemplating for some time. If the English queen had any lingering doubts and misgivings as to braving a war, they were soon removed by this truly accomplished diplomatist. On the 27th of February she concluded, at Berwick, a treaty of mutual defence, which was to last during the marriage of the Queen of Scots with the French king, and for a year after; she solemnly promised never to lay down her arms till the French should be entirely driven out of Scotland; and she gave equally solemn assurances that she would not attack the liberties, laws, and usages of the Scots.'

of the French now in Scotland did not exceed 3000 men. An English army, amounting to 6000 men, under the Lord Grey de Wilton, having marched by Berwick to Preston on the 6th of April, 1560, joined a considerable force brought thither by the Lords of the Congregation; and while the fleet blockaded the port of Leith, and prevented the arrival of any succour from France, the united armies of Scotland and England laid siege to the town on the land side. The Marquis d'Elbœuf had embarked for Scotland with a large force, but his transports were scattered by a storm, and either wrecked on the coast of Holland or driven back to France. In this way the English fleet had no opportunity of distinguishing itself in battle. The land troops soon gave glaring proofs that they had in a great degree lost the habit of discipline, and that they were unskilfully commanded. They opened their trenches in ground utterly unfit for the purpose, and their guns were so badly pointed as to make little or no impression on the bastions which the French had thrown up, or on the walls of Leith. Their line of circumvallation was loose and ragged, and so little vigilance was used, that for some time the French broke through it with impunity. It soon appeared that Leith, "though not thought inexpugnable, would percase be found of such strength as would require time, and that the greatest want which the Scottish chieftains did

[ocr errors]

In the month of March, notwithstanding the storms of winter, the English fleet, which consisted of thirteen large ships of war, besides transports, appeared in the Firth of Forth, and at a critical moment, for 4000 Frenchmen, horse and foot, had been detached from Edinburgh and Leith, and were then engaged in ravaging the fertile and Protestant county of Fife. D'Oisel, their general, who had not proceeded unmolested, and who was checked by the appearance on his left flank of numerous Scottish bodies under the prior of St. Andrews, Lord Ruthven, and Kir-fear was lack of money; for, otherwise, they were kaldy of Grange, was transported with joy at the sight of the gallant fleet, which he mistook for the long-promised ships of D'Elbœuf, and he wasted a great deal of valuable gunpowder in firing a salute. But, presently, Winter, the English admiral, hoisted his flag, and at that unwelcome sight D'Oisel turned, and began a difficult and dangerous retreat. He, however, reached Edinburgh, where he found the queen-regent in an alarming state of health. Forseeing the dangers and hardships to which her sinking frame would be exposed in a besieged town, the broken-hearted and dying Mary of Guise implored the Lord Erskine to receive her into the castle of Edinburgh; and his lordship, who still maintained his curious neutrality and independence, granted her an asylum upon condition that she should take only a few attendants into the castle with her. Quitting his royal mistress, his steady and affectionate friend, for ever, D'Oisel threw himself into Leith. That place had been well fortified before, and now he employed a short time allowed him by the enemy in adding to its defences; and, notwithstanding the fact that the English attacked Leith rather like bull-dogs than soldiers, D'Oisel and the French engineers must have evinced very considerable skill. The whole force

Rymer.

of good courage.' This courage, however, had
been damped by sundry suspicions and misgiv
ings. At the very commencement of hostilities,
even while the Scotch and English were en-
gaged with the French, Sir James Croft and
Sir George Howard had an interview with the
queen-regent in Edinburgh Castle. This circum-
stance instantly excited the suspicion of the Lords
of the Congregation, who apprehended that Eli-
zabeth had empowered her diplomatic agents to
make a separate peace, upon conditions advanta-
geous to herself, and that thus the Scottish insur-
gents would be abandoned to the vengeance of
the French and the queen-mother. And we have
very satisfactory evidence to prove that their
fears were not altogether groundless. There
can be little doubt that the selfish and vacil-
lating Duke of Chatellerault and several noble
lords of his party, who were at best but luke-
warm Protestants, would have entered with Eli-
zabeth and the queen-regent into any
able accord" that would have promoted their per-
sonal interests, and that they would have left
John Knox and the Congregation to shift for
themselves: but, most auspiciously for the latter,
Elizabeth's agents, and Mary of Guise, who re-
tained a high spirit even in death, could not

2 Sadler to Cecil.

66

reason

* Burghley Papers.

agree; the treaty in Edinburgh Castle was broken off, and in a few days the English queen resolved that the siege of Leith should be more earnestly prosecuted, and her forces both by sea and land augmented. At the same time the English commanders were instructed not "to contemn or neglect any reasonable offers of agreement" that might be made by the French. But these veterans for a long time had no inclination to make any offers, and they continued to defend Leith with a skill and bravery which gained for them high honour among soldiers in every part of Europe. According to Brantome, a seal was put to a soldier's reputation if he could say that he had served in this gallant defence of Leith.' On the side of the English and Scots the operations advanced very slowly, and their labour was repeatedly rendered of no avail by the ingenuity of the French engineers. At last a bad breach was made, and towards this the English, who at least had lost none of their physical courage, rushed in blind fury, heedless of the well-directed artillery of the enemy: but when they came to use their scalingladders they found them far too short for the purpose, and after a dreadful struggle they were repulsed and obliged to flee to their intrenchments, leaving a ditch half filled with dead-the victims of the ignorance or inconsiderateness of their officers. The English were so much dispirited by their failure on this and other occasions, that they talked of a retreat; but more money was sent down to their Scottish allies, and the Duke of Norfolk, in addition to several smaller bodies despatched already, forwarded a reinforcement of 2000 men. Thus the siege was carried on more closely than ever, or, rather, it was converted into the closest of blockades.

Matters were in this state when, on the 10th of June, the queen-regent breathed her last in Edinburgh Castle. On her death-bed she sent for her daughter's half-brother, the prior of St. Andrews, and some others of the Lords of the Congregation, to whom she earnestly recommended her absent child their queen. The death of Mary of Guise hastened the conclusion of a peace, which, however, the French government was made to desire by other circumstances and alarming demonstrations, which, at the least, threatened France with a fierce civil war. The two brothers of the deceased Queen-regent of Scotland, the Cardinal of Lorraine and the Duke of Guise, who in fact governed the French kingdom in the name of Francis and Mary, had excited the deadly animosity of the French Protestants, and of other great and powerful factions: they had recently discovered an extensive conspiracy directed against the whole house of Lorraine, and though they had prevented its outbreak for the 1 Vies des Grands Capitaines François. VOL II.

present, they well knew that the conspirators would never be reconciled to them. At such a moment they could not spare fresh troops for the very doubtful and expensive struggle in Scotland, and even the veteran force blocked up in Leith was much missed and its return anxiously desired. Elizabeth opened a ready ear to some overtures made by the house of Lorraine, and it was finally agreed that her commissioners should have a meeting with certain French commissioners in the town of Berwick on the 14th of June. The able men appointed by Elizabeth were Cecil and Dr. Wotton, dean of Canterbury; the French negotiators were Montluc, Bishop of Valence, and the Count de Randan, both men of consummate abilities. These diplomatists, who seem to have been very fairly matched, met, and proceeded on the 16th of June to Edinburgh. Several days were consumed in settling conditions; but on the 6th of July, about three o'clock in the afternoon, the Lord Grey de Wilton, Sir William Cecil, and Sir Ralph Sadler, gave orders in the besiegers' camp that there should no piece be shot nor show of hostility be made; and on the following day Sir Francis Leake and Sir Gervase Clifton, accompanied by two French gentlemen, were sent into the town of Leith to signify unto M. d'Oisel, the Bishop of Amiens, La Brosse, Marigny, and other the French lords and captains, that they were come thither by command of the commissioners of France and England to cause the peace already concluded to be proclaimed, which accordingly was done. Leith was then surrendered, and the French governor D'Oisel regaled the captains of the besiegers with a banquet of thirty or forty dishes, in which the only flesh used was that of a salted horse-a circumstance which, as it has been observed, marks national manners and French skill, as well as the extremity to which the place had been reduced."

The treaty, which was the joint production of Cecil and Sadler, was highly advantageous to Elizabeth. Besides Leith, Dunbar and Inchkeith were to be surrendered, and the fortifications destroyed; the administration of affairs in Scotland was to be vested in a council of twelve Scottish noblemen, of whom seven were to be named by the queen, and five by the parliament; no foreign forces were thenceforward to be introduced into Scotland without the full consent and will of the Scottish parliament; an indemnity was stipulated for all things passed in Scotland since March, 1558; and every man was to be restored to the office he held before these hostilities, while no French

2 Walter Scott. Stow says, "Where was prepared for them a

banquet of thirty or forty dishes, and yet not one either of fleah

or fish, saving one of a powdered horse, as was avouched by one that avowed himself to have tasted thereof."

118

man was ever to hold any office in Scotland. On | Sir Ralph Sadler, who was then at Berwick, wrote the subject of religion, the main cause of the late war, it was agreed that the estates of the kingdom should report to Queen Mary and her husband their opinion and their wishes touching that matter. At the same time there was a separate treaty made between France and England, by which France recognized the right of Elizabeth to her crown, and agreed that Mary, in time to come, should neither assume the title nor bear the arms of England.'

The removal of the foreign troops secured the triumphant supremacy of the Protestant party, now the majority of the Scottish nation of all classes, and which henceforward had the field almost entirely to itself.

to Randolph in Scotland, that the King of Sweden
had sent a great ambassador to the queen's ma-
jesty with great and liberal offers, "which you
may be sure," he adds, “will take no place." A few
days after his arrival, Cecil, evidently in amaze,
says,
"We also hear that the Archduke of Aus-
tria is on the way hitherward, not with any
pomp, but rather, as it may seem, by post, in
stealth. The King of Spain is earnest for him.
What may come time will shortly show. I
would to God her majesty had one, and the rest
honourably satisfied." The Duke of Austria did
not come, as was expected; but the King of Den-
mark entered the arena, and being unwilling that
his neighbour and rival, the King of Sweden,
should bear off so glorious a prize, he sent his
nephew, the Duke of Holstein, into England to
try his fortune with this most royal virgin. An
elegant writer' has made a parallel between Eli-
zabeth and the fair and wealthy Portia; but the
queen could hardly exclaim-" While we shut
the gate on one wooer, another knocks at the
door"-for she kept her door open for several
suitors at once, coquetting with Sweden, Den-
mark, and Austria, to say nothing of minor pre-

While the Scottish affairs were as yet unsettled, the English queen's vanity was flattered by another pressing offer of marriage from her old suitor Eric, who had now ascended the throne of Sweden. In his extreme anxiety for this match, Eric sent his own brother, the Duke of Finland, to plead in his behalf. The Duke arrived at Harwich, where he was honourably received, and conducted to London. Those who knew her best, knew well that Elizabeth had never the intention of making any such marriage. | tenders.3

CHAPTER XIV.-CIVIL AND MILITARY HISTORY.-A.D. 1560-1566.

ELIZABETH.

The Scots discard Popery-They establish Protestantism and the Presbyterian church polity-Mary Stuart resolves to return to Scotland-She is refused a safe-conduct by Elizabeth-Mary's arrival in Edinburgh-Her reception-Disturbance in Holyrood Chapel-Mary's interview with John Knox-Dislike of Mary's subjects to her amusements-Knox's republicanism-Poverty of the Scottish Reformed clergy-Knox's rem onstrances on the subject-Increase of Elizabeth's resources-Her jealousy of rivals-She allies herself with the Protestants of the Continent-Huguenot war in France-Elizabeth aids the Huguenots-Again urged by the parliament to marry-New laws in favour of the royal supremacy-Opposition of the Popish party-Laws against witches, &c.-Huguenot war continued in France-Treaty of Catherine de' Medici with the Huguenots-The English garrison in Havre compelled to capitulate-They bring the plague into London-A peace with FranceTroubles of Queen Mary in Scotland-Her progress into the Highlands-Battle of Corrichie-Mary's suitorsElizabeth's duplicity-She proposes the Earl of Leicester as a husband to Mary-Worthless character of Leicester-His favour with Elizabeth-Interview of Mary's ambassador with Leicester-Lord Darnley appears as a suitor of Mary-His relationship to her-His character-Progress of his suit-He is accepted by MaryIntrigues connected with this union—The Protestant lords oppose it-The "Round-about Raid"-Flight of the insurgents into England-Their reception from Elizabeth-Mary's complaints against the Earl of Moray— She joins the Catholic alliance against Protestantism.

[ocr errors]

S soon as the Scots were relieved of, to receive and discuss a petition from the chief the presence of the French army Lords of the Congregation, who required a formal

they proceeded to settle their religion. The parliament assembled on the 1st of August, 1560, in greater numbers than had ever been known before; and their first business was 2 Aikin Mem of Queen Elizabeth.

1 Rymer.

66

3 In the words of Camden, there were not wanting at home some persons who fed themselves (as lovers use to do) with golden dreams of marrying their sovereign;" and he mentions particularly Sir William Pickering, "a gentleman well born, of a narrow estate, but much esteemed for his learning, his handsome way of living, and the management of some embassies into France and Germany;" Henry, Earl of Arundel, a vain, formal man; and Robert Dudley, afterwards the notorions Earl of Leicester.

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »