Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/569

1543.]. The champion of the Church was in safe custody, and a native Government, could its constancy be relied upon, wonld do Henry's work more effectually, and would create less jealousy in doing it, uncontrolled by foreign interference.

But clouds, though at first light, were not long in rising. In the middle of February Sir George Douglas came down to Lord Lisle at Berwick, and one by one requested a relaxation of the remaining conditions. English garrisons could not be introduced without great difficulty into the castles; the conveyance of the Cardinal into England would create a general irritation; and still more questionably, when Lisle spoke of the coming of the Duke of Guise, Douglas said that the council did not intend to prevent his landing, but would content themselves with limiting the number of his train. The known ability of Sir George Douglas could not permit the English commander to regard him as a dupe. Such a man could not be ignorant that, if Guise was once at Edinburgh, with the command of money which he would bring with him, he would make a party instantly among the needy and covetous nobles, and Blackness would not hold its prisoner for four-andtwenty hours. If the Regent was seriously meditating such an act of infatuation, it should not be without an effort to save him from himself, and Lisle warned the Earl of Arran of the nature of the power with which he was dealing, and of the danger of trifling with it.