, by
telling him, that if any measures had been taken disagreeable to him,
they were entirely owing to the imprudence of the duke of Somerset, who,
instead of employing courtesy, caresses, and gentle offices, the
proper means of gaining a young princess, had had recourse to arms
and violence, and had constrained the Scottish nobility to send their
sovereign into France, in order to interest that kingdom in protecting
their liberty and independence.[**]

* Buchanan, lib. xiv. Keith, p. 56. Spotswood, p. 92.

** Keith, p. 59.

When the queen dowager arrived in Scotland, she found the governor very
unwilling to fulfil his engagements; and it was not till after many
delays that he could be persuaded to resign his authority. But finding
that the majority of the young princess was approaching, and that the
queen dowager had gained the affections of all the principal nobility,
he thought it more prudent to submit; and having stipulated that he
should be declared next heir to the crown, and should be freed from
giving any account of his past administration, he placed her in
possession of the power, and she thenceforth assumed the name of
regent.[*] It was a usual saying of this princess, that, provided she
could render her friends happy, and could insure to herself a good
reputation, she was entirely indifferent what befell her; and though
this sentiment is greatly censured by the zealous reformers,[**] as
being founded wholly on secular motives, it discovers a mind well
calculated for the government of kingdoms. D'Oisel, a Frenchman,
celebrated for capacity, had attended her as ambassador from Henry, but
in reality to assist her with his counsels in so delicate an undertaking
as the administration of Scotland; and this man had formed a scheme
for laying a general tax on the kingdom, in order to support a standing
military force, which might at once repel the inroads of foreign
enemies, and check the turbulence of the Scottish nobles. But though
some of the courtiers were gained over to this project, it gave great
and general discontent to the nation; and the queen regent, after
ingenuously confessing that it would prove pernicious to the kingdom,
had the prudence to desist from it, and to trust entirely for her
security to the good will and affections of her subjects.[***]

This laudable purpose seemed to be the chief object of her
administration; yet was she sometimes drawn from it by her connections
with Franc