w him across the Border: they remembered Flodden, moreover they
could not risk the person of a childless king. James prepared, however,
for a raid on a great scale on the western Border, but the fact had been
divulged by Sir George Douglas, Angus's brother, and had also been sold
to Dacre, cheap, by another Scot. The English despatches prove that
Wharton had full time for preparation, and led a competent force of
horse, which, near Arthuret, charged on the right flank of the Scots, who
slowly retreated, till they were entangled between the Esk and a morass,
and lost their formation and their artillery, with 1200 men: a few were
slain, most were drowned or were taken prisoners. The raid was no secret
of the king and the priests, as Knox absurdly states; nobles of the
Reforming no less than of the Catholic party were engaged; the English
had full warning and a force of 3000 men, not of 400 farmers; the Scots
were beaten through their own ignorance of the ground in which they had
been burning and plundering. As to confusion caused by the claim of
Oliver Sinclair to be commander, it is not corroborated by contemporary
despatches, though Sir George Douglas reports James's lament for the
conduct of his favourite, "Fled Oliver! fled Oliver!" The misfortune
broke the heart of James. He went to Edinburgh, did some business,
retired for a week to Linlithgow, {89} where his queen was awaiting her
delivery, and thence went to Falkland, and died of nothing more specific
than shame, grief, and despair. He lived to hear of the birth of his
daughter, Mary (December 8, 1542). "It came with a lass and it will go
with a lass," he is said to have muttered.

On December 14th James passed away, broken by his impossible task, lost
in the bewildering paths from which there was no outgait.

James was personally popular for his gaiety and his adventures while he
wandered in disguise. Humorous poems are attributed to him. A man of
greater genius than his might have failed when confronted by a tyrant so
wealthy, ambitious, cruel, and destitute of honour as Henry VIII.;
constantly engaged with James's traitors in efforts to seize or slay him
and his advisers. It is an easy thing to attack James because he would
not trust Henry, a man who ruined all that did trust to his seeming
favour.

CHAPTER XVI. THE MINORITY OF MARY STUART.

When James died, Henry VIII. seemed to hold in his hand all the winning
cards in the game of which