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diff --git a/38048.txt b/38048.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5fbefe8 --- /dev/null +++ b/38048.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8860 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mary Queen of Scots 1542-1587, by Various + +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: Mary Queen of Scots 1542-1587 + +Author: Various + +Editor: Robert S. Rait + +Release Date: November 18, 2011 [EBook #38048] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS 1542-1587 *** + + + + +Produced by Susan Skinner, Hazel Batey and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + SCOTTISH HISTORY FROM CONTEMPORARY WRITERS + + NO. II. + + Mary Queen of Scots + + + =ENGLISH HISTORY from Contemporary Writers.= Edited by Prof. F. YORK + POWELL. In 16mo volumes, averaging 200 pages, with illustrations, neatly + bound in cloth, cut flush, or cloth, uncut edges, comprising extracts + from the Chronicles, State Papers, and Memoirs of the time, + chronologically arranged. With Introductions, Notes, Accounts of + Authorities, Tables, Maps, Illustrations, etc. + + =Edward III. and his Wars= (1327-1360). Edited by W. J. ASHLEY, + M.A. Cut edges, 1s.; uncut edges, 1s. 6d. + + =The Misrule of Henry III.= (1236-1251). Edited by the Rev. W. H. + HUTTON, M.A. Cut edges, 1s.; uncut edges, 1s. 6d. + + =Strongbow's Conquest of Ireland.= Edited by F. P. BARNARD, M.A. + Cut edges, 1s.; uncut edges, 1s. 6d. + + =Simon of Montfort and his Cause= (1251-1265). Edited by the Rev. + W. H. HUTTON, M.A. Cut edges, 1s.; uncut edges, 1s. 6d. + + =The Crusade of Richard I.= Edited by T. A. ARCHER. 396 pp. Cut + edges, 2s.; uncut edges, 2s. 6d. + + =S. Thomas of Canterbury.= By Rev. W. H. HUTTON. 286 pp. Cut edges, + 1s. 6d.; uncut edges, 2s. + + =England under Charles II., from the Restoration to the Treaty of + Nimwegen.= Edited by W. TAYLOR. Cut edges, 1s.; uncut edges, 1s. + 6d. + + =The Wars of the Roses.= Edited by Miss E. THOMPSON. 180 pp. 1892. + Cut edges, 1s.; uncut edges, 1s. 6d. + + =The Jews of Angevin England.= Edited by J. JACOBS. xxix, 425 pp. + 1893. Cut edges, 4s.; uncut edges, 4s. 6d. + + =King Alfred.= Edited by F. YORK POWELL. _In the Press._ + + =SCOTTISH HISTORY from Contemporary Writers.= + + =The Days of James IV.= Edited by G. GREGORY SMITH, M.A. 1891. Cut + edges, 1s.; uncut edges, 1s. 6d. + + =Mary Queen of Scots.= Edited by R. S. RAIT. 1899. Cut edges, 2s.; + elegant cloth cover, top gilt, edges trimmed, 3s. + + +Illustration: THE BLAIRS PORTRAIT. + + + + + SCOTTISH HISTORY FROM CONTEMPORARY WRITERS. + + No. II. + + Mary Queen of Scots 1542-1587 + + _Extracts from the English, Spanish, and Venetian State Papers, + Buchanan, Knox, Lesley, Melville, The "Diurnal of Occurrents," Nau, + &c. &c._ + + ARRANGED AND EDITED BY + + ROBERT S. RAIT + + M.A. (ABERDON.) EXHIBITIONER OF NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD + + + LONDON + DAVID NUTT, 270-71 STRAND + 1899 + + Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. + At the Ballantyne Press + + + + +PREFACE + + +The life of the Queen of Scots presents so many different lines of +interest, that, in a volume of the present size, it is necessary to +make and adhere to a selection from among the numerous possible +varieties of treatment. The attention of the reader has, therefore, +been concentrated upon the six active years in Mary's life, from her +arrival in Scotland in August 1561, to her imprisonment in Lochleven +Castle in June 1567. Documents bearing on the "English Wooing" and +the other events of Mary's minority and residence in France have, +accordingly, been omitted, except in so far as they are required for +an intelligible introduction to the main theme of the book. Most of +them, indeed, would be more relevant to a volume having for its +subject the history of the Scottish Reformation. It is hoped that +such extracts as have been chosen will, with the connecting notes, +be sufficient to indicate the position of affairs in 1561. The +struggle which had convulsed Scotland for twenty years, was, on its +theoretical side, a contest between Roman Catholicism and +Protestantism. On its practical side, it was a rivalry between two +political parties; the one, headed by the Queen-Dowager, Mary of +Guise, and Cardinal Beaton, aiming at the maintenance of the ancient +alliance with France; and the other, led by the Protestant nobles +and the reformed clergy, striving towards an understanding with +England. Before Mary's arrival, the popular, or English Party, had +made good its position, and the understanding between the nobles and +Queen Elizabeth continued undisturbed. Such wish or power as Mary +possessed for the re-establishment of a definite alliance with +France, was lessened by her personal dislike to Catharine de Medici, +and by her position as nearest heir to the English throne. + +The Editor's main aim has been to place before the reader, as fairly +as possible, the evidence for the divergent views of Mary's life and +character. For this purpose, considerable space has been devoted to +the Conferences at York and Westminster, in 1568 and 1569, which, +although themselves outside the period specially chosen, yet refer +to the events that fall within it. The selection of extracts has +also been influenced by a desire to give prominence to the condition +of Scotland at the time, and to the religious difficulty associated +with the person of John Knox; while an attempt has been made to +bring into relief the personality of the rival queens. + +The Editor desires to acknowledge the courtesy of the Right Reverend +Monsignor Chisholm, Rector of Blairs College, Bishop-Designate of +Aberdeen, who has sanctioned the reproduction of the Blairs +portrait. He has also to acknowledge the assistance of Professor W. +L. Davidson of Aberdeen; Mr. Herbert Fisher, Fellow of New College; +and the Editor of the series, who have read the proof-sheets. Mr. +Swinburne's translation of Mary's last poem (p. 239) is printed by +kind permission, and Mr. T. F. Henderson has allowed the Editor to +use the Documents first printed in his "Casket Letters and Mary +Queen of Scots." + + R. S. R. + +NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD, +_February 1899_. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + SECT. PAGE + + I. FROM MARY'S BIRTH TO HER RETURN TO SCOTLAND FROM FRANCE 1 + + II. FROM MARY'S ARRIVAL IN SCOTLAND TO THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE 17 + + III. FROM THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE TO THE RIZZIO MURDER 57 + + IV. MURDER OF RIZZIO TO MURDER OF DARNLEY 81 + + V. FROM THE MURDER OF DARNLEY TO THE FLIGHT INTO ENGLAND 114 + + VI. THE CONFERENCES AT YORK AND WESTMINSTER 132 + + VII. THE DOCUMENTS 162 + + VIII. THE END 225 + + APPENDICES 249 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + 1. QUEEN MARY _Frontispiece_ + (_From the painting preserved in St. Mary's College, + Blairs, Aberdeen._) + + 2. LINLITHGOW PALACE 1 + + 3. HOLYROOD HOUSE 20 + (_The north-west end of Holyrood, shown in the + foreground, contains Queen Mary's rooms._) + + 4. QUEEN MARY'S SIGNET RING 83 + (_Preserved in the British Museum._) + + FACSIMILE OF QUEEN MARY'S SIGNATURE AND MONOGRAM 83 + + 5. LOCHLEVEN CASTLE 125 + + 6. HAND-BELL USED BY QUEEN MARY 238 + + 7. EFFIGY OF QUEEN MARY IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY 246 + (_Erected by her son, King James, in 1612._) + + + _Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7 are from photographs by Messrs. Wilson, + Aberdeen; Nos. 4 and 6 by Messrs. Taunt, Oxford. For full + information regarding Nos. 4 and 6, see "Catalogue of Antiquities" + &c., exhibited in the Museum of the Archaeological Institute of + Great Britain and Ireland, 1856, pp. 169-182 (Edin. 1859)._ + + +Illustration: LINLITHGOW PALACE, QUEEN MARY'S BIRTHPLACE. + + + + +Mary Queen of Scots + +SECTION I + +FROM MARY'S BIRTH TO HER RETURN TO SCOTLAND FROM FRANCE + + +_CONTENTS_ + + 1. Lindsay's account of her birth and her father's death. + + 2. Her education and character in France. + (_a_) Letter of the Privy Council of Scotland. + (_b_) Conn's List of her accomplishments. + + 3. Lesley's account of her Betrothal and Marriage. + + 4. Lesley's account of the death of Mary of Guise. + + 5. The disputed clause in the Treaty of Edinburgh. + + 6. Act of the Scots Parliament establishing the Reformation. + + 7. Quotations from the English and Venetian diplomatic correspondence + narrating + (_a_) The Death of Francis II., and its effect on Mary. + (_b_) The negotiations between Elizabeth and Mary. + (_c_) The attempt to capture Mary on her way to Leith. + + +The Birth of the Queen. + +_Lindsay of Pitscottie: History of Scotland_, Ed. of 1778, p. 275. + + [Mary was born at Linlithgow on December 2nd, 1542. Her father, + James V., was dying at Falkland, broken-hearted after the defeat at + Solway Moss. The reference in the following passage is, of course, + to the succession of the House of Stewart to the Crown, through + Marjory Bruce. King James died on December 8th.] + +_DEATH OF JAMES V._ + +By this the post came to the King out of Linlithgow, showing to him good +tidings, that the Queen was delivered. The King enquired whether it was +a man-child or a woman. The messenger said: "It is a fair daughter." The +King answered: "Adieu, farewell; it came with a lass and it will pass +with a lass." And so he recommended himself to the mercy of Almighty +God, and spake little from that time forth, but turned his back unto his +lords, and his face unto the wall.... In this manner he departed.... He +turned him upon his back, and looked, and beheld all his nobles and +lords about him, and gave a little smile of laughter, then kissed his +hand, and offered the same to all his nobles round about him; thereafter +held up his hands to God, and yielded his spirit to God. + + On the death of James V. the Earl of Arran was made Regent, and + negotiations were commenced by Henry VIII. for the marriage of the + infant Queen of Scots to his son, afterwards Edward VI. After much + discussion, a treaty to this effect was concluded in July 1543 + between the Scots and English Commissioners. The relations of the + two countries, however, almost immediately became strained, and war + broke out in the end of the year, and in 1547 a treaty of alliance + was made between Scotland and France against England, the Scots to + receive French help against the English forces, and to marry their + Queen to the Dauphin. Mary landed in France in August 1548. The + Earl of Arran was made Duke of Chatelherault by Henry II., but + ceased to be Governor of Scotland in April 1554, when the Queen + Mother, Mary of Guise, became Regent. + + +_THE LITTLE QUEEN_ + +1550--April. Queen Mary's Life in France--Character of the Queen. + +_Register of the Privy Council of Scotland._ + +_Item._--Thereafter the said Master of Erskine shall report to the King +{of France}, how rejoiced the Queen's Grace and my Lord Governor were of +the news of our Sovereign Lady's welfare, and to hear that the King's +Highness was so well contented with her Grace, and that she was so able +to increase in virtue, and that the King's Majesty takes such +consolation, seeing the beginning of her up-bringing to have been so +good, that he hopes some day to see his son the husband of one of the +most virtuous princes that man can desire: beseeching God of His +infinite goodness that His Highness may see not only the thing that his +noble heart desires, but also that our Sovereign Lady be after this so +endued with the graces of God that she may by her birth {offspring} make +his Highness to be called the grandfather of one of the most virtuous +princes in the world, and king long to reign prosperously over both +realms. + + +_HER ACCOMPLISHMENTS_ + +Her Education and Accomplishments. + +_Conaeus._ (_Jebb: De Vita ac Rebus_, vol. ii. p. 15.) + +Her main course of study was directed towards the attainment of the best +European languages. So graceful was her French that the judgment of the +most learned men recognised her command of the language; nor did she +neglect Spanish or Italian, although she aimed rather at an useful +knowledge than at a pretentious fluency. She followed Latin more readily +than she spoke it. The charm of her poetry owed nothing to art. Her +penmanship was clear, and (what is rare in a woman) swift. Her +excellence in singing arose from a natural, not an acquired, ability to +modulate her voice: the instruments she played were the cittern, the +harp, and the harpsichord. Being very agile, she danced admirably to a +musical accompaniment, yet with beauty and comeliness, for the silent +and gentle movement of her limbs kept time to the harmony of the chords. +She devoted herself to learning to ride so far as it is necessary for +travelling or for her favourite exercise of hunting, thinking anything +further more fitted for a man than for a woman.... Several tapestries +worked by her with wonderful skill are yet to be seen in France, +dedicated to the altars of God, especially in the monastery in which she +was nurtured on her first arrival in the kingdom. + + +_THE "HANDFASTING"_ + +1558.--April. Mary's Betrothal and Marriage to the Dauphin. + +_Lesley's History of Scotland_ (_Bannatyne Club_, pp. 264-5). + +All things necessary for the marriage of the Queen of Scots with the +Dauphin being prepared, and the whole nobility and estates of the realm +being convened at Paris, upon the 20th day of April 1558, in the great +hall of the palace of the Louvre, in presence of King Henry of France, +of the Queen his wife, and a great number of cardinals, dukes, earls, +bishops, and noblemen, the "fianzellis," otherwise called the +handfasting {betrothal}, was made with great triumph, by the Cardinal of +Lorraine, between the excellent young Prince Francis, eldest son to the +most valiant, courageous, and victorious prince, Henry, King of France, +and Mary, Queen, inheritor of the realm of Scotland, one of the fairest, +most civil and virtuous princesses of the whole world, with great +solemnity, triumph, and banqueting; and upon the next Sunday, being the +24th of April, the marriage was solemnised and completed betwixt them by +the Cardinal of Bourbon, Archbishop of Rouen, in Notre Dame Kirk of +Paris; where the Bishop of Paris made a very learned and eloquent +sermon, in presence and assistance of the King, Queen, and many +prelates, noblemen, ladies, and gentlemen of all estates and callings, +with most excellent triumph, and the heralds crying with loud voices +three sundry times, "Largess"; casting to the people great quantity of +gold and silver of all kinds and sorts of coin, where there was great +tumult of people, every one troubling and pressing others for greediness +to get some part of the money. After which there were as great +solemnities used in the kirk, with as great dignity and reverence as was +possible, which being done, they entered into the bishop's palace, where +there was a sumptuous and princely dinner prepared for the whole +company; and after they had dined, there was used a princely dancing, +called the ball royal, to the great comfort and pleasure of all being +there present; and how soon the ball was ended, they passed to the great +hall of the palace royal, where they supped with so great magnificence, +pomp, and triumph, that none of the assistance there had ever seen the +like; and there presently was given to the Dauphin the title of King +Dauphin, so that he and the Queen were called the King and Queen +Dauphin. + +_PROGRESS OF EVENTS_ + + [In connection with the marriage settlements, an assurance was + given to the Scots Parliament of the maintenance of its liberties, + and of the succession of the nearest heir, in case of Mary's death + without issue. (_Acts_ ii. 508-519.) But, at the same time, Mary + was induced to sign three documents transferring her rights, in + case of her decease without issue, to the King of France, his heirs + and successors. See Labanoff, "Lettres, Instructiones et Memoires + de Marie Stuart," vol. i. pp. 50-56.] + + Events moved rapidly between 1558 and Mary's return to Scotland in + 1561. In November 1558 Mary Tudor died, and Henry II. caused + Francis and Mary to assume the arms of England. In June 1559 Henry + II. died, and Francis II. succeeded. Meanwhile, in Scotland, the + Reformation was making progress. In 1559 the Protestants formed + themselves into "the Congregation of the Lord," and signed the + National Covenant to abolish Roman Catholicism. After the death of + Henry II., when it seemed probable that the Guises would guide the + government of Scotland, the discontent broke into open rebellion. + The insurgents obtained help from Elizabeth, and proposed a + marriage between the English Queen and the Earl of Arran, the heir + of the Duke of Chatelherault, who stood next in the order of + succession to the Scottish throne. The Queen-Dowager took refuge in + Edinburgh Castle, and had the assistance of French troops. The + Lords of the Congregation and their English allies commenced the + siege of Leith, but with small success. The illness of Mary of + Guise led to the conclusion of peace, and to the formulating of the + Treaty of Edinburgh, which was the cause of a long dispute between + Elizabeth and Mary Stuart. + + +_A RECONCILIATION_ + +1560.--June 11. The Death of the Queen Regent. + +_Lesley's History of Scotland, Dalrymple's Translation, Scottish +Text Society_, vol. ii. pp. 439-441. + +Now the Queen Regent, almost at an end, through force of her sickness, +for she was infected with sore sickness, commands all the nobility of +both the parties to be brought before her, who were in Edinburgh. And to +them she declared and plainly showed the necessity of peace and concord +between them, how great it was. She related the old bond of the +perpetual friendship that was ever between Scots and French, lately +confirmed by the matrimony and marriage of the Queen's daughter, and how +or what way they should keep it with all diligence.... She affirms it +above all things most necessary that they see to it, that as soon as the +conditions are agreed upon, both English and French in haste pass out of +Scotland, lest that if only the Frenchmen go, the Englishmen come in +haste in greater companies upon the Scots borders, and invade them in +earnest. All the gentlemen severally she persuades, that before all they +remember the privilege of their nation and native country. When she had +said this she burst into a torrent of tears. Of those whom she thought +she had in any way offended she very gently asks pardon. And to them by +whom in any way she was offended she wishes all kindness, gives her +blessing, and with all her heart her everlasting benison, as we call it. +To show and plainly declare that what she here said was unfeigned, and +without all kind of dissimulation, she receives all her nobles with all +pleasure, with a pleasant countenance, and even embraces them with the +kiss of love. With all the rest she shakes hands, ... so that there was +none of so hard a heart, or stout a stomach, or adamant a mind in all +that company, whom to think of moved not to tears.... But the next day, +which was Monday, she died and departed this life. + + +1560.--July. The Treaty of Edinburgh. + +_Rymer's F[oe]dera_, vol. xv. p. 594. + + [The Treaty of Edinburgh provided that both the French soldiers who + had come to help the Queen Regent, and the English soldiers who + aided the insurgents, should leave the kingdom, and it renounced + Mary's claim to the throne of England: whether absolutely or only + with reference to Elizabeth, is a matter of dispute. The clauses to + which Mary objected are here quoted.] + +... It is agreed that the said most Christian King and Queen Mary, and +each of them, abstain henceforth from using the said title and bearing +the arms of the kingdom of England or of Ireland, and that they will +forbid and prohibit their subjects, so that no one in the kingdom of +France and Scotland and their provinces, or in any part of them, do in +any way use the said title or arms, and that they will, as far as +possible, provide and guard that nobody in any way commingle the said +arms with the arms of the kingdoms of France and Scotland. + + +_THE SCOTTISH REFORMATION_ + +The Abolition of Roman Catholicism by the Scottish Parliament. + +_Acts of Parliament of Scotland_, August 24, 1560. + +Therefore it is statute and ordained in this present Parliament ... that +no manner of person or persons say mass, nor yet hear mass, nor be +present thereat, under the pain of confiscation of all their goods, +moveable and unmoveable, and punishing of their bodies at the discretion +of the magistrate within whose jurisdiction such persons happen to be +apprehended, for the first fault; Banishment from the Realm, for the +second fault; and justifying to the deed {_i.e._ capital punishment} for +the third fault. And ordains all sheriffs, stewards, baillies, and their +deputies, provosts and baillies of burghs, and other judges whatsoever +within this realm, to take diligent suit and inquisition within their +bounds, when any such usurped ministry is in use, mass-saying, or they +that be present at the doing thereof, ratifying and approving the same, +and take and apprehend them to the effect that the pains above written +may be executed upon them. + + +December 15. The Death of Francis II. + +_Venetian Calendar_, vol. vii. December 3, 1560. + +Michiel Surian, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Doge and Senate. + +On the 1st instant I informed your Serenity that the king was worse, and +this last night I wrote that his life was despaired of. He now still +continues lingering without any other hope than in the mercy of God.... +The whole Court is now constantly engaged at prayers, and processions +are being made in all the churches of the city. + +December 6. + +It has pleased our Lord God that the most Christian King, last night a +little before midnight, should pass to a better life, and end the agony +in which he lay from Saturday evening until the day of his death. + + +_A DOLOROUS WIFE_ + +1560.--December 6. Mary's Devotion to Francis II. + +_Throckmorton to Elizabeth. Foreign Calendar, Elizabeth._ + +The 6th of this present, at eleven of the clock at night, he departed to +God, leaving as heavy and dolorous a wife, as of right she had good +cause to be, who by long watching with him during his sickness, and +painful diligence about him, and specially by the issue thereof, is not +in best tune of her body, but without danger. + + +_LA REINE BLANCHE_ + +1560.--December 31. Proposals for Mary's Return to Scotland, and for a +Second Marriage. + +_Throckmorton to the Council. Foreign Calendar, Elizabeth._ + +Now that death hath thus disposed of the late French King, whereby the +Scottish Queen is left a widow, one of the special things your Lordships +have to consider, and to have an eye to, is the marriage of that Queen. +During her husband's life there was no great account made of her, for +that being under bond of marriage and subjection of her husband (who +carried the burden and care of all matters) there was offered no great +occasion to know what was in her. But since her husband's death she hath +showed (and so continueth) that she is both of great wisdom for her +years, modesty, and also of great judgment in the wise handling herself +and her matters, which, increasing with her years, cannot but turn +greatly to her commendation, reputation, honour, and great benefit of +her and her country.... Immediately upon her husband's death she changed +her lodging, withdrew herself from all company, and became so solitary +and exempt of all worldliness that she doth not to this day see +daylight, and so will continue out forty days. + + +1561.--June 13. Mary's Intentions Regarding Religion on her Return. + +_Throckmorton to the Queen. Foreign Calendar, Elizabeth._ + +"Well," said she {Mary}, "I will be plain with you, and tell you what I +would all the world should think of me. The religion that I profess I +take to be most acceptable to God, and, indeed, neither do I know, nor +desire to know, any other. Constancy doth become most folks well, but +none better than princes and such as hath rule over realms, and +especially in the matter of religion. I have been brought up in this +religion, and who might credit me in anything if I should show myself +light in this case?" + +_REQUEST FOR A PASSPORT_ + +_Ibid._, July 11. + +The Queen of Scotland, Queen Dowager of France, desires to obtain the +following from her good sister, the Queen of England, and has charged M. +D'Oysel to the same effect:-- + +1. A passport for her, with a clause that if she arrives in any part of +England, she may tarry there, and purchase provisions and necessaries, +and if it seems good to her, that she may leave her ships and pass by +land to Scotland. + +2. Another safe conduct for her to pass through England to Scotland with +her train, and one hundred horses, mules, &c. + +3. Another safe conduct, with commission for the said M. D'Oysel to go +and return through England to Scotland. + + [D'Oysel had an interview with Elizabeth, who inquired about the + ratification of the Treaty of Edinburgh, and declined to grant the + safe-conduct "except she (Mary) shall first accord to do those + things that by her promise, under her hand and seal, she is bound + to do."--_Foreign Calendar, July 13th, 1561._] + + +_A WORDY WARFARE_ + +1561.--July 26. Throckmorton to Queen Elizabeth. + +_Cabala_, pp. 345-349. + +_LANGUAGE THAT BECOMETH A QUEEN_ + +... The 20th of this present, in the afternoon, I had access to the said +Queen of Scotland ... the said Queen sat down, and made me sit also by +her; she then commanded all the audience to retire them further off, and +said: Monsieur l'Ambassadeur, I know not well my own infirmity, nor how +far I may with my passion be transported, but I like not to have so many +witnesses of my passions, as the Queen, your mistress, was content to +have when she talked with Monsieur d'Oysel. There is nothing that doth +more grieve me, than that I did so forget myself, as to require of the +Queen, your mistress, that favour which I had no need to ask; I needed +no more to have made her privy to my journey, than she doth me of hers; +I may well enough pass home into my own realm, I think, without her +passport or license; for though the late King, your master (said she), +used all the impeachment he could both to stay me and to catch me when I +came hither, yet you know, Monsieur l'Ambassadeur, I came hither safely, +and I may have as good means to help me home again as I had to come +hither, if I would employ my friends.... Let the Queen, your mistress, +think that it will be thought very strange amongst all princes and +countries, that she should first animate my subjects against me, and now +being widow, to impeach my going into my own country. I ask her nothing +but friendship. I do not trouble her State, nor practise with her +subjects; and yet I know there be in her realm that be inclined enough +to bear offers; I know also they be not of the mind she is of, neither +in religion or other things. The Queen, your mistress, doth say that I +am young and do lack experience! indeed (quoth she), I confess, I am +younger than she is, and do want experience. But I have age enough and +experience to use myself towards my friends and kinsfolks friendly and +uprightly; and I trust my discretion shall not so fail me, that my +passion shall move me to use other language of her than it becometh of a +Queen, and my next kinswoman.... I answered, madam, I have declared unto +you my charge commanded by the Queen, my mistress, and have no more to +say to you on her behalf, but to know your answer for the ratification +of the Treaty. The Queen answered, I have aforetime showed you, and do +now tell you again, that it is not meet to proceed in this matter, +without the advice of the nobles and states of mine own realm, which I +can by no means have until I come amongst them.... But I pray you, +Monsieur l'Ambassadeur (quoth she), tell me how vieth this strange +affection in the Queen, your mistress, towards me? I desire to know it, +to the intent that I may reform myself if I have failed. I answered ... +As soon as the Queen, my mistress, after the death of her sister, came +to the crown of England, you bore the arms of England diversely +quartered with your own, and used in your country notoriously the style +and title of the Queen, my mistress, which was never by you put in use +in Queen Mary's time.... Monsieur l'Ambassadeur (said she), I was then +under the commandment of King Henry, my father, and of the King, my lord +and husband; and whatsoever was done then by their order and +commandments, the same was in like manner continued until both their +deaths, since which time, you know, I neither bore the arms nor used the +title of England.... It were no great dishonour to the Queen my cousin, +your mistress, though I, a Queen also, did bear the arms of England; +for, I am sure, some, inferior to me, and that be not on every side so +well apparented as I am, do bear the arms of England. You cannot deny +(quoth she) but that my grandmother was the King her father's sister, +and (I trow) the eldest sister he had. I do assure you, Monsieur +l'Ambassadeur, and do speak unto you truly as I think, I never meant nor +thought matter against the Queen, my cousin.... And so I took my leave +of the said Queen for that time. + +_TO DIE MIGHT BE BETTER THAN TO LIVE_ + +... And to the intent I might better decipher, whether the Queen of +Scotland did mind to continue her voyage, I did, the ... 21st of July +... repair to the said Queen of Scotland to take my leave of her.... The +said Queen made answer, Monsieur l'Ambassadeur, if my preparations were +not so much advanced as they are, peradventure the Queen your mistress's +unkindness might stay my voyage; but now I am determined to adventure +the matter, whatsoever come of it. I trust (quoth she) the wind will be +so favourable, as I shall not need to come on the coast of England; and +if I do, then, Monsieur l'Ambassadeur, the Queen your mistress shall +have me in her hands to do her will of me; and if she be so hard-hearted +as to desire my end, she may then do her pleasure, and make sacrifice of +me; peradventure that casualty might be better for me than to live; in +this matter (quoth she) God's will be fulfilled. + + +"_ADIEU, PLAISANT PAYS DE FRANCE_" + +1561.--August 12. The Voyage from France to Scotland. + +_Cecil to the Earl of Sussex. Wright's Elizabeth_, vol. i. p. 69. + +The Scottish Queen was the 10th of this month at Boulogne, and meaneth +to take shipping at Calais. Neither those in Scotland nor we here do +like her going home. The Queen's Majesty hath three ships in the north +seas to preserve the fishers from pirates. I think they will be sorry to +see her pass. + +_Cecil to Throgmorton_, August 26. _Hardwicke's State Papers_, vol. +i. p. 176. + +The 19th of this present, in the morning early, she {Mary} arrived at +Leith with her two galleys, her whole train not exceeding sixty persons +of meaner sort.... The Queen's Majesty's ships that were upon the seas +to cleanse them from pirates saw her and saluted her galleys, and +staying her ships examined them of pirates and dismissed them gently. +One Scottish ship they detain, as vehemently suspected of piracy. + +_From the Charges against the Countess of Lennox in Foreign +Calendar_, 1562. (May 7.) + +She loves not the Queen ... hearing that the Queen of Scots had passed +through the seas, she sat down and gave God thanks, declaring to those +by how he had always preserved that Princess at all times, especially +now, "for when the Queen's ships were almost near taking of the Scottish +Queen, there fell down a mist from heaven that separated them and +preserved her." + + + + +SECTION II + +FROM MARY'S ARRIVAL IN SCOTLAND TO THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE + + +_CONTENTS_ + + 1. Knox's description of Mary's reception, and his opinion of the Queen. + + 2. Randolph's account of Mary's public entry into Edinburgh. + + 3. Illustrations of the religious difficulty. + (_a_) Proclamation of the Privy Council. + (_b_) Randolph's account of Mary's first High Mass. + (_c_) Popular Songs against the Pope. + + 4. Mary on the Treaty of Edinburgh. + + 5. The conduct of affairs at the beginning of the reign. + (_a_) Cecil's opinion. + (_b_) Randolph's impressions of Murray, Lethington, + and Knox. + (_c_) The Huntly Rebellion as narrated by Randolph. + (_d_) The passing of the sentence on Huntly's embalmed + corpse. + + 6. Knox's account of the Chatelar affair. + + 7. Knox's account of the famine of 1563. + + 8. Knox on the opening of Parliament. + + 9. One of Knox's interviews with the Queen. + + 10. Mary's marriage-troubles. + (_a_) References Selected from the diplomatic correspondence + from March 1561 to March 1564. + (_b_) Early suspicions of the Darnley marriage. + (_c_) Melville's experiences in London. + (_d_) Further diplomatic correspondence. + + +_SORROW, DOLOUR, AND DARKNESS_ + +The Queen's Arrival in Scotland. + +_Laing's Edition of Knox's History of the Reformation in Scotland_, +vol. i. pp. 267-271. + +_THE FIRST MASS_ + +The 19th day of August 1561, betwixt seven and eight hours before noon, +arrived Mary, Queen of Scotland, then widow, with two galleys out of +France. In her company (besides her gentlewomen, called the Maries) were +her uncles, the Duc d'Aumale, the Grand Prior, the Marquess d'Elbeuf. +There accompanied her also D'Amville, son to the Constable of France, +with other gentlemen of inferior condition, besides servants and +officers. The very face of the heaven at the time of her arrival did +manifestly speak what comfort was brought into this country with her (to +wit) sorrow, dolour, darkness, and all impiety; for in the memory of man +that day of the year was never seen a more dolorous face of the heaven, +than was at her arrival, which two days after did so continue: For +besides the surface wet, and corruption of the air, the mist was so +thick and dark that scarce might any man espy another the length of two +pair of butts; the sun was not seen to shine two days before nor two +days after. That forewarning, God gave unto us; but alas! the most part +were blind.... Fires of joy were set forth at night, and a company of +most honest men with instruments of music, and with musicians, gave +their salutations at her chamber window: The melody (as she alleged) +liked her well; and she willed the same to be continued some nights +after with great diligence. The Lords repaired to her from all quarters, +and so was nothing understood but mirth and quietness, till the next +Sunday, which was the 24th of August, when preparations began to be made +for that Idol of the Mass to be said in the Chapel; which pierced the +hearts of all. The Godly began to bolden, and then began openly to +speak, _Shall that Idol be suffered again to take place within this +Realm? It shall not._ The Lord Lindsay (then but Master) with the +Gentlemen of Fife, and others, plainly cried in the close or yard, _The +idolatrous Priests should die the death, according to God's Law_. One +that carried in the candle was evil afraid; but then began flesh and +blood fully to show itself. There durst no Papist, neither yet any that +came out of France, whisper: But the Lord James, the man whom all the +Godly did most reverence, took upon him to keep the Chapel-door. His +best excuse was, that he would stop all Scotsmen to enter in to the +Mass; but it was and is sufficiently known, that the door was kept that +none should have entry to trouble the Priest, who, after the Mass was +ended, was committed to the protection of the Lord John of Coldingham +and the Lord Robert of Holyrood House, who then were both Protestants, +and had communicate at the Table of the Lord. Betwixt them both was the +Priest conveyed to his chamber. And so the Godly departed with grief of +heart, and after noon repaired to the Abbey in great companies, and gave +plain signification, that they could not abide that the land, which God +by His power had purged from Idolatry, should in their eyes be polluted +again. + + +_A PROUD MIND AND A CRAFTY WIT_ + +Knox's Opinion of the Queen. + +_Ibid._, p. 286. + +John Knox his own judgment, being by some of his familiars demanded what +he thought of the Queen, said, "If there be not in her a proud mind, a +crafty wit, and an indurate heart against God and His truth, my judgment +faileth me." + + +1561.--2nd September. The Queen's Public Entry into Edinburgh. + +_Thomas Randolph to Cecil. Wright's Elizabeth_, vol. i. p. 63. + +Upon Tuesday last she made her entry. She dined in the Castle. The first +sight that she saw after she came out of the Castle was a boy of six +years of age, that came as it were from heaven out of a round globe, +that presented unto her a Bible and a Psalter, and the keys of the +gates, and spake unto her the verses which I send you. Then, for the +terrible significations of God upon idolatry, there were burnt Korah, +Dathan, and Abiram, in the time of their sacrifice. They were minded to +have a priest burned at the altar, at the elevation. The Earl of Huntly +stayed {stopped} that pageant, but hath played many as wicked as that +since he came hither. He bare that day the sword. + + [The following are the lines to which Randolph referred. As only + the first stanza has appeared in print before, the verses are given + in their original form.] + + +Illustration: HOLYROOD. + + +_A "NEEDEFULL" GIFT_ + +A Ballad of Welcome. + + Welcome, O Souveraine! Welcome, O natyve Quene! + Welcome to us your subiects great and small! + Welcome, I say, even from the verie splene,[1] + To Edinburgh your syttie principall. + Whereas your people with harts both one and all + Doth here{in} offer to your excellence + Two proper volumes[2] in memoriall + As gyfte most gainand[3] to a godlie prince. + + Wherein your Grace may reade to understande + The perfett waye unto the hevennes hie, + And how to Rule your subiects and your land, + And how your kingdom stablished shalbe, + Judgment and wysdome therein shall ye see. + Here shall you find your God his due commande, + And who the contrarie does wilfullie, + How them he threatens with his scurge and wand. + + Ane gyfte more precious cold[4] we none present + Nor yet more needefull to your Excellence, + Qwylk[5] is Gode's lawes his words and testament + Trewlie translate with frutefull diligence, + Qwylk to accepte with humble reverence + The Provist present most hartelie you exorte + With the hole subiects due obedience, + Together with the keyes of their porte. + + In signe that they[6] and all that they possess + Bodie and good shall ever reddie be + To serve you as their souveraine hie mistress + Both daye and {night} after thair bound dutie: + Besechinge[7] your Grace in this necessitie + Thair {too} shorte tyme and {their} godwill[8] consether[9] + Accepte their harts and take it pacientlie + That may be done, seing all is yours together. + +-------------------------------------------------------------------- + [1] Spleen. + + [2] The volumes were a Bible and a Psalter "coverit with fine + purpour velvet." _Cf._ the _Diurnal of Occurrents_, September 2, + 1561, which gives some additional details, and mentions that the + child "delivered also to her hieness three writings, the tenour + whereof is uncertain." + + [3] Gainful. + + [4] Could. + + [5] Which. + + [6] MS. to them. + + [7] Beseeching. + + [8] Goodwill. + + [9] Consider. +-------------------------------------------------------------------- + + +_A TOLERANT PROCLAMATION_ + +Illustrations of the Religious Difficulty--Proclamation regarding +Religion. + +_Register of the Privy Council of Scotland_, August 26, 1561. + +Forasmuch as the Queen's Majesty has understood the great inconveniences +that may come through the division presently standing in this realm for +the difference in matters of religion, that her Majesty is most desirous +to see pacified by a good order, to the honour of God and the +tranquillity of her realm, and means to take the same by the advice of +her Estates as soon as conveniently may be; and that her Majesty's godly +resolution therein may be greatly hindered in case any tumult or +sedition be raised among the lieges, if any sudden innovation or +alteration be pressed or attempted before that the order may be +established. Therefore ... her Majesty ordains letters to be directed to +charge all and sundry, lieges, ... that none of them take upon hand, +privately or openly, to make any alteration or innovation of the state +of religion, or attempt anything against the form which her Majesty +found public and universally standing at her Majesty's arrival in this +her realm, under the pain of death, ... Attour, her Majesty, by the +advice of the Lords of her Secret Council, commands and charges all her +lieges, that none of them take upon hand to molest or trouble any of her +domestic servants or persons whomsoever come forth of France, in her +Grace's company, at this time, in word, deed, or countenance ... under +the said pain of death.... + + +_AN UNRULY PEOPLE_ + +1561.--November 1. The Queen's first High Mass. + +_Thomas Randolph to Cecil. Wright's Elizabeth_, vol. i. p. 83. + +Upon All Hallow Day the Queen had a song mass. That night one of her +priests was well beaten for his reward by a servant of the Lord +Robert's. We look to have it proclaimed again that no man, under pain of +confiscation of goods and lands here, say or come unto her own mass, +saving her own household, that came out of France.... + +It is now called in question whether that the Princess being an idolater +may be obeyed in all civil and politic{al} actions. I think marvellously +of the wisdom of God that gave this unruly, inconstant, and cumbersome +people no more substance than they have, for then would they run wild. + + +_THE HUNT IS UP_ + +Popular Songs. + + [The stanzas which follow are selected from the popular songs of + the period. They date from a year or two before Mary's arrival in + Scotland, but will serve to illustrate the extreme difficulty + experienced by a Roman Catholic queen in dealing with such a + people.] + +_The Gude and Godly Ballates._ Reprint of 1868, p. 153. + + The hunt is up, the hunt is up,[10] + It is now perfect day, + Jesus, our King, is gone in hunting, + Who likes to speed, they may. + + A cursed fox lay hid in rocks + This long and many a day, + Devouring sheep, while he might creep, + None might him scare away. + + It did him good to lap the blood + Of young and tender lambs; + None could he miss, for all was his, + The young ones with their dams. + + The hunter is Christ, that huntis in haste, + The hounds are Peter and Paul; + The Pope is the fox, Rome is the rocks, + That rubs us on the gall. + +_THE POPE, THAT PAGAN FULL OF PRIDE_ + + _Ibid._ + + The Pope, that pagan full of pride, + He has us blinded long; + For where the blind the blind does guide, + No wonder they go wrong; + Like prince and king, he led the ring + Of all iniquity; + "Hay trix, tryme go trix," + Under the greenwood tree. + + But his abomination + The Lord has brought to light; + His Popish pride, and threefold crown, + Almost have lost their might. + His plack pardons are but lardouns[11] + Of new found vanity; + "Hay trix, tryme go trix," + Under the greenwood tree. + + * * * * * + + Of late I saw these limmers[12] stand + Like mad men at mischief, + Thinking to get the upper hand, + They look after relief; + But all in vain, go tell them plain + That day will never be; + "Hay trix, tryme go trix," + Under the greenwood tree. + + O Jesus! if they thought great glee + To see God's word down smorit,[13] + The Congregation made to flee, + Hypocrisy restorit; + With masses sung, and bellis rung, + To their idolatry; + Marry, God thank you, we shall gar brank[14] you, + Before that time truly. + +------------------------------------------------------------- + [10] _Original reads_, With huntis up. + + [11] Lumps. + + [12] Worthless persons. + + [13] Smothered. + + [14] Put the barnacles on you, as on a restive horse. +------------------------------------------------------------- + + +_MURRAY, LETHINGTON, AND KNOX_ + +The Conduct of Affairs in the Early Years of the Reign--Randolph on +Mary's Ministers. + +_Randolph to Cecil_, October 24, 1561. _Keith's History_, vol. i. +pp. 98-99. + +I receive of her Grace at all times very good words. I am borne in hand +{assured} by such as are nearest about her, as the Lord James and the +Laird of Lethington, that they are meant as they are spoken; I see them +above all others in credit, and find in them no alteration, though there +be that complain that they yield too much unto her appetite; which yet I +see not. The Lord James dealeth according to his nature, rudely, homely, +and bluntly; the Laird of Lethington more delicately and finely, yet +nothing swerveth from the other in mind and effect. She is patient to +hear, and beareth much. The Earl Marischal is wary, but speaketh +sometimes to good purpose.... Mr. Knox cannot be otherwise persuaded, +but many men are deceived in this woman; he feareth yet that _posteriora +sunt pejora primis_; his severity keepeth us in marvellous order. I +commend better the success of his doings and preachings than the manner +thereof, tho' I acknowledged his doctrine to be sound: His prayer is +daily for her--"That God will turn her obstinate heart against God and +His truth; or, if the Holy Will be otherwise, to strengthen the hearts +and hands of His chosen and elect, stoutly to withstand the rage of all +tyrants," &c., in words terrible enough. + +_PROTESTANT RULE_ + +_Cecil to Challoner (English Ambassador in Spain). Foreign +Calendar_, 1562, June 8, 1562. + +In Scotland ... the Earl of Huntly is in no credit with the Queen. The +whole governance rests in Lord James, being Earl of Mar, and the Laird +of Lethington. The others that have credit are the Earls Marshal, +Argyll, Morton, and Glencairn, all Protestants. The Queen quietly +tolerates the reformed religion throughout the realm, who is thought to +be no more devout towards Rome than for the contentation of her uncles. + + [Cecil's suspicion was quite unfounded. Throughout her reign Mary + was always in correspondence with the Pope, to whom she appealed + for money to help her in her efforts for the restoration of + Catholicism in Scotland.] + + +Mary on the Treaty of Edinburgh. + +_Queen Mary to Queen Elizabeth_, January 5, 1562. _Keith's History_, +vol. ii. p. 134. + +How prejudicial that Treaty is to such title and interest as by birth +and natural descent of your own lineage may fall to us, by very +inspection of the Treaty itself ye may easily perceive, and how +slenderly a matter of so great consequence is wrapped up in obscure +terms. We know how near we are descended of the blood of England, and +what devices have been attempted to make us, as it were, a stranger from +it. We trust, being so near your cousin, ye would be loth we should +receive so manifest an injury as all utterly to be debarred from that +title which in possibility may fall unto us. + + +_THE WAY TO INVERNESS_ + +1562.--Randolph's Account of the Huntly Rebellion. + +_Randolph to Cecil from Old Aberdeen_, August 31, 1562. _Foreign +Calendar_, 1562. + +The Queen in her progress is come to Old Aberdeen, where the university +is.... Her journey is cumbersome, painful, and marvellous long; the +weather extreme foul and cold, all victuals marvellous dear; and the +corn that is, never like to come to ripeness. + +_Randolph to Cecil from Spynie, Morayshire_, September 18. + +Within these eight or ten days the Queen arrived at Inverness, the +furthest part of her determined journey. She has had just cause for +misliking the Earl of Huntly of long time, whose extortions have been so +great, and other manifest tokens of disobedience such that it was no +longer to be borne. Intending to reform these, she has found in him and +his two eldest sons (the Lairds of Gordon and Findlater) open +disobedience so far that they have taken arms and kept houses against +her. + +The first occasion hereof was this. The Laird of Findlater, being +commanded to ward in Edinburgh, broke prison; and being afterwards +summoned to the Assize at Aberdeen, disobeyed also a new command from +the Queen to enter himself prisoner in Stirling Castle. The Queen +thinking this to be done by the advice of his father, refused to come to +his house, she being looked and provided for. He, unadvisedly conceiving +the worst, took the worst way, and supported his sons to manifest +rebellion. At her arrival at Inverness on the 9th, she proposed to lodge +in the castle, which belongs to her, and the keeping only to the Earl of +Huntly, being Sheriff by inheritance of the whole shire, but was refused +entrance, and forced to lodge in the town. That night, the castle being +summoned, answer was given that without the Lord Gordon's command it +should not be delivered. + +Next day the country assembled to the assistance of the Queen. The +Gordons, finding themselves not so well served by their friends as they +looked for (who had above 500 men), rendered the castle, not being +twelve or fourteen able persons. The captain was hanged, and his head +set up on the castle, others condemned to perpetual prison, and the rest +received mercy. + +The Queen remained there five days, and now journeys homewards as far as +Spynie, a house of the Bishop of Moray.... The Earl of Huntly keeps his +house, and would have it thought that his disobedience came through the +evil behaviour of his sons. The Queen is highly offended.... + +_THE QUEEN'S COURAGE_ + +In all these broils I assure you I never saw her merrier, never +dismayed, nor never thought that so much[15] to be in her that I find. +She repented nothing, but (when the lords and others at Inverness came +in the morning from the watch) that she was not a man, to know what life +it was to lie all night in the fields, or to walk on the causeway with a +jack and knapsack, a Glasgow buckler, and a broad sword. + +... His {Huntly's} house is fair, and best furnished of any ... in the +country; his cheer is marvellous great; his mind such as it ought to be +towards his Sovereign. + + [The last sentence is _a propos_ of a visit made by Argyll and + Randolph to Huntly.] + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + [15] So the "Calendar," but Chalmers, in quoting, reads, probably + correctly, "stomach." +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +_THE WATER OF SPEY_ + +_Randolph to Cecil, from Aberdeen_, September 24. + +When he {Huntly} understood that the Queen had caused the captain of the +Castle of Inverness to be hanged, and committed the others to prison, he +thought there was no other way with him but to execute his former +determination or be utterly undone. Therefore he assembled such force as +he could make, and committed them to the care of his son, John Gordon, +purposing to have met the Queen at her return homeward at the water of +Spey, a place where good advantage might have been had. The Queen (being +advertised of their purpose), by the advice of her Council, assembled, +of those they call Highlandmen and other, above 2000, and so increased +as she rode that at the passage of the water they were above 3000. As +she rode forward diverse reports were brought ... some said that there +was not a man to be seen, which was nearest the truth, for when the +night before there were in that wood 1000 horse and foot, they had all +departed, whereof the Queen had advertisement before she came to the +Spey ... what desperate blows would not have been given, when every man +should have fought in the sight of so noble a Queen and so many fair +ladies ... your honour can easily judge.... That night (being Sunday) +the Queen came to a house of the Laird of Banke {Banff?} ... On Tuesday +last she arrived at Old Aberdeen, preparing herself against her entry +the next day into the new town, where she was honourably received with +spectacles, plays, interludes, and others as they could best devise.... +They presented her with a cup of silver, double gilt, well wrought, with +500 crowns in it; wine, coals, and wax were sent in, as much as will +serve her while she remains here. + +"_BE BLITHE AND BLISSFUL, ABERDENE_" + +_Ibid. from Aberdeen_, September 30. + +Since the Queen's arrival at Aberdeen they have consulted how to reform +this country. It was thought best to begin at the head, and that the +Earl of Huntly shall either submit himself and deliver up his +disobedient son, John Gordon, in whose name all these pageants have been +wrought, or utterly to use all force against him for the subverting of +his house for ever. For this purpose she remains here a good space, and +has levied 120 arquebusiers, and sent to Lothian and Fife for the Master +of Lindsay, Grange, and Ormiston. Her purpose is to take the two houses +held against her, for which purpose she has a cannon within sixteen +miles all ready, and other pieces there are in this town sufficient. + +_Ibid. Maitland of Lethington to Cecil from Aberdeen_, October 1. + +The Earl of Huntly will plead not guilty, and seems to charge the youth +and folly of his children with whatever is amiss. If any fault be his, +it may be thought to have proceeded from too great simplicity rather +than any craft or malice, especially by so many as have had experience +of how he has always been accustomed to deal. + +_THE SKIRMISH AT CORRICHIE_ + +_Ibid. Randolph to Cecil from Aberdeen_, October 28. + +Huntly having assembled 700 persons, marched towards Aberdeen to +apprehend the Queen and do with the rest at his will. She sent forth a +sufficient number against him before he came to the town, so that this +day the Earls of Murray, Athol, Morton, and 2000 others marched to the +place where he was encamped, about twelve miles from hence {viz. +Corrichie}, and environed him, so that after some defence he yielded +himself, as did John Gordon and another son named Adam Gordon, seventeen +years of age, who are brought into this town alive, but the Earl +himself, after he was taken, without either blow or strike, being set on +horseback before him that was his taker, suddenly falleth from his horse +stark dead, without word, that he ever spake, after that he was upon +horseback. + +_Ibid. Randolph to Cecil from Aberdeen_, November 2. + +After Huntly was brought into this town it was consulted what should be +done with his corpse. Some thought he should be buried, and nothing else +done; others that he should be beheaded; the last was that his bowels +should be taken out and the body reserved until Parliament, that there +he might be convicted of treason, in which mind they remain. John Gordon +confessed all and lays the fault on his father. He is not yet condemned, +but doubtless will not escape. + +_EXECUTION OF SIR JOHN GORDON_ + +_Randolph to Cecil from Edinburgh_, November 18. _Keith's History_, +vol. ii. p. 175. + +After the defeat of the Earl of Huntly consultation was had what should +become of his body; it was resolved that it should be kept till the +Parliament, that, according unto the order, judgment might be given +against him in the three estates. His son, John Gordon, within three +days after was beheaded in Aberdeen, and execution done upon certain +others that were taken at the same time. + + +_Lethington to Cecil from Dundee_, November 14. _Keith's History_, +vol. ii. p. 182. + +I am sorry that the soil of my native country did ever produce so +unnatural a subject as the Earl of Huntly hath proved in the end against +his sovereign, being a princess so gentle and benign, and whose +behaviour hath been always such towards all her subjects, and every one +in particular, that wonder is it that any could be found so ungracious +as once to think evil against her.... I have heard it whispered that in +this late storm of yours {Elizabeth's illness} a device was intended +there to prefer some other in the succession to my mistress, which I +cannot think to be true, seeing none is more worthy for all respects, +nor hath so good a title. If her religion hath moved anything, seeing +her behaviour such toward these that be of the religion within her own +realm, yea, and the religion itself, which is a great deal more +increased since she came home than it was before, I see no reason why +those that be zealous of religion should suspect her. + + +_A GRUESOME SPECTACLE_ + +1563.--28th May. The Sentence on the Earl's Body. + +_Rutland MSS. at Belvoir, quoted in the Marquess of Huntly's Annals +of Aboyne_, pp. 467-468. + +The coffin was set upright, as if the Earl stood upon his feet, and upon +it a piece of good black cloth with his arms fast pinned. His accusation +being read, his proctor answering for him, as if himself had been alive, +the inquest was empanelled. The verdict was given that he was found +guilty, and judgment given thereupon as by the law is accustomed. +Immediately hereupon the good black cloth that hung over the coffin was +taken away, and in its place a worse hanged on, the arms torn in pieces +in sight of the people, and likewise struck out of the herald's book. + + +_GENTLE ENTREATMENT OF A STRANGER_ + +1563.--22nd February. The Death of Chatelar. + +_Laing's Knox_, vol. ii. pp. 367-369. + + [Chatelar, a musician and poet, had been in the suite of d'Amville, + who accompanied Mary to Scotland. He addressed poems to the Queen, + who received them graciously, and replied to them. He went home + with his master, but returned to Scotland in 1562, and became one + of the Queen's favourite attendants.] + +Amongst the minions of the court there was one named Monsieur Chatelar, +a Frenchman, that at that time passed all others in credit with the +Queen. In dancing of the Purpose (so term they that dance, in the which +man and woman talk secretly ...) in this dance, the Queen chose +Chatelar, and Chatelar took the Queen. Chatelar had the best dress. All +this winter, Chatelar was so familiar in the Queen's cabinet, early and +late, that scarcely could any of the nobility have access unto her. The +Queen would lie upon Chatelar's shoulder, and sometimes privily she +would steal a kiss of his neck. And all this was honest enough; for it +was the gentle entreatment of a stranger. But the familiarity was so +great, that upon a night, he privily did convoy himself under the +Queen's bed; but being espied, he was commanded away. The bruit {report} +arising, the Queen called the Earl of Murray, and bursting into a +womanly affection, charged him, that, as he loved her, he should slay +Chatelar, and let him never speak a word. The other at first made +promise so to do ... but returned and fell upon his knees before the +Queen and said: Madam, I beseech your Grace cause not me to take the +blood of this man upon me; your Grace has entreated him so familiarly +before, that you have offended all your nobility; and now, if he shall +be secretly slain at your own commandment, what shall the world judge of +it? I shall bring him to the presence of justice, and let him suffer by +law according to his deserving. "Oh," said the Queen, "you will never +let him speak." I shall do (said he), madam, what in me lieth to save +your honour. + +_THE REWARD OF DANCING_ + +Poor Chatelar was brought back from Kinghorn to St. Andrews, examined, +put to an assize, and so beheaded, the 22nd day of February, 1563. He +begged license to write to France the cause of his death, which, said +he, in his tongue was, _Pour estre trouve en lieu trop suspect_; that +is, Because I was found in a place too much suspected. At the place of +execution, when he saw that there was no remedy but death, he made a +godly confession, and granted that his declining from the truth of God, +and following of vanity and impiety, was justly recompensed upon him. +But in the end he concluded, looking unto the heavens, with these words, +_O cruel dame!_ that is, cruel mistress! What that complaint imported, +lovers may divine. And so received Chatelar the reward of his dancing, +for he lost his head, that his tongue should not utter the secrets of +our Queen. _Deliver us, O Lord, from the rage of such inordinate +rulers._ + + +The Famine of 1563. + +_Laing's Knox_, vol. ii. pp. 369-70. + +The year of God 1563, there was an universal dearth in Scotland. But in +the northland, where, the harvest before, the Queen had travelled, there +was an extreme famine, in the which many died in that country. The +dearth was great over all, but the famine was principally there. The +boll of wheat gave six pounds; the boll of bere, six merks and a half; +the boll of meal, four merks; the boll of oats, fifty shillings; an ox +to draw in the plough, twenty merks; a wether, thirty shillings. And so +all things appertaining to the sustentation of man, in triple and more +exceeded their accustomed prices. And so did God, according to the +threatening of his law, punish the idolatry of our wicked Queen, and our +ingratitude, that suffered her to defile the land with that abomination +again, that God so potently had purged, by the power of his word. For +the riotous feasting, and excessive banqueting, used in Court and +country, wheresoever that wicked woman repaired, provoked God to strike +the staff of bread, and to give his malediction upon the fruits of the +earth. But, O alas! who looked, or yet looks to this very cause of all +our calamities. + + +_STINKING PRIDE OF WOMEN_ + +1563.--The Meeting of Parliament. + +_Laing's Knox_, vol. ii. p. 381. + +Such stinking pride of women, as was seen at that Parliament, was never +seen before in Scotland. Three sundry days, the Queen rode to the +Tolbooth; the first day, she made a painted oration, and there might +have been heard amongst her flatterers, "_Vox Dianae_, the Voice of a +Goddess (for it could not be Dei) and not of a woman. God save that +sweet face. Was there ever Orator spake so properly and so sweetly?" + +All things misliking the Preacher, they spake boldly against the +targetting of their taillies {_i.e._ the adornment of their robes with +tassels}, and against the rest of their vanity, which they affirmed +should provoke God's vengeance, not only against these foolish women, +but against the whole realm.... Articles were presented, for orders to +be taken for apparel, and for reformation of other enormities; but all +was winked at. + + +_KNOX'S INTERVIEWS WITH THE QUEEN_ + +1563.--May or June. Knox and the Queen. + +_Laing's Knox_, vol. ii. p. 386. + + [John Knox had five interviews with the Queen, which are recorded + in his "History." Soon after Mary's arrival in Scotland, she sent + for Knox, and they discussed the religious controversy and Knox's + "Blast against the monstrous Regiment of Women," in which he had + inveighed against female rule. In the spring of 1562, the Queen + sent for Knox, who had preached a sermon from the text, "And now, + understand, O ye kings, and be learned, ye that judge the earth." + The Reformer gave a _resume_ of his sermon, and informed the Queen + that he considered her uncles "enemies unto God," and that "for + maintenance of their own pomp and worldly glory, they spare not to + spill the blood of many innocents." The third occasion was about a + year later, at Lochleven, when the thesis was the rights of + subjects to rebel, and ended with the threat, "Now, Madam, if ye + shall deny your duty unto them, who especially crave, that ye + punish malefactors, think ye to receive full obedience of them? I + fear, Madam, ye shall not." The malefactors in question were + recusant Roman Catholics. "Herewith she being somewhat offended, + passed to her supper." The interview was resumed in the morning, + but the conversation was more amicable, Mary asking Knox's help in + reconciling the Earl of Argyle to his wife, who was the Queen's + half-sister. The fourth discussion, quoted below, was _a propos_ of + the proposals for Mary's marriage, which were the main political + theme of the year 1563. Knox had denounced any marriage with a + Roman Catholic. In December of the same year, the Queen and the + Reformer met again, Knox undergoing a judicial examination on a + charge which amounted to incitement to rebel. He defended himself + by a homily upon "the insatiable cruelty of the Papists," and was + found innocent by the Council.] + +The Provost of Glencludan, Douglas by surname, of Drumlanark, was the +man that gave the charge, that the said John should present himself +before the Queen, which he did soon after dinner. The Lord Ochiltree, +and divers of the faithful, bare him company to the Abbey; but none +passed in to the Queen with him in the cabinet, but John Erskine of Dun, +then superintendent of Angus and Mearns. + +_WOMANLY WEEPING_ + +The Queen in a vehement fume began to cry out, that never Prince was +used as she was. "I have (said she) borne with you in all your rigorous +manner of speaking, both against myself and against my uncles; yea, I +have sought your favour by all possible means; I offered unto you +presence and audience, whensoever it pleased you to admonish me, and yet +I cannot be quit of you; I vow to God I shall be once revenged." And +with these words scarce could Marnoch, her secret chamber boy, get +napkins to hold her eyes dry, for the tears and the howling, besides +womanly weeping, stayed her speech. The said John did patiently abide +all the first fume, and at opportunity answered, "True it is, Madam, +your Grace and I have been at divers controversies, into the which I +never perceived your Grace to be offended at me; but when it shall +please God to deliver you from that bondage of darkness and error, +wherein ye have been nourished, for the lack of true Doctrine, your +Majesty will find the liberty of my tongue nothing offensive. Without +the Preaching-place (Madam) I think few have occasion to be offended at +me, and there (Madam) I am not master of myself, but must obey him who +commands me to speak plain, and to flatter no flesh upon the face of the +earth...." "But what have you to do (said she) with my marriage? Or, +what are you within the Commonwealth?" + +_A MEEK AND GENTLE SPIRIT_ + +"A subject born within the same (said he) Madam; and albeit I be neither +Earl, Lord, nor Baron within it, yet hath God made me (how abject that +ever I be in your eyes) a profitable and useful member within the same; +yea, Madam, to me it appertaineth no less, to forewarn of such things as +may hurt it, if I foresee them, than it doth to any one of the nobility; +for both my vocation and conscience craveth plainness of me; and +therefore (Madam) to yourself I say, that which I spake in public, +whensoever the nobility of this realm shall be content, and consent, +that you be subject to an unlawful husband, they do as much as in them +lieth to renounce Christ, to banish the Truth, to betray the freedom of +this realm, and perchance shall in the end do small comfort to +yourself." + +_INORDINATE PASSION_ + +At these words, howling was heard, and tears might have been seen in +greater abundance than the matter required. John Erskine of Dun, a man +of meek and gentle spirit, stood beside, and entreated what he could to +mitigate her anger, and gave unto her many pleasant words, of her +beauty, of her excellency; and how that all the princes in Europe would +be glad to seek her favours. But all that was to cast oil into the +flaming fire. The said John stood still, without any alteration of +countenance, for a long time, while that the Queen gave place to her +inordinate passion; and in the end he said, "Madam, in God's presence I +speak, I never delighted in the weeping of any of God's creatures; yea, +I can scarcely well abide the tears of mine own boys, whom my own hands +correct, much less can I rejoice in your Majesty's weeping; But seeing I +have offered unto you no just occasion to be offended, but have spoken +the truth, as my vocation craves of me, I must sustain your Majesty's +tears, rather than I dare hurt my conscience, or betray the Commonwealth +by silence." Herewith was the Queen more offended, and commanded the +said John to pass forth of the cabinet, and to abide further of her +pleasure in the chamber. + +_FY UPON THAT KNAVE, DEATH_ + +The Laird of Dun tarried, and Lord John of Coldingham came into the +cabinet, and so they remained with her near the space of one hour. The +said John stood in the chamber, as one whom men had never seen (so were +all afraid), except that the Lord Ochiltree bare him company; and +therefore he began to make discourse with the ladies, who were there +sitting in all their gorgeous apparel; which when he espied, he merrily +said: "Fair Ladies, how pleasant were this life of yours, if it should +ever abide; and then in the end, that we might pass to Heaven with this +gay gear {clothing}! But fy upon that knave Death, that will come +whether we will or not; and when he hath laid on his arrest, then foul +worms will be busy with this flesh, be it never so fair and so tender; +and the silly {weak} soul I fear shall be so feeble, that it can neither +carry with it gold, garnishing, targating {tassels}, pearls, nor +precious stones." And by such means procured he the company of women, +and so passed the time till that the Laird of Dun willed him to depart +to his house till new advertisement. + +The Queen would have had the sentiment of the Lords of the Articles if +that such manner of speaking deserved not punishment. But she was +counselled to desist; and so that storm quieted in appearance, but never +in the heart. + + +Mary's Second Marriage. + + [The problem of Mary's marriage was one of great difficulty. + Allusions to it occur in diplomatic correspondence immediately + after the death of Francis II., and it was constantly in men's + minds. The Scottish preachers and the Protestant nobles objected to + a union with a Roman Catholic prince (_cf. supra_, p. 40). + Catherine de Medici, who was at the head of affairs in France, + opposed the projected match with Don Carlos of Spain (p. 43). + Elizabeth of England found a difficulty in every proposal, and was + especially afraid of the union of Scotland with a foreign power. As + early as the spring of 1561 Throckmorton warned Elizabeth that, if + she wished to prevent such a union, "she should make a party in + Scotland by entertaining a good number of the best there, that all + Princes, perceiving her to have a great party in that realm, would + not greatly seek upon a country so much at her devotion" (_Foreign_ + _Calendar_, March 31, 1561). The following extracts indicate the + course of the controversy, and aim at presenting a connected survey + of the negotiations.] + +_PERFECT NEIGHBOURHOOD_ + +_Randolph to Cecil, from Edinburgh_, December 17, 1561. _Keith's +History_, vol. ii. p. 124. + +When any purpose falleth in of marriage, she saith that she will none +other husband but the Queen of England. He is right near about her that +hath oftentimes heard her speak it. I desire that it may be in perfect +neighbourhood, since it cannot be in perfect marriage. + + +1563.--August 20. Instructions for Randolph. + +_Foreign Calendar._ + +He shall always rest upon this argument, that neither Elizabeth nor +England ... can think any mighty Prince a meet husband for her, to +continue the amity that now is with this realm. + +_Smith to the English Privy Council, from Paris_, October 13, 1563. +_Foreign Calendar._ + +They {Catherine de Medici and the Constable of France} hold King Philip +a suspect neighbour. But they most mislike the Spanish marriage with the +Queen of Scots, which they hold to be concluded unto by the said Queen, +taking it to be prejudicial to England and consequently to them. + +_DUDLEY OR DARNLEY_ + + [The anxiety about her marriage was supposed to be the cause of an + illness from which Mary suffered, in the end of 1563. On December + 13 Randolph wrote to Cecil that she "kept her bed, being somewhat + diseased of overmuch travail she took a night or two before, + dancing to celebrate her nativity. But," he adds, "for two months + the Queen has been divers times in great melancholies. Her grief is + marvellous secret. She is not well, and weeps when there is little + appearance of occasion." Eight days later, he mentions that "the + Queen's illness daily increaseth. Her pain is in her right side.... + Some think that the cause of the Queen's sickness is that she + utterly despairs of the marriage of any of those she looked for, as + well that neither they abroad are very hasty, nor her subjects at + home very willing those ways." On the 31st he had an interview with + her "in her chamber, beside ladies and gentlemen, herself in bed." + He told her that Elizabeth "could in no point alter her former + advice, which was that it could not be expedient for her country, + nor fit for herself, to match in any of those houses, when + appearance is that dissension may grow, and enmity to be nourished, + as before time has been." Mary summoned the Earl of Argyll, and + told him that Randolph would have her marry in England. He asked if + "the Queen of England were become a man?" "Who is there in that + country (said she) to whom he {Argyll} would wish her?" He said, + "To whom she could like best." "That would not please the Duke" {of + Chatelherault}, said she. "If it please God, and is good for the + country," said he, "what reck who were displeased?" (_Foreign + Calendar_, December 13, 21, and 31, 1563). Leicester was the + husband suggested by Queen Elizabeth, and, during 1564, it became + evident that either he or Darnley would be the Queen's choice.] + +_RETURN OF LENNOX_ + +_Randolph to Cecil, from Edinburgh_, March 20, 1564. _Foreign +Calendar._ + +What troubles have risen in this country for religion, your Honour +knoweth. All things are now grown into such a liberty, and her Grace +taken unto herself such a will to do therein what she list, that of +late, contrary to her own ordinances, as great numbers have repaired to +her chapel to hear mass, as sometimes come to the common churches to the +sermon. To have her mind altered for this freedom, that she desireth to +have all men live as they like, she can hardly be brought, and thinketh +it too great a subjection for her, being a prince in her own country, to +have her will broken therein. The subjects who desire to live in the +true fear and worshipping of God, offer rather their lives again to be +sacrificed, than that they would suffer such abomination, yea, almost +permit herself to enjoy her mass, which is now more plainly and openly +spoken against by the preachers, than ever was the Pope of Rome.... +Above all the rest, this is it that is feared that will be the breach of +all good accord and quietness of this estate, though the rest be borne +with, that is, if she match herself with a Papist, by whom she may be +fortified to her intent. + +_Kirkaldy of Grange to Randolph, from St. Johnston's_ {_Perth_}, +April 30, 1564. _Laing's Knox_, vol. vi. p. 539. + +The Earl of Lennox will obtain license to come home and speak with the +Queen. Her meaning therein is not known, but some suspects she will at +length be persuaded to favour his son. + + [The Earl of Lennox had entered into negotiations with Henry VIII., + in 1544, to deliver over to England certain Scottish castles, and + to promote the marriage of Mary to Prince Edward. Sentence of + forfeiture was passed against him by the Scottish Parliament on 1st + October 1545. His treachery had received its reward in the shape of + an alliance with Margaret, daughter of the Earl of Angus and + Margaret Tudor, widow of James IV. (_cf._ Table, App. A.). Their + eldest son was Lord Darnley.] + + +_KNOX SUSPICIOUS_ + +_Knox to Randolph, from Edinburgh_, May 3, 1564. _Laing's Knox_, +vol. vi., p. 541. + +The Earl of Lennox's servant is familiar in Court, and it is supposed +that it is not without knowledge, yea, and labour, of your Court. Some +in the country look for the lady {Queen Mary} and the young Earl +{Darnley} ere it be long. It is whispered to me that licence is all +ready procured for their {Lennox and Darnley's} hithercoming. God's +providence is inscrutable to man, before the issue of such things as are +kept close for a season in his counsel. But, to be plain with you, that +journey and progress I like not. + + +Queen Elizabeth and Sir James Melville. + + [Sir James Melville was sent as ambassador from the Queen of Scots + to the Queen of England to advance negotiations for Mary's + marriage, and to discover, if possible, Elizabeth's real meaning.] + +September 28, 1564. _Melville's Memoirs_, pp. 115-128. +(_Bannatyne Club._) + +The next morning Master Lattoun and Master Randolph, late agent for the +Queen of England in Scotland, came to my lodging to convoy me to her +Majesty, who was, as they said, already in the garden.... I found her +Majesty pacing in an alley. + +_YONDER LONG LAD_ + +_MELVILLE'S OPINION OF DARNLEY_ + +... She inquired if the Queen had sent any answer anent the proposition +of a marriage made to her by Master Randolph. I answered, as I was +instructed, that the Queen thought little or nothing thereof, but looked +for the meeting of some Commissioners upon the borders, with my Lord of +Murray and the secretary, Lethington, to confer and treat upon all such +matters of greatest importance.... So seeing that your Majesties cannot +so soon find the opportunity of meeting, so much desired between +yourselves ... the Queen, my mistress ... is in hope that your Majesty +will send my Lord of Bedford and my Lord Robert Dudley. She said that it +appeared that I made but small account of my Lord Robert, seeing that I +named the Earl of Bedford before him; but, or it were long, she should +make him a greater earl, and that I should see it done before my +returning home; for she esteemed him as her brother and best friend, +whom she should have married herself, if ever she had been minded to +take a husband.... And to cause the Queen, my mistress, to think the +more of him, I was required to stay till I had seen him made Earl of +Leicester and Baron of Denbigh, with great solemnity at Westminster, +herself helping to put on his ceremonial, he sitting upon his knees +before her, keeping a great gravity and discreet behaviour. But she +could not refrain from putting her hand in his neck to kittle {tickle} +him smilingly, the French Ambassador and I standing beside her. Then she +asked me how I liked of him. I said, as he was a worthy subject, he was +happy that had encountered a princess that could discern and reward good +service. "Yet," she said, "ye like better of yonder long lad," pointing +towards my Lord Darnley, who, as nearest prince of the blood, bore the +sword of honour that day before her. My answer again was, that no woman +of spirit could make choice of such a man, that was liker a woman than a +man; for he was very lusty, beardless, and lady-faced. I had no will +that she should think that I liked of him, or had any eye or dealing +that way: albeit I had a secret charge to deal with his mother, my Lady +Lennox, to purchase leave for him to pass in Scotland, where his father +was already, that he might see the country and convoy the Earl, his +father, back again to England. + +_YE MAY NOT SUFFER A COMMANDER_ + +Now the said Queen was determined to treat with the Queen, my sovereign, +first anent her marriage with the Earl of Leicester, and for that effect +promised to send commissioners unto the borders. In the meantime I was +favourably and familiarly used; for during nine days that I remained at +Court, her Majesty pleased to confer with me every day, and sometimes +thrice upon a day, to wit, afore noon, after noon, and after supper. +Sometimes she would say, that since she could not meet with the Queen, +her good sister herself, to confer familiarly with her, that she should +open a good part of her inward mind unto me, that I might show it again +unto the Queen; and said that she was not so offended at the Queen's +angry letter as for that she seemed to disdain so far the marriage with +my Lord of Leicester, which she had caused Master Randolph propose unto +her. I said that it might be he had teached something thereof to my Lord +of Murray and Lethington, but that he had not proposed the matter +directly unto herself; and that as well her Majesty, as they that were +her most familiar counsellors, could conjecture nothing thereupon but +delays and drifting of time, anent the declaring of her to be the second +person {_i.e._, the next in succession to the throne of England} which +would try at the meeting of commissioners above specified. She said +again that the trial and declaration thereof would be hasted forward, +according to the Queen's good behaviour, and applying to her +{Elizabeth's} pleasure and advice in her marriage; and seeing the matter +concerning the said declaration was so weighty, she had ordained some of +the best lawyers in England diligently to search out who had the best +right, which she would wish should be her dear sister rather than any +other. I said I was assured that her Majesty {Mary} was both out of +doubt hereof, and would rather she should be declared than any other.... +She said that she was never minded to marry, except she were compelled +by the Queen, her sister's, hard behaviour towards her, in doing by +{beyond} her counsel, as said is. I said: "Madam, ye need not tell me +that; I know your stately stomach; ye think if ye were married, ye would +be but Queen of England, and now ye are King and Queen both; ye may not +suffer a commander." + +_A COURTIER'S REPLIES_ + +She appeared to be so affectioned to the Queen her good sister, that she +had a great desire to see her: and because their desired meeting could +not be hastily brought to pass, she delighted oft to look upon her +picture, and took me in to her bed chamber, and opened a little lettroun +{cabinet} wherein were divers little pictures wrapped within paper, and +written upon the paper, their names with her own hand. Upon the first +that she took up was written, "My lord's picture." I held the candle and +pressed to see my lord's {Leicester's} picture. Albeit she was loth to +let me see it, at length I by importunity obtained the sight thereof, +and asked the same to carry home with me unto the Queen, which she +refused, alleging she had but that one of his. I said again, that she +had the principal; for he was at the furthest part of the chamber +speaking with the secretary Cecil. Then she took out the Queen's picture +and kissed it; and I kissed her hand for the great love I saw she bore +to the Queen.... ... Her {Elizabeth's} hair was redder than yellow, +curled apparently of nature. Then she entered to discern what colour of +hair was reported best, and inquired whether the Queen's or her's was +best, and which of them two was fairest. I said, the fairness of them +both was not their worst faults. But she was earnest with me to declare +which of them I thought fairest. I said, she was the fairest Queen in +England, and ours the fairest Queen in Scotland. Yet she was earnest. I +said they were both the fairest ladies of their courts, and that the +Queen of England was whiter, but our Queen very lovesome. She inquired +which of them was of highest stature. I said, our Queen. Then she said +the Queen was over high, and that herself was neither over high or over +low. Then she asked what sort of exercises she used. I said, that I was +dispatched out of Scotland, that the Queen was but new come back from +the highland hunting; and when she had leisure from the affairs of her +company, she read upon good books, the histories of divers countries, +and sometimes would play upon lute and virginals. She sperit {asked} if +she played well. I said, reasonably for a Queen. + +_A CONSEQUENCE OF FRENCH TRAINING_ + +_NO PLAIN DEALING OR UPRIGHT MEANING_ + +The same day after dinner, my Lord of Hunsden {Huntingdon} drew me up to +a quiet gallery that I might hear some music, but he said he durst not +avow it, where I might hear the Queen play upon the virginals. But after +I had hearkened a while, I took by the tapestry that hung before the +door of the chamber, and seeing her back was toward the door, I entered +within the chamber and stood still at the door post, and heard her play +excellently well; but she left off so soon as she turned her about and +saw me, and came forwards seeming to strike me with her left hand, and +to think shame; alleging that she used not to play before men, but when +she was solitary her alone, to eschew melancholy; and askit how I came +there. I said, as I was walking with my Lord of Hunsden, as we passed by +the chamber door, I heard such melody, which ravished and drew me within +the chamber I wist not how; excusing my fault of homeliness, as being +brought up in the Court of France, and was now willing to suffer what +kind of punishment would please her lay upon me for my offence. Then she +sat down low upon a cushion, and I upon my knee beside her; but she gave +me a cushion with her own hand to lay under my knee, which I refused, +but she compelled me; and called for my lady Stafford out of the next +chamber, for she was alone there. Then she asked whether the Queen or +she played best. In that I gave her the praise.... She inquired at me +whether she or the Queen danced best. I said, the Queen danced not so +high or disposedly as she did. Then again she wished that she might see +the Queen at some convenient place of meeting. I offered to convey her +secretly in {to} Scotland by post, clothed like a page disguised, that +she might see the Queen: as King James the 5 passed in France disguised, +with his own ambassador, to see the Duc of Vendome's sister that should +have been his wife; and how that her chamber should be kept, as though +she were sick, in the meantime, and none to be privy thereto but my Lady +Stafford, and one of the grooms of her chamber. She said, Alas! if she +might do it: and seemed to like well such kind of language, and used all +the means she could to cause me persuade the Queen of the great love +that she bore unto her.... My Lord of Leicester began to purge himself +of so proud a pretence as to marry so great a Queen, esteeming himself +not worthy to deicht her shone {clean her shoes}; alleging the invention +of that proposition to have proceeded of Master Cecil his secret enemy. +"For if I should," said he, "have seemed to desire that marriage, I +should have lost the favour of both the Queens," praying me till excuse +him unto the Queen.... At my homecoming I found the Queen's Majesty +still in Edinburgh ... she inquired whether I thought that Queen meant +truly towards her as well inwardly in her heart as she appeared to do +outwardly by her speech. I said, in my judgment, that there was neither +plain dealing nor upright meaning, but great dissimulation, emulation +and fear that her princely qualities should over soon chase her out, and +displace her from the kingdom; as having already hindered her {Mary's} +marriage with the Archduke Charles of Austria, and now offering unto her +my Lord of Leicester, whom she would be as loth as then to want. Then +the Queen gave me her hand, that she should never marry the new-made +earl; albeit shortly while after, my Lord of Murray and Bedford met +beside Berwick to treat upon the marriage with Leicester.... The Queen +of England began to fear and suspect that the said marriage might +perchance take effect. And therefore my Lord Darnley obtained the +rather, license to come into Scotland, who was a lusty youth, in hope +that he should prevail being present before Leicester that was absent. +Which license was obtained of the means of the secretary Cecil; not that +he was minded that any of the marriages should take effect, but with +such shifts and practices to hold the Queen unmarried so long as he +could. + +_THE NEW-MADE EARL_ + +_Randolph to Cecil from Edinburgh. Foreign Calendar._ December 15, 1564. + +This parliament, being only assembled for restoring Lennox, began upon +Monday, and ended the Saturday after. The third day the Queen came to +the house, when she had an oration of her affection towards her subjects +and the weal of her country, which moved her to show her favour towards +Lennox, to restore him to his country, the rather for the suit of the +Queen of England, whose desire to her was of no small moment, which +words were duly rehearsed.... + +_MURRAY, LETHINGTON, AND CECIL_ + + [The next development in the situation took the form of a + correspondence between Murray and Lethington, and Cecil, on + December 4, 1564. Randolph wrote to Cecil "that Murray and + Lethington had concluded that amity with England is fittest," and + added, "No man will be more acceptable to the people than the Lord + Robert. There has been more thought of Lord Darnley before his + father's coming than is at present. The mother more feared a great + deal than beloved." The two Scottish lords had already written to + Cecil, who replied on the 16th, informing them that Elizabeth would + never consent to their request, the establishment of Mary's "title + to be declared by Parliament in the second place to the Queen," but + "promising that she will cause inquisition to be made of their + Sovereign's right; and as far as shall stand with justice and her + own surety, she will abase such titles as shall be proved unjust + and prejudicial to her sister's interest;" and giving them warning. + "Let there not be found any intention to compass ... a kingdom and + a crown, which, if it be sought for, may be sooner lost than got, + and not being craved may be as soon offered as reason can require." + To this Murray and Lethington replied on the 24th, asking what + Cecil meant by the words "as shall stand with justice and her own + surety," for they "never meant anything prejudicial to the surety + of Queen Elizabeth;" stating that if Elizabeth "will nowise + establish the succession of her crown," the Leicester project must + fall to the ground; and urging Cecil to secrecy, for if it were + discovered that they had "meddled without her Majesty's knowledge, + the opening thereof" would be the ruin of them both. (Foreign + Calendar, 14th, 16th, and 24th December 1564.) This episode is of + importance in connection with Mary's subsequent attitude to the + Darnley marriage.] + + +_QUEEN MARY'S MERRY CONCEITS_ + +Queen Mary and Randolph. + +_Randolph to Queen Elizabeth, from Edinburgh_, February 5, 1565. +_Chalmers's Queen Mary_, vol. ii. pp. 123-127. + +"_IT LIETH IN YOUR MISTRESS'S WILL_" + +Her grace lodged in a merchant's house; her train were very few; and +there was small repair from any part. Her will was, that for the time +that I did tarry, I should dine and sup with her. Your Majesty was +oftentimes dranken unto, by her, at dinners and suppers. Having, in this +sort, continued with her grace, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, I thought +it time to take occasion to utter unto her grace, that which last I +received in command, from your Majesty, by Mr. Secretary's letter, which +was to know her grace's resolution touching those matters propounded, at +Berwick, by my Lord of Bedford, and me, to my Lord of Murray and Lord of +Lethington. I had no sooner spoken these words, but she saith, "I see +now well that you are weary of this company and treatment. I sent for +you to be merry and to see how like a Bourgeois-wife I live, with my +little troop; and you will interrupt our pastime, with your great and +grave matters. I pray you, Sir, if you be weary here, return home to +Edinburgh, and keep your gravity and great ambassage until the Queen +come thither; for I assure you, you shall not get her here, nor I know +not myself where she is become. You see neither cloth of estate, nor +such appearances, that you may think that there is a Queen here; nor I +would not that you should think that I am she, at St. Andrews, that I +was at Edinburgh." I said that I was very sorry for that, for that at +Edinburgh, she said that she did love my mistress, the Queen's majesty, +better than any other, and now I marvelled how her mind was altered. It +pleased her at this to be very merry, and called me by more names than +were given me in my christendom. At these merry conceits much good sport +was made. "But well, Sir," saith she, "that which then I spoke in words +shall be confirmed in writing.... You know how willing I am to follow +her advice ... and yet I can find in her no resolution nor +determination. For nothing, I cannot be bound unto her ... and +therefore, this I say, and trust me I mean it, if your mistress will, as +she hath said, use me as her natural born sister or daughter, I will +take myself either as one or the other as she please, and will show no +less readiness to oblige her, and honour her, than my mother, or eldest +sister; but, if she will repute me always but as her neighbour Queen of +Scots, how willing soever I be to live in amity and to maintain peace, +yet she must not look for that at my hands, that otherwise I would, or +she desireth." ... I requested her Grace, humbly ... to let her mind be +known, how well she liked of the suit of my Lord Robert, Earl of +Leicester, that might be able somewhat to say or write touching that +matter, unto your Majesty. "My mind towards him is such as it ought to +be of a very noble man, as I hear say by very many, and such one as the +Queen, your mistress, my good sister, doth so well like to be her +husband, if he were not her subject, ought not to mislike me to be mine. +Marry, what I shall do, it lieth in your mistress's will, who shall +wholly guide me and rule me." I made myself not well to understand these +words, because I would have the better hold of them. She repeated the +self same words again. + + + + +SECTION III + +FROM THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE TO THE RIZZIO MURDER + + +_CONTENTS_ + + 1. The Darnley marriage and the Earl of Murray's rebellion. + + (_a_) Melville's account of the progress of events from Mary's + first meeting with Darnley to Elizabeth's reception of Murray + (February to October). + + (_b_) Randolph's account of the allegations regarding the rival + conspiracies. + + (_c_) The Proclamation to allay disquiet regarding the Queen's + marriage with a Catholic. + + (_d_) Randolph's letter to Leicester describing the marriage, and + the relations between the bride and bridegroom. + + (_e_) Cecil's account of the Murray trouble. + + (_f_) The Privy Council warrant against Murray. + + (_g_) Knox's account of Elizabeth's interview with Murray. + + 2. Mary's relations with Darnley and the Rizzio murder. + + (_a_) Diplomatic references to the ill-will between the Queen and + her husband, with an incidental account of the Holy League. + + (_b_) Bedford and Randolph's letter to Cecil foretelling the Rizzio + plot. + + (_c_) Agreements between Darnley and the conspirators. + + (_d_) Mary's own description of the murder of Rizzio. + + +_DARNLEY'S COURTSHIP_ + +1563.--Feb. 17-Oct. 23. The Darnley Marriage and the Murray Rebellion. + +_Melville's Memoirs_, p. 134. + + [It was now becoming evident that Mary was to marry Lord Darnley. + Her resolution gave great offence, not only to Queen Elizabeth, but + to the Earl of Murray, and some other Scottish nobles, who raised a + rebellion, commonly called the "Run about Chase." The matter is + somewhat mysterious; there are, as the reader will observe, + allegations of two conspiracies--one against Murray by Darnley, and + another against Mary and Darnley by Murray. The evidence is not + decisive.] + +_THE RUN-ABOUT RAID_ + +_UNWORTHY TRAITORS_ + +I have said already how that my Lord Darnley was advised to suit license +to come into Scotland, who at his first coming found the Queen in the +Wemyss, making her progress through Fife. Her Majesty took well with +him, and said that he was the lustiest and best proportioned long {tall} +man that she had seen, for he was of high stature, long and small, even +and upright; well instructed from his youth in all honest and comely +exercises. And after he had hanted {frequented} a while in Court, he +proposed marriage to her Majesty; which she took in evil part at the +first, as she told me that same day herself, and how she had refused the +ring which he then offered unto her, when I took occasion, as I had +begun, to speak in his favour, that their marriage would put out of +doubt their title to the succession. I cannot tell how he fell in +acquaintance with Seigneur David {Rizzio}, but he also was his great +friend at the Queen's hand; so that her Majesty took aye the longer the +better liking of him, and at length determined to marry him. Which being +known unto Queen Elizabeth, she sent and charged him to return; and also +sent her ambassador, Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, into Scotland, both to +dissuade the Queen to marry him, and in case the Queen would not follow +her advice in her marriage, to persuade the lords and so many as were of +her religion to withstand the said marriage, unless the Lord Darnley +would promise and subscribe to abide at the religion reformed, which he +had plainly professed in England. The Queen again perceiving the Queen +of England's earnest opposition to all the marriages that were offered +unto her, thought not meet to delay any longer her marriage. But my Lord +Duke of Chatelherault, my Lords of Argyll, Murray, Glencairn, Rothes, +and divers others, lords and barons, withstood the said marriage; who +after they had made a mind to take the Lord Darnley, in the Queen's +company, at the raid of Beath, and to have sent him into England, as +they alleged--I wot not what was in their mind, but it was an +evil-favoured enterprize, wherein the Queen was in great danger other +than {that of} keeping or heartbreaking; and as they that had failed of +their foolish enterprize, took on plainly their arms of rebellion, her +Majesty again convened forces against them, and chased them here and +there till at length they were compelled to flee into England for +refuge, to her that had promised by her ambassadors to wear her crown in +their defence, in case they were driven to any strait for their +opposition unto the said marriage. Which was all denied at their coming +to seek help; and when they sent up my Lord of Murray to that Queen, the +rest abiding at Newcastle, he could obtain nothing but disdain and +scorn; till at length he and the Abbot of Kilwinning, his companion in +that message, were persuaded to come and confess unto the Queen upon +their knees, and that in presence of the ambassadors of France and +Spain, that her Majesty had never moved them to that opposition and +resistance against their Queen's marriage.... Unto my Lord of Murray and +his marrow {comrade} she said, "Now you have told the truth; for I nor +none in my name stirred you up against your Queen; for your abominable +treason might serve for example, to move my own subjects to rebel +against me. Therefore pack you out of my presence; ye are but unworthy +traitors." + + +1565.--April 29. Mary's Festivities. + +_Randolph to Cecil. Foreign Calendar_, 1565. + +Greater triumphs there never were in time of Popery than were this +Easter at the resurrection and at her high mass. Organs were wont to be +the common music. She wanted now neither trumpet, drum, nor fife, +bagpipe nor tabor.... Upon Monday she and divers of her women apparelled +themselves like burgesses' wives, went upon their feet up and down the +town, and of every man they met they took some pledge for money towards +the banquet; and in the lodging where the writer was accustomed to lodge +was the dinner prepared, at which she was herself, with the wonder and +gazing of men, women, and children. + + [This celebration of Easter is important as being a factor in the + growth of Protestant dislike of the Darnley marriage.] + +_"LESS COMFORT" FOR QUEEN MARY_ + +_Randolph to Cecil from Edinburgh_, July 2, 1565 {_date of +end of letter_}. _Keith's History_, vol. ii. p. 300. + +I wrote that there was a convention appointed at St. Johnstone {Perth} +the 22nd of this instant {_i.e._ June}, to which there were specially +named these, the Duke, Earls Argyll, Murray, Morton, and Glencairn; only +Morton came; the other some tarried at their houses, as the Duke, and +Earl of Murray; other as Argyll and Glencairn came to Edinburgh the 24th +to the Convention {General Assembly} of the Protestants there. With this +her Grace is greatly offended, and layeth the whole fault hereof to the +Earl of Murray and Argyll, which both had come to St. Johnstone, but +that my Lord of Murray was assuredly advertised that it was intended +that he should be slain there.... With my Lord of Murray I have lately +spoken; he is grieved to see these extreme follies in his sovereign; he +lamenteth the state of this country that tendeth to utter ruin; he +feareth that the nobility shall be forced to assemble themselves +together, to do her honour and reverence as they are in duty bound, but +to provide for the State that it do not utterly perish.... The Duke, the +Earl of Argyll, and he concur in this device; many other are like to +join with them in the same; what will ensue let wise men judge.... The +less comfort that this Queen be put in, that the Queen's majesty will +allow of her doings, the sooner shall her Majesty bring that to pass +here that she most desireth, and more at her Majesty's devotion than at +this time she hath, there were never in Scotland. Some that already have +heard of my Ladie's Grace {Lady Lennox's} imprisonment like very well +thereof, and wish to the father and son to keep her company. The +question hath been asked me. Whether if they were delivered us into +Berwick, we would receive them? I answered that we could nor would not +refuse our own, in what sort soever they come unto us. + +_A HASTY RIDE_ + +_Randolph to Cecil from Edinburgh_, July 4. _Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 309. + +Upon Saturday her Grace came ... to St. Johnston, where word was brought +her that the Earl of Argyll and Earl of Murray had assembled many of +their friends and servants, and intended to take her and the Lord +Darnley riding between that town and the Lord of Livingstone's house, +and to have carried the Queen's Grace to St. Andrews, and the Lord +Darnley to Castle Campbell, a house of the Earl of Argyll.... She took +her horse by five of the clock in the morning, and rode with great +speed, having only three women in her train, until she came to the +Queen's Ferry, passing through a little town called Kinross, hard by +Lochleven, where my Lord of Murray was in a house in the loch with his +mother and the Laird of Lochleven, his brother, with a small number of +his servants, having been sick of a flux not four days before, intending +for all that to have met the Queen, and to have convoyed her as far as +her Grace would give him leave; but hearing that her Grace was past that +town three or four hours before that he looked for her, he remained +still and went not forth.... + +_A REQUEST FOR MONEY_ + +They {the two Earls} think it time to put to that remedy they can; they +depend greatly upon the comfort received from the Queen's majesty our +sovereign; they know that it as well tendeth to her Majesty's surety for +that which may ensure as the present hurt and danger to themselves. +Wherefore, having considered her Majesty's friendly and godly offer to +concur with them, and to assist them, ... as from subjects that see how +far the Sovereign is led by unadvised persons, from her duty to God, and +care that she ought to have of the weal of her country, they most humbly +desire the performance of her Majesty's promise.... They are loth so far +to charge her Majesty as to desire any number of men to take their part, +but that it will only please her Majesty to help them with such sums of +money as for a time may be able to keep themselves together, be it that +they determine to be wheresoever the Queen's self is, or to remain in +Edinburgh, where they may best put order unto all those grievous +enormities.... They think that if her Majesty would bestow only three +thousand pounds sterling for this year, except some foreign force shall +be brought in against them. + +_Acts of the Privy Council of Scotland_, July 12, 1565. + +For as much as divers evil disposed persons ... wickedly and ungodly +have pretended by untrue reports ... that her Majesty had begun or +intended to impede, stay, or molest any of them in using of their +religion and conscience freely ... ordains letters to be direct to +officers of the Queen's Sheriff in that part {respect}, charging them to +pass to the market crosses of all burghs of this realm, and other places +needful, and there, by open proclamation, make publication of this her +Majesty's mind and meaning; certifying and assuring all her good +subjects, that as they, nor none of them, have hitherto been molested in +the quiet using of their religion and conscience, so shall they not be +unquieted in that behalf in any time to come; but behaving themselves +honestly as good subjects shall find her Majesty their good princess, +willing to do them justice, and to show them favour and clemency, but +{without} innovation or alteration in any sort. + +_A ROYAL MARRIAGE_ + +_Randolph to Leicester, from Edinburgh_, July 31, 1565. +_Wright's Elizabeth_, vol. i. p. 199. + +I doubt not but your Lordship hath heard by such information as I have +given from hence, what the present state of this country is, how this +Queen is now become a married wife, and her husband, the self same day +of his marriage, made a king.... So many discontented minds, so much +misliking of the subjects to have these matters, ordered in this sort, +to be brought to pass, I never heard of any marriage.... Thus they fear +the overthrow of religion, the breach of amity with the Queen's Majesty +{Elizabeth}, destruction of as many of the nobility as she hath +misliking of, or that he to pick a quarrel unto.... He {Darnley} would +now seem to be indifferent to both the religions, she to use her mass, +and he to come sometimes to the preaching. + +They were married with all the solemnities of the popish time, saving +that he heard not the mass; his speech and talk argueth his mind, and +yet would he fain seem to the world that he were of some religion. His +words to all men against whom he conceiveth any displeasure, how unjust +soever it be, so proud and spiteful, that rather he seemeth a monarch of +the world than he that not long since we have seen and known the Lord +Darnley.... + +_"GOD SAVE HIS GRACE!"_ + +All honour that may be attributed unto any man by a wife, he hath it +wholly and fully ... all dignities that she can indue him with are +already given and granted. No man pleaseth her that contenteth not him, +and what may I say more, she hath given over unto him her whole will, to +be ruled and guided as himself best liketh. She can as much prevail with +him in anything that is against his will, as your Lordship may with me +to persuade that I should hang myself.... Upon Saturday ... at nine +hours at night, by three heralds at sound of the trumpet he was +proclaimed king. This was the night before the marriage. This day, +Monday, at twelve of the clock, the Lords, all that were in this town, +were present at the proclaiming of him again, when no man said so much +as Amen, saving his father, that cried out aloud, "God save his Grace!" + +The manner of the marriage was of this sort. Upon Sunday, in the +morning, between five and six, she was conveyed by divers of her nobles +to the chapel. She had upon her back the great mourning gown of black, +with the great wide mourning hood, not unlike unto that which she wore +the doleful day of the burial of her husband. She was led unto the +Chapel by the Earls Lennox and Athole, and there she was left until her +husband came, who was also conveyed by the same lords. The ministers, +two priests, did there receive them. The banns are asked the third time, +and an instrument taken by a notary that no man said against them, or +alleged any cause why the marriage might not proceed. The words were +spoken, the rings, which were three, the middle a rich diamond, were put +upon her finger, they kneel together, and many prayers said over them. +She carrieth out the ...[16] and he taketh a kiss, and leaveth her there +and went to her chamber, whither in a space she followeth, and there +being required, according to the solemnities, to cast off her care, and +lay aside those sorrowful garments, and give herself to a pleasanter +life. After some pretty refusals, more I believe for manner sake than +grief of heart, she suffereth them that stood by, every man that could +approach to take out a pin, and so being committed to her ladies changed +her garments. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + [16] Word illegible. +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +_ELIZABETH ASKED TO EXPLAIN_ + +_Cecil to Sir Thomas Smith, from Windsor_, August 21, +1565. _Wright's Elizabeth_, vol. i. p. 206. + +Mr. Tomworth was sent to the Queen of Scots upon this occasion; the +Scottish Queen hath sent twice hither to require the Queen's Majesty to +declare for what causes she did mislike of this marriage, offering also +to satisfy the same. In the meantime troubles arise there betwixt her +and the Earl of Murray and others being friendly to the warm amity of +the realm, whereunto for sundry respects it seemeth convenient for us to +regard. The Duke {of Chatelherault}, the Earls of Argyll, Murray, and +Rothes, with sundry Barons, are joined together not to allow of the +marriage, otherwise than to have the religion established by law, but +the Queen refuseth in this sort; she will not suffer it to have the +force of law, but of permission to every man to live according to his +conscience. And herewith she retained a great number of Protestants from +associating openly with the other. She hath sent for the Earl Murray, +but the mistrust is so far entered on both sides, that I think it will +fall to an evil end, for she hath put the Earl of Murray to the horn +{_i.e._ outlawed} and prohibited all persons to aid him. Nevertheless, +the Duke, the Earls of Argyll and Rothes are together with him. We shall +hear by Mr. Tomworth what is most likely to follow. + +_THE REBELS OUT-LAWED_ + +_Register of the Privy Council_, December 1, 1565. + +The which day, in presence of the King and Queen's Majesties and Lords +of Secret Council, compeared Master John Spence of Condy, advocate to +their Highnesses, and exponed how at their Majesties' command he had +libelled summonses of treason against Archibald, Earl of Argyll, James, +Earl of Murray, Alexander, Earl of Glencairn, Andrew, Earl of Rothes, +Andrew, Lord Ochiltree, Robert, Lord Boyd, and divers others,--to +compear in the next Parliament, to begin the fourth day of February next +to come, to hear them decerned to have incurred the crime of _lese +majestie_, and to have lost and forfeited life, lands, and goods.... But +because there were divers of the said persons outwith the realm ... it +behoved them be summoned by open proclamation at the Market Cross of +Edinburgh, and other Crosses next adjacent according to the common law; +and thereupon desired a declaration and determination of their Majesties +and Lords forsaid. The which being reasoned with good deliberation and +advisement, their Majesties and Lordships find and declare that the said +persons being summoned in manner above specified, the execution is as +sufficient in all respects as if the same summonses were execute upon +them personally or at their dwelling-places. + + +_GOOD AND COURTEOUS ENTERTAINMENT_ + +Murray's Reception by Elizabeth. + +_Knox's Continuator_ (cf. p. 260), _Laing's Knox_, vol. ii. p. 513. + +By means of the French Ambassador, called Monsieur De Four, his true +friend, he {Murray} obtained audience. The Queen, with a fair +countenance, demanded "how he, being a rebel to her Sister of Scotland, +durst take the boldness upon him to come within her realm?" These, and +the like words got he, instead of the good and courteous entertainment +expected. Finally, after private discourse, the Ambassador being absent, +she refused to give the Lords any support, denying plainly that ever she +had promised any such thing as to support them, saying, "She never meant +any such thing in that way;" albeit her greatest familiars knew the +contrary. In the end the Earl of Murray said to her, "Madam, whatsoever +thing your Majesty meant in your heart, we are thereof ignorant; but +this much we know assuredly, that we had lately faithful promises of aid +and support by your Ambassador and familiar servants, in your name; and +further, we have your own handwriting, confirming the said promises." +And afterward he took his leave, and came northward from London towards +Newcastle. After the Earl of Murray his departure from the Court the +Queen sent them some aid, and writ unto the Queen of Scotland in their +favour, whether she had promised it in private to the Earl of Murray, or +whether she repented her of the harsh reception of the Earl of Murray. + + [This account of Elizabeth's interview with Murray should be + compared with that given by Melville (p. 60).] + + +Mary's Relations with her Husband. + +_Randolph to Cecil, from Edinburgh_, January 16, 1566. +_Wright's Elizabeth_, vol. i. p. 216. + +This court of long time hath been very quiet, small resort of any, and +many of those that come but slenderly welcome for the great and +importunate suit made by them for my Lord of Murray and the rest, who by +no means can find any favour at her Grace's hands, in so much that +Robert Melville hath received for resolute answer that let the Queen of +England do for them what she will, they shall never live in Scotland and +she together.... + +_MATRIMONIAL MISLIKINGS_ + +I cannot tell what mislikings of late there hath been between her Grace +and her husband; he presses earnestly for the matrimonial crown, which +she is loth hastily to grant, but willing to keep somewhat in store +until she know how well he is worthy to enjoy such a sovereignty, and +therefore it is thought that the Parliament for a time shall be +deferred, but hereof I can write no certainty. + +_THE HOLY LEAGUE_ + +_Randolph to Cecil, from Edinburgh_, February 7, 1565. +_Wright's Elizabeth_, vol. i. p. 219. + +There was a bond lately devised in which the late Pope, the Emperor, the +King of Spain, the Duke of Savoy, with divers Princes of Italy and the +Queen mother {of France} suspected to be of the same confederacy, to +maintain papistry throughout Christendom. This bond was sent out of +France by Thornton, and is subscribed by this Queen. The copy whereof, +remaining with her and the principal, to be returned very shortly, as I +hear, by Mr. Steven Wilson, a fit minister for such devilish devices. If +the copy hereof can be gotten, it shall be sent as conveniently I +may.... + + [The bond referred to is the Holy League. Cf. _infra._] + +In this court divers contentions, quarrels, and debates; nothing so much +sought as to maintain mischief and disorder. David {Rizzio} yet +retaineth his place, not without heart grief to many that see their +sovereign guided chiefly by such a fellow. + +_Randolph to Cecil, from Berwick_, February 14, 1566. +_Stevenson's Selections._ + +There is a league concluded between the King of Spain, the Duke of +Savoy, and divers other Papist princes, for the overthrow of religion, +as you shall hear more by others, which is come to this Queen's hands, +but not yet confirmed. + +_CECIL INFORMED OF THE RIZZIO PLOT_ + +_Bedford and Randolph to Cecil, from Berwick_, March 6, 1566. +_Tytler's History of Scotland_, vol. vii. p. 30. + +Somewhat we are sure you have heard of divers discord and jars between +this Queen and her husband, partly for that she hath refused him the +crown matrimonial, partly for that he hath assured knowledge of such, +usage of herself as altogether is intolerable to be borne, which, if it +were not over well known, we would both be very loath to think that it +could be true. To take away this occasion of slander, he is himself +determined to be at the apprehension and execution of him, whom he is +able manifestly to charge with the crime, and to have done him the most +dishonour that can be to any man, much more being as he is. We need not +more plainly to describe the person {Rizzio}. You have heard of the man +whom we mean of. + +To come by the other thing which he desireth, which is the crown +matrimonial, what is devised and concluded upon by him and the noblemen, +you shall see by copies of the conditions between them and him, of which +Mr. Randolph assureth me to have seen the principals, and taken the +copies written with his own hand. + +The time of execution and performance of these matters is before the +Parliament, as near as it is. To this determination of theirs, there are +privy in Scotland; these--Argyll, Morton, Boyd, Ruthven, and Lethington. +In England these--Murray, Rothes, Grange, myself, and the writer hereof. +If persuasions to cause the Queen to yield to these matters do no good, +they purpose to proceed we know not in what sort. If she be able to make +any power at home, she shall be withstood, and herself kept from all +other counsel than her own nobility. If she seek any foreign support, +the Queen's Majesty, our sovereign, shall be sought, and sued unto to +accept his and their defence, with offers reasonable to her Majesty's +contentment. + + +_OBLIGATIONS OF THE LORDS_ + +Agreement between Darnley and the Earls of Murray, Argyll, Glencairn, +and Rothes, and Lords Boyd and Ochiltree. + +_Ruthven's Relation_, Ed. of 1815. + +_Articles to be fulfilled by the lords._ + +1. The said earls, lords, and their complices, shall become, and by the +tenor hereof become true subjects, men and servants to the noble and +mighty Prince Henry, by the grace of God, King of Scotland, and husband +to our sovereign lady; that they and all others that will do for them +shall take a loyal and true part with the said noble Prince in all his +actions, causes, and quarrels, against whomsoever, to the uttermost of +their power.... + +2. The said earls, lords, and their complices shall ... by themselves +and others that have voice in Parliament, consent, and by these presents +do consent now as then, and then as now, to grant and give the crown +matrimonial to the said noble Prince for all the days of his life. And +if any person or persons withstand or gainsay the same, the said earls, +lords, and their complices shall take such part as the said noble Prince +taketh, in whatsoever sort, for the obtaining of the said crown against +all.... + +3. The said earls, lords, and their complices shall fortify and maintain +the said noble Prince in his just title to the crown of Scotland, +failing of succession of our sovereign lady.... + +4. As to the religion which was established by the Queen's Majesty, our +sovereign, shortly after her arrival in this realm ... they and every +one of them shall maintain and fortify the same at their uttermost +powers, by the help, supply, and maintenance of the said noble Prince. + + * * * * * + +_DARNLEY'S PROMISES_ + +_Articles to be fulfilled by Darnley._ + +1. The said noble Prince shall do his good-will to obtain them one +remission, if they require the same, for all faults and crimes by-past, +of whatsoever quality or condition they be.... + +2. We shall not suffer, by our good-wills, the foresaid lords and their +complices to be called or accused in Parliament, nor suffer any +forfeiture to be laid against them.... + +3. That the said earls, lords, and their complices, returning within the +realm of Scotland, we shall suffer or permit them to use and enjoy all +their lands, tacks, steadings, and benefices, that they or any of them +had before their passage into England.... + +4. As to the said earls, lords, and their complices' religion, we are +contented and consent that they use the same, conform to the Queen's +Majesty's act and proclamation made thereupon, shortly after her +Highness's return out of France.... + + * * * * * + + +_THE BOND FOR THE MURDER_ + +_THE WORD OF A PRINCE_ + +Bond for Rizzio's Murder--Ruthven's Relation. + +Be it kend {known} to all men by these present letters: We, Henry, by +the grace of God, King of Scotland, and husband to the Queen's Majesty, +for so much we having consideration of the gentle and good nature, with +many other good qualities in her Majesty, we have thought pity, and also +think it great conscience to us that are her husband, to suffer her to +be abused or seduced by certain privy persons, wicked and ungodly ... +especially a stranger Italian called Davie ... we have devised to take +these privy persons, enemies to her Majesty, us, the nobility and +commonwealth, to punish them according to their demerits, and in case of +any difficulty, to cut them off immediately, and to take and slay them +wherever it happeneth. And because we cannot accomplish the same without +the assistance of others, therefore have we drawn certain of our +nobility, earls, lords, barons, freeholders, gentlemen, merchants, and +craftsmen, to assist us in our enterprise, which cannot be finished +without great hazard.... We bind and oblige us, our heirs and +successors, to the said earls, lords, barons, gentlemen, freeholders, +merchants, and craftsmen, their heirs and successors, that we shall +accept the same feud upon us, and fortify and maintain them at the +uttermost of our power, and shall be friend to their friend, and enemy +to their enemies, and shall neither suffer them nor theirs to be +molested nor troubled in their bodies, lands, goods, nor possessions so +far as lieth in us. And if any person would take any of the said earls, +lords, barons, gentlemen, freeholders, merchants, or craftsmen, for +enterprising and assisting with us for the achieving of our purpose, +because it may chance to be done in presence of the Queen's majesty, or +within her palace of Holyrood-house, we, by the word of a prince, shall +accept and take the same on us now as then and then as now.... In +witness whereof we have subscribed this with our own hand at Edinburgh, +the 1st of March 1565. + + +_A ROYAL SUPPER-PARTY_ + +_THE MURDER_ + +1566.--April 2. Mary's Description of the Murder of Rizzio, in a letter +to the Archbishop of Glasgow, her Ambassador in Paris. + +_Keith's History_, vol. ii. p. 411. + +Most Reverend Father, we greet you well.... It is not unknown to you how +our Parliament was appointed to the 12th of this instant month of March, +to which these that were our rebels and fugitives in England were +summoned to have heard themselves forfeited. The day thereof +approaching, we required the King our husband to assist us in passing +thereto, who, as we are assured, being persuaded by our rebels that were +fugitive, with the advice and fortification of the Earl of Morton, Lords +Ruthven and Lindsay, their assisters and complices, who were with us in +company, by their suggestion refused to pass with us thereto, as we +suppose because of his facility, and subtle means of the Lords foresaid, +he condescended to advance the pretended religion published here, to put +the rebels in their rooms and possessions which they had of before, and +but {without} our knowledge grant to them a remit of all their +trespasses.... Upon the 9th day of March instant, we being, at even +about seven hours, in our cabinet at our supper, sociated with our +sister the Countess of Argyll, our brother the Commendator {lay Abbot} +of Holyrood-house, Laird of Criech, Arthur Erskine, and certain others +our domestic servitors, in quiet manner, especially by reason of our +evil disposition, being counselled to sustain ourselves with flesh {in +Lent}, having also then passed almost to the end of seven months in our +birth; the King our husband came to us in our cabinet, placed him beside +us at our supper. The Earl of Morton and Lord Lindsay, with their +assisters, clothed in warlike manner, to the number of eight score +persons or thereby, kept and occupied the whole entry to our Palace of +Holyrood-house.... In that meantime, the Lord Ruthven, clothed in like +manner, with his complices, took entry perforce in our cabinet, and +there seeing our secretary, David Riccio, among others our servants, +declared he had to speak with him. In this instant we inquired the King +our husband if he knew anything of that enterprise? who denyed the same. +Also we commanded the Lord Ruthven, under the pain of treason, to avoid +him forth of our presence, declaring we should exhibit the said David +before the Lords of Parliament to be punished, if in any sort he had +offended. Notwithstanding, the said Lord Ruthven perforce invaded him in +our presence (he then for refuge took safe-guard, having retired him +behind our back), and with his complices cast down our table upon +ourself, put violent hands in him, struck him over our shoulders with +whingers {hangers}, one part of them standing before our face with +bended daggs {pistols}, most cruelly took him forth of our cabinet, and +at the entry of our chamber give him fifty-six strokes with whingers and +swords, in doing whereof we were not only struck with great dread, but +also by sundry considerations, were most justly induced to take extreme +fear of our life. After this deed immediately the said Lord Ruthven, +coming again in our presence, declared how they and their complices +foresaid were highly offended with our proceedings and tyranny, which +was not to them tolerable; how we were abused by the said David whom +they had actually put to death, namely, in taking his counsel for +maintenance of the ancient religion, debarring of the Lords which were +fugitive, and entertaining of amity with foreign princes and nations +with whom we were confederate; putting also upon Council the Lords +Bothwell and Huntly, who were traitors, and with whom he associated +himself, that the Lords banished in England were the morn to resort +toward us, and would take plain part with them in our contrary; and that +the King was willing to remit them their offences. We all this time took +no less care of ourselves than for our Council and nobility, maintainers +of our authority, being with us in our Palace for the time; to wit, the +Earls of Huntly, Bothwell, Athole, Lords Fleming and Livingstone, Sir +James Balfour, and certain others our familiar servitors, against whom +the enterprise was conspired as well as for David; and namely to have +hanged the said Sir James in cords. Yet, by the providence of God, the +Earls of Huntly and Bothwell escaped forth of their chambers in our +Palace at a back window by some cords.... The Earl of Athole and Sir +James Balfour by some other means, with the Lords Fleming and +Livingstone, obtained deliverance of their invasion. The Provost and +town of Edinburgh having understood this tumult in our Palace, caused +ring their common bell, came to us in great number and desired to have +seen our presence, intercommuned with us, and to have known our welfare; +to whom we were not permitted to give answer, being extremely threatened +by these Lords, who in our face declared, if we desired to have spoken +them, they should cut us in collops, and cast us over the wall. So this +community being commanded by our husband, retired them to quietness. + +_TREATMENT OF THE QUEEN_ + +All that night we were detained in captivity within our chamber, not +permitting us to have intercommuned scarcely with our servant-women nor +domestic servitors. Upon the morn hereafter proclamation was made in our +husband's name, by {without} our advice, commanding all Prelates and +other Lords convened to Parliament to retire themselves of our burgh of +Edinburgh. That whole day we were kept in that firmance {custody}, our +familiar servitors and guard being debarred from our service, and we +watched by the committers of these crimes, to whom a part of the +community of Edinburgh, to the number of four score persons, assisted. + +The Earl of Murray that same day at even, accompanied with the Earl of +Rothes, Pitarrow, Grange, tutor of Pitcur, and others who were with him +in England, came to them, and seeing our state and entertainment, was +moved with natural affection toward us. Upon the morn he assembled the +enterprisers of their late crime, and such of our rebels as came with +him. In their Council they thought it most expedient we should be warded +in our castle of Stirling, there to remain while {till} we had approved +in Parliament all their wicked enterprises, established their religion, +and given the King the crown matrimonial and the whole government of our +realm; or else, by all appearance, firmly prepared to have put us to +death, or detained us in perpetual captivity. To avoid them of our +Palace, with their guard and assisters, the King promised to keep us +that night in sure guard, and that but {without} compulsion he should +cause us in Parliament approve all their conspiracies. By this means he +caused them to retire them of our Palace. + +_MARY WINS DARNLEY TO HER SIDE_ + +_DARNLEY PROTESTS INNOCENCE_ + +This being granted, ... we declared our state to the King our husband, +certifying him how miserably he would be handled, in case he permitted +these Lords to prevail in our contrare {against us}, and how +unacceptable it would be to other Princes, our confederates, in case he +altered the religion. By this persuasion he was induced to condescend to +the purpose taken by us, and to retire in our company to Dunbar, which +we did under night, accompanied with the captain of our guard, Arthur +Erskine, and two others only.... Soon after our coming to Dunbar, sundry +of our nobility, zealous of our weal, such as the Earls of Huntly, +Bothwell, Marshal, Athole, Caithness; Bishop of St. Andrews, with his +kin and friends; Lords Hume, Sempill, and infinite others assembled to +us.... The Earl of Moray and Argyll sent diverse messages to procure our +favour, to whom in likewise, for certain respects, by advice of our +Nobility and Council being with us, we have granted remission, under +condition they nowise apply themselves to these last conspirators, and +retire themselves in Argyle during our will.... We remained in Dunbar +five days, and after returned to Edinburgh well accompanied with our +subjects. The last conspirators, with their assisters, have removed +themselves forth of the same before, and being presently fugitive from +our laws, we have caused by our charges their whole fortunes, strength, +and houses to be rendered to us; have caused make inventory of their +goods and gear, and intend further to pursue them with all vigour. +Whereunto we are assured to have the assistance of our husband, who hath +declared to us, and in presence of the Lords of our Privy Council, his +innocence of this last conspiracy, how he never counselled, commanded, +consented, assisted, nor approved the same. Thus far only he ever saw +himself, that at the enticement and persuasion of the late conspirators +he, without our advice or knowledge, consented to the bringing home +forth of England of the Earls of Moray, Glencairn, Rothes, and other +persons with whom we were offended. This ye will consider by his +declaration made hereupon, which at his desire hath been published at +the market crosses of this our Realm ... of Edinburgh, the second day of +April 1566. + + + + +SECTION IV + +MURDER OF RIZZIO TO MURDER OF DARNLEY + + +_CONTENTS_ + + 1. Murray's plea for the Rizzio rebels. + + 2. The relations between Mary and Darnley. + (_a_) Mary's Will. + (_b_) The Birth of Prince James. + + 3. Mary to Elizabeth anent her support of the rebels. + + 4. Mary's treatment of Darnley, and Darnley's conduct towards Mary. + (_a_) As reported by M. le Croc, the French Ambassador. + (_b_) As reported by Buchanan, with the Alloa story. + (_c_) Nau's account of the Alloa story, and a letter of + Mary's from Alloa. + + 5. The Ride to Hermitage. + (_a_) As reported in the Diurnal of Occurrents. + (_b_) As reported by Nau. + (_c_) As reported by Buchanan. + + 6. The Queen's illness at Jedburgh. + + 7. The Craigmillar Conference. + (_a_) As reported by Buchanan. + (_b_) In the Protestation of Huntly and Argyll. + + 8. The events immediately before the Darnley murder. + (_a_) Letter from Du Croc. + (_b_) The Baptism of the Prince. + (_c_) Restoration of the consistorial jurisdiction. + (_d_) Mary on Darnley's conduct. + (_e_) Beaton's warning. + + 9. The visit to Glasgow and the murder. + (_a_) As reported by Buchanan in the _Detection_. + (_b_) As described by Mary. + (_c_) As described by Nau. + (_d_) As described by Buchanan in his _History_. + + +Relations between Mary and Darnley. + +_Bedford and Randolph to Cecil, from Berwick_, March 27, +1566. _Wright's Elizabeth_, vol. i. p. 235. + +My Lord of Murray by a special servant sent unto us desireth your +Honour's favour to these noblemen {the fugitives}, as his dear friends, +and such as for his sake hath given this adventure. + + +"_TO THE KING WHO GAVE IT ME_" + +Bequests to the King. + +_Robertson's Inventories._ + +Before the birth of her son, Mary made a will, of which no copy is +extant. But Mr. Joseph Robertson found an inventory of her jewels, made +at the same time, with marginal notes, in the Queen's own handwriting, +indicating their disposition. There are fifteen entries "Au Roy," from +which we quote the most interesting marginal note:-- + + It was with this that I was + married, to the King, who A diamond ring enamelled + gave it me. in red. + +There are also bequests to the Crown of Scotland, the Earl and Countess +of Lennox, and the Earl of Murray, also a jewel with the marginal +note:-- + +"To Joseph {Riccio}, which his brother gave me." + +At the end of the first section of the inventory, there is the following +note in Mary's hand:-- + +"I wish that these provisions be carried out in case that the child does +not survive me, but if it live, it is to inherit everything. MARIE R." + + +Illustration: QUEEN MARY'S SIGNET-RING AND MONOGRAM. + + +Mary's Will as described in the "Book of Articles" (cf. p. 144). + +_Hosack's Mary_, vol. i. p. 525. + +This her rooted disdain still continuing a little before her deliverance +of her birth in May or June 1566, in making of her latter will and +testament, she named and appointed Bothwell among others to the tutele +{guardianship} of her birth {child} and issue, and government of the +realm in case of her decease, and unnaturally excluded the father from +all kind of cure and regiment over his own child, advancing Bothwell +above all others to be lieutenant-general.... She disponit also her +whole moveables to others beside her husband. + + +_ELIZABETH'S RECEPTION OF THE NEWS_ + +The Birth of Prince James. + +_Melville's Memoirs_, p. 158. + +All this while I lay in the castle of Edinburgh, praying night and day +for her Majesty's good and happy delivery of a fair son. This prayer +being granted, I was the first that was advertised by the Lady Boyne +{Mary Beaton, just married to Ogilvie of Boyne}, in her Majesty's name +to part with diligence, the 19th day of June in the year 1566, between +ten and eleven hours before noon. It struck twelve hours when I took my +horse, and was at Berwick that same night. The fourth day after, I was +at London, and met first with my brother, who sent and advertised the +Secretary Cecil that same night of my coming and of the birth of the +Prince, willing him to keep it up, until my being at Court to show it +myself unto her Majesty, who was for the time at Greenwich, where her +Majesty was in great merriness and dancing after supper; but so soon as +the Secretary Cecil rounded the news in her ear of the Prince's birth +all merriness was laid aside for that night, every one that were present +marvelling what might move so sudden a changement; for the Queen sat +down with her hand upon her haffet {cheek}, and bursting out to some of +her ladies, how that the Queen of Scotland was lighter of a fair son, +and that she was but a barren stock.... The next morning was appointed +unto me to get audience ... she ... said, that the joyful news of the +Queen her sister's delivery of a fair son, which I had sent unto her by +Master Cecil, had recovered her out of a heavy sickness which has held +her fifteen days. Therefore she welcomed me with a merry volt +{countenance}, and thanked me for the diligence I had used. All this she +said before I had delivered unto her my letter of credence. After that +she had read it, I declared how that the Queen had hasted me towards her +Majesty, whom she knew of all other her friends would be gladdest of the +good news of her birth, albeit dear bought with the peril of her life; +for I said that she was so sore handled in the meantime that she wished +never to have been married. This I said to give her a little scare to +marry, by the way; for so my brother had informed me, because she +boasted sometimes to marry the Archduke Charles of Austria, when any man +pressed her to declare a second person {heir}. Then I requested her +Majesty to be a gossip unto the Queen, for our cummer are called gossips +in England; which she granted gladly to be. + +_MARY AND DARNLEY_ + +_Herries's Memoirs_, p. 79. (_Abbotsford Club._) + +About two o'clock in the afternoon the King came to visit the Queen, and +was desirous to see the child. "My Lord," says the Queen, "God has given +you and me a son, begotten by none but you!" At which words the King +blushed, and kissed the child. Then she took the child in her arms, and +discovering his face, said, "My Lord, here I protest to God, and as I +shall answer to Him at the great day of judgment, this is your son, and +no other man's son! And I am desirous that all here, with ladies and +others, bear witness; for he is so much your own son, that I fear it +will be the worse for him hereafter!" Then she spoke to Sir William +Stanley. "This," says she, "is the son whom (I hope) shall first unite +the two kingdoms of Scotland and England!" Sir William answered, "Why, +Madam? Shall he succeed before your Majesty and his father?" "Because," +says she, "his father has broken to me." The King was by and heard all. +Says he, "Sweet Madam, is this your promise that you made to forgive and +forget all?" The Queen answered, "I have forgiven all, but will never +forget. What if Faudonside's pistol had shot, what would have become of +him and me both? or what estate would you have been in? God only knows; +but we may suspect." "Madam," answered the King, "these things are all +past." "Then," says the Queen, "let them go." + + +Rejoicings in Edinburgh. + +_Claude Nau's Memorials_, p. 27. + +Immediately upon the birth of the Prince, all the artillery of the +castle was discharged, and the lords, the nobles, and the people +gathered in St. Giles' Church to thank God for the honour of having an +heir to their kingdom. After the birth, certain gentlemen were +despatched to the King of France, the Queen of England, and the Duke of +Savoy, to ask them to be godfathers and godmothers to the Prince, to +which they very gladly consented. + + +_ELIZABETH AGAIN QUESTIONED_ + +Elizabeth and the Rebels. + +_Mary to Elizabeth_, July 1566. _Keith's History_, vol. ii. p. 442. + +Right excellent, right high and mighty Princess, our dearest sister and +cousin, in our most hearty manner we commend us unto you: We have +understood by your declaration made ... to our dearest brother the King +of France, ... that neither ye had aided nor were minded to aid and +support our rebels against us, which we have always taken to be +undoubtedly true, ... yet we have certain knowledge that our said rebels +were supported with the sum of three thousand crowns, sent to the Lady +Murray by Master Randolph about the middle of August by-past, as the man +who carried the money has confessed in his own presence; which his +proceeding as we have just occasion to think most strange ... we ... +have taken occasion to send him home to you, where his behaviour in this +case may be tried, and he ordered accordingly at your discretion. + + +_QUEEN MARY'S WISE CONDUCT_ + +Mary's Treatment of Darnley. + +_M. le Croc, French Ambassador in Scotland, to the Archbishop of +Glasgow, Scottish Ambassador in France, from Jedburgh_, October 15, +1566. _Keith's History_, vol. ii. p. 448. + +The Queen is now returned from Stirling to Edinburgh.... The King, +however, abode at Stirling, and he told me there that he had a mind to +go beyond sea, in a sort of desperation.... Since that time the Earl of +Lennox his father came to visit him; and he has written a letter to the +Queen signifying that it is not in his power to divert his son from his +intended voyage, and prays her Majesty to use her influence therein. +This letter from the Earl of Lennox the Queen received on Michaelmas Day +in the morning; and that same evening the King arrived here about ten of +the clock.... Early next morning the Queen sent for me, and for all the +Lords and other counsellors. As we were all met in their Majesties' +presence, the Bishop of Ross by the Queen's commandment declared to the +Council the King's intention to go beyond sea; for which purpose he had +a ship lying ready to sail; ... and thereafter the Queen prayed the King +to declare in presence of the Lords and before me the reason of his +projected departure.... She likewise took him by the hand, and besought +him for God's sake to declare if she had given him any cause for this +resolution; and entreated he might deal plainly, and not spare her. +Moreover, all the Lords likewise said to him, that if there was any +fault on their part, upon his declaring it they were ready to perform +it. And I likewise took the freedom to tell him, that his departure must +certainly affect either his own or the Queen's honour--that if the Queen +had afforded any ground for it, his declaring the same would affect her +Majesty; as, on the other hand, if he should go away without giving any +cause for it, this thing could not at all redound to his praise.... The +King at last declared that he had no ground at all given him for such a +deliberation; and thereupon he went out of the chamber of presence, +saying to the Queen, "Adieu, Madam, you shall not see my face for a long +space." ... I never saw her Majesty so much beloved, esteemed, and +honoured; nor so great a harmony amongst all her subjects, as at present +is by her wise conduct, for I cannot perceive the smallest difference or +division. + +_SUBSEQUENT ACCUSATIONS_ + +_Buchanan's Detection._ + +Not long after her deliverance, on a day very early, accompanied with +very few that were privy of her counsel, she went down to the +water-side, at the place called the New Haven; and while all marvelled +whither she went in such haste, she suddenly entered into a ship there +provided for her; which ship was provided by ... Bothwell's servants, +and famous robbers and pirates. With this train of thieves, all honest +men wondering at it, she betook herself to sea, taking not any other +with her, no not of her gentlemen, nor necessary attendants for common +honesty. In Alloa castle, where the ship arrived, how she behaved +herself, I had rather every man should with himself imagine it, than +hear me declare it. This one thing I dare affirm, that in all her words +and doings, she never kept any regard, I will not say of Queen-like +Majesty, but not of matron-like modesty.... In the meantime, the King +being commanded out of sight, and with injuries and miseries banished +from her, kept himself close, with a few of his friends, at Stirling.... +Yet his heart, obstinately fixed in loving her, could not be restrained, +but he must needs come back to Edinburgh, on purpose, with all kind of +serviceable humbleness, to get some entry into her former favour, and to +recover the kind society of marriage. Who once again being with most +dishonourable disdain excluded, returned from whence he came, there to +bewail his woeful miseries, as in a solitary desert. + +_Nau's Memorials_, p. 29. + +About the beginning of August the Queen crossed the sea and went to +Alloa, a house belonging to the Earl of Mar, where she remained for some +days in the company of the ladies of her court and the said earl. + + +_THE QUEEN AND A POOR WOMAN_ + +Mary and the Poor. + +_The Lennox_, vol. ii. p. 429. + +Trusty Friend,--Forasmuch as it is heavily bemoaned and piteously +complained to us by this poor woman, that ye have violently ejected her +with a company of poor bairns forth of her kindly room, after {although} +willing to pay your duty thankfully: therefore (in respect that if ye be +so extreme as to depauperate the poor woman and her bairns) we will +desire you to show some favour and accept them in their steading +{habitation} as ye have done in times bygone; the which we doubt not but +ye will do for this our request, and as ye shall report our thanks and +pleasure for the same. At Alloa, the penult of July 1566. + + MARIE R. + +To our trusty friend, Robert Murray of Abercairney, this be delivered. + + +The Ride to Hermitage. + +_Diurnal of Occurrents._ + +Upon the 7th day of October 1566 years, our sovereign lady, accompanied +with the nobility of this realm, departed of Edinburgh towards Jedburgh, +to hold a justice eyre there, which was proclaimed to be held upon the +eighth day of the same month. + +Upon the same day, James, Earl Bothwell ... being sent by our sovereigns +to bring in certain thieves and malefactors of Liddesdale to the justice +eyre ... chanced upon a thief called John Elliot of the Park.... The +said earl shot him with a dagg {pistol} in the body.... The said John +perceiving himself shot and the Earl fallen, he went to him where he +lay, and gave him three wounds, one in the body, one in the head, and +one in the hand; and my lord gave him two strokes with a hanger, ... and +the said thief departed, and my lord lay in swoon, while his servants +came and carried him to the Hermitage.... + +_FROM JEDBURGH TO HERMITAGE_ + +Upon the fifteenth day of the said month of October, our sovereign lady +rode from Jedburgh to the Hermitage {about 30 miles}, wherein my Lord +Bothwell was lying in mending of his wound, and spake with the same +earl, and returned again the same night to Jedburgh. + +_Nau's Memorials_, p. 30. + +The Earl of Bothwell was so dangerously wounded in the hand that every +one thought he would die. He thought so himself. Such being the case, +her Majesty was both solicited and advised to pay him a visit at his +house, called the Hermitage, in order that she might learn from him the +state of affairs in these districts, of which the said lord was +hereditary governor. With this object in view, she went very speedily, +in the company of the Earl of Moray and some other lords, in whose +presence she conversed with Bothwell for some hours, and on the same day +returned to Jedburgh. + + +_BUCHANAN'S VERSION_ + +Buchanan on the Ride to Hermitage. + +_Detection._ + +When the Queen had resolved to set out for Jedburgh to hold the Assizes, +about the beginning of October, Bothwell made an expedition into +Liddesdale. While he was conducting himself there in a manner worthy +neither of the place to which he had been raised nor of his family and +of what might have been expected of him, he was wounded by a dying +robber. He was carried to the castle of Hermitage in a condition such as +to make his recovery uncertain. When this news is carried to the Queen +at Borthwick, although it was a severe winter, she flies off like a mad +woman, with enormous journeys first to Melrose and then to Jedburgh. +Although reliable reports about his life had reached that place, her +eager mind was unable to retain self-control and to prevent her from +displaying her shameless lust. At an unfavourable season, in spite of +the danger of the roads and of robbers, she threw herself into the +expedition with such an escort as no one slightly more honourable would +have dared to entrust with life and fortune. Furthermore, when she +returned to Jedburgh she arranged, with extraordinary zeal and care, for +Bothwell's being carried thither. After he was brought there, their life +and conversation was little in accordance with the dignity of either of +them. + + [The distance from Borthwick Castle to Jedburgh is about sixty + miles.] + + +_A SIXTEENTH-CENTURY PHYSICIAN_ + +The Queen's Illness at Jedburgh. + +_John Lesley, Bishop of Ross, to the Archbishop of Glasgow._ +October 27, 1566. _Keith's History_, vol. iii. p. 286. + +My Lord,--After most hearty commendations, I write upon haste to your +Lordship with Saunders Bog, who was sent by M. de Croc this last +Wednesday to advertise of the Queen's Majesty's sickness, which at that +time was wondrous great; for assuredly her Majesty was so handled with +great vehemency, that all that were with her were desperate of her +convalescence. Nevertheless, soon after the departing of Saunders Bog, +her Majesty got some relief, which lasted till Thursday at ten hours at +even, at which time her Majesty swooned again, and failed in her sight; +her feet and her hands were cold, which were handled by extreme rubbing, +drawing, and other cures, by the space of four hours, that no creature +could endure greater pain; and through the vehemency of this cure her +Majesty got some relief, till about six hours in the morning on Friday, +that her Majesty became dead, and all her members cold, eyes closed, +mouth fast, and feet and arms stiff and cold. Nevertheless, Master Nau, +who is a perfect man of his craft, would not give the matter over in +that manner, but of new began to draw her knees, legs, arms, feet, and +the rest, with such vehement torments, which lasted the space of three +hours, till her Majesty recovered again her sight and speech, and got a +great sweating, which was held the relief of the sickness, because it +was on the ninth day, which commonly is called the crisis of the +sickness, and so here thought the cooling of the fever. And since then +continually, thanks to God, her Majesty convalesces better and +better.... Always, I assure your Lordship, in all this sickness, her +Majesty used herself marvellous godly and Catholic, and continually +desired to hear speak of God and godly prayers.... + +_THE QUEEN'S RECOVERY_ + + [Mr. Small, in his "Queen Mary at Jedburgh" (p. 18), gives the + following as the opinion of "a distinguished physician" on the + illness:--"An attack of haematemesis, or effusion of blood into the + stomach, subsequently discharged by vomiting; presenting also, + possibly, hysterical complications, the whole induced by + over-exertion and vexation."] + +_Marc Antonio Barbaro, Venetian Ambassador in France to the +Signory, from Paris_, Nov. 6, 1566. _Venetian Calendar._ + +The Ambassador from Scotland came to me to-day with the good news that +his Queen ... is so much better that it is hoped and almost believed +that she is certain to live. + +The illness was caused by her dissatisfaction at a decision made by the +King, her husband, to go to a place twenty-five or thirty miles distant +without assigning any cause for it; which departure so afflicted this +unfortunate Princess, not so much for the love she bears him as from the +consequences of his absence, which reduced her to the extremity heard of +by your Serenity. + + +_BUCHANAN ON CRAIGMILLAR CONFERENCE_ + +1566.--The Craigmillar Conference. + +_Buchanan's Detection._ + +About the 5th November she returned from Jedburgh to a village called +Kelso, and there she received letters from the King. When she had read +these in the presence of the Regent, the Earl of Huntly, and the +Secretary, with a sad countenance, she said that unless by some means +she were freed from the King her life would not be worth living; and +that if it could be done in no other way, rather than live in such +misery, she would take her life with her own hand.... When, about the +end of November, she came to Craigmillar, a castle about two miles from +Edinburgh, she commenced a similar conversation in the presence of the +Earl of Moray (afterwards Regent, and now himself dead), the Earl of +Argyle, and the Secretary. She mentioned what seemed to her a +satisfactory plan. She projected a suit of divorce against the King, and +doubted not but that it could easily be done, since they were in that +degree of consanguinity which is forbidden by Canon Law for the +contraction of matrimony, although they had been by letters easily +exempted from that law. At this point some one raised an objection, +that, if it were so managed, their son would be illegitimate, being born +out of matrimony, and the more so that neither of the parents was +ignorant of the causes that rendered the marriage null. She considered +that reply for a little, and recognised its truth. Not daring to enter +upon a scheme which would thus affect her son, she abandoned her project +of a divorce, nor did she ever afterwards let slip any opportunity of +getting rid of the King, as may be readily gathered from what remains to +tell. + +_The Protestation of the Earls of Huntly and Argyll, 1568, Goodall's +Examination_, vol. ii. pp. 316-321, from Cott. Lib. Calig., +vol. i. p. 282. + + [The following "Protestation" was drawn up by Queen Mary's advisers + during the Westminster Conference (_infra_, pp. 143 _et seq._), and + was despatched to Huntly for his own and Argyll's signature. It + was, however, seized and sent to Cecil, without its having reached + its destination. It is placed here for the sake of comparison with + Buchanan's account of the Conference. It may be noted here that in + another document (Instructions and Articles to be advised on and + agreed, so far as the Queen's Majesty, our Sovereign, shall think + expedient, at the meeting of the Lords in England, committed in + credit by ... her Grace's true faithful subjects--_Goodall_, vol. + ii. p. 354), signed by Lords Huntly, Argyll, Crawford, Eglinton, + Cassilis, Errol, Ogilvie, Fleming, and many others of Mary's + supporters, the following sentence refers to this + Conference:--"They caused make offers to our said Sovereign Lady, + if her Grace would give remission to them that were banished at + that time, to find causes of divorce, either for consanguinity, in + respect they alleged the dispensation was not published, or else + for adultery; or then {else} to get him convict of treason, because + he consented to her Grace's retention in ward; or what other ways + to despatch him; which altogether her Grace refused, as is + manifestly known." The "Dispensation" is the Papal Dispensation for + the Darnley marriage, Mary and Darnley being within the forbidden + degrees.] + +_A CONFERENCE OF THE EARLS_ + +In the year of God 1566 years, in the month of December, or thereby, +after her Highness's great and extreme sickness, and return from +Jedburgh, her Grace being in the castle of Craigmillar, accompanied by +us above written {_i.e._ Huntly and Argyll}, and by the Earls of +Bothwell, Murray, and Secretary Lethington; the said Earl of Murray and +Lethington came into the chamber of us the Earl of Argyll in the +morning, we being in our bed; who, lamenting the banishment of the Earl +of Morton, Lords Lindsay and Ruthven, with the rest of their faction, +said, that the occasion of the murder of David, slain by them in +presence of the Queen's Majesty, was to trouble and impesche {prevent} +the parliament; wherein the Earl of Murray and others were to have been +forfeited and declared rebels. And seeing that the same was chiefly for +the welfare of the Earl of Murray, it should be esteemed ingratitude if +he and his friends in reciprocal manner, did not strive all that in them +lay for relief of the said banished ones; wherefor they thought that we, +of our part, should have been as desirous thereto as they were. + +And we agreeing to the same, to do all that was in us for their relief, +providing that the Queen's Majesty should not be offended thereat; on +this Lethington proposed and said, "That the nearest and best way to +obtain the said Earl of Morton's pardon, was, to promise to the Queen's +Majesty to find a means to make divorcement between her Grace and the +King her husband, who had offended her Highness so highly in many ways." + +And then they send to my Lord of Huntly, praying him to come to our +chamber.... And thereon we four, viz., Earls of Huntly, Argyll, Murray, +and Secretary Lethington, passed all to the Earl of Bothwell's chamber, +to understand his advice on the proposals; wherein he gainsaid no more +than we. + +_THEIR PROPOSITION MADE TO THE QUEEN_ + +So thereafter we passed altogether to the Queen's Grace; where +Lethington, after he had remembered her Majesty of a great number of +grievous and intolerable offences, that the King, as he said, ungrateful +for the honour he had received from her Highness, had done to her Grace, +and continued every day from bad to worse; proposed, "That if it pleased +her Majesty to pardon the Earl of Morton, Lords Ruthven and Lindsay, +with their company, they should find the means with the rest of the +nobility, to make divorcement between her Highness and the King her +husband, which should not need her Grace to meddle therewith. To the +which, it was necessary that her Majesty take heed to come to a decision +therein, as well for her own relief as for the good of the realm; for he +troubled her Grace and us all; and remaining with her Majesty, would not +cease till he did her some other evil turn." + +After these persuasions and divers others, which the said Lethington +used, besides those which every one of us showed particularly to her +Majesty to bring her to the said purpose, her Grace answered: That under +two conditions she might agree to the same; the one, that the +divorcement were made lawfully; the other, that it were not prejudicial +to her son; otherwise her Highness would rather endure all torments, and +abide the perils that might befall her in her Grace's lifetime. The Earl +of Bothwell answered, "That he doubted not but the divorcement might be +made without prejudice of my Lord Prince in any way," alleging the +example of himself, that he failed not to succeed to his father's +heritage without any difficulty, albeit there was a divorce between him +and his mother. + +_THE QUEEN'S ANSWER_ + +It was also proposed that, after their divorcement, the King should be +alone in one part of the country, and the Queen's Majesty in another, or +else that he should retire to another realm; and herein her Majesty +said, "That peradventure he would change his course, and that it were +better that she herself passed into France for a time, waiting till he +acknowledged his fault." Then Lethington, taking the speech, said, +"Madam, think you not we are here, of the principal members of your +Grace's nobility and council, and that we shall find the means that your +Majesty shall be quit of him without prejudice of your son. And albeit +that my Lord of Murray here present be little less scrupulous for a +Protestant, than your Grace is for a Papist, I am assured he will look +through his fingers thereto, and will behold our doings, saying nothing +to the same." The Queen's Majesty answered, "I will that ye do nothing +through which any spot may be laid upon my honour or conscience, and +therefore I pray you, rather let the matter be in the condition that it +is, abiding till God of His goodness put remedy thereto; lest you +believing that you are doing me a service, may possibly turn to my hurt +and displeasure." "Madam," said Lethington, "let us guide the matter +among us, and your Grace shall see nothing but good, and approved by +Parliament." + +So since the murder of the said Henry Stewart followed this, we judge in +our consciences, and hold for certain and truth, that the said Earl of +Murray and Secretary Lethington were authors, inventors, devisers, +counsellors, and sources of the said murder, in whatever manner, or by +whatsoever persons, the same was executed. + + +_THE QUEEN AND DARNLEY_ + +Events immediately before the Murder of Darnley. + +_M. le Croc to the Archbishop of Glasgow, from Edinburgh._ +December 2, 1566. _Keith's History_, vol. i. p. 96. + +The Queen is for the present at Craigmillar, about a league distant from +this city. She is in the hands of the physicians, and I do assure you is +not at all well; and do believe the principal part of her disease to +consist in a deep grief and sorrow. Nor does it seem possible to make +her forget the same. Still she repeats these words: _I could wish to be +dead_. You know very well that the injury she has received is +exceedingly great, and her Majesty will never forget it. The King, her +husband, came to visit her at Jedburgh the very day after Captain Hay +went away. He remained there but one single night; and yet in that short +time I had a great deal of conversation with him.... I think he intends +to go away tomorrow; but in any event I'm much assured, as I always have +been, that he won't be present at the baptism. To speak my mind freely +to you ... I do not expect, upon several accounts, any good +understanding between them, unless God effectually put to His hand. The +first is, the King will never humble himself as he ought; the other is, +the Queen can't perceive any one nobleman speaking with the King, but +presently she suspects some contrivance among them. + +_DARNLEY AND THE BAPTISM_ + +_M. le Croc to the Archbishop of Glasgow, from Glasgow._ +December 26, 1566. _Keith's History_, vol. i. p. 97. + +The baptism of the Prince was performed Tuesday last, when he got the +name of Charles James. It was the Queen's pleasure that he should bear +the name James, together with that of Charles (the King of France's +name). Everything at this solemnity was done according to the form of +the Holy Roman Catholic Church. The King (Lord Darnley) 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, so that I found myself +obliged at last to signify to him that seeing he was in no good +correspondence with the Queen, I had it in charge from the most +Christian King to have no conference with him.... His bad deportment is +incurable, nor can there ever be any good expected from him.... I can't +pretend to foretell how all may turn; but I will say that matters can't +subsist long as they are without being accompanied with sundry bad +consequences.... The Queen behaved herself admirably well all the time +of the baptism, and showed so much earnestness 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. + + +_AN INSULT TO THE ENGLISH_ + +An Incident of the Baptism. + +_Melville's Memoirs_, p. 171. + +At the principal banquet there fell out a great flaw and grudge among +the Englishmen, for a Frenchman called Bastien devised a number of men +formed like satyrs, with long tails and whips in their hands, running +before the meat, which was brought through the great hall upon a trim +engine, marching, as it appeared, alone, with musicians clothed like +maidens, playing upon all sorts of instruments and singing of music. But +the satyrs were not content only to clear round, but put their hands +behind them to their tails, which they wagged with their hands, in such +sort as the Englishmen supposed it had been devised and done in derision +of them, daftly {foolishly} apprehending that which they should not seem +to have understood.... So soon as they saw the satyrs wagging their +tails[17] ... they all sat down upon the bare floor behind the back of +the board, that they should not see themselves scorned, as they thought. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + [17] It was a mediaeval superstition, especially in France, that the + English possessed tails, which had been affixed to their persons as + a punishment for their ill-treatment of a saint; the names of St. + Augustine and St. Thomas of Canterbury were used indifferently in + this connection. _Cf._ Mr. George Neilson's "Caudatus Anglicus: A + Mediaeval Slander." +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + +1566.--December 23. Restoration of the Consistorial Jurisdiction of the +Archbishop of St. Andrews. + +_Laing_, II., 77. _from Privy Seal Record_, bk. 35, fol. 99. + +A letter made restoring and reproving our sovereign's well beloved and +trusty councillor, John, Archbishop of St. Andrews, primate and legate +of Scotland, to all and sundry his jurisdictions as well upon the south +as north sides of the Forth within the diocese of St. Andrews, which +pertained to the Archbishopric of the same, to be used by him and his +commissaries in all time coming in the same manner and form of justice +as it is now used.... At Stirling, this xxiii day of December, the year +of God, 1566 years. + + [The jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts had been abolished + in 1560. It was the Archbishop who pronounced the sentence of + divorce between Bothwell and his wife, either in virtue of this + general warrant, or by means of a special commission to try the + case. On the one side, this restoration of the Consistorial Court + is regarded as pointing to Mary's collusion with Bothwell, while + controversialists, on the other side, would connect it with the + proposal, made at Craigmillar, of a divorce between Mary and + Darnley.] + + +_DARNLEY FALLS ILL_ + +Darnley's Illness. + +_Buchanan's Detection._ + +Before he had passed a mile from Stirling all the parts of his body were +taken with such a sore ache, as it might easily appear that the same +proceeded not of the force of any sickness, but by plain treachery. The +token of which treachery, certain black pimples, so soon as he was come +to Glasgow broke out over all his whole body, with so great ache and +such pain throughout all his limbs, that he lingered out his life with +very small hope of escape: and yet all this while, the Queen would not +suffer so much as a physician once to come at him. + +_BUCHANAN v. BEDFORD_ + +_The Earl of Bedford to Cecil, from Berwick_, +January 9, 1566. _Foreign Calendar._ + +The King is now at Glasgow with his father, and there lies full of the +small-pox, to whom the Queen has sent her physician. + +_Mary to the Archbishop of Glasgow, from Edinburgh_, +January 20, 1567._ Keith's History_, vol. i. p. 101. + +For the King our husband, God knows always our part towards him; and his +behaviour and thankfulness to us is semblablement well known to God and +the world; specially our own indifferent subjects see it, and in their +hearts, we doubt not, condemn the same. Always we perceive him occupied +and busy enough to have inquisition of our doings, which, God willing, +shall aye be such as none shall have occasion to be offended with them, +or to report of us any way but honourably; howsoever he, his father, and +their fautors speak, which we know want no good will to make us have +ado, if their power were equivalent to their minds. + +_A WARNING TO THE QUEEN_ + +_The Archbishop of Glasgow to Queen Mary, from Paris_, January 17, 1567. +_Keith's History_, vol. i. p. 103. + +I have heard some murmuring ... that there be some surprise to be +trafficked in your country, but he {the Spanish ambassador} would never +let me know of any particular, only assured me he had written to his +master to know if by that way he can try any further, and that he was +advertised and counselled to cause me haste toward you herewith.... +Finally, I would beseech your Majesty right humbly to cause the captains +of your guard be diligent in their office; for notwithstanding that I +have no particular occasion wherein I desire it, yet can I not be out of +fear till I hear of your news.... And so I pray the eternal Lord to +preserve your Majesty from all dangers, with long life and good health. + + +The Visit to Glasgow and the Murder. + +_Buchanan's Detection_ (First Scots translation, in +_Anderson's Collections_, vol. ii. pp. 17-24). + + [Buchanan's account of Queen Mary's visit to Glasgow should be + supplemented by a comparison with Crawford's "Deposition" (pp. + 208-213), with the Glasgow Letter (pp. 167-182), and with the + passage from Nau's "Memorials" on p. 111.] + +Herself goes to Glasgow; she pretends the cause of her journey to be to +see the King alive, whose death she had continually gaped for the month +before. But what was indeed the true cause of that journey, every man +may plainly perceive by her letters to Bothwell. Being now out of care +of her son, whom she had in her own ward, bending herself to the +slaughter of her husband, to Glasgow she goes, accompanied with the +Hamiltons, and other the King's natural enemies. + +_KIRK-OF-FIELD_ + +Bothwell, as it was between them before accorded, provides all things +ready that were needful to accomplish the heinous act; First of all, a +house, not commodious for a sick man, nor comely for a King, for it was +both riven and ruinous, and had stood empty without any dweller for +divers years before, in a place of small resort, between old falling +walls of two kirks, near a few almshouses for poor beggars. And that no +commodious means for committing that mischief might be wanting, there is +a postern door in the Town Wall, hard by the house, whereby they might +easily pass away into the fields. In choosing of the place, she would +needs have it thought that they had respect to the wholesomeness. And to +avoid suspicion that this was a feigned pretence, herself the two nights +before the day of the murder, lay there in a lower room, under the +King's chamber. And as she did curiously put off the shows of suspicion +from herself, so the execution of the slaughter she was content to have +committed to another. + +_THE QUEEN GOES TO HOLYROOD_ + +About three days before the King was slain, she practised to set her +brother, Lord Robert, and him at deadly feud, making reckoning that it +should be gain to her, whichsoever of them had perished. For matter to +ground their dissension, she made rehearsal of the speech that the King +had had with her concerning her brother; and when they both so grew in +talk, as the one seemed to charge the other with the lie, at last they +were in a manner come from words to blows. But while they were both +laying their hands on their weapons, the Queen feigning as though she +had been perilously afraid of that which she earnestly desired, called +the Earl of Murray, her other brother, to the parting, to this intent, +that she might either presently bring him in danger to be slain himself, +or in time to come to bear the blame of such mischief as then might have +happened.... + +_THE MURDER_ + +When all things were ready prepared for performing this cruel fact ... +the Queen, for manners' sake, after supper, goes up to the King's +lodging. There being determined to show him all the tokens of reconciled +good will, she spent certain hours in his company, with countenance and +talk much more familiar than she had used in six or seven months before. +At the coming in of Paris, she broke off her talk and prepared to +depart. This Paris was a young man born in France, and had lived certain +years in the houses of Bothwell and Seton, and afterwards with the +Queen. Whereas the other keys of that lodging were in custody of the +King's servants, Paris, by feigning certain fond and slender causes, had +in keeping the keys which Bothwell kept back, of the back gate and the +postern. He was in special trust with Bothwell and the Queen, touching +their secret affairs. His coming (as it was before agreed among them) +was a watchword that all was ready for the matter. As soon as the Queen +saw him, she rose up immediately, and feigning another cause to depart, +she said, "Alas! I have much offended toward Sebastian this day, that I +came not in a mask to his marriage." This Sebastian was an Avernois +{Auvergnois}, a man in great favour with the Queen, for his cunning in +music, and his merry jesting, and was married the same day. The King +thus left, in manner, alone, in a desolate place, the Queen departs, +accompanied with the Earls of Argyle, Huntly, and Cassilis, that +attended upon her. After that she was come into her chamber, after +midnight, she was in long talk with Bothwell, none being present but the +captain of her guard. And when he also withdrew himself, Bothwell was +there left alone, without other company, and shortly after retired into +his own chamber. He changed his apparel, because he would be unknown of +such as met him, and put on a loose cloak, such as the Swartrytters[18] +wear, and so went forward through the watch to execute his intended +traitorous fact. The whole order of the doing thereof may be easily +understood by their confessions who were put to death for it. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + [18] German. Black Riders, or heavy cavalry. +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Bothwell, after the deed was ended that he went for, returned, and as if +he had been ignorant of all that was done, he gat him to bed. The Queen, +in the meantime, in great expectation of the success, how finely she +played her part (as she thought) it is marvell to tell; for she not once +stirred at the noise of the fall of the house, which shook the whole +town, nor at the fearful outcries that followed, and confused cries of +the people (for I think there happened her not any new thing unlooked +for) till Bothwell, feigning himself afraid, rose again out of his bed, +and came to her with the Earls of Argyle, Huntly, and Athole, and with +the wives of the Earls of Mar and Athole, and with the Secretary. There, +while the monstrous chance was in telling, while every one wondered at +the thing, that the King's lodging was even from the very foundation +blown up in the air, and the King himself slain; in this amazedness and +confused fear of all sorts of persons, only that same heroical heart of +the Queen maintained itself, so far from casting herself down into base +lamentations and tears, unbeseeming the royal name, blood, and estate, +that she matched, or rather far surmounted all credit of the constancy +of any in former times. This also proceeded of the same nobility of +courage, that she sent out the most part of them that were then about +her, to inquire out the manner of the doing, and commanded the soldiers +that watched to follow, and she herself settled her to rest, with a +countenance so quiet, and mind so untroubled, that she sweetly slept +till the next day at noon. But lest she should appear void of all +naturalness at the death of her husband, by little and little, at length +she kept her close, and proclaimed a mourning not long to endure. + + +_MARY ON THE MURDER_ + +Mary's Description of the Murder. + +_Queen Mary to the Archbishop of Glasgow_, February 11 [10?], 1567. +_Keith's History_, vol. i. p. 101. + +_A PLOT AGAINST BOTH KING AND QUEEN_ + +We have received this morning your letters of the 27th January by your +servant Robert Dury, containing in one 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 rigorous +vengeance of that mischievous deed, which as it should remain +unpunished, we had rather lose life and all. The matter is horrible and +so strange as 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 remained, no, not +a stone above another, but all carried far away or dashed in dross to +the very ground-stone. It must be done by force of powder, and appears +to have been a mine. 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 used +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. Always whoever +have taken this wicked enterprise in hand, we assure ourselves it was +dressed as well for us as for the King; for we lay the most part of all +the last week in that same lodging, and were then accompanied with the +most part of the Lords that are in this town that same night at +midnight, and of every chance tarried not all night, by reason of some +mask in the Abbey: but we believe it was not chance, but God that put it +in our head. We despatched the bearer upon the sudden, and therefore +write to you the more shortly.... + +_NAU'S ACCOUNT OF THE MURDER_ + +_Nau's Memorials_, p. 33. + +He {the King} went to Glasgow, where he was seized with the small-pox. +He sent several times for the Queen, who was very ill, having been +injured by a fall from her horse at Seton. At last she went, stayed with +him, and attended him on his return to Edinburgh.... On his return to +Edinburgh, the King lodged in a small house outside the town, which he +had chosen in the report of James Balfour and some others. This was +against the Queen's wishes, who was anxious to take him to Craigmillar, +for he could not stay in Holyrood Palace lest he should give infection +to the Prince. On his own account, too, he did not wish any one to see +him in his present condition.... While he was in this house, the King +was often visited by the Queen, with whom he was now perfectly +reconciled. He promised to give her much information of the utmost +importance to the life and quiet of both of them.... He warned her more +particularly to be on her guard against Lethington, who, he said, was +planning the ruin of the one by the means of the other.... That very +night, as her Majesty was about to leave the King, she met Paris, Lord +Bothwell's _valet-de-chambre_, and noticing that his face was all +blackened with gunpowder, she exclaimed in the hearing of many of the +lords, just as she was mounting her horse, "Jesu, Paris, how begrimed +you are!" At this he turned very red. + +On the 10th of February 1567, about three or four o'clock in the +morning, a match was put to the train of gunpowder, which had been +placed under the King's house. It was afterwards made public that this +had been done by the command and device of the Earls of Bothwell and +Morton, James Balfour, and some others, who always afterwards pretended +to be most diligent in searching out the murder which they themselves +had committed. Morton had secretly returned from England, to which he +had been banished. + +_THE ORIGIN OF THE CRIME_ + +This crime was the result of a bond into which they had entered. It was +written by Alexander Hay, at that time one of the clerks of the Council, +and signed by the Earls of Moray, Huntly, Bothwell, and Morton, by +Lethington, James Balfour, and others, who had combined for this +purpose. They protested that they were acting for the public good of the +realm, pretending that they were freeing the Queen from the bondage and +misery into which she had been reduced by the King's behaviour.... He +was but deceiving the Queen, whom they often blamed for so faithfully +having come to a good understanding with her husband; and they told her +that he was putting a knife not only to their throats but to her own. + +The King's body was blown into the garden by the violence of the +explosion, and a poor English valet of his, who slept in his room, was +there killed.... Earl Bothwell was much suspected of this villainous and +detestable murder.... If we may judge by the plots, deeds, and +contrivances of his associates, it would seem that after having used him +to rid themselves of the King, they designed to make Bothwell their +instrument to ruin the Queen, their true and lawful sovereign. + +Their plan was this, to persuade her to marry the Earl of Bothwell, so +that they might charge her with being in the plot against her late +husband, and a consenting party to his death. This they did shortly +after, appealing to the fact that she had married the murderer. + +_ANOTHER ACCOUNT BY BUCHANAN_ + +Buchanan (_Translated from History_, xx. 35). + +The Archbishop of St. Andrews, who lived nearest, willingly undertook +the task of killing the King, when it was offered to him, both on +account of old enmities, and in the hope of bringing the succession +nearer his own family. He chose, accordingly, six or eight of the most +abandoned of his retainers, and entrusted the matter to them, giving +them the keys of the King's lodging. They entered very quietly into his +chamber, strangled him as he lay sleeping, and carried his body through +the postern into a garden beside the walls. Then, at a given signal, +fire was applied to the house. + + [The question as to the manner of Darnley's death has given rise to + considerable discussion. The depositions of Hay, Hepburn, and Paris + (vide pp. 144, 215-218) agree in representing that the King was + killed by the explosion. On the other hand, Drury, who wrote to + Cecil on 24th April {Foreign Calendar}, and Count Moretta, the + agent of the Duke of Savoy, who was in Edinburgh {Labanoff, vii. + 108}, state that he was strangled. The facts that the bodies of + Darnley and his servant, Taylor, were found together, in the + garden, at some little distance from the house, without violent + injury; that Darnley's pelisse and slippers were found beside him; + and that the other bodies were found among the ruins, must be taken + into account in forming a judgment on the question.] + + + + +SECTION V + +FROM THE MURDER OF DARNLEY TO THE FLIGHT INTO ENGLAND + + +_CONTENTS_ + + 1. Introductory Note. + + 2. Mary's seizure by Bothwell. + (_a_) The Ainslie Bond. + (_b_) Mary's description. + (_c_) Description in the Diurnal of Occurrents. + (_d_) Guzman de Silva to Philip II. + + 3. The Bothwell Marriage. + (_a_) The Divorce. + (_b_) The Dukedom of Orkney. + (_c_) The Marriage. + (_d_) Mary's demeanour, as described by Du Croc and Drury. + + 4. Carberry Hill. + + 5. Mary in Lochleven. + (_a_) Guzman de Silva on the nature of the Rebellion. + (_b_) Elizabeth's intervention. + (_c_) De Silva's conversation with Murray--the first suggestion + of the Casket Letters. + + 6. The escape from Lochleven. + + +_LENNOX AND THE QUEEN_ + +1567.--April 19. Mary's Capture by Bothwell. + + [The Register of the Privy Council tells that, on February 12th, + the Queen offered to the first revealer of the crime, "although he + be one culpable and participant of the said crime," a reward of two + thousand pounds and "ane honest yeirlie rent." Public opinion + pointed to Bothwell as the murderer, and anonymous placards + appeared in the streets of Edinburgh accusing him. Lennox + approached the Queen demanding a trial. On March 1st (in reply to + his letter of February 26th) Mary wrote asking a list of names. He + sent, on the 17th, the names of Bothwell, Sir James Balfour, David + Chalmers, John Spens, Francis Bastian, John de Bourdeaux, and + Joseph Riccio,--the last four were attendants on the Queen. On + March 28th the Privy Council fixed the trial for April 12th. On the + 11th, Lennox wrote asking a postponement of the trial and the + imprisonment of the persons he had named, or whom he might suspect. + The request was not granted, and the trial took place on the 12th. + The Earl of Argyll, hereditary Lord-Justice, took his place as + President of the Court, and the Earl of Caithness was Chancellor of + the jury. Lennox put forward his demand for a postponement, which + was refused, Bothwell urging that the Privy Council had fixed an + early date in accordance with Lennox's own request. No witnesses + were produced by the prosecution, and Bothwell was acquitted. He + then challenged to single combat any one who might accuse him, and + the challenge was not accepted. In the Parliament which met on the + 16th, various confirmations of grants were made--the Castle of + Dunbar to Bothwell, the Earldom of Angus to Bothwell's nephew, and + various lands to Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington. No Parliament + had assembled since Mary's marriage to Darnley, and, accordingly, + the restoration of Murray and Morton to their titles and estates + was confirmed by statute. Although Parliament thus put its seal on + Bothwell's acquittal, by securing Dunbar to him, the popular + impression of his guilt was in no way lessened.] + + +_THE AINSLIE BOND_ + +A Bond by a Number of the Nobility to promote Bothwell's Marrying of +Queen Mary. + +_Anderson's Collections_, vol. i. pp. 107-112, from +Cott. Lib. Calig., C. i. fol. 1. + +We undersubscribing, understanding that although the noble and mighty +Lord James, Earl Bothwell, ... being not only bruitit {reported} and +calumniated by placards, privily affixed on the public places of the +Kirk of Edinburgh, and otherwise slandered by his evil willers, as art +and part of the heinous murther of the King, ... but also by special +letters sent to her Highness by the Earl of Lennox, and debated +{accused} of the same crime ... he by condign inquest and assize of +certain noblemen his peers and other barons of good reputation is found +guiltless and innocent of the odious crime objected to him ... and we +considering the anciency and nobleness of his house, the honourable and +good service of his predecessors, and specially himself to our +Sovereign, and for the defence of this her Highness' Realm against the +enemies thereof, and the amity and friendship which so long has +preserved betwix his House and every one of us.... Therefore obliges us, +and every one of us, upon our Faith and Honours, and Truth in our +bodies, as we are noblemen, and will answer to God, that in case +hereafter any manner of person or persons ... shall happen to insist +farther to the slander and calumniation of the said Earl of Bothwell, as +participant, act or part, of the said heinous murther, ... we ... shall +take ... plain and upright part with him, to the defence and maintenance +of his quarrel.... Moreover, weighing and considering the time present, +and how our Sovereign the Queen's Majesty is now destitute of a husband, +in the which solitary state the Commonwealth of this Realm may not +permit her Highness to continue and endure; ... and, therefore, in case +the former affectionate and hearty service of the said Earl ... may move +her Majesty so far to humble herself, as preferring one of her native +born subjects unto all foreign princes, to take to Husband the said +Earl, we, and every one of us undersubscribing, upon our Honours and +Fidelity, obliges us, and promises, not only to further, advance, and +set forward the marriage to be solemnised and completed betwix her +Highness and the said noble Lord ... but in case any would presume +directly or indirectly, openly, or under whatsoever colour or pretence, +to hinder, hold back, or disturb the said marriage, we shall in that +behalf, esteem, hold and repute the hinderers, adversaries or disturbers +thereof as our common enemies and evil willers.... In witness of the +which we have subscriyved these presents, as follows, at Edinburgh, the +19 Day of April, the year of God, 1567 years. + +_SIGNATORIES TO THE BOND_ + +The names of such of the nobility as subscribed the bond, so far as John +Read {a dependent of Murray} might remember, of whom I had this copy, +being in his own hand, being commonly termed in Scotland, Ainslie's +Supper. + +The Earls--Murray, Huntly, Cassilis, Morton, Sutherland, Rothes, +Glencairn, Caithness. + +Lords--Boyd, Seton, Sinclair, Semple, Oliphant, Ogilvie, Rosse-Hacat, +Carlisle, Herries, Hume, and Innermeith. + + [This note is appended to Cecil's copy of the bond. It should be + noted that Murray was not in Scotland at the time, and that his + name does not appear in a copy of the bond in the Scots College at + Paris, for which we have the authority of Sir James Balfour.] + + +_THE QUEEN CAPTURED_ + +1567.--May. Mary on her Capture. Instructions to the Bishop of Dunblane +for the French Court. + +_Keith's History_, vol. ii. p. 592. + +In our returning he awaited us by the way, accompanied with a great +force, and led us with all diligence to Dunbar.... And when he saw us +like to reject all his suit and offers, in the end he showed us how far +he was proceeded with our whole nobility and principals of our estates, +and what they had promised him under their handwrites.... In the end, +when we saw no esperance to be rid of him, never man in Scotland once +making an attempt to procure our deliverance, ... so ceased he never +till by persuasions and importune 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. + +_Diurnal of Occurrents in Scotland._ + +And upon the twenty-fourth day of April, which was Saint Mark's even, +our sovereign lady being riding from Stirling, whereto she passed a +little of before to visit her son, as said is, to Edinburgh, James, Earl +of Bothwell, accompanied with seven or eight hundred men and friends, +whom he caused believe that he would ride upon the thieves of +Liddesdale, met our sovereign lady betwix Kirkliston and Edinburgh, at a +place called the Bridges, accompanied with a few number, and there took +her person to the castle of Dunbar. + +_BOTHWELL AND MARY AT DUNBAR_ + +_Guzman de Silva to the King, from London._ May 3, 1567. +_Spanish State Papers._ + +On arriving six miles from Edinburgh, Bothwell met her with four hundred +horsemen. As they arrived near the Queen with their swords drawn they +showed an intention of taking her with them, whereupon some of those who +were with her were about to defend her, but the Queen stopped them, +saying she was ready to go with the Earl of Bothwell wherever he wished +rather than bloodshed and death should result. She was taken to Dunbar, +where she arrived at midnight, and still remains. Some say she will +marry him, and they are so informed direct by some of the highest men in +the country who follow Bothwell. They are convinced of this, both +because of the favour the Queen has shown him, and because he has the +national forces in his hands. Although the Queen sent secretly to the +governor of the town of Dunbar to sally out with his troops and release +her, it is believed that the whole thing has been arranged, so that if +anything comes of the marriage, the Queen may make out that she was +forced into it. + + +_A FATAL MARRIAGE_ + +The Bothwell Marriage. + +_Diurnal of Occurrents in Scotland._ + +Upon the third day of May 1567, the sentence of divorce was pronounced +by the comissaries of Edinburgh, decerning and ordaining ... Jean Gordon +{Countess of Bothwell} to be free to marry when she pleased, and the +said Earl Bothwell to be an adulterer. This divorcement was made to the +effect that the said Earl should marry the Queen's Majesty. + +_Ibid._ + +Upon the twelfth day thairof {of May}, betwix seven and eight hours at +even, James, Earl Bothwell, was made Duke of Orkney and Zetland, with +great magnificence, ... and there were few or none of the nobility +thereat. + +_Ibid._ + +Upon the fifteenth day of May 1567, Mary, by the grace of God, Queen of +Scots, was married on James, Duke of Orkney, Earl Bothwell, ... in the +palace of Holyrood-house, within the old chapel, by Adam, Bishop of +Orkney, not with the mass but with preaching, at ten hours afore noon. +There were not many of the nobility of this realm thereat, except the +Earl Crawford, the Earl Huntly, the Earl Sutherland, my Lords Arbroath, +Oliphant, Fleming, Livingston, Glamis, and Boyd, John, Archbishop of St. +Andrews, the Bishop of Dunblane, the Bishop of Ross, Orkney, with +certain other small gentlemen, who waited upon the said Duke of Orkney. +At this marriage there was neither pleasure nor pastime used, as use was +wont to be used when princes were married. + + +_NEITHER PLEASURE NOR PASTIME_ + +1567.--May. Mary's Demeanour. + +_Du Croc to Catherine de Medici. Von Raumer's +Elizabeth and Mary_, p. 99. + +It {the Bothwell marriage} is too unhappy, and begins already to be +repented of. On Thursday the Queen sent for me, when I perceived +something strange in the mutual behaviour of her and her husband. She +attempted to excuse it, and said, "If you see me melancholy, it is +because I do not choose to be cheerful; because I never will be so, and +wish for nothing but death." Yesterday, when they were both in a room, +with the Earl d'Aumale, she called aloud for a knife to kill herself; +the persons in the ante-chamber heard it. I believe that if God does not +support her, she will fall entirely into despair. + +_Sir William Drury to Cecil, from Berwick_, May 25. _Foreign Calendar._ + +The Queen uses often with the Duke {Bothwell} to ride abroad, and they +now make outward show of great content, but the company at Court +increases not of one nobleman more than were at the marriage. + +_Ibid., May 27._ + +The Duke openly uses great reverence to the Queen, ordinarily +bareheaded, which she seems she would have otherwise, and will sometimes +take his cap and put it on. + + +"_NO HEARTS TO FIGHT IN THAT QUARREL_" + +1567.--June 15. Carberry Hill. + +_Melville's Memoirs_, p. 181. + +All Scotland cried out upon the foul murther of the King.... Whereupon +the lords that had the enterprise in their heads were hasted forward to +take arms.... The Earl of Bothwell again, having the Queen in his +company, convened a greater number out of the Merse and Lothians, and +out of all parts where he had means of friendship, at over her Majesty's +proclamation, which was not well obeyed for the time; and so many as +came had no hearts to fight in that quarrel. Yet the Earl Bothwell +marched forward out of Dunbar {which was threatened by the lords}, +taking the Queen with him, towards Edinburgh. The lords again, with +their companies, passed out of Edinburgh upon foot, with a great energy +and fierceness to fight; both the armies not far from Carberry. The Earl +Bothwell's men camped upon the hill head, in a strength very +advantageous; the lords camped at the foot of the hill. + +Albeit her Majesty was there, I cannot name it to be her army, for many +of them that were with her had 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 was made. He was so beastly and suspicious, that he +suffered her not to pass over a day in patience, not making her cause to +shed abundance of salt tears. So part of his own company detested him; +other part believed that her Majesty would fain have been quit of him, +but thought shame to be the doer thereof directly herself. + +_BOTHWELL'S COWARDICE_ + +In the meantime the laird of Grange rode about the brae.... When the +Queen understood that the laird of Grange was chief of that company of +horsemen, she sent the laird of Ormiston to desire him to come and speak +with her under surety, which he did, after he had sent and obtained +leave of the lords. As he was speaking with her Majesty, the Earl +Bothwell had appointed a soldier to shoot him, until the Queen gave a +cry, and said that he should not do her that shame, who had promised +that he should come and return safely. For he was declaring unto the +Queen how that all they would honour and serve her so that she would +abandon the Earl Bothwell, who was the murderer of her own husband.... + +_MARY'S LAST DAY IN EDINBURGH_ + +The Earl Bothwell hearkened, and heard part of this language, and +offered the singular combat to any man that would maintain that he had +done it. The laird of Grange promised to send him an answer shortly +thereanent.... He offered himself first.... The Earl Bothwell answered +that he was neither lord nor earl, but a baron, and so could not be his +peer. The like answer he made to Tullibardine. Then my Lord Lindsay +offered to fight him, which he could not plainly refuse, but his heart +cooled aye the longer the more. Then the Queen sent again for the laird +of Grange, and said to him, that if the lords would do as he had spoken +to her, she should put away the Earl Bothwell and come unto them. +Whereupon he asked at them, if he might promise it to her Majesty in +their name; which they willed him to do.... Her Majesty was that night +conveyed to Edinburgh, and lodged in the middle of the town, in the +provost's lodging. As she came through the town, the common people cried +out against her Majesty at the windows and stairs, which it was a pity +to hear. Her Majesty again cried out, to all gentlemen and others that +passed up and down the causeway, declaring how that she was their native +princess, and doubted not but all honest subjects would respect her as +they ought to do, and not suffer her to be mishandled. Others again +showed their malice, in setting up a banner or ensign, whereupon the +King was painted lying dead under a tree, and the young prince sitting +upon his knees, praying, "Judge, and revenge my cause, O Lord!"[19] + +That same night it was alleged that her Majesty wrote a letter unto the +Earl Bothwell.... Upon the which letter the lords took occasion to send +her to Lochleven to be kept, against promise as she alleged. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + [19] Ps. xliii. 1. +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + +1567.--July 12. Lochleven Castle. + +_Guzman de Silva to the King. Spanish State Papers._ + + [Mary was a prisoner in Lochleven from 17th June 1567 to 2nd May + 1568. The chief events of her captivity were her compulsory + abdication on 24th July, the coronation of her infant son on the + 29th of the same month, and the proclamation of the Earl of Murray + as Regent on August 22nd. Her escape was preceded by at least one + unsuccessful attempt. Murray visited Mary in Lochleven, and was by + her asked to undertake the Regency, according to a letter from + Throgmorton to Elizabeth, 20th August 1567 (in "Foreign Calendar," + and in Keith's "History," vol. ii. p. 737).] + +Illustration: LOCHLEVEN CASTLE. + +... Croc, who was French Ambassador in Scotland, has passed here on his +way to France, and there is nobody now representing his King. + +_THE CASKET LETTERS_ + +The Ambassador here assures me that the King (of France) has in his +favour both those who have assembled to detain the Queen (of Scots) and +those who are against them, and has their signatures promising to keep +up the friendship and alliance that the country has had with his +predecessors. For this reason the King had proceeded in such a way as +not to lose the support of the one side by taking up the cause of the +other, but he could not avoid giving his aid to the Queen, whose +adversaries assert positively that she knew she had been concerned in +the murder of her husband, which was proved by letters under her own +hand, copies of which were in his possession. + + [This is the earliest known reference to the Casket Letters.] + +_Guzman de Silva to the King, from London_, July 26. +_Spanish State Papers._ + +Four days ago the preacher and confessor of the Queen of Scotland +arrived here. He is a Dominican Friar, a Frenchman named Roche Mameret, +and was at the Council of Trent.... He is much grieved at events in +Scotland, and the imprisonment of the Queen, but more than all at the +marriage with Bothwell, since he already has a wife.... He assured me +that those who had risen against the Queen had not been moved by zeal to +punish the King's murder, as they had been enemies rather than friends +of his; nor in consequence of the marriage, as they had been all in +favour of it, and had signed their names to that effect without +exception, either lay or clerical, apart from the Earl of Murray, but +their sole object had been a religious one, as they thought the Queen, +being a Catholic, might settle religion in a way not to their liking. + +_ELIZABETH'S INTERVENTION_ + +_Queen Elizabeth to Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, in Scotland_, +July 27, 1567. _Keith's History_, p. 702. + +You shall plainly declare unto them {the lords}, that if they shall +determine anything to the deprivation of the Queen their sovereign lady +of her royal estate, we are well assured of our own determination, and +we have some just and probable cause to think the like of other Princes +of Christendom, that we will make ourselves a plain party against them, +for example to all posterity. + + [This intervention by Elizabeth on Mary's behalf was the result of + reports which reached London that Mary's life was in danger. Her + death was demanded by certain of the Protestant clergy, and the + more ardent of their following.] + +_OPINION OF MARY'S CONFESSOR_ + +_Guzman de Silva to the King, from London_, August 2. +_Spanish State Papers._ + +The Earl of Murray went to Scotland on the last day of July.... I +visited him.... He repeated how displeased he was at the action of the +lords in taking the Queen.... I said that her confessor had told me that +as regarded the King's murder she had no knowledge whatever of it, and +had been greatly grieved thereat.... He opened out somewhat, saying that +my good will towards him prompted him to tell me something that he had +not even told this Queen {Elizabeth}, although she had given him many +remote hints upon the subject. This was that he considered it very +difficult to arrange matters, as it was certain that the Queen had been +cognisant of the murder of her husband, and he, Murray, was greatly +grieved thereat. This had been proved beyond doubt by a letter which the +Queen had written to Bothwell, containing three sheets of paper, written +with her own hand, and signed by her, in which she says in substance +that he is not to delay putting into execution that which he had +arranged, because her husband used such fair words to deceive her and +bring her round that she might be moved by them if the other thing were +not done quickly. She said that she herself would go and fetch him, and +would stop at a house on the road, where she would try to give him a +draught, but if this could not be done, she would put him in the house +where the explosion was arranged for the night upon which one of her +servants was to be married. He, Bothwell, was to try to get rid of his +wife either by putting her away or by poisoning her, since he knew that +she, the Queen, had risked all for him, her honour, her kingdom, her +wealth, and her God, contenting herself with his person alone. Besides +this she had done an extraordinary and unexampled thing on the night of +the murder in giving her husband a ring, petting and fondling him after +plotting his murder, and this had been the worst thing in connection +with it. Murray said he had heard about the letter from a man who had +read it, and the rest was notorious.... He says he will do his best for +her. I am more inclined to believe that he will do it for himself if he +finds a chance, as he is a Scotchman, and a heretic.... + + +_END OF MARY'S FIRST IMPRISONMENT_ + +The Escape from Lochleven. + +_Giovanni Correr, Venetian Ambassador in France to the Signory, +from Paris_, May 26, 1568. _Venetian Calendar._ + +"_A LOYAL HOST A ROYAL BANNER BORE_" + +Guard was continually kept at the castle day and night, except during +supper, at which time the gate was locked with a key, every one going to +supper, and the key was always placed on the table where the Governor +took his meals, and before him. The Governor is the uterine brother of +the Earl of Murray, Regent of Scotland, the Queen's illegitimate +brother, and her mortal enemy. The Queen, having attempted to descend +from a window unsuccessfully, contrived that a page of the Governor's, +whom she had persuaded to this effect, when carrying a dish, in the +evening of the second of May, to the table of his master with a napkin +before him, should place the napkin on the key, and in removing the +napkin take up the key with it and carry it away unperceived by any one. +Having done so, the page then went directly to the Queen and told her +all was ready; and she, having in the meanwhile been attired by the +elder of the two maids who waited upon her, took with her by the hand +the younger maid, a girl ten years old, and with the page went quietly +to the door, and he having opened it, the Queen went out with him and +the younger girl and locked the gate outside with the same key, without +which it could not be opened from within. They then got into a little +boat which was kept for the service of the castle, and displaying a +white veil of the Queen's with a red tassel, she made the concerted +signal to those who awaited her that she was approaching.... The +horsemen ... came immediately to the lake and received the Queen with +infinite joy, and having placed her on horseback, with the page and the +girl, they conveyed her to the sea coast, at a distance of five miles +from thence, because to proceed by land to the place which had been +designated appeared manifestly too dangerous. All having embarked, the +Queen was conducted to Niddry, a place belonging to Lord Seton, and from +thence to Hamilton, a castle of the Duke of Chatelherault, where his +brother, the Archbishop of St. Andrews, with other principal personages +of those parts, acknowledged her as Queen.... + +All Scotland is in motion, some declaring for the Queen, and some +against her and for the Earl of Murray.... With regard to her flight, it +is judged here, by those who know the site, and how strictly she was +guarded, that her escape was most miraculous, most especially having +been contrived by two lads under ten years of age, who could not be +presupposed to have the requisite judgment and secrecy. + +To the greater satisfaction with the result may be added that the +inmates of Lochleven Castle perceived the flight; but being shut up +within it, and thus made prisoners, they had to take patience, and to +witness the Queen's escape, while they remained at the windows of the +castle. + +_THE DISASTER AT LANGSIDE_ + +But now, if the current report be true, the Queen of Scotland, following +the course of her fickle fortune, gives news of her troops having been +routed near Glasgow, all her chief adherents being killed or made +prisoners. + +_Ibid._ June 6. + +The news of the defeat of the troops of the Queen of Scotland was true. +She had assembled about eight thousand men, who had flocked to her from +divers parts, and for greater security she wished to shut herself up in +Dumbarton, which is a very strong castle, but she could not get there +without crossing the Clyde, over which there is but one bridge near +Glasgow, and that was already occupied by the enemy. It was therefore +determined to cross the river where it flows into the sea, a number of +boats being sent to the spot for that purpose. The Regent, aware of +this, went in pursuit with four thousand men; whereupon the Queen +appointed as her Lieutenant-General the Earl of Argyle, who had just +joined her, and who is her brother-in-law through his wife, Queen Mary's +natural sister, and he with six thousand men gave Murray battle. + +_MARY SEEKS ENGLISH PROTECTION_ + +The contest lasted for three-quarters of an hour, when the Queen's +troops were worsted, but only one hundred and fifty of her followers +were killed, for the Regent exerted himself extremely to prevent his +troops shedding blood. The prisoners exceeded three hundred, including +many noblemen, amongst whom, moreover, is that Lord Seton who was the +chief instrument and leader in effecting the Queen's escape. Finding +herself defeated, the Queen set out for England, accompanied by a son of +the Duke of Chatelherault, by Lord Fleming, by the Earl of Maxwell, and +some twenty-five other attendants, and she travelled a distance of one +hundred and twenty-five miles without any rest. She stopped at a place +called Workington, which is four miles within the English border. She +did not discover herself, but was recognised by a Scotsman, who informed +the warden of the castle, and the latter went immediately to receive +her, with great marks of respect, and posted guards on all sides to +prevent pursuit by the enemy. + + + + +SECTION VI + +THE CONFERENCES AT YORK AND WESTMINSTER + + +_CONTENTS_ + + 1. The Conference at York. + (_a_) Letter of Murray to Queen Elizabeth. + (_b_) Mary's Instructions to her Commissioners. + (_c_) The formal complaints and replies. + (_d_) The account of the private interview, with the "abstract of + matters" there shown. + (_e_) Sussex's opinion of the evidence. + + 2. The Conference at Westminster. + (_a_) Mary's Instructions. + (_b_) Murray's "Eik" or additional charge. + (_c_) The answer of Mary's Commissioners to the "Eik." + (_d_) Elizabeth's reply to (_a_). + (_e_) The Privy Council and suggestions for a compromise. + (_f_) Proofs produced at Westminster--the account of the production. + (_g_) Mary's own answer to the "Eik," and her request to see the + originals, with Elizabeth's reply. + (_h_) Mary's request for copies, with Elizabeth's reply. + (_i_) Dissolution of the Conference by Elizabeth. + + +_MARY IN ENGLAND_ + +The Conference at York. + + [On Mary's arrival in England, Queen Elizabeth declined to meet + her, till she should be cleared from the suspicion of complicity in + the Darnley murder. Mary promptly accused Maitland and Morton of a + share in the crime, and accepted Elizabeth's proposal to have the + case tried at a Conference at York. The Queen of England appointed + as Commissioners, the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Sussex, and Sir + Ralph Sadler. The Scottish Queen was represented by Lords Boyd, + Herries, and Livingstone, the Abbot of Kilwinning, Sir John Gordon + of Lochinvar, Sir James Cockburn of Skirving, and John Lesley, the + Bishop of Ross. The Earl of Murray, the Earl of Morton, the Bishop + of Orkney (Adam Bothwell), the Abbot of Dunfermline, and Lord + Lindsay appeared in the name of the young James VI., along with + Maitland of Lethington, George Buchanan, James Macgill, and Henry + Balnaves, as assistants. + + Many points of procedure and various formal questions occupied much + of the time of the Conferences. The extracts which follow have been + chosen out of regard to their bearing on the problem of Mary's + guilt or innocence, and especial care has been taken to include + references to the Casket Letters. The letters themselves, and the + depositions which were produced before the Commissioners, will be + found, by themselves, after the account of the Conferences. + + The Conference met at York on October 8, and as Mary was, formally, + the plaintiff, her complaint against the Lords was first received. + Thereafter, Murray's reply and a rejoinder from Mary's + representatives were put on record. This was all the formal + business essential for our purpose. But, on October 11th, + Elizabeth's Commissioners received a private visit from Maitland, + Buchanan, Macgill, and Balnaves, who put before them, secretly, + certain documents to prove Mary's guilt. It will be seen from the + letter of the Commissioners to Elizabeth, and the quotations from + the "abstract of matters ... chosen by the Scots," that these + documents consisted of:-- + + 1. A bond signed by the Lords, agreeing to Bothwell's marriage with + the Queen. + + 2. The Queen's warrant for the signature of the above-mentioned + bond. + + 3. Two contracts of marriage. (See pp. 201-203.) + + 4. Two letters arranging for the seizure of the Queen by Bothwell + (_i.e._ two of Letters, vi., vii., and viii., see pp. 190-194). + + 5. A letter arranging a duel between Darnley and the Lord Robert. + + 6. The two Glasgow Letters (i. and ii., see pp. 165-182). + + 7. The Love Sonnets (pp. 195-201). + + 8. The Letter in which the Jason and Medea comparison occurs. + (Letter iv., see pp. 185-189.) + + This list should be compared with the recital of the productions at + Westminster (pp. 143 _et seq._). Maitland informed Queen Mary of + this secret visit, and she complained to Queen Elizabeth, who + summoned all the Commissioners to London, on the ground of greater + convenience.] + +_MURRAY AND HIS PROOFS_ + +_Letter of the Earl of Murray, with information for the Queen +of England_, June 22, 1568. _Goodall_, vol. ii. p. 75, _from the +Paper Office_. + +It may be that such letters as we have of the Queen, our Sovereign +Lord's mother, that sufficiently, in our opinion, prove her consenting +to the murther of the King her lawful husband, shall be called in doubt +... therefore, since our servant, Mr. John Wood, has the copies of the +same letters translated in our language, we would earnestly desire that +the said copies may be considered by the judges that shall have the +examination and commission of the matter, that they may resolve us thus +far, in case the principal agree with the copy, that then we prove the +case indeed; for when we have manifested and shown all, and yet shall +have no assurances that what we send shall satisfy for probation, for +what purpose shall we either accuse or seek to prove, when we are not +assured what to prove, or when we have proved, what shall succeed? + + +_MARY ASSERTS FORGERY_ + +1568.--September 9. Mary's Instructions to her Commissioners. + +_Goodall_, vol. ii. p. 337, from _Queen Mary's Register_ in Cotton +Library. + +In case they allege they have any writings of mine, which may infer +presumption against me in that case, ye shall desire the principals to +be produced, and that I myself may have inspection thereof, and make +answer thereto. For ye shall affirm, in my name, I never wrote anything +concerning that matter to any creature; and if any 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 handwriting, and write the like manner of +writing which I use, as well as myself, and principally such as are in +company with themselves. And I doubt not, if I had remained in my own +realm, but I should have gotten knowledge of the inventors and writers +of such writings ere now, to the declaration of my innocency, and +confusion of their falsity. + + +October 8. Complaint of the Queen of Scots against the Earl of Murray. + +_Goodall_, vol. ii. p. 128, from Cott. Lib. Calig., C. i. 197. + +That James, Earl of Morton, John, Earl of Mar, Alexander, Earl of +Glencairn, the Lords Howe, Lindsay, Ruthven, Sempill, Cathcart, +Ochiltree, with others their assisters, assembled in arms a great part +of the Queen's grace's subjects, declared by their proclamations it was +for her Grace's relief, beset the road in her passage betwixt her +Grace's castles of Dunbar and Edinburgh, there took her most noble +person, committed her in ward in her own place of Lochleven, ... passed +to the castle of Stirling, and made there fashion of crowning of her son +the Prince.... + +James, Earl of Murray, took upon him the name of the Regent, ... +intromitted with the whole strengths, munitions, jewels, and patrimony +of the crown, as well property as casualty.... + + +_MURRAY'S APOLOGY FOR THE REVOLUTION_ + +October 10. The Answer of the Earl of Murray. + +_Goodall_, vol. ii. p. 144, from Cott. Lib. Calig., C. i. 202. + +_ACCUSATIONS AGAINST MARY_ + +It is notorious to all men, how umquhile {the late} King Henry, father +to our sovereign Lord, was horribly murdered in his bed. James, sometime +Earl of Bothwell, being well known to be the chief author thereof, +entered into so great credit and authority with the Queen, then our +sovereign, that, within three months after the murder of her husband, +the said Earl ... accomplished a pretended marriage betwix him and the +Queen, which strange and hasty proceeding of that godless and ambitious +man, ... with the ignominy spoken among all nations of that murther, as +though all the nobility had been alike culpable thereof, so moved the +hearts of a good number of them, that they thought nothing more godly +... than by punishing of the said Earl, chief author of the murther, to +relieve others causelessly calumniated thereof, to put the Queen to +freedom, forth of the bondage of that tyrant.... {From the Queen, after +Carberry Hill}, no other answer could be obtained, but vigorous +menacing, on the one part, avowing to be revenged on all them that had +shown themselves in that cause, and on the other part, offering to leave +and give over the realm and all, so she might be suffered to possess the +murtherer of her husband, which her inflexible mind, and extremity of +necessity compelled them to sequestrate her person for a season.... +During the which time, she finding herself by long, irksome, and tedious +travail, taken by her in the government of the realm and lieges thereof +... vexed and wearied ... and for other considerations moving her at the +time, therefore demitted and renounced the office of government of the +realm and lieges thereof ... and constituted me, the said Earl of +Murray, I being then absent furth of the realm, and without my +knowledge, Regent to his Grace, the realm, and lieges.... + + +_MARY'S REPLY_ + +1568.--October 16. Queen Mary's Commissioners' Rejoinder to Murray's +Reply. + +_Goodall_, vol. ii. p. 162, from _Queen Mary's Register_ +in Cott. Lib. Titus, C. 12. + +If he {Bothwell} was the principal author of the murder, the same was +never known nor manifested to her Highness, but the contrary did well +appear to her Grace, by reason the said Earl of Bothwell being +suspected, indited, and orderly summoned by the laws of that realm, was +acquitted by an assize of his Peers, and the same ratified and confirmed +by authority of Parliament, by the greatest part of the nobility ... who +also consented and solicited our said Sovereign to accomplish the said +marriage with him as the man most fit in all the realm of Scotland ... +and they nor none of them ... came to her Highness ... to find fault +with the said Earl concerning the murder foresaid, or yet in any ways +seemed to grudge or disallow the said marriage.... And at the presenting +of the said writings of demission of her crown to her Majesty by the +Lord Lindsay, he menaced her Grace, that if she would not subscribe, he +had command to put her presently in the Tower, and would do the same, +and counselled her to fulfil their desire or worse would shortly follow; +which her Highness subscribed with many tears, never looking what was +contained in the writings, declaring plainly thereafter, if ever her +Grace came to liberty, she would never abide thereat, because it was +against her Majesty's will.... If her Grace had willingly demitted the +same, as her Highness did not, her Highness could not have nominated the +said Earl of Murray Regent, for there were others to have been preferred +to him. + + +1568.--October 11. Letter to Queen Elizabeth from her Commissioners at +York. + + [This letter is printed in the Appendix to vol. ii. of Hosack's + "Mary Queen of Scots, and her Accusers," from Cott. MS. Cal. c. i. + fol. 198. The words or letters within brackets, {}, have been + burnt, the margin being singed. "The words printed in italics," + says Mr. Hosack, "are very carefully erased with the pen, and, in + some instances, are disguised with head and tail loops, to prevent + their being read, the alterations being written between the lines." + Without the alterations, the letter is printed in Goodall, vol. ii. + p. 139, and elsewhere.] + +_THE PROOFS ARE SHOWN PRIVATELY_ + +_THE COMMISSIONERS' LETTER_ + +And so they {Moray and his colleagues} sent unto us the Lord of +Lethington, James Macgill, Mr. George Buchanan, and one other being a +Lord of the Session, which in private and secret conference with us, not +as Commissioners, as they protested, but for our better instruction, +afte{r} declaration of such circumstances as led and induced them to +vehement presumptio{n} to judge her guilty of the said murder, shewed +unto us a copy of a bond bear{ing} date the 19th of April 1567, to the +which the most part of the Lords and coun{cil} of Scotland have put to +their hands; and, as they say, more for fear, than any liking they had +of the same. Which bond contained two special points, the one {a} +declaration of Bothwell's purgation of the murder of the Lord Darnley +... and the othe{r} a general consent to his marriage with the Queen.... +And yet, in proof that they did it not willingly, they procured a +warrant, which was now shewed unto us, bearing date the 19th {of} April, +signed with the Queen's hand, whereby she gave them licence to agree to +the same.... There was also a contract shewed unto us, signed with the +Queen's hand, and also with Bothwell's, bearing date the fifth of +April.... There was also a contract shewed unto us, of the Queen's own +hand, of the marriage to be had between her and Bothwell, bearing no +date, which had not _verba de praesenti_, as the other had, bearing date +the 5th of April. It appeared also unto us by two letters of her own +hand, that it was by her own practice and consent that Bothwell should +take her and carry her to Dunbar.... After the device of the murder was +determined, as it seemed by the sequel, they inferred upon a letter of +her own hand, that there was another mean of a more cleanly conveyance +devised to kill the King; for there was a quarrel made betwixt him and +the Lord Robert of Holyrood-house, by carrying of false tales betwixt +them, the Queen being the instrument, as they said, to bring it to +pass.... Afterwards they shewed unto us one horrible and long letter of +her own hand, as they say, containing foul matter, and abominable to be +either thought of, or to be written by a Prince, with divers fond +ballads, and other writings before specified, were closed in a little +coffer of silver and gilt heretofore given by her to Bothwell.... And +these men here do constantly affirm the said letters and other writings, +which they produce of her own hand, to be of her own hand in deed; and +do offer to swear and take their oath thereupon, _as in deed_ the matter +contained in them being such as could hardly be invented or devised by +any other than by herself; for that the discourse of some things which +were unknown to any other, than to herself, and Bothwell, _doth the +rather persuade us to believe that they be in deed of her own +handwriting_. And as it is hard to counterfeit so many, _and so long +letters_, so the matter of them, and the manner how these men came by +them, is such, as it seemeth that God (in whose sight murder and +bloodshed of the innocent is abominable) would not permit the same to be +hid or concealed. In a paper here inclosed we have noted to your Majesty +the chief and special points of the said letters, written (as they say) +with her own hand, to the intent it may please your Majesty to consider +of them, and so to judge whether the same be sufficient to convince her +of the detestable crime of the murder of her husband; which in our +opinions and consciences, if the said letters be written with her own +hand, _as we believe_ + + _they be_, {is very hard to be avoided. + {_is plain and manifest_.... + + T. NORFOLK. + T. SUSSEX. + R. SADLER. + + +Abstract of Matters showed to the Queen's Majesty's Commissioners by the +Scots, sent the 11th of October. + +_Goodall_, pp. 148-153. + +... She wrote to Bothwell, that according to her commission, she would +bring the man with her; praying him to work wisely, or else the whole +burden would lie on her shoulders; and specially to make good watch, +that the bird escaped not out of the cage. {Letter iv., see pp. +185-189.} + + +_QUOTATIONS FROM THE LETTERS_ + +Notes drawn forth of the Queen's Letters sent to the Earl Bothwell. + +... _Item._ ... We are coupled with twa fals racis; the devill syndere +us, and God mot knit us togidder for ever for the maist faithful cupple +that ever he unitit. This is my faith, I will die in it. + +... _Item._ ... Wareit {cursed} mocht this pokishe man be, that causes +me haif sa meikill pane, for without hym I wald haif ane far mair +plesant subject to discourse upoun. He is not oer meikle spilt, bot he +has gottin verray mekill; he has almaist slane me with his braith; it is +war nor your unclis, and zeit {yet} I cum na neirar bot sat in ane cheir +at the bedfute, and he beand {being} at the uther end thairof. + +... _Item._ ... Send me advertisement quhat I sall do, and quhatsumever +sall cum thairof I sall obey you; advys to with yourself. Yf ye can fynd +out any mair secreit inventioun be medecein, and the baith in +Craigmillar. + +... _Item._ ... "For certaintie he suspectis that thing ye know, and of +his lyif: bot as to the last, how sone I speak twa or thrie guid wordis +unto hym, he rejois and is out of doubt." + +... _Item._ ... Sie not his quhas fenzeit tearis suld not be sa mekill +praysit, nor estemyt, as the trew and faythfull travaillis quhilk I +sustene to merit hir place, for obteyning of quhilk, againis my +naturall. I betray thame that may impesche me. God forgive me, and God +gif you, my onlie luif, the hope and prosperitie that your humble and +faythfull luif desyris unto yow, quha hoipis schortlie to be ane uther +thing unto yow. {Letter, ii. pp. 167-182.} + +... _Item._ ... As to me, howbeit I heir no farther newes from yow. +According to my commission, I bring the man with me to Craigmillar upon +Munday, quhair he will be all Wednisday. {Letter i., pp. 165-6.} + +... _Item._ ... In ane uther lettre, "I pray you, according to your +promeis, to discharge your hart to me, utherwayis I will think that my +malheure, and the guid composing of thame, that hes not the third part +of the faythfull and willing obedience unto yow that I beyre, has wyne, +againis my will, that advantage over me quhilk the secund luif of Jason +wan; not that I wolde compair yow to ane soe unhappie as he was, nor yit +myself to ane soe unpetifull a woman as she...." {Letter iv., p. 185.} + + +_COMMISSION REMOVED TO WESTMINSTER_ + +The Conference at Westminster. + + [At the beginning of the Westminster Conference, Mary found herself + "ever straiter and straiter kept from liberty," and demanded to be + allowed to appear in person. Her request and Elizabeth's reply will + be found on pp. 145, 148. On the 26th November, Murray made his + "eik" or additional charge. For the relevant portions of this + document, and of the reply of Mary's Commissioners, see pp. 146-7. + On December 6th, Mary's representatives protested that they would + withdraw from the Conference if their mistress's demand were not + granted. Cecil declined, on a formal point, to receive the protest. + On the 6th, 7th, and 8th, Murray produced his proofs. On the 9th, + the protest was accepted, and Mary's Commissioners withdrew. After + their retirement further evidence was received. It may be of use to + enumerate the documents produced at Westminster:-- + + _PRODUCTIONS AT WESTMINSTER_ + + The Book of Articles. + + Acts of Parliament ratifying the proceedings of the insurgent + Lords. + + Two contracts of marriage, and record of Bothwell's trial and + divorce. + + Five of the six letters produced at York, three additional letters, + and the sonnets (pp. 162-201). + + Recognition of the Regent's Government by Huntly, Argyll, and + Herries (pp. 154-5). + + Depositions and confessions of Hay, Hepburn, Powrie, Dalgleish, + Nelson, and Crawford. + + Murray's "Journal or Diary of Events." + + The Book of Articles is a document of considerable length. It is a + summary of the charges against the Queen of Scots, but contains no + important charge which is not to be found elsewhere. The reader is + already in possession of its essential allegations. It formed the + material for Buchanan's "Detectio," with which it is, at times, + almost identical. It is printed, from the Hopetoun MS., in Hosack's + "Mary," I. App. B. For the depositions of Nelson and Crawford, see + pp. 207-213. The depositions of Hay, Hepburn, Powrie, and Dalgleish + do not directly accuse the Queen of the murder, beyond stating that + the powder was placed in her room, and they have therefore been + omitted. The question of the position of the powder is discussed in + Hosack, vol. i. pp. 247-8, and the reader is referred to the + authorities there quoted, and to Mr. Hay Fleming's "Mary Queen of + Scots," pp. 435-6 (_cf._ also pp. 219-220). The confession of + Hepburn (English edition of Buchanan's "Detection") contains the + following sentence:--"He said, let no man do evil for counsel of + great men ... for surely I thought that night that the deed was + done, that although knowledge should be gotten, no man durst have + said it was evil done, seeing the handwriting and acknowledging the + Queen's mind thereto." No question was put to Dalgleish regarding + the casket found in his possession. + + A quotation from Murray's "Diary," so far as it bears on the + murder, will be found on pp. 213-215.] + +_The Earl of Sussex to Sir William Cecil_, October 22, 1568. +_Lodge: Illustrations of British History._ + +This matter must at length take end, either by finding the Scotch Queen +guilty of the crimes that are objected against her, or by some manner of +composition with a show of saving her honour. The first, I think, will +hardly be attempted, for two causes, the one, for that if her adverse +party accuse her of the murder by producing of her letters, she will +deny them, and accuse the most of them of manifest consent to the +murder, hardly to be denied; so as, upon the trial on both sides, her +proofs will judicially fall best out, as it is thought. The other, for +that their young King is of tender and weak years and state of body; and +if God should call him, and their Queen were judicially defaced ... +Hamilton, upon his death, should succeed; which Murray's faction utterly +detest. + + +_MARY'S REQUEST_ + +1568.--November 22. Mary to her Commissioners. + +_Goodall_, vol. ii. p. 185, _from Queen Mary's Register_, +Cott. Lib., Titius C. 12. + +Ye shall afore our sister, her nobility, and the whole ambassadors of +strange countries, desire, in our name, that we may be licensed to come +in proper person afore them all, to answer to that which may or can be +proposed and alleged against us by the calumnies of our rebels, since +they have free access to accuse us.... And now the said Earl of Murray +being permitted to come into her presence, which if the like be not +granted us, as is reasonable, and yet our sister will condemn us in our +absence, not having place to answer for ourselves, as justice requires; +in consideration of the premisses ye shall break off your conference, +and proceed no further therein, but take your leave and come away. + + +_THE REGENT'S "EIK"_ + +1568.--November 26. Murray's "Eik" or Additional Charge. + +_Goodall_, vol. ii. p. 206, from Cott. Lib. Calig., C. i. 230. + +Whereas in our former answer, upon good respects mentioned in our +protestation, we kept back the chiefest causes and grounds, whereupon +our actions and whole proceedings were founded, wherewithal seeing our +adversaries will not content themselves; but by their obstinate and +earnest pressing we are compelled, for justifying of our cause, to +manifest the naked truth. It is certain, and we boldly and constantly +affirm, that as James, sometime Earl of Bothwell, was the chief executor +of the horrible and unworthy murder, perpetrated in the person of +umquhile King Henry of good memory, father to our sovereign Lord, and +the Queen's lawful husband, so was she of the foreknowledge, counsel, +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, sometime Earl Bothwell, delated and universally esteemed chief +author of the above-named murder. Where through they began to use and +exercise an uncouth and cruel tyranny in the whole state of the +commonwealth, and with the first (as well appeared by their proceedings) +intended to cause the innocent Prince, now our Sovereign Lord, shortly +follow his father, and so to transfer the crown from the right line to a +bloody murderer and godless tyrant. In which respect the estates of the +realm of Scotland finding her unworthy to reign, decreed her demission +of the Crown, with the coronation of our sovereign Lord, and +establishing of the regiment of that realm, in the person of me, the +Earl of Murray.... + + JAMES, REGENT. + PATRICK, L. LINDSAY. + MORTON. + AD. ORKAD. + DUNFERMLINE. + + +_ANSWER TO THE "EIK"_ + +1568.--December 1. The Answer of Queen Mary's Commissioners to the +"Eik." + +_Goodall_, vol. ii. p. 213, _from Queen Mary's Register_. + +My Lords,--We are heartily sorry to hear that our countrymen should +intend to colour their most unjust, ingrate, and shameful doings.... Her +Highness made the greatest of them of mean men, if they had used their +own calling, Earls and Lords, and now, without any evil deserving on her +Grace's part to any of them in deed or word, to be thuswise recompensed +with calumnious and false invented bruits {rumours}, slandered in so +great a matter, to her reproach, whereof they themselves, that now +pretend herewith to excuse their own treasons, were the first inventors, +writers with their own hands of that devilish band, the conspiracy of +the slaughter of that innocent young gentleman, Henry Stewart, late +spouse till our sovereign, and presented to their wicked confederate, +James, Earl Bothwell, as was made manifest before ten thousand people at +the execution of certain the principal offenders at Edinburgh.... + +_MARY AND ELIZABETH_ + +The Queen's Highness, our and their native sovereign, ... gave them in +her youth ... the twa part (two-thirds) of the patrimony pertaining to +the Crown of Scotland, and seeing that her successors, Kings of that +realm, might not maintain their estate upon the third part ... for their +evil deservings and most proud contemption ... caused her use the +privilege of the laws always granted to the Kings of that realm before, +and make revocation before her full age of xxv. years, ... so that it +was not the punishment of that slaughter that moved them to this proud +rebellion, but the usurping of their Sovereign's supreme authority, and +to possess themselves with her great riches.... + +... Our desire is most earnestly that it should be the Queen's Majesty's +pleasure that our Sovereign may be admitted to come into the presence of +the Queen's Highness of this realm, her whole nobility, and also in +presence of the ambassadors of foreign countries, for more true +declaration of her innocency. + + +1568.--December 4. Elizabeth's Answer. + +_Goodall_, vol. ii. p. 222, _from Queen Mary's Register_. + +I think it very reasonable that she should be heard in her own cause, +being so weighty; but to determine whom before, when and what, any time +before I understand how they will verify their allegation, I am not as +yet resolved. + + +_THE PRIVY COUNCIL_ + +1568.--Dec. 4. Proceedings of the Privy Council. + +_Goodall_, vol. ii. p. 223, _from the Journal of the +Privy Council of England_. + +Die Sabbati, 4 Decembris 1568, Hora prima post meridiem. + +_Present._ + + THE QUEEN'S MAJESTY. + + The Lord Keeper {Sir Nicholas Bacon}. + Duke of Norfolk. + Marquis {of Northampton}. + Lord Steward {Pembroke}. + Earl Essex. + Earl Bedford. + Earl Leicester. + Lord Admiral {Lord Clinton}. + Lord Chamberlain {Lord Howard of Effingham}. + Sir William Cecil. + Sir Ralph Sadler. + Sir Walt. Mildmay. + +The said Bishop {of Ross} and his colleagues, before they came to the +Court, sent a message to the Earl of Leicester and Sir William Cecil, +requiring to speak with them two apart.... And thereupon the said +Commissioners came into the Earl of Leicester's chamber, where the said +Bishop in the name of the rest said ... That although the Earl of Murray +and his complices had delivered in writing a grievous accusation against +the Queen, their Sovereign, and that they were prohibited to make any +further answer to any such matter, but only to desire the Queen of Scots +might come in person to the presence of the Queen's Majesty to make any +further answer to any such matter; yet they having considered with +themselves their mistress's intention to have been always from the +beginning, that these causes should be ended by the Queen's Majesty by +some such good appointment betwix her and her subjects, as might be for +her Grace's honour and the common weal of the country, with surety also +to the Earl of Murray, and his party ... thought good to declare thus +much to the said Earl and Sir William Cecil.... + +_COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS_ + +After the said Bishop had reiterated the said motion, as above is +mentioned, the Queen's Majesty said: "... Trusting and wishing that the +Queen, her sister, should be found innocent, ... she thought it better +for her sister's honour and declaration to the world of her innocency, +to have the Earl of Murray and his complices charged and reproved for +this their so audacious defaming of the Queen, their sovereign, and to +receive that which was due for their punishment, than to have it ended +by appointment, except it might be thought that they should be able to +show some apparent just causes of such an attempt, whereof her Majesty +would be sorry to hear. And as for the Queen of Scots coming in person +to her Majesty to make answer hereunto, the same being of no small +moment to her honour, but rather likely to touch her in reputation, in +that it might be thought the accusation so probable, as it not to be +improved {disproved} by any other, but that she should be forced to come +herself, being a Queen, in person to answer for herself, her Majesty +said she would not have the Queen's honour and estate in that matter +endangered without this their accusation might first appear to have more +likelihood of just cause than she did find therein.... + +Hereunto the Queen of Scots' Commissioners said that this last motion +for an appointment came not from the Queen since the accusation given in +by the Earl of Murray, and so also the Queen's Majesty assented thereto, +but of their own consideration." + + +_PRODUCTION OF THE PROOFS_ + +1568.--Dec. 6. Proofs produced at Westminster. + +_Goodall_, vol. ii. p. 231, _from the Journal of the Commissioners_. + +... They {Murray and others} would show unto her Majesty's Commissioners +a collection made in writing of the presumptions and circumstances, by +the which it should evidently appear that as the Earl Bothwell was the +chief murtherer of the King, so was the Queen a deviser and maintainer +thereof; the which writing followeth thus. Articles containing certain +conjectures, &c. {the Book of Articles. See _supra_, p. 144}. + +After the reading hereof they also said that according to the truth +contained in the same, the three estates of Parliament, called by the +King, now present, their whole actions and proceedings from the murther +of the late King were ratified and approved to be lawful.... + +_Hosack I., App. C., from State Papers_ (_Mary, Queen of Scots_), +1568, vol. ii. p. 61, December 7, 1568. + +... The Queen's Majesty's Commissioners having heard the foresaid Book +of Articles read unto them ... entered into a new hearing of the Book of +Articles, whereof having heard three of the chapters or heads, the Earl +of Murray and his colleagues, according to the appointment, came to the +said Commissioners and said: 'They trusted that, after the reading of +the Book of Articles, and specially upon the sight of the Act of +Parliament, wherein the whole cause wherewith their adversaries did +charge them, were found, declared, and concluded to be lawful; their +Lordships would be satisfied to think them clear and void of such crime +as her Majesty did charge them withal.... They required to know whether +their Lordships were not now satisfied with such things as they had +seen, and if they were not, and that it would please them to show if in +any part of these Articles exhibited they conceived any doubt, or would +have any other proof, which they trusted, needed not.... {The +Commissioners declined to give any opinion on this point.} + +_THE CASKET_ + +And so they produced a small gilded coffer of not fully one foot long, +being garnished in many places with the Roman letter F set under a Royal +Crown, wherein were certain letters and writings, and as they said and +affirmed to have been written with the Queen of Scots' own hand, to the +Earl Bothwell, which coffer, as they said, being left in the Castle of +Edinburgh by the said Earl Bothwell before his flying away, was sent for +by one George Dalgleish, his servant, who was taken by the Earl of +Morton, who also thereto sitting presently as one of the Commissioners +avowed upon his oath the same to be true, and the writings to be the +very same without any manner of change, and before they would exhibit +the sight of these letters they exhibited {the two marriage +contracts}.... After this the said Earl and his colleagues offered to +show certain proofs, not only of the Queen's hate towards the King, her +husband, but also of unordinate love towards Bothwell, for which purpose +they produced a letter written in French and in Roman hand, which they +averred to be a letter of the said Queen's own hand to Bothwell when she +was at Glasgow with her husband, at the time she went to bring him to +Edinburgh, the tenour of which letter hereafter followeth: Il semble que +avecques ure absence, &c. {Letter i. p. 165.} + +_ITS CONTENTS_ + +After this they produced for the same purpose one other long letter +written also with the like hand, and in French, ... the tenour of all +which letter followeth hereafter: Estant party du lieu, &c. {Letter ii. +p. 167.} + +_Goodall_, vol. ii. p. 235, _from the Journal of the Commissioners_, +December 8. + +They produced seven several writings written in French in the like Roman +hand, as others her letters which were shewed yesternight 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 redelivered, and +did thereupon deliver the copies being collationed, the tenour of all +which seven writings hereafter follow in order, the first being in +manner of a sonnet, + + "O Dieux, ayez de moy," &c. + + [This is the first line of the first of the collection of sonnets, + which will be found on pp. 195-201. The other six "writings" are + Letters iii.-viii., on pp. 162-195.] + +_DEPOSITIONS_ + +After this they did produce and show three several writings in English, +subscribed and signed by Sir John Bellenden, Knight, Justice-Clerk in +Scotland, whereof the first contained two several examinations, the +first of John Hay, the younger of Talla, the 13th of September, anno +1567, the second of John Hepburn, called John of Bolton, being examined +upon the murder of the King, the 8th of December 1567. The third writing +containeth the examination of one George Dalgleish, the 26th of June in +the same year, 1567. All which writings ... were delivered to the said +Commissioners, the true tenour whereof hereafter followeth, _Apud +Edinburgh_, 13 die mensis Septembris. + +After this they produced and showed forth in writing, subscribed +likewise by the said Justice-Clerk, a copy of the process, verdict, and +judgment against the foresaid John Hepburn, John Hay, William Powrie, +and George Dalgleish, as culpable of the murder of the said King, which +being read, was also delivered, and the tenours thereof hereafter +followeth, _Curia justiciariae S. D. N. regis_, &c. After this they +produced and shewed forth a writing in a long paper, being, as they +said, the judgment and condemnation by Parliament of the Earl Bothwell, +James Ormiston, Robert Ormiston, Patrick Wilson, and Paris, a Frenchman, +Sym, Armstrong, and William Murray, as guilty sundry ways of treason for +the murder of the King. The tenour whereof thus followeth: _In the +Parliament holden at Edinburgh, the 20th day of December_. + +After this they produced and showed a writing signed by Mr. James +Macgill, Clerk of the register, containing a request, by way of +protestation, by the Earls of Huntly and Argyle, and the Lord Herries, +by the which they require to have no fault imputed unto them for not +doing their duty since the 10th of June 1567, until the 29th of December +then following, for the which, by order of Parliament, they were +acquitted.... + +_THE FINDING OF THE CASKET_ + +_Goodall_, vol. ii. p. 239, from _Journal of the Commissioners_, +Cott. Lib. Calig., c. i. p. 252, Dec. 9, 1568. + +The Queen's Majesty's Commissioners being occupied in perusing and +reading certain letters and sonnets written in French, being duly +translated into English, and other writings also exhibited yesterday to +them by the Earl of Murray and his colleagues.... After this the Earl of +Murray and his colleagues came ... and first the Earl Morton said, that +where heretofore he had declared by speech, the manner how he came to +the little gilt coffer with the letters, sonnets, and contracts of +marriage therein found, and heretofore exhibited: he had caused the same +to be put in writing, which also he produced subscribed with his hand, +and desired to have it read: which being done, he avowed upon his +honour, and the oath which he already took, the same to be true, the +tenor whereof followeth, _The true declaration and report_, &c. (see p. +203). + +After this the Earl of Murray required that one Thomas Nelson, late +servitor to the King that was murdered ... might be heard upon his oath +to report his knowledge therein, who, being produced, did present a +writing in form of answer of himself to an examination, which being read +unto him, he did by a corporal oath affirm the same to be true ... (see +p. 207) ... + +_CRAWFORD'S EVIDENCE_ + +The like request was made that one Thomas Crawford, a gentleman of the +Earl of Lennox, might be also heard upon his oath, who was, as they +said, the same party of whom mention is made in a long letter written in +French, and exhibited the 7th of this month.... Whereupon the said +Thomas Crawford ... did present a writing, which he said he caused to be +made according to the truth of his knowledge, which being read he +affirmed upon his corporal oath there taken to be true, the tenour +whereof hereafter followeth. The words betwixt the Queen, &c.... The +said Crawford said ... that he ... was secretly informed by the King of +all things which had passed betwixt the said Queen and the King, to the +intent he should report the same to the Earl of Lennox his master ... +and that he did, immediately at the same time, write the same word by +word as near as he possibly could carry the same away ... (see p. 208). + +_Journal of the Privy Council of Hampton Court_, +December 14, 1568. _Goodall_, ii. 254. + +There were produced sundry letters written in French, supposed to be +written by the Queen of Scots' own hand, were then also presently +produced and perused; 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 Queen of Scots to +the Queen's Majesty. {The attestation of Morton and the depositions were +then read.} ... And forasmuch as the night approached, it was thought +good to defer the further declaration of the rest until the next day +following. + +_Ibid._, December 15. + + [The Book of Articles, depositions, and contracts were produced, + along with Acts of the Scottish Parliament.] + +And it is to be noted, that, at the time of the producing, shewing, and +reading of all these foresaid writings, there was no special choice nor +regard had to the order of the producing thereof, but the whole writings +lying all together upon the Council table, the same were one after +another showed rather by hap, as the same did lie upon the table, than +with any choice made, as by the natures thereof, if time had so served, +might have been. + + +_MARY'S PERSONAL ANSWER_ + +1568.--December 19. Queen Mary's own Answer to the "Eik." + +_Mary to her Commissioners. Goodall_, vol. ii. p. 288, +from Cott. Lib. Calig., b. ix. p. 287. + +We have received the eik given in by the Earl of Murray and his +complices. And where they have said thereintill, or at any time, that we +knew, counselled, devised, persuaded, or commended the murther of our +husband, they have falsely, traitorously, and meschantlie lied; imputing +unto us the crime whereof they themselves are authors, inventors, doers, +and some of them proper executors. And where they allege we stopped +inquisition, and due punishment to be made on the said murther; and +siclike {similarly} of the sequel of the marriage with the Earl +Bothwell; it is sufficiently answered in the reply given in at York to +their two points.... And where they charge us with unnatural kindness +towards our son, alleging we intended to have caused him follow his +father hastily: Howbeit the natural love the mother bears to her only +bairn is sufficient to confound them, and misteris {requires} no other +answer. Yet, considering their proceedings by-past, who did wrong him in +our womb, intending to have slain him and us both, there is none of good +judgment but they may easily perceive their hypocrisy, how they would +fortify themselves in our son's name, till their tyranny were better +established. + +_DEMAND TO SEE ELIZABETH_ + +And to the effect our good sister may understand we are not willing to +let their false invented allegations pass over with silence, adhering to +your former protestations, ye shall desire the inspection and doubles of +all that they have produced against us; and that we may see the alleged +principal {original} writings, if they have any, produced; and with +God's grace we shall make our answer thereto, that our innocence shall +be known to our good sister, and to all other Princes; and similarly +shall charge them as authors, inventors, and doers of the said crime +they would impute to us, and prove the same sufficiently, so that we may +have our good sister's presence, as our adversaries have had, and +reasonable space and time to get such verification as appertains +thereto. And protest that we may add thereto as time place and need +shall require. + + [In accordance with these instructions, Mary's Commissioners made + the request before Elizabeth and her Council on 25th December, and + received the following reply:--] + +Which desire her Majesty thought very reasonable, and declared her to be +very glad that her good sister would make answer in that manner for +defence of her honour. And to the effect her Majesty might be the better +advised upon their desires, and give answer thereto, desired an extract +of the said writing to be given to her Highness. (Goodall, p. 282, from +"Queen Mary's Register," as before.) + + +_HAMPTON COURT_ + +1569.--January 7. Proceedings at Hampton Court. + +_Goodall_, vol. ii. p. 297, from _Queen Mary's Register_. + +The which day the said Bishop of Ross, Lord Herries, and Abbot of +Kilwinning, passed to the presence of the Queen's Majesty of England, +her Highness's council being also present, and declared, that they had +presently received writings from the Queen's Majesty of Scotland, their +sovereign, by the which they were of new commanded to signify unto her +Majesty, that she would answer to the calumnious accusation of her +subjects, and also would accuse them as principal authors, inventors, +and executors of that deid for the which she was falsely accused by +them, conform to the writings presented of before in her name, and +therefore desired the writings produced by her inobedient subjects, or, +at the least, the copies thereof, to be delivered unto thame, that their +mistress might fully answer thereto as was desired. + +And the Queen's Majesty of England took to be advised therewith, and +promised to give answer within two or three days. + + +_ELIZABETH'S DECISION_ + +1569.--January 10. At Hampton Court. + +_Ibid._ (p. 305). + +The which day the said Earl of Murray, and his complices, came before +the Queen's Majesty of England, where Sir William Cecil, secretary, at +the Queen's Majesty's command, and her Highness's council, gave them +such answer in effect as follows:-- + +Whereas the Earl of Murray, and his adherents, come into this realm, at +the desire of the Queen's Majesty of England, to answer to such things +as the Queen their sovereign objected against them, and their +allegiances; for so much as there has been nothing deduced against them, +as yet, that may impair their honour or allegiances; and, on the other +part, there had been nothing sufficiently produced nor shown by them +against the Queen, their sovereign, whereby the Queen of England should +conceive or take any evil opinion of the Queen, her good sister, for +anything yet seen; and there being alleged by the Earl of Murray the +unquiet state and disorder of the realm of Scotland, now in his absence, +her Majesty thinketh meet not to restrain any farther the said Earl and +his adherents' liberty; but suffer him and them, at their pleasure to +depart, relinquishing them in the same estate in the which they were of +before their coming within this realm, till she hear farther of their +Queen of Scotland's answer, to such things as have been alleged against +her. + +_MARY'S PROTEST_ + + [Next day, Mary's Commissioners protested and again demanded + "copies of the pretended writings given in." On the 13th they + repeated their demand, and received a promise "that she {Elizabeth} + will not refuse unto the Queen, her good sister, to give the + doubles of all that was produced." (Goodall.) The copies not being + forthcoming, Mary applied to the French ambassador, La Mothe + Fenelon, for help. Elizabeth promised that they should be produced + immediately, but, when Fenelon again approached her on the subject, + he was informed that Mary had, in a letter, accused the English + Queen of partiality. (Fenelon, i. 133 and 162.) The matter was + forgotten in the negotiations for Mary's marriage with the Duke of + Norfolk, and in the conspiracy which followed.] + + + + +SECTION VII + +THE DOCUMENTS + + +_CONTENTS_ + + 1. The Contents of the Casket. + (_a_) The Letters. + (_b_) The Sonnets. + (_c_) The Contracts of Marriage. + + 2. The Deposition of Thomas Nelson. + + 3. The Deposition of Thomas Crawford. + + 4. Murray's Journal. + + 5. The Depositions of Paris. + + 6. The Confession of Ormiston. + + 7. The Confession of the Earl of Morton. + + 8. Letter from Mr. Archibald Douglas to the Queen of Scots. + + +THE CASKET LETTERS. + + [The following eight letters are the principal contents of the + famous Silver Casket (_cf._ pp. 125 and 132-161). A long and bitter + controversy has been waged in connection with the question of their + authenticity. Every recorded production of them has been the + subject of debate. Their discovery is related on pp. 203-207. Their + appearance at York is described in the letter to Queen Elizabeth on + pp. 138-143. It is evident that, at York, they were produced in + Scots, and there has been considerable controversy as to whether + they were there stated to be originals or translations. At + Westminster, they were shown to the Commissioners in French. Within + a few years after the Westminster Conference, we lose all trace of + the original documents. Translations of them into Scots, English, + and Latin and French versions, which we now know (at least in the + case of some of the Letters) not to have been those produced at + Westminster, were published soon after the Conference closed. In + 1571, Latin translations of Nos. I., II., and IV. were printed in + the Latin edition of Buchanan's "Detectio," and, in the same year, + a Scots translation was published in London, containing the sonnets + in French and Scots (reprinted in Anderson's "Collections," Vol. + II.). Prefixed to each of the Scots versions was the first sentence + of each letter, in French (_see_ pp. 194-5). In 1572 another Scots + version was published at St. Andrews, and, in 1573, a French + translation of the "Detectio" appeared, with the imprimatur + "Edinburgh." To it, French versions of all the letters, except No. + III., were appended, with a version of the sonnets, varying + considerably from that in the Scots "Detection." Research has + revealed the existence of English translations of Nos. I. and II. + and French versions of Nos. III. and V. in the Record Office; and + of English translations and French versions of Nos. IV. and VI. at + Hatfield. All these various versions will be found printed, in + careful and scholarly fashion, in Appendix C. of Mr. T. F. + Henderson's "Casket Letters and Mary Queen of Scots." + + The method adopted in the present work has been to print the Scots + version of all the letters, with a glossary of unusual words. It is + the only complete version, and the published French and Latin + letters are probably derived from it. Variations both in these and + in such English and French versions of the letters as are at + Hatfield or the Record Office, are indicated in notes appended to + each letter. Care should be taken to distinguish between these + Hatfield or Record Office French versions and the "Published + French," _i.e._ the French of the edition of 1573. + + References to the literature of the question will be found in an + Appendix. For the guidance of the reader, it may be added that one + section of the discussion turns upon the question whether French + originals of Nos. I., II., VII., and VIII. ever existed; and the + Scots and English have been carefully examined to discover if they + bear traces of derivation from a French source. + + Of the other contents of the Casket, the Sonnets, and the important + clauses of the marriage contracts will be found immediately after + the letters.] + + The following Scots words, which appear frequently in the text of + the letters, may be unknown to English readers:-- + + Abaschit = surprised. + Aganis = against. + Allanerly = only. + Awin = own. + Beseik = beseech. + Chereis = cherish. + Conqueis = conquest. + Cordounis = cords. + Dreddouris = fears. + Eir = ear. + Eis = ease. + Fane = anxious (wald verray fane, wished very much). + Fascherie, fascheous = trouble, troublesome. + Fenze, fenzeingly = feign, feigningly. + Fulische = foolish. + Gangand = going. + Gar = force, compel. + Gude = good. + Haillely = wholly. + Impesche = hinder, prevent. + Incontinent = immediately. + Inlack = fail. + Inragis = becomes angry. + Irkit = tired, wearied. + Irksome = troublesome, disagreeable. + Journey = day's work. + Luif, luifar = love, lover. + Mekle, meikle = much. + Playn, plenzeit = complain, complained. + Quha = who. + Quhair = where. + Quhen = when. + Quhilk = which. + Quhill = while, till. + Regiment = rule. + Schaw = show. + Schort = short. + Schuillis = schools. + Seik = sick. + Sic, siclyke = such, similarly. + Sone = son. + Speik = speak. + Suld = should. + Travell = take pains, try. + Thristit = nudged. + Tuichit = touched. + Tyne = lose. + Unsay = contradict. + Wald = would. + Waryit = cured. + Wod = mad, angry. + Ze, zow = ye, you. + Zisternicht = yesternight. + Zit = yet. + + +Letter I. + +_Goodall_, vol. ii. p. 1, _et seq._ + +It appeiris, that with zour absence thair is alswa joynit forzetfulnes, +seand yat at zour departing ze promysit to mak me advertisement of zour +newis from tyme to tyme. The waitting upon yame zisterday causit me to +be almaist in sic joy as I will be at zour returning, quhilk ze have +delayit langer than zour promeis was. + +As to me, howbeit I have na farther newis from zow according to my +commission, I bring the man with me to Craigmillar upon Monounday, +quhair he will be all Wednisday; and I will gang to Edinburgh to draw +blude of me, gif in the meane tyme I get na newis in ye contrary fra +zow. + +He is mair gay than ever ze saw him; he puttis me in remembrance of all +thingis yat may mak me beleve he luifis me. Summa, ye will say yat he +makis lufe to me; of ye quhilk I tak sa greit pleasure, yat I enter +never where he is, bot incontinent I tak ye seiknes of my sair syde, I +am sa troubillit with it. Gif Paris bringis me that quhilk I send him +for, I traist it sall amend me. + +I pray zow, advertise me of zour newis at lenth, and quhat I sall do in +cace ze be not returnit quhen I am cum thair; for, in cace ze wirk not +wysely, I se that the haill burding of this will fall upon my +schoulderis. Provide for all thing, and discourse upon it first with +zourself. I send this be Betoun, quha gais to ane day of law of the +Laird of Balfouris. + +I will say na farther, saifing that I pray zow to send me gude newis of +zour voyage. From Glasgow this Setterday in the morning. + + There are no important variations in the published Latin and French + translations. + + An English version of Letter I., preserved in the Record Office + (State Papers relating to Mary Queen of Scots, vol. ii. p. 66), + quoted by Mr. Henderson in his "Casket Letters," pp. 124-5:-- + + It seemyth that with your absence forgetfulness is joynid + consydering that at your departure you promised me to send me newes + from you. Nevertheless I can learn none. And yet did I yesterday + looke for that that shuld make me meryer than I shall be. I think + you doo the lyke for your return, prolonging it more than you have + promised. + + As for me, if I hear no other matter of you, according to my + commission, I bring the man Monday to Craigmillar, where he shall + be upon Wednisday. And I go to Edinborough to be lett blud, if I + hear no word to the contrary. + + He is the meryest that ever you sawe and doth remember unto me all + that he can, to make me believe that he loveth me. To conclude, you + wold say that he maketh love to me, wherein I take so much + pleasure, that I have never com in there, but the payne of my syde + doth take me. I have it sore to-day. If Paris doth bring back unto + me that for which I have sent, it suld much amend me. + + I pray you, send me word from you at large, and what I shall doo if + you be not returned, when I shall be there. For if you be not wyse + I see assuredly all the whole burden falling upon my shoulders. + Provide for all and consyder well first of all. I send this present + to Ledington to be delivered to you by Beton, who goeth to one day + a law of Lord Balfour. I will say no more unto you, but that I pray + God send me goode newes of your voyage. + + From Glasco this Saturday morning. + + +Letter II. + +Being departit from the place where I left my hart, it is esie to be +judgeit quhat was my countenance, seing that[20] I was evin als mekle as +ane body without ane hart; quhilk was the occasioun that quhile +dennertyme I held purpois to na body: nor zit durst ony present +themselves unto me, judging yat it was not gude sa to do. + +Four myle or I came to the towne, ane gentilman of the Erle of Lennox +came and maid his commendatiounis unto me; and excusit him that he came +not to meit me, be ressoun he durst not interpryse the same, becaus of +the rude wordis that I had spoken to Cuninghame; and he desyrit that he +suld come to the inquisition of ye matter yat I suspectit him of. This +last speiking was of his awin heid, without ony commissioun. + +I answerit to him, that thair was na receipt culd serve aganis feir; and +that he wald not be affrayit, in case he wer not culpabill; and that I +answerit bot rudely to the doutis yat were in his letteris.[21] Summa, I +maid him hald his toung. The rest were lang to wryte. Schir James +Hammiltoun met me, quha schawit, that the uther tyme quhen he hard of my +cumming, he departit away, and send Howstoun, to schaw him, that he wald +never have belevit that he wald persewit him, nor yit accompanyit him +with the Hammiltounis. He answerit, that he was only cum bot to see me, +and yat he wald nouther accompany Stewart nor Hammiltoun, bot be my +commandement. He desyrit[22] that he wald cum and speik with him. He +refusit it. + +The Laird of Lusse,[23] Howstoun, and Caldwellis sone, with xl hors or +thair about, came and met me. The Laird of Lusse said, he was chargeit +to ane day of law be the King's father, quhilk suld be this day, aganis +his awin handwrit, quhilk he has; and zit notwithstanding, knawing of my +cumming, it is delayit. He was inquyrit to come to him, whilk he +refusit, and sweiris that he will indure nothing of him. + +Never ane of that towne came to speik to me, quhilk causis me think that +thay ar his; and nevertheless he speikis gude, at the leist his sone. I +se[24] na uther gentilman but thay of my company. + +The King send for Joachim zisternicht,[25] and askit at him, quhy I +lodgeit not besyde him, and that he wald ryse the soner gif that wer; +and quhairfoir[26] I come, gif it was for gude appointment? and gif ye +wer thair in particular? and gif I had maid my estait, gif I had takin +Paris[27][28] and Gilbert to wryte to me? and yat I wald send Joseph away. +I am abaschit [_i.e._ I wonder] quha hes schawin him sa far; zea, he +spak evin of ye marriage of Bastiane. + +I inquyrit him of his letteris, quhairintil he plenzeit {complained} of +the crueltie of sum; answerit, that he was astonischit,[29] and that he +was sa glaid to se me, that he belevit to die for glaidness. He fand +greit fault that I was pensive. + +I departit to supper. This beirer will tell zow of my arryving. He +prayit me to returne; the quhilk I did. He declairit unto me his +seiknes, and that he wald mak na testament, but only leif all thing to +me; and that I was the caus of his maladie, becaus of the regrait that +he had that I was sa strange unto him. And thus he said: Ze ask me quhat +I mene be the crueltie contenit in my letter? It is of zow alone that +will not accept my offeris and repentance. I confes that I have failit, +but not into that quhilk I ever denyit, and sicklyke hes failit to {too} +sindrie of your subjectis, quhilk ze have forgevin.[30] + +I am zoung. + +Ye will say that ze have forgevin me oft tymes, and zit yat I returne to +my faultis. May not ane man of my age, for lacke of counsell, fall twyse +or thryse, or inlacke {fail} of his promeis, and at last[31] repent +himself and be chastisit be experience? Gif I may obtene pardoun, I +protest I sall never mak fault agane. And I crave na uther thing bot yat +we may be at bed and buird togidder as husband and wyfe; and gif ze wil +not consent heirunto I sall never ryse out of yis bed. I pray zow, tell +me zour resolution. God knawis I am punischit for making my God of zow, +and for having na uther thocht bot on zow; and gif at ony tyme I offend +zow, ze ar the caus, becaus quhen ony offendis me, gif, for my refuge, I +micht playne unto zow, I wald speik it unto na uther body; bot quhen I +heir ony thing, not being familiar with zow, necessitie constrains me to +keip it in my breist, and yat causes me to tyne {lose} my wit for verray +anger. + +I answerit ay unto him, bot that wald be ovir lang to wryte at lenth. I +askit quhy he wald pas away in ye Inglis schip. He denyis it, and sweirs +theirunto; bot he grantis that he spak with the men. Efter this I +inquirit him of the inquisition of Hiegate. He denyit the same quhill I +schew him the verray wordis was spokin. At quhilk tyme he said that +Mynto had advertisit him, that it was said that sum of the counsell had +brocht an letter to me to be subscrivit to put him in presoun, and to +slay him gif he maid resistence. And he askit the same at Mynto himself, +quha answerit that he belevit ye same to be trew. The morne I will speik +to him upon this point. As to the rest of Willie Hiegait's,[32] he +confessit it, bot it was the morne efter my cumming or {till} he did it. + +He wald verray fane that I suld ludge in his ludgeing. I refusit it, and +said to him that he behovit to be purgeit, and that culd not be done +heir. He said to me, I heir say ze have brocht ane lyter {litter, couch} +with zow; bot I had rather have passit {travelled} with zow. I trow[33] +he belevit that I wald have send him away presoner. I answerit that I +wald tak him with me to Craigmillar, quhais the mediciner and I micht +help him, and not be far from my sone. He answerit that he was reddy +when I pleisit, sa I wald assure him of his requeist. + +He desyris na body to se him. He is angrie quhen I speik of Walcar, and +sayis, that he sall pluk the eiris out of his heid, and that he leis +{lies}. For I inquyrit him upon that, and yat he was angrie with sum of +the Lordis, and wald threittin thame. He denyis that,[34] and sayis he +luifis {loves} thame all, and prayis me to give traist to nathing aganis +him. As to me he wald rather give his lyfe or he did ony displesure to +me. + +And efter yis he schew me of sa mony lytil flattereis, sa cauldly and sa +wysely, that ze will abasche {marvel} thairat. I had almaist forzet that +he said he could not dout of me in yis purpois of Hiegait's; for he wald +never belief yat I, quha was his proper flesche, wald do him ony evill; +alsweill it was schawin that I refusit to subscrive the same.[35] But as +to ony utheris that wald persew him, at least he wald sell his lyfe deir +eneuch; but he suspectit na body, nor yit wald not, but wald lufe all +yat I lufit. + +He wald not let me depart from him, bot desyrit yat I suld walk {watch} +with him. I make it seme that I beleive that all is trew, and takis heid +thairto, and excusit my self for this nicht that I culd not walk. He +sayis, that he sleipis not weil. Ze saw him never better, nor speik mair +humbler. And gif I had not ane prufe of his hart of waxe, and yat myne +were not of ane dyamont quhairintill na schot can mak brek, bot that +quhilk cummis furth your hand, I wald have almaist had pietie of him. +But feir not, the place[36] sall hald unto the deith. Remember, in +recompense thairof, that ze suffer not zouris to be wyn {won} be that +fals race[37] that will travell na les with zow for the same. + +I beleve thay have bene at schuillis togidder. He has ever the teir in +his eye; he salutis every body, zea unto the leist, and makis pieteous +caressing unto thame to mak thame have pietie on him. This day his +father bled at the mouth and nose; ges quhat presage that is. I have not +zit sene him, he keipis his chamber. The King desyris that I suld give +him meit with my awin handis; but gif {give} na mair traist quhair ze ar +than I sall do heir. + +This is my first journay {day's work.} I sall end ye same ye morne. I +wryte all thingis, howbeit thay be of lytill wecht, to the end that ze +may tak the best of all to judge upon. I am in doing of ane work heir +that I hait greitly.[38] Have ye not desyre to lauch to see me lie sa +weill, at ye leist to dissembill sa weill, and to tell him treuth betwix +handis {_i.e._ occasionally.} He schawit me almaist all yat is in the +name of the Bischop and Sudderland, and zit I have never twichit ane +word of that ze schawit me; but allanerly {only} be force, flattering, +and to pray him to assure himself of me. And be pleinzing on the Bischop +I have drawin it all out of him.[39] Ze have hard the rest. + +We are couplit[40] with twa fals races; the devil sinder us and God knit +us togidder for ever, for the maist faithfull coupill that ever He +unitit. This is my faith; I will die in it. + +Excuse I wryte evill, ze may ges ye half of it; bot I cannot mend it, +becaus I am not weil at eis; and zit verray glaid to wryte unto zow +quhen the rest are sleipand, sen {since} I cannot sleip as they do and +as I wald desyre, that is, in your armes, my deir lufe, quhome I pray +God to preserve from all evill, and send yow repois; I am gang and to +seik myne till ye morne, quhen I sall end my Bybill; bot I am faschit +{troubled} that it stoppis me to wryte newis of myself unto zow, becaus +it is sa lang. Advertise me quhat ye have deliberat to do in the mater +ze know upon this point to ye end, that we may understand utheris {each +other} weill, that nathing may thairthrow be spilt. + +I am irkit {weary}[41] and ganging to sleip, and zit I ceis not to +scrible all this paper in sa mekle as restis thairof. Waryit mot this +pockische man be that causes me haif sa mekle pane, for without him I +suld have an far plesander subject to discourse upon. He is not over +mekle deformit,[42] zit he hes ressavit verray mekle. He hes almaist +slane me with his braith; it is worse than your uncle's;[43] and zit I +cum na neirer unto him, bot in ane chyre[44] at the bed feit, and he +being at the uther end thairof. + +The message of the father in the gait {way}. + +The purpois {talk}[45] of Schir James Hamiltoun. + +Of that the Laird of Lusse schawit me of the delay. + +Of the demandis that he askit at Joachim. + +Of my estait. + +Of my company. + +Of the occasioun of my cumming; + +And of Joseph. + +_Item._ The purpois that he and I had togidder. + +Of the desyre that he has to pleis me, and of his repentance. + +Of the interpretatioun of his letter. + +Of Willie Hiegaite's mater {business}, of his departing. + +Of Monsiure de Levingstoun. + +I had almaist forzet, that Monsiure de Levingstoun said in the Lady +Reres eir at supper, that he wald drink to ye folk yat I wist of, gif I +wald pledge thame. And efter supper he said to me, quhen I was lenand + + upon him warming me at the fyre. Ze have {fair} + {sair} + +going to se seik folk,[46] zit ze cannot be sa welcum to thame as ze +left sum body this day in regrait, that will never be blyth quhill he se +zow agane. I askit at him quha that was. With that he thristit my body, +and said, that sum[47] of his folkis had sene zow in fascherie; ze may +ges at the rest. + +I wrocht this day quhill {till} it was twa houris upon this bracelet, +for to put the key of it within the lock thairof, quhilk is couplit +underneth with twa cordounis. I have had sa lytill tyme that it is evill +maid; bot I sall mak ane fairer in the meane tyme. Tak heid that nane +that is heir se it, for all the warld will knaw it, becaus for haist it +was made in yair presence. + +I am now passand to my fascheous {hateful} purpois.[48] Ze gar (force) +me dissemble sa far that I haif horring thairat; and ye caus me do +almaist the office of a traitores. Remember how gif {if} it wer not to +obey zow, I had rather be deid or I did it;[49] my hart bleidis at it. +Summa, he will not cum with me, except upon conditioun that I will +promeis to him, that I sall be at bed and buird with him as of befoir, +and that I will leif him na ofter:[50] And doing this upon my word, he +will do all thingis that I pleis, and cum with me. Bot he has prayit me +to remane upon him quhil uther morne[51] {till tomorrow}. + +He spak verray bravely[52] at ye beginning, as yis beirer will schaw +zow, upon the purpois of the Inglismen, and of his departing; Bot in ye +end he returnit agane to his humilitie. + +He schawit, amangis uther purposis, yat he knew weill aneuch that my +brother had schawin me yat thing, quhilk he had spokin in striviling, of +the quhilk he denyis ye ane half, and above all, yat ever he came in his +chalmer. For to mak him traist me, it behovit me to fenze {feign} in sum +thingis with him; thairfoir, quhen he requeistit me to promeis unto him, +that quhen he was haill we suld have baith ane bed;[53] I said to him +fenzeingly, and making me to beleve his promisis, that gif he changeit +not purpois betwix yis and {by} that tyme, I wald be content thairwith; +bot in the meane tyme I bad him tak heid that he leit na body wit +thairof, becaus, to speik amangis our selvis, the Lordis culd not be +offendit, nor will evill thairfoir: Bot[54] thay wald feir in respect of +the boisting he maid of thame, that gif ever we aggreit togidder, he +suld mak thame knaw the lytill compt thay tuke of him; and that he +counsallit me not to purchas sum of thame by him. Thay for this caus +wald be in jelosy, gif at anis, without thair knawledge, I suld brek the +play set up in contrair in thair presence. + +He said, verray joyfully, And think zow thay will esteme zow the mair of +that? Bot I am verray glaid that ze speik to me of the Lordis, for I +beleve at this tyme ze desyre that we suld leif togidder in quyetnes: +For gif it wer utherwyse, greiter inconvenience micht come to us baith +than we ar war of;[55] bot now I will do quhatever ze will do, and will +lufe all that ze lufe; and desyris zow to make thame lufe in lyk maner; +For, sen thay seik not my lyf, I lufe thame all equallie. Upon yis point +this beirer will schaw zow mony small thingis. Becaus I have over mekle +to wryte, and it is lait: I give traist unto him upon zour word. Summa, +he will ga upon my word to all places. + +Alace! I never dissavit {deceived} ony body: Bot I remit me altogidder +to zour will. Send me advertisement quhat I sall do, and quhatsaever +thing sall cum thairof, I sall obey zow. Advise to with zourself, gif ze +can find out ony mair secreit inventioun by medicine; for he suld tak +medicine and the bath at Cragmillar. He may not cum furth of the hous +this lang tyme. + +Summa, be all that I can leirne, he is in greit suspicioun, and zit +notwithstanding, he gevis credit to my word; bot zit not sa far that he +will schaw ony thing to me; bot nevertheles, I sall draw it out of him, +gif ze will that I avow all unto him. Bot I will never rejoyce to +dissaive ony body that traistis in me: Zit notwithstanding ze may +command me in all thingis. Have na evill opinioun of me for that caus, +be ressoun ze are the occasion of it zourself; becaus, for my awin +particular revenge, I wald not do it to him. + +He gevis me sum chekis[56] of yat quhilk I feir, zea, evin in the quick. +He sayis this far, yat his faultis wer publeist; bot yair is that +committis faultis, that belevis thay will never be spokin of; and zit +thay will speik of greit and small. As towart the Lady Reres, he said, I +pray God that scho may serve zow for your honour; and said, it is +thocht, and he belevis it to be trew, that I have not the power of +myself into myself, and that becaus of the refuse I maid of his offeris. +Summa,[57] for certanetie he suspectis of the thing ze knaw, and of his +lyf. Bot as to the last, how sone that I spak twa or thre gude wordis +unto him, he rejoysis, and is out of dout.[58] + +I saw him not this evening for to end zour bracelet, to the quhilk I can +get na lokkis. It is ready to thame: and zit I feir that it will bring +sum malheus, and may be sene gif ze chance to be hurt. Advertise me gif +ze will have it, and gif ze will have mair silver, and quhen I sall +returne, and how far I mey speik.[59] He inragis when he heiris of +Lethingtoun, or of zow or of my brother. Of zour brother he speikis +nathing. He speikis of the Erle of Argyle. I am in feir quhen I heir him +speik; for he assuris himself yat he hes not an evill opinioun of him. +He speikis nathing of thame that is out, nouther gude nor evill, bot +fleis that point. His father keipis his chalmer; I have not sene him. + +All the Hammiltounis ar heir, that accompanyis me verray honorabilly. +All the freindis of the uther convoyis me quhen I gang to se him. He +desyris me to cum and se him ryse the morne betyme. For to mak schort, +this beirer will tell zow the rest. And gif I leirne onything heir, I +will make zow memoriall at evin. He will tell zow the occasioun of my +remaning. Burne this letter, for it is ovir dangerous, and nathing weill +said in it; for I am thinkand upon nathing bot fascherie. Gif[60] ze be +in Edinburgh at the ressait of it, send me word sone. + +Be not[61] offendit, for I gif not ovir greit credite. Now seing to obey +zow, my deir lufe, I spair nouther honour, conscience, hasard, nor +greitnes quhatsumevir; tak it, I pray zow, in gude part, not efter the +interpretatioun of zour fals gude-brother, to quhome, I pray zow, gif na +credite aganis the maist faithful luifer that ever ze had, or ever sall +have. + +Se not hir, quhais fenzeit teiris suld not be sa meckle praisit nor +estemit, as the trew and faithful travellis quhilk I sustene for to +merite his place. For obtening of the quhilk agains my natural, I +betrayis thame that may impesche me. God forgive me, and God give zow, +my only lufe, the hap and prosperitie quhilk zour humble and faithful +lufe desyris unto zow, quha hopis to be schortly ane uther thing to zow +for the reward of my irksome travellis. + +It is lait; I desyre never to ceis fra wryting unto zow; zit now, after +the kissing of zour handis, I will end my letter. Excuse my evill +wryting, and reid it twyse over. Excuse that thing that is scriblit, for +I had na paper zisterday quhen I wrait that of ye memoriall. Remember +upon zour lufe, and wryte unto hir, and that verray oft. Lufe me as I +sall do zow. + +Remember zow of the purpois[62] of the Lady Reres + + Of the Inglismen + Of his mother. + Of the Erle of Argyle. + Of the Erle of Bothwell. + Of the ludgeing in Edinburgh. + + [The memoranda in the middle of the letter constitute the "thing + that is scriblit," for which pardon is asked in the last sentence. + The concluding words, from "Remember" to "Edinburgh," are + instructions for the bearer.] + +-------------------------------------------------------------------------- + _E._ = _English_; _F._= _Published French_; _L._ = _Latin_. + + [20] _E._ "Considering what the body may without heart, which was + cause ... that till dinner I had used little talk." So also French, + but Latin as in Scots. + + [21] _E._ Adds after "letters," " ... as though there had been a + meaning to pursue him." + + [22] _L._ and _F._ Omit "He desired ... refusit it." + + [23] _E._ "The Lord Luse, Houstoun, and the son of Caldwell, and about + forty horse came to meet me, and he told me that he was sent to one + day o' law from the father, which should be this day," &c. _L._ and + _F._ as in Scots. + + [24] _E._ Omits "I see ... company." + + [25] _E._ Omits "yesternight;" _L._ "heri;" _F._ "hier." + + [26] _E._ ... "Whether it were for any good appointment that he came, + and whether I had not taken Paris and Gilbert to write, and that I + sent Joseph." + + _L._ "Item cur venisrem? an reconciliationis causa? ac nominatim, an + tu hic esses? An familiae catalogum fecissem? An Paridem et Gilbertum + acceptissem, qui mihi scriberent? an Josephum dimissura essem?" + + _F._ "Item pour quoy j'estoye venue, et si c'estoit pour faire une + reconciliation; si vous estiez icy; et si j'avoye faict quelque + rolle de mes domestiques; si j'avois prins Paris et Gilbert, afin + qu'ils m'escrivissent; et si je ne vouloye pas licentier Joseph." + + [27] Scots has a marginal note, "This berer will tell you sumwhat upon + this," which appears in the English text and is omitted in the other + versions. + + [28] This berer will tell you somewhat upon this. [Marginal note in + original.] + + [29] _E._ "He said that he did dream, and that he was so glad to see + me that he thought he should die--indeed, that he had found fault + with me." _L._ and _F._ as in _S._ + + [30] _E._ "You have well pardoned them." _F._ and _L._ as in _S._ + + [31] _E._ "And at the last repent, and rebuke himself by his + repentance." _L._ and _F._ as in _S._ + + [32] _E._ "The rest, as Will Hiegate hath confessed; but it was the + next day that he came hither." _L._ and _F._ as in _S._ + + [33] _E._ omits "I trow ... Presoner." + + [34] _E._ "He denyeth it, and saith that he had already prayed them + to think no such matter of him." _L._ and _F._ as in _S._ + + [35] _E._ "And indeed it was said that I refused to have him let + blood." _L._ and _F._ as in _S._ + + [36] _L._ "Praesidium." _F._ "Forteresse." + + [37] _E._ "By that false race that would do no less to yourself." + _L._ "A gentle illa perfida, quae non minore contentione te cum de + hoc ipso aget." _F._ "Par ceste nation infidele, qui avec non + moindre opiniastrete debatra le mesme avec vous." + + [38] _E._ Adds after "greitly"--"but I had begun it this morning." + + [39] _E._ Adds after "all out of him"--"I have known what I would. I + have taken the worms out of his nose." + + [40] _E._ "We are tied to with two false races. The good yure {goujere} + untye us from them. God forgive me, and God knit us together + forever." _L._ "Diabolus nos sejungat, ac nos conjugat Deus in + perpetuum," &c. _F._, "Le diable nous vueille separer, et que Dieu + nous conjoingne a jamais," &c. + + [41] _E._ "I am weary, and am asleep." _L._ "Ego nudata sum, ac + dormitum eo." _F._, "Je suis toute nue, et m'en vay coucher." [The + Latin and French translation mistook "irkit" for "nakit."] + + [42] _E._ "He is not much the worse, but he is ill arrayed." _L._ + "Non magnopere deformatus est, multum tamen accepit." _F._ "Il n'a + pas este beaucoup rende diforme, toutesfois il en a pris beaucoup." + + [43] _L._ "Propinqui." _F._ "Parent." + + [44] _E._ "By his bolster, and he lieth at the further side of the + bed." _L._ "Ad pedes ejus." _F._ "A ses pieds." + + [45] _E._ "The talk of Sir James Hamilton of the ambassador." _L._ + and _F._ as in _S._ + + _E._ "Lord of Lusse." _L._ "Lussae Comarchus." _F._ "Le prevost de + Lusse." + + [46] _E._ "You may well go and see sick folk." _L._ "Bella huiusmodi + hominum visitatio." _F._ "Voyla une belle visitation de telles + gens." [_L._ and _F._ translators confusing _sik_ (sick) and _sik_ + (such).] + + [47] _E._ "And said, 'One of his folk that hath left you this day.'" + _L._ "Respondit, unus eorum qui te reliquerunt." _F._ "Respondit, + c'est l'un de ceux qui vous ont laissee." + + [48] _E._ "To my tedious talk." _L._ "Ad institutum meum odiosum." + _F._ "A ma deliberation odieuse." + + [49] _E._ Omits "or I did." _L._ and _F._ as in _S._ + + [50] _E._ "No more." _L._ "Ne saepius." _Fr._ "Ne ... si souvent." + + [51] _E._ "Till after tomorrow." _L._ "In diem perendinum." _F._ + "Encor deux jours." + + [52] _E._ "More pleasantly." _L._ "Valde ferociter." _F._ "Fort + asprement." + + [53] _E._ "Make but one bed." _L._ "Communem fore lectum." _F._ "Ne + faisions plus qu'un lict." + + [54] _F._ "But did fear lest, considering the threatening which he + made in case we did agree together, he would make them feel the + small account they have made of him, and that he would persuade me + to pursue some of them." _L._ "Sed in timore futuros quod comitatus + fuisset, si aliquando inter nos concordes essemus, se daturum operam + ut intelligerent quam parvi eum aestimassent; item quod mihi + consuluisset ne gratiam quorundam seorsum a se expeterem." _F._ + "Ains seroient en crainte de ce qu'il m'auroit suivy. Et si nous + pouvions estre d'acord ensemble, qu'il pourroit donner ordre, qu'ils + entendroient combien peu ils l'avoient estime. Item de ce qu'il + m'avoit conseille, que je ne recerchasse la bonne grace d'aucuns + sans luy." + + [55] _E._ "Than you think." _L._ and _F._ as in _S._ + + [56] _E._ "He giveth me certain charges (and these strong) of that + I fear even to say that his faults be published; but there be + that commit some secret faults, and fear not to have them spoken of + so lowdely, and that there is speech of greate and small." _L._ + "Interim me attingit in loco suspecto; idque ad vivum hactenus + proloquutus est, sua crimina esse palam; sed sunt qui majora + committant, et opinantur ea silentio tegi; et tamen homines de + magnis juxta et parvis loquuntur." _F._ "Cependant il m'a donne + attainte du lieu suspect, et a jusques icy discouru bien au vif, que + ces fautes sont congreuees; mais qu'il y en a qui en commettent de + plus grandes, encores qu'ils estiment qu'elles soient cachees par + silence; et toutesfois que les hommes parlent des grands aussi bien + des petits." + + [57] _E._ "To conclude, for assurety he mistrusteth her of that that + ye know, and for his life." _L._ and _F._ as in _S._ + + [58] _E._ "He was very merry and glad." _L._ and _F._ as in _S._ + + [59] _E._ Adds after "speak"--"Now, as far as I perceive. + + {J'ay bien la vogue avec vous[63]} Guess you whether I shall not + {I may do much without you. } be suspected." + + [60] _E._ "For I think upon nothing but grief if you be at + Edinburgh." _L._ and _F._ as in _S._ + + [61] _E._ Omits "Be not ... credit." + + [62] _E._ Omits from "Remember you" to the end. + + [63] This is a comment in the margin, perhaps a quotation from the + French version shown to the Commissioners. According to Mr. T. F. + Henderson, it is in Cecil's handwriting. ("The Casket Letters and + Mary Queen of Scots," p. 78.) +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + +Letter III.[64] + +My Lord, gif the displesure of zour absence, of zour forzetfulnes, ye +feir of danger sa promisit be everie ane to zour sa luifit persone, may +gif me consolatioun, I leif it to zow to juge, seing the unhap that my +cruell lot and continuall misadventure hes hitherto promysit me, +following ye misfortunes and feiris as weill of lait, as of ane lang +tyme by-past, the quhilk ye do knaw. Bot for all that, I will in na wise +accuse zow, nouther of zour lytill cair, and leist of all of zour +promeis brokin, or of ye cauldnes of zour wryting, sen I am ellis sa far +maid zouris, yat yat quhilk pleisis zow is acceptabill to me; and my +thochtis ar as willingly subdewit unto zouris, that I suppois yat all +that cummis of zow proceidis not be ony of the causis forsaid, bot +rather for sic {such} as be just and ressonabill, and sic as I desyre +myself. Quhilk is the fynal order that ze promysit to tak for the +suretie and honorabil service of ye only uphald of my lyfe. For quhilk +alone I will preserve the same, and without the quhilk I desyre not bot +suddane deith, and to testifie unto zow how lawly I submit me under zour +commandementis, I have send zow, in signe of homage, be Paris, the +ornament of the heid, quhilk is the chief gude of the uther memberis, +inferring thairby that, be ye seising {placing} of zow in the +possessioune of the spoile of that quhilk is principall, the remnant +cannot be bot subject unto zow, and with consenting of the hart. In +place thairof, sen I have ellis left it unto zow, I send unto zow ane +sepulture of hard stane, collourit with blak, sawin with teiris and +bones. The stane I compair to my hart, that as it is carvit in ane sure +sepulture or harbor of zour commandementis, and above all, of zour name +and memorie that ar thairin inclosit, as is my heart in this ring, never +to cum furth, quhill deith grant unto yow to ane trophee of victorie of +my banes, as the ring is fullit, in signe that yow haif maid ane full +conqueis of me, of myne hart, and unto yat my banes be left unto yow in +remembrance of your victorie and my acceptabill lufe and willing, for to +be better bestowit than I merite. The ameling that is about is blak, +quhilk signifyis the steidfastness of hir that sendis the same. The +teiris are without number, sa ar the dreddowris to displeis yow, the +teiris of your absence, the disdane that I cannot be in outward effect +youris, as I am without fenzeitnes of hart and spreit, and of gude +ressoun, thocht my meritis wer mekle greiter then of the maist profite +that ever was, and sic as I desyre to be, and sall tak pane in +conditiounis to imitate, for to be bestowit worthylie under your +regiment. My only wealth ressaif thairfoir in als gude part ye same, as +I have ressavit your marriage with extreme joy, the quhilk sall not part +furth of my bosum, quhill yat marriage of our bodyis be maid in publict, +as signe of all that I outher hope or desyris of blis in yis warld. Zit +my hart feiring to displeis you as mekle in the reiding heirof, as I +delite me in ye writing, I will mak end, efter that I have kissit zour +handis with als greit affectioun as, I pray God (O ye only uphald of my +lyfe) to gif yow lang and blissit lyfe, and to me zour gude favour, as +the only gude yat I desyre, and to ye quhilk I pretend. I have schawin +unto this beirer that quhilk I have leirnit, to quhome I remit me, +knawand the credite that ze gaif him, as scho dois that will be for ever +unto zow humbill and obedient lauchfull wyfe, that for ever dedicates +unto zow hir hart, hir body, without ony change, as unto him that I have +maid possessour of my hart, of quhilk ze may hald zow assurit, yat unto +ye deith sall na wayis be changeit, for evill nor gude sall never mak me +go from it. + + The original French version of this letter is in the Record Office + (State Papers, Mary Queen of Scots, vol. ii. p. 66). It is printed + by Mr. Henderson, and by Hosack. No Latin or French version of it + was printed in the _Detectio_. + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + [64] _F._ Mais pour tout cela Je me vous accuserai ni de peu de + souvenance ni de peu de soigne et moins encore de vostre promesse + violee que ce qu'il vous plaist mest agreable et sont mes penses + tant volonterement, aux vostres asubjectes que je veulx presupposer + que tout ce que vient de vous procede non par aucune des causes + susdictes ains pour telles qui son justes et raisoinables et telles + que je desie moy. +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + + +Letter IV. + +I have walkit laiter thair up then I wald have done, gif it had not bene +to draw sumthing out of him, quhilk this beirer will schaw zow; quhilk +is the fairest commodity {_i.e._ the most suitable opportunity} that can +be offerit to excuse zour affairis. I have promysit to bring him the +morne. Put ordour to it, gif ze find it gude. + +Now, Schir, I have brokin my promeis; becaus ze commandit me nouther to +wryte nor send unto zow Zit I have not done this to offend zow, and gif +ze knew the feir yat I have presently, ze wald not have sa mony contrary +suspiciounis in your thocht; quhilk notwithstanding I treit and chereis, +as proceeding from the thing in the warld that I maist desyre, and +seikis fastest to haif, quhilk is zour gude grace; of the quhilk my +behaviour sall assure me. As to me: I sall never dispair of it, and +prayis zow, according to zour promeis, to discharge zour hart unto me, +Utherwayis[65] I will think that my malhure, and the gude handling of hir +that has not ye third part of the faithfull nor willing obedience unto +zow that I beir, hes wyn, aganis my will, yat advantage over me, quhilk +the second lufe of Jason wan; not that I will compair zow unto ane sa +unhappy as he was, nor zit myself to ane sa unpietifull ane woman as +scho. Howbeit, ze caus me to be sumthing lyk unto hir in onything that +tuichis zow, or yat may preserve and keip zow unto hir, to quhome only +ze appertene; gif it be sa that I may appropriate that quhilk is wyn +throch faithfull, zea only, lufiing of zow, as I do, and sall do all the +dayis of my lyfe, for pane or evill that can cum thairof. In recompense +of the quhilk, and of all the evillis quhilk ze have bene caus of to me, +remember zow upon the place heir besyde. + +I craif with that ze keip promeis to me the morne; but that we may meit +togidder, and that ye gif na faith to suspiciounis without the +certanetie of thame. And I craif na uther thing at God, but that ze may +knaw that thing that is in my hart quhilk is zouris; and that he may +preserve zow from all evill, at the leist sa lang as I have lyfe, quhilk +I repute not precious unto me, except in sa far as it and I baith ar +aggreabill unto zow. I am going to bed, and will bid zow gude nicht. +Advertise me tymely in the morning how ze have fairin; for I will be in +pane unto I get worde. Mak gude watch,[66] gif the burd eschaip out of +the caige, or without hir mate. As ye turtur I sall remane alone for to +lament the absence, how schort yat sa ever it be. This letter will do +with ane gude hart, that thing quhilk I cannot do myself, gif it be not +that I have feir that ze ar in sleiping, I durst not wryte this befoir +Joseph, Bastiane, and Joachim, that did bot depart even quhen I began to +wryte. + + A French version of this letter is in the possession of the Marquis + of Salisbury at Hatfield (_cf._ Calendar of Hatfield MSS., I. + 376-7) and has been printed by Mr. Henderson. ("Casket Letters," + pp. 159-162.) It is here given in full, and the variations in the + published Latin and French versions, and in the English translation + at Halfield are indicated in the notes. + +J'ay veille plus tard la hault que je n'eusse fait si ce neust este pour +tirer ce que ce porteur vous dira que je treuve la plus belle commoditee +pour excuser vostre affaire que se pourroit presenter. Je luy ay promise +de le luy mener demain si vous le trouves bon mettes y ordre. Or +monsieur j'ay ja rompu ma promesse. Car vous ne mavyes comande de vous +envoier ni escrire si ne le fais pour vous offencer et si vous scavyes +la craint que j'en ay vous nauries tant des subcons contrairs que +toutesfois je cheris comme procedant de la chose du mond que je desire +et cherche le plus c'est votre bonne grace de laquelle mes deportemens +m'asseureront et je n'en disesperay jamais tant que selon vostre +promesse vous m'en dischargeres vostre c[oe]ur aultrement[65b] je penserais +que mon malheur et le bien composer de c[oe]ux qui n'ont le troisiesme +partie de la fidelite ni voluntair obeissance que je vous porte auront +gaigne sur moy l'avantage de la seconde amye de Jason. Non que je vous +compare a un si malheureus ni moy a une si impitoiable. Combien que vous +men fassies un peu resentir en chose qui vous touschat ou pour vous +preserver et garder a celle a qui seulle vous aparteines si lon se peult +approprier ce que lon acquiert par bien et loyalment voire uniquement +aymer comme je fais et fairay toute ma vie pour pein ou mal que m'en +puisse avenir. En recompence de quoy et des tous les maulx dont vous +maves este cause, souvenes vous du lieu icy pres. Je ne demande que vous +me tennes promesse de main mais que nous truvions et que nadjousties foy +au subcons quaures sans nous en certifier, et je ne demande a Dieu si +non que coignoissies tout ce que je ay au c[oe]ur qui est vostre et quil +vous preserve de tout mal au moyns durant ma vie qui ne me sera chere +qu'autant qu'elle et moy vous serons agreables. Je m'en vois coucher et +vous donner le bon soir mandes moy demain comme vous seres porte a bon +heur. Car j'enseray en pein et faites bon guet[66b] si l'oseau sortira de +sa cage ou sens son per comme la tourtre demeurera seulle a se lamenter +de l'absence pour court quelle soit-ce que je ne puis faire ma lettre de +bon c[oe]ur {fera} si ce nestoit qui je {qy} peur que soyes endormy. Car je +nay ose escrire devant Joseph et Bastienne et Joachim qui ne sont que +partis quand J'ay commence. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + _P. F._ = Published French; _L._= Latin. + + [65][65b][65c] _P. F._ "Autrement j'estimeray que cela se faict par mon + malheureux destin, et par la faveur des astres envers celles, qui + toutesfois n'ont une tierce partie de loyaute, et volonte que j'ay + de vous obeir; si elles, comme si j'estoye une second amye de Jason, + malgre moy, occupent le premier lieu de faveur; ce que je ne dy, + pour vous a comparer a cet homme en l'infelicite qu'il avoit, ny moy + avec une femme toute esloignee de misericorde, comme estoit + celle-la," &c. _L._ "Alioqui suspicabor fieri malo meo fato, et + siderum favore erga illas (quae nec tertiam habent partem + fidelitatis, et voluntatis tibi obsequendi, quam ego habeo) ut + ipsae, velut secunda Jasonis amica, me invita, priorem apud te locum + gratiae occupaverint; nec hoc eo dico, quo te cum homine, ea qua + ille erat infelicitate, comparem, nec me cum muliere tam aliena a + misericordia quam illa erat." + + [66][66b][66c] _P. F._ has no sentence corresponding to "mak gude watch," and + proceeds, "Comme l'oyseau eschappe de la cage, ou la tourtre qui est + sans compagne, ainsi je demeureray seule, pour pleurer votre + absence, quelque brieve qu'elle puisse estre." _L._ also has no + expression for "mak gude watch," but reads, "Si avis evaserit e + cavea autsine compare, velut turtur, ego remanebo sola ut lamenter + absentiam tuam quamlibet brevem." + + The English translation at Hatfield follows the Hatfield French + version closely. The two most important passages run thus: + "Otherwise,[65c] I wold think that my yll luck, and the fayre behavior + of those that have not the thirde parte of the faythfulness and + voluntary obedience that I beare unto you, shall have wonne the + advantage over me of the second Loover of Jason.... Send me[66c] word + tomorrow early in the morning how you have don for I shall think + long. And watche well if the byrde shall fly out of his cage or + without his mate, as the turtle shall remayne alone to lament and + morne for absence how short soever it be." +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + +Letter V. + +My hart, alace! must the foly of ane woman quhais unthankfulness toward +me ze do sufficiently knaw, be occasioun of displesure unto zow, +considering yat I culd not have remeidit thairunto without knawing it? +And sen that I persavit it, I culd not tell it zow, for that[67] I knew +not how to governe myself thairin: for nouther in that nor in any uther +thing will I tak upon me to do ony thing without knawledge of zour will, +quhilk I beseik zow let me understand; for I will follow it all my lyfe +mair willingly than zow sall declair it to me; and gif ze do not send me +word this nicht quhat ze will that I sall do, I will red myself of it, +and hesard[68] to caus it to be interprysit and takin in hand, quhilk +micht be hurtfull to that quhairunto baith we do tend. And quhen scho +sall be maryit, I beseik zow give me ane, or ellis I will tak sic as +sall content zow for their conditiounis; bot as for thair toungis or +faithfulness towart zow I will not answer. I beseik zow yat ane opinioun +of uther persoun be not hurtfull in zour mynde to my constancie, +Mistrust me; bot quhen I will put zow out of dout and cleir myselfe, +refuse it not, my deir lufe, and suffer me to make zow sum prufe be my +obedince, my faithfulness, constancie, and voluntarie subjectioun, +quhilk I tak for the plesandest gude that I micht ressaif, gif ze will +accept it; and mak na ceremonie at it, for ze culd do me na greiter +outrage nor give mair mortall grief. + + [There is a French version of this letter in the Record Office + (_State Papers_, Mary Queen of Scots, vol. ii. p. 63). It has been + printed by Malcolm Laing (vol. iv. p. 202), Hosack (vol. i. p. + 230), and Mr. Henderson (p. 165). The following variations are + taken from the Record Office version. The other published French + version follows the Scots, as also does the Latin.] + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + [67] _F._ "Je ne vous lay peu dire pour scavoir comment je me + gouvernerois." (I could not tell you, in order to know how to govern + myself.) + + [68] _F._ "Et si vous ne me mondes ce soir ce que volles que jeu + faisse je m en deferay au hazard de la fayre entreprandre ce qui + pourroit nuire a ce a quoy nous tandons tous deux {and if you do not + send me word this night what you will that I shall do, I will rid + myself of it at the hazard of making her undertake that which might + be hurtful to that whereunto we both do tend (Laing)} et quant ella + sera mariee je vous suplie donnes qune opinion sur aultrui ne nuise + en votre endroit a ma constance." +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + +Letter VI. + +Alace! my Lord, quhy is zour traist put in ane persoun sa unworthie, to +mistraist that quhilk is haillely zouris? I am wod {wild}. Ze had +promysit me that ze wald send me word every day quhat I suld do. Ye haif +done nathing yairof. I advertisit yow weill to tak heid of zour fals +brother-in-law {Huntly}. He come to me, and without schawing me ony +thing from zow, tald me that ze had willit him to wryte to zow that that +I suld say, and quhair and quhen ze suld cum to me, and that that ze +suld do tuiching him; and thairupon hes preichit[69] unto me yat it was +ane fulische interpryse, and that with myne honour I culd never marry +zow, seing that being maryit ze did cary me away, and yat his folkis wad +not suffer it, and that the Lordis wald unsay yameselvis, and wald deny +that thay had said. To be schort, he is all contrarie. I tald him that +seeing I was cum sa far, gif ze did not withdraw zour self of zour self, +that na perswasioun, nor deith itself suld mak me fail of my promeis. As +tuiching the place ze are too negligent, pardoun me, to remit zour self +thairof unto me. Cheis it zour self, and send me word of it. And in the +meane tyme I am seik; I will differ {defer} as tuiching the mater it is +to lait. It was not lang of me yat ze have not thocht thairupon in time. +And gif ze had not mair changeit zour mynd sen myne absence, then I +have; ye suld not be now to ask sic resolving. Weill, thair wantis +nathing of my part; and seing that zour negligence dois put us baith in +the danger of ane fals brother, gif it succeedet not weill I will never +ryse agane. I send this beirer unto zow, for I dar not traist zour +brother with thir letteris, nor with the diligence. He sall tell zow in +quhat stait I am, and judge ze quhat amendment yir new ceremonies[70] +have brocht unto me. I wald I wer deid, for I se all gais ill. Ze +promysit uther maner of mater of zour foirseing, bot absence hes power +over zow, quha haif twa stringis to zour bow. Dispatch the answer that I +faill not, and put na traist in your brother for this interpryse, for he +hes tald it, and is also all aganis it. God give zow gude nicht. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + [69] _F._ in Record Office, "M'a presche que c'estoit une folle + entreprise, et qu'avecques mon honneur Je ne vous pourries Jamaiis + espouser, veu qu'estant marie vous m'amenies et que ses gens ne + l'endureroient pas et que les seigneurs se dediroient" _P. F._ "Il + me remonstra, que c'estoit une folle entreprise, et que pour mon + honneur, Je ne vous pourvoye prendre a mary, puis que vous estiez + marie, ny aller avec vous, et que ses gens mesmes ne le + souffriroient pas voire que les Seigneurs contrediroyent a ce que en + seroit propose." _E._ at Hatfield, "And thereupon hath preached unto + me that it was a foolish entreprise, and that with mine honour I + could never marry you, seeing that being married you did carry me + away. And that his folk would not suffer it, and that the Lords + would unsay themselves, and would deny that they had said." + + [70] _F._ in Record Office, "Ce incertains nouvelles." _P. F._ "Ces + nouvelles ceremonies." _E._ at Hatfield, "These new ceremonies." +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + +Letter VII. + +Of the place and ye tyme,[71] remit my self to zour brother and to zow. +I will follow him, and will faill in nathing of my part. He finds mony +difficulteis; I think he dois advertise zow thairof, and quhat he +desyris for the handling of himself. As for the handling of myself, I +hard it anis weill devysit.[72] + +Methinkis that zour services, and the lang amitie, having ye gude will +of ye Lordis, do weill deserve ane pardoun, gif above the dewtie of ane +subject yow advance yourself, not to constrane me,[73] bot to assure +yourself of sic place neir unto me, that uther admonitiounis or forane +{foreign} perswasiounis may not let {hinder} me from consenting to that, +that ye hope your service sall mak yow ane day to attene; and to be +schort, to mak yourself sure of the Lordis and fre to mary; and that ye +are constranit for your suretie, and to be abill to serve me faithfully, +to use ane humbil requeist, joynit to ane importune actioun. + +And to be schort, excuse yourself, and perswade thame the maist ye can, +yat ye ar constranit to mak persute aganis zour enemies. Ze sall say +aneuch, gif the mater or ground do lyke yow, and mony fair wordis to +Lethingtoun. Gif ye lyke not the deid, send me word, and leif not the +blame of all unto me. + + [Of this letter there is no version in the Record Office, the only + other version being the published French translation]. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + [71] _F._ "Homme." + + [72] _F._ "Quant a jouer le mien, je scay com me je m'y dois + gouverner, ma souvenant de la facon que les choses ont este + deliberees." + + [73] _F._ Adds "et tenir captive." +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + +Letter VIII. + +My Lord, sen my letter written, zour brother in law yat was, come to me +verray sad, and hes askit me my counsel, quhat he suld do efter to +morne, becaus thair be mony folkis heir, and among utheris the Erle of +Sudderland, quha wald rather die, considdering the gude thay have sa +laitlie ressavit of me, than suffer me to be caryit away, thay +conducting me; and that he feirit thair suld sum troubil happin of it: +of the uther syde, that it suld be said that he wer unthankfull to have +betrayit me. I tald him, that he suld have resolvit with zow upon all +that, and that he suld avoyde, gif he culd, thay that were maist +mistraistit. + +He has resolvit to wryte thairof to zow be my opinioun; for he has +abaschit me to se him sa unresolvit at the neid. I assure myself he will +play the part of an honest man. Bot I have thocht gude to advertise zow +of the feir he hes yat he suld be charget and accusit of tressoun to ye +end yat, without mistraisting him, ze may be the mair circumspect, and +that ze may have ye mair power. For we had zisterday mair then iii. c. +hors of his and of Levingstoun's. For the honour of God, be accompanyit +rather with mair then les; for that is the principal of my cair. + +I go to wryte my dispatche, and pray God to send us ane happy enterview +schortly. I wryte in haist, to the end ye may be advysit in tyme. + + [There are no important variants in the only other version of this + letter--the published French translation.] + + The following are the French versions of the first sentence of each + letter, printed in the Scots translation, published in London in + 1572 (p. 163). + + _Letter I._ Il semble qu' avecques vostre abscence soit joynt le + oubly, [74]ceu qu'au partir vous me promistes de vos nouvelles. Et + toutes foys je n'en puis apprendre, &c. + + _Letter II._ Estant party du lieu ou je avois laisse mon c[oe]ur il se + peult aysement juger quelle estoit ma contenance, veu ce qui peult + un corps sans c[oe]ur, qui a este cause que jusques a la Disnee je + n'ay pas tenu grand propos, aussi personne ne s'est voulu advancer + jugeant bien qu'il n'y faisoit bon, &c. + + _Letter III._ Monsieur, si l'ennury de vostre absence, celuy de + vostre oubly, la crainte du danger, tant provue[75] d'un chacun a + vostre tant aymee personne, &c. + + _Letter IV._ J'ay veille plus tard la haut que je n'eusse fait, si + ce n'eust este pour tirer ce que ce porteur vous dira, que je + trouve la plus belle commodite pour excuser vostre affaire qui ce + purroit presenter, &c. + + _Letter V._ Mon c[oe]ur, helas! fault il que la follie d'une femme, + dont vous cognoissez assez l'ingratitude vers moy, soit cause de + vous donner desplaisir, &c. + + _Letter VI._ Monsieur, helas! pourquoy est vostre fiance mise en + personne si indigne, pour soupconner ce qui est entierement vostre. + J'enrage, vous m'aviez promis, &c. + + _Letter VII._ Du lieu et l'heure[76] je m'en rapporte a vostre + frere et a vous. Je le suivray, et ne fauldray en rien de ma part. + Il trouve beaucoup de difficultez, &c. + + _Letter VIII._ Monsieur, de puis ma lettre escrite vostre beau + frere qui fust, est venu a moy fort triste, et m'a demande mon + conseil de ce qu'il feroit apres demain, &c. + + The slight variations in the other French versions are noted above. + There are no Record Office or Hatfield versions of I., II., VII., + and VIII., and there is no "Published French" version of III. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + [74] _P. F._ "veu." + + [75] _Record Office F._ "promis." + + [76] _P. F._ "homme." +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + +The Love Sonnets. + +_Henderson's Casket Letters._ + + The "divers fond ballads" referred to in the letter of Elizabeth's + Commissioners of October 11th, 1568, consist of the following + "sonnets" in French. + + The sonnets are printed from the English edition of Buchanan's + _Detection_ (1571). The lines in italics are translated from the + Scots by Professor York Powell. + + 1. O Dieux ayez de moy compassion, + Et m'enseignez quelle preuue certain{e} + Ie puis donner qui ne luy semble vain{e} + De mon amour & ferme affection. + Las n'est il pas ia en possession + Du corps, du coeur qui ne refuse paine + Ny deshonneur, en[77] la vie incertaine, + Offense de parentz, ne pire affliction?[78] + Pour luy {tous mes} amis estime moins que rien, + Et d{e mes} ennemis ie veux esperer bien. + I'ay hazarde {pour luy} & nom & conscience: + Ie veux pour luy au monde renoncer: + Ie veux mourir pour le fair'[79] auancer. + Que reste il plus pour prouuer ma constance? + + 2. Entre ses mains & en son plein pouuoir, + Je metz mon filz, mon honneur, & ma vie, + Mon pais, mes[80] subjectz, mon ame assubiectie + Est tout a luy, & n'ay autre voulloir + Pour mon obiect, que sans le deceuoir + Suiure ie veux, malgre toute l'enuie + Qu'issir en peult, car ie n'ay autre envie + Que de ma foy, luy faire apperceuoir + Que pour tempeste ou bonnace qui face + Iamais ne veux changer demeure ou place. + Brief ie feray de ma foy telle preuue, + Qu'il cognoistra sans faulte[81] ma constance, + Non par mes pleurs ou fainte obeyssance, + Come autres font,[82] mais par diuers espreuue. + + 3. Elle pour son honneur vous doibt obeyssance + Moy vous obeyssant i'en puis receuoir blasme + N'estat, a mon regret, comme elle vostre femme. + Et si n'aura pourtant en ce point preeminence + Pour son propre profit[83] elle vse de coustance, + Car ce n'est peu d'honneur d'estre de voz biens dame + Et moy pour vous aymer i'en puis receuoir blasme + Et ne luy veux ceder en toute l'obseruance: + Elle de vostre mal n'a l'apprehension + Moy ie n'ay nul repos tant ie crains l'apparence: + Par l'aduis des parentz, elle eut vostre accointance + Moy malgre tous les miens vous porte affection + {_Et neanmoins, mon c[oe]ur, vous doubtez ma constance_}[84] + Et de sa loyaute prenez ferme asseurance. + + 4. Par vous mon coeur & par vostre alliance + Elle a remis sa maison en honneur + Elle a jouy par vous de[85] la grandeur + Dont tous les siens n'ayent nul asseurance + De vous, mon bien, elle a eu l'ac coinstance,[86] + Et a gaigne pour vn temps vostre coeur, + Par vous elle a eu plaisir en bon heur, + Et par vous a[87] honneur & reuerence, + Et n'a perdu sinon la jouyssance + D'vn fascheux sot qu'elle aymoit cherement, + Ie ne la playns d'aymer donc ardamment, + Celuy qui n'a en sens, ny en vaillance, + En beaute, en bonte, ny en constance + Point de second. Ie vis en ceste foy.[88] + + 5. Quant vous l'amiez, elle vsoit de froideur. + Sy vous souffriez pour s'amour passion + Qui vient d'aymer de trop d'affection, + Son doy monstroit, a tristesse de coeur + N'ayant plaisir de vostre grand ardeur. + En ses habitz, monstroit sans fiction + Qu'elle n'auoit paour qu'imperfection + Peust l'effacer hors de ce loyal coeur. + De vostre mort ie ne vis la peaur[89] + Que meritoit tel mary & seigneur. + Somme, de vous elle a eu tout son bien + Et na prise ne iamais estime + Vn si grand heur sinon puis qu'il n'est sien + Et maintenant dit l'auoir tant ayme. + + 6. Et maintenant elle commence a voir + Qu'elle estoit bien de mauuais iugement + De n'estimer l'amour d'vn tel amant + Et voudrait bien mon amy deceuoir, + Par les escriptz tout fardez de scauoir + Qui pourtant n'est en son esprit croissant + Ains emprunte de quelque autheur luissant + A faint tresbien vn ennoy[90] sans l'avoir + Et toutesfois ses parolles fardeez, + Ses pleurs, ses plaincts remplis de fictions. + Et ses hautz cris & lamentations + Ont tant gaigne que par vous sont gardeez + Ses lettres {escriptes} ausquellez vous donnez foy + Et si l'aymez & croyez plus que moy. + + 7. Vous la croyez las trop ie l'appercoy + Et vous doutez de ma ferme constance, + O mon seul bien & mon seul esperance, + Et ne vous puis ie asseurer de ma foy + Vous m'estimez plus legier que le noy,[91] + Et si n'auez en moy nul' asseurance, + Et soupconnez mon coeur sans apparence, + Vous deffiant a trop grand tort de moy. + Vous ignorez l'amour que ie vous porte + Vous soupconnez qu'autre amour me trasporte, + Vous estimez mes parolles du vent, + Vous depeignez de cire mon las coeur + Vous me pensez femme sans iugement, + Et tout sela augmente mon ardeur. + + 8. Mon amour croist & plus en plus croistra + Tant que je viure &[92] tiendray a grandeur, + Tant seulement d'auoir part en ce coeur + Vers qui en fin mon amour paroistra + Sy tres a clair que iamais n'en doutra, + {_Pur luy je lutterai contre malheur_}[93] + Pour luy ie veux recercher la grandeur, + Et feray tant qu'en vray cognoistera, + Que ie n'ay bien, heur, ne contentement, + Qu'a l'obeyr & servir loyaument. + Pour luy iattendz toute bonne fortune, + Pour luy ie veux garder sainte & vie + Pour luy vertu de suyure i'ay enuie[94] + Et sans changer me trouvera tout vne. + + 9. Pour luy aussi ie jette mainte larme. + Premier quand il se fist de ce corps {posses}seur, + Duquel alors il n'auoit pas le coeur. + Puis me donna vn autre dur alarme + Quand il versa de son sang mainte dragme + Dont de grief il me vint telle[95] doleur, + M'en pensay[96] oster la vie en frayeur + De perdre la{s} le seul rempar qui m'arme. + Pour luy depuis iay mesprise l'honneur + Ce qui nous peult seul pouruoir de bonheur. + Pour luy hazarde grandeur & conscience. + Pour luy {tous mes} i'ay quite parentz, & amis, + Et tous autres respectz sont apart mis. + Brief de vous seul ie cherche l'alliance. + + 10. De vous, ie dis, seul soustein de ma vie + Tant seulement ie cerche m'asseurer, + Et si ose de moy tant presumer + De vous gaigner maugre toute l'enuie. + Car c'est le seul desir de vostre {chere} amie, + De vous seruir & loyaument aymer, + Et tous malheurs moins que riens estimer, + {Et} vostre volonte de mon mie{ux} suivie,[97] + Vous cognoistrez avecque obeyssance + De mon {loyal} deuoir n'omettant la sciance + A quoy ie estudiray pour {tousiours} vous complaire + Sans aymer rien que vous, soubz {la} suiection. + De qui ie veux sans nulle fiction + Vivre & mourir & a ce j'obtempere. + + 11. Mon coeur, mon sang, mon ame, & mon soucy, + {Las,} vous m'auez promis qu'aurons ce plaisir + De deuiser auecques vous a loysir, + Toute la nuict, ou ie languis icy + Ayant le coeur d'extreme paour transy, + Pour voir absent le but de mon desir + Crainte d'oublir vn coup me vient {a} saisir: + Et l'autre fois ie crains que rendurcie + Soit contre moy vostre amiable coeur + Par quelque dit d'un meschant rapporteur. + Un autre fois ie crains quelque auenture + Qui par chemin detourne mon amant, + Par vn fascheux & nouueau accident. + Dieu detourne tout malheureux augure. + + * * * * * + + 12. Ne vous voyant selon qu'auez promis + I'ay mis la main au papier pour escrire + D'vn different que ie voulu transcrire, + Ie ne scay pas quel sera vostre aduis + Mais ie scay bien que mieux aymer scaura + Vous diriez bien que plus y gaignera. + + * * * * * + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + [77] Ny? + + [78] Rochelle text has "affection" wrongly. + + [79] Buchanan, "luy" only. Rochelle text, "lui le fair." + + [80] Read "Mon pis subject"? + + [81] Buch., "fainte." + + [82] Buch., "ont fait." + + [83] Buch., "Pour son profit elle." + + [84] Scots translation, "And not the less, my heart, ye doubt of my + constance." + + [85] Buch., "vous la." + + [86] Buch., "la constance." + + [87] Buch. inserts "receu." + + [88] Text of sextain corrupt. + + [89] Omitted in Rochelle version as corrupt. + + [90] Buch., "envoy." + + [91] Buch., "mestimez legier que le voy." + + [92] Buch., "viuray, &". + + [93] Scots--"For him I will stryve aganis wan-weird." + + [94] Rochelle version to read "luy tout." + + [95] Buch., "lesser." + + [96] Buch., "Que m'en pensa ... & frayeur." + + [97] Rochelle text, "et vostre ... de la mienne suivi," and later + version "la mien suivre." +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + +The Contracts of Marriage. + +_Goodall_, vol. ii. p. 54, from Cot. Lib. Calig., C. i. + +At Seton, the 5th day of April, the year of God, 1567, the right +excellent, right high and mighty Princess, Mary, by the grace of God, +Queen of Scots, ... in the presence of the Eternal God, faithfully, and +on the word of a Prince, by these presents, takes the said James, Earl +Bothwell, as her lawful husband, and promises and obliges her Highness, +that how soon the process of divorce, intended betwixt the said Earl +Bothwell and Dame Jane Gordon, now his pretended spouse, be ended by the +order of the laws, her Majesty shall, God willing, thereafter shortly +marry and take the said Earl to her husband.... He presently takes her +Majesty as his lawful spouse, in the presence of God, and promises and +obliges him ... that in all diligence possible, he shall prosecute and +set forward the said process of divorce already begun and intended +betwix him and the said Dame Gordon, his pretended spouse.... + + MARIE, R. + JAMES, EARL BOTHWELL. + +Here note, that this contract was made the v of April, within viii weeks +after the murder of the King, which was slain the x of February before; +also it was made vii days before Bothwell was acquitted, by corrupt +judgment, of the said murder. Also it appears by the words of the +contract itself, that it was made before sentence of divorce betwixt +Bothwell and his former wife, and also in very truth was made before any +suit of divorce intended or begun between him and his former wife, +though some words in this contract seem to say otherwise, which is thus +proved; for this contract is dated the v of April, and it plainly +appears by the judicial acts, ... wherein is contained the whole process +of the divorce between the said Earl and Dame Jane Gordon his wife, that +the one of the same processes was intended and begun the xxvi day of +April, and the other the xxvii.--Buchanan's "Detection." + +Nous Marie, par la grace de Dieu, Royne d'Ecosse, douaryere de France, +&c, promettous fidellement et de bonne foy, et sans contraynte, a Jaques +Hepburn, Comte de Boduel, de n'avoir jamais autre espoulx et mary que +luy, et de le prendre pour tel toute et quant fois qu'il m'en requerira, +quoy que parents, amys ou autres, y soient contrayres. Et puis que Dieu +a pris mon feu mary Henry Stuart dit Darnley et que par ce moien je sois +libre, n'estant sous obeissance de pere, ni de mere, des mayntenant je +proteste que, lui estant en mesme liberte, je seray preste, et +d'accomplir les ceremonies requises an mariage; que je lui promets +devant Dieu, que j'en prantz a tesmoignasge, et la presente, signee de +ma mayn: ecrit ce-- + + MARIE, R. + + [This contract merely promises to marry Bothwell, without + constraint, and refers to the writer's freedom from the necessity + of any one's permission, since Darnley's death. It contains no + reference to the divorce.] + + +_MORTON'S DECLARATION_ + +The Discovery of the Letters--1. The Earl of Morton's Declaration. + +_Henderson's Casket Letters_, pp. 113-116, from fol. 216, +Add. MSS. 32,091, Brit. Mus. + +The trew declaration and report of me, James, Earl of Morton, how a +certain silver box overgilt containing diverse missive writings, +sonnets, contracts, and obligations for marriage betwix the Queen mother +to our sovereign lord, and James sometime Earl Bothwell, was found and +used. + +Upon Thursday the xix of June, 1567, I dined at Edinburgh, the Laird of +Lethington, secretary, with me. At time of my dinner a certain man came +to me, and in secret manner showed me that three servants of the Earl +Bothwell, viz. Mr. Thomas Hepburn, parson of Auldhamesokkes, John +Cockburn, brother to the laird of Skirling, and George Dalgleish were +come to the town, and passed into the castle. Upon which advertisement I +on the sudden sent my cousin Mr. Archibald Douglas and Robert Douglas, +his brother, and James Johnston of Westerrall, with others my servants, +to the number of xvi or thereby, toward the castle to make search for +the said persons, and, if possible were, to apprehend them. According to +which my direction, my servants passed, and at the first missing the +forenamed three persons for that they were departed forth of the castle +before their coming, my men then parting into several companies upon +knowledge that the others whom they sought were separated, Mr. Archibald +Douglas sought for Mr. Thomas Hepburn and found him not, but got his +horse, James Johnston sought for John Cockburn and apprehended him, +Robert Douglas seeking for George Dalgleish. After he had almost given +over his search and inquisition a good fellow understanding his purpose +came to him offering for a mean piece of money to reveal where George +Dalgleish was. The said Robert satisfying him that gave the intelligence +for his pains, passed to the Potterrow beside Edinburgh, and there +apprehended the said George, with divers evidences and letters in +parchment, viz. Earl Bothwell's infeftments of Liddesdale, of the +Lordship of Dunbar and of Orkney and Shetland, and divers others, which +all with the said George himself, the said Robert brought and presented +to me. And the said George being examined of the cause of his direction +to the castle of Edinburgh, and which letters and evidents he brought +forth of the same, alleged he was sent only to visit {examine} the Lord +Bothwell, his master's clothing, and he had not more letters nor +evidents than these which were apprehended with him. But his report +being found suspicious and his gesture and behaviour ministering cause +of mistrust seeing the gravity of the action that was in hand, it was +resolved by common assent of the noblemen convened, that the said George +Dalgleish should be surely kept that night, and upon the morn should be +had to the Tolbooth of Edinburgh and there be put in the iron and +torments for furthering of the declaration of the truth, wherein being +set, upon Friday the xx day of the said month of June before any +rigorous demeaning of his person, fearing the pain, and moved of +conscience, he called for my cousin Mr. Archibald Douglas, who coming, +the said George desired that Robert Douglas should be sent with him, and +he should show and bring to light that which he had. So being taken +forth from the irons, he passed with the said Robert to the Potterrow, +and there, under the sceit {seat} of a bed took forth the said silver +box, which he had brought forth of the castle the day before, locked, +and brought the same to me at viii hours at night, and because it was +late I kept it all that night. Upon the morn, viz., Saturday, the xxi of +June, in presence of the Earls of Atholl, Mar, Glencairn, myself, the +Lords Home, Sempill, Sanquhar, the Master of Graham, and the Secretary, +and Laird of Tullibardine, Comptroller, and the said Mr. Archibald +Douglas, the said box was broken open because we wanted the key, and the +letters within contained sighted {_i.e._ examined} and immediately +thereafter delivered again into my hand and custody. Since which time, I +have observed and kept the same box, and all letters, missives, +contracts, sonnets, and divers writings contained therein fairly without +alteration changing adding or diminishing of anything found or received +in the said box. This I testify and declare to be undoubted truth. + +This is the copy of that which was given to Mr. Secretary Cecil upon +Thursday the 8th of December 1568. + +This is the true copy of the declaration made and presented by the Earl +of Morton to the Commissioners and Council of England sitting in +Westminster for the time, upon Thursday being the 29 of December 1568. + +Subscribed with his hand thus, MORTON. + + +2. Buchanan's Account. + +_Translated from the History_, book xviii. c. 51. + +It happened that, about the same time, Bothwell sent one of his +confidential servants to the castle of Edinburgh, to bring to him the +silver casket, covered with inscriptions, which had once belonged to the +French king, Francis. In it were letters of the Queen, almost all +written with her own hand, in which both the King's murder and the whole +sequel were plainly discernible; and in almost every letter there was an +injunction to burn it. But Bothwell, who knew the Queen's inconstancy, +of which he had recently seen many instances, preserved the letters, so +that, in any disagreement, he might use their testimony, and prove +himself not the author of the crime, but only an accomplice. This casket +Sir Robert Balfour gave to Bothwell's servant to take away; but first he +told the leaders of the opposite party what had been sent, and the agent +and the destination.... It was captured.... + + +The Deposition of Thomas Nelson. + +_Goodall_, vol. ii. p. 243, from Cott. Lib. Calig. i. 165. + +... She {the Queen} caused take down the said new black bed {in +Darnley's room}, saying it would be soiled with the bath, and in the +place thereof set up an old purple bed, ... and the said keys that were +delivered into the hands of Archibald Beton remained still in the hands +of him, and others that awaited upon the Queen, and never were delivered +again to the King's servants; for she set up a green bed for herself in +the said low chamber, wherein she lay the said two nights, and promised +also to have bidden {remained} there upon the Sunday at night. But after +she had tarried long and entertained the King very familiarly, she took +purpose (as it had been on the sudden), and departed as she spake to +give the masque to Bastien who that night was married {to} her servant, +namely the said Archibald Beton and one Paris, Frenchman, having the +keys of her chamber, wherein her bed stood in, as also of the passage +that passed toward the garden.... The Queen being departed toward +Holyrood-house, the King within the space of one hour passed to bed, and +in the chamber with him lay umquhill {_i.e._ the late} William Taylor. +The deponent and Edward Symonds lay in the little gallery, that went +direct to the south out of the King's chamber, ... and beside them lay +William Taylor's boy, who never knew of anything till the house wherein +they lay was falling about them.... + + +Thomas Crawford's Deposition. + + [With regard to the deposition of Crawford, see p. 144; the wording + of the account of the conversation between Mary and Darnley should + be carefully compared with that of the second Casket Letter.] + +_Hosack's Mary._ Appendix L. + +First I made my Lord {Lennox} my master's humble commendations unto her +Majesty with the excuse that he came not to meet her, praying her grace +not to think that it was either for proudness or yet for not knowing his +duty towards her Highness, but only for want of health at the present, +and also that he would not presume to come in her presence until he knew +farther her mind because of the sharp words that she had spoken of him +to Robert Cuningham, his servant, in Stirling, whereby he thought he was +in her Majesty's displeasure. Notwithstanding, he has sent his servants +and friends to wait upon her Majesty. She answered that there was no +receipt against fear. I answered that my Lord had no fear for anything +he knew in himself, but only of the cold and unkind words she had spoken +to his servant. She answered and said that he would not be afraid in +case he were not culpable. I answered that I knew so far of his Lordship +that he desired nothing more than that the secrets of every creature's +heart were written in their face. She asked if I had any farther +commission. I answered no. Then she commanded me to hold my peace. + +The words that I remember were betwixt the King and the Queen in Glasgow +when she took him away to Edinburgh. + +The King for that my Lord his father was then absent and sick, by reason +whereof he could not speak with him himself, called me unto him, and +these words that had then passed betwixt him and the Queen, he gave me +in remembrance to report unto the said my Lord his father. + +After their meeting and short speaking together she asked him of his +letters, wherein he complained of the cruelty of some. He answered that +he complained not without cause, and as he believed, she would grant +herself, when she was well advised. She asked him of his sickness, he +answered that she was the cause thereof, and moreover he said, ye asked +me what I meant by the cruelty specified in my letters, that proceedeth +of you only, that will not accept my offers and repentance. I confess +that I have failed in some things, and yet greater faults have been made +to you sundry times, which ye have forgiven. I am but young, and ye will +say ye have forgiven me divers times. May not a man of my age for lack +of counsel, of which I am very destitute, fall twice or thrice, and yet +repent and be chastised by experience. If I have made any fail that ye +but think a fail, howsoever it be, I crave your pardon, and protest that +I shall never fail again. I desire no other thing but that we may be +together as husband and wife. And if ye will not consent hereto, I +desire never to rise forth of this bed. Therefore I pray you give me an +answer hereunto. God knoweth how I am punished for making my god of you, +and for having no other thought but on you. And if any time I offend +you, ye are the cause, for that when any offendeth me, if for my refuge +I might open my mind to you, I would speak to no other, but when any +thing is spoken to me, and ye and I not being as husband and wife ought +to be, necessity compelleth me to keep it in my breast, and bringeth me +in such melancholy as ye see me in. She answered that it seemed him she +was sorry for his sickness, and she would find remedy therefor, so soon +as she might. + +She asked him why he would have passed away in the English ship. He +answered that he had spoken with the Englishman, but not of mind to go +away with him. And if he had, it had not been without cause, considering +how he was used. For he had neither to sustain himself nor his servants, +and needed not make further rehearsal thereof, seeing she knew it as +well as he. + +Then she asked him of the purpose of Highgate. He answered that it was +told him. She required how and by whom it was told him. He answered that +the Lord of Minto told him that a letter was presented to her in +Craigmillar, made by her own device, and subscribed by certain others +who desired her to subscribe the same, which she refused to do. And he +said that he would never think that she who was his own proper flesh, +would do him any hurt, and if any other would do it, they should buy it +dear, unless they took him sleeping, albeit he suspected none, so he +desired her effectuously to bear him company. For she ever found some +ado to draw herself from him to her own lodging, and would never abide +with him past two hours at once. + +She was very pensive, whereat he found fault. He said to her that he was +advertised she had brought a litter with her. She answered that because +she understood he was not able to ride on horseback, she brought a +litter that he might be carried more softly. He answered that it was not +meet for a sick man to travel, that could not sit on horseback, and +especially in so cold weather. She answered that she would take him to +Craigmillar, where she might be with him, and not far from her son. He +answered that upon condition he would go with her, which was that he and +she might be together at bed and board as husband and wife, and that she +should leave him no more. And if she would promise him that, upon her +word, he would go with her when she was pleased, without respect of any +danger either of sickness wherein he was, or otherwise. But if she would +not condescend thereto, he would not go with her in any wise. + +She answered that her coming was only to that effect, and if she had not +been minded thereto, she had not come so far to fetch him, and so she +granted his desire, and promised him that it should be as he had spoken, +and thereupon gave him her hand, and faith of her body, that she would +love him, and use him as her husband, notwithstanding before they could +come together, he must be purged and cleansed of his sickness, which she +trusted would be shortly, for she minded to give him the bath at +Craigmillar. + +Then he said he would do whatsoever she would have him do, and would +love all that she loved. She required of him in especial, whom he loved +of the nobility, and whom he hated. He answered that he hated no man, +and loved all alike. She asked him how he liked the Lady Reres, and if +he were angry with her. He answered that he had little mind of such as +she was, and wished of God she might serve her to her honour. Then she +desired him to keep to himself the promise betwixt him and her, and to +open it to nobody. For peradventure the Lords would not think well of +their sudden agreement, considering he and they were at some words +before. He answered that he knew no cause why they should mislike of it, +and desired her that she would not move any of them against him even as +he would stir none against her, and that they would work both in one +mind, otherwise it might turn to great inconvenience to them both. She +answered that she never sought any way by him, but he was in fault +himself. He answered again that his faults were published, and that +there were that made greater faults than ever he made that believed were +unknown, and yet they would speak of great and small. + +Farther, the King asked me at that present time what I thought of his +voyage. I answered that I liked it not, because she took him to +Craigmillar. For if she had desired him with herself, or to have had his +company, she would have taken him to his own house in Edinburgh, where +she might more easily visit him than to travel two miles out of town to +a gentleman's house. Therefore my opinion was that she took him away +more like a prisoner than her husband. + +He answered that he thought little else himself, and feared himself +indeed save the confidence he had in her promise only; notwithstanding +he would go with her, and put himself in her hands, though she should +cut his throat, and besought God to be judge unto them both. + +_Endorsed--Thomas Crawford's Deposit._ + + +Murray's Journal. + +_From a copy marked by Cecil_, Cot. Lib. Calig., B. ix. fol. 247, +quoted by Goodall, vol. ii. p. 247. + +_January 21, 1566._--The Queen took her journey toward Glasgow, and was +accompanied with the Earls of Huntly and Bothwell to the Kalendar, my +Lord Livingstone's place. + +_23._--The Queen came to Glasgow, and on the road met her, Thomas +Crawford, from the Earl of Lennox, and Sir James Hamilton, with the rest +mentioned in her letter. Earl Huntly and Bothwell returned that same +night to Edinburgh, and Bothwell lay in the town. + +_24._--The Queen remained at Glasgow, like as she did the 25th and the +26th, and had the conference with the King whereof she writes; and in +this time wrote her bill and other letters to Bothwell. And Bothwell +this 24th day was found very timeous weseing {inspecting} the King's +lodging that was in preparing for him, and the same night took journey +towards Liddesdale. + +_27._--The Queen (conform to her commission as she writes) brought the +King from Glasgow to the Kalendar towards Edinburgh. + +_28._--The Queen brought the King to Linlithgow, and there remained all +morn, while she got word of my Lord Bothwell his returning towards +Edinburgh, by Hob Ormiston, one of the murderers. The same day the Earl +Bothwell came back from Liddesdale towards Edinburgh. + +_29._--She remained all day in Linlithgow with the King, and wrote from +thence to Bothwell. + +_30._--The Queen brought the King to Edinburgh, and put him in his +lodging, where he ended; and Bothwell keeping tryst met her upon the +way. + +_February 5._--She lodged all night under the King, in the chamber +wherein the powder was laid thereafter, and whereof Paris, her chamber +child, received the key. + +_7._--She lodged and lay all night again in the foresaid chamber, and +from thence wrote that same night the letter concerning the purpose of +the Abbot of Holyrood-house (_cf._ p. 140). + +_8._--She confronted the King and my Lord of Holyrood-house, conform to +her letter written the night before. + +_9._--She and Bothwell supped at the banquet with the Bishop of the +Isles, and after passed up accompanied with Argyll, Huntly, and +Bothwell, to the King's chamber, and there they remained cherishing him, +till Bothwell and his complices put all things to order, and Paris, her +chamber child, received in her chamber the powder, and came up again and +gave the sign, and they departed to Bastian's banquet and masque, about +eleven hours, and thereafter they both returned to the Abbey, and talked +till twelve hours and after. + +_10._--Betwix two and three of the clock, the King was blown in the air +by the powder. + + +The Depositions of Paris. + + The depositions of Paris were not produced at Westminster. They were + taken, in the early autumn of 1569, in connection with the charges + against Lethington (who had by this time, with Kirkcaldy of Grange, + joined the Queen's party). "Paris" was the nickname of Nicholas + Hubert, a French attendant of Bothwell, who, shortly before the + murder, attached himself to the Queen's service. He was known to be + concerned in the murder, but succeeded in escaping from the country. + He took refuge in Denmark, and was delivered up on Murray's request. + Queen Elizabeth wrote to the Regent asking him to delay the + execution of Paris, and Murray replied: "The said Paris arrived at + Leith about the middle of June last {1569}, I at that time being in + the north parts of this realm far distant, whereupon it followed + that, at my returning, after diligent and circumspect examination of + him, and long time spent in that behalf, upon the xvi day of August + by-past, he suffered death by order of law, so that before the + receipt of your Highness letter by the space of 7 or 8 days he was + execute." {Laing, vol. i. p. 295, from the Paper Office.} The letter + is undated. But Professor Schiern, of Copenhagen, sent Mr. Hosack a + copy of a document from the Danish archives, containing a receipt + for the delivery of "two men, William Murray, and Paris, a + Frenchman," accused of Darnley's murder. The receipt is dated 30th + October 1568, and is given by Captain Clark, on behalf of the + Scottish Government. (Hosack, vol. i. pp. 250-251.) There is a copy + of the depositions in the Cotton Library, bearing the following + note: "This is the true copy of the declaration and deposition of + the said Nicholas Hubert or Paris, whereof the principal {original} + is marked every leaf with his own hand.... Ita est Alexander Hay, + scriba secreti consilii S.D.N. Regis, ac Notarius Publicus." But the + originals, sent to London in October 1569, and preserved in the + Record Office, bear that they were taken "in presence of Mr. George + Buchanan, Master of St. Leonard's College in St. Andrews; Mr. John + Wood, Senator of the College of Justice; and Robert Ramsay, writer + of this declaration, servant to my lord regent's grace." {Hosack, + vol. i. p. 256.} The documents were first published in Anderson's + "Collection" (1725), not in Buchanan's "Detection," along with the + depositions of Hay, Hepburn, and Dalgleish. + + The first deposition of Paris is a Confession, in French, made at + St. Andrews on 9th August 1569, "without any constraint or + interrogations." It states that, on the Wednesday or Thursday before + the murder, Bothwell told Paris of the plot, and requested his aid. + "What do you think?" said he.... "My Lord," said I, "I have served + you these five or six years in all your great troubles ... now, my + Lord, by the grace of God, you are free of all these difficulties + ... if you undertake this great matter you will be in worse case + than before." Bothwell then assured him that Lethington was the + moving spirit, and that Argyll, Huntly, Morton, Ruthven, and Lindsay + were in league with him. Paris then asked, "My Lord, I pray you tell + me of one whom you have not named; I well know that he is loved in + this country of the common people." ... "Who is that?" said he. "It + is, my Lord," said I, "my Lord the Earl of Murray; I pray tell me + what part he will take." To which he replied, "He will not meddle + with it." "My Lord," said I, "he is wise." Then the Lord Bothwell + turned his head to me ... and said, "My Lord of Murray, my Lord of + Murray, he will neither help nor hinder; but it is all one." ... On + the Saturday before the murder, Margaret Carwood, one of the Queen's + attendants, told "Paris to go to Kirk-of-Field for the coverlet of + the mattress in the Queen's room," which he did.... When he heard of + Murray's leaving Edinburgh on Sunday morning to see his mother, he + remarked that he did it to be out of the way when the wicked deed + should take place, and so to dissociate himself from it. On Sunday + evening Mary supped with Argyll, and seeing Paris, "as she washed + her hands after supper, she asked me if I had removed the coverlet + of the bed in her room in the King's lodging." These are the main + points of interest in the first document signed by Paris. {Laing, + vol. ii. p. 296.} + + The second deposition consists of answers to interrogations, and is + dated at St. Andrews on August 10th, 1569. It makes a number of + allegations against the Queen, with which the reader is already + familiar. As it is a long document, we can quote only the most + important sentences. "Interrogated when first he entered into credit + with the Queen, he replied that it was when the Queen was at + Callander on her way to Glasgow, when she gave him a purse with + three or four hundred crowns to take to the Earl of Bothwell, who, + after having received the said purse on the road between Callander + and Glasgow, told him to go with the Queen and remain with her, and + to attend well to what she did, saying that the Queen would give him + letters to carry to him. When the Queen reached Glasgow, she said to + him, 'I will send you to Edinburgh,' ... and after he had remained + two days with the said lady, she wrote the letters and gave them + him, saying, 'You will tell the Earl of Bothwell, by word of mouth, + to take to the Laird of Lethington the letters addressed to him.' + Bothwell and Lethington were to consult as to whether Darnley should + go to Craigmillar or to Kirk-of-Field, and Paris was to report their + decision to Mary. Further, he was to 'say to Bothwell, that the King + wished to kiss her, but that she would not, for fear of his malady.' + Paris carried out his commission, and returned with the message that + Kirk-of-Field was considered most suitable. On the way from Glasgow + to Edinburgh the Queen received a letter from Bothwell and sent one + to him, and also gave Paris a bracelet to take to him. At + Kirk-of-Field, where the Queen's room was immediately underneath + that of the King, Bothwell told him that he must not place the + Queen's bed in the corner of the room under the corner containing + the King's bed, because he wished to place the powder there. This + order was reiterated by the Queen, when she observed that it was + being disregarded.... Paris said to the Queen, 'Madam, the Earl of + Bothwell has commanded me to take the keys of your chamber, because + he wishes to do something, that is, to place there the powder for + the explosion to blow the King in the air.' That night she wrote + letters to Bothwell...." The only other circumstance of importance + affecting the Queen is a statement that Paris carried correspondence + relating to Mary's seizure by Bothwell. + + +1573.--December 13. Confession of the Laird of Ormiston. + + "The Laird of Black Ormiston" was put to death on 13th December + 1573, under the government of the Regent Morton, for his share in + the murder of Darnley. His confession was made to "John Brand, + minister at Holyrood-house," on the day of his execution. + + +_Laing's Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 319, from State Trials, vol. i. p. 944. + +As I shall answer unto God, with whom I hope this night to sup, I shall +declare unto you the whole, from the beginning unto the end, of my part. +First, I confess that the Earl Bothwell showed that same wicked deed +unto me in his own chamber in the Abbey on Friday before the deed was +done, and required me to take part with him therein.... The said earl +said unto me, "Tush, Ormiston, ye need not take fear for this, for the +whole lords have concluded this same long since in Craigmillar, all that +were there with the Queen, and none dare find fault with it when it +shall be done." ... Who {Bothwell} let me see a contract subscribed by +four or five handwrites, which he affirmed to me was the subscription of +the Earl of Huntly, Argyll, the Secretary Maitland, and Sir James +Balfour, and alleged that many more promised, who would assist him if he +were put at: and thereafter read the said contract, which, as I +remember, contained these words in effect: "That for as much it was +thought expedient and most profitable for the common wealth, by the +whole nobility and lords undersubscribed, that such a young fool and +proud tyrant should not reign nor bear rule over them; and that for +divers causes therefore, that they all had concluded that he should be +put off by one way or other, and whosoever should take the deed in hand +they should defend and fortify it as themselves, for it should be every +one of their own reckoned and held done by themselves." Which writing, +as the said earl shewed unto me, was devised by Sir James Balfour, +subscribed by them all a quarter of a year before the deed was done. + + +1581.--June 2. The Confession of the Earl of Morton. + + [The Earl of Morton having made during his tenure of the government + many enemies, was driven from power and accused of complicity in + the murder of Darnley. The indictment ("Arnot's Criminal Trials," + p. 388, quoted by Laing, vol. ii, p. 350) mentions as his + accomplices "James, some time Earl Bothwell; James Ormiston, some + time of that ilk; Robert _alias_ Hob Ormiston, his father's + brother; John Hay, some time of Talla, younger; John Hepburn, + called John of Bolton; and divers others," and says that the + murderers "two hours after midnight ... came to the lodging ... and + there ... most vilely, unmercifully, and treasonably slew and + murdered him ... burnt his whole lodging foresaid, and raised the + same in the air by force of gunpowder, which a little before was + placed ... by him and his foresaids under the ground, and angular + stones, and within the vaults, in low and secret parts thereof." + The Earl was found guilty, on the 1st of June, of "art, part, + foreknowledge, and concealing of the treasonable and unnatural + murder foresaid," and was executed next day. A few hours before his + death he made a confession to three of the ministers of Edinburgh, + part of which is here quoted.] + +_Laing_, vol. ii. p. 354. + +Being required what was his part or knowledge in the King's murther, he +answered with this attestation. As I shall answer to my Lord God, I +shall declare truly all my knowledge in that matter, the sum whereof is +this: After my returning out of England, where I was banished for +Davie's slaughter, I came out of Wedderburn to Whittinghame {Castle}, +where the Earl Bothwell and I met together in the yard of Whittinghame, +where, after long communing, the Earl Bothwell proposed to me the King's +murther, requiring what would be my part therein, seeing it was the +Queen's mind that the King should be taken away, because, as he said, +she blamed the King more of Davie's slaughter than me. My answer to the +Earl Bothwell was this, that I would not in any way meddle with that +matter.... The Earl Bothwell ... thereafter earnestly proposed the same +matter again to me, persuading me thereto, because so was the Queen's +mind, and she would have it to be done. Unto this my answer was, I +desired the Earl Bothwell to bring me the Queen's handwrit of this +matter for a warrant; other ways I would not meddle thereof, which +warrant he never purchased {brought}.... Then it was said to him, +"Apparently, my lord, ye cannot complain justly of the sentence that is +given against you, seeing with your own mouth ye confess the +foreknowledge and concealing of the King's murther." ... He answered, +"That I know to be true indeed, but yet they should have considered the +danger that the revealing of it would have brought to me at that time; +for I durst not reveal it for fear of my life. For at that time to whom +should I have revealed it? To the Queen? She was the doer thereof. I was +minded to have told it to the King's self, but I durst not for my life, +for I knew him to be a bairn of such nature, that there was nothing told +him but he would reveal it to her again." ... Then he said, "After the +Earl Bothwell was cleansed by an assize, sundry of the nobility and I +subscrived also a bond with the Earl Bothwell, that if any should lay +the King's murder to his charge, we should assist him in the contrary. +And thereafter I subscrived to the Queen's marriage with the Earl +Bothwell, as sundry others of the nobility did, being charged thereto by +the Queen's writ and command." Then being inquired in name of the living +God, that seeing this murther was one of the most filthy acts that ever +was done in Scotland, and the secrets thereof have not yet been +declared, who were the chief doers, or whether he was worried, or blown +in the air, and therefore pressed to declare if he knew any further +secret thereunto; he answered, "As I shall answer to God, I know no more +secret in that matter than I have already told." + + +Letter from Mr. Archibald Douglas to the Queen of Scots. + +_Robertson's History of Scotland_, App. XIV., from Harl. Lib. +xxxvii. bk. ix. fol. 126. + +... It may please your Majesty to remember in the year of God 1566, the +said Earl of Morton, with divers other nobility and gentry, were +declared rebels to your Majesty.... True it is that I was one of that +number, that heavily offended against your Majesty, and passed into +France the time of our banishment, at the desire of the rest, to humbly +pray your brother the most Christian King, to intercede that our +offences might be pardoned.--Your Majesty's mind so inclined to mercy, +that, within short space thereafter, I was permitted to repair into +Scotland, to deal with Earls Murray, Atholl, Bothwell, Argyll, and +Secretary Lethington, in the name and behalf of the said Earl Morton, +Lords Ruthven, Lindsay, and remanent accomplices.... At my coming to +them ... they declared that the marriage betwix you and your husband had +been the occasion already of great evil in that realm ... they had +thought it convenient to join themselves in league and band with some +other noblemen resolved to obey your Majesty as their natural sovereign, +and have nothing to do with your husband's command whatsoever; if the +said earl would for himself enter into that band, they could be content +to humbly request and travel by all means with your Majesty for his +pardon.... They desired that I should return sufficiently instructed in +this matter to Stirling, before the baptism of your son, whom God might +preserve. This message was faithfully delivered by me at Newcastle in +England, where the said earl then remained, in presence of his friends +and company, where they all condescended to have no further dealing with +your husband, and to enter into the said band. With this deliberation, I +returned to Stirling, where ... your Majesty's gracious pardon was +granted unto them all.... Immediately after, the said Earl of Morton +repaired to Whittinghame, where the Earl Bothwell and Secretary +Lethington came to him; what speech passed there amongst them, as God +shall be my judge, I knew nothing at that time; but at their departure I +was requested by the said Earl Morton to accompany the Earl Bothwell and +Secretary to Edinburgh, and to return with such answer as they should +obtain of your Majesty, which being given to me by the said persons, as +God shall be my judge, was no other than these words, "Show to the Earl +Morton that the Queen will hear no speech of that matter appointed unto +him." When I craved that the answer might be made more sensible, +Secretary Lethington said, that the earl would sufficiently understand +it, albeit few or none at that time understand what passed amongst them. +It is known to all men, as well by the railing letters passed betwixt +the said earl and Lethington, when they became in divers factions, as +also a book set forth by the ministers, wherein they affirm that the +earl has confessed to them, before his death, that the Earl Bothwell +came to Whittinghame to propose the calling away of the King your +husband, to the which proposition the said Earl of Morton affirms that +he could give no answer unto such time he might know your Majesty's +mind, which he never received.... + + + + +SECTION VIII + +THE END + + +_CONTENTS_ + + 1. Connecting Note. + + 2. Contemporary Verses on the Babington Conspiracy. + + 3. Queen Mary's Letter to Queen Elizabeth on hearing the + announcement of her sentence. + + 4. Clauses from Queen Mary's Will. + + 5. Appeal for Spiritual Faculties. + + 6. "O Domine Deus, speravi in te." + + 7. Contemporary Official Report of the Execution. + +_CONNECTING NOTE_ + + Queen Mary's life, after the conclusion of the conference at + Westminster, was occupied with plots and negotiations for her + escape from captivity. The proposal for her marriage with the Duke + of Norfolk was opposed both in Scotland and in England; and an + insurrection was raised by the Earls of Northumberland and + Westmoreland, which was speedily suppressed (November, 1569). In + January of the following year the Earl of Moray was assassinated at + Linlithgow, and the Earl of Lennox, Darnley's father, succeeded him + as Regent. Maitland of Lethington finally seceded from the "King's + party," and allied himself with Kirkaldy of Grange, who held + Edinburgh Castle for Mary. The Norfolk conspiracy continued to + raise the expectations of the Marians till the capture, in the + spring of 1571, of Charles Baillie, who was carrying letters from + the papal agent, Rudolfi, for Queen Mary, Norfolk, the Spanish + ambassador, and the Bishop of Ross. On the strength of Baillie's + disclosures, Norfolk was put to death in June 1572. Elizabeth + declined to gratify the English Parliament by executing her + prisoner, but attempted to arrange for her delivery to the Earl of + Morton, now Regent of Scotland, with a view to his accepting the + responsibility for Mary's death. Morton broke off the negotiations + as Elizabeth refused to give her open sanction to the deed. + Edinburgh Castle surrendered in June 1573, and its fall, and the + loss of Lethington and Grange, gave the death-blow to the hopes of + the Queen of Scots. She maintained, however, a constant + correspondence with Elizabeth and with Spain and Rome, clutching + eagerly at any hope of release, however vague. In 1586 she became + involved, to what extent is disputed, in what is known as the + Babington Conspiracy, which had for its object the assassination of + Elizabeth and her ministers, and the restoration of Catholicism + throughout Great Britain. Walsingham received information as to the + plot, and obtained possession of letters alleged to be written by + Mary to Babington. The conspirators were put to death, and Mary was + tried by a Commission of Peers in the end of 1586. The following + verses, addressed to the conspirators, indicate the common feeling + in England at the time. They are quoted from a poem by William + Kempe, published in 1587, and entitled "A Dutiful Invective against + the moste haynous Treasons of Ballard and Babington ... together + with the horrible attempts and actions of the Queen of Scottes.... + For a New Yeares gift to all loyall English subjects." The author + of the verses is not Kemp the player, but a writer of some + treatises on Education. _Cf._ "Dict. Nat. Biog." + +_A DUTIFUL INVECTIVE_ + + The Scottish Queen, with mischief fraught, for to perform the will + Of him whose pupil she hath been hath used all her skill; + By words most fair, and loving terms, and gifts of value great: + For to persuade your hollow hearts, your duties to forget, + And for to be assistant still, her treacheries to further, + Wherein she reckons it no sinne though you commit great murther. + Such is her heinous hateful mind, who long hath lived in hope, + By such her subtle lawless means (and help of cursed Pope) + Both to deprive our sovereign Queen of her imperial crown, + And true religion to repel, God's Gospel to put down. + + * * * * * + + Wherein you fully did conclude that it could never be, + Except you first conspired her death, by secret treachery. + And thereupon consulted oft, and sundry ways did seek + For to perform this devilish act, which you so well did like. + Next unto this your promise was to lend your help and aid, + With all the force and power you could, to foes that should invade. + And thereby for to set at large that Queen whom I did name, + Who always in her treacherous mind, doth nought but mischief frame. + + * * * * * + +_THE CAUSE OF ALL OUR TROUBLES_ + + For plainly hath it fallen out, by sundry proofs most true, + She was the only maintainer of all this treacherous crew: + For trial whereof we may see, how that our gracious Queen, + Both having care the very truth most plainly might be seen, + And she with honour might be tried, in that she was a Prince, + Did cause the chiefest peers her faults by justice to convince: + Who did assemble at her place, by name called Fotheringay, + There to examine out the truth, and hear what she could say; + And to that end did then direct to them a large commission + For to examine every one in whom they found suspicion. + Who meeting at that place, it plainly did appear, + How that she was the chiefest cause of all our troubles here. + And that she by persuasions did seek for to withdraw + The subjects' hearts from this our Queen, who erst had lived in awe; + And that the treasons named before were all by her consent, + And that she author was thereof, and did the same invent, + Whereto her answer was so light, and to so small effect, + As that the weakness of the same her treasons did detect. + And thereupon these peers of State, having a due regard + To what she could object thereto, and likewise nothing spared + By circumstance to search out truth, did forthwith then pronounce + That she was guilty of these crimes, and could not them renounce. + Which sentence so by them declared, was by our Queen's consent, + Plainly revealed to all estates in court of Parliament; + And was by them considered of, who then did all agree + To join in suit unto her Grace, the same to ratify. + + +Queen Mary's Letter to Queen Elizabeth. + +_Strickland's Letters of Mary Queen of Scots_, vol. ii. p. 200. +FOTHERINGAY, December 19, 1586. + +MADAME,--Having with difficulty obtained leave from those to whom you +have committed me to open to you all I have on my heart, as much for +exonerating myself from any ill-will, or desire of committing cruelty, or +any act of enmity against those with whom I am connected in blood; as +also, kindly, to communicate to you what I thought would serve you, as +much for your weal and preservation as for the maintenance of the peace +and repose of this isle, which can only be injured if you reject my +advice. You will credit or disbelieve my discourse, as it seems best to +you. + +I am resolved to strengthen myself in Christ Jesus alone, who, to those +invoking Him with a true heart, never fails in His justice and +consolation, especially to those who are bereft of all human aid; such +are under His holy protection: to Him be the glory! He has equalled my +expectation, having given me heart and strength, _in spe contra spem_, +to endure the unjust calumnies, accusations, and condemnations (of those +who have no such jurisdiction over me) with a constant resolution to +suffer death for upholding the obedience and authority of the +Apostolical Roman Catholic Church. + +Now, since I have been on your part informed of the sentence of your +last meeting of Parliament, Lord Buckhurst and Beale having admonished +me to prepare for the end of my long and weary pilgrimage, I beg to +return you thanks on my part for these happy tidings, and to entreat you +to vouchsafe to me certain points for the discharge of my conscience. +But since Sir A. Paulet has informed me (though falsely) that you had +indulged me by having restored to me my almoner, and the money that they +had taken from me, and that the remainder would follow; for all this I +would willingly return you thanks, and supplicate still further as a +last request, which I have thought for many reasons I ought to ask of +you alone, that you will accord this ultimate grace, for which I should +not like to be indebted to any other, since I have no hope of finding +aught but cruelty from the Puritans, who are at this time, God knows +wherefore! the first in authority, and the most bitter against me. + +I will accuse no one: nay, I pardon with a sincere heart every one, even +as I desire every one may grant forgiveness to me, God the first. But I +know that you, more than any one, ought to feel at heart the honour or +dishonour of your own blood, and that, moreover, of a queen and the +daughter of a king. + +_A LAST REQUEST_ + +Then, Madame, for the sake of that Jesus to whose name all powers bow, I +require you to ordain that when my enemies have slaked their black +thirst for my innocent blood, you will permit my poor desolated servants +altogether to carry away my corpse, to bury it in holy ground with the +other queens of France, my predecessors, especially near the late queen, +my mother; having this in recollection, that in Scotland the bodies of +the kings, my predecessors, have been outraged, and the churches +profaned and abolished; and that as I shall suffer in this country, I +shall not be given place near the kings, your predecessors, who are mine +as well as yours: for according to our religion, we think much of being +interred in holy earth. As they tell me that you will in nothing force +my conscience nor my religion, and have even conceded me a priest, +refuse me not this my last request, that you will permit free sepulchre +to this body when the soul is separated, which, when united, could never +obtain liberty to live in repose, such as you would procure for +yourself; against which repose--before God I speak--I never aimed a +blow: but God will let you see the truth of all after my death. + +And because I dread the tyranny of those to whose power you have +abandoned me, I entreat you not to permit that execution be done on me +without your own knowledge, not for fear of the torment, which I am most +ready to suffer, but on account of the reports which will be raised +concerning my death unsuspected, and without other witnesses than those +who would inflict it, who, I am persuaded, would be of very different +qualities from these parties whom I require (being my servants) to stay +spectators, and with witnesses of my end in the faith of our sacrament, +of my Saviour, and in obedience to His Church. And after all is over, +that they together may carry away my poor corpse (as secretly as you +please), and speedily withdraw, without taking with them any of my goods +except those which in dying I may leave to them, which are little enough +for their long and good services. + +_ELIZABETH'S JEWEL_ + +One jewel that I received of you I shall return to you with my last +words, or sooner if you please. + +Once more I supplicate you to permit me to send a jewel and a last adieu +to my son, with my dying benediction, for of my blessing he has been +deprived since you sent me his refusal to enter into the treaty whence I +was excluded by his wicked council; this last point I refer to your +favourable consideration and conscience as the others, but I ask them in +the name of Jesus Christ, and in respect of your consanguinity, and for +the sake of King Henry VII., your grandfather and mine, and by the +honour of the dignity we both hold, and of our sex in common, do I +implore you to grant these requests. + +_MARY'S TREATMENT_ + +As to the rest, I think you know that in your name they have taken down +my dais, but afterwards they owned to me that it was not by your +commandment, but by the intimation of some of your privy council. I +thank God that this wickedness came not from you, and that it serves +rather to vent their malice than to afflict me, having made up my mind +to die. It is on account of this, and some other things, that they +debarred me from writing to you, and after they had done all in their +power to degrade me from my rank, they told me "that I was but a mere +dead woman, incapable of dignity." God be praised for all! + +I could wish that all my papers were brought to you without reserve, +that at last it may be manifest to you that the sole care of your safety +was not confined to those who are so prompt to persecute me. If you will +accord this my last request, I would wish that you would write for them, +otherwise they do with them as they choose. And, moreover, I wish that +to this, my last request, you will let me know your last reply. + +To conclude, I pray God, the just Judge, of His mercy that He will +enlighten you with His Holy Spirit, and that He will give you His grace +to die in the perfect charity I am disposed to do, and to pardon all +those who have caused, or who have co-operated in, my death. Such will +be my last prayer to my end, which I esteem myself happy will precede +the persecution which I foresee menaces this isle, where God is no +longer seriously feared and revered, but vanity and worldly policy rule +and govern all. Yet will I accuse no one, nor give way to presumption. +Yet while abandoning this world, and preparing myself for a better, I +must remind you that one day you will have to answer for your charge, +and for all those whom you doom, and that I desire that my blood and my +country may be remembered in that time. For why? From the first days of +our capacity to comprehend our duties, we ought to bend our minds to +make the things of this world yield to those of eternity! + +From Fotheringay, this 19th December, 1586. + Your sister and cousin, + Prisoner wrongfully, + MARIE ROYNE. + + +The Will of the Queen of Scots. + +_Strickland's Letters of Mary Queen of Scots_, vol. ii. p. 237. + + [The Will contains clauses relative to the payments of her debts, + and of legacies to her servants. The selections given are of more + general interest.] + +In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, I, Mary, +by the grace of God, Queen of Scotland and Dowager of France, being on +the point of death, and not having any means of making my will, have +myself committed these articles to writing, and I will and desire, that +they have the same force, as if they were made in due form. + +In the first place, I declare that I die in the Catholic, Apostolic, and +Romish faith. First, I desire that a complete service be performed for +my soul in the Church of St. Denis in France, and another in St. +Peter's, at Rheims, where all my servants are to attend, in such manner +as may be ordered to do by those to whom I have given directions, and +who are named therein. + +Further, that an annual obit be founded for prayers for my soul, in +perpetuity, in such place, and after such manner, as shall be deemed +most convenient.... + +I appoint my cousin, the Duke of Guise, principal executor of my will. +After him, the Archbishop of Glasgow, the Bishop of Ross, and Monsieur +de Ruissieu, my chancellor.... + +I recommend Marie Paiges, my god-daughter, to my cousin, Madame de +Guise, and beg her to take her into her service, and my aunt de Saint +Pierre to get Moubray some good situation, or retain her in her service, +for the honour of God. + +Done this day, 7th February 1587. + + MARY, QUEEN. + + +_APPEAL FOR FACULTIES_ + +Queen Mary's Appeal to the Pope for Spiritual Faculties. + + [The following document is here printed for the first time, so far + as is known to the Editor. It is from a MS. at Blairs College, and + is published by kind permission of the Right Reverend the Rector, + and with the advantage of revision by the Reverend Professor Welsh. + It is dated {158-}, and probably belongs to the last year of Queen + Mary's life.] + +Cum Serenissima Regina Scotiae multis ab hinc annis in Anglorum +haereticorum custodias sit inclusa atque ob id non possit Catholicae +Ecclesiae sacramenta suscipere et rebus divinis praesertim vero missae +sacrificio nisi clam et magno cum periculo interesse, supplex petit a +Sanctissimo Domino Nostro quam diu in illa custodia retinetur, ut +sacerdoti catholico suo capellano pro tempore existenti concedatur, +facultas non modo exercendi omnia munera episcopalia exceptis ordinis et +confirmationis sacramentis, et Chrysmatis consecratione; sed etiam +absolvendi ab haeresi, et haereticos poenitentes gremio sanctae matris +Ecclesiae reconciliandi; quod frequentes ibi se offerant huiusmodi +occasiones. + +Deinde cum in hac rerum calamitate ipsi Reginae opus sit ad sua secreta +consilia et commercia tractanda et exsequenda, uti opera nonnullorum +Anglorum, qui nisi profanis haereticorum et schismaticorum precibus et +communioni intersint, vel a praefectis carceris prohiberentur, ne +Reginae inservirent, vel non possent ita commode illa consilia et +commercia juvare; dignetur Sanctitas Sua sacerdoti capellano, quem +Regina delegerit hanc potestatem illos ab omni censura et poena in tali +casu absolvendi; et quoties opus fuerit in gratiam Sanctae matris +Ecclesiae reducendi; ii tamen, quoad fieri potest, vitare debent impiam +huiusmodi communionem et rerum sacrarum prophanationem. + +Permittat quoque Sanctitas Sua, ut tales etiam ante absolutionem possint +sine scrupulo tum Reginae tum sacerdotis celebrantis et aliorum qui +missae intererunt, praesentes adesse in ea missa quae coram Regina, +durante ejus captivitate celebrabitur. + +Petit etiam Regina, ut 25 numero viri catholici, per eam nominandi, quo +commodius et securius ipsi inserviant, possint sine scrupulo et sine +periculo et metu censurarum et peccati, hujusmodi precibus et +communionibus haereticorum interesse, ita tamen, ut cum illis non +communicent, ac nefandis illorum actibus ne verbo quidem consentiant. + +Concedat quoque sua Beatitudo ipsi Reginae plenam indulgentiam et +remissionem omnium peccatorum in forma jubilei, quoties genibus flexis +orat confessa coram sacra Eucharistia, vel eam suscipit, ac quoties +patienter fert injuriam ab haereticis sibi illatam; eam dem quoque +obtineat indulgentiam in articulo mortis ore dicendo Jesus Maria vel +idem corde saltem memorando. + +Postremo Regina summis precibus Sanctissimum Dominum Nostrum orat, ut +quem sibi delegerit sacerdotem, possit ab eo in confessione sacramentali +absolvi a cunctibus casibus etiam Sedi Apostolicae reservatis, atque in +bulla coenae Domini contentis. + + [It is not known what reply was sent; but the forthcoming volume of + "Vatican Papers," to be edited for the Scottish History Society by + Father Pollard, S.J., may throw light on the subject.] + +TRANSLATION. + + Since Her Most Serene Majesty, the Queen of Scotland, has been for + these many years a prisoner in the hands of the English heretics, + and on that account is unable to receive the sacraments of the + Catholic Church, or to be present, except secretly and at great + risk, at divine service, and especially at the Sacrifice of the + Mass, she humbly supplicates of His Holiness that, so long as she + is kept in that restraint: + + That to a Catholic priest, her chaplain for the time being, there + may be granted the faculty, not only of exercising all the powers + of a bishop, except the sacrament of Orders and Confirmation, and + the consecration of the Chrism, but also of absolving from heresy + and receiving penitent heretics into the bosom of Holy Mother + Church. Such opportunities frequently offer themselves. + + Secondly, since, in this sad condition of her affairs, the Queen + herself has need, in connexion with her secret counsels and + negotiations, of the assistance of some Englishmen, who, unless + they attend the blasphemous prayers and communion of the heretics, + would be excluded, by her gaolers, from the Queen's presence, or + would have difficulty in aiding her counsels and plans, let His + Holiness grant to a priest, whom the Queen may choose as chaplain, + the power of absolving them from all censure and penalty in such + circumstances, and restoring, as often as there is need, to the + grace of Holy Mother Church, it being understood that, as far as + possible, they shall avoid this impious communion and profanation + of Holy Things. + + Let His Holiness also permit that such persons, even before + absolution, may without scruple either to the Queen or to the + celebrating priest, or to all others who may be present, be present + and assist at the Mass which shall be celebrated in presence of the + Queen during her captivity. + + The Queen also begs that Catholic men, twenty-five in number, + nominated by her, in order that they may serve her more + conveniently and safely, may without scruple and without danger or + fear of censures and of sin, be present at such prayers and + communions of the heretics, it being understood that they shall not + communicate with them or give even verbal consent to their + nefarious acts. + + Let His Holiness grant also to the Queen herself a plenary + indulgence and remission of all her sins, in the form of a jubilee, + as often as, having confessed her sins, she may pray on bended + knees before the Holy Eucharist, or receive it, and as often as she + patiently endures injuries inflicted on her by heretics. May she + obtain also the same indulgence at the moment of death by invoking + with her lips, Jesu, Maria, or at least meditating on them in her + heart. + + Finally the Queen begs His Holiness with many prayers, that + whomsoever she shall choose as a priest, she may be by him, in + sacramental confession, absolved from all censures, even from those + reserved to the Holy Apostolic See, and contained in the Bull + "Coena Domini." + + +Illustration: SILVER-GILT HAND-BELL. Height 4-1/2 inches. (_Used by Queen +Mary in Captivity._) + + +_"IN THEE HAVE I TRUSTED"_ + +Poem composed by Queen Mary in view of her Approaching Death. + + O Domine Deus, speravi in te! + O care mi Jesu, nunc libera me! + In dura catena, in misera poena, + Languendo, gemendo, et genu flectendo, + Adoro, imploro ut liberes me. + + _Tr. Mr. Swinburne, Mary Stuart_, Act V. + + O Lord my God, + I have trusted in thee; + O Jesu my dearest one, + Now set me free. + In prison's oppression, + In sorrow's obsession, + I weary for thee. + With sighing and crying, + Bowed down as dying, + I adore thee, I implore thee, set me free! + + +_PARTING WITH ROBERT MELVILLE_ + +1587.--February 8. Narrative of the Execution, sent to the Court. + +_Ellis's Letters_, Ser. ii. vol. iii. p. 113, from the +Lansdowne MS. 51, Art. 46. + +First, the said Scottish Queen, being carried by two of Sir Amias +Paulett's gentlemen, and the Sheriff going before her, came most +willingly out of her chamber into an entry next the Hall, at which place +the Earl of Shrewsbury and the Earl of Kent, commissioners for the +execution, with the two governors of her person, and divers knights and +gentlemen did meet her, where they found one of the Scottish Queen's +servants, named Melvin, kneeling on his knees, who uttered these words +with tears to the Queen of Scots, his mistress, "Madam, it will be the +sorrowfullest message that ever I carried, when I shall report that my +Queen and dear mistress is dead." Then the Queen of Scots, shedding +tears, answered him, "You ought to rejoice rather than weep for that the +end of Mary Stuart's troubles is now come. Thou knowest, Melvin, that +all this world is but vanity, and full of troubles and sorrows; carry +this message from me, and tell my friends that I die a true woman to my +religion, and like a true Scottish woman and a true Frenchwoman. But God +forgive them that have long desired my end; and He that is the true +Judge of all secret thoughts knoweth my mind, how that it ever hath been +my desire to have Scotland and England united together. Commend me to my +son, and tell him that I have not done anything that may prejudice his +kingdom of Scotland; and so, good Melvin, farewell;" and kissing him, +she bade him pray for her. + +_AN ENGLISH NOBLEMAN_ + +Then she turned to the Lords and told them that she had certain requests +to make unto them. One was for a sum of money, which she said Sir Amyas +Paulet knew of, to be paid to one Curle her servant; next, that all her +poor servants might enjoy that quietly which by her Will and Testament +she had given unto them; and lastly, that they might be all well +entreated, and sent home safely and honestly into their countries. "And +this I do conjure you, my Lords, to do." + +Answer was made by Sir Amyas Paulet, "I do well remember the money your +Grace speaketh of, and your Grace need not to make any doubt of the not +performance of your requests, for I do surely think they shall be +granted." + +"I have," said she, "one other request to make unto you, my Lords, that +you will suffer my poor servants to be present about me, at my death, +that they may report when they come into their countries how I died a +true woman to my religion." + +Then the Earl of Kent, one of the commissioners, answered, "Madam, it +cannot well be granted, for that it is feared lest some of them would +with speeches both trouble and grieve your Grace, and disquiet the +company, of which we have had already some experience, or seek to wipe +their napkins in some of your blood, which were not convenient." "My +Lord," said the Queen of Scots, "I will give my word and promise for +them that they shall not do any such thing as your Lordship has named. +Alas! poor souls, it would do them good to bid me farewell. And I hope +your Mistress, being a maiden Queen, in regard of womanhood, will suffer +me to have some of my own people about me at my death. And I know she +hath not given you so straight a commission, but that you may grant me +more than this, if I were a far meaner woman than I am." And then +(seeming to be grieved) with some tears uttered these words: "You know +that I am cousin to your Queen, and descended from the blood of Henry +the Seventh, a married Queen of France, and the anointed Queen of +Scotland." + +"_BESIDE THE BLOCK--ALONE_" + +Whereupon, after some consultation, they granted that she might have +some of her servants according to her Grace's request, and therefore +desired her to make choice of half-a-dozen of her men and women: who +presently said that of her men she would have Melvin, her apothecary, +her surgeon, and one other old man beside; and of her women, those two +that did use to lie in her chamber. + +After this, she being supported by Sir Amias's two gentlemen aforesaid, +and Melvin carrying up her train, and also accompanied with the Lords, +Knights, and Gentlemen aforenamed, the Sheriff going before her, she +passed out of the entry into the Great Hall, with her countenance +careless, importing thereby rather mirth than mournful cheer, and so she +willingly stepped up to the scaffold which was prepared for her in the +Hall, being two feet high and twelve feet broad, with rails round about, +hung and covered with black, with a low stool, long cushion, and block, +covered with black also. Then, having the stool brought her, she sat her +down; by her, on the right hand, sat the Earl of Shrewsbury and the Earl +of Kent, and on the left hand stood the Sheriff, and before her the two +executioners; round about the rails stood Knights, Gentlemen, and +others. + +Then, silence being made, the Queen's Majesty's Commission for the +execution of the Queen of Scots was openly read by Mr. Beale, clerk of +the Council; and these words pronounced by the Assembly, "God save the +Queen." During the reading of which Commission the Queen of Scots was +silent, listening unto it with as small regard as if it had not +concerned her at all; and with as cheerful a countenance as if it had +been a pardon from her Majesty for her life; using as much strangeness +in word and deed as if she had never known any of the Assembly, or had +been ignorant of the English language. + +_A THEOLOGICAL CONTROVERSY_ + +Then one Doctor Fletcher, Dean of Peterborough, standing directly before +her, without the rail, bending his body with great reverence, began to +utter this exhortation following: "Madam, the Queen's most excellent +Majesty," &c, and iterating these words three or four times, she told +him, "Mr. Dean, I am settled in the ancient Catholic Roman religion, and +mind to spend my blood in defence of it." Then Mr. Dean said: "Madam, +change your opinion, and repent you of your former wickedness, and +settle your faith only in Jesus Christ, by Him to be saved." Then she +answered again and again, "Mr. Dean, trouble not yourself any more, for +I am settled and resolved in this my religion, and am purposed therein +to die." Then the Earl of Shrewsbury and the Earl of Kent, perceiving +her so obstinate, told her that since she would not hear the exhortation +begun by Mr. Dean, "We will pray for your Grace, that it stand with +God's will you may have your heart lightened, even at the last hour, +with the true knowledge of God, and so die therein." Then she answered, +"If you will pray for me, my Lords, I will thank you; but to join in +prayer with you I will not, for that you and I are not of one religion." + +_THE EARL OF KENT_ + +Then the Lords called for Mr. Dean, who, kneeling on the scaffold +stairs, began this prayer, "O most gracious God and merciful Father," +&c, all the Assembly, saving the Queen of Scots and her servants, saying +after him. During the saying of which prayer, the Queen of Scots, +sitting upon a stool, having about her neck an _Agnus Dei_, in her hand +a crucifix, at her girdle a pair of beads with a golden cross at the end +of them, a Latin book in her hand, began with tears and with loud and +fast voice to pray in Latin; and in the midst of her prayers she slided +off from her stool, and kneeling, said divers Latin prayers; and after +the end of Mr. Dean's prayer, she kneeling, prayed in English to this +effect: "For Christ His afflicted Church, and for an end of their +troubles; for her son; and for the Queen's Majesty, that she might +prosper and serve God aright." She confessed that she hoped to be saved +"by and in the blood of Christ, at the foot of whose Crucifix she would +shed her blood." Then said the Earl of Kent, "Madam, settle Christ Jesus +in your heart, and leave those trumperies." Then she little regarding, +or nothing at all, his good counsel, went forward with her prayers, +desiring that "God would avert His wrath from this Island, and that He +would give her grief and forgiveness for her sins." These, with other +prayers she made in English, saying she forgave her enemies with all her +heart that had long sought her blood, and desired God to convert them to +the truth; and in the end of the prayer she desired all saints to make +intercession for her to Jesus Christ, and so kissing the crucifix, and +crossing of her also, said these words: "Even as Thy arms, O Jesus, were +spread here upon the Cross, so receive me into Thy arms of mercy, and +forgive me all my sins." + +_SMILING CHEER_ + +Her prayer being ended, the executioners, kneeling, desired her Grace to +forgive them her death; who answered, "I forgive you with all my heart, +for now, I hope, you shall make an end of all my troubles." Then they, +with her two women, helping of her up, began to disrobe her of her +apparel; she never changed her countenance, but with smiling cheer she +uttered these words, "that she never had such grooms to make her +unready, and that she never put off her clothes before such a company." + +Then she, being stripped of all her apparel saving her petticoat and +kirtle, her two women beholding her made great lamentation, and crying +and crossing themselves prayed in Latin; she, turning herself to them, +embracing them, said these words in French, "Ne criez vous; j'ay promis +pour vous;" and so crossing and kissing them, bade them pray for her, +and rejoice and not weep, for that now they should see an end of all +their mistress's troubles. Then she, with a smiling countenance, turning +to her men servants, as Melvin and the rest, standing upon a bench nigh +the scaffold, who sometime weeping, sometime crying out aloud, and +continually crossing themselves, prayed in Latin, crossing them with her +hand bade them farewell; and wishing them to pray for her even until the +last hour. + +"_INTO THY HANDS_" + +This done, one of the women having a Corpus Christi cloth lapped up +three-corner ways, kissing it, put it over the Queen of Scots' face, and +pinned it fast to the caul of her head. Then the two women departed from +her, and she kneeling down upon the cushion most resolutely, and without +any token or fear of death, she spake aloud this Psalm in Latin, "In te, +Domine, confido, non confundar in eternum," &c. {Ps. xxv.}. Then, +groping for the block, she laid down her head, putting her chin over the +block with both her hands, which holding there, still had been cut off, +had they not been espied. Then lying upon the block most quietly, and +stretching out her arms, cried, "In manus tuas, Domine," &c, three or +four times. Then she lying very still on the block, one of the +executioners holding of her slightly with one of his hands, she endured +two strokes of the other executioner with an axe, she making very small +noise or none at all, and not stirring any part of her from the place +where she lay; and so the executioner cut off her head, saving one +little grisle, which being cut asunder, he lifted up her head to the +view of all the assembly, and bade "God save the Queen." Then her +dressing of lawn falling off from her head, it appeared as grey as one +of threescore and ten years old, polled very short, her face in a moment +being so much altered from the form she had when she was alive, as few +could remember her by her dead face. Her lips stirred up and down a +quarter of an hour after her head was cut off. + +Then Mr. Dean said with a loud voice, "So perish all the Queen's +enemies;" and afterwards the Earl of Kent came to the dead body, and +standing over it, with a loud voice said, "Such end of all the Queen's +and the Gospel's enemies." + +Illustration: EFFIGY AT WESTMINSTER. + +_THE LAST COURTIER_ + +Then one of the executioners pulling off her garters, espied her little +dog which was crept under her clothes, which could not be gotten forth +but by force, yet afterward would not depart from the dead corpse, but +came and lay between her head and her shoulders, which being imbrued +with her blood, was carried away and washed, as all things else were +that had any blood was either burned or clean washed; and the +executioners sent away with money for their fees, not having any one +thing that belonged unto her. And so, every man being commanded out of +the Hall, except the Sheriff and his men, she was carried by them up +into a great chamber lying ready for the surgeons to embalm her. + + A full account of Queen Mary's last days will be found in "The + Tragedy of Fotheringay," by the Hon. Mrs. Maxwell-Scott. In August + 1587, the Queen was buried, with great ceremony, in Peterborough + Cathedral, and, in 1612, was reinterred in Westminster Abbey by her + son James VI. and I. + + + + + APPENDICES + + + _CONTENTS_ + + (A.) Genealogical Tables. + + (B.) Lord Darnley. + + (C.) Contemporary Writers. + + (D.) Authorities. + + (E.) Controversial Books. + + + + +_APPENDIX A._ + + +(A.) TABLE SHOWING THE RELATIONSHIP OF MARY TO LORD DARNLEY AND TO +THE DUKE OF CHATELHERAULT. + + JAMES II., King of Scotland. + | + +----------------------+-------------------+ + | | + James III. Mary = James, Lord Hamilton. + | | + James IV. = Margaret, = Archibald, +-----+-------+ + | dau. of | Earl of | | + | Henry VII. | Angus. | | + | of England. | James, Elizabeth, _m._ + | | 1st Earl Matthew, Earl + | | of Arran. of Lennox. + James V. = Mary of | | | + | Guise. | James, | + | | 2nd Earl | + | | of Arran | + Mary Stuart. | and Duke of John, Earl + | Chatelherault. of Lennox. + | | + +----------------+ | + | | + Margaret = Matthew, Earl + | of Lennox. + | + Henry, Lord Darnley. + + +TABLE SHOWING THE POSITION OF MARY AND DARNLEY WITH REGARD TO THE +CROWN OF ENGLAND. + + HENRY VII. + | + +-------------------+---------+------------+ + | | | + Henry VIII. James IV. = Margaret = Archibald, Mary = Charles, Duke + +------+----+ | | Earl of | of Suffolk. + | | | | | Angus | + Edward VI. | Elizabeth. James V. | +---+-----+ + | | | | | + Mary. | Margaret, _m._ | | + Mary. Matthew, Earl | | + of Lennox. | | + | Frances, Eleanor, + | _m._ _m._ + Henry, Lord Henry, Henry, + Darnley. Duke of Earl of + Suffolk. Cumberland. + | | + +-----------------+-----------------+ | + | | | + Lady Jane Grey. Catherine, _m._ | + Edward, Earl of | + Hertford. | + | + +--------------------------+ + | | + Margaret, _m._ Henry, Earl of Derby. + + + + +_APPENDIX B._ + +(B.) LORD DARNLEY. + + +It may be of some interest to collect a few contemporary opinions +regarding the unfortunate Lord Darnley. The extracts from Sir James +Melville and Randolph (pp. 46-53, 54-56) sufficiently illustrate +the personality of Mary, and we need only add Knolly's description +of the Queen of Scots on her arrival in England (Wright's +"Elizabeth," vol. i. pp. 280-1). He wrote to Cecil: "This ladie and +princess is a notable woman. She semeth to regard no ceremonious +honour beside the acknowledging of her estate regalle. She sheweth +a disposition to speake much, to be bold, to be pleasant, and to be +very famylyar. She sheweth a great desire to be avenged of her +enemies: she sheweth a readiness to expose herself to all perylls +in hope of victorie; she delyteth much to hear of hardiness and +valiancye, commending by name all approved hardy men of her +cuntrye, altho' they be her enemies: and she commendeth no +cowardice even in her friends. The thing that most she thirsteth +after is victory, and it semeth to be indifferent to her to have +her enemies diminish, either by the sword of her friends, or by the +liberall promises and rewards of her purse, or by division and +quarrells raised among themselves; so that for victorie's sake, +payne and perrylls semeth pleasant unto her, and in respect of +victorie, welthe and all thyngs semeth to her contemptuous and +vile." + +Our best picture of Darnley comes from the pen of the continuator +of Knox. "He was of a comely stature, and none was like unto him +within this island; he died under the age of one and twenty years; +prompt and ready for all games and sports; much given to hawking +and hunting, and running of horses, and likewise to playing on the +lute; and also to Venus chamber he was liberal enough; he could +write and dictate well; but he was somewhat given to wine, and much +feeding, and likewise to inconstancy; and proud beyond measure, and +therefore contemned all others; he had learned to dissemble well +enough, being from his youth misled up in Popery" (Laing's "Knox," +vol. ii. p. 551). Incidental references to Darnley's character will +be found on pp. 47-8, 64-5, 87-8, &c. The author of the "Histoire +of James the Sext" wrote of him, "He was a comelie Prince, of a +fayre and large stature of bodie, pleasant in countenance, and +affable to all men, and devote, weill exercised in martiall +pastymes upoun horseback as ony Prince of that age, but was sa +facile as he could conceal no secret, although it might tend to his +own weill." Of Darnley's literary abilities we possess two +indications--a letter written to Mary Tudor, and the following +ballad, both printed in Maidment's "Scottish Songs and Ballads," +vol. ii. It may be noted that the figure of the turtle-dove or +wood-pigeon occurs in the ballad and in one of the "Casket +Letters." + + Gife langour makis men licht, + Or dolour thame decoir, + In earth there is no wicht,[98] + May me compair in gloir. + Gif cairfuill thoftis restoir + My havy heart from sorrow + I am for evir moir + In joy, both evin and morrow. + + Gif plesour be to pance,[99] + I playne me nocht opprest, + Or absence micht avance, + My heart is haill possesst, + Gif want of quiet rest + From cairis micht me convoy, + My mynd is nocht mollest, + Bot evir moir in joy. + + Thocht that I pance in paine, + In passing to and fro, + I laubor all in vane, + For so hes mony mo, + That hes nocht servit so, + In suting of thair sueit,[100] + The nar the fyre I go + The grittar is my heit. + + The turtour for hir maik, + Mair dule may nocht indure + Nor I do for hir saik, + Evin hir quha hes in cure + My hairt, quhilk salbe sure, + And service to the deid, + Unto that lady pure, + The well of woman heid. + + Schaw shedfull to that sueit + My pairt so permanent + That no mirth quhill[101] we meit, + Sall cause me be content; + But still my hairt lament, + In sorrowfull siching soir, + Till tyme sho be present, + Fairweill, I say no moir. + +_Finis quod King Hary Stewart._ + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + [98] Man. + + [99] Think. + + [100] Sweet. + + [101] Till. +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +This lament for Darnley (also printed by Maidment) was doubtless +used as a political weapon against Queen Mary:-- + + To Edinburgh about six hours at morn, + As I was passing pansand out the way; + Ane bonny boy was sore making his moan, + His sorry song was Oche, and Wallaway! + That ever I should lyve to see that day, + Ane king at eve, with sceptre, sword and crown; + At morn but a deformed lump of clay, + With traitors strong so cruelly put down! + + Then drew I near some tidings for to speir, + And said, My friend, what makis thee sa way. + Bloody Bothwell hath brought our king to beir, + And flatter and fraud with double Dalilay. + At ten houris on Sunday late at een, + When Dalila and Bothwell bade good night, + Off her finger false she threw ane ring, + And said, My Lord, ane token you I plight. + + She did depart then with an untrue train, + And then in haste and culverin they let craik, + To teach their feiris to know the appoint time, + About the kinge's lodging for to clap. + To dance that night they said she should not slack, + With leggis lycht to hald the wedow walkan; + And baid fra bed until she heard the crack, + Whilk was a sign that her good lord was slain. + + O ye that to our kirk have done subscryve, + These Achans try alsweill traist I may, + If ye do not, the time will come, belyve, + That God to you will raise some Iosuay; + Whilk shall your bairnis gar sing Wallaway, + And ye your selvis be put down with shame; + Remember on the awesome latter day, + When ye reward shall receive for your blame. + + I ken right well ye knaw your duty, + Gif ye do not purge you ane and all, + Then shall I write in pretty poetry, + In Latin laid in style rhetorical; + Which through all Europe shall ring like ane bell, + In the contempt of your malignity. + Fye, flee fra Clynemnestra fell, + For she was never like Penelope. + + With Clynemnestra I do not fain to fletch, + Who slew her spouse, the great Agamemnon; + Or with any that Ninus' wife doth match, + Semiramis quha brought her gude lord down. + Quha do abstain fra litigation, + Or from his paper hald aback the pen? + Except he hate our Scottish nation, + Or then stand up and traitors deeds commend? + + Now all the woes that Ovid in Ibin, + Into his pretty little book did write, + And many mo be to our Scottish Queen, + For she the cause is of my doleful dyte. + Sa mot her heart be fillet full of syte, + As Herois was for Leander's death; + Herself to slay for woe who thought delyte, + For Henry's sake to like our Queen was laith. + + The dolours als that pierced Dido's heart, + When King Enee from Carthage took the flight; + For the which cause unto a brand she start, + And slew herseif, which was a sorry sight. + Sa might she die as did Creusa bright, + The worthy wife of douty Duke Jason; + Wha brint was in ane garment wrought by slight + Of Medea through incantation. + + Her laughter light be like to true Thisbe, + When Pyramus she found dead at the well, + In languor like unto Penelope, + For Ulysses who long at Troy did dwell. + Her dolesome death be worse than Jezebel, + Whom through an window surely men did thraw; + Whose blood did lap the cruel hundis fell, + And doggis could her wicked bainis gnaw. + + Were I an hound--oh! if she an hare, + And I an cat, and she a little mouse, + And she a bairn, and I a wild wod bear, + I an ferret, and she cuniculus. + To her I shall be aye contrarius-- + When to me Atropos cut the fatal thread, + And fell deithis dartys dolorous, + Then shall our spirits be at mortal feid. + + My spirit her spirit shall douke in Phlegethon, + Into that painful filthy flood of hell, + And then in Styx, and Lethe baith anone-- + And Cerberus that cruel hound sa fell, + Sall gar her cry with mony gout and yell, + O Wallaway! that ever she was born, + Or with treason by ony manner mell, + Whilk from all bliss should cause her be forlorn. + + + + +(C.) CONTEMPORARY WRITERS. + + +GEORGE BUCHANAN. + +The writings of George Buchanan with which we are concerned are his +"Detection" of Queen Mary, and his "History of Scotland." Buchanan +was the friend and adviser of Mary's enemies, and his references to +her are polemical, not historical. His "Detection" is based on the +"Book of Articles" (_cf._ p. 144), and it is not always consistent +with the statements in his "History." Sheriff AEneas Mackay admits +with regard to it that "it must be deemed a calumnious work." The +reader must decide for himself what credit to attach to statements +made by Buchanan, and otherwise unattested. He occupies among +Mary's accusers the position held by Lesley among her friends. His +title to fame is not confined to the Marian controversy. He was a +very distinguished humanist, and his writings possess both learning +and charm. (_Cf._ Mr. Hume Brown's recent volume entitled "George +Buchanan.") + + +CONAEUS. + +George Conn belonged to an Aberdeenshire family of Roman Catholic +sympathies, and was educated at Douay, Paris, and Rome. He was +Papal agent accredited to Queen Henrietta Maria from 1636 to 1639. +He died in 1640. The date of his birth is unknown, and he is not +quite strictly a contemporary author. But he lived in Paris at a +time when people must have been alive who could remember Queen +Mary's residence in France, and his "Life of Mary Stuart," +published in 1624, has all the freshness of a contemporary source. + + +LORD HERRIES. + +John Maxwell, fourth Lord Herries, was, although a Protestant, a +staunch supporter of Queen Mary. He opposed the Bothwell marriage, +but remained faithful after the surrender at Carberry Hill. He +joined the Queen after her escape from Lochleven, was present at +the Battle of Langside, and accompanied her in her flight to +England. In spite of some temporising with her enemies, he was +selected, along with the Bishop of Ross, to defend her at York and +Westminster, and he was probably involved in the Norfolk plot. When +he became convinced of the hopelessness of Mary's cause, he came to +an arrangement with the victorious party, and took a part in +politics till his death in 1583. He seems, however, always to have +been ready to assist the Queen had there been any chance of +success. His "Memoirs" possess an unusual interest in virtue of his +intimate knowledge of the secret history of the reign. + + +JOHN KNOX. + +The extracts from Knox's "History of the Reformation in Scotland" +are interesting as bearing the impress of their author's vigorous +personality. But it must be remembered that, as the leader of the +Protestant clergy, he was a strong partisan, and his descriptions +cannot be accepted literally. Different readers will decide +differently as to the credit to be given to Knox's statements. The +most valuable edition of Knox is the large one by the late Mr. +David Laing, which contains much important annotation. The +concluding portion of the "History" is not from Knox's own pen, but +is the work of an unknown writer, who is generally described as +Knox's Continuator. + + +JOHN LESLEY. + +The Bishop of Ross was a native of Inverness-shire, and was +educated at the University of Aberdeen. The first public capacity +in which he was employed was as one of a deputation of Roman +Catholic nobles to invite Queen Mary to return to Scotland, after +the death of Francis II. He became Bishop of Ross in 1566. He +rendered his chief services to Queen Mary as one of the agents for +her defence at the Conferences at York and Westminster, and he was +thereafter involved in most of the schemes for Mary's release. He +survived the Queen for nine years, and died in 1596 at Guirtenburg, +near Brussels. He was about seventy years of age. + +Lesley's chief work is his "History of Scotland from 1437 to 1561." +The Scots edition was first published in 1830, but the Latin +version, which is more complete, appeared during the author's +lifetime, and was translated into Scots, as early as 1596, by +Father James Dalrymple of Regensburg. For the period with which we +are concerned Lesley is a contemporary authority; but he wrote with +a purpose, and was inclined to exaggeration. His "Defence of Queen +Mary's Honour" was a reply to Buchanan's "Detection." + + +LINDSAY OF PITSCOTTIE. + +Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie was a cadet of the family of Crawford. +He was born about 1500, and died about 1565, and took no part in +public affairs. His "History" was not published till 1728. It is a +work to which we are indebted for much gossip, and it contains many +humorous anecdotes. The writer was a strong Protestant, and shared +with many of his contemporaries a fondness for moralising. His book +is not absolutely reliable by any means; but in the passage quoted +he appears to best advantage. + + +SIR JAMES MELVILLE. + +Sir James Melville had been an attendant on Queen Mary since her +childhood. In 1549, when he was fourteen years of age and she +seven, he became her page. After some military, and diplomatic +service he became one of the gentlemen of the Bed Chamber on the +Queen's return to Scotland. His two visits to London as ambassador +from Mary to Elizabeth are recorded in the passage quoted in the +text. After the fall of the Queen Melville attached himself to the +ruling party, and was prominent in politics till James's accession +to the throne of England. Thereafter, he lived quietly at his +estate of Hallhill, in Fife, where he died in 1617. During his +retirement he wrote his "Memoirs," which were published by his +grandson in 1683. His memory was not invariably trustworthy; but +his fascinating style has made his writing one of the most popular +chronicles of the time. His picture of the rival queens is one of +the most characteristic passages in his work (pp. 46-53). + + +CLAUDE NAU. + +Claude de la Boisselierre Nau was sent by the Cardinal of Lorraine +to Queen Mary as a Secretary in 1575. Thenceforward he remained her +confidential adviser, although his loyalty to his own interests was +more marked than his devotion to his mistress, and he was generally +believed to have betrayed her in connection with the Babington +conspiracy. After her death he was released by Queen Elizabeth, and +entered the service of Henry IV. of France. The MS. known as "Nau's +History of Mary Stewart" is in the British Museum, and was printed +in 1883 by Father Joseph Stevenson, S.J. The evidence on which Mr. +Stevenson attributes it to Nau is given in his introduction. + + +LORD RUTHVEN. + +Patrick, third Lord Ruthven, was one of the Protestant nobles who +formed the body known as the "Lords of the Congregation" during the +absence of Queen Mary in France. He was not popular even on his own +side, for we find mysterious accusations of sorcery and enchantment +attaching to his name. At the murder of Rizzio he appeared in the +Queen's room, gaunt and haggard, having risen from a sick bed in +the neighbouring house. After the murder he fled to England and +wrote for the benefit of Queen Elizabeth his "Relation" of the +circumstances. He makes numerous accusations against Mary, which +have generally been received with suspicion owing to the position +of the author as an exiled rebel anxious to justify himself before +a foreign sovereign. He died at Newcastle in June 1566, three +months after the murder. The "articles" are printed, not only in +the "Relation," but in the first column of Goodall's _Examination_, +and the third volume of Keith's "History," while those signed by +Darnley are copied from the original in the Appendix (p. 641) to +the Sixth Report of the Historical MSS. Commissioners. + + +DIURNAL OF OCCURRENTS. + +The "Diurnal of Occurrents in Scotland" was first printed by the +Bannatyne Club in 1833 (from a MS. then in the possession of Sir +John Maxwell of Pollock). It deals with the history of Scotland +from 1513 to 1575. During the period with which we are concerned, +it is clearly the diary of an Edinburgh citizen, and it is of great +value, especially in fixing dates. The anonymous diarist was not a +partisan of the Queen, but his work is more impartial than any +other of the period. Another contemporary diary, by Robert Birrell, +is published in Dalyell's "Fragments of Scottish History," 1798. + + +GUDE AND GODLY BALLATES. + +The controversy of the sixteenth century gave rise to many +political songs and ballads, which became known to the Protestant +party as the "Gude and Godly Ballates." Most of them were aimed +against Roman Catholicism in general, but some are invectives +against Queen Mary herself. The specimens given are among the best +known. They are slightly earlier in date than the arrival of Mary +in Scotland; but they serve to illustrate the bitterness of the +struggle. + + + + +(D.) AUTHORITIES. + + +The remaining contemporary authorities are to be found in the +letters of ambassadors, and the other diplomatic correspondence of +the time. But it must be remembered that a statement can by no +means be implicitly believed because it appears in such documents. +The circumstances of the writer, his opportunities of obtaining +information on the particular topic, his personal prejudices, the +impression that he wished to convey to his correspondent, must all +be allowed due weight. The correspondence and other information is +largely contained in the following books:-- + + +(1.) OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS. + +_Acts of Parliament of Scotland._ + +_Reports of the Royal Commission upon Historical MSS._ + +_Register of the Privy Council of Scotland._ + +_Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland_, preserved in the +Public Record Office. + +_Calendar of Papers relating to Foreign Affairs_, 1542-1587. + +_Calendar of Papers relating to English Affairs_, preserved in the +Archives of Simancas. + +_Calendar of Papers relating to English Affairs_, preserved in the +Archives of Venice. + +_Calendar of Border Papers._ + +_The Hamilton Papers._ + +_Calendar of Papers relating to Scotland and Mary Queen of Scots_, +1898. + + +(2.) BOOKS WHICH CONTAIN ORIGINAL LETTERS, &c. + +_Faedera, Conventiones, Literae, &c., inter Reges Angliae et alios_, +ed. by Thomas Rymer. London, 1704-1735. + +_Queen Elizabeth and her Times_, by Thomas Wright. London, 1838. + +_History of the Affairs of Church and State in Scotland_, by the +Right Rev. Robert Keith, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church. +Edinburgh, 1734 (reprinted by the Spottiswoode Society). + +_Miscellaneous State Papers from 1501 to 1726_, edited by Philip, +Earl of Hardwicke. London, 1778. + +_The Annals of Aboyne_, edited by George, 11th Marquis of Huntly. +(New Spalding Club.) + +_Life of Queen Mary_, by George Chalmers. London, 1818. + +_History of Scotland_, by William Robertson, D.D. + +_History of Scotland_, by Patrick Fraser Tytler. + +_Inventories of Mary Queen of Scots_, edited by Joseph Robertson. + +_Examination of the Letters said to have been written by Mary Queen +of Scots, to James, Earl of Bothwell_, by Walter Goodall, 1744. + +_History of Scotland_, by Malcolm Laing. + +_Illustrations of British History_, by Edmund Lodge. + +_Elizabeth and Mary_, by Fred. Von Raumer. + +_Original Letters, Illustrative of British History_, ed. Ellis. + +_Mary Queen of Scots and her Accusers_, by John Hosack, 1870-74. + +_Mary Queen of Scots, from her Birth to her Flight into England_, +by D. Hay Fleming. + +_Recueil des Lettres de Marie Stuart_, ed. Labanoff. + +_Letters of Mary Stuart_, ed. Agnes Strickland. + +_Cabala, sive Scrinia Sacra._ London, 1691. + +_Collections relating to Mary Queen of Scots_, by James Anderson. + +_A Lost Chapter in the Life of Mary Stuart_, by John Stuart. + +_Queen Mary at Jedburgh_, by John Small. + +_Illustrations of the Reign of Mary Queen of Scots._ (Maitland +Club.) + +_Relations Politiques de la France et de l'Espagne avec l'Ecosse_, +edited by Teulet. + +_The Tragedy of Fotheringay_, by the Hon. Mrs. Maxwell-Scott. + +These are the main authorities. A complete list of publications +dealing with the question up to 1700, will be found in "A +Bibliography of Works relating to Mary Queen of Scots, 1544-1700," +by John Scott, C.B. (Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 1896). Very +full references will be found in Mr. Hay Fleming's notes. The list +of authorities appended to the articles "Mary Stuart," in the +_Dictionary of National Biography_, should also be consulted. + + + + +(E.) CONTROVERSIAL WORKS. + + +The general historians who deal with the period--Hume, Robertson, +Tytler, Laing, Froude, and Hill Burton--are usually ranked among +Queen Mary's opponents. Hume and Froude occupy the most decided +position. Among other writers who are definitely against the theory +of Mary's innocence, must be reckoned Mignet ("Life of Mary Queen +of Scots"), Mr. D. Hay Fleming ("Mary Queen of Scots"), and Mr. T. +F. Henderson (articles, "Mary Stuart," "Henry Stewart, Lord +Darnley," "James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell," &c., in the +_Dictionary of National Biography_). No one can hope to understand +the present position of the controversy without the writings of Mr. +Fleming and Mr. Henderson. Among general controversialists on the +side of Queen Mary, may be mentioned the works already quoted, by +Walter Goodall, George Chalmers, and John Hosack, William Tytler's +"Inquiry into the Evidence against Mary Queen of Scots" (1790), +Whitaker's "Mary Queen of Scots Vindicated" (1778), Miss Agnes +Strickland's "Lives of the Queens of Scotland," Mr. Alex. Walker's +"Mary, Queen of Scots," Mr. M'Neel-Caird's "Mary Stuart," and Sir +John Skelton's "Impeachment of Mary Stuart," "Maitland of +Lethington," and "Life of Mary Stuart." Mr. Swinburne's "Mary Queen +of Scots" is one of the most attractive works on the subject. The +reader will recollect that the "false Duessa" in Spenser's "Faerie +Queen" is the Queen of Scots. + +The last few years have seen the publication of many important +works dealing with the problem of the Casket Letters, _e.g._:-- + +Bresslau: "Die Kassettenbriefe der Koenigin Maria Stuart," in the +_Historisches Taschenbuche_, 1882. + +Sepp: _Die Kassettenbriefe_, 1884. + +Gerde: "Geschichte der Koenigin Maria Stuart," 1885. + +T. F. Henderson: "Casket Letters, and Mary Queen of Scots." 2nd ed. +1890. + +Philippson: "Histoire du Regne de Marie Stuart," 1891-92. + +The English reader will find the material in Mr. T. F. Henderson's +work ample for his purpose. The preface to Mr. Hay Fleming's "Mary +Queen, of Scots" promises a second volume, which will contain the +life in captivity, and, of course, deal with the letters. No Marian +apologist has, as yet, attempted an answer to the more recent +evidence on the other side, and Hosack's great work is now +considerably superseded. The foregoing lists are, of course, +selected. A full Bibliography is a great task, not yet attempted. + +THE END + + +Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. Edinburgh & London + + + _Published by_ DAVID NUTT, _270-271 Strand, London, and Sold by all + Booksellers throughout Scotland, England, and Ireland._ + + SCOTTISH VERNACULAR LITERATURE + + A SUCCINCT HISTORY + + By T. F. HENDERSON + + Printed at the Constable Press, 1898 + + Crown 8vo, x, 464 pp. Buckram, top gilt, 6s. + + CONTENTS:--The Scottish Vernacular--Minstrelsy and + Romance--Historical Poetry--The Scottish Fabliau and the Decay of + Romance--The Early Chaucerians--Dunbar and Walter Kennedy--Gavin + Douglas and Sir David Lyndsay--Minor and Later Poets of the 16th + Century--Anonymous Poetry of the 15th and 16th + Centuries--Vernacular Prose--Traditional Ballads and Songs--Before + Ramsay--Ramsay to Burns--Burns and afterwards. + + =_Some Press Notices_= + + =Outlook.=--"Truly admirable for its conciseness and adequacy of + critical treatment." + + =Literature.=--"A work of great merit and interest, and unique in + its field." + + =Scotsman.=--"Will be of great use to those who wish a general + guide to Scottish literature in prose, such as there was, as well + as in verse." + + =North British Daily Mail.=--"A model of what such a handbook + should be--thorough, concise, well balanced." + + =Saturday Review.=--"Excellent in every respect." + + =Morning Post.=--"It is not easy to recall another volume, + conceived on this apparently unambitious scale, which is at once so + scholarly, so thorough, so agreeable." + + =Glasgow Herald.=--"Deserves a hearty welcome and no + stinted=praise." + + =Arbroath Herald.=--"Few readers will fail to appreciate the + justice and the suggestive force of his general survey of Scottish + literature." + + + + +Transcribers Note + +Headings printed at the top of pages in the original have been +converted to sub-headings and placed and the head of the most relevant +paragraph. + +Much of the text being letters and transcripts, inconsistant spellings +have been retained. + +Footnote 64 had no anchor in the text. Since it appears to relate +to the whole of letter III an anchor has been inserted at to top of the +letter. + +Ligature oe has been represented as [oe]. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Mary Queen of Scots 1542-1587, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS 1542-1587 *** + +***** This file should be named 38048.txt or 38048.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/0/4/38048/ + +Produced by Susan Skinner, Hazel Batey and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +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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