72 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. |CH. 57. thousand pounds. Elizabeth, as a great act of munifi- cence, sent them a thousand, ' of which they made as much account as if they had received so many pence/ But Randolph was permitted afterwards to open a ne- gotiation with the Lord of Lochleven, who undertook to put Northumberland in the Queen's hands for the sum which had been offered by the Countess, intimating at the same time that if she refused his price he would make his bargain elsewhere. 1 Lochleven was evidently in earnest. The Queen could not lose her prize, and the money was sent to Berwick to be paid on receipt of the Earl's person. Morton still attempted to make delays, less in pity for Percy than in indignation at Elizabeth ; but 2OOO/. was a temptation too considerable for a needy Scotch gentle- man to resist. To Sir William Douglas it was in- diiferent whether he received it from England or Flan- ders ; but to have restored Northumberland to liberty would have been to part with the last faint thread of dependence which the Regent continued to place in the Queen's word. He contented himself therefore with entreating that at all events the Earl's life might be spared ; and the unlucky nobleman was exchanged at Coldingham, on the 29th of May, for a bag of gold. The bargain was a bitter one to Scotland. The passions of the people were heated sevenfold ; the treaty was spoken of no longer, and the fighting recommenced in all its fury. But Elizabeth had obtained what she de- Randolph and Drury to Hunsdon, April 10 : MSS. Scotland,
