The result was, that one day in August 1524 the king was conveyed from Stirling Castle and entered Edinburgh in somewhat of a triumphal fashion, attended by his mother, and those lords who specially desired to be committed to the affair. He publicly took his place at the head of the assemblage, with "sceptre, crown, and sword of honour," in the old Tolbooth. This event was called, in the diplomatic correspondence of the time, "The Erection." It effected little more than a change of residence to the royal boy, who was but twelve years old; but it was in reality a revolution, since it gave occasion for superseding the regency of Albany, and might prove a blow to the French party. A considerable body of the leaders in the Estates signed a bond to stand by the young king and the Erection. In November the affair was confirmed and put in shape by Act of Parliament. It was declared concerning John, Duke of Albany, "that he had not returned on the expiry of his leave of absence to resume his office of

and good means, do surely send unto the same young king the sum of one thousand nobles, and to the said Queen of Scots the sum of two hundred merks, and to the said Earl of Arran the sum of one hundred pounds, showing unto them that it is but a commencement and beginning for demonstration of the king's entire mind in the premises. And his grace will also send with diligence to the said young king some clothes of gold and silk for a remembrance, besides daily presents and gratuities that shall come hereafter. Ascertaining you that proceeding undelayedly to this erection, without abiding counsel, ceremony, or advice, which may be the total disappointment of all the enterprise, they shall lack no money or other thing; like as the king's pleasure is that ye shall by your discretion." Further: "And as it should seem, by the letters of the Queen of Scots now sent, the Earls of Arran and Lennox hath been very diligent herein, and hath deserved great thank and reward, wherefore it is the king's pleasure that ye not only give unto the said Earl of Lennox a competent reward after his deserts, but also, if ye shall think the hundred pounds assigned to the Earl of Arran to be too little, ye do increase it to a greater sum, as by your discretion shall be thought convenient. For now in this beginning one groat well employed shall be to better purpose than twenty hereafter; and upon demonstration of liberality at the beginning they shall be in the better hope and the gladder to continue in their good minds."- Wolsey to Norfolk, State Papers (Henry VIII.), iv. 90, 91,

tutory, but had abused and neglected the same, to the great hurt and scaith of our sovereign lord and his subjects; wherefore it is statute and ordained that our said sovereign lord shall use and exercise his own authority, and have the full use and governance of his realm, lieges, and subjects in time to come, by advice of his said dearest mother the queen's grace, and lords of his council."1

The matter was explained to the King of France in "honest letters," as the Estates termed them; and a becoming epistle from the young king full of gratitude was signed by him and sent to his uncle, Henry VIII.

1 Act. Parl., ii. 286.

MENACING

JAMES V.

(Continued.)

ATTITUDE OF ENGLAND — MISSION OF RADCLIFFE AND MAGNUS TO SCOTLAND-THEIR EQUIVOCAL POSITION-AN EMBASSY FROM SCOTLAND DESIRED IN RETURN THE YOUNG KING - THE FRENCH PARTY - UNPOPULARITY OF THE ENGLISH EMISSARIES TREATY WITH ENGLAND-TAMPERINGS WITH THE NATIONAL PRIDE -THE QUEEN-DOWAGER'S DOINGS AGAIN-ANGUS RETURNS FROM ENGLAND-HIS STRUGGLE FOR POWER-HIS SUCCESS-GETS POSSESSION OF THE KING-THE KING RELEASED-WAR WITH ANGUS-HIS FALL-PARLIAMENTARY FORFEITURES-ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRSMARTYRDOM OF PATRICK HAMILTON-CONFLICT WITH THE BORDERERS-POWER AND INFLUENCE OF THE ARMSTRONGS -THEIR TREATMENT-ITS BAD EFFECT ON THE CONDITION OF THE BORDERS -THE WESTERN HIGHLANDS AND ARGYLE-ATTACKS ON THE ARISTOCRATIC HOUSES-ANGUS AND OTHERS BECOME ADHERENTS OF ENGLAND-THEIR PLOTS AND PROMISES-INVASION OF NORTHUMBERLAND-NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE WITH ENGLAND-DIfficulTIES-NATIONAL PRIDE AND FRENGH INFLUENCE-COMPLETION OF THE PEACE.

THAT the revolution which had just been accomplished boded no good for Scotland is rendered all too clear by the satisfaction with which it was received in England. Wolsey, looking upon it as his own handiwork, pronounced it good, expressing his own and the king's high approval of every stage of the transaction, in that copious and clear eloquence of which he was a master.1 King Henry con

1 He writes to Norfolk: "I have received your letters, dated at Berwick the 7th day of this instant month, with sundry letters, articles, and other writings sent unto you from the Queen of Scots, a letter of

tinued to be liberal to those who had helped in the Erection and were likely to support it. He amply supplied the demands of his greedy and extravagant sister. He supported also 200 men-at-arms to act as a body-guard to his nephew-that, Queen Margaret said, did her and her son great pleasure and profit, preventing evil being done that otherwise would have been done.1

While Scotland remained the ally of France, all these transactions were yet but a means to a farther end, which Wolsey, in his clear emphatic way, calls "the exclusion of the Duke of Albany and the French faction, and the training of the realm unto the amity of England." This object was sedulously followed up, and the great cardinal made himself so busy about it, that, had he nothing else on his hands, his Scots correspondence alone would stamp him as a hard worker. At this distance we can in many instances only judge of the importance of some of the points by the extreme anxiety of Wolsey and other great statesmen to carry them. The aspect of England was still that

the young King of Scots directed unto the king's highness, and one to you from the Earl of Arran, with the copies of certain answers by you made to the said queen. All which I have showed, read, an 1 declared unto the king's grace, who, I assure you, taketh right acceptably and thankfully the kind and loving letter of his dearest nephew, the said young king, being so well couched, and to so good purpose, that verily it hath much confirmed the king's tender and benevolent mind towards him. His grace and I like well also the instrument of the faithful promise and oath made unto the said young king by sundry of his lords and other noblemen, spiritual and temporal, from the which none of them can decline without their extreme dishonour, shame, and reproach; perceiving well that the Queen of Scots hath very discreetly, prudently, and substantially acquitted herself herein; for the which she deserveth great laud and thank, like as both the king's highness and I, by our letters sent unto her at this time, the copies whereof ye shall receive herewith, do give her thanks accordingiy. Which letters, with others such as be now also sent, that is to say, one from the king's grace to the King of Scots, another to the lords spiritual and temporal of Scotland that have taken the queen's part in this Erection, and one of mine to the Chancellor of Scotland; the copies whereof, with an answer subscribed by me to the Queen of Scots' said articles, I also send unto you herewith, shall be a good riping and information to you for knowledge of the king's mind and pleasure in those affairs.”—State Papers (Henry VIII.), iv. 104, 105. 1 Ibid., 115.

of threat.

There was no peace, not even a continuation of the truces. The "abstinence from war' was merely continued by renewals, generally lasting for a few weeks at a time. But it was earnestly desired on the part of England that a solemn embassy to treat of peace should come from Scotland. On the side of England there is a kind of irritable anxiety that this embassy should come, and a chafing at several things that appeared to interrupt it. Among these, for instance, was a threat by Queen Margaret, that if her husband Angus were let loose upon her she would hinder the mission of the embassy; while from the other side there was a retaliating threat that if the Earl of Arran continued to put interruptions in the way of the embassy, Angus would not only go to Scotland, but take with him an English force.1 Then came threats that if the ambassadors are not sent, King Henry will not renew the abstinence from war-in short, the Scots were to be cajoled or forced into an act which is supposed to take all its significance from its being a matter of spontaneous courtesy.2

Wolsey gives us traces of a curious subtle policy about this embassy. Two Englishmen were sent to wait on the borders for orders to take service in Scotland. Their names were Magnus and Radcliffe. Magnus, who was in priest's orders, was the real agent, the other merely his assistant. Both were trained to diplomacy, and men of ability; and though they were gentlemen, they were not of the class from which ambassadors would be chosen. These men were to remain on the English side of the border, and when the embassy from Scotland passed them on its way to London, then, and strictly not till then, they were to pass to Edinburgh and present their credentials as representing the Court of England. Yet they were not to hold rank as ambassadors; and the winning of the small game played by the cardinal was to be in this, that Scotland sent ambassadors to England, but England did not pay the same compliment to Scotland. We shall see that the cardinal was outwitted in this, probably by his subtle 2 Ibid., 200.

1 State Papers (Henry VIII.), iv. 183 and 196.