succession, in his own right, to both kingdoms.  Angus and his brother, Sir George Douglas, seized the opportunity given them by the misery caused by the English atrocities to make a move against Arran and Beaton, and seized the person of the queen-mother.  But their success was brought to an end by the meeting of a Parliament, summoned by Arran, in December, 1544, and the Douglases were reconciled and restored to their estates, deeming this the most profitable step for themselves.  Their breach with Henry was widened by the events of the next two months.  A body of Englishmen, under Sir Ralph Eure, defeated Arran at Melrose, and desecrated the abbey, the sepulchre of the Douglas family.  In revenge, Angus, along with Arran, fell upon the English at Ancrum Moor in Roxburghshire, and inflicted on them a total defeat.  This was followed by a second invasion of Hertford (this time by land).  He ravaged the borders in merciless fashion.  A counter-invasion by an army of Scots and French auxiliaries had proved futile owing to the incompetence or the treachery of Angus, who almost immediately returned to the English side.  About the same time a descendant of the Lord of the Isles whom James IV had crushed made an agreement with Henry, but was of little use to his cause.  Beaton, after some successful fighting on the borders, in the end of 1545, went to St. Andrews in the beginning of 1546.  On the 1st March, George Wishart, who had been condemned on a charge of heresy, was hanged, and his body was burned at the stake.  On May 29th the more fierce section of the Protestant party took their revenge by murdering the great cardinal in cold blood.  We are not here concerned with Beaton’s private character or with his treatment of heretics.  His public actions, as far as foreign relations are concerned, are marked by a consistent patriotic aim.  He represented the long line of Scottish churchmen who had striven to maintain the integrity of the kingdom and the alliance with France.  He had shown great ability and tact, and in politics he had been much more honest than his opponents.  But for his support of the queen-dowager in 1542-43, and but for his maintaining the party to which Arran afterwards attached himself, it is possible that Scotland might have passed under the yoke of Henry VIII in 1543, instead of being peacefully united to England sixty years later.  With him disappeared any remaining hope of the French party.  “We may say of old Catholic Scotland”, writes Mr. Lang, “as said the dying Cardinal:  ’Fie, all is gone’.”

Though Beaton was dead, the effects of his work remained.  He had saved the situation at the crisis of December, 1542, and the insensate cruelty of Henry VIII had made it impossible that the Cardinal’s work should fall to pieces at once.  It seemed at first as if the only difference was that the castle of St. Andrews was held by the English party.  Ten months after Beaton’s death, the small Protestant garrison was joined by John Knox, who was present when the