Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/378

358 or that Albany would carry him away to France. On the 27th a stormy council was held at Stirling, where Albany attempted his usual shift in difficulty, and required five months' leave of absence to go to Paris. This time the nobles refused to be left to bear the consequences of the Regent's weakness. If he went again, his departure should be final; nor should he depart at all, unless the French garrisons were withdrawn. The Duke, 'in marvellous great anger and foam,' agreed to remain; but his cause sank daily, and misfortunes thickened about him. He was without the means to support the French auxiliaries, they were obliged to shift as they could for their own security. Some escaped to their own country; others, sent away in unseaworthy vessels, were driven among the Western Islands, engaged in piracy, and were destroyed in detail. At length, for the last time, on the 20th of May, Albany turned his back upon the country with which he had connected himself only to his own and others' misery. He sailed away, and came again no more.

The friends of the English alliance were now