The Lesleys and their friends remained masters of the castle, and they kept with them James, Lord Hamilton, afterwards earl of Arran, the regent’s eldest son, whom Beatoun had detained as his hostage, and who now became theirs. One of the conspirators, who believed that in delivering Scotland from the tyrant they had done a praiseworthy deed, William Kirkaldy, went to London. He obtained from Henry VIII., who considered the taking of the castle and the events which had accompanied it to be a lawful revolution, a declaration that he was prepared to take the party under his protection, on condition, however, that the marriage contract between Edward and Mary should be carried out. As communication by sea was easy between the castle and London, English ships conveyed thither all supplies that were needful. [Sidenote: OPINIONS ON THE MURDER.] Hamilton, a bastard brother of the regent, was named by him archbishop of St. Andrews, and was confirmed by Pope Paul III. This energetic prelate immediately pressed on his brother the duty of besieging the castle and of punishing all those who had taken it. He was strongly supported by others. On August 23, 1546, the main body of the army set out from Edinburgh to form the siege; but at the end of July, 1547,[369] the capture of the fortress being evidently hopeless, terms were made with the besieged advantageous to them, but which neither side had any intention of observing. This period forms an important epoch, and we must suspend for a while the course of our narrative. We have now traced the history of the ministry and the martyrdom of Patrick Hamilton and George Wishart. We shall have by-and-by to trace, _Deo adjuvante_, the mighty action of the third and greatest of the Scottish reformers, John Knox. The period, the history of which we have just gone over, was one of active persecution. It remains for us to recount the events of the contest with the papacy, into which the Scottish nobility energetically entered, and the victory of the Reformation. Without entering at present upon the narrative of facts, we shall cast a glance forward in order to point out what was to give the victory to evangelical Christianity. Assuredly it was not such actions as the capture of the castle and the violent death of the persecutor. Such things are more likely to ruin a cause than to save it. The Christian life and death of Wishart contributed far more powerfully than the death of Beatoun to the advancement of the kingdom of God. The history of the Scottish Reformation serves to show the untruth of one assertion frequently made by the enemies of the Reform.