Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/229

I573-J THE MASSACRE OF ST BARTHOLOMEW. 209 was done done more effectively than Drury knew at the time, for the last spring of water on which the gar- rison depended was in the part of the fortifications which had been taken. At the beginning there were but a hundred and sixty men in the Castle. Of these some were killed, some wounded, some ill, and all ' out wearied, having no time to take rest/ 1 ( Some were no soldiers, and had come in for friendship/ and some had no sym- pathy with the cause for which they were fighting. Nothing remained but to accept whatever conditions Morton would grant. A flag of truce again appeared. Grange and Melville were lowered down by cords over the inner wall, and, putting a bold face 011 their position, redemanded what Melville had asked the day before. Both they and Maitland might then have obtained their lives. Now the Regent was ready to let the garrison go where they pleased, taking their own property with them, but he insisted that Grange, Maitland, Melville, Hume, and four others, should surrender unconditionally, 2 to be dealt with as the Queen of England should advise. They were allowed till nine o'clock in the evening to consider. Grange was a soldier, and preferred to die sword in hand ; and the others who were excepted in the pardon expected no mercy, and desired to fight to the last. But the men had no wish to sacrifice their own lives. They had long loved Grange, but they hated Maitland as the cause of all their troubles, and threat- ened to hang him over the walls. Then all was over. 1 Causes of the surrender of the Castle, May 28 : MSS. Scotland. 2 Conditions offered by the Regent, May 28 : MSS. Scotland VOL. x. 14