with the Queen married Methuen, and shut herself up with him in Stirling Castle. The dismissed husband was able partially to revenge this final insult to his honour. He surrounded Stirling, compelled Methuen to surrender, and threw him into prison.[1] But it was the last effort of his waning power, and precipitated his fall. The Archbishop of St Andrew's supported the dignity of the Church's judgment; and the united strength of the ecclesiastics proved always, in the long run, too much for the resistance of a section of the divided lords. A revolution followed, which restored Margaret and her lover to each other's arms, and replaced James in their edifying custody. With the assistance of the bishops, and of every one with whose self-indulgent tendencies the late Government had interfered, they recovered an absolute superiority. An assembly called a Parliament met at Edinburgh on the 2nd of September, composed of the personal enemies of the Earl of Angus. The two Douglases, Sir George and the Earl, were accused of having betrayed their country to the English, and were attainted of treason. Their lands were confiscated, and given away among the profligate companions of the Queen's paramour.
Angus did not yield without an effort. He fell
- ↑ Lord Dacre to Wolsey: State Papers, vol. iv. p. 490.
Flodden, was not huddled over in a provincial court in Scotland. It was decided in Italy after two years' deliberation, with all the usual solemnities.—State Papers, vol. iv. p. 491. The moderate surprise which I experienced on reading the speeches of Roman Catholic members of Parliament in the late debate on the Divorce Bill was increased to wonder at the silence with which the assertions of the purity of the Papal courts were allowed to pass unchallenged.
