THE POSITION OF ARCHBISHOP HAMILTON. 89 



The queen-mother, Mary of Guise, was ambitious, 

 and aspired to the regency. James Hamilton, alone, was 

 no match for her arts. He depended for the retaining of 

 his position, and for advice in all emergencies, upon the 

 strong mind of his brother, the archbishop. In addition 

 to his own ecclesiastical affairs, John Hamilton had vir- 

 tually to manage all that was difficult in the affairs of 

 Scotland, and to bring them into accordance with the 

 right sustainment of the interests of his own family. The 

 archbishop's health, however, failed from month to month, 

 and at the end of the year 1551 the attacks of asthma, 

 which recurred every eight days, and lasted on each occa- 

 sion twenty-four hours, had brought him nearly to the 

 point of death. The regent then, missing the support of 

 his strong arm, promised to give up to the queen-mother 

 his difficult position. So stood the affairs of the Hamil- 

 tons when the archbishop's medical adviser recommended 

 that, as they had already sought advice from the phy- 

 sicians in attendance on the Emperor Charles V. and on 

 the King of France, recourse should be had in the next 

 place to Cardan. When Cassanate wrote to Milan, James 

 Hamilton had not committed himself to a promise that he 

 would resign the regency. Before the year was at an end, 

 however, he had made that promise, and it was for the 

 archbishop, if he could regain strength, to prevent him 

 from fulfilling it. In such a crisis it was unsafe for John 



