435 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 66. definite engagement in writing ; and experience of her conduct on other occasions was less encouraging than Bowes would have had them believe. He perceived the thing ' to lie coldly on their stomachs/ l and either he or some one else in the secret intimated that the Queen was waiting for them to do something decisive for them- selves. England, he sent them word, could not interpose till there was an open ground for interference, and an open party to be helped. The Queen had sent an army to Berwick to save Morton, but none of the Scots took arms for him, and she was obliged to withdraw with shame. They ought to be up and doing. If they had written to England for advice 'before Davie was slaughtered, or the Queen taken prisoner, neither of those things could have been done,' but the Lords knew
- how well they were taken afterwards.' It was time 'to
draw sword,' and not ' to be hanging on uncertainty.' 2 Translated into plain language, these words meant that the Lords were to venture something decided, at their own risk, and that if they succeeded Elizabeth would accept the benefit of their enterprise. The allu- sion to the capture of the Queen of Scots was an un- happy one, for relieved from danger by the Queen of Scots' deposition, Elizabeth had sought credit with other established governments by threatening to chastise the instruments of it. Morton's skull over the Tolbooth gate was a grinning evidence of the value of these mis- 1 Bowes to Walsingham, April 414: MSS. Scotland. '* Letter endorsed by Burghley, ' Mr Colville ; ' and in another hand, ' Copy of my last letter to Scotland, April 1626 : ' MSS. Scotland.
