Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/598

578 present; and so slight a thing it seemed to bind themselves to verbal promises, that in the name and presence of the three Estates of the realm, tho Earl of Arran swore before the English ambassador to observe the terms of peace and the conditions of the marriage contract.

The imbecility of the Regent discourages an attempt to interpret his conduct. He professed to believe that Beton would acquiesce; and the day which followed the signature he went in person to St Andrew's, as he pretended, to obtain his consent. But Angus, Glencairn, and Cassilis affected no such delusion. They understood and acknowledged the empty hollo wn ess of the ratification; they regretted too sadly that they had dissuaded Henry from entering Scotland in force after Solway. They scattered to their homes, to collect their strength, and to stand on their own defence, while Arran, on reaching St Andrew's, found that the Cardinal would neither see nor communicate with him: and he vented his ineffectual spleen in proclaiming his own and Scotland's master a traitor.

On the 25th of August the Regent had expressed his belief that Beton 'would prove an honest man to his Majesty of England' and to his country: on the 28th he denounced him as a public enemy. On the 3rd of September there was one more change, and the bubble finally burst. The Cardinal was more courteous than he had seemed. In return for the Regent's visit, Sir John Campbell of Lundy presented himself at Holyrood, and, after a secret interview, Arran in a few hours was once