the western marches were swayed [Sidenote: 1543] by this powerful
chieftain. With Maxwell, and the other captives, returned to Scotland
the banished Earl of Angus, and his brother, Sir George Douglas, after
a banishment of fifteen years. This powerful family regained at least
a part of their influence upon the borders; and, grateful to the
kingdom which had afforded them protection during their exile, became
chiefs of the English faction in Scotland, whose object it was to urge
a contract of marriage betwixt the young queen and the heir apparent
of England. The impetuosity of Henry, the ancient hatred betwixt the
nations, and the wavering temper of the governor, Arran, prevented
the success of this measure. The wrath of the disappointed monarch
discharged itself in a wide-wasting and furious invasion of the
east marches, conducted by the Earl of Hertford. Seton, Home,
and Buccleuch, hanging on the mountains of Lammermoor, saw, with
ineffectual regret, the fertile plains of Merse and Lothian, and the
metropolis itself, reduced to a smoking desert. Hertford had scarcely
retreated with the main army, when Evers and Latoun laid waste the
whole vale of Tiviot, with a ferocity of devastation, hitherto unheard
of[15]. The same "lion mode of wooing," being pursued during the
minority of Edward VI., totally alienated the affections even of those
Scots who were most attached to the English interest. The Earl of
Angus, in particular, united himself to the governor, and gave the
English a sharp defeat at Ancram moor, [Sidenote: 1545] a particular
account of which action is subjoined to the ballad, entituled, "_The
Eve of St. John_." Even the fatal defeat at Pinky, which at once
renewed the carnage of Flodden, and the disgrace of Solway, served to
prejudice the cause of the victors. The borders saw, with dread and
detestation, the ruinous fortress of Roxburgh once more receive an
English garrison, and the widow of Lord Home driven from his baronial
castle, to [Sidenote: 1547] make room for the "_Southern Reivers_."