Studies from Court and Cloister | Page 9

be stormed in Stirling Castle before she suffers her children to be torn
from her. Dacre professed to believe, and perhaps caused Margaret to
fear, that they would be destroyed if they fell into the Duke of Albany's
power. But the very day on which Dacre wrote to Henry's Council,
advising that money should be sent to enable her to hold out, the regent
prepared to bombard her, and it was not till her friends had forsaken her,
flying for their lives and in terror of Albany's proclamation, that placing
the keys of the fortress in her little son's hands, she desired him to give

them to the regent, and to beg him to show favour to himself, to his
brother, and to her husband. The regent answered that he would be
good to the king, to his brother, and to their mother; but that as for
Angus, he "would not dalye with no traitor." *
* Cotton MS. Calig. B 2, 369; B.M.
No sooner had Margaret given up her children, than she began to
manoeuvre how to steal them back and spirit them over the Border.
While pretending to be too ill to leave her palace at Linlithgow, where
she gave out she had "taken to her chamber" in anticipation of her
approaching confinement, she effected her escape into England, but her
plan for capturing the king and his brother failed. Nothing could now
exceed her desolate condition, as, wandering from place to place, alone,
ill, and worse than friendless, she sought in vain a refuge in all that
wild Border region where she might await her hour of peril. Angus,
seeing the turn affairs had taken, had thought it prudent to abandon her
to her fate, and, after helping her to escape, returned to Scotland in the
hope of coming to terms with Albany. His wife was at last thankful to
accept Lord Dacre's rough hospitality in his gloomy castle of Harbottle.
Here in the midst of a brutal soldiery, with no woman to render her the
most needful service, she gave birth to a daughter, the Lady Margaret
Douglas, on the 5th October 1515. On the 10th she wrote to Albany to
announce her delivery "of a cristen sowle beying a young lady," and
miserably ill though she was, did not omit to demand "as tutrix of the
young king and prince, her tender children, to have the whole rule and
governance of Scotland."
To this letter Margaret received an answer written by the Council,
stating that the governance of the realm had expired with the death of
her husband, and had devolved to the Estates; that with her consent
they had appointed the Duke of Albany; that she had forfeited the
tutelage of her children by her second marriage, and that in all temporal
matters the realm of Scotland had been immediately subject to
Almighty God, not recognising the Pope or any superior upon earth.
Herewith the queen was forced to content herself; further words would
have proved as unavailing as reeds against the tempest, and even words
were soon beyond her power to write, for the birth of her daughter was
succeeded by a long and painful illness which nearly proved fatal to the
unhappy woman. To add to the bitterness of her trials, at the moment

when she was beginning slowly to recover, came the news of the illness
and death of the little Duke of Rothesay. Grief, anger, and anxiety for
the safety of the king served naturally to increase the gravity of her
condition, and for months she lay hovering between life and death,
loudly accusing Albany of having murdered her child.
This accusation was reiterated to Albany himself as soon as her
unsteady hand could grasp a pen; but the regent took no heed of her
stinging words, continued to invite her to return to Scotland, in spite of
her persistent refusal, and apparently succeeded at last in convincing
her of his innocence.
On her recovery she wrote to him from Morpeth, to announce her
departure for the south, Henry having invited her to his court,
accompanying his invitation with presents of costly stuffs, and money,
and clothing for the baby.
A letter from Margaret to the regent at this moment is significant of a
sudden change in her demeanour towards him, and to judge by her
subsequent behaviour, the change meant treachery. Instead of the fierce
denunciations she had lately indulged in, she acknowledged that she
had often received goodly and pleasant words as well as letters from
him, and "though his conduct has not always corresponded to them, yet
as matters are being accommodated" she hopes he will reform it. The
meaning of this change of tactics became clear to all but the regent
himself---who seems to have been of