standing the solemnity of the occasion, to join in
the shout of laughter that rose thereat from all present. But provosts
and bailies, not being men of war, should not expose themselves to such
adversities.

Nor was the fyke of impotent preparation within the walls of the castle
better. The Queen had been in a manner lanerly with her ladies when the
sough of the coming multitude reached her. The French guards had not
come from Glasgow, and there was none of the warlike nobles of the
papistical sect at that time at Stirling. She had therefore reason both
for dread and panic, when the news arrived that all Angus and Merns had
rebelled, for so it was at first reported.

On the arrival of Dun, he was on the instant admitted to her presence;
for she was at the time in the tapestried chamber, surrounded by her
priests and ladies, and many officers, all consulting her according to
their fears. The sight, said my grandfather, for he also went into the
presence, was a proof to him that the cause of the papacy was in the
dead-thraws, the judgments of all present being so evidently in a state
of discomfiture and desertion.

Dun going forward with the wonted reverences, the Queen said to him
abruptly,--

"Well, Erskine, what is this?"

Whereupon he represented to her, in a sedate manner, that the Reformed
ministers were not treated as they had been encouraged to hope;
nevertheless, to show their submission to those in temporal authority
over them, they were coming, in obedience to the citation, to stand
trial.

"But their retinue--when have delinquents come to trial so attended?"
she exclaimed eagerly.

"The people, please your Highness," said Dun, with a steadfastness of
manner that struck every one with respect for him, "the people hold the
same opinions and believe the same doctrines as their preachers, and
they feel that the offence, if it be offence, of which the ministers are
accused, lies equally against them, and therefore they have resolved to
make their case a common cause."

"And do they mean to daunt us from doing justice against seditious
schismatics?" cried her Highness somewhat in anger.

"They mean," replied Dun, "to let your Highness see whether it be
possible to bring so many to judgment. Their sentiment, with one voice,
is, Cursed be they that seek the effusion of blood, or war, or
dissension. Let us possess the evangile, and none within Scotland shall
be more obedient subjects. In sooth, madam, they