em
on account of their inoffensive behavior; or was pleased that they had
never, during their insurrection, disputed his title, and had shown
no attachment to the house of York, the highest crime of which, in his
eyes, they could have been guilty.

The Scottish king was not idle during these commotions in England. He
levied a considerable army, and sat down before the Castle of Norham, in
Northumberland; but found that place, by the precaution of Fox, bishop
of Durham, so well provided both with men and ammunition, that he made
little or no progress in the siege. Hearing that the earl of Surrey had
collected some forces, and was advancing upon him, he retreated into
his own country, and left the frontiers exposed to the inroads of the
English general, who besieged and took Aiton, a small castle lying a few
miles beyond Berwick. These unsuccessful or frivolous attempts on both
sides prognosticated a speedy end to the war; and Henry, notwithstanding
his superior force, was no less desirous than James of terminating
the differences between the nations. Not to depart, however, from his
dignity, by making the first advances, he employed in this friendly
office Peter Hialas, a man of address and learning, who had come to him
as ambassador from Ferdinand and Isabella, and who was charged with a
commission of negotiating the marriage of the Infanta Catharine, their
daughter, with Arthur, prince of Wales.[*]

* Polyd. Virg. p. 603.

Hialas took a journey northwards, and offered his mediation between
James and Henry, as minister of a prince who was in alliance with both
potentates. Commissioners were soon appointed to meet and confer on
terms of accommodation. The first demand of the English was, that Perkin
should be put into their hands: James replied, that he himself was
no judge of the young man's pretensions; but having received him as a
supplicant, and promised him protection, he was determined not to betray
a man who had trusted to his good faith and his generosity. The next
demand of the English met with no better reception: they required
reparation for the ravages committed by the late inroads into England:
the Scottish commissioners replied, that the spoils were like water
spilt upon the ground, which could never be recovered; and that Henry's
subjects were better able to bear the loss, than their master to repair
it. Henry's commissioners next proposed, that the two kings should have
an interview at Newcastle,