fate to be almost constantly over-reached by her less scrupulous opponents. The Regent availed himself of the respite thus obtained to crush all who opposed him in the Lowlands, ravaging their estates with fire and sword.

10th October, 1568. A Commission, for the trial of the guilt or innocence of the Scottish Queen, met at York, and was transferred to Westminster: wherein Murray, after many fears and misgivings, ventured publicly to accuse his sovereign of the murder of her husband, and produced in evidence certain letters and sonnets, said to have been written by Mary to Bothwell. To this charge Mary's Commissioners gave in an indignant denial, and claimed that their mistress should be confronted with her accusers, and heard in her defence. This was refused, and after the Commission had sat for several months, the following extraordinary deliverance was pronounced by Elizabeth. She said she had not found that Murray or his party had been guilty of any offence against their sovereign; neither had any evidence been produced tending to prejudice the character of the Queen of Scots.12th January, 1569.

Murray returned to his government in Scotland, where he displayed much talent, activity, and vigour, in opposing the powerful party of the Queen: neither was he deficient in the arts of cunning and address. He inveigled and arrested the Duke of Chatelherault and Lord Herries, intimidated Huntly and Argyle into submission, invited Lethington to leave his retreat in Athol and assist him in the government; which invitation Lethington had no sooner complied with, than he was accused of the murder of the King, and placed in confinement. He was rescued, however, by Kirkaldy of Grange, who took him to the Castle of Edinburgh-a fortress which Kirkaldy held for the Queen.

The Earl of Northumberland had rebelled against his sovereign, and, being defeated, took refuge in Scotland, where he was detained a prisoner in Lochleven Castle. Murray was in general honourable, and he at first firmly resisted all the solicitations of Elizabeth to deliver up the prisoner. His incurable ambition, however, and his fears lest his injured sister should ever recover her authority,

were too strong for his honour: he at last offered to deliver up the Earl to Elizabeth for execution, provided she would place the Queen of Scots in his hands. This scheme upon the life of his sovereign was arrested by an event which put a period to his own.

James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh had been taken prisoner at the battle of Langside. His estates being forfeited for this crime, his wife retired to a property of her own; from which, however, she was expelled at midnight, by the Justice Clerk to whom a grant of the lands had been given, and was found next morning in the woods, raving mad. Hamilton vowed vengeance against the Regent, as the author of this atrocity. Under the influence of blind passion he forgot that he owed his life to the clemency of the man whose destruction he now plotted. Having taken his post in a house in Linlithgow, he watched the Regent on his return from Stirling to Edinburgh, and as he rode slowly through the town in the midst of a large retinue, he took aim, and shot him through the body.-February, 1570.

Thus perished, in the prime of life, the celebrated Regent Murray, a man whose high qualities had rendered him, even when a youth, the leader of the Reformed party in Scotland. His military and political talents have been justly admired his private life is admitted to have been irreproachable and if his public character was not free from blemishes, it ought to be borne in mind that the Popish intrigues he had to encounter were of the most daring and unscrupulous character, and would have been but feebly met by the innocence of the dove, if unaccompanied by the wisdom of the serpent. His resolute attachment to the principles of the Reformation, notwithstanding the tempting offers held out to seduce him from his party-the devotion of his high talents to the great cause of Religious Liberty-and his strenuous and welldirected efforts to tranquillize the kingdom during his brief administration-have, notwithstanding some faults, embalmed the memory of "The Good Regent" in the hearts of his grateful countrymen.

IX.-Regencies of Lennox, Mar, and Morton
1570-1581.

THE death of the Regent Murray animated the Queen's party, who, making head in all parts of the country, appear at this time to have greatly outnumbered their opponents, and, but for the aid given by Elizabeth to the other party, would in all probability have triumphed. Lennox was chosen Regent, and the war was carried on with unusual ferocity on both sides. Captain Crawford of Jordanhill, with a gallantry that has few parallels in history, surprised the strong Castle of Dumbarton, which had all along been held by Lord Fleming for the Queen. The Archbishop of St Andrews, being taken in the Castle, was, after a hurried trial, executed for being concerned in the murder of the late Regent. This was a beginning of that atrocious system of hanging, as traitors, whatever prisoners fell into the hands of either faction. The country was now in the most deplorable condition : every town and almost every village was divided into hostile factions of Queen's men and King's men: prisoners were hanged up by forties and fifties at a time; and even market-women were scourged or executed for selling provisions to the opposite party.

The Regent held a parliament at Stirling, and Kirkaldy of Grange planned a daring enterprise, by which he might take prisoners all the leading men of the King's party, and thus finish the war by a single blow. Buc. cleuch and Claud Hamilton, with three hundred men, made a rapid march during night to Stirling, which they entered by a private gateway at dawn. They immediately broke open the nobleman's houses, and took prisoners the Regent, Glencairn, Argyle, Eglinton, Cassilis, Montrose, Buchan, and many others. But Morton having defended himself till his house was set on fire, gave time for Mar to sally from the Castle, and alarm the townsmen. Had the borderers not dispersed to plunder, their triumph would have been complete. Seeing themselves about to be overpowered, they shot the Regent, and retreated to Edinburgh.-4th September, 1571.

Mar was now chosen Regent, and the war continued with unmitigated ferocity, till the following summer, when the Queen's party having again acquired the preponderance, and reduced the greater portion of the country to her authority, Elizabeth had once more recourse to art. She induced the Queen's friends to agree to a cessation of hostilities, promising that all differences should be honourably adjusted. Kirkaldy and Lethington might by this time have known the value of such promises.

The Duke of Norfolk, detected in an intrigue for marrying the Scottish Queen, had been recently executed in England. And at this moment, Killigrew, a secret agent of Elizabeth, was in Scotland, negotiating a treaty with the Regent, whereby Elizabeth agreed to deliver Mary into his hands, upon condition that she should be put to death within four hours after she had set foot on Scottish ground.* To these bloody terms Mar at first demurred, but his scruples were overcome by the more sanguinary Morton; and the accomplishment of the nefa rious treaty was only prevented by the death of the Regent, who expired suddenly at Stirling, on the 28th of October 1572.

Morton was elected Regent on the 21st of November: and on the same day died John Knox, a man remarkable alike for unwearied zeal, intrepid courage, and overpowering eloquence. If his character partook of the sternness of the times, we must remember that the rough materials he had to deal with could not have been moulded by gentler hands. It is no small part of his praise that his integrity was in every respect unimpeachable; he was actuated throughout by a pure regard to the cause of truth, and a sense of the duty he owed to God: whereas many of those who were loud and vehement on the same side were influenced by motives of interest or ambition. His brilliant and successful efforts in the cause of Protestantism have justly entitled him to the appellation of the Father of the Reformation in Scotland.

*This infamous proposal, unknown to our former historians, has been brought to light by the research of Mr Tytler, who found in the State Paper Office, London, documents still existing, which es tablish the matter beyond a doubt. See Appendix to Tytler's History, vol. vii.

The Earl of Northumberland, still a prisoner in Lochleven Castle, had afforded an asylum to Morton during his exile after the murder of Rizzio; but no sentiment of gratitude prevented this unprincipled man from delivering up for gold, the unhappy captive to Elizabeth, who executed him at York. Morton, assisted by an English, force under Sir William Drury, now laid siege to Edinburgh Castle; and after some of the fortifications had been battered down, Kirkaldy offered to capitulate upon terms, but Morton would hear of nothing but an unconditional surrender. Kirkaldy and Lethington had the address to invite Drury into the Castle at night, and through him they surrendered themselves prisoners to the Queen of England. This princess, never scrupulous on points of honour, delivered up the prisoners to the Regent. Kirkaldy was executed, and Lethington died in prison. This gave the finishing blow to the cause of Mary in Scotland.

Morton's Regency of nine years was disgraced by so much cruelty and avarice, that when, undermined in the favour of the boy-King, he fell from his power in 1581, and was publicly executed on a charge of being concerned in the King's murder, his fate was a subject of joy to almost all parties.

X.-James VI.-1581-1603.

FROM the imprisonment of Mary in 1567, the government had been carried on in the name of James VI.; and on the fall of Morton the young King, now fifteen years of age, took the administration of affairs into his own hands. James's weakness was attachment to favourites; and Esme Stewart, whom he had created Duke of Lennox, and Captain James Stewart, on whom he had be stowed the Earldom of Arran, were his chief favourites and Ministers.

In 1583, the Earls of Mar and Gowrie, with the Lords Oliphant, Boyd, and Lindsay, seized the King's person, and kept him a prisoner at Ruthven Castle, administering