But, at the height of his fortunes, Kirkcaldy did not forget his own country, or abandon the policy which he conscientiously believed to be for her advantage. As a soldier, he was ready to serve the French King against his continental enemies; but, as a politician, he did not hesitate or scruple to thwart his schemes by all the means in his power when their object seemed to be the subjection of Scotland to the rule of France--the erection of the land into a province, as Melville forcibly puts it. With this object in view he had thought himself justified in acting as a secret agent, and supplying the English Government with such information as might enable it to follow the negotiations between the French party in Edinburgh and their friends in Paris. But his services had been dispensed with when Queen Mary succeeded her half-brother Edward on the throne. It was no loftier sense of honour, but rather a narrow spirit of intolerance that led to the step; and the reason assigned for the withdrawal of the secret service money, which had enabled Kirkcaldy to obtain, and to supply intelligence to England, was simply that ‘no Catholic Power should pay or maintain the murderers of a Catholic Cardinal.’ As Kirkcaldy was in the receipt of ample pay from Henry II., and as even his detractors never accused him of avarice or greed--a charge which it would be difficult to substantiate in the face of the distinct statement made by Melville, that he never sought payment of the ‘honourable pension’ granted him on his retirement from the French service--it cannot be supposed that he was actuated by mercenary motives when, in 1556, he again offered his services to Queen Mary, through Dr Wotton, promising that she should have ‘good intelligence of the affairs of Scotland and of France by his intimacy with those of both nations.’ No answer having been vouchsafed to these overtures, Kirkcaldy resolved to return to Scotland, where, as his knowledge of the negotiations carried on with the French Court enabled him to foresee, important events were about to take place. Before leaving Paris, however, he again applied to the English Ambassador, Dr Wotton, from whom he received a letter of introduction to Lord Paget, Lord Privy-Seal, and Sir William Petre, Secretary of State. It laid special stress on the bearer’s discontent with the present state of Scotland, and on his desire to see it delivered from the yoke of the French and restored to its former liberty. It referred to his English sympathies, but added a very important and very honourable qualification; for it was only ‘next to his country’ that he was represented as having ‘a good mind to England.’ On the 28th of May 1557, Lord Wentworth, writing to Queen Mary, informed her that Kirkcaldy was then at Dieppe, ‘tarying only the wind to pass to Scotland.’ _V._ HOME AGAIN