Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/292

272 But the question, after all, was considered to touch the clergy more than the nation. For the first two months the money was to be found by the 'kirkmen.'

In August the Earl of Arran, appeared under the walls, and attempted feebly to take possession. But the sea was open; a covered way was constructed from the castle to the water's edge, by which the English cruisers threw in supplies; and the desultory and heartless efforts of the Regent were without result. In January the siege was raised, and an agreement was made that Norman Leslie and his companions should keep the fortress till absolution for the murder could be obtained from Rome; that they should suffer no penalty in life or lands; and that Arran's eldest son, who was a prisoner in the castle, should remain a hostage till the composition was concluded.

So palpable an evidence of weakness in the anti-English faction showed how great was the discouragement into which the loss of Beton had thrown them; and the honour of the English Government required the maintenance at all costs of the men who had made so bold a venture in their interests. The common sense of the Scottish laity, the appetite of the lords for the Church lands, and the growing spirit of the Reformers, had only, it seemed, to be left to themselves, and the counter-influence of France and the Papacy would die a natural death. Balnavis, one of the St Andrew's party, was in London on a commission