Series 3 > Scottish correspondence of Mary of Lorraine

xxiv CORRESPONDENCE OF MARY OF LORRAINE
turers, who figure in the Correspondence, to vilify their
neighbours. The ‘ partecularaty and effection ’ of the
Hamiltons, with all its selfishness, was no more sordid
than the unnatural conduct of Admiral Seymour, whose
plots against his brother jeopardised the public safety.
The hand of Lady Margaret Douglas drew the renegade
Lennox into England, but it severed him from his fellow-
countrymen and erstwhile confederates. Scotland had no
inducements to attract English malcontents : France was
the candle for such moths. One who singed his wings
was Captain Hugh Luttrell, brother of the commander of
Broughty. He was certainly a deserter : it was thought
that he had the mind to betray Boulogne to his country’s
enemies.1
If the Scottish lowlands were scourged at the hand of
the invader, the fairest parts of England were visited by
domestic insurrection, while France was scarcely in a
better plight. Her soldiers served in the English ranks ; 2
the land was torn by economic and religious troubles, and
by the jealousies of faction. In critical days her arm was
shortened to interfere in Scotland by insurrection in
Guienne and the massacre of Amboise, while some at
least among contemporaries believed that in the Treaty
of Cateau-Cambresis and the marriage of Francis and
Mary the national interests of France were sacrificed to
the rivalry of Guise and Montmorency.3 Not only England,
France and Scotland, but all western Europe was seeth¬
ing in unrest, religious, political and social.
It is little wonder that, when old standards and con-
1 Selve, 308, 311 ; Pollard, Protector Somerset, 141.
2 Ibid.
3 Contemporary opinions on the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrdsis are cited in
Lavisse, Histoire de France, v. ii. 176. During the insurrection in Guienne
an agent was sent from Bordeaux to negotiate with Somerset. (S'elve, 447,
455'8; Lavisse, v. ii. 137.) For the situation in France, resulting in the
tumult of Amboise, see also Cambridge Modern History, ii. 296-7.