272 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 65. into their saddles to be ready for the field ; and every- where, even in the Lothians, there were loose gentle- men and their retainers who had no love for the dis- cipline of the Kirk, and had no wish to see the days of Morton come back again. But the confederate Lords were less united than they seemed ; and the secrecy with which Lennox had worked told against him in the suddenness of the emergency. He was himself feeble and frightened ; his friends had no immediate purpose or rallying point. Arran, by far the ablest of them, had not been trusted, and had separate aims of his own. Gowrie and his friends, giving their adversaries credit for more energy than they possessed, carried James at once to Stirling for security. He cried for anger, and refused to eat ; respectfully however he was compelled to sign a proclamation, in which Lennox and Arran were charged. with having conspired to de- stroy religion, to corrupt his own morals, to break the alliance with England, and betray the country to the Pope. 1 Arran for himself protested that he was maligned and slandered, and neither entertained nor ever had en- tertained any of the designs ascribed to him ; Lennox, fearing to be outdone, and false as he was cowardly, protested before God, ' that it never entered his mirid to subvert religion as was falsely alleged upon him God having given him grace to embrace that religion, he would not desist to profess and maintain it.' 2 1 GALDERWOOD. 2 Ibid.
