Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/210

346 sonal violence, compelled Mary to sign a deed of abdication, a proceeding which was soon after followed by the election of Murray to the regency.

Bothwell, in the mean time, after some ineffectual attempts to regain his lost authority, retired to his estates in the north, but being pursued thither by Grange and Tullibardine, he embarked for Denmark. Ruthless and desperate in all his proceedings, he attempted, on his way thither, to replenish his exhausted finances by piracy. The intelligence of his robberies reaching Denmark, several ships were despatched from that country in quest of him, and in a very short time he was taken and carried a prisoner into a Danish port. On his landing he was thrown into prison, where he remained for many years, and finally ended his days in misery and neglect. Such was the fate of the proud, ambitious, and wicked Bothwell, the husband of Mary, queen of Scotland.

Though Mary's fortunes were at this low ebb, and though her enemies were both numerous and powerful, she had still many friends, who waited anxiously and impatiently for an opportunity of asserting her rights and avenging her wrongs ; and for such an opportunity, although attended with an unsuccessful result, they were not Ccilled upon to wait long.

On the 25th of March, 1568, about nine months after she had been imprisoned in Lochleven castle, an attempt was made, by the assistance of George Douglas, a relation of the family of Lochleven, who resided in the castle, to effect Mary's escape in the disguise of a laundress. She was, however, discovered by the boatmen, who had been employed to convey her to the shore, and carried back to the castle. In about a month afterwards, the attempt was again made, but now under the auspices of William Douglas, a young man of sixteen years of age, a relation of the Douglas family, and also a resident on the island. Douglas, having purloined the keys of the fortress, liberated the captive princess, May 2nd, and, conducting her to a boat which wns in readiness to receive her, conveyed her to the shore. Here she was met, with the most lively expressions of joy and loyal affection, by a number of her nobility, who, having been previously informed of the design, were anxiously awaiting her arrival. Placing the queen on horseback, the whole party instantly set off at full speed for Hamilton, where they arrived on the following forenoon.

The intelligence of Mary's escape, and of the place of her temporary abode, rapidly spread throughout the whole kingdom, and nobles and troops instantly poured in from all quarters to her assistance. In a few days Mary found herself at the head of a formidable army, and surrounded by the greater part of her nobility. She now solemnly and publicly protested that her abdication had been compulsory, and therefore not valid, and called upon Murray, who was then at Glasgow, to surrender his regency. This he refused to do, and both parties prepared for hostilities.

On Thursday the 13th of May, Murray, who was still at Glasgow, having learned that the queen, whh her forces, were on their way to Dumbarton, where it was proposed by the friends of the former that she should be lodged, as being a place of greater safety than Hamilton, he hastily assembled an army of 4000 men, and marched out to a place called Langside, about three miles distant from the city, to intercept her. The hostile armies soon came in sight of each other, and a battle followed, fatal to the hopes of Mary. The main body of the queen's army was led by the earl of Argyle, the van by Claud Hamilton, second son of the duke of Chatelherault, and the ca-valry by lord Herries. Murray himself led on the main body of the opposing forces, and the earl of Morton the van.

Mary, on perceiving that the day had gone against her, (for she had witnessed the contest from a neighbouring height,) instantly took to horse, and,