Excerpt from The History of Scotland During the Reigns of Queen Mary and of King James Vi Till His Accession to the Crown of England, Vol. 2: With a Review of the Scottish History Previous to That Period; And an Appendix Containing Original Papers<br><br>This unexpected disappointment proved fatal to the party. In mere despair some of the more zealous attempted to assault Leith but the French beat them back with disgrace, seized their cannon, and, pursuing them to the gates Of Edin burgh, were on the point of entering along with them. All the terror and confusion which the prospect Ofpillage or of massacre can excite in a place taken by storm, filled the city on this occasion. The inhabitants fled from the enemy by the opposite gate the forces of the Congre gation were irresolute and dismayed; and the Queen's partisans in the town Openly insulted both. At last, a few of the nobles ventured to face the enemy, who, after plundering some houses in the suburbs, retired with their booty, and delivered the city from this dreadful alarm.<br><br>A second skirmish, which happened a few days after, was no less unfortunate. The French sent out a detachment to intercept a convoy of pro visions which was designed for Edinburgh. The Lords of the Congregation, having intelligence of this, marched in all haste with a considerable body Of their troops, and falling upon the enemy between Restalrig and Leith, with more gallantry than good conduct, were almost surrounded by a second party of French, who advanced in order to support their own men. In this situation a retreat was the only thing which could save the Scots.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.