Stuart dynasty

THE CHUB OH AT BAT. 133
French friends. Ultimately forced to retreat to
England, Lennox returned from thence after fitting
up an expedition in Bristol, and took possession of
the old Stuart country around Renfrew and Paisley.
Unable, however, to hold his own at home, he again
took refuge in England, where Henry Till, had
given him his niece, Lady Margaret Douglas, in
marriage, the eldest child of the union being Henry,
Lord Darnley.
Elsewhere Henry VIII. made the most of his
opportunities, and prevailed upon several of the
noblemen he had taken prisoners at Solway Moss to
act as his agents in Scotland provided he gave them
liberty. As their lot in England had been hard,
subjected as they were to popular contempt when
dragged through the streets of London, while they
were subsequently imprisoned in the Tower, this
unpatriotic submission is not altogether to be
marvelled at.
Arran, head of the Hamiltons and next heir to the
throne after the infant Queen Mary, was not to be
relied on by either side, and his infirmity of purpose
became a byword. When, in the capacity of Regent,
he temporised during the diplomatic duel between
Cardinal Beaton and Sir Ralph Sadler, emissary of
Henry VIIL, the unstable character of this nobleman
militated against a peaceful issue to the contest.
For owing to Arran's optimism, real or assumed,
Beaton was at a critical moment permitted to return
from confinement at Blackness to St. Andrews, and
shut himself up in his own stronghold there ; while