and by carrying into practice a cleverly laid scheme for the transport of Mary Stuart, the subject of the dispute, from Scotland to Brittany.
Villegagnon,[1] Vice-Admiral of Brittany, commanded the squadron which conveyed the expeditionary corps to Scotland. He landed the troops at Dunbar on June 18th, and they proceeded to lay siege to Haddington, while he, announcing his intention of returning to France, put to sea. But as soon as he was out of sight of the shore, he steered north instead of south, and passing between the Orkneys and the Shetlands, rounded Scotland, and so reached Dumbarton, where, by arrangement, Mary Stuart awaited him. Sailing again without unnecessary delay, he entered the Channel by way of the Irish Sea, and safely landed his charge in Brittany on July 13th, 1548.[2]
A month afterwards, a squadron under the Lord High Admiral, Lord Seymour of Sudeley, was sent to the eastern coast of Scotland to cause a diversion.[3] Seymour landed a force at St. Ninian's, in Fifeshire; but it was met by James Stuart,[4] later known as the Regent Murray, and driven back to its ships with a loss of six hundred killed and about one hundred taken. Seymour made an attempt upon Montrose, but he fell into an ambush organised by Erskine of Dun, and losing six hundred men was obliged to retreat. Although in the course of his cruise he destroyed a few vessels, he returned to England with little gain and no glory.
Peace nominally continued with France; but in July, 1548, the French off Boulogne fired on people who were engaged in building a mole there, and subsequently they captured three or four English victuallers, and made incursions within the English pale.[5] Remonstrance was in vain, and at length the Council decided to permit the people of the western ports secretly to proceed to sea to intercept the home-coming French fishery fleet from Newfoundland, and to entrust the conduct of this strange privateering expedition to Seymour, Sir Peter Carew, and other officers of rank. But the political events preceding the fall and execution of the Lord High
- ↑ This officer, who served with distinction in South America, gave his name to the island and fort of Villegagnon in Rio de Janeiro Harbour.
- ↑ Guérin, ii. 149.
- ↑ Burnet, ii. 71.
- ↑ Natural son of James V., by Lady Margaret Erskine: born 1530; Earl of Murray 1562; Regent 1567; murdered 1570.
- ↑ S. P. MSS. Dom. N. 39.
