Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 54.djvu/340

 and in return Henry confirmed his agreement of 17 March consenting to the marriage with Lady Margaret, and also granted him lands in England to the annual value of 1,700 marks (Cal. State Papers, Scot. Ser. i. 47). In the final ratification of the bargain there was small delay: obtaining letters of naturalisation on 10 July 1544, Lennox was married the same day to the Lady Margaret.

Although the specially momentous results of this unscrupulous faction could scarcely have been foreseen by either party, it is no matter of wonder that Lennox now regarded his interests as mainly bound up with those of Henry VIII, and that, recreant to his country and his faith, he was steadfastly true to his new master. He had little to hope for elsewhere. Moreover his own intellectual mediocrity and lack of personal stamina were now atoned for by his partnership with the Lady Margaret. Never had any one, some moral considerations apart, a more admirable helpmeet, and never was there a partnership more cordial and complete. Uniting to the dominant will and resolute ambition of the Tudors the subtle cunning of the Douglases, she gradually took the reins, with the admiring consent of her lord and master, into her own hands. With more than willing devotion he allowed himself to be finally guided by her judgment in every important purpose of his career, while she with sleepless activity and great feminine cleverness set herself to make the utmost of every political opportunity, and to win for her house all that was within the range of possible attainment. Nor did Henry allow Lennox to dally in the performance of his part of the bargain. Before his honeymoon was over he had to undertake an expedition against the west of Scotland, with eighteen ships and about six hundred men. On 8 Aug. he was proclaimed by the English king lieutenant for the north of England and south of Scotland (Cal. State Papers, Henry VIII, No. 449), and on the 10th he arrived at Dumbarton (Diurnal, p. 35). Stirling of Glorat, the captain of the castle, cordially welcomed Lennox its owner, but when Lennox proceeded to hint of its delivery to the English, captain and garrison at once took up arms, and Lennox and his retinue, in dread of their lives or of captivity, fled precipitately to their ships. Proceeding down the Clyde, Lennox was fired upon by Argyll while passing Dunoon, but landed and defeated Argyll's followers, and, continuing his voyage, invaded Cantyre and also plundered the Ayrshire coasts. But he nevertheless returned to Bristol without having achieved anything of the least practical value to the king of England. In December following he received instructions to go to Carlisle, and from thence to treat with the Earl of Angus and bring him to the interests of England (Cal. State Papers, Scot. Ser. p. 48). In 1545 he was again appointed to the command of an expedition against the west coast of Scotland; but before anything was accomplished he was called away to assist Hertford [see, first ] in his invasion of Scotland from the south. After Hertford's retreat towards the end of September he passed over to Ireland, and on 17 Nov. sailed with a large armament from Dublin to attempt the capture of Dumbarton, but arrived only in time to discover that it had passed into the hands of his rival. On 1 Oct. of the same year he was pronounced guilty of treason by the Scottish parliament, and sentence of forfeiture was passed against him (Acta Parl. Scot. ii. 456), his lands being parcelled out among various noblemen.

After the death of Henry VIII, Lennox in September 1547, while Somerset advanced by the east coast and routed the Scots at Pinkie Cleugh, made a diversion by invading the west marches with Lord Wharton at the head of five thousand men; and, having blown up the church and steeple of Annan and razed the town to the ground, he obtained the submission of the whole of Annandale, compelling the inhabitants to give pledges for their fidelity (Cal. State Papers, Scot. p. 68). He also took part in an invasion of Scotland in the following year (ib. p. 79). With the accession of Mary Tudor to the English throne, his star was in the ascendant, for his wife and he were special friends of the queen; but with Elizabeth on the throne the Lennox fortunes seemed to have reached their lowest ebb. Nothing was to be obtained through Elizabeth in the way of satisfying his main ambition—the recognition of his wife's eventual right to the succession to the English and Scottish crowns. Necessarily as regards England the main hope of Lennox and his wife was in the catholics; and without the same aid their chances in Scotland appeared still more hopeless than in England. Consequently their house at Temple Newsam, in Yorkshire, became more and more the centre of catholic intrigue in Britain. For the fulfilment of their main ambition, their hopes, especially after the death of Francis II of France, the husband of Mary Stuart, became concentrated on their eldest son, Henry Stewart, lord Darnley [q. v.]; for by his marriage to the young widowed queen of Scots, who