Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/371

1519.] a severe skirmish, in which Sir Patrick Hamilton, Arran's brother, was killed, the defeated Earl and his confederates escaped for their lives, and Angus remained master of the field and of the Government.

But the oscillations of fortune were rapid, and again Queen Margaret's conduct was the cause of a change most adverse to the interests which she ought to have defended. She had married hastily, and as hastily grown weary of her choice. She had allowed the Duke of Albany, after her return from England, to steal his way into her affections. She had exposed herself to dishonourable remarks, which she shaped her behaviour laboriously to justify; and failing, through the bad terms on which she had placed herself with Angus, to recover her authority as Regent, she united with the faction of the defeated lords, and wrote to the King of France, entreating him, if he valued the regard of the people, to restore the Duke.

Francis at once acquiesced. He was himself on the edge of a rupture with England. The opportunity of securing his old allies was not to be neglected; and again the Duke of Albany appeared in Edinburgh. The old Scotch jealousies were blown into flame. The cry was raised that the country was betrayed to slavery