356 KEIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44. passed and no answer came. Argyle withdrew the check which through the Scots of the Isles he had held over Shan O'Neil, and Ireland blazed into fury and madness ; while Argyle himself from that day forward till Mary Stuart's last hopes were scattered at Langside, became the enemy of all which till that hour he had most loved and fought for. Nor was Argyle alone in his anger. Sir James Mel- ville saw the opportunity, and urged on his mistress a politic generosity. From the day of her return from France he showed her that she had ' laboured without effect to sever her nobility from England/ The Queen of England had now done for her what for herself she could not do ; and if she would withdraw her prose- cutions, pardon Murray, pardon Chatelherault, pardon Kirkaldy and Glencairn, she might command their de- votion for ever/ l Melville found an ally where he could have least looked for it to repeat the same advice. Sir Nicholas Throgmorton had for the last six years been at the heart of every Protestant conspiracy in Europe. He it was of whose experienced skill Eliza- beth had availed herself to light the Scotch insurrection. His whole nature revolted against the paltry deception of which he had been made the instrument ; and now throwing himself passionately into the interests of the Queen of Scots, he advised the lords ' to sue for pardon at their own Queen's hands, and engage never to offend her again for the satisfaction of any prince alive ; ' 1 MELVILLE'S Memoirs.
