Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/180

 166 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 53, to give him an opportunity ' for the declaration of his innocency.' He wrote to every friend that he pos- sessed, Catholic and Protestant, to request their pre- sence, and when the day came Edinburgh was thronged with the armed retainers of half-a-hundred knights and noblemen who had come together to throw a shield over their favourite. The Bishop of Ross and the historians who have followed him have charged Murray with personal ambi- tion in assuming the government of Scotland. Never perhaps was there a position which any reasonable man would have less coveted. English statesmen in their calculation of the future of the country placed his murder among the most likely of contingencies. He had narrowly escaped at North aller ton on his return from the Conference. In the past July ' l^on Herald ' had ' conspired his death ' and had been burnt for it. 1 At best he was set to rule the most lawless country in Europe except Ireland, half of it avowedly disaffected, without a revenue, without troops, without a man at his back except his own and his friends' servants. He was held responsible by Elizabeth for the peace of the Borders, yet she would not acknowledge him as Jlegent. At every turn of her fancy he was expected to be the instrument of her policy, and to receive his sister back either as his Queen or as his prisoner, as convenience or the humour of the moment happened to dictate. In such a position there was little to envy ; and that CALDERWOOP.