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 his purposes for the time became identical with hers. By the raid of Ruthven in 1582 the two favourites were driven from power; but after the escape of the king to the catholic lords at St. Andrews in June 1583, Arran, who had usurped the titles of the Hamiltons, was installed as the reigning favourite. Claud was thus disposed to support Elizabeth's Scottish policy, then directed against Arran. In 1584 Claud Hamilton and his brother John were sent down by Elizabeth to the borders to aid the Ruthven lords in a scheme for again obtaining possession of the king's person. Hamilton was present in April at the capture of the castle of Stirling (, p. 48); but the arrest in Dundee of Gowrie, the head of the conspiracy, rendered their success of no avail, and without striking a further blow they fled to England. On 3 Nov. following Hamilton, without the knowledge of the English government, ‘returned to Scotland on the king's simple promise’ (, iv. 208). Arran having taken umbrage at his presence in Scotland, he was sent to the northern regions, where he was entertained by Huntly until on 6 April 1585 an order was made for him to go abroad before 1 May (Reg. P. C. Scotl. iii. 733). In July he arrived at Paris (Paget to the Queen of Scots, Cal. State Papers, Scott. Ser. ii. 974), where on the 16th he wrote a letter to Queen Mary, professing his devotion and offering his services (ib. p. 973). He was still in Paris when the second attempt against Arran was successful. He had ceased to enjoy the confidence of Elizabeth, but was recalled by James, and left Paris about the end of January 1586, bearing a letter from Henry III to the king of Scots (, Relations politiques de la France et de l'Espagne avec l'Écosse, ed. 1862, iv. 18). From the French king he received a gift of five hundred crowns to defray the expenses of the journey (ib.), and intimation was given to M. D'Esneval that he would receive powerful aid from Hamilton in counteracting the English influence at the court of the Scottish king (ib. p. 31).

Hamilton's ability and ambition caused him to be selected by the party of Queen Mary as the agent in their schemes in preference to his brother John. His brother was at this time completely under his influence, and it was Claud's hope—a hope carefully fostered by Mary—that he might supplant his brother as the nearest heir to the Scottish crown. On 6 Feb. he had an interview with the king at Holyrood, and was favourably received. According to Moysie he was ‘a man well lykit of be the king for his wit, and obedience in coming and going at the king's command, and for reueiling of certane interpryses of the lordis at thair being in Ingland’ (Memoirs, p. 56). It was stated that Hamilton, who had lately become a Roman catholic, had been summoned to return by the king, who wished to form a new faction to ruin the Earls of Angus and Mar, and the other lords who had ousted Arran from power (Rogers to Walsingham, 12 Jan. 1586, Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ser. Addit. 1580–1625, p. 167). This rumour was undoubtedly correct so far as it expressed the wish of the Guises and the desire of Hamilton. From this time he appears as sharing with Huntly the leadership of the catholic party in Scotland. One of the special missions with which he was entrusted by the Guises was to effect a reconciliation between the Queen of Scots and her son (Archbishop of Glasgow to Mary Stuart, 21 March 1586, in, vii. 184); but he was also the agent in much more important schemes. In connection with the projected foreign invasion with which the Babington conspiracy was conjoined Mary, on 20 May, wrote a remarkable letter to Charles Paget to secure, if possible, the co-operation of Scotland in the enterprise (ib. vi. 318). Paget was instructed to inform Hamilton of the scheme, and to secure his assistance. If the king of Scots declined to join, he was to be seized and placed in the hands either of the king of Spain or the pope to be educated on the continent in the catholic religion. During his absence it was proposed that Hamilton should act as regent. Paget was also indirectly to put him in hope that Mary would cause him to be declared heir to the Scottish crown should her son die without children. Hamilton had been already in communication with the king of Spain, and on 15 May had sent Robert Bruce to Spain as ambassador for himself and the Earls of Huntly and Morton with separate letters from each nobleman urging Philip to lend his aid in a project for ‘placing the king at liberty and establishing the catholic religion’ (, Relations politiques, v. 349–54). The discovery of the Babington conspiracy and the execution of Mary interfered with the completion of the project in its original form; but the negotiations with the king of Spain were not broken off. Hamilton had earnestly urged James to exert his utmost efforts to save his mother (Despatches of M. Courcelles, Bannatyne Club, 1828, p. 13). James's apparent indifference to her fate had exasperated the catholics against him. Hamilton and his friends prosecuted the Spanish project with greater earnestness than ever, and their importunity helped to promote the Armada expedition. In connection with the project there was a proposal