"Gladly will I head the army," said the cardinal, whose eyes sparkled.
"Nay," replied James, dryly, and with a smile; "should war be resolved on, I shall lead the army in person, as my predecessors have always done. What say the laws of the church on prelates leading armies?"
"It is forbidden by the canons of John VIII."
"Sir Oliver Sinclair of Ravensheugh is a brave serviteur of the crown, and he may be my lieutenant-general."
"Sire, Sir Oliver of Ravensheugh is a mere laird, and no lord will follow him to the field. But we are well prepared for any emergency. The Earl of Buchan commands on the eastern marches, the Lord Sanquhar on the west; and the Lord Tester commands the middle. Their paid bands of horse and foot are ever on the alert. Our ships of war are not so numerous as they soon shall be; but they fully equal those of England in every respect, for the Unicorn, the Salamander,* the Morischer, and the Great Lion, are each as large, if not larger, than the boasted Harry. Then we have the little frigate taken by Sir Robert Barton from the Admiral Howard, in Yarmouth Roads."
* These two were burnt by the English, in 1544.
"The Mary Willoughbie?"
"Mounting twenty culverins, besides arquebuses and crossbows; and we have six others on the stocks at the New Haven. Including those which came from France," continued the cardinal, consulting his note-book, "we have one hundred and fifty pieces of cannon in our arsenal; and Scotland was never better prepared for war than at the present hour—nay, not even in the days of James IV."
"For which I thank the ability of your eminence," replied James, who cordially disliked his uncle Henry. "My father, James IV., entered England, whenever he chose, at the head of an army; but I, unfortunate! have a stiff-necked people, who, much as they love me, will not fight unless their parliament tells them to do so; and, worse than all, cardinal, the people—hate thee!"
"Faith, sire, they are ready to hate any one—the rabble."