isible before this futile attempt at a siege. When the leaders of the
Congregation, among whom on this occasion the contingent from the towns,
and especially from Dundee, seems foremost, began to prepare for their
expedition, they chose St. Giles's Church as the most convenient for the
preparation of the scaling ladders, a practical evidence that sacredness
had departed from the church as a building, not at all to the mind of
the preachers, who probably saw no logical succession between the
hammers of the destroyers pulling down the "glorious tabernacles" and
those of the craftsmen occupied with secular work. They did not, indeed,
put their objections on this ground, but on that of the neglect of the
"preaching," a name now characteristically applied to the public worship
of God. "The Preachers spared not openly to say that they feared the
success of that enterpryse should not be prosperous because the
beginning appeyred to bring with it some contempt of God and of His
word. Other places, said they, had been more apt for such preparations
than where the people convened to common prayer and unto preaching, and
they did not hesitate to affirm that God would not suffer such contempt
of His word." Whether these objections stole the heart out of the
fighting men, who had hitherto felt themselves emphatically the soldiers
of God, it is impossible to say. They had hitherto overawed the Queen's
party by their numbers, and had never outwardly made proof of their
powers or sustained the attack of regular soldiers. And the assault of
Leith ended in a disastrous defeat. The expedition set out rashly
without leaders, while the lords and gentlemen "were gone to the
preaching," and had consequently no accompanying cavalry, and few, if
any, experienced soldiers. They were driven back with loss, and pursued
into the very Canongate, to the foot of Leith Wynd--that is, into the
cross-roads and narrow wynds which were immediately outside the city
walls. Argyle and the rest, as soon as they were aware of what had
happened, got hastily to horse, and did all they could to stop the
flight, but even this turned to harm, since the horsemen coming out to
the aid of their friends proved an additional danger to the fugitives,
and "over-rode their poor brethren at the entrance of the Nether Bow."

After this all was confusion and trouble in Edinburgh. The castle fired
one solitary gun, which stopped with a note of sudden protest the French
pursuit, c