Mary Queen of Scots, 1542-1587
Letter VIII.
My Lord, sen my letter written, zour brother in law yat was, come to me verray sad, and hes askit me my counsel, quhat he suld do efter to morne, becaus thair be mony folkis heir, and among utheris the Erle of Sudderland, quha wald rather die, considdering the gude thay have sa laitlie ressavit of me, than suffer me to be caryit away, thay conducting me; and that he feirit thair suld sum troubil happin of it: of the uther syde, that it suld be said that he wer unthankfull to have betrayit me. I tald him, that he suld have resolvit with zow upon all that, and that he suld avoyde, gif he culd, thay that were maist mistraistit.
He has resolvit to wryte thairof to zow be my opinioun; for he has abaschit me to se him sa unresolvit at the neid. I assure myself he will play the part of an honest man. Bot I have thocht gude to advertise zow of the feir he hes yat he suld be charget and accusit of tressoun to ye end yat, without mistraisting him, ze may be the mair circumspect, and that ze may have ye mair power. For we had zisterday mair then iii. c. hors of his and of Levingstoun's. For the honour of God, be accompanyit rather with mair then les; for that is the principal of my cair.
I go to wryte my dispatche, and pray God to send us ane happy enterview schortly. I wryte in haist, to the end ye may be advysit in tyme.
[There are no important variants in the only other version of this letter--the published French translation.]
The following are the French versions of the first sentence of each letter, printed in the Scots translation, published in London in 1572 (p. 163).
_Letter I._ Il semble qu' avecques vostre abscence soit joynt le oubly, [74]ceu qu'au partir vous me promistes de vos nouvelles. Et toutes foys je n'en puis apprendre, &c.
_Letter II._ Estant party du lieu ou je avois laissé mon c[oe]ur il se peult aysément juger quelle estoit ma contenance, veu ce qui peult un corps sans c[oe]ur, qui à esté cause que jusques à la Disnée je n'ay pas tenu grand propos, aussi personne ne s'est voulu advancer jugeant bien qu'il n'y faisoit bon, &c.
_Letter III._ Monsieur, si l'ennury de vostre absence, celuy de vostre oubly, la crainte du danger, tant provué[75] d'un chacun à vostre tant aymée personne, &c.
_Letter IV._ J'ay veillé plus tard la haut que je n'eusse fait, si ce n'eust esté pour tirer ce que ce porteur vous dira, que je trouve la plus belle commodité pour excuser vostre affaire qui ce purroit présenter, &c.
_Letter V._ Mon c[oe]ur, helas! fault il que la follie d'une femme, dont vous cognoissez assez l'ingratitude vers moy, soit cause de vous donner desplaisir, &c.
_Letter VI._ Monsieur, helas! pourquoy est vostre fiance mise en personne si indigne, pour soupconner ce qui est entierement vostre. J'enrage, vous m'aviez promis, &c.
_Letter VII._ Du lieu et l'heure[76] je m'en rapporte à vostre frere et à vous. Je le suivray, et ne fauldray en rien de ma part. Il trouve beaucoup de difficultez, &c.
_Letter VIII._ Monsieur, de puis ma lettre escrite vostre beau frere qui fust, est venu à moy fort triste, et m'a demandé mon conseil de ce qu'il feroit apres demain, &c.
The slight variations in the other French versions are noted above. There are no Record Office or Hatfield versions of I., II., VII., and VIII., and there is no "Published French" version of III.
[74] _P. F._ "veu."
[75] _Record Office F._ "promis."
[76] _P. F._ "homme." ------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Love Sonnets.
_Henderson's Casket Letters._
The "divers fond ballads" referred to in the letter of Elizabeth's Commissioners of October 11th, 1568, consist of the following "sonnets" in French.
The sonnets are printed from the English edition of Buchanan's _Detection_ (1571). The lines in italics are translated from the Scots by Professor York Powell.
1. O Dieux ayez de moy compassion, Et m'enseignez quelle preuue certain{e} Ie puis donner qui ne luy semble vain{e} De mon amour & ferme affection. Las n'est il pas ia en possession Du corps, du coeur qui ne refuse paine Ny deshonneur, en[77] la vie incertaine, Offense de parentz, ne pire affliction?[78] Pour luy {tous mes} amis estime moins que rien, Et d{e mes} ennemis ie veux esperer bien. I'ay hazardé {pour luy} & nom & conscience: Ie veux pour luy au monde renoncer: Ie veux mourir pour le fair'[79] auancer. Que reste il plus pour prouuer ma constance?
2. Entre ses mains & en son plein pouuoir, Je metz mon filz, mon honneur, & ma vie, Mon pais, mes[80] subjectz, mon ame assubiectie Est tout à luy, & n'ay autre voulloir Pour mon obiect, que sans le deceuoir Suiure ie veux, malgré toute l'enuie Qu'issir en peult, car ie n'ay autre envie Que de ma foy, luy faire apperceuoir Que pour tempeste ou bonnace qui face Iamais ne veux changer demeure ou place. Brief ie feray de ma foy telle preuue, Qu'il cognoistra sans faulte[81] ma constance, Non par mes pleurs ou fainte obeyssance, Come autres font,[82] mais par diuers espreuue.
3. Elle pour son honneur vous doibt obeyssance Moy vous obeyssant i'en puis receuoir blasme N'estât, à mon regret, comme elle vostre femme. Et si n'aura pourtant en ce point preeminence Pour son propre profit[83] elle vse de coustance, Car ce n'est peu d'honneur d'estre de voz biens dame Et moy pour vous aymer i'en puis receuoir blasme Et ne luy veux ceder en toute l'obseruance: Elle de vostre mal n'à l'apprehension Moy ie n'ay nul repos tant ie crains l'apparence: Par l'aduis des parentz, elle eut vostre accointance Moy malgré tous les miens vous porte affection {_Et neanmoins, mon c[oe]ur, vous doubtez ma constance_}[84] Et de sa loyauté prenez ferme asseurance.
4. Par vous mon coeur & par vostre alliance Elle à remis sa maison en honneur Elle à jouy par vous de[85] la grandeur Dont tous les siens n'ayent nul asseurance De vous, mon bien, elle à eu l'ac coinstance,[86] Et à gaigné pour vn temps vostre coeur, Par vous elle à eu plaisir en bon heur, Et par vous a[87] honneur & reuerence, Et n'a perdu sinon la jouyssance D'vn fascheux sot qu'elle aymoit cherement, Ie ne la playns d'aymer donc ardamment, Celuy qui n'à en sens, ny en vaillance, En beauté, en bonté, ny en constance Point de seçond. Ie vis en ceste foy.[88]
5. Quant vous l'amiez, elle vsoit de froideur. Sy vous souffriez pour s'amour passion Qui vient d'aymer de trop d'affection, Son doy monstroit, a tristesse de coeur N'ayant plaisir de vostre grand ardeur. En ses habitz, monstroit sans fiction Qu'elle n'auoit paour qu'imperfection Peust l'effacer hors de ce loyal coeur. De vostre mort ie ne vis la peaur[89] Que meritoit tel mary & seigneur. Somme, de vous elle à eu tout son bien Et na prisé ne iamais estimé Vn si grand heur sinon puis qu'il n'est sien Et maintenant dit l'auoir tant aymé.
6. Et maintenant elle commence à voir Qu'elle estoit bien de mauuais iugement De n'estimer l'amour d'vn tel amant Et voudrait bien mon amy deceuoir, Par les escriptz tout fardez de scauoir Qui pourtant n'est en son esprit croissant Ains emprunté de quelque autheur luissant A faint tresbien vn ennoy[90] sans l'avoir Et toutesfois ses parolles fardeez, Ses pleurs, ses plaincts remplis de fictions. Et ses hautz cris & lamentations Ont tant gaigné que par vous sont gardéez Ses lettres {escriptes} ausquellez vous donnez foy Et si l'aymez & croyez plus que moy.
7. Vous la croyez las trop ie l'apperçoy Et vous doutez de ma ferme constance, O mon seul bien & mon seul esperance, Et ne vous puis ie asseurer de ma foy Vous m'estimez plus legier que le noy,[91] Et si n'auez en moy nul' asseurance, Et soupçonnez mon coeur sans apparence, Vous deffiant à trop grand tort de moy. Vous ignorez l'amour que ie vous porte Vous soupçonnez qu'autre amour me trâsporte, Vous estimez mes parolles du vent, Vous depeignez de cire mon las coeur Vous me pensez femme sans iugement, Et tout sela augmente mon ardeur.
8. Mon amour croist & plus en plus croistra Tant que je viure &[92] tiendray à grandeur, Tant seulement d'auoir part en ce coeur Vers qui en fin mon amour paroistra Sy tres à clair que iamais n'en doutra, {_Pur luy je lutterai contre malheur_}[93] Pour luy ie veux recercher la grandeur, Et feray tant qu'en vray cognoistera, Que ie n'ay bien, heur, ne contentement, Qu'a l'obeyr & servir loyaument. Pour luy iattendz toute bonne fortune, Pour luy ie veux garder sainté & vie Pour luy vertu de suyure i'ay enuie[94] Et sans changer me trouvera tout vne.
9. Pour luy aussi ie jette mainte larme. Premier quand il se fist de ce corps {posses}seur, Duquel alors il n'auoit pas le coeur. Puis me donna vn autre dur alarme Quand il versa de son sang mainte dragme Dont de grief il me vint telle[95] doleur, M'en pensay[96] oster la vie en frayeur De perdre la{s} le seul rempar qui m'arme. Pour luy depuis iay mesprise l'honneur Ce qui nous peult seul pouruoir de bonheur. Pour luy hazarde grandeur & conscience. Pour luy {tous mes} i'ay quité parentz, & amis, Et tous autres respectz sont apart mis. Brief de vous seul ie cherche l'alliance.
10. De vous, ie dis, seul soustein de ma vie Tant seulement ie cerche m'asseurer, Et si ose de moy tant presumer De vous gaigner maugré toute l'enuie. Car c'est le seul desir de vostre {chere} amie, De vous seruir & loyaument aymer, Et tous malheurs moins que riens estimer, {Et} vostre volonté de mon mie{ux} suivie,[97] Vous cognoistrez avecque obeyssance De mon {loyal} deuoir n'omettant la sciance A quoy ie estudiray pour {tousiours} vous complaire Sans aymer rien que vous, soubz {la} suiection. De qui ie veux sans nulle fiction Vivre & mourir & à ce j'obtempere.
11. Mon coeur, mon sang, mon ame, & mon soucy, {Las,} vous m'auez promis qu'aurons ce plaisir De deuiser auecques vous à loysir, Toute la nuict, ou ie languis icy Ayant le coeur d'extreme paour transy, Pour voir absent le but de mon desir Crainte d'oublir vn coup me vient {a} saisir: Et l'autre fois ie crains que rendurcie Soit contre moy vostre amiable coeur Par quelque dit d'un meschant rapporteur. Un autre fois ie crains quelque auenture Qui par chemin detourne mon amant, Par vn fascheux & nouueau accident. Dieu detourne tout malheureux augure.
* * * * *
12. Ne vous voyant selon qu'auez promis I'ay mis la main au papier pour escrire D'vn different que ié voulu transcrire, Ie ne scay pas quel sera vostre aduis Mais ie scay bien qué mieux aymer scaura Vous diriez bien que plus y gaignera.
* * * * *
[77] Ny?
[78] Rochelle text has "affection" wrongly.
[79] Buchanan, "luy" only. Rochelle text, "lui le fair."
[80] Read "Mon pis subject"?
[81] Buch., "fainte."
[82] Buch., "ont fait."
[83] Buch., "Pour son profit elle."
[84] Scots translation, "And not the less, my heart, ye doubt of my constance."
[85] Buch., "vous la."
[86] Buch., "la constance."
[87] Buch. inserts "receu."
[88] Text of sextain corrupt.
[89] Omitted in Rochelle version as corrupt.
[90] Buch., "envoy."
[91] Buch., "mestimez legier que le voy."
[92] Buch., "viuray, &".
[93] Scots--"For him I will stryve aganis wan-weird."
[94] Rochelle version to read "luy tout."
[95] Buch., "lesser."
[96] Buch., "Que m'en pensa ... & frayeur."
[97] Rochelle text, "et vostre ... de la mienne suivi," and later version "la mien suivre." ------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Contracts of Marriage.
_Goodall_, vol. ii. p. 54, from Cot. Lib. Calig., C. i.
At Seton, the 5th day of April, the year of God, 1567, the right excellent, right high and mighty Princess, Mary, by the grace of God, Queen of Scots, ... in the presence of the Eternal God, faithfully, and on the word of a Prince, by these presents, takes the said James, Earl Bothwell, as her lawful husband, and promises and obliges her Highness, that how soon the process of divorce, intended betwixt the said Earl Bothwell and Dame Jane Gordon, now his pretended spouse, be ended by the order of the laws, her Majesty shall, God willing, thereafter shortly marry and take the said Earl to her husband.... He presently takes her Majesty as his lawful spouse, in the presence of God, and promises and obliges him ... that in all diligence possible, he shall prosecute and set forward the said process of divorce already begun and intended betwix him and the said Dame Gordon, his pretended spouse....
MARIE, R. JAMES, EARL BOTHWELL.
Here note, that this contract was made the v of April, within viii weeks after the murder of the King, which was slain the x of February before; also it was made vii days before Bothwell was acquitted, by corrupt judgment, of the said murder. Also it appears by the words of the contract itself, that it was made before sentence of divorce betwixt Bothwell and his former wife, and also in very truth was made before any suit of divorce intended or begun between him and his former wife, though some words in this contract seem to say otherwise, which is thus proved; for this contract is dated the v of April, and it plainly appears by the judicial acts, ... wherein is contained the whole process of the divorce between the said Earl and Dame Jane Gordon his wife, that the one of the same processes was intended and begun the xxvi day of April, and the other the xxvii.--Buchanan's "Detection."
Nous Marie, par la grace de Dieu, Royne d'Ecosse, douaryere de France, &c, promettous fidellement et de bonne foy, et sans contraynte, à Jaques Hepburn, Comte de Boduel, de n'avoir jamais autre espoulx et mary que luy, et de le prendre pour tel toute et quant fois qu'il m'en requerira, quoy que parents, amys ou autres, y soient contrayres. Et puis que Dieu a pris mon feu mary Henry Stuart dit Darnley et que par ce moien je sois libre, n'estant sous obeissance de pere, ni de mere, des mayntenant je proteste que, lui estant en mesme liberté, je seray preste, et d'accomplir les ceremonies requises an mariage; que je lui promets devant Dieu, que j'en prantz a tesmoignasge, et la presente, signee de ma mayn: ecrit ce--
MARIE, R.
[This contract merely promises to marry Bothwell, without constraint, and refers to the writer's freedom from the necessity of any one's permission, since Darnley's death. It contains no reference to the divorce.]
_MORTON'S DECLARATION_
The Discovery of the Letters--1. The Earl of Morton's Declaration.
_Henderson's Casket Letters_, pp. 113-116, from fol. 216, Add. MSS. 32,091, Brit. Mus.
The trew declaration and report of me, James, Earl of Morton, how a certain silver box overgilt containing diverse missive writings, sonnets, contracts, and obligations for marriage betwix the Queen mother to our sovereign lord, and James sometime Earl Bothwell, was found and used.
Upon Thursday the xix of June, 1567, I dined at Edinburgh, the Laird of Lethington, secretary, with me. At time of my dinner a certain man came to me, and in secret manner showed me that three servants of the Earl Bothwell, viz. Mr. Thomas Hepburn, parson of Auldhamesokkes, John Cockburn, brother to the laird of Skirling, and George Dalgleish were come to the town, and passed into the castle. Upon which advertisement I on the sudden sent my cousin Mr. Archibald Douglas and Robert Douglas, his brother, and James Johnston of Westerrall, with others my servants, to the number of xvi or thereby, toward the castle to make search for the said persons, and, if possible were, to apprehend them. According to which my direction, my servants passed, and at the first missing the forenamed three persons for that they were departed forth of the castle before their coming, my men then parting into several companies upon knowledge that the others whom they sought were separated, Mr. Archibald Douglas sought for Mr. Thomas Hepburn and found him not, but got his horse, James Johnston sought for John Cockburn and apprehended him, Robert Douglas seeking for George Dalgleish. After he had almost given over his search and inquisition a good fellow understanding his purpose came to him offering for a mean piece of money to reveal where George Dalgleish was. The said Robert satisfying him that gave the intelligence for his pains, passed to the Potterrow beside Edinburgh, and there apprehended the said George, with divers evidences and letters in parchment, viz. Earl Bothwell's infeftments of Liddesdale, of the Lordship of Dunbar and of Orkney and Shetland, and divers others, which all with the said George himself, the said Robert brought and presented to me. And the said George being examined of the cause of his direction to the castle of Edinburgh, and which letters and evidents he brought forth of the same, alleged he was sent only to visit {examine} the Lord Bothwell, his master's clothing, and he had not more letters nor evidents than these which were apprehended with him. But his report being found suspicious and his gesture and behaviour ministering cause of mistrust seeing the gravity of the action that was in hand, it was resolved by common assent of the noblemen convened, that the said George Dalgleish should be surely kept that night, and upon the morn should be had to the Tolbooth of Edinburgh and there be put in the iron and torments for furthering of the declaration of the truth, wherein being set, upon Friday the xx day of the said month of June before any rigorous demeaning of his person, fearing the pain, and moved of conscience, he called for my cousin Mr. Archibald Douglas, who coming, the said George desired that Robert Douglas should be sent with him, and he should show and bring to light that which he had. So being taken forth from the irons, he passed with the said Robert to the Potterrow, and there, under the sceit {seat} of a bed took forth the said silver box, which he had brought forth of the castle the day before, locked, and brought the same to me at viii hours at night, and because it was late I kept it all that night. Upon the morn, viz., Saturday, the xxi of June, in presence of the Earls of Atholl, Mar, Glencairn, myself, the Lords Home, Sempill, Sanquhar, the Master of Graham, and the Secretary, and Laird of Tullibardine, Comptroller, and the said Mr. Archibald Douglas, the said box was broken open because we wanted the key, and the letters within contained sighted {_i.e._ examined} and immediately thereafter delivered again into my hand and custody. Since which time, I have observed and kept the same box, and all letters, missives, contracts, sonnets, and divers writings contained therein fairly without alteration changing adding or diminishing of anything found or received in the said box. This I testify and declare to be undoubted truth.
This is the copy of that which was given to Mr. Secretary Cecil upon Thursday the 8th of December 1568.
This is the true copy of the declaration made and presented by the Earl of Morton to the Commissioners and Council of England sitting in Westminster for the time, upon Thursday being the 29 of December 1568.
Subscribed with his hand thus, MORTON.
2. Buchanan's Account.
_Translated from the History_, book xviii. c. 51.
It happened that, about the same time, Bothwell sent one of his confidential servants to the castle of Edinburgh, to bring to him the silver casket, covered with inscriptions, which had once belonged to the French king, Francis. In it were letters of the Queen, almost all written with her own hand, in which both the King's murder and the whole sequel were plainly discernible; and in almost every letter there was an injunction to burn it. But Bothwell, who knew the Queen's inconstancy, of which he had recently seen many instances, preserved the letters, so that, in any disagreement, he might use their testimony, and prove himself not the author of the crime, but only an accomplice. This casket Sir Robert Balfour gave to Bothwell's servant to take away; but first he told the leaders of the opposite party what had been sent, and the agent and the destination.... It was captured....
The Deposition of Thomas Nelson.
_Goodall_, vol. ii. p. 243, from Cott. Lib. Calig. i. 165.
... She {the Queen} caused take down the said new black bed {in Darnley's room}, saying it would be soiled with the bath, and in the place thereof set up an old purple bed, ... and the said keys that were delivered into the hands of Archibald Beton remained still in the hands of him, and others that awaited upon the Queen, and never were delivered again to the King's servants; for she set up a green bed for herself in the said low chamber, wherein she lay the said two nights, and promised also to have bidden {remained} there upon the Sunday at night. But after she had tarried long and entertained the King very familiarly, she took purpose (as it had been on the sudden), and departed as she spake to give the masque to Bastien who that night was married {to} her servant, namely the said Archibald Beton and one Paris, Frenchman, having the keys of her chamber, wherein her bed stood in, as also of the passage that passed toward the garden.... The Queen being departed toward Holyrood-house, the King within the space of one hour passed to bed, and in the chamber with him lay umquhill {_i.e._ the late} William Taylor. The deponent and Edward Symonds lay in the little gallery, that went direct to the south out of the King's chamber, ... and beside them lay William Taylor's boy, who never knew of anything till the house wherein they lay was falling about them....
Thomas Crawford's Deposition.
[With regard to the deposition of Crawford, see p. 144; the wording of the account of the conversation between Mary and Darnley should be carefully compared with that of the second Casket Letter.]
_Hosack's Mary._ Appendix L.
First I made my Lord {Lennox} my master's humble commendations unto her Majesty with the excuse that he came not to meet her, praying her grace not to think that it was either for proudness or yet for not knowing his duty towards her Highness, but only for want of health at the present, and also that he would not presume to come in her presence until he knew farther her mind because of the sharp words that she had spoken of him to Robert Cuningham, his servant, in Stirling, whereby he thought he was in her Majesty's displeasure. Notwithstanding, he has sent his servants and friends to wait upon her Majesty. She answered that there was no receipt against fear. I answered that my Lord had no fear for anything he knew in himself, but only of the cold and unkind words she had spoken to his servant. She answered and said that he would not be afraid in case he were not culpable. I answered that I knew so far of his Lordship that he desired nothing more than that the secrets of every creature's heart were written in their face. She asked if I had any farther commission. I answered no. Then she commanded me to hold my peace.
The words that I remember were betwixt the King and the Queen in Glasgow when she took him away to Edinburgh.
The King for that my Lord his father was then absent and sick, by reason whereof he could not speak with him himself, called me unto him, and these words that had then passed betwixt him and the Queen, he gave me in remembrance to report unto the said my Lord his father.
After their meeting and short speaking together she asked him of his letters, wherein he complained of the cruelty of some. He answered that he complained not without cause, and as he believed, she would grant herself, when she was well advised. She asked him of his sickness, he answered that she was the cause thereof, and moreover he said, ye asked me what I meant by the cruelty specified in my letters, that proceedeth of you only, that will not accept my offers and repentance. I confess that I have failed in some things, and yet greater faults have been made to you sundry times, which ye have forgiven. I am but young, and ye will say ye have forgiven me divers times. May not a man of my age for lack of counsel, of which I am very destitute, fall twice or thrice, and yet repent and be chastised by experience. If I have made any fail that ye but think a fail, howsoever it be, I crave your pardon, and protest that I shall never fail again. I desire no other thing but that we may be together as husband and wife. And if ye will not consent hereto, I desire never to rise forth of this bed. Therefore I pray you give me an answer hereunto. God knoweth how I am punished for making my god of you, and for having no other thought but on you. And if any time I offend you, ye are the cause, for that when any offendeth me, if for my refuge I might open my mind to you, I would speak to no other, but when any thing is spoken to me, and ye and I not being as husband and wife ought to be, necessity compelleth me to keep it in my breast, and bringeth me in such melancholy as ye see me in. She answered that it seemed him she was sorry for his sickness, and she would find remedy therefor, so soon as she might.
She asked him why he would have passed away in the English ship. He answered that he had spoken with the Englishman, but not of mind to go away with him. And if he had, it had not been without cause, considering how he was used. For he had neither to sustain himself nor his servants, and needed not make further rehearsal thereof, seeing she knew it as well as he.
Then she asked him of the purpose of Highgate. He answered that it was told him. She required how and by whom it was told him. He answered that the Lord of Minto told him that a letter was presented to her in Craigmillar, made by her own device, and subscribed by certain others who desired her to subscribe the same, which she refused to do. And he said that he would never think that she who was his own proper flesh, would do him any hurt, and if any other would do it, they should buy it dear, unless they took him sleeping, albeit he suspected none, so he desired her effectuously to bear him company. For she ever found some ado to draw herself from him to her own lodging, and would never abide with him past two hours at once.
She was very pensive, whereat he found fault. He said to her that he was advertised she had brought a litter with her. She answered that because she understood he was not able to ride on horseback, she brought a litter that he might be carried more softly. He answered that it was not meet for a sick man to travel, that could not sit on horseback, and especially in so cold weather. She answered that she would take him to Craigmillar, where she might be with him, and not far from her son. He answered that upon condition he would go with her, which was that he and she might be together at bed and board as husband and wife, and that she should leave him no more. And if she would promise him that, upon her word, he would go with her when she was pleased, without respect of any danger either of sickness wherein he was, or otherwise. But if she would not condescend thereto, he would not go with her in any wise.
She answered that her coming was only to that effect, and if she had not been minded thereto, she had not come so far to fetch him, and so she granted his desire, and promised him that it should be as he had spoken, and thereupon gave him her hand, and faith of her body, that she would love him, and use him as her husband, notwithstanding before they could come together, he must be purged and cleansed of his sickness, which she trusted would be shortly, for she minded to give him the bath at Craigmillar.
Then he said he would do whatsoever she would have him do, and would love all that she loved. She required of him in especial, whom he loved of the nobility, and whom he hated. He answered that he hated no man, and loved all alike. She asked him how he liked the Lady Reres, and if he were angry with her. He answered that he had little mind of such as she was, and wished of God she might serve her to her honour. Then she desired him to keep to himself the promise betwixt him and her, and to open it to nobody. For peradventure the Lords would not think well of their sudden agreement, considering he and they were at some words before. He answered that he knew no cause why they should mislike of it, and desired her that she would not move any of them against him even as he would stir none against her, and that they would work both in one mind, otherwise it might turn to great inconvenience to them both. She answered that she never sought any way by him, but he was in fault himself. He answered again that his faults were published, and that there were that made greater faults than ever he made that believed were unknown, and yet they would speak of great and small.
Farther, the King asked me at that present time what I thought of his voyage. I answered that I liked it not, because she took him to Craigmillar. For if she had desired him with herself, or to have had his company, she would have taken him to his own house in Edinburgh, where she might more easily visit him than to travel two miles out of town to a gentleman's house. Therefore my opinion was that she took him away more like a prisoner than her husband.
He answered that he thought little else himself, and feared himself indeed save the confidence he had in her promise only; notwithstanding he would go with her, and put himself in her hands, though she should cut his throat, and besought God to be judge unto them both.
_Endorsed--Thomas Crawford's Deposit._
Murray's Journal.
_From a copy marked by Cecil_, Cot. Lib. Calig., B. ix. fol. 247, quoted by Goodall, vol. ii. p. 247.
_January 21, 1566._--The Queen took her journey toward Glasgow, and was accompanied with the Earls of Huntly and Bothwell to the Kalendar, my Lord Livingstone's place.
_23._--The Queen came to Glasgow, and on the road met her, Thomas Crawford, from the Earl of Lennox, and Sir James Hamilton, with the rest mentioned in her letter. Earl Huntly and Bothwell returned that same night to Edinburgh, and Bothwell lay in the town.
_24._--The Queen remained at Glasgow, like as she did the 25th and the 26th, and had the conference with the King whereof she writes; and in this time wrote her bill and other letters to Bothwell. And Bothwell this 24th day was found very timeous weseing {inspecting} the King's lodging that was in preparing for him, and the same night took journey towards Liddesdale.
_27._--The Queen (conform to her commission as she writes) brought the King from Glasgow to the Kalendar towards Edinburgh.
_28._--The Queen brought the King to Linlithgow, and there remained all morn, while she got word of my Lord Bothwell his returning towards Edinburgh, by Hob Ormiston, one of the murderers. The same day the Earl Bothwell came back from Liddesdale towards Edinburgh.
_29._--She remained all day in Linlithgow with the King, and wrote from thence to Bothwell.
_30._--The Queen brought the King to Edinburgh, and put him in his lodging, where he ended; and Bothwell keeping tryst met her upon the way.
_February 5._--She lodged all night under the King, in the chamber wherein the powder was laid thereafter, and whereof Paris, her chamber child, received the key.
_7._--She lodged and lay all night again in the foresaid chamber, and from thence wrote that same night the letter concerning the purpose of the Abbot of Holyrood-house (_cf._ p. 140).
_8._--She confronted the King and my Lord of Holyrood-house, conform to her letter written the night before.
_9._--She and Bothwell supped at the banquet with the Bishop of the Isles, and after passed up accompanied with Argyll, Huntly, and Bothwell, to the King's chamber, and there they remained cherishing him, till Bothwell and his complices put all things to order, and Paris, her chamber child, received in her chamber the powder, and came up again and gave the sign, and they departed to Bastian's banquet and masque, about eleven hours, and thereafter they both returned to the Abbey, and talked till twelve hours and after.
_10._--Betwix two and three of the clock, the King was blown in the air by the powder.
The Depositions of Paris.
The depositions of Paris were not produced at Westminster. They were taken, in the early autumn of 1569, in connection with the charges against Lethington (who had by this time, with Kirkcaldy of Grange, joined the Queen's party). "Paris" was the nickname of Nicholas Hubert, a French attendant of Bothwell, who, shortly before the murder, attached himself to the Queen's service. He was known to be concerned in the murder, but succeeded in escaping from the country. He took refuge in Denmark, and was delivered up on Murray's request. Queen Elizabeth wrote to the Regent asking him to delay the execution of Paris, and Murray replied: "The said Paris arrived at Leith about the middle of June last {1569}, I at that time being in the north parts of this realm far distant, whereupon it followed that, at my returning, after diligent and circumspect examination of him, and long time spent in that behalf, upon the xvi day of August by-past, he suffered death by order of law, so that before the receipt of your Highness letter by the space of 7 or 8 days he was execute." {Laing, vol. i. p. 295, from the Paper Office.} The letter is undated. But Professor Schiern, of Copenhagen, sent Mr. Hosack a copy of a document from the Danish archives, containing a receipt for the delivery of "two men, William Murray, and Paris, a Frenchman," accused of Darnley's murder. The receipt is dated 30th October 1568, and is given by Captain Clark, on behalf of the Scottish Government. (Hosack, vol. i. pp. 250-251.) There is a copy of the depositions in the Cotton Library, bearing the following note: "This is the true copy of the declaration and deposition of the said Nicholas Hubert or Paris, whereof the principal {original} is marked every leaf with his own hand.... Ita est Alexander Hay, scriba secreti consilii S.D.N. Regis, ac Notarius Publicus." But the originals, sent to London in October 1569, and preserved in the Record Office, bear that they were taken "in presence of Mr. George Buchanan, Master of St. Leonard's College in St. Andrews; Mr. John Wood, Senator of the College of Justice; and Robert Ramsay, writer of this declaration, servant to my lord regent's grace." {Hosack, vol. i. p. 256.} The documents were first published in Anderson's "Collection" (1725), not in Buchanan's "Detection," along with the depositions of Hay, Hepburn, and Dalgleish.
The first deposition of Paris is a Confession, in French, made at St. Andrews on 9th August 1569, "without any constraint or interrogations." It states that, on the Wednesday or Thursday before the murder, Bothwell told Paris of the plot, and requested his aid. "What do you think?" said he.... "My Lord," said I, "I have served you these five or six years in all your great troubles ... now, my Lord, by the grace of God, you are free of all these difficulties ... if you undertake this great matter you will be in worse case than before." Bothwell then assured him that Lethington was the moving spirit, and that Argyll, Huntly, Morton, Ruthven, and Lindsay were in league with him. Paris then asked, "My Lord, I pray you tell me of one whom you have not named; I well know that he is loved in this country of the common people." ... "Who is that?" said he. "It is, my Lord," said I, "my Lord the Earl of Murray; I pray tell me what part he will take." To which he replied, "He will not meddle with it." "My Lord," said I, "he is wise." Then the Lord Bothwell turned his head to me ... and said, "My Lord of Murray, my Lord of Murray, he will neither help nor hinder; but it is all one." ... On the Saturday before the murder, Margaret Carwood, one of the Queen's attendants, told "Paris to go to Kirk-of-Field for the coverlet of the mattress in the Queen's room," which he did.... When he heard of Murray's leaving Edinburgh on Sunday morning to see his mother, he remarked that he did it to be out of the way when the wicked deed should take place, and so to dissociate himself from it. On Sunday evening Mary supped with Argyll, and seeing Paris, "as she washed her hands after supper, she asked me if I had removed the coverlet of the bed in her room in the King's lodging." These are the main points of interest in the first document signed by Paris. {Laing, vol. ii. p. 296.}
The second deposition consists of answers to interrogations, and is dated at St. Andrews on August 10th, 1569. It makes a number of allegations against the Queen, with which the reader is already familiar. As it is a long document, we can quote only the most important sentences. "Interrogated when first he entered into credit with the Queen, he replied that it was when the Queen was at Callander on her way to Glasgow, when she gave him a purse with three or four hundred crowns to take to the Earl of Bothwell, who, after having received the said purse on the road between Callander and Glasgow, told him to go with the Queen and remain with her, and to attend well to what she did, saying that the Queen would give him letters to carry to him. When the Queen reached Glasgow, she said to him, 'I will send you to Edinburgh,' ... and after he had remained two days with the said lady, she wrote the letters and gave them him, saying, 'You will tell the Earl of Bothwell, by word of mouth, to take to the Laird of Lethington the letters addressed to him.' Bothwell and Lethington were to consult as to whether Darnley should go to Craigmillar or to Kirk-of-Field, and Paris was to report their decision to Mary. Further, he was to 'say to Bothwell, that the King wished to kiss her, but that she would not, for fear of his malady.' Paris carried out his commission, and returned with the message that Kirk-of-Field was considered most suitable. On the way from Glasgow to Edinburgh the Queen received a letter from Bothwell and sent one to him, and also gave Paris a bracelet to take to him. At Kirk-of-Field, where the Queen's room was immediately underneath that of the King, Bothwell told him that he must not place the Queen's bed in the corner of the room under the corner containing the King's bed, because he wished to place the powder there. This order was reiterated by the Queen, when she observed that it was being disregarded.... Paris said to the Queen, 'Madam, the Earl of Bothwell has commanded me to take the keys of your chamber, because he wishes to do something, that is, to place there the powder for the explosion to blow the King in the air.' That night she wrote letters to Bothwell...." The only other circumstance of importance affecting the Queen is a statement that Paris carried correspondence relating to Mary's seizure by Bothwell.
1573.--December 13. Confession of the Laird of Ormiston.
"The Laird of Black Ormiston" was put to death on 13th December 1573, under the government of the Regent Morton, for his share in the murder of Darnley. His confession was made to "John Brand, minister at Holyrood-house," on the day of his execution.
_Laing's Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 319, from State Trials, vol. i. p. 944.
As I shall answer unto God, with whom I hope this night to sup, I shall declare unto you the whole, from the beginning unto the end, of my part. First, I confess that the Earl Bothwell showed that same wicked deed unto me in his own chamber in the Abbey on Friday before the deed was done, and required me to take part with him therein.... The said earl said unto me, "Tush, Ormiston, ye need not take fear for this, for the whole lords have concluded this same long since in Craigmillar, all that were there with the Queen, and none dare find fault with it when it shall be done." ... Who {Bothwell} let me see a contract subscribed by four or five handwrites, which he affirmed to me was the subscription of the Earl of Huntly, Argyll, the Secretary Maitland, and Sir James Balfour, and alleged that many more promised, who would assist him if he were put at: and thereafter read the said contract, which, as I remember, contained these words in effect: "That for as much it was thought expedient and most profitable for the common wealth, by the whole nobility and lords undersubscribed, that such a young fool and proud tyrant should not reign nor bear rule over them; and that for divers causes therefore, that they all had concluded that he should be put off by one way or other, and whosoever should take the deed in hand they should defend and fortify it as themselves, for it should be every one of their own reckoned and held done by themselves." Which writing, as the said earl shewed unto me, was devised by Sir James Balfour, subscribed by them all a quarter of a year before the deed was done.
1581.--June 2. The Confession of the Earl of Morton.
[The Earl of Morton having made during his tenure of the government many enemies, was driven from power and accused of complicity in the murder of Darnley. The indictment ("Arnot's Criminal Trials," p. 388, quoted by Laing, vol. ii, p. 350) mentions as his accomplices "James, some time Earl Bothwell; James Ormiston, some time of that ilk; Robert _alias_ Hob Ormiston, his father's brother; John Hay, some time of Talla, younger; John Hepburn, called John of Bolton; and divers others," and says that the murderers "two hours after midnight ... came to the lodging ... and there ... most vilely, unmercifully, and treasonably slew and murdered him ... burnt his whole lodging foresaid, and raised the same in the air by force of gunpowder, which a little before was placed ... by him and his foresaids under the ground, and angular stones, and within the vaults, in low and secret parts thereof." The Earl was found guilty, on the 1st of June, of "art, part, foreknowledge, and concealing of the treasonable and unnatural murder foresaid," and was executed next day. A few hours before his death he made a confession to three of the ministers of Edinburgh, part of which is here quoted.]
_Laing_, vol. ii. p. 354.
Being required what was his part or knowledge in the King's murther, he answered with this attestation. As I shall answer to my Lord God, I shall declare truly all my knowledge in that matter, the sum whereof is this: After my returning out of England, where I was banished for Davie's slaughter, I came out of Wedderburn to Whittinghame {Castle}, where the Earl Bothwell and I met together in the yard of Whittinghame, where, after long communing, the Earl Bothwell proposed to me the King's murther, requiring what would be my part therein, seeing it was the Queen's mind that the King should be taken away, because, as he said, she blamed the King more of Davie's slaughter than me. My answer to the Earl Bothwell was this, that I would not in any way meddle with that matter.... The Earl Bothwell ... thereafter earnestly proposed the same matter again to me, persuading me thereto, because so was the Queen's mind, and she would have it to be done. Unto this my answer was, I desired the Earl Bothwell to bring me the Queen's handwrit of this matter for a warrant; other ways I would not meddle thereof, which warrant he never purchased {brought}.... Then it was said to him, "Apparently, my lord, ye cannot complain justly of the sentence that is given against you, seeing with your own mouth ye confess the foreknowledge and concealing of the King's murther." ... He answered, "That I know to be true indeed, but yet they should have considered the danger that the revealing of it would have brought to me at that time; for I durst not reveal it for fear of my life. For at that time to whom should I have revealed it? To the Queen? She was the doer thereof. I was minded to have told it to the King's self, but I durst not for my life, for I knew him to be a bairn of such nature, that there was nothing told him but he would reveal it to her again." ... Then he said, "After the Earl Bothwell was cleansed by an assize, sundry of the nobility and I subscrived also a bond with the Earl Bothwell, that if any should lay the King's murder to his charge, we should assist him in the contrary. And thereafter I subscrived to the Queen's marriage with the Earl Bothwell, as sundry others of the nobility did, being charged thereto by the Queen's writ and command." Then being inquired in name of the living God, that seeing this murther was one of the most filthy acts that ever was done in Scotland, and the secrets thereof have not yet been declared, who were the chief doers, or whether he was worried, or blown in the air, and therefore pressed to declare if he knew any further secret thereunto; he answered, "As I shall answer to God, I know no more secret in that matter than I have already told."
Letter from Mr. Archibald Douglas to the Queen of Scots.
_Robertson's History of Scotland_, App. XIV., from Harl. Lib. xxxvii. bk. ix. fol. 126.
... It may please your Majesty to remember in the year of God 1566, the said Earl of Morton, with divers other nobility and gentry, were declared rebels to your Majesty.... True it is that I was one of that number, that heavily offended against your Majesty, and passed into France the time of our banishment, at the desire of the rest, to humbly pray your brother the most Christian King, to intercede that our offences might be pardoned.--Your Majesty's mind so inclined to mercy, that, within short space thereafter, I was permitted to repair into Scotland, to deal with Earls Murray, Atholl, Bothwell, Argyll, and Secretary Lethington, in the name and behalf of the said Earl Morton, Lords Ruthven, Lindsay, and remanent accomplices.... At my coming to them ... they declared that the marriage betwix you and your husband had been the occasion already of great evil in that realm ... they had thought it convenient to join themselves in league and band with some other noblemen resolved to obey your Majesty as their natural sovereign, and have nothing to do with your husband's command whatsoever; if the said earl would for himself enter into that band, they could be content to humbly request and travel by all means with your Majesty for his pardon.... They desired that I should return sufficiently instructed in this matter to Stirling, before the baptism of your son, whom God might preserve. This message was faithfully delivered by me at Newcastle in England, where the said earl then remained, in presence of his friends and company, where they all condescended to have no further dealing with your husband, and to enter into the said band. With this deliberation, I returned to Stirling, where ... your Majesty's gracious pardon was granted unto them all.... Immediately after, the said Earl of Morton repaired to Whittinghame, where the Earl Bothwell and Secretary Lethington came to him; what speech passed there amongst them, as God shall be my judge, I knew nothing at that time; but at their departure I was requested by the said Earl Morton to accompany the Earl Bothwell and Secretary to Edinburgh, and to return with such answer as they should obtain of your Majesty, which being given to me by the said persons, as God shall be my judge, was no other than these words, "Show to the Earl Morton that the Queen will hear no speech of that matter appointed unto him." When I craved that the answer might be made more sensible, Secretary Lethington said, that the earl would sufficiently understand it, albeit few or none at that time understand what passed amongst them. It is known to all men, as well by the railing letters passed betwixt the said earl and Lethington, when they became in divers factions, as also a book set forth by the ministers, wherein they affirm that the earl has confessed to them, before his death, that the Earl Bothwell came to Whittinghame to propose the calling away of the King your husband, to the which proposition the said Earl of Morton affirms that he could give no answer unto such time he might know your Majesty's mind, which he never received....
SECTION VIII
THE END
_CONTENTS_
1. Connecting Note.
2. Contemporary Verses on the Babington Conspiracy.
3. Queen Mary's Letter to Queen Elizabeth on hearing the announcement of her sentence.
4. Clauses from Queen Mary's Will.
5. Appeal for Spiritual Faculties.
6. "O Domine Deus, speravi in te."
7. Contemporary Official Report of the Execution.
_CONNECTING NOTE_
Queen Mary's life, after the conclusion of the conference at Westminster, was occupied with plots and negotiations for her escape from captivity. The proposal for her marriage with the Duke of Norfolk was opposed both in Scotland and in England; and an insurrection was raised by the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, which was speedily suppressed (November, 1569). In January of the following year the Earl of Moray was assassinated at Linlithgow, and the Earl of Lennox, Darnley's father, succeeded him as Regent. Maitland of Lethington finally seceded from the "King's party," and allied himself with Kirkaldy of Grange, who held Edinburgh Castle for Mary. The Norfolk conspiracy continued to raise the expectations of the Marians till the capture, in the spring of 1571, of Charles Baillie, who was carrying letters from the papal agent, Rudolfi, for Queen Mary, Norfolk, the Spanish ambassador, and the Bishop of Ross. On the strength of Baillie's disclosures, Norfolk was put to death in June 1572. Elizabeth declined to gratify the English Parliament by executing her prisoner, but attempted to arrange for her delivery to the Earl of Morton, now Regent of Scotland, with a view to his accepting the responsibility for Mary's death. Morton broke off the negotiations as Elizabeth refused to give her open sanction to the deed. Edinburgh Castle surrendered in June 1573, and its fall, and the loss of Lethington and Grange, gave the death-blow to the hopes of the Queen of Scots. She maintained, however, a constant correspondence with Elizabeth and with Spain and Rome, clutching eagerly at any hope of release, however vague. In 1586 she became involved, to what extent is disputed, in what is known as the Babington Conspiracy, which had for its object the assassination of Elizabeth and her ministers, and the restoration of Catholicism throughout Great Britain. Walsingham received information as to the plot, and obtained possession of letters alleged to be written by Mary to Babington. The conspirators were put to death, and Mary was tried by a Commission of Peers in the end of 1586. The following verses, addressed to the conspirators, indicate the common feeling in England at the time. They are quoted from a poem by William Kempe, published in 1587, and entitled "A Dutiful Invective against the moste haynous Treasons of Ballard and Babington ... together with the horrible attempts and actions of the Queen of Scottes.... For a New Yeares gift to all loyall English subjects." The author of the verses is not Kemp the player, but a writer of some treatises on Education. _Cf._ "Dict. Nat. Biog."
_A DUTIFUL INVECTIVE_
The Scottish Queen, with mischief fraught, for to perform the will Of him whose pupil she hath been hath usëd all her skill; By words most fair, and loving terms, and gifts of value great: For to persuade your hollow hearts, your duties to forget, And for to be assistant still, her treacheries to further, Wherein she reckons it no sinne though you commit great murther. Such is her heinous hateful mind, who long hath lived in hope, By such her subtle lawless means (and help of cursëd Pope) Both to deprive our sovereign Queen of her imperial crown, And true religion to repel, God's Gospel to put down.
* * * * *
Wherein you fully did conclude that it could never be, Except you first conspired her death, by secret treachery. And thereupon consulted oft, and sundry ways did seek For to perform this devilish act, which you so well did like. Next unto this your promise was to lend your help and aid, With all the force and power you could, to foes that should invade. And thereby for to set at large that Queen whom I did name, Who always in her treacherous mind, doth nought but mischief frame.
* * * * *
_THE CAUSE OF ALL OUR TROUBLES_
For plainly hath it fallen out, by sundry proofs most true, She was the only maintainer of all this treacherous crew: For trial whereof we may see, how that our gracious Queen, Both having care the very truth most plainly might be seen, And she with honour might be tried, in that she was a Prince, Did cause the chiefest peers her faults by justice to convince: Who did assemble at her place, by name called Fotheringay, There to examine out the truth, and hear what she could say; And to that end did then direct to them a large commission For to examine every one in whom they found suspicion. Who meeting at that place, it plainly did appear, How that she was the chiefest cause of all our troubles here. And that she by persuasions did seek for to withdraw The subjects' hearts from this our Queen, who erst had lived in awe; And that the treasons named before were all by her consent, And that she author was thereof, and did the same invent, Whereto her answer was so light, and to so small effect, As that the weakness of the same her treasons did detect. And thereupon these peers of State, having a due regard To what she could object thereto, and likewise nothing spared By circumstance to search out truth, did forthwith then pronounce That she was guilty of these crimes, and could not them renounce. Which sentence so by them declared, was by our Queen's consent, Plainly revealed to all estates in court of Parliament; And was by them considered of, who then did all agree To join in suit unto her Grace, the same to ratify.
Queen Mary's Letter to Queen Elizabeth.
_Strickland's Letters of Mary Queen of Scots_, vol. ii. p. 200. FOTHERINGAY, December 19, 1586.
MADAME,--Having with difficulty obtained leave from those to whom you have committed me to open to you all I have on my heart, as much for exonerating myself from any ill-will, or desire of committing cruelty, or any act of enmity against those with whom I am connected in blood; as also, kindly, to communicate to you what I thought would serve you, as much for your weal and preservation as for the maintenance of the peace and repose of this isle, which can only be injured if you reject my advice. You will credit or disbelieve my discourse, as it seems best to you.
I am resolved to strengthen myself in Christ Jesus alone, who, to those invoking Him with a true heart, never fails in His justice and consolation, especially to those who are bereft of all human aid; such are under His holy protection: to Him be the glory! He has equalled my expectation, having given me heart and strength, _in spe contra spem_, to endure the unjust calumnies, accusations, and condemnations (of those who have no such jurisdiction over me) with a constant resolution to suffer death for upholding the obedience and authority of the Apostolical Roman Catholic Church.
Now, since I have been on your part informed of the sentence of your last meeting of Parliament, Lord Buckhurst and Beale having admonished me to prepare for the end of my long and weary pilgrimage, I beg to return you thanks on my part for these happy tidings, and to entreat you to vouchsafe to me certain points for the discharge of my conscience. But since Sir A. Paulet has informed me (though falsely) that you had indulged me by having restored to me my almoner, and the money that they had taken from me, and that the remainder would follow; for all this I would willingly return you thanks, and supplicate still further as a last request, which I have thought for many reasons I ought to ask of you alone, that you will accord this ultimate grace, for which I should not like to be indebted to any other, since I have no hope of finding aught but cruelty from the Puritans, who are at this time, God knows wherefore! the first in authority, and the most bitter against me.
I will accuse no one: nay, I pardon with a sincere heart every one, even as I desire every one may grant forgiveness to me, God the first. But I know that you, more than any one, ought to feel at heart the honour or dishonour of your own blood, and that, moreover, of a queen and the daughter of a king.
_A LAST REQUEST_
Then, Madame, for the sake of that Jesus to whose name all powers bow, I require you to ordain that when my enemies have slaked their black thirst for my innocent blood, you will permit my poor desolated servants altogether to carry away my corpse, to bury it in holy ground with the other queens of France, my predecessors, especially near the late queen, my mother; having this in recollection, that in Scotland the bodies of the kings, my predecessors, have been outraged, and the churches profaned and abolished; and that as I shall suffer in this country, I shall not be given place near the kings, your predecessors, who are mine as well as yours: for according to our religion, we think much of being interred in holy earth. As they tell me that you will in nothing force my conscience nor my religion, and have even conceded me a priest, refuse me not this my last request, that you will permit free sepulchre to this body when the soul is separated, which, when united, could never obtain liberty to live in repose, such as you would procure for yourself; against which repose--before God I speak--I never aimed a blow: but God will let you see the truth of all after my death.
And because I dread the tyranny of those to whose power you have abandoned me, I entreat you not to permit that execution be done on me without your own knowledge, not for fear of the torment, which I am most ready to suffer, but on account of the reports which will be raised concerning my death unsuspected, and without other witnesses than those who would inflict it, who, I am persuaded, would be of very different qualities from these parties whom I require (being my servants) to stay spectators, and with witnesses of my end in the faith of our sacrament, of my Saviour, and in obedience to His Church. And after all is over, that they together may carry away my poor corpse (as secretly as you please), and speedily withdraw, without taking with them any of my goods except those which in dying I may leave to them, which are little enough for their long and good services.
_ELIZABETH'S JEWEL_
One jewel that I received of you I shall return to you with my last words, or sooner if you please.
Once more I supplicate you to permit me to send a jewel and a last adieu to my son, with my dying benediction, for of my blessing he has been deprived since you sent me his refusal to enter into the treaty whence I was excluded by his wicked council; this last point I refer to your favourable consideration and conscience as the others, but I ask them in the name of Jesus Christ, and in respect of your consanguinity, and for the sake of King Henry VII., your grandfather and mine, and by the honour of the dignity we both hold, and of our sex in common, do I implore you to grant these requests.
_MARY'S TREATMENT_
As to the rest, I think you know that in your name they have taken down my dais, but afterwards they owned to me that it was not by your commandment, but by the intimation of some of your privy council. I thank God that this wickedness came not from you, and that it serves rather to vent their malice than to afflict me, having made up my mind to die. It is on account of this, and some other things, that they debarred me from writing to you, and after they had done all in their power to degrade me from my rank, they told me "that I was but a mere dead woman, incapable of dignity." God be praised for all!
I could wish that all my papers were brought to you without reserve, that at last it may be manifest to you that the sole care of your safety was not confined to those who are so prompt to persecute me. If you will accord this my last request, I would wish that you would write for them, otherwise they do with them as they choose. And, moreover, I wish that to this, my last request, you will let me know your last reply.
To conclude, I pray God, the just Judge, of His mercy that He will enlighten you with His Holy Spirit, and that He will give you His grace to die in the perfect charity I am disposed to do, and to pardon all those who have caused, or who have co-operated in, my death. Such will be my last prayer to my end, which I esteem myself happy will precede the persecution which I foresee menaces this isle, where God is no longer seriously feared and revered, but vanity and worldly policy rule and govern all. Yet will I accuse no one, nor give way to presumption. Yet while abandoning this world, and preparing myself for a better, I must remind you that one day you will have to answer for your charge, and for all those whom you doom, and that I desire that my blood and my country may be remembered in that time. For why? From the first days of our capacity to comprehend our duties, we ought to bend our minds to make the things of this world yield to those of eternity!
From Fotheringay, this 19th December, 1586. Your sister and cousin, Prisoner wrongfully, MARIE ROYNE.
The Will of the Queen of Scots.
_Strickland's Letters of Mary Queen of Scots_, vol. ii. p. 237.
[The Will contains clauses relative to the payments of her debts, and of legacies to her servants. The selections given are of more general interest.]
In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, I, Mary, by the grace of God, Queen of Scotland and Dowager of France, being on the point of death, and not having any means of making my will, have myself committed these articles to writing, and I will and desire, that they have the same force, as if they were made in due form.
In the first place, I declare that I die in the Catholic, Apostolic, and Romish faith. First, I desire that a complete service be performed for my soul in the Church of St. Denis in France, and another in St. Peter's, at Rheims, where all my servants are to attend, in such manner as may be ordered to do by those to whom I have given directions, and who are named therein.
Further, that an annual obit be founded for prayers for my soul, in perpetuity, in such place, and after such manner, as shall be deemed most convenient....
I appoint my cousin, the Duke of Guise, principal executor of my will. After him, the Archbishop of Glasgow, the Bishop of Ross, and Monsieur de Ruissieu, my chancellor....
I recommend Marie Paiges, my god-daughter, to my cousin, Madame de Guise, and beg her to take her into her service, and my aunt de Saint Pierre to get Moubray some good situation, or retain her in her service, for the honour of God.
Done this day, 7th February 1587.
MARY, QUEEN.
_APPEAL FOR FACULTIES_
Queen Mary's Appeal to the Pope for Spiritual Faculties.
[The following document is here printed for the first time, so far as is known to the Editor. It is from a MS. at Blairs College, and is published by kind permission of the Right Reverend the Rector, and with the advantage of revision by the Reverend Professor Welsh. It is dated {158-}, and probably belongs to the last year of Queen Mary's life.]
Cum Serenissima Regina Scotiae multis ab hinc annis in Anglorum haereticorum custodias sit inclusa atque ob id non possit Catholicae Ecclesiae sacramenta suscipere et rebus divinis praesertim vero missae sacrificio nisi clam et magno cum periculo interesse, supplex petit a Sanctissimo Domino Nostro quam diu in illa custodia retinetur, ut sacerdoti catholico suo capellano pro tempore existenti concedatur, facultas non modo exercendi omnia munera episcopalia exceptis ordinis et confirmationis sacramentis, et Chrysmatis consecratione; sed etiam absolvendi ab haeresi, et haereticos poenitentes gremio sanctae matris Ecclesiae reconciliandi; quod frequentes ibi se offerant huiusmodi occasiones.
Deinde cum in hac rerum calamitate ipsi Reginae opus sit ad sua secreta consilia et commercia tractanda et exsequenda, uti opera nonnullorum Anglorum, qui nisi profanis haereticorum et schismaticorum precibus et communioni intersint, vel a praefectis carceris prohiberentur, ne Reginae inservirent, vel non possent ita commode illa consilia et commercia juvare; dignetur Sanctitas Sua sacerdoti capellano, quem Regina delegerit hanc potestatem illos ab omni censura et poena in tali casu absolvendi; et quoties opus fuerit in gratiam Sanctae matris Ecclesiæ reducendi; ii tamen, quoad fieri potest, vitare debent impiam huiusmodi communionem et rerum sacrarum prophanationem.
Permittat quoque Sanctitas Sua, ut tales etiam ante absolutionem possint sine scrupulo tum Reginae tum sacerdotis celebrantis et aliorum qui missae intererunt, praesentes adesse in ea missa quae coram Regina, durante ejus captivitate celebrabitur.
Petit etiam Regina, ut 25 numero viri catholici, per eam nominandi, quo commodius et securius ipsi inserviant, possint sine scrupulo et sine periculo et metu censurarum et peccati, hujusmodi precibus et communionibus hæreticorum interesse, ita tamen, ut cum illis non communicent, ac nefandis illorum actibus ne verbo quidem consentiant.
Concedat quoque sua Beatitudo ipsi Reginæ plenam indulgentiam et remissionem omnium peccatorum in forma jubilei, quoties genibus flexis orat confessa coram sacra Eucharistia, vel eam suscipit, ac quoties patienter fert injuriam ab hæreticis sibi illatam; eam dem quoque obtineat indulgentiam in articulo mortis ore dicendo Jesus Maria vel idem corde saltem memorando.
Postremo Regina summis precibus Sanctissimum Dominum Nostrum orat, ut quem sibi delegerit sacerdotem, possit ab eo in confessione sacramentali absolvi a cunctibus casibus etiam Sedi Apostolicæ reservatis, atque in bulla coenae Domini contentis.
[It is not known what reply was sent; but the forthcoming volume of "Vatican Papers," to be edited for the Scottish History Society by Father Pollard, S.J., may throw light on the subject.]
TRANSLATION.
Since Her Most Serene Majesty, the Queen of Scotland, has been for these many years a prisoner in the hands of the English heretics, and on that account is unable to receive the sacraments of the Catholic Church, or to be present, except secretly and at great risk, at divine service, and especially at the Sacrifice of the Mass, she humbly supplicates of His Holiness that, so long as she is kept in that restraint:
That to a Catholic priest, her chaplain for the time being, there may be granted the faculty, not only of exercising all the powers of a bishop, except the sacrament of Orders and Confirmation, and the consecration of the Chrism, but also of absolving from heresy and receiving penitent heretics into the bosom of Holy Mother Church. Such opportunities frequently offer themselves.
Secondly, since, in this sad condition of her affairs, the Queen herself has need, in connexion with her secret counsels and negotiations, of the assistance of some Englishmen, who, unless they attend the blasphemous prayers and communion of the heretics, would be excluded, by her gaolers, from the Queen's presence, or would have difficulty in aiding her counsels and plans, let His Holiness grant to a priest, whom the Queen may choose as chaplain, the power of absolving them from all censure and penalty in such circumstances, and restoring, as often as there is need, to the grace of Holy Mother Church, it being understood that, as far as possible, they shall avoid this impious communion and profanation of Holy Things.
Let His Holiness also permit that such persons, even before absolution, may without scruple either to the Queen or to the celebrating priest, or to all others who may be present, be present and assist at the Mass which shall be celebrated in presence of the Queen during her captivity.
The Queen also begs that Catholic men, twenty-five in number, nominated by her, in order that they may serve her more conveniently and safely, may without scruple and without danger or fear of censures and of sin, be present at such prayers and communions of the heretics, it being understood that they shall not communicate with them or give even verbal consent to their nefarious acts.
Let His Holiness grant also to the Queen herself a plenary indulgence and remission of all her sins, in the form of a jubilee, as often as, having confessed her sins, she may pray on bended knees before the Holy Eucharist, or receive it, and as often as she patiently endures injuries inflicted on her by heretics. May she obtain also the same indulgence at the moment of death by invoking with her lips, Jesu, Maria, or at least meditating on them in her heart.
Finally the Queen begs His Holiness with many prayers, that whomsoever she shall choose as a priest, she may be by him, in sacramental confession, absolved from all censures, even from those reserved to the Holy Apostolic See, and contained in the Bull "Coena Domini."
Illustration: SILVER-GILT HAND-BELL. Height 4-½ inches. (_Used by Queen Mary in Captivity._)
_"IN THEE HAVE I TRUSTED"_
Poem composed by Queen Mary in view of her Approaching Death.
O Domine Deus, speravi in te! O care mi Jesu, nunc libera me! In dura catena, in misera poena, Languendo, gemendo, et genu flectendo, Adoro, imploro ut liberes me.
_Tr. Mr. Swinburne, Mary Stuart_, Act V.
O Lord my God, I have trusted in thee; O Jesu my dearest one, Now set me free. In prison's oppression, In sorrow's obsession, I weary for thee. With sighing and crying, Bowed down as dying, I adore thee, I implore thee, set me free!
_PARTING WITH ROBERT MELVILLE_
1587.--February 8. Narrative of the Execution, sent to the Court.
_Ellis's Letters_, Ser. ii. vol. iii. p. 113, from the Lansdowne MS. 51, Art. 46.
First, the said Scottish Queen, being carried by two of Sir Amias Paulett's gentlemen, and the Sheriff going before her, came most willingly out of her chamber into an entry next the Hall, at which place the Earl of Shrewsbury and the Earl of Kent, commissioners for the execution, with the two governors of her person, and divers knights and gentlemen did meet her, where they found one of the Scottish Queen's servants, named Melvin, kneeling on his knees, who uttered these words with tears to the Queen of Scots, his mistress, "Madam, it will be the sorrowfullest message that ever I carried, when I shall report that my Queen and dear mistress is dead." Then the Queen of Scots, shedding tears, answered him, "You ought to rejoice rather than weep for that the end of Mary Stuart's troubles is now come. Thou knowest, Melvin, that all this world is but vanity, and full of troubles and sorrows; carry this message from me, and tell my friends that I die a true woman to my religion, and like a true Scottish woman and a true Frenchwoman. But God forgive them that have long desired my end; and He that is the true Judge of all secret thoughts knoweth my mind, how that it ever hath been my desire to have Scotland and England united together. Commend me to my son, and tell him that I have not done anything that may prejudice his kingdom of Scotland; and so, good Melvin, farewell;" and kissing him, she bade him pray for her.
_AN ENGLISH NOBLEMAN_
Then she turned to the Lords and told them that she had certain requests to make unto them. One was for a sum of money, which she said Sir Amyas Paulet knew of, to be paid to one Curle her servant; next, that all her poor servants might enjoy that quietly which by her Will and Testament she had given unto them; and lastly, that they might be all well entreated, and sent home safely and honestly into their countries. "And this I do conjure you, my Lords, to do."
Answer was made by Sir Amyas Paulet, "I do well remember the money your Grace speaketh of, and your Grace need not to make any doubt of the not performance of your requests, for I do surely think they shall be granted."
"I have," said she, "one other request to make unto you, my Lords, that you will suffer my poor servants to be present about me, at my death, that they may report when they come into their countries how I died a true woman to my religion."
Then the Earl of Kent, one of the commissioners, answered, "Madam, it cannot well be granted, for that it is feared lest some of them would with speeches both trouble and grieve your Grace, and disquiet the company, of which we have had already some experience, or seek to wipe their napkins in some of your blood, which were not convenient." "My Lord," said the Queen of Scots, "I will give my word and promise for them that they shall not do any such thing as your Lordship has named. Alas! poor souls, it would do them good to bid me farewell. And I hope your Mistress, being a maiden Queen, in regard of womanhood, will suffer me to have some of my own people about me at my death. And I know she hath not given you so straight a commission, but that you may grant me more than this, if I were a far meaner woman than I am." And then (seeming to be grieved) with some tears uttered these words: "You know that I am cousin to your Queen, and descended from the blood of Henry the Seventh, a married Queen of France, and the anointed Queen of Scotland."
"_BESIDE THE BLOCK--ALONE_"
Whereupon, after some consultation, they granted that she might have some of her servants according to her Grace's request, and therefore desired her to make choice of half-a-dozen of her men and women: who presently said that of her men she would have Melvin, her apothecary, her surgeon, and one other old man beside; and of her women, those two that did use to lie in her chamber.
After this, she being supported by Sir Amias's two gentlemen aforesaid, and Melvin carrying up her train, and also accompanied with the Lords, Knights, and Gentlemen aforenamed, the Sheriff going before her, she passed out of the entry into the Great Hall, with her countenance careless, importing thereby rather mirth than mournful cheer, and so she willingly stepped up to the scaffold which was prepared for her in the Hall, being two feet high and twelve feet broad, with rails round about, hung and covered with black, with a low stool, long cushion, and block, covered with black also. Then, having the stool brought her, she sat her down; by her, on the right hand, sat the Earl of Shrewsbury and the Earl of Kent, and on the left hand stood the Sheriff, and before her the two executioners; round about the rails stood Knights, Gentlemen, and others.
Then, silence being made, the Queen's Majesty's Commission for the execution of the Queen of Scots was openly read by Mr. Beale, clerk of the Council; and these words pronounced by the Assembly, "God save the Queen." During the reading of which Commission the Queen of Scots was silent, listening unto it with as small regard as if it had not concerned her at all; and with as cheerful a countenance as if it had been a pardon from her Majesty for her life; using as much strangeness in word and deed as if she had never known any of the Assembly, or had been ignorant of the English language.
_A THEOLOGICAL CONTROVERSY_
Then one Doctor Fletcher, Dean of Peterborough, standing directly before her, without the rail, bending his body with great reverence, began to utter this exhortation following: "Madam, the Queen's most excellent Majesty," &c, and iterating these words three or four times, she told him, "Mr. Dean, I am settled in the ancient Catholic Roman religion, and mind to spend my blood in defence of it." Then Mr. Dean said: "Madam, change your opinion, and repent you of your former wickedness, and settle your faith only in Jesus Christ, by Him to be saved." Then she answered again and again, "Mr. Dean, trouble not yourself any more, for I am settled and resolved in this my religion, and am purposed therein to die." Then the Earl of Shrewsbury and the Earl of Kent, perceiving her so obstinate, told her that since she would not hear the exhortation begun by Mr. Dean, "We will pray for your Grace, that it stand with God's will you may have your heart lightened, even at the last hour, with the true knowledge of God, and so die therein." Then she answered, "If you will pray for me, my Lords, I will thank you; but to join in prayer with you I will not, for that you and I are not of one religion."
_THE EARL OF KENT_
Then the Lords called for Mr. Dean, who, kneeling on the scaffold stairs, began this prayer, "O most gracious God and merciful Father," &c, all the Assembly, saving the Queen of Scots and her servants, saying after him. During the saying of which prayer, the Queen of Scots, sitting upon a stool, having about her neck an _Agnus Dei_, in her hand a crucifix, at her girdle a pair of beads with a golden cross at the end of them, a Latin book in her hand, began with tears and with loud and fast voice to pray in Latin; and in the midst of her prayers she slided off from her stool, and kneeling, said divers Latin prayers; and after the end of Mr. Dean's prayer, she kneeling, prayed in English to this effect: "For Christ His afflicted Church, and for an end of their troubles; for her son; and for the Queen's Majesty, that she might prosper and serve God aright." She confessed that she hoped to be saved "by and in the blood of Christ, at the foot of whose Crucifix she would shed her blood." Then said the Earl of Kent, "Madam, settle Christ Jesus in your heart, and leave those trumperies." Then she little regarding, or nothing at all, his good counsel, went forward with her prayers, desiring that "God would avert His wrath from this Island, and that He would give her grief and forgiveness for her sins." These, with other prayers she made in English, saying she forgave her enemies with all her heart that had long sought her blood, and desired God to convert them to the truth; and in the end of the prayer she desired all saints to make intercession for her to Jesus Christ, and so kissing the crucifix, and crossing of her also, said these words: "Even as Thy arms, O Jesus, were spread here upon the Cross, so receive me into Thy arms of mercy, and forgive me all my sins."
_SMILING CHEER_
Her prayer being ended, the executioners, kneeling, desired her Grace to forgive them her death; who answered, "I forgive you with all my heart, for now, I hope, you shall make an end of all my troubles." Then they, with her two women, helping of her up, began to disrobe her of her apparel; she never changed her countenance, but with smiling cheer she uttered these words, "that she never had such grooms to make her unready, and that she never put off her clothes before such a company."
Then she, being stripped of all her apparel saving her petticoat and kirtle, her two women beholding her made great lamentation, and crying and crossing themselves prayed in Latin; she, turning herself to them, embracing them, said these words in French, "Ne criez vous; j'ay promis pour vous;" and so crossing and kissing them, bade them pray for her, and rejoice and not weep, for that now they should see an end of all their mistress's troubles. Then she, with a smiling countenance, turning to her men servants, as Melvin and the rest, standing upon a bench nigh the scaffold, who sometime weeping, sometime crying out aloud, and continually crossing themselves, prayed in Latin, crossing them with her hand bade them farewell; and wishing them to pray for her even until the last hour.
"_INTO THY HANDS_"
This done, one of the women having a Corpus Christi cloth lapped up three-corner ways, kissing it, put it over the Queen of Scots' face, and pinned it fast to the caul of her head. Then the two women departed from her, and she kneeling down upon the cushion most resolutely, and without any token or fear of death, she spake aloud this Psalm in Latin, "In te, Domine, confido, non confundar in eternum," &c. {Ps. xxv.}. Then, groping for the block, she laid down her head, putting her chin over the block with both her hands, which holding there, still had been cut off, had they not been espied. Then lying upon the block most quietly, and stretching out her arms, cried, "In manus tuas, Domine," &c, three or four times. Then she lying very still on the block, one of the executioners holding of her slightly with one of his hands, she endured two strokes of the other executioner with an axe, she making very small noise or none at all, and not stirring any part of her from the place where she lay; and so the executioner cut off her head, saving one little grisle, which being cut asunder, he lifted up her head to the view of all the assembly, and bade "God save the Queen." Then her dressing of lawn falling off from her head, it appeared as grey as one of threescore and ten years old, polled very short, her face in a moment being so much altered from the form she had when she was alive, as few could remember her by her dead face. Her lips stirred up and down a quarter of an hour after her head was cut off.
Then Mr. Dean said with a loud voice, "So perish all the Queen's enemies;" and afterwards the Earl of Kent came to the dead body, and standing over it, with a loud voice said, "Such end of all the Queen's and the Gospel's enemies."
Illustration: EFFIGY AT WESTMINSTER.
_THE LAST COURTIER_
Then one of the executioners pulling off her garters, espied her little dog which was crept under her clothes, which could not be gotten forth but by force, yet afterward would not depart from the dead corpse, but came and lay between her head and her shoulders, which being imbrued with her blood, was carried away and washed, as all things else were that had any blood was either burned or clean washed; and the executioners sent away with money for their fees, not having any one thing that belonged unto her. And so, every man being commanded out of the Hall, except the Sheriff and his men, she was carried by them up into a great chamber lying ready for the surgeons to embalm her.
A full account of Queen Mary's last days will be found in "The Tragedy of Fotheringay," by the Hon. Mrs. Maxwell-Scott. In August 1587, the Queen was buried, with great ceremony, in Peterborough Cathedral, and, in 1612, was reinterred in Westminster Abbey by her son James VI. and I.
APPENDICES
_CONTENTS_
(A.) Genealogical Tables.
(B.) Lord Darnley.
(C.) Contemporary Writers.
(D.) Authorities.
(E.) Controversial Books.
_APPENDIX A._
(A.) TABLE SHOWING THE RELATIONSHIP OF MARY TO LORD DARNLEY AND TO THE DUKE OF CHÂTELHERAULT.
JAMES II., King of Scotland. | +----------------------+-------------------+ | | James III. Mary = James, Lord Hamilton. | | James IV. = Margaret, = Archibald, +-----+-------+ | dau. of | Earl of | | | Henry VII. | Angus. | | | of England. | James, Elizabeth, _m._ | | 1st Earl Matthew, Earl | | of Arran. of Lennox. James V. = Mary of | | | | Guise. | James, | | | 2nd Earl | | | of Arran | Mary Stuart. | and Duke of John, Earl | Châtelherault. of Lennox. | | +----------------+ | | | Margaret = Matthew, Earl | of Lennox. | Henry, Lord Darnley.
TABLE SHOWING THE POSITION OF MARY AND DARNLEY WITH REGARD TO THE CROWN OF ENGLAND.
HENRY VII. | +-------------------+---------+------------+ | | | Henry VIII. James IV. = Margaret = Archibald, Mary = Charles, Duke +------+----+ | | Earl of | of Suffolk. | | | | | Angus | Edward VI. | Elizabeth. James V. | +---+-----+ | | | | | Mary. | Margaret, _m._ | | Mary. Matthew, Earl | | of Lennox. | | | Frances, Eleanor, | _m._ _m._ Henry, Lord Henry, Henry, Darnley. Duke of Earl of Suffolk. Cumberland. | | +-----------------+-----------------+ | | | | Lady Jane Grey. Catherine, _m._ | Edward, Earl of | Hertford. | | +--------------------------+ | | Margaret, _m._ Henry, Earl of Derby.
_APPENDIX B._
(B.) LORD DARNLEY.
It may be of some interest to collect a few contemporary opinions regarding the unfortunate Lord Darnley. The extracts from Sir James Melville and Randolph (pp. 46-53, 54-56) sufficiently illustrate the personality of Mary, and we need only add Knolly's description of the Queen of Scots on her arrival in England (Wright's "Elizabeth," vol. i. pp. 280-1). He wrote to Cecil: "This ladie and princess is a notable woman. She semeth to regard no ceremonious honour beside the acknowledging of her estate regalle. She sheweth a disposition to speake much, to be bold, to be pleasant, and to be very famylyar. She sheweth a great desire to be avenged of her enemies: she sheweth a readiness to expose herself to all perylls in hope of victorie; she delyteth much to hear of hardiness and valiancye, commending by name all approved hardy men of her cuntrye, altho' they be her enemies: and she commendeth no cowardice even in her friends. The thing that most she thirsteth after is victory, and it semeth to be indifferent to her to have her enemies diminish, either by the sword of her friends, or by the liberall promises and rewards of her purse, or by division and quarrells raised among themselves; so that for victorie's sake, payne and perrylls semeth pleasant unto her, and in respect of victorie, welthe and all thyngs semeth to her contemptuous and vile."
Our best picture of Darnley comes from the pen of the continuator of Knox. "He was of a comely stature, and none was like unto him within this island; he died under the age of one and twenty years; prompt and ready for all games and sports; much given to hawking and hunting, and running of horses, and likewise to playing on the lute; and also to Venus chamber he was liberal enough; he could write and dictate well; but he was somewhat given to wine, and much feeding, and likewise to inconstancy; and proud beyond measure, and therefore contemned all others; he had learned to dissemble well enough, being from his youth misled up in Popery" (Laing's "Knox," vol. ii. p. 551). Incidental references to Darnley's character will be found on pp. 47-8, 64-5, 87-8, &c. The author of the "Histoire of James the Sext" wrote of him, "He was a comelie Prince, of a fayre and large stature of bodie, pleasant in countenance, and affable to all men, and devote, weill exercised in martiall pastymes upoun horseback as ony Prince of that age, but was sa facile as he could conceal no secret, although it might tend to his own weill." Of Darnley's literary abilities we possess two indications--a letter written to Mary Tudor, and the following ballad, both printed in Maidment's "Scottish Songs and Ballads," vol. ii. It may be noted that the figure of the turtle-dove or wood-pigeon occurs in the ballad and in one of the "Casket Letters."
Gife langour makis men licht, Or dolour thame decoir, In earth there is no wicht,[98] May me compair in gloir. Gif cairfuill thoftis restoir My havy heart from sorrow I am for evir moir In joy, both evin and morrow.
Gif plesour be to pance,[99] I playne me nocht opprest, Or absence micht avance, My heart is haill possesst, Gif want of quiet rest From cairis micht me convoy, My mynd is nocht mollest, Bot evir moir in joy.
Thocht that I pance in paine, In passing to and fro, I laubor all in vane, For so hes mony mo, That hes nocht servit so, In suting of thair sueit,[100] The nar the fyre I go The grittar is my heit.
The turtour for hir maik, Mair dule may nocht indure Nor I do for hir saik, Evin hir quha hes in cure My hairt, quhilk salbe sure, And service to the deid, Unto that lady pure, The well of woman heid.
Schaw shedfull to that sueit My pairt so permanent That no mirth quhill[101] we meit, Sall cause me be content; But still my hairt lament, In sorrowfull siching soir, Till tyme sho be present, Fairweill, I say no moir.
_Finis quod King Hary Stewart._
[98] Man.
[99] Think.
[100] Sweet.
[101] Till. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
This lament for Darnley (also printed by Maidment) was doubtless used as a political weapon against Queen Mary:--
To Edinburgh about six hours at morn, As I was passing pansand out the way; Ane bonny boy was sore making his moan, His sorry song was Oche, and Wallaway! That ever I should lyve to see that day, Ane king at eve, with sceptre, sword and crown; At morn but a deformed lump of clay, With traitors strong so cruelly put down!
Then drew I near some tidings for to speir, And said, My friend, what makis thee sa way. Bloody Bothwell hath brought our king to beir, And flatter and fraud with double Dalilay. At ten houris on Sunday late at een, When Dalila and Bothwell bade good night, Off her finger false she threw ane ring, And said, My Lord, ane token you I plight.
She did depart then with an untrue train, And then in haste and culverin they let craik, To teach their feiris to know the appoint time, About the kinge's lodging for to clap. To dance that night they said she should not slack, With leggis lycht to hald the wedow walkan; And baid fra bed until she heard the crack, Whilk was a sign that her good lord was slain.
O ye that to our kirk have done subscryve, These Achans try alsweill traist I may, If ye do not, the time will come, belyve, That God to you will raise some Iosuay; Whilk shall your bairnis gar sing Wallaway, And ye your selvis be put down with shame; Remember on the awesome latter day, When ye reward shall receive for your blame.
I ken right well ye knaw your duty, Gif ye do not purge you ane and all, Then shall I write in pretty poetry, In Latin laid in style rhetorical; Which through all Europe shall ring like ane bell, In the contempt of your malignity. Fye, flee fra Clynemnestra fell, For she was never like Penelope.
With Clynemnestra I do not fain to fletch, Who slew her spouse, the great Agamemnon; Or with any that Ninus' wife doth match, Semiramis quha brought her gude lord down. Quha do abstain fra litigation, Or from his paper hald aback the pen? Except he hate our Scottish nation, Or then stand up and traitors deeds commend?
Now all the woes that Ovid in Ibin, Into his pretty little book did write, And many mo be to our Scottish Queen, For she the cause is of my doleful dyte. Sa mot her heart be fillet full of syte, As Herois was for Leander's death; Herself to slay for woe who thought delyte, For Henry's sake to like our Queen was laith.
The dolours als that pierced Dido's heart, When King Enee from Carthage took the flight; For the which cause unto a brand she start, And slew herseif, which was a sorry sight. Sa might she die as did Creusa bright, The worthy wife of douty Duke Jason; Wha brint was in ane garment wrought by slight Of Medea through incantation.
Her laughter light be like to true Thisbe, When Pyramus she found dead at the well, In languor like unto Penelope, For Ulysses who long at Troy did dwell. Her dolesome death be worse than Jezebel, Whom through an window surely men did thraw; Whose blood did lap the cruel hundis fell, And doggis could her wicked bainis gnaw.
Were I an hound--oh! if she an hare, And I an cat, and she a little mouse, And she a bairn, and I a wild wod bear, I an ferret, and she cuniculus. To her I shall be aye contrarius-- When to me Atropos cut the fatal thread, And fell deithis dartys dolorous, Then shall our spirits be at mortal feid.
My spirit her spirit shall douke in Phlegethon, Into that painful filthy flood of hell, And then in Styx, and Lethe baith anone-- And Cerberus that cruel hound sa fell, Sall gar her cry with mony gout and yell, O Wallaway! that ever she was born, Or with treason by ony manner mell, Whilk from all bliss should cause her be forlorn.
(C.) CONTEMPORARY WRITERS.
GEORGE BUCHANAN.
The writings of George Buchanan with which we are concerned are his "Detection" of Queen Mary, and his "History of Scotland." Buchanan was the friend and adviser of Mary's enemies, and his references to her are polemical, not historical. His "Detection" is based on the "Book of Articles" (_cf._ p. 144), and it is not always consistent with the statements in his "History." Sheriff Æneas Mackay admits with regard to it that "it must be deemed a calumnious work." The reader must decide for himself what credit to attach to statements made by Buchanan, and otherwise unattested. He occupies among Mary's accusers the position held by Lesley among her friends. His title to fame is not confined to the Marian controversy. He was a very distinguished humanist, and his writings possess both learning and charm. (_Cf._ Mr. Hume Brown's recent volume entitled "George Buchanan.")
CONAEUS.
George Conn belonged to an Aberdeenshire family of Roman Catholic sympathies, and was educated at Douay, Paris, and Rome. He was Papal agent accredited to Queen Henrietta Maria from 1636 to 1639. He died in 1640. The date of his birth is unknown, and he is not quite strictly a contemporary author. But he lived in Paris at a time when people must have been alive who could remember Queen Mary's residence in France, and his "Life of Mary Stuart," published in 1624, has all the freshness of a contemporary source.
LORD HERRIES.
John Maxwell, fourth Lord Herries, was, although a Protestant, a staunch supporter of Queen Mary. He opposed the Bothwell marriage, but remained faithful after the surrender at Carberry Hill. He joined the Queen after her escape from Lochleven, was present at the Battle of Langside, and accompanied her in her flight to England. In spite of some temporising with her enemies, he was selected, along with the Bishop of Ross, to defend her at York and Westminster, and he was probably involved in the Norfolk plot. When he became convinced of the hopelessness of Mary's cause, he came to an arrangement with the victorious party, and took a part in politics till his death in 1583. He seems, however, always to have been ready to assist the Queen had there been any chance of success. His "Memoirs" possess an unusual interest in virtue of his intimate knowledge of the secret history of the reign.
JOHN KNOX.
The extracts from Knox's "History of the Reformation in Scotland" are interesting as bearing the impress of their author's vigorous personality. But it must be remembered that, as the leader of the Protestant clergy, he was a strong partisan, and his descriptions cannot be accepted literally. Different readers will decide differently as to the credit to be given to Knox's statements. The most valuable edition of Knox is the large one by the late Mr. David Laing, which contains much important annotation. The concluding portion of the "History" is not from Knox's own pen, but is the work of an unknown writer, who is generally described as Knox's Continuator.
JOHN LESLEY.
The Bishop of Ross was a native of Inverness-shire, and was educated at the University of Aberdeen. The first public capacity in which he was employed was as one of a deputation of Roman Catholic nobles to invite Queen Mary to return to Scotland, after the death of Francis II. He became Bishop of Ross in 1566. He rendered his chief services to Queen Mary as one of the agents for her defence at the Conferences at York and Westminster, and he was thereafter involved in most of the schemes for Mary's release. He survived the Queen for nine years, and died in 1596 at Guirtenburg, near Brussels. He was about seventy years of age.
Lesley's chief work is his "History of Scotland from 1437 to 1561." The Scots edition was first published in 1830, but the Latin version, which is more complete, appeared during the author's lifetime, and was translated into Scots, as early as 1596, by Father James Dalrymple of Regensburg. For the period with which we are concerned Lesley is a contemporary authority; but he wrote with a purpose, and was inclined to exaggeration. His "Defence of Queen Mary's Honour" was a reply to Buchanan's "Detection."
LINDSAY OF PITSCOTTIE.
Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie was a cadet of the family of Crawford. He was born about 1500, and died about 1565, and took no part in public affairs. His "History" was not published till 1728. It is a work to which we are indebted for much gossip, and it contains many humorous anecdotes. The writer was a strong Protestant, and shared with many of his contemporaries a fondness for moralising. His book is not absolutely reliable by any means; but in the passage quoted he appears to best advantage.
SIR JAMES MELVILLE.
Sir James Melville had been an attendant on Queen Mary since her childhood. In 1549, when he was fourteen years of age and she seven, he became her page. After some military, and diplomatic service he became one of the gentlemen of the Bed Chamber on the Queen's return to Scotland. His two visits to London as ambassador from Mary to Elizabeth are recorded in the passage quoted in the text. After the fall of the Queen Melville attached himself to the ruling party, and was prominent in politics till James's accession to the throne of England. Thereafter, he lived quietly at his estate of Hallhill, in Fife, where he died in 1617. During his retirement he wrote his "Memoirs," which were published by his grandson in 1683. His memory was not invariably trustworthy; but his fascinating style has made his writing one of the most popular chronicles of the time. His picture of the rival queens is one of the most characteristic passages in his work (pp. 46-53).
CLAUDE NAU.
Claude de la Boisselierre Nau was sent by the Cardinal of Lorraine to Queen Mary as a Secretary in 1575. Thenceforward he remained her confidential adviser, although his loyalty to his own interests was more marked than his devotion to his mistress, and he was generally believed to have betrayed her in connection with the Babington conspiracy. After her death he was released by Queen Elizabeth, and entered the service of Henry IV. of France. The MS. known as "Nau's History of Mary Stewart" is in the British Museum, and was printed in 1883 by Father Joseph Stevenson, S.J. The evidence on which Mr. Stevenson attributes it to Nau is given in his introduction.
LORD RUTHVEN.
Patrick, third Lord Ruthven, was one of the Protestant nobles who formed the body known as the "Lords of the Congregation" during the absence of Queen Mary in France. He was not popular even on his own side, for we find mysterious accusations of sorcery and enchantment attaching to his name. At the murder of Rizzio he appeared in the Queen's room, gaunt and haggard, having risen from a sick bed in the neighbouring house. After the murder he fled to England and wrote for the benefit of Queen Elizabeth his "Relation" of the circumstances. He makes numerous accusations against Mary, which have generally been received with suspicion owing to the position of the author as an exiled rebel anxious to justify himself before a foreign sovereign. He died at Newcastle in June 1566, three months after the murder. The "articles" are printed, not only in the "Relation," but in the first column of Goodall's _Examination_, and the third volume of Keith's "History," while those signed by Darnley are copied from the original in the Appendix (p. 641) to the Sixth Report of the Historical MSS. Commissioners.
DIURNAL OF OCCURRENTS.
The "Diurnal of Occurrents in Scotland" was first printed by the Bannatyne Club in 1833 (from a MS. then in the possession of Sir John Maxwell of Pollock). It deals with the history of Scotland from 1513 to 1575. During the period with which we are concerned, it is clearly the diary of an Edinburgh citizen, and it is of great value, especially in fixing dates. The anonymous diarist was not a partisan of the Queen, but his work is more impartial than any other of the period. Another contemporary diary, by Robert Birrell, is published in Dalyell's "Fragments of Scottish History," 1798.
GUDE AND GODLY BALLATES.
The controversy of the sixteenth century gave rise to many political songs and ballads, which became known to the Protestant party as the "Gude and Godly Ballates." Most of them were aimed against Roman Catholicism in general, but some are invectives against Queen Mary herself. The specimens given are among the best known. They are slightly earlier in date than the arrival of Mary in Scotland; but they serve to illustrate the bitterness of the struggle.
(D.) AUTHORITIES.
The remaining contemporary authorities are to be found in the letters of ambassadors, and the other diplomatic correspondence of the time. But it must be remembered that a statement can by no means be implicitly believed because it appears in such documents. The circumstances of the writer, his opportunities of obtaining information on the particular topic, his personal prejudices, the impression that he wished to convey to his correspondent, must all be allowed due weight. The correspondence and other information is largely contained in the following books:--
(1.) OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.
_Acts of Parliament of Scotland._
_Reports of the Royal Commission upon Historical MSS._
_Register of the Privy Council of Scotland._
_Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland_, preserved in the Public Record Office.
_Calendar of Papers relating to Foreign Affairs_, 1542-1587.
_Calendar of Papers relating to English Affairs_, preserved in the Archives of Simancas.
_Calendar of Papers relating to English Affairs_, preserved in the Archives of Venice.
_Calendar of Border Papers._
_The Hamilton Papers._
_Calendar of Papers relating to Scotland and Mary Queen of Scots_, 1898.
(2.) BOOKS WHICH CONTAIN ORIGINAL LETTERS, &c.
_Fædera, Conventiones, Literæ, &c., inter Reges Angliæ et alios_, ed. by Thomas Rymer. London, 1704-1735.
_Queen Elizabeth and her Times_, by Thomas Wright. London, 1838.
_History of the Affairs of Church and State in Scotland_, by the Right Rev. Robert Keith, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Edinburgh, 1734 (reprinted by the Spottiswoode Society).
_Miscellaneous State Papers from 1501 to 1726_, edited by Philip, Earl of Hardwicke. London, 1778.
_The Annals of Aboyne_, edited by George, 11th Marquis of Huntly. (New Spalding Club.)
_Life of Queen Mary_, by George Chalmers. London, 1818.
_History of Scotland_, by William Robertson, D.D.
_History of Scotland_, by Patrick Fraser Tytler.
_Inventories of Mary Queen of Scots_, edited by Joseph Robertson.
_Examination of the Letters said to have been written by Mary Queen of Scots, to James, Earl of Bothwell_, by Walter Goodall, 1744.
_History of Scotland_, by Malcolm Laing.
_Illustrations of British History_, by Edmund Lodge.
_Elizabeth and Mary_, by Fred. Von Raumer.
_Original Letters, Illustrative of British History_, ed. Ellis.
_Mary Queen of Scots and her Accusers_, by John Hosack, 1870-74.
_Mary Queen of Scots, from her Birth to her Flight into England_, by D. Hay Fleming.
_Recueil des Lettres de Marie Stuart_, ed. Labanoff.
_Letters of Mary Stuart_, ed. Agnes Strickland.
_Cabala, sive Scrinia Sacra._ London, 1691.
_Collections relating to Mary Queen of Scots_, by James Anderson.
_A Lost Chapter in the Life of Mary Stuart_, by John Stuart.
_Queen Mary at Jedburgh_, by John Small.
_Illustrations of the Reign of Mary Queen of Scots._ (Maitland Club.)
_Relations Politiques de la France et de l'Espagne avec l'Écosse_, edited by Teulet.
_The Tragedy of Fotheringay_, by the Hon. Mrs. Maxwell-Scott.
These are the main authorities. A complete list of publications dealing with the question up to 1700, will be found in "A Bibliography of Works relating to Mary Queen of Scots, 1544-1700," by John Scott, C.B. (Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 1896). Very full references will be found in Mr. Hay Fleming's notes. The list of authorities appended to the articles "Mary Stuart," in the _Dictionary of National Biography_, should also be consulted.
(E.) CONTROVERSIAL WORKS.
The general historians who deal with the period--Hume, Robertson, Tytler, Laing, Froude, and Hill Burton--are usually ranked among Queen Mary's opponents. Hume and Froude occupy the most decided position. Among other writers who are definitely against the theory of Mary's innocence, must be reckoned Mignet ("Life of Mary Queen of Scots"), Mr. D. Hay Fleming ("Mary Queen of Scots"), and Mr. T. F. Henderson (articles, "Mary Stuart," "Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley," "James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell," &c., in the _Dictionary of National Biography_). No one can hope to understand the present position of the controversy without the writings of Mr. Fleming and Mr. Henderson. Among general controversialists on the side of Queen Mary, may be mentioned the works already quoted, by Walter Goodall, George Chalmers, and John Hosack, William Tytler's "Inquiry into the Evidence against Mary Queen of Scots" (1790), Whitaker's "Mary Queen of Scots Vindicated" (1778), Miss Agnes Strickland's "Lives of the Queens of Scotland," Mr. Alex. Walker's "Mary, Queen of Scots," Mr. M'Neel-Caird's "Mary Stuart," and Sir John Skelton's "Impeachment of Mary Stuart," "Maitland of Lethington," and "Life of Mary Stuart." Mr. Swinburne's "Mary Queen of Scots" is one of the most attractive works on the subject. The reader will recollect that the "false Duessa" in Spenser's "Faerie Queen" is the Queen of Scots.
The last few years have seen the publication of many important works dealing with the problem of the Casket Letters, _e.g._:--
Bresslau: "Die Kassettenbriefe der Königin Maria Stuart," in the _Historisches Taschenbuche_, 1882.
Sepp: _Die Kassettenbriefe_, 1884.
Gerde: "Geschichte der Königin Maria Stuart," 1885.
T. F. Henderson: "Casket Letters, and Mary Queen of Scots." 2nd ed. 1890.
Philippson: "Histoire du Règne de Marie Stuart," 1891-92.
The English reader will find the material in Mr. T. F. Henderson's work ample for his purpose. The preface to Mr. Hay Fleming's "Mary Queen, of Scots" promises a second volume, which will contain the life in captivity, and, of course, deal with the letters. No Marian apologist has, as yet, attempted an answer to the more recent evidence on the other side, and Hosack's great work is now considerably superseded. The foregoing lists are, of course, selected. A full Bibliography is a great task, not yet attempted.
THE END
Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. Edinburgh & London
_Published by_ DAVID NUTT, _270-271 Strand, London, and Sold by all Booksellers throughout Scotland, England, and Ireland._
SCOTTISH VERNACULAR LITERATURE
A SUCCINCT HISTORY
By T. F. HENDERSON
Printed at the Constable Press, 1898
Crown 8vo, x, 464 pp. Buckram, top gilt, 6s.
CONTENTS:--The Scottish Vernacular--Minstrelsy and Romance--Historical Poetry--The Scottish Fabliau and the Decay of Romance--The Early Chaucerians--Dunbar and Walter Kennedy--Gavin Douglas and Sir David Lyndsay--Minor and Later Poets of the 16th Century--Anonymous Poetry of the 15th and 16th Centuries--Vernacular Prose--Traditional Ballads and Songs--Before Ramsay--Ramsay to Burns--Burns and afterwards.
=_Some Press Notices_=
=Outlook.=--"Truly admirable for its conciseness and adequacy of critical treatment."
=Literature.=--"A work of great merit and interest, and unique in its field."
=Scotsman.=--"Will be of great use to those who wish a general guide to Scottish literature in prose, such as there was, as well as in verse."
=North British Daily Mail.=--"A model of what such a handbook should be--thorough, concise, well balanced."
=Saturday Review.=--"Excellent in every respect."
=Morning Post.=--"It is not easy to recall another volume, conceived on this apparently unambitious scale, which is at once so scholarly, so thorough, so agreeable."
=Glasgow Herald.=--"Deserves a hearty welcome and no stinted=praise."
=Arbroath Herald.=--"Few readers will fail to appreciate the justice and the suggestive force of his general survey of Scottish literature."
Transcribers Note
Headings printed at the top of pages in the original have been converted to sub-headings and placed and the head of the most relevant paragraph.
Much of the text being letters and transcripts, inconsistant spellings have been retained.
Footnote 64 had no anchor in the text. Since it appears to relate to the whole of letter III an anchor has been inserted at to top of the letter.
Ligature oe has been represented as [oe].
End of Project Gutenberg's Mary Queen of Scots 1542-1587, by Various