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Edinburgh in 1544 131
mined as ever to be independent of the southern kingdom. At
the head of the patriotic party was the great Cardinal Beaton
the infamous cardinal, if you like to call him so
fighting, no
doubt, in his own interests and in those of the Church, of which
he was certainly no ornament. But he was at the head of the
national
party, and the nation, you will broken from the old Church.
remember, had not yet
His associates were determined
that, come what might, Scotland would not subject
herself to the
rule of an alien king and ; they opposed strenuously, to the best of
their power, all his schemes, and spurned all projects of ultimate
union between the two countries. He was backed up, as Mr.
Andrew Lang points out, by the patriotic feeling of the great
mass of the people, by the influence of the Queen Dowager, by
the tradition of the
country, and he could rely on the support of
France for whatever that was worth. In resisting the English
claims, we may at least give him credit for unrivalled tenacity,
unwearying resolution, and great political courage. He had
much against him, but he won in the end. But it was the last
fight of the old faith. Soon the country adopted the principles of
the Reformation, which lives like his did much to bring about.
The union of the crowns came in the natural course of events.
Scotland, ' under God's providence,' as Otterburn expressed it,
instead of being put under the foot of an English king, gave
hers to England. So the way was opened to the more modern
history of our great kingdom.
J. BALFOUR PAUL.