the intelligence received of the sudden death of Henry II.; and having
passed an act from their own authority, depriving the queen dowager of
the regency, and ordering all the French troops to evacuate the kingdom,
they collected forces to put their edict in execution against them. They
again became masters of Edinburgh; but found themselves unable to keep
long possession of that city. Their tumultuary armies, assembled in
haste, and supported by no pay, soon separated upon the least disaster,
or even any delay of success; and were incapable of resisting such
veteran troops as the French, who were also seconded by some of the
Scottish nobility, among whom the earl of Bothwell distinguished
himself., Hearing that the marquis of Elbeuf, brother to the regent,
was levying an army against them in Germany, they thought themselves
excusable for applying, in this extremity, to the assistance of England;
and as the sympathy of religion, as well as regard to national liberty,
had now counterbalanced the ancient animosity against that kingdom, this
measure was the result of inclination no less than of interest.[**]
[5] Maitland of Lidington, therefore, and Robert Melvil, were secretly
despatched by the congregation to solicit succors from Elizabeth.

* Forbes, vol. i. p. 139. Thuan. lib. xxiv. c. 13.

** See note E, at the end of the volume.

The wise council of Elizabeth did not long deliberate in agreeing to
this request, which concurred so well with the views and interests of
their mistress. Cecil in particular represented to the queen, that the
union of the crowns of Scotland and France, both of them the hereditary
enemies of England, was ever regarded as a pernicious event; and her
father, as well as Protector Somerset, had employed every expedient both
of war and negotiation to prevent it: that the claim which Mary advanced
to the crown rendered the present situation of England still more
dangerous, and demanded on the part of the queen the greatest vigilance
and precaution; that the capacity, ambition, and exorbitant views of the
family of Guise, who now governed the French counsels, were sufficiently
known; and they themselves made no secret of their design to place
their niece on the throne of England: that deeming themselves secure of
success, they had already, somewhat imprudently and prematurely, taken
off the mask; and Throgmorton, the English ambassador at Paris,
sent over, by every courier, incontestable