Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 5.djvu/143

Rh night-gown and slippers, placed himself before the fire, and joined in the badinage which was going forward. At this moment the king was suddenly startled by a great noise at the outside of his chamber door, or rather in the passage which led to it. The sounds were those of a crowd of armed men pressing hurriedly forward. There was a loud clattering and jingling of arms and armour, accompanied by the gleaming of torches. The king seems to have instantly apprehended danger, a feeling which either he had communicated to the ladies in the apartment, or they had of themselves conceived, for they immediately rushed to the door with the view of securing it, but they found all the fastenings destroyed, and a bar which should have been there removed.

This being intimated to the king, he called out to the ladies to hold fast the door as well as they could, until he could find something wherewith to defend himself; and he flew to the window of the apartment and endeavoured to wrench away one of the iron staunchions for this purpose, but the bar resisted all his efforts. In this moment of horror and despair, the unhappy monarch next seized the tongs, which lay by the fireside, and by their means, and with some desperate efforts of personal strength, he tore up a portion of the floor, and instantly descending through the aperture into a mean receptacle which was underneath the chamber, drew the boards down after him to their original position. In the mean time the ladies had contrived to keep out the conspirators, and, in this effort, it is said, Catharine Douglas had one of her arms broken, by having thrust it into the wall in place. of the bar which had been removed. The assassins, however, at length forced their way into the apartment; and here a piteous scene now ensued. The queen stood in the middle of the floor, bereft of speech and of all power of motion by her terror, while her ladies, several of whom were severely hurt and wounded, filled the apartment with the most lamentable cries and shrieks.

One of the ruffians on entering inflicted a severe wound on the queen, and would have killed her outright, but for the interference of one of the sons of Sir Robert Graham, who, perceiving the dastard about to repeat the blow, exclaimed "What would ye do to the queen? for shame of yourself, she is but a woman; let us go and seek the king." The conspirators, who were all armed with swords, daggers, axes, and other weapons, now proceeded to search for the king. They examined all the beds, presses, and other probable places of concealment, overturned forms and chairs, but to no purpose ; the king could not be found, nor could they conceive how he had escaped them. The conspirators, baulked in their pursuit, dispersed themselves throughout the different apartments to extend their search. This creating a silence "in the apartment immediately above the king, the unfortunate monarch conceived the conspirators had entirely withdrawn, and in his impatience to get out of his disagreeable situation, called out to the ladies to bring him sheets for that purpose. In the attempt which immediately followed to raise him up by these means, Elizabeth Douglas, another of the queen's waiting-maids, fell into the hole in which the king was concealed. At this moment, Thomas Chambers, one of the assassins, and who was also one of the king's domestics, entered the apartment, and perceiving the opening in the floor, he immediately proceeded towards it, and looking down into the cellar, with the assistance of his torch discovered the king.

On descrying the object of his search, Chambers exultingly called out to his companions, " Sirs, the bride is found for whom we sought, and for whom we have caroled here all night." The joyful tidings instantly brought a crowd of the conspirators to the spot, and amongst the rest, Sir John Hall, who, with a large knife in his hand, hastily descended to the king's hiding-place. The latter, however, who was a man of great personal strength, instantly seized the assassin and threw him do\m at his feet; and his brother, who followed, shared