subject, or a lover in danger, has been warmly disputed in our
latter days.

[Footnote 22: The _Queen's Mire_ is still a pass of danger,
exhibiting, in many places, the bones of the horses which have been
entangled in it. For what reason the queen chose to enter Liddesdale
by the circuitous route of Hawick, does not appear. There are two
other passes from Jedburgh to Hermitage castle; the one by the _Note
of the Gate_, the other over the mountain, called Winburgh. Either of
these, but especially the latter, is several miles shorter than that
by Hawick, and the Queen's Mire. But, by the circuitous way of Hawick,
the queen could traverse the districts of more friendly clans, than by
going directly into the disorderly province of Liddesdale.]

To the death of Henry Darnley, it is said, some of the border lords
were privy. But the subsequent marriage, betwixt the queen and
Bothwell, alienated from her the affections of the chieftains of the
marches, most of whom aided the association of the insurgent barons.
A few gentlemen of the Merse, however, joined the army which Mary
brought to Carberry-hill. But no one was willing to fight for the
detested Bothwell, nor did Bothwell himself shew any inclination
to put his person in jeopardy. The result to Mary was a rigorous
captivity in Lochleven castle; and the name of Bothwell scarcely again
pollutes the page of Scottish history.

The distress of a beautiful and afflicted princess softened the hearts
of her subjects; and, when she escaped from her severe captivity, the
most powerful barons in Scotland crowded around her standard. Among
these were many of the west border men, under the lords Maxwell
and Herries[23]. But the defeat at Langside was a death-blow to her
interest in Scotland.

[Footnote 23: The followers of these barons are said to have stolen
the horses of their friends, while they were engaged in the battle.]

The death of the regent Murray, in 1569, excited the party of Mary to
hope and to exertion. It seems, that the design of Bothwelhaugh, who
slew him, was well known upon the borders; for, the very day on which
the slaughter happened, Buccleuch and Fairnihirst, with their clans,
broke into England, and spread devastation along the frontiers, with
unusual ferocity. It is probable they well knew that the controuling
hand of the regent was that day palsied by death. Buchanan exclaims
loudly against this breach of truce with Elizabeth, charging Queen
Mary's part