Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 3.djvu/95

Rh horse that came into the market, upon which, and behind the horsemen, they were all mounted. In this manner they left Edinburgh on the evening of the 3d of September, 1571. Taking an opposite direction till they were fairly quit of the town, they marched straight for Stirling, where they arrived at three o'clock in the morning, and reached the market place without so much as a dog lifting its voice against them. They had for their guide George Bell, a native of Stirling, who knew every individual lodging and stable within it, and his first care was to point them all out, that men might be stationed at them, to force up doors and bring forth the prisoners out of the lodgings, and horses from the stables. The footmen were placed in the streets by bands, with orders to shoot every person belonging to the town, without distinction, who might come in their way. The stables were instantly cleared, (for the greater part of the invaders belonged to the borders, and were excellently well acquainted with carrying off prizes in the dark,) and the finest horses of the nobility were collected at the east port. The prisoners too had been mostly seized, and were already in the streets, ready to be led away, for they were not to be put to death till they were all assembled outside the town wall. Morton, however, happened to be in a strong house, and with his servants made such a desperate resistance that the enemy could only obtain entrance by setting it on fire. After a number of his servants had been killed, he made his escape through the flames and surrendered himself prisoner to his relation the laird of Buccleuch. The regent too was secured and the retreat sounded, but the merchants' shops had attracted the borderers, and they could not on the instant be recalled from their ordinary vocation, till Erskine of Marr, who commanded the castle, issued out with a body of musqueteers, which he placed in an unfinished house that commanded the market place, and which, from its being empty, the marauders had neglected to occupy. From this commanding station he annoyed them so grievously that they fled in confusion, and in the narrow-lane leading to the gate trode down one another, so that had there been any tolerable number to join in the pursuit, not one of them could have escaped. The inhabitants of the town, however, were fast assembling, and the invaders were under the necessity of quitting their prisoners or of being instantly cut to pieces. Those who had taken Alexander earl of Glencairn and James earl of Morton, were fain, for the saving of their lives, to deliver themselves up to their prisoners; and captain Calder, seeing the day lost, shot the regent, who was in the hands of Spence of Wormeston. Wormeston had already received two wounds in defending his prisoner, and now he was slain outright. Two of these who had struck at the regent and wounded him after being taken, not being able to escape to their friends, were seized and hanged. The pursuit was however prevented, by the thieves of Teviotdale having in the beginning of the affair carried off all the horses, so that those who once got clear of the gate had no difficulty in escaping. There were in Stirling at this time with the regent, Morton, Argyle, Cassillis, Glencairn, Eglinton, Montrose, Buchan, Ruthven, Glamis, Sempill, Ochiltree, Cathcart, and Methven, all of whom, had the plot succeeded, would have been either killed or made prisoners. The regent died the same night, and Marr succeeded him in his office, though it was supposed that Morton was the choice of the queen of England. The parliament was continued by the new regent, and a great number of the queen's faction were forefaulted. The parliament was no sooner concluded than the regent hastened to besiege Edinburgh, for which great preparations had been made by the regent Lennox, lately deceased. Scotsmen in those days had but little skill in attacking fortified places, and though the regent erected batteries in different situations, their efforts were inconsiderable. The siege of