replied through his council that it was scarcely safe to put confidence in any men of that nation, with whom he was at war, unless they first proved their sincerity by some signal service. And what was this notable service required? His old design of murdering Cardinal Beaton, to which he now added others. "Advise the Frenchmen," he says, "first to do some notable damage or displeasure to the enemy. … Trapping or killing the cardinal, Lorges, or the governor, or some other man of estimation, whereby it can appear that they bear hearty goodwill to serve; which thing if they have done, your lordship may promise them not only to accept the service, but also to give to them such reward as they shall have good cause to be therewith right well contented."
When Hertford had quitted the country, Arran held a Parliament at Stirling, when Lennox and his brother, the Bishop of Caithness, were impeached and condemned for high treason, and their lands confiscated. The former meeting of the Three Estates had been very slackly attended; this was crowded by the nobles, who, it was too truly said, assembled for land, expecting a share of the great demesnes of Lennox. The Earl of Argyll, who had distinguished himself by adhering to the Government amid general disaffection, received the principal portion, and the Earl of Huntly, who had also been staunch in his support of the Crown, was likewise well rewarded with a share, and received the bishopric of Caithness for his brother.
It was agreed to maintain a body of 2,000 men for the defence of the country, especially the borders. One of these was to be kept at the expense of France; and the cardinal projected a journey to that country with the Commander Lorges, to endeavour to obtain the services of a much larger force. During his absence he proposed that the queen-mother should reside with the queen in his strong castle of St. Andrews, and he sought to gain over Arran to his views more completely by intimating his favour in procuring a marriage betwixt the young queen and his son.
This information was quickly conveyed to Henry by his secret and devoted correspondent, the Laird of Brunston, in a letter dated from Ormiston House, the 6th of October, who added a dark hint that this proposed journey of the cardinal's would be out short, assuring Henry that there never were more gentlemen anxious to do him service than at this moment—in plain English, that Henry's commissioner of murder on the borders, Sir Ralph Sadler, had now a trusty band of hired assassins waiting to take off his victim, the cardinal. We seem to be reading not English, but Venetian history. By other letters to Lord Hertford and the king at Berwick, Brunston entreated to have an interview with Sadler, and also with a member of the Council, but secret, as it might cost him his life and heritage; and stated that his friends were all ready, but that his majesty must state plainly what he wanted them to do, and what they were to have for it. As the king was requested to send his reply to Coldingham, the property of Sir George Douglas, it is pretty certain that Douglas, Angus, Cassilis, and the rest of that traitorous clique, were in this bloody secret.
Whether Brunston had the interview which he desired we are not informed; but the information which he communicated had the most exciting effect on Henry. Lord Maxwell, one of his prisoners, had three castles of singular strength, and of the utmost importance for getting a strong hold of Scotland—Caerlaverock, Lochmaben, and Thrave. Henry demanded the surrender of these as the price of Maxwell's liberty, and as a proof that he belonged to the king's party, which, as a weak and unstable person, he had professed, in order to obtain favour at the hands of his captor. Henry now, on his showing reluctance, threatened to send him to the Tower, and charge him with suspicious conduct. This menace from a man like Henry, whose words were as deadly as daggers, terrified him into the surrender of Caerlaverock, on condition that he should be allowed to return to Scotland. But the cardinal and governor, who seem to have had good and early information of what went on in Henry's Court, forestalled both Maxwell and the king. They attacked and took all the three castles; and Maxwell was taken, with some of his English confederates, and imprisoned at Dumfries.
Defeated in this attempt, Henry still set on foot others, and in particular one for securing the west of Scotland. Donald, Lord of the Isles, who had gone to Ireland to await the junction of Lennox, for a descent on Scotland, was now dead, but his possessions and his antipathy to Scotland had descended to his successor, James Maconnell, Lord of Dunyveg. Lennox now hastened to Ireland to proceed with the expedition in conjunction with Maconnell. He first dispatched his brother, the ex-Bishop of Caithness, to sound the Constable of Dumbarton Castle, Stirling of Glorat, and prepared to follow. On the 17th of November, Lennox and the Earl of Ormond set sail from Dublin with a formidable fleet, carrying 2,000 men, raised by Ormond. Meantime, however, the cardinal, again apprised of these proceedings, attacked the castle of Dumbarton, but not being able to take it, entered into negotiations with Stirling, the constable, and the ex-Bishop of Caithness, and by offering Lennox's brother the bishopric back again, and the constable suitable inducements, won them over, and took possession of the castle. Thus again was Henry's scheme defeated, and Lennox and Ormond directed their course elsewhere. Maconnell of the Isles, disappointed of his junction with this armament, wrote to Henry, proposing that Lennox should proceed to the Isle of Sanda, near Kintyre, where he would join him with all his kinsmen and allies, with his cousin Alane Maclane of Gigha, with the Clanranald, Clancameron, Clankayne, and all of his own clan, north and south. Before Henry had time to embrace this offer, his attention was absorbed by events of extraordinary interest which arose in Scotland.
Notwithstanding the endeavours of Cardinal Beaton, and the apostacy of Arran, the Reformation had now made great progress in Scotland, and it was whilst the struggle was going on betwixt the party of Angus and the party of the cardinal, backed by the money and the arms of England, that there came upon the scene the remarkable preacher, George Wishart. He arrived with the commissioners of Henry in July, 1543, who were sent to negotiate the marriage treaty, and soon made a great sensation. Wishart is supposed to have been the son of a James Wishart of Pitarro, justice-clerk to James V., and he was patronised by John Erskine, the Provost of Montrose. In Montrose he became master of a school, and was
