would men have expected to see the foundations
of the continent removed, and yet there was a little rivulet of thought
coursing through the brain of an obscure monk in Germany which was
going to undermine and overthrow it, and cause a new Christendom to
arise upon its ruins. And strangely, too, as if by pre-arrangement,
that wonderful new device--the printing press--stood ready, waiting to
disseminate the propaganda of a Reformed Church!

But kings and nobles went on as before {282} with their absorbing game.
The infant James V. was proclaimed king. The conditions which had
disgraced the minority of his predecessors were repeated, and until he
was eighteen he was virtually a prisoner; then with relentless severity
he turned upon the traitors. The Reformation which was assuming great
proportions was beginning to creep into Scotland. The Catholic King,
with a double intent, placed Primates of the Church in all the great
offices, and the excluded nobles began to lean toward the new faith.
Luther's works were prohibited and stringent measures adopted to drive
heretical literature out of the land. When, for reasons we all know,
Henry VIII. became an illustrious convert to Protestantism, he tried to
bring about a marriage between his nephew, James, and his young
daughter, Princess Mary; at the same time urging his nephew to join him
in throwing off the authority of the Pope. But James made a choice
pregnant with consequences for England. He married, in 1538, Mary,
daughter of the great Duke of Guise in France; thus rejecting the
peaceful overtures of his uncle, Henry VIII., and confirming the French
alliance and {283} the anti-Protestant policy of his kingdom. Henry
was displeased, and commenced an exasperating course toward Scotland.
There was a small engagement with the English at Solway Moss, which
ended in a panic and defeat of the Scots. This so preyed upon the mind
of the King that his spirit seemed broken. The news of the birth of a
daughter--Mary Stuart--came to him simultaneously with that of the
defeat. He was full of vague, tragic forebodings, sank into a
melancholy, and expired a week later (1542). The little Queen Mary at
once became the centre of state intrigues. Henry VIII. secured the
co-operation of disaffected Scotch nobles in a plan to place her in his
hands as the betrothed of his son, Prince Edward. A treaty of alliance
was drawn and signed, agreeing to the marriage, with the usual
conditio