reluctantly consented
that an English army should at once enter Scotland and assist the
Congregation in driving the French soldiery out of the country. While
her revolted subjects were thus making strong their hands against her,
fortune was otherwise deserting the cause of the Regent. A great French
armament, which was to have brought over a force sufficient to crush all
opposition, had been driven back by a succession of storms; and she
herself was already stricken with the disease which was soon to carry
her off. In these circumstances there was but one course open to her--to
fall back on the policy of self-defence and patient waiting on events.
After one somewhat wanton expedition against Glasgow and the Hamiltons,
her troops finally (March 29th) retired within the fortifications of
Leith, and she herself at her special request was received into the
castle of Edinburgh.

On April 4th the English and Scottish hosts joined forces at
Prestonpans, and on the 6th they sat down before Leith. The spectacle
was one suggestive of many reflections; English and Scots, immemorial
foes, were fighting side by side against the ancient friend of the one,
the ancient enemy of the other. There could not be a more memorable
illustration of the saying that "events sometimes mount the saddle and
ride men." Even with their united strength the allies had a formidable
task before them. At the outset of the siege the English amounted to
about nine thousand men, the Scots to ten thousand; but before many
weeks had gone, these numbers had dwindled to a half. With this force
the English commander, Lord Gray, had to besiege a town defended by four
thousand trained soldiers and fortified by the most skilful engineers of
the time. Two severe reverses sustained by the allies prove that in
discipline and skill they were no match for the enemy. On April 14th the
French sallied from the town, and, breaking through the English
trenches, slew two hundred men. A combined assault on the town (May 7th)
was brilliantly repulsed--the English and Scots leaving eight hundred
dead and wounded in the trenches. It was not long before all three
parties were sick of the contest. The Guises had their hands full at
home and needed every soldier they had; Elizabeth heartily disliked the
task of assisting rebel subjects and grudged every penny that was spent
in it; and the Congregation had never been in a position to support a
protracted war.

The death of the Regen