the following year he brought the alloy to double the quantity of the silver. To such a despicable condition had he reduced the coinage of the realm, that the shilling fell in value to ninepence, then sixpence; and finally his successors were compelled to withdraw it entirely from circulation. He had, in fact, cheated the nation out of nine-tenths of the whole circulating medium, and had inflicted on the trade of the country the most serious embarrassments.
But whilst he was proceeding in this abandoned course with the coin, the three years for which his supplies had been granted had expired, and he called his most compliant Parliament together in November to grant him fresh aid. The clergy in Convocation voted him fifteen per cent, on their incomes for two years, and Parliament two-tenths and fifteenths. But that did not satisfy him, and the Parliament forthwith granted him all the charities, hospitals, and colleges in the kingdom, accompanied by the most fulsome language, averring that they had always acknowledged him, by the word of God, supreme head of the Church, &c. &c. This was the last grant made to this insatiate monarch. Even so early as the twenty-sixth year of his reign, his expenditure had been calculated from the official documents, and it was clearly shown that he had received more from his subjects than all the taxes imposed by all the previous monarchs of England put together amounted to! That sum, however, enormous as it was, must, before his death, by the receipt of all the monastic property, by fresh loans, benevolences, and the debasement of the coin, have been doubled, or even quadrupled. Perhaps no money was so disgracefully employed, as that which went to corrupt the Scottish nobility, and purchase the murder of those who opposed his designs in that country. In a single entry in 1543, we have the following payments:—To the Earl of Angus, £200; the Earl of Glencairn, 200 marks; the Earl of Cassilis, 200 marks; the Master of Maxwell, £100; Sheriff of Ayr, 100 marks; Laird of Drumlanrig, 100 marks; the Earl of Marshall, John Charters, the friends of Lord Gray in the North, 300 marks; Sir George Douglas and his friends in Lothian and Merse, £200.
Henry, having obtained money, lost no time in prosecuting his designs on Scotland. An army of 30,000 men, under the Earl of Hertford, was ordered to be levied in the border counties, and Sadler, who had made himself well acquainted with Scotland during his very questionable mission there, was appointed treasurer to it. Meantime, Henry was advised by his Scottish friends to try first the force of negotiation. Cassilis was employed to conduct this under the control of Sadler. A convention of the nobles was held at Edinburgh on the 17th of April, 1545; but the tone of Henry savoured too much of his wonted arrogance to weigh much with the Scottish Government, mindful of their recent injuries, expecting troops from France, and a fleet of merchantmen from Denmark, laden with provisions, and engaged in friendly relations with the emperor. Still less was the party of the cardinal disposed to listen to the haughty condescensions of Henry, for it was gaining every day in power, and the cardinal had just received the new dignity of legate à latéré in Scotland. The result was certain. The Convention declared the treaties of peace and marriage with England were at an end; and the offers of assistance from France were cordially accepted.
Cassilis communicated the entire failure of the negotiation to Henry, who, furious to have his proposals thus unceremoniously rejected, ordered instant preparations for war. His malice against Beaton became so rancorous that he encouraged Cassilis to organise a conspiracy for his murder, offering plenty of means of bribery to this diabolical deed. This foul plot, which remained unknown to the historians of the time, both Scotch and English, has, like a host of others equally iniquitous, come to light in our day in the State Paper Office, where the assassins had carefully laid the proofs of their own crimes. The particulars of this transaction are these:—Cassilis wrote to Sadler offering to have the cardinal taken off, "if his majesty would have it done, and promise, when it was done, a reward." Sadler communicated the offer to the Earl of Hertford and the Council of the North, who dispatched it to the king. It was proposed that one Forster, who had recently been a prisoner of war in Scotland, and who could, it was alleged, easily visit Scotland without suspicion, should be sent to consult with Cassilis and his confederates, Angus, Glencairn, Marshall, and Sir George Douglas, the old clique of hardened traitors. The reply received from the Privy Council in London is well worthy of note, for its easy entertainment of the project, and yet for the clear consciousness of its infamy, and the desire to shield the reputation of the king. "His majesty hath willed us to signify unto your lordship, that his highness reputing the fact not meant to be set forward expressly by his majesty, will not seem to have to do in it, and yet not misliking the offer, thinketh good that Mr. Sadler, to whom that letter was addressed, should write to the earl of the receipt of his letter containing such an offer, which he thinketh not convenient to be communicated to the king's majesty. Marry, to write to him what he thinketh of the matter; he shall say, that if he were in the Earl of Cassilis's place, and were as able to do his majesty good service there, as he knoweth him to be, and thinketh a right good will in him to do it, he would surely do what he could for the execution of it, believing verily to do thereby, not only an acceptable service to the king's majesty, but also a special benefit to the kingdom of Scotland, and would trust verily the king's majesty would consider his service in the same, as ye doubt not of his accustomed goodness to those which serve him but he would do the same to him."
Forster was accordingly sent on this business. He arrived at Dalkeith, and had an interview with Sir George Douglas, where he was to meet Angus and Cassilis. He encountered Angus on the way at Dumfries, hunting, who bade Forster welcome, and on pretence of keeping him to hunt, retained him all night, where they had a secret conference, in which Forster declared the precise object of his coming. Angus had sent for Cassilis, who rode all night to the meeting. As the two assassin earls found that Sadler had sent that evasive message, and had fixed no certain reward, they would not speak of the murder, but confined themselves solely to the projects for the planned invasion. On returning, Cassilis gave Forster a letter, written in cypher, to Sadler; and Douglas, be-
