found the borders in a state of great disorder. The exertions of her
natural brother (afterwards the famous regent, Murray) were necessary
to restore some degree of tranquillity. He marched to Jedburgh,
executed twenty or thirty of the transgressors, burned many houses,
and brought a number of prisoners to Edinburgh. The chieftains of the
principal clans were also obliged to grant pledges for their future
obedience. A noted convention (for the particulars of which, see
_Border Laws_, p. 84.) adopted various regulations, which were
attended with great advantage to the marches[21].

[Footnote 21: The commissioners on the English side were, the elder
Lord Scroope of Bolton, Sir John Foster, Sir Thomas Gargrave, and Dr.
Rookby. On the Scottish side appeared, Sir John Maxwell of Terreagles,
and Sir John Ballenden.]

The unhappy match, betwixt Henry Darnley and his sovereign, led to new
dissentions on the border. The Homes, Kerrs, and other east marchers,
hastened to support the queen, against Murray, Chatelherault, and
other nobles, whom her marriage had offended. For the same purpose
the Johnstones, Jardines, and clans of Annandale entered into bonds of
confederacy. But Liddesdale was under the influence of England; in so
much, that Randolph, the English minister, proposed to hire a band of
_strapping Elliots_, to find Home business at home, in looking after
his corn and cattle.--_Keith_, p. 265. _App_. 133.

This storm was hardly overblown, when Bothwell received the commission
of lieutenant upon the borders; but, as void of parts as of principle,
he could not even recover to the queen's allegiance his own domains
in Liddesdale.--_Keith, App_. 165. The queen herself advanced to the
borders, to remedy this evil, and to hold courts at Jedburgh. Bothwell
was already in Liddesdale, where he had been severely wounded, in an
attempt to seize John Elliot, of the Parke, a desperate freebooter;
and happy had it been for Mary, had the dagger of the moss-trooper
struck more home. Bothwell being transported to his castle of
Hermitage, the queen, upon hearing the tidings, hastened thither, A
dangerous morass, still called the _Queen's Mire_[22], is pointed out
by tradition as the spot where the lovely Mary, and her white palfrey,
were in danger of perishing. The distance betwixt Hermitage and
Jedburgh, by the way of Hawick, is nearly twenty-four English miles.
The queen went and returned the same day. Whether she visited a
wounded