1 5 70.] EXCOMMVNICA TION OF E LIZ ABE TH. 323 in her own hands or in the hands of Scots on whom she could rely. 1 Sussex advised her strongly to secure her ground beforehand, and even as ' a means towards the peace/ allow him to take Edinburgh and Dumbarton. She contented herself however with sending a sharp mes- sage to Chatelherault and Argyle, that if they meddled with Lennox and Morton she did not mean to be ' so deluded ' as to pass it over. Herries having given fresh trouble, she permitted Sussex to make one more foray into Galloway, where he blew up Dumfries Castle and left ' not a stone house standing capable of giving shelter to armed men.' 2 Having shown in this way that she was not afraid and would endure no trifling, she proceeded seriously with the consideration of the treaty. Sussex lamented still that he had been for- bidden ' to go through with things ; ' ' the heavier the hand of the English Government the easier, simpler, and more durable/ he thought, ' the composition would be/ But the Queen considered that for the present enough had been done. The difficulty now was rather in restraining the King's party, who in desperation, and perhaps privately instigated by Cecil, might try to make a composition impossible. Lennox, under pretence of public order, hanged a party of thirty to forty Gordons whom he caught somewhere : ' shrewd justice ' as even Sussex was obliged to term it. Elizabeth required a bond from Chatelherault and his friends that they would 1 Elizabeth to Sussex, August 1 1 : MSS. Scotland
- Ibid.
