Unbetrothed

Elizabeth in consequence remained unbetrothed, and her father soon afterwards secured to himself a more strenuous ally in the earl of Lenox, also of the blood-royal of Scotland, by bestowing upon this nobleman the hand, not of his daughter, but of his niece the lady Margaret Douglas.

The early pledging and marriage of the children has reduced illicit sexual intercourse to a minimum; nevertheless, it sometimes happens that an unbetrothed girl, not a pota, is found to be pregnant.