feeble minority gave encouragement to faction by the hope of impunity. James, who saw the tempest gather, had neglected to provide against its effects his daughter and his kingdom were in despair abandoned to the chances of fortune, without a protector, a guardian, or a guide.

The choice of the nobles at length fell on the earl of Arran, next heir to the queen, whose proximity of blood gave him a title to the regency; a man of mild, unambitious temper, timid and irresolute, with inferior abilities, fitted rather to the enjoyment of private life, than to steer the helm of the state in turbulent times. Scarcely had he taken possession of his new dignity, when a negociation was opened with England, teeming with fatal consequences to himself and the kingdom. Henry VIII. after the death of James, conceived a project of marrying his only son Edward with the infant queen of Scots. To the prisoners taken at Solway he imparted his plan, and gave to them a promise of liberty, on condition that they should aid his designs: on receiving their assent to his proposition, he allowed them to return to Scotland, that by their presence, in the parliament, which the regent had summoned, they might be the better enabled to fulfil their engagement. A cause entrusted to such zealous advocates could scarcely have failed of

success, had the temper of Henry fitted him to improve so favourable an occasion. The designs he had formed upon Scotland, which he had not the dexterity to disguise or conceal, were but too obvious; but when, instead of temporising with the jealousy of the Scots, he demanded that the person of their queen should be immediately committed to his charge, and that the government of the kingdom should, during her minority, be placed in his hands, he at once alarmed and incensed the whole nation.

His conditions were indignantly rejected, and, after some dark and unsuccessful intrigues, he was compelled to make concessions; to consent that the queen should, till she was ten years of age, continue in Scotland, and that he should himself be excluded from any share in the management of the state. The treaty was still so advantageous to England, that the regent by agreeing to it lost much of the public confidence. His enemies, by complaining that the kingdom was about to be degraded into a province of England, and that the true catholic faith would be extinguished under the tyranny of an excommunicated heretic, addressed themselves to the prejudices and the passions of the people. Animated by the pride of independence, and the dread of innova

tion, the nation declared against the alliance. The regent, nevertheless, with an irresolution characteristic of a weak mind, ratified on the 25th of August the treaty with Henry: on the 3d of September he withdrew from Edinburgh, met the adverse party, renounced the friendship of England, and declared for the interest of France.

Henry, to gain the regent, had not been sparing of magnificent promises, but, on finding his influence less than he had been willing to believe, he no longer treated him with the same respect. The person of the young queen was in the custody of his adversaries, who increased daily in numbers and popularity. They formed, at Stirling, a separate court, and talked of electing another regent. The French king was ready to afford them protection, and the nation, through hatred of the English, would have united in their defence. Thus circumstanced, the earl of Arran was compelled to change his measures, and to go over to the side of the triumphant party. Henry was not of a temper to submit tamely to the indignity he had suffered. A considerable body of troops, destined for France, received his orders to sail for Scotland. Having landed near Leith, and made themselves masters of the place, they marched directly to Edinburgh, entered it with equal ease, set fire to the town, plundered the adjacent country, and,

on the approach of some troops collected hastily by the regent, retreated with their booty on board their fleet, and regained in safety the English coast. This piratical expedition, attended with but little advantage, served but to complete the disgust of the Scots, and to alienate them. wholly from England. Hostilities were for a short time continued by both nations, with but little effect, till an end was put to this war of skirmishes by a peace in which France was included.

Henry had not yet relinquished his purpose of the union, to accomplish which he had chosen such rough methods. He was preparing to renew his proposals, when death put a sudden stop to his projects. During the minority of his son Edward, the ministers who had the principal direction of affairs conducted themselves with respect to Scotland upon the principles of their late master: without address to bring about the treaty they were earnest to effect, they determined to terrify the Scots into their measures. the beginning of September, an army of eighteen thousand men, supported by a fleet of sixty sail, appeared on the borders of Scotland. The nation was not unprepared for this event, which it had for some time past foreseen. The

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famous battle of Pinkey followed, so fatal to the Scottish army; more than ten thousand men fell on the plain, while the rout of the remainder was irretrievable and complete. This victory, however great, proved but little serviceable to the English, who wanted skill or leisure to improve their advantage. The Scots were by every new injury rendered yet more averse to the desired union, and precipitated into engagements with France. While the English wasted their treasure and their strength, the French reaped all the benefit. In an assembly of the nobles, that met at Stirling to consult on the situation of affairs, all eyes were turned towards France for aid and protection. In the violence of their resentment, and the smart of recent sufferings, they forgot their zeal for the independence of their country, which had prompted them to reject the rough wooing of Henry, and, by voluntarily offering their queen in marriage to the dauphin of France, to the court of which they proposed immediately to send her, granted from revenge what no feebler motive had been able to extort from them. An offer so flattering and advantageous was not to be rejected by France : the French monarch acceded without hesitation to the proposition of the Scottish embassadors,