tablished. They sent up to the archbishop and prelates divers
representations, containing complaints, and proposing canons and
articles of reformation; but very little regard was paid to their
remonstrances.

TRIAL OF LINDSAY.

About this period the earl of Nottingham, after having ineffectually
pressed the queen to discard the dukes of Somerset and Devonshire,
resigned the seals. The carl of Jersey and sir Edward Seymour were
dismissed; the earl of Kent was appointed chamberlain, Harley secretary
of state, and Henry St. John secretary of war. The discovery of the
Scottish conspiracy was no sooner known in France, than Louis ordered
Fraser to be imprisoned in the Bastile. In England, Lindsay being
sentenced to die for having corresponded with France, was given to
understand that he had no mercy to expect, unless he would discover
the conspiracy, He persisted in denying all knowledge of any such
conspiracy; and scorned to save his life by giving false information. In
order to intimidate him into a confession, the ministry ordered him
to be conveyed to Tyburn, where he still rejected life upon the terms
proposed; then he was carried back to Newgate, where he remained some
years; at length he was banished, and died of hunger in Holland. The
ministers had been so lukewarm and languid in the investigation of the
Scottish conspiracy, that the whigs loudly exclaimed against them as
disguised Jacobites, and even whispered insinuations, implying, that the
queen herself had a secret bias of sisterly affection for the court of
St. Germain's. What seemed to confirm this allegation was the disgrace
of the duke of Queensberry, who had exerted himself with remarkable zeal
in the detection; but the decline of his interest in Scotland was the
real cause of his being laid aside at this juncture.

{1704}

THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT.

The design of the court was to procure in the Scottish parliament the
nomination of a successor to the crown, and a supply for the forces,
which could not be obtained in the preceding session. Secretary
Johnston, in concert with the marquis of Tweedale, undertook to carry
these points in return for certain limitations on the successor, to
which her majesty agreed. The marquis was appointed commissioner. The
office of lord-register was bestowed upon Johnston; and the parliament
met on the sixth day of July. The queen, in her letter, expressed her
concern that these divisions should have risen to