Douglas book > Angus memoirs

FAILURE OF EFFORTS ON BEHALF OF MORTON, 1581. 337
to oppose the threatened attack. 1 Another impediment in the way of the
English ambassador was this, that he held with Angus and other friends of
Morton correspondence of a most treasonable kind. As it is tersely put in a
pasquil or libel addressed to Randolph himself : " Last of all, what seditioun
yee move, in moving two young noblemen, the Erles of Angus and Marr, to
be howlets and nightingels who converse with you in the night." 2
The import of these midnight conferences may be found in the English
envoy's own letters and his account of his sojourn in Scotland. They show
how active Angus was in behalf of his uncle, and how all his schemes
failed through the treachery of his own relatives and friends. These plans
were not lacking in boldness, proposing as they did the seizure of the king's
person and the slaying of Lennox, Montrose, and Argyll. It is not clear
whether this plot was originally intended, for so late as the 24th of February
Angus attended a meeting of Estates, convened to give an audience to the
English ambassador. To do this the Earl, who had hitherto kept aloof as a
precaution against his enemies, received a safe-conduct from the king. His
stay in Edinburgh, however, was short, as he was suddenly called away by
certain intercepted letters which revealed evil designed against him by his
own wife and the Earl of Montrose. Angus left Edinburgh in the night,
found his wife at Dalkeith, and sent her home to her father, acquainting the
king of the matter by the Earl of Mar, who was still at Court. 3 After this,
Angus absented himself from Court, and as, owing to the circumstance just
1 Register of Privy Council, vol. iii. pp. 355, Angus were warded, the lovers might meet
393. at pleasure. It is added, however, that the
2 Calderwood, voL iii. pp. 509, 510 ; vol. letters were said to be forged. The Countess
viii. p. 211. Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, vol. i. of Angus, at this date, was Lady Margaret
pp. 96, 97. Leslie, daughter of Andrew, Earl of Rothes.
3 Moysie, in his Memoirs [Bannatyne Club She was afterwards divorced from Angus,
edition, p. 30], says they were " luif letters " The Earl of Mar was the brother of the first
which passed between Montrose and the Countess of Angus, and a great ally of his
Countess, their contents bearing that if brother-in-law.
VOL. II. 2 U