Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 2.djvu/468

454 her beauty and her sufferings, gathered amain to her standard; she who a few days before saw herself a deserted captive, now beheld herself at the head of 6,000 men. Many of the nobility, and some of those who had sinned deeply against her, now flocked around her. Argyll, Cassillis, Eglinton, and Rothes, Somerville, Yoster, Livingstone, Harris, Fleming, Boss, Borthwick, and other lords and gentlemen, joined her at Hamilton. To these she at once declared that her resignation of the crown was an act of force and not of will: her council declared by a resolution the whole of the proceedings by which Murray had become regent were treasonable and void. Nine earls, nine bishops, eighteen lords, twelve abbots and priors, and nearly a hundred barons signed a bond pledging themselves to defend her, and to restore to her her crown and kingdom.

But, though rejoiced at this wonderful demonstration of the reaction of the public in her favour, Mary, with her usual tendency to kindness and forgiveness, dispatched a messenger to Murray with offers of pardon and reconciliation. The regent was at the moment at Glasgow, not eight miles from the queen's camp, with few of his friends or troops at hand. The blow came like a thunderbolt, and the effect became instantaneously evident. Numbers began to steal away to join the royal standard, and ordinary prudence would have dictated acceptance of the queen's offer. But Murray, who could not forgive under such circumstances, and who knew that his participation in the murder scheme was now no secret, could not really believe in forgiveness in the injured queen. His selfish instinct and his ambition at once decided him to reject the proposal, though his cunning led him to seem to weigh it. He begged time to reflect, and passed that time in writing a proclamation, and dispatching couriers to call up his allies in all haste. There were plenty whose consciences, like his own, prompted the instant conviction that their only safety lay in resistance; and Morton, Glencairn, Lennox, who fought to avenge his son, Semple, Mar, and Grange, mustered their forces, and hastened to his support. In ten days he found himself in possession of a body of 4,000 men.

Mary, on her part, proposed to make for Dumbarton Castle, which had never been yielded by her firm adherent Lord Fleming, and there to make her position as strong as possible till her friends had time to gather in overwhelming force. Meantime she dispatched a messenger to England to solicit the support of Elizabeth, who professed herself determined to send to her her warm congratulations, and the fullest promises of support, provided she would follow her councils, and not call in foreign aid. At the same time M. de Beaumont, the French ambassador, entered her camp, and offered his services to procure an accommodation with Murray. But Mary's wise plan of retiring to Dumbarton, and there awaiting the accumulation of troops in her interest, was defeated by the rash and overbearing conduct of the Hamiltons, who were bent on falling on Murray and crushing him at once. Mary prevailed on them still to march towards Dumbarton; but on the way, falling in with Murray, they rushed headlong into the fight, and risked everything.

Murray, on the first news of their movement, marched out of Glasgow, and took possession of a small hamlet called Langside, surrounded by gardens and orchards, which occupied each side of a steep narrow lane directly in the way of the queen's army. Instead of avoiding this position, and making their way to Dumbarton by another course, Lord Claud Hamilton charged the troops there posted with his cavalry, 2,000 strong, in perfect confidence of driving them thence; but the hagbutters, who had screened themselves behind walls and trees, poured in on the cavalry a deadly fire which threw them into confusion. Lord Hamilton cheered them on to renew the charge, and with great valour they pushed forward and drove the enemy before them. But, pursuing them up the steep hill, they suddenly found themselves face to face with Murray's advance, composed of the finest body of border pikemen, and commanded by Morton, Home, Ker of Cessford, and the barons of the Merse, all fighting on foot at the heads of their divisions.

The battle was unequal, for the troops of Murray were fresh, whilst those of the queen were out of breath with their up-hill battle. Notwithstanding, the main body of the queen's forces coming up, there was a severe battle, and the right of the regent's army began to give way. Grange, who was watching the field from above, quickly brought up reinforcements from the main body, and made so furious a charge on the queen's left as to scatter it into fragments; and Murray, who had waited with the reserve for the decisive moment, rushed forward with so much impetuosity, that the main battle of the queen was broken, and the flight became general. Mary, who had surveyed the conflict from the castle of Crookstane, on a neighbouring eminence, and about four miles from Paisley, beholding the route of her army, turned her horse and fled, and never drew bit till she found herself at the abbey of Dundrennan, in Galloway. She was accompanied by Lords Herries, Fleming, and Livingstone.

So rash and so ill-conducted was this decisive battle—a battle which involved such momentous interests, that it lasted only three-quarters of an hour. Only one man, it is said, fell on the side of the regent, and only 300 on that of the queen—or half that number, as some authorities contend. Ten pieces of cannon and a great many distinguished prisoners were taken, amongst them Lords Seaton and Ross, the eldest sons of the Earls of Eglinton and Cassillis, Robert and Andrew Melville, and a long list of lairds and gentlemen.

If Mary had fled to the east coast, secured a vessel and made her way to France, she would have met with a cordial reception. Unfortunately, she was always too trusting; and, judging of Elizabeth as she felt she should have acted herself if she had fled to her for protection from her rebellious subjects, she was impatient to reach the soil of England, where she deemed she should be safe. The nobles and the rest around her, forming a juster estimate of the character of Elizabeth, knelt and implored their sovereign not to enter the English borders till she had some guarantee for her safety. Lord Herries wrote, says Chalmers, on Saturday, the 15th of May, to Lowther, the deputy-captain of Carlisle, informing him of the queen's misfortune, and desiring to know, if she should be reduced to the necessity of seeking refuge in England, if she might come safely to Carlisle. Lowther wrote a doubtful answer, saying that Lord Scroope, the warden of that march, was at London, to whom he had written;