598 



SCOTLAND. 



History. ants fl e j to Scotland, where they found a milder go- 

 Wy*-' vernment; and they filled the whole kingdom with 

 just horror against the cruelties of the catholics. 



Other circumstances which contributed to overturn 

 the catholic church, were the writings of the poets and 

 satirists of the age. In these, the ignorance, the ne- 

 gligence, and the immorality of the clergy, were stig- 

 matized ; and they were read with avidity, notwith- 

 standing prohibitory statutes and prosecutions. The 

 catholics, lulled to sleep by indolence and security, were 

 awakened only by the crash of their decayed and fall- 

 ing system. In a convention held at Edinburgh, an 

 ineffectual motion was made for correcting the abuses 

 of the church ; and four years after, fifty-seven canons 

 were enacted for reforming the corruption of the cler- 

 gy, and for introducing learning into the ecclesiastical 

 estate. 



The last provincial council was held at Edinburgh 

 in 1558, and continued a year. To this assembly 

 were presented by the chiefs of the congregation, the 

 preliminary articles of Reformation ; and the council 

 separated to meet no more. 



A.D. 1542. Mary, the infant daughter of James, had succeeded 

 to his kingdom and misfortunes. An unnecessary and 

 unsuccessful war with England had dispirited the na- 

 tion ; and Henry the Eighth was stimulated with the 

 glory of adding Scotland to his dominions. Cardinal 

 Beaton produced a forged testamentary deed, in which 

 he was nominated regent of the kingdom, but the no- 

 bility and the people called in question the genuine- 

 ness of the deed ; and Beaton was degraded and re- 

 placed by James Hamilton, earl of Arran. 



No sooner was Henry apprized of his nephew's 

 death, than he projected the scheme of uniting the 

 sister kingdoms by the marriage of his son Edward to 

 the princess Mary. 



A negotiation was immediately begun, and a con- 

 vention of the estates was called, which seemed favour- 

 ably inclined to the proposed marriage; but they 

 rejected the conditions with scorn. 



Sir Ralph Sadler, the English envoy, used all the 

 arts of a skilful statesman to accomplish his master's 

 purpose. Articles of agreement were drawn up ; the 

 regent solemnly swore to observe them, and com- 

 manded the great seal of Scotland to be affixed to the 

 treaty. 



Cardinal Beaton, having regained his liberty, assem- 

 bled the most considerable ecclesiastics, represented to 

 them the danger to which they were exposed ; and 

 obtained from them a large sum of money for over- 

 turning the schemes of their enemies. A rash measure 

 of the English monarch contributed to disaffect the 

 Scots to an alliance with England. Henry ordered 

 some Scottish vessels to be seized, and condemned as 

 lawful prizes, pretending that they carried provisions 

 for his enemies. The Scots expressed their resent- 

 ment. The authority of the regent rapidly declined ; 

 Argyll, Huntly, Bothwell, and Murray, openly assist- 

 ed the cardinal to collect troops, by whose means he 

 seized the queen dowager and the infant princess. 

 The earl of Lennox, the enemy of Arran, returned at 

 the same time from France, and the regent became 

 jealous of his growing influence. 



That suspicion was artfully heightened by the abbot 

 of Paisley. Devoted to Beaton and the catholic church, 

 he speedily effected a change in the regent's intentions 

 towards England ; and in ten days after he had sworn 

 to observe the treaty, he declared for the interest of 

 France, and also publicly renounced the doctrine of 



6 



the reformers. Beaton thus assumed the supreme History. 

 power, and exercised all the authority of the regent. v s^y-^ 

 When the day for the delivery of hostages arrived, 

 agreeably to the late treaty, the English envoy was 

 informed that the wishes of the nation were changed. 

 The nobles who had returned from London were then 

 summoned to return; but none of them complied except 

 the earl of Cassillis. The earl of Lennox had been 

 treated by Beaton with coldness and neglect. He 

 therefore withdrew, and declared for the English fac- 

 tion. The regent was now at the head of the catho- 

 lics, and Lennox was the leader of the reformers and 

 the partisans of England. By a sudden march to 

 Edinburgh, he surprised the leaders of the opposite 

 party, but suffered himself to be amused by the car- 

 dinal until many of his followers dispersed ; the rem- 

 nant having been attacked and routed. 



Henry now equipped a fleet with ten thousand men 

 to invade Scotland, and they were disembarked near 

 Leith, plundering that town, burning the metropolis, 

 Haddington and Dunbar. 



Unable to resist the regent, the cardinal retired to 

 Stirling castle, and Lennox fled to England. During 

 the two succeeding years the war was conducted with- 

 out any decisive effect, and a peace was then conclud- 

 ed. Cardinal Beaton was shortly after murdered at St. 

 Andrews; revenge for the death of George Wishart be- 

 ing the ostensible, though not the real cause. 



The castle of St Andrews was retained by the friends A.D. 1546 

 of Leslie, who prepared to defend themselves. They 

 despatched messengers to London, and Henry pro- 

 mised to take them under his protection, notwithstand- 

 ing he had recently concluded a peace with Scotland. 

 The regent Arran threatened Leslie and his associates 

 with severe punishment, which he was unable to in- 

 flict, and this fortress resisted all his power for five 

 months. John Knox, with Sir David Lindsay, and 

 John Rough, a protestant preacher, retired to tbe 

 castle in the following year, and began to preach 

 against the errors of popery, defending his tenets with 

 learning and address. But a French fleet attacked the 

 castle of St. Andrews by sea, while a body of troops 

 assailed it by land, and the besieged were forced to 

 surrender. But the capitulation was violated, and 

 Knox was chained as a felon on board a French galley. 

 After a captivity of nineteen months, he was liberated, 

 and repaired to England, where Cranmer was advanc- 

 ing the cause of the Reformation. Knox was appoint- 

 ed one of Edward's chaplains, and assisted in composing 

 and compiling the book of Common Prayer. 



Agreeably to the recommendation of Henry, the Battk of 

 protector of England levied an army, entered Scotland, Pinkey. 

 and advanced towards Edinburgh. The Scottish army 

 was nearly double that of the enemy, and was posted 

 on a rising ground above Musselburgh. The English 

 general would willingly have extricated himself by 

 negotiation ; but the Scots became impatient for ac- 

 tion, left their camp, and descended into the plain. 

 Thus they forfeited the advantages in their possession, 

 and in a very short time the rout became universal and 

 irretrievable. Above ten thousand men fell on this A.D. 1547. 

 day, while the English lost only two hundred. Such 

 was the battle of Pinkey. 



The regent and queen dowager fled to Stirling ; but 

 Somerset, impatient to return home, received the sub- 

 mission of some counties and retired to England. 



The queen dowager, conceiving the design of ob- 

 taining the regency, resolved to form new engage- 

 ments with that country. The ambassadors were in- 



