1585.] THE BOND OF ASSOCIA TION. English buck-hounds were also part of the stipulated price of James's desertion of his mother. They had been forgotten. James asked for them immediately, and Wotton, on his arrival at Edinburgh, was obliged to pretend that they were on the road. They were sent for in haste. ' The King's mind did so run upon them/ Wotton said, ' that their want might breed conceits for the adverse party to work upon.' J The Master of Gray too was particular about the 5000^ If it was not granted, he said ' he would appear a liar ; ' Arran was on the watch to recover his influence, and wanted but matter to work upon ; ' for want of the hounds he would have persuaded the King that all was but words/ 2 There was a plan to get rid of Arran in Scotch fashion. The Master of Gray before he left London had arranged with Leicester to kill him. Elizabeth had suggested something short of this extremity, and Gray had promised that ' he would forbear violence ' unless his own life was in danger. But the step from plotting assassination to executing it was short and often neces- sary. 'Their purpose is altered at her Ma- jesty's request to forbear to deal with violence,' wrote Wotton, ' notwithstanding, upon the least occasion that shall be offered, they mean to make short work with him. The hatred borne him is so general and so great that he cannot long brook the place he holds; only the King's power supports him, and that is not so much as it hath June. 1 "Wotton to Walsingham, May 30 June 9 : MSS. Scotland. 2 Wotton to Walsingham, May 31 June 10 ; Gray to Walsingham, ibid. : MSS. Ibid.
