Guards were at the same time posted to intercept all communication between the garrison and the city, [293] Two days had been spent in these preludes; and it was expected that on the third morning the great contest would begin.

Meanwhile the population of Edinburgh was in an excited state.

It had been discovered that Dundee had paid visits to the Castle; and it was believed that his exhortations had induced the garrison to hold out.

His old soldiers were known to be gathering round him; and it might well be apprehended that he would make some desperate attempt.

He, on the other hand, had been informed that the Western Covenanters who filled the cellars of the city had vowed vengeance on him: and, in truth, when we consider that their temper was singularly savage and implacable; that they had been taught to regard the slaying of a persecutor as a duty; that no examples furnished by Holy Writ had been more frequently held up to their admiration than Ehud stabbing Eglon, and Samuel hewing Agag limb from limb; that they had never heard any achievement in the history of their own country more warmly praised by their favourite teachers than the butchery of Cardinal Beatoun and of Archbishop Sharpe; we may well wonder that a man who had shed the blood of the saints like water should have been able to walk the High Street in safety during a single day.