ed not till she reached the abbey of
Dunrenan, in Galloway, fully sixty Scottish miles from the field of
battle. In the space of eleven days she had beheld herself a prisoner,
at the mercy of her greatest enemies; at the head of a powerful army,
with a numerous train of nobles devoted to her service; and a fugitive,
at the hazard of her life, driven, with a few attendants, to lurk in a
corner of her kingdom. Still anxious and agitated in her retreat, she
was impelled by her fears to an irretrievable step, fatal to all her
future hopes. In vain her attendants, with the lords Herries and Heming,
implored her on their knees not to confide in Elizabeth, her resolution
was not to be shaken, and to England she fatally resolved to fly. No
longer an object of jealousy, but compassion, Mary trusted in the
generosity of a sister queen, that she would not take advantage of her
calamitous situation. She got into a fisherman's boat, and with about
twenty attendants, landed at Workington, in Cumberland, whence, with
marks of respect, she was conducted to Carlisle.

She addressed, on her arrival in England, a letter to the queen, in
which she painted in glowing colors the injuries she had sustained, and
implored the sympathy and assistance which her present situation so
pressingly required. Elizabeth and her council deliberated upon the
course which, in this extraordinary event, it would be proper to pursue;
and at last determined, in spite of justice and humanity, to avail
herself of the advantages given her by the confidence of her rival. Mary
demanded a personal interview with Elizabeth, but this honor she was
told must be denied to her. She had no intention of acknowledging
superiority in the queen of England, who, she expected, would, as a
friend, herself receive and examine her defences. But Elizabeth chose to
consider herself as umpire between the Scottish queen and her subjects;
and she prepared to appoint commissioners to hear the pleadings of both
parties, and wrote to the Regent of Scotland to empower proper persons
to appear in his name, and produce what could be alleged in vindication
of his proceedings.

Mary, who had hitherto relied on the professions of Elizabeth, was by
this proposal at once undeceived, and she was, in despite of her
remonstrances and complaints, conducted to Bolton, a castle of Lord
Scroop, on the borders of Yorkshire. Commissioners met on both sides,
and after protracted deliberations for four mont