Stuart dynasty

132 the stuart dynasty.
Minority of Mary Stuart.
1542-1560.
James V. was laid in the grave at Holyrood, at
the age of thirty years, by the side of his first wife,
the fair Magdalen, and with him was buried all hope
of present unity in his dominions. Allegiance to a
female child of eight days could in the first instance
be but nominal, and the possession of power became
but the sport of faction.
Henry VIII. of England perceived this, and made
no secret of bis determination to secure custody of
the infant Queen.* By too hastily proceeding in this
design he gave a leverage to Cardinal Beaton and
the Queen mother, who, although they had not yet
realised the strength of the reformation in religion
which was in progress south of Tweed, yet gladly
seized the opportunity which Henry VIII. gave
them of arousing national feeling against his projects.
Besides the Douglases — still in the English interest
— an unexpected ally appeared to aid Henry's
cause in the shape of Matthew, Earl of Lennox,
a Stuart of high degree, and the brother of John,
Lord D'Aubignj^, whose French title dated from the
battle of Beauge, fought in 1421. Lennox, whose
sympathies were supposed to be French and Catholic,
had possession of the Castle of Dumbarton, and when
a French fleet appeared off that stronghold with a
large sum of money for the Catholic cause, he calmly
retained the money and shut the gates against his
* Fronde's ' History of England,' edition 1858, vol. iv. p. 204.