In May 1515, Albany returned to Scotland, to the great joy of the people, and shortly after assumed the office of regent, with as great devotion to the interests of France as his opponents had shown to those of England. But his want of talent, if not of courage, soon showed itself. English spies and agents filled every corner of the country, and the Douglases and Homes were firm in their opposition.

One of Albany's first measures was to make sure of the persons of Margaret and of the young king and his brother. This the queen-mother prevented by removing with her children from Edinburgh to Stirling, which Ruthven and Borthwick immediately blockaded. Home fled to Newark Castle, and the Earl of Angus retired to his estates and armed his vassals. The queen soon surrendered, and after committing the young princes to the care of the earl-marshal, Albany marched against the insurgents, and took Home's castle. Margaret applied to Lord Dacre, and Home, after receiving assurance of support, seized upon Blacater Tower, about five miles from Berwick, whither the queen soon fled. The regent followed her, and as no assistance came from England, Margaret, Angus, and Home sought refuge at the English court. The last two soon returned and made their peace with Albany; while Henry dictatorially ordered the Scot1516. tish parliament to dismiss the regent. 1516.}

Another insurrection now broke out, headed by Arran, Lennox, and Glencairn: this was speedily crushed, and the turbulent barons were pardoned; but Home and his brother were tried and executed as traitors. To obtain assistance from France, Albany visited that country in 1517, the queenmother being allowed to return to Scotland, and to re-assume the regency. Her desire to establish her husband's authority led to numerous dissensions both domestic and public; and for some time Scotland was almost without a government. The capital was one scene of confusion: its streets were continually disturbed by bloody feuds, which were only terminated by Albany's return in 1521.

It was beyond the power of the regent to reconcile the contending factions, and his intimacy with the queen-mother caused a loud outcry through the country. Wolsey and Henry continued their intrigues in order to perpetuate and increase the confusion, and, in 1522, without any previous declaration of war, the Earl of Shrewsbury marched across the Tweed, penetrating as far as Kelso, and laying waste all

that beautiful district. He was, however, soon driven back into England by the border men of Merse and Teviotdale.

Albany now declared war: 80,000 men crowded round his standard at Annan, and advanced upon Carlisle. But the crafty Dacre arrested their progress, when within five miles of that city, by opening negotiations for peace, and on the 11th of September a truce was concluded which terminated this great expedition, at a time when there were no English troops to oppose it.

9. After the departure of Albany for France in 1522, Scotland was in a very embarrassed state; and Henry, while declaring the war against his nephew to be unnatural, continued to send troops to lay waste Teviotdale and the Merse. In 1523, the regent returned with a body of auxiliaries, upon whom the Scots looked with a jealous eye. His influence, also, with Margaret had been supplanted by another favourite. In October, he marched to the Tweed at the head of 40,000 men; but the advanced state of the season and dissensions among the army compelled him to retreat without having done anything worthy of so great an expedition. In disgust and despair he returned once more to the continent, and fought for Francis I. at the disastrous battle of Pavia.

Margaret now got possession of her son's person, and carrying him to Edinburgh, caused him to be declared of age, and proclaimed king, although at the time he was only twelve years old. Beaton, archbishop of St Andrews, and Dunbar, bishop of Aberdeen, were thrown into prison for their opposition to this ridiculous proceeding. The queen-mother's intrigues soon ruined her party; while her husband Angus, supported by Henry, and aided by the Douglases, seized upon the gov

ernment.

In 1528, King James, eager to free himself from the thraldom of Angus and his faction, escaped from their hands, and threw himself into Stirling Castle, where many powerful noblemen crowded round him. His first free act was a proclamation forbidding Angus or any of the house of Douglas to approach within six miles of the court, and soon after he levied an army and drove them all across the border. To free his country from foreign dictation, he next formed an alliance with the emperor and the French king.

James, unlike his uncle, determined to maintain in Scotland the religion of his fathers, and to effect this the more securely he married the Princess Magdalen, daughter of the French

A. D. king; but in a few months after he became a widower. 1537. His marriage with Mary of Guise was celebrated within a year from the decease of his first wife. This connexion and the disturbances in England confirmed James more than ever in his opposition to all religious reform, and the most stringent measures were taken against the heretics. A fancied insult to Henry led to a war between the two countries, which was principally confined to ravaging the border districts. On the Borough Muir, near Edinburgh, James had assembled an army of 30,000 men, with which he advanced to Fala Muir; but here they refused to proceed any farther and disbanded. To retrieve this disgrace, Lord Maxwell dashed across the border with 10,000 men; but they had no sooner reached English ground at Solway Moss than they mutinied, and fled before a handful of the enemy. This was a death-blow to James: he retired to Falkland, where he shut himself up, sitting for hours without speaking a word. A slow fever preyed upon him, and he died on the 14th of December 1542, seven days after the birth of his unfortunate daughter Mary. With prophetic truth he murmured with his dying breath, "The crown came with a lass, and it will go with a lass."

EXERCISES.

1. When and how was the independence of Scotland established? Mention a romantic incident connected with the heart of Robert the Bruce. Who succeeded him? What was the origin of the house of Stewart? Who became guardian and regent of the kingdom? What was the fate of the Duke of Rothesay?

2. What relation did the Highlands and the Lowlands bear to each other? Who was Donald of the Isles? Where was a great battle fought? What were its effects? What was called the "Foul Raid"? Who succeeded Albany in the regency?

3. In what state did James I. find the country? What did he undertake to do? Describe his proceedings. What did he accomplish in the Highlands? What step did he take against the nobility holding crown lands? 4. What intercourse did Scotland hold with France? What was the conduct of the English government on the occasion? How did James act? Describe the circumstances of his murder.

5. What renders the beginning of the reign of James II. confused? What treachery did Crichton perpetrate? What steps were taken against the factions? When and by whom was Douglas assassinated? How did James II. come by his death?

6. Describe the character of the early part of James the Third's reign. What disgusted the nobility? How did they treat the king's favourites? How were Albany's latter days spent? Who rebelled against James III.? Describe the manner of his death.

7. How did some of the nobility show their opposition to James IV.? What were the plots of Henry VII.? What aid did Perkin Warbeck reteive in Scotland? Whom did James marry? What was expected to ensue

from the alliance? What occasioned a new war? Describe the inroad of the Scots in England and the battle of Flodden?

8. How was the country divided into factions? What interests did they support? Who became regent? What was the conduct of the queen-mother? What was the state of the country? How were its confusions increased? 9. What warlike operations did the regent attempt? Under what circumstances was James V. proclaimed? What was his first act on recovering his freedom? What alliance did he make with a foreign princess? Relate the circumstances which are supposed to have caused his death. What remarkable words did he utter as he was dying?

CHAPTER XIX.

ENGLAND FROM THE ACCESSION OF EDWARD VI. TO THE DEATH OF MARY, A. D. 1547—1558.

Edward VI.-The Protector Somerset-Ecclesiastical Commission of Inquiry-Reforms in Religion-Condition of the Poor-Mendicity ActAgrarian Insurrection-Intrigues of Warwick and Execution of Somerset -Romanist Bishops ejected from their Sees-Northumberland's ambitious Schemes-Mary-Lady Jane Grey-Restoration of the Romish Worship-Marriage with Philip of Spain-Insurrections against the Marriage-Execution of Lady Jane Grey-Reconciliation with the Papal See -Character of Bishop Gardiner-Persecutions-Loss of Calais-England under Mary.

1. EDWARD was only nine years and a few months old when he succeeded his father. Henry had fixed his majority at nineteen, and appointed sixteen executors, assisted by twelve councillors, to administer the government until the king came of age. But the testamentary injunctions of even the most absolute princes are rarely respected after their death. And in a constitutional country it would be remembered that as it was only by act of parliament that his will had any validity, it would depend on the temper and opinions of future parliaments whether it would be followed up. The executors began by substituting the regency of a single individual, and Edward Seymour, earl of Hertford, the king's maternal uncle, was named protector and created Duke of Somerset. Within three months he was invested with the whole regal authority, and became king of England in everything except the name. One of his earliest acts was the invasion of Scotland, an account of which will be given elsewhere.

The protector, who was well inclined towards the reformed

opinions, concerted with Cranmer to uproot the papal religion in England; but as an immense majority of the people still adhered to the old ritual, and were supported by several bishops and many of the new nobility, they resolved to proceed gradually in their operations. By virtue of the legislative power attached to the crown under Henry VIII., Somerset suspended the episcopal authority, and ordered a visitation into every diocese to be held by certain lay and clerical commissioners, who were charged to suppress or modify the ancient ceremonies of the Romish church, and, as far as possible, restore the discipline and worship to the type of the reformed churches. The ministers were, however, forbidden to preach out of their respective parishes. Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, who violently opposed these innovations, was committed to prison on a charge of denying the king's supremacy.

RELIGIOUS REFORMS.-After returning from his Scottish expedition, Somerset called a parliament to repeal certain laws of the last reign, and to complete the work of the reformation which Cranmer and he had begun. The statute of the Six Articles and law of royal proclamations was abolished; private masses were forbidden; communion in both kinds was permitted to the laity; and the power of appointing bishops without the votes of the chapters was conferred upon the king. Lastly, the people were enjoined under severe penalties to acknowledge the religious supremacy of their temporal sovereign, and reject that of the pope. Of his own authority the protector suppressed many practices of the Romish worship, and removed the images and paintings from the churches.

2. CONDITION OF THE POOR.-A curious picture of the age is presented to us by an act passed in this parliament for the suppression of mendicity. All the impotent, maimed, and aged were to have houses provided for them, and be relieved by the willing and charitable dispositions of the parishioners in their respective places of settlement; but the mendicants were treated with a ferocity strongly indicative of the extent of the evil against which this enactment was aimed. Any person found living idly or loiteringly for three days was to be taken before a justice, branded as a vagabond with a hot iron on the breast, and to be handed over for two years as the slave of the informer, who was to give him bread, water, or small drink, along with the refuse of meat, and compel him to work by Scourging and chains. If during this period the slave should abscond, and absent himself during fourteen days, he was to