MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS 
 
 TAINTED FF.OM THE OHIO i HTAI* BY JOKN WATSON GORDON R.I.
 
 Harper's Stereotype Ldition 
 
 LIFE 
 
 MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY GLASSFORD BELL, ESQ. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL.1. 
 
 Aye* memoire de 1'ame et de rhonneur de celle gui a este 
 votre roj-ne." Jfary 1 * otwi word*. 
 
 N E W-Y O R K : 
 PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS. 
 
 NO. 82 CLIFF-STRBET. 
 
 1844
 
 PREFACE. N/. 
 
 CQ 
 
 M 
 
 A NEW work on the subject of Mary Queen of 
 Scots runs an imminent risk of being considerdU a 
 work of supererogation. No period of British 
 history has been more elaborately illustrated than 
 that of her life and reign. She ascended the 
 Scottish throne at a time replete with interest ; 
 when the country had awakened from the lethargy 
 
 cT. of ages, and when the gray dawn of civilization, 
 heralding the full sunshine of coming years, threw 
 its light and shade on many a bold and prominent 
 figure, standing confessed in rugged grandeur as 
 the darkness gradually rolled away. It was a time 
 when national and individual character were alike 
 strongly marked, a time when Knox preached, 
 Buchanan wrote, Murray plotted, and Bothwell 
 murdered. The mailed feudal barons, the un- 
 
 ' shrinking Reformers, founders of the Presbyterian 
 church, and mailed in mind if not in body, the 
 discomfited, but the still rich and haughty eccle- 
 siastics of the Romish faith, the contemporaries 
 and followers of the stern Cardinal Beaton, all 
 start forth so vividly before the mind's eye that 
 they seem subjects better suited for the inspired 
 pencil of a Salvator Rosa than for the soberer pen 
 of history. Mary herself, with her beauty and hex 
 misfortunes, shining among the rest like the crea- 
 A2
 
 VI PREFACK. 
 
 tion of a softer age and clime, fills up the picture, 
 and rivets the interest. She becomes the centre 
 round which the others revolve ; and their impor- 
 tance is measured only by the influence they exer- 
 cised over her fate, and the share they had in that 
 strange concatenation of circumstances, which, as 
 if in mockery of the nobility of her birth and the 
 splendour of her expectations, rendered her life 
 miserable and her death ignominious. 
 
 WThere is little wonder if such a theme, though 
 in itself inexhaustible, should have exhausted the 
 energies of many. Yet the leading events of 
 Mary's reign still give rise to frequent doubts and 
 discussions ; and the question regarding her char- 
 acter, which has so long agitated and divided the 
 literary world, remains undetermined. It is indeed 
 only they who have time and inclination to dis- 
 mantle the shelves of a library and pore over many 
 a contradictory volume, examine many a per- 
 plexing hypothesis, and endeavour to reconcile 
 many an inconsistent and distracting statement, 
 who are entitled to pronounce upon her guilt or 
 innocence. 
 
 Not that it is meant to be asserted, that unpub- 
 lished manuscripts and documents calculated to 
 throw new light upon the subject slumber in the 
 archives of government or among the collections 
 of the learned, which have hitherto escaped the 
 notice of the antiquarian and the scholar. On the 
 contrary, there is every reason to believe that all 
 the papers of value which exist have already been 
 found and given to the world. After the voluminous 
 publications of Anderson, Jebb, Goodall, Haynes, 
 Hardwicke, Strype, Sadler, and Murdin, it is by
 
 PREFACE. Vll 
 
 no means probable that future historians will dis- 
 cover additional materials to guide them in their 
 narrative of facts. But few are disposed to wade 
 through works like these ; and they who are, find, 
 that though they indicate the ground on which the 
 superstructure of truth may be raised, they at the 
 same time, from the diffuseness and often contra- 
 dictory nature of their contents, afford every excuse 
 to those who wander into error. The consequence 
 's, that almost no two writers have given exactly 
 the same account of the principal occurrences of 
 Mary's life. And it is this fact which would lead 
 to the belief that there is still an opening for an 
 author, who would endeavour, with impartiality, 
 candour, and decision, to draw the due line of dis- 
 tinction between the prejudices of the one side and 
 the prepossessions of the other, who would expose 
 the wilful misrepresentations of party-spirit, and 
 correct the involuntary errors of ignorance, who 
 would aim at being scrupulously just, but not un- 
 necessarily severe steadily consistent, but not 
 tamely indifferent boldly independent, but not 
 unphilosophically violent. 
 
 It seems to be a principle of our common nature 
 to be ever anxious to wage an honourable warfare 
 against doubt ; and no one is more likely to fix the 
 attention than he who undertakes to prove what 
 has been previously disputed. It is this principle 
 which has attached so much interest to the life of 
 the Queen of Scots, and induced so many writers 
 (and some of no mean note) to investigate her char- 
 acter both as a sovereign and a woman ; and the 
 consequence has been, that one half have under- 
 taken to put her criminality beyond a doubt, and
 
 Mil PREFACE. 
 
 the other as confidently pledged themselves to 
 establish her innocence. It may seem a bold but 
 it is a conscientious opinion, that no single author, 
 whether an accuser or a defender, has been entirely 
 successful. To arrive at a satisfactory conclusion 
 the works of several must be consulted ; and, even 
 after all, the mind is often iett tossing amid a sea 
 of difficulties. The talents of many who have 
 broken a lance in the Marian controversy are un- 
 doubted ; but if we attend for a moment to its pro- 
 gress, the reasons why it is still involved in obscu- 
 rity may probably be discovered. 
 
 The ablest literary man in Scotland contempo- 
 rary with Mary was George Buchanan ; the Earl 
 of Murray was his patron, and Secretary Cecil his 
 admirer. The first publication regarding the queen 
 came from his pen ; it was written with consum- 
 mate ability, but with a dishonest though not un- 
 natural leaning to the side which was the strongest 
 at the time, and which his own interests and views 
 of personal and family aggrandizement pointed out 
 as the most profitable. The eloquence of his style 
 and the confidence of his statements gave a bias to 
 public opinion, which feebler spirits laboured in 
 vain to counteract. Less powerful as an author, 
 but not less virulent as an enemy, Knox nex* 
 appeared in the lists, and unfurling the banner of 
 what was then considered religion, converted every 
 doubt into conviction, by appealing to the bigotry 
 and the superstition of the uninformed multitude. 
 Yet Knox was probably conscientious, if the term 
 can be applied with propriety to one who did not 
 believe that the Church of Rome possessed a single 
 virtuous member. In opposition to the productions
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 of these authors, is the "Defence of Mary's 
 Honour," by Lesley, Bishop of Ross, an able but 
 somewhat declamatory work, and as liable to sus- 
 picion as the others, becauce written by an avowed 
 partisan and active servant of the queen. A crowd 
 of inferior compositions followed, useful sometimes 
 for the facts they contain, but all so strongly tinc- 
 tured with party zeal that little reliance is to be 
 placed on their accuracy. Among these may be 
 enumerated the works of Blackwood and Caussin, 
 who wrote in French, of Conaeus, Strada, and 
 Turner (the last under the assumed name of 
 Barnestaple), who wrote in Latin, and of Antonio 
 de Herrera, who wrote in Spanish. 
 
 The calamities which after the lapse of a century 
 again overtook the house of Stuart recalled atten- 
 tion to the discussions concerning Mary; and 
 though time had softened the asperity of the dis- 
 putants, the question was once more destined to 
 become connected with party prejudices. From 
 the publication of Crawford's "Memoirs," in 1705, 
 down to the appearance of Chalmers's " Life of 
 Mary," in 1818, the history of the Queen of Scots 
 has continued one of those standard subjects which 
 has given birth to a new work at least every five 
 years. A few of the more important may be men- 
 tioned. In 1725, Jebb published his own life of 
 Mary, and his collection in two volumes folio, of 
 works which had previously appeared both for and 
 against her. The former production is of little 
 value, but the latter is exceedingly useful, and in- 
 deed no one can write with fairness concerning 
 Mary without consulting it. Lives of the queen by 
 Heywood and Freebairn shortly succeeded ; both
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 of whom were anxious to vindicate her, but in then 
 anxiety overshot the mark. In 1728, Anderson's 
 "Collections" were presented to the public, con- 
 taining many papers of interest and value which 
 are not to be found elsewhere. But they are often 
 disingenuously garbled, that Mary may be made 
 to appear in an unfavourable light ; and a more 
 recent author informs us, that they were in conse- 
 quence " sold as waste-paper, leaving the editor 
 ruined in his character and injured in his prospects." 
 In Scotland, the rebellion of 1715 povvn fully 
 revived the animosities which had never lam en- 
 tirely dormant since the establishment of a new 
 dynasty in 1688 ; and the transition from Charles 
 to his ancestor Mary was easy and natural. The 
 second rebellion in 1745 did not diminish the in- 
 terest taken in the Queen of Scots, nor the ardour 
 with which the question of her wrongs or crimes 
 was agitated. In 1754, Mr. Goodall, librarian to 
 the Faculty of Advocates, made a valuable addition 
 to the works already extant on the subject, in his 
 4 Examination" of the letters attributed to Mary. 
 His habits of laborious research combined with no 
 inconsiderable powers of reasoning enabled him 
 not only to bring together many original papers, 
 not before published, but to found on these much 
 acute argument, and deduce from them many sound 
 conclusions. Goodall's work will never be popu- 
 lar, because it is full of ancient documents, which 
 one is more willing to refer to than to read ; but, 
 as may be remarked of Jebb and Anderson, he 
 who means to write of Mary should not commence 
 until he has also carefully perused the " Exami- 
 nation."
 
 PREFACE. XI 
 
 Four years posterior to Goodall's two volumes 
 appeared Robertson's " History of Scotland." Of 
 course, the leading events of Mary's reign were 
 narrated at length, but too much with the stiff 
 frigidity which Robertson imagined constituted 
 historical dignity, and which was continually betray- 
 ing a greater anxiety about the manner than the 
 matter. Accordingly, what his style gained in con 
 straint his subject lost in interest. No one has 
 said so much of Queen Mary to so little definite 
 purpose as Robertson ; no one has so entirely 
 failed in making us either hate or love her. Be- 
 sides, he thought her guilty, on the authority of 
 Buchanan, and has consequently thrown a false 
 gloss over her character from beginning to end. 
 He was supported in his opinions, it is true, by the 
 historian Hume, but the latter, having devoted most 
 of his attention to the history of England, cannot 
 be supposed to have been very deeply versed in 
 the affairs of Scotland ; and in so far as these are 
 concerned, his authority is not of the highest weight. 
 Yet, from the reputation which these two writers 
 have acquired, and deservedly upon other grounds, 
 they have done more mischief to Mary than per- 
 haps any of her calumniators, the multitude being 
 too often inclined to forget when once thoroughly 
 juratus in verba magistri, that he who distinguishes 
 himself in one department may be, and commonly 
 is, deficient in another. In 1760, the credit both 
 of Robertson and Hume was a good deal shaken 
 by Tytler's " Inquiry" into the evidence against 
 Mary. This work is neither historical nor biogra- 
 phical, but argumentative and controversial. It is 
 founded upon Goodall, to whom Tytler confesses
 
 Xll PREFACE. 
 
 his obligations, but the reasonings are much more 
 lucidly and popularly arranged ; and though not so 
 complete or so full of research as it might have 
 been, it is upon the whole the ablest and most con- 
 vincing production which has yet appeared on the 
 side of the Queen of Scots. 
 
 Of the five works of greatest consequence which 
 have appeared since Tytler's, only one has ven- 
 tured to tread in the footsteps of Buchanan. The 
 first in order of date is the French " Histoire 
 d'Elizabeth," in five volumes, by Mademoiselle de 
 Keralio, who devotes a large portion of her book to 
 Mary, and with a degree of talent that does honoui 
 to the sex to which she belongs, vindicates the 
 Scottish queen from the obloquy which her rival, 
 Elizabeth, had too great a share in casting upon 
 her. Nearly about the same time was published 
 Dr. Gilbert Stuart's "History of Scotland." It 
 came out at an unfortunate period, for Robertson 
 had pre-occupied the field ; and it was hardly to be 
 expected that a writer of inferior note would dis- 
 possess him of it. But Dr. Stuart's history, though 
 too much neglected, is in many essential particu- 
 lars superior to Robertson's, not perhaps in so far 
 as regards precision of style, but in research, accu- 
 racy, and impartiality. It would be wrong to say 
 that Stuart has committed no mistakes, but they are 
 certainly fewer and less glaring than those of his 
 predecessor. Towards the end of the last century, 
 Whittaker stood forth as a champion of the Queen 
 of Scots, and threw into the literary arena four 
 closely printed volumes. They bear the stamp of 
 great industry and enthusiasm ; but his materials 
 are not well digested, and his violence often weakens
 
 PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 his argument. The praise of ardour, hut not of 
 judgment, belongs to Whittaker ; he seems to have 
 forgotten that there may be bigotry in a good as 
 well as in a bad cause ; in his anxiety to maintain 
 the truth he often plunges into error, and in his 
 indignation at the virulence of others he not unfre- 
 quently becomes still more virulent himself. Had 
 he abridged his work by one-third, it would have 
 gained in force what it lost in declamation, and 
 would not have been less conclusive because less 
 confused and verbose. Whittaker was followed 
 early in the present century by Mr. Malcolm Laing, 
 who, with a far clearer head, if not with a sounder 
 heart, has in his " Preliminary Dissertation," to his 
 " History of Scotland," done much more against 
 Mary than Whittaker has done for her. Calm, col- 
 lected, and well informed, he proceeds, as might 
 be expected from an adept in the profession to which 
 he belonged, from one step of evidence to another 
 linking the whole so well together that it is at firs 
 sight extremely difficult to discover a flaw in the 
 chain. Yet flaws there are, and' serious ones 
 indeed, Mr. Laing's book is altogether a piece of 
 special pleading, not of unprejudiced history. His 
 ingenuity, however, is great; and his arguments 
 carry with them such an air of sincerity, that they 
 are apt to be believed almost before the judgment 
 acknowledges them to be true. It is to be feared, 
 that he is powerful only to be dangerous,: that he 
 dazzles only to mislead. The author whose two 
 large quarto or three thick octavo volumes brings 
 up the rear of this goodly array is Mr. George 
 Chalmers. There was never a more careful com- 
 piler, a more painstaking investigator of public 
 VOL. I. B
 
 XIV PREFACE. 
 
 and private records, deeds, and registers, a more 
 zealous stickler for the accuracy of dates, the fidelity 
 of witnesses, and the authenticity of facts. His 
 work, diffuse, tedious, and ill-arranged though it be, 
 full of perpetual repetitions, and abounding in erro- 
 neous theories (for it is one talent to ascertain truth, 
 and another to draw inferences), is nevertheless a 
 valuable accession to the stock of knowledge pre- 
 viously possessed on this subject. His proofs are 
 too disjointed to be conclusive, and his reasonings 
 .too feeble to be convincing ; but the materials are 
 better than the workmanship, and might be moulded 
 by a more skilful hand into a shape of much beauty 
 and excellence. 
 
 Such is an impartial view of the chief works 
 extant upon Mary Queen of Scots ; and it would 
 appear, in consequence, that something is still want- 
 ing to complete the catalogue Three causes may 
 be stated, in particular, why so many persons of 
 acknowledged ability should have devoted their 
 time and talents to the investigation without 
 exhausting it. 
 
 First, Several of the works we have named are 
 histories ; and these, professing, as they do, to de- 
 scribe the character of a nation rather than of an 
 individual, cannot be supposed to descend to those 
 minutiae or to enter into those personal details ne- 
 cessary for presenting the vivid portraits in which 
 biography delights. History is more conversant 
 with the genus or the species ; and is addressed 
 more to the judgment than to the feelings. There 
 is in it a spirit of generalization, which, though it 
 expands the mind, seldom touches the heart. Its 
 views of human nature are on a comprehensive
 
 PREFACE. XV 
 
 scale ; it traces the course of empires and marks the 
 progress of natio-.is. If, in the great flood of events, 
 it singles out a few crowned and conspicuous heads, 
 making them the beacons by which to guide its 
 way, it associates itself with them only so long as 
 they continue to exercise an influence over the des- 
 tiny of others. It is alike ignorant and careless of 
 those circumstances which make private life happy 
 or miserable, and which exercise an influence over 
 the fate of those who have determined that of so 
 many others. Neither Hume, nor Robertson, nor 
 Stuart, nor Keralio, therefore, have said all of 
 Mary that they might have said ; they wrote history 
 not biography. 
 
 Second, Many of the productions we have named 
 are purely controversial, consisting almost entirely 
 of arguments founded upon facts, not of facts upon 
 which to found arguments. Among these may be 
 particularly included, Tytler, Whittaker, and Laing, 
 works which do not so much aim at illustrating the 
 life and character of Mary as of settling the abstract 
 question of her guilt or innocence. They present, 
 therefore, only such detached portions of her history 
 as bear upon the question of which they treat. To 
 become intimately acquainted with Mary we must 
 have recourse to other authors ; to form an esti- 
 mate of her moral character these might suffice, 
 were it fair to be guided on that subject by the 
 opinions of others. 
 
 Third, In most of the works in which historical 
 research is fully blended with argumentative deduc- 
 tions, erroneous theories have been broached, which, 
 failing to make good their object, either excite 
 suspicion or lead into error. Thus, Goodall and
 
 XVI PREFACE. 
 
 Chalmers have laid it down as a principle, that iii 
 order to exculpate Mary it was necessary to accuse 
 her brother, the Earl of Murray, of all sorts of 
 crimes. By representing Bothwell as an inferior 
 tool in his hands, they have involved themselves in 
 improbabilities, and have weakened the strength 
 of a good cause by a mistaken mode of treatment. 
 Indeed this remark applies with a greater or less 
 degree of force to all the vindications of Queen 
 Mary which have appeared. Why transfer the 
 burden of Darnley's murder from Bothwell, the 
 actual perpetrator of the deed, to one who may have 
 been accessory to it, but certainly more remotely t 
 Why confirm the suspicion against her they wish 
 to defend by unjustly accusing another, whom they 
 cannot prove to be criminal? If Goodall and 
 Chalmers have done this, their learning is com- 
 paratively useless, and their labour has been nearly 
 lost. 
 
 If the author of the following "Life of Mary 
 Queen of Scots," has been able in any measure to 
 execute his own wishes, he would trust, that by a 
 careful collation of all the works to which he has 
 referred, he has succeeded in separating much of 
 the ore from the dross, and in giving a freshness, 
 perhaps in one or two instances an air of originality, 
 to his production. He has affected neither the 
 insipidity of neutrality nor the bigotry of party zeal. 
 His desire was to concentrate all that could be 
 known of Mary, in the hope that a light might thus 
 be thrown on the obscurer parts of his subject suffi- 
 cient, to reanimate the most indifferent and satisfy 
 he most scrupulous. He commenced his readings 
 with an unbiassed mind, and was not aware at the
 
 PREFACE. XV11 
 
 r/utset to what conviction they would bring him. 
 But if a conscientious desire to disseminate truth he 
 estimable, it is hoped that this desire will be found 
 to characterize these Memoirs. Little more need 
 be added. The biography of a queen who lived 
 two hundred and fifty years ago cannot be like the 
 biography of a contemporary or immediate prede 
 cessor ; but the inherent interest of the subject wiL 
 excuse many deficiencies. Omissions may, per- 
 haps, be pardoned, if there are no misrepresenta- 
 tions ; and the absence of minute cavilling and 
 trifling distinctions may not be complained of, if the 
 narrative leads, by a lucid arrangement, to satisfactory 
 general deductions. Fidelity is at all times pre- 
 ferable to brilliancy, and a sound conclusion 10 a 
 plausible hypothesis. 
 
 112

 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 or 
 THE FIRST W OLUME. 
 
 INTRODUCTION 31 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 Scotland and its Troubles during Mary's Infancy 27 
 
 CHAPTER H. 
 
 Scotland and tbe Scottish Reformers, under the Regency of the 
 Queen-dowager 39 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Mary's Birth, and subsequent Residence at the French Court, with 
 a Sketch of the Stats of Society and Manners in France, during 
 the Sixteenth Century 53 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Mary's Marriage, personal Appearance, and Popularity 66 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Mary the Queen-dauphiness, the Queen, and the Queen-dowager 
 of France 79 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 Mary's Return to Scotland, and previous Negotiations with Elizabeth 90 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 Mary's Arrival at Holyrood, with Sketches of her principal Nobility 107 
 
 CHAPTER VTH. 
 John Knox, the Reformers, and the turbulent Nobles 191 
 
 CHAPTER DL 
 Mary's Expedition to the North 137
 
 XX CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Chatelard's imprudent Attachment, and Knox's persevering Hatred 163 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 The domestic Life or Mary, with some Anecdotes of Elizabeth .... 167 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Gary's Suitors, and the Machinations or her Enemies 180 
 
 CHAPTER Xin. 
 Mary's Marriage with Darnley 109 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Murray's Rebellion 207 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 The Earl of Morton's Plot 223 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 The Assassination of David Ritzio 239 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 rhe Birth of James VI 251 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 Mary's Treatment of Darnley, and alleged Love for the Earl of 
 Bothwell 26?
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 DURING the reigns of James IV. and James V., 
 Scotland emerged from barbarism into comparative 
 civilization. Shut out, as it had previously been, 
 from almost any intercourse with the rest of Europe, 
 boln by the peculiarities of its situation, and its in- 
 cessant wars with England, it had long slumbered in 
 all the ignorance and darkness of those remote coun- 
 tries which even Roman greatness, before its disso- 
 lution, found it impossible to enclose and retain within 
 the fortunate pale of its conquests. The refinement 
 which must always more or less attend upon the 
 person of a king, and shelter itself in the stronghold 
 of his court, was little felt in Scotland. Though 
 attached, from long custom, to the monarchical form 
 of government, the sturdy feudal barons, each pos- 
 sessing a kind of separate principality of his own, 
 took good care that their sovereign's superior influ- 
 ence should be more nominal than real. Distracted, 
 too, by perpetual jealousies among themselves, it was 
 only upon rare occasions that the nobles would as- 
 semble peaceably together, to aid the king by their 
 counsel, and strengthen his authority by their unani- 
 mity. Hence, there was no standard of national 
 manners, no means of fixing and consolidating the 
 wavering and turbulent character of the people. 
 Each clan attached itself to its own hereditary chief- 
 tain ; and, whatever his prejudices or follies might 
 be, was implicitly subservient to them. The feuds 
 and personal animosities which existed among the 
 leaders were thus invariably transmitted to the very 
 humblest of their retainers, and a state of society
 
 22 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 was the consequence pregnant with civil discord and 
 confusion, which, on the slightest impulse, broke out 
 into anarchy and bloodshed. 
 
 Many reasons have been assigned why the evils 
 of the feudal system should have been more severely 
 felt in Scotland than elsewhere. The leading causes, 
 as given by the best historians, seem to be, the 
 geographical nature of the country, which made its 
 baronial fastnesses almost impregnable ; the want 
 of large towns, by which the vassals of different 
 barons were prevented from mingling together, and 
 rubbing off, in the collision, the prepossessions they 
 mutually entertained against each other ; the divi- 
 sion of the inhabitants, not only into the followers 
 of different chiefs but. into clans, which resembled so 
 many great families, among all whose branches a 
 relationship existed, and who looked with jealousy 
 upon the increasing strength or wealth of any othei 
 clan ; the smallness of the number of Scottish 
 nobles, a circumstance materially contributing to 
 enhance the weight and dignity of each ; the fre- 
 quent recourse which these barons had, for the pur 
 pose of overawing the crown, to leagues of mutual 
 defence with their equals, or bonds of reciprocal 
 protection and assistance with their inferiors ; 
 the unceasing wars which raged between England 
 and Scotland, and which were the perpetual means 
 of proving to the Scottish king that the very posses- 
 sion of his crown depended upon the fidelity and obe- 
 dience of his nokles, whose good-will it was therefore 
 necessary to conciliate upon all occasions, by grant- 
 ing them whatever they chose to demand ; and, 
 lastly, the long minorities to which the misfortunes 
 of its kings exposed the country at an early period 
 of its history, when the vigour and consistency 
 commonly attendant upon the acts of one mind 
 were required more than any thing else, but instead 
 of which, the contradictory measures of contending 
 nobles, or of regents hastily elected and as hasti'v
 
 INTRODUCTION. 23 
 
 dk^raced, were sure to produce an unnatural stagna- 
 tion in the government, from which it could be re- 
 deemed only by still more unnatural convulsions. 
 
 The necessary consequences of these political 
 grievances were, of course, felt in every corner of 
 the country. It is difficult to form any accurate esti- 
 mate, or to draw any very minute picture of the state 
 of manners and nicer ramifications of society at so 
 remote a period. But it may be stated generally, 
 that the great mass of the population was involved 
 in poverty, and sunk in the grossest ignorance. The 
 Catholic system of faith and worship, in its very 
 worst form, combined with the national superstitions 
 so prevalent among the vulgar, not only to exclude 
 every idea of rational religion, but to produce the 
 very lowest state of mental degradation. Commerce 
 was comparatively unknown agriculture but im- 
 perfectly understood. If the wants of the passing 
 hour were supplied, however sparely, the enslaved 
 vassal was contented, almost the only happiness 
 of his life consisting in that animal gratification af- 
 forded him by the sports of the chase, or the bloodier 
 diversion of the field of battle. Education was 
 neglected and despised even by the wealthy, few 
 of whom were able to read, and almost none to 
 write. As for the middle and lower orders, fragments 
 of rude traditionary songs constituted their entire 
 learning, and the savage war-dance, inspired by the 
 barbarous music of their native hills, their principal 
 amusement. At the same time, it is not to be sup- 
 posed that virtue and intelligence were extinct among 
 them. There must be many exceptions to all general 
 rules ; and however unfavourable the circumstances 
 under which they were placed for calling into activity 
 the higher attributes of man's nature, it is not to be 
 denied, that their chronicles record, even in the lowest 
 ranks, many bright examples of patience, perseve- 
 rance, unsinking fortitude, and fidelity, founded upon 
 generous and exalted attachment. 
 
 It has been said, that under the reigns of the fourth
 
 24 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and fifth James, the moral and political aspect of the 
 Scotch horizon began to brighten. This is to be 
 attributed partly to the beneficial changes which the 
 progress of time was effecting throughout Europe, 
 and which gradually extended themselves to Scot- 
 land, and partly to the personal character of these 
 two monarchs. France, Germany, and England had 
 made considerable strides out of the gloom of the 
 dark ages, even before the appearance of Francis L, 
 Charles V., and Henry VIII. James IV., naturally 
 of a chivalric and ardent disposition, was extremely 
 anxious to advance his own country in the scale of 
 nations ; and while, by the urbanity of his manners, 
 he succeeded in winning the affections of his nobles, 
 he contrived also to find a place in the hearts of his 
 inferior subjects, even beside that allotted to their 
 own hereditary chieftain, an achievement which 
 few of his predecessors had been able to accomplish. 
 The unfortunate battle of Flodden is a melancholy 
 record both of the vigour of James's reign, and of 
 the national advantages which his romantic spirit in 
 duced him to risk in pursuit of the worthless phantom 
 of military renown. 
 
 James V. had much of the ardour of his father, 
 combined with a somewhat greater share of pru- 
 dence. He it was who first made any successful 
 inroads upon the exorbitant powers of his nobility; 
 and though, upon more occasions than one, he was 
 made to pay dearly for his determination to vindicate 
 the regal authority, he was, nevertheless, true to his 
 purpose to the very last. There seem to be three 
 features in the reign of this prince which particularly 
 deserve attention. The first is, the more extensive 
 ntercourse than had hitherto subsisted, which he es- 
 tablished between Scotland and foreign nations, 
 particularly with France. The inexhaustible ambi- 
 tion of Charles V., which aimed at universal empire, 
 and which probably would have accomplished its 
 design had he not met with a rival so formidable as 
 Francis I., was the means of convincing the other
 
 INTRODUCTION. 25 
 
 states of Europe that the only security for their 
 separate independence was the preservation of a 
 balance of power. Italy was thus roused into ac- 
 tivity, and England, under Henry VIII., took an ac- 
 tive share in the important events of the age. To 
 the continental powers against whom that monarch's 
 strength was directed, it became a matter of no small 
 moment to secure the assistance of Scotland. Both 
 Francis and Charles, therefore, paid their court to 
 James, who, finding it necessary to become the ally 
 of one or other, prudently rejected the empty honours 
 offered him by the emperor, and continued faithful to 
 France. He went himself to Paris in 1536, where 
 he married Magdalene, daughter of Francis. She 
 died, however, soon after his return home ; but, de- 
 termined not to lose the advantages resulting from a 
 French alliance, he again married, in the following 
 year, Mary of Lorraine, daughter to the Duke of 
 Guise, and the young widow of the Duke of Longue- 
 ville. Following the example of their king, most of 
 the Scotch nobility visited France, and as many as 
 could afford it sent their sons thither to be educated: 
 while, on the other hand, numerous French adven- 
 turers landed in Scotland, bringing along with them 
 some of the French arts and luxuries. Thus the 
 manners of the Scotch gradually began to lose a 
 little of that unbending severity which had hitherto 
 rendered them so repulsive. 
 
 The second peculiarity in the reign of James V. 
 is the countenance and support he bestowed upon 
 the clergy. This he did, not from any motives of 
 bigotry, but solely as a matter of sound policy. 
 He saw that he could not stand alone against his 
 nobles, and he was therefore anxious to raise into 
 an engine of power a body of men whose inter- 
 ests he thus identified with his own. It is re- 
 markable, that even in the most flourishing days of 
 Catholicism, when the pope's ecclesiastical authority 
 extended itself every where, Scotland alone was 
 
 VOL. I. C
 
 28 INTRODUCTION'. 
 
 overlooked. The king was there always the head 
 of the church, in so far as regarded all ecclesiastical 
 appointments ; and the patronage of his bishopricks 
 and abbeys was no slight privilege to the Scottish 
 monarch, denied as it was to other kings of more ex- 
 tensive temporal jurisdiction. James converted into 
 benefices several of the forfeited estates of his rebel- 
 lious nobles, and raised the clergy to a pitch of au- 
 thority they had never before possessed in Scotland. 
 He acted upon principle, and perhaps judiciously; 
 but he was not aware that by thus surrounding his 
 priests with wealth and luxury, he was paving the 
 way for their utter destruction, and a new and better 
 order of things. 
 
 It will be useful to observe, as the third character- 
 istic of this reign, the encouragement James gave to 
 .he arts and sciences. For the first time, education 
 began to take some form and system. He gave 
 stability to the universities, and was careful to 
 select for them the best teachers. He was fond of 
 drawing to his court men of learning and genius. 
 He was himself a poet of considerable ability. He 
 had likewise devoted much of his attention to ar- 
 chitecture his fondness for which elegant study was 
 testified by his anxiety to repair, or rebuild, most of 
 the royal palaces. He established also on a perma- 
 nent footing the court of session, or college of jus- 
 tice ; and though his reign, as a whole, was not a 
 happy one, it probably redounded more to the advan- 
 tage of his countiy than that of any of his predecessors. 
 
 At his death, which took place in 1542, at the early 
 age of 30, accelerated by the distress of mind occa- 
 sioned by the voluntary defeats which his refractory 
 nobles allowed themselves to sustain, both at Falla 
 and Solway Moss, Scotland speedily fell into a state 
 of confusion and civil war. The events which fol- 
 'owed are indissolubly connected with the subject of 
 these Memoirs, and are related at length in the sue 
 ceeding pages.
 
 
 LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Scotland and it* Troublet during Mary's Infancy. 
 
 JAMES V. left, as an inheritance to his kingdom, an 
 expensive and destructive war with England. He 
 likewise left what, under such circumstances, was a 
 very questionable advantage, a treasury well stored 
 with gold, and a coinage in good condition, produced 
 from the mines which he had worked in Scotland. 
 The foreign relations of the country demanded the 
 utmost attention ; but the long minority necessarily 
 ensuing, as Mary, his only surviving lawful child, was 
 but a few days old when James died, awakened hopes 
 and wishes in the ambitious which superseded all 
 other considerations. For a time England was for- 
 gotten ; and the prize of the regency became a bone 
 of civil contention and discord. 
 
 There were three persons who aspired to that office, 
 and the pretensions of each had their supporters, as 
 interest or reason might dictate. The first was the 
 queen-dowagei, a lady who inherited many of the 
 peculiar virtues, as well as some of the failings, of 
 the illustrious house of Guise, to which she belonged. 
 She possessed a bold and masculine understanding, 
 a perseverance to overcome difficulties, and a forti-
 
 28 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 tude to bear up against misfortunes, n'ot often met 
 with among her sex. She was indeed superior to 
 most of the weaknesses of the female character; and 
 having, from her earliest years, deeply studied the 
 science of government, she felt herself, so far as 
 mere political tactics and diplomatic acquirements 
 were concerned, able to cope with the craftiest of the 
 Scotch nobility. Besides, her intimate connexion 
 with the French court, coupled with the interest she 
 might naturally be supposed to take in the affairs of 
 a country over which her husband had reigned, and 
 which was her daughter's inheritance, seemed to give 
 her a claim of the strongest kind. 
 
 The second aspirant was Cardinal David Beaton, 
 at that time the undoubted head of the Catholic party 
 in Scotland. He was a man whose abilities all 
 allowed, and who, had he been less tinctured with 
 severity, and less addicted to the exclusive principles 
 of the church of Rome, might probably have filled 
 with clat the very highest rank in the state. He 
 endeavoured to strengthen his title to the regency 
 by producing the will of James V. in his favour. But 
 as this will was dated only a short while before the 
 king's death, it was suspected that the prelate had 
 himself written it, and obtained the king's signature, 
 at a time when his bodily weakness had impaired his 
 mental faculties. Beaton was, moreover, from his 
 violence and rigour, particularly obnoxious to all 
 those who favoured the Reformation. 
 
 James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, and next heir to 
 the throne, was the third candidate, and the person 
 upon whom the choice of the people ultimately fell. 
 In more settled times, this choice might possibly 
 have been judicious; but Arran was of far too weak 
 and irresolute a character to be able to regulate the 
 government with that decision and firmness which 
 the existing emergency required. He had few opin- 
 ions of his own, and was continually driven hither 
 and thither by the contradictory counsels of those
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 29 
 
 who surrounded him. He had joined, however, the 
 refoimed religion; and this, together -with the inof- 
 fensive softness of his disposition, made him, in the 
 eyes of many, only the more fit to govern. 
 
 The annexation of Scotland to the crown of Eng- 
 land, either by conquest or the more amicable means 
 of marriage, had for many years been the object 
 nearest the heart of Henry VIII. and several of his 
 predecessors. That his father, in particular, Henry 
 VII., had given some thought to this subject, is 
 evident from the answer he made to such of his 
 privy council as were unwilling that he should give 
 his daughter Margaret in marriage to James IV., on 
 the ground that the English crown might, through 
 that marriage, devolve to a king of Scotland. 
 "Whereunto the king made answer, and said, 'What 
 then 1 for if any such thing should happen (which 
 God forbid), yet 1 see our kingdom should take no 
 harm thereby, because England should not be added 
 unto Scotland, but Scotland unto England, as to the 
 far most noble head of the whole island ; for so 
 much as it is always so, that the lesser is wont, for 
 honour's sake, to be adjoined to that which is far 
 the greater.' "* How correct Henry VII. was in 
 his opinion, the accession of James VI. sufficiently 
 proved. 
 
 Henry VIII., though aiming at the same object as 
 his father, thought it more natural that Scotland 
 should accept of an English, than England of a Scot- 
 tish king. Immediately, therefore, after the birth of 
 Mary, he determined upon straining every nerve to 
 secure her for his son Edward. For this purpose, he 
 concluded a temporary peace with the regent Arran, 
 and sent back into Scotland the numerous prisoners 
 who had surrendered themselves at Solway Moss, 
 upon an understanding that they should do all they 
 
 * Polydore, lib. 2U, quoted by Lesli " Defence of Mary'i Honour," 
 preface, p xiv. Apud Andernon, vol. i. 
 
 C2
 
 30 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 could to second his views with their countrymen. 
 His first proposals, however, were so extravagant,, 
 that the Scottish parliament would not listen to them 
 for a moment. He demanded not only that the young 
 qneen should be sent into England, to be educated 
 under his own superintendence, but that he himself, 
 as her future father-in-law, should be allowed an 
 active share in the government of Scotland. Having 
 subsequently consented to depart considerably from 
 the haughty tone in which these terms were dictated, 
 a treaty of marriage was agreed upon at the instiga- 
 tion of Arrari, whom Henry had won to his interests, 
 in which it was promised, that Mary should be sent 
 into England at the age of ten, and that six persons 
 of rank should, in the mean time, be delivered as 
 hostages for the fulfilment of this promise. 
 
 It may easily be conceived, that whatever the re- 
 gent, together with some of the reformed nobility 
 and their partisans, might think of this treaty, the 
 queen-mother and Cardinal Beaton, who had for the 
 present formed a coalition, could not be very well 
 satisfied with it. Henry, with all the hasty violence 
 of his nature, had, in a fit of spleen, espoused the 
 reformed opinions; and if Mary became the wife of 
 his son, it was evident that all the interests both of 
 the house of Guise and of the Catholic religion in 
 Scotland would suffer a fatal blow. By their forci- 
 ble representations of the inevitable ruin which they 
 alleged this alliance would bring upon Scotland, con- 
 verting it into a mere province of their ancient and 
 inveterate enemies, and obliging it to renounce for 
 ever the friendship of their constant allies the French, 
 they succeeded in effecting a change in public opin- 
 'on ; and the result was, that Arran found himself at 
 lensrth obliged to yield to their superior influence, to 
 deliver up to the cardinal and Mary of Lorraine the 
 young queen, and refuse to ratify the engagements 
 he had entered into with Henry. The cardinal now 
 carried every thing before him, having converted or
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 31 
 
 intimidated almost all his enemies. The Earl of 
 Lennox alone, a nobleman whose pretensions were 
 greater than his power, could not forgive Beaton for 
 having used him merely as a cat's-paw in his intrigues 
 to gain the ascendency over Arran. Lennox had 
 himself aspired at the regency, alleging that his title, 
 as presumptive heir to the crown, was a more legiti- 
 mate one than that of the house of Hamilton, to 
 which Arran belonged. But the still more ambi- 
 tious cardinal flattered only to deceive him; and 
 when Lennox considered his success certain, he 
 found himself further from the object of his wishes 
 than ever. 
 
 Seeing every other hope vain, Lennox set on foot 
 a secret correspondence with Henry, promising that 
 monarch his best support, should he determine upon 
 avenging the insult he had sustained through the 
 vacillating conduct of the Scotch. Henry gladly 
 availed himself of the offer, and sent a considerable 
 force under the Earl of Hartford to the north, by 
 sea, which, having landed at Leith, and plundered 
 that place, as well as the neighbouring city of Edin- 
 burgh, again took its departure for England, without 
 attempting to penetrate farther into the country. 
 This was an unprofitable and ill-advised expedition, 
 for it only tended to exasperate the minds of the 
 Scotch, without being of any service to Henry. The 
 Earl of Huntly well remarked concerning it, that 
 even although he might have had no objections to 
 the proposed match, he had a most especial dislike 
 to the manner of wooing. 
 
 The Earl of Lennox now found himself deserted 
 in the midst of his former friends, and went prudently 
 into voluntary exile, by retiring into England. Here 
 Henry, in reward of his former services, gave him 
 his niece, the Lady Margaret Douglas, in marriage. 
 She was the daughter, by the second marriage, of 
 Henry's sister, the Lady Margaret, wife of James 
 IV., who, after the king's death, espoused Archibald
 
 32 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 Earl of Angus. By this alliance, Lennox, though it 
 was impossible for him to foresee such a result, be- 
 came the father of Henry Darnley, and a long line 
 of kings. 
 
 Shortly afterward, an event well known in Scot 
 tish history, and which was accomplished by means 
 only too frequently resorted to in those unsettled 
 times, facilitated the conclusion of a short peace 
 with England. Cardinal Beaton, elevated by his 
 success, and anxious, now that all more immediate 
 danger was removed, to re-establish on a firmer basis 
 the tottering authority of the Romish church, deter- 
 mined upon striking awe into the people by some 
 memorable examples of severity towards heretics. 
 About the end of the year 1545, he made a progress 
 through several parts of his diocess, accompanied by 
 the Earl of Argyle, who was then lord justice gene- 
 ral, and other official persons, for the purpose of 
 trying and punishing offenders against the laws of 
 the church. At Perth, several of the lieges were 
 found guilty of arguing or disputing concerning the 
 sense of the Holy Scriptures, in opposition to an act 
 of parliament which forbade any such freedom of 
 speech, and five men and one woman were con- 
 demned to die. Great intercession was made for 
 them, but in vain ; the men were hanged, and the 
 woman was drowned. Still further to intimidate 
 the Reformers, a yet more memorable instance of 
 religious persecution and cruelty was presented to 
 them a few months afterward. George Wishart. was 
 at this time one of the most learned and zealous of 
 all the supporters of the new doctrines in Scotland. 
 He had been educated at the university of Cambridge, 
 and had in his youth officiated as one of the masters 
 of the grammar-school at Montrose. His talents 
 and perseverance rendered him particularly obnox- 
 ious to the cardinal, who, having contrived to make 
 him his prisoner, carried him to his castle at St. An 
 drews. An ecclesiastical court was there assembled,
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 33 
 
 at which Wishart was sentenced to be burnt. It 
 may give us a clearer idea of the spirit of the times 
 to know, that on the day on which this sentence was 
 to be put in execution, Beaton issued a proclamation, 
 forbidding any one, under pain of church censure, to 
 offer up prayers for so notorious a heretic. When 
 Wishart was brought to the stake, and after the fire 
 had been kindled, and was already beginning to take 
 effect, it is said that he turned his eyes towards a 
 window in the castle overlaid with tapestry, at which 
 the cardinal was sitting, viewing with complacency 
 the unfortunate man's suffering, and exclaimed, "He, 
 who, from yonder high place, beholdeth me with such 
 pride, shall, within few days, be in as much shame 
 as now he is seen proudly to rest himself." These 
 words, though they met with little attention at the 
 time, were spoken of afterward as an evident and 
 most remarkable prophecy. 
 
 It was not long after this martyrdom, that Cardinal 
 Beaton was present at the marriage of one of his own 
 illegitimate daughters, to whom he gave a dowry of 
 4000 merks, and whose nuptials were solemnized 
 with great magnificence. Probably he conceived, 
 that the more heretics he burned, the more unblush- 
 insrly he might confess his own sins against both 
 religion and common morality. 
 
 On the prelate's return to St. Andrews, Norman 
 Lesly, a young man of strong passions, and eldest 
 son to the Earl of Rothes, came to him to demand 
 some favour, which the cardinal thought proper to 
 refuse. The particulars of the quarrel are not pre- 
 cisely known, but it must have been of a serious 
 kind; for Lesly, taking advantage of the popular 
 feeling which then existed against the cardinal, de- 
 termined upon seeking his own revenge by the assas- 
 sination of Beaton. He associated with himself 
 several accomplices, who undertook to second him 
 in this design. Early on the morning of the 29lh of 
 May, 1546, having entered the castle by the gat*
 
 34 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 \vhich was open to admit some workmen who were 
 repairing the fortifications, he and his assistants pro- 
 ceeded to the door of the cardinal's chamber, at which 
 they knocked. Beaton asked, " Who is there ?" 
 Norman answered, "My name is Lesly," adding, 
 that the door must be opened to him and those that 
 were with him. Beaton now began to fear the worst, 
 and attempted to secure the door. But Lesly called 
 for fire to burn it, upon which the cardinal, seeing all 
 resistance useless, permitted them to enter. They 
 found him sitting on a chair, pale and agitated ; and 
 as they approached him he exclaimed, " I am a priest 
 ye will not slay me ?" Lesly, however, losing all 
 command of his temper, struck him more than once, 
 and would have proceeded to further indignities, had 
 not James Melville, one of the assassins, " a man," 
 says Knox, "of nature most gentle and most modest," 
 drawn his sword, and presenting the point to the car- 
 dinal, advised him to repent of his sins; informing 
 him, at the same time, that no hatred he bore his 
 person, but simply his love of true religion, induced 
 him to take part against one whom he looked upon 
 as an enemy to the Gospel. So saying, and without 
 waiting for an answer, he stabbed him twice or thrice 
 through the body. When his friends and servants 
 collected without, the conspirators lifted up the de- 
 ceased prelate, and showed him to them from the 
 very window at which he had sat at the day of Wish- 
 art's execution. Beaton at the time of his death 
 was fifty-two. He had long been one of the leading 
 men in Scotland, and had enjoyed the favour of the 
 French king, as well as that of his own sovereign 
 James V. Some attempt was made by the regent 
 to punish his murderers, but they finally escaped into 
 France.* 
 
 * Knox seems not only to justify the assassination of Cardinal Reaton, 
 but to hint that it would hnvo been proper to have disposed of his suc- 
 cessor in the same way. " These," says he, " arc tht works nf our (Ind, 
 whereby he would admonish the tyrants of ttiis earth thut, in tliu end,
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 36 
 
 There is good reason to believe that Henry VIII. 
 secretly encouraged Lesly and his associates in this 
 dishonest enteiprise. Bui, if such be the case, that 
 monarch did not live long enough to reap the fruits 
 of its success. He died only a few months later than 
 the cardinal ; and about the same time his contem- 
 porary Francis I. was succeeded on his throne by 
 his son Henry II. These changes did not materially 
 affect the relative situation of Scotland. They may, 
 perhaps, have opened up still higher hopes to the 
 queen-dowager and the French party ; but, in Eng- 
 land, the Duke of Somerset, who had been appointed 
 lord protector during the minority of Edward VI., 
 was determined upon following out the plans of the 
 late monarch, and compelling the Scotch to agree to 
 the alliance which he had proposed. 
 
 In prosecution of his designs, he marched a pow- 
 erful army into Scotland, and the result was the un 
 fortunate battle of Pinkie. The Earl of Arran 
 whose exenions to rescue the country from tins- 
 new aggression were warmly seconded by the peo 
 pie, collected a force sufficiently numerous to enabl * 
 him to meet and offer battle to Somerset. The Eng- 
 lish camp was in the neighbourhood of Prestonpans, 
 and the Scotch took up very advantageous ground 
 about Musselburgh and Inveresk. Military discipline 
 was at that time but little understood in this country ; 
 and the reckless impetuosity of the Scotch infantry 
 was usually attended either with immediate success, 
 or, by throwing the whole battle into confusion, with 
 irretrievable and signal defeat. The weapons Jo 
 which they principally trusted were, in the first 
 place, the pike, with which, upon joining with the 
 enemy, all the fore rank, standing shoulder to shoulder
 
 36 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 together, thrust straight forward, those who stood 
 in the second rank putting their pikes over the 
 shoulders of their comrades before them. The 
 length of these pikes or spears was eighteen feet six 
 inches. They seem to have been used principally 
 on the first onset, and were probably speedily relin 
 quished for the more efficient exercise of the sword, 
 which was broad and thin, and of excellent temper. 
 It was employed to cut or slice with, not to thrust ; 
 and, in defence against any similar weapon of the 
 enemy, a large handkerchief was wrapped twice or 
 thrice about the neck, and a buckler invariably carried 
 on the left arm.* 
 
 For some days the two armies continued in sight 
 of each other, without coming to any general en- 
 gagement. The hourly anxiety which prevailed at 
 Edinburgh regarding the result may be easily ima- 
 gined. To inspire the soldiers with the greater 
 courage, it was enacted by government that the 
 heirs of those who fell upon this occasion in defence 
 of their country should for five years be free from 
 government taxes, and the usual assessments levied 
 by landlords. At length, on Saturday, the 10th of 
 September, 1547, the Scotch, misled by a motion in 
 the English army, which they conceived indicated a 
 design to retreat, rashly left their superior situation, 
 and crossing the mouth of the Esk at Musselburgh, 
 gave the protector battle in the fields of Pinkie, an 
 adjoining country-seat. They were thus so exposed, 
 that the English fleet, which lay in the bay, was ena- 
 bled, by firing upon their flank, to do them much mis- 
 chief. The Earl of Angus, who was leading the 
 vanguard, found himself suddenly assailed by a flight 
 of arrows, a raking fire from a regiment or two of 
 foreign fusileers, and a discharge of cannon which 
 unexpectedly opened upon him. Unable to advance, 
 he attempted to change his position for a more ad- 
 
 * Dalyell's " Fragments of Scottish History "
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 37 
 
 vantageous one. The main body imagined he was 
 falling back upon them in confusion ; and to heighten 
 their panic, a vigorous charge, which was at this 
 moment made by the English cavalry, derided the 
 fortune of the day. After a feeble resistance the 
 Scotch fled towards Dalkeith, Edinburgh, and Leith, 
 and being hotly pursued by their enemies, all the 
 three roads were strewed with the dead and dying. 
 In this battle the Earl of Arran lost upwards of 
 8000 men ; among whom were Lord Fleming, 
 together with many other Scotch noblemen and 
 gentlemen. 
 
 The English army advanced immediately upon 
 Leith, which they took and pillaged; and would have 
 entered Edinburgh, had they not found it impossible 
 to make themselves masters of the castle. The fleet 
 ravaged the towns and villages on the coasts of the 
 Forth, and proceeded as far north as the River Tay, 
 seizing on whatever shipping they could meet with 
 in the harbours by which they passed. 
 
 Far, however, from obtaining by these violent 
 measures, the ultimate object of his desires, Somerset 
 found himself further from his point than ever. The 
 Scotch, enraged against England, threw themselves 
 into the arms of France ; and the protector, under- 
 standing that affairs in the south had fallen into con- 
 fusion in his absence, was obliged to return home, 
 leaving strong garrisons in Haddington, and one or 
 two other places which he had captured. The Earl 
 of Arran and Mary of Guise sent immediate intelli- 
 gence to Henry II. of all that had taken place; and, 
 sanctioned by the Scottish parliament, offered to 
 conclude a treaty of marriage between his infant son, 
 the dauphin Francis, and the young Scottish queen. 
 They moreover agreed to send Mary into France, 
 to be educated at the French court, until such time as 
 the nuptials could be solemnized. This proposal was 
 every way acceptable to Henry, who, like his futher 
 Francis, perfectly understood the importance of a 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 38 LIFE OF MART 
 
 close alliance with Scotland, as the most efficient 
 means for preventing the English from invading his 
 own dominions. He sent over an army of 6000 
 men to the aid of the regent; and in the same ves- 
 sels which brought these troops, Mary was conveyed 
 from Dumbarton into France. Henry also, with 
 much sound policy, in order to strengthen his inter- 
 ests in Scotland, bestowed, about this time, upon the 
 Earl of Arran, the title of the Duke of Chatelherault, 
 together with a pension of some value. During a 
 period of two years, a continual series of skirmish- 
 ings were carried on between the Scotch, supported 
 by their French allies, and the English ; but without 
 coy results of much consequence on either side. In 
 1550, a general peace was concluded ; and the 
 marriage of the Scottish queen was never after- 
 ward made the ground of war between the two 
 countries. 
 
 From this period till Mary's return to her own 
 country, the attention of Scotland was entirely en- 
 grossed with its own affairs, and the various im- 
 portant events connected with the rise, progress, and 
 establishment of the Reformation. As these effected 
 no slight change in the political aspect of the coun- 
 try, and exercised a material influence over Mary's 
 future destiny, it will be proper to give some ac- 
 count of them in this place; and these details being 
 previously gone through, the narrative, in so far 
 as regards Queen Mary, will thus be preserved un- 
 broken.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 30 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Scotland and the Scottish Reformers under the Regency of the 
 Queen-dowager. 
 
 IT was in the year 1517 that Luther first stated his 
 objections to the validity of the indulgences granted 
 so liberally by Pope Leo X. From this year those 
 who love to trace causes to their origin, date the 
 epoch of the Reformation. It was not, however, till 
 a considerably later period, that the new doctrines 
 took any deep root in Scotland. In 1552, the Duke 
 of Chatelherault, wearied with the fatigues of govern- 
 ment, and provoked at the opposition he was con- 
 tinually meeting with, resigned the regency in favour 
 of the queen-mother. Mary of Guise, by a visit she 
 had shortly before paid to the French court, had 
 paved the way for this accession of power. Her 
 brothers, the Duke of Guise and Cardinal of Lor- 
 raine, were far from being satisfied with the state of 
 parties in Scotland. Chatelherault they knew to be 
 of a weak and fluctuating disposition; and it seemed 
 to them necessary, both for the preservation of the 
 ancient religion and to secure the allegiance of the 
 country to their niece, the young queen, that a 
 stronger hand, guided by a sounder head, should hold 
 the reins of the state. Upon their sister's fidelity 
 they knew they could depend ; and it was principally 
 through the influence of French gold and French 
 intrigue that she was placed in the regency. 
 
 The inhabitants of Scotland were at this time 
 divided into two great classes, those who were still 
 stanch to the church of Rome, and those who were 
 determined on effecting a reformation. At the head 
 of the former was John Hamilton, Archbishop of S
 
 40 
 
 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 Andrews, who, upon the murder of Cardinal Beaton, 
 had obtained that appointment through the Duke of 
 Chatelherault, whose natural brother he was. He 
 was greatly the duke's superior in courage and sa- 
 gacity, and was deeply imbued with the prelatical 
 spirit of ambition then so prevalent. The resignation 
 of the regency provoked him exceedingly, the more 
 especially as Mary, to strengthen her own authority, 
 found it necessary at first to treat the Reformers 
 mildly. He was consoled, however, by the death 
 of Edward VI. in 1553, and the accession of the 
 young king's eldest sister Mary to the English 
 throne, as bigoted and determined a Catholic as 
 ever lived. 
 
 The man who had placed himself at the head of 
 the Reformers, and who, although young, had already 
 given Hamilton and his party good cause to tremble 
 at his increasing authority, was James Stuart, the 
 eldest of Mary's three illegitimate brothers, and one 
 who occupies a most important station in the history 
 of his country. His father made him, when only 
 seven years old, Prior or Cornmendator of St. An- 
 drews, an office which entitled him, though a layman, 
 to the full income arising from that rich benefice. It 
 was soon discovered, however, that he had views far 
 beyond so comparatively humble a rank. Even 
 when a boy, it was his ambition to collect around 
 him associates who were devoted to his service and 
 desires. He went over with Mary to France in 1548, 
 but remained there only a very short time ; and at 
 the age of twenty-one he was already looked up to 
 by the Scottish Reformers as their chief. His know- 
 ledge was extensive, and considerably in advance of 
 the times in which he lived. His personal bravery 
 was undoubted, and his skill in arms so great, that 
 few of his military enterprises were unsuccessful. 
 His passions, if they were strong, seem also to have 
 been deep, and entirely under his own command. 
 Whatever may be thought of the secret motives
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 4. 
 
 which actuated him, he was seldom betrayed into any 
 symptoms of apparent violence. He thus contrived 
 to hold a steady course, amid all the turbulence and 
 convulsions of the age in which he lived ; while the 
 external decorum and propriety of his manners, so 
 different from the ill-concealed dissoluteness of 
 many of his contemporaries, endeared him the more 
 to the stern followers of Luther. It is curious to 
 observe the very opposite views which different his- 
 torians have taken of his character, more especially 
 when they come to speak of him as the Earl of 
 Murray and the Regent of Scotland. It would be 
 improper and unnecessary to anticipate these dis- 
 cussions at present, since it is hoped the reader will 
 be able to form his own estimate upon this sub- 
 ject from the facts he will find recorded in these 
 Memoirs. 
 
 It must be evident, that with two such men, each 
 at the head of his own party, the country was not 
 likely to continue long in a state of quietness. The 
 queen-regent soon found it necessary, at the instiga- 
 tion of the French court, to associate herself with 
 the Archbishop of St. Andrews; in opposition to 
 which coalition, a bond was drawn up, in 1557, by 
 some of the principal Reformers, in which they an- 
 nounced their resolution to form an independent con- 
 gregation of their own, and to separate themselves 
 entirely from the "congregation of Satan, with all 
 the superstitious abomination and idolatry thereof." 
 Articles, or Heads of a Reformation, were soon after- 
 ward published, in which it was principally insisted, 
 that on Sunday and other festival days the common- 
 praj er should be read openly in the parish churches, 
 along with the lessons of the Old and New Testa- 
 ments ; and that preaching and interpretation of the 
 Scriptures in private houses should be allowed. 
 
 - In the following year, one of the first outrages 
 which the Reformers committed in Scotland took 
 place in Edinburgh. On occasion of the annual pro-
 
 42 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 cession through the city, in honour of the tutelar 
 saint St. Giles, the image of that illustrious per- 
 sonage, which ought to have been carried by some 
 of the priests, was missing the godly having be- 
 forehand, according to John Knox, first drowned the 
 idol in the North Loch, and then burned it. It was 
 therefore necessary to borrow a smaller saint from 
 the Gray Friars, in order that this " great solemnity 
 and manifest abomination" might proceed. Upon 
 the day appointed, priests, friars, canons, and " rotten 
 Papists" assembled, with tabors, trumpets, banners, 
 and bagpipes. At this sight the hearts of the breth- 
 ren were wondrously inflamed ; and they resolved 
 that this second dragon should suffer the fate of the 
 first. They broke in upon the procession, and though 
 the Catholics made some slight resistance at first, 
 they were soon obliged to surrender the image into 
 the hands of the Philistines, who, taking it by the 
 heels, and knocking, or, as the reformed historian 
 says, dadding its head upon the pavement, soon re- 
 duced it to fragments, only regretting that " the young 
 St. Giles" had not been so difficult to kill as his father. 
 The priests, alarmed for their personal safety, sought 
 shelter as quickly as possible, and gave Knox an op- 
 portunity of indulging in some of that austere mirth 
 which is peculiarly remarkable, because so foreign 
 to his general style. " Then might have been seen," 
 says he, " so sudden a fray as seldom has been seen 
 among that sort of men within this realm ; for down 
 goes the cross, off go the surplices, round caps, and 
 cornets with the crowns. The Gray Friars gaped, 
 the Black Friars blew, and the priests panted and 
 fled, and happy was he that first got the house ; for 
 such a sudden fray came never among the genera- 
 tion of Antichrist within this realm before." The 
 magistrates had some difficulty in prevailing upon 
 the mob to disperse, after they had kept possession 
 of the streets for several hours ; and the rioters es- 
 caped without punishment ; for " the brethren assem-
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 43 
 
 bled themselves in such sort in companies, singing 
 psalms, and praising God, that the proudest of the 
 enemies were astounded."* 
 
 The commissioners who, about this time, were 
 sent into France, and the motives of their embassy, 
 will be spoken of afterward. But the remarkable 
 circumstance, that four of them died when about to 
 return home, one at Paris, and three at Dieppe, 
 had a considerable influence in exciting the populace 
 to still greater hatred against the French party, it 
 being commonly suspected that they had come by 
 their death unfairly. The Congregation now rose 
 in their demands ; and among other things, insisted 
 that " the wicked and scandalous lives" of churchmen 
 should be reformed, according to the rules contained 
 in the New Testament, the writings of the ancient 
 fathers, and the laws of Justinian the emperor. For 
 a while, the queen-regent temporized; but rinding it 
 impossible to preserve the favour of both parties, she 
 yielded at length to the solicitations of the Arch- 
 bishop of St. Andrews, and determined to resist the 
 Reformers vigorously. In 1559, she summoned ali 
 the ministers of the Congregation to appear before 
 her at Stirling. This citation was complied with, 
 but not exactly in the manner that the queen wished; 
 for the ministers came not as culprits, but as men 
 proud of their principles, and accompanied by a vast 
 multitude of those who were of the same mode of 
 thinking. The queen, who was at Stirling, did not 
 venture to proceed to Perth ; and the request she 
 made, that the numbers there assembled should de- 
 part, leaving their ministers to be examined by the 
 government, having been refused, she proceeded to 
 the harsh and decisive measure of declaring them 
 all rebels. 
 
 The consternation which this direct announcement 
 of hostilities occasioned among them was still at its 
 
 * Keith, p 68. Knox's History, p. 94-96
 
 44 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 height, when the great champion of the Scottish Re- 
 formation, John Knox, arrived at Perth. This cele- 
 brated divine had already suffered much for "the 
 good cause ;" and though his zeal and devotion to it 
 were well known, it was not till latterly that he had 
 entertained much hope of its final triumph in his na- 
 tive country. He had spent the greater part of his 
 life in imprisonment or exile; he had undergone 
 many privations, and submitted to many trials. But 
 these were the daily food of the Reformers ; and, 
 while they only served to strengthen them in the ob- 
 duracy of cheir belief, they had the additional effect 
 of infusing a morose acerbity into dispositions not 
 naturally of the softest kind. Knox had returned 
 only a few days before from Geneva, where he had 
 been solacing his solitude by writing and publishing 
 that celebrated work which he was pleased to entitle, 
 " The first blast of the trumpet against the monstrous 
 regiment of women." This treatise, directed princi- 
 pally against Mary of England, not forgetting Mary 
 Queen of Scots and her mother of Guise, rather over- 
 shot its own purpose, by bringing the Reformer into 
 disrepute with Elizabeth, who came to the crown 
 soon after its appearance. To pacify that queen, for 
 it appears even Knox could temporize occasionally, 
 he gave up his original intention of blowing his 
 trumpet thrice, and his first blast was his last.* 
 
 The day after the ministers and their friends had 
 been declared rebels, Knox delivered at Perth what 
 Keith terms " that thundering sermon against idol- 
 atry." The tumult which ensued at the conclusion 
 of this discourse has been attributed by some histo- 
 rians to accident; but Keith's suspicion that Knox 
 had a direct intention to excite it seems well founded, 
 when we consider the ferment in which the minds 
 of his audience were at the time, and the peculiar 
 style in which he addressed them. Buchanan is of 
 
 * M'Crie'* Life of Knox, vol. i. p. 222.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 4.? 
 
 the same opinion, though he would naturally have 
 leaned to the other conclusion. He says that Knox, 
 " in that ticklish posture of affairs, made such a pa- 
 thetic sermon to the multitude who were gathered 
 together, that he set their minds, which were already 
 fired, all in a frame." If, in addition to this, the usual 
 manner of Knox's eloquence be considered, it will 
 hardly be questioned but that the outrage of that day 
 was of his doing. His vehemence in the pulpit was 
 at all times tremendous ; indeed, in so far as the 
 effect he produced upon his hearers was concerned, 
 he seems to have trusted almost as much to the dis- 
 play of his physical as of his mental energies. Many 
 years after the period now alluded to, when he was 
 in his old age and very weak, Melville tells us, that 
 he saw him every Sunday go slowly and feebly, with 
 fur about his neck, a staff in his hand, and a servant 
 supporting him, from his own house to the parish 
 church in St. Andrews. There, after being lifted 
 into the pulpit, his limbs for some time were so feeble! 
 that they could hardly support him ; but ere he had 
 done with his sermon, he became so active and vigor- 
 ous, that he was like " to ding the pulpit in blads, and 
 flie out oPit."* "What he must have been, therefore, 
 in his best days may be more easily imagined than 
 described. 
 
 On the present occasion, after Knox had preached 
 and some of the congregation had retired, it appears 
 that some " godly men" remained in the church. A 
 priest had the imprudence to venture in among them, 
 and to commence saying mass. A young man called 
 out that such idolatry was intolerable ; upon which it 
 is said that the priest struck him. The young man 
 retorted by throwing a stone, which injured one of 
 the pictures. The affair soon became general. The 
 enraged people fell upon the altars and images, and 
 in a short time nothing was left undemolished but the 
 
 * M'Crie's Life of Knox, *ol. ii. p. 206
 
 46 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 bare walls of the church. The Reformers through- 
 out the city, hearing of these proceedings, speedily 
 collected, and attacking the monasteries of the Gray 
 and Black Friars, along with the costly edifice of 
 the Carthusian Monks, left not a vestige of what 
 they considered idolatrous and profane worship in 
 any of them. The example thus set at Perth was 
 speedily followed almost every where throughout 
 the country. 
 
 These outrages greatly incensed the queen-regent, 
 and were looked upon with horror by the Catholics 
 in general. To this day the loss of many a fine 
 building through the zeal of the early Reformers is 
 a common subject of regret and complaint. It is to 
 be remembered, however, that no revolution can be 
 effected without paying a price for it. If the Re- 
 formation was a benefit, how could the Catholic 
 superstition be more successfully attacked than by 
 knocking down those gorgeous temples which were 
 of themselves sufficient to render invincible the pride 
 and inveterate bigotry of its votaries ? The saying 
 of John Knox, though a homely, was a true one, 
 " Pull down their nests, and the rooks will fly away." 
 It is not improbable, as M'Crie conjectures, that had 
 these buildings been allowed to remain in their former 
 splendour, the Popish clergy might have long con- 
 tinued to indulge hopes, and to make efforts to be 
 restored to them. Victories over an enemy are cele- 
 brated with public rejoicings, notwithstanding the 
 thousands of our fellow-countrymen who may have 
 fallen in tht contest. Why should the far more im- 
 portant victory over those who had so long held in 
 thraldom the human mind be robbed of its due praise, 
 because some statues were mangled, some pictures 
 torn, and some venerable towers overthrown 1* 
 
 * The biographer of Knox (?oes, perhaps, a little too far, when he pro- 
 pose.i to alleviate the sorrow felt for the loss of these architectural monu- 
 ments of superstition by reminding the antiquarian that ruins inspire 
 more lively sentiments of the sublime and beautiful than more perfect
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 47 
 
 With as liltle delay as possible, the queen-regent 
 appeared with an army before Perth, and made her- 
 self mistress of the town. The Reformers, however, 
 were not to be intimidated ; and their strength having, 
 by this time, much increased, it was deemed prudent 
 by the regent not to push matters to an extremity. 
 Both parties agreed to disband their forces, and to 
 refer the controversy to the next parliament. As 
 was to be expected, this temporary truce was not of 
 long duration. Incessant mutual recrimination and 
 aggression soon induced both sides to concentrate 
 their forces once more. Perth was retaken by the 
 Reformers, who shortly afterward marched into 
 Edinburgh. After remaining there for some time, 
 they were surprised by a sudden march which the 
 queen made upon them from Dunbar, and were com- 
 pelled to fall back upon Stirling. 
 
 A belief was at this time prevalent at the court of 
 France, that the Prior of St. Andrews, who was the 
 princip-al military leader of the Congregation, had 
 views of a treasonable nature even upon the crown 
 itself, and that he hoped the flaw in his legitimacy 
 might be forgotten, in consideration of his godly ex- 
 ertions in support of the true faith. A new rein- 
 forcement of French soldiers arrived at Leith, which 
 they fortified; and the French ambassador was com- 
 manded to inform the prior, that the king, his mas- 
 ter, would rather spend the crown of France than 
 not be revenged of the seditious persons in Scotland. 
 
 The civil war now raged with increased bitter- 
 ness and with various success, but without any de- 
 cisive advantage on either side for some time. The 
 Reformers applied for assistance to Queen Elizabeth, 
 who favoured their cause for various reasons, and 
 would, no doubt, much rather have seen Murray in 
 possession of the Scottish crown, than her own per- 
 
 remains. This is a piece of ingenuity, but not of sound reasoning. It 
 is rather a curious doctrine, that a cathedral or monastery does not look 
 best with all its walls standing. .JfCnVa Life of Knox, Tol i. p. 271.
 
 48 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 sonal rival, Mary. The Congregation having found 
 it impossible, by their own efforts, to drive the French 
 out of Leith, Elizabeth, in the beginning of the 3 r ear 
 1560, fitted out a powerful fleet, which, to the aston- 
 ishment of the queen-regent and her French allies, 
 sailed up the Frith of Forth and anchored in the roads 
 before even the purpose for which it had come was 
 known. A treaty was soon afterward concluded 
 at Berwick between the lords of the Congregation 
 and Elizabeth's commissioner, the Duke of Norfolk, 
 by which it was agreed, on the part of the former, 
 that no alliance should ever be entered into by them 
 with France ; and on that of the latter, that an Eng- 
 lish army should march into Scotland early in spring, 
 for the purpose of aiding in the expulsion of the 
 French troops. 
 
 This army came at the time appointed, and was 
 soon joined by the forces of the Reformers. The 
 allies inarched directly for Leith, which they invested 
 without loss of time. The siege was conducted with 
 great spirit, but the town was very resolutely de- 
 fended by the French. So much determination was 
 displayed upon both sides, that it was difficult to say 
 how the matter might have ended, had not the death 
 of the queen-regent, which took place at this junc- 
 ture, changed materially the whole aspect of affairs. 
 She had been ill for some time, and during her sick- 
 ness resided in the castle of Edinburgh. Perceiving 
 that her end was approaching, she requested an inter- 
 view with some of the leaders of the Congregation. 
 The Duke of Chatelherault, the Prior of St. Andrews, 
 or the Lord James, as he was commonly called, and 
 others, waited upon her in her sick chamber. She 
 expressed to them her sincere grief for the troubles 
 which existed in the country, and advised that both 
 the English and French troops should be sent home. 
 She entreated that they would reverence and obey 
 their native and lawful sovereign, her daughter Mary. 
 She told them how deeply attached she was to Scot
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 49 
 
 land and its interests, although by birth a Frenchwo- 
 man ; and at the conclusion, she burst into tears, kiss- 
 ing the nobles one by one, and asking pardon of all 
 whom she had in any way offended. The day after 
 this interview Mary of Guise died. Her many ex- 
 cellent qualities were long remembered in Scotland ; 
 for even those who could not love, respected her. In 
 private life, if this term can be used with propriety 
 when speaking of a queen, she appears to have been 
 most deservedly esteemed. She set an example to 
 all her maids of honour, of piety, modesty, and be- 
 coming gravity of deportment; she was exceedingly 
 charitable to the poor; and had she fallen upon bet- 
 ter days, her life would have been a happier one for 
 herself, and her memory more generally prized by 
 posterity. Her body was carried over to France, 
 and buried in the Benedictine monastery at Rheims.* 
 Very soon after the death of the queen-regent, 
 commissioners arrived both from France and England, 
 with full powers to conchide a treaty of peace between 
 the three countries. By the loss of their sister, the 
 princes of Lorraine had been deprived of their chief 
 support in Scotland, and being actively engaged in 
 schemes of ambition nearer home, they found it ne- 
 cessary to conciliate, as they best could, the predomi- 
 
 * It is worth while observing with what a total want of all Christian 
 charity Knox sneaks or the death or Mary of Guise. Alluding to her 
 burial, he says : " The question was moved of her burial : the preachers 
 boldly iMinsUNxl thai any superstitious rites should be used within 
 that realm which God of his mercy had begun to purge ; and so \va 
 nhe clapped in a coffin of lead, and kept in the castle from the 9th of June 
 until the 19th of October, when she, by Pinyours, was carried to a ship, 
 and so carried to France. What pomp was used there we neither hear 
 nor yet regard ; but in it we see that she that delighted that others lay 
 without burial, pot it neither so soon as she herself (if she had b-'en of the 
 counsel in her life) would have required it, neither yet so honourable in 
 this realm as sometimes she looked for. It m- y perchance be a pro- 
 nosticcn, that theGuisean blood cannot have any rest within this realm." 
 Elsewhere he says " Within few days after, began her belly and loath- 
 some legs to swell, and so continued till that God did execute his judg- 
 ment U|ion her. ' And aeain "(.'od, for his mercy's sake, rid us of the 
 rest of the Guisean blood. Amen." As Keith remarks, it wa not by 
 this spirit that the apostles converted the world. h'tith. p. 129 
 
 VOL. 1. E
 
 50 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 nating party there. The important treaty of Edin- 
 burgh, which will be mentioned frequently hereafter, 
 was concluded on the 14th of June, 1560. It was 
 signed on the part of France by the two plenipoten- 
 tiaries, Monluc, Bishop of Valence, and the Sieur 
 Derandoa, reckoned two of the best diplomatists of 
 the day ; and on the part of England, by Wotton, Dean 
 of Canterbury, and Elizabeth's prime minister, Cecil, 
 one of the ablest men of that or any age. The 
 interests of the Congregation were intrusted princi- 
 pally to the Lord James. In consequence of this treaty, 
 the French troops were immediately withdrawn. 
 The fortifications of Leith and Dunbar were de- 
 stroyed, and a parliament was held, whose acts were 
 to be considered as vali 1 as if it had been called by 
 the express commands of the queen. In that parlia- 
 ment, the adherents of the Congregation were found 
 greatly to outnumber their adversaries. An act of 
 oblivion and indemnity was passed for all that had 
 taken place within the two preceding years; and for 
 the first time the Catholics, awed into silence, sub- 
 mitted to every thing which the Reformers proposed. 
 A new Confession of Faith was sanctioned ; the 
 jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts was abolished; 
 and the exercise of worship according to the rites 
 of the Romish Church was prohibited under severe 
 penalties a third act of disobedience being declared 
 capital. 
 
 Thus the Reformation finally triumphed in Scot- 
 land. Though as yet only in its infancy, and still 
 exposed to many perils, it was nevertheless estab- 
 lished on a comparatively firm and constitutional 
 basis. The Catholics, it is true, aware of the school 
 in which Mary had been educated, were far from 
 having given up all hope of retrieving their circum- 
 stances ; and they waited for her return with the 
 utmost impatience and anxiety. But they ought to 
 have known, that, whatever might have been Mary's 
 wishes, their reipn was over in Scotland. A sove-
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 51 
 
 reign may coerce the bodies, but he can never pos- 
 sess a despotic sway over the minds of his subjects. 
 The people had now begun to think for themselves ; 
 and a belief in the mere mummeries of a fantastic 
 system of Christianity, and of the efficacy of mira- 
 cles performed by blocks of wood and stone, was 
 never again to form a portion of their faith. A brief 
 account of one of the last and not least ludicrous at- 
 tempts which the Popish clergy made to support their 
 sinking cause will form a not improper conclusion to 
 this chapter. 
 
 There was a chapel in the neighbourhood of Mus- 
 selburgh, dedicated to the Lady of Loretto which, 
 from the character of superior sanctity it had acquired, 
 had long been the favourite resort of religious devo- 
 tees. In this chapel a body of the Catholic priests 
 undertook to put their religion to the test by perform- 
 ing a miracle. They fixed upon a young man who 
 was well known as a common blind beggar, in the 
 streets of Edinburgh, and engaged to restore to him, 
 in the presence of the assembled people, the perfect 
 use of his eyesight. A day was named, on which 
 they calculated they might depend on this wonderful 
 interposition of Divine power in their behalf. From 
 motives of curiosity a great crowd was attracted at 
 the appointed time to the chapel. The blind man 
 made his appearance on a scaffold erected for the 
 occasion. The priests approached the altar, and 
 after praying very devoutly, and performing other 
 religious ceremonies, he who had previously been 
 stone blind opened his eyes and declared he saw all 
 things plainly. Havinghumbly and gratefully tlianked 
 his benefactors, the priests, he was permitted to 
 mingle among the astonished people, and receive 
 their cnarity. 
 
 Unfortunately, however, for the success of this 
 deception, a gentleman from Fife, of the name of 
 Colville, determined to penetrate if possible a little 
 further into the mystery. He prevailed upon the sub-
 
 52 LIFE OF MART 
 
 ject of the recent experiment to accompany him to 
 his lodgings in Edinburgh. As soon as they were 
 alone, he locked the chamber-door, and either by 
 bribes or threats contrived to win from him the whole 
 secret. It turned out, that in his boyhood this tool in 
 the hand? of the designing had been employed as a 
 herd by the nuns of the convent of Sciennes, then in 
 the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. It was remarked 
 by the sisterhood that he had an extraordinary facility 
 in " flyping up the lid of his eyes, and casting up the 
 white." Some of the neighbouring priests, hearing 
 accidentally of this talent, imagined that it might be 
 applied to good account. They accordingly took 
 him from Sciennes to the monastery near Mussel- 
 burgh, where they kept him till he had made himself 
 an adept in this mode of counterfeiting blindness, and 
 till his personal appearance was so much changed 
 that the few who had been acquainted with him before, 
 would not be able to recognise him. They then sent 
 him into Edinburgh to beg publicly and make himself 
 familiarly known to the inhabitants as a common 
 blind mendicant. So far every thing had gone 
 smoothly, and the scene at the chapel of Loretto might 
 have had effect on the minds of the vulgar, had Col- 
 ville's activity not discovered the gross imposture. 
 Colville, who belonged to the Congregation, instantly 
 took the most effectual means to make known the 
 deceit. He insisted upon the blind man's appearing 
 with him next day at the Cross of Edinburgh, where 
 the latter repeated all he had previously told Colville, 
 and confessed the iniquity of his own conduct as 
 well as that of the priests. To shelter him from their 
 revenge Colville immediately afterward carried him 
 off to Fife ; and the story with all its details, being 
 speedily disseminated, exposed the Catholic clergy 
 to more contempt than ever.* 
 
 * M'Crie'* Life of Knox, vol. i. p. 323.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 53 
 
 CHAPTER IIT. 
 
 Mary's Birth, arid subsequent Residence at the French Court, 
 with a Sketch of the State oj Society and Manners in 
 France during the Sixteenth Century. 
 
 MARY STUART, Queen of Scots, was the third child 
 of James V. and his wife, Mary of Guise. That lady 
 had borne him previously two sons, both of whom 
 died in infancy. Mary came into the world on the 
 7th of December, 1542, in the palace of Linlithgow. 
 She was only seven days old when she lost her father, 
 who at the time of her birth lay sick in the palace of 
 Falkland. James died, as he had lived, with a kingly 
 and gallant spirit. In the language of Pitscottie, he 
 turned him upon his back, and looked and beheld all 
 his nobles and lords about him, and, giving a little 
 smile of laughter, kissed his hand, and offered it to 
 them. When they had pressed it to their lips for 
 the last time, he tossed up his arms, and yielded his 
 spirit to God. James was considered one of the 
 most handsome men of his day. He was above the 
 middle stature ; his hair flowed luxuriantly over his 
 shoulders in natural ringlets, and was of a dark yel- 
 low or auburn colour ; his eyes were gray, and very 
 penetrating; his voice was sweet-toned; and the 
 general expression of his countenance uncommonly 
 prepossessing. He inherited a vigorous constitution, 
 and k^pt it sound and healthy by constant exercise, 
 and by refraining from all excesses in eating or 
 drinking. He was buried in the royal vault in the 
 chapel of Holyrood House, where his embalmed 
 body, in a state of entire preservation, was still to be 
 seen in the time of the historian Keith. 
 E2
 
 54 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 The young queen was crowned by Cardinal Beaton, 
 at Stirling, on the 9th of September, 1543. Her mo- 
 ther, who watched over her with the most careful 
 anxiety, had been told a report prevailed that the 
 infant was sickly, and not likely to live. To disprove 
 this calumny, she desired Janet Sinclair, Mary's 
 nurse, to unswaddle her in the presence of the Eng- 
 lish ambassador, who wrote to his own court that 
 she was as goodly a child as he had seen of her age. 
 
 Soon after her birth, the parliament nominated 
 commissioners, to whom they intrusted the charge 
 of the queen's person, leaving all her other interests 
 to the care of her mother. The first two years of 
 her life Mary spent at Linlithgow, where it appears 
 she had the small-pox, a point of some importance, 
 as one of her historians remarks, in the biography 
 of a beauty and a queen.* The disease must have 
 been of a particularly gentle kind, having left behind 
 no visible traces. During the greater part of the 
 years 1545, 1546, and 1547, she resided at Stirling 
 Castle, in the keeping of Lords Erskine and Living- 
 stone. Here she received the first rudiments of edu- 
 cation from two ecclesiastics, who were appointed 
 her preceptors, more, however, as matter of form 
 than from any use they could be of to her at so early 
 an age. When the internal disturbances of the 
 country rendered even Stirling Castle a somewhat 
 dangerous residence, Mary was removed to Inchma- 
 home, a sequestered island in the lake of Monteith. 
 That she might not be too lonely, and that a spirit 
 of generous emulation might present her with an 
 additional motive for the prosecution of her studies, 
 the queen-dowager selected four young ladies of 
 rank as her companions and playmates. They were 
 each about her daughter's age, and either from chance, 
 or because the conceit seemed natural, they all bore 
 the same surname. The four Maries were, Mary 
 
 * Sadler's State Papers and Letters, vol. i. p. 263.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 55 
 
 Beaton, a niece of Cardinal Beaton, Mary Fleming, 
 daughter of Lord Fleming, Mary Livingstone, whose 
 father was one of the young queen's guardians, and 
 Mary Seaton, daughter of Lord Seaton. 
 
 Mary having remained upwards of two years in 
 this island, those who had, at the time, the disposal 
 of her future destiny thought it expedient, for reasons 
 which have been already explained, that she should 
 he removed to France. She was accordingly, in the 
 fifth year of her age, taken to Dumbarton, where she 
 was delivered to the French admiral, whose vessels 
 were waiting to receive her, and attended by the 
 Lords Erskine and Livingstone, her three natural 
 brothers, and her four Maries, she left Scotland. 
 
 The thirteen happiest years of Mary's life were 
 spent in France. Towards the end of July, 1548, 
 she sailed from Dumbarton, and, after a tempestuous 
 voyage, landed at Brest on the 14th of August. She 
 was there received, by Henry II. 's orders, with all 
 the honours due to her rank and royal destiny. She 
 travelled, with her retinue, by easy stages, to the 
 palace at St. Germain en Laye ; and to mark the 
 respect that was paid to her, the prison-gates of every 
 town she came to were thrown open, and the prison- 
 ers set free. Shortly after her arrival, she was sent, 
 along with the king's own daughters, to one of the 
 first convents in France, where young ladies of dis- 
 tinction w r ere instructed in the elementary branches 
 of education. 
 
 The natural quickness of her capacity and the early 
 acuteness of her mind now began to manifest them- 
 selves. She made rapid progress in acquiring that 
 species of knowledge suited to her years, and her 
 lively imagination went even the length of attaching 
 a more than ordinary interest to the calm and se- 
 cluded life of a nunnery. It was whispered, that she 
 had already expressed a wish to separate herself for 
 ever from the world ; and it is not improbable, that 
 had this wish been allowed to foster itself silently
 
 06 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 in her bosom, Mary might ultimately have taken the 
 veil, in which case her life would have been a blank 
 in history. But these views were not consistent 
 with the more ambitious projects entertained by 
 Henry and her uncles of Lorraine. As soon as they 
 were informed of the bent which her mind appeared 
 to be taking-, she was again removed from the convent 
 to the palace. To reconcile her to parting with the 
 vestal sisters, Henry, whose conduct towards her was 
 always marked by affection and delicacy, selected, 
 from all the noble Scotch families then residing in 
 France, a certain number to constitute her future 
 household. The tears which Mary shed, however, 
 upon leaving the nunnery proved the warmth of her 
 young heart ; and that her feelings were not of merely 
 momentary duration is evinced by the frequent visits 
 she subsequently paid this asylum of her childhood, 
 and by the altar-piece she embroidered with her own 
 nands for the chapel of the convent. 
 
 In no country of Europe was education better un 
 derstood than it then was in France. Francis I., 
 who remodelled upon a magnificent scale the univer- 
 sity of Paris, only followed the example which had 
 already been set him by Louis XII. The youth of 
 all countries flocked to the French schools. The 
 liberal principles which induced the government to 
 maintain, at its own expense, professors who lectured 
 to as many students as chose to hear them, were amply 
 repaid by the beneficial consequences arising from 
 the great influx of strangers. A competent know- 
 ledge of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, mathematics, moral 
 philosophy, and medicine could be acquired in France 
 for literally nothing. Nor was it necessary that he 
 who sought for the blessings of education should 
 profess any particular system of religious faith. The 
 German Protestant and the Spanish Catholic were 
 allowed, in these noble institutions, to take their seat 
 side by side. Henry supported the church as an 
 engine of state, while he detested the arrogant pre-
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 57 
 
 tensions and empty insolence of many of the clergy, 
 and was determined that they should not interfere 
 with the more enlightened views which he himself 
 entertained. In this he only followed the opinions 
 of his illustrious father, Francis, who used to remark, 
 that monks were better at teaching linnets to whistle, 
 playing at dice, tippling, and gormandizing, than in 
 doing good either to religion or morality. 
 
 The host of authors and men of genius who flour- 
 ished in France about this period was another cause 
 of its literary eminence. " Learning," says Miss 
 Benger, " far from being the badge of singularity, 
 had become the attribute of a superior station." 
 " There was," observes the ingenious Pasquier, " a 
 glorious crusade against ignorance." Many of the 
 names then celebrated have since, it is true, passed 
 into oblivion, but the multitude who cultivated letters 
 show the spirit of the times. Beza, Seve, Pelletier, 
 and others led the van in the severer departments 
 of intellect ; while Bellay, Ronsard, and Jodelle 
 showed the way to a host of followers in the cultiva- 
 tion of poetry and the softer arts of composition. 
 
 Nor must the great statesmen and warriors whose 
 presence lent a lustre to the court be forgotten in this 
 view of the existing pre-eminence of France. The 
 two houses of Bourbon and Guise had each given birth 
 to many names destined for immortality. The pre- 
 sent chiefs of Bourbon were Anthony, Duke of Na- 
 varre, and Louis, known in the history of the world 
 as the first Prince of Conde'. There were six 
 brothers of the Guises, of whom the two most illus- 
 trious were Francis, Duke of Guise, and Charles, Car- 
 dinal of Lorraine. But they all held the very highest 
 offices in the church or state ; one was a cardinal, 
 and another a grand prior; a third, the Duke d'Au- 
 male, commanded the army then in Italy ; and the 
 fourth, the Marquis d'Elbeuf, was intrusted with the 
 charge of the French troops in Scotland. But he 
 who held the balance of power between all these con-
 
 58 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 tending interests, was the great Montmorency, Con- 
 stable of France. He had by this time become a 
 veteran in the service of the French monarchs. 
 Louis XII. had acknowledged his virtues, and Francis 
 I. looked to him for advice and aid in every emer- 
 gency. Henry felt almost a filial affection and reve- 
 rence for so distinguished a statesman and patriot; 
 and Diana de Poictiers herself, the fascinating widow 
 of the Duke de Valentinois, frequently found that she 
 possessed less influence with the monarch than the 
 venerable and unostentatious Montmorency. The 
 minister was at all times surrounded by a formida- 
 ble phalanx of friends and supporters. Of these his 
 own sons were not the least considerable ; and his 
 nephews, the two Colignys, need only to be men- 
 tioned to awaken recollections of some of the most 
 remarkable events of French history. 
 
 Neither must we omit to mention the two ladies 
 who held the highest places in the French court. The 
 sister and the wife of Henry II. resembled each other 
 but faintly, yet both secured the admiration of the 
 country. The Princess Margaret had established 
 herself, by her patronage of every liberal art and her 
 universal beneficence, in the hearts of the whole peo- 
 ple. Her religion did not degenerate into bigotry, 
 and her charity, while it was at all times efficient, 
 was without parade. She became afterward the 
 Dutchess of Savoy ; but till past the meridian of life, 
 she continued constantly at her brother's court, a 
 bright example of all that was virtuous and attractive 
 in female character. To her France was indebted 
 for discovering and fostering the talents of its great 
 chancellor Michel L'Hopital; and the honourable 
 name by which she was universally known was that 
 of Minerva. The king's wife, Catherine de Medicis, 
 was more respected for her talents than loved for 
 her virtues. But as yet, the ambition of her nature 
 had not betrayed itself, and little occasion had been 
 afforded for the exercise of those arts of dissimula
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 59 
 
 lion, or the exposure of that proneness to envy and 
 resentment, which at a later period became so appa- 
 rent. She was still in the bloom of youth, and main- 
 tained a high character, not without much show of 
 reason. 
 
 Such being the general aspect of the country and 
 the court, it cannot fail to become evident, that so 
 far from being a just cause of regret, nothing could 
 have redounded more to Mary's advantage than her 
 education and residence in France. If bigotry pre- 
 vailed among the clergy, it was not countenanced at 
 the court, for Henry cared little about religion, and 
 his sister Margaret was suspected of leaning to the 
 Reformed opinions. If Parisian manners were known 
 to be too deeply tinctured with licentiousness, the 
 palace of Catherine must be excepted from the 
 charge ; for even the deportment of Diana herself 
 was grave and decorous, and for his sister's sake 
 the king dared not have countenanced any of those 
 grosser immoralities in which Henry VIII. of Eng- 
 land so openly indulged. The Cardinal of Lorraine, 
 who was at the head of the Parisian University, 
 quickly discovering Mary's capabilities, directed her 
 studies with the most watchful anxiety. She was 
 still attended by the two preceptors who had accom- 
 panied her from Scotland, and before she was ten 
 years old, had made good progress in the French, 
 Latin, run) Italian languages. French was all her 
 life as familiar to her as her native tongue ; and she 
 wrote it with a degree of elegance which no one 
 could surpass. Her acquaintance with Latin was 
 not. of that superficial kind but too common in the 
 present day. This language was then regarded as 
 almost the only one on whose stability any reliance 
 could be placed. It was consequently deemed indis- 
 pensable that all who aspired at any eminence in 
 literature should be able to compose in it fluently. 
 Mary's teacher was the celebrated George Buchanan, 
 who was then in France, and who, whatever other
 
 60 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 praise he may be entitled to, was unquestionably one 
 of the best scholars of his time. The young queen's 
 attention was likewise directed to rhetoric by Fau- 
 chet, author of a treatise on that subject, which he 
 dedicated to his pupil, to history by Pasquier, and 
 the delightful study of poetry, for which her genius 
 was best suited, and for which she retained a predi- 
 lection all her life, by Ronsard. 
 
 Nor must it be imagined that Mary's childhood 
 was exclusively devoted to these more scholastic 
 pursuits. She and her young companions the Scotch 
 Maries and the daughters of Henry were frequently 
 present at those magnificent galas and fetes, in which 
 the king himself so much delighted, and which were 
 so particularly in unison with the taste of the times, 
 though nowhere conducted with so much elegance 
 and grace as at the French court. The summer tour- 
 naments and ftes champetres, and the winter festivals 
 and masquerades, were attended by all the beauty 
 and chivalry of the land. In these amusements 
 Mary, as she grew up, took a lively and innocent 
 pleasure. The woods and gardens also of Fontain- 
 bleau, afforded a delightful variation from the artificial 
 splendours of Paris. In summer, sailing on the lakes 
 or fishing in the ponds ; and in winter, a construction 
 of fortresses on the ice, a mimic battle of snowballs, 
 or skating, became royal pastimes. Mary's gait and 
 air, naturally dignified and noble, acquired an addi- 
 tional charm from the attention she paid to dancing 
 and riding. The favourite dance at the time was 
 the Spanish minuet, which Mary frequently per- 
 formed with her young consort, to the admiration of 
 the whole court. In the livelier gailliarde she was 
 unequalled, ae was confessed, even by the beautiful 
 Anne of Este, who, in a pas-des-deux, acknowledged 
 that she was eclipsed by Mary. 
 
 The activity of her body, indeed, kept upon all 
 occasions full pace with that, of her mind. She was 
 particularly fond of hunting ; and she and her maids
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 61 
 
 of honour were frequently seen following the stag 
 through the ancestral forests of France. Her attach- 
 ment to this amusement, which continued all her life, 
 exposed her on several occasions to some danger. 
 So early as the year 1559, when hunting in France, 
 some part of her dress was caught by the bough of a 
 tree, and she was cast off her horse when galloping 
 at full speed. Many of the ladies and gentlemen in 
 her train passed by without observing her, and some 
 so near as actually to tread on her riding-dress. As 
 soon as the accident was discovered she was raised 
 from the ground; but, though the shock had been 
 considerable, she had too manly a spirit to complain, 
 and readjusting her hair which had fallen into confu- 
 sion, she again mounted her horse and rode home, 
 smiling at the accident.* 
 
 Another but more sedentary amusement with Mary 
 was the composition of devices. To excel in these 
 required some wit and judgment. A device was the 
 skilful coupling of a few expressive words with any 
 engraved figure or picture. It was an art intimately 
 connected with the science of heraldry, and seems 
 to have suggested the modern seal and motto. The 
 composition of these devices was, as it is somewhere 
 called, only " an elegant species of trifling ;" but it 
 had something intellectual in it, which the best in- 
 formed ladies of the French court liked. An old 
 author, who writes upon this subject, elevates it to a 
 degree of importance rather amusing. " It delights 
 the eye," he says, " it captivates the imagination, it 
 is also profitable and useful ; and therefore surpasseth 
 all other arts, and also painting, since this only repre- 
 sents the body and exquisite features of the face, 
 whereas a device exposes the rare ideas and gallant 
 sentiments of its author ; it also excels poetry, inas- 
 much as it joineth profit with pleasure, since none 
 merit the title of devices unless they at once 
 
 * WWttaker, vol. it. p. 144 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 62 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 please by their grace, and yield profit by their doc- 
 trine." 
 
 Mary's partialities were commonly lasting, and 
 when in very different circumstances she frequently 
 loved to return to this amusement of her childhood. 
 Some of the emblems she invented betray much ele- 
 gance and sensibility of mind. On the death of her 
 husband Francis, she took for her device a little 
 branch of the liquorice-tree, whose root only is 
 sweet, all the rest of the plant being bitter, and the 
 motto was, Dulce rneum terra legit. On her cloth 
 of state was embroidered the sentence, En ma Jin es* 
 rnon commencement ; " a riddle," says Haynes, " i 
 understand not ;" but which evidently meant to in- 
 culcate a lesson of humility, and to remind her that 
 life, with all its grandeur, was the mere prologue to 
 eternity. The French historian, Mezeray, mentions 
 also that Mary had a medal struck, on which was 
 represented a vessel in a storm, with its masts broken 
 and falling, illustrated by the motto, Nunquam ntst 
 rectam; indicating a determination rather to perish 
 than deviate from the path of integrity.* When she 
 was in England, she embroidered for the Duke of 
 Norfolk a hand with a sword in it, cutting vines, with 
 the motto Pirescit vulnere virtus. In these and simi- 
 lar fancies, she imbodied strong and often original 
 thoughts with much delicacy. 
 
 In the midst of these occupations and amusements, 
 Mary was not allowed to forget her native country. 
 Frequent visits were paid her from Scotland, by those 
 personally attached to herself or her family. In 
 1550, her mother, Mary of Guise, came over to see 
 her, accompanied by several of the nobility. The 
 queen-dowager, a woman of strong affections, was 
 so delighted with the improvement she discovered in 
 her daughter's mind and person, that she burst into 
 tears of joy ; and her Scottish attendants were hardly 
 
 * Mezeray, Histoire de France, torn. iii. p. 50.
 
 QT7EEN OF SCOTS. 63 
 
 less affected by the sight of their future sovereign. 
 Henry, with his young- charge, was at Rouen, when 
 the queen-dowager arrived. To testify his respect 
 for her, he ordered a triumph to be prepared, which 
 consisted of one of those grotesque allegorical exhi- 
 bitions then so much in vogue ; and, shortly after- 
 ward, the two queens made a public entry into Paris. 
 Mary of Guise had there an opportunity likewise of 
 seeing her son by her first husband, the Duke de 
 Longueville, Mary's half-brother, but who seems to 
 have spent his life in retirement, as history scarcely 
 notices him. It may well be conceived, that the 
 widow of James V. returned even to the regency of 
 Scotland with reluctance, since she purchased the 
 gratification of her ambition by a final separation 
 from her children.* 
 
 It was about the same time that Man' first saw Sir 
 James Melville, who was then only a few years older 
 than herself, and who was sent over in the train of 
 the Bishop of Monluc, when he returned after signing 
 the treaty of Edinburgh, to be one of Mary's pages 
 of honour. Sir James was afterward frequently 
 employed by the queen as her foreign ambassador, 
 and his name will appear more than once in the 
 sequel. We have spoken of him here for the pur- 
 pose of introducing an amusing anecdote, which he 
 gives us in his own Memoirs, and which illustrates 
 the state of manners at that period. Upon landing 
 at Brest, the bishop proceeded direct to Paris. But 
 Sir James, who was young, and could hardly have 
 endured the fatigue of this mode of travelling, was 
 intrusted to the care of two Scotch gentlemen, who 
 had come over in the same ship. Their first step 
 was to purchase three little " naigies," on which they 
 proposed riding to Paris, any thing in the shape of a 
 diligence being out of the question. To ensure 
 greater safety on the journey, three others joined the 
 
 * Miss Benger's Memoirs, vol i. p. 189, et teq.
 
 64 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 party,- two Frenchmen, and a young Spaniard, who 
 was ou his way to the college at Paris. On the 
 evening of the first day, they arrived at the town of 
 Landerneau, where all the six were lodged in one 
 room, containing three beds. The two Frenchmen 
 slept together in one, the two Scotsmen in another, 
 and Melville and the Spaniard in the third. The 
 company on the whole does not appear to have been 
 of the most respectable kind ; for, as Melville lay 
 awake, he heard " the twa Scotsmen devising how 
 they were directed to let him want naething; there- 
 fore, said they, we will pay for his ordinair all the 
 way, and shall count up twice as meikle to his master 
 when we come to Paris, and sae shall win our ain 
 expenses." The two Frenchmen, on their part, 
 thinking that nobody in the room understood French, 
 said to each other, " These strangers are all young, 
 and know not the fashion of the hostelries ; there- 
 fore we shall deal and reckon with the hosts at every 
 repast, and shall cause the strangers pay more than 
 the custom is, and trtat way shall we save our ex- 
 penses." At all this Melville, as he tells us, could 
 not refrain from "laughing in his mind," and deter- 
 mined to be upon Ins guard. " Yet the twa Scotch 
 young men," he adds, in his antique phraseology, 
 " would not consent that I should pay for myself, 
 hoping stnl to beguile the bishop, but the Spam'art 
 and I writ up every day's compt." The Frenchmen, 
 being foiled in their swindling intentions, had re- 
 course to a still bolder manoeuvre. One day, as the 
 party were riding through a wood, two other French- 
 men, who had joined them a short time before, sud- 
 denly leaped off their horses, and, drawing their 
 swords, demanded that the others should deliver up 
 their purses. Melville and his Scotch friends, how- 
 ever, were not to be thus intimidated. They also 
 drew their swords, and prepared for resistance ; on 
 seeing which, the Frenchmen affected to make a joke 
 of the whole affair, saying that they merely wanted
 
 I 
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 65 
 
 to try the courage of the Scotchmen, in case they 
 should have been attacked by robbers. " But the 
 twa last loons," says Melville, " left us at the next 
 lodging; and the twa Scotch scholairs never ob- 
 tenit payment frae the bishop for their pretendit 
 fraud." Sir James arrived in safety at Paris, hav- 
 ing taken thirteen days to ride from Brest to the 
 capital.* 
 
 Thus diversified by intercourse with her friends 
 and with her books, by study and recreation, Mary's 
 early life passed rapidly away. It has been already 
 seen, that whatever could have tended to corrupt the 
 mind or manners was carefully removed from the 
 young queen. As soon as Mary entered upon her 
 teens, she and her companions, the two young prin- 
 cesses, Henry's daughters, spent several hours every 
 day in the private apartment of Catherine de Medi- 
 cis, whose conversation, as well as that of the foreign 
 ambassadors and other persons of distinction who 
 paid their respects to her, they had thus an oppor- 
 tunity of hearing. Conajus mentions, that Mary was 
 soonobseived to avail herself, with great earnest- 
 ness, of these opportunities of acquiring knowledge ; 
 and it has been hinted, that the superior intelligence 
 she evinced in comparison with Catherine's own 
 daughters was the first cause of exciting that 
 queen's jealousy. It was perhaps at some of these 
 conferences that Mary imperceptibly imbibed, from 
 her future mother-in-law, and her not unfrequent 
 visiter, Nostradamus, a slight portion of that ten- 
 dency to superstitious belief then so prevalent. One 
 of the most remarkable characters about Henry's 
 court was Nicolas Cretin, or Nostradamus, as he 
 was more commonly called, who combined in his 
 own person the three somewhat incongruous profes- 
 sions of physician, astrologer, and philosopher. He 
 asserted, that he was not only perfectly acquainted 
 
 * Melville's Memoirs of bis own Life, p. 12. 
 
 F8
 
 66 MFE OF MARY 
 
 with the laws of planetary influence, but that, by 
 the inspiration of Divine power, he could predict the 
 events of futurity. The style of his prophecies was 
 in general sufficiently obscure; yet such was the 
 reverence paid to learning in those days (and Nos- 
 tradamus was a very library of learning), that he 
 was courted and consulted even by the first states- 
 men in France. Mary had far too lively a fancy to 
 escape the infection ; and the force of this early 
 bias continued to be felt by her more or less all 
 her life. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Mary's Marriage, Personal Appearance, and Popularity. 
 
 THE time now approached when Henry began to 
 think of confirming the French authority in Scotland, 
 by consummating the contract of marriage which 
 had so long existed between Francis and Mary. 
 This was not, however, to be done without consider- 
 able opposition from several quarters. The Consta- 
 ble Montmorency and the house of Bourbon already 
 trembled at the growing influence of the Guises, 
 plainly foreseeing that as soon as the niece of the 
 Duke and Cardinal of Lorraine became wife to the 
 dauphin, and consequently, upon Henry's death, 
 queen of France, their own influence would be at 
 an end. It is not improbable that Montmorency 
 aimed at marrying one of his own sons to Mary. 
 At all events, he endeavoured to persuade Henry that 
 he might find a more advantageous alliance for 
 Francis. The Guises, however, were not thus to be 
 overreached; and the king more willingly listened 
 to their powerful representations in favour of the
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 67 
 
 match, as it had long been a favourite scheme with 
 himself. It would be uncharitable to ascribe to the. 
 agency of any of those who opposed it, an attempt 
 which was made some time before by a person of the 
 name of Stuart, a Scottish archer in the king's guards, 
 to poison Mary. Stuart, being detected, was tried, 
 condemned, and executed ; but made no confession 
 \vhich could lead to any discovery of his motives. 
 It is most likely that he had embraced the Reformed 
 religion, and was actuated by a fanatical desire to 
 save his country from the dominion of a Catholic 
 princess. 
 
 Francis, the young dauphin, who was much about 
 Mary's own age, was far inferior to her both in per- 
 sonal appearance and mental endowments. He was 
 of a very weakly constitution ; and the energies of 
 his mind seem to have been repressed by the fee- 
 bleness of his body. But if unable to boast of any 
 distinguishing virtues, he was undegraded by the 
 practice of any vice. He was amiable, timid, affec- 
 tionate, and shy. He was aware of his want of 
 physical strength, and feaied lest the more robust 
 xhould make it a subject of ridicule. He appears to 
 have loved Mary with the tenderest affection, being 
 probably anxious to atone to her, by every mark of 
 devotion, for the sacrifice he must have seen she 
 was making in surrendering herself to him in all the 
 lustre of her charms. Yet there is good reason to 
 believe that Mary really loved Francis. They had 
 been playmates from infancy ; they had prosecuted 
 all their studies together ; and though Francis cared 
 little for the pleasures of society, and rather shunned 
 than encouraged those who wished to pay their 
 court to him, Mary was aware that for this very 
 reason he was only the more sincere in his passion 
 for her. It was not in Mary's nature to be indifferent 
 to those who evinced affection for her; and if her 
 fondness for Francis were mingled with pity, it has 
 long been asserted that " pity is akin to love "
 
 68 LIFE OF MARt 
 
 On the 24th of April, 1558, the nuptials took 
 place. In December, the preceding year, a letter 
 from Henry had been laid before the Scotch pailia- 
 ment, requesting that some persons of rank should 
 be sent over from Scotland as commissioners to 
 witness the marriage ; and in compliance with this 
 desire the Lord James, Prior of St. Andrews, and 
 eight other persons of distinction, arrived at the 
 French court in March, 1558.* Their instructions 
 commanded them to guard against French encroach- 
 ments upon the rights and privileges of Scottish 
 subjects ; and that no doubt might remain regarding 
 the right of succession to the Scottish throne, they 
 were to obtain from the King of France a ratifi- 
 cation of his former promise, to aid and support the 
 Duke of Chatelherault in his claims upon the crown, 
 in case Mary died without issue. They were also 
 to require a declaration to a similar effect from the 
 queen and dauphin. All these demands were at once 
 complied with. 
 
 It has been alleged, however, that a very gross 
 deceit was practised upon this occasion by the 
 French court. It is said that though, to satisfy the 
 Scotch commissioners, all their requests were os- 
 tensibly granted, Henry took secret measures to 
 render these grants entirely inefficacious. Mary, it 
 is asserted, on the 4th of April signed three papers, in 
 the first of which she made over the kingdom of 
 Scotland in free gift to the King of France, to be 
 enjoyed by him and his heirs, should she die without 
 
 * In transcribing dates, it may he proper to mention, that we do not 
 observe the old division of the year. Down till 1563 the French began 
 the year at Easter; but it was then altered to the 1st of January, by tho 
 Chancellor I'Hopital. In Scotland till 1599, and in England till 1751, the 
 
 year. It is useful to be aware of this fact ; though it is unnecessary for 
 a writer of the present day to deviate from the established compulation 
 of luiit-. Aiulersvii'ii Collections, vol. i. Preface, p. li. ; and. Laing 
 <rol. i. p. 2fl.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 69 
 
 children ; in the second (lest it might not be deemed 
 expedient to insist upon the first) she assigned to the 
 King of France the possession of Scotland, after her 
 decease without children, till he should be reim- 
 bursed of a million pieces of gold, or any greater 
 sum which he should be found to have expended on her 
 during her residence in France ; and in the third she 
 protested, that whatever declarations she might sub- 
 scribe, in compliance with the desire of the Scotch 
 parliament, touching the lineal succession of her 
 crown, the genuine sense of her mind was contained 
 only in the two preceding papers.* If this dishon- 
 ourable transaction really took place, while it can- 
 not involve Mary, a young and inexperienced girl 
 of fifteen, in any serious blame, it certainly reflects 
 the highest discredit both upon Henry and his ad- 
 visers of the house of Guise. There is good reason, 
 however, to believe that these instruments, though 
 they unquestionably exist, are forgeries. It was not 
 an uncommon trick in those times for the Reformers 
 to stir up jealousy against a Catholic sovereign, by 
 alleging that he had promised away his country to 
 some well-known Papist. The Prince of Conde, in 
 December, 1568, was not aware of the authenticity 
 of any such papers ; for, if he had been, he would 
 undoubtedly have mentioned them when he asked 
 Elizabeth's assistance to establish the Protestant 
 religion in France. On the contrary, he trumps up 
 a ridiculous story, to which no one has ever given 
 any credit, that Mary had ceded her right to the 
 crown of England in behalf of the King of France's 
 brother, Henry Duke of Anjou. After Mary's death 
 it was confidently reported, and with equal falsehood, 
 that by her testament she had left England to the 
 King of Spain, unless her son became a Roman 
 Catholic. There is, besides, internal evidence of a 
 striking nature, that these deeds were forgeries. 
 
 Keith, p. 73.
 
 70 
 
 For its discovery we are indebted to the industry and 
 research of Goodall.* 
 
 Some of the provisions in the marriage-contract 
 between Francis and Mary are sufficiently remark- 
 able to deserve being recorded. The jointure as- 
 signed by it to the queen, provided her husband died 
 King of France, is 60,000 livres, or a greater sum, if 
 a greater had ever been given to a queen of France. 
 If her husband died only dauphin, the jointure was 
 to be 30,000 livres. The eldest son of the marriage 
 was to be King of France and Scotland ; and if there 
 were no sons, the eldest daughter was to be Queen 
 of Scotland only, with a portion of 400,000 crowns, 
 as a daughter of France, eveiy younger daughter 
 being allowed 300,000 crowns. Should her husband 
 die, Mary was to be at liberty either to remain in 
 France or return to Scotland, with an assurance that 
 her jointure would be always duly paid her. The 
 dauphin was to bear the name and title of King of 
 Scotland, and enjoy all the privileges of the crown- 
 matrimonial. 
 
 The marriage, for which so many preparations 
 had thus been made, was solemnized in the church 
 of Notre Dame, the ceremony being performed by 
 the Cardinal of Bourbon, Archbishop of Rouen. 
 Upon this occasion, the festivities were graced by 
 the presence of all the most illustrious personages 
 of the court of France; and when Francis, taking 
 a ring from his finger, presented it to the archbishop, 
 who, pronouncing the benediction, placed it on the 
 young queen's finger, the vaulted roof of the cathe- 
 dral rung with congratulations, and the multitude 
 without rent the air with joyful shouts, The spec- 
 tacle was altogether one of the most imposing 
 
 * Goodall's Examination, vol. i. p. 159, et seq. The moito which 
 Goodall put upon tus titlepa^-!, 
 
 " Pandere res altt terra, et caligine inersas," 
 he has in tnore than one instance amply justified.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 71 
 
 which, even in that age of spectacles, had been seen 
 in Paris. The procession, upon leaving the church, 
 proceeded to the palace of the archbishop, where 
 a magnificent collation was prepared, largess, as 
 it moved along, being proclaimed among the people, 
 in the name of the King and Queen of Scots. In 
 the afternoon, the royal party returned to the palace 
 of the Tournelles Catherine de Medicis and Mary 
 sitting together in the same palanquin, and a car- 
 dinal walking on each side. Henry and Francis 
 followed on horseback, with a long line of princes 
 and princesses in their train. The chronicler of 
 these nuptials is unable to conceal his rapture, when 
 he describes the manner in which the palace had 
 been prepared for their reception. Its whole appear- 
 ance, he tells us, was " light and beautiful as Ely- 
 sium." During supper, which was served upon a 
 marble table in the great hall, the king's band of 
 " one hundred gentlemen" poured forth delicious 
 strains of music. The members of parliament at- 
 tended in their robes ; and the princes of the blood 
 performed the duty of servitors the Duke of Guise 
 acting as master of the ceremonies. The banquet 
 being concluded, a series of the most magnificent 
 masks and mummeries, prepared for the occasion, 
 was introduced. In the pageant, twelve artificial 
 horses, of admirable mechanism, covered with cloth 
 of gold, and lidden by the young heirs of noble 
 houses, attracted deserved attention. They were 
 succeeded by six galleys, which sailed into the hall, 
 each rich as Cleopatra's barge, and bearing on its 
 deck t\vo seats, the one filled by a young cavalier, 
 who, as he advanced, carried off from among the 
 spectators, and gently placed in tlte vacant chair, the 
 lady of his love. A splendid tournament concluded 
 these rejoicings. 
 
 Durine the whole of these solemnities, every eye 
 was fixed on the youthful Mary; and, inspired by 
 those feelings which beauty seldom fails to excite,
 
 72 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 every heart offered up prayers for her future welfare 
 and happiness. She was now at that age when femi- 
 nine loveliness is perhaps most attractive. It is not to 
 be supposed, indeed, that in her sixteenth year, her 
 charms had ripened into that full-blown maturity 
 which they afterward attained ; but they were, on 
 this account, only the more fascinating. Some have 
 conjectured that Mary's beauty has been extolled 
 far beyond its real merits ; and it cannot be denied 
 that many vague and erroneous notions exist re- 
 garding it. But that her countenance possessed in 
 a pre-eminent degree the something which consti- 
 tutes beauty is sufficiently attested by the unani- 
 mous declaration of all contemporary writers. It is 
 only, howevei, by carefully gathering together hints 
 scattered here and there, that any accurate idea can 
 be formed of the lineaments of a countenance which 
 has so long ceased to exist, unless in the fancy of 
 the enthusiast. Generally speaking, Mary's features 
 were more Grecian than Roman, though without 
 the insipidity that would have attached to them, had 
 they been exactly regular. Her nose exceeded a 
 little the Grecian proportion in length. Her haii 
 was very nearly of the same colour as James V.'s 
 dark yellow, or auburn, and, like his, clustered in 
 luxuriant ringlets. Her eyes, which some writers, 
 misled by the thousand blundering portraits of her 
 scattered every where, conceive to have been gray, 
 or blue, or hazel, were of a chestnut colour, 
 darker, yet matching well with her auburn hair. 
 Her brow was high, open, and prominent. Her lips 
 were full and expressive, as the lips of the Stuarts 
 generally were ; and she had a small dimple in her 
 chin. Her complexion was clear, and very fair, 
 without a great deal of colour in her cheeks. Her 
 mother was a woman of large stature, and Mary 
 was also above the common size. Her person was 
 finely proportioned and her carriage exceedingly 
 graceful and dignified.* 
 
 * Muzeray. Castelnau, Brantome, Thuanus Chalmers, Miss Benger.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 73 
 
 In this description of Mary's personal appearance 
 we have placed a good deal of reliance on the re- 
 search and accuracy of Chalmers. It will be ob- 
 served that our account differs, in many essential 
 particulars, from that of Robertson, who says 
 " Mary's hair was black, though, according to the 
 fashion of that age, she frequently wore borrowed 
 locks, and of different colours. Her eyes were a 
 dark gray; her complexion was exquisitely fine; 
 and her hands and arms remarkably delicate, both 
 as to shape and colour. Her stature was of a 
 height that rose to the majestic." Where Robert- 
 son discovered that Mary's hair was black, or her 
 eyes gray, he does not mention. That her eyes 
 were not black we have the direct testimony of Beal, 
 clerk to the privy council of England, who was 
 ordered by Cecil to be present at the death of the 
 Scottish queen, and who describes her as having 
 " chestnut-coloured eyes." As to her hair, and her 
 other features, though Melville, in his Memoirs, cer- 
 tainly seems to imply that the former was auburn, 
 yet, as he does not expressly say so, we suspect 
 correct conclusions can be arrived at. only by a re- 
 ference to the best authenticated portraits which 
 have been preserved of Mary. This, however, is 
 far from being a criterion by which opinions should 
 be rashly formed. There are few persons in the 
 whole range of history, likenesses of whom have 
 been more eagerly sought after ; and in proportion 
 to the anxiety manifested to secure originals has 
 been the temptation to mislead and deceive. Almost 
 all the paintings said to be originals of Mary Queen 
 of Scots are the impositions of picture-dealers. 
 When the demand for these paintings became gene- 
 ral, it was not at all unusual to despatch emissaries 
 over the Continent to pick up every picture, the 
 costume and general appearance of which in the 
 least resembled the Scottish queen. During Mary's 
 life, and for some time after her death, the fame ol 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 74 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 her beauty, and the interest attached to her fortunes, 
 induced numerous ladies of rank, who flattered them- 
 selves that they were like her, to have portraits 
 painted in the style then well understood by the 
 phrase a la Mary Stuart. There was, in particular, 
 a celebrated Continental beauty of those days a 
 Countess of Mansfeldt (we speak on the authority 
 of a living artist of celebrity), who resembled Mary 
 in many particulars, and all whose portraits (nor 
 were they few in number) when they afterward 
 came into the hands of the picture-dealers, were 
 affirmed to be Maries. Thus, in the lapse of years, 
 the truth became so involved in uncertainty, that 
 even Robertson, allowing himself to be too hastily 
 misled, has lent his name to the dissemination of 
 error. 
 
 Horace Walpole, after having made extensive in- 
 quiries on this subject, has recorded that he never 
 could ascertain the authenticity and originality of any 
 portrait of Mary except of that in the possession of 
 the Earl of Morton, which waspaintedwhenshewas 
 at Loch Leven. Chalmers, in order to come as near 
 the truth as possible, employed Mr. Pailou, an artist of 
 ability, to compare the picture belonging to the Earl 
 of Morton with two or three other undoubted origi- 
 nals which have been discovered since Walpole wrote. 
 Pailou commenced by sketching the outline of his 
 picture from Lord Morton's original. He then pro- 
 ceeded to the examination of three genuine portraits 
 of Mary, one in the church of St. Andrew in Ant- 
 werp, another in the Scotch College at Douay, and a 
 third in the Scotch College at Paris. Neither did he 
 forget the profile heads of Mary struck upon her 
 coins, nor the marble figure representing her on her 
 tomb in Henry VII. 's chapel, which Walpole thought 
 a correct likeness. Mr. Pailou thus made Lord Moi- 
 ton's picture the basis of his own, but as he advanced 
 constantly referred to the others, " till he got the 
 whole adjusted and coloured." Though we cannot
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 75 
 
 exactly approve of thus cooking up a picture from 
 various different sources, and should be inclined to 
 think that too much was left by such a mode of pro- 
 cedure to the arbitrary taste of the artist, we never- 
 theless feel satisfied that Mr. Pailou has hit upon a 
 tolerably accurate likeness. His picture, engraved 
 by Scriven, forms the frontispiece to the second vo- 
 lume of Chalmers's work. The brow, eyes, mouth, 
 and chin he has given with great success. But the 
 painting is far from being without faults ; the face 
 is a good deal too round and plump, the nose is made 
 slightly aquiline a decided mistake, and the neck 
 is much too short, at least so it appears in the en- 
 graving. 
 
 The portrait of Mary which forms the frontispiece 
 to the present volume, and on which we place greater 
 reliance than on any with which we are acquainted, 
 is an engraving executed expressly for this work 
 from an original picture of much merit.* It was 
 painted when Mary was in France, by an Italian artist 
 of eminence, who flourished as her contemporary in 
 the sixteenth century, and whose name is on the can- 
 vass. It would have been impossible to say at what 
 precise age it represented Mary, though from the 
 juvenility of the countenance it might have been con- 
 cluded that it was taken a year or two before she be- 
 came dauphiness, had not the painter fortunately 
 obviated the difficulty by inserting immediately after 
 his own signature the date, which is 1556, when she 
 was just fourteen. It is upon this picture that we 
 have chiefly founded our description of Mary's per- 
 sonal appearance. What gives us the greater confi- 
 dence in its authenticity and accuracy is, that it very 
 exactly corresponds with two other portraits believed 
 on good grounds to be originals. This is a strong 
 
 * This picture originally belonged to Lord Robert Stuart, Earl of Ork- 
 ney, one of Mary's natural brothers, and is now in the possession of 
 William Trail, Esq. of Woodwick, Orkney, into whose family it came 
 together with other relics of the earl, by the marriage of an ancestor of 
 Mr. Trail, to one of bis descendants. Vide ATFICMUX A.
 
 76 LIFE Of MARY 
 
 circumstance, for it is a very common and just re 
 mark that almost no two likenesses of Mary agree. 
 The paintings to which we allude are, first, one at the 
 seat of Logic Almond, which represents Mary at the 
 same age, but in a religious habit. It gives precisely 
 the same view of the left side of the face as the en- 
 graving in this volume does of the right. From the 
 style and other circumstances, it is very probable that 
 both pictures were painted by the same artist. The 
 second is in the possession of his grace the Duke of 
 Hamilton, and is in one of the private apartments at 
 Hamilton palace. It represents Mary at a somewhat 
 more advanced period of life, but the features are 
 quite the same. There is still a third picture, said to 
 be an original, in the collection of the Marquis of Salis- 
 bury, at Hatfield House, and which has been en- 
 graved for Miss Benger's Memoirs, which very closely 
 resembles our own. To be yet more assured, we 
 have carefully examined the heads upon Mary's gold 
 and silver coins. Some of these are inaccurate, but 
 they have all a general resemblance to each other. 
 A silver coin of 1561 and the gold real stamped in 
 1562 agree minutely with our picture, a circum- 
 stance which cannot but be considered a strong cor- 
 roboration of its truth. It is unnecessary to make 
 any apology to the reader for having entered thus 
 minutely upon a subject of so much general in- 
 terest.* 
 
 With regard to the asseverations of contemporary 
 writers as to the effects which Mary's beauty pro- 
 duced, many of them are almost too extravagant to 
 be believed. They prove, nevertheless, that what 
 ever beauty may be, whether a mere fortunate ar 
 
 * Tt is to the kindness of John Watson Gordon, Esq., deservedly one 
 of the most eminent portrait-painters in Scotland, that we are indebted, 
 both for the use of the painting from which the engraving has been made, 
 and for several of the ikcts we have stated above. Mr. Gordon has exe- 
 cuted three copies of the picture all of them exceedingly beautiful and 
 accurate possessing the merits without any of the dusky dimness which 
 ime has thrown over the original.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 7? 
 
 rangement of material atoms or a light suffused upor 
 the face from the secret and ethereal mind, it was a 
 gift which Nature had lavishly bestowed on Mary. A 
 year or two previous to her marriage, when walking 
 in a religious procession through the streets of Paris 
 with a lighted torch in her hand, a woman among the 
 srowd was so struck with her appearance that she 
 could not help stopping he: to ask, " Are you not 
 indeed an angel ?" Brantome, with more question- 
 able sincerity, compares her at the age of fifteen to 
 the sun at midday. He tell us also that the brother 
 of Francis, afterward Charles IX., never saw even 
 a picture of Mary without lingering to gaze upon it, 
 declaring passionately that he looked upon Francis 
 as the happiest man on earth, to possess a creature of 
 so much loveliness. Nay, Brantome even goes the 
 length of asserting that no man ever saw Mary who 
 did not lose his heart to he?. He is pleased, like- 
 wise, with some naivete", to pay her several high com- 
 pliments at the expense of her native country. It 
 appears that Mary, amid all the gayeties of the French 
 court, had not forgotten her early residence at Inch- 
 mahome, in the quiet lake of Monteith. Actuated by 
 these recollections and other motives, she delighted 
 to testify her regard for Scotland in various ways ; 
 and among others by frequently wearing in public the 
 graceful Highland costume. The rich and national 
 Stuart tartan became her exceedingly; and Bran- 
 tome, who seems to have been greatly puzzled by the 
 novelty of the dress, is nevertheless forced to declare 
 that when arrayed after " the barbarous fashion of 
 the savages of her country, she appeared a goddess 
 in a mortal body, and in a most outre" and astonish- 
 ing garb." Mary herself was so fond of this cos- 
 tume that she wore it in one of the portraits which 
 were taken of her in France. If she appeared 
 so beautiful thus " habillte a la sawrag-e," exclaims 
 Brantome, " what must she not be in her rich and 
 lovely robes made d la Franqaiae, ou PEspagnole, or 
 G2
 
 78 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 with a bonnet a Fltalienne ; or in her flowing white 
 dress contending in vain with the whiteness of her 
 skin! " Even when she sung and accompanied her- 
 self upon the lute, Brantome found occasion to dis- 
 cover a new beauty, " her soft snowy hand and fin- 
 gers, fairer than Aurora's." "Ah royaume d'Escosse !" 
 he touchingly adds, " Je croy que, maintenant, vos 
 jours sont encore bien plus courts qu'ils n'estoient, 
 et vos nuits plus longues, puisque vous avez perdu 
 cette princesse qui vos illuminoit !" The historian 
 Castelnau, in like manner, pronounces Mary " the 
 most beautiful and accomplished of her sex ;" and 
 Mezeray tells us that " Nature had bestowed upon 
 her every thing that is necessary to form a complete 
 beauty ;" adding, that " by the study of the liberal 
 arts and sciences, especially painting, music, and 
 poetry, she had so embellished her natural good quali- 
 ties, that she appeared to be the most amiable prin- 
 cess in Christendom." On the occasion of her mar- 
 riage, not only were the brains of all the jewellers, 
 embroiderers, and tailors of Paris put in requisition, 
 but a whole host of French poets felt themselves 
 suddenly inspired. Epithalamiums poured in from 
 all quarters, spiced with flattery of all kinds, few of 
 which have been borne down the stream of time so 
 honourably for their authors' abilities as that of Bu- 
 chanan, who, having long struggled with poverty, had 
 at last risen to independence under the patronage of 
 Cardinal Lorraine. This poem is well known, but is 
 not more complimentary than that of Joachim du 
 Bellay, who, alter comparing Mary to Venus, con- 
 cludes his song with these lines : 
 
 "Par une chaine a sa langue attacWe 
 Hercule a sol les peuple attiroit ; 
 Mais celle ci tireceux qu'elle voit 
 Par une chaine a sea beaux yeux aUachfa." 
 
 Homage so general cannot have been entirely mis- 
 placed, or very palpably exaggerated.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 79 
 
 In Scotland, through the instigation of the queen- 
 regent, Mary's nuptials, which were far from being 
 agreeable to a numerous party, were celebrated with 
 probably less sincere, and certainly much more 
 homely expressions of pleasure. Orders were sent 
 to the different towns "to make fyres and processions 
 general." Mons-Meg, the celebrated great gun of 
 Edinburgh Castle, was fired once ; and there is a 
 charge of ten shillings in the treasurer's accounts of 
 that year, paid to certain persons for bringing up the 
 cannon " to be schote, and for the finding and carrying 
 of her bullet after she was schote frae Wardie Muir 
 to the castel of Edinburgh," a distance of about two 
 miles. A play was also enacted, but of what kind 
 it is difficult to say, at the expense of the city of 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Mary the Queen-dauphiness, the Queen, and the Queen- 
 dowager of France. 
 
 SHORTLY after the espousals, Mary and her husband 
 retired to one of their princely summer residences. 
 Here she unostentatiously discharged the duties of 
 a respectful and attentive wife, in a manner which 
 gained for her the admiration of all who visited 
 them. Delightful as society and amusements must 
 at that age have been to her, she readily accommo- 
 dated herself to the peculiar temper of Francis, and 
 seemed willing for his sake to resign all the gayeties 
 of the court. 
 
 But the intriguing and restless ambition of her 
 imcles could not allow her to remain long quiet. 
 About this time Mary Tudor, who had succeeded 
 Edward VI. on the English throne, died; and although
 
 80 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 the parliament of that country had declared that the 
 succession rested in her sister Elizabeth, it was 
 thought proper to claim for Mary Stuart a prior right. 
 The ground upon which they built this claim was the 
 following. Henry \ III. married for his first wife 
 Catharine of Arragon, widow of his brother Arthur, 
 and by her he had one child, Mary. Pretending, after 
 having lived with her eighteen years, that his con- 
 science rebuked him for making his brother's wife 
 the partner of his bed, he procured a divorce from 
 Catharine for the purpose of marrying Anne Boleyn, 
 by whom he had also one daughter, Elizabeth. Grow- 
 ing tired of this new wife, she was sent to the scaffold 
 to make way for Jane Seymour, by whom he had one 
 son, Edward. Of this uxorious monarch's other 
 three wives it is unnecessary to speak. Henry had 
 procured from the British parliament a solemn act, 
 declaring both his daughters illegitimate, and he left 
 his crown to Edward VI., who accordingly succeeded 
 him. Upon Edward's death, the parliament, rescind- 
 ing their former act, in order to save the nation from 
 a civil war, called to the throne Henry's eldest 
 daughter Mary, not, however, without a protest 
 being entered in behalf of the Scotch queen by her 
 guardians. Upon Mary's death the opportunity 
 again occurred of pressing the claims of the daughter 
 of James V. The mother of that king, it will be 
 remembered, who married his father James IV., was 
 the eldest daughter of Henry VII., and sister, conse- 
 quently, of Henry VIII. Henry was, therefore, 
 Mary's maternal granduncle ; and if his wives 
 Catharine and Anne Boleyn were legally divorced, 
 she had certainly a better right to the English crown 
 than any of their illegitimate offspring. Soon after 
 the accession, however, of Edward VI., the parlia- 
 ment, complying with the voice of the whole nation, 
 had declared them legitimate ; and as Elizabeth now 
 quietly took possession of the throne, and could 
 hardly by any chance have been dispossessed, it was,
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 81 
 
 to say the least, extremely ill-advised to push Mary 
 forward as a rival claimant. 
 
 For various reasons, however, this was the policy 
 which the Guises chose to pursue. Nor did they 
 proceed to assert her right with any particular deli- 
 cacy or caution. Whenever the dauphin and his 
 queen came into public, they were greeted as the 
 King and Queen of England ; and the English arms 
 were engraved upon their plate, embroidered upon 
 their scutcheons and banners, and painted on their 
 furniture.* Mary's favourite device, also, at this 
 time, Was the two crowns of France and Scotland, 
 with the motto, Aliamque moratur, meaning that of 
 England. The prediction made by the Duke of Alva, 
 on observing this piece of empty parade, was but too 
 fatally fulfilled," That bearing of Mary Stuart's," 
 said he, " will not be easily borne." 
 
 About this time Mary seems to have been attacked 
 with the first serious illness which had overtaken her 
 in France. It was not of that acute description 
 which confined her to bed, but was a sort of general 
 debility accompanied with a tendency to frequent 
 fainting. It is mentioned in Forbes's State Papers, 
 that on one occasion, to prevent her from swooning 
 in church, her attendants were glad to bring her wine 
 from the altar. There were some at the French 
 
 * The coat-of-arms borne by Francis and Mary is worth describing. 
 The coal was borne Baron and Femme ; the first contained the coat of 
 the dauphin, which took up the upper half of the shield, and consisted of 
 the arms of France. The lower half was impaled quarterly. In one and 
 four the arrnii of Scotland, and in tiro and three those of England. Over 
 the whole was half an escutcheon, the sinister half being obscured or cut 
 off, to denote that the English crown was in the possession of another, 
 to the bearer's prejudice, tinder the arms were four lines in French, thus 
 wretchedly translated by Strype, in his " Annals of Queen Elizabeth." 
 
 " The arms of Mary Queen-dauphiness of France, 
 The noblest lady in earth for till advance, 
 Of Scotland queen and of England, also 
 Of France, an God hath provide! it so." 
 
 Keith, p. 114. Chalmers, vol. ii. p. 413. A painting (probably a copy) 
 containing these arms, and the above motto, is preserved in Marv'a 
 Apartments at Holyrood House
 
 82 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 court who would have felt little gnef had this illness 
 ended fatally, considering how serious a blow Mary's 
 death would have been to the too predominating 
 influence of the house of Guise. In England, the 
 news would have been particularly agreeable to 
 Elizabeth, whose ambassador at Paris eagerly con- 
 soled her with the intelligence that Mary was not 
 expected to be of long continuance. The natural 
 strength of her constitution, however, soon restored 
 her to her former health and spirits. 
 
 But it was destined that there was to be another 
 and more unexpected death at the French court. 
 Henry II., while exhibiting his prowess at a tourna- 
 ment, on the occasion of the marriage of his daughter 
 Elizabeth to Philip of Spain, in July, 1559, received 
 a wound in the head from the spear of his antagonist, 
 the Count Montgomery, which, though apparently 
 not of much consequence at first, occasioned his 
 dissolution eight days afterward. A considerable 
 change immediately took place in the aspect of the 
 court. The stars of the Dutchess de Valentinois 
 and of the Constable Montmorency set at once ; and 
 that of Catharine de Medicis, though not entirely 
 obscured, shone lower in the horizon. She was now 
 only the second lady in France, Mary Stuart taking 
 the precedence. The Guises reigned along with her, 
 and the house of Bourbon trembled. Catharine, 
 who could bear no superior, more especially one 
 young enough to be her own daughter, could ill dis- 
 guise her chagrin. As a guardian, however, of her 
 late husband's younger sons, the presumptive heirs 
 to the crown, she was entitled to maintain her place 
 and authority in the government. There is a curious 
 little anecdote of her which shows how much the 
 change in her situation was preying on her mind. 
 As she was leaving the palace of *.he Tournelles, to 
 accompany Francis to the Louvre, where he was to 
 appear as the new sovereign, she fell into a revery, 
 and in traversing the gallery, took a wrong turn and
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 83 
 
 was entirely separated from her party before she 
 discovered her mistake. She soou overtook them, 
 however, and as they passed out, said to Mary, 
 " Pass on, madam, it is now your turn to take prece- 
 dence." Mary accepted the courtesy, but with be- 
 coming delicacy insisted that Catharine should enter 
 the carriage first.* There is something more affecting 
 in the change which Henry's death produced in the 
 condition of the venerable Montmorency and his 
 family. He whom three monarchs had loved and 
 respected, who had given dignity to their councils, 
 and ensured success to their arms, was not consid- 
 ered worthy of remaining in the palace of the feeble 
 and entrammelled Francis. With a princely retinue, 
 he retired honourably to his mansion at Chantilly. 
 
 Mary was now at the very height of European 
 grandeur. The queen of two powerful countries 
 and the heir-presumptive of a third, in the flower 
 of her age, and, from her superior mental endow- 
 ments, much more worshipped, even in France, than 
 her husband, she affords at this period of her history 
 as striking an example as can be found of the concen- 
 tration of all the blessings of fortune in one person. 
 She stood unluckily on too high and glorious a pin- 
 nacle to be able to retain her position long, consistent 
 with the vices vitce mortalium. While she conducted 
 herself with a prudence and propriety altogether re- 
 markable, considering her youth and the suscepti- 
 bility of her nature, she began to be regarded with 
 suspicion at once by France, England, and Scotland. 
 In France, she was obliged to bear the blame of many 
 instances of bigotry and over-severity in the govern- 
 ment of her uncles ; in England, Elizabeth took 
 every opportunity to load with opprobrium a sister- 
 queen whose descent, birth, station, and accom- 
 plishments were so much superior to her own ; in 
 Scotland, the Reformers, inspired by James Stuart, 
 
 Misa Benger, Tol. U. p. 7.
 
 p 
 
 who, With ulterior views of his own, was contented 
 to act as tne toul of Elizabeth, laboured to make it 
 be belifcVbd iiid< Mary was an uncompromising and 
 narrow-minded Catholic. 
 
 In September, 1359, Francis was solemnly crowned 
 at Rheims ; and during the remainder of the season 
 he and Mary, attended by their nobles, made various 
 progresses through the country. In December, 
 Francis, whose health was evidently giving way, 
 went, by the advice of his physicians, to Blois, cele- 
 brated for the mildness of its climate. It affords a 
 very vivid idea of the ignorant superstition of the 
 French peasantry to learn, that on his journey thithei 
 every village through which he passed was deserted. 
 An absurd story had been circulated, and was univer- 
 sally believed, that the nature of Francis's com- 
 plaints was such, that they could only be cured by 
 the royal patient bathing in the blood of young 
 children! Francis himself, although probably not 
 informed of the cause, observed with pain how he 
 was every where shunned; and, notwithstanding 
 the soothing tenderness of Mary, who accompa- 
 nied him, is said to have exclaimed to the Cardinal 
 of Lorraine, " What have I done to be thus shunned 
 and detested ? They fly me ; my people abhor me ! 
 It is not thus that the French used to receive their 
 king."* 
 
 Misfortunes, it is said, never come singly. While 
 Mary was performing the part of an affectionate 
 nurse to her husband, she sustained an irretrievable 
 loss in the death of her mother, the Scottish re.jent, 
 in June, 1560; and in the December following, her 
 husband, Francis, died at Orleans, in the 17th year 
 of his age, and the 17th month of his reign.f Feel- 
 
 * Miss Bender, vol. ii. p. 43. 
 
 t Miss Ilenger erroneously antedates the death of Francis on the 28tfc 
 of November. See her Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 74. Chalmers, who is th 
 very historian of dates, Rives a copy of the inscription on the tomb of 
 Francis, which of course settles the point ; vol. ii. p. 12-1. Miss Beiigei 
 does not appear to have seen this inscription.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 85 
 
 ing that his exhausted constitution was sinking rap- 
 idly, and that his death was at hand, almost the last 
 words he spoke were to testify his affection for 
 Mary, and his sense of her virtues. He earnestly 
 besought his mother to treat her as her own daugh- 
 ter, and his brother to look upon her as a sister. 
 " He was a prince," says Conaeus, " in whom, had he 
 lived, more merit would probably have been dis- 
 covered than most people suspected."* The whole 
 face of things in France was by this event instantly 
 changed again. Francis the Little, as he was con- 
 temptuously termed by the French, in opposition to 
 his father, Francis the Great, was succeeded by his 
 younger brother, Charles IX. He being still a mi- 
 nor, his mother, Catharine, contrived to get herself 
 appointed his guardian, and thus became once more 
 Queen of France, the nobility, as Chalmers re- 
 marks, being more inclined to relish a real minority 
 than an imaginary majority. Catharine's jealousy 
 of Mary Stuart of course extended itself, with greater 
 justice, to her uncles of Guise. It was now their 
 turn to make way for Montmorency; and the Car- 
 dinal of Lorraine, one of the most intriguing states- 
 men of the age, retired, in no very charitable mood 
 of mind, to his archbishopric at Rheims, where, in a 
 fit of spleen, he declared he would devote himself 
 entirely to religion. 
 
 There is something exceedingly naive and amusing 
 in Sir James Melville's account of this " gretchange- 
 ment." " The queen-mother," says he, " was blyth 
 of the death of King Francis, her son, because she 
 had na guiding of him, but only the Duke of Guise 
 and the cardinal, his brother, by raisoun that the 
 queen, our maistress, was their sister's dochter. Sa 
 the queen-mother was content to be quit of the gov- 
 ernment of the house of Guise ; and for their cause 
 (sake) she had a great mislyking of our queen." Of 
 
 * Con sens in Jehb, TO!, ii. p. 19. 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 86 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 Montmorency, who, as soon as he heard of the ill- 
 ness of Francis, commenced his journey towards 
 the court, he says, " The constable, also chargit to 
 come to the court, looked for na less, and seamed to 
 be seak, making little journees, caried in a horse- 
 litter, drew time sae lang by the way, that the king, 
 in the mean time, died. Then he lap on horsbak, 
 and cam freely to the court, and commandit, like a 
 constable, the men of war that gardit the croun, by 
 the Duke of Guise commandement, to pack them aff 
 the tonne. The queen-mother was also very glaid 
 of his coming, that by his autority and frendship with 
 the King of Navarre she mycht the better dryve the 
 house of Guise to the door." Of Mary, who, it may 
 well be supposed, felt this change more than any 
 one, Melville says, " Our queen, also, seeing her 
 friends in disgrace, and knawing hirself no to be weil 
 liked, left the court, and was a sorrowful widow when 
 I took my leave at hir, in a gentilman's house, four 
 myle fraOileans." To this "gentilman's house," or 
 chateau, in the neighbourhood of Orleans, Mary had 
 retired to shed in private those tears which the death 
 of her husband called forth. In losing Francis, she 
 had lost the playmate of her childhood, the husband 
 of her youth, and, what by many women would be 
 considered as serious a loss as either, the rank and 
 title of Queen of France. It was here, probably, 
 that she composed those verses to the memory of her 
 deceased husband which her biographers have so 
 frequently copied, and which are so full of gentle and 
 unaffected feeling. 
 
 Mary, however, was at this time a personage of 
 too much importance in the politics and affairs of 
 Europe to be left long unmolested to the indulgence 
 of that sincere, but commonly temporary sorrow of 
 a widow of eighteen. New suitors were even now 
 beginning to form hopes of an alliance with her ; and 
 two of the earliest in the field were Don Carlos of 
 Spain and the King of Navarre. But Mary was
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS 87 
 
 determined to listen to no proposals of a matrimonial 
 nature till she had arranged the plan of her future 
 life. France was no longer for her the country it 
 had once been. Her affectionate father-in-law, 
 Henry, and her amiable though weak husband, Fran- 
 cis, both of whom commanded for her the first rank 
 in the state, were dead. Her mother would never 
 visit her more ; for her tomb had already been erected 
 at Rheims ; and her proud uncles had been banished 
 from the court. Mary had too high a spirit, and 
 knew her own superiority too well, to brook for a 
 moment the haughty control of Catharine de Medicis. 
 She felt that not all the blood of all the merchants 
 of Italy could ever elevate the queen-dowager to an 
 equality with one who, as it is said she herself once 
 expressed it, drew her descent from a centenary line 
 of kings. Catharine felt this painfully, and the more 
 so, that, when Mary once more made her appearance at 
 court, she perceived, in the words of Miss Benger, 
 that " the charms of her conversation, her graceful 
 address, her captivating accomplishments, had raised 
 the woman above the queen" 
 
 In the mean time, by the Reformed party in Scot- 
 land, the news of the death of Francis was received 
 with any thing but sorrow. Knox declared triumph- 
 antly that " his glory had perished, and that the pride 
 of his stubborn heart had vanished into smoke." 
 The Lord James, her natural brother, was imme- 
 diately deputed by the Congregation to proceed to 
 France, to ascertain whether the queen intended 
 returning to her native country, and, if she did, to 
 influence her as much as possible in favour of the true 
 gospel and its friends. Nor were the Catholics 
 inactive at this critical juncture. A meeting was 
 held, at which were present the Archbishop of St. 
 Andrews, the Bishops of Aberdeen, Murray, and 
 Ross, the Earls of Huntly, Athol.Crawfurd, and Suth- 
 erland, and many other persons of distinction, by 
 whom it was determined to send as their ambassadoi
 
 88 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 to Mary, John Lesly, afterward Bishop of Ross, and 
 one of the queen's stanchest friends, both during her 
 life and after it. He was of course instructed to 
 give her a very different account of the state of mat- 
 ters from that which the Lord James would do. He 
 was to speak to her of the power and influence of the 
 Catholic party, and to contrast their fidelity both to 
 her and to her mother with the rebellious proceedings 
 of those who supported the covenant. 
 
 The Lord James went by the way of England, and 
 Lesly sailed from Aberdeen for Holland. Both made 
 good speed ; and Lesly arrived at Vitry in Cham- 
 pagne, where Mary was then residing, only one day 
 before the Prior of St. Andrews. He lost no time in 
 gaining admission to the queen ; and though there is 
 little doubt that his views were more sincere and 
 honourable than those of her brother, it is at the same 
 time very questionable whether the advice he gave 
 her was judicious ; and it is probably fortunate that 
 Mary's good sense and moderation led her to reject 
 it. Lesly commenced with cautioning her against 
 the crafty speeches which he knew the Lord James 
 was about to make to her, assuring her that his prin- 
 cipal object was to insinuate himself into her good 
 graces, to obtain the chief management of affairs, 
 and crush effectually the old religion. The prior, 
 Lesly assured her, was not so warm in the cause of 
 the Reformers from any conviction of its truth, as 
 from his wish to make it a stepping-stone for his 
 own ambition. For these reasons he advised her to 
 bring with her to Scotland an armed force, and to 
 land at Aberdeen or some northern port, where the 
 Earl of Huntly and her other friends would join her 
 with a numerous army, at the head of which she 
 might advance towards Edinburgh, and defeat at 
 once the machinations of her enemies. The queen, 
 in reply to all this, merely desired that Lesly should 
 remain with her till she returned to Scotland, com- 
 manding him to write, in the mean time, to the lords
 
 QtfEEN OF SCOTS. 89 
 
 and prelates who sent him, to inform them of her 
 favourable sentiments towards them, and of her in- 
 tention to come speedily home.* 
 
 The day after Lesly's audience, Mary's old friend 
 the Lord James (for it will be remembered that thir- 
 teen years before he had come to France with her, 
 and he had in the interval paid her one or two visits) 
 obtained an interview with his sister. He had every 
 desire to retain the favourable place which he flat- 
 tered himself he held in her estimation ; and though 
 so rigid a Reformer among his Scottish friends, his 
 conscience does not seem to have prevented him 
 from paying all the court he could to his Catholic 
 sovereign. In the course of his conversation with 
 her, he carefully avoided every subject which might 
 have been disagreeable to Mary. He besought her 
 to believe that she would not find the remotest occa- 
 sion for any foreign troops in Scotland, as the whole 
 nation was prepared faithfully to obey her. This 
 assurance was true, as it turned out ; but it is not 
 quite certain whether the Prior of St. Andiews was 
 thinking, at the time, so much of its truth as of its 
 being convenient, for various reasons, that Mary 
 should have no standing force at her command in 
 her own kingdom. Mary gave to her brother the 
 same general sort of answer that she had previously 
 given to Lesly. At the same time, she was secretly 
 disposed to attribute greater weight to his arguments, 
 and treat him with higher consideration, for a reason 
 which Melville furnishes. It appears that the French 
 noblemen, who, on the conclusion of peace with Eng- 
 land, had returned from Scotland, had all assured 
 her that she would find it most for her interest to 
 associate in her councils the leaders of the Reform- 
 ers, particularly the prior himself, the P^arl of Ar- 
 gyle, who had married her natural sister, the Lady 
 lane Stuart, and Maitland of Lethington. 
 
 * Keith, p. 157 and 160. 
 
 H2
 
 90 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 It is worthy of notice tha, affairs of state having 
 been discussed, the prior ventured to speak a word 
 or two for his own interest. He requested that the 
 earldom of Murray might be conferred on him, and 
 the queen promised to attend to his request on her 
 return to Scotland. Having thus prudently dis- 
 charged his commission, the Lord James took his 
 leave, visiting Elizabeth on his way home, as he had 
 already done before passing over into France. About 
 the same time, many of the Scotch nobility, in an- 
 ticipation of her speedy return, came to pay their 
 duty to the queen, and among them was the cele- 
 brated Earl of Bothwell.* 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Mary's Return to Scotland, and. previous Negotiations with 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 ELIZABETH, being informed of Mary's intended 
 movements, thought the opportunity a favourable 
 one for adjusting with her one or two of their mutual 
 disagreements. Mary's refusal to ratify the cele- 
 brated treaty of Edinburgh had particularly galled 
 the English queen. Most of the essential articles of 
 that treaty had already been carried into effect; and 
 as Francis and Mary had sent their ambassadors into 
 Scotland with full powers, they were bound, accord- 
 ing to the ordinary laws of diplomacy, to agree to 
 whatever concessions their plenipotentiaries made. 
 But, as Robertson has remarked, Cecil " had proved 
 greatly an overmatch for Monluc." In the sixth 
 article, which was by far the most offensive to the 
 Scottish queen, he had got the French delegates to 
 
 * Keith, p. 160, ct MQ.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 91 
 
 consent to a declaration, that Francis and Mary 
 should abstain from using and bearing the title and 
 arms of the kingdom of England, not only during 
 the life of Elizabeth, but "in all times coming.' 1 '' 
 There was here so palpable a departure from all law 
 and justice, that if there was ever a case in which 
 a sovereign was justified in refusing to sanction the 
 blunders of his representatives, it was this. Robert- 
 son's observations on the point are forcible and cor- 
 rect. "The ratification of this article," says he, 
 " would have been of the most fatal consequence to 
 Mary. The crown of England was an object worthy 
 of her ambition. Her pretensions to it gave her great 
 dignity and importance in the eyes of all Europe. 
 By many her title was esteemed preferable to that 
 of Elizabeth. Among the English themselves, the 
 Roman Catholics, who formed at that time a nume- 
 rous and active party, openly espoused this opinion; 
 and even the Protestants, who supported Elizabeth's 
 throne, could not deny the Queen of Scots to be her 
 immediate heir. A proper opportunity to avail her- 
 self of all these advantages could not, in the course 
 of things, be far distant, and many incidents might 
 fall u. to bring this opportunity nearer than was ex- 
 pected. In these circumstances, Mary, by ratifying 
 the article in dispute, would have lost that rank which 
 she had hitherto held among neighbouring princes; 
 the zeal of her adherents must have gradually cooled; 
 and she might have renounced, from that moment, all 
 hopes of ever wearing the English crown." 
 
 Mary, therefore, cannot be, in fairness, blamed for 
 her conduct regarding this treaty. But, as has been 
 already said, she allowed herself to be persuaded to 
 a veiy great imprudence, when she advanced what 
 she declared to be a present and existing claim on 
 the English crown. This was an aggravation of the 
 offence, which Elizabeth could never pardon. She 
 determined to retort upon Mary as efficiently, though 
 not quite so directly. She found means to hint to
 
 92 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 her friends in Scotland, that it would not be disagree- 
 able to her were the Earl of Arran, eldest son of the 
 Duke of Chatelherault, and, after his father, presump- 
 tive heir to the throne, to propose himself to her as 
 a husband. This was accordingly done, and must 
 have touched Mary very closely, especially as she 
 had no children by her husband Francis. But as 
 Elizabeth had never any serious intention of accept- 
 ing of Arran's proposals, she was resolved upon taking 
 another and much more unjustifiable method of harass- 
 ing Mary. 
 
 Knowing that she possessed the command of the 
 seas, the English queen imagined that she had it in 
 her power to prevent, if she chose, Mary's return to 
 her own kingdom. Before granting her, therefore, 
 as in common courtesy she was bound to do, a free 
 passage, she determined on seizing the opportunity 
 for again pressing the ratification of the treaty of 
 Edinburgh. With this view, she desired Sir Nicolas 
 Throckmorton, her ambassador at Paris, to wait on 
 the Queen of Scots, ostensibly to congratulate her 
 on her recovery from an attack of ague, but in reality 
 to press this matter upon her attention. The au- 
 dience which Mary granted to Throckmorton ..pon 
 this occasion, together with another which she gave 
 him a few weeks afterward, introduce us to her, for 
 the first time, acting for herself, in her public and 
 important capacity of Queen of Scotland. All histo- 
 rians unite in expressing their admiration of the tal- 
 ented and dignified manner in which she conducted 
 herself, though only in her nineteenth year. We 
 have fortunately a full account of both conferences, 
 furnished by Sir Nicolas Throckmorton himself, in 
 his letters to the Queen of England. 
 
 The ambassador, on his first interview, having ex- 
 pressed Elizabeth's happiness at Mary's recovery, 
 proceeded to renew the demand which had so fre- 
 quently been made to her regarding the treaty of 
 Edinburgh. Mary, in answer, said that she begged
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 93 
 
 to thank the queen her good sister for her congratu- 
 lations, and though she was not yet in perfect health, 
 she thanked God for her evident convalescence. As 
 to the treaty of Edinburgh, she begged to postpone 
 giving any final answer in the affair until she had 
 taken the advice of the nobles and estates of her 
 own realm. " For though this matter," she said, 
 " doth touch me principally, yet doth it also touch 
 the nobles and estates of my realm ; and, therefore, 
 it is meet that I use their advice therein. Heretofore 
 they have seemed to be grieved that I should do any 
 thing without them, and now they would be more 
 offended if I should proceed in this matter of myself 
 without their advice." She added, that she intended 
 to return home soon, and that she was about to send 
 an ambassador to Elizabeth, to require of her the 
 common favour of a free passage which princes 
 usually ask of each other in such cases. In a spirit 
 of conciliation and sound policy, she concluded with 
 these words. " Though the terms wherein we have 
 stood heretofore have been somewhat hard, yet I 
 trust that from henceforth we shall accord together 
 as cousins and good neighbours. I mean to retire 
 all the Frenchmen from Scotland who have given 
 jealousy to the queen my sister, and miscontent to 
 my subjects ; so that I will leave nothing undone to 
 satisfy all parties, trusting the queen my good sister 
 will do the like, and that from henceforth none of 
 my disobedient subjects shall find aid or support at 
 her hands." Seeing that Mary was not to be moved 
 from the position she had taken regarding this 
 treaty, Throckmorton went on to sound her upon the 
 subject of religion. His object was to ascertain 
 what course she intended to pursue towards the 
 Scottish Reformers. Mary stated to him distinctly 
 her views upon this important matter, and there was 
 a consistency and moderation in them hardly to have 
 been expected from the niece of the Cardinal of 
 Lorraine, had we not been previously aware of the
 
 94 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 strength of her superior mind. " I will be plain with 
 you," said she to the ambassador. " The religion 
 which I profess I take to be most acceptable to God 
 and, indeed, I neither know, nor desire to know, any 
 other. Constancy becometh all people well, but 
 none better than princes, and such as have rule over 
 realms, and especially in matters of religion. I have 
 been brought up in this religion, and who might credit 
 me in any thing if I should show myself light in this 
 case." " I am none of those," she added, " that will 
 change their religion every year ; but I mean to con- 
 strain none of my subjects, though I could wish that 
 they were all as I am; and I trust they shall have 
 no support to constrain me," It will be seen, in the 
 sequel, whether Mary ever deviated for a moment 
 from the principles she here laid down. Throck- 
 morton ventured to ask, if she did not think many 
 errors had crept into her church, and whether she 
 had ever seriously weighed the arguments in support 
 of the Reformed opinions. "Though I be young, 
 and not well learned," she replied, modestly, " yet 
 have I heard this matter oft disputed by my uncle, 
 my lord cardinal, with some that thought they could 
 say somewhat in the matter; and I found no great 
 reason to change my opinion. But I have oft heard 
 him confess, that great errors have come into the 
 church, and great disorder among the ministers and 
 clergy, of which errors and disorders he wished there 
 might be a reformation." Here this conference con- 
 cluded.* 
 
 Elizabeth, as soon as she understood that Mary 
 waited for the advice of her privy counsellors and 
 her parliament before ratifying the treaty of Edin- 
 burgh, addressed a letter to the " states of Scotland," 
 as she was pleased to term them, but, in point of fact, 
 only to her old allies the lords of the Congregation. 
 The object of this letter was to convey, in haughty 
 
 * Keith, p 165. et seq.
 
 QUEEN OF SCUTS. 95 
 
 and even insolent terms, a threat that, unless they 
 secured their queen's assent to the treaty, they might 
 cease to look for any aid or protection from her. In 
 other words, its meaning was this: Through my 
 interference, you have been able to establish the new 
 Gospel ; your queen you know to be a Catholic ; and 
 as it is not unlikely that she may associate in her 
 councils your old enemies the Catholic nobility, it is 
 in me you trust to enable you to rebel successfully 
 against your lawful sovereign. But I have no inten- 
 tion to ive you my support for nothing ; and unless 
 youi reformed consciences will permit of your in- 
 sisting that Mary Stuart shall sign away her heredi- 
 tary right of succession to the English throne, I shall 
 henceforth have nothing more to do with you. No 
 other interpretation can be put on such expressions as 
 the following, couched in terms whose meaning 
 sophistry itself could not hide. " In a matter so 
 profitable to both the realms, we think it strange that 
 your queen hath no better advice ; and therefore we 
 do require ye all, being the states of that realm upon 
 whom the burden resteth, to consider this matter 
 deeply, and to make us answer whereunto we may 
 trust. And if you shall think meet she shall thus 
 leave the peace imperfect, by breaking of her solemn 
 promise, contrary to the order of all princes, we shall 
 be well content to accept your answer, and shall be 
 as careless to see the peace kept, as ye shall give us 
 cause ; and doubt not, by the grace of God, but 
 whosoever of ye shall incline thereto, shall soon- 
 est repent. You must be content with our plain 
 Avriting." 
 
 To this piece of "plain writing," the Reformers, 
 probably at the instigation of the Lord James, sent 
 a submissive and cringing answer. " Your majesty," 
 they say, " may be well assured, that in us shall be 
 noted no blame, if that peace be not ratified to your 
 majesty's contentment." " The benefit that we have 
 received is so recent, that we cannot suddenly bury
 
 96 
 
 it in forgetfulness. We would desire your majesty 
 rather to be persuaded of us, that we, to our powers, 
 will study to leave it in remembrance to our pos- 
 terity." In other words, Whatever our own queen 
 Mary may determine on doing, we shall remain 
 steady to your interests, and would much rather 
 quarrt 1 with her than with you. To this state of 
 mind had Elizabeth's machinations contrived to bring 
 the majority of the young queen's subjects.* 
 
 In the mean time, Mary had sent an ambassador 
 into England to demand a safe-conduct for her ap- 
 proaching voyage. This was expressly refused; 
 and Throckmorton was again ordered to request an 
 audience with Mary, to explain the motives of this 
 refusal. " In this conference," observes Robertson, 
 " Mary exerted all that dignity and vigour of mind 
 of which she was so capable, and at no peiiod of her 
 life were her abilities displayed to greater advan- 
 tage." Throckmorton had recourse to the endless 
 subject of the treaty of 1560, or, as it is more com- 
 < monly called, the treaty of Edinburgh, as the apology 
 his mistress offered for having, with studied dis- 
 respect, denied the suit made by Mary's ambassador, 
 in the presence of a numerous audience a direct 
 breach of courtly etiquette. Mary, before answering 
 Throckmorton, commanded all her attendants to 
 retire, and then said, " I like riot to have so many 
 witnesses of my passions as the queen, your mistress, 
 was content to have, when she talked with M. D'Oy- 
 sel. 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. 1 may pass well enough home into my 
 own realm, I think, without her passport or license; 
 for, though the late king, your master, used all the 
 impeachment he could, both to stay me and catch 
 me, when I came hither, yet you know, M. 1'Ambas- 
 
 * Keith, p. 107, et seq.
 
 QTTEEN OF SCOTS. 97 
 
 sadeur, I came hither safely, and I may have as good 
 means to help me home again, if I could employ my 
 friends." " It seemeth," she added, with much truth, 
 " that the queen, your mistress, maketh more account 
 of the amity of my disobedient subjects, than she 
 doth of me, their sovereign, who am her equal in 
 degree, though inferior in wisdom and experience, 
 her nighest kinswoman, and her next neighbour." 
 She then proceeded very forcibly to state, once more, 
 her reasons for refusing to ratify the treaty. It had 
 been made, she said, during the life of Francis II., 
 who, as her lord and husband, was more responsible 
 for it than she. Upon his death, she ceased to look 
 for advice to the council of France, neither her uncles 
 nor her own subjects, nor Elizabeth herself, thinking 
 it meet that she should be guided by any council but 
 that of Scotland. There were none of her ministers 
 with her; the matter was important; it touched both 
 them and her ; and she, therefore, considered it her 
 duty to wait, till she should get the opinions of the 
 wisest of them. As soon as she did, she undertook 
 to send Elizabeth whatever answer might appear to 
 be reasonable. " The queen, your mistress," ob- 
 served Mary, "saith that I am young; she might say 
 that I were as foolish as young, if I would, in the 
 state and country that I am in, proceed to such a 
 matter, of myself, without any counsel ; for that 
 which was done by the king, my late lord and hus- 
 band, must not be taken to be my act ; and yet I will 
 say truly unto ye, and as God favours me, 1 did never 
 mean otherwise unto the queen, your mistress, than 
 becometh me to my good sister and cousin, nor meant 
 her any more harm than to myself. God forgive 
 them that have otherwise persuaded her, if there be 
 any such." 
 
 It may seem strange, that as the sixth article was 
 the only one in the whole treaty of Edinburgh which 
 occasioned any disagreement, it was not proposed 
 to make some alteration in it. which might have ren- 
 
 VOL. 1. I
 
 yfe LIFE OF MARY 
 
 dered it satisfactory to all parties. Mary would 
 have had no objection to have given up all claim 
 upon the crown of England during the lifetime of 
 Elizabeth, and in favour of children born by her in 
 lawful wedlock, if, failing these children, her own 
 right was acknowledged. There could have been 
 little difficulty, one would have thought, in express- 
 ing the objectionable article accordingly. But this 
 amendment would not by any means have suited the 
 views of Elizabeth.* To have acknowledged Mary's 
 right of succession would have been at once to have 
 pointed out to all the Catholics of Europe the person 
 to whom they were to pay their court, on account 
 not only of her present influence, but of the much 
 greater which awaited her. Besides, it might have 
 had the appearance of leaving it doubtful whether 
 Elizabeth's possession of the throne was not conceded 
 to her more as a favour than as a right. This ex- 
 treme jealousy on the part of the English queen 
 originated in Mary having imprudently allowed her- 
 self to be persuaded to bear the arms of England 
 diversely quartered with her own, at the time Eliza- 
 beth was first called to the crown. At the interview 
 we have been describing, Throckmorton being si- 
 lenced with regard to the ratification of the treaty, 
 thought he might with propriety advert to this other 
 subject of complaint. 
 
 "I refer it to your own judgment, madam," said 
 he, " if any thing can be more prejudicial to a prince, 
 than to usurp the title and interest belonging to 
 him." Mary's answer deserves particular attention. 
 " M. 1'Ambassadeur," said she, " I was then under the 
 commandment of King Henry my father, and of the 
 
 * Robertson says that the amendment would not have been approved 
 of by " either queen." He alleges that Mary had only " suspended" 
 the prosecution of her title to the English crown; and that "she deter- 
 mrned to revive her claim on the first proipect of success." Tlmt Rob- 
 ertson has In this instance done injustice to Mary is evident from the 
 exact consistency of her future conduct with what will be found stated 
 in the text. 
 
 1 .1 .,10 V
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 99 
 
 king my lord and husband ; and whatsoever was then 
 done 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. Methinks," she added, 
 " these my doings might ascertain the queen your 
 mistress, that that which was done before was done 
 by commandment of them that had power over me ; 
 and also, in reason, she ought to be satisfied, seeing 
 I (now) order my doings as I tell ye." With this 
 answer Throckmorton took his leave.* 
 
 Seeing that matters could not be more amicably 
 adjusted, Mary prepared to return home, independ- 
 ent of Elizabeth's permission. Yet it was not with- 
 out many a bitter regret that she thought of leaving 
 all the fascinations of her adopted country, France. 
 When left alone, she was frequently found in tears ; 
 and it is more than probable that, as Miss Benger has 
 expressed it, there were moments when Mary recoiled 
 with indescribable horror from the idea of living in 
 Scotland where her religion was insulted and her 
 sex contemned ; where her mother had languished in 
 misery, and her father sunk into an untimely grave." 
 At last, however, the period arrived when it was ne- 
 cessary for her to bid a final adieu to the scenes and 
 friends of her youth. She had delayed from month 
 to mojith, as if conscious that in leaving France she 
 was about to part with happiness. She had origin- 
 ally proposed going so early as the spring of 15G1, 
 but it was late in July before she left Paris ; and as 
 she lingered on the way, first at St. Germains, and 
 afterward at Calais, August was well advanced be- 
 fore she set sail. The spring of this year, says Bran- 
 tome poetically, was so backward that it appeared 
 
 * Keith, p. 170, et seq. Robertson say?, that at the period of thesa 
 conferences Mary was only in her eighteenth year ; but as they both took 
 place in 1561, she must have been in her nineteenth year, which Keith 
 confirms, who says (page 178), " The readers, having now perused seve- 
 ral original conferences, will, 1 suppose, clearly discern the flue spirit and 
 f eniusof that princess, who was yet but in the nineteenth year of her age
 
 100 LIFE OF MARV 
 
 as if it would never put on its robe of flowers ; and 
 thus gave an opportunity to the gallants of the court 
 to assert, that it wore so doleful a garb to testify its 
 sorrow for the intended departure of Mary Stuart.* 
 She was accompanied as far as St. Germains by 
 Catharine de Medicis and nearly all the French 
 court. Her six uncles, Anne of Este, and many 
 other ladies and gentlemen of distinction, proceeded 
 on with her to Calais. The historians Castelnau 
 and Brantome were both of the queen's retinue, and 
 accompanied her to Scotland. At Calais she found 
 four vessels, one of which was fitted up for herself 
 and friends, and a second for her escort ; the two 
 others were for the furniture she took with her. 
 
 Elizabeth, meanwhile, Avas not inattentive to the 
 proceedings of the Scottish queen. Through the 
 agency of her minister, Cecil, she had been anxiously 
 endeavouring to discover whether she would render 
 herself particularly obnoxious either to Catharine de 
 Medicis or the leading men in Scotland, by making 
 herself mistress of Mary's person on her passage 
 homewards, and carrying her a prisoner into Eng- 
 land. Her ambassador, Throckmorton, had given 
 her good reason to believe that Catharine was not 
 disposed to be particularly warm in Mary's defence.f 
 As to Scotch interference, Camden expressly informs 
 us, that the Lord James, when he passed through 
 England on his return from Fi ance, warned Elizabeth 
 of Mary's intended movements, and advised that she 
 should be intercepted. This assertion, though its 
 truth has been doubted, is rendered exceedingly prob- 
 able by the contents of two letters which have been 
 preserved. The first is from Throckmerton, who 
 
 * Brantome in Jebb, vol. ii. p. 82. 
 
 t Keith, p. 175. Throckmorton writes, " Thereto the quen-mother 
 said, The king, my son, and I would bi; Kind to do good betwixt the 
 queen, my mater, your mistress, and the queen, my daughter, and shall 
 be glad to hoar that there were good amity betwixt them ; for neither 
 the king, my son, nor I, uor any of hia council, will do harm in the mat- 
 ter, or fkow uursflvc.1 other than friends to them both."
 
 QtJEEV OF SCOTS. 101 
 
 assures Elizabeth that the Lord James deserves hei 
 most particular esteem ; " Your majesty," he says, 
 " may, in my opinion, make good account of his con- 
 stancy towards you; and so he deserveth to be well 
 entertained and made of by your majesty, as one that 
 may stand ye in no small stead for the advancement 
 of your majesty's desire. Since his being here (in 
 France), he hath dealt so frankly and liberally with 
 me, that 1 must believe he will so continue after his 
 return home."* The other letter is from Maitland 
 of Lethington, one of the ablest men among the 
 Scotch Reformers, and the personal friend and co- 
 adjutor of the Lord James, to Sir William Cecil. In 
 this letter he says; " I do also allow your opinion 
 anent the queen our sovereign's journey towards 
 Scotland, whose coming hither, if she be enemy to 
 the religion, and so affected towards that realm as 
 she yet appeareth, shall not fail to raise wonderful 
 tragedies." He then proceeds to point out, that, as 
 Elizabeth's object, for her own sake, must be to pre- 
 vent the Catholics from gaming ground in Scotland, 
 her best means of obtaining such an object is to pre- 
 vent a queen from returning into the kingdom who 
 " shall so easily win to her party the whole Papists, 
 and so many Protestants as be either addicted to the 
 French faction, covetous, inconstant, uneasy, igno- 
 rant, or careless." " So long as her highness is ab- 
 sent," he adds, " in this case there is no peril ; but 
 you may judge what the presence of a prince being 
 craftily counselled is able to bring to pass." " For 
 my opinion," he concludes, " anent the continuance 
 of amity betwixt these two realms, there is no dan- 
 ger of breach so long as the queen is absent; but her 
 presence may alter many things."f 
 
 To make assurance doubly sure, Cecil desired 
 Randolph, the English resident in Scotland, to feel 
 the pulse of the nobility. On the 9th of August, 
 1561, only a few days before Mary sailed from 
 
 Keith, p. 164 t Ibid., Appendix, p. 93 
 
 1 2
 
 102 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 France, Randolph wrote from Edinburgh an epistle 
 to Cecil, in which he assures him that it will be a 
 " stout adventure for a sick crazed woman" (a sin- 
 gular mode of designating Mary) to venture home 
 to a country so little disposed to receive her. " I 
 have shown your honour's letters," he says, "unto 
 the Lord James, Lord Morton, Lord Lethington; 
 they wish, as your honour doth, that she might be 
 stayed yet for a space; and if it were not for their 
 obedience 1 sake, some of them care not tho 1 they never 
 saw her face" And again, " Whatsomever cometh 
 of this, he (Lethington) findeth it ever best that she 
 come not." Knox also, it seems, had been written 
 to, and had expressed his resolution to resist to the 
 last Mary's authority. " By such letters as ye have 
 last received," says Randolph, " your honour some- 
 what understandeth of Mr. Knox himself, and also 
 of others, what is determined, he himself, to abide 
 the uttermost, and others never to leave him, until 
 God hath taken his life." " His daily prayer is, for 
 the maintenance of unity with England, and that 
 God will never suffer men to be so ungrate as by 
 any persuasion to run headlong unto the destruction 
 of them that have saved their lives, and restored 
 their country to liberty."* 
 
 Elizabeth, having thus felt her way, and being 
 satisfied that she might with safety pursue her own 
 inclinations, was determined not to rest contented 
 with the mere refusal of passports. Throckmorton 
 was ordered to ascertain exactly when and how 
 Mary intended sailing. The Scottish queen became 
 aware of his drift, from some questions he put to 
 her, and said to him, cuttingly, " I trust the wind 
 will be so favourable, as I shall not need to come 
 on the coast of England ; and if I do, then M. 1'Am- 
 bassadeur, 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 
 
 * Robertson, Appendix, No. 5, from the Cotton Library.
 
 QTJEEN OF SCOTS. 103 
 
 her pleasure, and make sacrifice of me. Peradven- 
 ture, that casualty might be better for me than to 
 live." Throckmorton, however, made good his 
 point, and was able to inform Elizabeth that Mary 
 would sail either from Havre-dc-Grace or Calais, 
 and that she would first proceed along the coast of 
 Flanders, and then strike over to Scotland. For the 
 greater certainty, he suggested the propriety of some 
 spies being sent across to the French coast, who 
 would give the earliest intelligence of her move- 
 ments. Profiting by this and other information, all 
 the best historians of the time agree in stating, that 
 Elizabeth sent a squadron to sea with all expedition. 
 It was only a thick aod unexpected fog which pre- 
 vented these vessels from falling in with that in 
 which Mary sailed. The smaller craft which car- 
 ried her furniture they did meet with, and believing 
 them to be the prize they were in search of, they 
 boarded and examined them. One ship they de- 
 tained, in which was the Earl of Eglinton, and some 
 of Mary's horses and mules, and, under the pretence 
 of suspecting it of piracy, actually carried it into an 
 English harbour. The affectation of " clearing the 
 seas from pirates," as Cecil expresses it, was a 
 mere after-thought, invented to do away with the 
 suspicion which attached itself to this unsuccessful 
 attempt. Its real purpose was openly talked of at 
 the time. Sir Nicholas Bacon, lord keeper, in a 
 speech he made at a meeting of the privy council 
 in 1562, said, frankly, " Think ye that the Scottish 
 queen's suit, made in all friendly manner, to come 
 through England at the time she left France, and the 
 denial thereof unless the treaty were ratified, is by 
 them forgotten, or else your sending of your ships to 
 sea at the time of her passage T" Camden, Holir shed, 
 Spottiswoode, Stranguage, and Buchanan, all speak 
 to the same effect; and Elizabeth's intentions, 
 though frustrated, hardly admit of a doubt.* 
 
 * Keith, p. 178 ; Chalmers, vol. it p. t\3 ; Stranguage, p. 9; and Fre 
 Mirn. p. 19.
 
 104 LIFE OF MART 
 
 On the 25th of August, 1561, Mary sailed out of 
 the harbour of Calais, not without shedding and 
 seeing shed many tears. She did not, however, part 
 with all the friends who had accompanied her to the 
 coast. Three of her uncles, the Duke d'Aumale, 
 the Marquis D'Elbeuf, and the grand prior, the 
 Duke Danville, son to Montmorency, and afterward 
 Constable of France, one of the most ardent and 
 sincere admirers that Mary perhaps ever had, and 
 many other persons of rank, among whom was the 
 unfortunate poet . Chatelard, who fluttered like a 
 moth round the light in which he was to be con- 
 sumed, sailed with her for Scotland. Just as she 
 left the harbour, an unfortunate accident happened 
 to a vessel, which, by unskilful management, struck 
 upon the bar, and was wrecked within a very short 
 distance of her own galley. " This is a sad omen," 
 she exclaimed, weeping. A gentle breeze sprang 
 up; the sails were set, and the little squadron got 
 underway, consisting, as has been said, of only four 
 vessels, for Mary dreaded lest her subjects should 
 suppose that she was coming home with any mili- 
 tary force. The feelings of " la Reine Blanche," as 
 the French termed her, from the white mourning 
 she wore for Francis, were at all times exceedingly 
 acute. On the present occasion, her grief amounted 
 almost to despair. As long as the light of day con- 
 tinued, she stood immoveable on the vessel's deck, 
 gazing with tearful eyes upon the French coast, and 
 exclaiming incessantly, " Farewell, France ! fare- 
 well, my beloved country !" When night approached, 
 and her friends besought her to retire to the cabin, 
 .she hid her face in her hands, and sobbed aloud. 
 *' The darkness which is now brooding over France," 
 said she, " is like the darkness in my own heart." 
 A little afterward, she added, " I am unlike the 
 Carthaginian Dido, for she looked perpetually on the 
 sea, when ./Eneas departed, while all my regards 
 are for the land." Having caused a bed to be made
 
 QtFEEN OF SCOTS. 109 
 
 for her on deck, she wept herself asleep, previously 
 enjoining her attendants to waken her at the first 
 peep of day, if the French coast was still visible. 
 Her wishes were gratified ; for during the night the 
 wind died away, and the vessel made little progress. 
 Mary rose with the dawn, and feasted her eyes once 
 more with a sight of France. At sunrise, however, 
 the breeze returned, and the galley beginning to 
 make way, the land rapidly receded in the distance. 
 Again her tears burst forth, and again she exclaimed, 
 " Farewell, beloved France ! I shall never, never 
 see you more." In the depth of her sorrow, she 
 even wished that the English fleet, which she con- 
 jectured had been sent out to intercept her, would 
 make its appearance, and render it necessary for 
 her to seek for safety, by returning to the port 
 from whence she had sailed. But no interruption 
 of this kind occurred.* 
 
 It is more than likely that it was during this voy- 
 age Mary composed the elegant and simple little 
 song so expressive of her genuine feelings on leav- 
 ing France. Though familiarly known to every 
 reader, we cannot ^leny ourselves the pleasure of 
 inserting it here. 
 
 Adieu, plaisant pays de France ! 
 O my patrie, 
 La plus cberie ; 
 
 Q.ui a nourri ma jetine enfance. 
 Adieu, France ! adieu, mes beaux jours! 
 La nef qui dejoint mes amours, 
 N'a cy de moi que la moitie ; 
 line pane te reste ; elle est tienne ; 
 Je la fie a ton auntie, 
 Pour que de 1'autre il te souvienne ! t 
 
 Bran'ome in Jebb, TO|. ii p. 483, ec seq. ; Keith, p. 179; and Free- 
 bairn, p. 16. et seq. 
 
 Srvwal translations or thin song have been attempted, but DO 
 translation can preserve the spirit of the original. 
 
 Adieu, thou pleasant land of France ! 
 
 The dearest of all lands to me, 
 Where life was like a joyful dance 
 The joyful dance of infancy.
 
 106 LIFE OF MART 
 
 Brantome, who sailed in the same vessel with 
 Mary, and gives a particular account of all the 
 events of this voyage, mentions, that the day before 
 entering the Frith of Forth, so thick a mist came on, 
 that it was impossible to see from the poop to the 
 prow. By way of precaution, lest they should run 
 foul of any other vessel, a lantern was lighted, and 
 set at the bow. This gave Chatelard occasion to 
 remark, that it was taking a very unnecessary piece 
 of trouble, so long at least as Mary Stuart remained 
 upon deck, and kept her eyes open. When the mist 
 at length cleared away, they found their vessel in 
 the midst of rocks, from which it required much skill 
 and no little labour to get her clear. Mary declared, 
 that so far as regarded her own feelings, she would 
 not have looked upon shipwreck as a great calamity ; 
 hut that she would not wish to see the lives of the 
 friends who were with her endangered (among whom . 
 not the least dear were her four Maries) for all the 
 kingdom of Scotland. She added, that as a bad 
 omen had attended her departure, so this thick fog 
 seemed to be but an evil augury at her arrival. At 
 length, the harbour of Leith appeared in sight, and 
 Mary's eye rested, for the first time, upon Arthur 
 Seat and the castle of Edinburgh. 
 
 Farewell my childhood's laughing wiles, 
 
 Farewell the joys of youth's bright day; 
 The bark that bears me from thy smiles, 
 
 Bears but my meaner half away. 
 The best is thine ; my chanpeless heart- 
 Is given, beloved Fr:mce! to thee ; 
 And let it sometimes, though we part, 
 
 Remind i lire with a sigh of me. 
 
 Mary was not the only one who commemorated in verse her depart 
 ure from France. Numerous vaudetnllfs were written upon the occa- 
 sion, several of which are preserved in the Anthologie Francaise.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 107 
 
 CHAPTER V[I. 
 
 Mary's Arrival at Holyrood, with Sketches of her jmnr.ipai 
 Nobility. 
 
 MARY landed in Scotland with a mind full of anxiety 
 and uncertainty. She came alone and unprotected, 
 to assume the government of a country which had 
 long been distinguished for its rebellious turbulence. 
 The masculine spirit of her father had quailed before 
 the storm. Her mother, whose intellectual energy 
 she well knew, had in vain attempted to bring order 
 out of confusion, and harassed and worn out, had at 
 length surrendered her life in the struggle. For the 
 last two years, it is true,, the country had enjoyed, 
 not peace and tranquillity, but a cessation from an 
 actual state of warfare. Nevertheless, the seeds of 
 discontent, and of mutual distrust and hatred, were 
 as abundant as ever. Mar>'s religion was well 
 known ; and her confirmed devotion to it was by 
 one party magnified into bigotry, and pronounced 
 criminal ; while by another it was feared she would 
 show herself too lukewarm in revenging the insults 
 which the ancient worship had sustained. Such 
 being the state of things, how could a young, and 
 comparatively inexperienced queen, just nineteen 
 years of age, approach her kingdom otherwise 
 than with fear and trembling ? 
 
 Contrasted too with her former situation, that 
 which she was now about to fill appeared particu- 
 larly formidable. In France, even during the life of 
 her husband, and while at the very height of her 
 power, few of the severerduties of government rested 
 upon her. She had all the essential authority,
 
 108 LIFE OF MART 
 
 without much of the responsibility of a sovereign. 
 Francis consulted her upon every occasion, and fol- 
 lowed her advice in almost every matter in which 
 she chose to interfere ; but it was to him or her 
 uncles of Guise that the nation looked when any 
 of the state-machinery went wrong. It would be 
 very different in Scotland. By whatever counsel 
 she acted, the blame of all unpopular measures 
 would be sure to rest with her. If she favoured the 
 Protestants, the Catholics would renounce her; if 
 she assisted the Catholics, the Protestants would 
 again be found assembling at Perth, listening, with 
 arms in their hands, to the sermons of John Knox, 
 pulling down the remaining monasteries, and sub- 
 scribing additional covenants. Is it surprising, then, 
 that she found it difficult to steer her course between 
 the rocks of Scylla and the whirlpools of Charybdis ? 
 If misfortunes ultimately overtook her, the wonder 
 unquestionably ought to be, not that they ever ar- 
 rived, but that they should have been guarded 
 against so long. Nothing but the wisest and most 
 temperate policy could have preserved quietness in 
 a country so full of the elements of internal discord. 
 Mary's system of government throughout all its 
 ramifications must have been such as no queen of 
 her age could have established, had there not been 
 more than an empty compliment in those lines of 
 Buchanan, in which he addresses his royal mistress 
 as one 
 I 
 
 " Quae sortem antevenis mentis, virtutibus aiinos, 
 Sexum animiH, inorum nobilitate genus." 
 
 There is, besides, a natural feeling of loyalty, 
 which, though it may be evanescent, hardly fails to 
 be kindled in the breasts of the populace at the 
 sight of their native sovereign. The Scots, though 
 they frequently were far from being contented with 
 the measures pursued by their monarehs, have been 
 always celebrated for their attachment to their per-
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 109 
 
 sons. Mary, on her first landing, became aware of 
 this truth. As soon as it was known that she intended 
 returning from all the splendours of France to the 
 more homely comforts of the land of her birth, the 
 people, flattered by the preference she was about to 
 show them, abated somewhat of their previous as- 
 perity. They were the more pleased that she came 
 to them, not as the Queen of France, who might 
 have regarded Scotland as only a province of her 
 empire, but HS their own exclusive and independent 
 sovereign. They recollected that she had been at 
 the disposal of the estates of the country from the 
 time she w>s seven days old, and they almost felt 
 as if she had been a child of their own rearing. 
 They ICJTHV, also, that she had made a narrow 
 escape in crossing the seas ; and the confidence she 
 evidently placed in them, by casting anchor in Leith 
 Roads, with only two galleys, did not pass unnoticed. 
 But she had arrived sooner than was expected ; for, 
 so little were they aware of her intended motions, 
 that when her two ships were first observed in the 
 Frith, from the castle of Edinburgh, no suspicion 
 was entertained that they carried the queen and her 
 suite. It was not till a royal salute was fired in 
 the Roads that her arrival was positively known, 
 and that the people began to flock in crowds to the 
 shore. 
 
 On the 20th or 2lst of August, 1561, the queen- 
 landed at Leith. Hore she was obliged to remain 
 the whole day, as the preparations for her reception 
 at Holyrood House were not completed. The mutoiw 
 tude continued in the interval to collect at Leith, and 
 on the roads leading to the palace. On the road 
 between Leith and Restalrig, and from thence to 
 the abbey, the different trades and corporations of 
 Edinburgh were drawn up in order, lining the way 
 with their banners and bands of music. Towards 
 evening, horses were brought for the queen and her 
 attendants. When Mary saw them, accustomed as 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 110 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 she had been to the noble and richly caparisoned 
 steeds of the Parisian tournaments, she was struck 
 both with the inferiority of their breed and the poor- 
 ness of their furnishings. She sighed, and could not 
 help remarking the difference to some of her friends. 
 " But they mean well," said she, " and we must be 
 content." As she passed along, she was every where 
 greeted with enthusiastic shouts of applause the 
 involuntary homage which the beauty of her coun- 
 tenance, the elegance of her person, and the graceful 
 dignity of her bearing could not fail to draw forth. 
 Bonfires were lighted in all directions, and though 
 illuminations were then but indifferently understood 
 in Scotland, something of the kind seems to have 
 been attempted. On her arrival at the palace all the 
 musicians of Edinburgh collected below her win- 
 dows, and in strains of most discordant music con- 
 tinued all night to testify their joy for her return. 
 Some of the more rigid Reformers, willing to yield 
 in their own way to the general feeling, assembled 
 together in a knot, and sung psalms in her honour. 
 Among the musical instruments the bagpipes were 
 pre-eminently distinguished, which, not exactly suit- 
 ing the uncultivated taste of Brantome, he patheti- 
 cally exclaims, " He ! quelle musique ! et qnel repos 
 pour sa nuit !"* 
 
 It is worth while remarking here how Knox, in his 
 'History of the Reformation, betrays his chagrin at 
 the affectionate manner in which Mary was received. 
 " The very face of the heavens at the time of her 
 arrival," he says, " did manifestly speak what com- 
 
 Jcbb, vol. ii. p. 484 ; Keith, p. 180 ; Miss Rentier, vol. ii. p. 125. In 
 an anonymous French work, entitled " Histoire de Marie Stuart, Reine 
 d'Ecosse et de Franco," &c., respectably written on the whole, there is 
 an amusing mistake concerning the locality of Holyrood House. In torn, 
 i. ]). 1-1. it is said, "The queen landed at Leith, and then departed for 
 L'lslebourg (the name anciently given to Edinburgh), a celebrated ab- 
 bey a mile or two distant. In this abbey Mary remained for three weeks, 
 and in the month of October. 15fil, took her departure for Edinburgh." 
 This departure for Edinburgh alludes to the visit which Mary paid, 4 
 short time after her arrival, to the castle.
 
 OF SCOTS. Ill 
 
 lort was brought into this country with her, by sor- 
 row, dolor, darkness, and all impiety ; for in the 
 memory of man that day of the year was never seen a 
 more dolorous face of the heavens than was at her 
 arrival, which two days after did so continue ; for, 
 besides the surface wet, and the corruption of the air, 
 the mist was so thick and dark that scarce could 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 pave God to us, 
 but, alas ! the most part were blind."* Knox pro- 
 ceeds to reprobate, in the severest terms, the unhal- 
 lowed amusements which Mary permitted at Holy- 
 rood House. " So soon as ever her French fillocks, 
 fiddlers, and others of that band, got the house alone, 
 there might be seen skipping not very comely for 
 honest women. Her common talk was, in secret, 
 that she saw nothing in Scotland but gravity, which 
 was altogether repugnant to her nature, for she was 
 brought up in joyeusitye." If Knox really believed 
 in the omens he talks of, or thought the less of a 
 young and beautiful woman for indulging in inno- 
 cent recreation, his judgment is to be pitied. If he, 
 in truth, did not give any credence to the one, and 
 saw no sin in the other, his candour and sincerity 
 cannot be very highly praised. 
 
 M'Crie, the able but too partial biographer of Knox, 
 and the defender of all his errors and failings, speak- 
 ing of Mary at this period, says " Nursed from her 
 infancy in a blind attachment to the Roman Catholic 
 religion, every means had been employed before she 
 left France to strengthen this prejudice, and to inspire 
 her with aversion to the religion which had been em- 
 
 * The day that hi* late majesty George IV. arrived at l,< ith in August, 
 1832 (whose landing and progress to Hoi) rood House, though much more 
 brilliant, resembled in some respects tlmt of his ancestor Mary), was as 
 wet and unfavourable as the weather so piously described by Knox. Was 
 Ibis a " forewarning" also of the " comfort" our gracious sovereign brought 
 into the country? If Kno\ believed in warnings, there ia no telling U 
 what conclusions these warnings might have led.
 
 112 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 braced by her people. She was taught that it would 
 be the great glory of her reign to reduce her kingdom 
 to the obedience of the Romish see, and to co-ope- 
 rate with the Popish princes on the continent in ex- 
 tirpating heresy. With these fixed prepossessions 
 Mary came into Scotland, and she adhered to them 
 with singular pertinacity to the end of her life."j 
 The whole of this statement is in the highest degree 
 erroneous. We have seen that Mary was not nursed 
 in a blind attachment to the Catholic religion ; some 
 of her best friends, and even one or two of her pre- 
 ceptors, being attached to the new opinions. We 
 have seen, that so far from having any "preju- 
 dice" strengthened before she left France, she was 
 expressly advised to give her support to the Reform- 
 ers ; and we have heard from her own lips her ma- 
 ture determination to tolerate every species of wor- 
 ship throughout her kingdom. That she ever thought 
 of " co-operating with the Popish princes of the con- 
 tinent, that she might reduce her kingdom to the 
 obedience of the Romish see, and extirpate heresy," 
 will be discovered immediately to be a particularly 
 preposterous belief, when we find her intrusting the 
 reins of government to the leaders of the Reformed 
 party. To this system of moderation, much beyond 
 that of the age in which she lived, Mary adhered 
 " with singular pertinacity to the end of her life." 
 M'Crie, in proof of his gratuitous assertions, affirms, 
 that she never examined the subjects of controversy 
 between the Papists and Protestants. This also is 
 incorrect, as he would have known, had he read that 
 letter of Throckmorton's, in which, as has been seen, 
 she informed the ambassador of the frequent oppor- 
 tunities she had enjoyed of hearing the whole matter 
 discussed in the presence of the Cardinal of Lorraine ; 
 and the confession which that discussion extorted 
 both from the cardinal and herself, of the necessity 
 of some reformation among the Catholics, though 
 
 * M'Crie's Life of Knox, vol. li. p. S
 
 QUEEK OF SCOTS. 113 
 
 not to the extent to which the Protestants pushed it. 
 M'Crie further objects, that Mary never went to hear 
 Knox, or any of the Reformed divines, preach. Knox, 
 from the invariable contempt with which he affected 
 to treat Mary, no doubt particularly deserved such a 
 compliment ; and as to the other divines, by all of 
 whom she was hated, what would have been the use 
 of leaving her own chapel to listen to sermons which 
 could not have altered the firm conviction of her 
 mind, and which, consequently, it would have been 
 hypocrisy to pretend to admire ? We return from 
 this digression. 
 
 The nobility, who now flocked to Holyrood from 
 all parts of the country, constituted that portion of 
 the inhabitants of Scotland who, for many centuries, 
 had exercised almost unlimited influence over their 
 native sovereigns. Their mutual dissensions during 
 the late long minority had a good deal weakened 
 their respective strength; and the progress of time 
 was gradually softening the more repulsive features 
 of the feudal system. But still the Scottish barons 
 deemed themselves indispensable to the councils of 
 their monarch, and entitled to deliver opinions which 
 they expected would be followed on every affair of 
 state. They collected at present under the influence 
 of a thousand contending interests and wishes. With 
 some of the more distinguished figures in the group 
 it will be necessary to make the reader better ac- 
 quainted. 
 
 Of the Lord James, who was now shortly to be- 
 come the Earl of Murray, the title by which he is 
 best known in Scottish history, a good deal has 
 already been said. That he must secretly have 
 regretted his sister's return to Scotland may be safely 
 concluded from the facts formerly stated. He was 
 too skilful a politician, however, to betray his disap- 
 pointment. Had he openly ventured to oppose Mary, 
 the result would have been at all events uncertain, 
 and his own ruin might have been the ultimate cou- 
 RI
 
 114 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 sequence. He considered it more prudent to use 
 every means in his power to conciliate her friend- 
 ship ; and wrought so successfully that before long 
 he found himself the person of by far the most con- 
 sequence in the kingdom. Mary, perhaps, trusted 
 too implicitly to his advice, and left too much to his 
 control ; yet it is difficult to see how she could have 
 managed otherwise. It is but fair also to add, that 
 for several years Murray continued to keep his am- 
 bition (which, under a show of moderation, was in 
 truth enormous) within bounds. Nor does there 
 appear to be any evidence sufficient to stamp Mur- 
 ray with that deeper treachery and blacker guilt 
 which some writers have laid to his charge. The 
 time, however, is not yet arrived for considering 
 his conduct in connexion with the darker events of 
 Mary's reign. The leading fault of his administra- 
 tion is, that it was double-faced. In all matters of 
 importance he allowed himself to be guided as much 
 by the wishes of Elizabeth, secretly communicated 
 to him, as by those of his own sovereign. He prob- 
 ably foresaw, that if he ever quarrelled with Mary, 
 it would be through the assistance of the English 
 queen alone he could hope to retrieve his fortunes. 
 This subservience to Elizabeth among those in whom 
 she confided was, indeed, the leading misfortune of 
 Mary's reign. Had her counsellors been unbiassed, 
 and her subjects undistracted by English intrigue, 
 her prudent conduct would have got the better of the 
 internal dissensions in her kingdom, and she would 
 have governed in peace, perhaps in happiness. But 
 it was Elizabeth's jealous and narrow-minded policy 
 to prevent, if possible, this consummation. With 
 infinite art, and, if the term is not debased by its 
 application, with no little ability, she accomplished 
 her wishes, principally through the agency of the 
 ambitious and the self-interested among Mary's min- 
 isters. One of these the Earl of Murray unques- 
 tionably was. At the time of which we are writing,
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 115 
 
 he was in his thirty-first year, possessing consider- 
 able advantages both of face and person, but of 
 reserved, austere, and rather forbidding manners. 
 Murray's mother, who was the Lady Margaret Ers- 
 kine, daughter of Lord Erskine, had married Sir Rob- 
 ert Douglas of Loch Leven. He had also, as has 
 been mentioned, several illegitimate brothers, par- 
 ticularly Lord John and Lord Robert, and one sister, 
 Jane, who married the Earl of Argyle, and to whom 
 Mary became very sincerely attached. 
 
 Associated with the Earl of Murray, both as a 
 leader of the Reformers and as a servant of Elizabeth, 
 but not allowing his ambitious views to carry him 
 quite so far as the earl, was William Maitland of 
 Lethington, Mary's secretary of state. He was the 
 eldest son of Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington, 
 and was about five years older than Murray. He 
 had been educated at the University of St. Andrews, 
 and had travelled a good deal on the Continent, where 
 he studied civil law. John Knox, in his History, 
 claims the honour of having converted Maitland to 
 the Reformed opinions. Whether this be true or not, 
 it is certain that, after having for some time co-ope- 
 rated with Mary of Guise, he finally deserted her, 
 and continued to act with the Reformers as secre- 
 tary of st^te, an office to which he had been ap- 
 pointed for life in 1558. It has been already seen, 
 that a close and confidential intercourse subsisted 
 between him and Cecil ; and that he too would have 
 been glad had Mary's return to Scotland been pre- 
 vented. That Maitland possessed an acute and subtle 
 genius there can be no doubt ; that he had cultivated 
 his mind to good purpose, and understood the art of 
 composition as well as any man of the age, is unde- 
 niable. That his manners were more polished than 
 those of most of the Scottish nobility is also true; 
 but that his talents were of that high and exquisite 
 kind which Robertson and some other historians 
 have described does not appear. During his political
 
 116 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 career many instances occur which seem to imply a 
 vacillating and unsteady temperament, a fault which 
 can hardly be forgiven in a statesman. 
 
 James Douglas, Earl of Morton, another associate 
 of Murray, was one of the most powerful and least 
 respectable of those who had embraced the Reform- 
 ation. Restless, factious, crafty, avaricious, and 
 cruel, nothing could have saved him from general 
 odium but his pretended zeal for religion. This was 
 a cloak for many sins. By flattering the vanity of 
 Knox and the other gospel ministers, he contrived 
 to cover the hollowness of his character, and to patch 
 up a reputation for sanctity. In consequence of the 
 rebellion of the Earl of Angus, his uncle, during the 
 reign of James V., Morton had been obliged to spend 
 several years in England, where he lived in great 
 poverty. But the only effect adversity had produced 
 upon him was a determination to be more rapacious 
 when he recovered his power. His ambition was of 
 a more contracted and selfish kind than Murray's, 
 and he had not so cool a head, or so cautious a hand. 
 
 The Duke of Chatelherault, Mary's nearest relation, 
 being advanced in years, had retired from public life. 
 The Earl of Arran, his son, who, it will be remem- 
 bered, had been induced to propose himself as a hus- 
 band for Elizabeth, was of a weak and almost crazed 
 intellect. Indeed, it was not long befo-o the in- 
 creasing strength of the malady made it necessary 
 to confine him. He came to court, however, upon 
 Mary's arrival, and having been unsuccessful with 
 Elizabeth, chose to fall desperately in love with his 
 owr. queen. But Mary had always an aversion to 
 him originating no doubt in the want of delicacy 
 towards her which had characterized his negotiations 
 with Elizabeth, and confirmed by his own presuming 
 and disagreeable manners. His father's natural bro- 
 ther, the Archbishop of St. Andrews, is the only other 
 member of the family worth mentioning. He was 
 Btill stanch to the Roman Catholic party; but had
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 117 
 
 of lute seen the wisdom of remaining quiet, and 
 though he became rather a favourite with Mary, it 
 does not appear that lie henceforth took a very active 
 interest in public affairs.* 
 
 James Hepburne, Earl of Bothwell, though some 
 of the leading features of his character had hardly 
 shown themselves at the period of which we speak; 
 merits nevertheless, from the part he subsequently 
 acted, especial notice at present. He had succeeded 
 his father in his titles and estates in the year 1555, 
 when he was five or six-and-twenty years of age. 
 He enjoyed not only large estates, but the hereditary 
 offices of lord high admiral of Scotland, sheriff of 
 Berwick, Huddington, and Edinburgh, and baillie of 
 Lauderdale. With the exception of the Duke of 
 Chatelherault, he was the most powerful nobleman 
 in the southern districts of Scotland. Soon after 
 coming to his titles, he began to take an active share 
 in public business. In addition to his other offices, 
 he was appointed the queen's lieutenant on the bor- 
 ders, and keeper of Hermitage Castle, by the queen- 
 regent, to whom he always remained faithful, in op- 
 position to the Lord James and what was then termed 
 the English faction. He went over to France on the 
 death of Francis II. to pay his duty to Mary, and on 
 his return to Scotland was by her intrusted with the 
 discharge of an important commission regarding the 
 government. Though all former differences were 
 now supposed to have been forgotten, there was not, 
 nor did there ever exist, a very cordial agreement 
 between the Earls of Murray and Bothwell. They 
 were both about the same age, but their dispositions 
 were very different. Murray was self-possessed, full 
 of foresight, prudent, and wary. Bothwell was bold, 
 
 * Miss Bender (vol. ii. p. 132) erroneously supposes that the Arch- 
 bishop of Sr. Andrews had died before Mary's return to Scotland. She 
 should have known that it was he who presided at the baptism of Jame* 
 VI., of which ceremony she gives so particular an account. See Keith, 
 p. 350, and Chalmers, vol. i. p. 196.
 
 118 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 reckless, and extravagant. His youth had been de- 
 voted to every species of dissipation ; and even in 
 manhood he seemed more intent on pleasure than 
 on business. This was a sort of life which Murray 
 despised, and perhaps he calculated that Bothwell 
 would never aim at any other. But, though guided 
 by no steady principles, and devoted to licentious- 
 ness, Bothwell was nevertheless not the mere man 
 of pleasure. He was all his life celebrated for daring 
 and lawless exploits, and vanity 01 passion were 
 motives whose force he was never able to resist. 
 Unlike Murray, who, when he had an end in view, 
 made his advances towards it as cautiously as an 
 Indian hunter, Bothwell dashed right through, as 
 careless of the means by which he was to accomplish 
 his object as of the consequences that were to ensue. 
 His manner was of that frank, open, and uncalcu- 
 lating kind, which frequently catches a superficial 
 observer. They who did not study him more closely 
 were apt to imagine, that he was merely a blustering, 
 good-natured, violent, headstrong man, whose man- 
 ners must inevitably have degenerated into vulgarity 
 had he not been nobly born, and accustomed to the 
 society of his peers. But much more serious con- 
 clusions might have been drawn by those who had 
 penetration enough to see under the cloak of disso- 
 luteness in which he wrapped himself and his designs. 
 With regard to his personal appearance, it does not 
 seem to have been remarkably prepossessing. Bran- 
 tome says, that he was one of the ugliest men he 
 had ever seen, and that his manners were corres- 
 pondently outre.* Buchanan, who must have known 
 Bothwell well, and who draws his character with 
 more accuracy than was to have been expected from 
 so partial a writer, says, in his " Detection," " Was 
 there in him any gift of eloquence, or grace of beauty, 
 or virtue of mind, garnished with the benefits which 
 
 * Jebh, vol. ii. p. 486 ; Chalmers, vol. ii p. 202
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 119 
 
 we call of fortune T As for his eloquence and beauty, 
 we need not make long tale of them, since both they 
 that have seen him can well remember his counte- 
 nance, his gait, and the whole form of his body, how 
 gay it was ; they that have heard him are not igno- 
 rant of his rude utterance and blockishness." As to 
 Bothwell's religious opinions, Buchanan remarks, 
 very truly, that wavering between the different fac- 
 tions, and despising either side, he counterfeited a 
 love of both.* Such was the man of whom we shall 
 have occasion to say so much in the course of these 
 Memoirs. 
 
 In the Lords Ruthven and Lindsay remained un- 
 altered all the characteristics of the ruder feudal 
 chiefs, rendered still more repulsive by their bigoted 
 zeal in favour of the Reformed opinions. They were 
 men of coarse and contracted minds, fit instigators 
 to villany, or apt tools in the hands of those who 
 were more willing to plan than to execute. 
 
 Opposed to all these nobles was the great lay head 
 of the Catholic party in Scotland, John, Earl of 
 Huntly. His jurisdiction and influence extended 
 over nearly the whole of the north of Scotland, from 
 Aberdeen to Inverness. He was born in 1510, and 
 had been a personal friend and favourite of James V. 
 He ranked in parliament as the premier earl of Scot- 
 land, and in 1546 was appointed chancellor of the 
 kingdom. He was always opposed to the English 
 party, and had been taken prisoner at the battle of 
 Pinkie, fighting against the claims of Edward VI. 
 upon the infant Mary. He made his escape in 1548, 
 and as a reward for his services and sufferings ob- 
 tained, in the following year, a grant of the earldom 
 of Murray, which, however, he again resigned in 
 1554. He continued faithful to the queen-regent till 
 her death. Upon that occasion, we have seen that 
 he and other nobles sent Lesly, with certain pro- 
 
 * Buchanan's Detection, in Anderson's Collections, vol. 11. p. 52 and 56
 
 120 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 posals, to Mary. He was an honourable man and 
 a good subject, though the termination of his career 
 was a most unfortunate one. The respect which 
 his memory merits is founded on the conviction, that 
 he had too great a love for his country and sovereign 
 ever to have consented to have made the one little 
 better than tributary to England, or to have betrayed 
 the other into the hands of her deadliest enemy. 
 
 Such were the men who were now to become 
 Mary's associates and counsellors. The names of 
 most of them occur as members of the privy council 
 which she constituted shortly after her return. It 
 consisted of the Duke of Chatelherault, the Earl of 
 Huntly, the Earl of Argyle, the Earl of Bothwell, the 
 Earl of Errol, Earl Marschall, the Earl of Athol, the 
 Earl of Morton, the Earl of Montrose, the Earl of 
 Glencaivn, the Lord Erskine, and the Lord James 
 Stuart. In this council, the influence of the Lord 
 James, backed as it was by a great majority of Prot- 
 estant nobles, carried every thing before it. 
 
 Elizabeth, finding that Mary had arrived safely in 
 her own country, and had been well received there, 
 lost no time in changing her tone towards the Scot- 
 tish queen. Her English resident in Scotland was 
 the celebrated Randolph, whom she kept as a sort 
 of accredited spy at Mary's court. He has rendered 
 himself notorious by the many letters he wrote to 
 England upon Scottish affairs. He had an acute, 
 inquisitive, and gossiping turn of mind. His style 
 is lively and amusing; and though the office he had 
 to perform is not to be envied, he seems to have en- 
 tered on it con amore, and with little remorse of con- 
 science. His epistles are mostly preserved, and are 
 valuable from containing pictures of the state of 
 manners in Scotland at the time, not to be found any 
 where else, though not always to be depended on as 
 accurate chronicles of fact. To Randolph the Queen 
 of England now wrote, desiring him to ofi'er her best 
 congratulations to Mary upon her safe arrival. She
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 121 
 
 sent him also a letter, which he was to deliver to 
 Mary, in which she disclaimed ever having had the 
 most distant intention of intercepting her on her 
 voyage. Mary answered Elizabeth's letter with be- 
 coming cordiality. She likewise sent Secretary 
 Maitland into England, to remain for some time as 
 her resident at Elizabeth's court. She was well 
 aware for what purposes Randolph was ordered to 
 continue in Edinburgh ; and said, that as it seemed 
 to be Elizabeth's wish that he should remain, she 
 was content, but that she would have another in 
 England as crafty as he. Maitland was certainly as 
 crafty, but his craftiness was unfortunately too fre 
 quently directed against Mary herself. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 John Knox, the Reformers, and the turbulent Nobles. 
 
 MARY had been only a few days in Scotland when 
 she was painfully reminded of the excited and dan- 
 gerous state of feeling which then prevailed on the 
 important subject of religion. Her great and leading 
 desire was to conciliate all parties, and to preserve 
 unbroken the public peace. With this view she had 
 issued proclamations, charging her subjects to con- 
 duct themselves quietly ; and announcing her intention 
 to make no alteration in the form of religion as exist- 
 ing in the country at her arrival. Notwithstanding 
 these precautions, the first breach of civil order took 
 place at the very palace of Holyrood House. Mary 
 had intimated her intention to attend the celebration 
 of a solemn mass in her chapel on Sunday, the 24th 
 of August, 1561, the first Sunday she spent in Scot- 
 land. The Reformers, as soon as they got the upper 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 122 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 hand, had prohibited this service under severe penal- 
 ties, and these principles of intolerance they were 
 determined to maintain. Mary had not interfered 
 with their mode of worship ; but this was not enough ; 
 they considered themselves called upon to inter- 
 fere with hers. In anticipation of the mass for which 
 she had given orders, the godly, Knox tells us, met 
 together and said,-" Shall that idol be suffered again 
 to take place within this realm ? It shall not." 
 They even repented that they had not pulled down the 
 chapel itself at the time they had demolished most 
 of the other religious houses ; for the sparing of any 
 place where idols were worshipped was, in their 
 opinion, " the preserving the accursed thing." When 
 Sunday arrived, a crowd collected on the outside of 
 the chapel ; and Lord Lindsay, whose bigotry has 
 been already mentioned, called out with fiery zeal 
 " The idolatrous priests shall die the death according 
 to God's law." The Catholics were insulted as they 
 entered the chapel, and the tumult increased so much 
 that they feared to commence the service. At length 
 the Lord James, whose superior discrimination taught 
 him that his party, by pushing things to this ex- 
 tremity, were doing their cause more harm than 
 good, stationed himself at the door and declared he 
 would allow no evil-disposed person to enter. His 
 influence with the godly was such that they ventured 
 not to proceed to violence against his will. He was 
 a good deal blamed, however, by Knox for his con- 
 duct. When the service was concluded, Lord James's 
 two brothers were obliged to conduct the priests 
 home, as a protection to them from the insults of the 
 people ; and in the afternoon crowds collected in the 
 neighbotnhood of the palace, who, by their disloyal 
 language and turbulent proceedings, signified to 
 the queen their disapprobation that she had dared 
 to worship her God in the manner which seemed 
 to herself most consistent, both with the revealed 
 and natural law. Many of Mary's friends who
 
 QTJEEN OF SCOTS. 123 
 
 had accompanied her from France were so disgusted 
 with the whole of this scene, that they announced 
 their intention of returning sooner than they might 
 otherwise have done. " Would to God," exclaims 
 Knox, "that altogether with the mass, they had 
 taken good-night of the realm for ever !" 
 
 On the following Sunday, Knox took the opportu- 
 nity of preaching, what Keith might have termed, 
 another " thundering sermon" against idolatry. In 
 this discourse he declared, that one mass was more 
 fearful to him than ten thousand armed enemies 
 would be, landed in any part of the realm on pur- 
 pose to suppress the whole religion. No one will 
 deny, that the earlier Reformers of this and all other 
 countries would, naturally and properly, look upon 
 Popish rites with far greater abhorrence than is done 
 by the strictest Protestants of more modern times. 
 Nor is it wonderful that the ablest men among them 
 (and John Knox was one of those) should have given 
 way so far to the feelings of the age, as to be unable 
 to draw the exact line of distinction between the 
 improvements of the new gospel and the imperfec- 
 tions of the old. The faith which they established 
 was of a purer, simpler, and better kind than that 
 from which they were converted. Yet, making all 
 these allowances, there does seem to have been some- 
 thing unnecessarily overbearing and illiberal in the 
 spirit which animated Knox and some of his follow- 
 ers. When contrasted with the mildness of Mary 
 at least, and even with the greater moderation ob- 
 served in some of the other countries of Europe, 
 where the Reformation was making no less rapid 
 progress, the anti-catholic ardour of the good people 
 of Scotland must be allowed to have overstepped 
 considerably the just limits of Christian forbearance. 
 It is useful also to observe the inconsistencies which 
 still existed in the Reformed faith. While the 
 Catholic religion was reprobated, Catholic customs 
 springing out of that religion do not seem to have
 
 124 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 called forth any censure. On the very day on which 
 Knox preached the sermon already mentioned, a 
 great civic banquet was given by the city of Edin- 
 burgh to Mary's uncles, the Duke Danville, and other 
 of her French friends ; and, generally speaking, Sun- 
 day was, throughout the country, the favourite day 
 for festivities of all kinds. 
 
 The mark of attention paid to her relations pleased 
 Mary, but her pleasure was rendered imperfect, by 
 perceiving how powerful and unlooked-for an enemy 
 both she and they had in John Knox. Aware of the 
 liberal manner in which she had treated him and his 
 party, she thought it hard that he should so unremit- 
 tingly exert his influence to stir up men's minds 
 against her. That this influence was of no insignifi- 
 cant kind is attested by very sufficient evidence. 
 Knox was not a mere polemical churchman. His 
 friends and admirers intrusted to him their temporal 
 as well as spiritual interests. He was often selected 
 as an umpire in civil disputes of importance ; and 
 persons whom the town-council had determined to 
 punish for disorderly conduct, were continually re- 
 questing his intercession in their behalf. When dif- 
 ferences fell out even among the nobility, he was not 
 uncommonly employed to adjust them. He was be- 
 sides, at that time, the only established clergyman 
 in Edinburgh who taught the Reformed doctrines. 
 There was a minister in the Canongate, and another 
 in the neighbouring parish of St. Cuthberts, but Knox 
 was the minister of Edinburgh. He preached in the 
 church of St. Giles, which was capable of holding 
 three thousand persons. To this numerous audience 
 he held forth twice every Sunday, and thrice on other 
 days during the week. He was regular too in his 
 attendance at the meetings of the synod and the 
 general assembly, and was frequently commissioned 
 to travel through the country to disseminate gospel 
 truth. In 1563, but not till then, a colleague was 
 appointed to him.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 125 
 
 Animated by a sincere desire to soften if possible 
 our Reformer's austere temper, Mary requested tbat 
 he might be brought into her presence two days aftei 
 he had delivered his sermon against idolatry. Knox 
 had no objection whatever to this interview. To 
 have it granted him at all would show his friends the 
 importance attached to his character and office ; and 
 from the manner in which he determined to carry 
 himself through it, he hoped to strengthen his repu- 
 tation for bold independence of sentiment and unde- 
 viating adherence to his principles. This was so far 
 well; but Knox unfortunately mingled rudeness 
 with his courage, and stubbornness with lu's consis- 
 tency. 
 
 Mary opened the conversation by expressing her 
 surprise that he should have formed so very unfa- 
 vourable an opinion of herself; and requested to 
 know what could have induced him to commence his 
 calumnies against her so far back as 1559, when he 
 published his book upon the " monstrous government 
 of women."* Knox answered that learned men in 
 all ages considered their judgments free, and that if 
 these judgments sometimes differed from the com- 
 mon judgment of mankind, they were not to blame. 
 He then ventured to compare his " First Blast of the 
 Trumpet" to Plato's work " On the Commonwealth," 
 observing, with much self-complacency, that both 
 these books contained many new sentiments. He 
 added, that what he had written was directed most 
 
 * This is apparently the flrgt time Mary had erer expressed to Knwt 
 her sentiments regarding this pamphlet. He had been treated less cere- 
 moniously by Elizabeth. But knowing the respect in which she was 
 held by the Protestants, he saw it for his interest to attempt to panty 
 her, and wrote to her several conciliatory letters. Elizabeth put a stop 
 to them, by desiring Cecil to forward to Knox the following laconic 
 epistle, which merits preservation as a literary curiosity: "Mr. Knox ! 
 Mr. Knox ! Mr. Knox ! (here is neither male nor female: all are one in 
 Christ, saith Paul. Blessed is the man who confides in the Lord ! 1 
 need to wish you no more prudence than God's grace; whereof God 
 send you plenty. W. CK< lu" Chalmen. vol. ii p. 494. Knox himself 
 fives a somewhat different edition of this letter (Hist, of the Reforma- 
 tion, p. 213). Where Chalmers found the above be docs not mention- 
 
 L2
 
 126 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 especially against Mary, " that wicked Jezebel of 
 England." The queen, perceiving that this was a 
 mere subterfuge, said, " Ye speak of women in gene- 
 ral." Knox confessed that he did so, but again 
 went the length of assuring her, though the assur 
 ance seems to involve a contradiction, that he had 
 said nothing " intended to trouble her estate." 
 
 Satisfied with this concession, Mary proceeded to 
 ask why he could not teach the people a new religion 
 without exciting them to hold in contempt the au- 
 thority of their sovereign ? Knox found it necessary 
 to answer this question in a somewhat round-about 
 manner. " If all the seed of Abraham," said he, 
 " should have been of the religion of Pharaoh, what 
 religion should there have been in the world ? Or 
 if all men in the days of the Roman emperors should 
 have been of the religion of the Roman emperors, 
 what religion should have been on the face of the 
 earth ? Daniel and his fellows were subject to Nebu- 
 chadnezzar and unto Darius, and yet they would not 
 be of their religion." " Yea," replied Mary, promptly, 
 "but none of these men raised the sword against 
 their princes." " Yet you cannot deny that they re- 
 sisted," said Knox, refining a little too much ; " for 
 those who obey not the commandment given them 
 do in some sort resist." " But yet," said the queen, 
 perceiving the quibble, " they resisted not with the 
 sword." The Reformer felt that he had been driven 
 into a corner, and determined to get out of it at what- 
 ever cost. " God, madam," said he, " had not given 
 unto them the power and the means." " Think ye," 
 asked Mary, " that subjects having the power may 
 resist their princes ?" " If princes exceed their 
 bounds, madam," said Knox, evidently departing from 
 the point, " no doubt they may be resisted even by 
 power." He proceeded to fortify this opinion with 
 arguments of no very loyal kind ; and Mary, over- 
 come by a rudeness and presumption she had been 
 little accustomed to, was for some time silent. Nay,
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 127 
 
 Randolph, in one of his letters, affirms that he 
 " knocked so hastily upon her heart that he made her 
 weep." At length she said, " I perceive then that 
 my subjects shall obey you and not me, and will do 
 what they please, and not what I command ; and so 
 must I be subject to them and not they to me." Knox 
 answered that a subjection unto God and his Church 
 was the greatest dignity that flesh could enjoy upon 
 the face of the earth, for it would raise it to everlast- 
 ing glory. " But you are not the Church that I will 
 nourish," said Mary ; " I will defend the Church of 
 Rome ; for it is, I think, the true Church of God." 
 Knox's coarse and discourteous answer shows that 
 he was alike ignorant of the delicacy with which, in 
 this argument, he should have treated a lady, and of 
 the respect a queen was entitled to demand. " Your 
 will, madam, said he, " is no reason ; neither doth 
 your thought make the Roman harlot to be the true 
 and immaculate spouse of Jesus Christ. Wonder 
 not, madam, that I call Rome a harlot, for that Church 
 is altogether polluted with all kinds of spiritual for- 
 nication, both in doctrine and manners." While this 
 speech must have deeply wounded the feelings of 
 Mary, a sincere Catholic as she was, it cannot entitle 
 the Reformer to any praise on the score of its bravery 
 and independence. Knox knew that the whole coun- 
 try would in a few days be full of his conference 
 with the queen. By yielding to her he had nothing 
 u) gain ; and as his reputation was his dearest pos- 
 session, he hoped to increase it by an unmanly dis- 
 play of his determined zeal. Mary, perceiving what 
 sort of a man she had to deal with, soon afterward 
 broke off the conversation.* 
 
 * Knox's History of the Reformation, p. 287, et seq. ; Keith, p. 188. 
 It is worth observing that Knox is the only person who gives us any de- 
 tailed account of these interviews, and he of course represents them in 
 as favourable a light for himself as possible. "The report," says Ran- 
 dolph, "thai Knox hath talked with the queen, maketh the Papists doubt 
 what will become of the worM." " I bav been the more minute in the 
 narrative of this curious conference," Bays M'Crie, " because it affords
 
 128 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 On the same day that the queen gave Knox this 
 audience, she made her first public entry into Edin- 
 burgh. She rode up the Canongate and High-street 
 to the castle, where a banquet had been prepared for 
 her. She was greeted as she passed along with 
 every mark of respect and loyalty ; and pains had 
 been taken to give to the whole procession as striking 
 and splendid an air as possible. The town had 
 issued proclamations, requiring the citizens to appear 
 in their best attire, and advising the young men to 
 assume a uniform, that they might make " the convoy 
 before the court more triumphant." When Mary left 
 the castle after dinner on her way back, a pageant 
 which had been prepared was exhibited on the Castle 
 Hill. The Reformers could not allow this opportu- 
 nity to pass without reminding her that she was now 
 in a country where their authority was paramount. 
 The greater part of this pageant represented the ter- 
 rible vengeance of God upon idolaters. It was even 
 at one time intended to have had a priest burned 
 in effigy; but the Earl of Huntly declared he would 
 not allow so gross an insult to be offered to his sove- 
 reign. 
 
 Soon after paying this compliment to the city of 
 Edinburgh, Mary determined upon making a progress 
 through the country, that she and her subjects might 
 become better acquainted with each other. She made 
 this progress upon horseback, accompanied by a pretty 
 numerous train. There appears at the time to have 
 been only one wheeled carriage in Scotland. It was 
 a chariot (as it is called in the treasurer's books), 
 probably of a rude enough construction, which Mar- 
 garet of England brought with her when she married 
 .lames IV. Mary no doubt knew that it would have 
 been rather adventurous to have attempted travelling 
 on the Scotch roads of that day in so frail and un- 
 
 tho most satisfactory refutation oCthe charge that Knox treated Mary with 
 rudetiHMS anddisresimct." Different people have surely different modes 
 or defining rudeness and respect.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 129 
 
 certain a vehicle. It is not, however, to be supposed 
 thai a queen such as Mary, with her lords and ladies 
 well-mounted around her, could pass through her 
 native country without being the object of universal 
 admiration, even without the aid of so wonderful a 
 piece of mechanism as a coach or a chariot. Her first 
 stage was to the palace at Linlithgow. Here she 
 remained a day or two, and then proceeded to Stir- 
 ling. On the night of her arrival there, she made a 
 very nanow escape. As she lay in bed asleep, a 
 candle that was burning beside her set fire to the 
 curtains ; and had the light and heat not speedily 
 awakened her, when she immediately exerted her 
 usual presence of mind, she might have been burned 
 to death. The populace said at the time that this 
 was the fulfilment of a very old prophecy, that a 
 queen should be burned at Stirling. It was only the 
 bed, however, not the queen, that was burned, so that 
 the prophet must have made a slight mistake. On 
 the Sunday she spent at Stirling the Lord James, 
 finding perhaps that his former apparent defence of 
 the mass had hurt his reputation among the Re- 
 formers, corrected the error by behaving with singu- 
 lar impropriety in the royal chapel. He was assisted 
 by the lord justice general, the Earl of Argyle, in 
 conjunction with whom he seems to have come to 
 actual blows with the priests. This affair was con- 
 sidered good sport by many. " But there were others, 5 * 
 says Randolph, alluding probably to Mary, " that 
 shed a tear or two." " It was reserved," Chalmers 
 remarks, " for the prime minister and the justice gene- 
 ral to make a riot in the house which had been dedi- 
 cated to the service of God, and to obstruct the ser- 
 vice in the queen's presence."* 
 Leaving Stirling, Mary spent a night at Lesly Castle, 
 
 * Keith supposes erroneously that this disturbance took place in th 
 fli.ipcl ,ti llolyrund. Randolph, his authority, though his expressions 
 are equivocal, 'undoubtedly alludes to the royal chapel at Stirling. 
 Keith, p. 16U and 190.
 
 130 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 the seat of the Earl of Rothes, a Catholic nobleman. 
 On the 16th of September she entered Perth. She 
 was everywhere welcomed with much apparent satis- 
 faction ; but in the midst of their demonstrations of 
 affection, her subjects always took care to remind 
 her that they were Presbyterians, and that she was a 
 Papist. In the very pious town of Perth, pageants 
 greeted her arrival somewhat similar to those which 
 had bt. en exhibited to her on the Castle Hill at Edin- 
 burgh. Mary was not a little affected by observing 
 this constant determination to wound her feelings. 
 In riding through the streets of Perth she became 
 suddenly faint, and was carried from her horse to her 
 lodging. Her acute sensibility often produced simi- 
 lar effects upon her health, although the cause was 
 not understood by the unrefined multitude. With St. 
 Andrews, the seat of the commendatorship of the 
 Lord James, she seems to have been most pleased, 
 and remained there several days. She returned to 
 Edinburgh by the end of September, passing on the 
 way through Falkland, where her father had died. 
 Knox was much distressed at the manifestation of 
 the popular feeling in favour of Mary during this 
 journey. He consoles himself by saying that she 
 polluted the towns through which she passed with 
 her idolatry; and in allusion to the accident at Stir- 
 ling, remarks, " Fire followed her very commonly on 
 that joiirney."* 
 
 It was, perhaps, to counteract in some degree 
 the impression which Mary's affability and beauty 
 had made upon her subjects, that soon after her re- 
 turn to Edinburgh a very singular proclamation was 
 issued by the civil authorities of that town. It was 
 couched in the following terms: " Octobers, 1561. 
 On which day the provost, baillics, council, and all 
 the deacons, perceiving the priests, monks, friars, 
 and others of the wicked rabble of the antichrist, 
 
 * Knox, p. 288.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 131 
 
 the pope, to resort to this town, contrary to the 
 tenor of a previous proclamation, therefore ordain 
 the said proclamation, charging all monks, friars, 
 priests, nuns, adulterers, fornicators, and all such 
 filthy persons, to remove themselves out of this 
 town and bounds thereof, within twenty-four hours, 
 under the pain of carting through the town, burn- 
 ing on the cheek, and perpetual banishment."* 
 The insult offered to the sovereign of the realm, 
 by thus attempting to confound the professors of 
 the 'old religion with the most depraved charac- 
 ters in the country, was too gross to be allowed to 
 pass unnoticed. Mary did not bring these bigoted 
 magistrates to trial, she did not even imprison 
 them ; but with much mildness, though with no less 
 firmness, she ordered the town-council instantly to 
 deprive the provost and baillies of the offices they 
 held, and to elect other better qualified persons in 
 their stead.f 
 
 During the remainder of the year 1561, the only 
 public affairs of consequence were, the appointment 
 of the Lord James as the queen's lieutenant on the 
 borders, where he proceeded to hold courts, and 
 endeavoured, by great severity and many capital 
 punishments, to reduce the turbulent districts to 
 something like order ; and the renewal on the part 
 of Queen Elizabeth of the old dispute concerning 
 the treaty of Edinburgh. Mary, having now had 
 
 * Keith, p. 192, 
 
 t It is worth while attending to the very partial and grossly perverted 
 account which Knox gives of I his proclamation, actually introducing 
 Into his History an edition of it, fabricated by himself. He then pro- 
 ceeds to find fault with the magistrates for yielding to " Jezebel's" 
 commands, and remarks, in allusion to a counter-proclamation which 
 the quet-i issu"d, that the town should be patent to all her liegec until 
 they were found guilty of some offence. " The queen took U|>on her 
 greater boldness than she and Balaam's bleating priests durst have at- 
 tempted before. And so murderers, adulterers, thieves, whores, drunk- 
 ards, idolaters, and all malefactors got protection under the queen's 
 wings, under colour that they were of her religion. And so got the 
 Devil freedom again, wuereas before he durst not have been seen by 
 daylight upon the common streets. Lord deliver us {torn that bondage * 
 Knox, p. 292 3.
 
 132 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 the benefit of advice from her council, without 
 
 lirectly refusing what Elizabeth asked, gave her, in 
 
 iretty plain terms, to understand, that she could 
 
 lever think of signing away her hereditary title and 
 
 nterest to the crown of England. " We know," 
 
 she says, in a letter she wrote to Elizabeth on the 
 
 subject, " 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 
 
 1 trust, being so nearly your cousin, you would be loath 
 
 |we should receive so manifest an injury, as entirely 
 
 to be debarred from that title, which, in possibility, 
 
 may fall to us." 
 
 Most of Mary's French friends had by this time 
 returned home. Her uncle, the Marquis D'Elbeuf, 
 however, remained all winter with her. In losing 
 the Duke of Danville, Mary lost one of her warmest 
 admirers ; but it appears, that from his being already 
 married (though he could have obtained a divorce), 
 and from other considerations, Mary rejected his 
 addresses. Many foreign princes were suing for the 
 honour of her alliance, among whom were Don 
 Carlos of Spain, the Archduke Charles of Austria, 
 the King of Sweden, the Duke of Ferrara, and the 
 Prince of Conde ; but Mary did not yet see the ne- 
 cessity of an immediate marriage. Among her own 
 subjects, there were two who ventured upon con- 
 fessing their attachment, and nourishing some hopes 
 that she might be brought to view it propitiously. 
 These were the Earl of Arran, already mentioned, 
 and Sir John Gordon, second son of the Earl of 
 Huntly. The former of these Mary never liked; 
 and though the latter far excelled him in accomplish- 
 ments, both of body and mind, she does not seem to 
 have given him encouragement either. Inspired by 
 mutual jealousy, these noblemen of course detested 
 each other ; but Arran was the more factious and 
 absurd. Having taken offence at some slights which 
 he supposed had been offered him, he had retired to
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 133 
 
 St. \ndrews, where he was believed, by those who 
 knrw his restless temperament, to be hatching sedi- 
 tion Upon one occasion a Sunday night in 
 November just before the queen had retired to bed, 
 a it port was suddenly spread through the palace, 
 that Arran had crossed the water at the head of a 
 string body of retainers, and was marching direct 
 for 'iolyrood House, with the intention of carrying 
 off ihe queen to Dumbarton castle, which was in 
 the j-ossession of his father, or to some other place 
 of strength. This report, which gained credit it 
 was scarcely known how, excited the greatest alarm. 
 Mai ^ 's friends collected round her with as much speed 
 as p Hsible ; the gates were closed, and the lords re- 
 main ;d in arms within the court all night. Arran 
 did not make his appearance, and the panic grad- 
 ually subsided, though the nobles determined to 
 keep uard every night for some time. This is the 
 foundation of the assertion made by some writers, 
 that .Mary kept a perpetual body-guard, which, un- 
 fortu lately, she never did during the whole of her 
 reign. The Duke of Chatelherault, who came to 
 court soon after, alleged, that the rumour which had 
 gained credence against his son was only a man- 
 oeuvre of his enemies ; and though his son's con- 
 duct was, on all occasions, sufficiently outr6, it is 
 not Ui i likely that this allegation was true. 
 
 And her tumult, which soon afterward occurred, 
 show* how difficult it was at this time to preserve 
 quietness and good order. It had been reported 
 amon-j the more dissolute nobles, that the daughter 
 of a respectable merchant in Edinburgh was the 
 there. <t me of the Earl of Arran. Bothwell, always 
 at hom j in any affair of this kind, undertook to in- 
 troduce the Marquis D'Elbeuf to the lady; Lord 
 John, brother of the Commendator of St. Andrews, 
 was als>) of the party. They went to her house the 
 first nieht in masks, and were admitted, and cour- 
 teously entertained. Returning next evening, they 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 134 UFE OF MARY 
 
 were disappointed to find that the object of their 
 admiration refused to receive their visits any longer. 
 They proceeded, therefore, to break open the doors, 
 and to create much disturbance in the house and 
 neighbourhood. Next day the queen was informed 
 of their disorderly conduct, and she rebuked them 
 sharply. But Bothwell and the Lord John, animated 
 partly by their dislike to the house of Hamilton, and 
 partly by a turbulent spirit of contradiction, declared 
 they would repeat their visit the very next night in 
 despite of either friend or foe. Their intentions 
 being understood, the servants of. the Duke of Cha- 
 telherault and Arran thought themselves called upon 
 to defend a lady whom their masters patronised. 
 They assembled accordingly with jack and spear in 
 the streets, determined to oppose force to force. 
 Bothwell wished for nothing else, and collected his 
 friends about him in his own lodgings. The oppo- 
 site party, however, increased much more rapidly 
 than his, and began to collect in a threatening man- 
 ner before his house. The magistrates saw the 
 necessity of interfering; the alarm-bell was rung, 
 and despatches were sent off to Holyrood, to know 
 what course was to be taken. The Earls of Argyle 
 and Huntly, together with the Lord James, joined 
 the civic authorities, and, proceeding out to the mob, 
 made proclamation, that all men should instantly 
 depart on pain of death. This had the desired 
 effect ; the streets gradually became quiet, and Both- 
 well gave up his wild scheme. Mary, next day, 
 ordered both the Duke of Chatelherault and the Earl 
 of Bothwell to appear before her. The first came 
 accompanied by a crowd of Protestants, and the 
 latter with an equal number of Catholics. But the 
 queen was not to be overawed, and having inves- 
 tigated the matter, Bothwell was banished from 
 court for ten days.* 
 
 * Randolph in Keith, p. 210.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 135 
 
 This was only the prelude to a still more serious 
 difference, which took place between these untamed 
 and irascible nobles. The Earl of Arran appeared 
 before the queen, and declared that a powerful con- 
 spiracy had been formed against the life of the Lord 
 James, upon whom the title of Earl of Mar, as prelimi- 
 nary to that of Murray, had recently been conferred. 
 This conspiracy, he said, had originated with him- 
 self and his father, who were beginning to tremble, 
 lest the newly-created earl's influence with the 
 queen might induce her to set aside the Hamilton 
 succession, in favour of her illegitimate brother. 
 That the Earl of Mar had really proposed some such 
 arrangement seems to be established on good au- 
 thority.* The Earl of Huntly, together with Mar's 
 old enemy, Bothwell, had been induced by the 
 Hamiltons to join in this plot. The intention was, 
 to shoot the Earl of Mar when hunting with the 
 queen, to obtain for the Hamiltons his authority in 
 the government, and to give the Catholic party 
 greater weight in the state. Huntly's eldest son, 
 the Lord Gordon, was also implicated in Arran's 
 confession. A few days before the whole of these 
 plans were to be carried into execution, the weak 
 and vacillating Arran, according to his own decla- 
 ration, had been seized with remorse of conscience ; 
 and, actuated by his ancient friendship for Mar, and 
 his love for the queen, determined on disclosing 
 every thing. 
 
 Historians seem to have been puzzled what degree 
 of dependence they should place upon the truth of 
 this strange story, told by one who was already half- 
 crazed, and soon afterward altogether insane. That 
 there is good reason, however, for giving credit to 
 his assertions is evident from the manner in which 
 all contemporary writers speak, and the fact that the 
 queen sent both him and Bothwell to prison. When 
 the affair was further investigated, it was found to 
 
 * Goodall, vol. i. p. 199, et seq.
 
 136 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 involve so many of the first nobility of the land, -aid 
 among others Arran's own father, Chatelhersult, 
 whom he could never be expected publicly to accuse, 
 that Mary resolved not to push matters to extremity 
 against any one. She ordered the Duke of Chatel- 
 herault, however, to deliver up the castle of Dumbar- 
 ton ; and at the Earl of Mar's instigation she kept 
 Bothwell a prisoner, first, in the castle of St. Andrews, 
 and afterward in that of Edinburgh, until he made 
 his escape, and left the country for upwards of two 
 years. It is remarkable that this conspiracy shouU 
 not have been hitherto dwelt upon at greater length, 
 tending as it does to develope the secret motives by 
 which the Earl of Mar was actuated in his subsequent 
 feuds with the Earl of Huntly.* It is worth recol- 
 lecting too, though the fact has not been previously 
 noticed, that this was the first occasion on which 
 Bothwell aimed at making himself master of the. 
 queen's person. The design, though unsuccessful. 
 
 ( shows the spirit which long continued to actuate him. 
 
 i Had Mary fallen into his hands at this period, it is 
 not likely that she would ever have had it in her power 
 to marry Darnley, and the whole complexion of her 
 fate might have been changed. 
 
 In February, 1652, Mary gave a series of splendid 
 entertainments on the occasion of the marriage of 
 her favourite brother, James. He was then in the 
 thirty-first year of his age, and chose for his wife 
 Lady Agnes Keith, eldest daughter of the Earl of 
 Marschall. The marriage was solemnized in the 
 church of St. Giles, and Knox took advantage of the 
 occasion to offer the Lord James a wholesome but 
 somewhat curiously-expressed advice ; " for," said 
 the preacher to him, " unto this day has the kirk of 
 God received comfort by you, and by your labour?; 
 in the which, if hereafter you shall be found fainter 
 
 * Freebairn's translalion of Bois Guilbert, p. 32, et seq. ; Knox's His- 
 tory, p. 307; Chalmers, vol. i. p. 62, and vol. ii. p. 212; Keith p. 215 and 
 216; and Goodall, vol. i. p. 191.
 
 . QUEEN OF SCOTS. 137 
 
 than you were before, it will be said that your wife 
 has changed your nature." Knox and his friends 
 were subsequently much scandalized by " the great- 
 ness of the banqueting, and the vanity thereof," 
 which characterized the honeymoon. The issue of 
 this marriage was three daughters, two of whom 
 married Scotch noblemen, and the third died young.* 
 In August, 1562, Mary commenced the progress 
 into the north which, in so far as some of her prin- 
 cipal nobility were concerned, was attended with 
 such very important consequences. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. x 
 
 Mary's Expedition to the North. 
 
 THE Lord James, now Earl of Mar, had for some 
 time felt that so long as he was regarded with sus- 
 picion by the Hamiltons, and with ill-concealed 
 hatred by the Earl of Huntly and the Gordons, his 
 power could not be so stable, nor his influence so 
 extensive as he desired. If it is true that he had 
 already proposed to Mary to set aside the succes- 
 sion of the Earl of Arran, it is equally true that she 
 had refused his request. Foiled, therefore, in this, 
 his more ambitious aim, he saw the necessity of limit- 
 ing, in the mean time, to more moderate bounds, 
 his views of personal preferment. With regard to 
 the Hamiltons, he had succeeded in securing their 
 banishment from court, and in making them objects 
 of suspicion and dislike to the queen. There was 
 not indeed sufficient talent in the family ever to have 
 made it formidable to him, had it not been that it was 
 of the blood-royal. Though not possessing this 
 
 * Knox, p. SOS; Chalmers, vol. ii. p. 425. 
 
 M2
 
 138 LITE OF MARY 
 
 advantage, the Gordons were always looked upon by 
 Mar as more dangerous rivals. He had long nursed 
 a secret desire at least to weaken, if not to crush 
 altogether, the power of Huntly. In getting him- 
 self created Earl of Mar he had made one step to- 
 wards his object. The lands which went along with 
 this title were part of the royal demesnes ; but had 
 for some time been held in fee by the Earls of Huntly. 
 Her brother had prevailed upon Mary to recall them 
 in his favour, and he was thus able to set himself 
 down in the very heart of a country which had 
 hitherto acknowledged no master who did not belong- 
 to the house of Gordon. Huntly felt this encroach- 
 ment bitterly; and it makes it the more probable 
 that he had secretly joined with Arran in his plot 
 upon Mar ; at any rate, Mar gave him full credit for 
 having done so. Their mutual animosity being thus 
 exasperated to the highest pitch, Huntly left the 
 court, and the prime minister waited anxiously for 
 the first opportunity that might occur to humble 
 effectually the great leader of the Catholics. 
 
 In prosecution of his purpose, Mar now obtained 
 a grant under the privy seal of the earldom of Mur- 
 ray. A grant under the privy seal constituted only 
 an inchoate, not a complete title. To ratify the 
 grant and make it legal it was necessary to have the 
 great seal also affixed to it. The great seal, how- 
 ever, was in the custody of Huntly, as lord chan- 
 cellor; and as Mar well knew that the grant of this 
 second earldom infringed upon Huntly's rights even 
 more than the former, he saw the propriety of keep- 
 ing it secret for some time. The earldom of Mur- 
 ray, which, with its lands and appurtenances, was 
 bestowed upon Huntly in 1549. for his services in 
 the war with England, had been again recalled by 
 the crown in 1554, when Huntly fell under the displea- 
 sure of the queen-regent, in consequence of having 
 refused to punish with fire and sword some High- 
 land rebels. But in 1559, the title and lands were
 
 UUEEN OF SCOTS. 139 
 
 restored, not as a free grant, but as a lease during 
 five years, to Huntly, his wife, and heirs, on the con- 
 dition of a yearly payment of 2500 merks Scots. 
 Till 1564, therefore, Huntly was entitled to consider 
 himself master of all the lands and revenues of this 
 earldom. But in 1561 the title and lands were pri- 
 vately conferred upon the Earl of Mar. It is true, 
 that he might have applied thus early only to prevent 
 himself from being anticipated, and might not have 
 intended to encroach on Huntly's rights before the 
 legal period of his enjoying them had expired. The 
 advantage, however, he so eagerly took of an 
 incident that occurred in the month of June, 1562, 
 proves that Mar had never any intention to keep his 
 title to the earldom of Murray locked up for three 
 years.* 
 
 The father of James, Lord Ogilvy, had married 
 one of the Earl of Huntly's sisters, who gave her 
 some lands in liferent as her dowry. Upon her hus- 
 band's death, considerations induced her to surren- 
 der th liferent to her brother, and the earl then gave 
 it to his son, Sir John Gordon. But Lord Ogilvy was 
 displeased with his mother's conduct, and questioned 
 its legality. The matter, however, was decided 
 against him, though not before it had occasioned 
 much bad blood between him and Sir John Gordon. 
 These two noblemen unfortunately met on the streets 
 of Edinburgh ; and though Sir John had married 
 Ogilvy's sister, all ties of relationship were disre- 
 garded, and an affray took place, in which both were 
 assisted by their respective servants. It does not 
 exactly appear who was the aggressor in this scuffle, 
 but, from the circumstances which led to it, the prob- 
 ability is that it was Ogilvy. Both noblemen were 
 severely wounded ; and the magistrates, enraged at 
 their breach of the peace, committed them to prison.f 
 
 * Chnlmers, vol. I. p. 78 ; vol. ii. p. 293, et seq. ; and p. 426, et seq. 
 f Knox, p. 315; Goudall, vol. i. p. 192. Chalmers says that Sir John 
 Gordon's antagonist was not a Lord Ogilvy, but only James Ogilvy <if
 
 140 LIFE OF MART 
 
 Mary, with her court, was at Stirling, but the Earl of 
 Mar obtained permission to depart for Edinburgh, to 
 examine into the whole affair. The son of the Earl 
 of Huntly was now within his power, and he saw 
 the advantages which might be made to accrue to 
 himself in consequence. After examination, he or- 
 dered the Lord Ogilvy and his retainers to be set at 
 liberty, but Sir John Gordon he sent to the common 
 jail. Sir John, not liking to trust himself in such 
 hands, made his escape, after rema? ling in prison for 
 about a month, and proceeded to hr father's house in 
 the north to recite to him his grievances.* 
 
 Such being the state of feeling subsisting between 
 the queen's prime minister and these great northern 
 chieftains, it can scarcely be allowed that Robertson 
 expresses himself correctly when he says, " The 
 queen happened to set out on a progress into the 
 northern parts of the kingdom." Her motions were 
 at this time entirely regulated by the Earl of Mar, 
 who, seeing the contempt which had been offered to 
 her authority by the flight of his son, felt satisfied 
 that Mary could not pass through the extensive ter- 
 ritories of Huntly without either giving or receiving 
 some additional cause of offence, which would in all 
 probability lead to consequences favourable to Mar's 
 ambition. Unless this hypothesis be adopted, no 
 rational cause can be assigned why the queen should 
 have chosen this particular season for her visit to the 
 North. From the recent suspicion which had at- 
 tached to the Earl of Huntly, as one of Arran's col- 
 leagues in a conspiracy against her favourite minis- 
 ter, and the still more recent conduct of his son, Sir 
 John Gordon, she certainly could have no intention 
 to pay that family the compliment of honouring them 
 with her royal presence as a guest. North of Aber- 
 
 Cardell, a son of the deceased Alexander Ogilvy, of Findlater. But as be 
 does not give any authority fbr this assertion, we have preferred follow 
 ing Knox, (ioodall, and Robertson. 
 * Cluu.TMrs, vol. i. p. 80 ; and vol. il p. 298
 
 QUEEN OP SCOTS 141 
 
 deen, however, nearly the whole country was sub- 
 servient to Huntly ; and if Mary did not pass through 
 it as a friend, she must as an enemy. This was the 
 consideration that prompted the Earl of Mar to fix 
 this year for the expedition. It was owing to nego- 
 tiations with Elizabeth concerning a personal inter- 
 view between the two queens, that Mary was unable 
 to set out till towards the middle of August. 
 
 The queen left Edinburgh on horseback, as usual, 
 attended by a very considerable train. Among 
 others, four members of her privy council went with 
 her the Earls of Aigyle, Morton, Marschall. and 
 Mar, the first three of whom had no particular 
 liking for Huntly, and were, besides, entirely under 
 the direction of the last. Randolph also attended 
 the queen in this journey, and furnishes some details 
 concerning it. On the 18th of August, 1562, she left 
 Stirling, and after a disagreeable and fatiguing jour- 
 ney arrived at Old Aberdeen on the 27th. Here she 
 remained for several days; and all the nobility in 
 these parts came to pay their homage to her. Among 
 the rest were the Earl and Countess of Huntly, who 
 entreated her to honour them with a visit at Huntly 
 Castle, informing her that they had endeavoured to 
 make suitable preparations for her entertainment. 
 Mary, at Mar's instigation, of course (for, as far as 
 her own feelings were concerned, she must have 
 looked with favour upon the first Catholic peer of 
 the realm), received them coldly. This was but a 
 poor return for Huntly's long-tried fidelity to her- 
 self and family; for, whatever quarrels he may have 
 had with the nobility, he had always preserved in- 
 violate his respect for the royal prerogative. His 
 son, Sir John Gordon, also came to Aberdeen, and 
 surrendered himself to the queen, to be dealt with 
 as her justice might direct. He was neither tried 
 nor taken into custody ; but, with more refined 
 policy, he was ordered by Mar and the rest of the 
 queen's council to proceed voluntarily to Stirling
 
 142 tIFE 0* MARY 
 
 Castle, and there deliver himself as a prisoner to the 
 keeper, Lord Erskine, Mar's uncle. It was no doubt 
 foreseen that this order, so disproportione'd in its 
 severity to the offence which occasioned it, would 
 not be complied with, nor was it wished that it 
 should. Guided by similar advice, Mary refused to 
 visit the residence of the Earl of Huntly a refusal 
 which was pathetically lamented by Randolph, as it 
 was " within three miles of her way, and the fairest 
 house in this country." We learn from the same 
 authority, that there was such a scarcity of accom- 
 modation in Old Aberdeen, that Randolph and Mait- 
 land the secretary, who had recently returned from 
 England, were obliged to sleep together in the same 
 bed. This is perhaps rendered the less remarkable, 
 when we are informed that there were at the univer- 
 sity only fifteen or sixteen scholars. 
 
 On the 1st of September, Mary left Aberdeen for 
 Inverness ; but in the interval the Earl of Mar, per- 
 ceiving that there might be some occasion for their 
 services, had collected a pretty strong body of men, 
 who marched forward with the queen and her train. 
 In journeying northward she travelled by Rothiemay, 
 Grange, Balvenie, and Elgin, passing very near the 
 Earl of Huntly's castle. No entreaty would induce 
 her to enter it ; but she permitted the Earl of Argyle 
 and Randolph to partake of its hospitality for two 
 days. "The Earl of Huntly's house," says Ran- 
 dolph, "is the best furnished that I liave seen in this 
 country. His cheer is marvellous great ; his mind 
 then such, as it appeared to us, as ought to be in any 
 subject to his sovereign." 
 
 On the 8th of September, Mary went from Elgin to 
 Tarnaway, the baronial residence of the earldom of 
 Murray, and at that time in possession of a tenant of 
 the Earl of Huntly. Information being there re- 
 ceived that Sir John Gordon's friends and vassals, 
 exasperated at the over-degree of rigour with whk-h 
 he was treated, were assembling in arms, and that
 
 QTJEEN OF SCOTS. 143 
 
 Sir John, instead of going to Stirling, had joined the 
 rebels a proclamation was issued, charging him to 
 surrender, by way of forfeit, into the queen's hands 
 his houses and fortresses of Findlater and Auchin- 
 doune. This proclamation was expressed with a 
 bitterness which must only have enraged the dis- 
 contents the more. It required the surrender of 
 these strongholds, with the avowed intention of 
 breaking the power of the rebels ; and in considera- 
 tion of her majesty having heard " the many 
 grievous complaints of the poor people of this coun- 
 try, hearing them to be herreit (robbed) and op- 
 pressed by him ana his accomplices in times by-past ; 
 and fearing the like, or worse, should be done in 
 time coining." The same proclamation described 
 Sir John Gordon's wife, as " Lady Findlater, his pre- 
 tended spouse."* 
 
 Fearing that even all this might not be enough to 
 induce Huntly to take such steps as might be plau- 
 sibly construed into treason, Mar now for the first 
 time produced his title to the earldom of Murray, 
 and assumed the name. The only meeting of coun- 
 cil held north of Aberdeen was at Tarnaway ; and 
 at the first council after the queen had returned 
 to Aberdeen we find Mar's name changed to that of 
 Murray. Robertson, who has followed Buchanan's, 
 or in other words Murray's own account of the 
 transactions in the north, in referring Mar's as- 
 sumption of the earldom of Murray to a later date, 
 forgets that it must have been sanctioned by Mary 
 and her council ; and that the only opportunity for 
 doing so, in the interval of their departure from and 
 return to Aberdeen, was at Tarnaway.f 
 
 This new insult upon himself and family was, as 
 Murray expected, deeply felt by the Earl of Huntly. 
 He began to suspect that it was intended to ruin 
 him ; and in this extremity, with evident reluctance, 
 
 Keitli, p. 995 f Ibid. p. 298.
 
 I 
 144 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 he prepared to defend himself. Mary, meanwhile, 
 marched forward to Inverness. " On her arrival," 
 says Robertson, " the commanding officer in the 
 castle, by Huntly's orders, shut the gates against her." 
 The gates were shut, but certainly not by Huntly's 
 orders ; for as soon as he heard that the castle had 
 been summoned, he sent his express commands to 
 the governor (who had acted upon his own responsi- 
 bility) to surrender it. These commands, however, 
 came too late ; the castle had been taken by storm, 
 and the governor put to death. What right the Earl 
 of Murray, or even the queen herself, had to demand 
 the surrender of the castle, which belonged heredi- 
 tarily to Lord George Gordon, the Earl of Huntly's 
 eldest son, does not appear. As Chalmers remarks, 
 the whole proceeding seems to have been illegal and 
 unwarrantable. Huntly, who was on his way to 
 Inverness to attempt an arrangement of these dis- 
 putes by a personal interview with the queen, when 
 he heard of the execution of the governor, returned 
 to his castle.* 
 
 The Gordons were now fairly roused ; and, col- 
 lecting their followers, they determined to act reso- 
 lutely, but not as aggressors. Mary was made to 
 believe that she was in the midst of a hostile coun- 
 try ; and though there was in reality no intention to 
 attack her, every means was taken to inspire her 
 with fear, and to convince her of the treacherous de- 
 signs of the Earl of Huntly. But Mary had a 
 courageous spirit when it was necessary to exert it. 
 " In all those garbrilles," says Randolph, " I never 
 saw the queen moved never dismayed; nor never 
 thought I that stomach 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 ta 
 lie all night in the fields, or to walk upon the cause 
 
 * Chalisers, vol. i. p. 84, and vol. ii. p 302.
 
 QtJEEN OF SCOTS. 145 
 
 way with a jack and knapsack, a Glasgow buckler, 
 and a broadsword." 
 
 On the 15th of September the queen returned 
 southward. She had with her about two thousand 
 men; and as she advanced their number increased 
 to three thousand. She marched by Kilravock and 
 Tarnaway to Spynie Castle. Thence she proceeded 
 through the country of the Gordons, crossing the 
 Spey at Fochabers, and going by the way of Cullen 
 and Banff. Thioughout the whole course of this 
 march, Murray took care to make her believe that 
 she was in danger of being attacked every moment. 
 If there had been any enemy to fight with, " what 
 desperate blows," says Randolph, "would not have 
 been given, when every man should have fought in 
 the sight of so noble a queen, and so many fair 
 ladies!" The only incidents which seem to have 
 occurred were summonses to surrender, given by 
 sound of trumpet, at Findlater-house and at Deck- 
 ford, mansions of Sir John Gordon. The keepers 
 of both refused ; but they were not acting upon their 
 master's authority. Having slept a night at; the 
 Laird of Banff's house, Mary returned, on the 2d 
 of September, to Aberdeen. Her entry into the New 
 Town was celebrated by the inhabitants with every 
 demonstration of respect. Spectacles, pfeys, and 
 interludes were devised ; a richly-wrought sflve-r cup, 
 with 500 crowns in it, was presented to- her; and 
 wine, coals, and wax were sent in great abundance 
 to her lodgings. 
 
 But the Earl of Murray was not yel satisfied that 
 he had humbled the Gordons enough. It was true, 
 that the lands of Sir John had been forfeited ; that 
 the castle of Lord George had been captured ; and 
 that the title and estates of the earldom of Murray 
 had been wrested from Huntly. Bnfr Huntly's powe 
 still remained nearly as great as erer ;- and it ser 
 doubtful whether Murray would ever be ah 1 
 seat himself quietly in his new possessions 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 146 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 as they were in the very heart of the earl's domains. 
 The privy council were therefore prevailed upon to 
 come to the resolution that the Earl of Huntly, in 
 the language of Randolph, " shall either submit him- 
 self and deliver his disobedient son John, or utterly 
 to use all force against }\im,for the subversion of his 
 AOUSC for ever" To enforce this determination, 
 Murray levied soldiers, and sent into Lothian and 
 Fife for officers in whom he could place confidence, 
 particularly Lindsay and Grange. With what show 
 of reason the unfortunate Huntly could be subjected 
 to so severe a fate it is difficult to say. He had come 
 to offer his obedience and hospitality to the queen 
 on her first arrival at Aberdeen, he remained per- 
 fectly quiet during her journey through that part of 
 the country which was subject to him, he sent to 
 her, after she returned to Aberdeen, the keys of the 
 houses of Findlater and Deckford, which she had 
 summoned unsuccessfully on her march from Cullen 
 to Banff, and he delivered to her, out of his own 
 castle, a field- piece which the regent Arran had long 
 ago given to him, and which Mary now demanded. 
 He added, that " not only that, which was her own, 
 but also his body and goods, were at her grace's 
 commands."* His wife, the Countess of Huntly, 
 led Captain Hay, the person sent for the cannon, 
 into the chapel at her castle, and placing herself at 
 the altar, said to him, " Good friend, you see here 
 the envy that is borne unto my husband. Would 
 he have forsaken God and his religion, as those that 
 are now about the queen's grace and have the whole 
 guiding of her have done, my husband had never 
 been put at as now he is. God, and He that is upon 
 this holy altar, whom I believe in, will, I arn sure, 
 preserve, and let our true meaning hearts be known ; 
 nd as I have said unto you, so, I pray you, let 
 e said unto your mistress. My husband was 
 
 * Chalmers, vol. ii. p. 306.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 147 
 
 ever obedient unto her, and so will die her faithful 
 subject."* 
 
 That Mary should have given her sanction to these 
 iniquitous proceedings can only be accounted for by 
 supposing, what was in truth the case, that she \vai 
 kept in ignorance of every thing tending to exculpate 
 Huntly, while various means were invented to inspire 
 her with a belief, that he had conceived, and was 
 intent upon executing, a diabolical plot against her- 
 self and government. It was given out that his 
 object was to seize upon the queen's person, to 
 marry her by force to his son Sir John Gordon, and 
 to cut off Murray, Morton, and Maitland, his principal 
 enemies. f Influenced by these misrepresentations, 
 which would have been smiled at in later times, but 
 which, in those days, were taken more seriously, the 
 queen put the fate of Huntly into the hands of Mur- 
 ray. Soon after her return to Aberdeen, an expedi- 
 tion was secretly prepared against Huntly's Castle. 
 If resistance was offered, the troops sent foi ^lie 
 
 * Chalmers, vol. i. p. 90. 
 
 t "The time and place for perpetrating this horrid deed," says Ro 
 bertson, " were frequently appointed; but the executing of it was won 
 derfully prevented by some of those unforeseen accidents which so oflen 
 occur to disconcert the schemes, and to intimidate the hearts, of assas- 
 sins." There is something strangely inconsistent between this state- 
 ment, and that which Robertson makes immediately afterward in a note, 
 where he says. " We have imputed the violent conduct of the Earl of 
 Huntly to a sudden start of resentment, without charging him with any 
 premeditated purpose of rebellion." And that Huntly il.d not intend to 
 seize the queen and her ministers, the historian argues upon these 
 ground-) : " 1st, Oti the queen's arrival in the north, he laboured in good 
 earnest to gain her favour, and to obtain a pardon for his son. 3d, He 
 met the queen first at Aberdeen and then at Rothiemay, whither he 
 would not have ventured to come had he harboured any such treasonable 
 resolution. -3d, His conduct was irresolute and wavering, like that of r 
 man disconcerted by an unforeseen danger, not like one executing a con 
 certed plan. 4th, The most considerable persons of his clan submitted 
 to the <[u -en, and found surety to obey her commands : had the earl been 
 previously determined to nse in arms against the queen, or to seize lu-r 
 ministers, it is probable he would have imparted it to his principal fol- 
 lowers, nor would they have deserted him in this manner." Yet in 
 direct opposition to this view of the matter. Robertson, in telling the siorv 
 of Hmilly's wrongs, throws upon him the whole blame, and entirely ex 
 eulpates Murray Robertton, vol. i. p. 222, et eq.
 
 148 LIFE OF MART 
 
 purpose were to take it by force, and if admitted 
 without opposition, they were to bring Huntly a 
 prisoner to Aberdeen. Intimation, however, of this 
 enterprise and its object was conveyed to the earl, 
 and he contrived to baffle its success. His wife re- 
 ceived the party with all hospitality ; threw open her 
 doors, and entreated that they would examine the 
 whole premises, to ascertain whether they afforded 
 any ground of suspicion. But Huntly himself took 
 care to be out of the way, having retired to Bade- 
 noch.* 
 
 Thus foiled again, Murray, on the 15th of October, 
 called a privy council, at which he got it declared, 
 that unless Huntly appeared on the following day 
 before her majesty, " to answer to such things as are 
 to lay to his charge," he should be put to the horn for 
 his contempt of her authority, and "his houses, 
 strengths, and friends taken from him."f However 
 willing he might have been to have ventured thus 
 into the lion's den, Huntly could not possibly neve 
 appeared within the time appointed. On the 17th of 
 October, he was therefore denounced a rebel in terms 
 of the previous proclamation, and his lands and titles 
 declared forfeited.^ Even yet, however, Huntly 
 acted with forbearance. He sent his countess to 
 Aberdeen on the 20th, who requested admission to 
 the queen's presence, that she might make manifest 
 her husband's innocence. So far from obtaining an 
 audience, this lady, who was respected and loved 
 over the whole country, was not allowed to come 
 within two miles of the court, and she returned home 
 with a heavy heart. As a last proof of his fidelity, 
 Huntly sent a messenger to Aberdeen, offering to 
 enter into ward till his cause might be tried by the 
 whole nobility. Even this offer was rejected ; and, 
 goaded into madness, the unfortunate earl at length 
 
 * Chalmers, vol. 1. p. 93, and vol. ii. p. 3W5. t Kith, p. 226 
 
 J Chalmers, vol. ii. p. 307
 
 OF SCOTS. 149 
 
 collected his followers round him, and, raising 
 the standard of rebellion, not against the queen, 
 but against Murray, advanced suddenly upon Aber- 
 deen. 
 
 This resolute proceeding excited considerable 
 alarm at court. Murray, however, had foreseen the 
 probability of such a step being ultimately taken, 
 and had been busy collecting forces sufficient to repel 
 the attack. A number of the neighbouring nobility 
 had joined him, who, not penetrating the prime 
 minister's real motives, were not displeased to see so 
 proud and powerful an earldom as that of Huntly 
 likely to fall to pieces. On the 28th of October, Mur- 
 ray inarched out of Aberdeen at the head of about 
 2000 men. He found Huntly advantageously sta- 
 tioned at Corrachie, a village about fifteen miles from 
 Aberdeen. Huntly's force was much inferior to that 
 of Murray, scarcely exceeding 500 men. Indeed, it 
 seems doubtful whether he had advanced so much 
 for the purpose of fighting as for the sake of giving 
 greater weight to his demands to be admitted into 
 the presence of the queen, who, he always main- 
 tained, had been misled by false counsel. Perceiving 
 the approach, however, of his inveterate enemy Mur- 
 ray, and considering the superiority of his own posi- 
 tion on the hill of Fare, he relinquished all idea of 
 retreat, and determined at any risk to accept the 
 battle which was offered him. The contest was of 
 short duration. The broadswords of the Highland- 
 ers, even had the numbers been more equal, would 
 have been no match for the spears and regular disci- 
 pline of Murray's Lowland troops. Their followers 
 fled ; but the Earl of Huntly and his two sons, Sir 
 John Gordon and Adam, a youth of seventeen, dis- 
 daining to give ground, were taken prisoners. The 
 earl, who was advanced in life, was no sooner set 
 upon horseback, to be carried triumphantly into Aber- 
 deen, than the thoughts of the ruin which was now 
 brought upon himself and his family overwhelmed 
 N2
 
 150 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 him ; and, without speaking a word, or receiving a 
 blow, he fell dead from his horse.* 
 
 Sir John Gordon, who was pronounced the author 
 of all these troubles, having been marched into Aber- 
 deen, was tried, condemned, and executed. He may 
 have been an enemy of Murray's, but so far from be- 
 ing a traitor to the queen, he was one of the most 
 devoted admirers and attached subjects she ever had. 
 Yet Murray took care to have it reported, that Sir 
 John, before he was beheaded, confessed, that if his 
 
 * Knox, p. 320 ; Buchanan's History, book xvii. ; Chalmers, vol. 1. 
 p. 95, and vol. ii. p. 309, whose authority is a letter of Randolph, preserved 
 in the paper office, and written the evening of the very day on which 
 the battle took place. Randolph, though not on the field himself, had 
 two servants there, and saw the dead body of the ear!, when it was 
 brought into Aberdeen. Robertson and others have said, that Huntly, 
 who was very corpulent, was slain on the field, or trodden to death in 
 the pursuit. Chalmers, however, has truth on his side, when he re- 
 marks, that "Doctor Robertson, who never saw those instructive letters 
 (of Randolph), grossly misrepresents the whole circumstances of that 
 affair at Corrachie ; he.says, ' Huntly advanced with a considerable force 
 towards Aberdeen, and filled the queen's small court with the utmost 
 consternation ; and that Murray had only a handful of men in whom h 
 could confide : but, by his steady courage and prudent conduct, gained a 
 miraculous victory.' For the assertion of Murray's having only a hand- 
 ful of men, he quotes Keith, p. 230, in which there is not one word of 
 the force at Corrachie on either side. The force there spoken of is what 
 Ihe queen had about her two months before on her first progress into the 
 north, not on her return to Aberdeen, after new troops had been raised, 
 and old ones summoned to that premeditated and barbarous scene." 
 Knox is also a better authority upon this subject than Robertson. He 
 gives the following curious account of the earl's death and subsequent 
 fate : " The earl, immediately after his taking, departed this life, without 
 any wound, or yet appearance of any stroke, whereof death might have 
 ensued ; and so, because it was late, he was cast over athwart a pair of 
 creels, and so was carried to Aberdeen, and was laid in the to] booth 
 thereof, that the response which his wife's witches had given might be 
 fulfilled, who all affirmed (as the most part say) that that same night he 
 nhould be in the tolboolh of Aberdeen, without any wound upon his body. 
 When his lady got knowledge thereof, she blamed her principal witch, 
 called Janet ; but she stoutly defended, herself.(as the Devil can ever do), 
 and affirmed that she gavo a true answer, albeit she spoke not all the 
 truth ; for she knew that he should be there dead." Knox, p. 328. "It 
 in a memorable fact," Chalmers elsewhere remarks, " that Huntly and 
 Sutherland" (who was forfeited soon afterward, as implicated in this 
 pretended rebellion) "were two of those nobles who had sent Bishop 
 Lesly to France, with offers of duty and servif.es to the queen, while 
 Murray, Mail land, and other considerable men offered their duties and 
 Mi-vice* to Elizabeth." 
 
 T
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 151 
 
 father had taken Aberdeen, he was determined to 
 have " burned the queen, and as many as were in the 
 house with her."* So palpable a falsehood throws 
 additional light upon the motives which instigated 
 the prime minister throughout. With a refinement 
 of cruelty, he insisted upon Mary giving her public 
 countenance to his proceedings, by consenting to be 
 present at Gordon's death. She was placed at a win- 
 dow, opposite to which the scaffold had been erected. 
 Gordon, who was one of the handsomest men of his 
 times, observed her, and fixing his eyes upon her, 
 "gave her to understand by his looks," says Free- 
 bairn, " that her presence sweetened the death he was 
 going to suffer only for loving her too well." He 
 then fell upon his knees, and prepared to lay his head 
 upon the block. Mary, totally unable to stand this 
 scene, was already suffused in tears ; and when she 
 was informed that the unskilful official, instead of 
 striking off the head, had only mangled the neck, she 
 fainted away, and it was some time before she could 
 be recovered.! Adam Gordon was indebted to his 
 youth for saving him from his brother's fate. He 
 lived to be, as his father had been, one of Mary's 
 most faithful servants. Lord Gordon, the late earl's 
 eldest son, who was with his father-in-law, the Duke 
 of Chatelherault, at Hamilton, was soon afterward 
 seized and committed to prison, Murray finding it 
 convenient to declare him implicated in the earl's 
 guilt. Having remained under arrest for some 
 months, he was tried and found guilty, but the execu 
 tion of his sentence was left at the queen's pleasure 
 She sent him to Dunbar castle ; and as Murray could 
 not prevail upon her to sign the death-warrant, he 
 had recourse to forgery ; and had the keeper of the 
 castle not discovered the deceit, the Lord Gordon's 
 fate would have been sealed. Mary was content 
 
 Randolph in Krith, p. 230. 
 
 1 Little did Mary then dream of Fothenagay
 
 152 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 with keeping him prisoner, till a change in her ad minis- 
 tration restored him to favour, and to the forfeited 
 estates and honours of his father. 
 
 One other incident connected with these tragical 
 events is worth recording. Means having been taken 
 for the preservation of Huntly's body, it was sent by 
 sea to Leith, and lay for several months at Holyrood 
 House. In the parliament which met in May, 1563, 
 these melancholy remains were produced, to, have 
 sentence of forfeiture pronounced against them. 
 To obviate if possible this additional calamity, the 
 Countess of Huritly, widow of the deceased, appeared 
 before the parliament, and with the spirit of a Gordon 
 requested to be heard in her late husband's defence. 
 The request was refused ; Huntly's castles and houses 
 were rifled of their property, his friends and vassals 
 jined, and many escheats granted to those who had 
 assisted in crushing this once noble family.* 
 
 Murray having now no further occasion for the 
 queen's presence at Aberdeen, the court moved 
 southwards on the 5th of November. On her way 
 home, she visited Dunnottar Castle, Montrose, Ar- 
 
 * In Buchanan's Cameleon, a severe satire, written at the request of 
 his patron the E irl of Murray, when that nobleman quarrelled with 
 Secretary Maitland, we have the following ridiculous account of the 
 secret motives which led to this disastrous northern expedition. " The 
 queen, by advice of her uncles, devised to destroy the Earl of Murray, 
 thinking him to be a great bridle to refrain her appetites, and impediment 
 to live at liberty of her pleasure ; not that he ever used any violence 
 an at li.-r, but that his honesty was so great that she was ashamed to 
 attempt any thing indecent in his presence. She then, being deliberate 
 to destroy him, by the Earl of Huntly, went to the north, and he in hei 
 company ; and howbeit the treason was opened plainly, and John Gordon 
 lying not far oil' the town (Aberdeen) with a great power, and the Earl 
 of Murray expressly lodged in a house separate from all other habita- 
 tion and his death by divers ways sought, this Cameleon (Maitland) 
 whether for simpleneas or for lack of foresight, or for boldness of courage, 
 I refer to every man's conscience that doth know him, he alone could 
 see no treason, could fear no danger, and could never believe that the 
 Earl of Hunlly would take on hand such an enterprise." This state- 
 ment, while it gives some notion of the dependence to be placed on Bu- 
 chanan's accuracy when influenced by party feelings, betrays at the 
 same time the important secret, that Maitland saw and felt the injustice 
 of Huntly's persecution. .BucAattun'* Cameleon, p. 9.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 153 
 
 broath, Dundee, Stirling, and Linlithgow. She 
 arrived at Edinburgh on the 22d, having been absent 
 upwards of three months. It is much to be regretted 
 that she ever undertook this northern expedition. 
 Though she had little or no share in its guilt, she had 
 allowed herself to be made an effectual tool in the 
 hands of Murray, who was now more powerful than 
 any minister of Mary's ought to have been. He had 
 forced the Earl of Bothwell into exile ; he had 
 brought the Duke of Chatelherault and Arran into 
 disgrace ; and having accomplished the death of the 
 courageous Huntly, he had obtained for himself and 
 friends the greater part of that nobleman's princely 
 estates and titles. Besides, he was more popular 
 among the Reformers than ever, for the destruction 
 of the Gordon family had been long wished for by 
 them. In short, though without the name, he was 
 the king of Scotland, and his sister Mary was his 
 subject. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Chatelard's imprudent Attachment, and Knox's persevering 
 Hatred 
 
 MARY returned from her northern expedition 
 towards the conclusion of the year 1562. The two 
 following years, 1563 and 1564, undistinguished as 
 they were by any political events of importance, 
 were the quietest and happiest she spent in Scotland. 
 Her moderation and urbanity had endeared her to 
 her people ; and in her own well-regulated mind 
 existed a spring of pure and abiding satisfaction. 
 Nevertheless, vexations of various sorts mingled
 
 154 LIFE OF MARV 
 
 their bitterness in her cup of sweets. An occurrence 
 which took place early in 1653 demands our attention 
 first. 
 
 The poet Chatelard has been already mentioned 
 as one of those who sailed in Mary's train, when she 
 came from the Continent. He had attached himself 
 to the future Constable of France, the Duke Danville, 
 and was a gentleman of good family and fortune, 
 being by the mother's side the grandnephew of the 
 celebrated Chevalier Bayard. The manly bfauty of 
 his person was not unlike that of his ancestor ; and, 
 besides being well versed in all the more active 
 accomplishments of the day, he had softened and 
 srefined his manners by an ardent cultivation of every 
 {species of belles-lettres. It was this latter circum- 
 i stance that gained for him the occasional favourable 
 j notice of Mary. A poetess herself, as much by na- 
 '' ture as by study, her heart warmed towards those 
 who indulged in the same delightful art. Chatelard 
 wrote both in French and Italian ; and finding that 
 Mary deigned to read and admire his product-ions, he 
 seems thenceforth to have made her the only theme 
 of his enamoured and too presumptuous muse. To 
 the queen this was no uncommon compliment. She 
 received it gracefully, and sometimes even amused 
 herself with answering Chatelard's effusions. This 
 condescension almost turned the young poet's brain. 
 He had left Scotland with the Duke Danville, and 
 Mary's other French friends, at the end of the year 
 1561 ; but he eagerly seized the opportunity afforded 
 him by the civil wars in France to return before 
 twelve months had elapsed. The Duke Danville sent 
 him to Mary's court, there is every reason to believe, 
 to press upon her attention once more his own pre- 
 tensions to her hand. But Chatelard, in the indul- 
 gence of his mad passion, forgot the duty he owed 
 his master; and for every word he spoke in prose 
 for the duke, he spoke in verse twenty for himself. 
 Mary, long accustomed to this species of a J illation,
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 153 
 
 and looking upon flattery as part of a poet's pro- 
 fession, smiled at the more extravagant flights of his 
 imagination, and forgot them as soon as heard. 
 These smiles, however, were fatal to Chateliird. 
 " They tempted him," says Brantome, " to aspire, like 
 Phaeton, at ascending the chariot of the sun." In 
 February, 1563, he had the audacity to steal into the 
 queen's bedchamber, armed with sword and dagger, 
 and attempted to conceal himself till Mary should 
 retire to rest. He was discovered by her maids of 
 honour ; and Mary, though much enraged at his 
 conduct, was unwilling, for a first offence, to surrender 
 him to that punishment which she knew would be 
 inflicted were it known to her privy council. She 
 was contented with reprimanding him severely, and 
 ordering him from her presence. 
 
 This leniency was thrown away upon the infatuated 
 Chatelard. Only two nights afterward, the queen 
 having, in the interval, left Edinburgh for St. An- 
 drews, he again committed the same offence. As she 
 went to St. Andrews by the circuitous route of the 
 Queensferry, she slept the first night at Dumfermline, 
 and the second at Burntisland. Here Chatelard inso- 
 lently followed the queen into her bedroom, without 
 attempting any concealment, and assigned, as the 
 motive for his conduct, his desire to clear himself 
 from the blame she had formerly imputed to him. 
 Mary commanded him to leave her immediately, but 
 he refused ; upon which she saw the necessity of 
 calling for assistance. The Earl of Murray was at 
 hand, and came instantly. The daring boldness of 
 Chatelard's conduct could no longer be concealed ; 
 the proper legal authorities were sent for from Edin- 
 burgh; the poet was tried at St. Andrews, and was 
 condemned to death. He was executed on the 22d 
 of February, and conducted himself bravely, but as 
 a confirmed enthusiast even on the scaffold. He 
 would not avail himself of the spiritual advice of any 
 minister or confessor; but having read Ronsard's
 
 156 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 Hymn on Death, he turned towards the place where 
 he supposed the queen was, and exclaimed in an 
 unfaltering voice, " Farewell, loveliest and most 
 cruel princess whom the world contains !" He then, 
 with the utmost composure, laid his head upon the 
 block, and submitted, with all resignation, to his 
 fate.* 
 
 Mary remained at St. Andrews till the middle of 
 April, when she removed to Loch Leven, where she 
 had better opportunities of enjoying her favourite 
 amusements of hunting and hawking. She went 
 thither in considerable grief, occasioned by the news 
 she had lately received from France of the death of 
 two of her uncles, the Duke of Guise and the grand 
 prior. The former had been barbarously assassin- 
 ated, at the siege of Orleans, by a Protestant bigot 
 of the name of Poltrot ; and the latter had been fatally 
 wounded at the battle of Dreux. Alluding triumph- 
 antly to the murder of the Duke of Guise, Knox ex- 
 pressed himself in these words, " God has stricken 
 that bloody tyrant." This enmity to the house of 
 Guise, which Knox carried even beyond the grave, 
 was now no novelty. Some months before, he had 
 taken occasion to preach a severe sermon against 
 Mary and her friends, in consequence of an enter- 
 tainment she gave at Holyrood upon receiving news 
 of her uncles' successes in the French civil wars. 
 Mary had, in consequence, sent for Knox a second 
 time, when he repeated to her the principal part of 
 his sermon, in a manner which made it appear not 
 
 * Brantome in Jebb, p. 495, et seq. ; Chalmers, vol. f. p. 101 ; Free- 
 bairn, p. 25 ; and Histoire de Mnrie Stuart, torn. i. p. 210. Knox, as 
 usual, gives a highly indecorous and malicious account of this affair, his 
 drift being to make his readers believe (though he does not venture to 
 ay so in direct terms) that Mary had first tempted, and then betrayed 
 Chatelard : and that she was anxious to have him despatched secretly, 
 that he might not stain her honour by a public confession. If such were 
 really the fact, it is o'ld that Chatelard should have been brought to a 
 scaffold, which was surrounded by thousands, and that, even according 
 to Knox himself, he said nothing relating to Mary but what is narrated 
 in the text. Vide Knox's History, p 335.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 57 
 
 quite so obnoxious as she had been induced to be- 
 lieve. She had then the magnanimity to tell him, 
 that though his words were sharp, she would not 
 blame him for having no good opinion of her uncles, 
 as they and he were of a different religion. She 
 only wished that he would not publicly misrepresent 
 them, without sufficient evidence upon which to 
 ground his charges. Knox left Mary " with a rea- 
 sonable merry countenance," and some one observ- 
 ing it, remarked, " He is not afraid !" Knox's answer 
 is characteristic, and does him credit, " Why should 
 the pleasing face of a gentlewoman affray me 1 1 
 have looked in the faces of many angry men, and 
 yet have not been afraid above measure." 
 
 The third time that Knox was admitted into Mary's 
 presence was at Loch Leven. This, as indeed every 
 interview she had with the celebrated Reformer, and 
 she had only foui, exhibits her character in a very 
 favourable point of view. It appears, that while the 
 queen reserved for herself the right of celebrating 
 mass in her own chapel, it was prohibited throughout 
 the rest of the kingdom. Some instances had oc- 
 curred in which this prohibition had been disregarded; 
 and upon these occasions the over-zealous Protest- 
 ants had not scrupled to take the law into their own 
 hands. Mary wished to convince Knox of the im- 
 propriety of this interference. He thought it neces- 
 sary to defend his brethren; but his answer to the 
 queen's simple question, " Will ye allow that they 
 shall take my sword in their hands 1" though la- 
 boured, is quite inconclusive. That " the sword of 
 justice is God's" may be a very good apothegm 
 but would be a dangerous precept upon which tc 
 form a practical rule in the government of a state. 
 Mary, however, knowing by experience that it was 
 hopeless to attempt to change Knox's sentiments, 
 and not wishing to enter into nn argument with him, 
 passed to other matters. Though she disliked the 
 rudeness of his manners, she had a respect for the 
 
 VOL. I. O
 
 158 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 unbending stoicism of his principles ; and having tvc 
 much good sense to hold any one responsible for the 
 peculiarities of his belief, she could not help per- 
 suading herself that she would finally soften the 
 asperity of those with whom she disagreed only 
 upon articles of faith. With this view, she con- 
 versed with Knox upon various confidential matters, 
 and actually did succeed in winning for the moment 
 the personal favour of her stern adversary. " This 
 interview," observes Dr. M'Crie, " shows how fai 
 Mary was capable of dissembling, what artifice she 
 could employ, and what condescensions she could 
 make, when she was bent on accomplishing a favour- 
 ite object." There is something very uncharitable 
 in the construction thus put upon the queen's con- 
 duct. She had, no doubt, a favourite object in view ; 
 but that object was mutual reconcilement, and the 
 establishment, as far as in her lay, of reciprocal feel- 
 ings of forbearance and good-will among all classes 
 of her subjects. The " artifice" she used consisted 
 merely in the urbanity of her manners, and her de- 
 termination to avoid all violence, in return for the 
 violence which had been exhibited towards herself. 
 Soon after this conference, Mary went to Edin- 
 burgh, to open in person the first parliament which 
 had been hold since her return to Scotland. Its ses- 
 sion continued only from the 26th of May to the 24th 
 of June, 1563 ; but during that short period, business 
 of some importance was transacted. The queen on 
 the first day rode to the parliament-luuse in her 
 robes of state, the Duke of Chatelherault carrying 
 the crown, the Earl of Argyle the sceptre, and the 
 Earl of Murray the sword.* She was present on 
 
 * Chalmers, In his account of the opening of this parliament, seems 
 to have committed an error. He says (vol. i. p. 105), " The queen came 
 to parliament in her robes, and wax crowned." Thai any coronal ion took 
 place is not at all likely. Chalmers surely had forgotten that Mary was 
 crowned at Stirling by Cardinal Heal on just twenty years before. There- 
 was no reason why the ceremony should have bsen repeated. Chalmers' 
 mistake is probably founded upon the following passage in a letter of
 
 QUEEN OF JCOTS. 159 
 
 three or four occasions afterward ; but on the first 
 day she made a speech to the representatives of her 
 people, which was received with enthusiastic ap- 
 plause. This applause was wormwood to Knox, 
 who, with even more than his usual discourtesy 
 towards a sex whom he seems to have despised, 
 says, " Such stinking pride of women as was seen at 
 that parliament was never before seen in Scotland." 
 He was heartily borne out in his vituperations by the 
 rest of the preachers. The rich attire which Mary 
 and the ladies of her court chose to wear were abomi- 
 nations in their eyes. They held forth to their re- 
 spective flocks against the " superfluity of theii 
 clothes," the "targeting of their tails," and "the 
 rest of their vanity." It was enough, they said, " to 
 draw down God's wrath not only upon these foolish 
 women, but upon the whole realm." At this parlia- 
 ment the earldoms of Huntly and Sutherland were 
 declared forfeited ; an act was passed for preventing 
 any one from summoning the lieges together without 
 the queen's consent ; some judicious legislative mea- 
 sures of a domestic nature were established ; and an 
 act of oblivion for all acts done from the 6th of 
 March, 1558, to the 1st of September, 1561, was 
 unanimously carried. This act of oblivion was de- 
 clared to have no reference whatever to a similai 
 act sanctioned by the treaty of Edinburgh, the rati 
 fication of which was expressly avoided by the 
 queen. Its object, however, was precisely the same, 
 namely, to secure the Reformers against any dis- 
 
 Randolph's. quoted by Keith, p. 239. " The parliament began S6th May, 
 on which day the queen came to it in her robes and crowned." The 
 word u-at is an interpolation of Chalmers. But as Randolph goes on 
 immediately to say, " The duke carried the crown, Arsiyle the sceptre," 
 A.C., Chalmers probably thought Mary could not at the same time wear 
 the crown. But the crown of state, carried upon rtate occasions, was 
 no doubt different from the crown made expressly to be worn by the 
 reigning queen. Buchanan puts the matter beyond a doubt, for he says. 
 explicitly, "The queen, wttli the crmen on her head, and in her royal 
 robes, wen* in great pomp to the parliament- house a new sight to 
 many." Buchanan's History, book xtii
 
 180 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 agreeable consequences which might arise out of 
 the violences they committed during the first heat 
 of the Reformation. 
 
 An act of oblivion thus obtained as a free gift from 
 Mary, and not as a consequence of his favourite 
 treaty of Edinburgh, was by no means agreeable to 
 Knox. He assembled some of the leading members 
 of parliament, and urged upon them the necessity of 
 forcing from the queen a ratification of this treaty. 
 Even the Protestant lords, however, felt how unjust 
 such a demand would be. The Earl of Murray him- 
 self, one of Knox's oldest and stanchest friends, re- 
 fused to ask Mary to take this step. Knox, in con- 
 sequence, solemnly renounced Murray's friendship, 
 and a coldness subsisted between them for nearly 
 two years. Foiled in his object, the Reformer had 
 recourse to his usual mode of revenge. He preached 
 another "thundering sermon." The object of this 
 sermon was, to convince the people, that as soon as 
 a parliament was assembled, they had the queen in 
 their power to make her do what they chose. " And 
 is this the thankfulness that ye render unto your 
 God," said he, " to betray his cause when ye have it 
 in your hands to establish it as you please 7" Before 
 concluding, he adverted to the report that her majesty 
 would soon be married, and called upon the nobility, 
 if they regarded the safety of their country, to pre- 
 vent her from forming an alliance with a Papist. 
 
 " Protestants as well as Papists," says Knox's 
 biographer, " were offended with the freedom of this 
 sermon, and some who had been most familiar with 
 the preacher now shunned his company." There 
 must have been something more than usually bitter 
 and unjust in a discourse which produced suchresults. 
 It was the occasion of the last and most memorable 
 interview which the Reformer had with Mary. As 
 soon as she was made acquainted with the manner 
 in which he had attacked her, she summoned him to 
 her presence. He was accompanied to the palace
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 161 
 
 by Lord Ochiltree and some other gentlemen ; but 
 John Erskine of Dun, a man of a mild and gentle 
 temper, was the only one allowed to enter Mary's 
 apartment along with Knox. The Reformer found 
 his queen in considerable agitation. She told him 
 she did not believe any prince had ever submitted 
 to the usage she had experienced from him. " I 
 have borne with you," she said, " in all your rigor- 
 ous manner of speaking, both against myself and 
 against my uncles : yea, I have sought your favour 
 by all possible means; I offered unto ye presence 
 and audience whensoever it pleased ye to admonish 
 me ; and yet I cannot be quit of you." She then 
 passionately burst into tears, so that, as Knox says 
 with apparent satisfaction, they could scarce " get 
 handkerchiefs to hold her eyes dry ; for the tears 
 and the howling, besides womanly weeping, stayed 
 her speech." The preacher, when he was allowed 
 to speak, complacently assured her majesty, that 
 when it pleased God to deliver her from that bondage 
 of darkness and error wherein she had been nourished, 
 she would not find the liberty of his tongue offensive. 
 He added, that in the pulpit he was not his own 
 master, but the servant of Him who commanded that 
 he should speak plain, and flatter no flesh upon the 
 face of the earth. Mary told him that she did not 
 wish for his flattery, but begged to know what rank 
 he held in the kingdom to entitle him to interfere 
 with her marriage. Knox, whose self-esteem seldom 
 forsook him, replied, that though neither an earl, lord, 
 nor baron, he was a profitable and useful member of 
 the commonwealth, and that it became him to teach 
 her nobility, who were too partial towards her, their 
 duty. " Therefore, madam," he continued, "to your- 
 self I say that which I spake in public : whensoevei 
 the nobility of this realm shall be content, and con- 
 sent that you be subject to an unlawful husband, 
 they do as much as in them lies to remove Christ, 
 to banish the truth, to betray the freedom of this 
 O2
 
 162 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 realm, and perchance shall in the end do small com- 
 fort to yourself." Language so unwarrantpd and 
 uncalled-for again drew tears from Mary, and Er- 
 skine, affected by her grief, attempted to soften down 
 its harshness. Knox looked on with an unaltered 
 countenance, and comparing his sovereign to his 
 own children, when he saw occasion to chastise them, 
 he said, " Madam, in God's presence I speak. I 
 never delighted in the weeping of any of God's crea- 
 tures ; yea, I can scarcely well abide the tears of 
 mine own boys when mine own hands correct them. 
 Much less can I rejoice in your majesty's weeping; 
 but, seeing I have offered unto ye no just occasion 
 to be offended, btit have spoken the truth as my vo- 
 cation craves of me, I must sustain your majesty's 
 tears rather than dare hurt my conscience, or betray 
 the commonwealth by silence." That he might not 
 be longer under the necessity of sustaining tears he 
 could so ill abide, Mary commanded him to leave 
 her presence, and wait her pleasure in the adjoining 
 room. 
 
 Here his friends who were expecting him, and who 
 had overheard some of the conversation which had 
 just taken place, perceiving how much he had excited 
 the queen's just indignation, would hardly acknow- 
 ledge him. In his own words, "he stood as one 
 whom men had never seen." His confidence, how- 
 ever, did not forsake him. Observing Mary's maida 
 of honour seated together, and richly dressed, he 
 took the opportunity, that he might not lose his time, 
 of giving them also some gratuitous advice. " Fair 
 ladies," he said, with a smile, " 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 gear: 
 but fie upon that knave, Death, that will come whether 
 we will or not ; and when he has laid on the arrest, 
 then foul worms will be busy with this flesh, be \J 
 never so fair and so tender; and the silly soul I fear 
 shall be so feeble, that it can neither carry with
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 163 
 
 it gold, garnishing, targeting, pearl, nor precious 
 stones." Shortly afterward Erskine, who had some- 
 what pacified the queen, came to inform him that he 
 was allowed to go home.* 
 
 As the queen and Knox came just once more into 
 public contact, and that only a few weeks after the 
 date of the above interview, it may be as well to 
 terminate our interference with the affairs of the 
 Reformer in this place. The queen having gone to 
 Stirling, a disturbance took place one Sunday during 
 her absence at the chapel of Holyrood. Some of 
 her domestics and Catholic retainers had assembled 
 for the celebration of worship after the form of the 
 Romish Church. The Presbyterians were at the time 
 dispensing in Edinburgh the Sacrament of the Sup- 
 per, and were consequently more zealous than usual 
 in support of their own cause. Hearing of the 
 Catholic practices carried on at Holyrood, they pro- 
 ceeded thither in a body, burst into the chapel, and 
 drove the priests from the altar. To quell the riot, 
 the comptroller of the household was obliged to ob- 
 tain the assistance of the magistrates, and even then 
 it was not without difficulty that the godly were pre- 
 vailed upon to disperse. Two of their number, who 
 had been more violent than the rest, had indictments 
 served upon them for " forethought felony, hame- 
 sucken, and invasion of the palace." Knox and his 
 friends determined to save these two men from pun- 
 ishment, at whatever risk. The means they adopted 
 to effect their purpose were of the most seditious 
 kind. It was determined to overawe the judges by 
 displaying the power of the accused ; and with this 
 view Knox wrote circular letters to all the principal 
 persons of his persuasion, requesting them to crowd 
 to Edinburgh on the day of trial. He thus assumed 
 to himself the prerogative of calling Mary's subjects 
 together, in direct opposition to one of the acts of the 
 
 Knox'a History or (he Reformation, p. 332, et soq.
 
 164 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 late parliament. When these letters were shown to 
 the queen and her privy council, at Stirling, they 
 were unanimously pronounced treasonable, audKnox 
 was summoned to appear before a convention of no- 
 bles, to be held in Edinburgh a few weeks afterward, 
 for the purpose of trying him. It was, however, in- 
 timated to him, that as the queen wishdd to be lenient, 
 if he would acknowledge his fault, and throw him- 
 self upon her mercy, little or no punishment would 
 bo awarded. He obstinately refused to make the 
 slightest concession, and in consequence nearly lost 
 the friendship of Lord Herries, with whom he had 
 been long intimate. 
 
 On the day of trial, public curiosity was much ex- 
 cited to know the result. The lords assembled in 
 the council-chamber at Holyrood ; the queen took her 
 seat at the head of the table, and Knox stood un- 
 covered at the foot. The proceedings were opened 
 by Secretary Maitland, who stated the grounds of the 
 accusation, and explained in what manner the law 
 had been infringed. Knox made a declamatory and 
 very unsatisfactory reply. The substance of his de- 
 fence was, that there were lawful and unlawful con- 
 vocations of the people, and that, as the act of parlia- 
 ment could not. apply to the assembling of his con- 
 gregation every Sunday, neither could he be held to 
 have transgressed it by writing letters to the heads 
 of his church, calling them together upon a matter 
 of vital importance to their religion. The sophistry 
 of this reasoning was easily seen through. It was 
 answered for the queen, that his sermons weie sanc- 
 tioned by government, and that their tendency was 
 supposed to be peaceable ; but that the direct pur 
 pose of the letters in question was to exasperate the 
 minds of the lieges. One passage in particular was 
 read, in which Knox said, alluding to the two per- 
 sons who were indicted, " This fearful summons is 
 directed against them, to make, no doubt, a prepara- 
 tive on a few, that a door may be opened to execute
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 165 
 
 cruelty upon a greater multitude." " Is it not trea- 
 son, my lords," said Mary, " to accuse a prince of 
 cruelty 1 I think there be acts of parliament against 
 such whisperers." Knox endeavoured to evade the 
 force of this remark by a very evident quibble. 
 " Madam," he said, " cast up when you list the acts 
 of your parliament, I have offended nothing against 
 them ; for 1 accuse not in my letter your grace, nor 
 yet your nature, of cruelty. But I affirm yet again, 
 that" the pestilent Papists who have inflamed your 
 grace against those poor men at this present are 
 the sons of the Devil, and therefore must obey 
 the desires of their father, who has been a liar and a 
 manslayer from the beginning." More words were 
 spoken on both sides, but nothing further was ad- 
 vanced that bore directly upon the subject in hand. 
 It is worthy of notice, however, that Knox, in the 
 course of his defence, actually forgot himself so far 
 as to institute a comparison between Mary and the 
 Roman Nero. At length, having been fully heard, 
 he was ordered to retire, and after some discussion, 
 the vote of guilty or not guilty was put to the nobles. 
 There being a considerable preponderance of Protest- 
 ant lords at the meeting, it was carried that Knox 
 had not committed any breach of the laws. He 
 evinces his triumph on this occasion by remarking 
 spitefully in his history, "That night was neither 
 dancing nor fiddling in the court; for madam was 
 disappointed of her purpose, whilk was to have had 
 John Knox in her will by vote of her nobility." 
 His acquittal certainly disappointed Mary ; but it 
 only served to convince her more and more that 
 bigotry and justice were incompatible. 
 
 Before concluding this chapter, one of the pecu- 
 liarities of the Scottish Reformer's mind deserves to 
 be noticed. That he was a strong thinker and a 
 bold man cannot be denied ; yet, as has been before 
 remarked, he himself confesses that he was much 
 addicted to superstition. This weakness, if real.
 
 166 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 lowers him considerably in the scale of intellect; 
 and if affected, proves that amid all the pretensions 
 of his new doctrines, he still retained a taint of 
 priestly craft. Alluding to the year of which we 
 speak (1563), he has incorporated into his History the 
 following remarkable passage. " God from heaven, 
 and upon the face of the earth, gave declaration that 
 he was offended at the iniquity that was committed 
 even within this realm ; for upon the 20th day of 
 January there fell wet in great abundance, which in 
 the falling freezed so vehemently, that the earth was 
 but one sheet of ice. The fowls both great and small 
 freezed, and could not fly ; many died, and some 
 were taken and laid before the fire, that their feathers 
 might resolve ; and in that same month the sea stood 
 still, as was clearly observed, and neither ebbed nor 
 flowed the space of twenty-four hours. In the month 
 of February, the fifteenth and eighteenth days thereof, 
 were seen in the firmament battles arrayed, spears 
 and other weapons, and as it had been the joining of 
 two armies. These things were not only observed, 
 but also spoken and constantly affirmed by men of 
 judgment and credit. But the queen and our court 
 made merry."* It would thus appear, that Knox's 
 mind was either a strange compound of strength and 
 imbecility, courage and fear, sound sense and super- 
 stition, or that duplicity was more a part of his char- 
 acter than is generally supposed. 
 
 * Kuux, p. 345
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 161 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The domestic Life of Mary, with some Anecdotes of Elizabeth. 
 
 THE summer and autumn pf the year 1563 were 
 spent by Mary in making various excursions through 
 the country. She had not yet visited the west and 
 south-west of Scotland. Shortly after the rising of 
 parliament she set out for Glasgow, and from thence 
 went on to Dumbarton and Loch Lomond. In the 
 neighbourhood of its romantic scenery she spent 
 some days, and then crossed over to Tnverary, where 
 she visited her natural sister, the Countess of Ar- 
 gyle, to whom she was much attached. Upon leav- 
 ing Inverary, she parsed over the Argyleshire hills, 
 and came down upon the Clyde at Dunoon. Follow 
 ing the course of the river, she next visited Toward 
 Castle, near the entrance of the bay of Rothesay. 
 Here she crossed the Frith of Clyde, and landing ir 
 Ayrshire, spent several weeks in this Arcadian dis- 
 trict of Scotland. She then went into Galloway, and 
 before her return to Edinburgh visited Dumfries and 
 other towns in the south. Her next excursion was 
 to Stirling, Callander, and Dumblane, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of which places she remained till late in the 
 season. The earlier part of 1564 she spent at 
 Perth, Falkland, and St. Andrews ; and in the au- 
 tumn of this year she airain went as far north as 
 Inverness, and from thence into Ross-shire. " The 
 object of that distant journey," says Chalmers, " was 
 not then known, and cannot be completely ascer- 
 tained. " " She repassed through the country of the 
 Gordons, which had once been held out as so friuht- 
 ful. She remained a night at Gartley, where there 
 is still a ruined castle, and the parish whereof
 
 168 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 belongs even HOW to the Duke of Gordon. She rode 
 forward to Aberdeen, without seeing Huntly's ghost, 
 and went thence to Dunnottar, where she remained a 
 night, and thence, proceeding along the coast-road, 
 to Dundee. She then crossed the Tay into Fife, and 
 diverging for a few days to St. Andrews, she re- 
 turned to Edinburgh about the 26th of September, 
 after an absence of two months." 
 
 As we are speedily to enter upon a new and more 
 bustling, though not a happier period of Mary's life, 
 we should wish to avail ourselves of the present op- 
 portunity to convey to the reader some notion of her 
 domestic habits and amusements, and how, when left 
 to herself, she best liked to fill up her time. The affa- 
 bility and gentleness of her manners had endeared 
 her even more than her personal attractions to all 
 who frequented her court. She had succeeded, by 
 the firm moderation of her measures, not only in 
 giving a more than ordinary degree of popularity to 
 her government, but, by the polished amenity of her 
 bearing, her powers of conversation, and varied 
 accomplishments, she had imparted to the court of 
 Holyrood a refinement and elegance we in vain look 
 for under the reign of any of her predecessors. 
 There is a vast difference between an over-degree 
 of luxuriousness and a due attention to the graces. 
 Under the influence of the former, a nation becomes 
 effeminate, and addicted to every species of petty 
 vice ; under that of the latter, its characteristic vir- 
 tues are called only more efficiently into action. 
 The tree is not the less valuable divested of its rug- 
 ged bark. It is to the example set by Mary that we 
 are to attribute, in a great degree, that improvement 
 in the manners and feelings of Scotch society which 
 speedily placed this country more upon a par with the 
 rest of civilized Europe. Had the precepts of John 
 Knox been strictly followed, the blue bonnets of a 
 rigid, unbending Presbytcrianism would probably to 
 this day have decorated the heads of two-thirds of
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 169 
 
 the population. A scarcity which prevailed about 
 the commencement of the year 1564 drew from this 
 stern Reformer the assertion, that " the riotous feast- 
 ing and excessive banqueting used in city and coun- 
 try, wheresoever the profane court repaired, pro- 
 voked God to strike the staff of bread, and to give 
 his maledictions upon the fruits of the earth." Mary 
 judged differently of the effects produced by these 
 "profane banquetings," and so will the political 
 economists of more modern times. 
 
 It was only after the performance of duties of a > 
 severer kind that Mary indulged in recreation. She 
 sat some hours regularly every day with her privy 
 council ; and, with her work-table beside her and 
 her needle in her hand, she heard and offered opin- 
 ions upon the various affairs of state. To the poor 
 of every description she was, like her mother, ex- 
 ceedingly attentive; and she herself benevolently 
 superintended the education of a number of poor chil- 
 dren. To direct and distribute her charities, two 
 ecclesiastics were appointed her eleemosynars ; and 
 they, under her authority, obtained money from the , 
 treasurer in all cases of necessity. She gave an : 
 annual salary also to an advocate for the poor, who 
 conducted the causes of such as were unable to bear 
 the expenses of a lawsuit ; and to secure proper 
 attention to these causes, she not unfrequently took 
 her seat upon the bench when they came to be heard. 
 Her studies were extensive and regular. She was 
 well versed in history, of which she read a great deal. 
 Every day after dinner she devoted an hour or two 
 to the perusal of some Latin classic, particularly 
 Livy, under the superintendence of George Bucha- ' 
 nan. In reward fbr his services, she gave him the 
 revenue of the abbey of Crossraguel, in Ayrshire, 
 worth about 500/. a year. This grant was probably 
 made at the request of the Earl of Murray, who was 
 Buchanan's patron, and to whom he always con- 
 sidered himself more indebted than to the queen. 
 
 VOL. I. P
 
 170 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 Buchanan, whose talents for controversial wilting it 
 was foreseen might be useful, had also a pension of 
 100/. a year from Elizabeth. Mary had a competent 
 knowledge of astronomy and geography; and her 
 library in the palace of Holyrood contained, among 
 other things, two globes, which were at that time 
 considered curiosities in Scotland, " the ane of the 
 heavin, and the uther of the earth." She had, be- 
 sides, several maps, and a few pictures in particular, 
 portraits of her father, her mother, her husband Fran- 
 cis II., and Montmorency. Being fond of all sorts 
 of exercises, she frequently received ambassadors 
 and others to whom she gave audience in the palace 
 gardens. She had two of these, the southern and 
 the northern ; and not contented with their more lim- 
 ited range, she often extended her walk through the 
 king's park, and sometimes even along the brow of 
 Salisbury Crags or Arthur Seat. She had gardens 
 and parks attached to all her principal residences 
 throughout Scotland, at Linlithgow, at Stirling, at 
 Falkland, at Perth, and at St. Andrews. It was in 
 one of her gardens at Holyrood that she planted a 
 sycamore she had brought witli her from France, and 
 which, becoming in time a large and valuable tree, 
 was an object of curiosity and admiration even in 
 our own day. It was blown down only about ten 
 years ago, and its wood was eagerly sought after to 
 be made into trinkets and costly relics. 
 
 To her female followers and friends Mary was ever 
 attentive and kind. For her four Maries, her com- 
 paniousfrom infancy, she retained her affection during 
 all the vicissitudes of her fortune. At the period of 
 which we write, she still enjoyed the society of ;ill 
 of them ; but Mary Fleming afterward became the 
 wife of Secretary Maitland, and Mary l.ivinjrstone 
 of Lord Semple. Mary Beaton and Mary Seatou 
 remained unmarried. Madame de Pinguiilon, who 
 had come with the queen from France, and to whom 
 she was extremely partial, continued in her service
 
 QtTEEN OF SCOTS. 17 
 
 fer several years, her husband being appointed mas- 
 ter of the household. They both returned to theii 
 own country when the troubles in Scotland began. 
 There were many other ladies belonging to the court, 
 whose names possess no interest because uncon- 
 nected with any of the events of history. 
 
 Mary's establishment was by no means expensive 
 or extraordinary. She does not appear to have had 
 so great a variety of dresses as Elizabeth, yet she 
 was not ill provided either. Her common wearing 
 gowns, as long as she continued in mourning, which 
 was till the day of her second marriage, were made 
 either of camlet or damis, or serge of Florence, bor- 
 dered with black velvet. Her riding habits were 
 mostly of serge of Florence, stiffened in the neck and 
 body with buckram, and trimmed with lace and ribands. 
 In the matter of shoes and stockings she seems to 
 have been remarkably well supplied. She had thirty- 
 six pair of velvet shoes, laced with gold and silver; 
 she had ten pair of hose, woven of gold, silver, and 
 silk, and three pair woven of worsted of Guernsey. 
 Silk stockings were then a rarity. The first pair 
 worn in England were sent as a present from France 
 to Elizabeth. Six pair of aloves of worsted of Guern- 
 sey are also mentioned in the catalogue, still existing, 
 of Mary's wardrobe. She was fond of tapestry, and 
 had the walls of her chambers hung with the richest 
 specimens of it she could bring from France. She 
 had not much plate, but she had a profusion of rare 
 and valuable jewels. Her cloth of gold, her Turkey 
 carpets, her beds and coverlids, her tablecloths, her 
 crystal, her chairs and footstools, covered with vel- 
 vet and garnished with fringes, were all celebrated 
 in the gossiping chronicles of the day. 
 
 The Scottish queen's amusements were varied, but 
 not in general sedentary. She was,however, a chess- 
 player, and anxious to make herself a mistress of that 
 most intellectual of all games. Archery was one of 
 her favourite out-of-door pastimes, and a ic indulged
 
 172 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 in it frequently in her gardens at Holyrood. She 
 revived the ancient chivalric exercise of riding at the 
 ring, making her nobles contend against each other; 
 and crowds frequently collected on the sands at Leith 
 to witness their trials of skill. Tournaments Mary 
 did not so much like, because they tempted the cou- 
 rageous to what she thought unnecessary danger; 
 and when obliged to be present aithem in France, it 
 was remarked that her superior delicacy of feeling 
 always marred her enjoyment, from the anticipation 
 that they might end in bloodshed. These sentiments 
 were probably strengthened by the unfortunate man- 
 ner in which Henry II. met his death. The now 
 almost obsolete, but then fashionable and healthful 
 amusement of hawking was much esteemed by Mary. 
 Her attachment to it was hereditary, for both her 
 father and grandfather were passionately fond of it. 
 James V. kept a master-falconer, who had seven 
 others under him. In 1562 hawks of an approved 
 kind were brought for Mary from Orkney ; and in the 
 sam year she sent a present of some of them to 
 Elizabeth. To riding and hunting, as has been 
 already seen, Mary had long been partial. 
 
 Within doors Mary found an innocent gratification 
 in dancing, maskings, and music. She was herself, 
 as has been seen, a most graceful dancer, moving, ac- 
 cording to Melville, " not so high, nor so disposedly" 
 as Elizabeth ; by which we may understand that she 
 danced, as they who have been taught in France 
 usually do, with greater ease and self-possession, or, 
 in other words, with less effort les consciousness 
 that she was overcoming a difficulty in keeping time, 
 and executing the steps and evolutions of the dance. 
 The masks and mummeries which were occasion- 
 ally got up were novelties in Scotland, and excited 
 the anger of the Reformers, though it is difficult to 
 tell why. Randolph, describing a feast at which he 
 was present in 1564, mentions, that at the first course 
 tome one representing Cupid made his appearance,
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 173 
 
 and sung with a chorus some Italian verses; at the 
 second, " a fair young maid" sung a few Latin verses ; 
 and at the third, a figure dressed as Time concluded 
 the mummery with some wholesome piece of mo- 
 rality. Upon other occasions, several of which will 
 be alluded to afterward, masks were performed 
 upon a more extensive scale. These amusements 
 were seldom or never allowed to degenerate into dis- 
 sipation, by being protracted to untimely hours. 
 Mary was always up before eight o'clock ; she supped 
 at seven, and was seldom out of bed after ten.* 
 
 The queen's taste in music had been cultivated from 
 her earliest years. When almost an infant she had 
 minstrels attached to her establishment. On her 
 return to Scotland she had a small band of about a 
 dozen musicians, vocal and instrumental, whom 
 she kept always near her person. Five of these 
 were violars, or players on the viol ;f three of them 
 were players on the lute ; one or two of them were 
 organists, but the organs in the chapels at Stirling 
 and Holyrood were the only ones which had been 
 saved from the fury of the Reformers ; and the rest 
 were singers, who also acted as chalmer-chields, or 
 valets-de-chambre. Mary could herself play upon 
 the lute and virginals, and loved to hear concerted 
 music upon all occasions. She even introduced into 
 her religious worship a military band, in aid of the 
 oigan, consisting of trumpet, drum, fife, bagpipe, and 
 tabor. 
 
 It was as one skilled in music that David Rizzio 
 first recommended himself to Mary. He came to 
 Edinburgh towards, the end of the year 1561, in the 
 train of the ambassador from Savoy. He was a 
 Piedmontese by birth, and had received a good edu- 
 
 * Keith, p. 20fi and 249 ; Chalmers, vol. i. p. 65, et neq. ; Wliittaket 
 vol. iii p. 334 ; Miss Bender, vol. ii. p. 145, et seq. 
 
 t These violare were all Scotchmen, and two of them were of tho 
 name of Dow. "a name," says Chalmerc. "consecrated l music." 
 Havine never heard of this consecration be' in. we think it not unlikely 
 that Chalmers has mistaken Dow for How. Vide Chalmers, vol ii u 72 
 
 P2
 
 174 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 cation. His father was a respectable professional 
 musician in Turin, who, having a large family, had 
 sent his two sons, David and Joseph, to push their 
 own way in Nice at the court of the Duke of Savoy. 
 They were both noticed at that court, and were taken 
 into the service of the Duke of Moretto, the ambas- 
 sador already mentioned. The knowledge which 
 David Rizzio possessed of music, says a French 
 writer, was the least of his talents : he had a polished 
 and ready wit, a lively imagination, full of pleasant 
 fancies, soft and winning manners, abundance of cour- 
 age, and still more assurance. " He was," says Mel- 
 ville, " a merry fellow, and a guid musician." He 
 was, moreover, abundantly ugly, and past the meri- 
 dian of life, as attested by all contemporary writers 
 of any authority. His brother Joseph is scarcely 
 mentioned in history, though it appears that he also 
 attached himself to Mary's court. At the time of 
 David's arrival, the queen's three pages, or sangsters, 
 who used to sing trios for her, wanted a fourth as a 
 bass. Rizzio was recommended, and he received the 
 appointment, together with a salary of 80/. Being 
 not only by far the most scientific musician in the 
 queen's household, but likewise well acquainted both 
 with French and Italian, Rizzio contrived to make 
 himself generally useful. In 1564 he was appointed 
 Mary's French secretary, and in this situation he con- 
 tinued till his death.* 
 
 An amusing peep into the interior of both the Scots 
 and English courts, afforded by Sir James Melville, 
 will form an appropriate conclusion to this chapter. 
 Sir James returned from the Continent to Scotland in 
 May, 1564. He found the queen at St. Johnstone ; 
 and she, aware of his fidelity, requested him to give 
 up thoughts of going back to France, where he had 
 been promised preferment. " She was so affable," 
 
 * Jebb, Tol. ii. p. 202; Chalmers, vol. i. p. 95, and vol. ii. p. 15C; 
 Tytler'i Inquiry, vol. ii. p. 4, et eq. ; Histoire da Marie Stuart, p. 216, 
 and Lamg vol. i. p. 10.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 175 
 
 says he, "so gracious and discreet, that she won 
 great estimation, and the hearts of many, both in Eng- 
 land and Scotland, and mine among the rest ; so that 
 I thought her more worthy to be served for little profit 
 than any other prince in Europe for great commodity." 
 But Mary had too proud a spirit to submit to be 
 served for nothing. She was by nature liberal almost 
 to a fault. Out of her French dowry she settled 
 upon Melville a pension of a thousand marks, and in 
 addition, she begged him to accept of the heritage of 
 the lands of Auchtermuchty, near Falkland. These 
 he refused, as he was unwilling that she should dis- 
 member, on his account, her own personal property 
 but they were subsequently given to some one less 
 scrupulous. Sir James was soon afterward sent by 
 Mary on an embassy to Elizabeth, principally for the 
 sake of expediting some matters connected with 
 Mary's intended matrimonial arrangements. 
 
 The morning after his arrival in London, he was 
 admitted to an audience by Elizabeth, whom he found 
 pacing in an alley in her garden. The business 
 upon which he came being arranged satisfactorily, 
 Melville was favourably and familiarly treated by the v . 
 English queen. He remained at her court nearly a \y 
 fortnight, and conversed with her majesty every day, I 1& 
 sometimes thrice on the same day. Sir James, who / ^ 
 was a shrewd observer, had thus an opportunity of / ' 
 remarking the many weaknesses and vanities which 
 characterized Elizabeth. In allusion to her extreme 
 love of power, he ventured to say to her, when she 
 informed him she never intended to marry, " Madam, 
 you need not tell me that; I know your stately 
 stomach. You think if you were married you would 
 be but queen of England; and now you are king and 
 queen both ; you may not suffer a commander." 
 Elizabeth was fortunately not offended at this free- 
 dom. She took Sir James, upon one occasion, into 
 her bedchamber and opened a little case in which 
 were several miniature pictures. The pretence was
 
 176 LIFE f MART 
 
 to show him a likeness of Mary, but her real object was 
 that he should observe in her possession a miniature 
 of her favourite, the Earl of Leicester, upon which she 
 had written with her own hand, " My lord's picture." 
 When Melville made this discovery, Elizabeth af 
 fected a little amiable confusion. " I held the can- 
 dle," says Sir James, " and pressed to see my lord's 
 picture ; albeit she was loath to let me see it ; at length 
 I by importunity obtained a 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." At another time Elizabeth talked with Sir 
 James of the different costumes of different coun- 
 tries. She told him she had dresses of many sorts ; 
 and she appeared in a new one every day during hi? 
 continuance at court. Sometimes she dressed after 
 the English, sometimes after the French, and some- 
 times after the Italian fashion. She asked Sir James 
 which he thought became her best. He said the 
 Italian, " whilk pleasit her weel ; for she delighted 
 to show her golden-coloured hair, wearing a kell and 
 bonnet as they do in Italy. Her hair was redder thai* 
 yellow, and apparently of nature." Elizabeth her- 
 self seems to have been quite contented with its hue, 
 for she very complacently asked Sir James whether 
 she or Mary bad the finer hair! Sir James having 
 replied as politely as possible, she proceeded to in- 
 quire which he considered the more beautiful 1 The 
 ambassador quaintly answered that the beauty of 
 either was not her worst fault. This evasion would 
 not serve, though Melville, for many sufficient rea- 
 sons, was unwilling to say any thing more definite. 
 He told her that she was the fairest queen in Eng- 
 land, and Mary the fairest in Scotland. Still this was 
 not enough. Sir James ventured, therefore, one step 
 further. " They were baith," he said, " the fairest 
 ladies of their courts, and that the Queen of England 
 was whiter, but our queen was very lusome." Eliza- 
 beth next asked which of them was of highest stature?
 
 QTKEN OF SCOTS. 177 
 
 Sir James told her the Queen of Scots. " Then she 
 said the queen was over-heigh, and that herself was 
 neither over-heigh nor over-laigh. Then she askit 
 what kind of exercises she used. I said, that as I 
 was dispatchit out of Scotland, the queen was but 
 new come back from the Highland hunting; and that 
 when she had leisure frae the affairs of her country, 
 she read upon guid buiks the histories of divers coun- 
 tries ; and sometimes would play upon the lute and 
 virginals. She spearit gin she played weel ; I said 
 raisonably for a queen." 
 
 This account of Mary's accomplishments piqued 
 Elizabeth's vanity, and determined her to give Mel- 
 ville some display of her own. Accordingly, next 
 day one of the lords in waiting took him to a quiet 
 gallery, where, as if by chance, he might hear the 
 queen play upon the virginals. After listening a 
 little, Melville perceived well enough that he might 
 take the liberty of entering the chamber whence the 
 music came. Elizabeth coquettishly left off as soon 
 as she saw him, and coming forward, tapped him with 
 her hand and affected to feel ashamed of being caught, 
 declaring that she never played before company, but 
 only when alone, to keep off melancholy. Melville 
 made her a flattering speech, protesting that the music 
 he had heard was of so exquisite a kind, that it had 
 irresistibly drawn him into the room. Elizabeth, 
 who does not seem to have thought as people are 
 usually supposed to do in polite society, that " com- 
 parisons are odious," could not rest satisfied without 
 putting, as usual, the question whether Mary or she 
 played best ? Melville gave the English queen the 
 palm. Being now in good-humour, she resolved that 
 Sir James should have a specimen of her learning, 
 which it was well known degenerated too much into 
 pedantry. She praised his French, asking if he could 
 also speak Italian, which she said she herself spoke 
 reasonably well. She spoke to him also in Dutch ; 
 but Sir James says it was not good. Afterward, she
 
 178 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 insisted upon his seeing her dance ; and when he 
 performance was over, she put the old question, 
 whether she or Mary danced best. Melville answered, 
 "The queen dancit not so high and disposedly as 
 she did." Melville returned to Scotland, " convinced 
 in his judgment," as he says, " that in Elizabeth's 
 conduct there was neither plain-dealing nor uprigh 
 meaning-, but great dissimulation, emulation, and fea 
 that Mary's princely qualities should too soon chast 
 her out, and displace her from the kingdom." 
 
 Sir James, by way of contrast, concludes this sub- 
 ject with the following interesting account of Mary's 
 [well-won popularity, prudence, modesty, and good 
 (sense. " The queen's majesty, as I have said, after 
 per returning out of France to Scotland, behaved 
 jherself so princely, so honourably and discreetly, 
 : that her reputation spread in all countries; and she 
 vas determined, and also inclined to continue in that 
 cind of comeliness even to the end of her life, de- 
 
 ; tiring to hold none in her company but such as were 
 )f the best quality and conversation, abhorring all 
 aces and vicious persons, whether they were men or 
 
 j vomen ; and she requester 1 me to assist her in giving 
 ler my good counsel how she might use themeetest 
 
 i neans to advance her honest intention ; and in case 
 
 j 4he, being yet young, might forget herself in any 
 unseemly gesture or behaviour, that I would warn 
 her thereof with my admonition, to forbear and reform 
 the same; which commission I refused altogether, 
 saying, that her virtuous actions, her natural judg- 
 ment, and the great experience she had learned in 
 the company of so many notable princes in the court 
 of France, had instructed her so well, and made her 
 so able, as to be an example to all her subjects and 
 servants. But she would not have it so, but said she 
 knew that she had committed divers errors upon no 
 evil meaning, for lack of the admonition of loving 
 friends, because that the most part of courtiers com- 
 monly flatter princes, to win their favour, and wiU
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 1 
 
 not tell them the verity, fearing to tine their favour; 
 and therefore she adjured me and commanded me to 
 accept that charge, which I said was a ruinous com- 
 mission, willing her to lay that burden upon her bro- 
 ther, my Lord of Murray, and the Secretary Leth- 
 ington ; but she said that she would not take it in so 
 good a part of them as of me. I said I feared it 
 would cause me, with time, to tine her favour ; but 
 ehe said it appeared I had an evil opinion of her con- 
 stancy and discretion, which opinion she doubted 
 not but I would alter, after that I had essayed the 
 occupation of that friendly and familiar charge. 
 In the mean time, she made me familiar with all her 
 most urgent affairs ; but chiefly in her dealing with 
 any foreign nation. She showed unto me all her 
 letters, and them that she received from other princes; 
 and willed me to write unto such princes as I had 
 acquaintance of, and to some of their counsellors ; 
 wherein 1 forgot not to set out her virtues, and would 
 show her again their answers, and such occurrences 
 as passed at the time between countries, to her great 
 contentment. For she was of a quick spirit, and 
 anxious to know, and to get intelligence of the state , 
 of other countries; and would be sometimes sad ; 
 when she was solitary, and glad of the company of / 
 them that had travelled in foreign parts."* 
 
 This testimony in Mary's favour from a contempo-; 
 rary author of so much 'respectability is worth \ol~t 
 umes of ordinary panegyric. 
 
 * Melville's Memoirs, p. 110 30 Tlie French historian CastHnau 
 s'HMks in exactly similar terms. Whpn sent by the Kind of France as 
 amtisMsailor to Mary, I found that princess.' 1 he says, " in the flower of 
 her aee, esteemed and adored by her sheets, a, id sought after liy all 
 neighbouring states, insomuch that there was no crcai fortum- or alli- 
 ance that she might not have aspired to. not only because she wa~ the 
 relation and successor of the Queen of England, but because she w 
 eiHlmvi'd with more graces and perfection of heautv than any other pn. 
 cess of her time." Caxtdnau in Jct>>>, vol. ii. p. 460
 
 180 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Mary's Suitors, and the Machinations of her Enemies. 
 
 MARY had now continued a widow for about three 
 years, but certainly not from a want of advantageous 
 offers. It was in her power to have formed almost 
 any alliance she chose. There was not a court in 
 Europe, where the importance of a matrimonial con- 
 nexion with the Queen of Scotland and heir-apparent 
 to the English throne was not acknowledged. Ac- 
 cordingly, ambassadors had found their way to Holy- 
 rood palace from all parts of the Continent. The 
 three most influential suitors were, the Duke of An- 
 jou, brother of Mary's late husband, Francis II., and 
 afterward king of France on the death of his other bro- 
 ther Charles IX., the Archduke Charles, of Austria, 
 third son of the emperor Ferdinand, and Don Carlos, 
 of Spain, heir-apparent to all the dominions of his 
 father, Philip II. None of these personages, how- 
 ever, were destined to be successful. The death of 
 the Duke of Guise, and the greater influence which 
 consequently fell into the hands of Catharine de 
 Medicis, made some alteration in the Duke of Anjou's 
 prospects, and diminished his interest with Mary. 
 Besides, it was considered dangerous to marry the 
 brother of a late husband. The Archduke Charles 
 found that his proposals to the Scottish queen ex- 
 cited so much the jealousy of his elder brother Maxi- 
 milian, that it became necessary for him reluctantly 
 to quit the field. It is not improbable that Don Car- 
 los might have been listened to, had not Mary found 
 it necessary, for reasons which will be mentioned 
 immediately, to give up all thoughts of a continental 
 alliance. Had she married Carlos, she might have
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 181 
 
 saved him from the untimely fate inflicted by parental 
 cruelty in 1568. 
 
 Of all the sovereigns who at this time watched 
 Mary's intentions with the most jealous anxiety, 
 none felt so deeply interested in the decision she 
 might ultimately come to as Elizabeth. To her 
 Mary's marriage was a matter of the very last im- 
 portance. If she connected herself with a powerful 
 Catholic prince, her former claims upon the English 
 throne might be renewed ; and her Scottish armies, 
 assisted by Continental forces, might ultimately de- 
 prive Elizabeth of her crown. Even though Mary 
 did not proceed to such extremities, if she had a 
 Catholic husband, and more especially if there were 
 any children of the marriage, all the Catholics of 
 Europe would rally round her, and her power would 
 be such that her requests would be tantamount to 
 commands. So far as Elizabeth's own interests, and 
 those of the kingdom over which she reigned, were 
 involved, she was called upon to pay all due attention 
 to the proceedings of so formidable a rival as Mary. 
 But the English queen's selfish and invidious policy 
 far overstepped the limits marked out by the laws of 
 self-defence. Having determined against marriage 
 herself, she could not bear to think that the Queen 
 of Scots should be any thing but a " barren stock" 
 also. It made her miserable to know that her power 
 should end with her life, while Mary might become 
 the mother of a long line of kings. She hoped, there- 
 fore, though she did not dare to avow her object, to 
 be able to exert such influence with Murray and the 
 Scottish Reformers, that Mary, by their united machi- 
 nations, might find it impossible ever to form another 
 matrimonial alliance ; and with this view her first 
 step was to inform "her good sister" that if she mar- 
 ried without her consent, she would have little diffi- 
 culty in prevailing upon the parliament of England 
 to set aside her succession. 
 
 Driven hither and thither by so many contrary 
 
 VOL. I.-Q
 
 182 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 opinions and contending interests, it was no easy 
 matter for the Scottish queen to come to a final de- 
 termination upon this subject. Although, in her own 
 words, "not to marry she knew could not be for her, 
 and to defer it long many incommodities might en- 
 sue," she at the same time saw that there were insu- 
 perable reasons against a foreign alliance. The loss 
 of her best and most powerful continental friend, the 
 Duke of Guise, was one of these ; another was the 
 avowed wish of Elizabeth and the English nation ; 
 and the third, and that which weighed most forcibly, 
 the earnest entreaties of her own subjects. The 
 great proportion of the inhabitants of Scotland were 
 now Protestants; and to have attempted to place 
 over them a foreign Catholic prince would have been 
 to have incurred the risk of throwing them at once 
 into the arms of Elizabeth, and of losing their alle- 
 giance for ever. Mary was therefore willing to make 
 a virtue of necessity, and to allow herself to be 
 guided very much by her " good sister's discretion." 
 This concession to the English queen was far from 
 being agreeable to Catharine de Medicis and the 
 Trench court. It seemed to be paving the way for 
 a cessation of that friendship which had so long ex- 
 isted between France and Scotland. Catharine, 
 altering her policy, began to treat Mary with every 
 mark of attention. She paid up the dowry she re- 
 ceived from France, which had fallen into arrears, 
 and requested Mary to exercise as much patronage 
 and influence in that country as she chose. Eliza- 
 beth, however, had already suggested a husband for 
 her, and, to the astonishment of everybody, had 
 named her favourite minion, Dudley, Earl of Leices- 
 ter. Though the proposal of one of her own sub- 
 jects, and one, too, whom she had raised from com- 
 parative obscurity, was regarded by Mary as little 
 else than an insult, she agreed that two commission- 
 ers upon her part, Murray and Maitland, should meet 
 two of Elizabeth's the Duke of Bedford and Ran-
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 183 
 
 dolph, to discuss the expediency of the match. A 
 the conference, which took place at Berwick, it wuj 
 stated for Mary, that she could never condescend to 
 marry a newly-created English earl, having so long 
 a list of princes of the blood-royal of the noblest 
 houses of Europe among her suitors; and it was 
 added, boldly, that Elizabeth seemed somewhat de- 
 ficient even in self-respect, when she could think of 
 recommending such a husband for a queen, her kins- 
 woman. It is not at all likely that either Elizabeth 
 or the Earl of Leicester expected or wished any other 
 answer. Elizabeth could hardly have done without 
 her favourite ; and the earl would have fallen into 
 irretrievable disgrace had he dared to confess a pre- 
 ference for any mistress over the one he already had. 
 It was soon after this conference that Randolph, 
 by Elizabeth's directions, repaired to the queen at St. 
 Andrews, to ascertain from her own lips what were 
 her real sentiments on the subject of marriage. He 
 found her living very quietly in a merchant's house, 
 with a small train. She had been wearied with the 
 state and show of a court, and had determined to pass 
 some weeks in her favourite retirement of St. An- 
 drews, more as a subject than a queen. She made ; ; 
 Randolph dine and sup with her every day during his ' 
 visit ; and she frequently, upon these occasions, drank 
 to the health of Elizabeth. "When Randolph entered 
 upon matters of business Mary said to him, playfully, 
 u I sent for you to be merry, and to see how like a 
 bourgeoise wife I live with my little troop ; and you 
 will interrupt our pastime with your great and grave 
 matters. I pray ye, sir, if ye be weary here, return 
 home to Edinburgh ; and keep your gravity and great 
 embassade until the queen come thither ; for, I as- 
 sure ye, you shall not get her here, nor I know not 
 myself where she is become. Ye see neither cloth 
 of estate nor such appearance 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
 
 184 
 
 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 at Edinburgh." Randolph was thus, for the time, 
 fairly bantered out of his diplomatic gravity. But 
 next day he rode abroad with the queen and renewed 
 the subject. Mary then told him that she saw the 
 necessity of marrying, and that she would rather be 
 guided in her choice by England than by France or 
 any other country after Scotland. She frankly added 
 that her reason for paying this deference to Eliza- 
 beth was to obtain an acknowledgment of her right 
 of succession to the English crown. She was making 
 a sacrifice, she said, in renouncing the much more 
 splendid alliances which had been offered her; and 
 she could not be expected to do so without a return 
 on the part of Elizabeth. Fearful that the crafty 
 Randolph might make a bad use of this open con- 
 fession, she suddenly checked herself; "I am a 
 fool," she said, " thus long to talk with you ; you are 
 too subtle forme to deal with." But Randolph, find- 
 ing her in a communicative mood, was unwilling 
 that the conversation should drop so soon. Some 
 further discourse took place, and Mary in conclusion 
 gave utterance to the following sentiments, which do 
 honour both to her head and heart. " How much 
 better were it," said she, " that we two, being queens, 
 so near of kin and neighbours, and being in one isle, 
 should be friends and live together like sisters, than 
 by strange means divide ourselves to the hurt of us 
 both ; and to say that we may for all that live friends, 
 we may say and prove what we will, but it will pass 
 both our powers. You repute us poor ; but yet you 
 have found us cumbersome enough. We have had 
 loss ; ye have taken scaith. Why may it not be be- 
 tween my sister and me, that we, living on peace and 
 assured friendship, may give our minds, that some as 
 notable things may be wrought by us women as by 
 our predecessors have been done before. Let us seek 
 this honour against some other, rather than fall to 
 debate among ourselves."* 
 
 * Keith, p. 289; Chalmers, vol. i. p. 123
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 185 
 
 Mary, however, was by this time convinced of 
 Elizabeth's want of sincerity, and formed, therefore, 
 a matrimonial plan of her own, which, she flattered 
 herself, would be considered judicious by all parties. 
 It will be recollected that during the troubles which 
 ensued soon after Mary's birth, Matthew, Earl oi 
 Lennox, having drawn upon himself the suspicion 
 both of the Protestant and Catholic parties in Scot- 
 land, retired into England, where Henry VIII. gave 
 him his niece in marriage. The Lady Margaret 
 Douglas was daughter of the eldest daughter of Henry 
 VII., the Princess Margaret, who, upon the decease 
 of her first husband, James IV., had married the Earl 
 of Angus, of which marriage the Lady Margaret was 
 the issue. Lennox, belonging as he did to the house 
 of Stuart, was himself related to the royal family 
 of Scotland ; and his wife, failing the children of 
 Henry VIII., and the direct line of succession by her 
 mother's first husband James IV., in which line Mary 
 stood, was the legal heir to the crown of England. 
 The first child of this marriage died in infancy. The 
 second, afterward known as Henry Stuart, Lord 
 Darnley, was born in 1546, and was, consequently, 
 about four years younger than Mary. This disparity 
 in point of years, though unfortunate in another point 
 of view, was not such as to preclude the possibility 
 of an alliance between two persons in whose veins 
 flowed so much of the blood of the Stuarts and the 
 Tudors. 
 
 Henry VIII. had, along with his niece, bestowed 
 upon Lennox English lands, from which he derived a 
 yearly revenue of fifteen hundred marks. His own 
 estates in Scotland were forfeited, so that he thus 
 came to be considered more an English than a Scot- 
 tish subject. He had long, however, nourished the 
 secret hope of restoring his fortunes in his native 
 land. His wife, who was a woman of an ambitious 
 and intriguing spirit, induced him, at an early period, 
 to edacate his son with a view to his aspiring to the 
 Q2
 
 186 LITE OF MARY 
 
 hand of the Scottish queen. On the death of Fran- 
 cis II. she went herself to Paris, for the purpose of 
 ingratiating herself with Mary, and securing a fa- 
 vourable opinion for Darnley. Mary prohably gave 
 her some hope that she might at a future date take 
 her proposals into serious consideration ; for it ap- 
 pears by some papers still preserved in the British 
 Museum, that few rejoiced more sincerely at the 
 queen's safe arrival in Scotland than Lady 'Lennox. 
 She is said to have fallen on her knees, and with up- 
 lifted hands thanked God that the Scottish queen had 
 escaped the English ships. For this piece of piety, 
 *nd to show her the necessity of taking less interest 
 in the affairs of Elizabeth's rival, Cecil sent Lady 
 Lennox to prison for some months. 
 
 Seeing the difficulties which stood in the way of 
 all her other suitors, Mary, in the year 1564, began 
 seriously to think of Darnley. A marriage with him 
 would unite, in the person of the heir of such mar- 
 riage, the rival claims of the Stuarts and the Tudors 
 upon the English succession, failing issue by Eliza- 
 beth ; and it would give to Scotland a native prince 
 of the old royal line. It was difficult to see what 
 reasonable objections could be made to such an alli- 
 ance ; and that she might at all events have an op- 
 portunity of judging for herself, Mary granted the 
 Earl of Lennox permission to return to Scotland in 
 1564, after an exile of twenty years, and promised to 
 assist him in reclaiming his hereditary rights. Eliza- 
 beth, who was well aware of the ultimate views with 
 which this journey was undertaken, and had certainly 
 no desire to forward their accomplishment, made 
 nevertheless no opposition to it. With her usual 
 sagacity, she calculated that much discord and jea- 
 lousy would arise out of the earl's suit in favour of 
 his son. She knew that the house of Hamilton, 
 whose claims upon the Scottish crown were publicly 
 recognised, looked upon the Lennox family as its 
 worst enemies; and that the haughty nobility of
 
 QUEEN OF SCOT3. 187 
 
 Scotland would ill brook to see a stripling elevated 
 above the heads of all of them. Besides, the prin- 
 cipal estates of Lennox now lay in England; and in 
 the words of Robertson, " she hoped by this pledge 
 to keep the negotiation entirely in her own hands, 
 and to play the same game of artifice and delay which 
 she had planned out if her recommendation of Lei- 
 cester had been more favourably received." 
 
 In the parliament which assembled towards the end 
 of the year 1564 Lennox was restored to his estates 
 and honours. Such of his possessions as had passed 
 into the hands of the Earl of Argyle were surren- 
 dered with extreme reluctance; and the Duke of 
 Chatelherault, dreading the marriage with Darnley, 
 continued obstinate in his hatred. The Earl of Mur- 
 ray, too, aware that this new connexion would be ? 
 fatal blow to his influence, set his face against it from 
 the first. Maitland, on the contrary, who felt that 
 he had been hitherto kept too much under by the 
 prime minister, did not anticipate with any regret 
 the decline of his ascendency. The secretary and 
 most of the other members of the privy council 
 were assiduously courted by Lennox, tie made 
 presents both to the queen and them of valuable 
 jewels ; but to Murray, whose enmity he knew, he 
 gave nothing.* That Murray's weight in the govern- 
 ment, however, had not yet decreased is apparent from 
 
 * Chalmers says (vol. i. p. 120), that the " Countess of Lennox sent 
 Murray a diamond," which, though true, is not supported by the authority 
 he quotes, Randolph in Keith, who says (p. 259), "Lennox givelh to 
 the queen and most or the council jewels ; but none to Murray." The 
 authority f 'halmer* ought to have quoted is Melville (p. 127), who, on his 
 return from his embassy to England, brought some presents with him 
 from Lady [.ennox, who was then not aware of the precise state of (tar- 
 ties in Scotland. " My Lady Lennox," says Melville. " sent also tokens , 
 to the queen a ring with a lair diamont; ane emerald to my lord her hus- 
 band, who was yet in Scotland ; a diamont to tny Lord of Murray ; ane 
 orloge or montre (watch) set with diamonts and rubies, to the Secretary 
 Lethmgton ; a ring with a ruby to my brother Sir Robert ; for she wan 
 till in good hope that her son. my Lord Dsrnley, should come better 
 peed than the Earl of Leicester, anent the marriage with the queen. S!,r. 
 was a very wise and discreet matron, and had many favourers in EC.K 
 land for the time."
 
 188 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 his procuring an enactment to gratify the Protestants 
 in the parliament of this year, making the attending 
 of mass, except in the queen's chapel, punishable 
 with loss of goods, lands, and life ; and the Arch- 
 bishop of St. Andrews, having infringed this act, was 
 imprisoned, in spite of Mary's intercession, for some 
 months. 
 
 Early in 1565 Darnley obtained leave from Eliza- 
 beth to set out for Scotland. His ostensible purpose 
 was to visit his father, and to see the estates to which 
 he had been recently restored ; but that his real 
 object was to endeavour to win the good graces of 
 Mary was no secret. Elizabeth's wish being to 
 involve Mary in a quarrel, as well with some of her 
 own nobility as with England, there was much art 
 in the plan she laid for its accomplishment. She con- 
 sented that the Earl of Lennox should go into Scot- 
 land to recover his forfeited estates, and that his son 
 should follow him to share in his father's good for- 
 tune ; she even went the length of recommending 
 them both to the especial favour of the Scottish 
 queen ; but of course said not a word of any sus- 
 picions she entertained of the projected alliance. As 
 soon as it should appear that Mary's resolution was 
 taken, she would affect the greatest indignation at 
 the whole proceedings, and pretend that they had 
 been cunningly devised and executed, hoping either 
 to break off the match altogether, or to make Mary's 
 nuptial couch any thing but a bed of roses. Thus 
 was the Scottish queen to be systematically har- 
 \ assed, and made miserable, to gratify the splenetic 
 
 \ jealousy, and lull the selfish terrors, of her sister of 
 
 ^England. 
 
 Darnley, in the midst of a severe snow-storm, 
 travelled with all expedition to Edinburgh. Upon 
 his arrival he found that Mary was at Wemyss Castle 
 in Fife, whither, at his father's desire, he immediately 
 proceeded. The impression which it is said he made 
 upon the queen, at even his first interview, has been
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 189 
 
 much exaggerated. Chalmers, alluding principally, 
 to Robertson's account of this matter, acutely re-\ 
 marks, " The Scottish historians would have us 1 
 believe, that Mary fell desperately in love with Darn- 
 ley at first sight ; they would have us suppose, as 
 simply as themselves, that the widowed queen, at 
 the age of twenty-two" (it should have been twenty- 
 three), " who knew the world, and had seen the most 
 accomplished gentlemen in Europe, was a boarding- 
 school miss, who had never till now seen a man." 
 Mary received Darnley frankly, and as one whom 
 she wished to like ; but she had been too long accus- 
 tomed to admiration to be prepared to surrender her 
 heart at the first glance. It was not Mary's charac- 
 ter to allow herself to be won before she was wooed. 
 She was, no doubt, glad to perceive that Darnley 
 was one of the handsomest young men of the day. 
 She said, playfully, that " he was the lustiest and best 
 proportioned long man she had seen." She might 
 have said a good deal more ; for all historians agree 
 in noticing the grace of his person, the easy elegance 
 of his carriage, the agreeable regularity of his fea- 
 tures, and the animated expression of his counte- 
 nance, lighted up, as it was, by a pair of dazzling 
 eyes. He excelled, too, in all the showy and manly 
 accomplishments so much in vogue among the young 
 nobility. His riding and dancing were unrivalled ; ! 
 and to gratify Mary, he avowed, whether real or 
 affected, a great fondness for poetry and music- 
 Melville says, quaintly, " He was of a heigh stat- 
 ure, lang and small, even and brent up; well in- 
 structed from his youth in all honest and comely 
 exercises."* 
 
 * In confirmation of the fact, that he was " well-instructed," it may 
 be mentioned, thai, before he was twelve years old, he wrote a tale, 
 called " Ift-ipia AToBa." Some ballads are also ascribed to him; and 
 Bishop Montague, in his preface to the works of James VI.. mentions, 
 that he translated Valerius Maximus into English. His only literary 
 effort which seems to have been preserved is a letter he wrote when 
 about nine yean old from Temple Newsoinc, his father'* principal seat in
 
 190 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 It was not, however, Darnley's exterior in which 
 Mary and her subjects were principally interested. 
 The bent which nature and education had given to 
 his mind and character was a much more important 
 subject of consideration. With regard to his reli- 
 gious sentiments, they seem to have sat loosely upon 
 him ; though his mother was a Catholic, he himself 
 professed adherence to the established church of 
 
 Yorkshire, to his cousin Mary Tudor, Queen of England. It deserves 
 insertion as a curiosity: 
 
 " Like as the monuments of ancient authors, most triumphant, most 
 victorious, and most gracious princess, declare how that a certain excel- 
 lent musician, Timotheus Musk-us, was wont, with his sweet-propor- 
 tioned and melodious harmony, to inflame Alexander the Great, conqueror 
 and king of Macedonia, to civil wars, with a most lervtnt desire, even 
 so I, remembering with myself oftentimes how that (over and besides 
 such manifold benefits as your highness heretofore hath bestowed on me) 
 it hath pleased your most excellent majesty lately to accept a little plot 
 of my simple penning, which I termed Utopia Nova ; for the which, it 
 being base, vite, and maimed, your majesty hath given me a rich chain of 
 pold; (he noise (I say) of such instruments as I h:ar now and then 
 (although their melody differ much from the sweet strokes and sounds of 
 King Alexander's Timotheus) do not only persuade and move, yea, prick 
 and spur me forward, to endeavour my wits daily (all vanities set apart) 
 to virtuous learning and study, being thereto thus encouraged, so oilen- 
 times by your majesty's manifold benefits, gifts, and rewards; but also 
 lam enflamed and stirred, even now my tender age notwithstanding, to 
 be serving your grace, wishing every hair in my head for to be a worthy 
 soldier of that same-self heart, mind, and stomach, that 1 am of. But 
 whereas I perceive that neither my wit, power, nor years are at this 
 present corresponding unto this, my good will ; ihese shall be, therefore 
 (most gracious princess), most humbly rendering unto your majesty im- 
 mortal thanks for your rich chain, and other your highness' sundry gifts, 
 given unto me without any my deservings, from time to time. Trusting 
 in God one day of my most bounden duly to endeavour myself, with my 
 faithful hearty service, to remember the same. And being afraid, with 
 these my superfluous words to interturb (God forfcnd) your higluiecs, 
 whose most excellent majesty is always, and specially now, occupied in 
 most weighty matters, thus I make an end. Praying unto Almighty 
 God mowt liumMy and fa'ihfully to preserve, keep, and defend your 
 majesty, long reigning over UK all, your true and faithful subjects, a most 
 victorious and triumphant princess. Amen. From Temple Nevsome, 
 the 28th March, 1554. 
 
 Your majesty's most bounden and obedient 
 subject and servant, 
 
 HKNRY DAP.M.KY.* 
 
 * Ellis's collection of "Original Letters illustrative of English lla 
 torj .'' Second scries, vol ii. i>. iM'J.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 191 
 
 England.* In Scotland, he saw the necessity of in- 
 gratiating himself with the Reformers ; and he went, 
 the very first Sunday he spent in Edinburgh, to hear 
 Knox preach. But Damley's great misfortune was, 
 that, before he had learned any thing in the school i 
 of experience, and in the very heat and fire of youth, 1 
 he was raised to an eminence which, so far from t 
 enabling him to see over the heads of other men, I 
 only rendered him giddy, and made his inferiority \ 
 the more apparent. He was naturally of a head- ! 
 strong and violent temper, which might perhaps have ' 
 been tamed down by adversity, but which only ran 
 into wilder waste in the sunshine of prosperity. He 
 was passionately fond of power, without the ability 
 to make a proper use of it. It is not unlikely that, 
 had he continued a subject for some years longer, and 
 associated with men of sound judgment and practical 
 knowledge, he might have divested himself of some 
 of the follies of youth, and acquired a contempt for 
 many of its vices. But his honours came upon him 
 too suddenly ; and the intellectual strength of his 
 character, never very great, was crushed under the 
 load. Conscious of his inability to cope with persons 
 of talent, he sought to gather round him those who 
 were willing to flatter him on account of his rank, 
 or to join him in all kinds of dissipation, with the 
 view of sharing his ill-regulated liberality. Of the 
 duties of a courtier he knew something; but of 
 those of a politician he was profoundly ignorant. 
 The polish of his manners gained him friends at 
 first ; but the reckless freedom with which he gave 
 utterance to his hasty opinions and ill-groundo 1 pre- 
 judices speedily converted them into enemies. He 
 had only been a short lime in Scotland, when he 
 remarked to one of the Earl of Murray's brothers, 
 who pointed out to him on the map the earl's lands, 
 " that they were too extensive." Murray was told 
 
 * Keith, p. 978.
 
 192 LIFE OF MAKY 
 
 of this ; and, perceiving what lie had to expect when 
 Darnley became king, he took his measures accord- 
 ingly. Mary, whose affliction it was to have hus- 
 bands far inferior to herself in mental qualifications, 
 besought Darnley to be more guarded in future. 
 That he was somewhat violent and self-sufficient she 
 did not feel to be an insuperable objection, consid- 
 ering, as she did, the political advantages that might 
 accrue from the alliance. She hoped that time would 
 improve him ; and besides, she did not yet know the 
 full extent of his imperfections, as he had, of course, 
 been anxious to show her only the fairer side of his 
 character. Melville speaks of him, even when he 
 came to be most hated, as a young prince, who failed 
 rather for lack of good counsel than of evil will. 
 "It appeared to be his destiny," says he, "to like 
 better of flatterers and evil company, than of plain 
 speakers and good men ; whilk has been the wreck 
 of many princes, who, with good company, might 
 have produced worthy effects." Randolph himself 
 allows, that for some weeks his " behaviour was 
 very well liked, and there was great promise of him." 
 He had been about a month at court before he ven- 
 tured to propose himself as a husband to Mary ; and 
 at first she gave him but small encouragement, tell- 
 ing him she had not yet made up her mind, and refus- 
 ing to accept of a ring which he offered her.* This 
 was not like one who had fallen in love at first sight. 
 But the queen invariably conducted herself with 
 becoming self-respect towards Darnley, permitting, 
 as Miss Benger remarks, rather than inviting, his 
 ' attentions. 
 
 Darnley, thus finding that, though the ball was at 
 his foot, the game was not already won, saw it ne- 
 cessary to engage with his father's assistance as 
 powe r ful a party as possible to support his preten- 
 sion.. , Sir James Melville was his friend, and spoke 
 
 Melville's Memoir*, p. 134.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 193 
 
 in his favour to Mary. All the lords who hated or 
 feared Murray did the same ; among whom were the 
 Earls of Athol and Caithness, and the Lords Ruth- 
 ven and Hume. A still more useful agent than any 
 of these Darnley found in David Rizzio, who, as the 
 queen's French secretary, and one whose abilities 
 she respected, had a good deal of influence with her. 
 Rizzio knew that for this very reason he was hated 
 by Murray and others of the privy council. He was 
 therefore not ill pleased to find himself sought after 
 by her future husband, for he hoped thus to retain 
 his place at court, and perhaps to rise upon the ruin 
 of some of those who wished his downfall. An ac- 
 cidental illness which overtook Darnley when the 
 queen, with her court, was at Stirling, about the be- 
 ginning of April, 1565, was another circumstance in 
 his favour. At first his complaint was supposed to 
 be a common cold, but in a few days it turned out to 
 be the measles. The natural anxiety which Mary 
 felt for Darnley's recovery induced her to exhibit 
 a tenderer interest in him than she had ever done 
 before. She paid him the most flattering attentions, 
 and continued them unwearingly, though her patient 
 was provokingly attacked by an ague almost imme- 
 diately after his recovery from the measles.* 
 
 It is worth mticing, that while Mary was thus oc- 
 cupied in attending to Darnley, the Earl of Bothwell 
 returned to Scotland from his involuntary banish- 
 ment. His former misdemeanors were not yet for- 
 gotten, and he was summoned by the queen and 
 Murray to take his trial in Edinburgh : but not liking 
 to trust himself in the hands of his ancient enemies, 
 
 * Mary's conduct upon this occasion may be compared with that of 
 Elizabeth to her favourite Essex ; but the Scottish quuen's motivts were 
 of a ftr purer and better kind. " When Essex," says Walpole, "acted 
 a fit cf sirkness, not a day passed without the queen's sending after to 
 see him ; and she once went so far as to sit long by him, and order bis 
 broths and things." "It maybe observed,*" remarks Chalmers, "that 
 Mary was engaged (or rather secretly resolved) to marry Darnley, but 
 Elizabeth only flirted with Essex." 1 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 194 LIFE OB WARY 
 
 lie again left the country for six months. He did 
 aiot depart before giving utterance to several violent 
 'threats against Murray and Maitland, and speaking 
 so disrespectfully of the queen, that Randolph says 
 /she declared to him, upon her honour, that he should 
 1 never receive favour at her hands.* 
 
 The Queen of Scots, being now resolved to bestow 
 her hand on Darnley, sent her secretary, Maitland, 
 to London, to intimate her intentions, and to request 
 Elizabeth's approbation. This was the veiy last 
 thing Elizabeth meant to give. The matter had now 
 arrived exactly at the point to which she had all 
 along wished to bring it. She had prevailed upon 
 Mary to abandon the idea of a foreign alliance; she 
 had induced her to throw away some valuable time 
 in ridiculous negotiations concerning the Earl of 
 Leicester; she had consented, first that the Earl of 
 Lennox, and then that his son Darnley, should go into 
 Scotland ; and she did not say a single syllable against 
 it till she had allowed Mary to be persuaded that no 
 marriage in Christendom could be more prudent. 
 It was now that the cloven foot was to betray itself; 
 that her faction was to be called upon to exert itself 
 in Scotland; that the cup was to be dashed from 
 Darnley's lips ; and that Mary was to be involved in 
 the vortex of civil dissension. The historian Cas- 
 telnau, whom Mary at this time sent as her ambas 
 sador to France, and who there obtained their majes 
 ties' consent to the marriage, mentions, that when he 
 returned through England, he found the queen much 
 \ colder than formerly, complaining that Mary had 
 , subtracted her relation and subject, and that she was 
 intending to marry him without her permission and 
 against her approbation. " And yet I am sure," adds 
 Castelnau, " that these words were very far from 
 her heart; for she used all her efforts, and spared 
 nothing to set this marriage a-going. "f 
 
 Keith, p. 270. and Chalmers, vol. ii. p. 814, et seq. 
 t Caatelnau in Keith, p. 377
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 195 
 
 Elizabeth seldom did things by halves. She as- 
 sembled her privy council, and at the instigation of 
 Cecil they gave it as their unanimous opinion that 
 " this marriage with my Lord Darnley appeared to 
 be unmeet, unprofitable, and directly prejudicial to 
 the sincere amity between both the queens."* Upon 
 what reasons this sage determination was founded 
 the privy council did not condescend to state. It is 
 not difficult, however, to do so for them, the more 
 especially as an official paper is still preserved, drawn 
 up by Cecil himself, in which the explanations he 
 attempts serve to disclose more fully his own and his 
 queen's policy. He did not think this marriage 
 " meet or profitable," because, in the first place, it : 
 would have given great content to those who were j 
 anxious that Mary's succession to the English crown ! 
 should not be set aside ; and, in the second place, be- 
 cause, by representing it as dangerous, a plausible pre- 
 tence would be furnished to all Mary's enemies to join 
 with Elizabeth in opposing it, and harassing the 
 Queen of Scots. Cecil proceeds to point out expli- 
 citly how the harassing system was to be carried 
 on. First, it was to be represented that in France 
 the houses of Guise and Lorraine, and all the other 
 leading Catholics, and in Scotland all who hated the 
 Duke of Chatelherault and the Hamiltons, and Mur- 
 ray, and the Reformers, and were devoted to the 
 authority of Rome, approved of the marriage. Second, 
 it was to be spread abroad that the Devil would stir 
 up some of the friends of Mary and Darnley to alien- 
 ate the minds of Elizabeth's subjects, and even to 
 attempt the life of that sovereign ; and, under the 
 pretext of preventing such evils, the most rigorous 
 measures might be taken against all suspected per- ; 
 sons : and, third, tumults and rebellions in Scotland ; 
 were to be fomented in all prudent and secret ways.f 
 
 To report to Mary the decision of her privy coun- 
 
 * Keith, p. 375 Ibid., Appendix, p. 97.
 
 196 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 cil, Elizabeth sent Sir Nicholas Throckmorton into 
 Scotland. He arrived at Stirling on the 15th of May, 
 1565, and in an audience which Mary gave him, he sel 
 forth Elizabeth's disliking and disallowance of what 
 she was pleased to term " the hasty proceeding with 
 my Lord Darnley." Mary, with becoming dignity 
 and unanswerable argument, replied that she was 
 sorry Elizabeth disliked the match, but that as to her 
 "disallowance," she had never asked the English 
 queen's permission ; she had only communicated to 
 her, as soon as she had made up her own mind, the 
 person whom she had chosen. She was not a little 
 surprised, she added, at Elizabeth's opposition, since 
 it had been expressly intimated to her through the 
 English resident, Randolph, that if she avoided a 
 foreign alliance, " she might take her choice of any 
 person within the realms of England or Scotland, 
 without any exception." Her choice had fallen upon 
 Lord Darnley, both from the good qualities she found 
 in him, and because, being Elizabeth's kinsman and 
 hers, and participating of the English and Scottish 
 blood-royal, she had imagined that none would be 
 more agreeable to her majesty and the realm of Eng- 
 land. Convinced by so decided an answer to his 
 remonstrance that Mary's resolution was fixed, 
 Throckmorton wrote to Elizabeth that she could not 
 hope to stop the marriage unless she had recourse to 
 violence. But Elizabeth had too much prudence to 
 take up arms herself; all she wished was to instigate 
 others to this measure. Accordingly, Throckmor- 
 ton, one of the wiliest of her diplomatic agents, re- 
 ceived orders to deal with the Scottish malecontents, 
 and especially the Earl of Murray, whom he was to 
 assure of Elizabeth's support should they proceed to 
 extremities. Murray was likewise invited to enter 
 into a correspondence with Cecil, an invitation with 
 which he willingly complied ;* and to give tne whole 
 
 * Keith, p. 280.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 197 
 
 affair as serious an air as possible, a fresh supply of 
 troops was sent to the Earl of Bedford, Elizabeth's 
 lieutenant of the borders ; and her wardens of the 
 Marches were commanded to show no more favour 
 to Mary's subjects than the bare abstaining- from any 
 breach of peace. The Earl of Northumberland, who 
 was attached to the Lennox family, was detained in 
 London ; and Lady Lennox herself was committed 
 to the Tower. Lady Somerset, who pretended a sort 
 of title to the English succession in opposition to 
 Mary, was received very graciously at the court of 
 Westminster. Means were used to induce Secretary 
 Maitland to associate himself with Murray and the 
 other discontents ; and all this time, that no suspi- 
 cion of such insidious enmity towards the Scottish 
 queen might be entertained on the Continent, the good 
 opinion of France and Spain was carefully courted. 
 Elizabeth next wrote letters to Lennox and Darnley, 
 commanding them both, as her subjects, to return to 
 England without delay. Randolph was desired to 
 wait upon them, to know what answer they were 
 disposed to give. He got little satisfaction from 
 either; Lennox firmly, and Darnley contemptuously, 
 refused to obey the mandate of recall. Randolph 
 then waited upon the queen to ascertain her mind on 
 the subject. Mary felt keenly the contemptible 
 jealousy and envy with which she was treated by 
 Elizabeth ; and received the English resident with 
 greater reserve than she had ever done before, " as a 
 man new and first come into her presence that she 
 had never seen." Randolph asked if she would give 1 
 Lennox and Darnley permission to depart for Eng-t 
 land. Mary smiled at the question which was anf 
 artful one, and said, " If I would give them leavej 
 I doubt what they would do themselves; I see ncf 
 will in th<>m to return." Randolph answered, witti 
 insolence, that they must either return or do worsej 
 for that if they refused, and were supported by M;iry 
 in that refusal, the queen his mistress had the powef 
 El
 
 198 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 and the will to be revenged upon both them and her 
 The Queen of Scots merely replied that she hoped 
 Elizabeth would change her mind, and so dismissed 
 Randolph. 
 
 Satisfied of the integrity of her purpose, Mary 
 was not to be easily driven from it. She sent Mr. 
 John Hay to the English court, to state once more 
 her anxious wish to avoid giving any just cause of 
 offence to Elizabeth, but at the same time to repeat, 
 that she could not but consider as strange and vexa- 
 tious any opposition to a marriage to which there 
 did not seem to be one plausible objection. He was 
 desired also to complain of the "sharp handling" 
 which had been given to Mary's aunt, the Lady 
 Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox. But her 
 chief anxieties arose from the state of matters 
 nearer home. The Duke of Chatelherault, and the 
 Earls of Murray, Argyle, and Glencairn had now 
 openly declared themselves adverse to the marriage ; 
 and Lethington and Morton were suspected of giving 
 it only a very doubtful support. There was in 
 consequence, a great change at Mary's court. They 
 who had formerly most influence kept away from it 
 altogether ; and a new set of men, little accustomed 
 to state-duties, such as Montrose, Fleming, Cassilis, 
 Montgomery, and others, came into favour. It was 
 now that Mary found Rizzio, who was active and 
 well acquainted with all the details of public busi- 
 ness, and was besides liked by Darnley, of the 
 greatest use to her ; and being deserted by her more 
 ;. efficient but too ambitious counsellors, she gladly 
 availed herself of his services.
 
 OCEEN OF SCOTS. 199 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Mary's Marriage with Darnley. 
 
 MURRAY, meanwhile, was busily organizing his 
 scheme of rebellion. "Their chief trust," says 
 Randolph, alluding to the earl and his associates, 
 " next unto God is the queen's majesty (Elizabeth), 
 whom they will repose themselves upon ; not leav- 
 ing in the mean time to provide for themselves the 
 best they can." Elizabeth was not backward to 
 give them every encouragement. She wrote letters 
 to the heads of the party ; means were taken to win 
 over to their views the general assembly, which met 
 in June, 1565, the members of which, as Randolph 
 says, were " never more constant or more earnest ;" 
 and the nobles summoned by Mary to a convention 
 at Perth were all tampered with. But the great 
 majority at this convention gave their consent and 
 approbation to the proposed marriage ; and Murray, 
 in despair, begged Randolph to inform his mistress, 
 in the name of himself and those who had joined his 
 faction, that they were " grieved to see such ex- 
 treme folly in their sovereign; that the}' lamented 
 the state of their country, which tended to utter ruin; 
 and that they feared the nobility would be forced to 
 assemble themselves together, so to provide for the 
 state that it should not utterly perish." In other 
 words, they had made up their mind to rebellion ; at 
 all events, to prevent Darnley from obtaining the 
 crown, and an ascendency over them ; and probably, 
 if an opportunity should offer, to put Mary in con- 
 finement, and rule the country themselves. This was 
 exactly the state of feeling which Elizabeth had
 
 200 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 long laboured to produce in Scotland. " Some that 
 have already heard," says Randolph, " of my lady's 
 grace imprisonment" (meaning the Countess of 
 Lennox) "like very well thereof, and wish both 
 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 an- 
 swered, that we could not nor would not refuse our 
 own, in what sort soever they came unto us."* But 
 as it was felt that a plausible apology would be re- 
 quired for proceeding to these extremities, the Earl 
 of Murray gave out that a conspiracy had been 
 formed to assassinate him at the convention at 
 Perth. His story was, that there had been a quarrel 
 between one of his own servants and another man, 
 who was supported by the retainers of Athol and 
 Lennox, and that it had been arranged that they 
 should renew their dispute at Perth, and that he 
 himself should be slain in the affray which was ex- 
 pected to ensue. But the evidence of a plot against 
 him rests only upon Murray's own statement ; and 
 when Mary asked him to transmit in writing a more 
 particular account of it, seeing that he made it his 
 excuse for refusing to come to court, " it appeared 
 to her highness and to her council, that his purgation 
 in that behalf was not so sufficient as the matter re- 
 quired ;" and his excuse was not sustained.! 
 
 The treasonable views entertained by Murray and 
 his friends are involved in no such doubt. In these 
 times the common mode of effecting a change in 
 the government was to seize the person of the 
 sovereign; and all historians of credit agree in 
 affirming, that Murray was determined on making 
 the experiment. On Sunday, the 1st of July, 1565, 
 the queen was to ride with Darnley and a small 
 
 Keith, p. 290. 
 
 t Of Ulmtelherault, Arpyle, Murray, Morton, and Glencairn, all of 
 whom were summoned to the convention, only Morton came. Keith, 
 p. 287.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 201 
 
 train of friends from Perth to the seat of Loud Liv- 
 ingston at Callander, the baptism of one of whose 
 children she had promised to attend. Murray knew 
 that it would be necessary for her to pass, in the 
 course of this journey, through several steep and 
 wild passes, where she and her attendants might 
 easily be overpowered. At what precise spot the 
 attack was to be made, or whether that was not 
 left to the chapter of accidents, does not appear. 
 Knox, who was of course too stanch a Presby- 
 terian directly to accuse the great lay-head of his 
 church of so treasonable a design, says that the 
 path of Dron (a rugged pass about three miles south 
 of Perth) had been mentioned, while Sir James 
 Melville and others point out the kirk of Beith, 
 which stood on a solitary piece of ground, between 
 Dumfermline and the Queensferry. But late upon 
 the previous Saturday night a rumour reached Mary 
 of the contemplated plot. To prevent its execution, 
 she ordered the Earl of Athol and Lord Ruthven to 
 collect immediately as strong a body of men as pos- 
 sible ; and through their exertions she left Perth next 
 morning at five, accompanied by three hundred 
 horsemen well mounted. Murray was waiting at 
 Ixich Leven, Argyle at Castle Campbell, Chatel- 
 herault at his house of Kinneil, in the neighbourhood 
 of the Queensferry, and Lord Rothes, who had 
 joined in the conspiracy, at a place called the Parrot 
 Well, not far distant. The queen, however, to their 
 great disappointment, having passed over the ground 
 on which they intended to intercept her, both much 
 earlier in the day, and much more strongly guarded 
 than they had anticipated, they were obliged to 
 remain quiet; indeed the Earl of Argyle did not 
 come to join Murray, till two hours after Mary had 
 ridden through Kinross.* 
 
 * Keith, p. 291, et seq. ; Chalmers, vol. i. p. 139, et seq., vol. ii. p 
 141 ; Tytler, vol. i. p. 1,74, et seq. Melville's account of this conspiracy 
 Is, that Murray and 'H other lords " had made a my ut to tak the Ixjril
 
 20 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 On Mary's return to Edinburgh she found that an 
 attempt had been made, through the conjoined in- 
 fluence of Knox and Murray, to stir up to sedition 
 some of the more bigoted Presbyterians, on the plea 
 that Darnley favoured popery. Two or three hun- 
 dred of the malecontents, or brethren, as Knox calls 
 them, assembled at St. Leonard's Hill, and their mu- 
 tinous proceedings might have led to disagreeable 
 consequences, had not Mary arrived just in time to 
 Disperse and overawe them.* Murray and his asso- 
 ciates, keeping at a greater distance, held some 
 secret meetings at Loch Leven, and then assembling: 
 at Stirling on the 17th of July, openly raised the 
 standard of rebellion. But amid all these troubles, 
 
 ary, conscious that she had right upon her side, 
 
 mained undaunted, and at no period of her life 
 id her strength of mind appear more conspicuous. 
 n o retain that confidence which she knew the great 
 
 ajority of her subjects still placed in her, she issued 
 proclamations announcing her determination to ab- 
 stain, as she had hitherto done, from any interference 
 in the matter of religion ; she wrote, with her own 
 hand, letters to many of her nobles, assuring them 
 of the integrity of her intentions ; and she sent re- 
 quisitions to all upon whom she could depend, calling 
 on them to collect their followers, and come armed 
 to her assistance. 
 
 The Earl of Murray, on the other hand, having 
 thrown off his allegiance to his own sovereign, be- 
 
 Darnley, in the queen's company, at the raid of Baith, and to have sent 
 him in England as they allejrit. I wot not what was in their minds, but 
 it was ane evil-favoured enterprise wherclntil the queen was in danger, 
 either of keeping (imprisonment) or heart-breaking; and as they had 
 failed in their foolish enterprise, they took on plainly their arms of 
 rebellion." Melville, p. 135. There is some reason to believe that Knox 
 was implicated in this conspiracy ; for, in the continuation of his 
 History, written by his amanuensis, Richard Dannatyne, under the au- 
 thority of the general assembly, it appears that a Mr. Hamilton, 
 minister of St. Andrews, had openly accused him of a share in it ; and 
 though Knox noticed the accusation, it does not appear that he eve 
 satisfactorily refuted \\.--GnodaU, vol. i. p. 207. 
 * Keith, p. 293 ; Spottiswoode, p. 190.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 203 
 
 came entirely subservient to the wishes and com- 
 mantls of Elizabeth. He and his friends wrote to 
 request that she would send them, as a proof of her 
 sincerity in the cause, the sum of three thousand 
 pounds to meet the expenses of the current year ; 
 and they would thus be able, they imagined, to carry 
 every thing before them, unless Mary received foreign 
 assistance. They likewise suggested that Lord 
 Hume, whose estates lay on the borders, and who 
 was one of the Scottish queen's most faithful ser- 
 vants, should be harassed by some ostensibly acci- 
 dental incursions ; that the Bishop of Dumblane, 
 who was to be sent on an embassy to the Continent, 
 should be delayed in London till " his budgets were 
 rifled by some good slight or other;" and that Both- 
 vell, whom Mary was about to recall, to obtain his 
 assistance in her present difficulties, should be " kept 
 in good surety" for a time.* To all this Elizabeth 
 replied, that if the lords suffered any inconvenience, 
 " they should not find lack in her to succour them." 
 She hinted, however, that the less money they asked 
 the better, advising them " neither to make greater! 
 expense than their security makes necessary, nor 
 less \yhich may bring danger." " This letter," says 
 Keith, "is an evident demonstration of the English 
 queen's fomenting and supporting a rebellion in Scot- 
 land ; and the rebellious lords knew too well what 
 they had to trust to." 
 
 One can hardly attempt to unravel, as has been 
 done in the preceding pages, the secret causes which 
 led to the iniquitous rebellion now organized, with- 
 out feeling it almost a duty to express indignation 
 both at the malicious interference of the English 
 queen, and the overweening ambition and ingrati- 
 ude of the Earl of Murray. Mary's conduct since 
 her return from France had been almost unexcep- 
 tionable. The only fault she had committed, and 
 
 * Keith . 2*4, et wq
 
 204 LIFE OF MART 
 
 the necessity of the times forced it on her, war, 
 yielding too implicitly to the counsels of her brother. 
 These had been in some instances judicious, and in 
 others, the natural severity of his temper had been 
 rebuked by the mildness of Mary ; so that, take it 
 for all in all, no government had ever been more 
 popular in Scotland than hers. Her choice of Lord 
 Darnley for a husband, so far from diminishing the 
 estimation in which she was held by the great body 
 of her subjects, only contributed to raise her in their 
 opinion. For the sake of the political advantages 
 which would result to her country from this alliance, 
 she was willing to forego much more splendid offers; 
 and, though the imperfections of Darnley's character 
 might ultimately be the means of destroying her own 
 happiness, his birth and expectations were exactly 
 such as gave him the best right to be the father of 
 James VI. Nor could his religious opinions be ob- 
 jected to, for, whatever they were, they did not 
 influence the queen ; indeed, ever since she had 
 known him, she had treated the Protestants with 
 even more than her usual liberality. At the baptism 
 of Lord Livingston's child, she remained and heard 
 a Protestant sermon ; and about the same time she 
 intimated to some of the leaders of the Reformers, 
 that though she was not persuaded of the truth of 
 any religion except of that in which she had been 
 brought up, she would nevertheless allow a con- 
 ference and disputation on the Scriptures in her 
 presence, and also a public preaching from the 
 mouth of Mr. Erskine of Dun, whom she regarded as 
 ** a mild and sweet-natured man, with true honesty 
 and uprightness."* All these things considered, one 
 is at a loss to conceive how, even ;r these restless 
 times, any set of men dared to er P into rebellion 
 against Mary. But the selfish and insidious policy 
 of Elizabeth, the jealousy of the Duke of Chatel 
 
 * Keith, p. 297
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 
 
 herault, in whose family rested the succession to the 
 Scottish crown, and who had hoped that his son 
 Arran might have obtained Mary's hand, the envy 
 and rage of the Earl of Argyle, who had been obliged 
 to surrender to Lennox some of his forfeited estates, 
 and, above all, the artful and grasping spirit of 
 Murray, solve the enigma. Whatever opinion may 
 be entertained of Mary's subsequent proceedings it 
 appears but too evident, that the first serious troubles 
 of her reign were forced upon her in spite of her ut- 
 most prudence, by the intrigues of enemies who 
 were only the more dangerous, because they had for 
 a time assumed the disguise of friends. 
 
 Whatever the hopes or wishes of the conspirators 
 might be, Mary resolved that they should not long 
 have it in their power to make their desire to pre- 
 vent her nuptials a pretext for continuing in arms. 
 On Sunday, the 29th of July, 1565, she celebrated her 
 marriage with Darnley, upon whom she had pre- 
 viously conferred various titles, and among others 
 that of Duke of Albany.* The bans of matrimony 
 were proclaimed in the Canongate church, the palace 
 of Holyrood being in that parish ; and, as Mary and 
 Darnley were first cousins, a Catholic dispensation 
 had been obtained from the pope. The ceremony 
 was performed, according to the Catholic ritual, in 
 the chapel of Holyrood, between five and six in the 
 morning an hour which appears somewhat strange 
 to modern habits. John Sinclair, dean of Restalrig, 
 and bishop of Brechin, had the honour of presiding 
 on the occasion. It was generally remarked, that a 
 handsomer couple had never been seen in Scotland. 
 Mary was now twenty-three, and at the very height 
 of her beauty, and Darnley, though only nineteen, 
 
 * Buchanan says, foolishly enough, that the predictions of" wi7.ardljr 
 women'' contributed much to hasten this marriage. They prophesied, 
 it seems, that if it was consummated before the end of July, it would 
 be happy for both ; if not, it would be the source of much misery. It is 
 pity that these predictions were not true. 
 
 VOL. I. S
 
 206 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 was of a more manly person and appearance than 
 his age would have indicated. The festivities were 
 certainly not such as had attended the queen's first 
 marriage, for the elegancies of life were not under- 
 stood in Scotland as in France ; and, besides, it was 
 a time of trouble when armed men were obliged to 
 stand round the altar. Nevertheless, all due ob- 
 servances and rejoicings lent a dignity to the occa- 
 sion. Mary, in a flowing robe of black, with a wide 
 mourning hood, was led into the chapel by the Earls 
 of Lennox and Athol, who, having conducted her to 
 the altar, retired to bring in the bridegroom. The 
 bishop having united them in the presence of a great 
 attendance of lords and ladies, three rings were put 
 upon the queen's finger the middle one a rich dia- 
 mond. They then knelt together, and many prayers 
 were said over them. At their conclusion, Darnley 
 kissed his bride, and as he did not himself profess 
 the Catholic faith, left her till she should hear mass. 
 She was afterward followed by most of the company 
 to her own apartments, where she laid aside her 
 sable garments, to intimate, that henceforth, as the 
 wife of another, she would forget the grief occa- 
 sioned by the loss of her first husband. In observ- 
 ance of an old custom, as many of the lords as could 
 approach near enough were permitted to assist in 
 unrobing her, by taking out a pin. She was then 
 committed to her ladies, who, having attired her 
 with becoming splendour, brought her to the ball- 
 room, where there was great cheer and dancing till 
 dinner-time. At dinner, Darnley appeared in his 
 royal robes ; and after a great flourish of trumpets, 
 largess was proclaimed among the multitude who 
 surrounded the palace. The Earls of Athol, Morton, 
 and Crawfurd attended the queen as sewer, carver, 
 and cup-bearer ; and the Earls of Eglinton, Cassilis, 
 and Glencairn performed the like offices for Darn- 
 "ey. When dinner was over, the dancing was
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 207 
 
 renewed till supper- time, soon after which the com- 
 pany retired for the night.* 
 
 The rejoicings that attended the commencement 
 of Darnley's career as King of Scotland were but of > 
 short duration. Randolph, expressing the senti- \ 
 meats of Elizabeth and the rebels, hesitated not to /' 
 say, that "God must either send the king a short end I 
 or them a miserable life ; that either he must be taken] 
 away or they find some support, that -what he intend-' 
 eth to others may light upon himself." 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Murray's Rebellion, 
 
 MURRAY had now gone too far to recede, though, 
 had he been so inclined, Mary's leniency would wil- 
 lingly have given him the opportunity. Mr. John 
 Hay, who had formerly acted as her ambassador in 
 England, and who was one of her brother's personal 
 friends, was sent to him to declare the good-will 
 which both the Earl of Lennox and Darnley bore 
 towards him. Mary even avowed her readiness to 
 bring to trial any one he would accuse of having 
 conspired against his life ; but he had no evidence 
 to prove that such a conspiracy had ever existed 
 much less to fix the guilt upon any individual. He 
 had made the accusation originally, only the better 
 to conceal his own nefarious purposes ; for Mur- 
 ray well understood the practical application of 
 Machiavel's maxim : " Calumniare audacter aliquid 
 adhcerebit." 
 
 * Randolph in Robertson, Appendix, No. XI. ; Keith, p 307 ; Mini 
 Benger, vol. 11. p. 314.
 
 208 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 > 
 
 Acting in concert with this nobleman, Elizabeth 
 now sent more imperative orders than before for the 
 return of Lennox and Darnley. But the former an- 
 swered, that, considering his wife had been commit- 
 ted to the Tower for no fault on her part, he thought 
 it unlikely that the climate of England would suit 
 his constitution ; and the latter said, boldly and gal- 
 lantly, that he now acknowledged duty and obe- 
 dience to none but the Queen of Scots, whom he 
 served and honoured; and though Elizabeth chose 
 to be envious of his good fortune, he could not dis- 
 cover why he should leave a country where he found 
 himself so comfortable. Randolph coolly replied, 
 that he hoped to see the wreck and overthrow of as 
 many as were of the same mind ; " and so, turning 
 my back to him, without reverence or farewell, I 
 went away."* The disaffected lords, on their part, 
 as soon as they heard of Mary's marriage, and the 
 proclamations in which she conferred upon her hus- 
 band the rank and title of king, renewed their com- 
 plaints with increased bitterness. The majority of 
 their countrymen, however, saw through their real 
 motives ; -and even Knox allows it was generally 
 alleged that these complaints were "not for religion, 
 but rather for hatred, envy of sudden promotion or 
 dignity, or such worldly causes." The recalling of 
 the Earls Bothwell and Sutherland, and the restoring 
 of Lord Gordon to the forfeited estates and honours 
 of his father, the Earl of Huntly, was another source 
 of exasperation. From the tried fidelity of these 
 noblemen, Mary knew she could depend upon 
 their services; though Bothwell, personally, as we 
 have already seen, was far from being agreeable 
 to her. 
 
 To put in the clearest point of view the utter 
 worthlessness of all the grounds of offence which 
 
 Keith, p. 303 and 304. This was a day or two before Darnlev' 
 marriage.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 209 
 
 Elizabeth and the Scottish rebels pretended at this 
 lime to have against Mary, a short and impartial ac- 
 count of a message sent by the English queen, early 
 in August, 1565, and of the answer it received, will 
 be read here with interest. The person who brought 
 this message was one of Elizabeth's inferior officials, 
 of the name of Tamworth, " a forward, insolent 
 man," says Camden, and, with marked disrespect, 
 chosen for this very reason. He was ordered not 
 to acknowledge Darnley as king, and to give him no 
 title but that which he had borne in England ; but 
 Mary, "having smelt," as Camden adds, "the nature 
 both of the message and of the animal that brought 
 it," would not admit him into her presence. His 
 objections were therefore committed to writing, and 
 the answer given in similar form. On the part of 
 Elizabeth it was stated, that her majesty had found 
 Mary's late proceedings, both towards herself and 
 towards her subjects, very strange, upon diverse 
 grounds. These, as they were brought forward, so 
 were they replied to methodically and seriatim. 
 First. Elizabetli took. God to witness that her offer 
 to Mary of any of her own subjects in marriage was 
 made sincerely and lovingly ; and that she was 
 grieved to hear that Mary, listening to false counsel, 
 had been made to think otherwise. To this it was 
 answered, that the Queen of Scots did not doubt 
 Elizabeth's sincerity and uprightness in her ofter 
 of ;i husband from England, and that no counsel had 
 been given to induce her to change her opinion. 
 Second, Elizabeth was much surprised, that notwith- 
 standing the offer made by Mary to Sir Nicolas 
 Throckmorton to delay her marriage till the middle 
 of August, that she might have longer time to prevaij 
 upon Elizabeth to consent to it, she had consum* 
 mated that marriage, without giving her majesty any 
 intimation, on the 29th of July, and had thereby dis* 
 appointed both Elizabeth and some foreign princes, 
 who thought as strangely of the alliance as she did. 
 S3
 
 210 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 To this it was answered, that it was true, that 
 though Mary's resolution was fixed before Sir Nico- 
 las Throckmorton came into Scotland, she had never- 
 theless promised to delay her marriage, in the hope 
 that the doubts entertained by Elizabeth as to the 
 propriety of the said marriage might in the mean 
 time be removed ; but that this promise was made 
 expressly on the condition that commissioners should 
 be appointed on both sides to discuss the matter; 
 and that, as Elizabeth refused to nominate any such 
 commissioners, Mary was relieved from her promise ; 
 that, further, she had good reasons, known to her- 
 self and her own people, with which no other prince 
 needed to interfere, for consummating her marriage 
 at the time she did; and that with regard to foreign 
 princes thinking the alliance strange, she had a per- 
 fect knowledge of the opinions, and had obtained the 
 express consent of the principal and greatest princes 
 in Christendom. Third, Elizabeth was astonished 
 how Mary, in direct opposition to the conditions of 
 the treaty of peace existing between England and 
 Scotland, could detain her majesty's subjects, Len- 
 nox and Darnley, in Scotland having allured them 
 thither under a pretence of suits for lands, but in 
 reality to form an alliance without her majesty's 
 consent and license, an offence so unnatural, that 
 the world spoke of it, and her majesty could not 
 forget it. To this it was answered, that Mary mar- 
 velled not a little at the queen, her good sister, in- 
 sisting any further upon this head ; for she did not 
 understand how it could be found strange that she 
 detained within her realm the person with whom 
 she had joined herself in marriage, or a Scottish 
 earl, whom Elizabeth herself named by his Scottish 
 title the more especially as they both came to her 
 with Elizabeth's consent and letters of recommenda- 
 tion ; and that she had no doubt that the world 
 spoke as sound sense would dictate, judging that 
 her detaining them was in no ways prejudicial to any
 
 OtJEEN OF SCOTS. 211 
 
 treaty of peace existing between the two realms 
 since no annoyance was intended towards Elizabeth, 
 her kingdom, or estate. Fourth, Elizabeth wen- 
 dered that Mary's ambassador, Mr. John Hay, came 
 to ask to be informed of her majesty's objections to 
 the marriage, and of what she wished to be done, 
 but had no authority either to agree to or refuse her 
 requests ; and she therefore supposed that he had 
 been sent more as a piece of empty form than for 
 any useful purpose. To this it was answered, that 
 Mary, though willing to hear Elizabeth's objections, 
 if any such existed, and to endeavour to remove 
 them, had yet expressly declared that she would 
 make such endeavour only through the medium of 
 commissioners mutually agreed on; and that she 
 was still so convinced of the expediency of the 
 match, that, though now married, she was still 
 willing, if Elizabeth wished it, to have its propriety 
 discussed by such commissioners. Fifth, Elizabeth 
 begged that an explanation might be given of a sen- 
 tence in one of Mary's French letters, which she 
 found somewhat obscured, and which ran thus: " Je 
 n'estimerois jamais que cela vienne de vous, et sans 
 en chercher autre vengeance, j'aurois recours a tous 
 les princes mes allies pour avec moi vous remon- 
 strer ce que je vous suis par parentage. Vous savea 
 assez ce que vous avez resolu sur cela." To this it 
 was answered, that Mary, by the whole of her letter, 
 as well as the passage in question, meant no other 
 thing but to express her desire to remain in perfect 
 friendship and good intelligence with the queen her 
 sister, from whom she expected such treatment as* 
 reason and nature required from one princess to| 
 another, who was her cousin ; and that if, as God? 
 forbid, other treatment were received, which Mary 
 would not anticipate, she could do no less than lay 
 her case before other princes, her friends and allies. 
 Sixth, Elizabeth was grieved to see that Mary en- 
 couraged fugitives and offenders from England, and
 
 212 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 practised other devices within her majesty's realm; 
 
 and that, in her own kingdom, seduced by false 
 
 counsellors and malicious information, she raised 
 
 , up factions among the nobility. To this it was an- 
 
 . swered, that if the Scottish queen really wished to 
 
 offend Elizabeth, she would not be contented with 
 
 I such paltry practices as those she was accused of 
 
 towards English subjects; and that, with regard to 
 
 her proceedings in her own realm, as she had never 
 
 .' interfered with Elizabeth's order of government, not 
 thinking it right that one state should have a finger 
 in the internal policy of another, so she requested 
 that Elizabeth would not meddle with hers, but 
 trust to her discretion, as the person most interested, 
 
 to preserve peace and quietness. Seventh, Elizabeth 
 warned Mary to take good heed that she did not 
 proceed in her intention to suppress and extirpate 
 the religion already established in Scotland, or to 
 effect the suppression of the Reformed faith in Eng- 
 land ; for that all such designs, consultations, intel- 
 ligences, and devices should be converted to the 
 peril and damage of those that advised and engaged 
 in them. To this it was answered, that Mary could 
 not but marvel at Elizabeth's fears for a religion 
 upon which no innovation had ever been attempted, 
 but for the establishment of which every arrange- 
 ment had been made most agreeable to her Scottish 
 subjects ; that as to an intention to interfere with 
 the spiritual faith of England, she never heard of it 
 before ; but that, if any practices to such effect 
 could be condescended on, they should instantly be 
 explained and altered ; and that, with regard to her 
 designs, consultations, intelligences, and devices, 
 such as she really engaged in would be found no 
 vainer or more deceitful than those of her neigh- 
 bours. Eighth, and lastly, Elizabeth wished that 
 Mary would not show herself so given to change as 
 to conceive evil of the Earl of Murray, whose just 
 deserts she had so long acknowledged ; for that by
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 213 
 
 indifference and severity there were plenty exam- 
 ples to prove that many noblemen had been con- 
 strained to take such measures for their own se- 
 curity as they would otherwise never have resorted 
 to; and that these were part of the reasons why 
 Elizabeth was offended with Mary. To this it was 
 answered, that Mary wished her good sister would 
 not meddle with the affairs of her Scottish subjects 
 any more than Mary meddled with the affairs of 
 Elizabeth's English subjects ; but that, if Elizabeth 
 desired any explanation of her conduct towards 
 Murray, it would be willingly given, as soon as < 
 Elizabeth explained her motives for committing to : 
 the Tower Lady Margaret, Countess of Lennox, ' 
 mother-in-law and aunt of Mary; and that, as soon i 
 as Elizabeth stated any other grounds of offence, | 
 they should be answered as satisfactorily as the ; 
 above had been.* 
 
 Having thus triumphantly replied to the English 
 queen's irritating message, Mary, in the true spirit of 
 conciliation, had the magnanimity to propose that the 
 following articles should be mutually agreed upon. 
 On the part of the King and Queen of Scotland, 
 First, That their majesties, being satisfied of the 
 queen their sister's friendship, are content to assure 
 the queen, that during the term of her life, or that of 
 her lawful issue, they will not, directly or indirectly, : 
 attempt any thing prejudicial to their sister's title to I 
 the crown of England, or in any way disturb the ' 
 quietness of that kingdom. Second, They will enter 
 into no communication with any subject or subjects 
 of the realm of England, in prejudice of their said 
 sister and her lawful issue, or receive into their pro- 
 tection any subjects of the realm of England, with 
 whom their sister may have occasion to be offended. 
 Third, They will not enter into any league or con- 
 federation with any foreign prince, to the hurt, dam 
 
 Keith, Appendix, No. vii. p. 09, et *eq.
 
 214 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 age, and displeasure of the queen and realm of Eng- 
 land. Fourth, They will enter into any such league 
 and confederation with the queen and realm of Eng- 
 land, as shall be for the weal of the princes and sub- 
 jects on both sides. And, Fifth, They will not go 
 about to procure, in any way, alteration, innovation, 
 or change in the religion, laws, or liberties of the 
 realm of England, though it should please God at 
 any time hereafter to call them to the succession of 
 that kingdom. In consideration of these offers, the 
 three following equally reasonable articles were to 
 be agreed to on the part of England : First, That 
 ' by act of parliament, the succession to the crown, 
 failing Elizabeth and her lawful issue, shall be es- 
 tablished, first, in the person of Mary and her lawful 
 issue, and failing them, in the person of the Countess 
 of Lennox and her lawful issue, as by the law of 
 God and nature entitled to the inheritance of the said 
 crown. Second, That the second offer made by the 
 King and Queen of Scotland be also made on the part 
 .of England; and, Third, That the third offer shall 
 be likewise mutual. To have agreed to these liberal 
 icles would not have suited Elizabeth's policy, and 
 
 e consequently hear nothing further concerning 
 
 em. 
 
 On the 15th of August, 1565, Murray summoned the 
 
 bellious nobles to a public meeting at Ayr, where 
 it was resolved that they should assemble together 
 in arms on the 24th. Mary in consequence issued 
 proclamations, calling upon her loyal subjects to 
 come to Edinburgh, with their kin, friends, and house- 
 hold, and provided for fifteen days, on the 25th of 
 August. On that day she left Edinburgh with a nu- 
 merous force, and marched to Linlithgovv. Before 
 leaving the capital, measures were taken to prevent 
 the discontented there from turning to advantage the 
 absence of their sovereign. The provost, who was 
 entirely under the management of Knox, and strongly 
 suspected to favour the rebels, was displaced, and a
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 215 
 
 more trustworthy civic officer appointed in his stead. 
 Knox himself, a few days before, had been suspended 
 from the discharge of his clerical duties, in conse- 
 quence of a seditious and insulting sermon he de- 
 livered before the young king, who paid him the 
 compliment of attending divine service in St. Giles's 
 church, a Sunday or two after his marriage. In this 
 sermon the preacher, among other things, said, that 
 God had raised to the throne for the sins of the peo- 
 ple, boys and women ; adding, in the words of Scrip- 
 ture, " I will give children to be their princes, and 
 babes shall rule over them : children are their op- 
 pressors, and women rule over them." In the same 
 style of allusions grossly personal, he remarked, that 
 " God justly punished Ahab, because he did not cor- 
 rect his idolatrous wife, the harlot Jezabel." It is 
 singular that Knox never thought of objecting to 
 Mary's marriage with Darnley, till he found that his 
 patron, the Earl of Murray, to whom he was now 
 reconciled, did not approve of it. He had said only 
 a few months before that "The queen being at 
 Stirling, order was given to Secretary Lethington to 
 pass to the Queen of England, to declare to that queen, 
 Mary was minded to marry her cousin, the Lord 
 Darnley ; and the rather, because he was so near of 
 blood to both queens; for, by his mother, he was 
 cousin-german to the Queen of Scotland, also of near 
 kindred and the same name by his father; his 
 mother was cousin-german to the Queen of England. 
 Here, mark God's providence : King James V., having 
 lost his two sons, did declare his resolution to make 
 the Earl of Lennox his heir of the crown; but he 
 prevented by sudden death, that design ceased. 
 Then came the Earl of Lennox from France, with 
 intention to marry King James's widow ; but that 
 failed also : he marries Mary Douglas ; and his son, 
 Lord Darnley, marrieth Queen Mary, King James 
 V.'s daughter : and so the king's desire is fulfilled, 
 viz. the crown continueth in the name and in tho
 
 216 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 family." Knox had changed his opinion (as even 
 Knox could sometimes do), both when he preache-d 
 the above-mentioned sermon, and when, towards the 
 end of August, 1565, he said, that the castle of Edin- 
 burgh was "shooting against the exiled for Christ 
 Jesus' sake."* 
 
 From Linlithgow Mary advanced, with an increas- 
 ing force, first to Stirling, and then to Glasgow. 
 Here she was within a short distance of the rebel 
 army, which, mustering about 1200 strong, had taken 
 its position at Paisley ; " a fine pleasant village," 
 says Keith, " five miles W.S.W. from Glasgow." 
 But Murray, not venturing to attack the royalists, 
 made a circuit of some distance, and, by a forced 
 march, arrived unexpectedly at Edinburgh, where he 
 hoped to increase his force. In this hope he was 
 grievously disappointed. Finding that the provost, 
 who was taken by surprise, had not sufficient strength 
 to keep him without the walls, he entered the city by 
 the west port, and immediately despatched messen- 
 gers for assistance in every direction, and, by beat of 
 drum, called upon all men who wished to receive wages 
 " for the defence of the glory of God" to join his 
 standard. But Knox confesses that few or none re- 
 sorted to him, and that he got little or no support in 
 Edinburgh ; although the preacher himself did all he 
 ' , could for his patron by prayers and exhortations in 
 which he denominated the rebels " the best part of 
 the nobility, and chief members of the Congrega- 
 I tion."f The truth is, that the current of popular 
 I opinion ran directly in favour of Mary ; for the godly 
 earl's real motives were well understood. 
 
 As soon as the queen was made aware that she 
 had missed her enemies, she marched back in pursuit 
 of them at the head of 5000 men, as far as Callander. 
 Murray could only fly from a power which he knew 
 
 * M'Crie's Life of Knox, vol. li. p. 106 ; and Tytler's Inquiry TO. 
 p. 362 and 367. 
 t Knox v <WO
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 217 
 
 ho was not able to withstand. Alarmed by Mary's 
 speedy return, he left Edinburgh, and again passing 
 her on the road, led his followers to Lanark and from 
 thence to Hamilton. With indomitable persevprance 
 the queen retraced her steps to Glasgow, expecting 
 Murray would make an attempt upon that city. But 
 finding there was no safety for him in this part of 
 Scotland he suddenly turned off towards the south, 
 and with as little delay as possible retired into 
 Dumfriesshire. Here, being near the borders, he 
 expected that Elizabeth would send him succour 
 from England, and at all events he could at any time 
 make good his retreat into that country. The prin- 
 cipal noblemen with him were the Duke of Chatelhe- 
 rault, the Earls of Argyle, Glencairn, and Rothes, 
 and the Lords Boyd and Ochiltree. Morton and 
 Maitland remained with the queen ; but the fidelity 
 of both is much to be suspected, though the command 
 of the main body of the royal army was intrusted to 
 the former. The Earl of Lennox led the van, and the 
 queen herself rode with her officers in a suit of light 
 armour, carrying pistols at her saddle-bow; "her : 
 courage," says Knox, " manlike, and always in- I 
 creasing." She did not think it worth while to follow 
 Murray into Dumfriesshire, but preferred leading her 
 army through Fife to St. Andrews, taking possession, 
 on the way, of Castle Campbell, the seat of the rebel 
 lord Argyle. 
 
 Elizabeth in the mean time was far from being 
 inattentive to the interests of her servants in Scot- 
 land. Randolph wrote to Ceci^ that if she would 
 assist them with men and more money, he doubted 
 not but one country would receive both the queens 
 by which he meant, that the rebels would thus be 
 able to fulfil their design of seijding.^MAr^j^isoner 
 into Englaiu].* The Earl ofBedford informetl his 
 mistress of the arrival of her friends on the borders, 
 
 * Keith, Append i*,p 264. 
 
 VOL. I. 1
 
 218 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 and hinted to her that their cause was evidently not 
 very popular in Scotland, and that their force was 
 much inferior to that of Mary. Elizabeth's letter, in 
 answer, is as artful a piece of writing as has ever 
 proceeded even from a female pen. Afraid that she 
 might go too far in assisting the losing party, she re- 
 solved to make it be believed that she acted against 
 them, while in truth she secretly encouraged and 
 supported them. With this view she wrote to Bed- 
 ford, that in consequence of his representations as 
 well as those of Randolph and others, she sent him 
 three thousand pounds ; one thousand of which was 
 to be paid immediately to Murray in the most private 
 way possible, and as if it came from Bedford himself. 
 The remainder was to be kept till occasion required 
 its expenditure. "And where we perceive," she 
 continued, "by your sundry letters, the earnest re- 
 quest of the said Earl of Murray and his associates, 
 that they might have at least 300 of our soldiers to 
 aid them ; and that you also write, that though we 
 would not command you to give them aid, yet if we 
 would but wink at your doing herein, and seem to 
 blame you for attempting such things as you with 
 the help of others should bring about, you doubt not 
 but things would do well, we are content, and do 
 authorize you, if you shall see it necessary for their 
 defence, to let them (as of your own adventure and 
 without notification that you have any direction 
 therein from us) to have the number of 300 soldiers, 
 wherein you shall so precisely deal with them that 
 they may perceive your care to be such as if it should 
 otherwise appear, your danger should be so great 
 as all the friends you have could not be able to save 
 you towards us. And so we assure you our con- 
 science moveth us to charge you so to proceed with 
 them ; and yet we would not that either of these 
 were known to be our act, but rather to be covered 
 with your own desire and attempt." Having further 
 mentioned that she had written lately to Mary, to
 
 QTJEEX OF SCOTS. 219 
 
 assure that princess of her esteem and good-will, 
 Elizabeth boldly affixed her. signature to this memo- 
 rable record of unblushing duplicity.* 
 
 But Mary was not to be lulled into dangerous 
 security. All her operations during this campaign 
 were, as Robertson has remarked, " concerted with 
 wisdom, executed with vigour, and attended with 
 success." At St. Andrews she issued a proclama- 
 tion, exposing the hollowness of the grounds upon 
 which arms had been taken up against her, and 
 showing that religion was only made a cloak to 
 cover other more ungodly designs. Alluding, in 
 particular, to the Earl of Murray, upon whom she 
 had bestowed so many benefits, this proclamation 
 stated that his insatiable ambition was not to be 
 satisfied with heaping riches upon riches, and honour 
 upon honour, unless he should also continue to have, 
 as he had too long had, the queen and the whole 
 realm in his own hands, to be used and governed at 
 his pleasure. ** By letters sent from themselves to 
 us," Mary says, " they make plain profession that 
 the establishment of religion will not content them, 
 but we must perforce be governed by such council 
 as it shall please them to appoint unto us." "The 
 like," she adds, " was never demanded of any our 
 most noble progenitors heretofore, yea, not even of 
 governors or regents ; but the prince or such as oc- 
 cupied his place, ever chose his council of such as he 
 thought most fit for the purpose. When we our- 
 selves were of less age, and at our first arrival in our 
 realm, we had free choice of our council at our plea- 
 sure ; and now, when we are at our full majority 
 shall we be brought back to the state of pupils and 
 minors, or be put under tutelage 1 So long as some 
 of them bore the whole swing with us themselves, 
 this matter was never called in question ; but now, 
 when they cannot be longer permitted to do and undo 
 
 * Robertson, Appendix to vol. i. No*. XII ad X HI.
 
 220 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 all things of their appetite, they will put a bridle in 
 our mouths, and give us a council chosen after their 
 phantasy ! To speak it in plain language, they would 
 be king themselves ; or, at the least, leaving to us the 
 bare name and title, take to themselves the whole use 
 and administration of the kingdom."* 
 
 After levying a small fine of two hundred marks 
 from the town of Dundee, which had given some 
 countenance to the malecontents, Mary and Darnley 
 returned to Edinburgh. They there received such 
 accounts of the increasing strength of the rebels as 
 induced them to determine on marching southwards. 
 Biggar was named as the place of rendezvous for 
 the lieges; and they flocked in such crowds to join 
 the standard of their sovereign, that the queen was 
 enabled to advance towards the borders at the head 
 of an army of 18,000 men. Before this greatly su- 
 perior force Murray and his partisans, including his 300 
 English soldiers, retired to Carlisle. He was closely 
 followed thither, upon which his troops dispersed, 
 and he himself and his friends sought refuge by fly- 
 ing farther into England. Mary, after visiting the 
 castle of Lochmaben, left Bothwell with some troops 
 to watch the borders ; and on the 18th of October 
 returned to Edinburgh with the rest of her army.f 
 
 Of the rebellious nobles thus forced into exile, the 
 Duke of Chatelherault alone was able or willing to 
 make his peace immediately. He and his sons were 
 pardoned on condition of their living abroad ; a de- 
 gree of leniency extended to them by Mary, in oppo- 
 sition to the wishes of the house of Lennox, which 
 was anxious for the entire ruin of the Hamiltons.^ 
 Murray and the rest being kindly received by Bed- 
 ford, fixed their residence at Newcastle, whence the 
 earl himself and the abbot of Kilwinning were de- 
 puted to proceed to the English court, and lay the 
 
 * Keith, Appendix, p. 114. 
 
 ! Keith, p. 316 ; and Chalmers, vol. i. p. 155 
 Chalmers, vol. i. p. 156.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 221 
 
 state of their affairs before Elizabeth, upon whose 
 patronage they conceived they had peculiar claims.. 
 It was, however, no part of Elizabeth's policy to be- 
 friend in their adversity those with whom she had 
 associated herself in more prosperous days. As 
 soon as she heard that Murray was on his way to 
 her court, she wrote to stop him, and to inform him 
 that it was not meet for him to have any " open 
 dealing" with her. But at Bedford's earnest entreaty 
 he was allowed to continue his journey, the object 
 of which he said was to make some proposals for the 
 "common cause."* It was, nevertheless, a long 
 while before he could obtain an audience of the 
 queen ; and when that honour was at length conceded 
 to him, she had the confidence to ask him with aa 
 unruffled countenance, how he, being a rebel to her 
 sister of Scotland, durst have the boldness to come 
 within her realm? Murray, in reply, ventured to 
 speak of the support he had all along received from 
 her; but as this was betraying her policy to her 
 Continental neighbours, it exasperated her to such a 
 degree, that she declared he and his friends should 
 never obtain any thing from her but scorn and 
 neglect, unless he made a public recantation of such 
 an assertion. With this demand both the earl and 
 the abbot had the meanness to comply; and though 
 Sir Nicolas Throckmorton interfered in their be- 
 half, and openly avowed that he had been sent into 
 Scotland expressly to make offers of assistance to 
 the rebel lords, he could not save them from the/ 
 degradation which Elizabeth inflicted. They ap-[ 
 peared before her when she was surrounded by the 
 French and Spanish ambassadors, and impiously 
 affirmed, upon their knees, that her majesty had 
 never moved them to any opposition or resistance 
 against their own queen. As soon as they had 
 uttered this falsehood Elizabeth said to them, 
 
 Chalmera, vol. i. p. 157 ; and Keith, p. 319. 
 
 T2
 
 222 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 ye have told the truth; for neither did I nor any in 
 my name stir you up against your queen. Your 
 abominable treason may serve for example to my own 
 subjects to rebel against me. Therefore, get ye out 
 of my presence ; ye are but unworthy traitors."* 
 
 Sir James Melville, speaking of this affair, says, 
 with his usual quaintness, that " Mary ehasit the rebel 
 lords here and there, till at length they were compellit 
 to flee into England for refuge, to her that had prom- 
 ised, by her ambassadors, to wair (expend) her croun 
 in their defence, in case they were driven to any strait 
 for their opposition to the said marriage." " But 
 Elizabeth," he adds, " handlit the matter sae subtilly 
 and the other twa sae blaitly, that she triumphed both 
 over them and the ambassadors." The deputation 
 returned quite chop-fallen to their friends at New- 
 castle, where they lived for some time in great pov- 
 erty, and very wretchedly. Such were the more 
 immediate results of this piece of juggling on the 
 part of Elizabeth, and justly unsuccessful rebellion 
 on that of Murray. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The Earl of Mortmt* Plot. 
 
 HITHERTO Mary's government had been prosperous 
 and popular. Various difficulties had, no doubt, sur- 
 rounded her; but, by a prudence and perseverance 
 beyond her sex and age, she had so successfully en- 
 countered them, that she fixed herself more firmly 
 than ever on the throne of her ancestors. The mis- 
 fortunes, however, in which all the intrigues of her 
 enemies vainly attempted to involve her, it was Mary's 
 fate to bring upon herself by an act innocent in sc 
 
 * Keith, p. 319; Melville, p. 13S
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 223 
 
 far as regarded her own private feelings, and praise- 
 worthy in its intention to increase and secure the 
 power and happiness of her country. This act was 
 her marriage with Darnley. From this fatal con-* 
 nexion all Mary's miseries took their origin ; and asj 
 the sunshine which has as yet lighted heron hercours0 
 begins to gleam upon it with a sicklier ray, they who) 
 have esteemed her in the blaze of her prosperity 
 will peruse the remainder of her melancholy storyj 
 with a deeper and a tenderer interest. Let it at the] 
 same time be remembered, that the present Memoirsj 
 come not from the pen of a partisan, but are dictated} 
 by a sacred desire to discover and preserve the 
 truth. Mary's weaknesses shall not be concealed 
 but surely, while the common frailties of humanit} 
 thus become the subjects of history, justice imposes 
 the nobler and the more delightful duty of asserting 
 the talents and vindicating the virtues of Scotland's 
 fairest queen. 
 
 It was evident that public affairs could not long 
 continue in the position in which they now stood. 
 With the Earl of Murray and the Hamiltons, the 
 greater number of Mary's most experienced coun- 
 sellors were in a state of banishment. At the head 
 of those who remained was the crafty Earl of Mor- 
 ton, who, though he affected outward allegiance, 
 secretly longed for the return of his old allies and 
 friends of the Protestant party. It was not, indeed, 
 without some show of reason that the professors of 
 the Reformed faith considered their religion to be 
 exposed at the present crisis to hazard. The king 
 now openly supported Popery; the most powerful 
 of the lords of the Congregation were in disgrace; 
 several of the Catholic nobility had lately been re- 
 stored to their honours ; some of the Popish ecclesi- 
 astics had by Mary's influence been allowed to resume 
 their place in parliament; and, above all, ambassa- 
 dors arrived from the French king and her Continental 
 friends, for the express purpose of advising the queen
 
 224 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 to grant no terms to the expatriated nobles, and of 
 making her acquainted with the objects of the Holy 
 League which had been recently formed. This was 
 the league between Charles IX. and his sister the 
 Queen of Spain, with the consent of her husband 
 Philip, and Pope Pius IV., and at the instigation of 
 Catharine de Medicis and the Duke of Alva, to se- 
 cure at whatever cost the suppression of the Reforma- 
 tion throughout Europe. So great a variety of cir- 
 cumstances all seeming to favour the old superstition 
 alarmed the Protestants not a little ; but this alarm 
 was unnecessarily exaggerated, and Mary's inten- 
 tions, which were not known at the time, have been 
 misrepresented since. 
 
 Robertson has asserted that Mary "instantly 
 joined" the Continental confederacy, and was willing 
 to go any length for the restoration of Popery. He 
 would thus have us believe that she was a direct party 
 to the horrible massacre of the Hugonots in France ; 
 and that she would have spared no bloodshed to re- 
 establish in Scotland that form of worship which she 
 herself in conjunction with her parliament had ex- 
 pressly abrogated. Robertson goes further, and 
 maintains, with a degree of absurdity so glaring that 
 we are at a loss to understand why it should never 
 before have been exposed, that " to this fatal resolu- 
 tion (that of joining the anti-protestant confederacy) 
 may be imputed all the subsequent calamities of 
 Mary's life." Why a secret contract which Mary 
 
 I might have made with an ambassadoi from France, 
 the terms or effects of which were never known or 
 felt in any corner of Scotland, should have produced 
 
 ; **all her subsequent calamities," must remain an 
 enigma to those who do not possess the same re- 
 markable facility of tracing effects to their causes 
 which seems to have been enjoyed by Dr. Robertson. 
 But it is extremely doubtful that Mary ever gave 
 either her consent or approbation to this league. 
 Robertson's authorities upon the subject by no means
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 225 
 
 bear him out in his assertions. He affirms, that " she 
 allowed mass to be celebrated in different parts of the 
 kingdom ; and declared that she would have mass free 
 for all men who would hear it." But the first part 
 of this information is supplied by the Englishman 
 Bedford, who was not then in Scotland, and the 
 second rests upon the authority of the insidious Ran- 
 dolph. Robertson likewise mentions, that Black- 
 wood, in his " Martyre de Marie" says, " that the 
 queen intended to have procured in the approaching 
 parliament, if not the re-establishment of the Catho- 
 lic religion, at least something for the ease of Catho- 
 lics." But this announcement of what was intended 
 is so very unimportant, that even if true it requires 
 no refutation ; the more especially, as Blackwood 
 goes on to say, though Robertson stops short, that 
 this " something for the ease of Catholics" was only 
 to be a request that the Protestants would be more 
 tolerant.* Robertson however adds, that "Mary 
 herself, in a letter to the Archbishop of Glasgow, 
 her ambassador in France, acknowledges ' that in 
 that parliament she intended to have done some good 
 with respect to restoring the old religion.' 1 " For this 
 quotation from Mary's letter Robertson refers to 
 Keith ; but upon making th reference, it will be found 
 that he has somewhat unaccountably garbled the 
 original. All that Mary wrote to her ambassador 
 concerning the parliament was, that "the spiritual 
 estate is placed therein in the ancient manner, tend- 
 ing to hare done some good anent restoring the old 
 religion, and to have proceeded against our rebels 
 according to their demerits."! The different shade 
 of meaning which Robertson has given to this pas- 
 sage is rather singular. 
 
 Havingthus seen the weaknessof these preliminary 
 arguments against Mary's willingness to countenance 
 the Reformed faith, it only remains to be inquired, 
 
 * BUckwooil in Jebb, vol. ii. p. 204, 
 t Keith, p. 331.
 
 226 LIFE OF MART 
 
 whether she was a party to the confederacy formed 
 at Bayonne. It will be recollected, that the measures 
 concocted by this confederacy were of the most san- 
 guinary and savage description. It was resolved, 
 "by treachery and circumvention, by fire and the 
 sword, utterly to exterminate the Protestants over 
 Christendom." It might very fairly be asked, and 
 the question would carry with it its own answer, 
 whether such a scheme, uncertain as its results were, 
 and sure to produce in the mean time civil war and 
 confusion wherever its execution was attempted, was 
 at all consistent either with Mary's established policy, 
 or her so earnestly cherished hopes of succession to 
 the English crown ? Robertson, however, says, " she 
 instantly joined the confederacy ;" and Dr. Gilbert 
 Stuart, an historian of greater research and more 
 impartiality, allows himself to believe the same thing. 
 These writers ground their belief on what they have 
 found in Sir James Melville and in Keith. But the 
 former gives us not the slightest reason to suppose 
 that Mary had any thing to do with the league, 
 although he allows that the representations of the 
 French ambassador tended to harden her heart to- 
 wards the Earl of Murray and the other rebels.* It 
 would even appear, by hisHMemoirs, that Mary was 
 never asked to become a party to the confederacy ; 
 for Sir James simply states that the ambassadors came 
 " with a commission to stay the queen in nowise to 
 agree with the lords Protestants that were banished." 
 Conaeus, in his Life of Mary, leaves entirely the same 
 impression, and rather strengthens it.f As to Keith, 
 he nowhere goes tlie length of Robertson or Stuart, 
 merely remarking that the letters from France 
 tended much to hinder the cause of the banished 
 lords. He gives, it is true, in his appendix, an ex- 
 tract of a letter from Randolph to Cecil, in which we 
 find it stated, on the very dubious authority of the 
 
 * Mel ville'i Memoirs, p. 147 t COIUMU in Jebb, vol . 11. p. 25.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 227 
 
 English resident, that the "ban to introduce Popery 
 through all Christendom was signed by Queen 
 Mary." But if Mary had actually done so, it would 
 have been witli the utmost secrecy, and surely, above 
 all, she would have concealed such a step from the 
 spy of Elizabeth. This letter is given at full length 
 by Robertson ; and on perusing the whole, it ex- 
 pressly appears that Randolph spoke only from 
 hearsay ; for he adds, " If the copy of his ban may 
 be gotten, it shall be sent as I conveniently may." 
 In the same letter he mentions that most of the nobles 
 had been asked to attend mass, in compliment to the 
 foreign ambassadors, and that they had all refused ; 
 enumerating, among others, Fleming, Livingstone, 
 Lindsay, Huntly, and Bothwell ; " and of them all, 
 Bothwell is the stoutest, but 'worst thought of." 
 These lords must have had little dread of the conse- 
 quences, else they would not have ventured to refuse. 
 The truth is, Randolph's common practice was, to 
 convert into a fact every report which he knew would 
 be agreeable to Cecil and his mistress ; and so little 
 reliance did they place upon the accuracy of his in- 
 formation that it does not appear Elizabeth ever took 
 any notice of his statement regarding the ban, which 
 she would eagerly have done had it been true. So 
 much, therefore, for Robertson's declaration, that " to 
 this fatal resolution may be imputed all the subse- 
 quent calamities of Mary's life." They would have 
 been few, indeed, had they taken their origin in any 
 countenance she gave to the ferocious wickedness 
 of Continental bigotry.* 
 
 * Dr. Stuart, in support of his statements on this subject, quotes, in 
 addition to the authorities already mentioned, Meieray. "Histoire da 
 France," tome iii.. and Thuanus, "HistoriasuiTemporis," fib. xxxvn. But 
 we suspect he has done so at random ; for on referring to these works, we 
 have been unable to discover any thing which bears upon the matter. Chal- 
 mers, who i* in general acute and explicit enough says that these ambas- 
 sadors came " to advise the queen not to pardon the expatriated nobles ;" 
 vol. ii. p. 15S. Laing, who writes with so much apparent candour and 
 real ability against Mary that he almost makes " the worse appear the 
 better reason," has avoided falling into the gross error of Robertson.
 
 228 LIFE or MAUY 
 
 There does not, then, exist a shadow of proof that 
 Mary contemplated the subversion of the Reformed 
 religion in Scotland, though it may safely be admitted 
 that she was greatly perplexed what course to pur- 
 sue towards the expatriated rebels. On the one hand, 
 Elizabeth petitioned in their behalf, well knowing she 
 could depend on their co-operation as soon as they 
 were again in power; and her petition was warmly 
 supported by Murray's friends in Scotland, some 
 for the sake of religion, many for their own private 
 interests, and a few because they believed his re- 
 turn would be for the good of the country. On the 
 other hand, the Catholic party was delighted to be 
 rid of such formidable adversaries, and their wishes 
 Were enforced by those of Mary's uncle, the Cardinal 
 of Lorraine. Besides, though disposed to be lenient 
 Almost to a fault, she cannot but have felt just indig- 
 riation against men who had so grossly abused her 
 Kindness, and insulted her authority. It was in the 
 riidst of these contending opinions and interests, that 
 a! parliament was summoned, first for the 4th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1566, and afterward promgued till the 7th of 
 March, at which it was determined that, in one way 
 or other, the subject should be set at rest. The mat- 
 ter would then most probably have terminated un- 
 favourably for Murray, had not the whole affair as- 
 sumed a new feature, and been hurried on to an un- 
 expected and violent conclusion, under influences on 
 which it would have been difficult to have calculated. 
 
 Mary had been Damley's wife only a few months, 
 when a painful conviction was forced upon her of the 
 error she had committed in so far as regarded her 
 own happiness, in uniting her fortunes with a youth 
 so weak, headstrong, and inexperienced. The hom- 
 
 . "It would be unjust" he says, "to suppose, thai, upon acceding to the 
 Holy League, for the preservation of the Catholic faith, she was apprized 
 of the full extent of the design to exterminate the Protesiants by a gene- 
 ral massacre throughout Christendom; but the instruclions from her 
 uncle rendered her inexorable towards the banished lords." Laing't 
 Preliminary IHssrrtution to 'ke History of Scotland, vol. i. p. 9.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 229 
 
 age, whether real or affected, which before his mar- 
 riage Darnley paid to Mary, his personal graces and 
 accomplishments, and the care he took to keep as 
 much as possible in the background the numerous 
 defects of his character, had succeeded in securing 
 for him a place in Mary's heart, and, what he consid- 
 ered of greater importance, a share of her throne 
 But as soon as the object of his ambition was obtained 
 the mask was thrown aside. He broke out into a 
 thousand excesses, offended almost all the nobility, 
 and forgetting or misunderstanding the kind of 
 men he had to deal with, cherished a wild and boy- 
 ish desire to make his own will law. He changed 
 from the Protestant to the Catholic religion ; but the 
 Catholics had no confidence in him, while John 
 Knox and the Reformers lifted up their voices loudly 
 against his apostacy. He was addicted to great in- 
 temperance in his pleasures ; was passionately fond 
 of his hounds and hawks, grossly licentious, and much 
 given to drinking. Upon one occasion, his indul- 
 gence in this latter vice made him so far forget him- 
 self, that at a civic banquet where the queen and he 
 were present, he dared to speak to her so brutally, 
 that she left the place in tears.* 
 
 But there were other causes besides the imperfec- 
 tions of Darnley's character which served to sow 
 dissension between him and his young wife. I 
 would be wrong to say jthat they were mutually je'a 
 lous of each other's love of power, for this wouh 
 be to put Mary, who was queen in her own right 
 on an equality with her husband, who had no title 
 to any authority beyond what she chose to confei 
 on him. In the first ardour of her affection, how- 
 ever, she permitted him, with the confiding gene 
 rosity of sincere attachment, to carry every thing his 
 own way ; and he was too conceited and selfish t< 
 appreciate as it deserved the value of the trust sh< 
 thus reposed in him. " All honour," says Randolph 
 
 * Keith, p. 328 and 329. 
 VOL. ,. U
 
 230 LITE OF MARY 
 
 " that may be attributed unto any man by a wife, he 
 hath it wholly and fully, all praise that may be 
 spoken of him, he lacketh not from herself, all 
 dignities that she can endow him with are already 
 given and granted. No man pleaseth her that con- 
 tenteth 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."* This was 
 nothing more than the conduct naturally to be ex 
 pected from a woman who warmly loved her husband, 
 and who, in the ingenuous integrity of her heart, 
 believed him worthy of her love. Had this indeed 
 been the case, no evil consequences could have re- 
 sulted from the excess of kindness she lavished on 
 him ; but with all his fair exterior, Darnley was in- 
 capable of understanding or estimating aright the 
 mind and dispositions of Mary Stuart. Had he even 
 in part answered the expectations she had formed of 
 him, had he listened to the prudent counsels of Sir 
 James Melville, and others whom Mary requested he 
 would associate near his person, and had he con- 
 tinued those affectionate attentions which she had a 
 right to expect, but had far too proud a spirit to ask, 
 he might have obtained from her every honour he 
 desired. But what she felt that slighted love did not 
 call upon her to yield it was in vain to expect to win 
 from her by force or fear; and the consequence was, 
 that about this time, what was technically termed 
 the crown-matrimonial became a great source of dis- 
 sension between herself and her husband. 
 
 On the day that Mary gave her hand to Darnley, 
 she conferred upon him the title of King of Scotland; 
 and his name in all public writs was signed, in some 
 before and in others after her own. The public coin 
 of the realm issued subsequent to the marriage also 
 contained his name.f But though Darnley had the 
 
 Goodall, vol. I. p. 222. 
 
 f Several of these pennies, an they were called, both or gold and silver, 
 remain to tins day; and sonic of them have been already noticed. In
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 231 
 
 title, and to a certain extent the authority of a king, 
 it was never Mary's intention to surrender to him an 
 influence in the administration greater than her own. 
 This was the object, however, at which his discon- 
 tented and restless spirit aimed, and it was to achieve 
 it that he demanded the crown-matrimonial, A term 
 used only by Scottish historians, by many of whom 
 its exact import does not appear to have been under- 
 stood. In its more limited acceptation, it seems to 
 have conferred upon the husband who married a 
 wife of superior rank the whole of her power and 
 dignity so long as their union continued. Thus, if a 
 countess married an esquire, he might become, by 
 the marriage-contract, a matrimonial earl; and 
 during the life of the countess, her authority was 
 vested in her husband as entirely as if he had been 
 an earl by birth. But it was in a more extended 
 sense that Darnley was anxious for this matrimonial 
 dignity. Knowing it to be consistent with the laws 
 of Scotland that a person who married an heiress 
 should keep possession of her estate, not only during 
 his wife's life but till his own death, he was desirous 
 of having a sovereign sway secured in his own per- 
 son, even though Mary died without issue. In the 
 first warmth of her attachment to Darnley, the queen 
 might have been willing, with the consent of parlia- 
 ment, to gratify his ambition; but as soon as his 
 unstable and ill-regulated temper betrayed itself, she 
 felt that she was called upon, both for her own sake 
 and that of the country, to refuse his request. 
 
 DecenV >er, 1563, there was stamped a silver penny, called the Mary rial, 
 bearing on one side a tree, with the motto, Dot gloria nreg; and the cir- 
 cumscription, Etsurgat Deus, tt dissipentur inimiei tin* ; and on the 
 other, Maria et Henrietta, Dei Gratia, Regina et Rrx Scnfnriim. Speak- 
 infoflhia coin, Keith .says, that "the famous ewe-tree of Crookslon, the 
 inheritance of llie family of Darnley, in the parish of Paisl'-y, is made the 
 reverse of this new coin ; and the inscription about the tree, Dnf gloria 
 vires, is no doubt with a view to reflect honour on the Lennox firmly. 
 This tree," he adds, " which stands to this day, is of so large * trunk, and 
 so well spread in its branrhes, that it is seen at several miles' distance." 
 -Keith, p. 327, and Appendix, p. 113, It stands no longer.
 
 232 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 The more opposition Darnley experienced the 
 more anxious he became, as is frequently the case, 
 to accomplish his wishes. It was now for the first 
 time that he found Rizzio's friendship fail him. 
 That Italian, whom the bigotry of the Reformers and 
 the ignorant prejudices of more recent historians 
 have buried under a weight of undeserved abuse, 
 was one of the most faithful servants Marv ever had. 
 He approved of her marriage with Darnley for state 
 reasons, and had in consequence incurred the hatred 
 of Murray and his party, while Darnley, on the con- 
 trary, had courted and supported him. But Rizzio 
 loved his mistress too well to wish to see her husband 
 become her master. His motives, it is true, may 
 not have been altogether disinterested. He knew 
 he was a favourite with Mary, and that he would re- 
 tain his situation at court so long as her influence 
 was paramount ; but he had not the same confidence 
 in the wayward and vacillating Darnley, who was 
 too conceited to submit to be ruled, and too weak to 
 be allowed to govern. The consequence naturally 
 was, that a coldness took place between them, and 
 that the consideration with which Mary continued 
 to treat Rizzio, as her foreign secretary, only served 
 to increase Darnley's disaffection. 
 
 Such was the state of matters, when the Earl of 
 Morton, secretly supported by Maitland, and more 
 openly by the Lords Ruthven and Lindsay, deter- 
 mined on making use of Darnley's discontent to for- 
 ward his own private interests and those of some of 
 his political friends. His object was, in the first 
 place, to strengthen his own party in the government 
 by securing the return of Murray, Argyle, Rothes, 
 and the other banished lords ; and, in the second, to 
 prevent certain enactments from being passed in the 
 approaching parliament, by which Mary intended to 
 restore to her ecclesiastics a considerable portion of 
 church lands, which he himself and other rapacious 
 noblemen had unjustly appropriated. These posses-
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 233 
 
 sions were to be retained only by saving vhe rebels 
 from the threatened forfeitures, and thus securing a 
 majority in parliament. But Mary, with a firmness 
 which was the result of correct views of good govern^ 
 ment, was now finally resolved not to pardon Mur- 
 ray and his accomplices. For offences of a far less 
 serious nature, Elizabeth was every month sending 
 her subjects to the block ; and it would have argued / 
 imbecility and fickleness in the Queen of Scots so 
 soon to have forgotten the treachery of her own and ! 
 her husband's enemies. There was scarcely one of 
 her ministers, except Rizzio, who had the courage 
 and the good sense to confirm her in these senti-' 
 ments; and he continued to retain his own opinion 
 both in this affair and that of the crown-matrimonial, 
 notwithstanding the open threats of Darnley, the 
 mysterious insinuations of Morton, and the attempt 
 at bribery on the part of Murray. This last noble- 
 man, who had played the hypocrite so abjectly be- 
 fore Elizabeth and her court, did not scruple, in his 
 selfish humility, to offer his respects and to send 
 presents to one whom he had always been accus- 
 tomed to call, in the language of his historian Bu- 
 chanan, "an upstart fellow," "a base miscreant," 
 " a contemptible mushroom," and to whom he had 
 never before given any thing but " a sour look."* 
 
 It may therefore be said, that there were at this 
 time four powerful parties connected with Scotland ; 
 Maiy was at the head of one, Morton of another, 
 Darnley of a third, and Murray of the fourth. 
 But so long as the queen retained her ascendency, 
 the her three factions could have little hope of 
 arriving at their respective objects. Mutually to 
 strengthen each other, a coalition very naturally 
 suggested itself, founded upon the principle of a reci- 
 procity of benefits. The idea was soon matured, 
 and the plan of operations concocted with a secrecy 
 
 Buchanan's Hiftory ; Melville's Memoirs > Keith, p. 329. 
 
 bl 
 
 ,
 
 234 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 and callous cruelty worthy of Morton. The usual 
 expedient was adopted, of drawing up and signing a 
 formal bond or set of articles which were entered 
 into between Henry, King of Scotland, and James, 
 Earl of Murray, Archibald, Earl of Argyle, Andrew, 
 Earl of Rothes, Robert, Lord Boyd, Andrew, Lord 
 Ochiltree, arid certain others "remaining in Eng- 
 land ;" in which it was stipulated, on the part of the 
 lords, that at the first parliament which should be 
 held after their return, they should take such steps 
 as would secure to Darnley a grant of the crown- 
 matrimonial for all the days of his life ; and that, 
 whoever opposed this grant, they should " seek, 
 pursue, and extirpate out of the realm of Scotland, 
 or take and slay them," language, it will be ob- 
 served, which had a more direct application to Mary 
 than to any one else. On the part of Darnley, and 
 in return for these favours, it was declared, that he 
 should not allow, inasmuch as in him lay, any for- 
 feiture to be led against them ; and that, as soon as 
 he obtained the crown-matrimonial he should give 
 them a free remission for all crimes, taking every 
 means to remove and punish any one who opposed 
 such remission.* In plain language, these articles 
 implied neither more nor less than high-treason, and 
 place Darnley's character, both as a husband and a 
 man, in the very worst point of view, showinghim as 
 a husband to be wofully deficient in natural affection, 
 and as a man to be destitute of honour and incapable 
 of gratitude. 
 
 Morton's intrigues having proceeded thus far, 
 there seemed to be only one other step necessary to 
 secure for him the accomplishment of his purposes. 
 Mary, strong in the integrity of her own intentions, 
 and in the popularity of her administration, did not 
 suspect the seciet machinations which were carried 
 on around her ; and of this over-degree of confidence 
 
 * Goodall,YOl.Lp.227.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 235 
 
 iu the stability of her resources Morton determined 
 to take advantage. He saw that a change in the 
 government must be effected at whatever risk, though 
 he knew that nothing but a sudden and violent mea- 
 sure could bring it about. It was now February: 
 parliament was to meet on the 7th of March, and. on 
 the 12th the trial of the absent lords was to come on ; 
 and after they had been forfeited, the church-lands 
 would be restored to their rightful owners. If 
 Mary's person, however, could be seized, if her 
 principal anti-protestant ministers could be removed 
 from about her, and if Darnley could be invested 
 for a time with the supreme command, these disagree 
 able consequences might be averted, and the parlia- 
 ment might be either prorogued or intimidated into 
 submission. But without a shadow of justice to 
 have openly ventured upon putting the queen in 
 ward would have been too daring and dangerous. 
 A scheme therefore was formed, by which, under the 
 pretence of caring for her personal safety, and pro- 
 tecting the best interests of the country, she was to 
 be kept as long as they should think necessary from 
 exercising her own independent authority. By this 
 scheme it was resolved to make David Rizzio the 
 victim and the scapegoat of the conspiracy. Morton 
 and his accomplices well knew that Rizzio was 
 generally hated throughout Scotland. The Re- 
 formers, in particular, exaggerating his influence 
 with the queen, delighted in representing him as the 
 minion of the pope and the servant of antichrist, and 
 there were no terms of abuse too gross which they 
 did not direct against the unfortunate Italian. It 
 would, therefore, give a popular effect to the whole 
 enterprise, were it to be believed that it was under- 
 taken principally for the sake of ridding the country 
 from so hateful an interloper. Many historians, con- 
 founding the effect with the cause, have been puzzled 
 to explain why Rizzio's murder should have led so 
 immediately to the return of Murray and his friends ;
 
 236 LIFE OP MARY 
 
 they forget that it was, on the contrary, a determi- 
 nation to secure their return, and to discover a plau- 
 sible pretext for retaining Mary a prisoner in her own 
 palace, that led to the murder. 
 
 In the mean time, Rizzio was not without some 
 apprehensions for his personal safety. The Scots, 
 though they seldom evince much reluctance to se- 
 cure their own advancement in foreign countries, 
 are of all nations the most averse to allow strangers 
 to interfere with their affairs at home. Aware that 
 they have little enough for themselves, they cannot 
 bear to see any part of what they consider their birth- 
 right given away to aliens, however deserving. 
 Rizzio's abilities, and consequent favour with the 
 queen, were the means of placing in his hands so 
 much power and wealth, that he incurred the hatred 
 and envy of almost every one about court. In the 
 homely but expressive language of Melville, " some 
 of the nobility would gloom upon him, and some of 
 them would shoulder him and shoot him by, when 
 they entered in the chamber, and found him ahvayt 
 speaking with her majesty." Buchanan, that able 
 but most prejudiced and disingenuous historian, ex- 
 pressing the prevalent sentiments of the day, says 
 that " the low birth and indigent condition of this man 
 placed him in a station in which he ought naturally to 
 have remained unknown to posterity; but that which 
 fortune called him to act and to suffer in Scotland 
 obliges history to descend from its dignity to record 
 his adventures." As if "low birth and indigent con- 
 dition" have ever been, or will ever be, barriers suffi- 
 cient to shut out genius and talent from the road to 
 gre;itness. But Riz/io was in truth far from being 
 of that officious, conceited, and encroaching disposi- 
 tion which Buchanan has ascribed to him. Sir James 
 Melville, who knew him well, gives quite an opposite 
 impression of his character. He mentions, that, not 
 without some fear, Rizzio lamented his state to him, 
 and asked his counsel fc u ' to conduct himself. Sii
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 237 
 
 James told him, that strangers ought to be cautious 
 how they meddled too far in the affairs of foreign 
 countries; for that, though he was her majesty's Con- 
 tinental secretary, it was suspected a great deal of 
 Scottish business also passed through his hands. "I 
 advised him," says Melville, " when the nobility were 
 present, to give them place, and pray the queen's 
 majesty to be content therewith ; and showed him 
 for an example, how I had been in so great favour 
 with the Elector Palatine that he caused set me at 
 his own table, and the board being drawn, used to 
 confer with me in presence of his whole court. 
 Whereat divers of them took great indignation 
 against me, which, so soon as I perceived, I re- 
 quested him to let me sit from his own table with 
 the rest of his gentlemen, and no more to confer 
 with me in their presence, but to send a page for me, 
 any time that he had leisure, to come to him in his 
 chamber; which I obtained, and that way made my 
 master not to be hated, nor myself to be envied ; and 
 willed him to do the like, which he did, and said unto 
 me afterward, that the queen would not suffer him, 
 but would needs have him to use himself in the old 
 manner." Melville then spoke to Mary herself upon 
 the subject, and she expressly told him, that Signor 
 David Rizzio " meddled no further but in her French 
 writings and affairs, as her other French secretary 
 had done before."* 
 
 Rizzio's religion was another reason why he was 
 BO very unpopular. It was confidently asserted that 
 he was in the pay of the pope ; and that he was in 
 close correspondence with the Cardinal of Lorraine. 
 Be this as it may, the support he undoubtedly gave, 
 so far as lay in his power, to the Scottish Catholics, 
 was of itself enough, in these times of bigotry, to 
 make his assassination be considered almost a virtue. 
 Besides, there were some more personal and private 
 
 * MelTille'B Memoirs, p. 132 and 133.
 
 238 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 grounds for Morton and his friends wishing to get 
 rid of the secretary. There is a remarkable passage 
 in Blackwood's Martyre de Marie, by which it would 
 appear, that it was not the original intention of the 
 conspirators to assassinate Rizzio, but merely to se- 
 cure the person of Mary ; and that it was in conse- 
 quence of Rizzio's fidelity to the queen, and refusal 
 to sanction such a proceeding, that they afterward 
 changed their plan. " The Earl of Morton," says 
 Blackwood, " had apartments in the royal palace.* 
 There lodged there also her majesty's secretary, 
 David Rizzio, a Piedmontese, and a man of great 
 experience, and well versed in affairs of state. He 
 was much respected by his mistress, not for any 
 beauty or external grace that was in him, being 
 rather old, ugly, austere, and disagreeable, but for 
 his great fidelity, wisdom, and prudence, and on ac- 
 count of several other good qualities which adorned 
 his mind. But, on the other hand, his master (the 
 king) hated* him greatly, both because he had 
 laboured to effect the re-establishment of the house 
 of Hamilton" (the Duke of Chatelherault, it will be 
 recollected, was the only one of the rebels who had 
 been pardoned), " and because he had not only re- 
 fused to become a party to, but had even revealed to 
 the queen a certain conspiracy that had been con- 
 cluded on between his highness and the rebels, by 
 which it was resolved to shut up her majesty in a 
 castle, under good and sure guard, that Darnley 
 might gain for himself all authority, and the entire 
 government df the kingdom. My Lord Ruthven, the 
 head of this conspiracy, entertained the greatest ill- 
 will against the poor secretary, because he had nei- 
 ther dared nor been able to conceal from her majesty, 
 that he had found Ruthven and all the conspirators 
 assembled together in council in a small closet, and 
 
 * We translate from the original French of an edition of the Martyre 
 de la Roynr. iCEscoxae, printed at Antwerp in the year 1583, which vei v 
 nearly agrees with the edition in Jebb, vol. ii. p. 203.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOT8. 239 
 
 had heard her husband express himself with especial 
 violence and chagrin. Besides, Morton, fearing 
 greatly the foresight and penetration of this man, 
 whom he knew to be entirely opposed to his designs, 
 resolved to accomplish his death, and in so doing 
 comply with the advice which had been given him 
 by the English court." This is a passage of much 
 interest, and puts in a clear and strong point of view 
 the treasonable designs of this formidable con- 
 spiracy.* 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The Assassination of David Rizzio. 
 
 IT was on the evening of Saturday the 9th of 
 March, 15G6,f that the conspirators determined to 
 strike the blow which was either to make or mar 
 them. The retainers of Morton, and the other 
 lords his accomplices, assembled secretly in the 
 neighbourhood of the palace, to the number of nearly 
 five hundred. They were all armed, and when it 
 became dark, Morton, who took the command, led 
 
 Buchanan alone, of all the Scottish historians, has dared to insinuate 
 the probability or an illicit intercourse having subsisted between Mary 
 and Rizzin ; and the calumny is too gelf-evulertly false to merit a mo- 
 ment's notice. Every respectable writer reprobates so disgusting a 
 piece of scandal, however unfavourably inclined towards Mary in olhet 
 respects. Camden, Caslelnau, Robertson, Hume, Tytler, I.aing, and Dr. 
 Stuart, all of whom think it worth while to advert to the subject in 
 notes, nut the falsehood of Buchanan's assertion beyond the most dis- 
 tant shadow of a doubt. Indeed, it is paying it too great a compliment to 
 advert to it at all. 
 
 t Miss Benger, oddly enough, says, it was on Saturday the 5th of 
 April ; a mistake into which no other historian with whom we are ac- 
 quainted Ins fallen. Miss Benger's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 233. 
 
 t The parliament had met upon the 7th, and Mary had opened it 
 In person, unattended by Darnlcy, who refused to give it his c<.unte- 
 nance ; but no business of importance had a* yet been transacted.
 
 240 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 them into the interior court of Holyrood House,which, 
 in his capacity of lord high chancellor of the king- 
 dom, he was able to do without much difficulty or 
 suspicion. It had been arranged, that he should 
 remain to guard the entry to the palace, while 
 Ruthven, with a select party, was to proceed to the 
 queen's chamber. Patrick Lord Ruthven was ex 
 actly the sort of person suited for a deed of cow- 
 ardice and cruelty, being by nature cursed with dis- 
 positions which preferred bigotry to religion, and 
 barbarism to refinement. He was now in the forty- 
 sixth year of his age, and had been for some months 
 confined to a sick-bed by a dangerous disease.* 
 Though scarcely able to walk, he nevertheless un- 
 dertook to head the assassins. He wore a helmet, 
 and a complete suit of armour concealed under a 
 loose robe.f 
 
 Mary, altogether unsuspicious of the tragedy about 
 to be performed, sat down to supper as usual at seven 
 o'clock. There were with her only her illegitimate 
 sister, the Countess of Argyle, her brother the Lord 
 Robert Stuart, and her foreign secretary, David 
 Rizzio. Beaton, her master of the household, Ers- 
 kine, an inferior attendant, and one or two other ser- 
 vants of the privy chamber, were in waiting at a 
 side-table : or, in the words of Stranguage, " tasting 
 the meat taken from the queen's table at the cupboard, 
 as the servants of the -privy chamber used to do."J 
 It is a curious and interesting fact, that notwithstand- 
 ing all the changes which time has wrought on the 
 palace of Holyrood, the very cabinet in which Mary 
 supped on this eventful evening, as well as the ad- 
 joining rooms and passages through which the con- 
 spirators came, still exist, in nearly the same state 
 in which they were in the year 1566. The principal 
 
 * This disease was " an inflammation of the liver, and a consump- 
 tion or the kidneys." Keith, Appendix, p. 119. 
 
 f Blackwood in Jebb, vol. ii. p. 204 ; Ooodall, vol. i. p. 252 
 j Stranguage, p. 33 ; Crawford's Memoirs, p. 9.
 
 QUEEN OP SCOTS. 241 
 
 staircase in the north-west tower leads up to the 
 queen's chamber of presence ; passing through this 
 apartment, a door opens into Mary's bedroom where 
 her own bed yet stands, although its furniture is now 
 almost in tatters. It was in the small closet or cabi- 
 net off her bedroom, containing one window, and 
 only about twelve feet square, that Mary sat at sup- 
 per on the 9th of March, two hundred and sixty-five 
 years ago. Communicating with Darnley's chamber 
 immediately beneath, there was and is a private pas- 
 sage into Mary's bedroom, by which it could be 
 entered without previously passing through the pres- 
 ence-chamber. The approach to this passage from 
 the queen's room is concealed by a piece of wainscot, 
 little more than a yard square, which hangs upon 
 hinges in the wall, and opens on a trap-stair. It had 
 been originally proposed to seize Rizzio in his own 
 apartment; but this plan was abandoned, for two 
 reasons ; first, because it was less certain, since it 
 was often late before Rizzio retired for the night, 
 since he sometimes did not sleep in his own room at 
 all, but in that of another Italian belonging to the 
 queen's household, named Signor Francis, and since 
 there were back-doors and windows, through which 
 he might have effected his escape ; and, second, be- 
 cause it would not have so much intimidated Mary, 
 and would have made it necessary to em ploy another 
 party to secure her person the chief object of the 
 conspirators.* 
 
 To ascertain whether there was any thing to hinder 
 the execution of their design, Darnley about eight 
 o'clock went up the private stairs, and entering the 
 small room where his wife was supping sat down 
 familiarly beside her. He found, as he expected, his 
 victim Rizzio in attendance, who, indeed, owing to 
 bad health and the little estimation in which he was 
 held by the populace, seldom went beyond the pre- 
 
 * Keith. Appendix, p. 122. 
 
 VOL. I. X
 
 242 I.IFE OF MARY 
 
 sincts of the palace.* He was dressed this evening 
 in a loose robe-de-chambre of furred damask, with a 
 satin doublet, and a hose of russet velvet ; and he 
 wore a rich jewel about his neck, which was never 
 heard of after his death.f The conspirators, having 
 allowed sufficient time to elapse to be satisfied that 
 all was as they wished, followed the king up the pri- 
 vate way, which they chose in order to avoid any of 
 the domestics who might have been in the presence- 
 chamber, and given an alarm. They were headed 
 by the Lord Ruthven, and George Douglas, an ille- 
 gitimate son of the late Earl of Angus, and the bas- 
 tard brother of Darnley's mother, the Lady Lenox ; 
 a person of the most profligate habits, and an apt 
 instrument, in the hands of the Earl of Morton. 
 These men, followed by as many of their accomplices 
 as could crowd into the small room where Mary sat, 
 entered abruptly and without leave ; while the re- 
 mainder, to the number of nearly twoscore, col- 
 lected in her bedroom. Ruthven, with his heavy 
 armour rattling upon his lank and exhausted frame, 
 and looking as grim and fearful as an animated corpse, 
 stalked into the room first, and threw himself uncere- 
 moniously into a chair. The queen with indignant 
 amazement demanded the meaning of this insolent 
 intrusion, adding, that he came with the countenance 
 and in the garb of one who had no good deed in his 
 mind. Turning his hollow eyes upon Rizzio, Ruth- 
 ven answered, that he intended evil only to the vil- 
 lain who stood near her. On hearing these words, 
 Rizzio saw that his doom was fixed, and lost all 
 presence of mind ; but Mary, through whose veins 
 flowed the heroic blood of James V. and his warlike 
 ancestors, retained her self-possession. She turned 
 to her husband and called upon him for protection ; 
 but perceiving that he was disposed to remain a 
 
 * ConeiMin Jebb, vol. li. p. 25. 
 
 t Robertson's Appendix to vol. L No. xv.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 
 
 passive spectator of the scene, she ordered Ruthven 
 to withdraw under pain of treason, promising, that if 
 Rizzio was accused of any crime, it should be in- 
 quired into by the parliament then assembled. Ruth- 
 ven replied only by heaping upon the unfortunate 
 secretary a load of abuse ; and in conclusion declared 
 the determination of the conspirators to make them- 
 selves masters of Rizzio's person. Rizzio, scarcely 
 knowing what he did, pressed close into the recess 
 at the window, with his dagger drawn in one hand, 
 and clasping the folds of Mary's gown with the other. 
 In spite of every threat, he remained standing behind 
 her, and continually exclaiming in his native lan- 
 guage, and in great agitation, Givstizia ! Givstizia ! 
 Mary's own person was thus exposed to considerable 
 danger, and the assassins desired Darnley to take his 
 wife in his arms and remove her out of the way. 
 The confusion and terror of the scene now increased 
 a hundredfold ; the master of the household and 
 the three or four servants of the privy-chamber at- 
 tempted to turn Lord Ruthven out of the room ; his 
 followers, rushing to his support, overturned the sup- 
 per-table, threw down the dishes and the candles, 
 and with hideous oaths announced their resolution 
 to murder Rizzio. Their own impetuosity might 
 have frustrated their design ; for, had not the Countess 
 of Argyle caught one of the candles in her hand as 
 it was falling, they would have been involved in 
 darkness, and their victim might have escaped. 
 
 The first man who struck Rizzio was George 
 Douglas. Swords and daggers had been drawn, and 
 pistols had been presented at him and at the queen ; 
 but no blow was given, till Douglas, seizing the dirk 
 which Darnley wore at his side, stabbed Rizzio over 
 Mary's shoulder, though at the moment she was not 
 aware of what he had done. The unhappy Italian 
 was then forcibly dragged out into the bedroom, 
 and through the presence-chamber, where the con- 
 spirators, gathering about him, speedily completed
 
 244 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 the bloody deed, leaving in his body no fewer than 
 fifty-six wounds. He lay weltering in his gore at 
 the door of the presence-chamber for some time; 
 and a few large dusky spots, whether occasioned by 
 his blood or not, are to this day pointed out, which 
 stain that part of the floor. The body was after- 
 ward thrown down the stairs, and carried from the 
 palace to the porter's lodge, with the king's dagger 
 still sticking in his side. He was obscurely buried 
 next day ; but subsequently more honourably, near 
 the royal vault in Holyrood chapel.* 
 
 Such was the unhappy end of one who, having 
 come into Scotland poor and unbefriended, had been 
 raised, through the queen's penetration and his own 
 talents, to an honourable office, the duties of which 
 he discharged with fidelity. If his rise was sudden, 
 his fall was more so ; for up to the very day of his 
 assassination many of the Scottish nobility, says 
 Buchanan, " sought his friendship, courted him, ad- 
 mired his judgment, walked before his lodgings, and 
 observed his levee." But death no sooner put an 
 end to his influence than the memory of the once- 
 
 * Keith, p. 330; Appendix, p. 119; Melville's Memoirs, p. 148; Bu- 
 chanan's History of Scotland, book xvii. ; Martyre de Marie, in Jebb, 
 vol. ii. p. 204 ; Knox, p. 392; Holinshed's Chronicles, p. 382; Robert- 
 son, appendix to vol. i. No. xv. Some historians have maintained that 
 Rizzin was actually despatched in Mary's presence ; but this is not the 
 Tact, Tor Mary remained ignorant of his fate till next day. In a letter 
 which the Earl of Bedford and Randolph wrote to the privy council of 
 England, giving an account of this muidcr, and which has been pub- 
 lished in the first series of " Ellis's Original Letters, illustrative of Eng- 
 lish History" (vol. ii. p. 207), we find these words: " He was not slain 
 in the queen'x presence, as was said." Holinshed and others are 
 equally explicit. Ii has been likewise said, that it was not intended to 
 have k-llrii him that evening, but to have tried him next day. and then 
 lo have hanged or beheaded him publicly. That there is no foundation 
 for this assertion is proved by the authorities quoted above ; and to these 
 may be added the letter from Morton and Rulhven toThrockmorton, and 
 "llie bond of assurance for the murder lo be committed" granted by 
 Darnley to the conspirator* on the 1st of March, both preserved by 
 Goodall, vol. i. p. 2ft4 and 26(5. That the conspirators meant, as others 
 have insisted, to take advantage of the situation in which Mary then 
 was. and terrify her into a miscarriage, which might have ended in her 
 death, is unsupported by any evidence; nor can we see what purpose* 
 ucb a design would have answered.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 245 
 
 envied Italian was calumniated upon all hands. 
 Knox even speaks approvingly of his murder (as he 
 had formerly done of that of Cardinal Beaton), as- 
 suring us that he was slain by those whom " God 
 raised up to do the same" an error indicating a 
 distorted moral perception, from the reproach con- 
 sequent on which his biographer, M'Crie, has un- 
 successfully endeavoured to defend him.* The 
 Reformer adds to his notice of Rizzio a story which 
 suits well the superstitious character of the times, 
 and which Buchanan has repeated. He mentions 
 that there was a certain John Daniot, a French 
 priest and a reputed conjurer, who told Rizzio "to 
 beware of a bastard." Rizzio, supposing he alluded 
 to the Earl of Murray, answered, that no bastard 
 should have much power in Scotland so long as he 
 lived; but the prophecy was considered to be ful- 
 filled, when it was known that the bastard Douglas 
 was the first who stabbed him.f 
 
 In the mean time the Earl of Morton, who had 
 been left below to guard the gates, being informed 
 that Rizzio was slain, and that Ruthven and Daniley 
 retained possession of the queen's person, made 
 an attempt to seize several of the nobility who 
 lodged in the palace, and whom he knew to be un- 
 favourable to his design of restoring the banished 
 lords. Whether it was his intention to have put 
 them also to death it is difficult to say ; but it is at 
 all events not likely that he would have treated them 
 with much leniency. The noblemen in question, 
 however, who were the Earls of Huntly, Bothwell, 
 and Athol, the Lords Fleming and Livingstone, and 
 Sir James Balfour, contrived, not without much dif- 
 ficulty, to effect their escape. The two first let 
 themselves down by ropes at a back window ; Athol, 
 who was supping in the town with Maitland, was 
 
 Vide M'Crie's Life of Knox, vol. i. p 47. 
 t Knox, p. 339 ; Buchanan, book xvii 
 
 xa
 
 246 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 apprized of his danger, and did not return to Holy- 
 rood that night. He or some of the fugitives 
 hastened to the provost of Edinburgh, and informed 
 him of the treasonable pioceedings at the palace. 
 The alarm-bell was immediately rung ; and the civic 
 authorities, attended by five or six hundred of the 
 loyal citizens, hastened down to Holyrood, and 
 called upon the queen to show herself and assure 
 them of her safety. But Mary, who was kept a 
 prisoner in the closet in which she had supped, was 
 not allowed to answer this summons, the conspira- 
 tors well knowing what would have been the conse- 
 quences. On the contrary, as she herself afterward 
 wrote to her ambassador in France, she was " ex- 
 tremely threatened by the traitors, who, in her face, 
 declared that if she spoke to the townspeople they 
 would cut her in collops and cast her over the walls." 
 Darnley went to the window, and informed the 
 crowd that he and the queen were well, and did not 
 require their assistance ; and Morton and Ruthven 
 told them that no harm had been done, and besought 
 them to return home, which, upon these assurances, 
 they consented to do. 
 
 A scene of mutual recrimination now took place 
 between Mary and her husband, which was pro- 
 longed by the rude and gross behaviour of Ruthven. 
 That barbarian, returning to the queen's apartment, 
 after having imbrued his hands in the blood of Riz- 
 zio, called for a cup of wine, and having seated him- 
 self, drained it to the dregs, while Mary stood be- 
 side him. Being somewhat recovered from the 
 extreme terror she had felt when she saw her secre- 
 tary dragged away by the assassins, she rebuked 
 Ruthven for his unmannerly conduct ; but he only 
 added insulting language to the crimes he had 
 already committed. Perceiving, however, that her 
 majesty was again growing sick and ill (and even 
 without considering, what the conspirators well 
 knew, that she was in the seventh month of her
 
 QDEEN OF SCOTS. 
 
 prtgnancy, her indisposition will excite little won- 
 der), he proposed to the king that they should re- 
 tire, taking- care to station a sufficiently strong 
 guard at the door of Mary's chamber. "All that 
 night," says Mary, " we were detained in cap- 
 tivity within our chamber, and not permitted to 
 have intercommunion scarcely with our servant- 
 women."* 
 
 Next morning, although it was Sunday, the con- 
 spirators issued a proclamation in the king's name, 
 and without asking the queen's leave, proroguing 
 the parliament, and commanding all the temporal 
 and spiritual lords who had come to attend it to 
 retire from Edinburgh. Illegal as it was, this proc- 
 lamation was obeyed; for Morton and his accom- 
 plices had the executive power in their own hands, 
 and Mary's more faithful subjects were taken so 
 much by surprise that they were unable to offer any 
 immediate resistance. Alary herself was still kept 
 in strict confinement; and the only attempt she 
 could make to escape, which was through the assist- 
 ance of Sir James Melville, failed. Sir James was 
 allowed to leave the palace early on the forenoon 
 of Sunday ; and as he passed towards the outer gate 
 Mary happened to be looking over her window, and 
 called upon him imploringly for help. " I drew 
 near unto the window," ays Melville, " and asked 
 what help lay in my power, for that I should give. 
 She said, * Go to the Provost of Edinburgh, and bid 
 him, in my name, convene the town with speed, and 
 come and relieve me out of these traitors' hands; 
 but run fast, for they will stay you.' " The words 
 were scarcely spoken, before some of the guards 
 came up, and challenged Sir James. He told them, 
 he " was only passing to the preaching in St. Giles's 
 kirk ;" and they allowed him to proceed. He went 
 direct to the provost, and delivered his commission 
 
 * Keilh, p. 332, and Appendix, 128
 
 248 
 
 from the queen ; but the provost protested he did not 
 know how to act, for he had received contrary com- 
 mands from the king; and besides, the people, he 
 said, were not disposed to take up arms to revenge 
 Rizzio's death. Sir James was therefore reluctantly 
 obliged to send word to Mary, by one of her ladies, 
 that he could not effect her release. In the course 
 of the day Mary was made acquainted with Rizzio's 
 fate, and she lamented the death of her faithful ser- 
 vant with tears. Between seven and eight in the 
 evening, the Earls of Murray and Rothes, with the 
 other banished lords, arrived from England. During 
 the whole of the night and all next day the queen 
 was kept as close a prisoner as before. 
 
 Morton and his accomplices, however, now found 
 themselves in a dilemma. They had succeeded in 
 bringing home their rebel friends, in proroguing or 
 dissolving the parliament, in conferring upon Damley 
 all the power he wished, in murdering Rizzio, and in 
 chasing from court the nobles who had formed part 
 of the administration along with him. But to effect 
 these purposes they had grossly insulted their law- 
 ful sovereign, and had turned her own palace into a 
 prison, constituting themselves her jailers. Having 
 achieved all their more immediate objects, the only 
 remaining question was what were they to do with 
 the queen ? If they were to set her at liberty, could 
 they expect that she would tamely forget the indig- 
 nities they had offered her, or quietly submit to 
 the new state of things they had established ? Had 
 they, on the other hand, any sufficient grounds for 
 proceeding to further extremities against her ? 
 Would the country allow a sovereign whose reign 
 had been hitherto so prosperous to be at once de- 
 prived of her crown and authority ?* Daring as these 
 
 * That something of the kind was actually contemplated we learn from 
 Mary herself. "In their council," she says In the letter already quoted, 
 'they thought it most expedient we should be warded in our castle of 
 Stirling, there to remain till we had approved in parliament all their 
 wicked enterprise* established their religion, and given to tUe king tb*
 
 QTTEEN OF SCOTS. 249 
 
 men were, they could hardly venture upon a measure 
 so odious. Besides, Darnley, always vacillating and 
 always contemptible, was beginning to think he had 
 gone too far; and, influenced by something like re- 
 turning affection for his beautiful consort, who was 
 probably in a month or two to make him a father, 
 he insisted that the matter should now be allowed to 
 rest where it was, provided Mary would promise to 
 receive into favour the lords who had retunied from 
 banishment, and would grant a deed of oblivion to 
 all who had taken a part in the recent assassination. 
 Morton, Ruthven, Murray, and the rest were ex- 
 tremely unwilling to consent to so precarious an ar- 
 rangement; but Darnley overruled their objections. 
 On Monday evening articles were drawn up for their 
 security, which he undertook to get subscribed by 
 the queen ; and trusting to his promises, all the con- 
 spirators, including the lords who had just returned, 
 withdrew themselves and their retainers from Holy- 
 rood House, and went to sup at the Earl of Morton's.* 
 As soon as Mary found herself alone with Darnley, 
 she urged with all the force of her superior mind 
 every argument she could think of, to convince him 
 how much he erred in associating himself with the 
 existing cabal. She was not aware of the full ex- 
 tent to which he was implicated in their transactions ; 
 for he had assured her that he was not to blame for 
 Rizzio's murder, and as yet she believed him inno- 
 cent of contriving it. She. spoke to him, therefore, 
 with the confidence of an affectionate wife, with the 
 winning eloquence of a lovely woman, and with the 
 force and dignity of an injured queen. She at length 
 satisfied him that his best hopes of advancement 
 rested iu her, aud not on men who, having first 
 
 crown-mat rimomal and the whole government of our realm ; or ele, by 
 all appearance, firmly purposed to have put us to death, or detained us in 
 perpetual captivity." Ktith, Appendix, p. 132. 
 * RuthenV " Discourse" concerning tbe murder of BJzzio, in Kent),
 
 250 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 renounced allegiance to their lawful queen, undertook 
 to confer upon him a degree of power which was not 
 theirs to bestow. Darnley further learned from 
 Mary that Huntly, Bothwell, Athol, and others had 
 already risen in her behalf ; and yielding to her repre- 
 sentations and entreaties, he consented that they 
 should immediately make their escape together. At 
 midnight, accompanied only by the captain of the 
 guard and two others, they left the palace and rode 
 to Dunbar without stopping. 
 
 In a few days Mary, having been joined by more 
 than one-half of her nobility, found herself at the 
 head of a powerful army. The conspirators, on the 
 other hand, seeing themselves betrayed by Darnley 
 and little supported by the country, were hardly able 
 to offer even the shadow of resistance to the queen. 
 Still further to diminish the little strength they had, 
 Mary resolved to make a distinction between the old 
 and the new rebels ; and influenced by reasons on which 
 Morton had little calculated, she consented to pardon 
 Murray, Argyle, and others, who immediately resorted 
 to her and were received into favour. After remain- 
 ing in Dunbar only five days, she marched back in 
 triumph to Edinburgh, and the conspirators fled in 
 all directions to avoid the punishment they so justly 
 deserved. Morton, Maitland, Ruthven, and Lindsay 
 betook themselves to Newcastle, where, for aught 
 that is known to the contrary, they occupied the very 
 lodgings which Murray and his accomplices had pos- 
 sessed a week or two before. 
 
 The whole face of affairs was now altered ; and 
 Mary, who for some days had suffered so much, was 
 once more queen of Scotland. " And such a change 
 you should have seen," says Archbishop Spottiswood, 
 "that they who the night preceding did vaunt of the 
 fact (Rizzio's murder) as a godly and memorable act, 
 affirming, some truly, some falsely, that they were 
 present thereat, did, on the morrow, forswear all 
 that before they had affirmed." But it was net in
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 251 
 
 Mary's nature to be cruel, and her resentments were\ 
 never of long continuance. Two persons only were \ 
 put to death for their share in Rizzio's slaughter, and 
 these were men of little note. Before the end of 
 the year most of the principal delinquents, as will 
 be seen in the sequel, were allowed to return to court. 
 Lord Ruthven, however, died at Newcastle of his old 
 disease, a month or two after his flight thither. His 
 death occasioned little regret, and his name lives in 
 history only as that of a titled murderer.* 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 The Birth of James VI. 
 
 MARY'S vigorous conduct had again put her in pos- 
 session of that rightful authority of which so lawless 
 an attempt had been made to deprive her; but though 
 restored to power, she was far from being likewise 
 restored to happiness. The painful conviction was 
 nowatlength forced upon her, that she had not in all 
 the world one real friend. She felt that the neces- 
 sities of her situation forced her to associate in her 
 councils men who were the slaves of ambition, nnd 
 whose heartless courtesies were offered to her only 
 until a prospect of higher advantages held out a 
 temptation to transfer them to another. She had not 
 been long in her own kingdom before Bothwell and 
 others contemplated seizing her person and assassi- 
 nating her prime minister, the Earl of Murray : she 
 had hardly succeeded in frustrating these designs, 
 when Murray himself directed his strength against 
 her ; and now, still more recently, the husband for 
 
 * KeiU, p. 334 ; Stuart's Hiatory of Scotland, p. 138, el eq.
 
 252 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 whose Kike she had raised armies to chase her bro- 
 ther from the country, had aimed at making him- 
 self independent, and, to ingratiate himself with 
 traitors, had scrupled not to engage in a deed of wan- 
 ton cruelty, personally insulting to his wife and 
 sovereign. 
 
 Ignorant where to turn for repose and safety, Mary 
 began to lose much of the natural vivacity and buoy- 
 ancy of her temper, and to feel that in those turbu- 
 lent times she was endowed with too little of that 
 dissimulation which enabled her sister Elizabeth to 
 steer so successfully among the rocks and shoals of 
 government. In a letter written about this period to 
 one of her female relations in France, she says, 
 touchingly, " It will grieve you to hear how entirely, 
 in a very short time, I have changed my character, 
 from that of the most easily satisfied and care-chasing 
 of mortals, to one embroiled in constant turmoils and 
 perplexities." " She was sad and pensive," says Sir 
 James Melville, " for the late foul act committed in 
 her presence so irreverently. So many great sighs 
 she would give that it was pity to hear her, and 
 j over few were careful to comfort her." B.ut the per- 
 (fidy of her nobles Mary could have borne; it was 
 | the disaffection and wickedness of her husband that 
 afflicted her most. Anxious to believe that he told 
 I her the truth, when he asserted that he was not im- 
 plicated in the murder of Rizzio, she rejoiced to see 
 him issue a proclamation, declaring that he was 
 neither " a partaker in, nor privy to, David's slaughter." 
 But the truth was too notorious to be kept long con- 
 cealed. Randolph wrote to Cecil on the 4th of April, 
 1566 " The queen hath seen all the covenants and 
 bands that passed between the king and the lords, 
 and now findeth that his declaration before her and 
 council, of his innocency of the death of David, was 
 false, and is grievously offended that by their means 
 he should seek to come to the crown-matrimonial." 
 Hence sprang the grief which, in secret, preyed so
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 253 
 
 deeply upon Mary's health and spirits. Few things 
 are more calculated to distress a generous mind than 
 to discover that the object of its affections is un- 
 worthy the love which lias been lavished upon it. The 
 young and graceful Darnley, laying at Mary's feet the 
 real or pretended homage of his heart, was a very 
 different person from the headstrong and designing 
 king, colleaguing with her rebels, assassinating hei 
 faithful servant, and endeavouring to snatch the crown 
 from her head. " That very power," says Robert 
 son, " which, with liberal and unsuspicious fondness 
 she had conferred upon him, he had employed to 
 insult her authority, to limit her prerogative, and to 
 endanger her person : such an outrage it wasimpos 
 sible any woman could bear or forgive." Yet Mary 
 looked upon these injuries, coming as they did from 
 the man whom she had chosen to be the future com- 
 panion of her life, " more in sorrow than in anger ;" 
 and though she shed many a bitter tear over his un- 
 worthiness, she did not cease to love him. 
 
 In the midst of these anxieties, the time for the 
 queen's delivery drew near. After a short excursion 
 to Stirling and the neighbourhood, in which she was 
 accompanied by Darnley, Murray, Both well, and 
 others, she returned to Edinburgh, and by the advice 
 of her privy council went to reside in the castle, as 
 the place of greatest security, till she should present 
 the country with an heir to the throne. During the 
 months of April and May she lived there very 
 quietly, amusing herself with her work and her books, 
 and occasionally walking out, for she had no wheeled 
 carriage. She occupied herself, too, in endeavour- 
 ing to reconcile those of her nobility whom contrary 
 interests and other circumstances had disunited. It 
 cost her no little trouble to prevail upon the two most 
 faithful of her ministers, the Earl of Huntly her 
 chancellor, and Bothwell her lord high admiral, to 
 submit to the returning influence of their old enemy 
 the Earl of Murray. It was especially galling to 
 
 VOL. I. Y
 
 254 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 them that Murray and Argyle were the only persons 
 in addition to the king allowed to reside in the castle 
 with Mary. But it was her own wish to have her 
 husband and her brothers beside her on the present 
 occasion : and no representations made by Bothwell 
 or Huntly could alter her resolution. Yet these two 
 earls went the length of assuring the queen that 
 Murray had entered into a new conspiracy w'.th Mor- 
 ton, and that they would probably put in ward both 
 herself and her infant, as soon as it was born. Sur- 
 rounded as Mary was by traitors, she could not. know 
 whether this information was true or not; but her 
 .returning affection for Murray prevailed over every 
 -other consideration.* 
 
 Elizabeth was all this time narrowly watching the 
 progress of affairs in Scotland. Murray's restora- 
 tion to favour pleased her much ; and, to reconcile 
 Morton and his friends to the failure of their plots, 
 she secretly countenanced and protected them. With 
 her usual duplicity, however, she sent to Edinburgh 
 Henry Killigrew, to congratulate Mary on her late 
 escape, and to assure her that she would give direc- 
 tions to remove Morton out of England. She like- 
 wise recalled Randolph, of whose seditious practices 
 Mary had complained ; but as if to be even with the 
 Scottish queen, she commanded Killigrew to demand 
 the reason why a certain person of the name of 
 Ruxby, a rebel and a papist, had been protected in 
 Scotland? It would have been better for Elizabeth 
 had she allowed this subject to rest. Though Ruxby 
 feigned himself a refugee from England on account 
 of religion, he had in reality been privately sent to 
 Scotland by Elizabeth herself and her secretary Cecil. 
 The object of his mission was to find out whether 
 Mary carried on any secret correspondence with the 
 English Catholics. For this purpose he was to pre- 
 
 * Melville's Memoirs, p. 194 ; Goodall, vol. !. p. 286; Chalmers, voL 
 IL p. JM.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 255 
 
 tend that he was a zealous supporter of her right 
 and title 10 the crown of England ; and that he had 
 some influence with the English Catholics, all of 
 whom, he was to assert, thought as he did. Having 
 thus ingratiated himself with Mary, he was imme- 
 diately to betray any discoveries he might make to 
 Cecil. The scheme was ingeniously enough con- 
 trived; coming as an avowed enemy to Elizabeth, 
 and she herself actually supplying credentials to that 
 effect, no suspicion was <br some time entertained of 
 his real designs. That he was able to learn any 
 thing which could afford the English queen reason- 
 able ground of offence is not likely ; for though seve- 
 ral communications in cipher passed between him 
 and Cecil, their contents were never made public. 
 Shortly before Killigrew's arrival, Ruxby's real char- 
 acter had been accidentally discovered ; and when 
 the ambassador, more for the sake of aiding than of 
 hindering the spy in the prosecution of his object, 
 made a pro forma request that he should not be har- 
 boured any longer, Mary instantly ordered him to 
 be apprehended, and all his writings and ciphers to 
 be seized and examined. The indubitable evidence 
 which they afforded of Elizabeth's systematic cun- 
 ning forced a smile from Mary, and might have 
 brought a blush to the cheek of her rival. The Queen 
 of Scots, however, did not condescend to give any 
 utterance to the feelings which this affair must have 
 inspired ; and nothing further is known of Elizabeth's 
 disgraced and detected minion.* 
 
 Early in June, perceiving that the time of her de- 
 livery was at hand, Mary wrote letters to her princi- 
 pal nobility requiring them to coma to Edinburgh 
 during that juncture. She then made her will which 
 ehe caused to be thrice transcribed ; one copy was 
 sent to France, a second committed to the charge of 
 her privy council, and the third she kept herself. 
 
 * Melville's Memoirs, p. 156 Keith, p. 337.
 
 256 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 The day preceding her delivery, she wiote with her 
 own hand a letter to Elizabeth announcing the event, 
 but leaving a blank " to be filled," says Melville, 
 " either with a son or a daughter, as it might please 
 God to grant unto her." 
 
 On Wednesday, the 19th day of June, 1566, be- 
 tween nine and ten in the morning, the queen was 
 safely delivered of a son. The intelligence was re- 
 ceived every where throughout Scotland, with sin- 
 cere demonstrations of joy. " As the birth of a 
 prince," says Keith, " was one of the greatest of bless- 
 ings that God could bestow upon this poor divided 
 land, so was the same most thankfully acknowledged 
 by all ranks of people, according as the welcome 
 news thereof reached their ears." In Edinburgh, 
 the triumph continued for several days ; and upon 
 the first intimation of the event, all the nobility in 
 the town, accompanied by most of the citizens, went 
 in solemn procession to the high church, and offered 
 up thanksgiving for so signal a mercy shown to the 
 queen and the whole realm. 
 
 When the news was conveyed to England, it was 
 far from being heard with so much satisfaction. It 
 was between eleven and twelve on the morning of the 
 19th, that the Lady Boyne came to Sir James Mel- 
 ville, and told him that their prayers being granted, 
 he must carry Mary's letter to London with all dili- 
 gence. "It struck twelve hours," says Sir James, 
 " when I tool: my horse, and I was at Berwick thai 
 .same night. The fourth day after I was in London," 
 a degree of despatch very unusual in those times. 
 Melville found Elizabeth at Greenwich, " where her 
 majesty was in great merriness, and dancing after 
 supper. But so soon as the secretary Cecil sounded 
 the news in her ear of the prince's birth, all merri- 
 ness was laid aside few that night ; every one that 
 
 \was 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
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 257 
 
 gome of her ladies, how that the Queen 01 Scotland 
 was lighter of a fair son, and that she was but a bar- 
 ren stock." Next morning, Elizabeth gave Melville a 
 formal audience, at which, having had time for prepa- 
 ration, she endeavoured to dissemble her real feel- 
 ings ; though by overacting her part, she made them 
 only the more apparent. She told him gravely, that 
 the joyful news he brought her had recovered her 
 out of a heavy sickness, which had held her for fif- 
 teen days! "Then I requested her majesty," says 
 Melville, " to be a gossip unto the queen, for our 
 comers are called gossips in England, which she 
 granted gladly to be. Then I said her majesty would 
 have a fair occasion to see the queen, which she had 
 so oft desired. At this she smiled, and said that she 
 would wish that her estate and affairs might permit 
 her ; and promised to send both honourable lords and 
 ladies to supply her room."* 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Mary's Treatment of Darnley, and alleged Love for the Eart 
 of Both-well. 
 
 As soon as she had sufficiently recovered to be able 
 to quit the castle, Mary resolved on leaving the 
 fatigues of government behind, and going for some 
 lime into the countiy. Her infant son was intrusted 
 to the care of the Earl of Mar as his governor, and 
 the Lady Mar as his governess. The time was not 
 yet arrived to make arrangements regarding his edu- 
 cation ; but the general assembly had already sent a 
 deputation to the queen, to entreat that she would 
 
 Melville's Memoirs, p. 186. 
 Y2
 
 258 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 allow him to be brought up in the Reformed religion. 
 To this request Mary avoided giving any positive 
 answer; but she condescendingly took the infant 
 from the nurse, and put it into the arms of some of 
 the divines. A prayer was pronounced over it ; and 
 Spottiswood assures us, that, at the conclusion, the 
 child gave an inarticulate murmur, which the de- 
 lighted Presbyterians construed to be an Amen. 
 
 It was the seat of the Earl of Mar at Alloa that 
 the queen first visited. Being not yet equal to the 
 fatigues of horseback, she went on board a vessel at 
 Newhaven, and sailed up the Forth. She was ac- 
 companied by Murray and others of her nobility.* 
 Buchanan, whose constant malice and misrepresenta- 
 tion become at times almost ludicrous, says, " Not 
 long after her delivery, on a day very early, accom- 
 panied by very few that were privy of her council, 
 she went down to the waterside at a place called 
 the Newhaven ; and while all marvelled whither she 
 went in such haste, she suddenly entered into a ship 
 there piepared for her. With a train of thieves, all 
 honest men wondering at it, she betook herself to 
 sea, taking not one other with her." "When she 
 was in the ship," he says elsewhere, " among pirates 
 and thieves, she could abide at the pump, and joyed 
 to handle the boisterous cables."! It is thus this 
 trustworthy historian describes a sail of a few hours, 
 enjoyed by Mary and her court. 
 
 Darnley, who, though not very contented either 
 with himself or any one else, was about this time 
 much in the queen's company, went to Alloa by land, 
 and remained with Mary the greater part of the time 
 she continued at the Earl of Mar's. The uneasiness 
 he suffered, and the peevish complaints to which he 
 was continually giving utterance, were occasioned 
 by the want of deference, with which he found him- 
 
 * Keith, p. 345; and Chalmers, vpl.i. p. 180. 
 
 t Buchanan's History, book xviii ; his " Detection," in Andamon'i 
 Collections, vol. ii. p. A ; and hi* " Oration," p. 44.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 259 
 
 self treated by all Mary's ministers. But the genera! 
 odium into which he had fallen was entirely to be 
 attributed to his own folly. Between him and the 
 Karl of Murray there had long existed a deadly 
 hatred against each other; in associating himself 
 with Morton, and plotting against Huntly and Both- 
 well, he had irremediably offended these noblemen : 
 and in deserting Morton and his faction, he had for 
 ever lost the friendship of the only men who seemed 
 willing to regard him with any favour. The distress- 
 ing consciousness of neglect occasioned by his own 
 misconduct was thus forced upon him wherever he 
 turned ; and instead of teaching him a lesson of 
 humility, it only served to sour his temper, and per- 
 vert his feelings. The queen was deeply grieved to 
 see him so universally hated ; and anxiously endea- 
 voured to make herself the connecting link between 
 him and her incensed nobility. This was all she 
 could do ; for, even although she had wished it, she 
 could not have dismissed, to please him, such of her 
 ministers as he considered obnoxious; a measure so 
 unconstitutional would have led to a second rebellion. 
 But she hoped by treating her husband kindly, and 
 showing him every attention herself, to make it be 
 understood that she expected others would be equally 
 respectful. Having spent some days together at 
 Alloa, Mary and Darnley went to Peebles-shire to 
 enjoy the amusement of hunting; but finding little 
 sport, they returned on the 20th of August to Edin- 
 burgh. Thence they went to Stirling, taking the 
 young prince with them, whom they established in 
 Stirling Castle. Bothwell, in the mean time, in his 
 capacity of lieutenant of the borders, was in some 
 of the southern shires attending the duties of his 
 charge.* 
 
 It is necessary to detail these facts thus minutely, as 
 Mary's principal calumniator, Buchanan, endeavours 
 
 * Chalmers, rol. i. p. 181 , et snq. ; Ooodall, TO!, i. p. 292, et aeq.
 
 260 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 to establish, by a tissue of falsehoods, that im- 
 mediately after her delivery, or perhaps before it, 
 she conceived a criminal attachment for Bothwell. 
 This absurdity has gained credit with several later 
 writers, and particularly with Robertson, whose 
 knowledge of Mary's motions and domestic arrange- 
 ments at the period of which we speak, appears to 
 have been very superficial. Yet he may be regarded 
 as even a more dangerous enemy than the former. 
 Buchanan's virulence and evident party spirit carry 
 their own contradiction along with them ; while 
 Robertson, not venturing to go the same lengths 
 (though guided in his belief entirely by Buchanan), 
 imparts to the authority on which he trusts a greater 
 air of plausibility, by softening down the violence of 
 the original to suit the calmer tone of professedly 
 unprejudiced histoiy. In the progress of these Me- 
 moirs, it will not be difficult to show that Rob- 
 ertson's affected candour, or too hastily formed be- 
 lief, is as little to be depended on as Buchanan's 
 undisguised malice. 
 
 Buchanan wishes it to be believed, in the first 
 place, that Mary entertained a guilty love for Rizzio. 
 He then proceeds to assert, that in little more than 
 three months after his barbarous assassination, she 
 had fallen no less violently in \ove with Bothwell, 
 although, in the mean time, shf, had been employed 
 in giving birth to her first child, by a husband whom 
 he allows she doted on nine or ten months before. 
 To bolster up this story, he perverts facts with the 
 most reckless indifference. One specimen of his 
 style we have already seen in his account of the 
 queen's voyage to Alloa ; and proceeding with his 
 narrative, we find him positively asserting in the 
 sequel, that for the two or three following months, 
 Mary was constantly in the company of Bothwell, 
 and of Bothwell alone, knowing, as he must have 
 done all the while, that Murray and Darnley, Both- 
 ivell's principal enemies, were her chief associates,
 
 3UEEN OF SCOTS. 201 
 
 and that Bothwell spent most of the time in a distant 
 part of the kingdom. 
 
 Robertson dates, even more confidently than Bu- 
 chanan, the commencement of Mary's love for Both- 
 well at a period prior to her delivery. But, upon this 
 hypothesis, it is surely odd that Murray and Argyle 
 were permitted by the queen to reside in the castle 
 previous to and during her confinement, while the 
 same favour was peremptorily refused to Bothwell 
 and it is no less odd, that shortly after her delivery, 
 Secretary Maitland, at the intercession of the Earl 
 of Athol, was received once more into favour, in 
 direct opposition to the wishes of Bothwell. It is 
 no doubt possible, that notwithstanding this presump- 
 tive evidence to the contrary, Mary may at this very 
 time have had a violent love for Bothwell ; but are 
 we to give credit to the improbability, merely because 
 Buchanan was the slave of party feeline, and Rob- 
 ertson disposed to be credulous ? Are the detected 
 fabrications of the one entitled to any better consid- 
 eration than the gratuitous suppositions of the other? 
 " Strange and surprisingly wild," says Keith, " are 
 the accounts given by Knox, but more especially by 
 Buchanan, concerning the king and queen about this 
 time. I shall not reckon it worth while to transcribe 
 them here; and the best and shortest confutation I 
 could propose of them is, to leave my readers the 
 trouble, or rather satisfaction, to compare the same 
 with tire just now mentioned abstracts (of despatches 
 from Randolph to Cecil), and the three following 
 authentic letters," from the French and Scottish am- 
 bassadors and the queen's privy council.* Robert- 
 son, it is true, after having asserted, that " Bothwell 
 all this while was the queen's prime confidant," and 
 that he had acquired a " sway over her heart," pro- 
 ceeds to confess, that " such delicate transitions of 
 passion can be discerned only by those who are 
 
 * Keith, p. 345.
 
 262 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 admitted near the persons of the parties, and who can 
 view the secret workings of the heart with calm and 
 acute observation." " Neither Knox nor Buchanan," 
 he adds, " enjoyed these advantages. Their humble 
 station allowed them only a distant access to the 
 queen and her favourite; and the ardour of their 
 zeal and the violence of their prejudices rendered 
 their opinions rash, precipitate, and inaccurate." 
 This is apparently so explicit and fair, that the only 
 wonder is, upon what grounds Robertson ventured 
 to make his accusation of Mary, having thus shown 
 how little dependence was to be placed on the only 
 authorities which supported him in it. It appears 
 that he came to his conclusions by a process of his 
 own, which rendered him independent both of Knox 
 and Buchanan. " Subsequent historians," he says, 
 "can judge of the reality of this reciprocal passion 
 only by its effects." Robertson must of course have 
 been aware that he thus opened the gate to a flood 
 of uncertainty, seeing that the same effects may 
 spring from a hundred different causes. If a man 
 be found dead, before looking for his murderer, it is 
 always proper to inquire whether he has been mur- 
 dered. Be^des, if effects are to be made the crite- 
 rion by which to form an opinion, the greatest care 
 must be taken that they be not misrepresented. 
 Alary must not. be said to have been a great deal in 
 Bothwell's company, at a time she was almost never 
 with him, and she must not be described as being 
 seldom with her husband, at a time they were con- 
 stantly together. 
 
 Laing is another and still later writer, who has 
 produced a very able piece of special pleading against 
 Mary, in which a false colouring is continually given 
 to facts. " After her delivery," he says, " she removed 
 secretly from the castle, and was followed by Darnley 
 to Alloa, Stirling, Meggetland, and back again to Edn 
 burgh, as if she were desirous to escape from the pres 
 ence of her husband." That D-drnley followed Mar)
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 263 
 
 Is an assumption of Mr. Laing's own. Conceited as the 
 young king was, he would rather never have stirred 
 out of his chamber again than have condescended to 
 follow so perseveringly one who wished to avoid 
 him, first to Alloa, then to Stirling, then into Peebles- 
 shire, then back again to Edinburgh, and once more 
 to Stirling. The only correct part of Laing's state- 
 ment is, that Mary chose to go by water to Alloa, 
 while Darnley preferred travelling by land ; perhaps, 
 because he wished to hunt by the way, or call at the 
 seats of some of the nobility. The distance alto- 
 gether was only twenty miles ; and the notion that 
 Mary removed " secretly" from the castle, for the im- 
 portant purpose of taking an excursion to Alloa, is 
 absolutely ludicrous. In support of his assertion 
 that Mary had lost her heart to Bothwell, Laing pro- 
 ceeds to mention that, shortly after the assassination 
 of Rizzio, the earl, for his successful services, was 
 loaded with favours and preferment. That Mary 
 should have conferred some reward upon a nobleman 
 whose power and fidelity were the chief means of 
 preserving her on a tottering throne, is not at all 
 unlikely ; but to make that reward appear dispro- 
 portioned to the occasion, Laing misdates the time 
 when most of Bothwell's offices of trust were be- 
 stowed upon him. Several of them were his by 
 hereditary risrht, such as those of lord high admiral, 
 and the sheriffships of Berwick, Haddington, and 
 Edinburgh. Part of his authority on the borders he 
 had acquired during the time of the late queen-regent, 
 Mary's mother, having been made her lieutenant, and 
 keeper of Hermitage Castle, in 1558; and it was 
 immediately after his restoration to favour, during 
 the continuance of Murray's rebellion, that he was 
 appointed lieutenant of the West and Middle Marches, 
 a situation which implied the superiority of the ab- 
 beys of Melrose and Haddington.* The only addi- 
 
 * Knox, p. 386 ; Anderson, vol. 1. p. 00 ; T> tier, vol. 11. p. 39 ; Chal- 
 mers, vol. ii. p. 306. 207. 
 
 *,
 
 264 LIFE OF iMARY 
 
 tion made to Bothwell's possessions and titles, in 
 consequence of his services after Rizzio's death, was 
 that of the castle and lordship of Dunbar, togethei 
 with a grant of some crown-lands.* 
 
 There is another circumstance connected with 
 Bothwell which we omitted to mention before, but 
 which may with propriety be stated here. At the 
 period of which we write, when he is accused of 
 being- engaged in a criminal intercourse with Mary, 
 he had been only two or three months married to a 
 wife every way deserving of his love. Three weeks 
 before the death of Rizzio, he had espoused, in the 
 thirty-sixth year of his age, the Lady Jane Gordon, 
 the sister of his friend, the Earl of Huntly. She 
 was just twenty, and was possessed of an elegant 
 and cultivated understanding. They were married 
 at Holyrood on the 22d of February, 1566, after the 
 manner of the Reformed persuasion, in direct oppo- 
 sition to Mary's wishes. She entertained them, how- 
 ever, at a banquet on the first day ; and the feasting 
 and rejoicings continued for a week. " The queen 
 desired," says Knox, " that the marriage might be 
 made in the chapel at the mass, which the Earl 
 Bothwell would in no ways grant."! Was there any 
 love existing at this time between Mary and her 
 minister? Robertson and Laing seem to think there 
 was. Choosing to judge of Mary's feelings towards 
 Bothwell by effects, not of effects by feelings, they 
 quote several passages from the letters of one or 
 two of the foreign ambassadors then in Scotland, 
 which mention that Bothwell possessed great influ 
 ence at court. That these ambassadors report n 
 
 359. 
 
 founded 
 
 at this p 
 
 but not entirely ; for he stated Bothwell's age to he forty-three when h 
 
 married. Chalmers, who is seldom wrong in the matter of dates, h" 
 
 settled the question.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 265 
 
 more than the truth may be very safely granted ; 
 though certainly there is no evidence to show that 
 he enjoyed so much weight as Murray, 01 more than 
 Huntly. Yet he deserved better than the former, for 
 he had hitherto, with one exception, continued as 
 faithful to Mary as he had previously been to her 
 mother. The letters alluded to only repeat what 
 Randolph had mentioned six months before. So 
 early as October, 1565, only two months after Mary's 
 marriage with Darnley, and when her love for him 
 remained at its height, Randolph wrote to Cecil ; 
 " My Lord Bothwell, for his great virtue, doth now 
 all, next to the Earl of Athol."* Was Mary in love 
 with Bothwell at this date ? Or was it with the Earl 
 of Athol? And did she postpone her attachment to 
 Bothwell till he should prove his for her by becom- 
 ing the husband of the Lady Jane Gordon? We 
 proceed with our narrative. 
 
 Having spent some time with Darnley at Stirling, 
 Mary returned to Edinburgh for the despatch of public 
 business, on the llth or 12th of September. She 
 wished Darnley to accompany her ; but as he could 
 not, or would not, act with either Murray's or Hunt- 
 ley's party, he refused. On the 21st she came again 
 to Stirling; but was recalled once more to Edin- 
 burgh, by her privy council, on the 23d. She left 
 the French ambassador, Le Croc, with the wayward 
 Darnley, hoping that his wisdom and experience 
 might be of benefit to him.f- The distinction which, 
 from this period up to the hour of his death, Darnley 
 constantly made between his ieelings for Mary her- 
 self and for her ministers is very striking. With 
 Mary he was always willing to associate, and she 
 had the same desire to be as much as she could with 
 him; but with the conditions he exacted, and by 
 which alone she was to purchase much of his com- 
 pany, it was impossible for her to comply. She 
 
 * Chalmers, vol. ii. p. 217. 
 t Ibid. vol. i. p. 183 and 184. 
 
 VOL. I. Z
 
 266 
 
 might as well have given up her crown at once as 
 have dismissed all those officers of state with whom 
 Darnley had quarrelled. The truth is, her husband's 
 situation was a very unfortunate one. His own 
 imbecility and unlawful ambition had brought upon 
 him general odium ; but if he had possessed a 
 stronger mind, or a greater stock of hypocrisy, he 
 might have re-established himself in the good graces 
 of at least a part of the Scottish nobility. But he 
 had neither the prudence to disguise his sentiments, 
 nor the ability to maintain them. " He had not 
 learned," says Chalmers, " to smile, and smile, and 
 be a villain. He was still very young, and still very 
 inexperienced ; and the queen could not easily 
 govern without the aid of those odious men," his 
 enemies. 
 
 Mary had been only a few days in Edinburgh 
 when she received a letter from the p]arl of Lennox, 
 Darnley's father, which afflicted her not a little. 
 Lennox, who resided principally at Glasgow, had 
 gone to Stirling to visit his son ; and Dnrnley had 
 there communicated to him a design his present dis- 
 contents had suggested, which was to leave the 
 country and proceed to the Continent Both Len- 
 nox and Le Croc, " a wise, aged gentleman," as 
 Holinshed calls him, had done all they could to divert 
 him from so mad a purpose ; but his resolution 
 seemed to be fixed. Mary immediately laid her 
 father-in-law's letter before her privy council, who 
 "took a resolution to talk with the king, that they 
 might learn from himself the occasion of this hasty 
 deliberation of his, if any such he had; and like- 
 wise that they might thereby be enabled to advise 
 her majesty after what manner she should comport 
 herself in this conjuncture."* On the evening of 
 the very day that this resolution was adopted (the 
 29th of September), Darnley himself arrived at 
 
 * Mnitland's official letter to Catharine de Medicis, in Keith, p. 348.
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 267 
 
 Holyrood ; but being informed that the Earls of 
 Argyle, Murray, and Rothes were with the queen, he 
 declared he would not enter the palace till they 
 departed.* The queen took this petulant behaviour 
 as mildly as possible ; and, glad of his arrival, even 
 condescended to go forth from the palace to meet 
 her husband, and conducted him to her own apart- 
 ment, where they spent the night together.! 
 
 Next day Mary prevailed upon her husband to 
 attend a meeting of her council. They requested 
 to be informed by the king, whether he had actually 
 resolved to depart out of the realm, and if he had, 
 what were the motives that influenced him, and the 
 objects he had in view. They added, " that if he 
 could complain of any of the subjects of the realm, 
 be they of what quality soever, the fault should be 
 immediately repaired to his satisfaction." Mary 
 herself took him by the hand, and speaking affec- 
 tionately to him, " besought him, for God's sake, to 
 declare if she had given him any occasion for this 
 resolution-''^ She had a clear conscience, she said, 
 that in all her life she had done no action which 
 could any ways prejudge either his or her own 
 honour; but, nevertheless, that as she might, per- 
 haps, have given him offence without design, she was 
 willing to make amends, as far as he should require ; 
 and therefore "prayed him not to dissemble the 
 occasion of his displeasure, if any he had, nor 
 to spare her in the least manner. "$ Darnley 
 answered distinctly, that he had no fault to find 
 with the queen ; but he was either unable or unwilling 
 to explain further. With the stubborn discontent 
 of a petted child, he would nefcher say one thing nor 
 another neither confess nor deny. Without agree- 
 
 * These noblemen, it may be observed, instead of being the friends, 
 were ih personal and political enemies of Both well, with whom l)rnley 
 was less displeased than with them. 
 
 1 ftoortal!, vol. i. p. 284 ; Keith, p. 348. 
 
 t Le Croc's Letter in Keith, p. 34fl. 
 
 $ Maitland's Letter in Keith, p 340.
 
 268 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 ing to alter his determination, whatever it might be, 
 and it was, perhaps, after all, only a trick contrived 
 to work upon Mary's affections, and intimidate her 
 into his wishes, he at length took his leave. Upon 
 going away, he said to the queen, " Farewell, madam ; 
 you shall not see my face for a long while." He 
 next bade Le Croc farewell ; and then turning coldly 
 to the lords of the council, he said, " Gentlemen, 
 adieu."* 
 
 Shortly afterward Mary received a letter from 
 Darnley, in which he complained of two things. 
 " One is," says Maitland, " that her majesty trusts 
 him not with so much authority, nor is at such pains 
 to advance him and make him be honoured in the 
 nation, as she at first was. And the other point is, 
 that nobody attends him, and that the nobility desert 
 his company. To these two points the queen has 
 made answer, that if the case be so he ought to blame 
 himself, not her; for that in the beginning she had 
 conferred so much honour upon him as came after- 
 ward to render herself very uneasy, the credit and 
 reputation wherein she had placed him having served 
 as a shadow to those who have most heinously 
 offended her majesty; but, howsoever, that she has, 
 notwithstanding this, continued to show him such 
 respect, that although they who did perpetrate the 
 murder of her faithful servant had entered her 
 chamber with his knowledge, having followed him 
 close at the back, and had named him the chief of 
 their enterprise, yet would she never accuse him 
 thereof but did always excuse him, and was willing 
 to appear as if s>he believed it not. And then as to 
 his being not attended, the fault thereof must be 
 charged upon himself, since she has always made an 
 offer to him of her own servants. And for the 
 nobility, they come to court, and pay deference and 
 respect, according as they have any matters to do, 
 
 * Keith, idem, p. 346 and 349
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 269 
 
 and as they receive a kindly countenance ; but that 
 he is at no pains to gain them and make himself he- 
 loved by them, having gone so far as to prohibit these 
 noblemen to enter his room, whom she had first 
 appointed to be about his person. If the nobility 
 abandon him, his own deportment towards them is 
 the cause thereof; for if he desire to be followed 
 and attended by them, he must, in the first place, make 
 them to love him, and to this purpose must render f 
 himself amiable to them; without which, it will' 
 prove a most difficult task for her majesty to regulate 
 this point, especially to make the nobility consent 
 that he shall have the management of affairs put into 
 his hands ; because she finds them utterly averse to 
 any such matter."* 
 
 No answer or explanation could be more satis- 
 factory; and the whole affair exhibits a highly 
 favourable view of Mary's conduct and character. 
 Le Croc accordingly says, in the letter already 
 quoted, " I never saw her majesty so much beloved, 
 esteemed, and honoured; nor so great a harmony 
 among all her subjects as at present is by her wise 
 conduct, for I cannot perceive the smallest difference 
 or division." That Darnley ever seriously intended 
 to quit the country, it has been said, is extremely 
 uncertain. It would appear, however, according to 
 Knox, that he still harboured some chimerical design 
 of making himself independent of Mary; and witli 
 this view he treacherously wrote to the pope and the 
 kings of Spain and France, misrepresenting the state 
 of affairs, and offering with their assistance to re- 
 establish the Catholic religion. Copies of these let- 
 ters, Knox adds, fell into Mary's hands, who, of 
 course, took steps to prevent their meeting witli any 
 attention at the Continental courts.f But be this 
 matter as it may (and its truth rests upon rather 
 doubtful authority, since we find no mention of it 
 
 * Keith, idem, p. 350. f Knox, p 399. 
 
 Z2
 
 270 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 either by the lords of privy council or the French 
 ambassador), it is certain that Darnley's determina- 
 tion, hastily formed, was as hastily abandoned.* 
 
 Shortly afier her husband's departure from Edin- 
 burgh, the queen, attended by her officers of state, 
 set out upon a progress towards the borders, with 
 
 * The turn which Buchanan gives to the whole of this affair, in the 
 work he libellously calls a "History," scarcely deserves notice. "In 
 the mean time," he veraciously writes, in his Eighteenth Book, "the 
 king finding no place for favour with his wife, is sent away with injuries 
 and reproaches ; and though he often tried her spirit, yet by no offices of 
 observance could he obtain to be admitted to conjugal familiarity as be- 
 fore; whereupon he retired in discontent to Stirling." In his "Detec- 
 tion," he is still more ludicrously false. " In the mean time," he writes, 
 "the king, commanded out of sight, and with injuries and miseries ban- 
 ished from her, kept himself close with a few of his servants at Stirling; 
 for, alas ! what should he else do ? He could not creep into any piece of 
 grace wilh the queen, nor could get so much as to obtain his daily neces- 
 sary expenses, to find his servants and horses. And finally, with brawl- 
 ings lightly rising for every small trifle, and quarrels usually picked, he 
 was chased out ol her presence ; yet his heart, obstinately fi.xed in loving 
 her, could not be restrained, but he must needs come back to Edinburgh 
 of 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, with most dishonourable disdain excluded, once again returns 
 from whence he came, there, as in solitary desert, to bewail his woful 
 miseries." Anderson, vol. ii. p. 9. Another equally honest record of 
 these times, commonly known by the name of "Murray's or Cecil's 
 Journal,'' the former having supplied the information to the latter, to 
 answer his own views at a subsequent period, says, "At this lime, the 
 king coming from Stirling, twos repulsed with chiding." The same 
 Journal mentions, that on the 24tli of September, Mary lodged in the 
 Chequer-house, and met with Bothwell ; a story which Buchanan dis- 
 gustingly amplifies in his Detection, though the privy council records prove 
 that the queen lodged in her palace of Holyroodon the 24th wilh her privy 
 council and officers of state in attendance. As to Buchanan's complaint, 
 that the king was stinted in his necessary expenses, the treasurer's ac- 
 counts clearly show ils falsehood. " The (act is," says Chalmers, " that 
 he was allowed to order, by himself, payments in money and furnish- 
 ments of necessaries from the public treasurer. And the treasurer's ac- 
 counts show that lie was amply furnished with necessaries at the very 
 time when those calumnious statements were asserted by men who knew 
 them to be untrue. On two days alone, the 13th nnd 31st of August, the 
 treasurer, by the king and queen's order, was supplied with a vast number 
 of articles for the king's use alone, amounting to 3001., which is more 
 than the queen had for six months, even including the necessaries which 
 she had during her confinement." Chalmers, vol. i. p. 186. These mi- 
 nute details would be unworthy of attention, did they not serve to prove 
 the difficulty of determining whether Buchanan's patron, who was also 
 Mary's prime minister, or the historian himself, possessed the superior 
 talent for misrepresentation
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 271 
 
 the view, in particular, of holding justice-courts at 
 Jedburgh. The southern marches of Scotland were 
 almost always in a state of insubordination. The 
 recent encouragement which the secret practices, 
 first of Murray and afterward of Morton, both aided 
 by Elizabeth, had given to the turbulent spirit of the 
 borderers, called loudly for the interference of the 
 law. Mary had intended to hold assizes in Liddis- 
 dale in August, but on account of the harvest, post- 
 poned leaving Edinburgh till October. On the 6th 
 or 7th of that month she sent forward Bothwell, her 
 lieutenant, to make the necessary preparations for 
 her arrival, and on the 8th the queen and her court 
 set out, the noblemen and gentlemen of the southern 
 shires having been summoned to meet her with their 
 retainers at Melrose. On the 10th she arrived at 
 Jedburgh. There, or it may have been on her way 
 from Melrose, she received the disagreeable news, 
 that on the very day she left Edinburgh, her lieu- 
 tenant's authority had been insulted by some of the 
 unruly borderers, and that soon after his reaching 
 his castle of Hermitage, a place of strength about 
 eighteen miles from Jedburgh, he had been severely 
 and dangerously wounded. Different historians 
 assign different reasons for the attack made on 
 Bothwell. Some say that Morton had bought over 
 the tribe of Elliots to revenge his present disgrace 
 upon one whom he considered an enemy. Others, 
 with greater probability, assert that it was only a 
 riot occasioned by thieves, whose lawless proceed- 
 ings Bothwell wished to punish. But whichever 
 statement be correct, the report of what had actually 
 taken place was, as usual, a good deal exaggerated 
 when it reached Mary. Being engaged, however, 
 with public business at Jedburgh, she was prevented 
 for several days from ascertaining the precise truth 
 for herself. Finding that she had leisure on the IGth 
 of the month, and being informed that her lieutenant 
 was still confined with his wounds, she paid him the
 
 272 LIFE OF MARY- 
 
 compliment, or rather discharged the duty, of riding 
 across the. country with some attendants, both to 
 inquire into the state of his health and to learn to 
 what extent her authority had been insulted in his 
 person. She remained with him only an hour or two, 
 and returned to Jedburgh the same evening.* 
 
 The above simple statement of facts, so natural 
 in themselves, and so completely authenticated, ac- 
 quires additional interest when compared with the 
 common version of this story, which Buchanan and 
 his follower Robertson have contrived to render pre- 
 valent. " When the news that Bothwell was in great 
 danger of his life," says Buchanan, " was brought to 
 the queen at Bortkwick, though the winter was very 
 sharp, she flew in haste, first 10 Melrose, then to Jed- 
 burgh. There, though she received certain intel- 
 ligence that Bothwell was alive, yet, being impatient 
 of delay, and not able to forbear, though in such a 
 bad time of the year, notwithstanding the difficulty 
 of the way and the danger of robbers, she put her- 
 self on her journey with such attendants as hardly 
 any honest man, though he was but of a mean con- 
 dition, would trust his life and fortune to. From 
 thence she returned again to Jedburgh, and there she 
 was mighty diligent in making great preparations 
 for Both well's being brought thither."f The whole 
 of this is a tissue of wilful misrepresentation. No 
 one unacquainted with Buchanan's character would 
 read the statement without supposing that Mary pro- 
 ceeded direct from Borthwick to Hermitage Castle, 
 scarcely stopping an hour by the way. Now, if 
 Mary heard of Bothvvell's accident at Borthwick 
 (which is scarcely possible), it must have been, at the 
 latest, on the 9th of October, or more probably on 
 the evening of the 8th ; but, so far from being in a 
 
 * Birrel's Diary; Keith, p. 351; Goodall, vol. i. p. 302; Chalmers, vol. 
 l. p. 190, vol. ii. p. 109 and 224. 
 
 t Buchanan'* History, book xviii ; and in his "Detection" he repeats 
 (he same story with still more venom
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS. 273 
 
 hurry in consequence, it appears by the privy council 
 register that she did not reach Jedburgh till the 10th, 
 and, by the privy seal register, that she did not visit 
 Hermitage Castle till the 16th of the month.* Had 
 she really ridden from Borthwick to the Hermitage 
 and back again to Jedburgh in one day, she would 
 have performed a journey of nearly seventy miles, 
 which she could not have done even though she had 
 wished it. As to her employing herself, on her re- 
 turn to Jedburgh, " in making great preparations foi 
 Bothwell's being brought thither," she certainly must 
 have made extremely good use of her time, for she 
 returned on the evening of the 16th, and next day 
 she was taken dangerously ill. The motives which 
 induced Buchanan to propagate falsehood concern- 
 ing Mary are sufficiently known ; but, being known, 
 Robertson ought to have been well convinced of the 
 truth of his allegations before he drew inferences 
 upon such authority. But the doctor had laid down 
 -the principle that he was to judge of Mary's love for 
 Bothwell by its effects ; and it became, therefore, con- 
 venient for him to assert that her visit to Hermitage 
 Castle was one of those effects. " Mary instantly 
 flew thither," he says, " with an impatience which 
 strongly marks the anxiety of a lover, but little suiting 
 the dignity of a queen." Now " instantly" must mean 
 that she allowed at all events six and probably seven 
 days to elapse ; and that too after being informed of the 
 danger one of the most powerful and best affectioned 
 of her nobility had incurred in her behalf. Robert- 
 son must have thought it strange that she staid only 
 an hour or two at the castle. " Upon her finding 
 Bothwell slightly wounded," says Tytler, " was it 
 love that made her in such a violent haste to re- 
 turn back the same night to Jedburgh, by the same 
 bad roads and tedious miles? Surely, if love had in 
 any degree possessed her heart, it must have sup- 
 
 * Both of these registers are quoted by Chalmers, vol. i. p. 181
 
 274 LIFE OF MARY 
 
 plied her with many plausible reasons for passing that 
 night in her lover's company, without exposing her- 
 self to the inconveniences of an uncomfortable 
 journey, and the inclemencies of the night air at that 
 season." If Mary had been blamed for an over- 
 degree of callousness and indifference, there would 
 have been almost more justice in the censure. With 
 honest warmth Chalmers remarks, that ' the records 
 and the facts laugh at Robertson's false dates and 
 frothy declamation."* 
 
 On the 17th of October Mary was seized with a 
 severe and dangerous fever, and for ten days her life 
 was esteemed in great danger ; indeed it was at one 
 time reported at Edinburgh that she was dead. The 
 fever was accompanied with fainting or convulsion- 
 fits, of an unusual and alarming description. They 
 frequently lasted for three or four hours ; and during 
 their continuance she was, to all appearance, lifeless. 
 Her body was motionless; her eyes closed; her 
 mouth fast; her feet and arms stiff and cold. Upon 
 coining out of these, she suffered the most dreadful 
 
 * Miss Benger's observations upon this subject are judicious and forcible 
 "It was not till the 16th the queen, with her officers of state, passed to Her- 
 mitage Castle, twenty miles distant, whether to confer with Bothwell on 
 business respecting the motives for the late outrage on his person, or 
 purely as a visit of friendship and condolence, a respectful, and, as it should 
 seem, well-merited acknowledgment of his loyal services, must be left 
 to conjecture. It is, however, not improbable, since the Earl of Morton 
 was at that time known to be in the neighbouring March of Cessford, 
 that Mary might be anxious to ascertain from BothwelPs lips whether 
 he ascribed the attack on his person 10 that nobleman's instigation. In 
 Morton's behalf she had long been importuned by Murray, by Elizabeth, 
 and Maithmd, and, at a proper time, meant to yield to their solicitations ; 
 but the discovery of a new treason would have altered her proceedings ; 
 to ascertain the fact was, therefore, of importance. By whatever con- 
 siderations Mary was induced to pay this visit, there appeals not (when 
 calumny is discarded), any specific ground for the suspicion that she then 
 foil for Bothwell a warmer sentiment than friendship. In all her affec- 
 tions Mary was ardent and romantic, and, though it should have been 
 admitted that she had gone to Hermitiige Castle merely to say one kind 
 word to the loyal servant whose blood had lately flowed in her service, 
 she h'nl, two years before, made a far greater effort to gratify a female 
 friend, when sherodetoCallander to assist at the baptism of I/ml I.iving- 
 Mone's child, regardless of the danger which awaited her from Murray 
 and hit party." Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 289 We have dwelt too long on a 
 calumny unsupported by any respectable evident*
 
 QDtEN OF SCOTS 275 
 
 pain, her whole frame being collapsed, and her limbs 
 drawn writhingly together. She was at length so 
 much reduced, that she herself began to despair of 
 recovery. She summoned together the noblemen 
 who were with her, in particular Murray, Huntly, 
 Rotlirs, and Bothwell, and gave them what she be- 
 lieved to be her dying advice and instructions. Both- 
 well was not at Jedburgh when the queen was taken 
 ill, nor did he show any greater haste to proceed 
 thither when he heard of her sickness than she had 
 done to visit him, it being the 24th of October before 
 he left Hermitage Castle.* After requesting her coun- 
 cil to pray for her, and professing her willingness to 
 submit to the will of Heaven, Mary recommended 
 her son to their especial care. She entreated that 
 they would give every attention to his education, 
 suffering none to approach him whose example 
 might pervert his manners or his mind, and studying 
 to bring him up in all virtue and godliness. She 
 strongly advised the same toleration to be continued 
 in matters of religion which she had practised ; and 
 she concluded by requesting that suitable provision 
 should be made for the servants of her household, 
 to whom Mary was scrupulously attentive, and by 
 all of whom she was much beloved. Fortunately, 
 however, after an opportunity had been thus afforded 
 her of evincing her strength of mind and willing- 
 ness to meet death, the violence of her disease 
 abated, and her youth and good constitution tri- 
 umphed over the attack. 
 
 Darnley, who was with his father at Glasgow, prob- 
 ably did not hear of the queen's illness till one or 
 two days after its commencement; but as soon as 
 he was made acquainted with her extreme danger, 
 he determined on going to see her. Here again we 
 discover the marked distinction that characterized 
 Darnley's conduct towards his wife and towards her 
 nobility. With Mary herself he had no quarrel; 
 and though his love for her was not so strong and 
 
 * Chalmers, vol. ii. p. 224
 
 276 LIFE OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 
 
 pure as it should have been, and was easily forgotten 
 when it stood in the way of his own selfish wishes, 
 he never lost any opportunity of evincing his desire 
 to continue on a friendly footing with her. When 
 he last parted from her at Holyrood, he had said that 
 she should not see him for a long while ; but, startled 
 into better feelings by her unexpected illness, he 
 came to visit her at Jedburgh, on the 28th of Octo- 
 ber. The queen was by this time better ; but hei 
 convalescence bring still uncertain, Darnley's ar- 
 rival was far from being agreeable to her ministers. 
 Should Mary die, one or other of them would be ap- 
 pointed regent, an office to which they knew that 
 Darnley, as father to the young prince, had strong 
 claims. It was their interest, therefore, to sow dis- 
 sension in every possible way between the queen 
 and lu>r husband; and they trembled lest the remain- 
 ing affection they entertained for each other might 
 be again rekindled into a more ardent flame. Mary, 
 when cool and dispassionate, they knew they could 
 manage easily; but Mary, when in love, chose, like 
 most other women, to have her own way. They 
 received Darnley on the present occasion so forbid- 
 dingly, and gave him so little countenance, that 
 having spent a day and a night with Mary, he was 
 glad again to take his departure, and leave her to 
 carry on the business of the state, surrounded by 
 those designing and factious men who were weaving 
 the web of her ruin. 
 
 On the 9th of November the queen with her court 
 left Jedburgh and went to Kelso, where she remained 
 two days. She proceeded thence to Berwick, at- 
 tended by not fewer than 800 knights and gentlemen 
 on horseback. From Berwick she rode to Dunbar, 
 and from Dunbar, by Tantallan, to Craigmillar, where 
 she arrived on the 20th of November, lf>66, and re- 
 mained for three weeks, during which time an oc- 
 currence of importance took place. 
 
 END or VOL. i
 
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