Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 22.djvu/191

 Gordon the party of nobles who met on 29 June at Dumbarton to plan measures for her deliverance. Shortly afterwards he proclaimed a commission of lieutenandry in the north, commanding all persons to place themselves under arms in readiness to meet him, but on the day succeeding the king's coronation at Stirling the commission was in the king's name declared discharged. After Moray accepted the regency Huntly, through his uncle the Bishop of Galloway, asked the intercession of Atholl and Maitland with Moray, and promised to ‘desist from making any trouble’ if he only had ‘the Earl of Moray his assured friend’ (Throckmorton to Elizabeth, 20 Aug. 1567, in, History, ii. 741). An agreement having been come to with Moray in the beginning of September, Huntly bore the sceptre at the opemng of parliament in December, and was chosen one of the lords of the articles. Nevertheless he entered into the conspiracy for the deliverance of Mary from Lochleven, and after her escape (2 May 1568) assembled with other lords at Hamilton to concert measures for her restoration to the throne. He then hastened north to muster a force on her behalf, but was again unable to render any service, for on his arrival near Perth with 2,600 men he found all the passes along the Tay strongly guarded, and had to return home (, p. 105). On the flight of Mary to England Huntly, with other lords, held a convention on 28 July at Largs, Ayrshire, at which, besides resolving to let loose the borderers on England, they wrote to the Duke of Alva earnestly beseeching assistance (Drury to Cecil, 3 Aug. 1568). Huntly and Argyll held possession of the whole north and west of Scotland, and not improbably, with the help of the Hamiltons and the borderers, they would have crushed Moray before he had assembled a parliament had they not on their march southward been met by an order from Mary commanding them to disperse their followers, on the ground that Elizabeth had sent a similar request to Moray. Moray had either not received such an order or else disobeyed it, and the time he gained by the disbanding of the queen's forces was fatal to the queen's cause. On Moray's return from the Westminster conference a commission was appointed at Stirling 10 Feb. 1568-9 for Huntly's pursuit (Reg. Privy Council Scotl. i. 645), and though for a time he adopted a defiant attitude and refused to attend the conference at Edinburgh on 10 April, he ultimately, on 18 May, gave in his submission to the regent (Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 144). Huntly had no connection with the plot for the murder of Moray in January 1569-70. Along with Atholl and others he came to the convention at Edinburgh in the following March to confer with Morton and Mar on the condition of affairs, but left the city next morning on finding that no encouragement was given to their proposals for the queen's recall (, ii. 544;, Memorials, p. 20). Towards the end of the month they sent a letter to Elizabeth urging her to come to an agreement with the Queen of Scots (letter in, ii. 547-50). On the advance of the Duke of Sussex to the assistance of the king's lords, Huntly, who had been appointed by Queen Mary lieutenant-governor (Sussex to Cecil, 15 July 1568), concentrated his forces at Aberdeen, and in August marched southwards to the relief of Brechin, but did not arrive in time to prevent the castle falling into the hands of the regent Lennox (Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 183). Huntly arrived at Edinburgh, but without any followers, about the beginning of April, and, gaining admission to the castle, took part in various raids against the regent's forces. He presided at the parliaments held in the queen's name at which acts of forfeiture were passed against the rival lords. It was he who commanded the expedition to Stirling, when the regent Lennox was captured and afterwards mortally wounded. Morton, on being chosen regent, made use of Argyll to enter into communication with Huntly and the Hamiltons for a reconciliation, on the understanding that no further inquiry should be made into the murder of the late king, and that pardon should be extended to all persons accessory to the murder of the regent Lennox. At a convention held at Perth, where Huntly and the Lord of Arbroath acted as the representatives of those with whom the treaty was made, articles of pacification were finally agreed upon on 3 Feb. 1572 (Treaty of Perth, in Reg. Privy Council Scotl. ii. 193-200). The secession of Huntly and the Hamiltons from the queen's cause led to the surrender of the castle of Edinburgh, and virtually ended the civil war. From this time Huntly lived chiefly in his own dominions, scarcely taking any further part in public affairs. He died very suddenly in May 1576, while apparently in the enjoyment of vigorous health. The historian of the ‘House of Gordon’ ascribes the death to apoplexy, but Bannatyne recites details to convey the impression that it was a special judgment for Darnley's murder. He states that in the morning he had been out hunting and had killed three hares and a fox. In the afternoon he went to play football, and after he had given the ball a second kick turned suddenly faint. Subsequently he vomited a large quantity of blood, ‘black like soot,’ and Rh