Stuart dynasty

THE CHURCH AT BAY. 135
get the agreement laid aside on technical grounds,
and it was never ratified. When it became apparent
that Beaton had really thwarted his design of
uniting the crowns, Henry VIII. wreaked his ven-
geance on the sister realm so cruelly and relent-
lessly that he rendered the future difficulties of the
Protestant and English parties in Scotland greater
than before.
Lord Hertford came into the Firth of Forth with
200 vessels at the end of April 1554, and, landing
at Leith, burnt the shipping there. Edinburgh
made some resistance, but succumbed before superior
force, the Palace of Holyrood suffering terribly from
fire, wooden houses also, around the impenetrable
castle, blazing for three days and nights.
Again the English fleet ravaged the coast of the
Forth, destroying every trace of fortification there,
and sparing only Dalkeith, as belonging to a Douglas ;
until, when no more punishment could be inflicted in
this naval raid, Henry's forces withdrew, shortly to
recommence their attacks elsewhere.*
A Border defeat at Ancrum having irritated the
baffled English monarch, he sent Lord Hertford to
desolate the country about the Tweed, and repeat the
process just mentioned on this portion of the infant
Queen Mary's dominions. Ruined abbeys at Kelso,
Melrose, Dryburgh, Roxburgh, and Ooldingham,f
all remain to attest the terrible vengeance taken on
* Fioude's ' History of England,' edition 1858, vol. iv. p. 323.
t Ibid., p. 248. I am indebted to the late Mr. Hill Burton for the facts
on which I base these later statements.