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diff --git a/37059.txt b/37059.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..78730a8 --- /dev/null +++ b/37059.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8870 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Life of Mary Queen of Scots, Volume II (of +2), by Henry Glassford Bell + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Life of Mary Queen of Scots, Volume II (of 2) + +Author: Henry Glassford Bell + +Release Date: August 13, 2011 [EBook #37059] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, VOL II *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian +Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + _Just Published, 3 Vols. post 8vo, + Price 1l. 4s. boards,_ + + THE LAIRDS OF FIFE. + + VELUTI IN SPECULUM. + + PRINTED FOR CONSTABLE & CO., EDINBURGH; + AND HURST, CHANCE & CO., LONDON. + + + + +LIFE OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. + +VOL. II. + + + + + CONSTABLE'S MISCELLANY OF + Original and Selected Publications + IN THE VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS OF + LITERATURE SCIENCE, & THE ARTS. + + VOL. XXV. + + LIFE OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, VOL. II. + + [Illustration: LOCHLEVEN CASTLE. + + Drawn by W. Brown Engraved by W. Miller] + + EDINBURGH: + PRINTED FOR CONSTABLE & CO. EDINBURGH: + AND HURST, CHANCE & CO. LONDON. + + 1828. + + + + + LIFE OF + MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. + + BY HENRY GLASSFORD BELL, ESQ. + + IN TWO VOLUMES. + + VOL. II. + + + "AYEZ MEMOIRE DE L'AME ET DE L'HONNEUR DE + CELLE QUI A ESTE VOTRE ROYNE." + _Mary's own Words._ + + + EDINBURGH: + PRINTED FOR CONSTABLE & CO. EDINBURGH; + AND HURST, CHANCE & CO. LONDON. + + 1828. + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOL. II. + + + PAGE + + CHAPTER I. + The Proposal of a Divorce between Mary and Darnley, and the + Christening of James VI 1 + + CHAPTER II. + Occurrences immediately preceding Darnley's Death 19 + + CHAPTER III. + The Death of Darnley 37 + + CHAPTER IV. + Bothwell's Trial and Acquittal 55 + + CHAPTER V. + Bothwell's Seizure of the Queen's Person, and subsequent + Marriage to her 77 + + CHAPTER VI. + The Rebellion of the Nobles, the Meeting at Carberry Hill, + and its Consequences 99 + + CHAPTER VII. + Mary at Loch-Leven, her Abdication, and Murray's Regency 120 + + CHAPTER VIII. + Mary's Escape from Loch-Leven, and the Battle of Langside 147 + + CHAPTER IX. + Mary's Reception in England, and the Conferences at York + and Westminster 161 + + CHAPTER X. + Mary's Eighteen Years' Captivity 191 + + CHAPTER XI. + Mary's Trial and Condemnation 219 + + CHAPTER XII. + Mary's Death, and Character 245 + + An Examination of the Letters, Sonnets, and other Writings, + adduced in Evidence against Mary Queen of Scots 267 + + Addendum 335 + + + + +ERRATA IN VOL. I. + + +Preface, p. v, for "_eminent_," read "_imminent_." + +Page 104, for "_On the 25th of August 1561, Mary sailed out of the harbour +of Calais_," read "_on the 15th of August_," &c. + +Page 155, for "_knapsack_," read "_knapscap_." + + + + +LIFE OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE PROPOSAL OF A DIVORCE BETWEEN MARY AND DARNLEY, AND THE CHRISTENING OF +JAMES VI. + + +It was in December 1566, during Mary's residence at Craigmillar, that a +proposal was made to her by her Privy Council, which deserves particular +attention. It originated with the Earl of Bothwell, who was now an active +Cabinet Minister and Officer of State. Murray and Darnley, the only two +persons in her kingdom to whom Mary had been willing to surrender, in a +great degree, the reins of government, had deceived her; and finding her +interests betrayed by them, she knew not where to look for an adviser. +Rizzio had been faithful to her, and to him she listened with some +deference; but it was impossible that he could ever have supplied the +place of a Prime Minister. The Earl of Morton was not destitute of +ambition sufficient to have made him aspire to that office; but he chose, +unfortunately for himself, to risk his advancement in espousing Darnley's +cause, in opposition to the Queen. Both, in consequence, fell into +suspicion; Morton was banished from Court, and Murray again made his +appearance there. But, though she still had a partiality for her brother, +Mary could not now trust him, as she had once done. Gratitude and common +justice called upon her not to elevate him above those men, (particularly +Huntly and Bothwell), who had enabled her to pass so successfully through +her recent troubles. She made it her policy, therefore, to preserve as +nice a balance of power as possible among her ministers. Bothwell's rank +and services, undoubtedly entitled him to the first place; but this the +Queen did not choose to concede to him. The truth is, she had never any +partiality for Bothwell. His turbulent and boisterous behaviour, soon +after her return from France, gave her, at that period, a dislike to him, +which she testified, by first committing him to prison, and afterwards +ordering him into banishment. He had conducted himself better since his +recall; but experience had taught Mary the deceitfulness of appearances; +and Bothwell, though much more listened to than before, was not allowed to +assume any tone of superiority in her councils. She restored Maitland to +his lands and place at Court, in such direct opposition to the Earl's +wishes, that, so recently as the month of August (1566), he and Murray +came to very high words upon the subject in the Queen's presence. After +Rizzio's murder, some part of Maitland's lands had been given to Bothwell. +These Murray wished him to restore; but he declared positively, that he +would part with them only with his life. Murray, enraged at his obstinacy, +told him, that "twenty as honest men as he should lose their lives, ere he +saw Lethington robbed;" and through his influence with his sister, +Maitland was pardoned, and his lands given back.[1] Thus Mary endeavoured +to divide her favours and friendship among Murray, Bothwell, Maitland, +Argyle the Justice-General, and Huntly the Chancellor. + +It was in this state of affairs, when the contending interests of the +nobility were in so accurate an equilibrium, that Bothwell's daring spirit +suggested to him, that there was an opening for one bold and ambitious +enough to take advantage of it. As yet, his plans were immatured and +confused; but he began to cherish the belief that a dazzling reach of +power was within his grasp, were he only to lie in wait for a favourable +opportunity to seize the prize. With these views, it was necessary for him +to strengthen and increase his resources as much as possible. His first +step was to prevail on Murray, Huntly, and Argyle, about the beginning of +October, to join with him in a bond of mutual friendship and support;[2] +his second was to lay aside any enmity he may have felt towards Morton, +and to intimate to him, that he would himself petition the Queen for his +recall; his third and boldest measure, was that of arranging with the rest +of the Privy Council the propriety of suggesting to Mary a divorce from +her husband. Bothwell's conscience seldom troubled him much when he had a +favourite end in view. He was about to play a hazardous game; but if the +risk was great, the glory of winning would be proportionate. Darnley had +fallen into general neglect and odium; yet he stood directly in the path +of the Earl's ambition. He was resolved that means should be found to +remove him out of it; and as there was no occasion to have recourse to +violence until gentler methods had failed, a divorce was the first +expedient of which he thought. He knew that the proposal would not be +disagreeable to the nobility; for it had been their policy, for some time +back, to endeavour to persuade the nation at large, and Mary in +particular, that it was Darnley's ill conduct that made her unhappy, and +created all the differences which existed. Nor were these representations +altogether unfounded; but the Queen's unhappiness arose, not so much from +her husband's ingratitude, as from the impossibility of retaining his +regard, and at the same time discharging her duty to the country. Though +the nobles were determined to shut their eyes upon the fact, it was +nevertheless the share which they held in the government, and the +necessity under which Mary lay to avail herself of their assistance, which +alone prevented her from being much more with her husband, and a great +deal less with them. There were even times, when, perplexed by all the +thousand cares of greatness, and grievously disappointed in the fulfilment +of her most fondly cherished hopes, Mary would gladly have exchanged the +splendors of her palace for the thatched roof and the contentment of the +peasant. It was on more than one occasion that Sir James Melville heard +her "casting great sighs, and saw that she would not eat for no persuasion +that my Lords of Murray and Mar could make her." "She is in the hands of +the physicians," Le Croc writes from Craigmillar, "and is not at all well. +I believe the principal part of her disease to consist in a deep grief and +sorrow, which it seems impossible to make her forget. She is continually +exclaiming "Would I were dead!"[3] "But, alas!" says Melville, "she had +over evil company about her for the time; the Earl Bothwell had a mark of +his own that he shot at."[4] + +One of his bolts Bothwell lost no time in shooting; but it missed the +mark. By undertaking to sue with them for Morton's pardon, and by making +other promises, he prevailed on Murray, Huntly, Argyle and Lethington, to +join him in advising the Queen to consent to a divorce. It could have been +obtained only through the interference of the Pope, and Murray at first +affected to have some religious scruples; but as the suggestion was +secretly agreeable to him, it was not difficult to overcome his +objections. "Take you no trouble," said Lethington to him, "we shall find +the means well enough to make her quit of him, so that you and my Lord of +Huntly will only behold the matter, and not be offended thereat." The +Lords therefore proceeded to wait upon the Queen, and lay their proposal +before her. Lethington, who had a better command of words than any among +them, commenced by reminding her of the "great number of grievous and +intolerable offences, the King, ungrateful for the honour received from +her Majesty, had committed." He added, that Darnley "troubled her Grace +and them all;" and that, if he was allowed to remain with her Majesty, he +"would not cease till he did her some other evil turn which she would find +it difficult to remedy." He then proceeded to suggest a divorce, +undertaking for himself and the rest of the nobility, to obtain the +consent of Parliament to it, provided she would agree to pardon the Earl +of Morton, the Lords Ruthven and Lindsay, and their friends, whose aid +they would require to secure a majority. But Lethington, and the rest, +soon found that they had little understood Mary's real sentiments towards +her husband. She would not at first agree even to talk upon the subject at +all; and it was only after "every one of them endeavoured particularly to +bring her to the purpose," that she condescended to state two objections, +which, setting aside every other consideration, she regarded as +insuperable. The first was, that she did not understand how the divorce +could be made lawfully; and the second, that it would be to her son's +prejudice, rather than hurt whom, she declared she "would endure all +torments." Bothwell endeavoured to take up the argument, and to do away +with the force of these objections, alleging, that though his father and +mother had been divorced, there had never been any doubt as to his +succession to his paternal estates; but his illustrations and +Lethington's oratory met with the same success. Mary answered firmly, "I +will that you do nothing, by which any spot may be laid on my honour and +conscience; and therefore, I pray ye rather let the matter be in the +estate as it is, abiding till God of his goodness put a remedy to it. That +you believe would do me service, may possibly turn to my hurt and +displeasure." As to Darnley, she expressed a hope that he would soon +change for the better; and, prompted by the ardent desire she felt to get +rid, for a season, of her many cares, she said she would perhaps go for a +time to France, and remain there till her husband acknowledged his errors. +She then dismissed Bothwell and his friends, who retired to meditate new +plots.[5] + +On the 11th of December, Mary proceeded to Stirling, to make the necessary +arrangements for the baptism of her son, which she determined to celebrate +with the pomp and magnificence his future prospects justified. Darnley, +who had been with the Queen a week at Craigmillar Castle, and afterwards +came into Edinburgh with her, had gone to Stirling two days before.[6] +Ambassadors had arrived from England, France, Piedmont, and Savoy, to be +present at the ceremony. The Pope also had proposed sending a nuncio into +Scotland; but Mary had good sense enough to know, that her bigoted +subjects would be greatly offended, were she to receive any such servant +of Antichrist. It may have occurred to her, besides, that his presence +might facilitate the negotiations for the divorce proposed by her +nobility, but which she was determined should not take place. She, +therefore, wrote to the great spiritual Head of her Church, expressing all +that respect for his authority which a good Catholic was bound to feel; +but she, at the same time, contrived to prevent his nuncio, Cardinal +Laurea, from coming further north than Paris.[7] + +The splendour of Mary's preparations for the approaching ceremony, +astonished not a little the sober minds of the Presbyterians. "The +excessive expenses and superfluous apparel," says Knox, "which were +prepared at that time, exceeded far all the preparations that ever had +been devised or set forth before in this country." Elizabeth, as if +participating in Mary's maternal feelings, ordered the Earl of Bedford, +her ambassador, to appear at Stirling with a very gorgeous train; and sent +by him as a present for Mary a font of gold, valued at upwards of 1000_l._ +In her instructions to Bedford, she desired him to say jocularly, that it +had been made as soon as she heard of the Prince's birth, and that it was +large enough then; but that, as he had now, she supposed, outgrown it, it +might be kept for the next child. It was too far in the season to admit of +Elizabeth's sending any of the Ladies of her own realm into Scotland; +she, therefore, fixed on the Countess of Argyle to represent her as +godmother, preferring that lady, because she understood her to be much +esteemed by Mary. To meet the extraordinary expenditure occasioned by +entertaining so many ambassadors, the Queen was permitted to levy an +assessment of 12,000_l._ It may appear strange, how a taxation of this +kind could be imposed without the consent of Parliament; but it was +managed thus. The Privy Council called a meeting both of the Lords +Temporal and Spiritual, and of the representatives of the boroughs, and +informed them that some of the greatest princes in Christendom had +requested permission to witness, through their ambassadors, the baptism of +the Prince. It was therefore moved, and unanimously carried, that their +Majesties should be allowed to levy a tax for "the honourable expenses +requisite." The tax was to be proportioned in this way; six thousand +pounds from the spiritual estate;--four thousand from the barons and +freeholders;--and two thousand from the boroughs.[8] + +Till the ceremony of baptism took place, the Queen gave splendid banquets +every day to the ambassadors and their suites. At one of these a slight +disturbance occurred, which, as it serves to illustrate amusingly the +manners of the times, is worth describing. There seems to have been some +little jealousy between the English and French envoys upon matters of +precedence; and Mary on the whole was inclined to favour the English, +being now more connected with England than with France. It happened, +however, that at the banquet in question, a kind of mummery was got up, +under the superintendance of one of Mary's French servants, called +Sebastian, who was a fellow of a clever wit. He contrived a piece of +workmanship, in the shape of a great table; and its machinery was so +ingeniously arranged, that, upon the doors of the great hall in which the +feast was to be held, being thrown open, it moved in, apparently of its +own accord, covered with delicacies of all sorts. A band of musicians, +clothed like maidens, singing and accompanying themselves on various +instruments, surrounded the pageant. It was preceded, and this was the +cause of the offence, by a number of men, dressed like satyrs, with long +tails, and carrying whips in their hands. These satyrs were not content to +ride round the table, but they put their hands behind them to their tails, +wagging them in the faces of the Englishmen, who took it into their heads +that the whole was done in derision of them, "daftly apprehending that +which they should not seem to have understood." Several of the suite of +the Earl of Bedford, perceiving themselves thus mocked, as they thought, +and the satyrs "wagging their tails or rumples," were so exasperated, that +one of them told Sir James Melville, if it were not in the Queen's +presence, "he would put a dagger to the heart of the French knave +Sebastian, whom he alleged did it for despite that the Queen made more of +them than of the Frenchmen." The Queen and Bedford, who knew that the +whole was a mere jest, had some trouble in allaying the wrath of the +hot-headed Southerns. + +In the midst of these festivities, Mary had various cares to perplex her, +and various difficulties to encounter. When she first came to Stirling, +she found that Darnley had not chosen to go, as usual, to the Castle, but +was residing in a private house. He left it, however, upon the Queen's +arrival, and took up his residence in the Castle with her,--a fact of some +consequence, and one which Murray has himself supplied.[9] But Darnley's +sentiments towards Mary's ministers, continued unchanged; and it was +impossible to prevail upon them to act and associate together, with any +degree of harmony, even in presence of the ambassadors. Mary was extremely +anxious to prevent her husband from exposing his weakness and waywardness +to foreigners; but he was as stubborn as ever; and though he had given up +thoughts of going abroad, it was only because he hoped to put into +execution some new plot at home. Surrounded by gayeties, he continued +sullen and discontented, shutting himself up in his own apartment, and +associating with no one, except his wife and the French envoy, Le Croc, +for whom he had contracted a sort of friendship. To heighten his bad +humour, Elizabeth, according to Camden, had forbidden Bedford, or any of +his retinue, to give him the title of King. The anger inspired by his +contempt of her authority, on the occasion of his marriage, had not yet +subsided; and there is not a state paper extant, in which she acknowledges +Darnley in other terms than as "Henry Stuart, the Queen of Scotland's +husband." It seems likely that this, added to the other reasons already +mentioned, was the cause why Darnley refused to be present at the +christening of his son.[10] Mary had another cause of vexation. The +baptism was to be performed after the Catholic ritual, and the greater +part of her nobility, in consequence, not only refused to take any share +in the ceremony, but even to be present at it. All Mary's influence with +Murray, Huntly, and Bothwell, was exerted in vain. They did not choose to +risk their character with the Reformers, to gratify her. "The Queen +laboured much," says Knox, "with the noblemen, to bear the salt, grease, +and candles, and such other things, but all refused." + +On the 19th of December 1566, the baptism, for which so many preparations +had been made, took place.[11] The ceremony was performed between five and +six in the afternoon. The Earls of Athol and Eglinton, and the Lords +Semple and Ross, being of the Catholic persuasion, carried the +instruments. The Archbishop of St Andrews, assisted by the Bishops of +Dumblane, Dunkeld, and Ross, received the Prince at the door of the +chapel. The Countess of Argyle held the infant at the font, and the +Archbishop baptized him by the name of Charles James, James Charles, +Prince and Steward of Scotland, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Lord of +the Isles, and Baron of Renfrew; and these names and titles were +proclaimed three times by heralds, with sound of trumpet. Mary called her +son Charles, in compliment to the King of France, her brother-in-law; but +she gave him also the name of James, because, as she said, her father, and +all the good kings of Scotland, his predecessors, had been called by that +name. The Scottish nobles of the Protestant persuasion, together with the +Earl of Bedford, remained at the door of the chapel; and the Countess of +Argyle had afterwards to do penance for the share she took in the business +of the day,--a circumstance which shows very forcibly the power of the +clergy at this time, who were able to triumph over a Queen's +representative, a King's daughter, and their Sovereign's sister. It is +also worthy of notice, that of the twelve Earls, and numerous Lords then +in the castle, only two of the former, and three of the latter, ventured +to cross the threshold of a Catholic chapel.[12] + +Elizabeth was probably not far wrong, in supposing that her font had grown +too small for the infant James. He was a remarkably stout and healthy +child, and as Le Croc says, he made his gossips feel his weight in their +arms. Mary was very proud of her son, and from his earliest infancy, the +establishment of his household was on the most princely scale. The Lady +Mar was his governess. A certain Mistress Margaret Little, the spouse of +Alexander Gray, Burgess of Edinburgh, was his head-nurse; and for her good +services, there was granted to her and her husband, in February 1567, part +of the lands of Kingsbarns in Fife, during their lives. The chief nurse +had four or five women under her, "Keepers of the King's clothes," &c. +Five ladies of distinction were appointed to the honourable office of +"Rockers" of the Prince's cradle. For his kitchen, James, at the same +early age, had a master-cook, a foreman, and three other servitors, and +one for his pantry, one for his wine, and two for his ale-cellar. He had +three "chalmer-chields," one "furnisher of coals," and one pastry-cook or +confectioner. Five musicians or "violars," as they are called, completed +the number of his household. To fill so many mouths, there was a fixed +allowance of provisions, consisting of bread, beef, veal, mutton, capons, +chickens, pigeons, fish, pottages, wine and ale. Thus, upon the life of +the infant, the comfortable support of a reasonable number of his subjects +depended.[13] + +The captivating grace and affability of Mary's manners, won for her, upon +the baptismal occasion, universal admiration. She sent home the +ambassadors with the most favourable impressions, which were not less +loudly proclaimed, because she enriched them, before they went, with gifts +of value. To Bedford, in particular, she gave a chain of diamonds, worth +about six or seven hundred pounds. To other individuals of his suite, she +gave chains of pearl, rings, and pictures.[14] But she was all the time +making an effort to appear happier and more contented than she really was. +"She showed so much earnestness," says Le Croc, "to entertain all the +goodly company, in the best manner, that this made her forget, in a good +measure, her former ailments. But I am of the mind, however, that she will +give us some trouble as yet; nor can I be brought to think otherwise, so +long as she continues to be so pensive and melancholy. She sent for me +yesterday, and I found her laid on the bed weeping sore. I am much grieved +for the many troubles and vexations she meets with." Mary did not weep +without cause. One source of uneasiness, at the present moment, was the +determination of her ministers to force from her a pardon for the Earl of +Morton, and seventy-five of his accomplices. As some one has remarked, her +whole reign was made up of plots and pardons. Her chief failing indeed, +was the facility with which she allowed herself to be persuaded to +forgive the deadliest injuries which could be offered to her. Murray, from +the representations he had made through Cecil, had induced Elizabeth to +desire Bedford to join his influence to that of Mary's Privy Council in +behalf of Morton. The consequence was, that the Queen could no longer +resist their united importunities, and, with two exceptions, all the +conspirators against Rizzio were pardoned. These exceptions were, George +Douglas, who had seized the King's dagger, and struck Rizzio the first +blow; and Andrew Kerr, who, in the affray, had threatened to shoot the +Queen herself. Robertson, with great inaccuracy, has said, that it was to +the solicitations of Bothwell alone that these criminals were indebted for +their recall. It would have been long before Bothwell, whose weight with +Mary was never considerable, could have obtained, unassisted, her consent +to such a measure; and the truth of this assertion is proved by the +clearest and directest testimony. In a letter which Bedford wrote to Cecil +on the 30th of December, we meet with the following passage:--"The Queen +here hath now granted to the Earl of Morton, to the Lords Ruthven and +Lindsay, their relaxation and pardon.[15] _The Earl of Murray hath done +very friendly towards the Queen for them, so have I, according to your +advice_; the Earls Bothwell and Athol, and all other Lords _helped_ +therein, or else such pardons could not so soon have been gotten."[16] It +is no doubt true, that Bothwell was glad of this opportunity to +ingratiate himself with Morton, and that, in the words of Melville, he +"packed up a quiet friendship with him;"--but it is strange that Robertson +should have been so ignorant of the real influence which secured a +remission of their offences from Mary. + +Darnley was of course greatly offended that any of his former accomplices +should be received again into favour. They would return only to force him +a few steps farther down the ladder, to the top of which he had so eagerly +desired to climb. They were recalled too at the very time when he had it +in contemplation, according to common report, to seize on the person of +the young Prince, and, after crowning him, to take upon himself the +government as his father. Whether this report was true or not, (and +perhaps it was a belief in it which induced the Queen to remove shortly +afterwards from Stirling to Edinburgh), it is certain that Darnley +declared he "could not bear with some of the noblemen that were attending +in the Court, and that either he or they behoved to leave the same."[17] +He accordingly left Stirling on the 24th of December, the very day on +which Morton's pardon was signed, to visit his father at Glasgow. But it +was not with Mary he had quarrelled, with whom he had been living for the +last ten days, and whom he intended rejoining in Edinburgh, as soon as she +had paid some Christmas visits in the neighbourhood of Stirling.[18] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +OCCURRENCES IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING DARNLEY'S DEATH. + + +We are now about to enter upon a part of Mary's history, more important in +its results, and more interesting in its details, than all that has gone +before. A deed had been determined on, which, for audacity and villany, +has but few parallels in either ancient or modern story. The manner of its +perpetration, and the consequences which ensued, not only threw Scotland +into a ferment, but astonished the whole of Europe; and, even to this day, +the amazement and horror it excited, continue to be felt, whenever that +page of our national history is perused which records the event. Ambition +has led to the commission of many crimes; but, fortunately for the great +interests of society, it is only in a few instances, of which the present +is one of the most conspicuous, that it has been able to involve in +misery, the innocent as well as the guilty. But, even where this is the +case, time rescues the virtuous from unmerited disgrace, and, causing the +mantle of mystery to moulder away, enables us to point out, on one hand, +those who have been unjustly accused, and, on the other, those who were +both the passive conspirators and the active murderers. A plain narrative +of facts, told without violence or party-spirit, is that upon which most +reliance will be placed, and which will be most likely to advance the +cause of truth by correcting the mistakes of the careless, and exposing +the falsehoods of the calumnious. + +The Earl of Bothwell was now irrevocably resolved to push his fortunes to +the utmost. He acted, for the time, in conjunction with the Earl of +Murray, though independently of him, using his name and authority to +strengthen his own influence, but communicating to the scarcely less +ambitious Murray only as much of his plans as he thought he might disclose +with safety. Bothwell was probably the only Scottish baron of the age over +whom Murray does not appear ever to have had any control. His character, +indeed, was not one which would have brooked control. On Mary's return +home, so soon as he perceived the ascendancy which her brother possessed +over her, he entered into a conspiracy with Huntly and others, to remove +him. The conspiracy failed, and Bothwell left the kingdom. He was not +recalled till Murray had fallen into disgrace; and though the Earl was +subsequently pardoned, he never regained that superiority in Mary's +councils he had once enjoyed. But Bothwell hoped to secure the distinction +for himself; and, that he might not lose it as Murray had done, after it +was once gained, he daringly aimed at becoming not merely a prime +minister, but a king. The historians, therefore, (among whom are to be +included many of Mary's most zealous defenders), who speak of Bothwell as +only a "cat's-paw" in the hands of Murray and his party, evidently +mistake both the character of the men, and the positions they relatively +held. Murray and Bothwell had both considerable influence at Court; but +there was no yielding on the part of either to the higher authority of the +other, and the Queen herself endeavoured, upon all occasions, to act +impartially between them. We have found her frequently granting the +requests of Murray in opposition to the advice of Bothwell; and there is +no reason to suppose, that, when she saw cause, she may not have followed +the advice of her Lord High Admiral, in preference to that of her brother. +A circumstance which occurred only a few days after the baptism of James +VI., strikingly illustrates the justice of these observations. It is the +more deserving of attention, as the spirit of partiality, which has been +unfortunately so busy in giving an erroneous colouring even to Mary's most +trifling transactions, has not forgotten to misrepresent that to which we +now refer. + +Darnley's death being resolved, Bothwell began to consider how he was to +act after it had taken place. He probably made arrangements for various +contingencies, and trusted to the chapter of accidents, or his own +ingenuity, to assist him in others. But there was one thing certain, that +he could never become the legal husband of Mary, so long as he continued +united to his own wife, the Lady Jane Gordon. Anticipating, therefore, the +necessity of a divorce, and aware that the emergency of the occasion might +not permit of his waiting for all the ordinary forms of law, he used his +interest with the Queen at a time when his real motives were little +suspected, to revive the ancient jurisdiction of the Catholic +Consistorial Courts, which had been abolished by the Reformed Parliament +of 1560, and the ordinary civil judges of Commissary Courts established in +their place. In accordance with his request, Mary restored the Archbishop +of St Andrews, the Primate of Scotland, to the ancient Consistorial +Jurisdiction, granted him by the Canon laws, and discharged the +Commissaries from the further exercise of their offices. Thus, Bothwell +not only won the friendship of the Archbishop, but secured for himself a +court, where the Catholic plea of consanguinity might be advanced,--the +only plausible pretext he could make use of for annulling his former +marriage. This proceeding, however, in favour of the Archbishop and the +old faith, gave great offence to the Reformed party; and when the Primate +came from St Andrews to Edinburgh, at the beginning of January, for the +purpose of holding his court, his authority was very strenuously resisted. +The Earl of Murray took up the subject, and represented to Mary the injury +she had done to the true religion. Bothwell, of course, used every effort +to counteract the force of such a representation; but he was unsuccessful. +By a letter which the Earl of Bedford wrote to Cecil from Berwick, on the +9th of January 1567, we learn that the Archbishop was not allowed to +proceed to the hearing of cases, and that "because it was found to be +contrary to the religion, and therefore not liked of by the townsmen; _at +the suit of my Lord of Murray_, the Queen was pleased to revoke that which +she had before granted to the said bishop." Probably the grant of +jurisdiction was not "revoked," but only suspended, as Bothwell +subsequently availed himself of it; but even its suspension sufficiently +testifies, that Mary, at this period, listened implicitly and exclusively +neither to one nor other of her counsellors.[19] + +In the meantime, Darnley, who, as we have seen, left Stirling for Glasgow +on the 24th of December, had been taken dangerously ill. Historians differ +a good deal concerning the nature of his illness, which is by some +confidently asserted to have been occasioned by poison, administered to +him either before he left Stirling, or on the road, by servants, who had +been bribed by Bothwell; and by others is as confidently affirmed to have +been the small-pox, a complaint then prevalent in Glasgow. On the whole, +the latter opinion seems to be the best supported, as it is confirmed by +the authority both of the English ambassador, and of the cotemporary +historians, Lesley and Blackwood. Knox, Buchanan, Melville, Crawford, +Birrell and others, mention, on the other hand, that the belief was +prevalent, that the King's sickness was the effect of poison. But as the +only evidence offered in support of this popular rumour is, that "blisters +broke out of a bluish colour over every part of his body," and as this may +have been the symptoms of small-pox as well as of poison, the story does +not seem well authenticated. Besides, in the letter which Mary is alleged +to have written a week or two afterwards to Bothwell from Glasgow, she is +made to say that Darnley told her he was ill of the small-pox. Whether the +letter be a forgery or not, this paragraph would not have been introduced, +unless it had contained what was then known to be the fact. + +Be this matter as it may, it is of more importance to correct a mistake +into which Robertson has not unwillingly fallen, regarding the neglect and +indifference with which he maintains Mary treated her husband, during the +earlier part of his sickness. We learn, in the first place, by Bedford's +letter to Cecil, already mentioned, that as soon as Mary heard of +Darnley's illness, she sent her own physician to attend him.[20] And, in +the second place, it appears, that it was some time before Darnley's +complaint assumed a serious complexion; but that, whenever Mary understood +he was considered in danger, she immediately set out to visit him. "The +Queen," says Crawford, "was no sooner informed of his danger, than she +hasted after him."--"As soon as the rumour of his sickness gained +strength," says Turner (or Barnestaple), "the Queen flew to him, thinking +more of the person to whom she flew, than of the danger which she herself +incurred."--"Being advertised," observes Lesley, "that Darnley was +repentant and sorrowful, she without delay, thereby to renew, quicken, and +refresh his spirits, and to comfort his heart to the amendment and +repairing of his health, lately by sickness sore impaired, hasted with +such speed as she conveniently might, to see and visit him at Glasgow." +Thus, Robertson's insinuation falls innocuous to the ground. + +It was on the 13th of January 1567 that Mary returned from Stirling to +Edinburgh, having spent the intermediate time, from the 27th of December, +in paying visits to Sir William Murray, the Comptroller of her household, +at Tullibardin, and to Lord Drummond at Drummond Castle. As is somewhere +remarked, "every moment now begins to be critical, and every minuteness +and specific caution becomes necessary for ascertaining the truth, and +guarding against slander." The probability is, that Bothwell was not with +Mary either at Tullibardin or Drummond Castle. Meetings of her Privy +Council were held by her on the 2d and 10th of January; and it appears by +the Register, that Bothwell was not present at any of them. Chalmers is of +opinion, that, during the early part of January he must have been at +Dunbar, making his preparations, and arranging a meeting with Morton. When +the Queen arrived at Edinburgh on the 13th, she lodged her son, whom she +brought with her, in Holyroodhouse. A few days afterwards, she set out +for Glasgow to see her husband. Her calumniators, on the supposition that +she had previously quarrelled with Darnley, affect to discover something +very forced and unnatural in this visit. But _Mary had never quarrelled +with Darnley_. He had quarrelled with her ministers, and had been enraged +at the failure of his own schemes of boyish ambition, but against his wife +he had himself frequently declared he had no cause of complaint. Mary, on +her part, had always shown herself more grieved by Darnley's waywardness +than angry at it. Only a day or two before going to Glasgow, she said +solemnly, in a letter she wrote to her ambassador at Paris,--"As for the +King, our husband, God knows always our part towards him."--"God willing, +our doings shall be always such as none shall have occasion to be offended +with them, or to report of us any way but honourably."[21] So far, +therefore, from there being any thing uncommon or forced in her journey to +Glasgow, nothing could be more natural, or more likely to have taken +place. "Darnley's danger," observes Dr Gilbert Stuart, with the simple +eloquence of truth, "awakened all the gentleness of her nature, and she +forgot the wrongs she had endured. Time had abated the vivacity of her +resentment, and after its paroxysm was past, she was more disposed to weep +over her afflictions, than to indulge herself in revenge. The softness of +grief prepared her for a returning tenderness. His distresses effected it. +Her memory shut itself to his errors and imperfections, and was only open +to his better qualities and accomplishments. He himself, affected with +the near prospect of death, thought, with sorrow, of the injuries he had +committed against her. The news of his repentance was sent to her. She +recollected the ardour of that affection he had lighted up in her bosom, +and the happiness with which she had surrendered herself to him in the +bloom and ripeness of her beauty. Her infant son, the pledge of their +love, being continually in her sight, inspirited her sensibilities. The +plan of lenity which she had previously adopted with regard to him; her +design to excite even the approbation of her enemies by the propriety of +her conduct; the advices of Elizabeth by the Earl of Bedford to entertain +him with respect; the apprehension lest the royal dignity might suffer any +diminution by the universal distaste with which he was beheld by her +subjects, and her certainty and knowledge of the angry passions which her +chief counsellors had fostered against him--all concurred to divest her +heart of every sentiment of bitterness, and to melt it down in sympathy +and sorrow. Yielding to tender and anxious emotions, she left her capital +and her palace, in the severest season of the year, to wait upon him. Her +assiduities and kindnesses communicated to him the most flattering +solacement; and while she lingered about his person with a fond +solicitude, and a delicate attention, he felt that the sickness of his +mind and the virulence of his disease were diminished." + +On arriving at Glasgow, Mary found her husband convalescent, though weak +and much reduced. She lodged in the same house with him; but his disease +being considered infectious, they had separate apartments. Finding that +his recent approach to the very brink of the grave had exercised a +salutary influence over his mind and dispositions, and hoping to regain +his entire confidence, by carefully and affectionately nursing him during +his recovery, she gladly acceded to the proposal made by Darnley, that she +should take him back with her to Edinburgh or its vicinity. She suggested +that he should reside at Craigmillar Castle, as the situation was open and +salubrious; but for some reason or other, which does not appear, he +objected to Craigmillar, and the Queen therefore wrote to Secretary +Maitland to procure convenient accommodation for her husband, in the town +of Edinburgh.[22] Darnley disliked the Lords of the Privy Council too much +to think of living at Holyrood; and besides, it was the opinion of the +physicians, that the young Prince, even though he should not be brought +into his father's presence, might catch the infection from the servants +who would be about the persons of both. But when Mary wrote to Maitland, +she little knew that she was addressing an accomplice of her husband's +future murderer. The Secretary showed her letter to Bothwell, and they +mutually determined on recommending to Darnley the house of the +Kirk-of-Field, which stood on an airy and healthy situation to the south +of the town, and which, therefore, appeared well suited for an invalid, +although _they_ preferred it because it stood by itself, in a +comparatively solitary part of the town.[23] On Monday, January 27th, Mary +and Darnley left Glasgow. They appear to have travelled in a wheeled +carriage, and came by slow and easy stages to Edinburgh. They slept on +Monday night at Callander. They came on Tuesday to Linlithgow, where they +remained over Wednesday, and arrived in Edinburgh on Thursday. + +The Kirk-of-Field, in which, says Melville, "the King was lodged, as a +place of good air, where he might best recover his health," belonged to +Robert Balfour, the Provost or head prebendary of the collegiate church of +St Mary-in-the-Field, so called because it was beyond the city wall when +first built. When the wall was afterwards extended, it enclosed the +Kirk-of-Field, as well as the house of the Provost and Prebendaries. The +Kirk-of-Field with the grounds pertaining to it, occupied the site of the +present College, and of those buildings which stand between Infirmary and +Drummond Street. In the extended line of wall, what was afterwards called +the Potter-row Port, was at first denominated the Kirk-of-Field Port, from +its vicinity to the church of that name. The wall ran east from this port +along the south side of the present College, and the north side of +Drummond Street, where a part of it is still to be seen in its original +state. The house stood at some distance from the Kirk, and the latter, +from the period of the Reformation, had fallen into decay. The city had +not yet stretched in this direction much farther than the Cowgate. Between +that street and the town wall, were the Dominican Convent of the +Blackfriars, with its alms-houses for the poor, and gardens, covering the +site of the present High School and Royal Infirmary,--and the +Kirk-of-Field and its Provost's residence. The house nearest to it of any +note was Hamilton House, which belonged to the Duke of Chatelherault, and +some part of which is still standing in College Wynd.[24] It was at first +supposed, that Darnley would have taken up his abode there; but the +families of Lennox and Hamilton were never on such terms as would have +elicited this mark of friendship from the King. The Kirk-of-Field House +stood very nearly on the site of the present north-west corner of Drummond +Street. It fronted the west, having its southern gavel so close upon the +town-wall, that a little postern door entered immediately through the wall +into the kitchen. It contained only four apartments; but these were +commodious, and were fitted up with great care. Below, a small passage +went through from the front door to the back of the house; upon the right +hand of which was the kitchen, and upon the left, a room furnished as a +bedroom, for the Queen, when she chose to remain all night. Passing out at +the back-door, there was a turnpike stair behind, which, after the old +fashion of Scottish houses, led up to the second story. Above, there were +two rooms corresponding with those below. Darnley's chamber was +immediately over Mary's; and on the other side of the lobby, above the +kitchen, a "garde-robe" or "little-gallery," which was used as a servant's +room, and which had a window in the gavel, looking through the town-wall, +and corresponding with the postern door below. Immediately beyond this +wall, was a lane shut in by another wall, to the south of which were +extensive gardens.[25] + +During the ten days which Darnley spent in his new residence, Mary was a +great deal with him, and slept several nights in the room we have +described below her husband's, this being more agreeable to her, than +returning at a late hour to Holyrood Palace. Darnley was still much of an +invalid, and his constitution had received so severe a shock, that every +attention was necessary during his convalescence. A bath was put up for +him, in his own room, and he appears to have used it frequently. He had +been long extremely unpopular, as has been seen, among the nobles; but +following the example which Mary set them, some were disposed to forget +their former disagreements, and used to call upon him occasionally, and +among others, Hamilton, the Archbishop of St Andrews, who came to +Edinburgh about this time, and lodged hard by in Hamilton house. Mary +herself, after sitting for hours in her husband's sick-chamber, used +sometimes to breathe the air in the neighbouring gardens of the Dominican +convent; and she sometimes brought up from Holyrood her band of musicians, +who played and sung to her and Darnley. Thus, every thing went on so +smoothly, that neither the victim nor his friends could in the least +suspect that they were all treading the brink of a precipice. + +Bothwell had taken advantage of Mary's visit to Glasgow, to proceed to +Whittingham, in the neighbourhood of Dunbar, where he met the Earl of +Morton, and obtained his consent to Darnley's murder. To conceal his real +purpose, Bothwell gave out at Edinburgh, that he was going on a journey to +Liddesdale; but, accompanied by Secretary Maitland, whom he had by this +time won over to his designs, and the notorious Archibald Douglas, a +creature of his own, and a relation of Morton, he went direct to +Whittingham. There, the trio met Morton, who had only recently returned +from England, and opened to him their plot. Morton heard of the intended +murder without any desire to prevent its perpetration; but before he would +agree to take an active share in it, he insisted upon being satisfied that +the Queen, as Bothwell had the audacity to assert, was willing that +Darnley should be removed. "I desired the Earl Bothwell," says Morton in +his subsequent confession, "to bring me the Queen's hand write of this +matter for a warrant, and then I should give him an answer; otherwise, I +would not mell (intermeddle) therewith;--which warrant he never purchased +(procured) unto me."[26] But though Morton, refused to risk an active, he +had no objections to take a passive part in this conspiracy. Bothwell, +Maitland, and Douglas, returned to Edinburgh, and he proceeded to St +Andrews, with the understanding, that Bothwell was to communicate with +him, and inform him of the progress of the plot. Accordingly, a day or two +before the murder was committed, Douglas was sent to St Andrews, to let +Morton know that the affair was near its conclusion. Bothwell, however, +was well aware that what he had told the Earl regarding the wishes of the +Queen, was equally false and calumnious. Of all persons in existence, it +was from her that he most wished to conceal his design; and as for a +written approval of it, he knew that he might just as well have applied to +Darnley himself. Douglas was, therefore, commanded to say to Morton, +evasively, "that the Queen would bear no speech of the matter appointed to +him." Morton, in consequence, remained quietly in the neighbourhood of St +Andrews till the deed was done.[27] + +The Earl of Murray was another powerful nobleman, who, when the last act +of this tragedy was about to be performed, withdrew to a careful distance +from the scene. It is impossible to say whether Murray was all along +acquainted with Bothwell's intention; there is certainly no direct +evidence that he was; but there are very considerable probabilities. When +a divorce was proposed to Mary at Craigmillar, she was told that Murray +would look through his fingers at it; and this design being frustrated, by +the Queen's refusal to agree to it, there is every likelihood that +Bothwell would not conceal from the cabal he had then formed, his +subsequent determination. That he disclosed it to Morton and Maitland, is +beyond a doubt; and that Murray again consented "to look through his +fingers," is all but proved. It is true he was far too cautious and wily a +politician, to plunge recklessly, like Bothwell, into such a sea of +dangers and difficulties; but he was no friend to Darnley,--having lost +through him much of his former power; and however the matter now ended, if +he remained quiet, he could not suffer any injury, and might gain much +benefit. If Bothwell prospered, they would unite their interests,--if he +failed, then Murray would rise upon his ruin. Only three days before the +murder, the Lord Robert Stuart, Murray's brother, having heard, as +Buchanan affirms of the designs entertained against Darnley's life, +mentioned them to the King. Darnley immediately informed Mary, who sent +for Lord Robert, and in the presence of her husband and the Earl of +Murray, questioned him on the subject. Lord Robert, afraid of involving +himself in danger, retracted what he had formerly said, and denied that he +had ever repeated to Darnley any such report. High words ensued in +consequence; and even supposing that Murray had before been ignorant of +Bothwell's schemes, his suspicions must now have been roused. Perceiving +that the matter was about to be brought to a crisis, he left town abruptly +upon Sunday, the very last day of Darnley's life, alleging his wife's +illness at St Andrews, as the cause of his departure. The fact mentioned +by Lesley, in his "Defence of Queen Mary's Honour," that on the evening +of this day, Murray said, when riding through Fife, to one of his most +trusty servants,--"This night, ere morning, the Lord Darnley shall lose +his life," is a strong corroboration of the supposition that he was well +informed upon the subject.[28] + +There were others, as has been said, whom Bothwell either won over to +assist him, or persuaded to remain quiet. One of his inferior accomplices +afterwards declared, that the Earl showed him a bond, to which were +affixed the signatures of Huntly, Argyle, Maitland, and Sir James Balfour, +and that the words of the bond were to this effect:--"That for as much as +it was thought expedient and most profitable for the commonwealth, by the +whole nobility and Lords undersubscribed, that such a young fool and proud +tyrant should not reign, nor bear rule over them, for diverse causes, +therefore, these all had concluded, that he should be put off by one way +or other, and who-soever should take the deed in hand, or do it, they +should defend and fortify it as themselves, for it should be every one of +their own, reckoned and holden done by themselves."[29] To another of his +accomplices, Bothwell declared that Argyle, Huntly, Morton, Maitland, +Ruthven, and Lindsay, had promised to support him; and when he was asked +what part the Earl of Murray would take, his answer was,--"He does not +wish to intermeddle with it; he does not mean either to aid or hinder +us."[30] + +But whoever his assistants were, it was Bothwell's own lawless ambition +that suggested the whole plan of proceeding, and whose daring hand was to +strike the final and decisive blow. Everything was now arranged. His +retainers were collected round him;--four or five of the most powerful +ministers of the crown knew of his design, and did not disapprove of +it;--the nobles then at court were disposed to befriend him, from motives +either of political interest or personal apprehension;--Darnley and the +Queen were unsuspicious and unprotected. A kingly crown glittered almost +within his grasp; he had only to venture across the Rubicon of guilt, to +place it on his brow. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE DEATH OF DARNLEY. + + +It was on Sunday, the 9th of February 1567, that the final preparations +for the murder of Darnley were made. To execute the guilty deed, Bothwell +was obliged to avail himself of the assistance of those ready ministers of +crime, who are always to be found at the beck of a wealthy and depraved +patron. There were eight unfortunate men whom he thus used as tools with +which to work his purpose. Four of these were merely menial +servants;--their names were, Dalgleish, Wilson, Powrie, and Nicolas +Haubert, more commonly known by the sobriquet of French Paris. He was a +native of France, and had been a long while in the service of the Earl of +Bothwell; but on his master's recommendation, who foresaw the advantages +he might reap from the change, he was taken into the Queen's service +shortly before her husband's death. Bothwell was thus able to obtain the +keys of some of the doors of the Kirk-of-Field house, of which he caused +counterfeit impressions to be taken.[31] The other four who were at the +"deed-doing," were persons of somewhat more consequence. They were small +landed proprietors or _lairds_, who had squandered their patrimony in +idleness and dissipation, and were willing to run the chance of retrieving +their ruined fortunes at any risk. They were the Laird of Ormiston, Hob +Ormiston his uncle, "or father's brother," as he is called, John Hepburn +of Bolton, and John Hay of Tallo. Bothwell wished Maitland, Morton, and +one or two others, to send some of their servants also to assist in the +enterprise; but if they ever promised to do so, it does not appear that +they kept their word. Archibald Douglas, however, who had linked himself +to the fortunes of Bothwell, was in the immediate neighbourhood with two +servants, when the crime was perpetrated.[32] + +Till within two days of the murder, Bothwell had not made up his mind how +the King was to be killed. He held various secret meetings with his four +principal accomplices, at which the plan first proposed was to attack +Darnley when walking in the gardens adjoining the Kirk-of-Field, which his +returning health enabled him to visit occasionally when the weather was +favourable. But the success of this scheme was uncertain, and there was +every probability that the assassins would be discovered.[33] It was next +suggested that the house might easily be entered at midnight, and the King +stabbed in bed. But a servant commonly lay in the same apartment with him, +and there were always one or two in the adjoining room, who might have +resisted or escaped, and afterwards have been able to identify the +criminals. After much deliberation, it at length occurred that gunpowder +might be used with effect; and that, if the whole premises were blown up, +they were likely to bury in their ruins every thing that could fix the +suspicion on the parties concerned. Powder was therefore secretly brought +into Edinburgh from the Castle of Dunbar, of which Bothwell had the +lordship, and was carried to his own lodgings in the immediate vicinity of +Holyrood Palace.[34] It then became necessary to ascertain on what night +the house could be blown up, without endangering the safety of the Queen, +whom Bothwell had no desire should share the fate of her husband. She +frequently slept at the Kirk-of-Field; and it was difficult to ascertain +precisely when she would pass the night at Holyrood.[35] In his +confession, Hay mentions, that "the purpose should have been put in +execution upon the Saturday night; but the matter failed, because all +things were not in readiness." It is not in the least unlikely that this +delay was owing to Mary's remaining with her husband that evening. + +On Sunday, Bothwell learned that the Queen intended honouring with her +presence a masque which was to be given in the Palace, at a late hour, on +the occasion of the marriage of her French servant Sebastian, to Margaret +Carwood, one of her waiting-maids. He knew therefore that she could not +sleep at the Kirk-of-Field that night, and took his measures accordingly. +At dusk he assembled his accomplices, and told them that the time was come +when he should have occasion for their services.[36] He was himself to +sup between seven and eight at a banquet given to the Queen by the Bishop +of Argyle, but he desired them to be in readiness as soon as the company +should break up, when he promised to join them.[37] The Queen dined at +Holyrood, and went from thence to the house of Mr John Balfour, where the +Bishop lodged. She rose from the supper-table about nine o'clock, and, +accompanied by the Earls of Argyle, Huntly, and Cassils, she went to visit +her husband at the Kirk-of-Field. Bothwell, on the contrary, having called +Paris aside, who was in waiting on the Queen, took him with him to the +lodgings of the Laird of Ormiston.[38] There he met Hay and Hepburn, and +they passed down the Blackfriars Wynd together. The wall which surrounded +the gardens of the Dominican monastery ran near the foot of this wynd. +They passed through a gate in the wall, which Bothwell had contrived to +open by stealth, and, crossing the gardens, came to another wall +immediately behind Darnley's house.[39] + +Dalgleish and Wilson had, in the meantime, been employed in bringing up, +from Bothwell's residence in the Abbey, the gunpowder he had lodged there. +It had been divided into bags, and the bags were put into trunks, which +they carried upon horses. Not being able to take it all at once, they were +obliged to go twice between the Kirk-of-Field and the Palace. They were +not allowed to come nearer than the Convent-gate at the foot of +Blackfriars Wynd, where the powder was taken from them by Ormiston, +Hepburn, and Hay, who carried it up to the house. When they had conveyed +the whole, they were ordered to return home; and as they passed up the +Blackfriars' Wynd, Powrie, as if suddenly conscience-struck, said to +Wilson, "Jesu! whatna a gait is this we are ganging? I trow it be not +good."[40] Neither of these menials had seen Bothwell, for he kept at a +distance, walking up and down the Cowgate, until the others received and +deposited the powder. A large empty barrel had been concealed, by his +orders, in the Convent gardens, and into it they intended to have put all +the bags; and the barrel was then to have been carried in at the lower +back door of Darnley's house, and placed in the Queen's bedroom, which, it +will be remembered, was immediately under that of the King. Paris, as the +Queen's valet-de-chambre, kept the keys of the lower flat, and was now in +Mary's apartment ready to receive the powder. But some delay occurred in +consequence of the barrel turning out to be so large that it could not be +taken in by the back door; and it became necessary therefore to carry the +bags one by one into the bedroom, where they emptied them in a heap on the +floor. Bothwell, who was walking anxiously to and fro, was alarmed at this +delay, and came to inquire if all was ready. He was afraid that the +company up stairs, among whom was the Queen, with several of her nobility +and ladies in waiting, might come suddenly out upon them, and discover +their proceedings. "_He bade them haste_," says Hepburn, "_before the +Queen came forth of the King's house; for if she came forth before they +were ready, they would not find such commodity_."[41] At length, every +thing being put into the state they wished, they all left the under part +of the house, with the exception of Hepburn and Hay, who were locked into +the room with the gunpowder, and left to keep watch there till the others +should return.[42] + +Bothwell, having dismissed the others, went up stairs and joined the Queen +and her friends in Darnley's apartment, as if he had that moment come to +the Kirk-of-Field. Shortly afterwards, Paris also entered; and the Queen, +being either reminded of, or recollecting her promise, to grace with her +presence Sebastian's entertainment, rose, about eleven at night, to take +leave of her husband. It has been asserted, upon the alleged authority of +Buchanan, that, before going away, she kissed him, and put upon his finger +a ring, in pledge of her affection. It seems doubtful, however, whether +this is Buchanan's meaning. He certainly mentions, in his own insidious +manner, that Mary endeavoured to divert all suspicions from herself, by +paying frequent visits to her husband, by staying with him many hours at a +time, by talking lovingly with him, by paying every attention to his +health, by kissing him, and making him a present of a ring; but he does +not expressly say that a kiss and ring were given upon the occasion of her +parting with Darnley for the last time.[43] It is not at all unlikely, +that the fact may have been as Buchanan is supposed to state; but as it is +not a circumstance of much importance, it is unnecessary to insist upon +its being either believed or discredited so long as it is involved in any +uncertainty. Buchanan mentions another little particular, which may easily +be conceived to be true,--that, in the course of her conversation with her +husband this evening, Mary made the remark, that "just about that time +last year David Rizzio was killed." Bothwell, at such a moment, could not +have made the observation; but it may have come naturally enough from +Mary, or Darnley himself.[44] + +Accompanied by Bothwell, Argyle, Huntly, Cassils, and others, Mary now +proceeded to the palace, going first up the Blackfriars' Wynd, and then +down the Canongate. Just as she was about to enter Holyrood House, she met +one of the Earl of Bothwell's servants (either Dalgleish or Powrie), whom +she asked where he had been, that he smelt so strongly of gunpowder? The +fellow made some excuse, and no further notice was taken of the +circumstance.[45] The Queen proceeded immediately to the rooms where +Sebastian's friends were assembled; and Bothwell, who was very anxious to +avoid any suspicion, and, above all, to prevent Mary from suspecting him, +continued to attend her assiduously. Paris, who carried in his pocket the +key of Mary's bed-room at the Kirk-of-Field, in which he had locked Hay +and Hepburn, followed in the Earl's train. Upon entering the apartment +where the dancing and masquing was going on, this Frenchman, who had +neither the courage nor the cunning necessary to carry him through such a +deed of villany, retired in a melancholy mood to a corner, and stood by +himself wrapt in a profound reverie. Bothwell, observing him, and fearing +that his conduct might excite observation, went up to him, and angrily +demanded why he looked so sad, telling him in a whisper, _that if he +retained that lugubrious countenance before the Queen, he should be made +to suffer for it_. Paris answered despondingly, that he did not care what +became of himself, if he could only get permission to go home to bed, for +he was ill. "No," said Bothwell, "you must remain with me; would you leave +those two gentlemen, Hay and Hepburn, locked up where they now +are?"--"Alas!" answered Paris, "what more must I do this night? I have no +heart for this business." Bothwell put an end to the conversation, by +ordering Paris to follow him immediately.[46] It is uncertain whether the +Queen had retired to her own chamber before Bothwell quitted the Palace, +or whether he left her at the masque. Buchanan, always ready to fabricate +calumny, says, that the Queen and Bothwell were "in long talk together, in +her own chamber after midnight." But the falsehood of this assertion is +clearly established; for Buchanan himself allows, that it was past eleven +before Mary left the Kirk-of-Field, and Dalgleish and Powrie both state, +that Bothwell came to his own lodgings from the Palace about twelve. If, +therefore, he was at the masque, as we have seen, he had no time to talk +with the Queen in private; and, if he had talked with the Queen, he could +not have been at the masque. It is most likely that Mary continued for +some time after Bothwell's departure at Sebastian's wedding, for Sebastian +was "in great favour with the Queen, for his skill in music and his merry +jesting." + +As soon as Bothwell came to his "own lodging in the Abbey," he exchanged +his rich court dress for a more common one. Instead of a black satin +doublet, bordered with silver, he put on a white canvass doublet, and +wrapt himself up in his riding-cloak. Taking Paris, Powrie, Wilson and +Dalgleish with him, he then went down the lane which ran along the wall of +the Queen's south gardens, and which still exists, joining the foot of the +Canongate, where the gate of the outer court of the Palace formerly stood. +Passing by the door of the Queen's garden, where sentinels were always +stationed, the party was challenged by one of the soldiers, who demanded, +"Who goes there?" They answered, "Friends." "What friends?" "Friends to my +Lord Bothwell." They proceeded up the Canongate till they came to the +Netherbow Port, or lower gate of the city, which was shut. They called to +the porter, John Galloway, and desired him to open to friends of my Lord +Bothwell. Galloway was not well pleased to be raised at so late an hour, +and he kept them waiting for some time. As they entered, he asked, "What +they did out of their beds at that time of night?" but they gave him no +answer. As soon as they got into the town, they called at Ormiston's +lodgings, who lived in a house, called Bassyntine's house, a short way up +the High Street, on the south side; but they were told that he was not at +home. They went without him, down a close below the Blackfriars Wynd, till +they came to the gate of the Convent Gardens already mentioned. They +entered, and, crossing the gardens, they stopped at the back wall, a short +way behind Darnley's residence. Here, Dalgleish, Wilson, and Powrie, were +ordered to remain; and Bothwell and Paris passed in, over the wall. Having +gone into the lower part of the house, they unlocked the door of the room +in which they had left Hay and Hepburn, and the four together held a +consultation regarding the best mode of setting fire to the gunpowder, +which was lying in a great heap upon the floor. They took a piece of lint, +three or four inches long, and kindling one end of it, they laid the other +on the powder, knowing that it would burn slowly enough to give them time +to retire to a safe distance. They then returned to the Convent gardens; +and having rejoined the servants whom they had left there, the whole group +stood together, anxiously waiting for the explosion. + +Darnley, meantime, little aware of his impending fate, had gone to bed +within an hour after the Queen had left him. His servant, William Taylor, +lay, as was his wont, in the same room. Thomas Nelson, Edward Simmons, and +a boy, lay in the gallery, or servant's apartment, on the same floor, and +nearer the town-wall. Bothwell must have been quite aware, that from the +mode of death he had chosen for Darnley, there was every probability that +his attendants would also perish. But when lawless ambition once +commences its work of blood, whether there be only one, or a hundred +victims, seems to be a matter of indifference.[47] + +The conspirators waited for upwards of a quarter of an hour without +hearing any noise. Bothwell became impatient; and unless the others had +interfered, and pointed out to him the danger, he would have returned and +looked in at the back window of the bedroom, to see if the light was +burning. It must have been a moment of intense anxiety and terror to all +of them. At length, every doubt was terminated. With an explosion so +tremendous, that it shook nearly the whole town, and startled the +inhabitants from their sleep, the house of the Kirk-of-Field blew up into +a thousand fragments, leaving scarcely a vestige standing of its former +walls. Paris, who describes the noise as that of a storm of thunder +condensed into one clap, fell almost senseless, through fear, with his +face upon the earth. Bothwell himself, though "a bold, bad man," confessed +a momentary panic. "I have been at many important enterprises," said he, +"but I never felt before as I do now." Without waiting to ascertain the +full extent of the catastrophe, he and his accomplices left the scene of +their guilt with all expedition. They went out at the Convent-gate, and, +having passed down to the Cowgate, they there separated, and went up by +different roads to the Netherbow-Port. They were very desirous to avoid +disturbing the porter again, lest they should excite his suspicion. They +therefore went down a close, which still exists, on the north side of the +High Street, immediately above the city gate, expecting that they would be +able to drop from the wall into Leith Wynd; but Bothwell found it too +high, especially as a wound he had received at Hermitage Castle, still +left one of his hands weak. They were forced, therefore, to apply once +more to John Galloway, who, on being told that they were friends of the +Earl Bothwell, does not seem to have asked any questions. On getting into +the Canongate, some people were observed coming up the street; to avoid +them, Bothwell passed down St Mary's Wynd, and went to his lodgings by the +back road. The sentinels, at the door of the Queen's garden again +challenged them, and they made the usual answer, that they were friends of +the Earl Bothwell, carrying despatches to him from the country. The +sentinels asked,--"If they knew what noise that was they had heard a short +time before?" They told them they did not.[48] + +When Bothwell came home, he called for a drink; and, taking off his +clothes, went to bed immediately. He had not lain there above half an hour +when the news was brought him that the House of the Kirk-of-Field had been +blown up, and the King slain. Exclaiming that there must be treason +abroad, and affecting the utmost alarm and indignation, he rose and put on +the same clothes he had worn when he was last with the Queen. The Earl of +Huntly and others soon joined him, and, after hearing from them as much as +was then known of the matter, it was thought advisable to repair to the +Palace, to inform Mary of what had happened. They found her already +alarmed, and anxious to see them, some vague rumours of the accident +having reached her. They disclosed the whole melancholy truth as gradually +and gently as possible, attributing Darnley's death either to the +accidental explosion of some gunpowder in the neighbourhood, or to the +effects of lightning. Mary's distress knew no bounds; and seeing that it +was hopeless to reason with her in the first anguish of her feelings, +Bothwell and the other Lords left her just as day began to break, and +proceeded to the Kirk-of-Field.[49] There they found every thing in a +state of confusion;--the edifice in ruins, and the town's-people gathered +round it in dismay. Of the five persons who were in the house at the time +of the explosion, one only was saved. Darnley, and his servant William +Taylor, who slept in the room immediately above the gunpowder, had been +most exposed to its effects, and they were accordingly carried through the +air over the town wall, and across the lane on the other side, and were +found lying at a short distance from each other in a garden to the south +of this lane,--both in their night-dress, and with little external injury. +Simmons, Nelson, and the boy, being nearer the town-wall, were only +collaterally affected by the explosion. They were, however, all buried in +the ruins, out of which Nelson alone had the good fortune to be taken +alive. The bodies were, by Bothwell's command, removed to an adjoining +house, and a guard from the Palace set over them.[50] + +Darnley and his servant being found at so great a distance, and so +triflingly injured, it was almost universally supposed at the time, and +for long afterwards, that they had been first strangled or assassinated, +and then carried out to the garden. This supposition is now proved, beyond +a doubt, to have been erroneous. If Darnley had been first murdered, there +would have been no occasion to have blown up the house; and if this was +done, that his death might appear to be the result of accident, his body +would never have been removed to such a distance as might appear to +disconnect it with the previous explosion. Before the expansive force of +gunpowder was sufficiently understood, it was not conceived possible that +it could have acted as in the present instance; and various theories were +invented, none of which were so simple or so true, as that which accords +with the facts now established. It is the depositions already quoted that +set the matter at rest; for, having confessed so much of the truth, there +could have been no reason for concealing any other part of it. Hepburn +declared expressly, that "he knew nothing but that Darnley was blown into +the air, for he was handled with no men's hands that he saw;" and Hay +deponed that Bothwell, some time afterwards, said to him, "What thought ye +when ye saw him blown into the air?" Hay answered,--"Alas! my Lord, why +speak ye of that, for whenever I hear such a thing, the words wound me to +death, as they ought to do you."[51] There is nothing wonderful in the +bodies having been carried so far; for it is mentioned by a cotemporary +author, that "they kindled their train of gunpowder, which inflamed the +whole timber of the house, and troubled the walls thereof in such sort, +that great stones of the length of ten feet, and of the breadth of four +feet, were found blown from the house a far way."[52] Besides, after the +minute account, which a careful collation of the different confessions and +depositions has enabled us to give, of the manner in which Bothwell spent +every minute of his time, from the period of the Queen's leaving Darnley, +till the unfortunate Prince ceased to exist, it would be a work of +supererogation to seek to refute, by any stronger evidence, the notion +that he was strangled. + +It is, however, somewhat remarkable, that, even in recent times, authors +of good repute should have allowed themselves to be misled by the exploded +errors of earlier writers. "The house," says Miss Benger, "was invested +with armed men, some of whom watched without, whilst others entered to +achieve their barbarous purpose; these having strangled Darnley and his +servant with silken cords, carried their bodies into the garden, and then +blew up the house with powder."[53] This is almost as foolish as the +report mentioned by Melville, that he was taken out of his bed, and +brought down to a stable, where they suffocated him by stopping a napkin +into his mouth; or, as that still more ridiculous story alluded to by +Sanderson, that the Earl of Dunbar, and Sir Roger Aston, an Englishman, +who chose to hoax his countrymen, by telling them that he lodged in the +King's chamber that night, "having smelt the fire of a match, leapt both +out at a window into the garden; and that the King catching hold of his +sword, and suspecting treason, not only against himself, but the Queen and +the young Prince, who was then at Holyrood House with his mother, desired +him (Sir Roger Aston) to make all the haste he could to acquaint her of +it, and that immediately armed men, rushing into the room, seized him +single and alone, and stabbed him, and then laid him in the garden, and +afterwards blew up the house."[54] Buchanan, Crawford and others, fall +into similar mistakes; but Knox, or his continuator, writes more +correctly, and mentions, besides, that medical men "being convened, at the +Queen's command, to view and consider the manner of Darnley's death," were +almost unanimously of opinion that he was blown into the air, although he +had no mark of fire.[55] + +Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Duke of Albany and King of Scotland, perished +in the twenty-first year of his age, and the eighteenth month of his +reign. The suddenness and severity of his fate excited a degree of +compassion, and attached an interest to his memory, which, had he died in +the ordinary course of nature, would never have been felt. He had been to +Scotland only a cause of civil war,--to his nobility an object of +contempt, of pity, or of hatred,--and to his wife a perpetual source of +sorrow and misfortune. Any praise he may deserve must be given to him +almost solely on the score of his personal endowments; his mind and +dispositions had been allowed to run to waste, and were under no controul +but that of his own wayward feelings and fancies. Keith, in the following +words, draws a judicious contrast between his animal and intellectual +qualities. "He is said to have been one of the tallest and handsomest +young men of the age; that he had a comely face and pleasant countenance; +that he was a most dexterous horseman, and exceedingly well skilled in all +genteel exercises, prompt and ready for all games and sports, much given +to the diversions of hawking and hunting, to horse-racing and music, +especially playing on the lute; he could speak and write well, and was +bountiful and liberal enough. But, then, to balance these good natural +qualifications, he was much addicted to intemperance, to base and unmanly +pleasures; he was haughty and proud, and so very weak in mind, as to be a +prey to all that came about him; he was inconstant, credulous, and facile, +unable to abide by any resolutions, capable to be imposed upon by +designing men, and could conceal no secret, let it tend ever so much to +his own welfare or detriment."[56] With all his faults, there was no one +in Scotland who lamented him more sincerely than Mary. She had loved him +deeply; and whilst her whole life proves that she was incapable of +indulging that violent and unextinguishable hatred which prompts to deeds +of cruelty and revenge, it likewise proves that it was almost impossible +for her to cease to esteem an object for which she had once formed an +attachment. Murray must himself have allowed the truth of the first part +of this statement; and for many days before his death, Darnley had himself +felt the force of the latter. She had, no doubt, too much good sense to +believe that Darnley, in his character of king, was a loss to the country; +but the tears she shed for him, are to be put down to the account, not of +the queen, but of the woman and the wife. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +BOTHWELL'S TRIAL AND ACQUITTAL. + + +During the whole of the day that succeeded her husband's death, (Monday +the 10th of February 1567), Mary shut herself up in her own apartment, and +would see no one. Bothwell was anxious to have conversed with her, but +overpowered with grief, she was unable to listen to any thing he wished to +say.[57] In the meantime all was confusion and dismay in Edinburgh, and +wherever the news of this strange murder arrived, a thousand contradictory +reports went abroad. Some suspected one thing, and some another; and it +must be recollected, that although, at a subsequent date, facts came out +sufficient to fix the guilt upon those who had really committed the crime, +as yet there was nothing but mere vague conjecture. Mary herself was lost +in wonder and doubt. Most of the nobility who were near her wished to +persuade her, at Bothwell's instigation, that her husband's death was +either the effect of accident, or that it had been brought about by the +malice and villany of some obscure and ignoble traitors; and every +endeavour being thus made to mislead her, she was the very last who could +be expected to know the truth. Accordingly, it appears by a letter she +wrote to the Archbishop of Glasgow, her ambassador at Paris, on Tuesday +the 11th (two days after the murder), that she was still but very +imperfectly informed even of the manner of Darnley's death. This letter, +at once so simple and natural, must not be omitted here. She had, the same +morning, received a despatch from her ambassador, in which he had +expressed a fear, that the pardon she had lately given to Morton, Ruthven, +Lindsay and others, might involve her in trouble. Mary's answer was as +follows: + +"Most Reverend Father in God, and trust Counsellor, we greet you well: We +have received this morning your letters of the 27th January, by your +servant Robert Dury, containing in part such advertisement as we find by +effect over true, albeit the success has not altogether been such as the +authors of that mischievous fact had preconceived in their mind, and had +put it in execution, if God in his mercy had not preserved us and reserved +us, as we trust, to the end that we may take a vigorous vengeance of that +mischievous deed, which, before it should remain unpunished, we had rather +lose life and all. The matter is horrible, and so strange, that we believe +the like was never heard of in any country. This night past, being the 9th +February, a little after two hours after midnight, the house wherein the +King was lodged was in an instant blown in the air, he lying sleeping in +his bed, with such a vehemency, that of the whole lodging, walls, and +other, there is nothing remaining,--no, not a stone above another, but +all either carried far away, or dung in dross to the very ground-stone. It +must be done by force of powder, and appears to have been a mine.[58] By +whom it has been done, or in what manner, it appears not as yet. We doubt +not but, according to the diligence our Council has begun already to use, +the certainty of all shall be obtained shortly; and the same being +discovered, which we wot God will never suffer to lie hid, we hope to +punish the same with such rigour, as shall serve for example of this +cruelty to all ages to come. At all events, whoever has taken this wicked +enterprise in hand, we assure ourself it was devised as well for us as for +the King; for we lay all the most part of all the last week in that same +lodging, and were there accompanied with the most part of the lords that +are in this town, that same night at midnight, and of very chance tarried +not all night, by reason of some masque in the Abbey; but we believe it +was not chance, but God that put it in our head.[59] We despatch this +bearer upon the sudden, and therefore write to you the more shortly. The +rest of your letter we shall answer at more leisure, within four or five +days, by your own servant; and so, for the present, commit you to Almighty +God.--At Edinburgh, the 11th day of February 1556-7.--MARIE R."[60] + +In accordance with the resolution intimated in the above letter, to seek +out and vigorously punish her husband's murderers, a proclamation was +issued upon Wednesday the 12th, immediately after an inquisition had been +taken by the Justice-General, offering a reward of two thousand pounds, +and "an honest yearly rent," to whosoever should reveal "the persons, +devisers, counsellors, or actual committers of the said mischievous and +treasonable murder," and promising besides to the first revealer, although +a partaker of the crime, a free pardon. The same proclamation declared, +that as "Almighty God would never suffer so horrible a deed to lie hid, +so, before it should remain untried, the Queen's Majesty, unto whom of all +others the case was most grievous, would rather lose life and all."[61] In +the mean time, not knowing but that the same traitors who had murdered her +husband, might intend a similar fate for herself, Mary removed to the +Castle, as a place of greater security than Holyrood Palace. There she +remained shut up in a dark chamber, hung with black, till after Darnley's +burial. He lay in the Chapel at Holyrood, from the 12th to the 15th of +February. His body having been embalmed, he was then interred in the royal +vault, in which King James V., together with his first wife, Magdalene, +and his two infant sons, Mary's brothers, lay. Buchanan, and his follower +Laing, have both insisted upon the nocturnal secrecy and indifference with +which the funeral ceremony was conducted. "The nobles that were there +present," says Buchanan, "decreed, that a stately and honourable funeral +should be made for him; but the Queen ordered it so, that he was carried +by private bearers in the night-time, and was buried in no manner of +state." The interpretation to be put upon this insidious passage is, that +the Protestant Lords proposed to bury Darnley after the Presbyterian form, +and that Mary refused her consent, and, in consequence, only the Catholics +attended. "The ceremonies indeed," says Lesley, "were the fewer, because +that the greatest part of the Council were Protestants, and had before +interred their own parents without accustomed solemnities."[62] That +Mary's calumniators should have insisted upon this circumstance at all, +only shows how eager they were to avail themselves of everything which +they could pervert to their own purposes. Had Mary wished to act the +hypocrite, nothing could have been easier for her than to have made a +great parade at Darnley's funeral. + +Bothwell, in the mean time, kept as quiet as possible, attending, as +usual, at court, and taking care always to be present at the meetings of +the Privy Council. But he had lighted a torch which was not to be +extinguished, till it had blazed over Scotland, and kindled his own +funeral pyre. On whatever grounds the suspicion had gone abroad, (and it +is difficult to say why public attention should so soon have been directed +to him as the perpetrator of the late murder, unless we suppose Murray, or +some of his other accomplices, to have been now eager to publish his +guilt, in order to accomplish his ruin), it is at all events certain, that +in a few days after the proclamation for the discovery of the assassins +had been issued, a placard was set up at night, on the door of the +Tolbooth of Edinburgh, in which it was affirmed, that the Earl of +Bothwell, together with a Mr James Balfour, a Mr David Chalmers, and a Mr +John Spence, were the persons principally concerned in the crime, and that +the Queen herself was "assenting thereto." It might be reasonably +concluded, that no notice whatever would be taken of an anonymous paper +thus expressed; but the Queen, even although it insultingly accused +herself, was so anxious to have the matter of the murder investigated, +that she caused another proclamation to be issued, without waiting for the +advice of her Privy Council, desiring the author of the placard to divulge +his name, and promising that if he could show there was any truth in any +part of his averment, he should receive the promised reward.[63] A second +placard was stuck up in answer, requiring the money to be lodged in honest +hands, and three of the Queen's servants, whom it named, to be put in +arrest; and undertaking, as soon as these conditions were complied with, +that the author and four friends would discover themselves. This was so +palpable an evasion, that it of course met with no attention. To suppose +that Government would take upon itself the charge of partiality, and place +the public money in what an anonymous writer might consider "honest +hands," was too grossly absurd to have been proposed by any one who really +wished to do his country a service. + +The circumstance of Bothwell's name being mentioned in these placards, in +conjunction with that of the Queen, probably operated in his favour with +Mary. Conscious of her own innocence, she would very naturally suppose +that the charge was equally calumnious in regard to him; for if she knew +it to be false in one particular, what dependence could she place upon its +truth in any other? At the same time, she could not of course see her +husband murdered, almost before her eyes, without making various surmises +concerning the real author and cause of his death. Her accusers, however, +seem to suppose that she ought to have been gifted with an almost +miraculous power of discovering the guilty. Only a few days before, every +thing had been proceeding smoothly; and she herself, with renovated +spirits, was enjoying the returning health and affection of her husband. +In a moment the scene was overclouded; her husband was barbarously slain; +and all Scotland was in a ferment. Yet around the Queen all wore the same +aspect. Murray was living quietly in Fife; her secretary Maitland was +proceeding as usual with the official details of public business; the Earl +of Morton had not yet returned to Court, and he also was in Fife; the +Archbishop of St Andrews was busied in bolstering up the last remains of +Catholicism; Athol, Caithness, Huntly, Argyle, Bothwell, Cassils, and +Sutherland, were attending their Sovereign, as faithful and attached +servants ought. Where then was she to look for the traitor who had raised +his hand against her husband's life and her own happiness? Whom was she to +suspect? Was it Murray?--he had left town without any sufficient cause, on +the very day of Darnley's death, and had hated him ever since he put his +foot in Scotland. Was it Morton?--he had returned recently from +banishment, and that banishment had been the result of Darnley's +treachery, and had not Morton assassinated Rizzio, with far less grounds +of offence? Was it Argyle?--the Lennox family had stripped him of some of +his possessions, and the King's death might, perhaps, be the means of +restoring them to him. Was it the Hamiltons?--they were the hereditary +enemies of the house of Lennox, and Darnley had blasted for ever their +hopes of succession to the throne. Was it Huntly? Was it Athol? Was it +Bothwell? It was less likely to be any of these, because Darnley had never +come into direct collision with them. By what art, or superior +penetration, was Mary to make a discovery which was baffling the whole of +Scotland? Was she surrounded by the very men who had done the deed, and +who used every means to lead her astray from the truth; yet was she to be +able to single out the criminal at a glance, and hurl upon him her just +indignation?[64] + +Worn out by her griefs and her perplexities, her doubts and her fears, +Mary's health began to give way, and her friends prevailed upon her to +leave for a short time her confinement in Edinburgh Castle, and visit +Seaton House, a country residence of which she was fond, only seven miles +off. Lesley, after describing Mary's melancholy sojourn in the Castle, +adds, that she would have "continued a longer time in this lamentable +wise, had she not been most earnestly dehorted by the vehement +exhortations and persuasions of her Council, who were moved thereto by her +physicians informations, declaring to them the great and imminent dangers +of her health and life, if she did not in all speed break up and leave +that kind of close and solitary life, and repair to some good open and +wholesome air; which she did, being thus advised, and earnestly thereto +solicited by her said council."[65] She went to Seaton on the 16th of +February, accompanied by a very considerable train, among whom were the +Earls of Argyle, Huntly, Bothwell, Arbroath, the Archbishop of St Andrews, +the Lords Fleming and Livingston, and Secretary Maitland.[66] It was here +that a correspondence took place between the Queen and the Earl of Lennox, +Darnley's father, which deserves attention. + +In his first letter, the Earl thanked her Majesty for the trouble and +labour she took to discover and bring to trial those who were guilty of +the "late cruel act;" but as the offenders were not yet known, he +beseeched her Highness to assemble, with all convenient diligence, the +whole nobility and estates of the realm, that they, acting in conjunction +with her Majesty, might take such steps as should seem most likely to make +manifest the "bloody and cruel actors of the deed." This letter was dated +the 20th of February 1567. Mary replied to it on the 21st; and in her +answer, assured Lennox that in showing him all the pleasure and goodwill +in her power, she did only her duty, and that which her natural affection +prompted, adding, that on that affection he might always depend, "so long +as God gave her life." As to the assembling of her nobility, she informed +him, that shortly before the receipt of his letter, she had desired a +Parliament to be summoned, and that as soon as it met, the death of +Darnley would be the first subject which it would be called upon to +consider. Lennox wrote again on the 26th, to explain, that when he advised +her Majesty to assemble her nobility, he did not allude to the holding of +a Parliament, which he knew could not be done immediately. But because he +had heard of certain placards which had been set up in Edinburgh, in which +certain persons were named as the devisers of the murder, he requested +that these persons should be apprehended and imprisoned, that the nobility +and Council should be assembled, and that the writers of the placards +should be required to appear before them, and be confronted with those +whom they had accused; and that if they refused to appear, or did not make +good their charge, the persons slandered should be exonerated and set at +liberty. A proposal so very unconstitutional could not have been made by +Lennox, unless misled by the ardour of his paternal feelings, or +instigated by some personal enmity towards Bothwell. If Mary had ventured +to throw into prison every one accused in an anonymous bill, there is no +saying where the abuse might have ended. The most worthless coward might +have thus revenged himself upon those he hated; and law and justice would +have degenerated into despotism, or civil anarchy. The Queen, therefore, +informed Lennox, that although, as she had already written, she had +summoned a Parliament, and should lay the matter of the murder before it, +it was never her intention to allow it to sleep in the mean time. Her +Lords and Council would of course continue to exert themselves, but her +_whole_ nobility could not be assembled till the Parliament met. As to his +desire, that the persons named in the placards should be apprehended, +there had been so many, and so contrary statements made in these placards, +that she knew not to which in particular he alluded; and besides, that she +could not find herself justified in throwing any of her subjects into +prison upon such authority; but that, if he himself would condescend upon +the names of such persons as he thought deserved a trial, she would order +that trial to take place immediately. She was anxious that Lennox should +take this responsibility upon himself, for she had hitherto been kept much +in the dark, and was glad to have the assistance of one almost as desirous +as herself to come to the truth. She invited him, therefore, in her letter +of the 1st of March, to write to her again immediately, with any other +suggestion which might occur to him, because she was determined "not to +omit any occasion which might clear the matter." It was the 17th of March +before Lennox again addressed the Queen. He thanked her Majesty for her +attention to his wishes; he marvelled that the names of the persons upon +the placards, against whom the greatest suspicions were entertained, "_had +been kept from her Majesty's ears_;" and, as she requested it, he now +named them himself, putting the Earl of Bothwell first, and several other +inferior persons after him. He did not undertake to be their accuser, +confessing that he had no evidence of their guilt; but he said he greatly +suspected Bothwell, and hoped "her Majesty, now knowing their names, and +being a party, as well and more than he was, although he was the father, +would take order in the matter according to the weight of the cause." +Mary, who had by this time returned to Edinburgh, wrote to Lennox, the +very day after the receipt of his letter, that she had summoned her +nobility to come to Edinburgh the first week of April; and that, as soon +as they came, the persons named in his letter should "abide and underlie +such trial, as by the laws of the realm was usual."--"They being found +culpable," Mary added, "in any way of that crime and odious fact, named in +the placards, and whereof you suspect them, we shall even, according to +our former letter, see the condign punishment as vigorously and extremely +executed as the weight of that fact deserves; for, indeed, as you write, +we esteem ourself a party if we were resolute of the authors." She further +entreated Lennox to come to Edinburgh, that he might be present at the +trial, and lend his assistance to it. "You shall there have experience," +she concluded, "of our earnest will and effectuous mind to have an end in +this matter, and the authors of so unworthy a deed really punished."[67] + +The Queen, having waited anxiously till something should occur which might +lead to the detection of the murderers, hoped that a clue to the mystery +was now about to be discovered. It was a bold and perhaps almost too +strong a measure, to arraign a nobleman so powerful, and apparently so +respected as Bothwell, of so serious a crime, upon such vague suspicion; +but if Mary in this instance exceeded the due limits of her constituted +authority, it was an error which leant to virtue's side, and the feelings +of an insulted Queen and afflicted wife must plead her excuse. Her Privy +Council, which she summoned immediately upon the receipt of Lennox's last +letter, and before whom she laid it, passed an act directing the trial of +the Earl of Bothwell, and the other suspected persons named by Lennox. The +trial was fixed to take place on the 12th day of April 1567; letters were +directed to the Earl of Lennox to inform him of it, and proclamations were +made in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dumbarton, and other places, calling upon all +who would accuse Bothwell, or his accomplices, to appear in court on the +day appointed.[68] The Council, however, would not authorize the +imprisonment of the suspected persons, seeing that it was only anonymous +placards which had excited that suspicion. + +As soon as the Earl of Lennox got intimation of the intended trial, he set +out for Edinburgh from his estate in Dumbartonshire. Not choosing to +proceed thither direct, in consequence of the enmity which he knew +Bothwell must bear to him, he went to Stirling, where it was understood he +was engaged in collecting all the evidence in his power. Nor can Bothwell +be supposed to have felt very easy, under the prospect of his approaching +trial. He counted, however, on the good offices of his friends among the +nobility; and having removed all who might have been witnesses against +him, and brought into Edinburgh a numerous body of retainers, he resolved +to brazen out the accusation with his usual audacity. He even affected to +complain that he had not been treated with sufficient fairness; that a +paper affixed privately to the door of the Tolbooth had been made the +means of involving him in serious trouble; and that, instead of the usual +term of forty days, only fifteen had been allowed him to prepare for his +defence.[69] He assumed the air, therefore, of an injured and innocent +man; and he was well borne out in this character by the countenance he +received from most of the Lords then at court. We learn from Killigrew, +that twenty days after Bothwell had been placarded, he dined with him at +the Earl of Murray's, who had by this time returned from Fife, in company +with Huntly, Argyle, and Lethington.[70] + +The day of trial now drew near; but, to her astonishment, Mary received a +letter only twenty-four hours before it was to take place, from the Earl +of Lennox, who did not exactly see how he was to carry through his +accusation, and therefore wished that the case should be postponed. The +letter was dated from Stirling, and mentioned two causes which he said +would prevent him from coming to Edinburgh; one was sickness, and the +other the short time which had been allowed him to prepare for making +good his charge. He asked, therefore, that the Queen would imprison the +suspected persons, and would delay the trial till he had collected his +friends and his proofs.[71] This request disappointed Mary exceedingly. +She had hurried on the trial as much to gratify Lennox as herself; but she +now saw that, in asking for it at all, he had been guided more by the +feeling of the moment, than by any rational conviction of its propriety. +To postpone it without the consent of the accused, who had by this time +made the necessary preparations for their defence, was of course out of +the question; and, if the time originally mentioned was too short, why did +Lennox not write to that effect, as soon as he received intimation of the +day appointed? If she put off the trial now, for any thing she knew it +might never come on at all. Her enemies, however, were determined, +whatever she did, to discover some cause of complaint;--if she urged it +on, they would accuse her of precipitancy; if she postponed it, they would +charge her with indifference. Elizabeth, in particular, under the pretence +of a mighty anxiety that Mary should do what was most honourable and +requisite, insolently suggested that suspicion might attach to herself, +unless she complied with the request made by Lennox. "For the love of God, +Madam," she hypocritically and insidiously wrote to Mary, "conduct +yourself with such sincerity and prudence, in a case which touches you so +nearly, that all the world may have reason to pronounce you innocent of a +crime so enormous, which, unless they did, you would deserve to be blotted +out from the rank of Princesses, and to become odious even to the vulgar, +rather than see which, I would wish you an honourable sepulchre."[72] Just +as if any one _did_ suspect Mary, or as if any monarch in Christendom +would have dared to hint the possibility of her being an adulterous +murderess, except her jealous rival Elizabeth, pining in the chagrined +malevolence of antiquated virginity. The real motives which dictated this +epistle became the more apparent, when we learn that it was not written +till the 8th of April, and could not at the very soonest reach Edinburgh +till the morning of the very day on which the trial was to take place, and +probably not till after it was over. The truth is, the very moment she +heard of Darnley's death, Elizabeth had eagerly considered in her own mind +the possibility of involving "her good sister" in the guilt attached to +those who had murdered him, and was now the very first who openly +attempted to lead the thoughts of the Scottish Queen's subjects into that +channel;--she was the very first who commenced laying the train which +produced in the end so fatal a catastrophe. + +On Saturday, the 12th of April 1567, a Justiciary Court was held in the +tolbooth of Edinburgh, for the trial of the Earl of Bothwell. The Lord +High Justice the Earl of Argyle presided, attended by four assessors, or +legal advisers, two of whom, Mr James MacGill and Mr Henry Balnaves, were +Senators of the College of Justice; the third was Robert Pitcairn, +Commendator of Dumfermlin, and the fourth was Lord Lindsay. The usual +preliminary formalities having been gone through, the indictment was read, +in which Bothwell was accused of being "art and part of the cruel, odious, +treasonable, and abominable slaughter and murder, of the umwhile the Right +High and Mighty Prince the King's Grace, dearest spouse for the time to +our Sovereign Lady the Queen's Majesty."[73] He was then called as +defender on the one side, and Matthew Earl of Lennox, and all others the +Queen's lieges, who wished to pursue in the matter, on the other. Bothwell +appeared immediately at the bar, supported by the Earl of Morton, and two +gentlemen who were to act as his advocates. But the Earl of Lennox, or +other pursuers, though frequently called, did not appear. At length Robert +Cunningham, one of Lennox's servants, stepped forward, and produced a +writing in the shape of a protest, which his master had authorized him to +deliver. It stated, that the cause of the Earl's absence was the shortness +of time, and the want of friends and retainers to accompany him to the +place of trial; and it therefore objected to the decision of any assize +which might be held that day. In reply to this protest, the letters of the +Earl of Lennox to the Queen, in which he desired that a short and summary +process might be taken against the suspected persons, were produced and +read; and it was maintained by the Earl of Bothwell's counsel, that the +trial ought to proceed immediately, according to the laws of the realm, +and the wish of the party accused. The judges, having heard both sides, +were of opinion that Bothwell had a right to insist upon the trial going +on. A jury was therefore chosen, which does not seem to have consisted of +persons particularly friendly to the Earl. It was composed of the Earls of +Rothes, Caithness, and Cassils, Lord John Hamilton, son to the Duke of +Chatelherault, Lords Ross, Semple, Herries, Oliphant, and Boyd, the Master +of Forbes, Gordon of Lochinvar, Cockburn of Langton, Sommerville of +Cambusnethan, Mowbray of Barnbougle, and Ogilby of Boyne. Bothwell pled +_not guilty_; and, no evidence appearing against him, the jury retired, +and were out of court for some time. When they returned, their verdict, +delivered by the Earl of Caithness, whom they had chosen their chancellor, +unanimously acquitted Bothwell of the slaughter of the King.[74] + +Immediately after his acquittal, Bothwell, as was customary in those +times, published a challenge, in which he offered to fight hand to hand, +with any man who would avow that he still suspected him to have had a +share in the King's death; but nobody ventured openly to accept it.[75] As +far, therefore, as appearances were concerned, he was now able to stand +upon higher ground than ever, and boldly to declare, that whosoever was +guilty, he had been found innocent. Accordingly, at the Parliament which +met on the 14th of April, he appeared in great state, with banners flying, +and a numerous body of retainers; and in compliment to him, an act was +passed, in which it was set forth, that "by a licentious abuse lately come +into practice within this realm, there had been placards and bills and +tickets of defamation, set up under silence of night, in diverse public +places, to the slander, reproach and infamy of the Queen's majesty and +diverse of the nobility; which disorder, if it were suffered to remain +longer unpunished, would redound not only to the great hurt and detriment +of all noblemen in their good fame, private calumniators having by this +means liberty to backbite them, but also the common weal would be +disturbed, and occasion of quarrel taken upon false and untrue +slander;"--it was therefore made criminal to put up any such placards, or +to abstain from destroying them as soon as they were seen. At this +Parliament, there was also an act passed on the subject of religion, which +is deserving of notice. "The same Queen," says Chalmers, "who is charged +by Robertson with attempting to suppress the Reformed discipline, with the +aid of the Bishops, passed a law, renouncing all foreign jurisdiction in +ecclesiastical affairs,--giving toleration to all her subjects to worship +God in their own way,--and engaging to give some additional privileges." +This is one of the most satisfactory answers which can be given to the +supposition, that Mary was in any way a party in the Continental +persecution of the Hugonots. + +The Earl of Murray was not present either at this Parliament, or the trial +which immediately preceded it. Actuated by motives which do not exactly +appear, and which historians have not been able satisfactorily to explain, +he obtained permission from Mary, in the beginning of April, to leave +Scotland, and, on the 9th, he set off for France, visiting London and the +Court of Elizabeth on his way. There is something very unaccountable, in a +man of Murray's ambition thus withdrawing from the scene of action, just +at the very time when he must have been anticipating political events of +the last importance. His conduct can be rationally explained, only by +supposing, that it was suggested by his systematic caution. He was not +now, nor had he ever been since his rebellion, Mary's exclusive and +all-powerful Prime Minister;--yet he could not bear to fill a second +place; and he knew that, if any civil war occurred, the eyes of many would +immediately be turned towards him. If he remained in the country, he would +necessarily be obliged to take a side as soon as the dissensions broke +out, and might find himself again associated with the losing party; but, +if he kept at a distance for a while, he could throw his influence, when +he chose, into the heaviest scale, and thus gain an increase of popularity +and power. These were probably the real motives of his present conduct, +and, judging by the result, no one can say that he reasoned ill. That he +was aware of every thing that was about to happen, and that he urged +Bothwell forward into a net, from whose meshes he knew he could never be +disengaged, as has been maintained so positively by Whittaker, Chalmers, +and others, does not appear. The peremptoriness with which these writers +have asserted the truth of this unfounded theory, is the leading defect of +their works, and has tended to weaken materially the chain of argument by +which they would otherwise have established Mary's innocence. That +Bothwell, as they over and over again repeat, was the mere "cat's-paw" of +Murray, is a preposterous belief, and argues a decided want of knowledge +of Bothwell's real character. But supposing that he had been so, nothing +could be more chimerical than the idea, that after having made him murder +Darnley, Murray would wish to see him first acquitted of that murder, and +then married to the Queen, for the vague chance that both might be +deposed, and he himself called to succeed them as Regent. "Would it ever +enter into the imagination of a wise man," asks Robertson, "first to raise +his rival to supreme power, in hopes that, afterwards, he should find some +opportunity of depriving him of that power? The most adventurous +politician never hazarded such a dangerous experiment; the most credulous +folly never trusted such an uncertain chance." Murray probably winked at +the murder, because he foresaw that it was likely to lead to Bothwell's +ruin. When he left the country, he may not have been altogether aware of +Bothwell's more ambitious objects; but if he was, he would still have +gone, for his staying could not have prevented their attempted execution; +and if they induced a civil war, whosoever lost, he might contrive to be a +gainer. He acted selfishly and unpatriotically, but not with that +deliberate villany with which he has been charged. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +BOTHWELL'S SEIZURE OF THE QUEEN'S PERSON, AND SUBSEQUENT MARRIAGE TO HER. + + +Every thing appeared now to be going smoothly with Bothwell, and he had +only to take one step more to reach the very height of his ambition. +Mary's hand and Scotland's crown were the objects he had all along kept +steadily in view. The latter was to be obtained only through the medium of +the former, and hence his reason for removing Darnley, and willingly +submitting to a trial, from which he saw he would come off triumphantly. +The question he now anxiously asked himself was, whether it was likely +that Mary could be persuaded to accept him as a husband. He was aware, +that in the unsettled state of the country, she must feel that, unless +married to a person of strength and resolution, she would hardly be able +to keep her turbulent subjects in order; and he was of opinion, that it +was not improbable she would now cast her eyes upon one of her own +nobility, as she could no where else find a king who would be so agreeable +to the national prejudices. Yet he had a lurking consciousness, that he +himself would not be the object of her choice. She had of late, it was +true, given him a considerable share in the administration; but he felt +that she had done so, more as a matter of state policy, and to preserve a +balance of power between himself and her other ministers, than from any +personal regard. The most assiduous attentions which it was in his power +to pay her, had failed to kindle in her bosom any warmer sentiment; for +though she esteemed him for his fidelity as an officer of state, his +manners and habits as a man, were too coarse and dissolute to please one +of so much refinement, sensibility and gentleness, as Mary Stuart. +Bothwell therefore became secretly convinced that it would be necessary +for him to have recourse to fraud, and perhaps to force. Had Mary loved +him, their marriage would have been a matter of mutual agreement, and +would have taken place whenever circumstances seemed to make it mutually +advisable; but as it was, artifice and audacity were to be his weapons; +nor were they wielded by an unskilful hand. + +The Parliament which met on the 14th of April 1567, continued to sit only +till the 19th of the same month; and on the evening of the following day, +Bothwell invited nearly all the Lords who were then in Edinburgh to a +great supper, in a tavern kept by a person of the name of Ainsly, from +which circumstance, the entertainment was afterwards known by the name of +"_Ainsly's Supper_." After plying his guests with wine, he produced a +document, which he had himself previously drawn up, and which he requested +them all to sign. It was in the form of a bond; and in the preamble, +after expressing their conviction that James Earl of Bothwell, Lord Hales, +Crichton, and Liddisdale, Great Admiral of Scotland, and Lieutenant to the +Queen over all the Marches, had been grossly slandered in being suspected +of having a share in the murder of Darnley, and that his innocence had +been fully and satisfactorily proved at his late trial, they bound +themselves, as they should answer to God, that whatever person or persons +should afterwards renew such calumniation, should be proceeded against by +them with all diligence and perseverance. After this introduction, +evidently meant to aid in removing any lingering suspicion which the Queen +might still entertain of Bothwell's guilt, the bond went on to state, +that, "Moreover, weighing and considering the present time, and how our +Sovereign, the Queen's Majesty, is destitute of a husband, in which +solitary state the common weal of this realm may not permit her Highness +to continue and endure, but at some time her Highness, in appearance, may +be inclined to yield unto a marriage,--therefore, in case the former +affectionate and hearty services of the said Earl (Bothwell), done to her +Majesty from time to time, and his other good qualities and behaviour, may +move her Majesty so far to humble herself as, preferring one of her own +native born subjects unto all foreign princes, to take to husband the said +Earl, we, and every one of us under subscribing, upon our honours and +fidelity, oblige ourselves, and promise, not only to further, advance, and +set forward the marriage to be solemnized and completed betwixt her +Highness and the said noble Lord, with our votes, counsel, fortification +and assistance, in word and deed, at such time as it shall please her +Majesty to think it convenient, and as soon as the laws shall permit it to +be done; but, in case any should presume, directly or indirectly, openly, +or under whatsoever colour or pretence, to hinder, hold back, or disturb +the same marriage, we shall, in that behalf, hold and repute the +hinderers, adversaries, or disturbers thereof, as our common enemies and +evil-willers; and notwithstanding the same, take part with, and fortify +the said Earl to the said marriage, so far as it may please our said +Sovereign Lady to allow; and therein shall spend and bestow our lives and +goods against all that live or die, as we shall answer to God, and upon +our own fidelities and conscience; and in case we do the contrary, never +to have reputation or credit in no time hereafter, but to be accounted +unworthy and faithless traitors."[76] + +This bond having been read and considered, all the nobles present, with +the exception of the Earl of Eglinton, who went away unperceived, put +their signatures to it. "Among the subscribers," says Robertson, "we find +some who were the Queen's chief confidents, others who were strangers to +her councils, and obnoxious to her displeasure; some who faithfully +adhered to her through all the vicissitudes of her fortune, and others who +became the principal authors of her sufferings; some passionately attached +to the Romish superstition, and others zealous advocates for the +Protestant faith. No common interest can be supposed to have united men of +such opposite interests and parties, in recommending to their Sovereign a +step so injurious to her honour, and so fatal to her peace. This strange +coalition was the effect of much artifice, and must be considered as the +boldest and most masterly stroke of Bothwell's address." It is, indeed, +impossible to conceive that such a bond was so numerously subscribed on +the mere impulse of the moment. Before obtaining so solemn a promise of +support from so many, he must have had recourse to numerous machinations, +and have brought into action a thousand interests. He must, in the first +place, have influenced Morton, his brother-in-law Huntly, Argyle, and +others; and having secured these, he would use them as agents to bring +over as many more. The rest, finding that so formidable a majority +approved of the bond, would not have the courage to stand out, for they +would fear the consequences if Bothwell ever became king. Among the names +attached to this bond are those of the Archbishop of St Andrews, the +Bishops of Aberdeen, Dumblane, Brechin, and Ross, the Earls of Huntly, +Argyle, Morton, Cassils, Sutherland, Errol, Crawfurd, Caithness, and +Rothes, and the Lords Boyd, Glamis, Ruthven, Semple, Herries, Ogilvie, and +Fleming.[77] Here was an overwhelming and irresistible force, enlisted by +Bothwell in his support. The sincerity of many of the subscribers he +probably had good reason to doubt; but what he wanted was to be able to +present himself before Mary armed with an argument which she would find it +difficult to evade, and if she yielded to it, his object would be gained. +He was afraid, however, to lay the bond openly and fairly before her; he +dreaded that her aversion to a matrimonial connexion with him might weigh +more powerfully than even the almost unanimous recommendation of her +nobility. But having already gone so far, he was resolved that a woman's +will should not be any serious obstacle to his wishes. + +The whole affair of the supper was, for a short time, kept concealed from +Mary; and though Bothwell's intentions and wishes began to be pretty +generally talked of throughout the country, she was the very last to hear +of them. When the Lord Herries ventured on one occasion to come upon the +subject with the Queen, and mentioned the report as one which had gained +considerable credit, "her Majesty marvelled," says Melville, "to hear of +such rumours without meaning, and said _that there was no such thing in +her mind_." Only a day or two after the bond was signed, she left +Edinburgh to visit the prince her son, who was then in the keeping of the +Earl of Mar at Stirling. Before she went, Bothwell ventured to express his +hopes to her, but she gave him an answer little agreeable to his ambition. +"The bond being once obtained," Mary afterwards wrote to France, "Bothwell +began afar off to discover his intention, and to essay if he might by +humble suit purchase our good will."--"But finding an answer nothing +correspondent to his desire, and casting from before his eyes all doubts +that men use commonly to revolve with themselves in similar +enterprises,--the backwardness of our own mind--the persuasions which our +friends or his enemies might cast out for his hindrance--the change of +their minds whose consent he had already obtained, with many other +incidents which might occur to frustrate him of his expectation,--he +resolved with himself to follow forth his good fortune, and, all respect +laid apart, either to tine all in one hour, or to bring to pass that thing +he had taken in hand."[78] This is a clear and strong statement, +describing exactly the feelings both of Bothwell and Mary at this period. + +The Earl did not long dally on the brink of his fate. Ascertaining that +Mary was to return from Stirling on the 24th, he left Edinburgh with a +force of nearly 1000 men well mounted, under the pretence of proceeding +to quell some riots on the Borders. But he had only gone a few miles +southward, when he turned suddenly to the west, and riding with all speed +to Linlithgow, waited for Mary at a bridge over the Almond about a mile +from that town. The Queen soon made her appearance with a small train, +which was easily overpowered, and which indeed did not venture to offer +any resistance. The Earl of Huntly, Secretary Maitland, and Sir James +Melville, were the only persons of rank who were with the Queen; and they +were carried captive along with her; but the rest of her attendants were +dismissed. Bothwell himself seized the bridle of Mary's horse, and turning +off the road to Edinburgh, conducted her with all speed to his Castle at +Dunbar.[79] + +The leading features of this forcible abduction, or _ravishment_, as it is +commonly called by the Scottish historians, have been greatly +misrepresented by Robertson and Laing. Both of these writers mention, as a +matter of surprise, that Mary yielded without struggle or regret, to the +insult thus offered her. That she yielded without struggle,--that is to +say, without any attempt at physical resistance, is exceedingly probable; +for when was a party of a dozen persons, riding without suspicion of +danger, able to offer resistance to a thousand armed troopers? There is +little wonder that they were surrounded and carried off, "without +opposition," as Laing expresses it; for by a thousand soldiers, a dozen +Sir William Wallaces would have been made prisoners "without opposition." +But the very number which Bothwell brought with him, and which even Mary's +worst enemies allow was not less than six hundred, proves that there was +no collusion between him and the Queen. Had it been only a pretended +violence, to afford a decent excuse for Mary's subsequent conduct, fifty +horsemen would have done as well as a thousand; but Bothwell knew the +Queen's spirit, and the danger of the attempt, and came prepared +accordingly. But it is urged, that, if displeased, she must have expressed +her resentment to those who were near her. And there is certainly no +reason to suppose that she was silent, though neither Huntly nor +Lethington would be much influenced by her complaints, for they had both +secretly attached themselves to Bothwell. Sir James Melville, who was more +faithful to the Queen, was dismissed from Dunbar the day after her +capture, lest she should have employed him to solicit aid for her relief, +as she had formerly done on the occasion of the murder of Rizzio.[80] Mary +herself, in the letter already quoted, sets the matter beyond dispute, for +she there gives a long and interesting detail, both of her own +indignation, and of the arts used by Bothwell to appease it.[81] Nothing, +indeed, can be more contrary to reason, than to suppose this abduction a +mere device, mutually arranged to deceive the country. If Mary had really +loved Bothwell and was anxious to marry him, it would have been the very +last thing she would have wished to be believed, whether she thought him +guilty of Darnley's murder or not, that she gave him her hand, after he +had been publicly acquitted, and all her principal nobility had declared +in his favour, only in consequence of a treasonable act, committed by him +against her person. If she hoped to live in peace and happiness with him, +why should she have allowed it to be supposed, that she acted from +necessity, rather than from choice, or that she yielded to a seducer, what +she would not give to a faithful subject? This pre-arranged ravishment, +would evidently defeat its own purpose, and would serve as a pretence +suggested by Mary herself, for every malcontent in Scotland to take up +arms against her and Bothwell. It was a contrivance directly opposed to +all sound policy, and certainly very unlike the open and straight-forward +manner in which she usually went about the accomplishment of a favourite +purpose. "But one object of the seizure," says Laing, "was the vindication +of her precipitate marriage." Where was the necessity for a precipitate +marriage at all? Was Mary so eager to become the wife of Bothwell, with +whom, according to the veracious Buchanan, she had long been indulging an +illicit intercourse, that she could not wait the time required by common +decency to wear her widow's garb for Darnley? Was he barbarously murdered +by her consent on the 9th of February, on the express condition that she +was to have Bothwell in her arms as her husband on the 15th of May? Was +she, indeed, so entirely lost to every sense of female delicacy and +public shame,--so utterly dead to her own interests and reputation,--or so +very scrupulous about continuing a little longer her unlicensed amours, +that, rather than suffer the delay of a few months, she would thus run the +risk of involving herself in eternal infamy? Even supposing that she was +perfectly assured the artifice would remain undiscovered,--was her +conscience so hardened, her feelings so abandoned, and her reason so +perverted, as to enable her to anticipate gratification from a marriage +thus hastily concluded, with so little queenly dignity, or female modesty, +and with a man who was not yet divorced from his own wife? There is but +one answer which can be given to these questions, and that answer comes +instinctively to the lips, from every generous heart, and well-regulated +mind. + +For ten days Bothwell kept Mary in Dunbar "sequestrated," in her own +words, "from the company of all her servants, and others of whom she might +have asked counsel, and seeing those upon whose counsel and fidelity she +had before depended, already yielded to his appetite, and _so left alone, +as it were, a prey to him_."[82] Closely shut up as she was, she long +hoped that some of her more loyal nobles would exert themselves to procure +her deliverance. But not one of them stirred in her behalf, for Bothwell +was at this time dreaded or courted by all of them, and finding the person +of the Queen thus left at his disposal, he did not hesitate to declare to +her, that he would make her his wife, "who would, or who would not,--yea, +whether she would herself or not."[83] Mary, in reply, charged him with +the foulest ingratitude; and his conduct, she told him, grieved her the +more, because he was one "of whom she doubted less than of any subject she +had."[84] But he was not now to be driven from his purpose. He spent his +whole time with Mary; and his whole conversation was directed to the one +great object he had in view. He called to his aid every variety of +passion; sometimes flinging himself at her feet, and imploring her to +pardon a deed which the violence of his love had made imperative; and, at +other times, giving vent to a storm of rage, and threatening dishonour, +imprisonment, and death, if she hesitated longer to comply with his +demands. Mary herself is the best chronicler of these distracting scenes, +although it must be observed, that she did not write of them till Bothwell +had achieved his purpose; and consequently, making a virtue of necessity, +she was anxious to place them in as favourable a point of view as +possible. "Being at Dunbar," she says, "we reproached him the honour he +had to be so esteemed of us, the favour we had always shewn him, his +ingratitude, with all other remonstrances which might serve to rid us out +of his hands. Albeit we found his doing rude, yet were his answer and +words but gentle, that he would honour and serve us, and would noways +offend us, asking pardon of the boldness he had taken to convoy us to one +of our own houses, whereunto he was driven by force, as well as +constrained by love, the vehemency whereof had made him to set apart the +reverence, which naturally, as our subject, he bore to us, as also for +safety of his own life. And then began to make us a discourse of his whole +life, how unfortunate he had been to find men his unfriends whom he had +never offended; how their malice never ceased to assault him on all +occasions, albeit unjustly; what calumnies they had spread of him, +touching the odious violence perpetrated in the person of the King our +late husband; how unable he was to save himself from the conspiracies of +his enemies, whom he could not know by reason that every man professed +himself outwardly to be his friend; and yet he found such hidden malice +that he could not find himself in surety, unless he were insured of our +favour to endure without alteration; and on no other assurance of our +favour could he rely, unless it would please us to do him that honour to +take him to husband, protesting always that he would seek no other +sovereignty but as formerly, to serve and obey us all the days of our +life; joining thereunto all the honest language that could be used in such +a case."[85] But these arguments were of no avail, and he was obliged to +go a step farther. "When he saw us like to reject all his suit and +offers," says Mary, "in the end he shewed us how far he had proceeded with +our whole nobility and principals of our estates, and what they had +promised him under their handwriting. If we had cause then to be +astonished, we leave to the judgment of the King and Queen, (of France), +our uncle, and our other friends." "Many things we resolved with ourself, +but never could find an outgait (deliverance); and yet he gave us little +space to meditate with ourself, ever pressing us with continual and +importunate suit." "As by a bravade in the beginning, he had won the first +point, so ceased he never till, by persuasions and importunate suit, +_accompanied not the less with force_, he has finally driven us to end the +work begun, at such time, and in such form, as he thought might best serve +his turn; wherein we cannot dissemble that he has used us otherwise than +we would have wished, or yet have deserved at his hand; having more +respect to content them, by whose consent granted to him beforehand, he +thinks he has obtained his purpose, than regarding our contentation, or +weighing what was convenient for us."[86] + +Bothwell had kept Mary at Dunbar for nearly a week, when, in order to +make it be believed that her residence there was voluntary, he ventured to +call together a few of the Lords of the Privy Council on whom he could +depend, and on the 29th of April there was one unimportant act of Council +passed, concerning provisions for the Royal Household. From the influence +he at that time possessed over the Scottish nobles, Bothwell might have +held a Privy Council every day at Dunbar, and whether he allowed the +Queen, _pro forma_, to be present or not, nobody would have objected to +any thing he proposed.[87] In the meantime, mutual actions of divorce were +raised by Bothwell and his wife, the Lady Jane Gordon, and being hurried +through the courts, only a few days elapsed before they were obtained.[88] +This is another circumstance which tends to prove, that Bothwell's seizure +of Mary was not collusive; for had it been so, she would certainly never +have allowed it to take place till these actions had been decided. + +The die was now cast; Mary was in Bothwell's fangs, and her ruin was +completed. On the 3d of May 1567, he thought it expedient to conduct her, +closely guarded, from Dunbar to the Castle of Edinburgh. When they came +near the town, he desired his followers to conceal their arms, lest it +should be supposed that he was still keeping the Queen an unwilling +prisoner. But the truth broke out in spite of his precautions; for at the +foot of the Canongate, Mary was about to turn her horse towards Holyrood, +upon which Bothwell himself seized the bridle, and conducted her up the +High Street to the Castle, which was then in the keeping of Sir James +Balfour, who was entirely subservient to Bothwell.[89] He was now resolved +that his marriage should be consummated with as little delay as possible, +having wrung a consent to it from the unfortunate Queen, by means of +which, it is impossible to think without shuddering. In the state to which +she was reduced, she had no alternative; she chose the least of two evils, +in becoming, with an aching heart, the wife of her ravisher. Yet it would +appear, that she did not herself take a single step to advance the matter. +Three days after she arrived at the Castle, a person of the name of Thomas +Hepburn, (probably a relation of the Hepburn who was engaged with Bothwell +in Darnley's murder), was sent to Craig, Knox's colleague in the church of +St Giles, to desire that he would proclaim the banns of matrimony betwixt +the Queen and Bothwell. But the clergyman refused, because Hepburn brought +no authority from the Queen.[90] Neither Mary nor Bothwell were so +ignorant as to suppose that any minister would publish banns without +receiving a written or personal order; and Hepburn would hardly have been +sent on so idle an errand, had not the Queen been still reluctant to +surrender herself to one whose person and manners she had never liked, and +who was now so odious to her. But not a voice was raised,--not a sword was +drawn to protect her,--and what resource was left? In a day or two, the +Lord Justice Clerk conveyed a written mandate to Craig; but the preacher, +had still some scruples: not thinking such a marriage agreeable to the +laws either of God or man, he insisted upon seeing the Queen and Bothwell, +before he gave intimation of it. He was admitted to a meeting of the Privy +Council, where Bothwell presided, but at which Mary does not seem to have +been present. "In the Council," says Craig, "I laid to his charge the law +of adultery, the ordinance of the kirk, the law of ravishing, the +suspicion of collusion betwixt him and his wife, the sudden divorcement +and proclaiming within the space of four days, and lastly, the suspicion +of the King's death, which his marriage would confirm; but he answered +nothing to my satisfaction."--"Therefore, upon Sunday, after I had +declared what they had done, and how they would proceed, whether we would +or not, I took heaven and earth to witness, that I abhorred and detested +that marriage, because it was odious and scandalous to the world; and +_seeing the best part of the realm did approve it, either by flattery or +by their silence_, I desired the faithful to pray earnestly, that God +would turn it to the comfort of this realm."[91] + +It was not till after the banns had been twice proclaimed, that Bothwell +allowed the Queen, on the 12th of May, to come forth from the Castle for +the first time. He conducted her himself to the Court of Session, where he +persuaded her to affix her signature to two deeds of great importance to +him. The bond he had obtained from the nobles, recommending him as a +husband to the Queen, has been already fully described; but when the Lords +put their names to it, they were not aware that Bothwell would, in +consequence, conceive himself entitled to have recourse to violence; and +they now became alarmed lest the Queen should imagine that they were +themselves implicated in an act which many of them, though they did not +yet venture to express their sentiments, viewed with disgust. By way of +precaution, therefore, they required Bothwell to obtain, from her Majesty, +a written promise, that she would not at any time hereafter impute to them +as a crime the consent they had given to the bond. Here is another +argument against the idea of collusion between Mary and Bothwell; for in +that case, so far from having any thing to fear, Bothwell's friends would +have known that nothing could have recommended them more to Mary, than the +countenance they gave his marriage; and if, for the sake of appearances, +she wished it to be believed that she was forced into it, she would +certainly have carefully avoided recording her approval of the previous +encouragement given to Bothwell by her nobility. Mary's calumniators are +thus placed between the horns of a dilemma. If she did not consent to the +abduction, then the marriage was not one of her choice; if she did, then +why defeat the only object she had in view, which was to deceive her +subjects, by publicly declaring that the Lords who signed the bond had +done nothing to displease her? and why, moreover, should such a +declaration have been thought necessary, either by Bothwell or his +friends? The deed which Mary signed in the Court of Session, and which, +taking this view of it, is worthy of every attention, was subjoined to a +copy of the bond, and expressed in these words: "The Queen's Majesty +having seen and considered the bond above written, promises, on the word +of a Princess, that she, nor her successors, shall never impute as crime +or offence, to any of the persons subscribers thereof, their consent and +subscription to the matter above written therein contained; nor that they +nor their heirs shall never be called nor accused therefor; nor yet shall +the said consent or subscribing be any derogation or spot to their honour, +or they esteemed undutiful subjects for doing thereof, notwithstanding +whatever thing can tend or be alleged in the contrary. In witness whereof, +her Majesty has subscribed the same with her own hand."[92] + +On the same day, Mary granted a formal pardon to Bothwell, before all the +Lords of Session and others, for his late conduct, in taking her to, and +holding her in Dunbar, "contrary to her Majesty's will and mind," which is +also very much against the supposition of collusion. It states,--"That +albeit her Highness was commoved for the present time of her taking at the +said Earl Bothwell; yet for his good behaviour, and thankful service in +time past, and for more thankful service in time coming, her Highness +stands content with the said Earl, and has forgiven and forgives him, and +all others his accomplices, being with him in company at the time, all +hatred conceived by her Majesty, for the taking and imprisoning of her, at +the time foresaid."[93] + +All these preparations having been made, Mary at length became the wife of +Bothwell, after he had been previously created Duke of Orkney. Even in the +celebration of the marriage ceremony, the despotic power which Bothwell +now exercised over the unhappy and passive Queen, is but too evident. She, +who had never before failed in a single instance, to observe the rites of +her own faith, however tolerant she was to those who professed a different +persuasion, was now obliged, in opposition to all the prejudices of +education, and all the principles of her religion, to submit to be married +according to the form of the Protestant church. Adam Bothwell, Bishop of +Orkney, who, though holding an Episcopal order, had lately renounced that +heresy, and joined the Reformers, presided on the occasion. The marriage +took place, not at mass in the Queen's chapel, but in the Council Chamber, +where, after a sermon had been delivered, the company separated, with +little demonstrations of mirth.[94] Melville, who came to Court the same +evening, mentions some particulars, which show how the dissolute Bothwell +chose to spend his time:--"When I came to the Court," he says, "I found my +Lord Duke of Orkney, sitting at his supper. He said I had been a great +stranger, desiring me to sit down and sup with him. The Earl of Huntly, +the Justice-Clerk, and diverse others, were sitting at the table with him. +I said that I had already supped. Then he called for a cup of wine, and +drank to me, that I might pledge him like a Dutchman. He made me drink it +out to grow fatter, 'for,' said he, 'the zeal of the commonweal has eaten +ye up, and made ye lean.' I answered, that every little member should +serve to some use; but that the care of the commonweal appertained most to +him, and the rest of the nobility, who should be as fathers to it. Then he +said, I well knew he would find a pin for every bore. Then he discoursed +of gentlewomen, speaking such filthy language, that I left him, and passed +up to the Queen, who was very glad at my coming."[95] + +Such was the man who was now inseparably joined to Mary, and who, by fraud +and villany, had made himself, for the time, so absolute in Scotland, that +her possession of the throne of her ancestors, nay, her very life, seems +to have depended upon his will and pleasure. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE REBELLION OF THE NOBLES, THE MEETING AT CARBERRY HILL, AND ITS +CONSEQUENCES. + + +Mary's first step, after her marriage, was to send, at her husband's +desire, ambassadors into England and France, to explain to these Courts +the motives by which she had been actuated. The instructions given to +these ambassadors, as Buchanan has justly remarked, and after him the +French historians De Thou and Le Clerc, were drawn up with much art. They +came, no doubt, from the pen of Bothwell's friend, Secretary Maitland; and +they recapitulate so forcibly all the Earl's services, both to Mary and +her mother, enlarge so successfully upon his influence in Scotland, his +favour with the nobility, and their anxiety that he should become King; +and finally, colour so dexterously his recent conduct, that after their +perusal, one is almost induced to believe that the Queen could not have +chosen a better husband in all Christendom. Of course, Mary would herself +see them before they were despatched, as they are written in her name; and +the consent she must have given to the attempt made in them to screen her +husband from blame, confirms the belief that she did not plan, along with +him, the scheme of the abduction; for she would, in that case, have +represented, in a much stronger light, the consequences necessarily +arising from it. If she had consented to such a scheme, it must have been +with the view of making it be believed that her marriage with a suspected +murderer (suspected at least by many, though probably not by Mary +herself), was a matter of necessity; and she could never have been so +inconsistent as labour to convince her foreign friends, that though +violence had been used in the first instance, she had ultimately seen the +propriety of voluntarily becoming Bothwell's wife. But it was her sincere +and laudable desire, now that she was married, to shelter her husband as +much as possible; and, conscious of her own innocence, she did not +anticipate that the measures she took in his behalf might be turned +against herself. It must indeed be distinctly remembered, in tracing the +lamentable events which followed this marriage, that though force and +fraud were not perhaps employed on the very day of its consummation, yet +that they had previously done their utmost, and that it was not the Queen +who surrendered herself to Bothwell, but Bothwell who forced himself upon +the Queen. + +Though Mary attempted to conceal her misery from the prying eye of the +world, they who had an opportunity of being near her person easily saw +that her peace of mind was wrecked. So little love existed either on the +one side or the other, that even the days usually set aside for nuptial +rejoicings, were marked only by suspicions and wranglings. They remained +together at Holyrood from the 15th of May to the 7th of June; but during +the whole of that time, Bothwell was so alarmed, lest she should yet break +from him, and assert her independence, that he kept her "environed with a +continual guard of two hundred harquebuziers, as well day as night, +wherever she went;"--and whoever wished an audience with her, "it behoved +him, before he could come to her presence, to go through the ranks of +harquebuziers, under the mercy of a notorious tyrant,--a new example, +wherewith this nation had never been acquainted; and yet few or none were +admitted to her speech, for his suspicious heart, brought in fear by the +testimony of an evil conscience, would not suffer her subjects to have +access to her Majesty as they were wont to do."[96] The letter from which +these passages are quoted, deserves, at this period of Mary's history, +every attention, for it was written, scarcely two months after her +marriage, by the Lords who had associated themselves against Bothwell, but +who had not yet discovered the necessity of implicating Mary in the guilt +with which they charged him. The declarations therefore, they then made, +contrasted with those which ambition and selfishness afterwards prompted, +prove their sincerity in the first instance, and their wickedness in the +last. "They firmly believe," they say, "that whether they had risen up +against her husband or not, _the Queen would not have lived with him half +a year to an end_, as may be conjectured by the short time they lived +together, and _the maintaining of his other wife at home at his house_." +This last fact is no less singular than it is important. It seems +distinctly to imply, that though Bothwell was divorced from his first +wife, and that though her brother, the Earl of Huntly, had given his +consent to the divorce, yet that in reality, the dissolution of the +marriage was, on the part of Bothwell, merely _pro forma_, to enable him +to prosecute his scheme of ambition, that his attachment to the Lady Jane +Gordon continued unabated, and that if Mary had ever loved him, she must +have loved him, knowing that he did not return her affection. No wonder +that under such an accumulation of miseries--the suspicion with which she +was regarded by foreign courts,--the ready hatred of many of her more +bigoted Presbyterian subjects,--the dependence, almost amounting to a +state of bondage, in which she was kept,--and the brutal treatment she +experienced from her worthless husband,--no wonder that Mary was heard, in +moments almost of distraction, to express an intention of committing +suicide.[97] Her heart was broken,--her prospects were blighted,--her +honour, which was dearer to her than life, was doubted. She was a Queen +without the command of her subjects,--a wife without the love of her +husband. The humblest peasant in Scotland was more to be envied than the +last daughter of the royal line. + +But Bothwell was not permitted to triumph long in the success of his +villany. Many, even of his own friends, now began to think that he had +carried through his measures with too high a hand. They were willing that +he should have won Mary by fair means, but not by foul; and when they saw +that he had not only imperatively thrust himself upon her as a husband, +but was taking rapid strides towards making himself absolute in Scotland, +they trembled for the freedom of the Constitution, and the safety of the +Commonweal. With an imprudence equal to his audacity, Bothwell was at no +pains either to disguise his wishes, or to conciliate the good will of +those whose assistance might have been valuable. With the restless +uneasiness of one conscious of guilt, and dreading its probable +consequences, he scrupled not to avow his anxiety to get into his +possession the person of the young Prince, and had even "made a vaunt +already among his familiars, that if he could get him once into his own +hands, he should warrant him from revenging his father's death."[98] But +the Prince was lodged in the Castle of Stirling, in the custody of the +Earl of Mar, a nobleman of approved fidelity and honour, who positively +refused to deliver him up. It was not easy, however, to divert Bothwell +from his object; and though the Queen did not countenance it, being, on +the contrary, rather desirous that her son should remain with Mar, yet he +ceased not to cajole and threaten, by turns, until all Scotland was roused +into suspicion and anger.[99] A number of the nobility met at Stirling, +and entered into an association to defend the person of the Prince; and +they soon saw, or thought they saw, the necessity of taking active +measures to that effect. On the 28th of May, proclamations were issued at +Edinburgh, intimating the intention of the Queen and Bothwell to proceed, +with a strong force, to the Borders, to suppress some disturbances there, +and requiring all loyal subjects to assemble in arms at Melrose. It was +immediately rumoured that this expedition was only a pretence, and that +Bothwell's real design was to march to Stirling, there to make himself +master of the Castle and its inhabitants. In a second proclamation, made +for the purpose, this suspicion was characterized as most unfounded; but +whether just or not, it had taken a strong hold of the public mind, and +was not easily removed. The Prince's Lords, as they were called, the chief +of whom were Argyle, Athol, Morton, Mar, and Glencairn, busied themselves +in collecting their followers, as if in compliance with the requisition to +assemble at Melrose. On the 6th or 7th of June 1567, Bothwell took the +Queen with him from the Palace of Holyrood to the Castle of Borthwick, +situated about eight miles to the south of Edinburgh, having discovered, +only a day or two before, that Edinburgh was no longer a safe residence +for him. Sir James Balfour, the Governor of the Castle, seeing so strong a +party start up against his former patron, had allowed himself to be +tampered with, and Bothwell now suspected that he held the Castle not for +him, but for the Lords at Stirling. He feared, that Balfour might be +persuaded by them to sally down to Holyrood with a party of troops, and +carry him off a prisoner to the Castle, and therefore thought it wise to +withdraw to a safer distance. + +It was not long before the nobility at Stirling heard of Bothwell's +retreat to Borthwick, and they resolved to take advantage of it. They +advanced unexpectedly from Stirling, and, marching past Edinburgh, +suddenly invested the Castle of Borthwick. It was with great difficulty +that Bothwell and the Queen escaped to Dunbar, and the Lords then fell +back upon Edinburgh. Huntly commanded there for Bothwell; but though, at +his request, the magistrates shut the gates of the city, the opposite +party found little difficulty in forcibly effecting an entrance. Huntly, +and the rest of Bothwell's friends, still trusting to Sir James Balfour's +fidelity, retreated into the Castle. The opposite faction, with Morton at +its head, immediately issued proclamations, in which they demanded the +assistance of all loyal subjects, on the grounds, "that the Queen's +Majesty, being detained in captivity, was neither able to govern her +realm, nor try the murder of her husband, and that they had assembled to +deliver her and preserve the Prince."[100] These proclamations prove, that +no feelings of hostility were as yet entertained or expressed against +Mary. One of them, issued at Edinburgh on the 12th of June, commences +thus:--"The Lords of Secret Council and Nobility, understanding that +James, Earl of Bothwell, put violent hands on our Sovereign Lady's most +noble person upon the 24th day of April last, and thereafter warded +(imprisoned) her Highness in the Castle of Dunbar, which he had in +keeping, and, before a long space thereafter, conveyed her Majesty, +environed with men of war, and such friends and kinsmen of his as would do +for him, ever into such places where he had most dominion and power, her +Grace being destitute of all counsel and servants, during which time the +said Earl seduced, by unlawful ways, our said Sovereign to a dishonest +marriage with himself, which, from the beginning, is null and of no +effect." And the proclamation concludes with announcing their +determination, "to deliver the Queen's Majesty's most noble person forth +of captivity and prison," and to bring Bothwell and his accomplices to +trial, both for the murder of Darnley, and for "the ravishing and +detaining of the Queen's Majesty's person," as well as to prevent the +enterprise intended against the Prince.[101] Can any thing establish an +historical fact more explicitly than such evidence? + +Bothwell was, in the meantime, busily collecting his friends at Dunbar. In +a few days, upwards of 2000 men had resorted to him, more because the +Queen was with him, than from any love they bore himself; and, as he was +unwilling that the hostile Lords should be allowed time to collect their +strength, he marched, with this force, from Dunbar on the 14th of June. +When the news of his approach reached Edinburgh, the Lords immediately +advanced to meet him, though with a somewhat inferior strength. The two +armies did not come in sight of each other till the morning of the 15th, +when Bothwell's troops were discovered upon Carberry Hill, a rising ground +of some extent between Musselburgh and Dalkeith. The Lords, who had spent +the night at Musselburgh, made a circuit towards Dalkeith, that they also +might get on the high ground, and took up a position to the west of +Bothwell. It was here discovered that neither party was very anxious to +commence an engagement; and the French ambassador, Le Croc, spent several +hours in riding between both armies, and endeavouring to bring them to +terms of mutual accommodation, being authorized on the part of the Queen, +to promise that the present insurrection would be willingly forgiven, if +the Lords would lay down their arms and disband their followers. But the +Earl of Morton answered, "that they had taken up arms _not against the +Queen_, but against the murderer of the King, whom, if she would deliver +to be punished, or at least put from her company, she should find a +continuation of dutiful obedience from them and all other good +subjects."[102] Le Croc, despairing of effecting his purpose, unwillingly +quitted the field, and returned to Edinburgh. But both parties were still +desirous to temporize,--Bothwell, because he hourly expected +reinforcements from Lord Herries and others,--and the Lords, because they +also looked for an accession of strength, and because the day was hot, and +the sun shining strong in their faces.[103] To draw out the time, Bothwell +made a bravado of offering to end the quarrel, by engaging in single +combat any Lord of equal rank who would encounter him. Kircaldy of Grange, +one of the best soldiers of the day, and Murray of Tullibardin, both +expressed their willingness to accept the challenge, but were rejected on +the score of inferiority in rank. Lord Lindsay then offered himself, and +him Bothwell had no right to refuse. It was expected, therefore, that the +whole quarrel would be referred to them, the Queen herself, though at the +head of an army superior to that of her opponents, having consented, that +a husband to whom she had so short a while been married, and for whom the +veracious Buchanan would have us believe she entertained so extravagant an +affection, should thus unnecessarily risk his life. Twenty gentlemen on +either side were to attend, and the ground was about to be marked out, +when the Lords changed their minds, and declared they did not choose that +Lord Lindsay should take upon himself the whole burden of a quarrel in +which they all felt equally interested.[104] + +In these negotiations the day passed over. It was now between seven and +eight in the evening, and a battle must have ensued, either that night or +next morning, had not an unexpected step been taken by the Queen. Without +betraying Bothwell, she formed a resolution to rid herself from the +bondage in which he kept her. She sent to desire that Kircaldy of Grange +should come to speak with her, and she intimated to him her willingness to +part from Bothwell as was demanded, if Morton and the other Lords would +undertake to conduct her safely into Edinburgh, and there return to their +allegiance. This overture, on being reported by Grange, was at once +accepted, provided Mary agreed to dismiss Bothwell on the field. It may be +easily conceived that to Bothwell himself such an arrangement was not +particularly agreeable, and could never have entered the imagination, much +less have been the deliberate proposal, of a loving and obedient wife. +Historians, we think, have not sufficiently insisted on the strong +presumption in Mary's favour, afforded by her conduct at Carberry Hill. It +is true, that there might have been an understanding between her and +Bothwell, that as soon as she was re-instated in her power, she would +recall him to a share of her throne and bed. But even supposing that, +notwithstanding the alleged violence of her love, she had been willing to +consent to a temporary separation, both she and Bothwell knew the spirit +of the men they had to deal with too well, to trust to the chance of +outwitting them, after yielding to their demands. Mary must have been +aware, that if she parted with Bothwell at all, she in all probability +parted with him for ever. Had she truly loved him, she would rather have +braved all risks (as she did with Darnley when Murray rebelled) than have +abandoned him just at the crisis of his fortune. But she had at no period +felt more than the commonest friendship for Bothwell; and since she had +been seized by him at the Bridge of Almond, she had absolutely hated him. +Melville, accordingly, expresses himself regarding this transaction in +these terms. "Albeit her Majesty was at Carberry Hill, I cannot name it to +be her army; for many of them that were with her, were of opinion that she +had intelligence with the Lords; chiefly such as understood of the Earl +Bothwell's mishandling of her, and many indignities that he had both said +and done unto her since their marriage. He was so beastly and suspicious, +that he suffered her not to pass a day in patience, or without giving her +cause to shed abundance of salt tears. Thus, part of his own company +detested him; and the other part believed that her Majesty would fain +have been quit of him, but thought shame to be the doer thereof directly +herself."[105] Melville adds, that so determined was Bothwell not to leave +the field if he could avoid it, that he ordered a soldier to shoot Grange +when he overheard the arrangement which he and the Queen were making. It +was "not without great difficulty," says another cotemporary writer, that +Mary prevailed upon Bothwell to mount his horse, and ride away with a few +followers back to Dunbar.[106] There is no wonder;--but that a wife of one +month's standing, who is said for his sake to have murdered her former +husband, should permit, nay beseech him, thus to sneak off a field he +might have won, had she allowed him to fight, is indeed strange and +unaccountable. When Bothwell left Carberry Hill, he turned his back upon a +Queen and a throne;--he left hope behind, and must have seen only ruin +before. + +As soon as her husband had departed, Mary desired Grange to lead her to +the Lords. Morton and the rest came forward to meet her, and received her +with all due respect. The Queen was on horseback, and Grange himself +walked at her bridle. On riding up to the associated Nobles, she said to +them,--"My Lords, I am come to you, not out of any fear I had of my life, +nor yet doubting of the victory, if matters had gone to the worst; but I +abhor the shedding of Christian blood, especially of those that are my own +subjects; and therefore I yield to you, and will be ruled hereafter by +your counsels, trusting you will respect me as your born Princess and +Queen."[107] Alas! Mary had not calculated either on the perfidy of the +men to whom she had surrendered herself, or on the vulgar virulence of +their hired retainers, who, having been disappointed in their hopes of a +battle, thought they might take their revenge, by insulting the person of +a Roman Catholic Sovereign, now for the first time standing before them +somewhat in the light of a suitor and a prisoner. They led her into +Edinburgh between eight and nine in the evening; and the citizens, hearing +of the turn which affairs had taken, came out in great crowds, and lined +the way as they passed. The envy and hatred of the more bigoted part of +the rabble did not fail to exhibit itself. Royalty in misfortune, like a +statue taken from its pedestal, is often liable to the rudest handling, +simply because it has fallen from a height which previously kept it at a +distance from the multitude. There had long rancoured in the bosoms of the +more zealous and less honest Presbyterians, an ill-concealed jealousy of +Mary's superiority; and in the mob which now gathered round her, the +turbulent and unprincipled led the way, as they commonly do in a mob, to +insult and outrage. So far from being allowed to return to Edinburgh as a +Queen, and to take possession of her wonted state, Mary was forced to ride +as a captive in a triumphal show. The hatred which was borne towards +Bothwell was transferred to her, and the Lords, at the head of whom was +the crafty Morton, forgetting the proclamation they had made only two +days before, announcing their intention to rescue the Queen from the +bondage in which she was held, only took her from one tyrant to retain her +in the hands of many. As the cavalcade proceeded, a banner was displayed +in front, on which was represented the King lying dead at the foot of a +tree, and the young Prince upon his knees near him, exclaiming--"Judge and +revenge my cause, O Lord!" The people shouted with savage exultation, as +this ensign was carried past, and turning their eyes on the Queen, who was +dissolved in tears, they scrupled not, by the coarse malice of their +expressions, to add to the agony of her feelings. + +When Mary arrived in Edinburgh, and found she was not to be taken to +Holyrood House, (from which, indeed, the Lords had previously carried off +much of her valuable furniture), she gave up all for lost, and in her +despair called upon all who came near her to rescue her from the hands of +traitors. But an excitement had just been given to the public mind, which +it required some hours of sober reflection to allay. No one interfering in +her behalf, she was taken to the Provost's house in the High Street, where +she was lodged for the night. The crowd gradually dispersed, and the Lords +were left to themselves to arrange their future plan of procedure. +Kircaldy of Grange, was the only one among them who was disposed to act +honourably. He reminded them that he had been commissioned to assure the +Queen of their loyal services, provided she parted from Bothwell, and came +over to them,--and as she had fulfilled her part of the agreement, he did +not think it right that they should fail in theirs. Influenced by these +representations, a division might thus have taken place among themselves, +had not Morton fallen on an expedient to silence the scruples of Grange. +He produced a letter, which he alleged Mary had just written to Bothwell, +and which he had intercepted, in which she was made to declare, that she +was resolved never to abandon him, although for a time she might be +obliged to yield to circumstances. Kircaldy, possessing all the blunt +sincerity of a soldier, and being little given to suspicion, was startled +by this letter, and left Morton, in consequence, to take his own way. That +the pretended epistle was in truth a mere hasty forgery, is proved to +demonstration, by the fact that, important as such a document would have +been, it was never afterwards alluded to by the Lords, nor produced in +evidence along with the other papers they so laboriously collected to lay +before Elizabeth's Commissioners. From this specimen of their honesty, we +may guess what reliance is to be placed on the authenticity of writings, +subsequently scraped together by men who, on the spur of the moment, +executed a forgery so clumsily, that they were unable to avail themselves +of it on any future occasion. But Morton's intriguing spirit was again +busily at work; and having the Queen's person once more in his possession, +and being apparently supported by the people, he was determined on taking +a step which would secure him Elizabeth's lasting gratitude, and might +ultimately raise him to the regency of Scotland. He, therefore, veered +suddenly round; and though he had asserted, on the 12th of June, that Mary +was kept in unwilling bondage by Bothwell, he saw it prudent to maintain +on the 15th, that there was no man in Scotland to whom she was so +passionately attached. In support of this assertion, the letter became a +necessary fabrication; and Morton well knew that a political falsehood, +though credited only for a day, may be made a useful engine in the hands +of a skilful workman. + +It would appear, however, that a night's reflection operated a +considerable change in the minds of the ever-fluctuating populace. In the +course of the 16th, they collected before the Provost's house; and the +Queen having come several times to the window, and represented to them +strongly the iniquity of the constraint in which she was kept by her own +nobles who had betrayed her, a general feeling began to manifest itself in +her favour. Morton and his colleagues no sooner perceived this change, +than they waited on the Queen, and, with the most consummate hypocrisy, +protested that she had quite mistaken their intentions, and that, to +convince her of their sincerity, they should immediately replace her in +the palace of Holyrood. Mary listened to them, and was again deceived. In +the evening, as if to fulfil their promise, they conducted her to +Holyrood, Morton walking respectfully on one side of her horse, and Athol +on the other. But when she reached the Palace, she was as strictly watched +as ever; and about midnight, to her terror and surprise, they suddenly +came to her, and forcing her to disguise herself in an ordinary +riding-habit, mounted her on horseback, and rode off, without informing +her whither she was going. She was escorted by the Lords Ruthven and +Lindsay, and, after riding all night, arrived at the castle of Loch-Leven +early in the morning. This castle was a place of considerable strength, +standing on a small island in the centre of the lake, which is ten or +twelve miles in circumference. It was possessed by Lady Douglas, the Lady +of Loch-Leven, as she was commonly called, the widow of Sir Robert +Douglas, and mother to the Earl of Murray, by James V. "It is needless to +observe," says Keith, "how proper a place this was for the design of the +rebels, the house being surrounded with water on all sides, for the space, +at shortest, of half a mile; and the proprietors of it being so nearly +related to some principal persons among them, in whom, therefore, they +could the more securely confide. And indeed it has been said, that the +Lady Loch-Leven answered the expectation of the Lords to the full, having +basely insulted the captive Queen's misfortune, and bragged, besides, that +she herself was King James V.'s lawful wife, and her son, the Earl of +Murray, his legitimate issue, and true heir of the crown. The Lady +Loch-Leven was not only mother to the Earl of Murray, but likewise to the +Lord Lindsay's lady, by her husband Robert Douglas of Loch-Leven. The +family of Loch-Leven was moreover heirs-apparent to that of Morton; and to +that family they did actually succeed some time after. The Lord Ruthven +also had to wife a natural daughter of the Earl of Angus;--all which +considerations centering together in one, made the house of Loch-Leven, +humanly speaking, a most sure and close prison for the Royal +captive."[108] + +To give an air of something like justice to a measure so violent and +unexpected, Morton and his friends endeavoured to sanction it by what they +were pleased to term an Act of Privy Council. They experienced, however, +no little difficulty in determining on the proper mode of expressing this +act. They recollected the proclamations in the Queen's favour to which +they had so recently put their names; they recollected also the solemn +engagement into which they had entered at Carberry Hill; and though +_might_ was with them of greater value than _right_, they did not choose, +if they could avoid it, to stand convicted of treason in the face of the +whole country. They tried, therefore, to excuse the step they had taken, +by asserting, that though they still believed her Majesty had unwillingly +married Bothwell, and had been kept in bondage by him, and that, though +she had quitted his company for theirs at Carberry, yet that after they +had "opened and declared unto her Highness her own estate and condition, +and the miserable estate of this realm, with the danger that her dearest +son the Prince stood in, requiring that she would suffer and command the +murder and authors thereof to be punished, they found in her Majesty such +untowardness and repugnance thereto, that rather she appeared to fortify +and maintain the said Earl Bothwell and his accomplices in the said wicked +crimes." The truth of this statement is directly contradicted by the +transactions of the 15th of June, when Mary, though at the head of an +army, had agreed to do every thing the Lords desired, and when, with a +degree of facility only to be accounted for on the supposition that she +was anxious to escape from his company, she had separated herself finally +from Bothwell in the face of the whole world. So far from charging her +with "fortifying" and "maintaining" him in his crimes, these Lords +themselves declared, on the 11th, that they had assembled "to deliver +their sovereign's most noble person out of bondage and captivity;" and, a +month afterwards, they told the English ambassador they "firmly believed +the Queen would not have lived with Bothwell half a year to an end."[109] + +In addition to this act of Privy Council, which was no doubt the +production of Morton, and is signed by him and Athol, and six other +noblemen of less note, a bond of association was drawn up the same day, in +which an explanation was given at greater length, of the system on which +the Lords were about to proceed. It is a remarkable feature of this bond, +that, in so far as Mary is concerned, it very materially contradicts the +act of Council. Instead of containing any accusation against her, it +represents her throughout as having been the victim of force and fraud. It +commences by stating the conviction of the subscribers, that Bothwell was +the murderer of Darnley, and that, had he himself not taken means to +prevent a fair trial, he would have been convicted of the crime. It goes +on to assert, that, adding wickedness to wickedness, the Earl had +treasonably, and without any reverence for his native Prince, carried her +prisoner to his castle at Dunbar, and had afterwards pretended unlawfully +to marry her; which being accomplished, his cruel and ambitious nature +immediately showed itself, "no nobleman daring to resort to her Majesty +to speak with her without suspicion, unless in his presence and hearing, +and her chamber-doors being continually watched by armed men." It is +therefore maintained that their interference was necessary, both on +account of the "shameful thraldom" in which the Queen was kept, and the +great danger of the young Prince, her only son. They had taken up arms, +they say, against Bothwell, and to deliver their sovereign; and though +they had already chased him from his unlawful authority, they considered +themselves obliged to continue in arms till "the authors of the murder and +ravishing were condignly punished, the pretended marriage dissolved, their +sovereign relieved of the thraldom, bondage, and ignominy, which she had +sustained, and still underlies by the said Earl's fault, the person of the +innocent prince placed in safety, and, finally, justice restored and +uprightly administered to all the subjects of the realm."[110] + +This, then, was all the length to which Morton and the other Lords, as yet +ventured. They had sent Mary to Loch-Leven, merely to keep her at a safe +distance from Bothwell; and as soon as they had seized his person, or +driven him from the kingdom, it was of course implied that they would +restore their sovereign to her throne. They did not hint, in the most +distant manner, that she was in the least implicated in the guilt of her +husband's death; and they expressly declared that, for every thing which +had taken place since, Bothwell alone was to blame. Judging by their own +words, they entertained as much respect for the Queen as ever; and the +impression they gave to the country was, that they intended she should +remain at Loch-Leven only for a short time, and that so far from meaning +to punish one whom they accused of no crime, by forcing from her an +abdication of her crown, and condemning her to perpetual imprisonment, +they would soon be found rallying round her, and conducting her back to +her capital in triumph. These may have been the hopes entertained by some; +but they forgot that Morton, who was at the head of the new faction, had +assassinated Rizzio, and countenanced the murder of Darnley;--and that +Murray, though at present in France, had left the country only till new +disturbances should afford new prospects for his inordinate ambition. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +MARY AT LOCHLEVEN, HER ABDICATION, AND MURRAY'S REGENCY. + + +Scotland was now in the most unfortunate condition in which a country +could possibly be. Like a ship without a pilot, it was left at the mercy +of a hundred contrary opinions; and it was not long before there sprung +out of these two opposing currents or distinct parties, known by the name +of the Queen's and the Prince's. Morton and his friends calling themselves +the Prince's Lords, continued at Edinburgh; whilst the Queen's nobles +assembled at Hamilton Palace in very considerable force, having among +them, besides the Hamiltons, Huntly, (who had been allowed by Sir James +Balfour to escape from the Castle of Edinburgh, in which he had taken +shelter some time before), Argyle, (who, though he had at first joined +with Morton and Mar at Stirling, when they announced their determination +to keep the Prince out of Bothwell's hands, never intended taking up arms +against the Queen), Rothes, Caithness, Crawfurd, Boyd, Herries, +Livingston, Seaton, Ogilvie, and others.[111] Morton laboured to effect a +coalition with these Lords; but though he employed the mediation of the +General Assembly, they would not consent to any proposals he made them. +Buchanan himself is forced to allow, that affairs took a very different +turn from what was expected. "For popular envy being abated, partly by +time, and partly by the consideration of the uncertainty of human affairs, +commiseration succeeded; nay, some of the nobility did then no less bewail +the Queen's calamity than they had before execrated her cruelty."[112] The +truth is, that Mary's friends were at this time much more numerous than +her enemies; but unfortunately they were not sufficiently unanimous in +their councils, to be able to take any decisive steps in her behalf. + +Morton earnestly laboured to increase the popularity of his faction by +every means in his power. To please the multitude, he apprehended several +persons, whom he accused of being implicated in the murder of Darnley; and +though he probably knew them to be innocent, they were all condemned and +executed, with the exception of Sebastian, the Queen's servant, who was +seized with the view of casting suspicion on Mary herself, but who +contrived to escape.[113] Thus, they who blamed Mary for being too remiss +in seeking out and punishing the murderers, were able to console +themselves with the reflection, that, under the new order of things, +persons were iniquitously executed for the sake of appearances, by those +who had themselves been Bothwell's accomplices. Against Bothwell himself, +Morton, for his own sake, proceeded with more caution. It was not till +the 26th of June, that letters were addressed to the keeper of the Castle +at Dunbar, ordering him to deliver up his charge, because he had received +and protected Bothwell; and, on the same day, a proclamation was issued, +offering the moderate reward of a thousand crowns to any one who should +apprehend the Earl.[114] It is singular that these Lords, who were so +fully convinced of his criminality, not only allowed him to depart +unmolested from Carberry Hill, but took no steps, for ten days afterwards, +towards securing his person. + +The precise period at which Bothwell left Dunbar, the efforts he made to +regain his authority in Scotland, and in general, most of the particulars +of his subsequent fate, are not accurately known. He entered, no doubt, +into correspondence with the noblemen assembled at Hamilton; but probably +received from them little encouragement, as it was the Queen's cause, not +his, in which they were interested. He then retired to the North, where he +possessed estates as Duke of Orkney, and some influence with his kinsman, +the Bishop of Murray. As soon as his flight thither was known, Grange and +Tullibardin were sent in pursuit of him, with several vessels which were +fitted out on purpose. Hearing of their approach, Bothwell fled towards +the Orkney and Shetland Islands, and, being closely followed, was there +very nearly captured. His pursuers were at one time within gun-shot of his +ship, and it must have been taken, had not the vessels of Grange and +Tullibardin, in the very heat of the chase, both struck upon a sunken +rock, which Bothwell, either because his pilot was better acquainted with +the seas, or because his ship was lighter, avoided. They were, however, +fortunate enough to seize some of his accomplices, who were brought to +Edinburgh, and having been tried and condemned, made the confessions which +have been already referred to, and by which the particulars of the murder +became known. Bothwell himself proceeded to Denmark, imagining that the +King of that country, Frederick II., who was distantly related to Mary, +through her great-grandmother Margaret of Denmark, the spouse of James +III., might be disposed to interest himself in his behalf. But finding +that the circumstances under which he had left Scotland, would prevent him +from appearing at the Danish Court with so much _eclat_ as he desired, he +ventured on enriching his treasury, by making a seizure of one or two +merchantmen, trading in the North Seas. These practices were discovered; a +superior force was fitted out against him; and he was carried into a +Danish port, not as an exiled prince, but as a captive pirate. He was +there thrown into prison without ceremony; and though he lost no time in +letting his name and rank be known to the government, it does not appear +that the discovery operated greatly in his favour. He was retained in +durance for many years, the King of Denmark neither choosing to surrender +him to Elizabeth or his enemies in Scotland, nor thinking it right to +offend them by restoring him to liberty, so long at least as Mary herself +remained a prisoner. Broken down by misfortune, and perhaps assailed by +remorse, Bothwell is believed to have been in a state of mental +derangement for several years before his death. There can be no doubt +that he died miserably; and he seems, even in this life, to have paid the +penalty of his crimes, if any earthly penalty could atone for the misery +he brought on the innocent victim of his lawless ambition and systematic +villany. His character may be summed up in the words of our great poet:-- + + "Tetchy and wayward was thy infancy; + Thy schooldays frightful, desp'rate, wild, and furious; + Thy prime of manhood daring, bold, and venturous; + Thy age confirmed, proud, subtle, sly, and bloody."[115] + +In the meantime, foreign courts were not inattentive to the state of +affairs in Scotland. An ambassador arrived from Mary's friends in France; +but finding, to his astonishment, that she was imprisoned, and that some +of the nobility had usurped the government, he refused to acknowledge +their authority, and immediately left the country. Elizabeth's messenger, +who came about the same time, was less scrupulous; and, indeed, few things +could have given that Queen greater satisfaction, than the turn which +Scottish affairs had recently taken. In the letters she sent by her +ambassador Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, are discovered all that duplicity, +affected sincerity, and real heartlessness, which so constantly +distinguish the despatches of Cecil and his mistress. After taking it for +granted, in direct opposition to the declarations of the rebel Lords +themselves, that Mary had given her consent to the hasty marriage with +Bothwell, and that she was consequently implicated in all his guilt, +Elizabeth proceeds with no little contradiction, to assure her good sister +that she considers her imprisonment entirely unjustifiable. But the +insincerity of her desire, that the Queen of Scots should recover her +liberty, is evinced by the very idle conditions she suggests should first +be imposed upon her. These are, that the murderers of Darnley should be +immediately prosecuted and punished, and that the young Prince should be +preserved free from all danger;--just as if Mary could punish murderers +before they were discovered or taken, unless, indeed, she chose to follow +the example of her Lords, and condemn the innocent; and as if she had lost +the natural affection of a mother, and would have delivered her only son +to be butchered, as his father had been. In short, Morton and his +colleagues had no difficulty in perceiving, that though Elizabeth thought +it necessary, for the sake of appearances, to pretend to be displeased +with them, yet that they had, in truth, never stood higher in her good +graces. They well knew, as they had observed in the case of Murray, and +experienced in their own, that Elizabeth seldom said what she meant, or +meant what she said. + +But to put her conduct on the present occasion in a still clearer light, +the reader will be somewhat surprised to learn, that Throckmorton brought +with him into Scotland two distinct sets of "Instructions," both bearing +the same date (June 30th 1567), the one of which was to be shown to Mary, +and the other to the rebel Lords. In the former, she expresses the +greatest indignation at the Queen's imprisonment, and threatens vengeance +on all her enemies. In the latter, the Lords are spoken of in a much more +confidential and friendly manner. They are told, that Elizabeth thought it +requisite to send an ambassador; but that he came to solicit nothing that +was not for the general weal of the realm; and that, if she were allowed +to mediate between their Queen and them, "they should have no just cause +to mislike her doings," because she would consent to nothing that was not +"for their security hereafter, and for quietness to the realm." Nay, she +even desired Throckmorton to assure them, that she "meant not to allow of +such faults as she hears _by report_ are imputed to the Queen of Scots, +but had given him strictly in charge to lay before, and to _reprove her_, +in her name, for the same."--"And in the end also," she adds, "we mean not +with any such partiality to deal for her, but that her princely state +being preserved, she should conform herself to all reasonable devices that +may bring a good accord betwixt her and her nobility and people." Thus she +was to take upon herself to reprove Mary for faults which "_she heard by +report were imputed to her_;" and to insist, though she herself was of +opinion that she had been unlawfully imprisoned, that she should enter +into negotiations with her rebel subjects, which would compromise her +dignity, and even impugn her character.[116] + +When Throckmorton came into Scotland, in July 1567, although he was +allowed no more access to the Queen than had been granted to the French +ambassador, yet, as his instructions authorized him to treat with the +Lords of Secret Council, he of course remained. From them he received an +explanation of their late proceedings, containing some of the most glaring +contradictions ever exhibited in a State paper. They do not throw out the +most distant suspicion of the Queen being implicated in Bothwell's guilt; +on the contrary, they continue to express their conviction that she became +his wife very unwillingly, and only after force had been used; but they +allege, as their reason for imprisoning her, the change which took place +in her mind an hour or two after she parted with her husband at Carberry +Hill. They state, that, immediately after, Bothwell, "caring little or +nothing for her Majesty" left her to save himself, and that after she, +caring as little for him, had parted company from him, and voluntarily +come with them to Edinburgh, they all at once, and most unexpectedly, +"found her passion so prevail in maintenance of him and his cause, that +she would not with patience hear speak any thing to his reproof, or +suffer his doings to be called in question; but, on the contrary, offered +to give over the realm and all, so that she might be suffered to enjoy +him, with many threatenings to be revenged on every man who had dealt in +the matter."[117] This was surely a very sudden and inexplicable change of +mind; for, in the very same letter, with an inconsistency which might +almost have startled themselves, these veracious Lords declare, that "the +Queen, their Sovereign, had been led captive, and, by fear, force, and +other extraordinary and more unlawful means, compelled to become +bed-fellow to another wife's husband;" that even though they had not +interfered, "she would not have lived with him half a year to an end;" and +that at Carberry Hill, a separation voluntary on both sides took place. +Was it, therefore, for a moment to be credited, that during the short +interval of a few hours, which elapsed between this separation and Mary's +imprisonment in Loch-Leven, she could either have so entirely altered her +sentiments regarding Bothwell, or, if they had in truth never been +unfavourable, so foolishly and unnecessarily betrayed them, as to convince +her nobility, that to secure their own safety, and force her to live apart +from him, no plan would be of any avail, but that of shutting her up in a +strong and remote castle? And even if this expedient appeared advisable at +the moment, did they think that, if Mary was now restored to liberty, she +would set sail for Denmark, and join Bothwell in his prison there? No; +they did not go so far; for, in conclusion, they assured Throckmorton, +that, "knowing the great wisdom wherewith God hath endowed her," they +anticipated that within a short time her mind would be settled, and that +as soon as "by a just trial they had made the truth appear, she would +conform herself to their doings."[118] + +"By the above answer," says Keith, "I make no doubt but my readers will be +ready enough to prognosticate what shall be the upshot of Sir Nicholas +Throckmorton's negotiations with the rebels in favour of our Queen." There +can be no doubt that the same motives (whatever these might be) which led +to Mary's imprisonment, would have equal force in keeping her there. The +whole history of this conspiracy may be explained in a few words. When +Morton and the other Lords took up arms at Stirling, they were, to a +certain extent, sincere; they believed (especially those of them who had +been his accomplices) that Bothwell was the murderer of Darnley, and that +he was anxiously endeavouring to get the young Prince into his power. This +they determined to prevent, and having won over Sir James Balfour, the +governor of the Castle, they advanced to Edinburgh. Bothwell retired to +Dunbar, taking the Queen along with him. But the Lords knew that Mary +entertained no affection for her husband, and they therefore hoped to +create a division between them. They accomplished this object at Carberry +Hill, and reconducted the Queen to Edinburgh. There, though not sorry +that she had parted from her husband, Mary did not express any high +approbation of the conduct of Lords who, when she was first seized by +Bothwell, did not draw a sword in her defence, and now that she had become +his wife, according to their own express recommendation recorded in the +bond they had given him, openly rebelled against the authority with which +they had induced her to intrust him. Morton recollected at the same time +his share in Rizzio's assassination, and the disastrous consequences which +ensued, as soon as Mary made her escape from the thraldom in which he had +then kept her for several days. He determined not to expose himself to a +similar risk now, especially as he had an army at his command; if he +disbanded it, he might be executed as a traitor,--if he remained at the +head of it, he might become Regent of Scotland. These were the secret +motives by which his conduct was regulated;--having taken one step he +thought he might venture to go on with another; he commenced with +defending the son, and ended by dethroning the mother. + +Four different plans were now in agitation, by adopting any of which it +was thought the troubles of the kingdom might be brought to a conclusion. +The first was suggested by the Queen's friends assembled at Hamilton; +their proposal was, to restore the Queen to her liberty and throne, having +previously bound her, by an express agreement, to pardon the rebel Lords, +to watch over the safety of the Prince, to consent to a divorce from +Bothwell, and to punish all persons implicated in the murder of Darnley. +The other three schemes came from Morton and his party, and were worthy of +the source from which they came. The _first_ was, to make the Queen +resign all government and regal authority in favour of her son, under whom +a Council of the nobility should govern the realm, whilst she herself +should retire to France or England, and never again return to her own +country. The _second_ was, to have the Queen tried, to condemn her, to +keep her in prison for life, and to crown the Prince. The _third_ was, to +have her tried, condemned, and executed,--a measure which would have +disgraced Scotland in even its most barbarous times, and which nothing but +the violence of party feeling could now have suggested.[119] The English +ambassador, knowing the wishes of his mistress, did not hesitate to assure +her that there was no probability of any of the more lenient proposals +being adopted; and he took care to remind the Lords, that "it would be +convenient for them so to proceed, as that by their doings they should not +wipe away the Queen's infamy, and the Lord Bothwell's detestable murder, +and by their outrageous dealings bring all the slander upon themselves." +At Morton's request, he likewise suggested to Elizabeth, that it would be +proper to send a supply of ten or twelve thousand crowns to aid the Lords +in their present increased expenditure; and this he said was the more +necessary, because Lethington and others had reminded him that, +notwithstanding all her Majesty's fair words, Murray, Morton, and the +rest, "had in their troubles found cold relief and small favour at her +Majesty's hands."[120] No wonder that, in moments when his better nature +prevailed, Throckmorton felt disgusted with the double part he was obliged +to act, and spoke "honestly and plainly" of it to Melville. "Yea," says +Sir James, "he detested the whole counsel of England for the time, and +told us friendly what reasoning they held among themselves to that end; +namely, how that one of their finest counsellors (Cecil) proposed openly +to the rest, that it was needful for the welfare of England, to foster and +nourish the civil wars, as well in France and in Flanders, as in Scotland; +whereby England might reap many advantages, and be sought after by all +parties, and in the meantime live in rest, and gather great riches. This +advice and proposition was well liked by most part of the Council; yet an +honest counsellor stood up and said, it was a very worldly advice, and had +little or nothing to do with a Christian commonweal."[121] + +The Earl of Murray was in the meantime anxiously watching the progress of +affairs in Scotland, and, though still in France, had so contrived, that +he possessed as much influence in the counsels of the nation as Morton +himself. The Lords indeed had long been in close correspondence with him. +Letters from them were forwarded to him by Cecil, who exchanged frequent +communications with Murray; and, on the 26th of June, four days before +Throckmorton left London for Scotland, Cecil wrote to the English +ambassador at Paris, that "Murray's return into Scotland was much desired, +for the weal both of England and Scotland."[122] But as Murray had +attempted to ingratiate himself at the French Court, by exaggerating his +fidelity to Mary, he found it impossible to disengage himself immediately +from the connexions he had there made, not anticipating so sudden a +revolution in the state of affairs at home. He sent, however, an agent +into Scotland, of the name of Elphinston, whom he commissioned to attend +to his interests, and whom the Lords allowed to visit the Queen at +Loch-Leven, though they refused every body else. It is not likely that +Morton, who had thus a second time been engaged in setting up a ladder for +Murray to ascend by, was altogether pleased to find that he could not +obtain the first place for himself. As soon as he determined to force Mary +to abdicate the Crown, he saw that he would be obliged to yield the +Regency to Murray, supported as that nobleman was, both by his numerous +friends in England and Scotland, and the earnest recommendations of Knox +and the other preachers, who, in their anxiety to see their old patron +once more Lord of the ascendant, "took pieces of Scripture, and inveighed +vehemently against the Queen, and persuaded extremities against her, by +application of the text."[123] Morton, however, consoled himself with the +reflection, that he was in great favour with Murray, and that, by acting +in concert with him, he would enjoy a scarcely inferior degree of power +and honour. + +Preparatory to extorting from her an abdication, the Lords anxiously +circulated a report, that the Queen was devotedly and almost insanely +attached to Bothwell. They did not venture, it is true, to put this +attachment to the test, by publicly offering her reasonable terms of +accommodation, which, if she had refused, all men would have acknowledged +her infatuation, and deserted her cause;--they brought her to no +trial,--they proved her guilty of no crime; all they did was to endeavour +to impose upon the vulgar. They asserted that Mary would not agree to +prosecute the perpetrators of the murder, after she had already prosecuted +them,--and that she would not consent to abandon a husband whom she had +already abandoned, and with whom, they themselves had declared, only a few +weeks before, she could not, under any circumstances, have lived for many +months. Throckmorton, who was willing enough to propagate all the absurd +falsehoods they told him, wrote to Elizabeth,--"she avoweth constantly +that she will live and die with him; and saith, that if it were put to her +choice to relinquish her Crown and kingdom, or the Lord Bothwell, she +would leave her kingdom and dignity, to go as a simple damsel with him; +and that she will never consent that he shall fare worse, or have more +harm than herself."[124] But the numerous party in favour of the Queen +openly avowed their disbelief of these reports; and Elizabeth herself, who +began to fear that, in sending Throckmorton to the rebel Lords, she had +countenanced the weaker side, wrote to her ambassador on the 29th of +August in the following terms, which, as they are used by an enemy so +determined as Elizabeth, speak volumes in favour of Mary:--"We cannot +perceive, that they, with whom they have dealt, can answer the doubts +moved by the Hamiltons, who, howsoever they may be carried for their +private respects, yet those things which they move will be allowed by all +reasonable persons. For if they may not, being noblemen of the realm, be +suffered to hear the Queen, their Sovereign, declare her mind concerning +the reports which are made of her by such as keep her in captivity, how +should they believe the reports, or obey them which do report it?"[125] + +That Mary refused to return to her throne, unless Bothwell was placed upon +it beside her, is an assertion so ridiculous, that no time need be lost in +refuting it. That she may not have chosen to submit to an immediate +divorce from one whom all her nobility had recommended to her as a +husband, and by whom she might possibly have a child, is within the verge +of probability. She would naturally be anxious to avoid doing any thing +which would be equivalent with acknowledging her belief of his guilt, and +might have appeared to implicate her in the suspicion attached to him. She +had not married Bothwell till he had been judicially acquitted; and were +she to consent to be divorced from him before he was again tried, she +would seem to confess, that she had previously sanctioned a procedure +possessing the show of justice, without the substance.[126] There can be +no doubt, however, that if Bothwell's guilt had been distinctly proved to +her, and if she could have disunited herself from him without injury to +her reputation or her prospects, she would have been the very last person +to have objected either to see Darnley's death revenged, or herself freed +from an alliance into which she had been forced against her will. + +But the Lords of Secret Council, conscious as they were of the injustice +of their proceedings, had gone too far to recede, and were determined not +to rest satisfied with any half-measures. On the 24th of July 1567, Lord +Lindsay and Sir Robert Melville (brother to Sir James), were commissioned +to pass to Loch-Leven, and to carry with them deeds or instruments of +abdication.[127] These instruments were three in number. By the first, +Mary was made to resign the Crown in favour of her son,--by the second, to +constitute the Earl of Murray Regent during his nonage,--and, by the +third, to appoint a Council to administer the Government until Murray's +return home, and, if he should refuse to accept of the regency, until her +son's majority. It was of course well known to the rebels, that the Queen +would not willingly affix her signature to deeds by which she was to +surrender all power, and to reduce herself at once to the station of a +subject, without receiving in return any promise of liberty, or the +enjoyment of a single worldly good. Yet they had the effrontery to aver, +that rather than submit to a separation from one with whom "she could not +have lived half-a-year to an end," she preferred becoming a landless and +crownless pensioner, on the bounty of such men as Morton and his +accomplices. + +Were we to single out the day in Mary's whole life in which it might be +fairly concluded that she suffered the most intense mental anguish, we +should fix on the 25th of July 1567, the day on which the Commissioners +had their audience. Shut up in a gloomy edifice, which, though dignified +with the name of a castle, was little else than a square tower of three +stories; and instead of a numerous assemblage of obsequious nobles, +attended by only three or four female servants;--it must have required a +more than common spirit of queenly fortitude to support so great a reverse +of fortune.[128] But the misery of her situation was now to be increased a +hundred fold, by a blow the severest she had yet experienced. When the +report first reached her, that it was in contemplation to force her to +abdicate her crown, she indignantly refused to believe so lawless an +attempt possible. Mary had been all her life fond of power, and proud of +her illustrious birth and rank; and there were few subjects on which she +dwelt with greater pleasure, than her unsullied descent from a "centenary +line of kings." Was she now, without a struggle, to surrender the crown of +the Stuarts into the hands of the bastard Murray, or the blood-stained +Morton? Was she to submit to the bitter mockery, introduced in the very +preamble to the instrument of demission, which stated, that, ever since +her arrival in her realm, she had "employed her body, spirit, whole senses +and forces, to govern in such sort, that her royal and honourable estate +might stand and continue with her and her posterity, and that her loving +and kind lieges might enjoy the quietness of true subjects;" but that, +being now wearied with the fatigues of administration, she wished to lay +down her sceptre?[129] Even though prepared to lay it down, was she also +to countenance falsehood, and practise dissimulation? + +When the commissioners arrived at Lochleven, Sir Robert Melville, knowing +that Lindsay was personally disagreeable to his Sovereign, came to her at +first alone. Opening to her his errand, and, addressing her with respect, +and professions of attachment (for she had often employed him before about +her person, or as her ambassador to foreign courts), he urged every +argument he could think of to persuade her to affix her signature to the +deeds. She listened to him with calm dignity and unshaken resolution. She +heard him describe the distracted state of Scotland--the impossibility of +ever prevailing on all parties to submit again to her sway--the virulence +of her enemies, and the apparent lukewarmness of her friends. She allowed +him to proceed from these more general topics, to others more intimately +connected with her own person. She listened to his assurance, that, if she +continued obstinate, it was determined to bring her to trial,--to blacken +her character, by accusing her of incontinency, not only with Bothwell, +but with others, and of the murder of her late husband, and, upon whatever +evidence, to condemn and execute her.[130] But she remained unmoved, and +preserved the same composure of manner, though not without many a secret +throb of pain, at the discovery of the utter ingratitude and perfidy of +those whom she had so often befriended and advanced. As a last expedient, +Melville produced a letter from Throckmorton, in which the ambassador +advised her to consult her personal safety, by consenting to an +abdication--a somewhat singular advice to be given by one who affected to +have come into Scotland for the express purpose of securing her +restoration to the throne.[131] But she only remarked on this letter, that +it convinced her of the insincerity of Elizabeth's promises of assistance. + +Melville now saw that there was no alternative, and that Lindsay must be +called in to his assistance. Notorious for being one of the most +passionate men in Scotland, Lindsay burst into the Queen's presence, with +the instruments in his hands, and rage sparkling in his eyes. Mary, for +the first time, became agitated, for she recollected the evening of +Rizzio's murder, when Lindsay stood beside the gaunt form of Ruthven, +instigating him to the commission of that deed of cruelty. With fearful +oaths and imprecations, this unmannered barbarian, entitled to be called a +man only because he bore the external form of one, vowed, that unless she +subscribed the deeds without delay, he would sign them himself with her +blood, and seal them on her heart.[132] Mary had a bold and masculine +spirit; but, trembling under the prospect of immediate destruction, and +imagining that she saw Lindsay's dagger already drawn, she became +suddenly pale and motionless, and would have fallen in a swoon, had not a +flood of tears afforded her relief. Melville, moved perhaps to contrition +by the depth of her misery, whispered in her ear, that instruments signed +in captivity could not be considered valid, if she chose to revoke them +when she regained her liberty. This suggestion may have had some weight; +but almost before she had time to attend to it, Lindsay's passion again +broke forth, and, pointing to the lake which surrounded her confined +residence, he swore that it should become her immediate grave, if she +hesitated one moment longer. Driven to distraction, and scarcely knowing +what she did, Mary seized a pen, and without reading a line of the +voluminous writings before her, she affixed her name to each of them, as +legibly as her tears would permit. The Commissioners then took their +departure, secretly congratulating themselves, that, by a mixture of +cunning and ferocity, they had gained their end. Mary, no longer a Queen, +was left alone to the desolate solitude of her own gloomy thoughts.[133] + +As soon as Lord Lindsay returned to Edinburgh, and notified the success of +his mission, it was determined by Morton and his associates that the +Prince should be crowned with as little delay as possible. Sir James +Melville, who was considered a moderate man by both parties, was sent to +the Lords at Hamilton, to invite their concurrence and presence on the +occasion. He was received courteously; but the nobility there would not +agree to countenance proceedings which they denounced as treasonable. On +the contrary, perceiving the turn which matters were about to take, they +retired from Hamilton to Dumbarton, where they prepared for more active +opposition. They signed a bond of mutual defence and assistance, in which +they declared, that owing to the state of captivity in which the Queen was +detained at Loch-Leven, her Majesty's subjects were prevented from having +free access to her, and that it therefore became their duty to endeavour +to procure her freedom, by all lawful means, however strong the opposition +that might be offered. This bond was signed by many persons of rank and +influence, among whom were the Archbishop of St Andrews, the Earls of +Argyle and Huntly, and the Lords Ross, Fleming, and Herries.[134] + +On the 29th of July 1567, James was publicly crowned at Stirling. He was +anointed by Adam, Bishop of Orkney, in the parish church, and the Earl of +Morton took the oath of coronation in the Prince's name, who was little +more than a year old. On returning in procession to the Castle, the Earl +of Athol carried the crown, Morton the sceptre, Glencairn the sword, and +Mar the new made King. All public writs were thenceforth issued, and the +government was established, in the name and authority of James VI.[135] +The infant King was in the power of his mother's deadliest enemies; and of +course they resolved that neither her religion nor modes of thinking +should be transmitted to her son. Buchanan was appointed his principal +tutor, and if early precept can ever counteract natural affection, there +is good reason to suppose, that, together with her crown, the filial love +of her child was taken from Mary. + +Only a few days after the coronation, the Earl of Murray returned to +Scotland. He came by the way of London, where he concocted his future +measures with Cecil and Elizabeth. He had some difficulty in fixing on the +course which would be most expedient for him to pursue. He knew that the +regency was about to be offered to him; but he also knew how unlawfully +his sister's abdication had been obtained, and that there was a strong +party in Scotland who were still bent on supporting her authority. Were he +at once to place himself at the head of a faction which might afterwards +turn out to be the weaker of the two, he incurred the risk of falling from +his temporary eminence lower than ever. He resolved therefore, with his +usual caution, to feel his way before he took any decisive step. Sir James +Melville was sent to meet him at Berwick; and from him he learned that +even Morton's Lords had by this time split into two parties, and that +while one-half were of opinion that Murray should accept of the regency +without delay, and give his approval to all that had been done in his +absence, the other, among whom were Mar, Athol, Lethington, Tullibardin, +and Grange, prayed him to bear himself gently and humbly towards the +Queen, and to get as much into her favour as possible, as her Majesty was +of "a clear wit, and princely inclination," and the time might come when +they would all wish her at liberty to rule over them.[136] Murray, who +adopted on this occasion Elizabeth's favourite maxim,--"_Video et taceo_," +disclosed his mind to no one, until he ascertained for himself the precise +state of affairs, and of public feeling in Scotland. + +To be the better informed, he determined on visiting the Queen personally +at Loch-Leven. He was accompanied by Athol, Morton, and Lindsay. When Mary +saw her brother, a crowd of recollections rushing into her mind, she burst +into tears, and it was some time before she could enter into conversation +with him. At length she desired that the others would retire, and they had +then a long private conference, of which the particulars are not fully +known. Mary had flattered herself that she might place some reliance on +Murray's affection and gratitude, but she had egregiously mistaken his +character. Having, by this time, secretly resolved to accept the regency +at all hazards, his only desire was to impress her with a belief, that he +assumed that office principally with the view of saving her from a severer +fate, and that he was actually conferring a favour on her by taking her +sceptre into his own hands. Reduced already to despair, the Queen +listened, with tears in her eyes, to Murray's representations, and at +length became convinced of his sincerity, and thanked him for his promises +of protection. Thus the Earl and his friends were able to give out, that +Mary confirmed, by word of mouth, what she had formerly signed with her +hand, and that she entreated her brother to accept the Government.[137] +Besides, if she were ever restored to the throne, she would not be +disposed to treat with severity one who had been artful enough to persuade +her, that, in usurping her authority, he was doing her a service. + +On the 22d of August 1567, James, Earl of Murray, was proclaimed Regent; +and, in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, before the Justice Clerk and others, he +took the oaths, and accepted the charge. He first, however, made a long +discourse, in which, with overacted humility, he stated his own +insufficiency, and expressed a desire that the office had been conferred +on some more worthy nobleman.[138] But his scruples were easily conquered; +and, under the title of Regent, he became, in fact, King of Scotland, +until James VI. should attain the age of seventeen.[139] He proceeded to +establish himself in his Government by prudent and vigorous measures. He +made himself master of the Castles of Edinburgh and Dunbar, and other +places of strength; he contrived either to bring over to his own side, or +to overawe and keep quiet, most of the Queen's Lords; and he severely +chastised such districts as continued disaffected. A Parliament was +summoned in December, at which the imprisoning and dethroning of the Queen +were declared lawful, and, what is remarkable, the reason assigned for +these measures had never been hinted at before Murray's return,--that +there was certain proof that she was implicated in the murder of Darnley. +This proof was stated to consist in certain "private letters, written +wholly with the Queen's own hand." They were not produced at the time, but +will come to be examined more particularly afterwards. All that need be +remarked here, is the sudden change introduced by the Regent into the +nature of the allegations against Mary. It had been always given out +previously, that she was kept in Loch-Leven, because she evinced a +determination to be again united to Bothwell; but now, an entirely new and +more serious cause was assigned for her detention.[140] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +MARY'S ESCAPE FROM LOCHLEVEN, AND THE BATTLE OF LANGSIDE. + + +With few comforts and no enjoyments, Mary remained closely confined in the +Castle of Loch-Leven. Her only resources were in herself, and in the +religion whose precepts she was ever anxious not only to profess, but to +practise. Though deprived of liberty and the delights of a court, she was +able to console herself with the reflection, that there is no prison for a +soul that puts its trust in its God, and that all the world belongs to one +who knows how to despise its vanities. Yet the misfortunes which had +overtaken her were enough to appal the stoutest heart. Her husband had +been murdered, she herself forced into an unwilling marriage, her kingdom +taken from her, her child raised up against her, her honour defamed, and +her person insulted,--all within the short space of four months. History +records few reverses so sudden and so complete. Many a masculine spirit +would have felt its energies give way under so dreadful a change of +fortune; and if Mary was able to put in practice the Roman maxim, _Ne +cedere malis, sed contra audentior ire_, it would be to exalt vice and +libel virtue to suppose, that she could have been inspired with strength +for so arduous a task by aught but her own integrity. + +It was not these more serious calamities alone whose load she was doomed +to bear; there were many petty annoyances to which she was daily and +hourly subject. Margaret Erskine, the Lady of Loch-Leven, and widow of Sir +Robert Douglas, who fell at the battle of Pinkie one-and-twenty years +before, was a woman of a proud temper and austere disposition. Soured by +early disappointment, for, previous to her marriage with Sir Robert, she +had been one of the rejected mistresses of James V., she chose to indulge +her more malignant nature in continually exalting her illegitimate +offspring the Earl of Murray above his lawful Queen, now her prisoner. Her +servants, of course, took their tone from their mistress; and there was +one in particular, named James Drysdale, who held a place of some +authority in her household, and who, having had some concern in the murder +of Rizzio, and being a bigoted and unprincipled fanatic, entertained the +most deadly hatred against Mary, and had been heard to declare, that it +would give him pleasure to plunge a dagger into her heart's blood. This +savage probably succeeded in spreading similar sentiments among the other +domestics; and thus the Queen's very life seemed to hang upon the +prejudices and caprices of menials.[141] + +But numerous and violent as Mary's enemies may have been, few could +remain near her person, without becoming ardently attached to her. Hence, +throughout all her misfortunes, her own immediate attendants continued +more than faithful. At Loch-Leven, it is true, although her rebellious +nobles had been willing to allow her a suitable train, the absence of +accommodation would have rendered their residence there impossible. One or +two female, and three or four male servants, were all, over whom Mary, the +Queen of Scotland, and Dowager of France, could now exercise the slightest +control. Of these, John Beaton was the individual upon whose assiduity she +placed most reliance. But the influence which the fascination of her +manners, and the beauty of her person, obtained for her, over two of the +younger branches of the House of Loch-Leven, made up for the want of many +of her former attendants. The persons alluded to were George Douglas, the +youngest son of Lady Douglas, about five-and-twenty years of age, and +William Douglas, an orphan youth of sixteen or seventeen, a relative of +the family, and resident in the Castle. So forcibly was George Douglas, in +particular, impressed with the injustice of Mary's treatment, that he +resolved on sparing no pains till he accomplished her escape; and his +friend William, though too young to be of equal service, was not less +ardent in the cause.[142] George commenced operations, by informing Mary's +friends in the adjoining districts of Scotland, of the design he had in +view, and establishing a communication with them. At his suggestion, Lord +Seaton, with a considerable party, arrived secretly in the neighbourhood +of Loch-Leven, and held themselves in readiness to receive the Queen as +soon as she should be able to find her way across the lake. Nor was it +long before Mary made an attempt to join her friends. On the 25th of March +1568, she had a glimpse of liberty so enlivening, that nothing could +exceed the bitterness of her disappointment. Suffering as she did, both in +health and spirits, she had contracted a habit of spending a considerable +part of the morning in bed. On the day referred to, her laundress came +into her room before she was up, when Mary, according to a scheme which +Douglas had contrived, immediately rose, and resigning her bed to the +washer-woman, dressed herself in the habiliments of the latter. With a +bundle of clothes in her hand, and a muffler over her face, she went out, +and passed down unsuspected to the boat which was waiting to take the +laundress across the lake. The men in it belonged to the Castle; but did +not imagine any thing was wrong, for some time. At length one of them +observing, that Mary was very anxious to keep her face concealed, said in +jest,--"Let us see what kind of a looking damsel this is;" and attempted +to pull away her muffler. The Queen put up her hands to prevent him, which +were immediately observed to be particularly soft and white, and a +discovery took place in consequence. Mary, finding it no longer of any +use, threw aside her disguise, and, assuming an air of dignity, told the +men that she was their Queen, and charged them upon their lives to row +her over to the shore. Though surprised and overawed, they resolutely +refused to obey, promising, however, that if she would return quietly to +the castle, they would not inform Sir William Douglas or his mother that +she had ever left it. But they promised more than they were able to +perform, for the whole affair was soon known, and George Douglas, together +with Beaton and Sempil, two of Mary's servants, were ordered to leave the +island, and took up their residence in the neighbouring village of +Kinross.[143] + +But neither the Queen nor her friends gave up hope. George Douglas +continued indefatigable, though separated from her; and William supplied +his place within the Castle, and acted with a degree of cautious and +silent enterprise beyond his years. It was probably in reference to what +might be done by him, that a small picture was secretly conveyed to Mary, +representing the deliverance of the lion by the mouse.[144] Little more +than a month elapsed from the failure of the first attempt, before another +was adventured, and with better success. On Sunday, the second of May, +about seven in the evening, William Douglas, when sitting at supper with +the rest of the family, managed to get into his possession the keys of the +Castle, which his relation, Sir William, had put down beside his plate on +the table. The young man immediately left the room with the prize, and, +locking the door of the apartment from without, proceeded to the Queen's +chamber, whom he conducted with all speed, through a little postern gate, +to a boat which had been prepared for her reception. One of her maids, of +the name of Jane Kennedy, lingered a few moments behind, and as Douglas +had locked the postern gate in the interval, she leapt from a window, and +rejoined her mistress without injury. Lord Seaton, James Hamilton of +Rochbank, and others who were in the neighbourhood, had been informed by a +few words which Mary traced with charcoal on one of her handkerchiefs, and +contrived to send to them, that she was about to make another effort to +escape, and were anxiously watching the arrival of the boat. Nor did they +watch in vain. Sir William Douglas and his retainers, were locked up in +their own castle; and the Queen, her maid, and young escort, had already +put off across the lake. It is said that Douglas, not being accustomed to +handle the oar, was making little or no progress, until Mary herself, +taking one into her own hands, lent him all the aid in her power. It was +not long before they arrived safely at the opposite shore, where Lord +Seaton, Hamilton, Douglas, Beaton, and the rest, received the Queen with +every demonstration of joyful loyalty. Little time was allowed, however, +for congratulations; they mounted her immediately upon horseback, and +surrounding her with a strong party, they galloped all night, and having +rested only an hour or two at Lord Seaton's house of Niddry, in West +Lothian, they arrived early next forenoon at Hamilton. Mary's first +tumultuous feelings of happiness, on being thus delivered from captivity, +can hardly be imagined by those who have never been deprived of the +blessing of liberty. It is fair, however, to state, that her happiness was +neither selfish nor exclusive; and it deserves to be recorded to her +honour, that till the very latest day of her life, she never forgot the +services of those who so essentially befriended her on this occasion. She +bestowed pensions upon both the Douglases,--the elder of whom, became +afterwards a favourite with her son James VI., and the younger is +particularly mentioned in Mary's last will and testament. Nor was the +faithful Beaton allowed to go unrewarded.[145] + +The news that Mary was arrived at Hamilton, and that noblemen and troops +were flocking to her from all quarters, was so astounding, that the +Regent, who was not many miles off, holding courts of justice at Glasgow, +refused at first to credit the report. He would soon, however, (without +other evidence) have discovered its truth, from the very visible change +which took place even among those whom he had previously considered his +best friends. "A strange alteration," says Keith, "might be discovered in +the minds and faces of a great many; some slipped privately away, others +sent quietly to beg the Queen's pardon, and not a few went publicly over +to her Majesty." In this state of matters, Murray was earnestly advised to +retire to Stirling, where the young King resided; but he was afraid that +his departure from Glasgow might be considered a flight, which would at +once have animated his enemies and discouraged his friends. He, therefore, +resolved to continue where he was, making every exertion to collect a +sufficient force with as little delay as possible. He was not allowed to +remain long in suspense regarding Mary's intentions, for she sent him a +message in a day or two, requiring him to surrender his Regency and +replace her in her just government; and before the Earls, Bishops, Lords, +and others, who had now gathered round her, she solemnly protested, that +the instruments she had subscribed at Loch-Leven were all extorted from +her by fear. Sir Robert Melville, one of those who, in this new turn of +affairs, left Murray's party for the Queen's, gave his testimony to the +truth of this protest, as he had been a witness of the whole proceeding. +The abdication, therefore, was pronounced _ipso facto_ null and void; and +Murray having issued a proclamation, in which he refused to surrender the +Regency, both parties prepared for immediate hostilities. The principal +Lords who had joined the Queen, were Argyle, Huntly, Cassils, Rothes, +Montrose, Fleming, Livingston, Seaton, Boyd, Herries, Ross, Maxwell, +Ogilvy, and Oliphant. There were, in all, nine Earls, nine Bishops, +eighteen Lords, and many Barons and Gentlemen. In a single week, she +found herself at the head of an army of 6000 men. Hamilton, not being a +place of strength, they determined to march to Dumbarton, and to keep her +Majesty there peaceably, until she assembled a Parliament, which should +determine on the measures best suited for the safety of the common +weal.[146] + +On Thursday the 13th of May 1568, Murray was informed that the Queen with +her troops was on her way from Hamilton to Dumbarton, and would pass near +Glasgow. He instantly determined to intercept her on the road; for should +she reach Dumbarton, which was then, and had long been in the possession +of the Hamiltons, she would be comparatively beyond his reach, and would +have time to collect so great a strength, that she might once more chase +him out of Scotland. Besides, the loss of a battle, where the army on +either side consisted of only a few thousand men, though it might in all +probability be fatal to Mary, was not of so much consequence to the +Regent. He therefore assembled his troops, which mustered about 4000 +strong, on the Green of Glasgow; and being informed that the Queen was +marching upon the south side of the Clyde, he crossed that river, and met +her at a small village called Langside, on the Water of Cart, about two +miles to the south of Glasgow. Mary was anxious to avoid a battle, for she +knew that Murray himself possessed no inconsiderable military talent, and +that Kircaldy of Grange, the best soldier in Scotland, was with him. But +party spirit ran so high, and the Hamiltons and the Lennoxes, in +particular, were so much exasperated against each other, that as soon as +they came within sight, it was evident that nothing but blows would +satisfy them. The main body of the Queen's army was under the command of +the Earl of Argyle; the van was led by Claud Hamilton, second son of the +Duke of Chatelherault; and the cavalry was under the conduct of Lord +Herries. The Earl of Huntly would have held a conspicuous place in the +battle, but he had set off from Hamilton a few days before to collect his +followers, and did not return till it was too late. Murray himself +commanded his main body, and the Earl of Morton the van; whilst to Grange +was intrusted the special charge of riding about over the whole field, and +making such alterations in the position of the battle as he deemed +requisite. + +Nothing now intervened between the two armies but a hill, of which both +were anxious to gain possession, the one marching from the east, and the +other from the west. It happened, however, that the ascent on the side +next Mary's troops was the steepest, and a stratagem suggested by Grange +secured the vantage-ground to the Regent. He ordered every man who was +mounted to take up a foot soldier behind him, and ride with all speed to +the top of the hill, where they were set down, and instantly formed into +line. Argyle was therefore obliged to take his position on a lesser hill, +over against that occupied by Murray. A cannonading commenced upon both +sides, and continued for about half an hour but without much effect. At +length, Argyle led his forces forward, and determined if possible to carry +the heights sword in hand. The engagement soon became general, and +advantages were obtained upon both sides. The Earl of Morton, who came +down the hill to meet Argyle, succeeded in driving back the Queen's +cannoneers and part of her infantry; whilst on the other hand, Lord +Herries, making a vigorous charge on Murray's cavalry, put them to rout. +Judiciously abstaining from a long pursuit, he returned to attack some of +the enemy's battalions of foot, but as he was obliged to advance directly +up hill, he was unable to make much impression on them. In the meantime, +with the view of obtaining more equal ground, Argyle endeavoured to lead +his troops round towards the west, and it was to counteract this movement +that the most desperate part of the engagement took place. All the forces +of both parties were gradually drawn off from their previous positions, +and the whole strength of the battle on either side was concentrated upon +this new ground. For half an hour the fortune of the day continued +doubtful; but at length the Queen's troops began to waver, and a +re-inforcement of two hundred Highlanders, which arrived just at the +fortunate moment for Murray, and broke in upon Argyle's flank, decided the +victory. The flight soon afterwards became general; and though the loss of +lives on the Queen's side did not exceed three hundred, a great number of +her best officers and soldiers were made prisoners.[147] + +Mary had taken her station upon a neighbouring eminence to watch the +progress of the fight. Her heart beat high with a thousand hopes and +fears, for she was either to regain the crown of her forefathers, or to +become a fugitive and a wanderer she knew not where. It must have been +with emotions of no common kind, that her eye glanced from one part of the +field to another;--it must have been with throbbing brow and palpitating +heart, that she saw her troops either advance or retreat; and when at +length she beheld the goodly array she had led forth in the morning, +scattered over the country, and all the Lords who had attended her with +pride and loyalty, seeking safety in flight, no wonder if she burst into a +passion of tears, and lamented that she had ever been born. But the +necessity of the moment fortunately put a check to this overwhelming +ebullition of her feelings. With a very small retinue of trusty friends, +among whom was the Lord Herries, she was quickly hurried away from the +scene of her disasters. She rode off at full speed, taking a southerly +direction towards Galloway, because from thence she could secure a passage +either by sea or land into England or France. She never stopped or closed +her eyes till she reached Dundrennan, an abbey about two miles from +Kirkcudbright, and at least sixty from the village of Langside.[148] + +She remained two days at Dundrennan, and there held several anxious +consultations with the few friends, who had either accompanied her in her +flight, or who joined her afterwards. Lord Herries, her principal adviser, +gave it as his decided opinion, that she ought to sail immediately for +France, where she had relations on whose affection she could depend, even +though they should not be able to secure her restoration to the throne of +Scotland. But Mary could not brook the idea of returning as a fugitive to +a country she had left as a Queen; and besides, had she placed herself +under the protection of Catholics, she might have exasperated her own +subjects, and would certainly have displeased Elizabeth and the people of +England. She was disposed also to place some reliance on the assurances of +friendship she had lately received from the English Queen. She was well +aware of the hollowness of most of Elizabeth's promises; but in her +present extremity, she thought that to cross the sea would be to resign +her crown forever. After much hesitation, she finally determined on going +into England, and desired Herries to write to Elizabeth's Warden at +Carlisle, to know whether she might proceed thither. Without waiting for +an answer, she rode to the coast on Sunday the 16th of May, and with +eighteen or twenty persons in her train, embarked in a fishing-boat, and +sailed eighteen miles along the shore, till she came to the small harbour +of Workington, in Cumberland. Thence she proceeded to the town of +Cockermouth, about twenty-six miles from Carlisle. Lord Scroope, the +Warden on these frontiers, was at this time in London; but his deputy, a +gentleman of the name of Lowther, having sent off an express to the Court, +to intimate the arrival of the Queen of Scots, assembled, on his own +responsibility, the men of rank and influence in the neighbourhood, and +having come out to meet the Queen, conducted her honourably to the Castle +of Carlisle, with the assurance, that, until Elizabeth's pleasure was +known, he would protect her from all her enemies. + +As soon as the important news reached Elizabeth, that Mary was now within +her dominions, and consequently at her disposal, she perceived that the +great end of all her intrigues was at length achieved. It was necessary, +however, to proceed with caution, for she did not yet know either the +precise strength of Mary's party in Scotland, or the degree of interest +which might be taken by France in her future fate. She, therefore, +immediately despatched Lord Scroope, and Sir Francis Knollys her +Vice-Chamberlain, to Carlisle, with messages of comfort and condolence. +Mary, who anxiously waited their arrival, anticipated that they would +bring consolatory assurances. Her spirits began to revive, and she was +willing to believe that Elizabeth would prove her friendship by deeds, as +well as by words. But this delusion was destined to be of only momentary +duration.[149] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +MARY'S RECEPTION IN ENGLAND, AND THE CONFERENCES AT YORK AND WESTMINSTER. + + +If there had been a single generous feeling still lurking in Elizabeth's +bosom, the time was now arrived when it should have discovered itself. +Mary was no longer a rival Queen, but an unfortunate sister, who, in her +hour of distress, had thrown herself into the arms of her nearest +neighbour and ally. During her imprisonment in Scotland, Elizabeth had +avowed her conviction of its injustice; and, if it was unjust that her own +subjects should retain her in captivity, it would of course be much more +iniquitous in one who had no right to interfere with her affairs, and who +had already condemned such conduct in others. If it was too much to expect +that the English Queen would supply her with money and arms, to enable her +to win back the Crown she had lost, it was surely not to be doubted that +she would either allow her to seek assistance in France, or, if she +remained in England, would treat her with kindness and hospitality. All +these hopes were fallacious; for, "with Elizabeth and her counsellors," +as Robertson has justly observed, "the question was, not what was most +just or generous, but what was most beneficial to herself and the English +nation." + +On the 29th of May 1568, Lord Scroope and Sir Francis Knollys arrived at +Carlisle. They were met at some little distance from the town by Lord +Herries, who told them, that what the Queen his mistress most desired, was +a personal interview with Elizabeth. But they had been instructed to +answer, that they doubted whether her Majesty could receive the Queen of +Scots, until her innocence from any share in the murder of her husband was +satisfactorily established.[150] Thus, the ground which Elizabeth had +resolved to take was at once discovered. She was to affect to treat the +Scottish Queen with empty civility, whilst in reality she detained her a +prisoner, until she had arranged with Murray the precise accusation which +was to be brought against her, and which, if it succeeded in blackening +her character, might justify subsequent severities. Mary could not at +first believe that she would be treated with so much treachery; but +circumstances occurred every day to diminish her confidence in the good +intentions of the English Queen. Under the pretence that there was too +great a concourse of strangers from Scotland, Lord Scroope and Sir Francis +Knollys ordered the fortifications of Carlisle Castle to be repaired, and +Mary was not allowed to ride out to any distance. The most distinguished +of the few friends who were now with her, and who remained faithful to +her to the end of her life, were Lesley, Bishop of Ross,--the Lords +Herries, Livingston, and Fleming, and George and William Douglas. She had +also her two secretaries, Curl and Nawe, who afterwards betrayed her,--and +among other servants, Beaton, and Sebastian the Frenchman; there were +likewise the Ladies Livingston and Fleming, Mary Seaton, Lord Seaton's +daughter, and other female attendants.[151] + +Mary's first interview with the envoys from Elizabeth, prepossessed them +both in her favour. "We found her," they said, "to have an eloquent tongue +and a discreet head, and it seems by her doings, that she has stout +courage, and a liberal heart adjoined thereto." When they told her that +the Queen, their mistress, refused to admit her to her presence, Mary +burst into tears, and expressed the bitterest disappointment. Checking her +grief, however, and assuming a tone of becoming dignity, she said, that if +she did not receive without delay, the aid she had been induced to expect, +she would immediately demand permission to pass into France, where she did +not doubt she would obtain what the English Queen denied.[152] In the +meantime, as she was not allowed to proceed to London herself, she +despatched Lord Herries to superintend her interests there; and shortly +afterwards, it being represented to her that her person was not in safety +so long as she continued so near the Borders, she consented to be removed +further into England, and was conveyed to Bolton Castle, a seat of Lord +Scroope, in the North Riding of Yorkshire.[153] + +The Regent Murray, on his part, was any thing but inactive. He forced the +Earl of Huntly, who had collected upwards of 2000 men, and was marching to +the Queen's assistance when he heard of the unfortunate battle of +Langside, to retire to the North, and disband the greater part of his +troops; he put to flight the remains of the Queen's army, which had been +again gathered by Argyle and Cassils; and, assembling a Parliament, he +procured acts of forfeiture and banishment against many of the most +powerful Lords of the opposite party. Elizabeth, perceiving his success, +had no desire to check the progress of his usurped authority, whatever +professions to the contrary she chose to make to Mary. On the 8th of June, +she wrote Murray a letter, in which she addressed him as her "right +trusty, and right well-beloved cousin;" told him falsely that the Queen of +Scots had confided to her the examination of the differences between +herself and her subjects; and advised him to take such steps as would +place his own side of the question in the most favourable point of view. +Murray had no objection to make Elizabeth the umpire between himself and +his sister, well assured that she would ultimately decide in his favour, +lest the rival, whom she had once found so formidable, should again become +a source of jealousy and alarm. + +But Mary had never dreamt of appealing to Elizabeth as to a judge, and she +now learned with indignation that her rebellious nobles were to be +encouraged to come before that Queen on the same footing with herself. +When she asked for a personal interview, it was that she might speak to +her cousin as to a friend and equal, of the wrongs she had suffered. She +had voluntarily undertaken to satisfy the English Queen, as soon as they +conversed together, of her innocence from all the charges which had been +brought against her; but she was not to degrade herself by entering into a +controversy with her subjects regarding these charges. Accordingly, as +soon as she discovered Elizabeth's insidious policy, she addressed a +letter to her, in which she openly protested against it. The letter was in +French, and to the following effect:-- + +"Madam, my good sister, I came into your dominions to ask your assistance, +and not to save my life. Scotland and the world have not renounced me. I +was conscious of innocence; I was disposed to lay all my transactions +before you; and I was willing to do you honour, by making you the +restorer of a Queen. But you have afforded me no aid, and no consolation. +You even deny me admittance to your presence. I escaped from a prison, and +I am again a captive. Can it expose you to censure, to hear the complaints +of the unfortunate? You received my bastard brother when he was in open +rebellion; I am a Princess, and your equal, and you refuse me this +indulgence. Permit me then to leave your dominions. Your severity +encourages my enemies, intimidates my friends, and is most cruelly +destructive to my interests. You keep me in fetters, and allow my enemies +to conquer my realm. I am defenceless; and they enjoy my authority, +possess themselves of my revenues, and hold out to me the points of their +swords. In the miserable condition to which I am reduced, you invite them +to accuse me. Is it too small a misfortune for me to lose my kingdom? Must +I, also, be robbed of my integrity and my reputation? Excuse me, if I +speak without dissimulation. In your dominions I will not answer to their +calumnies and criminations. To you, in a personal conference, I shall at +all times be ready to vindicate my conduct; but to sink myself into a +level with my rebellious subjects, and to be a party in a suit or trial +with them, is an indignity so vile, that I can never submit to it. I can +die, but I cannot meet dishonour. Consult, I conjure you, what is right +and proper, and entitle yourself to my warmest gratitude; or, if you are +inclined not to know me as a sister, and to withhold your kindness, +abstain at least from rigour and injustice. Be neither my enemy nor my +friend; preserve yourself in the coldness of neutrality; and let me be +indebted to other princes for my re-establishment in my kingdom."[154] + +Unmoved by the forcible representations contained in this and other +letters, Elizabeth resolved to treat the Queen of Scots only with greater +severity than before, in the hope of intimidating her into a compliance +with her wishes. It was with this view that she had removed her to Bolton, +where she took care that she should be strictly guarded, and not allowed +to hold any intercourse with the loyal part of her Scottish subjects. Lord +Fleming, too, whom Mary wished to send as her ambassador to France, was +stopped; and she was given distinctly to understand, that she must not +expect any of her commands to be obeyed, unless they met with Elizabeth's +approval. The English Privy Council, of course, sanctioned their +Sovereign's severity; and gave it as their opinion, that, until an inquiry +had taken place into the whole conduct of the Scottish Queen, it would not +be consistent with the honour or safety of the realm to afford her the aid +she required. The result of all these machinations,--a result which +Elizabeth contrived to bring about with the most consummate art,--was, +that Mary agreed to nominate Commissioners to meet the Earl of Murray and +the Lords associated with him, and to authorize them, before Commissioners +to be appointed by Elizabeth, to state the grievances of which their +mistress, the Queen of Scots, complained. Murray approved of this +arrangement, because he foresaw from the first how it would end; and Mary +consented to it, because she was led to believe, that Murray and his +accomplices were summoned solely that they might answer to her complaints. +Well aware that their answer could not be satisfactory, she fondly +imagined that she would soon be restored to the power they had usurped. + +The important _Conference_, as it was termed, between the three sets of +Commissioners, was appointed to be held at York. Mary's Commissioners were +Lesley, Bishop of Ross, the Lords Herries, Livingston, and Boyd, Gavin +Hamilton, Commendator of Kilwinning, Sir John Gordon of Lochinvar, and Sir +James Cockburn of Stirling.[155] Murray associated with himself the Earl +of Morton, Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney, Pitcairn, Commendator of +Dunfermlin, and Lord Lindsay. Macgill and Balnaves, two civilians, +Buchanan, whose pen was always at the Regent's command "through good +report and bad report," Secretary Maitland, and one or two others, came +with them as legal advisers and literary assistants.[156] On the part of +Elizabeth, the Commissioners were Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk, Thomas +Ratcliffe Earl of Sussex, and Sir Ralph Sadler; and they were invested +with full authority to arrange all the differences and controversies +existing between her "dear sister and cousin, Mary Queen of Scots," and +James Earl of Murray.[157] + +On the 4th of October 1568, the conference was opened with much solemnity +at York. "The great abilities of the deputies on both sides," observes +Robertson, "the dignity of the judges before whom they were to appear, the +high rank of the persons whose cause was to be heard, and the importance +of the points in dispute, rendered the whole transaction no less +illustrious than it was singular. The situation in which Elizabeth +appeared on this occasion, strikes us with an air of magnificence. Her +rival, an independent queen, and the heir of an ancient race of monarchs, +was a prisoner in her hands, and appeared, by her ambassadors, before her +tribunal. The Regent of Scotland, who represented the Majesty, and +possessed the authority of a king, stood in person at her bar, and the +fate of a kingdom, whose power her ancestors had often dreaded, but could +never subdue, was now absolutely at her disposal." It may, however, be +remarked, that the "magnificence" of power depends, in a great degree, on +the manner in which that power has been acquired; and when it is +recollected that, by secretly and diligently fomenting civil disturbances +in Scotland, Elizabeth first attacked Mary's peace, and then undermined +her authority, and that, having subsequently assumed the mask of a friend, +only to conceal the scowl of an enemy, she had forcibly arrogated the rank +of a judge, her "air of magnificence" is discovered to be little else than +stage-trick. + +The "Instructions" given to her Commissioners, are of themselves +sufficient to show that her desire was not to extinguish, but to encourage +animosities between the Queen of Scots and her subjects. She had +previously assured Mary, in order to induce her to send Commissioners to +York at all, that so far from intending to use any form or process by +which her subjects should become her accusers, "she meant rather to have +such of them, as the Queen of Scots should name, called into the realm, to +be charged with such crimes as the said Queen should please to object +against them; _and if any form of judgment should be used, it should be +against them_."[158] But as soon as she had persuaded Mary, by these +specious promises, to come into Court, she resolved to alter the features +of the cause. She instructed her Commissioners to listen particularly to +the requests and complaints of the Earl of Murray, and to assure him +privately, that if he could prove Mary to have been implicated in her +husband's murder, she should never be restored to the throne. Nay, she +went further; she desired it to be intimated to the Regent, that even +though he could not prove Mary's guilt, yet, that if he could attach +sufficient suspicion to her, it would be left to himself and his friends +to determine under what conditions they would again consent to receive her +into Scotland. This was as much encouragement as Murray could desire; for +he knew that, by artifice and effrontery, a shade of suspicion might be +made to attach itself even to the most perfect. Mary's Commissioners, on +the other hand, though doubting much the impartiality of the party which +was to arbitrate between them, felt strong in the justice of their cause; +and after protesting that their appearance was not to be construed as +implying any surrender of her independence on the part of their mistress, +or of feudal inferiority to the Crown of England, they proceeded to give +in their complaint. It contained a short review of the injuries the Queen +of Scots had suffered since her marriage with Bothwell;--of the rebellion +of Morton and others,--of her voluntary surrender at Carberry Hill,--of +her imprisonment in Loch-Leven,--of the abdication that had been forced +from her,--of the coronation of her infant son, and the assumed regency of +the Earl of Murray,--of her defeat at Langside,--and of the undutiful +conduct in which the Regent had since persevered.[159] + +To this complaint it was answered, at great length, by Murray, that the +Earl of Bothwell having forcibly carried off the person of the Queen to +the Castle of Dunbar, and kept her there a prisoner for some time, had, in +the end, suddenly accomplished "a pretended marriage," which, confirming +the nobility in the belief that the Earl was the chief author of the +murder of the King, made them determine to take up arms to relieve those +who were unjustly calumniated, and to rescue the Queen from the bondage of +a tyrant, who had presumptuously attempted to ravish and marry her, though +he could neither be her lawful husband, nor she his lawful wife;--that +Bothwell came against these nobility, "leading the Queen in his company, +as a defence and cloak to his wickedness;" but that, as the quarrel was +intended only against him, the Queen was received by the nobles, and led +by them into Edinburgh, as soon as she consented to part from the +Earl;--that she was then requested to agree that the murderers should be +punished, and that the pretended marriage into which she had been led, +should be dissolved;--that to this request she only answered, by +rigorously menacing all who had taken up arms in her cause, and declaring +she would surrender her realm altogether, "so she might be suffered to +possess the murderer of her husband;"--that, perceiving the inflexibility +of her mind, they had been compelled to "sequestrate her person" for a +season;--that, during this time, she had voluntarily renounced the +Government, finding herself wearied by its fatigues, and perceiving that +she and her people could not well agree; and that she had appointed, +during the minority of her son, the Earl of Murray Regent of the realm, +and that every thing he had done since had been in accordance with the +legal authority with which she had thus invested him;--and that he +therefore required, in behalf of his Sovereign Lord the King, to be +allowed peaceably to enjoy and govern the country.[160] + +The "Reply" of Mary's Commissioners, to this feeble and disingenuous +"Answer" of the Earl of Murray, was quite as candid as it was conclusive. +It was stated for Mary, that, so far from having been aware, at the time +of her marriage, that Bothwell was "known," or "affirmed," to be the +"chief author" of the horrible murder committed on her late husband, she +had seen him solemnly acquitted of all suspicion by a regular trial, +according to the laws of the realm, and that most of her principal +nobility had solicited her to accept of him as a husband, promising him +service, and her Highness loyal obedience,--not one of them, either before +or after the marriage, having warned her to avoid it, or expressed their +discontent with it, till they suddenly appeared in arms;--that, at +Carberry Hill, she willingly parted with Bothwell, as they themselves had +seen; but that, if he were in truth guilty of the crimes imputed to him, +which she did not then believe, they were to blame for permitting him to +escape;--that, upon being taken into Edinburgh, where they had promised to +reverence her as their Queen, she found herself treated as their +captive;--that, so far from showing any persevering attachment to +Bothwell, she repeatedly declared it to be her wish, that the estates of +the realm should examine into all the charges which had been made against +him;--that, notwithstanding, she had been forcibly carried off under shade +of night, and imprisoned against her will in the Castle of Loch-Leven, +where she was afterwards made to subscribe instruments of abdication, only +through the fear of present death;--that, consequently, the pretended +coronation of her son was an unlawful and treasonable proceeding, and the +pretended nomination of the Earl of Murray as Regent, a proof of itself +that force and fraud had been used; for, even supposing she had been +willing to abdicate, if she had been left to her own free choice, there +were others whom she would have preferred to appoint to the chief rule +during her son's minority;--that, therefore, she required the Queen of +England to support and fortify her in the peaceable enjoyment and +government of her realm, and to declare the pretended authority usurped by +others null from the beginning.[161] + +"So far," says Hume, "the Queen of Scots seemed plainly to have the +advantage in the contest; and the English Commissioners might have been +surprised, that Murray had made so weak a defence." The truth is, that not +only were the English Commissioners surprised, but the Regent himself felt +painfully conscious, that he had entirely failed to offer even a plausible +pretext for the dethronement of his sister, and his own usurpation. +Elizabeth also, anxious as she was to befriend him, saw that she would be +imperatively required, by every principle of justice and good government, +to take measures against him, were the discussion allowed to terminate at +the point to which it had now been brought. Means were therefore taken to +inform Murray, that unless he was able to strengthen his case, and to +bring his charges more directly home, the matter would in all probability +go against him. Upon this the Regent held a consultation with his friends, +Maitland and Buchanan, and the necessity of bringing into play a new +device, which had been prepared as a corps-de-reserve, was by all of them +felt and acknowledged. Though no evidence had been adduced against her, +Mary had already been accused by her brother of having had a share in the +murder of Darnley. But as the charge was made soon after his return from +France, it was strongly suspected to have been invented only to justify +himself for retaining her in Loch-Leven. Now, however, seeing the +emergency of his affairs, he determined that something like evidence of +its truth should be produced. This evidence consisted of a collection of +certain letters and sonnets, alleged to be in the Queen's own hand, and +addressed to the Earl of Bothwell, containing passages which testified at +once her love for him, and her guilt towards Darnley. But here the +question very naturally occurs, why these important documents should not +have been brought forward in the earlier part of the conference; and as +Robertson, in endeavouring to account for the delay, appears to have +fallen into a mistake, it will be worth while examining, for a moment, the +soundness of his hypothesis. + +The Duke of Norfolk, Elizabeth's principal Commissioner, was one of the +most powerful of all her nobility, and, since Mary's arrival in England, +he had formed the ambitious project of ascending the Scottish throne by +means of a marriage with her. With this view, he had already engaged +extensively in secret intrigues, and had, in particular, prevailed on +Lethington to approve of his plans, and promise him his support. But +Robertson asserts further, that soon after his arrival at York, he won +over Murray also to his views, and persuaded him to keep back, for a time, +the heaviest part of his accusation against Mary, that her character might +not be so fatally blackened. The historian's assertion, however, is +unsupported by the evidence he adduces in its favour, his references to +Anderson, to Goodall, and to his own Appendix, being quite unsatisfactory. +Whatever promises Murray may, at a subsequent date, have made to Norfolk, +it clearly appears that no charge against Mary was delayed one hour at +York, in consequence of any understanding between these two noblemen. + +It had been all along the Regent's determination, not to have recourse to +the letters, if he could make out a case without them; and even after he +perceived that he would require their aid, he did not produce them openly, +till they had been first shown privately to the English Commissioners, and +their opinion obtained concerning them. It was on the 4th of October that +the conference commenced; and on the 10th, Lethington, Macgill, and +Buchanan, in a secret interview with Norfolk, Sussex, and Sadler, laid +before them the mysterious documents. The nature of their contents was +communicated to Elizabeth on the 11th, and she was requested to mention in +reply, whether, when publicly adduced and authenticated, they would be +sufficient to secure Mary's condemnation. Murray, therefore, cannot at +this time, have entered into any agreement with the Duke of Norfolk; for, +so far from keeping back his box-full of letters, he was nervously anxious +to ascertain, as speedily as possible, whether Elizabeth would attach any +weight to them, or allow them to be branded as palpable forgeries. Had +Robertson attended a little more to dates, he would have discovered, that +so far from wishing to favour the views of the Duke of Norfolk, Murray +informed Elizabeth regarding the letters and their contents, on the very +day on which he gave in his first "Answer" to Mary's Commissioners. Nor +had these letters been entirely unheard of till now; for, though they had +never been exhibited, they had been expressly alluded to nearly a year +before, in an act published by the Lords of Secret Council, on the 4th of +December 1567, in which it was asserted, that by the discovery of certain +of the Queen's private letters, sent by her to the Earl of Bothwell, it +was "most certain that she was art and part of the actual device and deed +of the murder of the King."[162] The same assertion was subsequently +repeated, founded upon the same alleged proof, in one of the Acts of the +Parliament called by Murray. The only legitimate conclusion therefore to +be drawn from his unwillingness to bring forward these letters at York, +and make good, by their means the sole charge against the Queen which +could justify his usurpation of her authority, is, that he was afraid to +expose such fabrications to the eye of day, until he should have received +Elizabeth's assurance that she would treat them with becoming +consideration, and assign to them an air of importance, even though +forgery, with brazen audacity, was stamped upon their face.[163] + +As soon as Elizabeth heard of the letters, and reflected on the turn which +they might give to the case, she determined on taking the whole of the +proceedings under her own immediate superintendence, and with this view +removed the conference from York to Westminster. To the Commissioners +previously appointed, she there added the Earls of Arundel and Leicester, +Lord Clinton, Sir Nicolas Bacon, and Sir William Cecil. Mary at first +expressed satisfaction at this new arrangement, but several circumstances +soon occurred which proved, that no favour was intended to her by the +change. That which galled her most, was the marked attention paid to the +Earl of Murray. Though Elizabeth refused Mary a personal interview, she +admitted her rebellious brother to that honour, and thus glaringly +deviated from the impartiality which ought to have been observed by an +umpire. Accordingly, the Queen of Scots commanded her Commissioners, the +Bishop of Ross and Lord Herries, to complain of this injustice. Not to be +received into Elizabeth's presence, she could regard in no other light but +as an assumption of superiority,--a parade of rigid righteousness,--and an +affected dread of contamination, which, whilst it was meant to imply the +purity of the maiden Queen, aimed at exciting suspicion of the purity of +another. Continuing to believe that her Scottish rebels had been called +before the English Commissioners at her instance, Mary had consented that +her representatives should proceed from York to Westminster, to make her +complaints as a free Sovereign. In her instructions to the Bishop of Ross, +and those associated with him, she expressly told them, that the +conference was appointed "only for making a pacification between her and +her rebellious subjects, and restoring her to her realm and authority." +She never lost sight of the fact, that she did not appeal to Elizabeth as +a suppliant, but as an equal; and she always took care to preserve high +and dignified ground. But to depart from this, and before the tribunal of +Hampton Court, in which such men as Cecil were able to procure any +decision they chose, to undertake to answer every calumnious charge which +might be brought against her, never entered into her imagination. "It is +not unknown to us," she wrote to her Commissioners from Bolton, "how +hurtful and prejudicial it would be to us, our posterity and realm, to +enter into foreign judgment or arbitrement before the Queen our good +sister, her Council, or Commissioners, either for our estate, Crown, +dignity or honour;--we will and command you, therefore, that you pass to +the presence of our said dearest sister, her Council and Commissioners, +and there, in our name, extend our clemency toward our disobedient +subjects, and give them appointment for their offences committed against +us and our realm,--so that they may live, in time coming, in surety under +us their head."--"And, in case they will otherwise proceed, then we will +and command you to dissolve this present diet and negotiation, and proceed +no further therein, for the causes foresaid."[164] + +It may well be conceived, therefore, that when Mary heard of Elizabeth's +kind and familiar treatment of the Earl of Murray, "the principal of her +rebels," she was not a little indignant. She immediately sent word to her +Commissioners, that, before proceeding a step further in the negotiation, +she considered it right that she should be put on at least an equal +footing with the pretended Regent,--for she did not choose that greater +respect should be shown to her rebels than to her and her true subjects. +There were other three points, of which she thought she had also just +cause to complain. _First_, that though she had come into England on the +assurance of friendship, and of her own free will, she had not only seen +no steps taken to restore her to her realm and authority, but had most +unexpectedly found herself detained a prisoner, and her confinement +rendered closer every day;--_second_, that though, at Elizabeth's request, +she had desired her loyal subjects in Scotland to abstain from +hostilities, yet the Earl of Murray had not been prevented from molesting +and invading them;--and, _third_, that having already established the +utter groundlessness of the charges brought against her, instead of +finding herself reinstated on her throne, the conference had been merely +removed to a greater distance, where she could not communicate with her +Commissioners so frequently and speedily as was necessary. In +consideration of these premises, and especially in consideration of the +treatment of the Earl of Murray, "you shall break the conference," she +continued, "and proceed no further therein, but take your leave, and come +away. And if our sister allege that, at the beginning, she were content +our cause should be conferred on by Commissioners, it is true. But since +our principal rebels have free access towards her to accuse us in her +presence, and the same is denied to us, personally to declare our +innocence, and answer to their calumnies, being held as prisoner, and +transported from place to place, though we came into her realm, of our +free will, to seek her support and natural amity, we have resolved to have +nothing further conferred on, except we be present before her, as the said +rebels."[165] + +In the mean time, before these letters arrived, the Commissioners had held +several sittings at Westminster; and Elizabeth having personally informed +Murray, that if he would accuse the Queen of Scots of a share in the +murder of Darnley, and produce the letters he had in his possession, she +would authorize his continuance in the Regency, he no longer hesitated. On +the 26th of November, after protesting that he had been anxious to save, +as long as possible, the mother of his gracious King, James VI., from the +perpetual infamy which the discovery of her shame would attach to her, and +that he was now forced to disclose it, in his own defence, because it was +maintained, that his previous answer to the complaint made against him was +not sufficient, Murray, in conjunction with his colleagues, presented to +the English Commissioners an "Eik" or addition to their "Answer," in which +they formally charged Mary with the murder. As to the reluctance so +hypocritically avowed, it has been already seen, that so far back as +December 1567, precisely the same charge, though unsupported by any +evidence, was brought forward in the Scottish Parliament; and having then +served its purpose, was allowed to lie dormant for eleven months. It is +true, that there was then, no less than now, a palpable contradiction +between this accusation, and the grounds which had always previously been +assigned, both for Mary's "sequestration" in Loch-Leven, and her alleged +voluntary abdication. It was not till the public mind had been inflamed, +and till opposing interests contributed to involve the truth in obscurity, +that the notorious fact was denied or concealed, that Mary had been forced +into an unwilling marriage with Bothwell, and that her abduction, and +imprisonment in the Castle of Dunbar, were themselves an answer to any +suspicion, that she was one of his accomplices in Darnley's slaughter. But +now that Mary was a prisoner, in the hands of a jealous rival, the Regent +naturally supposed, that some contradictions would be overlooked; and all +at once, assuming a tone of the utmost confidence, and undertaking "to +manifest the naked truth," he ventured on couching his assertion in these +terms:--"It is certain, and we boldly and constantly affirm, that as +James, some time Earl of Bothwell, was the chief executor of the horrible +and unworthy murder, perpetrated in the person of King Henry, of good +memory, father to our Sovereign Lord, and the Queen's lawful husband,--so +was she of the fore-knowledge, counsel, and device, persuader and +commander of the said murder to be done, maintainer and fortifier of the +executors thereof, by impeding and stopping of the inquisition and +punishment due for the same, according to the laws of the realm, and, +consequently, by marriage with the said James, some time Earl Bothwell, +dilated and universally esteemed chief author of the above named +murder."[166] In support of this new charge, the letters and other +documents were referred to, and it was promised to produce them as soon as +they were called for. + +Before they were able to inform their mistress of the unexpected turn +which affairs had taken, Mary's Commissioners received her instructions +from Bolton, to proceed no further in the conference. They therefore +stated to Elizabeth, that though they were heartily sorry to perceive +their countrymen, with a view to colour their unjust and ungrateful +doings, had committed to writing a charge of so shameful a sort, they +nevertheless could not condescend to answer it, having begun the +conference at York as plaintives, and having afterwards found their +relative positions altered, Murray being admitted into her Majesty's +presence, to advance his calumnious falsehoods, and Mary being expected to +defend herself against them, though kept in imprisonment at a distance. At +the same time, according to Mary's commands, they said that, although the +proceedings of the Regent were altogether intolerable and injurious, they +would not yet dissolve the conference, provided their mistress were +permitted to appear in her own person before the Queen of England and her +nobility.[167] To this request Elizabeth would not agree. Her real motive +was the fear of truth; that which she assigned was sufficiently +preposterous. "As to your desire," she said to Mary's Commissioners, "that +your Sovereign should come to my presence to declare her innocence in this +cause, you will understand, that from the beginning why she was debarred +therefrom, was through the bruit and slander that was passed upon her, +that she was participant of such a heinous crime as the murder of her +husband; and I thought it best for your mistress's weal and honour, and +also for mine own, that trial should be taken thereof before her coming to +me; _for I could never believe, nor yet will, that ever she did assent +thereto_."[168] If Elizabeth had been anxious to see justice done, she +could very easily have overcome the squeamish dread of being brought into +contact with Mary, the more especially as she arrogated for herself the +superior character of judge, as it was only "bruit and slander" that +implicated her "dearest sister," and as she did not, according to her own +confession, believe her guilty, _even after she had been informed of the +existence of the love-letters, and made acquainted with their contents_. +Both parties, however, continuing alike resolute, the Commissioners of the +Queen of Scots intimated, that in so far as they were concerned, the +conference might be considered closed. + +It is here of some importance to point out, that both Robertson and Hume +have deduced an argument against Mary, from their own erroneous manner of +stating the proceedings of the conference at Westminster. According to the +narrative of both these historians, the reader is led to believe, that +Mary was perfectly willing to go on till the moment that Murray accused +her of being a sharer in Darnley's murder, but that, as soon as this +charge was made, she drew back as if afraid to meet it. Robertson and Hume +would have themselves discovered how unfair this view of the matter was, +had they taken the trouble to attend to the dates of the documents +connected with the transaction. By these they would have seen, that Mary +refused to proceed on the 22d of November 1568, unless admitted equally +with the Earl of Murray into Elizabeth's presence, and that Murray's +accusation was not produced till the 26th.[169] Thus so far from +"recoiling from the inquiry at the critical moment," as Hume expresses it, +she did not hesitate to proceed until she had rebutted every thing which +had been advanced against her, and stood on even higher ground than +before. It will besides be immediately found, that notwithstanding her +previous determination to the contrary, she was no sooner informed of the +existence of letters alleged to have been written by her to Bothwell, than +she was willing to enter into a proof of their authenticity. + +It would not have suited Elizabeth's views to allow the contending parties +to slip through her fingers, before arriving at any definite conclusion. +She therefore fell upon an expedient by which she hoped, although the +Queen of Scots had withdrawn from the conference, and it consequently +should have been considered at an end, to attach to her so great a degree +of suspicion, that she might safely detain her from her own realm. She +ordered Murray and his colleagues to be called before her Commissioners; +and the scene having been arranged before-hand with them, she commanded +the Regent to be rebuked for accusing his native Sovereign of a crime so +horrible, that if it could be proved true, she would be infamous to all +princes in the world. The Regent readily answered, that finding he had +displeased her Majesty, he had no objections to show the Commissioners "a +collection made in writing of the presumptions and circumstances" by which +he had been guided in the charge he had advanced against Mary, and which +would satisfy them that it had not been made without due grounds and +consideration. This was all that Elizabeth wished. In however glaring a +point of view it placed her injustice, she rejoiced that Mary's +Commissioners were no longer attending the conference; for she would now +be able to represent to the world, without fear of contradiction, the +overwhelming strength of Murray's evidences, and hold them out as the +justification of her own severity. These hopes and plans, however, were +very nearly frustrated by the boldness and decision of Mary's conduct. As +soon as she received intelligence of this new accusation, and of the means +by which it was to be supported, she resolved that her own innocence and +its falsehood should be made apparent; and for this purpose, she even +consented to depart from her former demand of being personally admitted to +Elizabeth's presence. She wrote to her Commissioners to resume the duties +which they had intermitted, and to renew the conference once more. "We +have seen the copy," she said, "which you have sent us of the false and +unlawful accusation presented against us by some of our rebels, together +with the declarations and protestations made by you thereon before the +Queen of England, our good sister's Commissioners, wherein you have obeyed +our commands to refuse consenting to any further proceedings, if the +presence of our sister were refused us. But that our rebels may see that +they have not closed your mouths, you may offer a reply to the pretended +excuse and cloak of their wicked actions, falsity and disloyalty, whereof +you had no information before, it being a thing so horrible, that neither +we nor you could have imagined it would have fallen into the thoughts of +the said rebels."[170] + +A reply was accordingly made, in which the "Eik" was maintained to be +false in every particular, and nothing but a device, contrived to justify +Murray's own "detestable doings and ambitious purpose." The writings, or +at least copies of them, which had been adduced in support of the Regent's +charge, were required to be delivered; and it was intimated, that Mary +would undertake to prove, that the very men who now accused her of murder, +were themselves the first inventors, and some of them the executors of the +deed. It will at first appear hardly credible, but it is nevertheless +true, that Elizabeth refused to allow duplicates of the evidence against +her to be sent to Mary. On the contrary, she now hastened to break up the +conference; Murray was sent back to his Regency, and the Queen of Scots +detained in closer captivity than ever; and though she even yet petitioned +to see the writings, Elizabeth refused to surrender them, except upon +conditions with which Mary's Commissioners would not comply. They had +formally accused the Regent and his adherents of a share in Bothwell's +guilt; yet the latter had been permitted "to depart into Scotland without +abiding to hear the defence of the Queen of Scotland's innocency, nor the +trial and proof of their detection, which was offered to verify and prove +them guilty of the same crime, but were fully released, and no end put to +the cause, according to the equity and justice thereof. It did not appear +meet, therefore, that their Sovereign should make any further answer, +unless her rebels were made to remain within the realm until the trial +ended."[171] + +As no decision had been pronounced against Mary, and as the Regent had +been allowed to depart, leave was also asked for her to return to +Scotland, or proceed to France, as she might think fit. This, however, was +expressly refused; but it was insultingly promised, that if she would +yield up the crown and government of Scotland in favour of her son the +Prince, she would be permitted to remain privately and quietly in England. +Mary, of course, rejected the proposal with scorn. "The eyes of all +Europe," she said, "are upon me at this moment; and were I thus tamely to +yield to my adversaries, I should be pronouncing my own condemnation. A +thousand times rather would I submit to death, than inflict this stain +upon my honour. The last words I speak shall be those of the Queen of +Scotland."[172] + +Thus ended this famous conference, which Elizabeth had opened with so many +professions of friendship, which she conducted with so much duplicity, and +which she concluded without any conclusion, except that of endeavouring to +blacken the character of her sister Mary, and give plausibility to her +continued imprisonment. To a certain extent it answered her purpose. She +had won the reputation, in the eyes of those who looked only at the +surface of things, of having endeavoured to do justice between the Queen +of Scots and her nobility; she had secured the favour of the Regent; and +had obtained a strong hold of the person of her rival, whom she now doomed +to lingering and hopeless captivity.[173] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +MARY'S EIGHTEEN YEARS' CAPTIVITY. + + +The last eighteen years of Mary's life were spent in imprisonment, and are +comparatively a blank in her personal history. She was transported, at +intervals, from castle to castle, and was intrusted sometimes to the +charge of one nobleman, and sometimes of another; but for her the active +scenes of life were past,--the splendour and the dignity of a throne were +to be enjoyed no longer,--the sceptre of her native country was never more +to grace her hand,--her will ceased to influence a nation,--her voice did +not travel beyond the walls that witnessed her confinement. She came into +England at the age of twenty-five, in the prime of womanhood, the full +vigour of health, and the rapidly ripening strength of her intellectual +powers. She was there destined to feel in all its bitterness, that "hope +delayed maketh the heart sick." Year after year passed slowly on, and year +after year her spirits became more exhausted, her health feebler, and her +doubts and fears confirmed, till they at length settled into despair. +Premature old age overtook her, before she was past the meridian of life; +and for some time before her death, her hair was white "with other snows +than those of age." Yet, during the whole of this long period, amid +sufferings which would have broken many a masculine spirit, and which, +even in our own times, have been seen to conquer those who had conquered +empires, Mary retained the innate grace and dignity of her character, +never forgetting that she had been born a queen, or making her calamities +an excuse for the commission of any petty meanness, which she would have +scorned in the day of her prosperity. Full of incident as her previous +life had been,--brilliant in many of its achievements, fortunate in some, +and honourable in all, it may be doubted whether the forbearance, +fortitude, and magnanimity, displayed in her latter years, does not +redound more highly to her praise, than all that preceded. Many important +events took place, and intrigues of various kinds were carried on, between +the years 1569, and 1586, but as it is not the intention of this work to +illustrate any parts of the history either of Scotland or England, which +do not bear immediate reference to the Queen of Scots, nothing but a +summary of them, in so far as they were connected with her, need be +introduced here. + +It was on the 12th of January 1569, that the Earl of Murray and the +Scottish Commissioners obtained permission to return home, the Regent +having previously received from Elizabeth a loan of 5000_l._, lent him +"for the maintenance of peace between the realms of England and Scotland," +or in other words, as a bribe to secure his co-operation in all time +coming.[174] Mary, on the contrary, was removed from Bolton, to the Castle +of Tutbury in Staffordshire, farther in the interior of England, and was +placed under the charge of Lord Shrewsbury, to whom Tutbury belonged. +Elizabeth was unwilling to allow her captive to remain long in any one +place, lest she should form connections and friendships, which might lead +to arrangements for an escape. Besides, Sir Francis Knollys had +represented, that unless it was determined to keep the Scottish Queen so +close a prisoner, that she should not be allowed to ride out occasionally, +which would be death to her, she could not remain any longer at Bolton, +for want of forage and provisions.[175] During the year, she was taken +about by Shrewsbury, on occasional visits, to several mansions which he +possessed in different parts of England; but Tutbury was her +head-quarters; and wherever she went, she was very strictly guarded. "If I +might give advice," says one of Cecil's friends, in a letter he wrote to +him about this time, "there should very few subjects of this land have +access to a conference with this lady; for, beside that she is a goodly +personage (and yet in truth not comparable to our Sovereign), she hath +withal an alluring grace, a pretty Scotch speech, and a searching wit, +clouded with mildness. The greatest person about her is the Lord +Livingston, and the lady his wife, which is a fair gentlewoman. She hath +nine women more, fifty persons in her household, with ten horses. Lord +Shrewsbury is very watchful of his charge; but the Queen overwatches them +all, for it is one of the clock at least every night ere she go to bed. I +asked her Grace, since the weather did cut off all exercise abroad, how +she passed the time within? She said, that all the day she wrought with +her needle, and that the diversity of the colours made the work seem less +tedious; and she continued so long till even pain made her give over; and +with that laid her hand upon her left side, and complained of an old grief +newly increased there. She then entered upon a pretty disputable +comparison between carving, painting, and working with the needle, +affirming painting, in her own opinion, for the most commendable +quality."[176] + +But though Mary thus attempted to beguile her solitude, the thought of her +unjust imprisonment never ceased to prey upon her mind. Elizabeth and +Cecil tried to defend themselves upon four grounds; but they were all +alike weak. They said, _first_, that she was a lawful prisoner by good +treaties. But as they did not mention to what treaties they alluded, +Chalmers supposes they meant the same kind of treaties "which justify the +Barbary Powers to detain all Christians as slaves." They said, _secondly_, +that she could not be suffered to depart, till she had satisfied the wrong +she had done to Elizabeth, in openly claiming the crown of England, and +not making any just recompense. But the disavowal of that claim was all +the recompense that was necessary; and though Mary had made the claim when +married to Francis, she had expressly given it up ever since his death. +They said, _thirdly_, that Elizabeth possessed a superiority over the +crown of Scotland. But this antiquated notion, arising from the +subservience of John Baliol to Edward I., in 1292, had long been +relinquished, and had never been acknowledged in any treaty between the +two nations. They said, _fourthly_, that the Queen of England was bound to +attend to the petition of her subjects "in matters of blood." But though +Lord and Lady Lennox had been brought forward to present a petition +against Mary, it was evident that Elizabeth had no power either to grant +or refuse such petition, the Queen of Scots not being one of her subjects. + +Though Mary's enemies, however, prevailed, her friends were by no means +discomfited. In Scotland, Murray found that only one half of the kingdom +was disposed to submit to his authority; and it was not till after a +protracted and disastrous civil war, that he was able to free himself from +the resolute hostility of Chatelherault, Argyle, Huntly, and others. In +England, the Duke of Norfolk was more active than ever in his intrigues. +So far from being alarmed by the pretended discoveries to her prejudice, +he openly expressed his conviction of their falsehood, and prevailed upon +a number of the English nobility to second, to the best of their power, +his honourable proposals to the Queen of Scots.[177] Though it does not +appear that he was able to obtain a personal interview with Mary, many +letters passed between them; and as she soon perceived that her best +chance of restoration to the throne of Scotland was by joining her +interests with those of Norfolk, (whose power and estates were so +extensive, that Melville calls him the greatest subject in Europe,) she +promised that, though little disposed to form a new alliance, after the +experience she had already had of matrimony, she would nevertheless bestow +her hand on him as soon as she should regain her liberty, through his +means. The Duke's machinations, however, which had been hitherto carefully +concealed from Elizabeth, at length reached her ears, and in the utmost +indignation she scrupled not, with her usual arbitrary violence, to send +him to the Tower, where she kept him a close prisoner for upwards of nine +months,--while the Earls of Arundel, Pembroke, and Leicester, who had +favoured his views, all fell into disgrace. Mary was watched more narrowly +than before; and Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon, who pretended a superior +right to the English succession, was joined with Shrewsbury in the +commission of superintending her imprisonment. + +Norfolk had not been long in the Tower, when an open rebellion broke out +in the Northern counties, headed by the Earls of Northumberland and +Westmoreland. It is difficult to ascertain the precise causes which led to +it. Though there is no reason to believe that Mary gave it any +encouragement, it seems to have borne some reference to her; for in the +"Declaration" published by the Earls, one ground of complaint was the want +of a law for settling the succession. They marched also towards Tutbury, +with the evident intention of restoring Mary to freedom, which they might +have succeeded in doing, had she not been removed with all expedition to +Coventry. Elizabeth sent an army against the rebels, and they were +speedily dispersed;--Westmoreland concealed himself on the Borders; but +Northumberland, proceeding further into Scotland, was seized by Murray, +and confined in the castle of Loch-Leven,--probably in the very apartments +which Mary had occupied. + +The year 1570 opened with an event which materially affected the state of +public affairs in Scotland, and which to Mary was the occasion of many +mingled feelings. Elizabeth, perceiving the danger which accrued to +herself from detaining a prisoner of so much importance, had commenced a +negotiation with the Earl of Murray for replacing his sister in his hands, +when she received the unexpected and unwelcome intelligence of his +assassination. The manner and cause of his death are sufficiently known to +all who are acquainted with Scottish History; and though nothing can +justify a murder committed to gratify private revenge, yet it is +impossible to read the story of the wrongs which the Regent had heaped +upon Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, without feeling towards the latter more of +pity than of hatred. + +Next to Mary herself, no one had held so prominent a place in Scotland as +the Earl of Murray; and there is no one concerning whose character +historians have more widely differed. There can be no doubt that, like +most human characters, it was a very mixed one; but it is to be feared +that the evil preponderated. Ambition was his ruling passion, and the +temptations which his birth, rank, and fortune, held out for its +indulgence, unfortunately led him into errors and crimes which, had he +been contented with an humbler sphere, he would in all probability have +avoided. There are various sorts of ambition, and the most dangerous is +not always that which is most apparent and reckless. Murray was ambitious +under the cloak of patriotism, and the mask of religion. He had enough of +knowledge of mankind to be aware, that no one could so safely play the +villain as he who maintained a high name for integrity. Hence, though he +may have loved honesty to a certain extent, for its own sake, he loved it +a great deal more for the sake of the advantages to be derived from a +reputation for possessing it. He was perhaps constitutionally religious; +but though he was very willing to fight as a leader in the armies of the +Reformation, it is somewhat questionable that he would have served the +good cause with equal zeal, had he been obliged to fill only a subordinate +place in its ranks. There is every reason to believe that in many cases he +did good only that he might the more safely do wrong; and that he rigidly +observed all the external forms of religion, only that the less suspicion +might attach to him when he infringed its precepts. He had enough of moral +rectitude to understand the distinctions between right and wrong, but too +much selfishness to observe them unostentatiously, and too much prudence +to disregard them openly. Thus to the casual observer he appeared strong +in unshaken integrity, and full of the odour of sanctity. He possessed +the art, which few but profound politicians can acquire, of going in the +wrong path, as if he were in the right, and of gaining more estimation for +his errors, than others do for their virtues. His conduct towards his +sister was altogether unjustifiable; yet with the exception of his +rebellion on the occasion of her marriage with Darnley, which was the +least objectionable, because the boldest and most straight-forward part of +the whole, he contrived to inflict, and to see inflicted, the deadliest +injuries, as if he unwillingly submitted to them, rather than actively +instigated them. He had little warmth of feeling; but what he had, +prompted him to affect to feel as he never in reality did. He possessed +all the talent compatible with cunning; he had abundance of military +skill, and was not deficient in personal courage. He was not often cruel, +because he saw it for his interest to be humane; he was a patron of +literature, and attentive to his friends, because patronage and a numerous +body of friends confer power. He affected nevertheless an ostentatious +austerity in his manners, which it was impossible to reconcile with the +worldliness of his pursuits. In short, he had so involved his whole +character in disingenuousness, under a show of every thing that was +exactly the reverse, that he was probably not aware himself when he acted +from good, and when from bad motives. He had far too much ambition to be +an upright man, and far too much good sense to be an undisguised villain. +Notwithstanding all the ill usage she had received from him, Mary shed +tears when she heard of his untimely death; and to record this fact, is +the highest euloguim which need be passed on his memory. + +The Scots chose the Earl of Lennox Regent in the place of Murray, whilst +Elizabeth, says Robertson, "adhering to her old system with regard to +Scottish affairs, laboured, notwithstanding the solicitations of Mary's +friends, to multiply and to perpetuate the factions which tore in pieces +the kingdom." At the same time, she pretended to enter into a new +negotiation with Mary, as she frequently did at subsequent periods, when +hard pressed by any of the more powerful friends of the Queen of Scots. +But after appointing Commissioners, and requiring Morton and others to +meet them from Scotland, the affair ended as it began; Mary still +continued in her prison, and Morton returned home, no proposals having +been made, to which either of the parties would agree. About this period +Elizabeth's temper was particularly soured, by an excommunication which +Pope Pius V. issued against her, and which she erroneously supposed had +been prepared in concert with Mary. A person of the name of Felton, +affixed a copy of the Pope's Bull on the gate of the Bishop of London's +palace, and, refusing either to fly or conceal himself, he was seized and +executed for the crime. In her ill humour, Elizabeth also ordered that +Mary should not be allowed to go abroad, and she did not revoke this +order, until strong representations were made to her of the cruel effect +produced by it on the health of the Queen, whose constitution was now much +broken. The weakness in one of her sides which had long pained her, had of +late greatly increased, and she was obliged to have recourse to +strengthening baths of white wine.[178] During this year she was removed +from Tutbury to Chatsworth, and from Chatsworth she was taken to the Earl +of Shrewsbury's castle at Sheffield,--"a town," says Camden, "of great +renown for the smiths therein." She had not at the most above thirty +attendants, among whom the principal were Lord and Lady Livingston, her +young friend William Douglas, Castel her French physician, and Roulet her +French Secretary. The latter died when she was at Sheffield, and his death +afflicted her much. All communication with her friends at a distance was +denied her; and her letters were continually intercepted, and either +copies, or the originals, sent to Cecil. Yet she had too proud a spirit to +give way to unavailing complaints; and when she wrote to inquire after her +faithful servant the Bishop of Ross, whom Elizabeth had put into +confinement, from a jealousy of his exertions for his mistress, all she +allowed herself to say was, that she pitied poor prisoners, for she was +used like one herself. + +In the year 1571, the Duke of Norfolk, who had been by this time +discharged from the Tower, had the imprudence to renew his intrigues for +the liberation of Mary, and his own marriage with her. The secret +correspondence was renewed between them; and the Queen of Scots sent him, +says Stranguage, "a long commentary of her purposes, and certain +love-letters in a private character, known to them two." The Duke was now +resolved either to make or mar his fortune; and, deeply engaging in the +dangerous game he was playing, he scrupled not to have recourse to many +highly treasonable practices. He set on foot negotiations both with one +Rodolphi, a Florentine merchant, residing in London, and an agent of the +Court of Rome, and with the Spanish ambassador; and with them he boldly +entered into an extensive conspiracy, which, if successful, would entirely +have subverted the Government. His plan was, that the Duke of Alva should +land in England with a numerous army, and should be immediately joined by +himself and friends. They were then to proclaim Mary's right to the +throne, call upon all good Catholics to support them, and march direct for +London. The Pope, and the King of Spain, readily entered into the scheme; +and every thing appeared to be proceeding according to his wishes, when +the treachery of one of Norfolk's servants made Elizabeth acquainted with +the whole conspiracy. The Duke was immediately seized, and thrown into +prison; and, after several private examinations, he was tried for high +treason, found guilty, and condemned to death. Elizabeth, who cultivated a +reputation for extreme sensibility, affected the greatest reluctance to +sign the warrant for Norfolk's execution. But she was at length able to +shut her heart against his many noble qualities, his princely spirit, and +valuable services, and she ordered him to be led to the scaffold. He there +confessed that he had been justly found guilty, in so far as he had dealt +with the Queen of Scots, in weighty and important business, without the +knowledge of his own Queen. He died, as he had lived, with undaunted +courage. When the executioner offered him a napkin to cover his eyes, he +refused it, saying, "I fear not death;" and, laying his head on the block, +it was taken off at one blow. + +Elizabeth was extremely anxious to implicate Mary in Norfolk's guilt, and, +for this purpose, sent Commissioners to her to reproach her with her +offences. Mary heard all they had to say with the utmost calmness; and, +when they called upon her for her answer, she replied, that though she was +a free Queen, and did not consider herself accountable, either to them or +their mistress, she had, nevertheless, no hesitation to assure them of the +injustice of their accusations. She protested that she had never imagined +any detriment to Elizabeth by her marriage with Norfolk,--that she had +never encouraged him to raise rebellion, or been privy to it, but was, on +the contrary, most ready to reveal any conspiracy against the Queen of +England which might come to her ears,--that though Rodolphi had been of +use to her in the transmission of letters abroad, she had never received +any from him,--that as to attempting an escape, she willingly gave ear to +all who offered to assist her, and in hope of effecting her deliverance, +had corresponded with several in cipher,--that so far from having any hand +in the Bull of excommunication, when a copy of it was sent her, she burned +it after she had read it,--and that she held no communication with any +foreign State, upon any matters unconnected with her restoration to her +own kingdom. Satisfied with this reply, the Commissioners returned to +London.[179] + +All the miseries of civil war were in the meantime desolating the kingdom +of Scotland. The Earl of Lennox was a feeble and very incompetent +successor to Murray. Perceiving him unable to maintain his authority, and +observing that the current of popular feeling was becoming stronger +against the unjust imprisonment which Mary was suffering, many of those +who had stood by Murray deserted to the opposite faction. Among the rest +were Secretary Maitland and Kircaldy of Grange, the first the ablest +statesman, and the second the best soldier in the country. It was now +almost impossible to say which side preponderated. Both parties levied +armies, convoked Parliaments, fought battles, besieged towns, and ordered +executions. "Fellow-citizens, friends, brothers," says Robertson, "took +different sides, and ranged themselves under the standards of the +contending factions. In every county, and almost in every town and +village, _Kingsmen_ and _Queensmen_ were names of distinction. Political +hatred dissolved all natural ties, and extinguished the reciprocal +good-will and confidence which hold mankind together in society. Religious +zeal mingled itself with these civil distinctions, and contributed not a +little to heighten and to inflame them." One of the most successful +exploits performed by the Regent, was the taking of the Castle of +Dumbarton from the Queen's Lords. The Archbishop of St Andrews, whom he +found in it, was condemned to be hanged without a trial, and the sentence +was immediately executed. No Bishop had ever suffered in Scotland so +ignominiously before; and while the King's adherents were glad to get rid +of one who had been very zealous against them, the nobles who supported +the Queen were exasperated to the last degree by so violent a measure, and +their watchword became,--"Think on the Archbishop of St Andrews!" Lennox +was sacrificed to his memory; for the town of Stirling having been +suddenly taken, in an expedition contrived by Grange, Lennox, after he had +surrendered himself prisoner, was shot by command of Lord Claud Hamilton, +brother to the deceased Archbishop; and in his room, the Earl of Mar was +elected Regent. + +In the year 1572, Mary's cause sustained a serious injury, by the +atrocious massacre of the Hugonots in France, which exasperated all the +Protestants throughout Europe, and made the very name of a Catholic +Sovereign odious. Although Mary herself, so far from having lent any +countenance to this massacre, had expressly avowed her unwillingness to +constrain the conscience of any one, and had been all her life the +strenuous advocate of toleration, yet, recollecting her connexion with +Charles IX. and Catharine de Medicis, whose sanguinary fury made itself so +conspicuous on this melancholy occasion, her enemies took care that she +should not escape from some share of the blame. Elizabeth, in particular, +taking advantage of the excitement which had been given to public feeling, +used every exertion to secure the circulation of Buchanan's notorious +"Detection of Mary's Doings," which had been published a short time +before. She ordered Cecil to send a number of copies to Walsingham, her +ambassador at Paris, that they might be presented to the King, and leading +persons of the French Court. "It is not amiss," Cecil wrote, "to have +divers of Buchanan's little Latin books to present, if need be, to the +King, as from yourself, and likewise to some of the other noblemen of his +Council; for they will serve to good effect to disgrace her, _which must +be done before other purposes can be attained_." Cecil himself printed and +circulated a small treatise, in the shape of a letter, from London to a +friend at a distance, giving an account of the "Detection," and the credit +it deserved. The publication, on the other hand, of Bishop Lesley's +"Defence of Queen Mary's Honour," was positively interdicted; and Lesley +was obliged to send the manuscript abroad, before he was able to present +it to the world. To such low and cowardly devices were Elizabeth and her +Minister under the necessity of resorting, to blacken the character of +Mary, and justify their own iniquitous proceedings![180] + +In Scotland, too, Mary's party, beginning to see the hopelessness of the +cause, was gradually dwindling away. Through Mar's exertions, a general +peace might have been obtained, had not Morton's superior influence and +persevering cruelty drawn out the civil war to the last dregs. Mar, +finding himself thwarted in every measure he proposed for the tranquillity +of his country, fell into a deep melancholy, which ended in his death, +before he had been a year in office. Morton succeeded him without +opposition, and immediately proceeded to very violent measures against all +the Queen's friends, who were now divided into two parties, the one +headed by Chatelherault and Huntly, and the other by Maitland and Grange. +After gaining some advantages over both, he concluded a peace with the +former; and having invested the Castle of Edinburgh on all sides, in +conjunction with some troops which Elizabeth sent to his assistance, he at +length forced the latter to surrender. Kircaldy of Grange, the bravest and +most honest man in Scotland, was hanged at the Cross of Edinburgh; and +Secretary Maitland, who, with all his talents, had vacillated too much to +be greatly respected, anticipating a similar fate, avoided it by a +voluntary death, "ending his days," says Melville, "after the old Roman +fashion." + +About the same time, John Knox concluded his laborious, and, in many +respects, useful life, in the 67th year of his age. Appearing as he did, +in treacherous and turbulent times, the rough unpolished integrity of Knox +demands the higher praise, because it enabled him the more successfully to +maintain an influence over the minds of his countrymen, and effect those +important revolutions in their modes of thought and belief, which his +superior abilities pointed out to him as conducive to the moral and +religious improvement of the land. He had many failings, but they were to +be attributed more to the age to which he belonged, than to any fault of +his own. His very violence and acrimony, his strong prejudices, and no +less confirmed partialities, were perhaps the very best instruments he +could have used for advancing the cause of the Reformation. He was without +the cunning of Murray, the fickleness of Maitland, or the ferocity of +Morton. He pursued a steady and undeviating course; and though loved by +few, he was reverenced by many. Courage, in particular,--and not the mere +common-place courage inspired by the possession of physical strength, but +the far nobler courage arising from a consciousness of innate +integrity,--was the leading feature of his mind. Morton never spoke more +truly than when he said at the grave of Knox,--"Here lies he who never +feared the face of man." + +In the year 1573, Mary, at her own earnest request, was removed, for the +benefit of her health, from Sheffield to the Wells at Buxton. The news she +had lately received from Scotland, and the apparent annihilation of all +her hopes, had affected her not a little. "Though she makes little show of +any grief," the Earl of Shrewsbury wrote to Cecil, "yet this news nips her +very sore." At Buxton, which was then the most fashionable watering-place +in England, she was obliged to live in complete seclusion; and it may +easily be conceived, that the waters could be of little benefit to her, +without the aid of air, exercise, and amusement. Lesley, though detained +at a distance, took every means in his power to afford her consolation, +and wrote two treatises, after the manner of Seneca, expressly applicable +to her condition; both of which he sent to her. The first was +entitled,--"_Piae afflicti animi meditationes divinaque remedia_," and the +second,--"_Tranquillitatis animi conservatio et munimentum_." She thanked +him for both of these productions, and assured him, that she had received +much benefit from their perusal. With many parts of the first, in +particular, she was so pleased, that she occupied herself in paraphrasing +them into French verse.[181] Lesley was soon afterwards allowed by +Elizabeth to pass into France, where he long continued to exert himself in +the cause of his mistress, visiting, on her account, several foreign +courts, and exposing himself to many inconveniences and hardships. He died +at a good old age in 1596, and his memory deserves to be cherished, both +for the many amiable qualities he possessed in private life, and his +inflexible fidelity and attachment to the Queen of Scots.[182] + +In 1574, a fresh misfortune overtook Mary, in the death of her +brother-in-law, Charles IX. He was succeeded on the throne by the Duke of +Anjou, who took the title of Henry III., and was little inclined to exert +himself in the cause of his sister, having been long at enmity with the +house of Guise. But a still more fatal blow was the death of her uncle, +the Cardinal of Lorraine, who had ever made it a part of his policy to +identify her interests with his own, and to whom she had always been +accustomed to turn, with confidence, in her greatest distresses. + +From this period to the year 1581, Mary seems to have been nearly +forgotten by all parties. Elizabeth, satisfied with keeping her rival +securely imprisoned, busied herself with other affairs of political +moment; and, in Scotland, as the Prince grew up, and years passed on, +death, or other causes, gradually diminished the number of Mary's +adherents; and though the country was far from being in tranquillity, the +dissensions assumed a new shape, for even they who opposed the regency of +the Earl of Morton, found it more for their interest to associate +themselves with the young King than with the absent Queen. Mary became +gradually more solitary and more depressed. Though yet only in the prime +of womanhood, she had lived to see almost all her best friends, and some +of her worst enemies, depart from the world before her. The specious +Murray,--the imbecile Lennox,--Hamilton, the last supporter of +Catholicism,--Knox, the great champion of the Reformation,--the gentle +Mar,--the brilliant but misguided Norfolk,--the gallant Kircaldy,--and the +sagacious Maitland,--had all been removed from the scene; and in the +melancholy solitude of her prison, she wept to think that she should have +been destined to survive them. But Elizabeth had no sympathy for her +griefs, and every rumour which reached her ear, only served as an excuse +for narrowing and rendering more irksome Mary's captivity. Even the few +female friends who had been at first allowed to attend her, were taken +from her; no congenial society of any sort was allowed her; it was rarely, +indeed, that she was permitted to hunt or hawk, or take any exercise out +of doors; and the wearisome monotony of her sedentary life, at once +impaired her health and broke down her spirits. The manner in which she +spoke of her own situation, in letters she wrote about this period to +France and elsewhere, is not the less affecting, that it is characterized +by that mental dignity and queenly spirit which no afflictions could +overcome. "I find it necessary," she wrote from Tutbury in 1680, "to +renew the memorial of my grievances respecting the remittance of my dowry, +the augmentation of my attendants, and a change of +residence,--circumstances apparently trivial, and of small importance to +the Queen, my good sister, but which I feel to be essential to the +preservation of my existence. Necessity alone could induce me to descend +to earnest and reiterated supplications, the dearest price at which any +boon can be purchased. To convey to you an idea, of my present situation, +I am on all sides enclosed by fortified walls, on the summit of a hill +which lies exposed to every wind of heaven: within these bounds, not +unlike the wood of Vincennes, is a very old edifice, originally a hunting +lodge, built merely of lath and plaster, the plaster in many places +crumbling away. This edifice, detached from the walls, about twenty feet, +is sunk so low, that the rampart of earth behind the wall is level with +the highest part of the building, so that here the sun can never +penetrate, neither does any pure air ever visit this habitation, on which +descend drizzling damps and eternal fogs, to such excess, that not an +article of furniture can be placed beneath the roof, but in four days it +becomes covered with green mould. I leave you to judge in what manner such +humidity must act upon the human frame; and, to say every thing in one +word, the apartments are in general more like dungeons prepared for the +reception of the vilest criminals, than suited to persons of a station far +inferior to mine, inasmuch as I do not believe there is a lord or +gentleman, or even yeoman in the kingdom, who would patiently endure the +penance of living in so wretched an habitation. With regard to +accommodation, I have for my own person but two miserable little +chambers, so intensely cold during the night, that but for ramparts and +entrenchments of tapestry and curtains, it would be impossible to prolong +my existence; and of those who have sat up with me during my illness, not +one has escaped malady. Sir Amias can testify that three of my women have +been rendered ill by this severe temperature, and even my physician +declines taking charge of my health the ensuing winter, unless I shall be +permitted to change my habitation. With respect to convenience, I have +neither gallery nor cabinet, if I except two little pigeon-holes, through +which the only light admitted is from an aperture of about nine feet in +circumference; for taking air and exercise, either on foot or in my chair, +I have but about a quarter of an acre behind the stables, round which +Somers last year planted a quickset hedge, a spot more proper for swine +than to be cultivated as a garden; there is no shepherd's hut but has more +grace and proportion. As to riding on horseback during the winter, I am +sure to be impeded by floods of water or banks of snow, nor is there a +road in which I could go for one mile in my coach without putting my limbs +in jeopardy; abstracted from these real and positive inconveniences, I +have conceived for this spot an antipathy, which, in one ill as I am, +might alone claim some humane consideration. As it was here that I first +began to be treated with rigour and indignity, I have conceived, from that +time, this mansion to be singularly unlucky to me, and in this sinister +impression I have been confirmed by the tragical catastrophe of the poor +priest of whom I wrote to you, who, having been tortured for his +religion, was at length found hanging in front of my window."[183] + +In 1581, Mary made a still more melancholy representation of her +condition. "I am reduced to such an excessive weakness," she says, +"especially in my legs, that I am not able to walk a hundred steps, and +yet I am at this moment better than I have been for these six months past. +Ever since last Easter, I have been obliged to make my servants carry me +in a chair; and you may judge how seldom I am thus transported from one +spot to another, when there are so few people about me fit for such an +employment."[184] In the midst of all this distress, it was only from +resources within herself that she was able to derive any consolation. Her +religious duties she attended to with the strictest care, and devoted much +of her time to reading and writing. At rare intervals, she remembered her +early cultivation of the Muses; and she even yet attempted occasionally to +beguile the time with the charms of poetry. She produced several short +poetical compositions during her imprisonment; and of these, the following +Sonnet, embodying so simply and forcibly her own feelings, cannot fail to +be read with peculiar interest: + + "Que suis je, helas! et de quoi sert ma vie? + Je ne suis fors q'un corps prive de coeur; + Un ombre vain, un objet de malheur, + Qui n'a plus rien que de mourir envie. + Plus ne portez, O ennemis, d'envie + A qui n'a plus l'esprit a la grandeur! + Je consomme d'excessive douleur,-- + Votre ire en bref ce voira assouvie; + Et vous amis, qui m'avez tenu chere, + Souvenez vous, que sans heur--sans sante + Je ne saurois aucun bon oeuvre faire: + Souhaitez donc fin de calamite; + Et que ci bas etant assez punie, + J'aye ma part en la joye infinie."[185] + +But the most celebrated of all Mary's efforts during her captivity, is a +long and eloquent letter she addressed to Elizabeth, in 1582, when she +heard that her son's person had been seized at the Raid of Ruthven,--and +when, dreading, with maternal anxiety, that he might be involved in the +woes which had overtaken herself, she gave vent to those feelings which +had long agitated her bosom, and which she now, with pathetic force, laid +before Elizabeth, as the author of all her misfortunes. The ability and +vigour with which this letter is written, well entitle it, as Dr Stuart +has remarked, to survive in the history of the Scottish nation. It was +Mary's own wish that it should do so. "I am no longer able," she says, +"to resist laying my heart before you; and while I desire that my just +complaints shall be engraved in your conscience, it is my hope that they +will also descend to posterity, to prove the misery into which I have been +brought by the injustice and cruelty of my enemies. Having in vain looked +to you for support against their various devices, I shall now carry my +appeal to the Eternal God, the Judge of both, whose dominion is over all +the princes of the earth. I shall appeal to him to arbitrate between us; +and would request you, Madam, to remember, that in his sight nothing can +be disguised by the paint and artifices of the world." She proceeds to +recapitulate the injuries she had sustained from Elizabeth ever since she +came to the throne of Scotland,--reminding her, that she had busied +herself in corrupting her subjects and encouraging rebellion; that when +imprisoned in Loch-Leven, she had assured her, through her ambassador, +Throckmorton, that any deed of abdication she might subscribe, was +altogether invalid; yet that, upon her escape, though she at first allured +her by fair promises into England, she had no sooner arrived there, than +she was thrown into captivity, in which she had been kept alive only to +suffer a thousand deaths; that she had tried for years to accommodate +herself to that captivity, to reduce the number of her attendants, to make +no complaint of the plainness of her diet, and the want of ordinary +exercise, to live quietly and peaceably, as if she were of a far inferior +rank, and even to abstain from correspondence with her friends in +Scotland; but that the only return she had experienced for her good +intentions was neglect, calumny, and increasing severity. "To take away +every foundation of dispute and misunderstanding between us," Mary +continued, "I invite you, Madam, to examine into every report against me, +and to grant to every person the liberty of accusing me publicly; and +while I freely solicit you to take every advantage to my prejudice, I only +request that you will not condemn me without a hearing. If it be proved +that I have done evil, let me suffer for it; if I am guiltless, do not +take upon yourself the responsibility, before God and man, of punishing me +unjustly. Let not my enemies be afraid that I aim any longer at +dispossessing them of their usurped authority. I look now to no other +kingdom but that of Heaven, and would wish to prepare myself for it, +knowing that my sorrows will never cease till I arrive there." She then +speaks of her son, and entreats that Elizabeth would interfere in his +behalf. She concludes with requesting, that some honourable churchman +should be sent to her, to remind her daily of the road she had yet to +finish, and to instruct her how to pursue it, according to her religion, +in which she would wish to die as she had lived. "I am very weak and +helpless," she adds, "and do beseech you to give me some solitary mark of +your friendship. Bind your own relations to yourself; let me have the +happiness of knowing, before I die, that a reconciliation has taken place +between us, and that, when my soul quits my body, it will not be necessary +for it to carry complaints of your injustice to the throne of my +Creator."[186] The only result which this letter produced, was a +remonstrance from Elizabeth which she sent by Beal, the Clerk of her Privy +Council, against such unnecessary complaints.[187] + +In Scotland, meanwhile, the event of greatest consequence which had taken +place, was the trial and execution of the Earl of Morton, for having been +_art_ and _part_ in the murder of Darnley. Morton's intolerable tyranny +having rendered him odious to the greater part of the nobility, and the +young King having nearly arrived at an age when he could act and think for +himself, he found it necessary, very unwillingly, to retire from office. +He did not, even then, desist from carrying on numerous intrigues; and it +was rumoured, that he intended seizing the King's person, and carrying him +captive into England. Whether there was any truth in this report or not, +it is certain that James became anxious to get rid of so factious and +dangerous a nobleman. The only plausible expedient which occurred to him, +or his Council, was, to accuse Morton of a share in Bothwell's guilt. His +trial does not seem to have been conducted with any very scrupulous regard +to justice. But a jury of his peers was allowed him; and they, having +heard the evidence in support of the charges, found him guilty of having +been in the council or knowledge of the conspiracy against the late King, +of concealing it, and of being _art_ and _part_ in the murder. It was to +the latter part of this verdict alone that Morton objected. He confessed +that he knew of the intended murder, and had concealed it, but positively +disclaimed having been _art_ and _part_ in it. This seems, however, to +have been a distinction without a difference. On the 1st of June 1581, he +was condemned to the block, and next day the sentence was executed. The +instrument called the _Maiden_, which was used to behead him, he had +himself brought into Scotland, and he was the first to suffer by it. His +head was placed on the public gaol at Edinburgh, and his body buried +privately by a few menials. He had been universally hated, and there was +hardly one who lamented his death. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +MARY'S TRIAL AND CONDEMNATION. + + +The closing scene of Mary's life was now rapidly approaching. Debilitated +as she was by her long confinement, and the many painful thoughts which +had been incessantly preying on her peace of mind, it is not likely that +she could have long survived, even though she had been left unmolested +within the walls of her prison. But she had been the source of two much +jealousy and uneasiness to Elizabeth, to be either forgotten or forgiven. +Weak as she was in body, and destitute alike of wealth and power, her name +had nevertheless continued a watchword and a tower of strength, not only +to all her own friends throughout Christendom, but to all who were +disposed, from whatever cause, to stir up civil dissensions and broils in +England. Scarcely a conspiracy against Elizabeth's person and authority +had been contrived for the last sixteen years, with which the Queen of +Scots was not supposed to be either remotely or immediately connected. Nor +is it to be denied, that appeals were made to her sufferings and cruel +treatment, to give plausibility to many an enterprise which was +anti-constitutional in its object, and criminal in its execution. Other +less objectionable enterprises Mary herself expressly countenanced, for +she always openly declared, that being detained a captive by force, she +considered herself fully entitled to take every means that offered to +effect her escape. She acted solely upon a principle of self-defence. +Whenever a nobleman of influence like Norfolk, or a man of integrity like +Lesley, undertook to arrange a scheme for her release, she willingly +listened to their proposals, and was ever ready to act in concert with +them. She had been detained in strict ward in a realm into which she had +come voluntarily, or rather into which she had been seduced by specious +promises and offers of assistance; and it would have been against every +dictate of common sense and common justice, to suppose that she had not a +right to free herself from her unwarrantable imprisonment. It is true, +that many of her attempts, mixed up as they were with the interested and +ambitious projects of others, gave Elizabeth no little inconvenience and +anxiety. But this was the price she must have laid her account with paying +for the pleasure of seeing the Queen of Scots a helpless hostage in her +hands. + +To discourage the numerous plots which were formed, either by Mary's real +or pretended adherents, a number of persons of the first rank in the +kingdom entered into a solemn "Association," in which they bound +themselves to defend Elizabeth against all her enemies, "and if any +violence should be offered to her life, in order to favour the title of +any pretender to the crown, not only never to allow or acknowledge the +person or persons _by_ whom, or _for_ whom such a detestable act should be +committed, but, as they should answer to the Eternal God, to prosecute +such person or persons to the death, and pursue them with the utmost +vengeance to their overthrow and extirpation." The Parliament, which met +in 1585, sanctioned this Association; and, alarmed by the recent discovery +of a fanatical design, on the part of a Roman Catholic, to assassinate the +Queen, because she had been excommunicated by the Pope, they passed an +Act, by which they determined, with the most arbitrary injustice, "That if +any rebellion should be excited in the kingdom, or any thing attempted to +the hurt of her Majesty's person, _by_ or _for_ any person pretending a +title to the crown, the Queen should empower twenty-four persons, by a +commission under the Great Seal, to examine into and pass sentence upon +such offences; and that, after judgment given, a proclamation should be +issued, declaring the persons whom they found guilty excluded from any +right to the crown; and her Majesty's subjects might lawfully pursue every +one of them to the death; and that, if any design against the life of the +Queen took effect, the persons _by_ or _for_ whom such a detestable act +was executed, and their issues, being in any wise assenting or privy to +the same, should be disabled for ever from pretending to the crown, and be +pursued to death, in the like manner." That the persons _by_ whom any of +these faults were committed, should be punished, was in strict accordance +with equity; but that the persons _for_ whom they might be supposed to be +done, should be considered as much involved in their guilt, was alike +contrary to law and reason. The discontented were forming plots every year +against Elizabeth, and, with the very existence of many of these plots, +Mary was unacquainted; yet, by this statute, she was made answerable for +all of them. There is little wonder, therefore, if she considered it only +a forerunner of greater severities; and it was not long before an occasion +occurred which afforded a plausible pretext for making a practical +application of it. + +In the year 1586, three English priests, who had been educated in a +Catholic seminary at Rheims, and over whose minds the most illiberal +superstition held unlimited sway, actually conceived the belief, that the +bull of excommunication, issued by Pope Pius V. against Elizabeth, had +been dictated under the immediate inspiration of the Holy Ghost. They +looked, consequently, upon that Sovereign with a fanatical hatred, which +they determined, if possible, to gratify. Having contrived to win over one +or two others to their own way of thinking, and, in particular, an officer +of the name of Savage, and another priest of the name of Ballard, they +sent them into England to disseminate their principles among all on whose +co-operation they thought they could depend; and, in the meantime, they +set on foot a negotiation with the Spanish ambassador in Paris, through +whose means they hoped to obtain the assistance of a foreign force. He +gave them a promise of encouragement, only on condition that they secured +a strong party in England, and that means were taken to remove Elizabeth. +Among the first persons to whom Savage and Ballard communicated their +designs, was Anthony Babington, a young gentleman of estate and fortune in +Derbyshire. Having resided for some time in France, he had formed an +acquaintance with the Archbishop of Glasgow, and from him had heard so +many eulogiums on Mary, that he became inspired with the most enthusiastic +feelings in her favour, and cherished a romantic desire of performing some +exploit which might secure for him her gratitude and esteem. By his advice +and assistance, a knowledge of the conspiracy was intrusted to a number of +persons of respectability of the Roman Catholic persuasion; and a secret +correspondence was set on foot with the Queen of Scots, through the medium +of her Secretaries Naw and Curl. Mary, however, was not disposed to give +the conspirators much encouragement. She had been now so long accustomed +to despair, and was so convinced of the fallaciousness of hope, that she +was almost inclined to turn away from it, as from something painful. She +had grown indifferent about her future fate, and had endeavoured to resign +herself to the prospect of ending her days in captivity. Besides, she had +the recent Act of Parliament before her eyes; and she was well aware, that +though she did nothing but attempt an escape, she would be held +responsible for the whole plot, whatever its extent or criminality might +be. It is, however, not at all unlikely that she may, notwithstanding, +have authorized her Secretaries to write once or twice to Babington and +his associates; but that she gave them any support in their designs +against Elizabeth, was never proved, and is not to be believed. It was +indeed with no little difficulty that Mary was able to hold any epistolary +communication at all with her friends, so strictly was she watched by Sir +Amias Paulet and Sir Drue Drury, to whose custody she had been committed, +and who kept her in the Castle of Chartley in Staffordshire. The +conspirators were obliged to bribe one of the servants, who conveyed to +the Queen or her Secretaries, the letters which they deposited in a hole +in the wall, and put the answers into the same place, from which they took +them privately, when it was dark. + +Every thing seemed to proceed smoothly, and all the necessary arrangements +were now concluded. The different conspirators had different tasks +allotted to them; by some a rebellion was to be excited in several parts +of the kingdom at once; six others bound themselves by solemn oaths to +assassinate Elizabeth; and Babington himself undertook to head a strong +party, which he was to lead to the rescue of the Queen of Scots. Nor were +they to be destitute of foreign assistance as soon as the first blow was +struck, and the first symptoms of internal commotion appeared. So inspired +were these infatuated men with an idea of the glory of the revolution they +were about to achieve, that they had medals prepared representing +themselves assembled together, with Babington in the midst, and bearing +the motto,--"_Hi mihi sunt comites quos ipsa pericula ducunt._" But in all +their fancied security and enthusiasm, they were ignorant that every step +they took was known to Elizabeth and her minister Walsingham, and that +they were advancing only to the foot of their own scaffold. It was through +the treachery of one of their own associates of the name of Polly, one of +Walsingham's accredited spies, who had joined them only that he might +betray them, that all their proceedings were discovered, and attentively +watched. Savage, Ballard, and the other four who were bent on the murder +of Elizabeth, had already come up to London, and were lying in wait for +the first favourable opportunity to execute their purpose; and, as +Walsingham was anxious to have complete evidence of their guilt in his +possession before apprehending them, they were allowed to remain +unmolested for some time. The Queen, however, fearing for her personal +safety, at length insisted on their being seized, remarking, that, "in not +taking heed of a danger when she might, she seemed more to tempt God than +to hope in him." Ballard was first arrested; his accomplices, struck with +astonishment and dismay, fled out of London; but, after lurking for some +days in woods and byeways, cutting off their hair, disfiguring their +faces, and submitting to every kind of deprivation and hardship to avoid +the hot search which was made for them, they were at length taken; and so +much had the public feeling been excited against them, that, when they +were brought into London, the bells of the city were rung, and bonfires +kindled in the streets. Walsingham had arranged his measures so +effectively, that all the other conspirators, who were scattered +throughout the kingdom, were also seized and brought to the capital within +a very short time. Fourteen of the principal inventors of the plot were +immediately tried, condemned, and executed. No mercy whatever was shown +to them; for Elizabeth seldom forgave her enemies.[188] + +But, in the death of these men, only one part of Elizabeth's vengeance was +gratified. The wrongs and the merits of the Queen of Scots had been the +means of imparting to this conspiracy a degree of respectability; and she, +therefore, was regarded as the chief culprit. Walsingham had ascertained, +that communications of some sort or another had passed between Mary's +secretaries and the conspirators; and before she was aware that +Babington's plot had been discovered, he sent down Sir Thomas Gorges to +Chartley to take her by surprise, and endeavour to discover some +additional grounds of suspicion. Sir Thomas arrived just as she was about +to ride out in a wheeled carriage which had been procured for her, and, +without permitting her to alight, he rudely told her of Babington's fate; +then entering the Castle, he committed Naw and Curl into custody; and, +breaking into the private cabinets of the Queen, he seized all her letters +and papers, and sent them off immediately to Elizabeth. He took possession +too of all her money, "lest she should use it for corruption." She herself +was not allowed to return to Chartley for some days, but conveyed about +from one castle to another. When she was at length brought back, and saw +how she had been plundered in her absence, she could not refrain from +weeping bitterly. "There are two things, however," she said in the midst +of her tears, "which they cannot take away,--my birth and my +religion."[189] + +In the excited state of feeling which then prevailed in the nation, and +the fears which her subjects entertained for the safety of their +Sovereign, Elizabeth perceived that she might now safely proceed to those +extremities against Mary which she had so long meditated, but which +considerations of selfish prudence had hitherto prevented her from putting +into execution. She asserted, that not only her own life, but the religion +and peace of the country were at stake, and that either the Queen of Scots +must be removed, or the whole realm given up as a sacrifice. By her own +injustice, she had involved herself in inconveniences; and as soon as she +began to feel their effects, she pretended to be indignant at the innocent +victim of her tyranny. But it was not without difficulty that she brought +all her ministers to think on this subject precisely as she herself did. +Many of them did not hesitate to state their conviction, that Mary had +neither set on foot nor countenanced Babington's plot, and that, however +the conspirators might have interwoven her name with it, she could not be +punished for what she could not have prevented. Besides, they urged that +she was not likely to live long at any rate, and that it would be more for +the honour of the kingdom to leave her unmolested for the short remainder +of her days. Nevertheless, by Elizabeth's exertions, and those of +Walsingham, who had always courted the favour of his mistress by the most +persevering persecution of Mary, opposition was at length silenced, and +the trial of the Queen of Scots finally determined. To give as much +dignity, and as great a semblance of justice as possible to a proceeding +so unwarrantable as that of calling upon her to answer for an imaginary +offence, forty of the most illustrious persons in the kingdom were +appointed Commissioners, and were intrusted with the charge of hearing the +cause, and deciding upon the question of life or death. + +On the 25th of September 1586, Mary had been taken from Chartley to the +Castle of Fotheringay in Northamptonshire, where she was more strictly +watched than ever by Sir Amias Paulet, who was a harsh and inflexible +gaoler. On the 11th of October, Elizabeth's Commissioners arrived, the +great hall of the Castle having been previously fitted up as a court-room +for their reception. They would have proceeded with the trial immediately; +but a difficulty occurred, which, though they scarcely can have failed to +anticipate, they were not prepared to obviate. Mary refused to acknowledge +their jurisdiction, denying that they possessed any right either to +arraign or try her. "I am no subject to Elizabeth," she said, "but an +independent Queen as well as she; and I will consent to nothing unbecoming +the majesty of a crowned head. Worn out as my body is, my mind is not yet +so enfeebled as to make me forget what is due to myself, my ancestors, and +my country. Whatever the laws of England may be, I am not subject to them; +for I came into the realm only to ask assistance from a sister Queen, and +I have been detained an unwilling prisoner." For two days the +Commissioners laboured in vain to induce Mary to appear before them; and +as she assigned reasons for refusing, which it was impossible for fair +argument to invalidate, recourse was at length had to threats. They told +her that they would proceed with the trial, whether she consented to be +present or not; and that, though they were anxious to hear her +justification, they would nevertheless conclude that she was guilty, and +pronounce accordingly, if she refused to defend herself. It would have +been well had Mary allowed them to take their own way; but, conscious that +she was accused unjustly, she could not bear to think that she excited +suspicion, by refusing the opportunity of establishing her innocence. +Actuated by this honourable motive, she at length yielded, after solemnly +protesting that she did not, and never would, acknowledge the authority +which Elizabeth arrogated over her. + +On the 14th of October the trial commenced. The upper half of the great +hall of Fotheringay Castle was railed off, and at the higher end was +placed a chair of state, under a canopy, for the Queen of England. Upon +both sides of the room benches were arranged in order, where the Lord +Chancellor Bromley, the Lord Treasurer Burleigh, fourteen Earls, thirteen +Barons, and Knights and Members of the Privy Council, sat. In the centre +was a table, at which the Lord Chief Justice, several Doctors of the Civil +Law, Popham, the Queen's Attorney, her Solicitors, Sergeants and Notaries, +took their places. At the foot of this table, and immediately opposite +Elizabeth's chair of state, a chair, without any canopy, was placed for +the Queen of Scots. Behind, was the rail which ran across the hall, the +lower part of which was fitted up for the accommodation of persons who +were not in the commission.[190] + +There was never, perhaps, an occasion throughout the whole of Mary's life +on which she appeared to greater advantage than this. In the presence of +all the pomp, learning, and talent of England, she stood alone and +undaunted; evincing, in the modest dignity of her bearing, a mind +conscious of its own integrity, and superior to the malice of fortune. +Elizabeth's craftiest lawyers and ablest politicians were assembled to +probe her to the quick,--to press home every argument against her, which +ingenuity could devise and eloquence embellish,--to dazzle her with a +blaze of erudition, or involve her in a maze of technical perplexities. +Mary had no counsellor--no adviser--no friend. Her very papers, to which +she might have wished to refer, had been taken from her; and there was not +one to plead her cause, or defend her innocence. Yet was she not dismayed. +She knew that she had a higher Judge than Elizabeth; and that great as was +the array of Lords and Barons that appeared against her, posterity was +greater than they, and that to its decision all things would be finally +referred. Her bodily infirmities imparted only a greater lustre to her +mental pre-eminence; and not in all the fascinating splendor of her youth +and beauty--not on the morning of her first bridal day, when Paris rang +with acclamations in her praise--was Mary Stuart so much to be admired, as +when, weak and worn out, she stood calmly before the myrmidons of a rival +Queen, to hear and refute their unjust accusations, her eye radiant once +more with the brilliancy of earlier years, and the placid benignity of a +serene conscience, lending to her countenance its undying grace. + +Elizabeth's Attorney-General opened the pleadings. He began by referring +to the act of Parliament, in which it was made capital to be the person +_for_ whom any design was undertaken against the life of the Queen. He +then described the late conspiracy, and attempted to establish Mary's +connexion with it, by producing copies of letters which, he alleged, she +had written to Babington himself and several of his accomplices. To these +having added letters from Babington to her, and the declarations and +confessions which had been extorted from her secretaries, he asserted that +the case was made out, and wound up his speech with a laboured display of +legal knowledge and forensic oratory. + +Mary was now called upon for her defence; and she entered on it with +composure and dignity. She denied all connexion with Babington's +conspiracy, in so far as he entertained any designs injurious to +Elizabeth's safety or the welfare of her kingdom;--she allowed that the +letters which he was said to have addressed to her might be genuine, but +it had not been proved that she ever received them;--she maintained that +her own letters were all garbled or fabricated;[191] that as to the +confessions of her secretaries, they had been extorted by fear, and were +therefore not to be credited; but that, if they were in any particulars +true, these particulars must have been disclosed at the expense of the +oath of fidelity they had come under to her when they entered her service, +and that men who would perjure themselves in one instance were not to be +trusted in any;--she objected besides that they had not been confronted +with her according to an express law enacted in the thirteenth year of +Elizabeth's reign "that no one should be arraigned for intending the +destruction of the Prince's life, but by the testimony and oath of two +lawful witnesses, _to be produced face to face before him_;"--she +maintained, that even supposing she were to allow the authenticity of many +of the papers adduced against her, they would not prove her guilty of any +crime; for she was surely doing no wrong, if, after a calamitous captivity +of nineteen years, in which she had lost forever her youth, her health, +and her happiness, she made one last effort to regain the liberty of +which she had been so unfairly robbed; but that as to scheming against the +life of the Queen her sister, it was an infamy she abhored;--"I would +disdain," said she "to purchase all that is most valuable on earth by the +assasination of the meanest of the human race; and worn out, as I now am, +with cares and sufferings, the prospect of a crown is not so inviting that +I should ruin my soul in order to obtain it. Neither am I a stranger to +the feelings of humanity, nor unacquainted with the duties of religion, +and it is my nature to be more inclined to the devotion of Esther, than to +the sword of Judith. If ever I have given consent by my words, or even by +my thoughts, to any attempt against the life of the Queen of England, far +from declining the judgment of men, I shall not even pray for the mercy of +God."[192] + +Elizabeth's advocates were not a little surprised at the eloquent and able +manner in which Mary conducted her defence. They had expected to have +every thing their own way, and to gain an easy victory over one +unacquainted with the forms of legal procedure, and unable to cope with +their own professional talents. But they were disappointed and baffled; +and in order to maintain their ground even plausibly, they were obliged to +protract the proceedings for two whole days. Nor, after all, did the +Commissioners venture to pronounce judgment, but adjourned the court to +the Star-Chamber at Westminster, where they knew that Mary would not be +present, and where, consequently, they would have no opposition to +fear.[193] On the 25th of October, they assembled there, and having again +examined the Secretaries, Naw and Curl, who appear to have been persons of +little fidelity or constancy, and who confirmed their former declarations, +a unanimous judgment was delivered, that "Mary, commonly called Queen of +Scots and dowager of France, was accessary to Babington's conspiracy, and +had compassed and imagined divers matters within the realm of England, +tending to the hurt, death, and destruction of the royal person of +Elizabeth, in opposition to the statute framed for her protection."[194] + +Elizabeth ordered this verdict to be laid before her Parliament, which +assembled a few days afterwards; and, at Walsingham's instigation, its +legality was not only confirmed, but the Lord Chancellor was sent up with +an address to the Queen, in which, after stating their conviction that her +security was incompatible with Mary's life, they requested that she would +give the sentence effect, by ordering her immediate execution. Elizabeth, +though conscious that, if her personal safety had been endangered, she had +herself to blame, was rejoiced at the opportunity at length afforded her, +for gratifying her long cherished hatred. She affected, however, to be +greatly perplexed how to act. She declared that, if she were not afraid of +endangering the welfare of her people, she would freely pardon Mary for +all her treasonable practices, and she beseeched the House to endeavour to +discover some less severe method of procedure. The Parliament, as she +expected, replied firmly, that they could not recommend any more lenient +measure; and in the pedantic language of the day, called to Elizabeth's +remembrance the examples of God's vengeance upon Saul for sparing Agag, +and on Ahab for sparing Benhadad. Elizabeth still affected to be +irresolute; and indeed it was not unlikely that she was so in reality; +for, though anxious to have Mary removed, she was not so hardened and +insane as not to know, that however it might be sanctioned by the world, +murder was as criminal and as contrary to the unchanging code of moral +justice, when commanded by a Queen, as when perpetrated by a peasant. She +desired that her Parliament should be content for the present "with an +answer without an answer." "If I should say, that I will not do what you +request, I might say perhaps more than I intend; and if I should say I +will do it, I might plunge myself into as much inconvenience as you +endeavour to preserve me from." All this manoeuvring was for the purpose +of conveying to the nation an impression of her extreme sensibility, and +generous hesitation. + +Another reason why Elizabeth did not choose to be over-precipitate, was +her fear of giving any deadly offence to foreign courts. She ordered the +sentence against Mary to be published both throughout her own kingdom and +abroad, and she waited anxiously to observe the sensation which it should +create, and the steps that might be taken in consequence. She need not, +however, have given herself much uneasiness upon this score. Henry III. of +France had never been more than a very lukewarm advocate for the Queen of +Scots, and the remonstrances he occasionally made in her behalf, were +rather for the sake of appearances, than because he was anxious that they +should be successful. On the present occasion, startled by the imminence +of his cousin's danger, he seems to have been a little more in earnest, +and ordered his ambassador to make as forcible a representation as +possible against the iniquitous severity that was intended. But Elizabeth +knew that his rage would evaporate in words, and paid little attention to +the harangue. In Scotland, the young King, James, was surrounded by +ministers who had sold themselves to England, and Elizabeth was well +aware, that though he might bark, he dared not bite. Besides, the +sentiments regarding his mother, which had been carefully instilled into +him from his earliest years, were not such as were likely to inspire him +with any decided wish to protect and avenge her. He had been constantly +surrounded by her deadliest enemies, and the lesson which Buchanan taught +him daily, was a lesson of hatred towards his only surviving parent. His +succession also to the English crown, greatly depended on the friendship +of Elizabeth; and she was able, in consequence, to maintain an ascendancy +over him, which he dared not venture to resist. He was not, however, so +entirely destitute of all ordinary filial sentiments as to consent to +remain a quiet spectator of his mother's execution. "His opinion is," +said his worthless minion the Master of Gray, "that it cannot stand with +his honour to be a consenter to take his mother's life, but he does not +care how strictly she be kept; and is content that all her old knavish +servants should be hanged."[195] To prevent if possible a catastrophe +which "did not stand with his honour," he sent the Master of Gray and Sir +Robert Melville as his ambassadors to London, to press his objections upon +the attention of Elizabeth. The latter was true to the cause in which he +had been sent, and his remonstrances were vigorous and sincere. But Gray, +wishing to curry favour with Elizabeth, assured her that she had no cause +to fear the King's resentment, for he was of an irresolute character and +timid disposition, and that whatever might happen, he would never think of +embroiling himself in a disastrous war with England. Elizabeth listened +with evident satisfaction to these artful insinuations; and desired her +minister Walsingham, to inform the Scottish monarch, that Mary's doom was +already fixed by the decision of the nation, and that his mistress the +Queen had it not in her power to save her. James received this +intelligence with grief, but not with the spirit that became the only +child of Mary Stuart. Instead of putting himself at the head of an army, +and marching into the heart of England, he was contented to communicate +his mother's unfortunate condition to his subjects, and order prayers to +be said for her in all the churches,--"that it might please God to +enlighten her with the light of his truth, and to protect her from the +danger which was hanging over her." + +In the mean time, messengers had been sent to the Queen of Scots, to +report to her the sentence of the Commissioners, and to prepare her for +the consequences which might be expected to follow. So far from receiving +the news with dismay, Mary solemnly raised her hands to heaven, and +thanked God that she was so soon to be relieved from her troubles. They +were not yet, however, at a close; and even during the short remainder of +her life, she was to be still further insulted. Her keepers, Sir Amias +Paulet and Sir Drue Drury, refused any longer to treat her with the +reverence and respect due to her rank and sex. The canopy of state, which +she had always ordered to be put up in her apartment wherever she went, +was taken down, and every badge of royalty removed. It was intimated to +her, that she was no longer to be regarded as a Princess, but as a +criminal; and the persons who came into her presence stood before her +without uncovering their heads, or paying her any obeisance. The +attendance of a Catholic priest was refused, and an Episcopalian bishop +sent in his stead, to point out and correct the errors of her ways. Mary +bore all these indignities with a calm spirit, which rose superior to +them, and which proved their unworthiness, by bringing them into contrast +with her own elevation of mind. "In despite of your Sovereign and her +subservient judges," said she, "I will die a Queen. My royal character is +indelible, and I will surrender it with my spirit to the Almighty God, +from whom I received it, and to whom my honour and my innocence are fully +known."[196] In December 1586, she wrote her last letter to Elizabeth; and +though from an unfriended prisoner to an envied and powerful Sovereign, it +evinces so much magnanimity and calm consciousness of mental serenity, +that it is impossible to peruse it, without confessing Elizabeth's +inferiority, and Mary's triumph. It was couched in the following terms: + +"Madam, I thank God from the bottom of my heart, that, by the sentence +which has been passed against me, he is about to put an end to my tedious +pilgrimage. I would not wish it prolonged, though it were in my power, +having had enough of time to experience its bitterness. I write at present +only to make three last requests which, as I can expect no favour from +your implacable ministers, I should wish to owe to your Majesty, and to no +other. _First_, as in England, I cannot hope to be buried according to the +solemnities of the Catholic church, (the religion of the ancient Kings, +your ancestors and mine, being now changed,) and as in Scotland they have +already violated the ashes of my progenitors, I have to request, that, as +soon as my enemies have bathed their hands in my innocent blood, my +domestics may be allowed to inter my body in some consecrated ground; and, +above all, that they may be permitted to carry it to France, where the +bones of the Queen, my most honoured mother, repose. Thus, that poor +frame, which has never enjoyed repose so long as it has been joined to my +soul, may find it at last when they will be separated. _Second_, as I +dread the tyranny of the harsh men, to whose power you have abandoned me, +I entreat your Majesty that I may not be executed in secret, but in the +presence of my servants and other persons, who may bear testimony of my +faith and fidelity to the true church, and guard the last hours of my +life, and my last sighs from the false rumours which my adversaries may +spread abroad. _Third_, I request that my domestics, who have served me +through so much misery, and with so much constancy, may be allowed to +retire without molestation wherever they choose, to enjoy for the +remainder of their lives the small legacies which my poverty has enabled +me to bequeath to them. I conjure you, Madam, by the blood of Jesus +Christ, by our consanguinity, by the memory of Henry VII., our common +father, and by the royal title which I carry with me to death, not to +refuse me those reasonable demands, but to assure me, by a letter under +your own hand, that you will comply with them; and I shall then die as I +have lived, your affectionate sister and prisoner, MARY, Queen of +Scots."[197] + +Whether Elizabeth ever answered this letter, does not appear; but it +produced so little effect, that epistles from her to Sir Amias Paulet +still exist, which prove that, in her anxiety to avoid taking upon herself +the responsibility of Mary's death, she wished to have her privately +assassinated or poisoned. Paulet, however, though a harsh and violent man, +positively refused to sanction so nefarious a scheme. Yet in the very act +of instigating murder, Elizabeth could close her eyes against her own +iniquity, and affect indignation at the alleged offences of another.[198] +But perceiving at length, that no alternative remained, she ordered her +secretary Davidson to bring her the warrant for Mary's execution, and +after perusing it, she deliberately affixed her signature. She then +desired him to carry it to Walsingham, saying, with an ironical smile, and +in a "merry tone," that she feared he would die of grief when he saw it. +Walsingham sent the warrant to the Chancellor, who affixed the Great Seal +to it, and despatched it by Beal, with a commission to the Earls of +Shrewsbury, Kent, Derby, and others, to see it put in execution. Davidson +was afterwards made the victim of Elizabeth's artifice,--who, to complete +the solemn farce she had been playing, pretended he had obeyed her orders +too quickly, and doomed him in consequence to perpetual +imprisonment.[199] + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +MARY'S DEATH, AND CHARACTER. + + +On the 7th of February 1587, the Earls, who had been commissioned to +superintend Mary's execution, arrived at Fotheringay. After dining +together, they sent to inform the Queen, that they desired to speak with +her. Mary was not well, and in bed; but as she was given to understand +that it was an affair of moment, she rose, and received them in her own +chamber. Her six waiting maids, together with her physician, her surgeon, +and apothecary, and four or five male servants, were in attendance. The +Earl of Shrewsbury, and the others associated with him, standing before +her respectfully, with their heads uncovered, communicated, as gently as +possible, the disagreeable duty with which they had been intrusted. Beal +was then desired to read the warrant for Mary's execution, to which she +listened patiently; and making the sign of the cross, she said, that +though she was sorry it came from Elizabeth, she had long been expecting +the mandate for her death, and was not unprepared to die. "For many +years," she added, "I have lived in continual affliction, unable to do +good to myself or to those who are dear to me;--and as I shall depart +innocent of the crime which has been laid to my charge, I cannot see why I +should shrink from the prospect of immortality." She then laid her hand on +the New Testament, and solemnly protested that she had never either +devised, compassed, or consented to the death of the Queen of England. The +Earl of Kent, with more zeal than wisdom, objected to the validity of this +protestation, because it was made on a Catholic version of the Bible; but +Mary replied, that it was the version, in the truth of which she believed, +and that her oath should be therefore only the less liable to suspicion. +She was advised to hold some godly conversation with the Dean of +Peterborough, whom they had brought with them to console her; but she +declined the offer, declaring that she would die in the faith in which she +had lived, and beseeching them to allow her to see her Catholic Confessor, +who had been for some time debarred her presence. This however they in +their turn positively refused.[200] + +Other topics were introduced, and casually discussed. Before leaving the +world, Mary felt a natural curiosity to be informed upon several subjects +of public interest, which, though connected with herself, and generally +known, had not penetrated the walls of her prison. She asked if no foreign +princes had interfered in her behalf,--if her secretaries were still +alive,--if it was intended to punish them as well as her,--if they brought +no letters from Elizabeth or others,--and above all, if her son, the King +of Scotland, was well, and had evinced any interest in the fate of a +mother who had always loved and never wronged him. Being satisfied upon +these points, she proceeded to inquire when her execution was to take +place? Shrewsbury replied, that it was fixed for the next morning at +eight. She appeared startled and agitated for a few minutes, saying that +it was more sudden than she had anticipated, and that she had yet to make +her will, which she had hitherto deferred, in the expectation that the +papers and letters which had been forcibly taken from her, would be +restored. She soon, however, regained her self-possession; and informing +the Commissioners that she desired to be left alone to make her +preparations, she dismissed them for the night. + +During the whole of this scene, astonishment, indignation, and grief, +overwhelmed her attendants, all of whom were devoted to her. As soon as +the Earls and their retinue retired, they gave full vent to their +feelings, and Mary herself was the only one who remained calm and +undisturbed. Bourgoine, her physician, loudly exclaimed against the +iniquitous precipitancy with which she was to be hurried out of existence. +More than a few hours' notice was allowed, he said, to the very meanest +criminal; and to limit a Princess, with numerous connections both at home +and abroad, to so brief a space, was a degree of rigour which no guilt +could authorize. Mary told him, that she must submit with resignation to +her fate, and learn to regard it as the will of God. She then requested +her attendants to kneel with her, and she prayed fervently for some time +in the midst of them. Afterwards, while supper was preparing, she employed +herself in putting all the money she had by her into separate purses, and +affixed to each, with her own hand, the name of the person for whom she +intended it. At supper, though she sat down to table, she eat little. Her +mind, however, was in perfect composure; and during the repast, though she +spoke little, placid smiles were frequently observed to pass over her +countenance. The calm magnanimity of their mistress, only increased the +distress of her servants. They saw her sitting amongst them in her usual +health, and, with almost more than her usual cheerfulness, partaking of +the viands that were set before her; yet they knew that it was the last +meal at which they should ever be present together; and that the +interchange of affectionate service upon their part, and of condescending +attention and endearing gentleness on her's, which had linked them to her +for so many years, was now about to terminate for ever. Far from +attempting to offer her consolation, they were unable to discover any for +themselves. As soon as the melancholy meal was over, Mary desired that a +cup of wine should be given to her; and putting it to her lips, drank to +the health of each of her attendants by name. She requested that they +would pledge her in like manner; and each, falling on his knee, and +mingling tears with the wine, drank to her, asking pardon at the same +time, for all the faults he had ever committed. In the true spirit of +Christian humility, she not only willingly forgave them, but asked their +pardon also, if she had ever forgotten her duty towards them. She +beseeched them to continue constant to their religion, and to live in +peace and charity together, and with all men. The inventory of her +wardrobe and furniture was then brought to her; and she wrote in the +margin, opposite each article, the name of the person to whom she wished +it should be given. She did the same with her rings, jewels, and all her +most valuable trinkets; and there was not one of her friends or servants, +either present or absent, to whom she forgot to leave a memorial.[201] + +These duties being discharged, Mary sat down to her desk to arrange her +papers, to finish her will, and to write several letters. She previously +sent to her confessor, who, though in the Castle, was not allowed to see +her, entreating that he would spend the night in praying for her, and that +he would inform her what parts of Scripture he considered most suited for +her perusal at this juncture. She then drew up her last will and +testament; and without ever lifting her pen from the paper, or stopping at +intervals to think, she covered two large sheets with close writing, +forgetting nothing of any moment, and expressing herself with all that +precision and clearness which distinguished her style in the very happiest +moments of her life. She named as her four executors, the Duke of Guise, +her cousin-german; the Archbishop of Glasgow, her ambassador in France; +Lesley, Bishop of Ross; and Monsieur de Ruysseau, her Chancellor. She next +wrote a letter to her brother-in-law, the King of France, in which she +apologized for not being able to enter into her affairs at greater length, +as she had only an hour or two to live, and had not been informed till +that day after dinner that she was to be executed next morning. "Thanks be +unto God, however," she added, "I have no terror at the idea of death, +and solemnly declare to you, that I meet it innocent of every crime. The +bearer of this letter, and my other servants, will recount to you how I +comported myself in my last moments." The letter concluded with earnest +entreaties, that her faithful followers should be protected and rewarded. +Her anxiety on their account, at such a moment, indicated all that amiable +generosity of disposition, which was one of the leading features of Mary's +character.[202] About two in the morning, she sealed up all her papers and +said she would now think no more of the affairs of this world, but would +spend the rest of her time in prayer and commune with her own conscience. +She went to bed for some hours; but she did not sleep. Her lips were +observed in continual motion, and her hands were frequently folded and +lifted up towards Heaven.[203] + +On the morning of Wednesday the 8th of February, Mary rose with the break +of day; and her domestics, who had watched and wept all night immediately +gathered round her. She told them that she had made her will, and +requested that they would see it safely deposited in the hands of her +executors. She likewise beseeched them not to separate until they had +carried her body to France; and she placed a sum of money in the hands of +her physician to defray the expenses of the journey. Her earnest desire +was, to be buried either in the Church of St Dennis, in Paris, beside her +first husband Francis, or at Rheims, in the tomb which contained the +remains of her mother. She expressed a wish too, that, besides her friends +and servants, a number of poor people and children from different +hospitals should be present at her funeral, clothed in mourning at her +expense, and each, according to the Catholic custom, carrying in his hand +a lighted taper.[204] + +She now renewed her devotions, and was in the midst of them, with her +servants praying and weeping round her, when a messenger from the +Commissioners knocked at the door, to announce that all was ready. She +requested a little longer time to finish her prayers, which was granted. +As soon as she desired the door to be opened, the Sheriff, carrying in his +hand the white wand of office, entered to conduct her to the place of +execution. Her servants crowded round her, and insisted on being allowed +to accompany her to the scaffold. But contrary orders having been given by +Elizabeth, they were told that she must proceed alone. Against a piece of +such arbitrary cruelty they remonstrated loudly, but in vain; for as soon +as Mary passed into the gallery, the door was closed, and believing that +they were separated from her forever, the shrieks of the women and the +scarcely less audible lamentations of the men were heard in distant parts +of the castle. + +At the foot of the staircase leading down to the hall below, Mary was met +by the Earls of Kent and Shrewsbury; and she was allowed to stop to take +farewell of Sir Andrew Melvil, the master of her household, whom her +keepers had not allowed to come into her presence for some time before. +With tears in his eyes, Melvil knelt before her, kissed her hand, and +declared that it was the heaviest hour of his life. Mary assured him, that +it was not so to her. "I now feel, my good Melvil," said she, "that all +this world is vanity. When you speak of me hereafter, mention that I died +firm in my faith, willing to forgive my enemies, conscious that I had +never disgraced Scotland my native country, and rejoicing in the thought +that I had always been true to France, the land of my happiest years. Tell +my son," she added, and when she named her only child of whom she had been +so proud in his infancy, but in whom all her hopes had been so fatally +blasted, her feelings for the first time overpowered her, and a flood of +tears flowed from her eyes,--"tell my son that I thought of him in my last +moments, and that I have never yielded, either by word or deed, to aught +that might lead to his prejudice; desire him to preserve the memory of his +unfortunate parent, and may he be a thousand times more happy and more +prosperous than she has been." + +Before taking leave of Melvil, Mary turned to the Commissioners and told +them, that her three last requests were, that her secretary Curl, whom she +blamed less for his treachery than Naw, should not be punished; that her +servants should have free permission to depart to France; and that some of +them should be allowed to come down from the apartments above to see her +die. The Earls answered, that they believed the two former of these +requests would be granted; but that they could not concede the last, +alleging, as their excuse, that the affliction of her attendants would +only add to the severity of her sufferings. But Mary was resolved that +some of her own people should witness her last moments. "I will not submit +to the indignity," she said, "of permitting my body to fall into the hands +of strangers. You are the servants of a maiden Queen, and she herself, +were she here, would yield to the dictates of humanity, and permit some of +those who have been so long faithful to me to assist me at my death. +Remember, too, that I am cousin to your mistress, and the descendant of +Henry VII.; I am the Dowager of France, and the anointed Queen of +Scotland." Ashamed of any further opposition, the Earls allowed her to +name four male and two female attendants, whom they sent for, and +permitted to remain beside her for the short time she had yet to +live.[205] + +The same hall in which the trial had taken place, was prepared for the +execution. At the upper end was the scaffold, covered with black cloth, +and elevated about two feet from the floor. A chair was placed on it for +the Queen of Scots. On one side of the block stood two executioners, and +on the other, the Earls of Kent and Shrewsbury; Beal and the Sheriff were +immediately behind. The scaffold was railed off from the rest of the +hall, in which Sir Amias Paulet with a body of guards, the other +Commissioners, and some gentlemen of the neighbourhood, amounting +altogether to about two hundred persons, were assembled. Mary entered +leaning on the arm of her physician, while Sir Andrew Melvil carried the +train of her robe. She was in full dress, and looked as if she were about +to hold a drawing-room, not to lay her head beneath the axe. She wore a +gown of black silk, bordered with crimson velvet, over which was a satin +mantle; a long veil of white crape, stiffened with wire, and edged with +rich lace, hung down almost to the ground; round her neck was suspended an +ivory crucifix; and the beads which the Catholics use in their prayers, +were fastened to her girdle. The symmetry of her fine figure had long been +destroyed by her sedentary life; and years of care had left many a trace +on her beautiful features. But the dignity of the Queen was still +apparent; and the calm grace of mental serenity imparted to her +countenance at least some share of its former loveliness. With a composed +and steady step she passed through the hall, and ascended the +scaffold,--and as she listened unmoved, whilst Beal read aloud the warrant +for her death, even the myrmidons of Elizabeth looked upon her with +admiration.[206] + +Beal having finished, the Dean of Peterborough presented himself at the +foot of the scaffold, and with more zeal than humanity, addressed Mary on +the subject of her religion. She mildly told him, that as she had been +born, so she was resolved to die, a Catholic, and requested that he would +not annoy her any longer with useless reasonings. But finding that he +would not be persuaded to desist, she turned away from him, and falling on +her knees, prayed fervently aloud,--repeating, in particular, many +passages from the Psalms. She prayed for her own soul, and that God would +send his Holy Spirit to comfort her in the agony of death; she prayed for +all good monarchs, for the Queen of England, for the King her son, for her +friends, and for all her enemies. She spoke with a degree of earnest +vehemence, and occasional strength of gesticulation, which deeply affected +all who heard her. She held a small crucifix in her hands, which were +clasped, and raised to Heaven; and at intervals a convulsive sob choked +her voice. As soon as her prayers were ended, she prepared to lay her head +on the block. Her two female attendants, as they assisted her to remove +her veil and head-dress, trembled so violently that they were hardly able +to stand. Mary gently reproved them,--"Be not thus overcome," she said; "I +am happy to leave the world, and you also ought to be happy to see me die +so willingly." As she bared her neck, she took from around it a cross of +gold, which she wished to give to Jane Kennedy; but the executioner, with +brutal coarseness, objected, alleging that it was one of his perquisites. +"My good friend," said Mary, "she will pay you much more than its value;" +but his only answer was, to snatch it rudely from her hand. She turned +from him, to pronounce a parting benediction on all her servants, to kiss +them, and bid them affectionately farewell. Being now ready, she desired +Jane Kennedy to bind her eyes with a rich handkerchief, bordered with +gold, which she had brought with her for the purpose; and laying her head +upon the block, her last words were,--"O Lord, in thee I have hoped, and +into thy hands I commit my spirit." The executioner, either from a want of +skill, or from agitation, or because the axe he used was blunt, struck +three blows before he separated her head from her body. His comrade then +lifted the head by the hair, (which, falling in disorder, was observed to +be quite grey), and called out, "God save Elizabeth, Queen of England!" +The Earl of Kent added, "Thus perish all her enemies;"--but, overpowered +by the solemnity and horror of the scene, none were able to respond, +"Amen!"[207] + +Mary's remains were immediately taken from her servants, who wished to pay +them the last sad offices of affection, and were carried into an adjoining +apartment, where a piece of old green baize, taken from a billiard-table, +was thrown over that form which had once lived in the light of a nation's +eyes. It lay thus for some time; but was at length ordered to be embalmed, +and buried, with royal pomp, in the Cathedral at Peterborough,--a vulgar +artifice used by Elizabeth to stifle the gnawing remorse of her own +conscience, and make an empty atonement for her cruelty. Twenty-five years +afterwards, James VI. wishing to perform an act of tardy justice to the +memory of his mother, ordered her remains to be removed from Peterborough +to Henry VII.'s Chapel, in Westminster Abbey. A splendid monument was +there erected, adorned with an inscription, which, if it spoke truth, +James must have blushed with shame and indignation whenever he thought of +his mother's fate. + +Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, died in the forty-fifth year of her age. If +the events of her life have been faithfully recorded in the preceding +pages, the estimate which is to be formed of her character cannot be a +matter of much doubt. To great natural endowments,--to feelings +constitutionally warm,--and to a disposition spontaneously excellent, were +added all the advantages which education could confer or wealth purchase. +That she was one of the most accomplished and talented women of the age, +even her enemies allow. But talents do not always insure success, nor +accomplishments command happiness; and by few persons in the whole range +of history was this truth more fatally experienced than by Mary Stuart. At +first sight, her life and fate seem almost a paradox. That one upon whom +most of the common goods of fortune had been heaped with so lavish a +hand,--one who was born to the enjoyment of all the rank and splendour +which earth possesses,--one whose personal charms and fascinations +obtained for her an empire over the heart, more lasting and honourable +than that which her birth gave her over a nation,--that even she should +have lived to lament that she had ever beheld the light of day, is one of +those striking examples of the uncertainty of all human calculations +regarding happiness, which, while it inspires the commonest mind with +wonder, teaches a deeper lesson of philosophy to the wisely reflective. +Circumstances are not so much the slaves of men, as men are of +circumstances. Mary lived at an age, and in a country, which only rendered +her risk the greater the more exalted her station. In France, where +civilization had made more progress, she might perhaps have avoided the +evils which overtook her at home; but in Scotland, a Princess possessing +the refinement of a foreign court, and though with a large proportion of +the virtues and captivations of her sex, not entirely destitute of some of +its weaknesses, could hardly expect to cope with the turbulent spirit, the +fanatical enthusiasm, the semi-barbarous prejudices of the times, without +finding her own virtues immerged in the crowd of contending interests, and +the vortex of fierce passions that surrounded her. + +Mary's failings, almost without an exception, "leant to virtue's side." +They arose partly from too enthusiastic a temperament, and partly from a +want of experience. Although she lived forty-four years and two months, it +ought to be remembered that she was just twenty-five when she came into +England, and that all the most important events of her history happened +between sixteen and twenty-five. With feelings whose strength kept pace +with the unsuspicious generosity of her nature, Mary was one who, in an +especial manner, stood in need of experience, to teach what the world +calls wisdom. The great mass of mankind, endowed with no finer +susceptibilities, and influenced by no hidden impulses of soul or sense, +fall into the common track naturally and easily. But they whom heaven has +either cursed or blessed with minds, over which external circumstances +exercise a deeper sway, whose fancies are more vivid, and whose +impressions are more acute, require the aid of time to clip the wings of +imagination,--to cast a soberer shade over the glowing pictures of +hope,--and to teach the art of reducing an ideal standard of felicity and +virtue, to one less romantic, but more practical. Had she continued longer +in public life, there is every probability that the world would have been +forced to own, without a dissenting voice, the talent which Mary +possessed. In youth, genius is often indicated only by eccentricity and +imprudence; but its errors are errors of judgment, which have their origin +in an exuberance of sensibility. The sentiments of the heart have burst +forth into precocious blossom long before the reasoning faculties have +reached maturity. Her youth was Mary's chief misfortune, or rather it was +the source from which most of her misfortunes sprung. She judged of +mankind not as they were, but as she wished them to be. Conscious of the +sincerity of her own character, and the affectionate nature of her own +dispositions, she formed attachments too rashly, and trusted too +indiscriminately. She often found, when it was too late, that she had been +deceived; and the consequence was, that she became diffident of her own +judgment, and anxious to be guided by that of others. Here again, however, +she fell into an opposite extreme. In yielding, on her return to Scotland, +so implicitly to the counsels of Murray, she did what few queens, young +and flattered as she had been, would have done, and what, had she been +older, or more experienced, she ought not to have done. + +But the highest degree of excellence, both in the material and the moral +world, arises out of the skilful combination of many discordant elements. +Time must be allowed them to settle down into an harmonious arrangement; +and time is all that is required. Before the age of five-and-twenty, it is +not to be supposed that Mary's character had acquired that strength and +stability which it would afterwards have attained. Nor was it desirable +that it should; for an old head upon youthful shoulders is contrary to +nature, and the anomaly frequently ends with a youthful head upon old +shoulders. Mary was young--she was beautiful--she was admired--she was a +woman; and to expect to have found, in the spring-time of her life, the +undeviating consistency, and the cool calculations of riper years, would +have been to imagine her that "faultless monster whom the world ne'er +saw." But, considering the situation in which she was placed--the persons +by whom she was surrounded--the stormy temper of the age--the pious and +deep-rooted prejudices of her subjects against the creed which she +professed--the restless jealousy of the Sovereign who reigned over the +neighbouring and more powerful country of England--the unfortunate though +not precipitate marriage with Lord Darnley,--it may be very safely asked, +where there is to be found an example of so much moderation, prudence, and +success, in one so recently introduced to the arduous cares of government? +Had Mary been vain, headstrong, opinionative, and bigotted, she would +never have yielded, as she did, to the current of popular opinion which +then ran so tumultuously;--she would never have condescended to +expostulate with Knox,--she would never have been ruled by Murray,--she +would never have so easily forgiven injuries and stifled resentments. She +was in truth only too facile. She submitted too tamely to the insolence of +Knox; she was too diffident of herself, and too willing to be swayed by +Murray; she was too ready to pardon those who had given her the justest +cause of offence; she was too candid and open, too distrustful of her own +capacity, too gentle, too generous, and too engaging. + +But if her faults consisted only in an excess of amiable qualities, or in +those strong feelings which, though properly directed, were not always +properly proportioned, the question naturally occurs, why the Queen of +Scots should have suffered so much misery? "To say that she was always +unfortunate," observes Robertson, "will not account for that long and +almost uninterrupted succession of calamities which befel her; we must +likewise add, that she was often imprudent." Here the historian first +mistates the fact, and then draws an inference from that mistatement. No +"long and uninterrupted succession of calamities" befel Mary. She +experienced an almost unparalleled reverse of fortune, but that reverse +was sudden and complete. She sunk at once from a queen into a +captive,--from power to weakness,--from splendor to obscurity. So long as +she was permitted to be the arbitress of her own fortune, she met and +overcame every difficulty; but when lawless and ambitious men wove their +web around her, she was caught in it, and could never again escape from +its meshes. Had she stumbled on from one calamity to another, continuing +all the while a free agent, Robertson's remark would have been just. But +such was not her case;--the morning saw her a queen, and the evening found +her a captive. The blow was as sudden as it was decisive; and her future +life was an ineffectual struggle to escape from the chains which had been +thrown round her in a moment, and which pressed her irresistibly to the +ground. A calamity which no foresight could anticipate, or prudence avert, +may overtake the wisest and the best; and such to Mary was the murder of +Darnley, and Bothwell's subsequent treason and violence. If to these be +added the scarcely less iniquitous conduct of Elizabeth, the treachery of +Morton, the craftiness of Murray, and the disastrous defeat at Langside, +it needs no research or ingenuity to discover, that her miseries were not +of her own making. + +Should a still more comprehensive view of this subject be taken, and the +whole life of the Queen of Scots reviewed, from her birth to her death, it +will be found that, however great her advantages, they were almost always +counterbalanced by some evil, which necessarily attended or sprung out of +them. She was a queen when only a few months old; but she was also an +orphan. She was destined, from her earliest childhood, to be the wife of +the future monarch of France; but she was, in consequence, taken away from +her native country, and the arms of her mother. The power and talents of +her uncles of Guise were constantly exerted in her behalf; but she shared, +therefore, in the hatred and jealousy in which they were held by a +numerous party, both at home and abroad. Her residence and education, at +the Court of Henry II., insured the refinement of her manners and the +cultivation of her mind; but it excited the suspicions and the fears of +the people of Scotland. She was beautiful even to a proverb; but her +beauty obtained for her as much envy as praise. She possessed the heart of +her husband Francis; but she only felt his loss the more acutely. She +returned to her own kingdom as the Queen-dowager of France; but her power +and her pretensions made the English dread, and did not prevent her +heretical subjects from openly braving, her authority. She married Darnley +in the hopes of brightening her prospects, and securing her happiness; but +he was the main cause of overclouding the one, and destroying the other. +She was freed, by his death, from the wayward caprices of his ill-governed +temper; but she escaped from one yoke only to be forced into another a +thousand times worse. She loved her brother, and loaded him with favours; +but he repaid them by placing himself upon her throne, and chasing her +from the country. She escaped into England; but there she met with +reproaches instead of assistance, a prison instead of an asylum, a mortal +enemy instead of a sister, an axe and a scaffold instead of sympathy and +protection.[208] + +Mary's misfortunes, therefore, may be safely asserted not to have been the +result of her imprudence or her errors. But justice is not satisfied with +this merely negative praise. The Queen of Scots was one who needed only to +have been prosperous, to be in the eyes of the world all that was great +and good. And though the narrow-minded are only too ready, at all times, +to triumph over the fallen, and to fancy, that where there is misery +there is also guilt, they must nevertheless own, that there are some whose +character only rises the higher, the more it is tried. If, on the one +hand, the temptations to which Mary was exposed be duly considered,--her +youth,--the prejudices of her education,--and the designing ministers by +whom she was surrounded;--and, on the other, her conduct towards the +Reformers, towards her enemies, towards her friends, towards all her +subjects,--the deliberate judgment of calm impartiality, not of hasty +enthusiasm, must be, that illustrious as her birth and rank were, she +possessed virtues and talents which not only made her independent of the +former, but raised her above them. In her better days, the vivacity and +sweetness of her manners, her openness, her candour, her generosity, her +polished wit, her extensive information, her cultivated taste, her easy +affability, her powers of conversation, her native dignity and grace, were +all conspicuous, though too little appreciated by the less refined +frequenters of the Scottish Court. Nor did she appear to less advantage in +the season of calamity. On the contrary, she had an opportunity of +displaying in adversity a fortitude and nobility of soul, which she +herself might not have known that she possessed, had she been always +prosperous. Her piety and her constancy became more apparent in a prison +than on a throne; and of none could it be said more truly than of +her,--"_ponderibus virtus innata resistit_." In the glory of victory and +the pride of success, it is easy for a conquering monarch to float down +the stream of popularity; but it is a far more arduous task to gain a +victory over the natural weaknesses of one's own nature, and, in the +midst of sufferings, to triumph over one's enemies. Mary did this; and was +a thousand times more to be envied, when kneeling at her solitary +devotions in the Castle of Fotheringhay, than Elizabeth surrounded with +all the heartless splendor of Hampton Court. As she laid her head upon the +block, the dying graces threw upon her their last smiles; and the sublime +serenity of her death was an argument in her favour, the force of which +must be confessed by incredulity itself. Mary was not destined to obtain +the crown of England, but she gained instead the crown of martyrdom.[209] + +"Many of us," said the Archbishop of Bruges, who was appointed to preach +Mary's funeral sermon in the church of Notre Dame at Paris, "Many of us +have seen in this very place the Queen whom we now deplore, on her bridal +morning and in her royal robes, so resplendent with jewels, that they +shone like the light of day, or like her own beauty, which was more +resplendent still. Nothing was to be discovered around or within but +embroidered hangings, and cloth of gold, and precious tapestry, and +couches and thrones occupied by kings and queens, and princes and nobles, +who had come from all parts to be present at the festival. In the palace +were magnificent banquets, and pageants, and masquerades; in the streets +and squares, joustings, tournaments, and processions. It seemed as if the +overwhelming brilliancy of our age was destined to surpass the richest +pomp of every preceding age,--even the times when Greece and Rome were in +all their splendor. A brief space has passed away like a cloud, and we +have seen _her_ a captive whom we saw in triumph,--a prisoner, who set the +prisoners free,--poor, who gave away so liberally,--disdained, who was the +fountain of honour. We have seen _her_, who was a two-fold Queen, in the +hands of a common executioner, and that fair form, which graced the +nuptial couch of the greatest monarch in Christendom, dishonoured on a +scaffold. We have seen that loveliness, which was one of the wonders of +the world, broken down by long captivity, and at length effaced by an +ignominious death. If this fatal reverse teaches the uncertainty and +vanity of all human things, the patience and incomparable fortitude of the +Queen we have lost, also teach a more profitable lesson, and afford a +salutary consolation. Every new calamity gave her an opportunity of +gaining a new victory, and of evincing new proofs of her piety and +constancy. It seems certain, indeed, that Providence made her affliction +conspicuous, only to make her virtue more conspicuous. Others leave to +their successors the care of building monuments, to preserve their name +from oblivion; but the life and death of this lady are her monument. +Marble, and brass, and iron decay, or are devoured by rust; but in no age, +however long the world may endure, will the memory of Mary Stuart, Queen +of Scots, and Dowager of France, cease to be cherished with affection and +admiration."[210] + + + + +AN EXAMINATION OF THE LETTERS, SONNETS, AND OTHER WRITINGS, ADDUCED IN +EVIDENCE AGAINST MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. + + O place and greatness! millions of false eyes + Are stuck upon thee! Volumes of report + Run with these false and most contrarious guests + Upon thy doings! Thousand 'scapes of wit + Make thee the father of their idle dream, + And rack thee in their fancies.---- + SHAKESPEARE. + + +Considering the very opposite opinions which have been long entertained, +regarding the character and conduct of the Queen of Scots, no memoirs of +her life would be complete, that did not contain some examination of the +evidence upon which they who believe her guilty principally rest their +conviction. This evidence consists of eight Letters, eleven Love-Sonnets, +and one Marriage Contract, all alleged to have been written in the Queen's +own hand, and addressed to the Earl of Bothwell. In corroboration of +these, another Contract, said to have been written by the Earl of Huntly, +and signed by the Queen; and the Confessions and Depositions of some of +the persons who were known to be implicated in Bothwell's guilt, were +likewise produced. Of the Letters, two were supposed to have been written +from Glasgow, at the time Mary went thither to visit Darnley when he was +ill, and are intended to prove her criminal connection with Bothwell; two +or three from the Kirk-of-Field, for the purpose of facilitating the +arrangements regarding the murder; and the rest after that event, and +before her abduction, to show that the whole scheme of the pretended +ravishment was preconcerted between them. The precise time at which it is +pretended the Sonnets were composed, does not appear; but expressions in +them prove, that it must have been posterior to the Queen's residence at +Dunbar. The Contract of Marriage, in Mary's own hand, though without date, +must have been written very soon after Darnley's death, and contained a +promise never to marry any one but Bothwell. The Contract, said to be in +Huntly's hand, was dated at Seton, the 5th of April 1567, eight weeks +after Darnley's death, a week before Bothwell's trial and acquittal, and +three weeks before he was divorced from his first wife. The Confessions +and Depositions are various, but only in one or two of them is any +allusion made to Mary. The Letters, Sonnets, and Contracts, were said to +have been discovered in a small gilt coffer, which the Earl of Bothwell +left in the Castle of Edinburgh, in the custody of Sir James Balfour, at +the time he fled from Edinburgh to Borthwick, about a month after his +marriage, and shortly before the affair at Carberry Hill. After his +discomfiture there, he is stated to have sent his servant, Dalgleish, into +Edinburgh from Dunbar, to demand the coffer from Balfour. Sir James, it +was said, delivered it up, but at the same time gave intimation to the +Earl of Morton, who seized Dalgleish, and made himself master of the box +and its contents. The Letters and Sonnets, which were written in French, +were afterwards all translated into Scotch, and three into Latin. + +Anxious to put beyond a doubt, either the forgery or the authenticity of +these writings, numerous authors have exercised their ingenuity and +talents, in a most minute and laborious examination, not only of their +leading features, but of every line, and almost of every word. It would +seem, however, not to be necessary, in so far as the great interests of +truth are concerned, to descend to such microscopic investigation, and +tedious verbal criticism, as have extended pages into volumes, and +rendered confused and tiresome, disquisitions which might otherwise have +been simple and interesting. If Mary's innocence is to be established, it +must not be by the discovery of petty inconsistencies, or trifling +inaccuracies. If her guilt is to be proved, the impartial reader is not to +be satisfied with vague suspicions or ingenious suggestions, but must have +a body of evidence set before him, which, if it does not amount to actual +demonstration, contains a circumstantial strength equally calculated to +convince. + +It may be observed, at the outset, that unless the conclusions, to which +these writings would lead, be corroborated by the established facts of +History, it cannot be expected that a great deal of weight will be +attached to them. Besides, it must not be forgotten, that as the originals +have been lost, it is by means of translations alone that their alleged +contents are known to the world. Upon their authority, Mary is accused of +having first committed adultery, and then murder. Whatever opinion may +have been formed of her from her behaviour during the rest of her +existence,--however gentle her dispositions may have appeared,--however +strong her sense of the distinction between right and wrong,--however +constant her religious principles,--however wise her government,--however +excellent the culture of her mind,--if the letters are to be credited, the +whole was either hypocrisy from beginning to end, or, (overcome by some +sudden impulse,) a year of gross criminality was introduced into the very +middle of a well spent life. If she made so rapid a descent into a career +of vice, she as rapidly rose again; and reassuming the character she had +laid aside, lived and died with the purity of a saint, and the fortitude +of a martyr. It cannot therefore be upon slight grounds that evidence so +fatal to her reputation is to be admitted; and there will be little +necessity to engage in minute cavilling, or to enter upon points of minor +importance, if, by a distinct statement of some of the leading arguments +against its authenticity, the whole shall be made to appear nugatory, +improbable, and unentitled to credit. + +The evidences naturally divide themselves into the two heads of +_external_ and _internal_; and, without further preface, it will be best +to consider these in succession. + +THE EXTERNAL EVIDENCES.--It was on the 20th of June 1567, that Dalgleish +was seized, with the box and writings. The official account given by +Buchanan is,--"That in the Castle of Edinburgh there was left by the Earl +Bothwell, before his flying away, and was sent for by one George +Dalgleish, his servant, who was taken by the Earl of Morton, a small gilt +coffer, not fully a foot long, being garnished in sundry places with the +Roman letter F, under a king's crown, wherein were certain letters and +writings well known, and by oaths, to be affirmed to have been written +with the Queen of Scots own hand, to the Earl of Bothwell."[211] The +question to be decided is, whether these letters and writings are genuine, +or whether they can be proved to be fabrications? That the latter is the +correct conclusion, appears on the following grounds. + +_First_, The conduct of Murray, Morton, and others of the Scottish +nobility, on various occasions, proves that ambition was the ruling +passion of their lives. Murray's iniquitous extermination of the Gordons +in 1562, the influence he afterwards exercised in Mary's councils, and his +unjustifiable opposition to her marriage with Darnley, carried even the +length of open rebellion, illustrate his character no less clearly, than +the share he had in the murder of Rizzio, and his proceedings after the +meeting at Carberry Hill, do that of Morton. A train of events, arising +out of the audacious machinations of Bothwell, placed Mary at the disposal +of men thus devoted to the attainment of power. Yielding to their +irresistible desire to secure its possession, they first imprisoned, and +then dethroned their sovereign. She escaped from their hands, and, though +driven from the country, threatened to return with foreign aid, to place +herself at the head of her own party, which was still powerful, and to +force from them their usurped authority. The urgency of the case called +for a bold and decisive remedy. If Mary could prove, as there was no doubt +she could, that, according to all the facts yet before the world, she had +suffered severely and unjustly, they must either fall upon some means to +vindicate their own actions, or be ruined for ever. Nothing would more +naturally suggest itself than the expedient they adopted. The circumstance +of Mary having been actually married to the man who murdered her former +husband, opened a door to the very worst suspicions; and if they could +artfully conceal the events which led to the marriage, and which not only +justified it, but made it a matter of necessity, they hoped still to +retain possession of the government. They were aware, indeed, that by +their own proclamations and acts of council, they had acknowledged Mary's +innocence, and pointed out the real cause of her connection with Bothwell; +and it was now not enough, after they had involved themselves in deeper +responsibility, merely to retract their former allegations. They were +called upon to show _why_ they departed from them;--they were called upon +to prove, that when they first imprisoned her, though they confessed the +Queen was innocent, they were now satisfied she was guilty. There was a +positive necessity for the appearance of the letters; and if they had not +been fortunately discovered, just at the proper time, Murray and his +colleagues must either have had recourse to some other expedient, or have +consented to Mary's restoration, and their own disgrace. + +_Second_, That Mary may have written love-letters to Francis II., and to +Darnley, before and after she was married to them, is not unlikely; that +she wrote sonnets and letters of affection to many of her friends, both +male and female, is beyond a doubt; but that she would ever have written +such letters and sonnets to the Earl of Bothwell, whom she never loved, +whom she at one time threw into prison, and at another sent into +banishment, whom she knew to be a married man, and whose marriage she had +herself countenanced and encouraged, is against all probability. If +Bothwell had never become Mary's husband, history does not record one +circumstance, which would at all lead to the belief, that she was attached +to him. Her very marriage, when fairly and fully considered, only makes +the fact more certain, that she had no regard for Bothwell, else there +would have been no forcible abduction on his part, or pretended reluctance +on hers. Even though she had consented to marry Bothwell, which the +clearest evidence proves her not to have done, it would afford no +presumption against her, that he was afterwards discovered to have been +the murderer of Darnley. He had not only been legally acquitted, but all +her chief nobility had recommended him to her as a husband, stating the +grounds of their recommendation to be the high opinion they entertained of +his worth and loyalty. Robertson, Laing, and others, it is true, copying +Buchanan, have laboured to show, that Mary discovered in various ways her +extreme partiality for Bothwell. Most of their arguments have been already +considered elsewhere; but it will be worth while attending for a moment to +such of the circumstances collected by Robertson, and drawn up in +formidable array, in the "Critical Dissertation" subjoined to his History +of Scotland, as have not yet been noticed. The answers and explanations +which immediately suggest themselves are so entirely satisfactory, that we +can only wonder the historian did not himself perceive them. + +Robertson states, that on the 15th of February 1567, five days after the +murder, Mary bestowed on Bothwell the reversion of the superiority of the +town of Leith, and that this grant was of much importance, as it gave him +both the command of the principal port in the kingdom, and a great +ascendancy over the citizens of Edinburgh. But this assignation, as is +expressly stated in the charter, was made to Bothwell as a reward for his +faithful services, both to Mary's mother and to herself, especially on the +occasion of Rizzio's death, and must have been in contemplation for some +time; nor can it be supposed to have occupied the Queen's thoughts, at a +moment when she was refusing to see any one, and was shut up by herself in +a dark room, a prey to the bitterest regrets. It ought to be recollected, +besides, that she had not yet conferred on Bothwell any adequate +recompense for his fidelity and exertions after her escape from Morton; +and that the grant of the superiority of the town of Leith, was only a +very tardy acknowledgment of her obligations. She made presents of a +similar description to others of her nobility about the same time: if any +of them had afterwards forced her into a marriage, these gifts might have +been raked up with equal plausibility, to prove that she was then in love +with Morton, Huntly, Secretary Maitland, or any body else. At the +Parliament which assembled on the 14th of April 1567, ratifications of +grants were passed to many of the principal persons in the realm; and +among others to the Earl of Mar, Morton, Crawford, Caithness, and Lord +Robert Stuart.[212] It will not be asserted, that Mary was attached to any +of these persons; and is there any thing wonderful that she included in +the list of those to whom she made donations, her Lord High Admiral? The +case, no doubt, would have been worse, had she known that Bothwell was the +murderer of Darnley, but throughout the whole of this discussion, it must +be remembered, that if Mary was really innocent, she could not believe +Bothwell guilty till he had been actually proved so. + +Robertson states further, that two days after the trial, Mary allowed +Bothwell to carry the sceptre before her when she went to open the +Parliament; that she there granted him a ratification of all the vast +possessions and honours which she had conferred upon him; and that, when +Sir James Melville warned her of the danger which would attend a marriage +with that nobleman, she not only disregarded his admonition, but +discovered to Bothwell what had passed. But, as to the carrying of the +sceptre, it was surely not to be expected, that after a full acquittal, +without even the shadow of evidence being advanced against him, Mary could +have ventured to refuse his accustomed honours to the most powerful noble +in the realm. As to the Parliamentary ratification of "all the vast +possessions and honours which she had conferred upon him," the +misrepresentation is glaring in the extreme; for she never conferred on +Bothwell any vast possessions and honours, and the ratification alluded +only to certain lands which were given him, to defray his charges in +keeping the Castle of Dunbar.[213] Bothwell no doubt enjoyed "vast +possessions and honours;" but they were mostly hereditary, or had been +obtained by him before Mary came into the kingdom. And as to the manner in +which Mary took Sir James Melville's warning,--the facts were these:--Sir +James received a letter out of England, from a person of the name of +Bishop, telling him that it had been rumoured (and there is no wonder, +considering the bond which had been previously obtained from the nobility) +that Bothwell was to be married to her Majesty, and assuring him, that if +she consented to such an alliance, it would be much against her own +reputation and interest. When Sir James showed this letter to Mary, she +immediately sent, not for Bothwell, but for Secretary Maitland, to whom +she handed it, expressing her surprise at its contents, and her suspicion +that it was only a device on the part of some of Bothwell's enemies, who +wished to ruin him in her estimation. She afterwards took an opportunity +to speak of it to Bothwell himself, who affected to be highly indignant, +and was so enraged against Melville, that, had not Mary interfered, he +would have forced him to fly from the Court to save his life. Bothwell's +rage is easily accounted for, considering the designs he then had in view, +and the necessity for concealing them. But had he known that Mary was +disposed to favour them, he would of course have taken the whole matter +much more coolly. When Melville came upon the subject with Mary, she +assured him that she did not contemplate any such alliance, and she had in +like manner previously told Lord Herries, that "there was no such thing in +her mind."[214] If deductions like those of Robertson, so contrary to the +premises on which they are founded, be allowed, it is impossible to say to +what belief they may not be made to lead. + +Robertson states, lastly, that even after Mary had been separated from +Bothwell, and confined in Loch-Leven, her affection for him did not abate; +and that the fair conclusion from all these circumstances is, that had +Mary really been accessory to the murder of her husband, "she could +scarcely have taken any other steps than those she took, nor could her +conduct have been more repugnant to all the maxims of prudence or of +decency." But that Mary's affection for a man she had never loved, +continued after she had left him to his fate, at Carberry Hill, and gone +publicly over in the face of the whole world to his bitterest enemies, (on +whose authority alone Robertson's assertion is made, though expressly +contradicted by their own previous declarations, as well as by Mary's +statements whenever she regained her liberty), is not to be believed; and +had she been really innocent, "she could scarcely have taken any other +steps than those she took," nor could her conduct have been more accordant +with all the maxims of prudence and propriety. + +_Third_, Supposing Mary to have actually written the letters to Bothwell, +it may very fairly be asked,--Why he was so imprudent as preserve +them?--why he chose to keep only eight?--why he put them all into the same +box?--and why he should ever have intrusted that box to the custody of Sir +James Balfour? It is extremely difficult to answer satisfactorily any of +these questions. The only explanation which the first admits of, is, that +Bothwell was afraid lest Mary should afterwards quarrel with him, and +resolved therefore not to destroy the evidence of her participation in the +murder. But if he acted upon this principle, why did he limit himself to a +collection of eight letters? If Mary ever corresponded with him at all, he +must have had in his possession many more of her epistles; for the first +of the series which has been preserved, is evidently not the letter of one +commencing a correspondence, but of one who writes as a matter of course, +to a person whom she has often written to before. It may be said, perhaps, +that none of her previous letters bore upon the subject of Darnley's +murder; but they must at all events have contained expressions of +affection, which would have served as an indirect proof of her guilt. If, +by preserving these documents, and running the risk of their falling into +the hands of his enemies, who would so eagerly use them to his +disadvantage, Bothwell thought he was choosing the least of two dangers, +he would certainly have been anxious to make his evidence of Mary's +connexion with him as full and complete as possible. Accordingly, some +love-sonnets, and a contract of marriage, were said to have been put into +the same box, but only eight letters; as if, during the whole course of +his amour with the Queen, and all its anxious days and nights, she had +limited herself to eight epistolary testimonials of her love. But having +preserved them, and having limited their number to eight, and having +chosen to put them, not into a strong iron box locked and pad-locked, of +which he alone kept the key, but into a "small gilt coffer" which never +belonged to him at all, but had been a gift to Mary from her first husband +Francis,--why was he so very absurd as send them to Sir James Balfour in +the Castle of Edinburgh, at the very time that a rebellion was rising in +the nation, and that he was beginning to suspect Balfour's fidelity? They +were sent, we are informed, "before his flying away" from Edinburgh, in +the beginning of June 1567. Was this the moment at which he would be +disposed to part with writings he had so carefully treasured? If he was +afraid that his enemies would advance upon Edinburgh, why did he not take +the "small gilt coffer" with him to Dunbar, instead of sending it to the +very place where it was sure to become their prey? If the letters were in +truth forged, it was necessary for the forgers to concoct as plausible a +story concerning them as possible. They knew it was not likely that +Bothwell would send them to the Castle tied up as an open packet; and the +idea of a box would therefore occur to them. But as they had not in their +possession any box which belonged to Bothwell, they were forced to make +use of what they could get; and finding at Holyrood, when they rifled the +palace of most of the Queen's valuables, the coffer in question, they +would readily avail themselves of it. It would further occur to them, that +Bothwell could not be supposed to have left the letters at Holyrood, which +was not a place of any strength; and as they had not followed him to +Dunbar, they were obliged to give out that he had made the Castle of +Edinburgh their hiding-place. But if the letters had not been forgeries, +and if they had been really preserved by Bothwell, they would have been +more numerous,--they would not have been kept in one of Mary's +trinket-boxes,--and they would never have found their way out of his own +hands into the custody of Sir James Balfour. + +_Fourth_, The next improbability connected with this story, is, that +Bothwell sent to reclaim the letters at the time alleged. On the 15th of +September 1568, Murray, before going into England, to attend the +conference at York, gave the Earl of Morton a receipt for the "silver box, +overgilt with gold, with all missive letters, contracts or obligations for +marriage, sonnets or love ballads, and all other letters contained +therein, sent and passed betwixt the Queen and James, sometime Earl +Bothwell; which box, and whole pieces within the same, were taken and +found with umwhile George Dalgleish, servant to the said Earl Bothwell, +upon the 20th day of June, in the year of God 1567."[215] This, then, was +exactly five days after Bothwell had fled from Carberry Hill, and when +Edinburgh was in the possession of the opposite faction, with whom Sir +James Balfour had now associated himself. Dalgleish, it appears, who was +well known to be a servant of Bothwell, was able not only to effect an +entrance into Edinburgh, though the city was strictly guarded, but was +received into the Castle, and had the box actually delivered to him by +Balfour. How he happened to be afterwards discovered, and his property +taken from him, is not made out. If Balfour privately intimated to Morton +what he had done, then he at once acted knavishly towards Bothwell, and +most inconsiderately towards those whom he wished to befriend; for +Dalgleish might have either baffled pursuit, or he might have secreted the +box, or destroyed its contents before he was taken. Thus we have a tissue +of improbabilities, pervading the whole of this part of the narrative. +Bothwell could never send to Edinburgh Castle for writings he would never +have deposited there: and most especially he would never send, when he +himself was a fugitive, and that fortress, along with the adjacent town, +in the hands of his enemies. Nor would Balfour have surrendered a box so +precious; nor, if he did, would Dalgleish have allowed it again to become +the prey of those from whom it was most wished to conceal it. + +_Fifth_, What was done with the letters immediately after Morton and the +other Lords got possession of them? Bothwell had been already accused of +the murder of Darnley; his former acquittal had been declared unjust; he +had been separated from the Queen; and she herself had been sequestrated +in Loch-Leven, until the whole affair should be duly investigated. Surely, +then, the discovery of these letters would be regarded with signal +satisfaction, and the associated Lords would lose not a moment in +announcing their existence to the nation, as the best justification of +their own proceedings. They had sent Mary, it is true, to Loch-Leven, +somewhat precipitately, five days before they were aware of her enormous +guilt; but if their own ambition had prompted that step, they would now be +able to free themselves from blame, and would silence at once the boldest +of the Queen's defenders. As it appears by the records, that a meeting of +Privy Council was held on the 21st of June, the very day after Dalgleish +was seized, we shall surely find that all the papers were produced, and +their contents impressively recorded in the Council-books. Nothing of the +kind took place; and though Morton was present at the meeting, not a +single word was said of the letters.[216] Again, on the 26th of June, an +act was passed for sanctioning the imprisonment of the Queen in +Loch-Leven, and a proclamation issued for apprehending the Earl of +Bothwell; but though the latter was accused of having "treasonably +ravished" the person of her Highness the Queen, and also of being the +"principal author of the late cruel murder," no hint was given of the +evidence which had been recently discovered against him, and which, +indeed, had it been in their possession, would have directly contradicted +the assertion, that Bothwell had been guilty Of "treasonable ravishment," +or of keeping the Queen in "thraldom and bondage;" for it would have +appeared, that he had obtained her previous consent for every thing he had +done.[217] Between this date and the 11th of July, several other meetings +of Council were held, and acts published, but not a whisper was heard +concerning these important letters. When Sir Nicolas Throckmorton was sent +by Elizabeth, as her ambassador into Scotland, the Lords presented him, on +the 11th of July, with a formal justification of their doings; but, in all +that long and laboured paper, the letters were never once alluded to. On +the contrary, in direct opposition to them, such passages as the following +occur more than once:--"How shamefully the Queen, our Sovereign, was led +captive, and, by fear, force, and (as by many conjectures may be well +suspected) other extraordinary and more unlawful means, compelled to +become bed-fellow to another wife's husband, and to him who, not three +months before, had in his bed most cruelly murdered her husband, is +manifest to the world, to the great dishonour of her Majesty, us all, and +this whole nation."--"It behoved us, assuredly, to have recommended the +soul of our Prince, and of the most part of ourselves, to God's hands; +and as we may firmly believe the soul also of our Sovereign the Queen, +who should not have lived with him half a year to an end, as may be +conjectured by the short time they lived together, and the maintaining of +his other wife at home in his house."--"The respects aforesaid, with many +others, and very necessity, moved us to enterprise the quarrel we have in +hand, which was only intended against the Earl of Bothwell's person, to +dissolve the dishonourable and unlawful conjunction under the name of +marriage."[218] These are positive declarations, which not only bear no +reference to the box of love-letters, but which deliberately and +conclusively give the lie to their contents. When was it, then, that these +momentous letters were introduced to the world? The Lords, not satisfied +with "sequestrating the person" of the Queen, forced from her an +abdication of her throne on the 25th of July. Surely, before venturing on +so audacious a proceeding, these criminal writings would be made known to +the country. But no; we in vain expect to hear any thing of +them;--"shadows, clouds, and darkness" still rest upon them. + +At length, a fresh actor returned to that scene, in which he had formerly +played with so much success; and _his_ inventive genius brought the +mystery to light. Early in August, the Earl of Murray rejoined his old +associates; and on the 22d of that month, he was proclaimed Regent. It was +necessary for him, shortly afterwards, to hold a Parliament; and the +Queen's party being then almost as strong as his own, it was still more +necessary for him to fall upon some means to justify his usurpation, as +well as those severe proceedings against Mary to which he had given his +sanction. Accordingly, after he had been in Scotland four months, and had +cautiously prepared his body of written evidence, we find it mentioned, +_for the first time_, in an act of Council, passed on the 4th of December, +only ten days before the meeting of Parliament, and evidently in +anticipation of that event. In this act it is expressly declared, "that +the cause and occasion of the private conventions of the Lords, Barons and +others, and consequently their taking of arms, and coming to the field, +and the cause and occasion of the taking of the Queen's person, upon the +15th day of June last, and holding and detaining of the same within the +house and place of Loch Leven, continually since, presently, and in all +time coming, and generally all other things invented, spoken, or written +by them since the 10th day of February last, (upon which day umwhile King +Henry was shamefully and horribly murdered), unto the day and date hereof, +touching the Queen's person, cause, and all things depending thereon, was +in the said Queen's own default, in as far as, by diverse her privy +letters, written and subscribed with her own hand, and sent by her to +James Earl of Bothwell, chief executor of the said horrible murder, as +well before the committing thereof as after, and by her ungodly and +dishonourable proceeding in a private marriage with him, suddenly and +unprovisedly thereafter, it is most certain that she was privy, art and +part, and of the actual device and deed of the forementioned +murder."[219] The ensuing Parliament passed an act, which, after a +preamble expressed in nearly the same words, sanctioned the Queen's +imprisonment and Murray's Regency;[220] and nothing more whatever is known +or heard of these "privy letters," till nearly the end of the following +year, 1568. + +With regard to these acts of Council and Parliament, it is to be remarked, +in the first place, that they refer to the Letters as the grounds upon +which the nobles took up arms, separated the Queen from Bothwell at +Carberry Hill, and imprisoned her at Loch-Leven; although, according to a +subsequent confession, the Letters were not discovered till after she had +been in captivity for five days, and although, in all the proclamations +and acts of the time, Mary's innocence was openly allowed, and the bondage +in which she had been kept by Bothwell as openly proclaimed. It is to be +remarked, in the second place, that no account is given, either of the +contents of these Letters, of the time of their discovery, or of the +evidence by which their authenticity was ascertained. Dalgleish was at the +very moment in custody, and a few days afterwards was tried and executed +for his share in Darnley's death, of which he made a full confession. But +why was he not brought forward and examined concerning the Letters; and +why is there not a word about them in his confession?[221] Why was +Dalgleish never mentioned as having any connection with the Letters at all +till after he was dead? And if it was originally intended to refer to the +Letters as the authorities on which the Lords sent Mary to Loch-Leven, +may it not be fairly concluded, that the idea of their having been taken +from Dalgleish on the 20th of June, was an after-thought, when it became +necessary to account for the manner in which they had fallen into their +hands? Was it, besides, enough to satisfy the nation to allude, in vague +and general terms, to the existence of documents of so much weight? If +they were thus obscurely locked up in Murray's custody,--if nothing +further was said about them but that they existed,--if all the nobility of +Scotland were not requested to come and examine them,--if they were not +printed and published that the people might see them, and feel convinced +that the Lords had acted justly, can it be cause of wonder, that, not only +all Mary's friends, but even Elizabeth herself, intimated doubts of their +authenticity? + +_Sixth_, If it is strange that these important writings were so long kept +from the public eye, it is no less strange, that, when they were at length +produced, a degree of caution and hesitation was observed regarding them +not a little suspicious. If the Regent had been satisfied of their +authenticity, he would fearlessly have exhibited them to all who were +interested in their contents. Even allowing that he had a fair excuse for +concealing them so long, he would have been eager to challenge for them, +when he at last determined to bring them forward, the minutest +examination, so that the most sceptical might be convinced they were +genuine. If he acted honestly, and, on the authority of these writings, +believed his sister unworthy of continuing on the Scottish throne, he must +have been anxious that the whole country should acknowledge the propriety +of his conduct; or if he had himself been misled, he ought not to have +been unwilling to have had the forgery pointed out to him, and Mary +restored to the government. But we look in vain for any thing frank, open, +and candid, in Murray's proceedings. + +When the conference began at York, there was not a word said of the +letters, till it was found that, without their aid, no plausible answer +could be given to the complaints made by Mary. Even then they were not +boldly produced, and openly laid before the Commissioners; but Maitland, +Macgill, Wood, and Buchanan, were sent to hold a "private and secret +conference" with Norfolk and his colleagues, in which they produced the +letters and other papers, and asked their opinion concerning them.[222] As +soon as Elizabeth was informed of their contents, she removed the +conference to Westminster; and Mary sent her Commissioners thither, still +ignorant of the alleged existence of any such writings. It was not till +the 8th of December 1568 that the letters made their appearance in an +official manner. As Elizabeth herself, departing from the impartiality of +an umpire, had already secretly encouraged their production, and as she +had evidently entered into Murray's views regarding them, there was now +surely no further trepidation or concealment. But what is the fact? On +only _two_ occasions were the originals of these writings ever shown; and +on neither occasion does their authenticity appear to have been at all +determined. On the 8th of December, "they produced seven several writings, +written in French, and avowed by them to be written by the said Queen; +which seven writings being copied, were read in French, and a due +collation made thereof, as near as could be, by reading and inspection, +and made to accord with the originals, which the said Earl of Murray +required to be re-delivered, and did thereupon deliver the copies, being +collationed."[223] Here, therefore, nothing was done except comparing +copies with what were called originals, to see that they agreed. These +copies were left in the hands of the Commissioners, and the originals, by +whoever they were written, were immediately returned to Murray. On the +14th of December, they again made their appearance, for the second and +last time; "and being read, were duly conferred and compared, for the +manner of writing and fashion of orthography, with sundry other letters, +long since heretofore written, and sent by the said Queen of Scots to the +Queen's Majesty."[224] Was this all the proof that was offered? Yes; the +whole. Elizabeth, who was no less anxious than Murray himself to blacken +the character of the Queen of Scots, was allowed to supply the letters +with which the other writings were to be compared; and, for any thing that +is known to the contrary, these "other letters, long since heretofore +written," were only a few more forgeries from the same hand, prepared for +the very use to which they were applied. And be this as it may, is it +likely that, by a hasty collation of this kind, any accurate decision +could be formed; or that, in a single forenoon, a number of different +individuals could come to a conclusion on so very nice a point as a +comparison of hands, especially having before them so great a number of +documents to decide upon? It is a maxim in law, that "_fallacissimum genus +probandi sit per comparationem litterarum_;" and surely the fallaciousness +of such a proof was not diminished by the hasty examination given to them +by some English nobles, probably unacquainted previously with the writing +of the Queen of Scots. + +But could Mary herself, it will be asked, refuse to acknowledge her own +hand? Her Commissioners would of course be allowed to see the original +letters; if not the whole, at least some of them, would be given to them, +that they might transmit them to their mistress; and she being either +unable to deny them, would confess her guilt, or, perceiving them to be +fabrications, would point out the proofs. But nothing of all this was +done. Mary's Commissioners were not present at the only meetings at which +the originals were produced; and when they afterwards applied for a sight +of them, or for copies, they were put off from time to time till the +conference was dissolved, and Murray sent back to Scotland. "Suppose a +man," says Tytler, "was to swear a debt against me, and offered to prove +it by bond or bill of my handwriting; if I knew this bond to be a false +writing, what would be my defence? Show me the bond itself, and I will +prove it a forgery. If he withdrew the bond, and refused to let me see it, +what would be the presumption? Surely that the bond was forged, and that +the user was himself the forger. The case is precisely similar to the +point in hand. The Queen, we have seen, repeatedly demands to see the +principal writings themselves, which she asserts are forged. Elizabeth +herself says the demand is most reasonable. What follows? Is this +reasonable demand of Mary complied with? Far from it; so far from seeing +or having inspection of the originals, even copies of them are refused to +her and her Commissioners."[225] Under these circumstances, and as the +writings were seen only twice by a few of the English nobility, and then +locked up again in Murray's box, that they once existed may perhaps be +granted, but that they were what they pretended to be, cannot be believed +to have been ever proved. + +_Seventh_, Having effected the purpose they were meant to achieve, it +might have been expected that these letters would be carefully preserved +in the public archives of the Scottish nation;--that, as they had been the +means of bringing about a revolution in the country, they would be +regarded not as private, but as public property;--and that Murray would be +anxious to lodge them where they might be referred to, both by his +cotemporaries and posterity, as documents with which his own reputation, +no less than that of his sister, was indissolubly connected. Here again, +however, the impartial inquirer is disappointed. The Regent appears to +have kept these writings close in his own possession till his death, and +they then fell into the hands of his successor, the Earl of Lennox. +Towards the end of January 1571, Lennox delivered them to Morton; and +after Morton's execution, the box and its contents became the property of +the Earl of Gowrie. Knowing that he would be less anxious to maintain +their authenticity, not being influenced by any of the motives which had +actuated Murray, Lennox, and Morton, and fearing lest the whole trick +should be discovered, Elizabeth became now very anxious to obtain them. +She ordered her ambassador in Scotland, in 1582, to promise Gowrie, that +if he would surrender them, he should "be requited to his comfort and +contentment, with princely thanks and gratuity." But Gowrie was neither to +be bribed nor persuaded; he knew the value of the papers too well, and the +power which their possession gave him, both over James and Elizabeth. As +long as they befriended him, he would be silent; but should he ever be +cast off by them, he would proclaim their fabrication, and remove the +stains they had cast upon Mary's honour. Elizabeth's earnest endeavours to +get them into her own possession can be accounted for, only on the +supposition that she knew them to be forgeries; for it was in that case +alone, that any dangerous use could have been made of them. Subsequent to +the correspondence with Gowrie, in 1582, nothing further is known of these +writings. In 1584, Gowrie was executed as a traitor, on account of the +conspiracy in which he had engaged, and many of his effects fell into the +hands of James VI.; but whether these documents were among them, is +uncertain. In so far as the originals are concerned, this celebrated body +of evidence is little else than a mere shadow. It was never spoken of at +all, till long after it had been discovered,--it was not produced till +long after it had been first spoken of,--it appeared only for a few hours +before persons predisposed to give it all credit,--it then returned to +its former obscurity, and not even _copies_ but merely _translations_, are +all that were ever presented to the world, on which to form an opinion. It +is strange that any importance should have ever been attached to papers, +which were never fairly exposed to the light, and which the jaws of +darkness so soon devoured.[226] + +_Eighth_, Though it would be perhaps as difficult to prove a negative, as +to demonstrate the spuriousness of writings which do not exist, and which +were hardly ever seen, the presumption against them is increased a +hundred-fold, if it can be clearly established, that the same men who +produced them were more than once guilty of deliberate forgery. This could +be done in many instances; but it will be enough to mention two, which are +sufficiently glaring. The first is the letter which Morton exhibited +before Mary was taken to Loch-Leven, and which was never afterwards +referred to or produced, even at the time when evidence of all kinds was +raked up against her. It was a letter which would not only have gone a +great way to corroborate the others, but, as it did not implicate the +Queen in Darnley's murder, was exactly the sort of apology that was wished +for keeping her "sequestrated" at Loch-Leven, and forcing from her an +abdication. Even though all the other epistles had been kept back, this +might have been safely engrossed in the minutes of Morton's Privy Council, +and referred to again and again by the King's Lords, as the great +justification of their conduct. If by any chance a reason could be found, +why it was first produced, and again concealed, it would still be +impossible to discover why it alone was withdrawn, when all the rest were +laid before Elizabeth. There is but one solution of the enigma, which is, +that it was too hasty a fabrication to bear minute examination, and that, +though it misled Kircaldy of Grange, Morton and Murray were themselves +ashamed of it. + +A second and even more remarkable example of forgery is to be found in one +of the papers which Murray showed to the English Commissioners at York, +but which he afterwards thought it prudent to withdraw when the writings +were more publicly produced at Westminster. This paper was described +as,--"The Queen's consent given to the Lords who subscribed the bond for +the promotion of the said James Earl Bothwell to her marriage."[227] In +the "private and secret Conference," which Lethington, MacGill, Wood, and +Buchanan, had with the Commissioners at York; "they showed unto us," say +the latter, "a copy of a band, bearing date the 19th of April 1567, to the +which the most part of the Lords and Counsellors of Scotland have put to +their hands; and, as they say, more for fear than any liking they had of +the same. Which band contained two special points,--the one a declaration +of Bothwell's purgation of the murder of the Lord Darnley, and the other +a general consent to his marriage with the Queen, so far forth as the law +and her own liking should allow. And yet, in proof that they did it not +willingly, they procured a warrant which was now showed unto us, bearing +date the 19th of April, signed with the Queen's hand, whereby she gave +them license to agree to the same; affirming, that before they had such a +warrant, there was none of them that did or would set to their hands, +saving only the Earl of Huntly."[228] This must have been a very curious +and interesting warrant; and it is somewhat surprising, that it had never +been heard of before. It was a very strong link in the chain; and spoke +volumes of Mary's love for Bothwell, which carried her so far that she not +only secretly wished, but openly requested her nobles to recommend him to +her as a husband. Besides, if the warrant was genuine, it must have been +seen by all the Lords who were present at "Ainsly's supper;" and they must +have been consequently well aware that there was no such thing as a +forcible abduction of the Queen's person. So far from supposing that +Bothwell ever kept her in "unlawful bondage," or forced her into a +"pretended marriage," they would know that she had shown greater anxiety +to possess him than he had to secure her. Their only wonder would be, that +after so far overcoming the natural modesty of her sex, as to point out to +them one of her own subjects, whom she asked them to advise her to marry, +she should so palpably have contradicted herself, as to give out +afterwards that it was not till she had been carried off, and till every +argument had been used which power could supply, or passion suggest, that +she reluctantly agreed to become his wife. If she openly and formally +licensed her nobles to recommend him, what was the use of all her +subsequent affected reluctance? But it was not Murray's business to +explain this problem. The warrant spoke for itself, and it was with it +only that he had to do. What, then, were the comments which he made on it +at Westminster, and the conclusive presumptions against Mary which he drew +from it? _The "Warrant" was not produced at Westminster at all, and not a +single allusion was made to it._[229] This fact alone is sufficient to +mark the credit it deserves. It could do no harm to show it privately to +Norfolk, Sussex, and Sadler; but it would not have answered so well to +have advanced it publicly, as all the nobility of Scotland would at once +have known it to be a fabrication. The probability is, that this +"Warrant," or "Consent," was neither more nor less than a garbled copy of +the pardon which Bothwell obtained from Mary, for the Lords who had signed +the bond, when he brought her out of the Castle of Edinburgh on the 14th +of May, the day previous to her marriage; and she would never have been +asked for this pardon if she had before recommended the bond.[230] If +Murray and his party are thus detected in fabrications so gross, that they +themselves, however anxious to bolster up their cause, were afraid to +make use of them, what dependence is to be placed upon the authenticity of +any writings they chose to produce? + +_Ninth_, It was Bothwell who murdered Darnley; it was Bothwell who seized +the person of the Queen; it was Bothwell who was married to her; it was +Bothwell whose daring ambition waded through blood and crime, till at +length he set his foot upon a throne. But his triumph was of short +duration. The Queen left him, and went over to his enemies; and he himself +was forced into a miserable exile. It was this reverse of fortune which he +had all along dreaded; and it was to be prepared for the evil day, that he +had preserved the eight letters and love-sonnets so carefully in the small +gilt box. He had determined, that whatever might happen, he should never +lose his hold over Mary, but that, as she had participated in his guilt, +she should be made to share his subsequent fortunes. He cannot have been +well pleased with her conduct at Carberry Hill; and it was perhaps to +revenge himself upon her, that he sent Dalgleish for the casket, part of +the contents of which he may have intended to disclose to the world. +Dalgleish and the casket were seized, but the secret of Mary's criminality +was still in Bothwell's possession; and there was surely no occasion that +he should become odious in the eyes of all men, whilst his paramour and +accomplice preserved her reputation. Did he never, then, throughout the +whole course of his life, utter a word, or issue a declaration, or make a +confession which in the slightest degree implicated Mary? It is surely a +strong presumption in her favour if he never did. + +Before Darnley was murdered, Bothwell went to meet Morton at Whittingham, +to consult him on the subject. Morton told him, that unless he could +produce proof, under the Queen's hand, of her consent to have her husband +removed, he would not interfere in the matter. Before going to +Whittingham, Bothwell must have received the two letters which Mary is +alleged to have written to him from Glasgow; _yet he was unable to show +Morton any writing to corroborate his assertion, that the Queen would not +be offended at the proposed murder_. He promised, however, that he would +do all he could to procure the warrant which Morton desired. Some time +afterwards, "I being at St Andrews," says Morton in his confession, "to +visit the Earl of Angus a little before the murder, Mr Archibald Douglas +came to me there, both with write and credit of the Earl Bothwell, to show +unto me that the purpose of the King's murder was to be done, and near a +point; and to request my concurrence and assistance thereunto. My answer +to him was, that I would give no answer to that purpose, seeing I had not +got the Queen's warrant in write, which was promised; and therefore, +seeing the Earl Bothwell never reported any warrant of the Queen to me, I +never meddled further with it."[231] As all that Morton wished, before +giving Bothwell his active support, was "the Queen's hand-write of the +matter for a warrant," what would have been more natural or easy for +Bothwell than to have produced any of the letters he had got from Mary, +which would exactly have answered the purpose, and satisfied all Morton's +scruples? As Bothwell told him that the Queen approved of the design, he +could not have any objection to make good that assertion, by any written +evidence in his possession. He need not even have shown the whole of any +one letter, but only such detached parts of it as bore directly on the +subject in question. It is strange, that Bothwell should have gone so far, +and should have been so anxious to secure the co-operation of Morton; yet, +that he did not obviate the only objection which Morton started, by +putting into his hands a letter, or letters, which, if they ever existed, +he must have then had.[232] + +Various occasions occurred afterwards, which held out every inducement to +Bothwell to produce the letters and accuse the Queen. Passing over his +silence at Carberry Hill, notwithstanding her desertion of him there, and +during all the rest of the time that he remained in Scotland, it may be +mentioned, that Murray, shortly after he had been appointed Regent, wrote +to the King of Denmark, to request that Bothwell should be delivered up to +him. The King refused, on several grounds, and among others, that Bothwell +maintained he had been unjustly driven from the kingdom,--that he had been +legally tried and acquitted,--that he had been lawfully married to the +Queen,--and that _no blame whatever attached to her_.[233] Not at all +satisfied with this answer, Mr Thomas Buchanan was afterwards sent out to +Denmark, to procure, if possible, Bothwell's surrender. Buchanan, of +course, made himself acquainted with all that Bothwell had been saying and +doing, since he fled from Scotland; and in January 1571, he sent home a +full account of his discoveries to his constituents. The letter was +addressed to the Earl of Lennox, who was then Regent; but it fell first +into the Earl of Morton's hands, who was at the time in London. Perceiving +that it contained matter by no means favourable to their cause, and afraid +lest it might produce some effect on the mind of Elizabeth, he played the +same game with her he had formerly been so successful in with Mary, and +passed off upon her a garbled copy as a genuine transcript of the +original. "We had no will," the Earl of Morton wrote to Lennox, "that the +contents of the letter should be known, fearing that some words and +matters mentioned in the same being dispersed here as news, would rather +have hindered than furthered our cause. And, therefore, being desired at +Court to show the letter, we gave to understand that we had sent the +principal away, and delivered a copy, omitting such things as we thought +not meet to be shown, as your Grace may perceive by the like copy, which +also we have sent you herewith; which you may communicate to such as your +Grace thinks it not expedient to communicate the whole contents of the +principal letter unto."[234] Both the original despatch and the spurious +copy have unfortunately been lost, or were more probably destroyed by +Lennox himself; so that their contents can only be conjectured; but it is +evident, that so far from tending to hurt Mary's reputation, they must +rather have served to exculpate her. + +In the year 1576, Mary wrote to the Archbishop of Glasgow, that she had +received intelligence of Bothwell's death, and that, before his decease, +he had declared himself the murderer of Darnley, and expressly freed her +from any share in it, attesting her innocence in the most solemn manner. +"If this be true," Mary added, "this testimony will be of great importance +to me against the false calumnies of my enemies. I therefore beseech you +to take every means in your power to discover the real state of the +case."[235] The Archbishop proposed, in consequence, to send a messenger +to Denmark, to procure a properly authenticated copy of the testament, but +for want of money and other causes, it appears that he was never able to +carry his intentions into effect. The confession was transmitted to +Elizabeth by the King of Denmark, but its publication was anxiously +suppressed by her;[236] and is now lost. Its place, however, has been not +unsatisfactorily supplied by a discovery which has recently been made in +the Royal library at Drottningholm, entitled, a "Declaration of the Earl +of Bothwell," made by him when a prisoner at Copenhagen in the year 1568. +It contains a full account of all the principal events of his past life; +and though it was written, not as a confession, but as a justification, +and is consequently an artful piece of special pleading in his own +defence, and not always particularly accurate in its detail of facts, it +cannot fail nevertheless to be regarded as an interesting and important +document. One thing is especially to be remarked, that throughout the +whole, he never attempts in the most distant manner to implicate Mary in +the blame attachable to his own conduct. On the contrary, he speaks of her +throughout with the utmost respect. It may be said, that if Bothwell had +accused Mary, he could not have defended himself, and that he abstained +only from a selfish motive. There were, however, a thousand different +degrees of responsibility with which he might have charged Mary. There was +no necessity to have accused her of the murder of Darnley, or of a +criminal attachment to him; but if it had been the truth, it would +certainly have been for his own interest, to have proved that the Queen +loved him sincerely and warmly. Even this he does not venture to state; +and the impression left by the whole tone of the declaration +unquestionably is, that he felt it would be for his advantage to say as +little about Mary as possible, knowing that, of all others he had offended +most against her, and that to attempt to cast any imputation upon her +innocence, would be only to throw a darker shade over his own +villany.[237] + +_Tenth._--Some historians have ventured to assert, that however little +credit they might be disposed to give to the statements of such men as +Murray and Morton, they have been somewhat startled to find that Mary +herself never denied them very positively, or evinced much indignation +against them. These historians cannot have looked very deeply into the +records on this subject, else they would have found that the fact was +exactly the reverse of what they suppose it to have been. "And yet is +there one injury more," says Bishop Lesley, "that doth grieve and molest +this good guiltless lady more than all their foretold villanous pranks +played by them against her, and surely not without just cause of grief; +for, indeed, it far passeth and exceedeth them all, and that is, their +shameful and most traitorous defaming her, being altogether innocent +therein, with the death of her husband, as though that she had suborned +the Earl of Bothwell thereto, and rewarded him therefor with the marriage +of her own body."[238] It is altogether unnecessary to refer to any +particular authorities upon this subject; for a volume might be easily +filled with Letters, Despatches, and Instructions from Mary, which not +only deny her guilt, but, by the arguments they contain, go very far to +establish her innocence. A communication, which she addressed, in the year +1569, to the States of Scotland, must, however, be mentioned, as it +distinctly shows what her feelings then were towards Bothwell; for whom, +indeed, she had so little affection, that, very soon after her arrival in +England, she lent a favourable ear to the proposals of marriage made by +the Duke of Norfolk. Her letter to the Scottish Parliament is to be +considered in connection with this contemplated marriage. Its purpose was, +to obtain the sanction of the States to a divorce from Bothwell; and she +alluded to him in the following terms: "Forasmuch as we are credibly +informed, by sundry and diverse noblemen of our realm, that the pretended +marriage, some time contracted, and in a manner solemnized, between us and +James Earl of Bothwell, was, for diverse respects, unlawful, and may not +of good conscience and law stand betwixt us, (albeit it seemed otherwise +to us and our Council at that time);--considering, therefore, with +ourselves, and thinking that the same does touch us as highly in honour +and conscience that it daily and hourly troubles and vexes our spirit +quite through, we are moved to seek remedy."[239] The very Lords, however, +who had before affected so much anxiety to free her from that "ungodly +alliance," now refused to take any steps towards forwarding the divorce; +and they were thus convicted of another inconsistency.[240] Little more +than eighteen months had elapsed since they had not only imprisoned her, +but forced her to surrender her crown, because, as they alleged, she +"would not consent, by any persuasion, to abandon the Lord Bothwell for +her husband, but avowed constantly that she would live and die with him, +saying, that if it were put to her choice to relinquish her crown and +kingdom, or the Lord Bothwell, she would leave her kingdom and dignity to +go as a simple damsel with him, and would never consent that he would fare +worse, or have more harm than herself."[241] Yet she now expressly asked +a divorce from this Lord Bothwell, her connection with whom had "daily and +hourly troubled and vexed her spirit;" and the Lords, forgetting all their +former protestations, were not disposed to accede to it. + +Nor was it by Mary herself alone, that a direct contradiction was given to +the defamatory accusations of the regent and his associates. Numerous +state papers exist which show, that all the impartial and disinterested +part, not only of her own nobility, but of Elizabeth's, considered her +entirely innocent. In the year 1568, letters were addressed to the Queen +of England, by many of the Lords of Scotland, which spoke very strongly in +her favour. Among the signatures to these, will be found the names of the +Archbishop of St Andrews, the Earl of Huntly, Argyle, Crawfurd, Errol, +Rothes, Cassils, Eglinton, and Caithness, and the Lords Fleming, Ross, +Sanquhar, Ogilvy, Boyd, Oliphant, Drummond, Maxwell, and others.[242] In +England, the great number of Lords and gentlemen of the first rank who +joined with Norfolk in aid of Mary, affords perhaps a still stronger +presumption in her favour. But Robertson, on the other hand, asserts that +her father and mother-in-law, Lord and Lady Lennox, were convinced of her +guilt. By attaching himself to the Prince's faction, Lennox came to be +elected Regent, and that he was willing to believe, or affect to believe, +all that Mary's enemies advanced, cannot be matter of much wonder; for he +had in truth identified his interests with those of Murray and Morton, and +if their fabrications had been detected, he must have suffered along with +them. But in so far as regards the Countess of Lennox, Robertson's +statement is directly contrary to the fact. He quotes a letter, it is +true, written by Mary to that Lady in the year 1570, in which, with +ingenuous sincerity, the Queen laments that the Countess should allow +herself to be persuaded to think evil of her; and it was perhaps partly in +consequence of this appeal, that Lady Lennox began to consider the subject +more seriously. Robertson either did not know, or chose to conceal the +fact, that she saw cause soon after receiving Mary's letter decidedly to +change her opinions. In 1578, Mary wrote to the Archbishop of Glasgow to +this effect:--"The Countess of Lennox, my mother-in-law, died about a +month ago. This good lady, thanks to God, has been in very good +intelligence and correspondence with me for the last five or six years. +She has confessed to me, by diverse letters under her hand which I +carefully keep, the wrong she did me in the unjust prosecutions which she +allowed to proceed against me in her name, and which originated, partly in +erroneous information, but principally in the express commands of the +Queen of England, and persuasions of those of her Council who were always +averse to our reconciliation. As soon as she became persuaded of my +innocence, she desisted from these prosecutions, and resolutely refused to +countenance the proceedings which were carried on against me under her +name."[243] Thus, however prejudiced her husband necessarily was, the +Countess was unable to resist the force of truth, as soon as she was +allowed to judge for herself. It may further be mentioned, that in France +there was scarcely an individual who thought Mary guilty; and that the +funeral orations which were ordered by the Government to be preached upon +her death, were attended by hundreds, who wept over the injuries and the +misfortunes of their beloved Queen-dowager.[244] It appears, therefore, +both by Mary's own declarations, repeated over and over again with +undeviating consistency, up to the very hour of her death, when she passed +into the presence of her Maker, solemnly protesting her innocence, and by +the deliberate opinions of nearly all her cotemporaries who are deserving +of credit, that the strongest and most positive contradiction was given to +the malicious insinuations of the opposite party. + +_Eleventh, and Lastly._--A considerable number of Bothwell's accomplices +were tried, condemned and executed, for their share in the murder; and +before their death, they all made Depositions and Confessions which still +exist, and have been printed by Goodall, Anderson, Laing, and others. +Among these are the Examinations, Depositions, and Confessions, of Powrie, +Dalgleish, Hay, Hepburn and Paris; the evidence of Nelson, Darnley's +servant, and the Confessions of Ormiston, and the Earl of Morton. Here, +then, is a tolerably voluminous collection of facts, supplied by those who +were most intimate with Bothwell, and who, if he had any undue intimacy +with the Queen, would in all probability have known something concerning +it, and have had it in their power to throw some light upon the subject. +These Documents, therefore, will be anxiously read by all who aim at +discovering the real perpetrators and devisers of the murder. The result +of their readings will be the discovery, that in every one of these +documents, which is properly authenticated and ascertained to be genuine, +Bothwell, and Bothwell alone, is mentioned as the executor of the deed; +and there is not a syllable in any of them which can be construed to the +disadvantage of the Queen. On the contrary, various particulars are +mentioned, which have a direct tendency to disprove her connexion with +him. Some of these have been already alluded to; but a few of the +circumstances most decisive in the Queen's favour may be recapitulated +here. 1. Hepburn deponed, that as it took longer time to get the powder +into the lower part of Darnley's house than was expected, Bothwell became +impatient, and told them to make haste, for they would not find so much +commodity if the Queen came out.[245] 2. Hepburn and Paris deponed, that +Bothwell got false keys made for opening all the doors of the house in +which Darnley lodged, for which he would have had no occasion, if the +Queen had been in the plot with him.[246] 3. Ormiston being asked if ever +the Queen spoke to him at any time concerning the murder, or if he knew +what was her mind unto it, replied--"As I shall answer to God, she spoke +never to me, nor I to her, of it, nor I know nothing of her part, but as +my Lord Bothwell told me." As if alluding to some bribe which had been +offered him, if he would accuse the Queen, he added,--"I will not speak +but the truth for all the gold of the earth, which I desire you, good +minister, bear record of, and as you have written, I pray you read over to +me; let me also see it."[247] 4. Paris can have had no suspicion that the +Queen countenanced the proposed murder; for, in the conversation he had +with Bothwell, when the Earl first disclosed his intention to him, he +beseeched him to desist from his enterprise, telling him that he was +"already the most powerful nobleman in the country, and that, having +lately married, he ought now or never to be anxious to keep himself out of +trouble."[248] 5. Paris further deponed, that Bothwell asked him to +procure the key of the Queen's chamber, at the Kirk-of-Field, telling him +that he had got him transferred to the Queen's service, solely in the hope +of finding him useful on this occasion. Had Mary herself known of the +plot, Bothwell need not have run the risk of disclosing it to Paris.[249] +6. Though Dalgleish was minutely examined regarding all the circumstances +of the murder, not one question was put to him upon the subject of the box +and letters which were of so much importance; nor was it ever mentioned +till after his death, that the casket had been in his custody. On the 20th +of June 1567, Dalgleish is said to have been seized, and this is probably +the fact; he was examined six days afterwards, before Morton and the other +Lords of the Privy Council, and his examination has been preserved entire. +"This remarkable particular," says Tytler, "naturally occurs to be +observed in it, that it was surely of great importance for Morton, who +then had the box in his custody, to have confronted Dalgleish with the +persons who apprehended him, and to have asked him some questions relating +to this box; such as, Whether or not this box was in his custody when he +was seized?--What orders he received from his master Bothwell concerning +it?--Who delivered it to him? or where he found it?--Whether open, or +locked?--If open, what it contained? and where he was to have carried it? +Dalgleish, and the persons who seized him, in a matter so recent, only six +days before, could have given distinct answers to those questions."[250] +There can be little doubt, that as no such questions were put, no such +transaction, as the seizure of a box and papers had taken place. Laing +endeavours to account for this very suspicious circumstance in the +following manner: "The depositions are strictly confined to the murder, as +the design was to procure judicial evidence against Bothwell and his +associates, not to implicate the Queen in his guilt." But in the first +place, these letters were themselves the very best "judicial evidence" +they could have found; and in the second, questions might have been put +concerning them, without, in the mean time making any disclosure of their +contents. The total silence of the Privy Council, and of Dalgleish, is +fatal to their supposed existence. 7. The Earl of Morton confessed, that +though he told Bothwell he would give him more active assistance if he +could show him any writing of the Queen, which proved that she sanctioned +the murder; yet that Bothwell, after undertaking to procure such writing, +was never able to fulfil his promise; and this was at a time posterior to +the date of some of the love-letters, which Mary was afterwards alleged to +have written to him. Thus, these Confessions, Depositions, and +Examinations, though they were collected with the anxious wish of +eliciting some circumstances which would seem to criminate Mary, must have +been felt by the rebel Lords themselves, to be as much in her favour as it +was possible for any negative evidence to be.[251] + +Having thus stated the leading External Evidences against the genuineness +of these Letters, it will be worth while to examine, for a moment, +Robertson's "external proofs" in support of them,--which, when contrasted +with those stated above, will be found to be of little weight. The +Historian argues for their authenticity, on the following +grounds:--_First_, "Murray and the nobles who adhered to him, affirmed, +upon their word and honour, that the letters were written with the Queen's +own hand, with which they were well acquainted." This is a very powerful +argument to begin with, as if men who forged letters for a particular +purpose, would themselves confess that they were forged. _Second_, "The +Letters were publicly produced in the Parliament of Scotland, December +1567, and were so far considered as genuine, that they are mentioned in +the Act against Mary, as one chief argument of her guilt." This is nothing +but a repetition, in other words, of the former powerful argument; for the +Parliament of December 1567 was the Parliament assembled by Murray, after +he had been elected Regent, and he was able to secure the passing of any +act he chose. Where Robertson learned, that at this Parliament "the +letters were publicly produced," does not appear, as his reference to +Goodall (vol. ii. p. 66) by no means authorizes the assertion. _Third_, +"The Letters seem to have been considered genuine by Elizabeth's +Commissioners, both at York and Westminster, as appears by letters which +Norfolk, Sussex, and Sadler, wrote from York; and as, in the journal of +the proceedings at Hampton Court, it is said that, when the letters +supposed to be written by the Queen of Scots, 'were duly conferred and +compared for the manner of writing and fashion of orthography, with sundry +other letters long since heretofore written, and sent by the said Queen of +Scots to the Queen's Majesty, in the collation no difference was found.'" +It has been seen, however, that whatever Norfolk chose to write concerning +those letters with the view of pleasing Elizabeth, and concealing from her +his own engagements and designs, he was, in truth, so little influenced by +them, that he avowed a passion for Mary, and risked his life and fortune +in order to become her husband. It has been also seen, that the hasty +collation, made by the nobles at Hampton Court, of these pretended +letters, with others, "long since heretofore written" and furnished by +Elizabeth herself, is, in truth, no collation at all, or one upon which no +dependence be placed. _Fourth_, "The Earl of Lennox, both in public, and +in a private letter he wrote to his own wife, so expressed himself, that +it is plain he not only thought the Queen guilty, but believed the +authenticity of her letters to Bothwell." This matter has been already +investigated. The Regent Lennox was obliged to maintain Mary's guilt for +his own sake; and it is scarcely to be supposed he would have been so +imprudent as write to his wife, to inform her that the opinions he had so +strenuously supported before the world were not those of his heart and +conscience. Murray himself would as soon have acknowledged that the +letters were fabricated as Lennox. But it is a strong fact, that, though +she had every inducement to think as her husband did, Lady Lennox believed +Mary innocent. These are all Robertson's "external proofs of the +genuineness of Mary's letters."[252] + +The external evidence against these writings, is probably enough to +convince every impartial reader that they are forgeries. But, as they +exist in one shape or other, it may be as well to go a step further, and +see whether their perusal will strengthen or weaken the belief of their +fabrication. This brings us to the second division of the subject, which +will not detain us so long as the first. + +INTERNAL EVIDENCES.--Considering the weight which Mary's enemies have +attached to these letters, the first question the impartial inquirer +would naturally ask is, whether properly authenticated copies of what Mary +is alleged to have written can still be seen,--whether the _ipsissima +verba_ which she used have been preserved,--and whether an opportunity can +thus be had of judging of the precise shade of meaning of particular +passages, and of the general style and tenor of these strange +compositions. In answer to these inquiries it has to be stated, that the +letters, as taken out of the casket, were exhibited only to a few +noblemen, who acted under Elizabeth; and that nothing but translations of +them are now extant. The Latin edition of Buchanan's "Detection," +published in 1571, contained only the three first letters translated into +Latin; in the Scottish edition, all the eight letters were translated into +Scotch.[253] The originals were thus left at the mercy of translators; +and, in particular, at the mercy of such a translator as Buchanan, who +cannot be supposed to have had any great desire to be scrupulously +accurate. In 1572, a French edition of the "Detection" was published at +London, to which were subjoined seven French letters and the love-sonnets. +For two hundred years, no one doubted but that these were Mary's original +letters, and they were always referred to as such in any controversies +which took place on the subject. In 1754, however, Mr Walter Goodall, +keeper of the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh, published his "Examination +of the Letters," and showed, in the clearest manner, that these seven +French letters were nothing but re-translations from the Latin and +Scottish translations which had been previously published. This was +certainly an important and interesting discovery, although it scarcely +warranted the conclusion which Goodall thought he was entitled to draw +from it, that no French copy of the letters had, in reality, ever existed +until the Latin and Scottish editions were first fabricated. Robertson and +others have maintained more justly, that, though they acknowledge Goodall +to have proved that the existing French copies of the letters are only +translations from translations, there is, nevertheless, no reason to +believe that these are the French letters which were produced by Murray at +York and Westminster, copies of which they grant have never been given to +the world. That this is the true state of the case, appears by the French +editor's own admission in his Preface. "The letters subjoined to this +work," he says, "were written by the Queen, partly in French and partly in +Scotch, and were afterwards translated altogether into Latin; but having +no knowledge of the Scottish language, I have preferred translating +accurately from the Latin copy, lest, by being over scrupulous about +changing a single syllable, I might frustrate the reader in his desire to +ascertain precisely to whom the fault of the execrable murder, and other +enormities mentioned in them, ought to be ascribed."[254] Thus, both by +the ignorance which this translator evinces, in alleging, contrary to the +assertions which had been made by Murray, that the letters were +originally written partly in French and partly in Scotch, and, by his own +confession, that he preferred translating from the Latin wherever he could +get it, rather than from the Scotch, it is perfectly evident that no such +thing as the original French letters have ever appeared, and that the +French letters which do exist, are not so much to be depended on as even +the Scotch or Latin, which were probably translated directly from the +epistles which Murray produced. + +In what condition, then, do we find these wonderful letters about which so +much has been written? We have three in Latin, eight in Scotch, and seven +in French. The French are only re-translations from the Latin and +Scottish; and they, in their turn, are translations from the invisible +French originals. And under whose superintendence were these translations, +into the Scottish and Latin, made? It must have been either under that of +Murray, or of Elizabeth and Cecil. The former, after merely showing the +letters at Westminster, took them back with him to Scotland; but intrusted +the latter with copies.[255] It is not very likely that the Scottish +translation could be made in England; and the three that have been +rendered into Latin, have been commonly attributed to George Buchanan. +Laing, however, labours to show, that this is a mistake, and that the +translation was made by a Dr Wilson, Elizabeth's master of requests. Be +this as it may, in what court of law or equity would such documents as +these be admitted as evidence? The grossest errors have often been made +by translators, even where they were anxious to be as faithful as +possible. Yet we are now called upon to form an opinion of letters, which +exist in languages different from that in which they were originally +written, and which are either translations from translations, or +translations executed by those who had every motive and desire to pervert +the original, and make it appear much worse than it really was. What jury +would for a moment look at such letters? What impartial judge would allow +his mind to be biassed by them, altered and garbled as they must +unquestionably be, even supposing that their originals once existed? It +was to Buchanan's Detection that these letters were always subjoined. At +Westminster, Murray produced a Book of Articles, in five parts, containing +certain presumptions, likelihoods and circumstances, whereby it should +evidently appear, that as Bothwell was the chief murderer of the King, so +was the Queen a deviser and maintainer thereof. "From the explanation +given in Buchanan's History," says Laing, "the book of articles +corresponds, and was undoubtedly the same with the Detection of the doings +of Mary."[256] Buchanan, identifying as he did, his interests with those +of Murray, was from the first one of the most active of the Queen's +prosecutors. The dependence to be placed upon his accuracy and honesty as +a controversialist, has been already pretty clearly established; and the +sort of translations he would make, of any of Mary's writings, may be very +easily conjectured. + +Laing, however, claims the merit of a discovery, which, at first sight, +appears somewhat remarkable. It is a copy of one of the eight +Love-letters, in the original French, and found in the State-Paper Office +in a book containing, "Letters upon Scottish Affairs to Queen Elizabeth." +Whether it be in the original French or not, it is certainly different +from the French translation published with the French edition of the +Detection in 1572, and has altogether a greater air of originality about +it. But being confessedly only a copy, it is quite impossible to say +whether it is Mary's French, or that of some one who chose to write French +in her name. It is, besides, remarkable, that, even though it could be +proved to demonstration to be a copy of a genuine letter, it does not +contain a single word which, in the slightest degree, implicates Mary. +Introduced, it is true, as one of a series, all of which, it is +maintained, were addressed to Bothwell, something suspicious might easily +be made out of it. But, as it stands by itself, it must be taken by +itself; and as it bears no address or date, it may just as well be +supposed to have been written to Darnley, or even to a female friend. The +subject spoken of, is the ungrateful conduct of one of Mary's female +attendants; and the advice of the person to whom it is written is asked, +as to what is proper to be done in consequence. To this person, whoever it +was, several natural terms of endearment are also applied, such as, "_Mon +coeur_," and, "_Ma chere vie_;" and these are all the grounds of +suspicion which this "Copy from the State-Paper Office," contains.[257] + +Having thus shown the extreme uncertainty which must attend any argument +against Mary, founded on any minute or literal examination of these +Letters, a very few objections further may be stated to them, upon +evidences which they themselves afford. + +Although it is impossible to form any opinion of the _words_ which Mary +may have used in these letters, some conclusions may be drawn from the +_sentiments_ which the translators of course pretend not to have altered. +These are, in many respects, directly contradictory of the character which +history proves her to have possessed. Whatever follies Mary may have +committed--whatever weaknesses she may have fallen into--it cannot be +denied, even by her worst enemies, that she was a woman of a proud +spirit, and too much accustomed to admiration and flattery, to consider +her esteem a gift of little value. Yet, through all these writings, she is +made to evince a degree of ardour and forwardness of affection for +Bothwell, at once against every notion of female delicacy, and all +probability. She is continually made to express fears that he does not +return her love with an equal warmth,--that he loves his wife, the Lady +Jane Gordon, better than he does her,--and that he is not so zealous in +bringing about their mutual purposes as she could wish. If Bothwell had +ever carried on these criminal intrigues with Mary, one of his first +objects would have been to remove from her mind all suspicion that he was +not in truth devotedly attached to her. Whether he was successful in +deceiving her or not, is it likely that Mary Queen of Scots, whose hand +had been sought by all the first Princes in Christendom, would have +condescended to servility, meanness, and abject cringing in her advances +to him? If the letters were forged, Murray would naturally wish to put in +as strong a point of view as possible, Mary's anxiety to urge Bothwell on +to all the crimes which he perpetrated. But if letters had been really +written by her, many compunctious visitings of conscience would surely be +apparent in them,--many a fear would be expressed,--many a symptom would +be discovered of the reluctance with which she yielded to the overwhelming +strength of Bothwell's passion and entreaties. Yet in these letters +nothing of the kind is to be found. Passages occur continually, in which, +far from there being any of the conscious confusion and hesitation which +would necessarily have marked the style of one who was, for the first +time, deviating so far from the paths of virtue, nothing is to be +discovered but the hardened vice and shameless effrontery of a confirmed +and _masculine villain_. + +Another peculiarity is to be observed in the first and longest of these +letters. In describing a conversation which she had with Darnley at +Glasgow, Mary is made to give very minutely all his defence of his own +conduct, in reply to some charges which she brought against him; and to +make it evident that he was in the right, and that she herself, even when +instigating Bothwell to his murder, must have felt him to be so. "This is +another proof of forgery," says Whittaker; "that the Queen should repeat +all the King's defences of himself, and should not repeat her replies to +them, is contrary to every principle of the human heart. Our natural +fondness for ourselves puts us constantly upon a conduct the very reverse +of all this. We shorten the defences, we lengthen the replies; or, if we +are fair enough to give the full substance of the former, we are always +partial enough to do the same by the latter."[258] The forger, however, in +his anxiety to throw as much odium as possible upon Mary, was willing to +diminish some of even Bothwell's responsibility, and disposed to vindicate +Darnley entirely; but he took a clumsy method of effecting his purpose. + +Notwithstanding these considerations, Robertson was of opinion, as usual, +that the style and sentiments of these letters tended on the whole to +prove that they were genuine. His principal reason for entertaining this +belief is, that "there are only imperfect hints, obscure intimations, and +dark expressions in the letters, which, however convincing evidence they +might furnish if found in real letters, bear no resemblance to that glare +and superfluity of evidence which forgeries commonly contain." "Had Mary's +enemies been so base as to have recourse to forgery, is it not natural to +think, that they would have produced something more explicit and +decisive?"--"Mary's letters, especially the first, are filled with a +multiplicity of circumstances extremely natural in a real correspondence, +but altogether foreign to the purpose of the Queen's enemies, and which it +would have been perfect folly to have inserted, if they had been +altogether imaginary and without foundation." There is some plausibility +in this view of the subject; and Laing and others have dwelt upon it at +great length, and with much confidence. But it is divested of all force as +soon as we come to consider the manner in which these letters would be +prepared, if they were in truth forgeries. The long time which elapsed +after Mary's imprisonment in Loch-Leven, before any allusion was made to +them, and the still longer time they were allowed to lie dormant after +their existence had been first asserted, has been already described. Upon +the hypothesis that they were fabrications, it was during this period that +Murray and his associates were engaged in preparing them; and they would +probably reason on the following grounds, as to what ought to be the +nature of their contents. The point they wished to establish was, "that as +the Earl of Bothwell was chief executor of the horrible and unworthy +murder; so was the Queen of the fore-knowledge, counsel, device, +persuader and commander of the said murder to be done." They knew that, in +so far as appearances went, nothing made this latter part of the assertion +in the least probable, except the circumstance of Mary having been married +to Bothwell, which they themselves had declared was a forced marriage, and +which Mary had proved to be so by taking the first opportunity which +occurred to desert him. It had become necessary, however, even at the +expense of their own consistency to accuse the Queen of having acted in +concert with Bothwell throughout. No evidence whatever would establish +this fact, (the more especially as all the confessions and depositions of +Bothwell's accomplices tended to exculpate her), except writings under her +own hand acknowledging her guilt. In order to make it appear possible that +Mary had committed an account of that guilt to paper, the idea of letters +to a confidential friend naturally suggested itself; and to none could +these letters with so much propriety be addressed as to Bothwell himself; +because, having subsequently married him, it was to be shown that it was +her inordinate affection for him that induced her to wish for the death of +Darnley. The train being thus laid, the next question was, in what precise +manner Mary was to be made to address Bothwell. The forgers would at once +perceive, that it would not do to make her speak straight out, and in +plain terms command the perpetration of the murder, and arrange all the +preliminary steps for it. This would have been to represent Mary as at +once a Messalina and a Medea,--which even Murray felt would have been +going too far. The letters were to show her guilt, but to show it in such +a manner as she herself might be naturally supposed to have exhibited it, +had she actually written them;--and nothing therefore was to be introduced +but those "imperfect hints, obscure intimations, and dark expressions," +which, without the "glare and superfluity" of common forgeries, furnished +convincing evidence when found in letters alleged to be real. Murray, +Morton, Maitland, and Buchanan, were no ordinary forgers; and if they were +not able to conceive and express the whole so artfully, that it would cost +some difficulty to detect them, then, forgery in every instance must be +hopeless and manifest. + +There were, besides, two circumstances which afforded them peculiar +facilities, and of which they were no doubt glad to avail themselves. The +first was, that Mary's hand-writing was not very difficult of imitation. +"It was formed," says Goodall, "after what is commonly called Italic +print, which it much resembled both in beauty and regularity."[259] All +the letters being shaped according to certain definite rules, there would +be fewer singularities in the writing, and less danger of the forger +committing mistakes. Mary herself alluded to the facility with which her +hand could be imitated, in her instructions to her Commissioners on the +opening of the conferences, and mentioned also another important fact. "In +case they allege," she says, "that they have any writings of mine, which +may infer presumption against me, you shall desire the principals to be +produced, and that I myself may have inspection thereof, and make answer +thereto. For you shall affirm, in my name, I never wrote any thing +concerning that matter to any creature; and if any such writings be, they +are false and feigned, forged and invented by themselves, only to my +dishonour and slander. And there are divers in Scotland, both men and +women, that can counterfeit my hand-writing, and write the like manner of +writing which I use, as well as myself, and principally such as are in +company with themselves."[260] "There are sundry who can counterfeit her +hand-write," says Lesley, "who have been brought up in her company, of +whom there are some assisting themselves, as well of other nations as of +Scotland. And I doubt not but your Majesty," (he is addressing Elizabeth), +"and divers others of your Highness's Court, has seen sundry letters sent +here from Scotland, which would not be known from her own hand-write; and +it may be well presumed, in so weighty a cause, that they who have put +hands on their Prince, imprisoned her person, and committed such heinous +crimes, if a counterfeit letter be sufficient to save them, to maintain +their cause, and conquer for them a kingdom, will not leave the same +unforged, '_cum si violandum est jus, imperii causa violandum est_.'" In +still further confirmation of these facts, Blackwood mentions that the +hand-writing of Mary Beaton, one of her maids of honour, could not +possibly be distinguished from that of the Queen;[261] and Camden and +other contemporary authors speak of it as a matter of established +notoriety, that Maitland often counterfeited her hand.[262] + +The second facility which the forgers enjoyed, arose from their either +possessing among them, or having access to, many genuine letters of Mary. +This is a circumstance of some consequence, and has scarcely been +sufficiently attended to by the various writers on the subject. It at once +obviates Robertson's cause of wonder, that the letters should be "filled +with a multiplicity of circumstances, extremely natural in a real +correspondence, but altogether foreign to the purpose of the Queen's +enemies." In all probability, Mary wrote to her Secretary Maitland from +Glasgow, and had of course written to him a hundred times before. There is +every reason to believe also, that she corresponded with Maitland's wife, +Mary Fleming, who had been one of her friends and attendants from infancy. +Murray must have had in his possession numerous letters from his sister. +Where then was the difficulty of founding these forgeries upon writings +which were not forgeries, and of making it almost impossible for any one +but Mary herself to detect what was genuine in them from what was +fabricated? Many passages might be introduced which Mary had actually +written, but which she had applied in some very different manner; and here +and there might be artfully interwoven a few sentences which she never +wrote, but which seemed so naturally connected with the rest, that they +fixed upon her soul the guilt of adultery and murder. There is nothing +which ought to be more constantly borne in mind, whenever these writings +are read or discussed, than the probability, we might almost say the +certainty, that the originals contained parts which had been actually +written by Mary, although neither addressed to Bothwell, nor ever meant to +be twisted into the sense which was afterwards put upon them; and which +appeared the true meaning only, in consequence of their having been so +much garbled and disfigured. + +Were we disposed to enter still more minutely into an examination of these +writings, it would not be difficult to show, as Goodall, Tytler, Whittaker +and Chalmers, have in various instances done, that they abound in many +other symptoms of forgery, which, though not perhaps conclusive, when +taken separately, make up, when combined, a very strong presumption +against them. It might be shown, for example, _first_, that as Mary, in +all probability, did not set off for Glasgow till Friday the 24th of +January 1567, and staid a night at Callendar on the way, it is quite +impossible she could have been at Glasgow on Saturday the 25th, though her +second letter ends with these words:--"From Glasgow, this Saturday, in the +morning."[263] She is thus made to have written two letters from Glasgow, +one of them a very long one, by Saturday morning; while, in point of fact, +she could not have reached that town till Saturday afternoon. "_Non sunt +haec satis divisa temporibus._"[264] It might be shown, _second_, that +these letters were neither addressed, signed, nor sealed; and that, in the +words of Whittaker, "it violates every principle of probability to +suppose, that letters with such a plenitude of murderous evidence in them +should be sent open."[265] It might be shown, _third_, that before the +appearance of the letters, they were differently described at different +times, as if they were gradually undergoing changes;--that in the Act of +Privy Council, in which they are first referred to, they are mentioned as +Mary's "Privy Letters, written and _subscribed_ with her own hand;"--but +in the Act of Parliament passed a few weeks afterwards, they are only +spoken of as "_written wholly_ with her own hand," not, "written and +subscribed;"[266]--that though at first nothing was spoken of as having +been found in the box but the "Privy Letters," "written and subscribed +with her own hand," and afterwards only "wholly written with her own +hand," yet, before the box made its appearance at York, love-sonnets and +contracts of marriage were also found in it;--and that at York and +Westminster only five letters were laid before the Commissioners, though +the number afterwards printed was eight. "Did the three remaining +letters," asks Whittaker, "lie still lower in the box, under the contracts +and sonnets, and so escape the notice of the rebels?"[267] It might be +shown, _fourth_, that all the letters are contradicted and overthrown by +the first three lines of the ninth sonnet, which are, in French, + + ----"Pour luy aussi J'ay jete mainte larme, + Premier qu'il fust de ce corps possesseur, + _Du quel alors il n'avoit pas le coeur_;" + +and in English--"For him also I shed many a tear, when he first made +himself possessor of this body, _of which he did not then possess the +heart_."[268] In the letters, Mary is made, with the most violent +protestations of love, to suggest arrangements for her pretended abduction +by Bothwell; yet here she expressly says, that when he first carried her +off, he did not possess her heart. How then could she have written him +love-letters before this event? These and other things might be insisted +on. The sonnets and contracts of marriage might be also minutely examined +and proved, both to contradict one another, and to be liable, in a still +stronger degree, to almost all the objections which have been advanced +against the letters.[269] But it is much better to rest Mary's innocence +on the broad basis of her life and character, and a distinct statement of +leading and incontrovertible facts, than on wranglings about dates, or +disputations concerning detached incidents and ill-authenticated papers. + +From a full review of the proof on both sides, and an ample examination of +all the principal facts advanced in the controversy, it appears evident +that one of two conclusions must be formed. Either that Mary, having +formed a criminal attachment to Bothwell, encouraged him to perpetrate +the murder, and that, having thus become responsible for at least an equal +share of the guilt, was justly imprisoned and dethroned; or that, never +having had any excessive love for Bothwell, she was altogether ignorant of +his designs, and irresponsible for his crimes, of which his own lawless +ambition made her the victim, and with which the treachery of Murray, +Morton and Elizabeth, too successfully contrived to involve her for the +remainder of her life. That the latter conclusion is that to which +impartial inquiry must inevitably lead, these Memoirs, it is hoped, have +sufficiently established. That the arguments in Mary's favour, drawn from +the history of her life and death, are not invalidated by the contents of +the "gilt coffer," it has been the object of the present Examination to +prove. + +It has been seen, first, by external evidence, that these papers are +spurious, because the notorious ambition of Morton and Murray, and the +perilous predicament in which it finally placed them, rendered their +fabrication necessary to save themselves from ruin,--because Mary could +not have written any love-letters or sonnets to Bothwell, for whom, at +best, she never felt any thing but common regard, and who was obliged to +seize and carry off her person, in order to force her into an unwilling +marriage,--because such letters, if they had been written, would not have +been preserved by Bothwell, or, if preserved, would have been more +numerous,--because the story of their discovery is altogether improbable, +since Bothwell, for the most satisfactory reasons, would never have +thought of sending for them to the Castle of Edinburgh on the 20th of June +1567,--because not a word was said about them long after they were +discovered, but, on the contrary, motives quite inconsistent with their +contents assigned for sequestrating Mary's person in Loch-Leven,--because, +though Dalgleish was tried, condemned, and executed, not a question was +put to him, as appears by his examination, still extant, concerning these +letters,--because the originals were only produced twice, and _that_ under +suspicious and unsatisfactory circumstances,--because nothing but +translations, and translations from translations, of these originals, now +exist, from which no fair arguments can be drawn,--because Murray and his +associates have been convicted of open forgery in several other instances, +and are therefore the more liable to be doubted in this,--because Bothwell +not only never accused Mary, but was unable to show Morton any writing of +her's sanctioning the murder, and, by subsequent declarations, seems to +have exculpated her from all share in it,--because Mary herself invariably +denied that she had ever written such letters, undertaking to prove that +they were fabrications, if the originals, or even copies, were shown to +her,--because Lady Lennox, Darnley's mother, many of the most respectable +of the Scottish nobility, Norfolk, and a numerous party in England, and +all her Continental friends, avowed their belief of her +innocence,--because the confessions and depositions of Bothwell's +accomplices, so far from implicating, tended to acquit her of all blame, +though the persons by whom the depositions were made had every inducement +to accuse her, if it had been in their power,--and because the external +evidence, advanced in support of the letters by Robertson and others, is +entirely nugatory. + +It has been seen, second, by internal evidence, that the Letters are +spurious,--because the translations differ from each other,--because the +style and composition of many passages, are not such as could ever have +come from Mary's pen,--because every facility was given to forgery by the +nature of her handwriting, and by the access which the forgers had to +genuine letters and papers, of which they could make a partial +use,--because, at the time in which they are alleged to have been written, +Mary was, in all probability, not at the places from which they are +dated,--because the letters contradict each other, and are all +contradicted by the sonnets,--and because the arguments in support of +them, drawn from internal evidence by Robertson and others, are equally +inconclusive with their external proofs. + +If Mary's innocence, from all the blacker crimes with which she has been +charged, must still continue matter of doubt, it is not too much to +declare all history uncertain, and virtue and vice merely convertible +terms. + + + + +ADDENDUM. + + +Through the kindness of William Traill, Esq. of Woodwick, Orkney, we are +enabled to give the following authentic genealogical account of the manner +in which the interesting portrait of Mary Queen of Scots, engraved for +this Work, and particularly described in Vol. I. Chap. IV., came into the +possession of his family. + +"Sir Robert Stewart of Strathdon, son of King James V., by Eupham, +daughter of Alexander, 1st Lord Elphingston, obtained a grant of the Crown +lands of Orkney and Shetland from his sister Queen Mary in 1565. He was +created Earl of Orkney by his uncle James VI., 28th October 1581. He +married Lady Jean Kennedy, daughter of Gilbert, fourth Earl of Cassils. + +"George Traill, son of the Laird of Blebo in Fife, married, first, Jean +Kennedy of Carmunks, a relative of the Earl's Lady. He accompanied the +Earl to Orkney; got a grant from the Earl of the lands of Quandale, in the +Island of Ronsay, and, as stewart or factor, managed the affairs of the +earldom. By Jean Kennedy he had one son, the first Thomas Traill of +Holland. He afterwards married Isobel Craigie of Gairsay, by whom he had +James Traill of Quandale, who married Ann Baikie of Burness. Lady Barbara +Stewart, the Earl's youngest daughter, married Hugh Halcro of Halcro, a +descendant of the Royal Family of Denmark, and who possessed a great part +of the Islands of Orkney. For her patrimony, the Earl wadset to Halcro +lands, in Widewall, Ronaldsvoe, and in South Ronaldshay, which lands were +afterwards redeemed by Patrick Stewart, the Earl's eldest son, 1598. +_Vide_ Bishop Law's Rentall 1614. Lady Barbara, being the youngest and +the last of the Earl's family, succeeded to her father's furniture, plate, +pictures, and other moveables, and amongst the rest, the family picture of +Queen Mary. Hugh Halcro of that Ilk, the eldest son of this marriage, +succeeded his father, and married Jean, daughter of William Stewart of +Mains and Burray. _Vid._ Charters 1615 and 1620. In 1644, this Hugh Halcro +executed a settlement in favour of Hugh his Oye, and his heirs; whom +failing, to Patrick his brother; whom failing, to Harry fiar of Aikrs; +whom failing, to Edward of Hauton; whom all failing, to the name of +Halcro. Hugh the Oye, married Margaret, daughter of James Stewart of +Gromsay. _Vid._ Charter by him in her favour of lands in South Ronaldshay +and the Island Cava, 12th June 1630. Their son, Hugh Halcro of that Ilk, +married Barbara Greem, by whom he had two daughters, Jean and Sibella +Halcro. Jean married Alexander Mouat Swenze, and Sibella married James +Baikie of Burness; and the estate of Halcro was divided between these +families by decreet-arbitral, 21st and 22d December 1677,--Arthur Baikie +of Tankerness, and John Kennaday of Carmunks, arbiters; which decreet is +in the possession of the present William Traill of Woodwick, Esquire, as +is the picture of Queen Mary, and other family relics." + + +END OF VOLUME SECOND. + + PRINTED BY J. HUTCHISON, + FOR THE HEIRS OF D. WILLISON. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Robertson, Appendix to vol. i. No. XVII. + +[2] Keith, Appendix, p. 139. + +[3] Keith, Preface, p. vii. + +[4] Melville's Memoirs, p. 170. + +[5] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 316.--Keith, p. 355; Appendix, p. 136.--Anderson, +vol. ii. p. 270. vol. iv. p. 183 and 188.--"Martyre de Marie," in Jebb, +vol. ii. p. 210. It would be difficult to explain why Robertson, who, in +the Dissertation subjoined to his History, allows the authenticity of the +documents which detail the particulars of this important conference at +Craigmillar, should not have taken the slightest notice of it in his +History. There is surely something indicative of partiality in the +omission. Miss Benger, who is not always over-favourable to Mary, remarks +on her decision regarding a divorce;--"It is difficult to develope the +motives of Mary's refusal. Had she secretly loved Bothwell, she would +probably have embraced the means of liberty; and had she already embarked +in a criminal intrigue, she would not have resisted the persuasions of her +paramour. If, influenced alone by vindictive feelings, she sought her +husband's life, she must have been sensible that, when the nuptial tie was +dissolved, he would be more easily assailable. Why then did she recoil +from the proposal, unless she feared to compromise herself by endangering +Darnley's safety, or that some sentiments of affection still lingered in +her heart? It has been supposed, that she dreaded the censures which might +be passed on her conduct in France; or that she feared to separate her +interests from those of her husband, lest she should injure her title to +the English crown. All these objections are valid when addressed to +reason, but passion would have challenged stronger arguments."--Memoirs, +vol. ii. p. 301.--Blackwood, in his _Martyre de Marie_, mentions, that +Mary upon this occasion told her nobility, that "her husband was yet +young, and might be brought back to the right path, having left it +principally in consequence of the bad advice of those who were no less his +enemies than her's."--"This answer," adds Blackwood, "was far from being +agreeable to the Lords, proving to them that her Majesty's present +estrangement from her husband was more from the necessity of the times, +than because she had ceased to love him." + +[6] Chalmers, vol. ii. p. 173.--Keith, Preface, p. vii. + +[7] The above transaction, in which there is so little mystery, has been +converted by Robertson into "a negociation, secretly carried on by Mary, +for subverting the Reformed Church." He cannot, it is true, very easily +reconcile the "negotiation" with the fact that, "at the very time, she did +not scruple publicly to employ her authority towards obtaining for the +ministers of that Church a more certain and comfortable subsistence." +"During this year," he tells us, "she issued several proclamations and +Acts of Council for that purpose, and readily approved of every scheme +which was proposed for the more effectual payment of their stipends." The +historian might have inquired a little more closely into the real nature +of her correspondence with the Court of Rome, before charging Mary with +"falsehood and deceit," and availing himself of the subject to point a +moral. + +[8] Keith, p. 359. + +[9] Anderson, vol. ii. p. 271. + +[10] That Darnley was actually absent upon this occasion, we are not quite +satisfied. Robertson says he was, on the authority of Le Croc's letter in +Keith, preface, p. vii.; and after him, most writers on the subject state +the fact as beyond a doubt. All, however, that Le Croc says is this:--"The +King had still given out, that he would depart two days before the +baptism; but when the time came on, he made no sign of removing at all, +only he still kept close within his own apartment. The very day of the +baptism, he sent three several times, desiring me either to come and see +him, or to appoint him an hour, that he might come to me in my lodgings." +This is no direct evidence that the King was absent from the christening. +Neither does Buchanan furnish us with any; he merely says, with his usual +accuracy and love of calumny, that "her lawful husband was not allowed +necessaries at the christening; nay, was forbid to come in sight of the +ambassadors, who were advised not to enter into discourse with the King, +though they were in the same part of the castle the most part of the +day."--History, Book XVIII. Nor does Knox say any thing definite upon the +subject; but Keith, Crawford, and Spottswood, though not referred to by +Robertson, seem to support his opinion. Let the fact, however, be as it +may, it is not of great consequence. The erroneousness of the popular +belief, that Darnley, during the whole of this time, resided in a +citizen's house in the town of Stirling, is more deserving of being +pointed out and corrected. + +[11] Knox, p. 400.--Keith, Preface, p. vii. + +[12] Keith, p. 369.--Knox, p. 400.--The Historie of King James the Sext, +p. 5. + +[13] Chalmers, vol. ii. p. 176. + +[14] Melville, p. 192. + +[15] The Ruthven here spoken of is the son of the Lord Ruthven, who took +so active a part in the murder. + +[16] Chalmers, vol. ii. p. 175 and 342. + +[17] Keith--Preface, p. viii. + +[18] Keith, p. 364. + +[19] Keith, p. 151.--Laing, vol. ii. p. 76.--Chalmers, vol. ii. p. +268.--Whittaker, in endeavouring to prove (vol. ii. p. 322) that the +Catholic Ecclesiastical Courts had never been deprived of their +jurisdiction, and that, consequently, there was no _restoration_ of power +to the Archbishop of St Andrews, evidently takes an erroneous view of this +matter. In direct opposition to such a view, Knox, or his continuator, has +the following account of the transaction:--"At the same time, the Bishop +of St Andrews, by means of the Earl of Bothwell, procured a writing from +the Queen's Majesty, to be obeyed within the Diocess of his Jurisdiction, +in all such causes as before, in time of Popery, were used in the +Consistory, and, therefore, to discharge the new Commissioners; and for +the same purpose, came to Edinburgh in January, having a company of one +hundred horses, or more, intending to take possession according to his +gift lately obtained. The Provost being advertised thereof by the Earl of +Murray, they sent to the Bishop three or four of the Council, desiring him +to desist from the said matter, for fear of trouble and sedition that +might rise thereupon; whereby he was persuaded to desist at that +time."--Knox, p. 403. This account is not quite correct, in so far as the +Earl of Murray alone, unsupported by Mary's authority, is described as +having diverted the Archbishop from his purpose. + +[20] Chalmers, vol. i. p. 199; and vol. ii. p. 176. + +[21] Keith, Preface p. viii. + +[22] Anderson, vol. iv. p. 165.--Goodall, vol. ii. p. 76. + +[23] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 76.--et seq. + +[24] Birrel's Dairy, p. 6.--Laing, vol. i. p. 30. + +[25] Keith, p. 364.--Anderson, vol. ii. p. 67.--Goodall, vol. ii. p. +244.--Chalmers, vol. i. p. 203.--vol. ii. p. 180, and 271.--Laing, vol. i. +p. 30.--and vol. ii. p. 17.--Whittaker, vol. iii. p. 258, and +283.--Arnot's History of Edinburgh, p. 237. Whittaker has made several +mistakes regarding the House of the Kirk-of-Field. He describes it as much +larger than it really was; and, misled by the appearance of a gun-port +still remaining in one part of the old wall, and which Arnot supposed had +been the postern-door in the gavel of the house, he fixes its situation at +too great a distance from the College, and too near the Infirmary. Sir +Walter Scott, in his "Tales of a Grandfather," (vol. iii. p. 187.) has +oddly enough fallen into the error of describing the Kirk-of-Field, as +standing "just _without_ the walls of the city." + +[26] Morton's Confession in Laing, vol. ii. p. 354; and Archibald +Douglas's Letter, ibid. p. 363. + +[27] Idem. + +[28] Lesley's Defence in Anderson, vol. i. p. 75.--Buchanan's History, p. +350.--Laing, vol. ii. p. 34. + +[29] Ormiston's Confession in Laing, vol. ii. p. 322. + +[30] Paris's Confession in Laing, vol. ii. p. 298-9. + +[31] Paris's Deposition in Laing, vol. ii. p. 296. + +[32] Laing, vol. ii. p. 282 and 370. + +[33] Deposition of Hepburn--Anderson, vol. ii. p. 183. + +[34] Anderson, vol. ii. p. 183. + +[35] Keith, Preface, p. viii. + +[36] Anderson, vol. ii. p. 179. + +[37] Ibid. vol. ii. p. 184. + +[38] Laing, Appendix, p. 304. + +[39] Deposition of John Hay in Anderson, vol. ii. p. 177. + +[40] Deposition of William Powrie, in Anderson, vol. ii. p. 165. + +[41] Anderson, vol. ii. p. 183. + +[42] Ibid. vol. ii. p. 181. + +[43] Buchanan's _History_, Book XVIII. may be compared with his +_Detection_ in Anderson, vol. i. p. 22 and 72. + +[44] Buchanan's _History_, Book XVIII. + +[45] Freebairn's Life of Mary, p. 112 and 114. + +[46] Deposition of Paris in Laing, vol. ii. p. 305. + +[47] Evidence of Thomas Nelson, Anderson, vol. iv. p. 165. + +[48] The Confessions and Depositions in Anderson, vol. ii. and vol. iv; +and in Laing, vol. ii. + +[49] Melville's Memoirs, p. 174. Lesley in Anderson, vol. i. p. 24. +Freebairn, p. 115. + +[50] Anderson, vol. i. p. 36.--Goodall, vol. ii. p. 245. + +[51] Laing, vol. ii. p. 289 et 290. + +[52] Historie of King James the Sext, p. 6. + +[53] Miss Benger, vol. ii. p. 313. + +[54] Sanderson's Life of Mary, p. 48.--Freebairn, p. 113. + +[55] Knox, p. 404. + +[56] Keith, p. 365. + +[57] Melville, p. 174. + +[58] The notion that the powder, with which the Kirk-of-Field was blown +up, had been placed in a mine, dug for the purpose, was for a while very +prevalent. Mary, of course, never suspected that it had been put into her +own bedroom; but the truth came out as soon as the depositions of +Bothwell's accomplices were published. Why Whittaker should still have +continued to believe that a mine had been excavated, it is difficult to +understand. Laing very justly ridicules the absurdity of such a belief. + +[59] There is a sincere piety in this rejection of the word "chance." Mary +was steadily religious all her life, and certainly nothing but a pure and +upright spirit could have induced her, on the present occasion, to appeal +to her Creator, and say, "It was not chance, but God." + +[60] Keith, Preface, p. viii. + +[61] Anderson, vol. i. p. 36. + +[62] Lesley in Anderson, vol. i. p. 23. + +[63] Keith, p. 368. + +[64] Laing's remarks upon this subject, are exceedingly weak. He seems to +suppose that Mary, for the mere sake of appearances, ought to have thrown +into prison some of her most powerful nobility. He adds,--"If innocent, +she must have suspected somebody, and the means of detection were +evidently in her hands. The persons who provided or furnished the +lodging,--the man to whom the house belonged,--the servants of the Queen, +who were intrusted with the keys,--the King's servants who had previously +withdrawn, or were preserved, at his death,--her brother, Lord Robert, who +had apprised him of his danger, were the first objects for suspicion or +inquiry; and their evidence would have afforded the most ample detection." +Laing does not seem to be aware, that he is here suggesting the very steps +which Mary actually took. She had not, indeed, herself examined witnesses, +which would have been alike contrary to her general habits and her +feelings at the time; but she had ordered the legal authorities to +assemble every day, till they ascertained all the facts which could be +collected. Nor does Laing seem to remember, that Bothwell had it in his +power to exercise over these legal authorities no inconsiderable control, +and to prevail upon them, as he in truth did, to garble and conceal +several circumstances of importance which came out. + +[65] Killigrew, the English ambassador, sent by Elizabeth to offer her +condolence, mentions, that he "found the Queen's Majesty in a dark chamber +so as he could not see her face, but by her words she seemed very +doleful."--Chalmers, vol. ii. p. 209. + +[66] Chalmers, vol. i. p. 208. + +[67] _Vide_ these Letters in Anderson, vol. i. p. 40, or Keith, p. 369. + +[68] Anderson, vol. i. p. 50. + +[69] Goodall, vol. i. p. 346, _et seq._ + +[70] Chalmers, vol. i. p. 209. The above fact is no proof, as Chalmers +alleges, that Murray was connected with the conspirators; but it shows, +that whatever his own suspicions or belief were, he did not choose to +discountenance Bothwell. Could Mary ever suppose that the _godly_ Earl of +Murray would entertain a murderer at his table? + +[71] Anderson, vol. i. p. 52. + +[72] Robertson--Appendix to vol. i. No. XIX. + +[73] Anderson, vol. ii. p. 103. + +[74] Anderson, vol. ii. p. 104, et seq.--and Keith, p. 375, et seq. + +[75] Anderson, vol. ii. p. 157. + +[76] Anderson, vol. i. p. 107; and Keith, p. 381. + +[77] Keith, p. 382.--There are extant two lists of the names of the +subscribers, and these differ in one or two particulars from each other; +but the one was only a list given to Cecil from memory by John Reid, +Buchanan's clerk; the other is a document authenticated by the +subscription of Sir James Balfour, who was at the time Clerk of Register +and Privy Council. The chief difference between these two copies is, that +Reid's list contains the name of the Earl of Murray, though on the 20th of +April he was out of the realm of Scotland. It has been supposed that the +bond, though not produced, might have been drawn up some time before, and +that Murray put his name to it before going away. This is possible, but, +considering Murray's cautious character, not probable. The point does not +seem one of great importance, though by those who are anxious to make out +a case against Murray rather than against Bothwell, it is deemed necessary +to insist upon it at length. Perhaps Bothwell forged Murray's signature, +to give his bond greater weight both with the nobles and with the Queen; +although one name more or less could not make much difference either to +her or them. + +[78] Keith, p. 390. + +[79] Keith, p. 383.--Melville's Memoirs, p. 177.--Whittaker, vol. iii. p. +106 and 356. + +[80] Melville, p. 177. + +[81] Keith, p. 390. + +[82] Anderson, vol. i. p. 97.--Keith, p. 390. + +[83] Melville, p. 197. + +[84] Anderson, vol. i. p. 95. + +[85] Anderson, vol. i. p. 95. + +[86] Anderson, vol. i. p. 97. et seq. There is something so peculiar in +the last passage quoted above, and Bothwell's conduct was so despotic, +during the whole of the time he had Mary's person at his disposal, that +Whittaker's supposition seems by no means unlikely, that the _force_ to +which Mary alludes was of the most culpable and desperate kind. +"Throughout the whole of the Queen's own account of these transactions," +he observes, "the delicacy of the lady, and the prudence of the wife, are +in a continual struggle with facts,--willing to lay open the whole for her +own vindication, yet unable to do it for her own sake and her husband's, +and yet doing it in effect." Vide Whittaker, vol. iii. p. 112. et +seq.--Melville is still more explicit upon the subject, p. 177. And in a +letter from "the Lords of Scotland," written to the English ambassador, +six weeks after the ravishment, it is expressly said, that "the Queen was +led captive, and by fear, force, and (as by many conjectures may be well +suspected) other extraordinary and more unlawful means, compelled to +become the bedfellow to another wife's husband."--See the letter in Keith +p. 418. + +[87] Vide Laing, vol. i. p. 86, and vol. ii. p. 105, and Whittaker, vol. +iii. p. 116. + +[88] Keith, p. 383. + +[89] History of James VI., p. 10.--Buchanan's History, Book XVII.--Keith, +p. 384.--Whittaker, vol. iii. p. 120. + +[90] "I plainly refused," says Craig, in his account of this matter, which +still remains among the records of the General Assembly, "because he +(Hepburn) had not her handwriting; and also the constant bruit that my +Lord had both ravished her and kept her in captivity."--Anderson, vol. ii. +p. 299. + +[91] Anderson, vol. ii. p. 280. + +[92] Anderson, vol. i. p. 111.--Keith, p. 384. + +[93] Anderson, vol. i. p. 87. + +[94] History of James VI. p. 10.--Keith, p. 386.--Melville, p. +78.--Whittaker, vol. iii. p. 127. et seq. Upon this subject, Lord Hailes +has judiciously remarked:--"After Mary had remained a fortnight under the +power of a daring profligate adventurer, few foreign princes would have +solicited her hand. Some of her subjects might still have sought that +honour, but her compliance would have been humiliating beyond measure. It +would have left her at the mercy of a capricious husband,--it would have +exposed her to the disgrace of being reproached in some sullen hour, for +the adventure at Dunbar. Mary was so situated, at this critical period, +that she was reduced to this horrid alternative, either to remain in a +friendless and most hazardous celibacy, or to yield her hand to +Bothwell."--_Remarks on the History of Scotland_, _p._ 204. + +[95] Melville, p. 178. + +[96] Letter from the Lords of Scotland to Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, in +Keith, p. 417. + +[97] Melville, p. 180. + +[98] Melville, p. 199. + +[99] Keith, p. 394.--Melville, p. 179.--Knox, p. 406. + +[100] Anderson, vol. i. p. 131. + +[101] Anderson, vol. i. p. 128. + +[102] Knox, p. 409. + +[103] Laing, Appendix, p. 115. + +[104] Laing, Appendix, vol. ii. p. 116. Knox says that it was Bothwell who +drew back; but the authority to which we have referred is more to be +depended on. + +[105] Melville, p. 182. + +[106] Laing, Appendix, vol. ii. p. 116. + +[107] Keith, p. 402. + +[108] Keith, p. 403.--Melville, p. 184.--Knox, p. 409.--Laing, Appendix, +vol. ii. p. 117. + +[109] Laing, Appendix, vol. ii. p. 119.--Anderson, vol. i. p. 128.--Keith, +p. 418. + +[110] Anderson, vol. i. p. 134. + +[111] Keith, p. 408. + +[112] Buchanan's History, Book XVIII. + +[113] Keith, p. 406, et seq. + +[114] Anderson, vol. i. p. 139. + +[115] The above account of Bothwell's adventures and fate, after he left +Scotland, is taken principally from Melville, and the History of James VI. +But an interesting and original manuscript, entitled a "Declaration of the +Earl of Bothwell," which was made at Copenhagen, in the year 1568, for the +satisfaction apparently of the Danish government, has recently been +discovered, and an authenticated copy of it having been transmitted to +this country in August 1824, a careful translation from the old French in +which it is written, was presented to the public in "The New Monthly +Magazine," for June 1825. Satisfied as we are of the authenticity of this +"Declaration," we have availed ourselves of some of the information it +supplies, though, of course, great allowance must be made for the +colouring Bothwell has artfully given to the transactions he details. We +shall have more to say of this "Declaration" afterwards; at present, it is +necessary only to refer to it. + +[116] Keith, p. 411 and 414. + +[117] Keith, p. 418. It is worth noticing, that no proof of this absurd +falsehood is offered--no allusion being even made to the letter which had +been shown to Grange, and which, though only the first of a series of +forgeries, yet having been hastily prepared to serve the purpose of the +hour, seems to have been destroyed immediately. + +[118] Keith, Ibid. + +[119] Keith, p. 420. + +[120] Throckmorton's Letter in Keith, p. 420, et seq. + +[121] Melville's Memoirs, p. 197. + +[122] Whittaker, vol. i. p. 228. + +[123] Throckmorton in Keith, p. 422. + +[124] Robertson, Appendix to vol. i. No. XXI. + +[125] Robertson, Appendix to vol. i. No. XXII. + +[126] Throckmorton, in one of his letters, mentions explicitly, that Mary +had given him the very reasons stated above for refusing to renounce +Bothwell. But as Throckmorton could communicate with Mary only through the +channel of the rebel Lords, who, he says, "_had sent him word_," it is not +at all improbable, that her message may have been a good deal garbled by +the way. The passage in Throckmorton's letter is as follows:--"I have also +persuaded her to conform herself to renounce Bothwell for her husband, and +to be contented to suffer a divorce to pass betwixt them. She hath sent me +word, that she will in no wise consent unto that, but rather die: +grounding herself upon this reason, taking herself to be seven weeks gone +with child; by renouncing Bothwell, she should acknowledge herself to be +with child of a bastard, and to have forfeited her honour, which she will +not do to die for it. I have persuaded her to save her own life and her +child, to choose the least hard condition." Robertson--Appendix to vol. i. +No. XXII. It was, perhaps, this passage in Throckmorton's despatch to +England, that gave rise to a vulgar rumour, which was of course much +improved by the time it reached France. Le Laboureur, an historian of much +respectability, actually asserts that the Queen of Scots had a daughter to +Bothwell, who was educated as a religieuse in the Convent of Notre Dame at +Soissons. _Vide_ Laboureur Addit. aux Mem. de Castelnau, p. 610. Of +course, the assertion is altogether unfounded. + +[127] Some historians have asserted, that Lord Ruthven accompanied the two +Commissioners mentioned in the text. But this is not the case, for he was +present at a conference with the English ambassador, Throckmorton, on the +very day the others were at Lochleven. Throckmorton in Keith, p. 426. + +[128] Pennant, in his "Tour in Scotland," thus describes Lochleven, and +the island where the Queen resided:--"Lochleven, a magnificent piece of +water, very broad but irregularly indented; is about twelve miles in +circumference, and its greatest depth about twenty-four fathoms. Some +islands are dispersed in this great expanse of water, one of which is +large enough to feed several head of cattle; but the most remarkable is +that distinguished by the captivity of Mary Stuart, which stands almost in +the middle of the lake. The castle still remains, consists of a _square +tower_, a small yard with two round towers, a chapel, and the ruins of a +building, where (it is said) the unfortunate Princess was lodged. In the +square tower is a DUNGEON, with a vaulted room above, over which had been +three other stories."--Tour in Scotland, vol. i. p. 64. + +[129] Keith, p. 431. + +[130] Keith, p. 426.--Whittaker, vol. i. p. 299. + +[131] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 166, and 344. + +[132] Leslie, p. 37.--Jebb, vol. ii. p. 221 and 222. + +[133] Goodall, ibid.--Freebairn, p. 147.--Whittaker, vol. i. p. 301. _et +seq._--Chalmers, vol. i. p. 248. + +[134] Keith, p. 436. + +[135] History of James VI. p. 17. Keith, p. 438. + +[136] Melville's Memoirs, p. 193. Keith, p. 442. et seq. + +[137] Throckmorton's Letter in Keith, p. 444 et seq. + +[138] What Mark Antony, according to Shakespeare, said of Caesar, might be, +with propriety, applied to the Earl of Murray: + + "You all did see that, on the Lupercal, + I thrice presented him a kingly crown, + Which he did thrice refuse.--Was this ambition?" + +[139] Anderson, vol. ii. p. 251 and 254.--Chalmers, vol. ii. p. 355. + +[140] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 66.--Anderson, vol. ii. p. 206 et seq. + +[141] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 299, and Chalmers, vol. i. p. 275 and 278. + +[142] Jebb, vol. ii. p. 230.--Keith, p. 471--and Chalmers, vol. i. p. 275. + +[143] Sir William Drury's Letter in Keith, p. 470. + +[144] Buchanan's Cameleon, p. 13. + +[145] Jebb, vol. ii. p. 65 and 230.--Keith, p. 471.--Freebairn, p. 152, et +seq.--Chalmers, vol. i. p. 277, et seq. The interest taken in Queen Mary +by George Douglas, is ascribed by Mackenzie to a motive less pure than the +affection of a good subject. His chief characteristic, we are told by that +author, was an excessive love of money, and it was by bribing him, he +asserts, with the best part of what gold and jewels she had about her, +that Mary prevailed upon him to assist her. But this statement does not +seem well authenticated. Another story, still more improbable, was told by +the Earl of Murray to the English ambassador, Sir William Drury, namely, +that Mary had entreated him to allow her to have a husband, and had named +George Douglas as the person she would wish to marry. Murray must have +fabricated this falsehood, in order to lower the dignity of the Queen; but +he surely forgot that the reason assigned in justification of her +imprisonment in Loch-Leven, was her alleged determination not to consent +to a separation from Bothwell. How then did she happen to wish to marry +another? See Sir William Drury's Letter in Keith, p. 469. + +[146] Keith, p. 472, et seq. + +[147] Buchanan, Book xix.--Melville's Memoirs, p. 200. et seq.--Keith, p. +477.--Calderwood, Crawfurd, and Holinshed. The accounts which historians +give of this battle are so confused and contradictory, that it is almost +impossible to furnish any very distinct narrative of it, even by collating +them all. Robertson hardly attempts any detail, and the few particulars +which he does mention, are in several instances erroneous. + +[148] Keith, p. 481 and 482.--Anderson, vol. iv. p. 1. + +[149] Anderson, vol. iv. p. 1. et seq.--Keith, p. 481. + +[150] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 69. + +[151] Chalmers, vol. i. p. 283. + +[152] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 71. + +[153] Anderson, vol. iv. p. 6.--Chalmers, vol. i. p. 288. Even at +Carlisle, Mary was always strictly watched. In one of his letters to +Cecil, Knollys writes thus:--"Yesterday, her Grace went out at a postern, +to walk on the playing green, towards Scotland; and we, with twenty-two +halberdeers, diverse gentlemen and other servants, waited upon her. About +twenty of her retinue played at foot-ball before her the space of two +hours, very strongly, nimbly, and skilfully,--without any foul play +offered, the smallness of their ball occasioning their fair play. And +before yesterday, since our coming, she went but twice out of the town, +once to the like play of foot-ball, in the same place, and once she rode +out a hunting the hare, she galloping so fast upon every occasion, and her +whole retinue being so well horsed, that we, upon experience thereof, +doubting that, upon a set course, some of her friends out of Scotland +might invade and assault us upon the sudden, for to rescue and take her +from us; we mean hereafter, if any such riding pastimes be required that +way, so much to fear the endangering of her person by some sudden invasion +of her enemies, that she must hold us excused, in that behalf." + +[154] Anderson, vol. iv. p. 95.--Stuart, vol. i. p. 300. It is of Dr +Stuart's translation that we have availed ourselves. + +[155] Anderson, vol. iv. part ii. p. 33. + +[156] Buchanan, book xix. It is worth remarking, that of these particular +friends of Murray, the two Commissioners, Lord Lindsay and the Commendator +of Dunfermlin, and the two lawyers, Macgill and Balnaves, sat on the trial +of Bothwell when he was unanimously acquitted. Yet they afterwards accused +the Queen of consenting to an unfair trial. + +[157] Anderson, vol. iv. Part ii. p. 3. + +[158] Anderson, vol. iv. Part I. p. 12. + +[159] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 128. + +[160] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 144. + +[161] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 162. + +[162] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 62. + +[163] We do not at present stop the course of our narrative to examine +these letters more minutely, but we shall devote some time to their +consideration afterwards. + +[164] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 182. + +[165] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 184. + +[166] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 206. + +[167] Ibid. p. 220. + +[168] Ibid. p. 221. + +[169] Ibid. p. 184 and 206. + +[170] Ibid. p. 283. + +[171] Ibid. p. 312. + +[172] Ibid. p. 300 and 301. + +[173] There is one other circumstance connected with this conference, +which, though not bearing any immediate reference to Mary, is worth +mentioning. We allude to the challenges which passed between Lord Lindsay, +one of Murray's Commissioners, and Lord Herries, one of Mary's most +constant and faithful servants. Lindsay, whose passionate violence we have +formerly had occasion to notice, attempted to force a quarrel upon +Herries, by writing him the following letter: + +"Lord Herries,--I am informed that you have spoken and affirmed, that my +Lord Regent's Grace and his company here present, were guilty of the +abominable murder of the late King, our Sovereign Lord's father. If you +have so spoken, you have said untruly, and have lied in your throat, which +I will maintain, God willing, against you, as becomes me of honour and +duty. And hereupon I desire your answer. Subscribed with my hand, at +Kingston, the twenty-second day of December 1568. PATRICK LINDSAY." + +To this epistle Lord Herries made the following spirited reply: + +"Lord Lindsay,--I have seen a writing of yours, the 22d of December, and +thereby understand,--'You are informed that I have said and affirmed, that +the Earl of Murray, whom you call your Regent, and his company, are guilty +of the Queen's husband's slaughter, father to our Prince; and if I said +it, I have lied in my throat, which you will maintain against me as +becomes you of honour and duty.' In respect they have accused the Queen's +Majesty, mine and your native Sovereign, of that foul crime, far from the +duty that good subjects owed, or ever have been seen to have done to their +native Sovereign,--I have said--'There is of that company present with the +Earl of Murray, guilty of that abominable treason, in the fore-knowledge +and consent thereto.' That you were privy to it, Lord Lindsay, I know not; +and if you will say that I have specially spoken of you, you lie in your +throat; and that I will defend as of my honour and duty becomes me. But +let any of the principal that is of them subscribe the like writing you +have sent to me, and I shall point them forth, and fight with some of the +traitors therein; for meetest it is that traitors should pay for their own +treason. HERRIES. London, 22d of December 1568." + +No answer appears to have been returned to this letter, and so the affair +was dropped.--Goodall, vol. ii. p. 271. + +[174] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 313. + +[175] Chalmers, vol. i. p. 327. + +[176] Chalmers, vol. i. p. 332. + +[177] Anderson, vol. i. p. 80. + +[178] Strype, vol. i. p. 538.--Chalmers, vol. i. p. 337. + +[179] Stranguage, p. 114. + +[180] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 375.--Anderson, vol. ii. p. 261.--Stuart, vol. +ii. p. 59.--Chalmers, vol. i. p. 349. + +[181] Anderson, vol. iii. p. 248. + +[182] See "An Account of the Life and Actions of the Reverend Father in +God, John Lesley, Bishop of Ross," in Anderson, vol. iii. p. vii. + +[183] Miss Benger, vol. ii. p. 439. + +[184] Additions to the Memoirs of Castelnau, p. 589, et seq. + +[185] Laing, vol. ii. p. 285. + + Alas! what am I?--what avails my life? + Does not my body live without a soul?-- + A shadow vain--the sport of anxious strife, + That wishes but to die, and end the whole. + Why should harsh enmity pursue me more? + The false world's greatness has no charms for me; + Soon will the struggle and the grief be o'er;-- + Soon the oppressor gain the victory. + Ye friends! to whose remembrance I am dear, + No strength to aid you, or your cause, have I; + Cease then to shed the unavailing tear,-- + I have not feared to live, nor dread to die; + Perchance the pain that I have suffered here, + May win me more of bliss thro' God's eternal year. + +[186] See the whole of this letter in Whittaker, vol. iv. p. 399. Camden +translated it into Latin, and introduced it into his History; but he +published only an abridged edition of it, which Dr Stuart has paraphrased +and abridged still further; and Mademoiselle de Keralio has translated Dr +Stuart's paraphrased abridgment into French, supposing it to have been the +original letter. Stuart, vol. ii. p. 164.--Keralio, Histoire d'Elisabethe, +vol. v. p. 349. + +[187] Chalmers, vol. i. p. 395. + +[188] They were hanged on two successive days, seven on each day; and the +first seven, among whom were Ballard, Babington, and Savage, were cut down +before they were dead, embowelled, and then quartered.--_Stranguage_, _p._ +177. + +[189] Stranguage, p. 176.--Chalmers, vol. i. p. 427 et seq. + +[190] In the first series of Ellis's Collection of "Original Letters +illustrative of English History," there is given a fac simile of the plan, +in Lord Burleigh's hand, for the arrangement to be observed at the trial +of the Queen of Scots. As it is interesting, and brings the whole scene +more vividly before us, the following explanatory copy of it will be +perused with interest. + +[Illustration: The upper end of the Gret Chambre at Fordynghay Cast.] + +_Below, in another hand, apparently in answer to Lord Burleigh's +direction, is the following_: + +"This will be most convenientlye in the greatt Chamber; the lengthe +whereof is in all xxiij. yerds with the windowe: whereof there may be fr. +the neither part beneth the barre viij. yerds: and the rest for the upper +parte. The breadeth of the chamber is vij. yerds. + +"There is another chambre for the Lords to dyne in, the lengthe is xiiij. +yerds; the breadeth, vij. yerdes; and the deppeth iij. yerdes dim." + +[191] As an example of some of the mistakes which the fabricators of these +letters committed, it may be mentioned, that in one of them, dated the +27th of July 1586, Mary is made to say,--"I am not yet brought so low but +that I am able to handle my cross-bow for killing a deer, and to gallop +after the hounds on horseback, as this afternoon I intend to do, within +the limits of this park, and could otherwhere if it were permitted." Yet +on the 3d of June previous, Sir Amias Paulet informed Walsingham--"The +Scottish Queen is getting a little strength, and has been out in her +coach, and is sometimes carried in a chair to one of the adjoining ponds +to see the diversion of duck-hunting; but she is not able to walk without +support on each side." See Chalmers, vol. i. p. 426. + +[192] Camden, p. 519, et seq.--Stranguage, p. 192, et seq.--Robertson, +Book VII.--Stuart, vol. ii. p. 268, et seq. + +[193] It deserves notice, that no particulars of the trial at Fotheringay +have been recorded, either by Mary herself, or any of her friends, but are +all derived from the narrative of two of Elizabeth's notaries. If Mary's +triumph was so decided, even by their account, it may easily be conceived +that it would have appeared still more complete, had it been described by +less partial writers. + +[194] Camden, p. 525, et seq. + +[195] Murdin, p. 569. + +[196] Camden. + +[197] Jebb, vol. ii. p. 91. + +[198] Tytler, vol. ii. p. 319, et seq., and p. 403.--Chalmers, vol. i. p. +447.--Tytler gives a strong and just exposition of the shameful nature of +the Queen's correspondence with Paulet. The reader cannot fail to peruse +the following passage with interest: + +"The letters written by Elizabeth to Sir Amias Paulet, Queen Mary's keeper +in her prison at Fotheringay Castle, disclose to us the true sentiments of +her heart, and her steady purpose to have Mary privately assassinated. +Paulet, a rude but an honest man, had behaved with great insolence and +harshness to Queen Mary, and treated her with the utmost disrespect. He +approached her person without any ceremony, and usually came covered into +her presence, of which she had complained to Queen Elizabeth. He was +therefore thought a fit person for executing the above purpose. The +following letter from Elizabeth displays a strong picture of her artifice +and flattery, in order to raise his expectations to the highest pitch. + +'TO MY LOVING AMIAS. + +'_Amias, my most faithful and careful servant_, God reward thee treblefold +for the most troublesome charge so well discharged. If you knew, _my +Amias_, how kindly, beside most dutifully, my grateful heart accepts and +praiseth your spotless endeavours and faithful actions, performed in so +dangerous and crafty a charge, it would ease your travail, and rejoice +your heart; in which I charge you to carry this most instant thought, that +I cannot balance in any weight of my judgment the value that I prize you +at, and suppose no treasure can countervail such a faith. And you shall +condemn me in that fault that yet I never committed, if I reward not such +desert; yea let me lack when I most need it, if I acknowledge not such a +merit, _non omnibus datum_.'[*] + +Having thus buoyed up his hopes and wishes, Walsingham, in his letters to +Paulet and Drury, mentions the proposal in plain words to them. 'We find, +by a speech lately made by her Majesty, that she doth note in you both a +lack of that care and zeal for her service, that she looketh for at your +hands, in that you have not in all this time (of yourselves, without any +other provocation) found out some way to shorten the life of the Scots +Queen, considering the great peril she is hourly subject to, so long as +the said Queen shall live.'--In a Post-script: 'I pray you, let both this +and the enclosed be committed to the fire; as your answer shall be, after +it has been communicated to her Majesty, for her satisfaction.' In a +subsequent letter: 'I pray you let me know what you have done with my +letters, because they are not fit to be kept, that I may satisfy her +Majesty therein, who might otherwise take offence thereat.' + +What a cruel snare is here laid for this faithful servant! He is tempted +to commit a murder, and at the same time has orders from his Sovereign to +destroy the warrant for doing it. He was too wise and too honourable to do +either the one or the other. Had he fallen into the snare, we may guess, +from the fate of Davidson, what would have been his. Paulet, in return, +thus writes to Walsingham:--'Your letters of yesterday coming to my hand +this day, I would not fail, according to your directions, to return my +answer with all possible speed; which I shall deliver unto you with great +grief and bitterness of mind, in that I am so unhappy, as living to see +this unhappy day, in which I am required, by direction of my most gracious +Sovereign, to do an act which God and the law forbiddeth. My goods and +life are at her Majesty's disposition, and I am ready to lose them the +next morrow if it shall please her. But God forbid I should make so foul a +shipwreck of my conscience, or leave so great a blot to my poor posterity, +as shed blood without law or warrant." + + [*] What a picture have we here, of the heroine of England! Wooing a + faithful servant to commit a clandestine murder, which she herself + durst not avow! The portrait of King John, in the same predicament, + practising with Hubert to murder his nephew, then under his charge, + shows how intimately the great Poet was acquainted with nature. + + O my gentle Hubert, + We owe thee much! Within this wall of flesh, + There is a soul, counts thee her creditor, + And with advantage means to pay thy love, + And, my good friend, thy voluntary oath + Lives in this bosom dearly cherished. + +[199] Mackenzie's Lives of the Scottish Writers, vol. iii. p. +336.--Robertson, vol. ii. p. 194.--Chalmers, vol. i. p. 449. + +[200] La Mort de la Royne d'Ecosse in Jebb, vol. ii. p. 611. + +[201] Jebb, vol. ii. p. 622. et seq. + +[202] "Mary's testament and letters," says Ritson the antiquarian, "which +I have seen, blotted with her tears in the Scotch College, Paris, will +remain perpetual monuments of singular abilities, tenderness, and +affection,--of a head and heart of which no other Queen in the world was +probably ever possessed." + +[203] Jebb, vol. ii. p. 628, et seq. + +[204] History of Fotheringay, p. 79. + +[205] Among these attendants were her physician Bourgoine, who afterwards +wrote a long and circumstantial narrative of her death, and Jane Kennedy, +formerly mentioned on the occasion of Mary's escape from Loch-Leven. + +[206] Narratio Supplicii Mortis Mariae Stuart in Jebb, vol. ii. p. +163.--La Mort de la Royne d'Ecosse in Jebb, vol. ii. p. 636 and +639.--Camden, p. 535. + +[207] Jebb, vol. ii. p. 640, et seq. + +[208] See Mezeray, Histoire de France, tome iii. + +[209] "We may say of Mary, I believe, with strict propriety," observes +Whittaker, "what has been said of one of her Royal predecessors,--'the +gracious Duncan,' that she + + "Had borne her faculties so meek, had been + So clear in her great office, that her virtues, + Will plead, like angels, trumpet-tongued, against + _The deep damnation of her taking off_." + +[210] "Oraison Funebre" in Jebb, vol. ii. p. 671. + +[211] Anderson, vol. ii. p. 92. + +[212] Keith, p. 79. + +[213] Anderson, vol. i. p. 117.--Keith, p. 379. + +[214] Melville, p. 175. et seq. + +[215] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 90. + +[216] Keith, p. 406. + +[217] Anderson, vol. i. p. 139. + +[218] Keith, p. 417. + +[219] Haynes, p. 454.--Stuart, vol. i. p. 361. + +[220] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 66. + +[221] Keith, p. 467.--Anderson, vol. ii. p. 173. + +[222] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 140. + +[223] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 235. + +[224] Ibid. 256. + +[225] Tytler, vol. i. p. 144. + +[226] There is preserved at Hamilton Palace, a small silver box, said to +be the very casket which once contained the Letters. Laing, who appears to +believe in the genuineness of this relic somewhat too hastily, mentions, +that "the casket was purchased from a Papist by the Marchioness of Douglas +(a daughter of the Huntly family) about the period of the Restoration. +After her death, her plate was sold to a goldsmith, from whom her +daughter-in-law Anne, heiress and Dutchess of Hamilton, repurchased the +casket." + +"For the following accurate and satisfactory account of the casket," adds +Mr Laing, "I am indebted to Mr Alexander Young, W. S., to whom I +transmitted the description of it given in Morton's receipt, and in the +Memorandum prefixed to the Letters in Buchanan's 'Detection.'" + +"'The silver box is carefully preserved in the Charter-room at Hamilton +Palace, and answers exactly the description you have given of it, both in +size and general appearance. I examined the outside very minutely. On the +first glance I was led to state, that it had none of those ornaments to +which you allude, and, in particular, that it wanted the crowns, with the +Italic letter _F_. Instead of these, I found on one of the sides the arms +of the house of Hamilton, which seemed to have been engraved on a +compartment, which had previously contained some other ornament. On the +top of the lock, which is of curious workmanship, there is a large +embossed crown with _fleurs de lis_, but without any letters. Upon the +bottom, however, of the casket, there are two other small ornaments--one +near each end, which, at first sight, I thought resembled our +silver-smiths' marks; but, on closer inspection, I found they consisted +each of a royal crown above a _fleur de lis_, surmounting the Italic +letter _F_.'"--Laing, vol. ii. p. 235. + +Upon this description of the box, it may be remarked, that it does _not_ +exactly agree with the account given of it by Buchanan; for it would +appear, that in the casket preserved at Hamilton, there are only two +Italic _F's_; while Buchanan describes it as "a small gilt coffer, not +fully a foot long, being _garnished in sundry places_ with the Roman +letter F, under a king's crown," an expression he would not have used, had +there been only two of these letters. Besides, there seems to have been a +king's crown above each; but on the coffer at Hamilton, there is only one +crown on the top of the lock, and not above the letter F. Antiquarians, +however, have investigated subjects of less curiosity, and have been +willing to believe upon far more slender data. + +[227] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 87. + +[228] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 140. + +[229] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 235; and p. 257. + +[230] The authentic "Warrant" and "Consent," has been already described, +_supra_, vol. ii. p. 95, and may be seen at length in Anderson, vol. i. p. +87. + +[231] Laing, Appendix, vol. ii. p. 356. + +[232] See in further corroboration of the facts stated above, a Letter of +Archibald Douglas to the Queen of Scots, in Robertson's Appendix, or in +Laing, vol. ii. p. 363. + +[233] "Nec ullam hac in causa reginae accusationem intervenire."--See the +King of Denmark's Letter in Laing, vol. ii. p. 328. + +[234] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 382. + +[235] Keith, Appendix, p. 141. + +[236] Jebb, vol. ii. p. 227.--Keith, Appendix, p. 143. + +[237] See the New Monthly Magazine, No. LIV. p. 521. + +[238] Lesley's "Defence" in Anderson, vol. i. p. 40. + +[239] Miss Benger, Appendix, vol. ii. p. 494. + +[240] Buchanan, book xix.--Stuart, vol. i. p. 460. + +[241] Robertson, Appendix to vol. i. No. xxii. + +[242] Anderson, vol. iv. Part I. p. 120 and 125. + +[243] Keith, Appendix, p. 145. + +[244] Jebb, vol. ii. p. 671. + +[245] Anderson, vol. ii. p. 185. + +[246] Anderson, ibid. p. 187.--Laing, vol. ii. p. 296. + +[247] Laing, Appendix p. 323. + +[248] Laing, vol. ii. p. 298. + +[249] Ibid. p. 300. + +[250] Tytler, vol. i. p. 20. + +[251] It is unnecessary to enter into any discussion regarding the second +Confession of Paris, which has been so satisfactorily proved to be +spurious, by Tytler, Whittaker, and Chalmers, and on which Robertson +acknowledges "no stress is to be laid," on account of the "improbable +circumstances" it contains. See Tytler, vol. i. p. 286.--Whittaker, vol. +ii. p. 305.--Chalmers, vol. ii. p. 50.--Robertson, vol. iii. p. 20. + +[252] Robertson, vol. iii. p. 21. + +[253] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 371 and 375.--Robertson, vol. iii. p. 28. + +[254] The French edition of the Detection, p. 2.--Goodall, vol. i. p. 103. + +[255] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 235. + +[256] Laing, vol. i. p. 250. + +[257] See the Letter in Laing, vol. ii. p. 202; and an unsuccessful +attempt to give a criminal interpretation to it, in vol. i. p. 311. It is +quite unnecessary to allude here to several other flimsy forgeries which, +at a later period, have been attempted to be palmed upon the world as +genuine letters of Mary. In 1726, a book was published, entitled, "The +genuine Letters of Mary Queen of Scots, to James Earl of Bothwell, found +in his Secretary's Closet after his Decease, and now in the Possession of +a Gentleman at Oxford. Translated from the French by Edward Simmons, late +of Christ-Church College, Oxford." These had only to be read, to be seen +to be fabrications. Yet so late as the year 1824, a compilation was +published by Dr Hugh Campbell, containing, among other things, eleven +letters, which the Doctor thought were original love-letters of the Queen +to Bothwell, although, with a very trifling variation, they were the same +as those published in 1726; only, not being described as translations, and +being written in comparatively modern English, which Mary never could +write, they bear still more evidently the stamp of forgery. This is put +beyond a doubt, by a short Examination of them, published by Murray, +London, 1825, and entitled, "A Detection of the Love-Letters, lately +attributed, in Hugh Campbell's Work, to Mary Queen of Scots; wherein his +Plagiarisms are proved, and his fictions fixed." + +[258] Whittaker, vol. ii. p. 79. + +[259] Goodall, vol. i. p. 79--Laing, vol. i. p. 209. + +[260] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 342. + +[261] Jebb, vol. ii. 244. + +[262] Camden, p. 143.--Tytler, vol. i. p. 101. + +[263] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 31. + +[264] It is proper to state, that Robertson has considered this argument +at some length; and though he has not overturned, he has certainly +invalidated the strength of the evidence adduced by Goodall in support of +it.--Goodall, vol. i. p. 118.--Whittaker, vol. i. p. 383.--Chalmers, vol. +ii. p. 375.--Laing, vol. i. p. 315. + +[265] Whittaker, vol. i. p. 332. + +[266] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 64 & 67. + +[267] Whittaker, vol. i. p. 408. + +[268] Goodall, vol. ii. p. 51. + +[269] Regarding these sonnets, the curious reader may consult Whittaker, +vol. iii. p. 55.--Stuart, vol. i. p. 395.--Jebb, vol. ii. p. 481--and +Laing, vol. i. p. 230. 347. 349. and 368. For remarks on the +marriage-contracts, see Goodall, vol. ii. p. 54 & 56, and vol. i. p. +126.--Whittaker, vol. i, p. 392, and Stuart, vol, i. p. 397. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Life of Mary Queen of Scots, Volume II +(of 2), by Henry Glassford Bell + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, VOL II *** + +***** This file should be named 37059.txt or 37059.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/0/5/37059/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian +Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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