n the continent; but the interests of his kingdom
were more deeply concerned in the event of affairs in Scotland. Arran,
the governor, was of so indolent and unambitious a character, that,
had he not been stimulated by his friends and dependants, he never had
aspired to any share in the administration; and when he found himself
overpowered by the party of the queen dowager, the cardinal, and the
earl of Lenox, he was glad to accept of any terms of accommodation,
however dishonorable. He even gave them a sure pledge of his sincerity,
by renouncing the principles of the reformers, and reconciling himself
to the Romish communion in the Franciscan church at Stirling. By this
weakness and levity, he lost his credit with the whole nation, and
rendered the Protestants, who were hitherto the chief support of his
power, his mortal enemies. The cardinal acquired an entire ascendant in
the kingdom: the queen dowager placed implicit confidence in him: the
governor was obliged to yield to him in every pretension: Lenox
alone was become an obstacle to his measures, and reduced him to some
difficulty.

The inveterate enmity which had taken place between the families of
Lenox and Arran, made the interests of these two noblemen entirely
incompatible; and as the cardinal and the French party, in order to
engage Lenox the more in their cause, had flattered him with the hopes
of succeeding to the crown after their infant sovereign, this rivalship
had tended still further to rouse the animosity of the Hamiltons. Lenox,
too, had been encouraged to aspire to the marriage of the queen dowager,
which would have given him some pretensions to the regency; and as he
was become assuming, on account of the services which he had rendered
the party, the cardinal found that, since he must choose between the
friendship of Lenox and that of Arran, the latter nobleman, who was more
easily governed, and who was invested with present authority, was in
every respect preferable. Lenox, finding that he was not likely to
succeed in his pretensions to the queen dowager, and that Arran, favored
by the cardinal, had acquired the ascendant, retired to Dunbarton, the
governor of which was entirely at his devotion; he entered into a secret
correspondence with the English court; and he summoned his vassals and
partisans to attend him. All those who were inclined to the Protestant
religion, or were on any account discontented with the cardinal's
administration, now reg