pline, left their colours, and began to rifle the houses and shops of the citizens. The noise and uproar in the town reached the castle. The earl of Mar sallied out with thirty soldiers; fired briskly upon the enemy, of whom almost none but the officers kept together in a body. The townsmen took arms to assist their governor ; a sudden panic struck the assailants; some fled, some surrendered to their own prisoners, and had not the borderers, who followed Scot, prevented a pursuit, by carrying off all the horses within the place, not a man would have escaped. If the regent had not unfortunately been killed, the loss on the king's side would have been as inconsiderable as the alarm was great. Think on the archbishop of St. Andrew's was the word among the queen's soldiers; and Lennox fell a sacrifice to his memory. The officer to whom he surrendered endeavouring to protect him, lost his own life in his defence. He was slain, according to the general opinion, by command of lord Claud Hamilton. Kirkaldy had the glory of concerting this plan with great secrecy and prudence; but Morton's fortunate obstinacy, and the want of discipline among his own troops, deprived him of success, the only thing wanting to render this equal to the most applauded military enterprises of the kind. As Morton, who commanded the regent's forces, lay at Leith, and Kirkaldy still held out the town and castle of Edinburgh, scarce a day passed without a skirmish. And while both avoided any decisive action, they harassed each other by attacking small parties, beating up quarters, and intercepting convoys. These operations, though little memorable in themselves, kept the passions of both factions in perpetual exercise and agitation, and wrought them up, at last, to a degree of fury which rendered them regardless, not only of the laws of war, but of the principles of humanity. Nor was

it in the field alone, and during the heat of combat, that this implacable rage appeared; both parties hanged the prisoners they took, of whatever rank or quality, without mercy, and without trial. Great numbers suffered in this shocking manner; the unhappy victims were led, by fifties at a time, to exe cution; and it was not till both sides had smarted severely, that they discontinued this barbarous prac tice, so reproachful to the character of the nation. Meanwhile, those in the town and castle, though they had received a supply of money from the duke of Alva, began to suffer for want of provisions. As Morton had destroyed all the mills in the neighbourhood of the city, and had planted small garrisons in all the houses of strength around it, scarcity daily increased. At last all the miseries of famine were felt, and they must have been soon reduced to such extremities, as would have forced them to capitulate, if the English and French ambassadors had not procured a suspension of hostilities between the two parties.

The situation of Mary's adherents gave the regent great advantage in his negotiations. They were now divided into two factions. At the head of the one were Chatelherault and Huntly. Maitland and Kirkaldy were the leaders of the other. Their high rank, their extensive property, and the numbers of their followers, rendered the former considerable. The latter were indebted for their importance to their personal abilities, and to the strength of the castle of Edinburgh, which was in their possession. The regent had no intention to comprehend both in the same treaty; but as he dreaded that the queen's party, if it remained entire, would be able to thwart and embarrass his administration, he resolved to divide and to weaken it by a separate negotiation. He made the first overture to Kirkaldy and his associates, and endea

youred to renew the negotiation with them, which, during the life of his predecessor, had been bro ken off by his own artifices. But Kirkaldy knew Morton's views and system of government to be very different from those of the former regent. Maitland considered him as a personal and implacable enemy. They received repeated assurances of protection from France. And though the siege of Rochelle employed the French arms at that time, the same hopes, which had so often deceived the party, still amused them, and they expected that the obstinacy of the Hugonots would soon be subdued, and that Charles would then be at liberty to act with vigour in Scotland. Meanwhile, a supply of money was sent, and, if the castle could be held out till Whitsunday, effectual aid was promised. Maitland's genius delighted in forming schemes that were enterprising and dangerous; and Kirkaldy possessed the intrepidity necessary for putting them in execution. The castle, they knew, was so situated that it might defy all the regent's power. Elizabeth, they hoped, would not violate the treaty with France, by sending forces to his assistance. And if the

French should be able to land any considerable body of men, it might be possible to deliver the queen from captivity, or at least to balance the influence of France and England in such a manner, as to rescue Scotland from the dishonourable dependence on the latter, under which it had fallen. This splendid, but chimerical project, they preferred to the friendship of Morton. They encouraged the negotiation, however, because it served to gain time; they proposed, for the same purpose, that the whole of the queen's party should be comprehended in it, and that Kirkaldy should retain the command of the castle six months after the treaty was signed. His interest prompted the

regent to reject the former; his penetration suggested the danger of complying with the latter; and all hopes of accommodation vanished.

As soon as the truce expired, Kirkaldy began to fire on the city of Edinburgh, which, by the return of the inhabitants whom he had expelled, was devoted as zealously as ever to the king's cause. The regent having set on foot a treaty with Chatelherault and Huntly, for a reconciliation with them, succeeded in withdrawing them from the interest of the queen. But Kirkaldy, though aban doned by his associates, who neither discovered solicitude, nor made provision for his safety, did not lose courage nor entertain any thoughts of accommodation. Though all Scotland had now submitted to the king, he still resolved to defend the castle in the queen's name, and to wait the arrival of the promised succours. The regent was in want of every necessary thing for carrying on a siege. But Elizabeth, who determined, at any rate, to bring the dissentions in Scotland to a period, before the French could find leisure to take part in the quarrel, soon afforded him sufficient supplies. Sir William Drury marched into Scotland, with fifteen hundred foot, and a considerable train of artillery. The regent joined him with all his forces; and trenches were opened and approaches regularly carried on against the castle. Kirkaldy, though discouraged by the loss of a great sum of money, remitted to him from France, and which fell into the regent's hands, through the treachery of Sir James Balfour, the most corrupt man of that age, defended himself with bravery, augmented by despair. Three-and-thirty days he resisted all the efforts of the Scots and English, who pushed on their attacks with courage and with emulation. Nor did he demand a parly till the fortifications were battered down, and one of the wells in the

castle dried up, and the other choaked with rubbish. Even then, his spirit was unsubdued, and he determined rather to fall gloriously behind the last intrenchment, than to yield to his inveterate enemies. But his garrison was not animated with the same heroic or desperate resolution, and,' rising in a mutiny, forced him to capitulate. He surrendered himself to Drury, who promised, in the name of his mistress, that he should be favourably treated. Together with him, James Kirkaldy, his brother, lord Home, Maitland, Sir Robert Melvil, a few citizens of Edinburgh, and about one hundred and sixty soldiers were made pri

soners.

Kirkaldy and his associates remained in Drury's custody, and were treated by him with great humanity, until the queen of England, whose prisoners they were, should determine their fate. Morton insisted that they should suffer the punishment due to their rebellion and obstinacy; and declared that as long as they were allowed to live, he did not reckon his own person or authority secure ; and Elizabeth, without regarding Drury's honour, or his promises in her name, abandoned them to the regent's disposal. He first confined them to separate prisons; and, soon after, with Elizabeth's consent, condemned Kirkaldy and his brother to be hanged at the cross of Edinburgh.

EARL OF HUNTLY.

GEORGE GORDON, earl of Huntly, having been one of the nobles who conspired against James III. and who raised his son James IV. to the throne, enjoyed a great share in the confidence of that ge

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