Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/415

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1540.]

SCOTLAND AND IRELAND.

395

for the peace and happiness of the two countries, the King of England implored his nephew to meet his overtures with the frankness with which they were made.^[1]

There was an element of good sense in James, which might have prevailed had he been free; but he was under the spell of the Cardinal and the Queen, which he could not break, and the Scotch nation was as unmanageable as himself. Sadler carried down the gracious message, but only to fail at the Court and to be insulted by the people. The provost of Edinburgh refused him a lodging for his train; and it was not till the King interfered that they could be entertained.^[2] Although in some of the younger noblemen—in the young Earls of Argyle and Ruthven, and in Sir David Lindsay—he found a sounder feeling, the Church on one side, and national pride on the other, were too strong to give a chance of success to the English advances.^[3] Policy had

↑ Sadler Papers, vol. i. p. 3, &c.
↑ The provost said the town was full. James mentioned a particular house which might be made over to the English embassy. The provost said the Bishop of Ross lodged there. 'I say,' quoth the King, 'in the foul evil dislodge the Bishop, and see that the house be furnished against the ambassador's coming.'—Ibid.
↑ Sadler relates a grotesque illustration of the suspicion with which he was regarded. His stay was protracted into Lent. 'They raised a bruit here that I and all my folks did eat flesh here as heretics and Jews, and thereupon open proclamation was made by the commandment of the Cardinal, that whosoever should buy an egg or eat an egg, within those dioceses, should forfeit no less than his body to the fire to be burnt as an heretic, and all his goods confiscate to the King. And because they bruited that I and my folks did eat flesh (wherein they falsely belied me, whereupon, as I gather, the proclamation was made), I seemed not to be content withal, and complained thereof in honest sort to such gentlemen of the Court as resorted to me, insomuch that the King had knowledge thereof, and incontinently

[1] Sadler Papers, vol. i. p. 3, &c.

[2] The provost said the town was full. James mentioned a particular house which might be made over to the English embassy. The provost said the Bishop of Ross lodged there. 'I say,' quoth the King, 'in the foul evil dislodge the Bishop, and see that the house be furnished against the ambassador's coming.'—Ibid.

[p415-3] Sadler relates a grotesque illustration of the suspicion with which he was regarded. His stay was protracted into Lent. 'They raised a bruit here that I and all my folks did eat flesh here as heretics and Jews, and thereupon open proclamation was made by the commandment of the Cardinal, that whosoever should buy an egg or eat an egg, within those dioceses, should forfeit no less than his body to the fire to be burnt as an heretic, and all his goods confiscate to the King. And because they bruited that I and my folks did eat flesh (wherein they falsely belied me, whereupon, as I gather, the proclamation was made), I seemed not to be content withal, and complained thereof in honest sort to such gentlemen of the Court as resorted to me, insomuch that the King had knowledge thereof, and incontinently

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