Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/386

366 place, and privileges as barons of the realm. They presented themselves before the council, protesting against the faction by whom the King was governed; and saying that they had come thus into the city 'to do no displeasure to any person,' but to invite the nobility to put an end to a shameful scandal.

The Queen was at Holyrood. It was expected every moment that she would set the Castle guns playing upon her husband's followers; and Dr Magnus, at the entreaty of the council, hastened down to anticipate the danger. He found the palace in confusion: dense throngs of men were arming and preparing their horses. He pushed his way into Margaret's presence, but she ordered him at once to be gone, and not to meddle in matters of no concern to him. A moment after the heavy boom of a cannon told him that the order had been given. The shot was intended for the Douglases, but it was ill- aimed. Two tradesmen, a priest, and a woman were killed by it; and the mistake was more effective than the English minister in preventing a fresh experiment. All day the two parties lay watching one