The conspirators, though only sixteen in number, took possession of the castle, after turning out one by one the cardinal's formidable retinue; and being reinforced by their friends, they prepared themselves for a vigorous defence, and sent a messenger to London, craving assistance from Henry VIII. The death of that prince, which happened soon after, blasted all their hopes. They received, however, during the siege, supplies both of money and provisions from England; and if they had been able to hold out only a few weeks longer, they would have escaped that severe capitulation to which they were reduced, not by the regent alone, but by a body of troops sent to his assistance from France.

Somerset entered Scotland at the head of eighteen thousand men ; while a fleet of sixty sail, one half of which consisted of ships of war, and the other of vessels laden with provisions and military stores, appeared on the coast, in order to second his operations, and supply his army. The earl of Arran, regent of Scotland, had for some time observed this storm gathering, and was prepared to meet it. He had summoned together the whole force of the kingdom; and his army, double in number to that of the enemy, was posted to the greatest advantage on a rising ground, guarded by the banks of the river Eske, a little above Musselburg, when the protector came in view. Alarmed at the sight of a force so formidable, and so happily disposed, Somerset made an overture of peace to the earl of Arran, on conditions very admissible. He offered to withdraw his troops, and compensate the damage he had done by his inroad, provided the Scottish regency would engage to keep their young queen at home, and not to contract her to any foreign prince, until she should arrive to the age of maturity, when she might choose a husband without the consent of her council. But this moderate demand was rejected by the Scottish regent with disdain, and merely on account of its moderation. It was imputed to fear; and Arran, confident of success, was afraid of nothing but the escape of the English army. He

therefore

therefore left his strong camp, as soon as he saw the protector began to move toward the sea, suspecting that he intended to embark on board his fleet; and passing the river Eske, advanced into the plain, and attacked the English army near the village of Pinckey, with no better success than his rashness deserved.

Having drawn up his troops on an eminence, Somerset had now the advantage of ground on his side. The Scottish army consisted chiefly of infantry, whose principal weapon was a long spear, and whose files for that reason were deep and their ranks close. A body so compact and firm easily resisted the attack of the English cavalry, broke them, and drove them off the field. Lord Grey, their commander, was dangerously wounded; lord Edward Seymour, son of the protector, had his horse killed under him, and the royal standard was near falling into the hands of the enemy. But the Scots being galled by the protector's artil lery in front, and by the fire from the ships in flank, while the English archers, and a body of foreign fusiliers, poured in volleys of shot upon them from all quarters, they at last began to give way: the rout became general, and the whole field was soon a scene of confusion, terror, flight, and consternation. The pursuit was long and bloody. Ten thousand of the Scots are said to have fallen, and but a very inconsiderable number of the conquering enemy.

This victory, however, which seemed to threaten Scotland with final subjection, was of no real utility to England. It served only to make the Scots throw themselves inconsiderately into the arms of France, and send their young queen to be educated in that kingdom; a measure universally regarded as a prelude to her marriage with the dauphin, and which effectually disappointed the views of Somerset, and proved the source of Mary's accomplishments as a woman, and of her misfortunes as a queen. The Scottish

6. Patten. Hollingshed

nobles,

nobles in taking this step, hurried away by the violence of resentment, seem to have forgot that zeal for the independency of their crown, which had made them violate their engagements with Henry VIII. and oppose with so much ardour the arms of the protector.

The cabals of the English court obliged the duke of Somerset to return, before he could take any effectual measures for the subjection of Scotland; and the supplies which the Scots received from France, enabled them A. D. 1548.. in a great measure, to expel their invaders, while the protector was employed in re-establishing his authority, and in quelling domestic insurrections. His brother, lord Seymour, a man of insatiable ambition, had married the queen dowagar, and openly aspired at the government of the kingdom. In order to attain this object, he endeavoured to seduce the young king to his interests; found means to hold a private correspondence with him, and publicly decried the protector's administration. He had brought over to his party many of the principal nobility, together with some of the most popular persons of inferior rank; and he had provided arms for ten thousand men, whom it was computed he could muster from among his own domestics and retainers".

Though apprised of all these alarming circumstances, Somerset shewed no inclination to proceed to extremities. He endeavoured by the most friendly expedients, by reason, entreaty, and even by loading Seymour with new favours, to make him desist from such dangerous politics. But finding all his endeavours ineffectual, he began to think of more serious remedies; and the earl of Warwick, who hoped to raise his own fortune on the ruin of both, inflamed the quarrel between the brothers. By his advice lord Seymour was committed to the Tower, attainted of high treason, condemned, and executed.

7. Haynes, p. 105, 106.

8. Burnet, vol. ii.

The

A. D. 1549.

The protector had now leisure to complete the Refor mation, the great work which he had so successfully begun, in conjunction with Cranmer, the primate, and which was now the chief object of concern throughout the nation. A committee of bishops and divines had been appointed by the privy-council to compose a liturgy: they had executed the work committed to them, as already observed, with judgment and moderation; and they not unreasonably flattered themselves, that they had framed a service in which every denomination of Christians might concur. This form of worship, which was nearly the same with that at present authorized by law, was established by parliament in all the churches, and uniformity was ordered to be observed in all the rites and ceremonies9.

Thus, my dear Philip, in the course of a few years, was the Reformation happily completed in England; and its civil and religious consequences have since been deservedly valued. But there is no abuse in society so great, as not to be attended with some advantages; and in the beginning of innovations, the loss of those advantages is always sensibly felt by the bulk of a nation, before it can perceive the benefits resulting from the desirable change.

No institution can be imagined less favourable to the interests of mankind than that of the monastic life; yet was it followed by many effects, which having ceased with the suppression of monasteries, were much regretted by the people of England. The monks, by always residing at their convents, in the centre of their estates, spent their money in the country, and afforded a ready market for commodities. They were also acknowledged to have been in England, what they still are in kingdoms where the Romish religion is established, the best and most indulgent landlords; being limited by the rules of their order to a certain mode of living, and

9. 2 & 3 Edw. VI. cap. 1.

consequently

consequently having fewer motives for extortion than other men. The abbots and priors were besides accustomed to grant leases at an under value, and to receive a present in return. But the abbey-lands fell under different management, when distributed among the principal nobility and gentry; the rents of farms were raised, while the tenants found not the same facility in disposing of the produce. The money was often spent in the capital; and to increase the evil, pasturage in that age being found more profitable than tillage, whole estates were laid waste by inclosure. The farmers, regarded as an useless burden, were expelled their habitations; and the cottagers, deprived even of the commons, on which they had formerly fed their cattle, were reduced to beggary1.

These grievances of the common people occasioned in. surrections in several parts of England; and Somerset, who loved popularity, imprudently encouraged them, by endea vouring to afford that redress which was not in his power. Tranquillity, however, was soon restored to the kingdom, by the vigilance of lord Russel and the earl of Warwick, who cut many of the unhappy malecontents in pieces, and disper sed the rest. But the protector never recovered his authority. The nobility and gentry were in general displeased with the preference which he seemed to have given to the people; and as they ascribed all the insults to which they had been lately exposed, to his procrastination, and to the countenance shewn to the multitude, they apprehended a renewal of the same disorders from his passion for popular fame. His enemies even attempted to turn the rage of the populace against him, by working upon the lower class among the Catholics; and having gained over to their party the lord mayor of London, the lieutenant of the Tower, and many of the great officers of state, they obliged Somerset to resign the protectorship, and committed him to custody. A council of regency was formed, in which the earl of War

10. Strype, vol. ii.