who supported Mary, at Perth with the aid of Elizabeth's envoy, Henry Killigrew. Edinburgh Castle still held out for Mary under the command of William Kirkcaldy of Grange and William Maitland of Lethington, and after a long siege the castle was taken on 27 May 1573, aided by English artillery and soldiers which finally arrived under William Drury. The ensuing execution of the leaders of the Castle garrison men put an end to the last chance of Mary's restoration by native support. In July 1573 Morton had the king's chamber at Stirling Castle panelled, 60 new gold buttons made for his clothes, and gave him a football. He made efforts to recover jewels belonging to Mary which were held by Agnes Keith, Countess of Moray and others. While all now seemed to favour Morton, under-currents combined to procure his fall. The Presbyterian clergy were alienated by his leaning to Episcopacy, and all parties in the divided Church disliked his seizure of its estates. Andrew Melville, who had taken over as leader of the Kirk from John Knox, was firmly against any departure from the Presbyterian model, and refused to be won by a place in Morton's household. Morton rigorously pursued the collection of a third of the income from every Church benefice, a revenue that had been allocated to finance the King's household. Morton had discretion to exempt persons and institutions from paying these thirds, and the historian George Hewitt found no striking evidence of bias in Morton's exemptions. In 1575 Morton obtained six "snaphaunce" musket hand guns from Flanders to serve as patterns for long guns called "calivers". The Edinburgh gunmakers were ready to make 50 every week, they also made pistols called "dags" which equipped most of the gentlemen of Scotland. He sent goldsmith Michael Sym to London for tools for the royal mint. Sym was also sent to buy silver plate for Morton and have some rubies cut for him. In 1577 Morton was granted the barony of Stobo. However, over the next few months, opposition to Morton grew, led by the Earl of Argyll and the Earl of Atholl, both leading Roman Catholics and members of the Queen's party, in league with Alexander Erskine of Gogar, governor of Stirling Castle and custodian of the young James VI. Morton was finally forced to resign as Regent in March 1578, but retained much of his power. He surrendered