Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 17.djvu/424

 nobleman’ were made captain of the castle of Edinburgh to whom he might be entrusted (ib. 181). Previous to this, however, the nobles, convened secretly at Stirling, had signed the bond for the prince's protection, and soon afterwards they announced their purpose to be revenged on Bothwell as the chief author of the king's murder. Thus the incorruptible integrity of Mar proved the turning-point in the fate of Bothwell and the queen. He was one of the leaders of the forces of the insurgents, was present at the surrender of Mary at Carberrie Hill on 14 June 1567, and on the 16th signed the order for her commitment to Lochleven Castle. He was also one of the council to whom on 24 July she demitted the government. On the 29th the young prince was crowned at Stirling, Mar carrying him in his arms in the procession from the church to his chamber in the castle. Throgmorton, at the instance of Elizabeth, endeavoured to get Mar to interfere on behalf of Mary; but although Mar expressed his desire to do what he could for her by way of persuasion, he told him: ‘To save her life by endangering her son or his estate, or by betraying my marrows, I will never do it, my lord ambassador, for all the gowd in the world’ (Throgmorton to Leicester, 9 Aug. 1567). On the escape of Queen Mary he sent a supply of men from Stirling to the regent, and he was present at the battle of Langside, 13 May 1568 (, ii. 415). When the regent Moray was murdered he wrote to Elizabeth informing her of the danger that had thus arisen to the young king of Scotland, and craving her assistance (Cal. State Papers, For. Ser. 1569–71, entry 647). He was one of the noblemen who bore the regent's body at his funeral, and shortly afterwards it was reported that ‘he had fallen sick with sorrow taken for the regent's death’ (ib. entry 677). On 28 April an attempt was made by the Hamiltons to surprise him at Avonbridge, on his way to Edinburgh with a thousand men, but having learned their intention he crossed the river two miles above, and joined the Earl of Morton, who was also on the march to Edinburgh with a thousand foot and five hundred horse (, Memorials, 38;, Memoirs, 126). When the king's party were surprised at Stirling on 3 Sept. 1571, and a number of them taken prisoners, Mar, by planting a party in an unfinished mansion of his own—still standing at the head of the Broad Street, Stirling, and known as Mar's work—and opening fire on the intruders, drove them from the market-place (BUCHANAN, Hist. of Scot.). The regent Lennox having been killed in the fray, Mar was by general consent chosen regent. On the 10th he came to Leith, where he proclaimed Morton lieutenant-general of the forces (, Memorials, 187). Morton, in fact, by his overmastering will, and his close connection with Elizabeth, was already the real governor of Scotland, Mar being the mere instrument, and occasionally an unwilling one, in carrying out Morton's policy. After consulting with Morton, Mar returned to Stirling to collect forces for the siege of Edinburgh Castle, which had been in the hands of the party of Mary since the death of the regent Moray. On the 14th of the following month he arrived at Edinburgh with four thousand men, artillery being sent from Stirling by sea. With this reinforcement he attempted to storm the castle, and made a breach in the walls, but afraid to carry it by assault retired upon Leith, and advised Morton to write to Elizabeth for assistance. It was probably to gratify Elizabeth and induce her to comply with these requests that, under the auspices of Mar, a convention was held at Leith in the following January at which episcopacy was established. For a similar reason, also, Mar unwillingly consented that Northumberland should be delivered up to Elizabeth on payment of 2,000l. to Sir William Douglas [q. v.] nominally for his maintenance in Lochleven. Still Elizabeth hesitated to commit herself, and as she blamed him for standing to too hard terms with them (Elizabeth to the Earl of Mar, 4 July), he at last, ‘for reverence of her majesty’ (Mar to Burghley, 1 Aug.), agreed on 30 July to an ‘abstinence’ for two months (‘Abstinence,’ imprinted at Edinburgh by Thomas Bassandyne, reprinted in, Hist. iii. 215–16). On 22 Sept. Mar came to Leith to conduct negotiations, but no agreement was arrived at, and after the duration of the abstinence had been extended for eight days, a continuance was proclaimed on 8 Oct. till 6 Dec. (ib. iii. 225). Mar had employed Sir James Melville to sound the holders of the castle as to their desire for peace, the words of Mar, as quoted by Melville, being to show them ‘not as fra me, that ye vnderstand that I persaue, albeit ouer lait, how that we ar all led opon the yce, and that all gud Scottismen wald fayn agre and satle the estait’ (Memoirs, 247). So highly satisfied, apparently, was Mar with Melville's report, that he agreed to call a meeting of the lords to persuade them to come to an agreement. ‘Meantime,’ adds Melville, ‘vntill the apponted consaill day he past to Dalkeith, where he was will traited and banketed with my lord Mortoun’ (ib. 248). It was at Dalkeith that, on 9 Oct., took place in Mor-