HISTOEY
OF
SCOTLAND.
THE
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND,
ACCESSION OF ALEXANDER III. TO
THE UNION.
BY
PATRICK ERASER TYTLER,
F.R.S.E. AND F.A.S.
NEW EDITION.
IN TEN VOLUMES.
VOL. VIII.
EDINBURGH:
WILLIAM P. NIMMO.
1866
s
V
JIUKRAY AND GIBB, PKINTERS, EDINBURGH.
CONTENTS OF THE EIGHTH VOLUME.
CHAP. I.
REGENCY OF MORTON.
1573-1580.
Page
Morton reduces the Borders, 1
Killigrew leaves Scotland, 2
State of Scotland, . . 3
Grievances of the Kirk, 4
Morton's exactions, 5
Killigrew's mission into Scotland, 7
His interview with James, 8
State of the country, 9
Killigrew's Secret Instructions as to Mary, . . . .11
He leaves Scotland, 13
Walsingham's remonstrances to Elizabeth, . . . .14
Killigrew and Davison ordered to proceed to Scotland, . .15
Affray on the Borders, . 16
Elizabeth's intemperate message, ib.
Killigrew arrives in Scotland, 18
State of the country, 19
Discontent of the Kirk, 20
Andrew Melvil, 22
Plot of Athole and Argyle against Morton, . . . .23
Mission of Randolph to Scotland, 26
Success of the plot, 27
Morton's resignation of the regency, 28
Randolph leaves Scotland, ib.
Council of twelve appointed, . .... 29
VI CONTENTS.
Page
Morton's schemes for the recovery of power, . . . .31
Morton's coalition with Mar, ib.
Mar and his friends get possession of the king's person, . . 32
Morton recovers his power, 34
Parliament at Stirling, 35
Opposition of Lindsay and Montrose, 36
Argyle and Athole assemble their forces, . . . .37
Bowes reconciles the two factions, 3$
Unsettled state of the country, 40
Intrigues in favour of Mary, 41
Destruction of the house of Hamilton, . . . . .44
Death of the Earl of Athole, 47
Meeting of the General Assembly at Edinburgh, . . .48
Esme" Stewart, afterwards Duke of Lennox, arrives in Scotland, 49
He becomes the king's favourite, 51
Parliament at Edinburgh, 52
Poverty of the crown, 53
Reports of attempts to seize the king's person, . . . .55
Elizabeth sends Sir R. Bowes into Scotland, . . . .58
Lennox professes himself a Protestant, 59
The ambassador's interview with James, . . . . ib.
His secret message to the king, 60
Bowes leaves Scotland, 62
CHAP. II.
JAMES THE SIXTH.
1580-1582.
Wavering measures of Elizabeth, 63
Lennox's increasing power, ....... 64
Alarm of Elizabeth, ib.
Bowes' mission to Scotland, 65
Its failure, ib.
Lennox resolves to destroy Morton, 66
Rise of Captain James Stewart, ...... 67
Morton accused of Darnley's Murder, 68
He is confined in Dumbarton, 70
Randolph sent by Elizabeth into Scotland, . . . . ib.
His audience of the king, 7i
CONTENTS. Vll
Page
His great efforts to save Morton, 73
Intrigues and plots against Lennox, 75
Elizabeth encourages them, 77
Douglas of Whittingham reveals the whole, . , . .78
Randolph retires, ib.
Morton's trial and condemnation, 79
His execution, 83
Great power of Lennox, 85
He is created a duke, . . 86
Miserable condition of the Queen of Scots, . . . .88
Her memorial to Elizabeth, 89
Struggle between Episcopacy and Presbyterianism, . . .90
Second book of Discipline, 91
Montgomery made Bishop of Glasgow, ib.
Proceedings of the Kirk against him, 92
Mission of Captain Arrington into Scotland, . . . . ib.
The party of the Kirk alarmed by reports from France, . .93
The ministers admonish the king, 94
John Durie's interview with Signor Paul, . . . .97
Durie rebukes the king, 98
He is ordered to quit the city, ...... ib.
Montgomery excommunicated, ...... 99
General Assembly, 100
Violent debates, 101
Durie banished, 102
Grievances of the Kirk, 103
Boldness of Andrew Melvil, 104
Band against Lennox, ib.
Montgomery driven from Edinburgh, 106
Lennox's obstinacy, 107
Raid of Ruthven, 109
Conduct of the ministers of the Kirk, Ill
Mr James Lawson's sermon, 112
Sir George Carey sent into Scotland, ib.
Randolph's exultation, 113
Lennox's irresolution, 114
CONTENTS.
CHAP. III.
JAMES THE SIXTH.
1582-1584.
Page
Durie's triumphant return to Edinburgh, . . . .116
Sir George Carey's interview with James, . .117
The Kirk vindicates the Raid of Ruthven, . . .119
Death and character of Buchanan, 120
General Assembly, 122
Elizabeth's attempt to recover the letters of Mary to Bothwell, 123
Pitiable situation of the king, 124
Lennox leaves Scotland, 125
The ministers send Mr John Colvile to Elizabeth, . . .126
Fowler's disclosures of French intrigues, 128
Archibald Douglas betrays Mary's secrets to Walsingham, . 129
Arrival of Menainville, the French ambassador, . . .130
Alarm of the Kirk, 131
Interview of the ministers with James, . . . . . ib.
Menainville's boldness, 132
The ministers denounce La Motte and Menainville, . . .133
John Colvile and Colonel Stewart sent to Elizabeth, . .135
Menainville's successful intrigues against the Protestant lords, 136
The Queen of Scots' letter to Elizabeth, 139
Mary's interview with Beal, . . . . . . .140
Projected " Association" between Mary and her son in the go-
vernment, 141
Elizabeth sounds James on this subject, 142
James' aversion to any " Association," 143
Menainville leaves Scotland, 145
Colonel Stewart and Colvile's proceedings in England, . . ib.
Elizabeth's extreme parsimony, 146
Death of Lennox in France, . . . . . . .147
James deceives Bowes, . . . . . . . .148
The king escapes from the Ruthven lords, .... 149
The Earl of Arran resumes his power, 150
Mar and Augus fly, ........ ib-
Raid of Ruthven declared treason, . . . . . . ib.
Singular interview between the king and the ministers, . . l&l
Walsingham's embassy to Scotland, 155
CONTENTS. IX
Page
His interview with James, 156
Walsingham's intrigues, 157
Discovered and defeated by Arran, 158
Proceedings against the Ruthven lords, . . . . .159
Flight of Andrew Melvil, 160
Arrival of the young Duke of Lennox from France, . .- ib.
Intrigues of Bowes and Walsingham, 162
Discovered and defeated, .164
Arran and the king's offers to Elizabeth, . . . . ib.
Elizabeth's difficulties between the two parties, . . .165
Colvile's remonstrances, 166
The intrigues of Col vile and Gowrie, 167
Gowrie seized, ......... ib.
Flight of Mar and Angus, 168
Flight of the ministers to England, 169
Artifice Against Gowrie, ........ 170
Gowrie's trial, ib.
His behaviour and execution, 171
CHAP. IV.
JAMES THE SIXTH.
15&W586.
Unlimited power of Arran, 174
Elizabeth's difficulties, 175
Parliament at Edinburgh, . . . . . . .177
Mr David Lindsay imprisoned, 178
Davison sent to Scotland, 179
His conversation with Sir James Melvil, 180
Davison's audience of the king, 182
Da vison's picture of the country, 183
Preponderance of French influence, 186
Elizabeth's anxieties, 189
Her crafty policy, 190
She appoints Lord Hunsdon to confer with Arran, . . .191
Davison's intrigues with the banished lords, . . .192
Meeting between Hunsdon and Arran, . . . . .194
Master of Gray betrays Mary's interests, . . . .197
State of opposite factions, , 200
Sir Edward Hoby and Arran's secret interview, . . . 202
X CONTENTS.
Page
Arran's pride and oppression, 203
Severity to the Countess of Gowrie, 204
Plot of Arran to assassinate Angus, 205
Persecution of the Kirk, 207
Hewison's sermon, 208
Mr David Lindsay's vision, 209
Master of Gray's embassy to Elizabeth . . . . .211
James' letter to Lord Burghley, 212
Gray's offers to Elizabeth, 215
Intrigues of Elizabeth against Arran, ..... 216
Gray defeats the project of an association between James and
Mary, 218
Persecution of the Kirk, 219
Submission of some ministers, ....... ib.
Arran's violence, 220
Sir Edward Wotton sent to Scotland, 221
Intrigues against Arran, ........ 222
Proposals for his assassination, ...... 224
Wotton's embarrassment, ....... 225
Lord Russell slain, 227
Projected league with England, 229
Plot of Gray for the return of the Protestant lords, . . 230
Encouraged by Wotton, 231
Arran's counterplots, ...... .234
Wotton's personal danger, 235
Gray designs to cut off Arran, 237
Enterprise of the Protestant lords, 238
Flight of Sir Edward Wotton, 239
Arran's flight from Stirling, 240
Angus, Mar, and their friends, occupy Stirling, . . .241
Interview with James, . ib.
Elizabeth sends Sir William Knolles to Scotland, . . . 243
Interview with James, 244
Randolph's mission, ib.
Favourably received by James, ...... 246
League between James and Elizabeth signed, .... 247
Elizabeth's parsimony, 249
Terms of the league, 250
Elizabeth intercedes for Archibald Douglas, . . . .251
Douglas' return and pardon, .... . 252
CONTENTS. XI
CHAP. V.
JAMES THE SIXTH.
1586-1587.
Page
Elizabeth's object in sending Archibald Douglas to Scotland, 254
Babington's conspiracy, 255
Retrospect of Mary's proceedings, ...... 256
Throckmorton's plot in 1584, 258
Walsingham's system of espionage, 259
Walsingham's tools and assistants, ib.
Ballard and Babington's two plots, 260
Mary's design for her escape, ib.
Savage's design to slay Elizabeth, 261
Ballard's introduction to Babington, 263
Six gentlemen resolve to assassinate Elizabeth, . . , 264
Mary's letter to Charles Paget, 265
Progress of the plot, 270
Perilous situation of Mary, 273
Observations, ib.
Nau and Curie, 274
Letter to Babington, 275
Intercepted by Walsingham, 276
Mary to Morgan, 277
Nau to Babington, 278
Phelipps repairs to Chartley, 280
Babington's alleged letter to Mary, 282
Curie to Gifford, 283
Mary's alleged letter to Babington, 284
Observations, 286
Forged postscript, 287
Contents of Mary's alleged letter, 288
Walsingham's mode of proceeding, 291
Babington's suspense and difficulty, 293
Babington's flight, 294
Elizabeth informed of the plot, ib.
Her advice to Walsingham, . . . . . . . 295
Mary carried to Tixall, ........ 297
Her papers and letters seized, ....... ib.
Eli/abeth's joy, ...... . . ib
Xll CONTENTS.
Page
Babington and his companions apprehended, .... 298
Elizabeth's fears as to their trials, ib.
Her directions for increasing the pain of the executions, . . 299
Mary brought back to Chartley, 300
Examinations of Nau and Curie, 302
Burghley's unfeeling letter, 303
Confessions of Nau and Curie, ...... 304
Commission for Mary's trial, 306
Mary's spirited reply on hearing of Elizabeth's resolution, . 307
Mary refuses to plead, ........ 309
Elizabeth's letter to Mary, 310
Mary consents to appear before the commissioners, . . .311
The commissioners repair to Fotheringay, . . . . ib.
Trial of Mary, 312
Mary's answer to the charge, 313
Burghley's reply, 316
Mary's second answer, 317
Proceedings of the second day, 319
Mary accuses Walsingham, ib.
She renews her protestation, ....... 320
The court adjourns abruptly, 322
Burghley's letter to Davison, ....... ib.
Court meets again at Westminster, 323
Remarks, 324
Meeting of parliament, 325
Parliament petition Elizabeth to execute Mary, . . . ib.
Her reply, . . 326
Mary informed of the sentence, 327
Paulet's brutal conduct to Mary, 328
Mary's last letter to Elizabeth, 329
Henry the Third intercedes for Mary, 331
Elizabeth's violence, ib.
The King of Scots' efforts to save his mother, .... 332
Embassy of Sir W. Keith, 334
Elizabeth's anger, 336
Embassy of the Master of Gray and Sir R. Melvil, . . . ib.
Their interview with Elizabeth, .... . 338
Ministers of the Kirk refuse to pray for Mary, . . 339
Elizabeth's fears and irresolution, 340
She signs the warrant for Mary's execution, . . . .341
Her instructions to Davison recommending the private assassina-
tion of Mary, ......... ib.
CONTENTS. Xlll
Page
Letter to Sir Amias Paulet, 343
Paulet's reply, 344
Davison's interview with Elizabeth, ..... 345
The council send off the warrant, 346
Mary's firmness, 347
Her reply on being told to prepare for death, .... 348
Her conduct before her execution, 350'
Her parting with Sir Andrew Melvil, 354
Her devotions, and behaviour on the scaffold, .... 356
She is beheaded, 358
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
FROM
UNPRINTED MANUSCRIPTS.
No.
I. Attack on Stirling, 2Gth April, 1578, . . . .363
II. Composition between Morton and his enemies, . , 365
III. Destruction of the house of Hamilton by Morton in 1579, 366
IV. Poisoning of the Earl of Athole, and state of parties in
Scotland, 368
V. James' letter to Mary, 371
VI. Randolph's negotiation in Scotland, and Elizabeth's at-
tempt to save Morton, . . . . . . .372
VII. Letters on the troubles, trial, and death of the Regent
Morton, 378
VIII. Scottish preaching in 1582. John Durie's sermon, . 382
IX. Sir Robert Bowes to Walsingham, written immediately
previous to the Raid of Ruthven, 15th Aug. 1582, . 384
X. Archibald Douglas to Randolph, 385
XI. The Duke of Lennox's last letter to the King of Scots, . 386
XII. The king's recovery of his liberty in 1583, . . .388
XIII. Walsingham's embassy to the Scottish court in September
1583, 389
XIV. HISTORICAL REMARKS ON THE QUEEN OF SCOTS' SUPPOSED
ACCESSION TO BABINGTON's CONSPIRACY, .... 390
XV. Queen Mary's beads, 402
HISTORY
SCOTLAND.
CHAP. I.
REGENCY OF MORTON.
(CONTINUED.)
15731580.
CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS.
England.
Elizabeth.
France.
Germany. I Spain.
Charles IX. Maximilian II. Philip II.
Henry in. I Rudolph II. I
Portugal.
Sebastian.
Pope.
Gregory XIIL
SCOTLAND was now at peace ; and the regent, having
nothing to fear from domestic enemies or foreign in-
trigue, addressed himself with great energy and success
to reduce the country to order. The Border districts,
at all times impatient under the restraints of a firm
government, had, during the late civil commotions,
become the scene of the utmost violence and confusion;
but Morton, advancing from Peebles to Jedburgh with
a force of four thousand men, soon compelled the prin-
cipal chiefs to respect the law and give pledges for their
obedience,* Sir James Hume of Coldingknowes, was
then appointed Warden of the East, Lord Maxwell of
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, The Regent to Lord Burghley, Kelso,
August 30 1573.
VOL. VIII. A
2 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1573.
the West, and Sir John Carmichael of the Middle
Marches ; * and the regent had leisure to renew his
correspondence and confirm his ties with England.
Some time before this, when Killigrew, after his
successful embassy, returned to the English court,-f-
Morton had sent a memorial to Elizabeth,]: in which
he pointed out the principles upon which he proposed
to regulate his future government. He declared the
grateful feelings entertained by himself and the people,
for her late assistance in quieting their troubled coun-
try, and reducing it under the king's obedience. He
urged the necessity of entering into a mutual league
for the maintenance of the Protestant religion and its
professors against the Council of Trent; and suggested
the expediency of a contract or band for mutual defence
from foreign invasion. || In a letter written at the
same time to Burghley, he pointed out the heavy
charges which he had incurred, and requested pecuni-
ary assistance, as it would still be necessary for him to
provide against any renewed rebellion by keeping up a
body of troops; and he, lastly, reminded Elizabeth that
Mary, the root of all the evil, was still in her power,
and at her disposal. " The ground of the trouble,"
said he, " remains in her Majesty's hands and power;
whereunto I doubt not her highness will put order
when she thinks time, so as presently I will not be
further curious thereauent, abiding the knowledge of
her majesty's mind, how she shall think convenient
to proceed in that behalf." II It appears from this
sentence, that the regent invited the English queen
* Diurnal of Occurrents in Scotland, p. 337. Spottiswood, p. 272.
+ June 29.
+ Copy, State-paper Office, Memoirs of me, the Lord Regent of Scotland,
to the Queen's Majesty of England's Ambassador, &c., 2Gth June, 1573.
Ibid. || Ibid.
If MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Morton to Burghley, 25th June, 1573.
1573. REGENCY OF MORTON. 3
to renew the negotiations for putting Mary to death
in Scotland, which were so suddenly broken off by
the decease of Mar ; and indeed, some time before the
surrender of the castle of Edinburgh, Killigrew, the
ambassador, wrote to Burghley, that he had given
Morton a strong hint upon the subject. He stated,
that in a conversation which took place in the palace,
the regent had declared, that as long as the Scottish
queen lived, there would be treason, troubles, and mis-
chief ; to which, said Killigrew, " I answered he might
help that ; and he said, when all was done, he thought
at the next parliament * * to prove the noblemen
after this concord, to see what might be done. 11 * We
do not find, however, that Elizabeth at this moment
gave any encouragement to the renewal of this nefari-
ous negotiation.
All was now quiet in Scotland, and it is remarkable
that, notwithstanding the miseries of the civil war, the
general prosperity of the country had been progressive.
Commerce and trade had increased ; and whilst the
power of the high feudal lords was visibly on the de-
cay, the middle classes had risen in importance ; and
the great body of the people, instructed in their poli-
tical duties by the sermons of the clergy, and acquiring
from the institution of parish schools a larger share of
education and intelligence, began to appreciate their
rights, and to feel their own strength. There is a
passage in a letter of Killigrew, which is worthy of
notice upon this subject. " Methinks, 11 said this acute
observer, "I see the noblemen's great credit decay in
this country, and the barons, burrows, and such like,
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, The Regent to Lord Burghley, Holyrood,
26th June, 1573. Also, MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Killigrew to Burgli-
ley, 4th March, 1572-3.
4 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1573.
take more upon them ; the ministers and religion
increase, and the desire in them to prevent the practices
of the Papists ; the number of able men for service
very great, and well furnished both on horse and foot ;
their navy so augmented, as it is a thing almost in-
credible. 11 * It is to be recollected, that Killigrew 1 s last
visit to Scotland had been in 1567, immediately after
the murder of the king ; and that the remarkable
change which he now noticed, had taken place in the
brief period of five years.
This flourishing state of things, however, did not
long continue ; for although the regent was justly
entitled to the praise of restoring security and order,
and his vigour in the punishment of crime, and the
maintenance of the authority of the laws, was superior
to that of any former governor, there was one vice
which stained his character, and led to measures of an
unpopular and oppressive kind. This was avarice :
and he found the first field for its exercise in an attack
upon the patrimony of the Kirk. He had the address
to persuade the Presbyterian clergy, that it would
be the best thing for their interests to resign at once
into his hands the thirds of the benefices, which had
been granted for their support by a former parliament.
Their collectors, he said, were often in arrear; but his
object would be, to make the stipend local, and payable
in each parish where they served. This would be a
better system ; and if it failed, they should, upon
application, be immediately reinstated in their right
and possession. f The plan was agreed to, but was
followed by immediate repentance on the part of the
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Killigrew to Burghley, llth November,
1572.
t Spottiswood, p. 273.
1573. REGENCY OF MORTON. 5
clergy ; as the moment Morton became possessed of
the thirds, his scheme of spoliation was unmasked.
The course he followed was, to appoint two, three, or
even four churches to one minister, who was bound to
preach in them by turns ; and at the same time he
placed in every parish a reader, whose duty was to
officiate in the minister's absence, and to whom a
miserable pittance of twenty or forty pounds Scots
was assigned. Having thus allotted to the Church
the smallest possible sum, he seized the overplus for
himself; and when the clergy, sensible of their error,
petitioned to be reinstated in their property, as had
been promised, they were at first met with delays, and
at last peremptorily told, that the appointment of the
stipends ought properly to belong to the regent and
council.
Nothing could be more distressing and degrading to
this independent body of men than such a state of
things. Before this, when their stipend was defective,
they had an appeal to the superintendants, who, if not
always able, were at least solicitous to relieve them.
Now, they were compelled to become suitors at court,
where their importunate complaints met only with
ridicule and neglect. All this misery was justly laid to
the regent's account; and although once their favour-
ite, as a steady friend to the Eeformation, he became
highly unpopular with the clergy.
But if the grasping avarice of Morton fell heavy on
the ministers of the Kirk, their woes were little to the
miseries of the lower classes, more especially the arti-
sans, merchants, and burgesses of the capital. Many of
these had remained in the city during the time of the
late troubles. These were now treated as rebels, who
had resisted the king's authority; and they found
6 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1573.
that they must either submit to a public trial, or
purchase security by payment of a heavy fine. The
sum thus collected, was intended at first to be divided
between the State and the citizens whose houses and
property had been destroyed ; but it followed the fate
of all monies paid into the coffers of this rapacious
governor.
Another source of complaint arose out of those
Itinerant Courts, denominated Justice Ayres, and held
in different parts of the kingdom ; which, under his
administration, became little else than parts of a system
of legal machinery, invented to overawe and plunder
all classes in the country. To supply them with vic-
tims, he kept in pay a numerous body of informers,
whose business it was to discover offences. Nor was
it difficult to bring forward accusations of almost every
possible nature, after so many years of a divided go-
vernment, in which men, at one time or another, had
been compelled to acknowledge very opposite authori-
ties : now that of the king and his regent ; now, of the
queen or her partisans. Ample ground was thus found
for every species of prosecution: against merchants
for transporting coin out of the realm, against Pro-
testants for transgressing the statute by eating flesh
in Lent, against the poorer artisans or labourers for
the mere remaining in a town or city which was occu-
pied by the queen's forces. As to those whose only
offence was to be rich, their case was the worst of all ;
for to have a full purse, and " thole " * a heavy fine to
the regent, were become synonymous terms.
These were not Morton's only resources. His peti-
tions to Elizabeth for support were importunate and
incessant; nor did he fail to remind her, that as it was
* " Thole," undergo.
1573. REGENCY OF MORTON. 7
by her "allowance and advice that he had entered
upon the Regency, so he confidently expected her aid,
especially in money, and pensions bestowed upon his
friends." Although universally reputed rich, he dwelt
pathetically on his limited revenue compared with his
vast outlay ; and in the letter to Burghley, which pre-
ferred these requests, he at the same time earnestly
recommended Elizabeth to keep a watchful eye upon
France, as the noted Adam Gordon, who had already
done so much mischief in the North, was now received
at the French court, and had offered, if properly sup-
ported, to overthrow the king's government in Scot-
land.*
This news seems to have alarmed the English queen ;
for, not long after, she again despatched Killigrew
into that country. Her avowed object was to learn the
state of public feeling, and the disposition of the regent;
"whether he was constant in his affection towards
England ; how his government was liked by the people ;
whether the Scottish queen had yet any party there ;
and, above all, to discover whether France was intrigu-
ing, as had been reported, to get possession of the young
king." To the regent's proposal for a defensive and
religious league, he was instructed to reply, that she
deemed such a measure at present unnecessary; al-
though, in any emergency, he might look confidently
to her support. As to his request for money, Killi-
grew was, as delicately as he could, to "waive" all dis-
cussion upon the subject.
Here, however, as in the former embassy, there was a
mission within a mission ; and the envoy's open in-
structions embraced not the whole, nor even the most
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, The Regent Morton to Burghley, Jan.
21, 1573-4, Haddington.
8 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1574.
material part of the object for which he was sent. He
was enjoined by Burghley and Leicester (doubtless, as
before, with Elizabeth's knowledge and advice) to renew
the negotiation for "the great matter ;" the project
for having Mary put to death in her own country, and
by her own subjects. Unfortunately the written orders
upon this point are now lost ; but immediately upon
his arrival in Edinburgh, the ambassador communicated
to Walsingham his fears that they had suffered the
time for the accomplishment of so desirable a result to
go by.*
On examining the state of the country, Killigrew
became convinced that his sovereign and the English
had lost popularity since his late residence in Scotland.
The regent, although professing his usual devotion,
appeared more distant and reserved. The queen's
coldness on the subject of the proposed league, and her
evasion of his requests for pensions, had produced no
good effect ; and some piracies committed by English
subjects upon Scottish merchantmen, had occasioned
great popular discontent.
Not long after the ambassador's arrival, he repaired
to Stirling, where he was introduced to the young
king, who had very recently completed his eighth year;
and, after the interview, he sent this interesting por-
trait of him to Walsingham : " Since my last unto
you," said he, "I have been at Stirling to visit the king
in her majesty's name, and met by the way the Countess
of Mar coming to Edinburgh, to whom I did her ma-
jesty's commendations.
" The king seemed to be very glad to hear from her
* MS. State-paper Office, " Instructions given to Henry Killigrew, Esq.,
. M._ 00 \f,A * j v_ r , , AlsQ> M g Ler o. ,
1574, Berwick.
iu. uii nee, instructions givei _, __.., _,.,
&c." May '22, 1574, Signed by Walsingham. Also, MS. Letter, State-
paper Office, Killigrew to Walsingham, June 8, "
1574. REGENCY OF MORTON. 9
majesty, and could use pretty speeches : as, how much
he was bound unto her majesty, yea, more than to his
own mother. And at my departure, he prayed me to
thank her majesty for the good remembrance she had
of him ; and further desired me to make his hearty
commendations unto her majesty. His grace is well
grown, both in body and spirit, since I was last here.
He speaketh the French tongue marvellous well; and
that which seems strange to me, he was able, extempore,
(which he did before me,) to read a chapter of the Bible
out of Latin into French, and out of French after into
English, so well, as few men could have added any-
thing to his translation. His schoolmasters, Mr George
Buchanan and Mr Peter Young, rare men, caused me
to appoint the king what chapter I would ; and so did
I, whereby I perceived it was not studied for. They
also made his highness dance before me, which he
likewise did with a very good grace ; a prince sure of
great hope, if God send him life." *
The English ambassador remained in Scotland for
more than two months, during which time he had ample
opportunities to make himself acquainted with the
state of the country. He found the regent firm in his
government, universally obeyed, somewhat more feared
than loved; but bold, decisive, and clear-headed in the
adoption and execution of such measures as he deemed
necessary to establish quiet and good order in the realm.
The general prosperity of all classes of the people
surprised him. He had, to use his own expression, left
the country " in a consumption," distracted and im-
poverished by a long continuance of civil war.-f He
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Killigrew to Walsingham, 30th June,
J574.
t This must allude to his last visit but one, i. e. in 1567 ; for in 1572 he
described it as rapidly improving. Supra, p. 3.
10 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1574.
had expected, on his return, to meet with the same
melancholy state of things ; but to his astonishment,
the nation, as he described it to Burghley and Wal-
singham, had recovered itself with a rapidity of which
he found it difficult to assign the cause. Its commerce
and manufactures were in a flourishing condition, the
people seemed to have forgotten their miseries, the
nobles were reconciled to each other, and universally
acknowledged the king's authority. Although French
intrigue was still busy, and the captive queen attempted
to keep up a party, the uncommon vigilance of Morton
detected and put down all her practices. Formerly,
the people, broken, bankrupt, and dispirited, were glad
to sue for the protection of England, and the nobles
were eager in their ofl'ers to Elizabeth. Now, to use
Killigrew's phrase, they were "lusty and indepen-
dent ; " they talked as those who would be sued to ;
their alliance, they said, had been courted by "great
monarchies ; " and they complained loudly of the attack
and plunder of their merchantmen by the English
pirates. On this subject the regent expressed himself
keenly, and was greatly moved. He dwelt, too, on
other causes of dissatisfaction. The rejection of the
proposed league by Elizabeth; her silence as to sending
him any aid, or granting any pensions ; the delay in
giving back the ordnance which had been taken by
the English, and other lighter subjects of complaint,
were all recapitulated ; and it was evident to Killigrew
that there was an alteration in the relative position
of the two countries, which he assured Walsingharn
would not be removed by mere words of compliment.*
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Killigrew to Walsingham, June 23,
1574. Ibid. Same to same, 24th June, 1574. MS. Letter, State-paper
Office, Killigrew to Walsingham, 18th June, 1574.
1574. REGENCY OF MORTON. 11
The ambassador anxiously impressed upon Elizabeth
and her ministers, that the Scots were no longer de-
pendent upon England; and as to attempting to make
anyimpression upon the regent in "the great matter," *
which Leicester and Burghley were solicitous should
be again secretly discussed, it seemed to him 'a vain
idea at present. If Morton were to consent to put
Mary to death on her delivery into his hands, it would
only be, as he soon perceived, by the offer of a far
higher bribe than Elizabeth was disposed to give; and
by the settlement of large annuities on such of the
nobles as were confidants to his cruel design. Killi-
grew was so assured of the backwardness of his royal
mistress upon this point, and the determination of the
regent not to move without such inducement, that he
begged to be allowed to return. " I see no cause,"
said he to Walsingham, " why I should remain here
any longer * * * especially if you resolve not
upon the league, nor upon pensions, which is the surest
ground I do see to build 'the great matter "* upon,
without which small assurance can be made. I pray
God we prove not herein like those who refused the
three volumes of Sibylla's prophecies, with the price
which afterwards they were glad to give for one that
was lost; for sure I left the market here better cheap
than now I find it."-f
The Queen of England, however, was not to be so
easily diverted from any object upon which she con-
sidered the safety of herself and her kingdom to depend,
and she insisted that her ambassador should remain
and accompany the regent in his Northern progress,
* The having Mary put to death in Scotland.
t MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Killigrew to Walsingham, 12th July,
1 574, Edinburgh. MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Killigrew to Walsing-
ham, 23d June, 1574.
12 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1574.
upon which he was about to enter.* " I think it not
convenient,"" said Walsingham to him, in a letter of
the eighteenth July, " that you be recalled till such
time as you have advertised how you find the regent
affected touching 'the great matter' you had in com-
mission to deal in ; and therefore I think fit you ac-
company the regent till you be revoked." -f 1
In the meantime, Elizabeth held a secret conference
with Leicester, Burghley, and Walsingham, and ap-
pears to have herself suggested a new scheme for getting
rid of Mary. It is unfortunately involved in much
obscurity, owing to the letter in which it is alluded to
being written partly in cipher ; but it was disapproved
of by Walsingham, apparently on the ground that it
would be dangerous to send the Scottish queen into
Scotland without an absolute certainty that she should
be put to death. J
The English queen was evidently distracted be-
tween the fear of two dangers one, the retaining Mary
within her dominions, which experience had taught
her was the cause of constant plots and practices ; the
other, the delivering her to the Scots, an expedient
which, unless it were carried through in the way pro-
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Killigrew to Walsingham, June 23,
1574.
t MS. Letter, draft, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Killigrew, July
18, 1574.
MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Killigrew, Woodstock,
July 30, 1574. Killigrew accordingly accompanied the regent in his
Northern progress ; and, on their arrival at Aberdeen, held a secret con-
sultation on the great matter; but unfortunately, the letters in which we
might have looked for a particular account of what took place have disap-
peared. All that we know with certainty is, that the ambassador returned
soon after to the English court, (Aug. 16;) and that in a brief memorandum
of such things as the regent desired him to remember in his conferences
with the Queen of England, is this slight note: "What further is to he
looked for in that which passed betwixt us at Aberdeen, touching the matter
of greatest moment." MS. Memorandum, State-paper Office, August 16,
1574.
1574. REGENCY OF MORTON. 13
posed by Burghley and Leicester, in 1572* that is,
under a positive agreement that she should be put to
death, was, as they justly thought, full of peril. Mor-
ton, however, although he had shown himself perfectly
willing to receive Mary under this atrocious condition,
continued firm in his resolution not to sell his services
for mere words. He, too, insisted on certain terms ;
especially an advance in money, and pensions to his
friends. But the queen deemed his demands exorbi-
tant ; and, as was not unfrequent with her when pressed
by a difficulty from which she saw no immediate escape,
she dismissed the subject from her mind, and unwisely
took refuge in delay. In this manner "the great
matter" for the present was allowed to sleep; and
Mary owed her life to the parsimony of Elizabeth, and
the avarice of the Scottish regent.-f-
Killigrew not long after left Scotland, and on part-
ing with him, Morton assured Leicester, in a letter
which this ambassador carried with him, "that no
stranger had ever departed from that country with
greater liking and contentment of the people." J He
requested him at the same time, on his return to the
English court, to communicate with the queen and
council, upon some subjects of import, which required
a speedy answer. These embraced the dangers to
which the Protestant interest in Scotland was exposed
from continental intrigue ; but to the regents morti-
fication, many months elapsed before any answer was
received. At last, Walsingham, alarmed by the apathy
of Elizabeth, and the continued practices of herenemies,
* Vol. Seventh of this History, pp. 319, 320.
t MS. Letter, State-paper Office, The Regent to Leicester, August 16,
1574, Aberdeen.
MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Morton to Leicester, 16th August,
1574.
14 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1574-5.
endeavoured, in a letter of free remonstrance, to rouse
his mistress to a sense of her peril. He told her, that
he had recently received a despatch from the Scottish
regent, and with it some intercepted papers of the
Bishop of Ross, which required instant consideration.
They would convince her, he trusted, how utterly
hollow were the promises of France and Spain, and to
what imminent danger she was exposed from "unsound
subjects at home." He besought her deeply to weigh
the matter, and " set to " her hand for the protection
of her realm: observed that, "Though the Cardinal of
Lorrain were dead, he had left successors enough to
execute his plots;"" and conjured her to use expedition,
before the hidden sparks of treason, now smouldering
within the realm, should break out into an unquench-
able fire. " For the love of God, madam," said he,
" let not the case of your diseased estate hang longer
in deliberation. Diseased estates are no more cured
by consultation without execution, than unsound
bodies by mere conference with the physician; and
you will perceive by his letters, how much the regent
is aggrieved." *
For a moment these strong representations alarmed
Elizabeth, and she talked of sending Killigrew or
Randolph immediately into Scotland ; -f but her rela-
tions with France occasioned new delays. She had
entered into an amicable correspondence with Cathe-
rine de Medicis. The Duke D'Alen^oii still warmly
prosecuted his marriage suit ; and although the Eng-
* MS. Letter, draft, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Elizabeth, Jan.
15, 1574-5.
+ MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Edward Gary to Walsingham, 17th
January, 1574-5. Also, Original draft, State-paper Office, Walsingham to
the Queen, 20th March, 1574-5. In the midst of these anticipated troubles,
died, at his palace of Hamilton, the Duke of Chastelherault, better known
by the name of the Regent Arran, on the 22d January, 1574-5.
1574-5. REGENCY OF MORTON. 15
lish queen had not the slightest intentions of granting
it, she, as usual, dallied and coquetted with the pro-
posal. In the midst of all, Charles the Ninth died ;
the queen became engrossed with the speculations and
uncertainties which follow a new succession ; and Mor-
ton, irritated by neglect, was driven by resentment
and necessity to cultivate the friendship of that party
in Scotland which was devoted to France.
This alienation was soon detected by Walsingham,
who wrote in alarm to Burghley, and on the succeed-
ing day to Elizabeth, adjuring her, " for the love of
God, to arrest the impending mischief, and secure the
Scottish amity, which of all others stood them at that
moment in greatest stead. Already,"" he said, " the
regent was conferring favours on the Hamiltons, who
were entirely French ; already he was plotting to get
the young King of Scots out of the hands of his
governor, Alexander Erskine ; Henry the Third, the
new King of France, was well known to be devoted
to the house of Guise ; and with such feelings, what
was to be expected, but that the moment he had quieted
the disturbances in his own realm, he would keenly
embrace the cause of the Scottish queen V *
Elizabeth was at last roused, and gave orders for
the despatch of Henry Killigrew into Scotland, ac-
companied by Mr Davison, afterwards the celebrated
secretary, whom he was directed to leave as English
resident at the Scottish court. "J* But before the am-
bassador crossed the Border, an affray broke out, which
threatened the most serious consequences, and arrested
* MS. Letter, Original draft, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Burghley,
llth April, 1575. Also, State-paper Office, Original draft, Walsingham
to Elizabeth, T2th April, 1575.
t MS. State-paper Office, Orig. Instructions to Henry Killigrew, 27th
May, 1575.
16 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1575.
him at Berwick. At a Warden Court, held by Sir John
Forster, Warden of the Middle Marches, and Sir John
Carmichael, Keeper of Liddesdale, a dispute arcse which
led to high words between these two leaders; and their
followers, taking fire, assaulted each other. The Scots
at first were repulsed, but being joined by a body of
their countrymen from Jedburgh, rallied, and attacked
and totally routed the English. Sir John Heron, Keeper
of Tynedale, was slain ; whilst Sir John Forster, Sir
Francis Russell, Sir Cuthbert Collingwood, Mr Ogle,
Mr Fenwick, and about three hundred men, were made
prisoners, and carried by the Earl of Angus to the
regent at Dalkeith. Morton received them with much
courtesy, dismissed the prisoners of inferior rank, and
expressed, in a letter to Elizabeth, his readiness to
afford redress: but he detained the Lord Warden; and
when the queen insisted that the regent should meet
Lord Huntingdon, the President of the North, in a
personal conference in England, he peremptorily re-
fused. Such a proceeding, he said, was beneath the
dignity of the office he held ; but he offered to send
the Justice-clerk to arrange a meeting in Scotland.*
On being informed of this, Elizabeth, already chafed
by the detention of her warden, broke into one of those
furious fits of passion which sometimes caused her
highest councillors to tremble for their heads, and
disagreeably reminded them of her father. In this
frame she dictated a violent message to the Scottish
regent, which she commanded Killigrew to deliver
without reserve or delay. She had seen, she said,
certain demands made, on his part, by the Justice-
clerk, and did not a little wonder at so strange and
* MS. Relation of the Affairs of Scotland from 1566 to 1579. Warrender
MS. Collections, vol. 13. fol. 208.
1575 REGENCY OF MORTON. 17
insolent a manner of dealing. He had already been
guilty of a foul fact in detaining her warden, the go-
vernor of one of the principal forts in her realm ; he
had committed a flagrant breach of treaty ; and had
she been inclined to prosecute her just revenge, he
should soon have learnt what it was for one of his base
calling to offend one of her quality. And, whereas,
continued she, he goeth about to excuse the detaining
of our warden, alleging that he feared he might revenge
himself when his blood was roused for his kinsman's
death, such an excuse seemed to her, she must tell
him, a scornful aggravation of his fault ; for she would
have him to know, that neither Forster nor any other
public officer or private subject of hers dared to offer
such an outrage to her government, as, for private
revenge, to break a public treaty. As to the conference
with Huntingdon, instead of receiving her offer with
gratitude, he had treated it with contempt. He had
taken upon him to propose a place of meeting, four
miles within Scotland ; an ambitious part in him, and
savouring so much of an insolent desire of sovereignty,
that she would have scorned such a request had it come
from the king his master, or the greatest prince in
Europe. To conclude, she informed him that, if he
chose to confer with the Earl of Huntingdon at the
Bond Rode,* she was content ; and he would do well
to remember that his predecessor the Regent Moray had
not scrupled to come to York, and afterwards to Lon-
don, to hold a consultation with her commissioners.-f
This passionate invective I have given, as it is
highly characteristic of the queen ; but Huntingdon
* The Bond Rode, or boundary road, a place or road on the Marches near
Berwick, common to both kingdoms.
t MS. Letter, State-paper Office, To Killigrew in Scotland. From the
Queen.
VOL. VIII. B
18 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1575.
and Killigrew deemed it proper to so/ten its expres-
sions, in conveying the substance of it to the regent,
whom they had no mind unnecessarily to irritate.*
Even in its diluted state, however, it awed him into
submission. He met the English president on the
sixteenth of August at the appointed place, arranged
all differences, and not only dismissed his prisoners,
but loaded them with presents, and sent Carmichael
up to England to ask pardon of Elizabeth. Amongst
his gifts were some choice falcons ; upon which a saying
rose amongst the Borderers, alluding to the death of
Sir John Heron, that for this once the regent had lost
by his bargain : He had given live hawks for dead
Herons.-f*
The quarrel having been adjusted, Killigrew pro-
ceeded to Scotland. On his arrival there, he perceived
everywhere indications of the same flourishing condi-
tion in which he had lately left the country. Whilst
the people seemed earnestly disposed to preserve the
amity with England, all lamented the late accident on
the Borders ; and the ministers in their sermons prayed
fervently for the continuance of the peace. As to the
regent himself, the ambassador found him still firm in
his affection to England, and in resisting the advances
of France. Although not popular, generally, the
vigour and success of his government were admitted
even by his enemies: property and person were secure;
and he gave an example of this in his own conduct ;
for he never used a guard, and would pursue his diver-
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Killigrew to Leicester, 14th August,
1575.
f MS. Letter, State-paper Office, B.C., Huntingdon to Leicester, 14th
August, 1575. Ibid. MS. Letter, Huntingdon to Sir T. Smith, 17th August,
1575. Also, MS. Letter, State-paper Office, The Regent to Walsiugham,
20th September, 1575 ; and Hume of Godscroft, vol. ii. p. 253.
1575. REGENCY OF MORTON. ]9
sions, walking abroad with his fishing-rod over his
shoulder, or his hawk on his wrist,* almost alone, to
the wonder of many. The Borders, since the late dis-
turbance, had been quiet ; and so rapidly had the foreign
commerce of the country increased, that Killigrew
reckoned it able to raise twenty thousand mariners. *f*
Such was the favourable side of the picture; but
there were some drawbacks to this prosperity, arising
chiefly out of the feuds amongst the nobility, and
the discontent of the clergy. It was reported that
Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, who had shot the Regent
Moray, and fled to the continent after the murder, was
to be brought home by the Lord of Arbroath. This
nobleman was second son of the late Duke of Chastel-
herault, and, owing to the insanity of Arran his elder
brother, had become the chief leader of the Hamiltons.
The idea of the return of his murderer, roused the
friends of the late regent to the highest pitch of re-
sentment ; and Douglas of Lochleven, his near kins-
man, assembling a force of twelve hundred men, vowed
deadly vengeance against both the assassin and Ar-
broath his chief. The Earls of Argyle, Athole,
Buchan, and Mar, with Lords Lindsay and Ruthven,
espoused the quarrel of Lochleven ; Arbroath, on the
other hand, would be supported, it was said, by all the
friends of France and the queen ; whilst Morton in
vain endeavoured to bring both parties to respect the
laws. Arbroath, too, meditated a marriage with the
Lady Buccleugh, sister to the Earl of Angus, the
regent's nephew and heir ; and when Morton appeared
to countenance the match, a clamour arose amongst
* Murdin, p. 283.
f This is the number stated in Killigrew's paper ; but he must have made
a highly erroneous and exaggerated calculation. Murdin, p. '285.
9Q HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1575.
the young king's friends that he showed an utter dis-
regard to the safety of his sovereign. Was not the Duke,
they said, failing the king, the next heir to the throne?
was not Arran, that nobleman's eldest son, mad? and did
not the right of the royal succession devolve on Ar-
broath? Had the regent forgotten the ambition of
the house of Hamilton, and Arbroath's familiarity
with blood? and would he strengthen the hands of
such a man by a marriage in his own family ? If so,
he need not look for the support of any faithful subject
who tendered the young king's preservation.*
To these were added other causes of disquiet and
difficulty. Morton was no longer popular with the
citizens of Edinburgh ; nor, indeed, could he reckon
upon the support of any of the middle or lower classes
in the State. His exactions had completely disgusted
the merchants of the capital. He had imprisoned the
most opulent amongst them, and this caused so great
an outcry that many scrupled not to say, that, if he did
not speedily change his measures the same burghers'
hands which had put him up, would as surely pull him
down again. To all these causes of discontent, must
be added his quarrel with the Kirk, and the soreness
arising out of his recent establishment of Episcopacy.
This had given mortal offence to some of the leading
ministers, who considered the appointment of bishops,
abbots, and other Roman Catholic dignitaries to be an
unchristian and heterodox practice, utterly at variance
with the great principles of their Reformation. They
arraigned, and with justice as far as regarded the
regent, the selfish and venal feelings which had led to
the preservation of this alleged relic of Popery. It
* Murdin, pp. 282, 283.
1575 REGENCY OF MORTON. 21
was evident, they said, that avarice, and not religion,
was at the root of the whole. The nobles and the laity-
had already seized a large portion of the Church lands,
and their greedy eyes still coveted more. These prizes
they were determined to retain ; whilst the poor min-
isters who laboured in the vineyard, and to whom the
thirds of the benefices had been assigned, found this a
nominal provision, and were unable, with their utmost
efforts, to extract a pittance from the collectors ; the
whole of the rents finding their way into the purses
of the regent and his favourites. And how utterly
ridiculous was this last settlement of the bishops ?
Was it not notorious, that the See attached to the
primacy of St Andrew's belonged, in reality, to Morton
himself? that there was a secret agreement, a nefarious
collusion, between him and the prelate, his own near
relative, whom he had placed in it ? Was it not easy
to see that the chief purpose of this ecclesiastical office
was to enable the regent more readily and decently to
suck out the riches of the benefice, as, in the north
country, farmers would sometimes stuff a calf's skin,
called there a Tulchan, and set it up before a cow to
make her give her milk more willingly ? What were
all these bishops, and abbots, and priors, whom they
now heard so much about, but mere Tulchans^ men
of straw, clerical calves, set up by the nobility to
facilitate their own Simoniacal operations ?
These arguments, which were enforced with much
popular eloquence and humour, by those ministers who
were attached to the Presbyterian form of Church
government, produced a great effect upon the people,
already sufficiently disgusted by the exactions and
tyranny of the regent. Morton, too, increased the
discontent by his violence, threatening the most zealous
22 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1575.
of the ministers, and broadly declaring his conviction
that there would be no peace or order in the country
till some of them were hanged.*
At this crisis, Andrew Melvil, a Scottish scholar
of good family, who had been educated first in his
native country, and afterwards brought up in the
strictest principles of Calvin and Beza at Geneva,
returned to Scotland from the continent. He was
profoundly skilled in the Greek and Latin languages,
and calculated, both by his learning and enthusiasm,
to be of essential service to the reviving literature of
his country ; but he was rash and imperious, a keen
republican, sarcastic and severe in his judgment of
others, and with little command of temper. Soon after
his arrival he acquired a great influence over Durie,
one of the leading ministers of the Kirk, who, at his
instigation, began to agitate the question, whether the
office of a bishop was consistent with the true principles
of Church government as they could be gathered from
the Word of God ? After various arguments and
consultations held upon the subject, a form of Church
polity was drawn up by some of the leading ministers ;
and the regent, with greater indulgence than his former
proceedings had promised, appointed some members of
the council to take it into consideration : but they had
scarcely met, when the State was suddenly plunged
into new troubles, which at once broke off their con-
ference.
This revolution originated in a coalition of the Earls
of Athole and Argyle against the regent. Both these
noblemen were of great power and possessions, and could
command nearly the whole of the north of Scotland.
* Calderwood, MS. Hist. British Museum. Ayscough's Catalogue, No.
4735, p. 1053 of the MS.
1575. REGENCY OF MORTON. 23
Athole, a Stewart, was considered the leader of that
party which had recently attached themselves to the
young king, under the hope of prevailing upon him to
assume the government in his own person. Being a
Roman Catholic, he was, for this reason, much sus-
pected by Morton ; and he, in his turn, hated the
regent for his cruel conduct to Lethington, to whom
Athole had been linked in the closest friendship.
Argyle, on the other hand, although he had formerly
been united with Morton in most of his projects, was
now completely estranged from his old comrade ; and
the cause of quarrel was to be traced to the regent's
cupidity. A rgyle had married the widow of the Regent
Moray, Agnes Keith, a sister of the Earl Marshal,
and through her had got possession of some of the
richest of the queen's jewels. These Mary had de-
livered to Moray in a moment of misplaced confidence.
He, as was asserted, had advanced money upon them
to the State ; at his death they remained in the hands
of his widow ; and Morton now insisted on recovering
them, in obedience to an order given on the subject by
parliament. Argyle and his lady resisted: and al-
though the jewels were at last surrendered, it was not
till the noble persons who detained them were threat-
ened with arrest. This, and other causes of dispute,
had entirely alienated Argyle from Morton : but, for
a short season, the regent derived security from the
sanguinary contests between the two northern earls
themselves. Their private warfare, however, which
had threatened to involve in broils and bloodshed the
whole of the North, was suddenly composed ; and by
one of those rapid changes which were by no means
unfrequent in feudal Scotland, the two fierce rivals,
instead of destroying each other, united in a league
24 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1576.
against the regent. This new state of things is to be
traced to the influence of Alexander Erskine, the go-
vernor of the king and commander of Stirling castle.
This gentleman had recently discovered that Morton,
with that subtle and treacherous policy of which he
had already given many proofs, was secretly plotting
to get possession of the person of the young monarch,
and to place a creature of his own in command of the
castle of Stirling. To confound his scheme, Erskine,
who was beloved by the higher nobles, and a principal
member of the confederacy which had been formed for
the king's protection, wrote secretly to Athole and
Argyle, inviting them to come to Stirling, assuring
them that James was already well disposed to redress
their complaints against the regent, and promising
them immediate access to the royal person.
It is scarcely to be believed that these plots and
jealousies should have altogether escaped the attention
of Morton. He had his secret emissaries both in Scot-
land and in England, and he must have been well
aware of his increasing unpopularity. The age of the
young king, who had now. entered on his twelfth year,
and begun to take an interest in the government,
admonished him that every succeeding year would
render it a more difficult task for any regent to engross
the supreme power ; and as long as James remained
under the care of Alexander Erskine, whom he had
reason to believe his enemy, it was evident that the
continuance of his authority must be precarious. Al-
ready, he saw his sovereign surrounded by those who,
for their own ends, sought to persuade him that he was
arrived at an age when he ought to take the govern-
ment into his own hands.
So far-sighted and experienced a political intriguer
1577. REGENCY OF MORTON. 25
as Morton, could not be sensible of all this, without
speculating on the best mode of encountering the storm
when it did arrive, and averting the wreck of his power.
To- continue sole regent much longer was evidently
full of difficulty ; but to flatter the young monarch by
a nominal sovereignty, and to rule him as effectually
under the title- of king, as he had done when sole regent,
would be no arduous matter, considering his tender
years, provided he could undermine the influence of
Erskine his governor', and crush the confederacy with
Argyle and Athole. In the mean season, he resolved
to await his time, and watch their proceedings. But
the regent, although cautious and calculating, was not
aware of the full extent of the confederacy against him ;
and the catastrophe arrived more suddenly than he
had anticipated. The intrigues of Argyle and Athole
had not escaped the eyes of Walsingham ; and in De-
cember, 1577, Elizabeth, suspecting an impending re-
volution, despatched Sir Robert Bowes to Scotland,
with the hope of preventing any open rupture between
Morton and the nobility. He was instructed to in-
culcate the absolute necessity of union, to prevent both
themselves and her kingdom from falling a sacrifice to
the practices of foreign powers ; and to threaten Morton,
that, if he continued refractory, and refused to make
up his differences with his opponents, she would make
no scruple to cast him off, and herself become a party
against him. He carried also a flattering letter from
the queen to the Earl of Athole, in which she assured
him of her favourable feelings, and recommended peace.*
For a moment, the envoy appears to have succeeded;
* MS. Instructions to Thomas Randolph, 30th January, 1577-8, State-
paper Office. Orig. draft of MS. Letter, State-paper Office, The Queen's
Majesty to the Earl of Athole, December, 1577.
26 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1577-8.
but he was aware that the friendship professed on both
sides was hollow, and the lull of civil faction only
temporary. This is evident from a letter which he
wrote to Leicester, upon his return to Berwick :
"Albeit," said he, "those matters (in Scotland) are
for a season wrapped up, yet it is not unlike, without
wise handling and some charge to her majesty, that
the fire will be readily kindled again. * * * The
readiest way, in my opinion, to preserve the realm in
quietness, with continuance of this amity, is to appease
and * all the griefs between the regent and others
of the realm, and by friendly reconciliation and union
to make him gracious amongst them. For which he
must receive some apt lessons, with gentleness, from
her majesty : but with the same, he must also receive
some comfort, agreeable to his nature." "f* It is evident
from this, that Bowes had become convinced that, to
conciliate Morton and preserve peace, Elizabeth must
deal less in objurgation, and more in solid coin, than
she had lately done ; nor need we wonder that the
envoy, afraid of undertaking so delicate a task, was
happy to return : but the queen, who had received
some new and alarming information of the success of
French intrigue in Scotland, commanded him to revisit
Edinburgh, and watch the proceedings of both parties.
Even this, however, did not appear enough : and soon
after, Randolph was despatched on a mission to the
young king and the regent ; its object being similar
to that of Bowes, but his instructions more urgent and
decided.]: Some delay, however, occurred; and he
* A word in the original is here illegible.
t MS. Letter, British Musuem, Caligula, C. v. fol. 86, Sir R. Bowes to
Leicester, October 9, 1577, Berwick.
% MS. Letter, British Museum, Caligula, C. v. fol. 3, Instructions given,
31st January, to Thomas Randolph. Also, MS. State-paper Office, Mr
Randolph's several Instructions in his Ambassades.
1577-8. REGENCY OF MORTON. 27
had scarcely arrived in Scotland, when the clouds
which had been so long gathering burst upon the head
of the regent. The rapidity of the movements of the
conspirators, and their complete success, were equally
remarkable. On thefourth of March, (1577-8,) Argyle
rode with his usual retinue to Stirling, and being im-
mediately admitted by Erskine to an interview with
the young king, complained loudly of Morton's insolent
and oppressive conduct, not only to himself, but to the
whole nobility and people. He implored him to call
a convention to examine their grievances ; and, if he
found them true, to take the government upon himself,
and put an end to a system which, whilst it cruelly
oppressed his subjects, left him nothing but the name of
a king. These arguments were enforced by Erskine the
governor ; the famous Buchanan, one of the tutors of
the young monarch, threw all his weight into the same
scale ; and the other confederates who had joined the
conspiracy, Glammis the chancellor, the Abbot of
Dunfermline, the secretary, Tullibardine the Comp-
troller, and the Lords Lindsay, Ruthven, Ogilvy and
others, eagerly joined in recommending such a course.
Athole at this time was absent : but he arrived, no
doubt by concert, at the moment his presence was
most 'necessary ; and being instantly admitted into
the castle, and led to the king, his opinion was urgent-
ly demanded. Scarcely, however, had he time to de-
liver it, and to express his detestation of the tyranny
by which they had been so long kept down, when a
messenger brought letters from Morton, keenly re-
probating the conduct of the northern earls. He
remonstrated with the king on the outrage committed
against his royal person and himself ; represented the
necessity of inflicting on such bold offenders speedy
28 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1577-8.
and exemplary punishment ; and concluded by declar-
ing his anxiety to resign his office, if his royal master
was prepared to overlook such proceedings. This
offer was too tempting to be rejected: letters were
addressed to the nobility requiring their instant at-
tendance at court. Argyle, Athole, and Erskine, took
care that those summonses should find their way only
to their friends. The convention assembled ; a reso-
lution was unanimously passed that the king should
take the government upon himself; and before the
regent had time to retract, he was waited upon by
Glammis the chancellor, and Lord Herries, who
brought a message from his sovereign, requiring his
immediate resignation. Although startled at the sud-
denness of the demand, Morton was too proud, or too
wary, to pretend any repugnance. He received the
envoys with cheerfulness ; rode with them from his
castle at Dalkeith to the capital ; and there, at the
Cross, heard the herald and the messenger-at-arms
proclaim his own deprivation, and the assumption of
the government by the young king. He then, in the
presence of the people, resigned the ensigns of his
authority ; and, without a murmur or complaint, re-
tired to one of his country seats, where he seemed
wholly to forget his ambition, and to be entirely en-
grossed in the tranquil occupations of husbandry and
gardening.
The news of this revolution was instantly communi-
cated by Randolph to his friend Killigrew, in this
laconic and characteristic epistle, written when he was
on the eve of throwing himself on horseback to proceed
to England, and in person inform Elizabeth of the
alarming change.
"All the devils in hell are stirring and in great
1577-8. JAMES VI. 29
rage in this country. The regent is discharged the
country broken, the chancellor slain by the Earl of
Crawford, four killed of the town out of the castle, and
yet are we in hope of some good quietness, by the great
wisdom of the Earl of Morton. There cometh to her
majesty from hence an ambassador shortly. I know
not yet who, but Sandy Hay in his company. It be-
hoveth me to be there before : and so show my wife." *
The death of the chancellor, Lord Glammis, here
alluded to by Randolph, was in no way connected with
the revolution which he describes, but took place in a
casual scuffle between his retinue and that of the Earl
of Crawford. His high office was bestowed upon
Athole, Morton's chief enemy, and the leader of the
confederacy which had deposed him. But this, though
it preserved the influence of the successful faction,
scarcely compensated for the loss of their associate, who
was accounted one of the wisest and most learned men
in Scotland.
Meanwhile, the confederated nobles followed up their
advantages. As the king had not yet completed his
twelfth year, a council of twelve was appointed. It con-
sisted of the Earls of Argyle, Athole, Montrose, and
Glencairn ; the Lords Ruthven, Lindsay, and Herries ;
the Abbots of Newbottle and Dunfermline ; the Prior
of St Andrew's : and two supernumerary or extra-
ordinary councillors ; Buchanan, the king's tutor, and
James Makgill, the Clerk-register. All royal letters
were to be signed by the king and four of this number;
and as the first exercise of their power, they required
from Morton the delivery of the castle of Edinburgh,
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Randolph to Killigrew, 20th March,
1577 that is, 1577-8. Signed jocularly Thomazo del Niente. Sandy Hay
was Alexander Hay, Clerk-register.
30 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1578.
the palace of Holy rood, the mint, and the queen's jewels
and treasure. To all this prostration of his former great-
ness, he appears to have made no resistance ; but simply
requested, that, in the next parliament, they should
pass an act approving of his administration during his
continuance in the regency. Morton then held a
hurried conference with Randolph, before that ambas-
sador set off for the English court ; intrusted him with
a brief letter to Lord Burghley, written in his new
character as a private man,* and seemed prepared, with
perfect contentment, to sink into that condition.
It was evident, however, from the expressions he
used in this short note, that he had informed Randolph
of some ulterior design for his resumption of power,
which he did not choose to commit to writing ; and
that the ambassador, long versant in Scottish broils
and intrigues, considered it a wise and likely project.
Nor was he wrong in this conclusion : for the develop-
ment of this counter-revolution, which restored Morton
to power, followed almost immediately ; and the out-
break was as sudden, as the success was complete.
The king's lords, as Argyle and his friends were
called, had formed their council,^ assembled in the
capital, conferred the chancellor's place on Athole, and
proclaimed a parliament to be held on the tenth of
June. On the twenty-fourth of April, the General
Assembly met at Edinburgh ; and having chosen Mr
Andrew Melvil to be their Moderator, proceeded to
their deliberations with their usual zeal and energy.
It was determined to revise the Book of Church Policy,
and lay it before the king and council ; and a blow was
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, The Earl Morton to Lord Burghley,
March 28, 1578. He signs simply, " Morton."
f MS. Record of the Privy Council, in Register-he use, Edinburgh. March
'-'4, 1577-8.
1578. JAMES VI. 31
aimed at the late episcopal innovations, by a declaration
that, owing to the great corruption already visible in
the state of bishops, no See should be filled up till the
next General Assembly of the Church.* During these
transactions Morton lived in retirement, and appeared
wholly engrossed in his rural occupations ; but he had
secretly gained to his interest the young Earl of Mar,
whose sister was the wife of Angus, Morton's heir, and
the head of the house of Douglas, To Mar, he art-
fully represented that he was unjustly and shamefully
treated by his uncle, Erskine the Governor. He, the
young Earl, who was no longer a boy, was entitled by
hereditary right to the government of Stirling castle;
but his uncle usurped it, and with it kept hold of the
king's person. It was Alexander Erskine, not the
Earl of Mar, who was now considered the head of that
ancient house. Would he submit to this ignominy,
when, by a bold stroke, he might recover his lost rights ;
when the house of Douglas, with all its strength and
vassalage, was ready to take his part ; and his uncles,
the Abbots of Dryburgh, and Cambuskenneth, offered
their council and assistance ? These arguments easily
gained over the young lord ; and as he and his retinue
were generally lodged in the castle, he determined to
put Morton's plan in execution.
On the twenty-sixth April, about five in the morn-
ing, before many of the garrison were stirring, Mar,
who had slept that night in the castle, assembled his
retinue, under the pretence of a hunting party, and
riding to the gates with the Abbots of Dryburgh and
Cambuskenneth, called for the keys. He was met by
his uncle, Erskine the Governor, with a small company,
who, for the moment, suspected nothing ; but finding
* MS. Calderwood, p. 1055-1059.
32 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1578
himself rudely accosted as a usurper by the Abbots,
instantly dreaded some false play. To shout treason,
seize a halbert from one of the guard, and call to his ser-
vants, was with Erskine the work of a moment ; but,
ere assistance arrived, his little band was surrounded,
his son crushed to death in the tumult, and himself
thrust without the gates into an outer hall, whilst Mar
seized the keys, put down all resistance, and became
master of the castle. In the midst of this uproar the
young king awoke, and rushing in great terror from
his chamber, tore his hair, and called out that the
Master of Erskine was slain. He was assured that
his governor was safe ; and the Earl of Argyle, who
had been roused by the tumult, finding the two Abbots
arguing with Erskine in the hall, but showing him
no personal violence, affected to consider it a family
quarrel between the uncle and the nephew, and retired,
after advising an amicable adjustment. News of the
tumult was, that evening, carried to the council at
Edinburgh, accompanied by an assurance from Mar,
Argyle, and Buchanan the king's tutor, that the dis-
pute was adjusted. Upon this they despatched Mon-
trose, the same night, to Stirling ; who, coming alone,
was courteously received and admitted into the castle:
but next day when the council rode thither in a body
and demanded admittance, this was peremptorily re-
fused by Mar. They should all see the king, he said,
but it must be one by one ; and no councillor should
enter the gates with more than one attendant.*
Incensed at this indignity, the council assembled in
Stirling, and issued a proclamation, prohibiting any
resort of armed men thither, whilst they sent secret
orders to convoke their own forces. But their measures
* MS. Calderwood, British Museum, p. 1061 . See Proofs and Illustrations,
No. I.
1578. JAMES VI. S3
were too late; Douglas of Lochleven had already
entered the castle, joined Mar, and communicated
with Morton, whose hand, it was stronglj suspected,
although it did not appear, had managed the whole.
Angus, meantime, by his directions, was ready, at six
hours' warning, with all the armed vassals of the house
of Douglas ; and the ex-regent, forgetting his gardens
and pleasure grounds, hurried from his rural seclusion,
and reappeared in public, the same subtle, daring, and
unscrupulous leader as before.*
Events now crowded rapidly on each other. At the
earnest request of the young king, an agreement took
place between Mar and his uncle, Alexander Erskine.
The earl retained the castle of Stirling, and with it the
custody of the royal person. To the Master of Er-
skine, so Alexander was called, was given the keeping
of the castle of Edinburgh ; and in a meeting held at
Craigmillar, between Morton, Athole, and Argyle, it
was decided that they should next day repair together
to Stirling, and adjust all differences before the king
in person. This was determined on the eighth of May ;
and that evening the two northern earls, after sharing
Morton's hospitality at Dalkeith, rode with him to
Edinburgh. In the morning, however, the ex-regent
was nowhere to be found; and it turned out that he had
risen before daybreak, and, with a small retinue, had
galloped to Stirling, where he was received within the
f Copy, Caligula, C. v. fol. 89, Sir Robert Bowes to Lord Burghley,
Edinburgh, April 28, 1578. In this letter of Bowes to Burghley, written
in the midst of this revolution, and on the very day the council rode to
Stirling, he says, " What storm shall fall out of these swelling heats, doth
not yet appear. But I think, verily, within two or three days, it will burst
into some open matter, discovering sufficiently the purposes intended ; where-
in, to my power, I shall seek to quench all violent rages, and persuade to
unity and concord amongst them."
VOL. VIII. C
34 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1578.
castle, and soon resumed his ascendancy both over Mar
and the king.*
Against this flagrant breach of agreement, Argyle
and Athole loudly remonstrated; and Sir Robert
Bowes, the English ambassador, exerting himself to
restore peace, the young monarch summoned a conven-
tion of his nobles : but the northern earls and their
associates received such a proposal with derision, and
sent word by Lord Lindsay, that they would attend
no convention held by their enemies, within a fortress
which they commanded. Other lords obeyed, but
came fully armed, and with troops of vassals at their
back; and both factions mustered in such strength,
and exhibited such rancour, that, but for the remon-
strances of Bowes, the country would have hurried
into war.
Amidst the clamour and confusion, however, it was
evident that the ex-regent directed all. By his per-
suasion a new council was appointed, in which he held
the chief place. It was next determined to send the
Abbot of Dunfermline as ambassador from the young
king to Elizabeth. He was instructed to thank that
princess for the special favour with which she had re-
garded him from his birth, to confirjn the peace between
the two countries, and to propose a stricter league for
mutual defence, and the maintenance of true religion. -f
The parliament had been summoned to meet in July
at Edinburgh : but Morton was well aware of his un-
popularity in that city, and dreaded to bring the king
into the midst Df his enemies. By his persuasion,
therefore, the young monarch changed the place of
* MS. Calderwood, British Museum. Ayscough, 4735, p. 1061. Also,
Orijr. draft, State-paper Office, Articles delivered by Argyle, Athole, &c.
to Lord Lindsay.
t MS. Draft, State-paper Office, June 18, 1578.
1578. JAMES VI. 35
assembly to the great hall within Stirling castle, where
he knew all would be secure. But this new measure
gave deep offence; and when the day approached,
Argyle, Athole, Montrose, Lindsay, and Herries, with
their adherents, assembled in the capital, declaring that
nothing should compel them to attend a parliament
within a citadel garrisoned by their mortal enemies,
and where it would be a mockery to expect any free
discussion.
Despising this opposition, Morton hurried en his
measures, and the Estates assembled in the great
hall within Stirling castle.* It was opened by the
king in person ; but scarcely had the members taken
their seats, when Montrose and Lord Lindsay pre-
sented themselves as commissioners from Argyle,
Athole, and their adherents, and declared that this
could in no sense be called a free parliament. It was
held, they said, within an armed fortress ; and for this
cause the noble peers, whose messengers they were,
had refused to attend it; and we now come, said Lind-
say, with his usual brevity and bluntness, to protest
against its proceedings. Morton here interrupted him,
and commanded him and his companion to take their
places; to which Lindsay answered, that he would
stand there till the king ordered him to his seat.
James then repeated the command, and the old lord
sat down. After a sermon, which was preached by
Duncanson the minister of the royal household, and a
harangue by Morton, who, in the absence of Athole
the chancellor, took upon him to fill his place, the
Estates proceeded to choose the Lords of the Articles;
upon which Lindsay again broke in upon the proceed-
ings, calling all to witness, that every act of such a
* July 16, 1578.
36 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1578.
parliament was null, and the choosing of the lords an
empty farce. This second attack threw Morton into
an ungovernable rage, in which he unsparingly abused
his old associate. " Think ye, Sir," said he, " that
this is a court of churls or brawlers ? Take your own
place, and thank God that the king's youth keeps you
safe from his resentment." " I have served the king
in his minority," said Lindsay, " as faithfully as the
proudest among ye; and I think to serve his grace no
less truly in his majority." Upon which Morton was
observed to whisper something in the king's ear, who,
blushing and hesitating, delivered himself of a little
speech, which, no doubt, had been prepared for him
beforehand. " Lest any man," said he, "should judge
this not to be a free parliament, I declare it free; and
those who love me will think as I think."*
This silenced Lindsay, and the proceedings went on ;
but Montrose, abruptly leaving the hall, rode post to
Edinburgh. It was reported that he bore a secret
letter from the king, imploring his subjects to arm and
relieve him from the tyranny of Morton. It is certain,
that the recusant earl drew a vivid picture of the
late regent's insolence, and roused the citizens to such
a pitch of fury, that they mustered in arms, and de-
clared that they would rescue their sovereign from the
hands of a traitor who had sold them to the English .
o
Nothing could be more grateful to Argyle and Athole
than such a spirit ; and sending word to the townsmen,
that they would speedily join them with a force which
would soon bring their enemies to reason, they sum-
moned their feudal services, and prepared for war.-}-
* MS. Calderwood, British Museum, pp. 1062, 1065.
t MS. Letter, British Museum, Caligula, C. v. fol. 101, Lord Hunsclon
to Burghley, August 19, 1578, Berwick.
1578. JAMES vi. 37
Montrose's sudden retreat saved him from imprison-
ment; for next day an order of privy-council appeared,
commanding him and Lindsay his associate to confine
themselves to their own lodgings under pain of rebel-
lion.* In the meantime the parliament proceeded.
Morton's demission of the regency, and the king's ac-
ceptance of the government, were confirmed. An ample
approval and discharge was given him of all the acts
done during his regency, and a new council appointed,
in which he himself sat as chief, and could, in any
emergency, command a majority. The revolution was
thus complete. He had lost the name of regent, but
he had retained his power ; and the nominal assump-
tion of the government by the young king had removed
many difficulties which before trammelled and perplexed
liiin.-f*
But this daring and experienced politician had men
to deal with who, having been trained in his own school,
were not easily put down ; and scarcely had the ar-
rangements for the new government been completed,
when Argyle and Athole occupied the city of Edin-
burgh, and communicating with the leading ministers
of the Kirk, now completely estranged from Morton,
assembled their forces. It was in vain that Sir Robert
Bowes, the English ambassador, remonstrated against
this ; in vain that a charge from the privy-council
was fulminated against the two earls, commanding
them, on pain of treason, to depart from Edinburgh
within twenty-four hours. Both sides flew to arms :
the country, so lately restored to peace, again resounded
with warlike preparation : proclamations, and counter-
* MS. Books of Privy-council, Register House, Edinburgh, 17th July,
1578.
t Draft, State-paper Office, Names of the King's Ordinary Council, and
Acts of Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 94.
38 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1578.
proclamations were discharged against each other;
summonses for their armed vassals issued in every
direction; and so readily were the orders obeyed, that
Argyle and Athole, who had marched out of Edinburgh
on the eleventh August with only one thousand men,
found themselves, on mustering at Falkirk on the
thirteenth, seven thousand strong. Of these troops
the greater part were animated by the deadliest hatred
of Morton; especially the hardy bands of the Merse
and Teviotdale, led by their wardens Coldingknowes
and Cessford. They carried before them a banner of
blue sarcenet, on which was painted a boy within a
grated window, with the distich, "Liberty I crave, and
cannot it have." 1 ' * This was meant to represent the
king's thraldom to Morton ; and below it was their
answer, declaring that they would die to set him free.
On the other side came Angus, who had been recently
proclaimed lieutenant-general to the king, with a body
of five thousand men ; and the skirmishing between
the advanced parties of each army had commenced,
when Sir Robert Bowes, accompanied by Lawson and
Lindsay, the two principal ministers of the Kirk, rode
hastily from the capital, and again offered himself, in
the name of his mistress the Queen of England, as a
peacemaker between the rival factions.*!*
In this humane office, after prolonged and bitter
discussions, he was successful. The young king, or
rather Morton in his name, declared, trat foreseeing
the wreck and misery of the realm, if the present
divisions were not speedily removed, he was ready to
* MS. Letter, Caligula, C. v. fol. 101, Lord Hunsdonto Burghley, Aug.,
19, 1578, Berwick. See Proofs and Illustrations, No. II. In these transac-
tions the celebrated Buchanan acted as a kind of Secretary of State. Calder-
wood MS. fol. 1071.
f MS. Calderwood, p. 1071.
1578.
JAMES VI.
39
meet the wishes of the Queen of England; and there-
fore commanded his nobility, on both sides, to disband
their forces. To reassure Argyle and Athole's faction,
their late conduct in taking arms was accepted as loyal
service; Argyle, Lindsay, and Morton, so recently
denounced traitors, were added to the privy-council;
a committee of eight noblemen was to be chosen, to
advise with the king upon the best mode of reconciling
his nobility; and, from this moment, free access was
to be afforded to all noblemen, barons, or gentlemen,
who came to offer their service to their prince.* To
these conditions both parties agreed; and by the judi-
cious management of Bowes, Scotland was saved for
the present from the misery of civil war.
This minister, after the service he had thus performed,
remained for some time resident ambassador at the
Scottish court; where Morton's successful intrigues
had once more established him as the chief ruler in the
State ; a result which was viewed with much satisfac-
tion by Elizabeth, who, even after his demission of his
high office, had never ceased to give him the title of
regent.-}* For the name, however, he cared little : it
was power to which he looked ; and this, having for
the moment secured, he was determined not speedily
again to lose. The great principles upon which he had
hitherto conducted the government, were a strict amity
with England, opposition to all foreign intrigue, a de-
termined resistance to the deliverance of the Scottish
queen, and a resolution to maintain the Protestant
Reformation. On this last important point, however, his
motives had become suspected by the influential body
* MS. State-paper Office, copy of the time, Articles agree 1 on in Scotland
between the King and the Lords, 13th August, 1578.
t Instructions to Randolph, 31st January, 1578, Caligula, C. v. fol. Ill,
British Museum.
40 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1578.
of the ministers of the Kirk. This was owing to his
introduction into Scotland of the Episcopal form of
Church government, and his resistance to the Book of
Church Polity which had been drawn up by the General
Assembly, and presented to the king and the three
Estates for their approval. Yet still, although no
longer the favourite of the clergy, Morton was anti-
Catholic enough to be preferred by them to Athole, a
professed Roman Catholic, and his associates, who,
for the most part, were either avowed or suspected
Romanists ; and for the present the ministers refrained
from endangering the restored peace of the country
by any violence of opposition.
Yet it was impossible for any acute observer not to
see that the times were precarious. The elements of
discord were lulled in their active efforts, but not
destroyed ; the intrigues of France and Spain for the
deliverance of Mary, and the reestablishment of the
ancient faith, were still busily carried on ; and Bowes
the ambassador, who, from long experience, was inti-
mately acquainted with the state of the rival factions,
regarded the court and the country as on the eve of
another change. On the third November, shortly
previous to his leaving Scotland, he thus wrote from
Edinburgh to Lord Burghley :
" By my common letters to the Lords of her Ma-
jesty"^ Council, the weltering estate of this realm, that
now attendeth but a tide for a new alteration of the
court, will appear to your lordship, and how necessary
it is in this change approaching, and in the confedera-
cies presently knitting, to get some hold for her majesty
amongst them." * It had been his own earnest endeav-
* MS. Letter, British Museum, Caligula, C. v. fol. 109. Sir R. Bowes
to Burghley, November 3, 1578, Edinburgh.
1578. JAMES VI. 41
our to get such hold over them ; and for this purpose
he had entered into negotiations with the Earl of
Caithness, one of the principal leaders of the confeder-
acy against Morton. He and his associates had sent
articles of agreement, in the usual form, to the Eng-
lish ambassador : but they expected, also, the usual
gratuity ; and as it turned out, valued their devotion
to Elizabeth at a higher rate than that parsimonious
princess was disposed to reckon it. Caithness, indeed,
was of loose and accommodating principles, both in
politics and religion ; and although Bowes flattered
himself that, on his departure from Scotland, he had
left the faction opposed to Morton very favourably
disposed to England, he did not conceal from Wal-
singham his apprehensions that the continuance of
this feeling was precarious. " I fear," said he, in his
letter to this minister, "that no great inwardness
shall be found in them, when they find her majesty's
liberality coming slowly to them, that use not often at
the fairest call to stoop to empty lure." *
These apprehensions of the English minister regard-
ins: the unsettled state of Scotland were not without
O
good foundation. Mary's indefatigable friend, the
Bishop of Ross, whose intrigues in the affair of the
Duke of Norfolk had already given such alarm to
Elizabeth, was now busily employed on the continent,
exciting France, Spain, Germany, and the Papal court,
to unite for her deliverance; and holding out the
present crisis of affairs in Scotland as eminently favour-
able for the restoration of the true faith. The extent
to which these operations were carried, was amply
proved by a packet of intercepted letters, written in
* MS. Letter, British Museum, Caligula, C. v. fol. 110. Sir R. Bowes
to , November 24, 1578. I suspect to Walsingham.
42 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1578.
cipher, and seized by Walsingham or Burghley, whose
spies and informers were scattered all over Europe.
It was found that the Earl of Athole, a Roman Catholic,
the great leader of the late cabal against Morton, and
Chancellor of Scotland, was in constant correspondence
with the Bishop of Ross. The letters of the Scottish
queen herself, written immediately after Morton's
resignation of the regency, to the same prelate, and
directed to be communicated to the pope, expressed
her satisfaction at the late revolution in Scotland, and
her zealous concurrence with his holiness in his pro-
ject for the restitution of the true faith in Britain, by
the united efforts of the great Catholic powers. She
alluded, in the same letter, to a project for the carrying
off her son, the young king, to the continent, which the
pope had offered to forward by an advance of money.
She informed him, that in consequence of the changes
in Scotland since Morton's demission, she felt perfectly
assured of the affection and services of the young
prince, and of his councillors ; she urged the necessity
of placing him, if possible, in the hands of her friends
of the house of Lorrain ; alluding to the imminent
danger he incurred from Elizabeth's intrigues to get
possession of his person, or even to deprive him of his
life ; she declared her conviction, that if her son were
once in France, and removed from the sphere of Eliza-
beth's influence, a more lenient treatment of herself
would ensue ; and, lastly, she directed Ross to com-
municate upon all these matters with the pope's nuncio
at Paris.*
In an intercepted letter, written about the same
time by Beaton bishop of Glasgow, Mary's ambassador
* MS. British Museum, excyphris Reginae Fcotiae ad Episcopum Rossen-
sem, Caligula, C. v. fol. 102.
1578. JAMES VI. 43
at the court of France, to the Bishop of Ross, the
determination of Henry the Third and the Duke of
Guise to assist her to their utmost, was clearly inti-
mated.* In the autumn of the same year, and soon
after the pacification between the rival factions in
Scotland, which we have seen effected by Bowes, the
Bishop of Ross made a progress into Germany, with
the object of exciting the Emperor and the Duke of
Bavaria to unite with the other Catholic powers for
the speedy liberation of his royal mistress, and the
restoration of religion. From both potentates he re-
ceived the utmost encouragement. The Emperor de-
clared his readiness to cooperate with the endeavours
of his brother princes for the deliverance of the Scot-
tish queen, and the securing to her and her son their
undoubted right to the English throne ; and the duke
professed his determination to peril both property and
life itself for the restoration of the Catholic faith.^f-
This encouraging information was conveyed by Ross
to the Cardinal Como, in a letter written from Prague
on the twenty-seventh September, 1578, which, unfor-
tunately for his mistress, fell into the hands of her
enemies ; and, at the same time, this indefatigable
prelate, at the request of the Emperor, had drawn up
a paper on the state of parties in Scotland, in which
he carefully marked the relative strength of the Roman
Catholic and Protestant peers,J and pointed out the
favourable crisis which had occurred. In a second
interview, to which the Emperor admitted him, he de-
scribed the state of parties in Scotland, following cer-
* Ex literis Archiesp. Glascuensis ad Episcop. Rossen. June 14, 1578.
Caligula, C. v. fol. 103 d. British Museum.
t MS. British Museum, Caligula, C. v. fol. 104 d. Ex literis Episcop.
Rossensis ad Cardinalem Comensem, Pragse, September 27, 1578.
MS. British Museum, Caligula, C. v. fol. 105.
44 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1578-9.
tain directions communicated by his royal mistress ;*
and by all these united exertions, there is no doubt
that a deep impression was made throughout Europe
in favour of the Scottish queen. Well, therefore,
might Sir Robert Bowes describe the condition of affairs
O
in Scotland as one full of alarm ; and before we condemn
Elizabeth for her severity to Mary, we must weigh the
perils to the Protestant cause which these intercepted
letters so clearly demonstrated. But, on the other
hand, it must not be forgotten, that these very dangers
arose out of the injustice of her imprisonment.
In the meantime, Morton once more bore the chief
sway in Scotland, where his triumph over the conspiracy
of Athole and Argyle had really increased his power ;
whilst his possession of the king's person enabled him
to overawe the young monarch as effectually as he had
ever done when regent. This resumption of strength
he now employed to crush the house of Hamilton.
The Duke of Chastelherault was dead ; his eldest
son the Earl of Arran, had been insane for some years ;
and in these melancholy circumstances, the leaders of
this potent and ancient family were his brothers the
Lordof Arbroath and Lord Claud Hamilton. Arbroath,
in the event of the death of Mary and the young king,
was next heir to the throne ; and his possessions were
described by Bowes as the greatest and the richest
in Scotland.-f- These lands were conterminous with
the vast estates of the Earl of Angus, which included
nearly all the Overward of Clydesdale, as Arbroatlis
did the Netherward ; and Morton and the Douglases
* MS. British Museum, Caligula, C. v. fol. 106.
t MS. British Museum, Caligula, C. v. fol. 82. Also, draft of the King's
Proclamation against John Hamilton, some time Commendator of Arbroath,
and Claud Hamilton, some time Commendator of Paisley, dated May -,
1579, Bowes Papers.
1579. JAMES VI. 45
had long looked upon them with greedy eyes. But
although his enmity against Arhroath and his brother
was entirely selfish, Morton was not guilty of injustice
when he persuaded the young king that it was his duty
to proceed with severity against the house of Hamilton.
It had a long reckoning of crime and blood to account
for. There was little doubt that the late Archbishop
of St Andrew ? s, its chief leader and adviser, had suf-
fered justly as an accessary to the murder of Darnley ;
and this cast a strong suspicion of implication upon its
present leaders. It was certain that they were guilty
of the death of the Regent Moray; it was as undoubted
that Lord Claud Hamilton had given the order which
led to the murder of the Regent Lennox ; and the
houses of Mar and Douglas were bitterly hostile to
the whole race.
The Hamiltons being thus miserably situated, the
terrible work of feudal retribution commenced, and
was prosecuted in the rapid and cruel spirit of the
times. Morton and Angus in person besieged the
castle of Hamilton, commanded by Arthur Hamilton
of Merton.* He offered to surrender on being assured
of his life, and pardon to himself and his garrison of
all their offences, except the murder of the king and
the two regents ; but these terms were scornfully
refused, and he was at last compelled to submit un-
conditionally.-f- Much interest was made to save him :
but Mar and Buchan, with Lochleveu, and James
Douglas a natural son of Morton's, were furious at
the idea of his escaping their vengeance ; declaring
that the lives of any ten Hamiltons were a poor re-
* May 4, 1579.
f- MS. Letter to Sir George Bowes from (as I suspect) Mr Archibald Dou-
glas, Edinburgh, May 24, 1579, copy of the time, Bowes Papers.
46 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1579.
compense for the Regent Moray. He and his company,
therefore, were hanged ; amongst whom was Arthur
Hamilton, a brother of Bothwellhaugh who had shot
the regent, and who was known to have held the
stirrup when the murderer threw himself on horseback
and escaped.* The castle of Draffen, another strong-
hold of this great family, in which the Duchess of
Chastelherault and the unfortunate Earl of Arran
had taken refuge, was invested and taken about the
same time, its garrison having abandoned it during the
night ; and in a convention of the nobility held soon
after at Stirling, it was determined to complete the
ruin of this devoted house by processes of treason in
the next parliament. Nothing could be more wretched
than its condition at this moment : the Lord of Ar-
broath had fled to Flanders, where he was an almost
houseless exile ; Lord Claud escaped to England, and
threw himself upon the compassion of Elizabeth ; its
lesser chiefs were trembling under an impending sen-
tence of forfeiture ; and its head, the Earl of Arran,
whose royal descent and great power had made him, in
former days, an almost accepted suitor, first of Eliza-
beth, and afterwards of Mary, was a prisoner, hope-
lessly insane, and placed, with his unhappy mother
the duchess, under the charge of Captain Lammie, a
soldier of fierce and brutal habits, and a determined
enemy of the house of Hamilton. Yet these accumu-
lated miseries do not appear to have excited the slightest
degree of sympathy in this unfeeling age ; and when
Elizabeth, compassionating the misfortunes of the
* MS. British Museum, Occurrences out of Scotland, May 14, 1579, and
May 24, 1579, Caligula, C. v. fol. 120, copy. Also, MS. Letter, May 9,
Bowes 11 Papers. Also, MS. Ibid. Caligula, C. v. fol. 122, Notes of Occur-
rences, 1st June, 1579. Also, MS. Calderwood, British Museum, Ayscough's
Catalogue, 4735, fol. 1083.
1579. JAMES VI 47
Hamiltons, despatched her envoy Captain Arrington,
to plead their cause at the Scottish court, he found the
young king, and the whole body of the nobility, in-
flamed with the deepest hatred against them, expressing
a conviction that their restoration would be dangerous
to his person, and resolute against their pardon or
return.*
In the midst of these cruel transactions, Athole the
chancellor, and the great leader of the confederacy
against Morton, died suddenly, under circumstances
of much suspicion. -f- He had just returned from a
banquet, given by Morton at Stirling to commemorate
the reconciliation of the nobles ; and the symptoms
of poison so strongly indicated themselves both before
and after death, that his friends did not hesitate to
say publicly, that he had met with foul play from
the ex -regent, who, however, treated the report with
contempt. The body was opened, and examined by a
learned circle of " mediciners, chirurgeons, and poti-
caries ; " but they disagreed in their verdict. By
some the poison was so plainly detected, that they
declared there was not a doubt upon the subject; whilst
Dr Preston, the most eminent physician of the time,
was equally positive that there was 'no poison in the
case, certainly none in the stomach. On being irri-
tated by contradiction, however, he had the temerity
to touch a portion of its contents with his tongue, and,
* MS. Letter, British Museum, Nicolas Arrington to Burghley, October
10, 1579, Berwick. Caligula, C. v. fol. 130. See Proofs and Illustrations,
No. III.
f He died at Kincardine castle, on the north side of the Ochils, a strong-
hold of the Earl of Montrose, on the 25th April, 1579. " The whole friends
of the dead are convened at Dunkeld upon the third of May, where the young
Earls of Athole and Montrose put in deliberation what were best way to
come by revenge of this heinous fact." MS. Letter, 5th May, 1579, without
a signature, to Sir George Bowes, enclosed in a letter to Mr Archibald
Douglas. Bowes' Papers. Also, MS. Letter, Bowes' Papers, to Sir R.
Bowes. See Proofs and Illustrations, No. IV.
48 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1579
to the triumph of his dissentient brethren, almost died
in consequence, nor did he ever completely recover the
unlucky experiment.* In the meantime, though the
dark report was thus strengthened, Morton's power,
and the absence of all direct proof, protected him from
any farther proceedings.
Some time after this, the General Assembly of the
Kirk met at Edinburgh ; and having chosen Mr
Thomas Smeton for their Moderator, at his request
appointed a council of the brethren to advise with him
upon matters of importance. To this council Mr
Thomas Duncanson, minister of the royal household,
presented a letter from the young king, which contained
a request, that the Assembly would at present abstain
from debating upon such matters touching the polity
of the Kirk, as in a former conference had been referred
for debate and decision to the Estates of Parliament.
The same letter informed them, that parliament would
shortly meet and take these matters into consideration ;
and it expressed the king's hope, that, in the mean
season, the assembly would exert themselves to pro-
mote peace and godly living, not only amongst their
own members, but throughout the whole body of the
subjects of the realm ; so that the expectations of such
busy meddlers as were enemies to the public tranquil-
lity, should be disappointed.
The Assembly having taken this royal letter into
consideration, in its turn appointed a committee of
their brethren, the principal of whom were Erskine
of Dun, Duncanson the king's minister, and Andrew
Melvil, to wait upon the king, with some requests to
which they besought his attention. These were that
he would interdict all parents, under heavy penalties,
* MS. Calderwood, British Museum, pp. 1083, 1084.
1579. JAMES vi. 49
from sending their children to be educated at the uni-
versity of Paris, or other foreign colleges professing
Papistry; that he would cause the university of St
Andrew's, some of whose professors had recently left
the Protestant communion, to he reformed in all its
colleges and foundations ; and take order for the
banishment of Jesuits, whom the Assembly denomi-
nated " the pestilent dregs of a most detestable idola-
try." They further besought him to proceed to a
farther conference upon such points of church policy
as had been left undetermined at the last conference
at Stirling, and to desist from controlling or suspend-
ing, by his royal letters, any of the decrees of the
General Assembly.* Calderwood, the zealous and
able historian of the Scottish Kirk, has pronounced a
high eulogium upon the learning, holiness, and una-
nimity of this Assembly ."f"
Not long after this, Esme Stewart, commonly called
Monsieur D'Aubigny, cousin to the king, and a youth
of graceful figure and accomplishments, arrived in
Scotland. j He was the son of John Stewart, brother
of Matthew earl of Lennox, the late regent, and had
scarce been a week at court when he became a great
favourite with his royal relative. It was immediately
whispered, that he had been sent over by the Guises,
to fill Athens place as leader of the French faction,
and to act as a counterpoise to the predominating in-
fluence of Morton. He was accompanied by Monsieur
Momberneau, and Mr Henry Ker, the first a man
of great wit and liveliness, gay, gallant, and excelling
* MS. Calderwoocl, sub anno 1579, British Museum, Ayscough's Cata-
logue, 4735, p. 1092.
t Ibid. fol. 1092.
J On the 8th September, 1579. MS. Letter, Bowes' Papers, an anony-
mous correspondent, whose mark is 4, to Sir G. Bowes, SJth September.
VOL. VIII. D
50 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1579-
in all the sports and pastimes to which the young
monarch was partial; the second, Ker, of a more subtle
and retired character, who had been long a confiden-
tial servant of Aubigny's, and was strongly suspected
-by the ministers of the Kirk to be a secret agent of
the Guises.
All this excited the fears of Elizabeth ; and the in-
formation sent her by her secret agents, both in Scot-
land and France, was by no means calculated to remove
her apprehension. As D'Aubigny and his friends,
however, acted as yet with great caution and reserve,
the queen contented herself, for the moment, with a
mission of observation and inquiry; for which she
selected Captain Nicolas Arrington, a brave and
intelligent officer of the garrison of Berwick, who had
already been repeatedly employed in Scotland. His
open instructions were to intercede with James for
some favour to the Hamiltons ; his more secret orders,
to acquaint himself with the character and intentions
of D'Aubigny, the state of parties, and what projects
were then .agitated for the young king's marriage. On
the first point, the pardon, or at least the more lenient
punishment of the house of Hamilton, he prevailed
nothing, so deep was James's hatred, or perhaps more
truly, that of Morton, against it. With regard to
the marriage, Arrington informed Burghley, that
neither the council nor D'Aubigny had yet made any
formal proposal upon the subject. " It was evident," he
said, "that the young French stranger had already won
the affection of his royal kinsman, and might look for
high preferment;" probably to be Earl of Lennox, with
a large share of the forfeited lands of the Hamiltons, if
he could be prevailed upon to change his religion.*
* MS. Letter, British Museum, Caligula. C. v. fol. 130, Nicolas Airing-
ton to Burghley, October 10, 1579, Berwick.
1579. JAMES VI. 51
The old soldier who thus wrote to Burghley, re-
quested his indulgence, should his information prove
incorrect, as he had been more familiar with " another
weapon than the pen ; "" but the course of events soon
proved the accuracy of his intelligence. Wherever
James went, he insisted on having D'Aubigny beside
him. When he removed, for the purpose of holding
his parliament, from Stirling to Holyrood, his graceful
cousin had splendid apartments provided for him in
the palace, next to the royal bed-chamber ; and in
the sports and pageants with which the citizens received
their monarch, the favourite, for so he was now de-
clared, found himself universally regarded and courted.
The expensive scale on which these civic festivities
were conducted, evinced a remarkable increase in the
national wealth. They exhibited the usual confusion
of classical, feudal, and religious machinery; in which
" Dame Musick," attended by four fair virgins repre-
senting the cardinal virtues, and the provost and three
hundred citizens, clad in velvet and satin, enacted their
parts with t great assiduity and success. Whilst the
twentieth psalm was being sung, a little child emerged
from a silver globe, which opened artificially over the
king's head, and fluttering down to his majesty's feet,
presented him with the keys of the city. Religion, a
grave matron, then conducted him into the High
Church ; and thence, after hearing sermon, the mon-
arch and the congregation repaired to the Market
Cross, where Bacchus sat on a gilded puncheon, with
his painted garments and a flowery garland. The
fountains ran wine ; the principal street of the city
was hung with tapestry, and, at the conclusion of the
procession, the town presented the king with a cup-
52 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1579-
board of plate, valued, says a minute chronicler, at six
thousand merks.*
These pageants were introductory to the parliament
which assembled on the twentieth of October, and, as
had been anticipated by Arrington, was principally
occupied with the proscription of the Hamiltons, and
the exaltation of D'Aubigny. The Lord Arbroath and
Lord Claud Hamilton, with many more of the same
name and house, were proclaimed traitors, and their
estates forfeited ; whilst all who had been partakers in
the slaughter of the two regents, Moray and Lennox,
were commanded, under pain of death, to remove six
miles from court. On the other hand, the king con-
ferred the earldom of Lennox upon his favourite, and
presented him, at the same time, with the rich abbacy
of Arbroath. Not long after, the stream of royal favour
flowed still more munificently. He was made Cham-
berlain for Scotland; his earldom, it was reported, would
be soon erected into a dukedom ; and he was so caressed
by the young sovereign, that Argyle and many of the
principal nobility began not only to treat him with
high consideration, but, according to the common usage
of the times, to enter into those bands or covenants
by which they bound themselves to his service, and
with which the reader of this history is already so well
acquainted. }*
Morton, however, and the ministers of the Kirk,
still kept aloof: the one animated by that proud and
haughty feeling which prompted him rather to crush
than to court a rival : the ministers, from the horror
* Moyse's Memoirs, Bannatyne edition, p. 25. Also, MS. Calderwood,
British Museum, vol. ii. p. 1099. Historic of James the Sext, p. 179, Ban-
natyne edition.
t MS. Letter, British Museum, Caligula, C. v. fol. 133, and also 135,
Bowes to Burghley, October 22, 1579, Berwick. Lennox was created Earl
of Lennox (Douglas, vol. ii. p. 99) on March 5, 1579-80.
1579. JAMES VI. 53
with which they regarded all Roman Catholics, and
the suspicions they had from the first entertained that
D^Aubigny was a secret emissary of the pope and the
Guises. When these fears were once excited, the
churches resounded with warnings against the dark
machinations of popery ; and the pulpit, as had fre-
quently happened in these times, became a political
engine. It was recollected that the Duke of Guise
had accompanied D\A.ubigny to Dieppe, and remained
with him for many hours in secret conference in the
ship ; D^Aubigny had been known also to have had
consultations with the Bishops of Glasgow* and Ross ;
and for what purpose (so the ministers argued) could
the forty thousand crowns, which he brought with him,
be so naturally applied as in corrupting the Protestant
nobles? Nay, was it not known that a part had
already found its way into the coffers of the Lady
Argyle; and did not all men see the warm and sudden
friendship between her husband the earl, and the fa-
vourite ? -f-
Amid these suspicions and jealousies, the year 1579
passed away ; and it was apparent to all who regarded
the state of the country with attention, that it could
not long remain without some sudden change or con-
vulsion. The king was wretchedly poor; and the
revenues of the crown, during his minority, had been
plundered and dilapidated to such an extent that he
could not raise three thousand pounds to defray the
expenses of his household. The nobility, on the other
hand, were rich ; they had prospered as the crown had
sunk ; and so determined were they to hold fast their
gains, that they " would spare nothing they possessed
* State-paper Office, French Correspondence, Paulet to Walsinghara,
August 29, 157.0, Paris,
t MS. Caldenvood, British Museum, sub anno 1579, fol. 10S8.
54 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1579.
to the king's aid, without deadly feud." * It had been
earnestly recommended, that the king's person, in those
unsettled times, should be defended by a body-guard,
and that six privy-councillors, in rotation, should
always remain with the court : but no funds could be
raised to pay the soldiers' wages ; the councillors
refused to support a table for themselves ; no money
was forthcoming elsewhere ; and the king was fre-
quently left almost alone, without court or council
around him; a state of destitution which, it was justly
apprehended, might lead to the most dangerous results.
When Elphinston abbot of Dunfermline was sent
to England, in the preceding summer,^ his main pur-
pose was to explain to the queen the poverty under
which the young prince had entered on his govern-
ment ; the great insecurity of his person, surrounded
as he daily was by men "who had dipped their hands
in the blood of his parents and dearest kinsfolks," and
the absolute necessity for a supply of money to pay
the expenses of his guards and household.]: But
Elizabeth could not be induced to advance any sup-
plies-; and these evils and dangers had ever since been
on the increase. Since the arrival of Lennox, too,
the feuds amongst the nobility had risen to an alarm-
ing height. Morton, jealous of the new favourite, and
animated by a hatred of Argyle, absented himself
from court ; the powerful Border septs of the Humes
and Cars regarded the ex-regent with the deadliest
rancour ; Elphinston, the king's secretary, a man of
talent, and long his firm friend, was now estranged
* MS. British Museum, Caligula, C. v. fol. 155, Copy, Memorial of the
present state of Scotland, December 31, 1579.
t 30th July, 1578.
t MS. State-paper Office, Demands of the Abbot of Dunfermline,
Ambassador from the King of Scots, 30th July, 1578.
1580. JAMES VI. 55
from him ; and even the potent Angus, his nephew
and his heir, kept at a safe distance, and watched
events. But Morton's great wealth, his energy, cou-
rage, and experience, made him still a formidable
enemy ; and they who most wished his downfall,
knew not on what side to attack him. The young
king, in the mean time, who had always felt an awe
for the late regent, became daily more devoted to
Lennox, whom, with a boyish enthusiasm, and a pre-
cocious display of theology, he was labouring to con-
vert from what he esteemed his religious errors. He
gave him books of controversy, brought him to attend
the sermons of the ministers, procured one of the
mildest and most learned of their number to instruct
him, and so far succeeded, that, if not converted, he
was reported to be favourably inclined to the Protes-
tant Church. Any sudden recantation would have
been suspicious ; and, meanwhile, his royal and youth-
ful mentor congratulated himself upon his favourite's
hopeful and inquiring state.*
Amid these cares.and controversies, a sudden rumour
arose, none could tell from what quarter, that the
Earl of Morton had plotted to seize the king, and
carry him to Dalkeith. How this was to be effected,
no one could tell ; but James, who had ridden out on
a hunting expedition, precipitately interdicted the
sports, and galloped back to Stirling castle. Morton
loudly declared his innocence, and defied his calum-
niators to bring their proofs ; yet scarcely had this
challenge been given, when the court was again thrown
into terror and confusion, by news secretly brought
to the Earl of Mar, that Lennox and his faction had
* MS. British Museum, Caligula, C. vi. fol. 2, Captain Arlington to
Burghley, 4th April, 1580, Stirling.
56 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1580.
fixed on the night of the 10th April to invade the
royal apartments, lay hands on the king, hurry him
to Dumbarton, and thence transport him to France.*
It was whispered, also, that a deep confederacy had
been formed against the Earl of Morton by the same
junto: that Sir James Balfour, now a fugitive in
France, and one who was well known to have been a
chief accomplice in the murder of the king's father,
had promised to purchase his pardon, by giving up the
bond for the murder, signed by Morton's own hand ;
and that thus there was every hope of bringing the
hoary and blood-stained tyrant to the scaffold, which
had so long waited for him.
In the midst of these ominous rumours, the night
of the 10th April arrived, and all in the castle prepared
for an attack. Mar permitted none to see the king ;
soldiers were stationed within and without the royal
chamber ; and a shout arising, that Lennox ought to
be thrust out of the gates, he shut himself up in his
apartments, with a strong guard of his friends, armed
at all points, and swore that he would set upon any
that dared invade him. In the morning, Argyle,
Sutherland, Glencairn, and other adherents of Len-
nox, hurried to Stirling ; but were refused admittance
to the castle ; and their fears for Lennox increased,
when they heard it reported, that Morton was on the
road to join his party. All was thus in terror and
uncertainty : men gazed, trembled, and whispered
fearfully amongst each other, aware that secret plots
were busily concocting ; that the ground they stood
on was being mined : and yet none could tell where
the blow would fall, or when the train might be ex-
* MS. Letter, British Museum, Caligula, C. vi. fol. 8, Captain Arriiig-
ton to Lord Burghley, 16th April, 1580, Berwick.
1580. JAMES VI. 57
ploded. At this moment, Captain Arrington, Eliza-
beth's envoy, was in Stirling castle, and thus wrote
to Burghley : " The young king is in heavy case, and
much amazed with these troubles, and the more by
reason of his great affection towards D'Aubigny, whom
he perceives the mark they shoot at. Mons. D'Au-
bigny, with his faction, doth offer to abide the .trial by
law, or otherwise, in their very persons, that there was
never any such plot or meaning by him, or his con-
sent, or by any others to their knowledge, to have
drawn the king either to Dumbarton or any other
sinister course."*
It is difficult to arrive at the truth amidst these
conflicting accusations of the two factions. Elizabeth
certainly had received a warning from her ambassador
in France, that there was a design on foot to have the
young king brought thither; and Morton had probably
been encouraged by the English queen to prevent it
by every possible means. -f Lennox, on the other hand,
although he indignantly, and probably truly, repelled
any such treasonable intentions, avowed his wish to
reform the council, and protect the king from the pil-
lage of the blood-suckers of the royal revenue, who had
been thrust into their offices by Morton and Mar. In
this project, James himself appears to have borne a
part ; and had probably intended, under pretence of a
hunting party at the Doune of Menteith, to have
escaped from the tutelage of Mar, and accomplished a
revolution in the court. J The secret project, however,
* MS. Letter, British Museum, Caligula, C. vi. fol. 7, Arrington to Wal-
singham or Burghley, 10th April, 1580, Stirling. The address of the letter
is torn away.
t MS. Letter, British Museum, Caligula, C. vi. fol. 17 and 18, copy,
Lord Treasurer and Walsingham to Mr Robert Bowes, April 17, 1580.
British Museum, Caligula, C. vi. fol. 29, Bowes to Burghley and
Walsingham, May 10, 1580, Stirling.
58 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1580.
was discovered, and defeated by the vigilance of the
house of Erskine.
In the mean time, the picture drawn by Arrington,
of the dangerous state of the country, threw Elizabeth
into alarm, and she immediately despatched Sir Robert
Bowes to Stirling. His instructions were to strengthen,
by every means, the decaying influence of Morton,
to declare the queen's willingness to gain some of the
chief in authority by pensions, to pull down the
power of Lennox, to plead for the pardon of the
Hamiltons, and thoroughly to sift the truth of the
late rumours of a conspiracy for carrying off the young
king. Bowes also, before he set out, received a letter
from Secretary Walsingham, recommending him to
use the utmost vigilance in this mission. This, he
said, was most necessary, as it was already reported
in Spain, that mass was set up once more in Scotland,
and arms taken against the Protestants ; and, as he
knew for certain, that Ker of Fernyhirst, a Roman
Catholic and an active friend of the Scottish queen,
with Bothwellhaugh, the blood-stained Hamilton who
had shot the Regent Moray, had recently ridden post
from France into Spain.*
On reaching court, the ambassador was received by
the young king with great courtesy : but James 1
manner instantly changed when any allusion was made
to the Hamiltons ; and it was evident to all that Bowes 1
exertions on this head would be unavailing.^ It was
apparent, also, that the revival of Morton's former power
promised to be a matter of extreme difficulty. He
himself was so completely convinced of the strength
* Draft, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Bowes, May 3, 1580.
+ MS. Letter, British Museum, Caligula, C. vi. fol. 25, Bowes to Burgh-
ley and Walsingham, May 3, 1580, Stirling.
1580. JAMES VI. 59
of his enemies, and the deep estrangement of the king,
that he had resolved to retire altogether from public
affairs. In a secret conference, held in the night, with
Bowes at Stirling castle, the ex-regent expressed much
doubt whether it was not too late to attempt anything
against Lennox, who now professed himself a Protes-
tant, and had so completely conciliated the ministers
of the Kirk, that they addressed a letter in his com-
mendation to the council.*
As to the late rumoured conspiracies for carrying off
the king, the ambassador found it difficult to discover
the truth : but he was witness to a strange scene of
violence and brawling before the council, in which
Morton, Mar, and Lennox, gave the lie to their accu-
sers; and the king, with much feeling and good sense,
exerted himself to restore peace : a striking contrast,
no doubt, to Bowes' experience of the decorous gravity
and awe preserved by Elizabeth in her council, in which
the highest nobles generally spoke upon their knees,
and none but her majesty was permitted to lose temper.
On the subject of the alleged plot of Lennox, James
was at first reserved, although he expressed much love
and admiration for Elizabeth ; but the ambassador, at
last, gained his confidence, and drew from him many
particulars, which showed that the conspiracy, intended
to have been carried into effect at castle Doune, involv-
ed the ruin of Morton, the dismissal of Mar and other
obnoxious councillors, and a complete reconstruction
of the government under Lennox and Argyle. As it
appeared, also, that Sir JohnSeton, Sir George Douglas,
and some of the captive queen's most attached servants
were to have been brought into the council, Bowes at
* MS. Letter, British Museum, Caligula, C. vi. fol. 31, Bowes to Burgh-
ley and Walsingham, May 10, 1580, Stirling,
b'O HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 15 SO.
once suspected that the design originated in France,
and that Lennox and his youthful sovereign acted
under the influence of the Guises. He was the more
persuaded of this, when Morton assured him that,
since D 1 Aubigny' > s arrival, the king^s feelings had
undergone a great change in favour of that country.
But the time called for action, not for speculation ;
and on consulting with his friends, regarding the most
likely means of a verting the dangers threatened by this
alarming state of things, there were many conflicting
opinions. It was recommended to have tried council-
lors about the king, and a strong body-guard to prevent
surprise ; as it had been remarked, that the late alarms
and plots had all broken out when there was scarce a
single councillor at court who could be depended upon.
Yet this could not be done without money ; and where
was money to be had in the present exhausted state
of the royal revenue \ * Soon after this, the ambas-
sador took .an opportunity of seeing the young king
alone, and delivering a secret message from Elizabeth,
upon a subject of the deepest interest to both : his suc-
cession to the English crown after her death. The
particulars of the interview, and the answer given by
James, were communicated in cipher, in a letter of
which the address is now lost, but which was written
probably to Burghley or Walsiugharn, his usual cor-
respondents when the subject was of high moment.
" In private with the king (so wrote the ambassador)
I have offered to acquaint him with a secret greatly
importing him and his estate, and lately discovered to
me by letters, which were not out of the way in case
he should desire sight thereof ; and, taking his honour
* MS. Letter, British Museum, Caligula, C. vi. fol. 24 and 27, inclusive,
and fol. 28 and 32, Bowes to Burghley and Walsingliam, May 3, 1580. The
same to the same, May 10, 1580.
1580. JAMES VI. 61
in pledge for the secrecy, which he readily tendered, I
opened to him, at large, all the contents specified in the
cipher note last sent to me, and to be communicated to
him, persuading him earnestly to beware that he made
not himself the cause of greater loss to him, than France,
Scotland, or Lennox could countervail. He appeared
here to be very much perplexed ; affirming that he
would both most chiefly follow her majesty's advice,
and also ask and require her counsel in all his great
adoes. * * * In which good resolution and mind
(continued Bowes) I left him; wherein with good
company and handling I think he may be well continu-
ed. But Lennox having won great interest in him,
and possessing free and sure access to him at all times,
* * I dare not, therefore, assure, in his tender years,
any long continuance or sure performance of this pro-
mise." * These anticipations of James' fickleness
proved to be well founded ; for neither the prize held
out by Elizabeth, nor all the efforts of Bowes could
retain the monarch in his good resolutions. The in-
fluence of Lennox and his friends became daily more
predominant ; his youthful master's arguments on the
errors of the Church of Rome, seconded by the expo-
sitions of the Presbyterian clergy, had, as he affirmed,
convinced him ; he had publicly avowed his conversion
to Protestantism, and had signed the articles of religion
drawn up by the Scottish clergy. His enemies were
thus deprived of their principal ground of complaint and
alarm ; and although they accused him of insincerity >
and certainly the circumstances under which this re-
cantation was made, were suspicious, still, as he after-
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Orig. cipher and decipher. The letter
contains proof that its date must be May 16 or 17, 1580.
62 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1580.
wards died professing himself a Protestant, we have
every reason to believe his assertions to have been
sincere.*
But whether at this moment sincere or interested,
Lennox's conversion, and consequent increase of power,
placed Morton, and the other old friends of England,
in a dangerous predicament. Had they been assured
of immediate support, they were ready, they said, to
resist the intrigues of France, which became every day
more successful, the Bishops of Ross and Glasgow
keeping up a correspondence with Lennox. But
Elizabeth, as Walsingham confessed to Bowes, was so
completely occupied and entangled with the negotiations
for her marriage with the Duke of Anjou, that every
other subject was postponed. No answer, which pro-
mised any certain assistance, arrived ; and Morton,
wearied out and irritated with this neglect, declared
to the ambassador, that he would be constrained to
provide for his personal safety by a reconciliation
with Lennox. "He utterly distrusted," he said,
" Elizabeth's intention to ,be at any charges for the
affairs of Scotland ; his own peril was great and immi-
nent ; yet, had he been backed by England, he would
have adventured to beard his enemies, and to have
retained the country at the devotion of the queen.
It was too late now ; and to save himself from ruin,
he would be driven to means which could be profitable
to neither of the realms, and were much against his
heart." "j* Bowes soon after was recalled from Scot-
land.:}:
* MS. Letter, British Museum, Caligula, C. vi. fol. 36, Bowes to Burghley
and Walsingham, May 16, 1580, Edinburgh.
(" MS. Letter, State- paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham, August 2, 1580.
J On the 2d August he seems to have been at Edinburgh ; on the 10th
August he was at Berwick.
1580. JAMES VI. 63
CHAP. II.
JAMES THE SIXTH.
15801582.
CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS.
England. I France.
Elizabeth. I Henry III.
Germany.
Rudolph II.
Spain.
Philip II.
Portugal. I Pope.
Philip II. I Gregory XIII,
FOR some time after this, Elizabeth's policy towards
Scotland was of that vacillating and contradictory kind
which estranged her friends, and gave confidence to her
opponents. She had been early warned by Sir Robert
Bowes, then resident at Berwick, of the great strength
of the confederacy at the head of which Lennox had
placed himself, and that soon no efforts would .avail
against it.* " Such had been," he said, " the success
of the French intrigues, that Scotland was running
headlong the French course ; "*f* and that everything
tended to the overthrow of religion, by which we
must understand him as meaning the Presbyterian
party in that country. " Still," he added, " all was
not irrecoverable, if the queen would dismiss her parsi-
mony, and take the true way to secure friends." But
Elizabeth was deaf to these remonstrances. She alter-
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, June 27, 1580, Bowes to Walsingham.
Also, September 1, 1.580, Walsingliam to Bowes. Also, September 6, 1,580,
Bowes to Walsingham ; and September 18, 1580, Walsingham to Bowes.
Orig. draft.
+ MS. Letter. State-paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham. August 10.
1580, Berwick.
64 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1580.
nately flattered, remonstrated, and threatened; but
she resolutely refused to " go to any charges ; " and
the effects of her indecision and neglect were soon ap-
parent.*
Lennox grew daily more formidable. As he was sup-
ported by the favour of the king, and the countenance
and money of France, he drew into his party the most
powerful of the nobility. His possessions and landed
property were already great. Favour after favour
was bestowed. Himself, or his friends and retainers,
held some of the strongest castles in Scotland ; and
not long after this, Walsingham, who was anxiously
watching his power, heard, with dismay, from Bowes,
that Dumbarton, one of the most important keys of
the kingdom, was to be delivered to the favourite.^
This last determination incensed Elizabeth to the
highest pitch. She had for some time been engaged
in a secret correspondence with the captain of the
castle, the noted Cunningham of Drumquhassel, who
had promised to retain it at her devotion ; and on the
first intimation that it was to be placed in the hands of
Lennox, she ordered Sir Robert Bowes to ride post
from Berwick into Scotland, with a fiery message, to
be delivered to the Scottish council. The imperious
and unscrupulous temper of the queen was strongly
marked in his instructions. If he found the fortress
(for so its great strength entitled it to be called) un-
delivered, he was to remonstrate loudly against its
being surrendered to one who, whatever mask the pope
* MS. Letters, State-paper Office, draft, Walsingham to Bowes, 31st
August, 1580 ; and same to same, August 10, 1580. Also, Orig. draft,
Elizabeth to Morton, June 22, 1580 ; and Bowes to Walsingham, July 9,
1580. Also, Orig. draft, Walsingham to Bowes, 1st June, 1580.
j- MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham and Burghley,
August 31, 1580.
1580. JAMES VI. 65
allowed him to wear, was in his heart an enemy to the
Gospel. If it was too late, and the castle already given
up, he was instantly to confer with Morton how so
fatal a step could be remedied : " Either (to quote the
words of the instructions) by laying violent hands on
the duke and his principal associates, in case no other
more temperate course can be found, or by some other
way that by him might be thought meet." *
Bowes hurried on to Edinburgh ; met with Morton,
whom he found still bold, and ready to engage in any
attack upon his rival ; and had already given him
"some comfort to prick him on" meaning, no doubt,
an advance in money, when new letters arrived from
the queen. A single day had revived her parsimony,
and cooled her resentment : it would be better, she
thought, to try persuasion first, and forbear advising
force, or any promise of assistance. None could answer
for the consequences of a civil war. They might seize
the young king, carry him to Dumbarton, and thence
transport him to France.-f-
Bowes was directed, at the same time, to alarm
James 1 fears, for a second time, on the subject of the
succession, to assure him, in great secrecy, that if he
continued obstinately to prefer D'Aubigny's persua-
sions to the counsels of his mistress, his right would be
cut off by an act of parliament, and the title to the
English throne established in the person of another.]:
This threat, however, had been so often repeated, that
it produced not the slightest effect; and Elizabeth
soon after recalled her ambassador, commanding him,
before he left the Scottish court, to upbraid the king
* Orig. draft, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Bowes, August 30,
1580. Endorsed by Walsingham 's hand, " My letter to Mr Bowes."
t MS. State-paper Office, Walsingham to Bowes. September 1, 1580.
J State-paper Office, copy, Walsingham to Bowes, Sept. 10, 1580.
VOL. VIII. E
66 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1580.
with his ingratitude. His farewell interview was a
stormy one. " His royal mistress, 1 ' he said, " was
bitterly mortified to find that this was all the return
for her care of James ever since his cradle. She had
little expected to be treated with contempt, and to see
promoted to credit and honour the very man against
whom she had expressed so much suspicion and dislike ;
but hereafter, he might find what it was to prefer a
Duke of Lennox before a Queen of England."*
This retirement of Bowes greatly strengthened
D'Aubigny. The young king became more attached
to the interests of France : he entered into communi-
cation with his mother, the imprisoned queen ;{ and
whilst the courts of Rome, Paris, and Madrid, united
their endeavours to procure her liberty, Lennox per-
suaded James to second their efforts, and to overwhelm
their opponents by a mighty stroke. This was the
destruction of Morton, the bitterest enemy of the
Scottish queen, and whose recent intrigues with the
English ambassador had shown that, although his power
was diminished, his will to work their ruin was as active
as before. Their plot against him, which had been in
preparation for some time, was now ripe for execution,
and it was determined to arraign him as guilty of the
murder of Darnley. That he had been an active agent
in the conspiracy against that unhappy prince was
certain; and that Archibald Douglas, another power-
ful member of the house of Douglas, had been person-
ally present at the murder was well known ; but this
could be said of others who had escaped prosecution ;
and as to Morton, although shorn of much of his power
* Orig. draft, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Bowes, Oct. 7, 1580.
The title of duke here given by Walsingham to Lennox seems premature.
Lennox was not created a duke till August, 158] See postea, p. 99.
j- See Proofs and Illustrations, No. V.
1580. JAMES VI. 67
and lustre, he was still so dreaded, that no one, for
many years, had dared to whisper an accusation against
him. The arrival of Lennox, however, had changed
the scene ; and this new favourite of his sovereign was
now risen to such a height of power, that, finding the
late regent intriguing with Elizabeth against him,
he determined to pull down and destroy his enemy at
once.
For this purpose many things then assisted. Mor-
ton had quarrelled with the Kirk, and lost the confi-
dence of its ministers ; he was hated by the people for
his avarice and severe exactions during his regency ;
and his steady adherence to England had made him
odious to the friends of the imprisoned queen and the
party of France. Lennox, therefore, had every hope
of success ; and to effect his purpose, he employed a
man well calculated to cope with such an antagonist.
This was James Stewart, Captain of the Royal Guard,
and second son of Lord Ochiltree, who had already
risen into great favour with the king, and was after-
wards destined to act a noted part in the history of the
country. Stewart had received a learned education ;
and from the principles of his father and his near con-
nexion with Knox, who had married his sister, was
probably destined for the Church. But his daring
and ambitious character threw him into active life : he
embraced the profession of arms, served as a soldier of
fortune in the wars of France and Sweden, visited
Russia, and afterwards returned to his own country,
where he soon won the confidence of the young king
and the Duke of Lennox, by his noble presence and
elegant accomplishments. Beneath these lighter at-
tractions, however, he concealed a mind utterly reckless
and licentious in its principles, confident and courageous
68 HISTORY OP SCOTLAND. 1580.
to excess, intolerant of the opinions of other men, and
unscrupulous as to the means he adopted to raise him-
self into power.
To this man, then only beginning to develop these
qualities, was committed the bold task of arraigning
Morton ; and to obtain complete proof of his guilt, it
was arranged that Sir James Balfour, who was believed
to have in his possession the bond for Darnley's murder,
and who was himself a principal assassin, should come
secretly from France, and exhibit this paper with
Morton's signature attached to it.
In this last scene of his life, the ex-regent exhibited
the hereditary pride and courage of the house of Dou-
glas. He had been warned of the danger he incurred,
and the storm which was-about to burst over his head,
two days before, when hunting with the king. But
he derided it ; and on the last of December, the day
on which he fell into the toils, took his place, as usual,
at the council table, where the king presided. After
some unimportant business, the usher suddenly entered
and declared that Captain James Stewart was at the
door, and earnestly craved an audience. The request
was immediately granted ; and Stewart, advancing to
the table, fell on his knees, and instantly accused Morton
of the king's murder. " My duty to your highness,"
said he, addressing the king, " has brought me here to
reveal a wickedness that has been too long obscured.
It was that man (pointing to the earl) now sitting at
this table, a place he is unworthy to occupy, that con-
spired your royal father's death. Let him be com-
mitted for trial, and I shall make good my words."*
Amidst the amazement and confusion occasioned by
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Bowes to Walsingliam and Burghley,
January 1, 1580-1.
] 580. JAMES vi. 69
this sudden and bold impeachment, the only person
unmoved was Morton himself. Rising from his seat,
he cast a momentary and disdainful glance upon his
accuser, and then firmly regarding the king, " 1 know
not," he said, " by whom this informer has been set on,
and it were easy for one of my rank to refuse all reply
to so mean a person ; but I stand upon my innocence
I fear no trial. The rigour with which I have prose-
cuted all suspected of that murder is well known ; and
when I have cleared myself, it will be for your Majesty
to determine what they deserve who have sent this
perjured tool of theirs to accuse me !" These bitter
terms Stewart threw back upon the earl with equal
contempt and acrimony. " It is false, utterly false,"
he replied, " that any one has instigated me to make
this accusation. A horror for the crime, a-nd zeal for
the safety of my sovereign, have been my only counsel-
lors ; and as to his pretended zeal against the guilty,
let me ask him, where has he placed Archibald Dou-
glas his cousin ? That most infamous of men, who was
an actor in the tragedy, is now a senator, promoted to
the highest seat of justice, and suffered to pollute that
tribunal before which he ought to have been arraigned
as the murderer of his prince."*
This scene had begun calmly; but as these last
words were uttered, Stewart had sprung upon his feet,
and Morton laid his hand upon his sword, when Lords
Lindsay and Cathcart threw themselves between them,
and prevented a personal encounter.-f- The king then
commanded both to be removed ; and, after a brief
consultation, the Justice-clerk, who sat at the council-
* Spottiswood, p. 310.
t Harleian, 6999, fols. 3, 4, 5. Bowes to Walsingham, Jan. 7, Berwick,
1580-1.
70 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1580-1.
table, having declared that, on a charge of treason, the
accused must instantly be warded, Morton was first shut
up in the palace, and after one day's interval, committed
to the castle of Edinburgh. Even there, however, he
was not deemed secure from a rescue ; and his enemies
were not contented till they had lodged him within
the strong fortress of Dumbarton, of which Lennox,
his great enemy, was governor.*
On the same day that the ex-regent was committed,
the council ordered his cousin, Archibald Douglas, to
be seized ; and Hume of Manderston, with a party of
horse, rode furiously all night to his castle of Morham :
but Douglas had escaped, a few hours before, across
the English Border, having received warning from his
friend the Laird of Long- Niddry, who rode two horses to
death in bringing him the news.^ Lennox and his fac-
tion, however, had made sure of their principal victim ;
and all was now headlong haste to hurry on his trial,
and have the tragedy completed, before any interruption
could be made, or any succour arrive. Yet this was
not-easily accomplished. The story of his seizure had
effectually roused Elizabeth. Randolph was despatch-
ed, on the spur of the moment, to carry a violent re-
monstrance to the king; and Lord Hunsdon, her
cousin, a proud and fiery soldier, received orders to raise
the power of the north, and lead an army into Scotland.
But the envoy, on his arrival at Edinburgh, found
it more difficult to revive a party for the delivery of
Morton than he had anticipated. Matters were there
* Calderwood, MS. Hist. Brit. Mus. Ayscough, sub anno 1581, fol. 1115.
Also, MS. Letter, State-paper Office. Walsingham to Randolph, January
25, 1580-1.
+ MS. Calderwood, sub anno 1581, fol. 1116.
J MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Randolph, January 8,
1580-1.
January 18, 1580-1.
1580-1. JAMES VI. 71
in so violent a state, and the English alliance so un-
popular, that he dreaded assassination ; and prayed
Walsingham, who had addressed him as an envoy,
to vouchsafe him the name of an ambassador, if it
were merely for protection, and to save him from
personal violence.* On sounding the dispositions of
the leading men, they appeared coldly affected. The
Earl of Angus, indeed, Morton's nearest kinsman, was
ready to peril all in the effort to save him ; but he
stood alone. The rest of the nobles were either banded
with Lennox, or held themselves aloof, till Hunsdon's
soldiers should be seen crossing, and not threatening
to cross the Border, and till Randolph had begun to
pay them in better coin than promises. They had
been so often deceived by the artful diplomacy of the
English queen ; she had already so frequently incited
them to take arms, under a promise of assistance,
and left them, when it was too late to retreat ; that
they were full of distrust and suspicion. Nor was the
audience with the young king in any way more en-
couraging. James had been irritated on Randolph's
first arrival, by his refusal to have any intercourse
with his favourite Lennox ; -f- and when the envoy
attempted to justify himself, and offered to prove, by
the production of an intercepted letter, that he was an
agent of Rome and the house ofGuise, and carried on
a secret intelligence with the enemies of both king-
doms, the monarch answered with much spirit, that
Lennox was an honourable nobleman, his own near
kinsman, and that the accusation was perfectly false.
He had come from motives of affection to visit him ;
* MS. State-paper Office, Randolph to Walsingham, Jan. 22, 1580-1,
Sunday. He arrived in Edinburgh on Wednesday the 18th Jan., 1580-1.
t MS. State-paper Office, Randolph to Walsingham, Jan. 22, 1580-1,
Edinburgh, Sunday.
72 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1580-1.
and as for the intercepted letter he spoke of, from the
Bishop of Glasgow to the pope, if any such existed,
it was either a forgery, or a design of that prelate for
Lennox's ruin. " The bishop's character," said James,
" is well known ; he is my declared traitor and rebel;
a favourer and kinsman of the Harniltons, the mortal
foes of the house of Lennox ; and no one would be
more likely than Beaton to think his labour well be-
stowed, if, by his letters and intrigues, he might cause
me to suspect and discard my kinsman, who has em-
braced the true religion, and is zealous for my honour
and interest. On this head, 1 ' he added, " the duke
is anxious for the fullest investigation, and will refuse
no manner of trial to justify himself from so false a
slander ; and as to the trial of Morton, (he concluded,)
my good sister cannot be more solicitous on that head
than I myself. But what would she have ? Can she
complain, that a man accused, in my own presence, of
the murder of my father, has been imprisoned till the
evidence be collected against him ; or is it reasonable
to be angry because the day of trial is not fixed, when
she is aware that Archibald Douglas, a principal wit-
ness, has fled into England, and that till the Queen
of England delivers him up, Morton cannot possibly
be arraigned ? *
To all this Randolph had little to reply ; and every
day convinced him more deeply than the preceding,
that Morton's fate was sealed. Elizabeth, indeed,
had at first talked proudly and authoritatively of her
determination to save him ; and her ministers and
soldiers borrowed her tone. Walsingham declared to
Randolph, that if a hair of Morton's head were touched,
* MS. State-paper Office, the King of Scots and his Council's Answer to
Mr Randolph, Feb. 7, 1580-1.
1580-L JAMES vi. 73
it would cost the Queen of Scots her life.* Hunsdon
addressed to the same ambassador a blustering epistle,
anticipating his speedy invasion of Scotland, and full
of threats against the " petty fellows" who were about
the King of Scots.-f- Leicester, whose opinion ought
to have had still greater weight, expressed himself in
ominous and warning words : alluding to the dreadful
fate of Darnley, " Let that young king take heed,"
said he. "If he prove unthankful to his faithful
servants so soon, he cannot long tarry in that soil.
Let the speed of his predecessors be his warning." J
Bowes declared, that if Lennox were permitted to
triumph, and Morton to fall, the quarrel would be no
longer about the trifles of the Borders, but the right
to the crown ; in which Scotland would be assisted by
France and Spain, and fortified by a large party within
England. And the wise Burghley, in his " Direc-
tions" to Randolph, urged the necessity of immediate
action to save Scotland from the domination of a con-
cealed Papist so he described Lennox who, what-
ever he might pretend to the contrary, had been
permitted by the Court of Rome to dissemble his
religion. ||
But this energy was short-lived, and spent itself in
words. Hunsdon, after all his threats, protracted his
levies ; not an English soldier crossed the Border ;
and no decided support or supplies of money could be
extracted from the caution and parsimony of the
English queen ; whilst on the part of Lennox and his
* MS. State-paper Office, Walsingham to Randolph, Feb. 9, 1580-1.
t MS. State-paper Office, Hunsdon to Randolph, Feb. 3, 1580-1.
$ MS. State-paper Office, Leicester to Randolph, Feb. 15, 1580-1.
MS. State-paper Office, Bowes to Leicester, March 14, 1580-1, Berwick.
|| MS. State-paper Office, Directions sent to Mr Randolph, -wholly in
Burghley's hand, Feb. 17, 1580-1.
74 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1580-1.
adherents, all was vigour and warlike preparation.
The whole force of the realm was summoned to be in
readiness to resist the English army. Bands of
"waged soldiers" so termed to distinguish them
from the feudal militia of the country, who served
without pay were enlisted, and added to the ordinary
guard about the king's person ; and the three Estates
assembled to vote supplies for the exigencies of the
expected war with England.
Before this parliament Randolph appeared and made
his last great effort to bring about the deliverance of
Morton, and overthrow the power of Lennox, by open
negotiation and remonstrance. He spoke for two
hours : insisted with much earnestness on the benefits
to be derived from the friendship of his royal mistress ;
described, in glowing terms, the dangers to be appre-
hended from Lennox, whom he denounced as an agent
of France and Rome ; and produced an intercepted
letter from the Bishop of Ross, to prove his allega-
tions. All these exertions, however, came too late,
and were utterly unsuccessful. Lennox denied the
charge, and demanded the fullest investigation. The
o ' "
parliament promised forty thousand pounds to sup-
port the preparations against England ; daily rumours
of war, and whisperings of the intrigues and conspira-
cies which were fomented by the English diplomatist,
agitated and inflamed the country; and at last, as
Randolph himself described it, " Every day bred a
new disorder ; men began to be stirring in all parts ;
the ambassador grew odious, his death suspected, and
the court in a manner desperate."*
These suspicions of conspiracies were not without
foundation ; for, from the moment of his arrival,
* MS. State-paper Office, Mr Randolph's Negotiation in Scotland.
1580-1. JAMES VI. 75
Randolph had kept in his eye the third article in his
instructions, which was, to raise a faction against
Lennox, and employ force, either in seizing his person,
or putting him to death in some open attack, if more
conciliatory measures failed. * It was hoped that in
this way the party in the interest of England might
secure the person of the young king, and remove from
him those obnoxious ministers who persuaded him to
throw himself into the arms of France, and to seek
the liberty of the imprisoned queen. The great ad-
vocates for this plan were Sir Robert Bowes, Lord
Hunsdon, Lord Huntingdon, and the Earl of Angus;
but they differed somewhat as to the best mode of
proceeding. Bowes seemed to have the least scruples
as to employing force, for the separating James from
his favourite. In a letter to Walsingham or Burgh-
ley,^ written shortly after Randolph's arrival, he in-
formed his correspondent, that the Scottish nobles
were drawing to an association ; and that, amid the
pageants with which the king and Lennox were then
recreating the court, " a strange masque might be,
perhaps, seen at Holyrood," which would check the
triumph of the favourite. Hunsdon, whose fiery tem-
per on no occasion brooked much delay, recommended
martial measures ; and assured the English secretary,
that Lennox must look for his dismissal to France, or
to "something worse." J Huntingdon, a nobleman
of the highest honour in these dark times, assured
Randolph, that any attempt to restore English ascen-
dancy by negotiation would be fruitless ; that open
* MS. Instructions to Mr Randolph, Jan. 6, 1580-1. Also, Memorial for
Secret Objects. Caligula, C. vi. 104-10(5.
t The address is bst. MS. British Museum, Caligula, C. vi. fol. 113.
Bowes to , Feb. 7, 1580-1, Berwick.
J Harleian, 6999, fol. 203. Hunsdon to Walsingham, Feb. 6, 1580-1.
76 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1580-1.
war must be deprecated ; and that to get out of their
difficulties by " murder" would be worst of all : but,
he added, -that he could see no objection to another
method, which had been already resorted to with suc-
cess, and that more than once, in Scottish history.
"Why may not some of the nobility, assisted by Eng-
land, say to the king, ' Your Grace is young ; you
cannot judge for yourself, and must be rescued from
this French stranger, who abuses your confidence ;""
and then, 11 he added, " if Lennox resisted and took
arms, let them unarm him if they can, and let our
royal mistress assist them." *
Amidst these various and conflicting opinions, Ran-
dolph laboured busily, and with the ardour of a man
in his native element ; so that at last a band or associ-
ation was " packed up," to use the common phrase of
the times, amongst the nobles ; and Bowes informed
Leicester of the intentions of the conspirators, in a
letter which shows, when taken in connexion with a
communication addressed the day after by Walsing-
ham to Lord Hunsdon, that the design of the nobles
was to seize the person of the king, and secure, or
perhaps murder, Lennox. " Albeit," said Bowes, "the
levy of the forces newly assembled in Edinburgh and
elsewhere, and the planting them about the king, to
guard his person against suspected surprise or violence,
doth greatly threaten the stay or defeat of the purposes
intended, whereof I know your lordship is advertised;
yet I am in good hope, that, if any opportunity be
found, the parties associate will, with good courage,
attempt the matter." To this, Elizabeth, who knew
and directed all, replied, that she would hear of no
* MS. Lettei, State-paper Office, Huntingdon to Randolph, March 21,
1580-1.
1580-1 JAMES VI. 77
violence being offered to the king's person ; but as for
D'Aubigny, she could be content he were surprised,
provided it could be executed when he was found
separated from his young master.* The extent of
violence or bloodshed sanctioned under this word,
"surprised," cannot be precisely fixed; but to those
who knew the character of the Scottish nobles of those
days, and none knew it better than the English queen,
it conveyed, no doubt, an emphatic meaning.
The conspirators thus encouraged, completed their
arrangements. They succeeded in corrupting some of
the royal household; by their connivance, forged keys
for the king^ private apartments were made ; and they
thus hoped to enter the palace, seize the young mon-
arch, put Lennox, Argyle, and Montrose to death, and
send James to England.-f- But Lennox, when on the
very point of being cut off, was saved by an unexpected
discovery ; and Morton, when his prison began to be
cheered by the near prospect of escape, found himself
more hopelessly situated than before. The chief actors
in the association for his rescue were the Earls of
Angus and Mar. With Angus, Randolph had ar-
ranged all in nightly meetings, held sometimes in the
fields, sometimes at Dalkeith. The Laird of Whit-
tingham, a Douglas, and brother to the noted Archi-
bald Douglas, was a principal conspirator, and intrusted
with their most secret intentions ; and four confidential
servants of Morton, named Fleck or Affleck, Nesbit,
Reid, and Jerdan, were principal agents in the plot,
and knew all its ramifications. Lord Hunsdon, who
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, March 14, 1580-1, Bowes to Leicester.
Also, MS. British Museum, Harleian, G999, fol. 479. Original Draft,
Walsingham to Hunsdon, March 15, 1580-1.
t MS. Harleian, copy of the time, Randolph to Hunsdon. March 20,
.580-1.
78 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1580-1.
had a high admiration of Angus, was, as we have seen,
deeply implicated : his forces were in readiness to
advance from Berwick into Scotland, and he only
waited for the signal which was to be the news of the
king's seizure ; when Lennox, receiving some hint
which awakened his suspicion, seized Douglas of Whit-
tingham, threatened him with the rack, and obtained
a revelation of the whole. Morton's servants, Fleck,
Nesbit, Reid, and Jerdan, were instantly arrested and
put to the torture. Angus was banished beyond the
Spey ; Randolph, whose intrigues were laid bare, fled
precipitately to Berwick, after having been nearly slain
by a shot fired into his study ; * and Elizabeth, dis-
gusted by the treachery of Whittingham, and the
utter failure of the plot against Lennox, commanded
Hunsdon to dismiss his forces, recalled Randolph,
and abandoned Morton to his fate.-f-
This, it was now evident, could not be long averted.
His enemies were powerful and clamorous against him.
Captain James Stewart, the accuser of the ex-regent,
had openly declared, if they by whom he had been
urged to this daring enterprise, did not make an end
of the old tyrant, he would soon make an end of them. J
The confession of Whittingham, and of Morton's con-
fidential servants, had furnished his enemies with
evidence sufficient to bring him to the scaffold ; and
although Angus, Randolph, and Hunsdon still con-
tinued their plots, it was found impossible to carry
* MS. State-paper Office, Randolph to Walsingham, March 25, 1581.
Randolph affects to " suspend" his judgment of the truth of all this confes-
sion of Whittingham till further trial. There seems to be little doubt that
he knew all the particulars of the plot previous to the confession, and bore
a principal part in arranging it.
\ See Proofs and Illustrations, Nos. VI. and VII.
J MS. State-paper Office, January 11, 1580-1, Bowes to Lord Bnrghley
and Sir Fr. Walsingham.
MS. State-paper Office, Randolph to Walsingham, March 25, 1581.
1581. JAMES VI. 79
them into execution. One by one the various earls
and barons, whose assistance had been bought by
Elizabeth, dropped off, and made their peace with the
stronger party ; * till at last Morton was left alone,
and nothing remained to be done but to sacrifice the
victim.
For this purpose, Stewart, his accuser, and Mon-
trose, were commissioned to bring him from Dumbarton
to the capital. In those dark days many prophetic
warnings hung over ancient houses ; and among the
rest, was one which predicted that the bloody heart,
the emblem of the house of Douglas, would fall by
Arran. This saying Morton affected to despise ; for
the Earl of Arran was dead, and the Hamiltons, his
enemies, in whose family this title was hereditary,
were now banished and broken men. But Stewart,
his implacable foe, had recently procured from the
king the gift of the vacant earldom, though the news
of his promotion had never reached the captive in his
prison at Dumbarton. When Morton, therefore, read
the name of Arran in the commission, he started, ex-
claiming, " Arran ! who is that ? the Earl of Arran
is dead." " Not so," said the attendant ; " that title
is now held by Captain James Stewart." "And is
it so ?" said he the prediction flashing across his
memory. " Then, indeed, all is over ; and I know
what I must look for .""[
Yet, although hopeless as to the result, nothing
could be more calm or undaunted than the temper in
which he met it. During his long imprisonment, he
had expressed contrition for his sinful courses ; deplored
* MS. Harleian, 6999, fol. 527. Randolph to Hunsdon, Edinburgh,
March 23, 1580-1.
t Spottiswood, p. 313.
80 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1581.
the many crimes into which ambition and the insati-
able love of power had plunged him ; and sought for
rest in the consolations of religion, and the constant
study of the Holy Scriptures. At the same time, his
preparations for the worst had not prevented him from
taking as active a part against his enemies as his
captivity would allow.
He was brought to trial on the first of June, five
months after his arrest ; and such was still either the
lingering dread of his power, or the terror of some
attempt at rescue, that the whole town was in arms.
Two companies of soldiers were placed at the Cross,
two bands above the Tolbooth ; whilst the citizens
armed also, and with another body of troops filled the
principal street, for the purpose of conducting him from
his lodging to the Tolbooth, where the trial took place.
His indictment contained twelve heads of accusation,
or " dittay ;" but the paper has not been preserved;
and this is the less material, as the proceedings had
scarcely begun, when a letter from the king was pre-
sented, commanding the jury to confine their attention
solely to the most important charge, his accession to
the murder of the late king, his father. On this point,
absolute and direct proof might not have been easily
procured ; for it turned out that Sir James Balfour
either did not possess, or would not produce, the bond
for Darnley's murder. But Morton's own defence
supplied this defect ; for although he denied that he
had ever procured, or given his consent to the death
of Darnley, he distinctly admitted that he knew the
murder was to be committed, and had concealed it ;
upon which confession the jury found him guilty.
The terms in which their sentence was embodied
were the same as those still employed in Scotland.
1581. JAMES VI. 81
It declared him " convicted of, counsel, concealing, and
being art and part of the king's murder," upon hearing
which last words read aloud, the earl, who had main-
tained the greatest calmness and temper during the
trial, became deeply agitated. " Art and part !" said
he, with great vehemence, and striking the table re-
peatedly with a little baton or staff which he usually
carried. " Art and part ! God knoweth the contrary."
It is evident that he drew the distinction between an
active contrivance and approval, and a passive know-
ledge and concealment of the plot for Darnley's assas-
sination.
On the morning of the day on which he suffered,
some of the leading ministers of the Kirk, with whom
he had been much at variance on the subject of Epis-
copacy, breakfasted with him in the prison, and a long
and interesting conference took place, of which the
particulars have been preserved, in a narrative drawn
up by those who were present.* It is difficult for any
one who reads this account, and who is acquainted
\vith the dark and horrid crimes which stained the
life of Morton, not to be painfully struck with the
disproportion between his expressions of contrition,
and his certain anticipations of immediate glory and
felicity. The compunction for his many crimes
murder, tyranny, avarice, cruelty, lust, and all the
sins which were the ministers of his exorbitant am-
bition and pride is so slight, that we feel perplexed
as to the sincerity of a repentance which seems to sit
so easily. He speaks of the murder of Riccio, or as
he terms it, " the slaughter of Davie," in which he
acted so prominent a part, without one expression or
regret ; and appears to have lost almost every recol-
* Bannatyne's Memorials, Bannatyne Club edition, p. 317.
VOL. VIII. F
82 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1581.
lection of his former life, in his prospect of instant
admission into the society of the blessed. Yet all
may have heen, nay, let us hope all was sincere ; and
whilst it is vain to speculate upon a state of mind
known only to Him who sees the heart, allowance
must be made for the character of an age familiar with
blood ; for the peculiar, and almost ultra-Calvinistic,
theology of the divines who ministered to him in his
last moments ; and the possibility of inaccuracy in the
narrative itself, which was not read over to him before
his death. In speaking of the assassination of the
king, he distinctly repeated his admissions made at
the trial ; affirming that he, in common with many
others, knew that Darnley was to be cut off, but did
not dare to forewarn him ; and adding, that the queen
was the contriver of the whole plot.
These conferences took place on the day in which
he suffered; and his friends amongst the clergy had
scarcely left him, when his keeper entered his room,
and desired him to come forth to the scaffold. He
appeared surprised, and observed, that having been so
much troubled that day with worldly matters, he had
hoped that one night at least would have been allowed
him to have advised ripely with his God. " But, my
Lord," said the keeper, " they will not wait, and all
things are ready." " If it be so," answered he, *' I
praise God I am ready also ;" and after a short prayer,
he passed down to the gate of the palace to go to. the
scaffold. Here another interruption took place; for
Arran, his mortal enemy, was waiting on the steps,
and requested him to tarry till his confession, which
liad been made to the ministers, had been written down,
a,nd brought to him for his signature. But this re-
immersion into worldly affairs he entreated to be spared.
1581. JAMES VI. 83
" Bethink you, my Lord," said he, " that I have far
other things now to advise upon. I am about to die:
I must prepare for my God. Ask me not to write now-;
all these good men (pointing to the ministers) can
testify what I have spoken in that matter." With
this Arran professed himself satisfied ; but his impor-
tunity was not at an end; for he added that Morton
must be reconciled to him before he proceeded farther.
To this the earl willingly agreed ; observing, that now
was no time to reckon quarrels, and that he forgave
him and all, as he himself hoped for forgiveness. He
then proceeded to the scaffold, which he ascended with
a firm step ; and turning to the people, repeated,
shortly, his confession of the foreknowledge of the king'te
murder, only suppressing the name of his near relative,
Mr Archibald Douglas. He declared that he died in the
profession of the Gospel as it was at that day taught
and established in Scotland; and exhorted the people,
if they hoped for the favour of Heaven,to hold fast the
same. Mr James Lawson, one of the ministers, then
prayed aloud ; and, during this act of devotion, Morton,
who had thrown himself, with his face on the ground,
before the block on which he was to suffer, was observed
to be deeply affected. In his agitation, his whole frame
was convulsed with sighs and sobs bursting from his
bosom ; and his body rebounded from the earth on
which he lay along. On rising up, however, his face
was calm and cheerful; he shook hjs friends by the
hand, bidding them farewell with many expressions of
kindness; and having declined to have his hands bound,
knelt down and laid his neck upon the block. At this
awful moment, Mr James Lawson, stoopirg forward
to his ear, read some verses from the Scripture, which
Morton repeated with a firm voice. As he pronounced
8 J< HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1 581 .
the words, " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit ," the axe
descended, and the imperfect sentence died upon the
lips, which quivered and were silent for ever.* The
execution took place about four o'clock on the evening
of Friday the second of June. It was remarked that
Fernyhirst, who was known to have been acquainted
with the murder of the king, stood in a window opposite
the scaffold. He was recognised by a conspicuous
feature in his dress his large ruffles ; and seemed to
take delight in the spectacle. The people also remarked
that Lord Seton and his two sons had taken great
care to secure a good view of all that passed, by pulling
down a stair which would have intercepted their view
of the scaffold.-f-
On the day after Morton suffered, George Binning,
a servant of Archibald Douglas, was executed for his
participation in the murder of the king. The confession
of this accomplice threw some additional light on this
dark story. He affirmed, that his master, Archibald
Douglas, who was then an adherent of the Earl of Both-
well, was present at the deed, and, in his haste to leave
the spot, lost one of his slippers ; that, when his master
came home, his clothes were full of clay and soil, oc-
casioned, no doubt, by the explosion; and that, in
retreating from the scene of the murder, he (Binning)
encountered, at the foot of a narrow lane near the spot,
certain " musselled men," meaning men who had dis-
guised themselves by muffling their faces in their cloaks ;
one of whom, as he conjectured by his voice, was a
brother of Sir James Balfour.J
* MS. Calderwood, British Museum, Ayscough, 4736, fol. 1156. Mor-
ton's head was fixed on the Tolbooth, on the highest stone of the gahle towards
the public street. There is a fine original picture of the Regent Morton at
Dalmahoy, near Edinburgh, the seat of the present Earl of Morton. It has
been engraved by Lodge. ) Id. Ibid.
1 MS. Calderwood, British Museum, Ayscough, 473G, fol. 1156.
1581. JAMES VI. 85
The death of Morton was followed, as wag to be ex-
pected, by the concentration of the whole power of the
State in the hands of the Earl of Lennox and Captain
Stewart, now Earl of Arran. This necessarily led to
the revival of the influence of France, and to renewed
intrigues by the friends of the Catholic faith and the
supporters of the imprisoned queen. The prospects of
the Protestant lords, and of the more zealous ministers
of the Kirk, were proportionably overclouded ; the
faction in the interest of England was thrown into
despair ; and reports of the most gloomy kind began
to circulate through the country. It was said that
religion was on the point of being altered ; that the
king would marry a princess of the house of Lorrain ;
that the Duke of Guise had already written to him in
the most friendly terms, and now for the first time
had condescended to call him king.* The conduct of
Lennox was calculated to confirm rather than mitigate
these suspicions. He professed, indeed, an earnest
desire to maintain amicable relations with England ;
and had written to this effect to the Earl of Leicester,
warning him against Archibald Douglas, who was now
in England, and laboured to embroil the two king-
dom s.-f- But he had forgotten entirely his friendly
professions to the Presbyterians. The ministers of
the Kirk, who had congratulated themselves as the
instruments of his conversion, were treated with cold-
ness ; and it was soon discovered that he had warmly
espoused the king^s opinions with regard to Episcopacy,
and was ready to second, to his utmost ability, the
* MS. State-paper Office, B.C., Scrope to Burghley, August 18, 1581.
Also, B.C., same to same, September 31, 1581. Also, MS. State-paper
Office, Bowes to Burghley, October 3, 1581.
t MS. State-paper Otlice, Lennox to Leicester, Oct. 7, 1581,Lithgow.
86 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1581.
efforts of the monarch for its complete establishment
in his dominions.
Meanwhile, the new Earl of Arran was not neglect-
ful of his interests, and advanced rapidly in power and
presumption. Soon after the execution of Morton, he
appeared before the privy-council, entered into a de-
tail of his proceedings against that nobleman, lamented
the necessity he had been under of employing torture
to procure evidence, and demanded and obtained an
Act of approval from the king, which characterized
his whole conduct as honourable, and assured him, that
at no future period should it be called in question.*
His next step was an act of such open profligacy, as
to incense and scandalize the whole country. He lived
in habits of familiar friendship with the Earl of March,
and had been under deep obligations to him ; but he
employed the opportunities such intimacy gave him
to seduce the affections of the Countess of March, a
woman of great beauty; and so completely succeeded
in depraving her mind, that she brought an action of
divorce against her husband, on a ground which, in
this day, none but the most abandoned could plead.
The suit was successful, the decree of divorce pro-
nounced; and Arran married the countess, whose situ-
ation at that moment proclaimed her either a liar or
an adultress. It affords a shocking picture of the
manners of the times, that the young king appears to
have countenanced this proceeding. Nor was this all.
James determined to grant new honours to those who
had assisted him in the overthrow of Morton : Lennox
was made a duke ; -f- Captain Stewart, who had already
* Original Record of Privy-council, in the Register House, Edinburgh,
June 3, 1581.
+ Douglas, vol. ii. p. 99. Moyse's Memoirs, p. 34, Bannatyne edition.
MS. Calderwood, fol. 1156, states he was proclaimed duke uu the 27th Aug.,
1581.
1581. JAMES VI. 87
received a gift of the earldom of Arran, was invested
in that dignity with great solemnity; the Earl of
March received the earldom of Orkney; Lord Ruthven
that of Gowrie; and Lord Maxwell, one of the most
powerful nobles of that time, became Earl of Morton.
Parliament now assembled, and the sanction of this
supreme court was given to all those measures lately
passed in favour of Lennox and Arran. Indeed, it
could scarcely be expected that any would dare to op-
pose them ; for James had sent intimation to the Earls
of Mar, Eglinton, and Glencairn, with the Lords Lind-
say, Boyd, Herries, and Ochiltree, that he would dis-
pense with their presence on this occasion ; * and none,
probably, attended but those who were favourable to
the court. The adherents of the late Earl of Morton
were pronounced rebels, and their estates confiscated.
Amongst these, the principal were the Earl of Angus;
Archibald Douglas of Whittingham ; James Douglas
prior of Pluscardine, and James Douglas of Pitten-
dreich, two natural sons of the Regent Morton ; Douglas
of Parkhead ; and Archibald Douglas constable of the
castle of Edinburgh. In the same parliament, Lennox,
who believed his influence now to be all powerful,
exerted himself to procure the pardon of Sir James
Balfour, who had recently done him good service in
the overthrow of Morton. But he was disappointed ;
for James refused his request, and pointed to those
Acts of Parliament by which it was declared, that no
person guilty of the king his father's murder, should
ever be restored. [ At the same meeting of the Estates,
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Bowes to Burghley, October 18, 1581.
+ MS. State-paper Office, B.C., Thomas Selby to Mr Thomas Foster,
Nov. 29, 1581.
88 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1581.
the statutes were confirmed which protected the re-
formed religion ; some enactments were introduced for
the regulation of the coinage, against the exportation
of wool, and other acts directed against that excess in
apparel amongst the middle and lower classes, and
expensive and superfluous banquets, which marked the
progress of the country in wealth and refinement, and
had excited the jealous y of the higher nobility.
It is now necessary to turn for a moment to the
Scottish queen in her imprisonment. It was a miserable
circumstance in the fate of this unfortunate princess,
that any successes of her friends generally brought along
with them an increase of rigour and jealousy upon the
part of her inexorable rival. This increase, on the
other hand, as surely led to more determined efforts
for her delivery ; and thus, during the thirteen years
for which she had now continued a captive, her health
had been shattered, and her spirits broken, by those
alternations of hope and fear, those fluctuations of
ardent expectation, or bitter disappointment, which
must have destroyed even the healthiest and most
buoyant constitution. Her condition about this time
was so feeble, that she had lost the use of her limbs,
and was carried in a chair, or litter, by her servants.
She besought Elizabeth, in pathetic terms, for the
favour of a coach, that she might enjoy a drive in the
park of Sheffield castle, where she was confined ; she
requested the additional attendance of two female
servants and two men servants, which her sickness
demanded; and she entreated to have passports for
the Lady Lethington and Lord Seton, in whose society
she might find some alleviation of her solitude. But,
although Castelnau, the French ambassador, seconded
1581. JAMES VI. 89
these requests by the most earnest remonstrance, the
English queen was deaf to his entreaties, and resisted
the application.*
This cold and unrelenting conduct could not fail to
make a deep impression upon Mary ; and, in a moment
of resentment and excitation, she had determined to
resign her rights as Queen of Scots, and her claims
upon the crown of England, into the hands of her son,
with an earnest hope, that he would invade that realm,
and, assisted by the Roman Catholic party abroad,
and Elizabeth's discontented subjects at home, establish
his rights, and overwhelm her oppressor. But the
return of calmer consideration showed the madness of
such a scheme ; and her anxiety for the amicable re-
cognition of the rights of her son to the English crown,
banished the suggestions of personal resentment. In
a memorial presented by Mary about this time to Eliza-
beth and her parliament, she requested to be heard, by
deputies whom she would appoint, upon the subject of
her title and pretensions. -f- It was not, she added, on
her own account that she suggested this. Continued
affliction had brought on a premature age; sorrow had
extinguished ambition ; and, with her shattered frame,
it would be ridiculous to expect to survive Elizabeth.
But she felt the natural anxiety of a mother to secure
the rights of her child : and she entreated her sister
of England to agree to her petition, and to recognise
the undoubted title of her son, as the most certain
means of promoting settled peace, and securing their
mutual security.
This sensible memorial experienced the same fate
* Addition aux Mem. de Castelnau. p. 519. Chalmers 1 Life of Marr,
vol. i. pp. 384, 388.
t Murdin, p. 3G7.
90 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1581.
as her former petition : it made no impression upon
the Queen of England, or her ministers ; and Mary,
defeated in her moderate desires, was compelled to em-
brace more determined measures, and to throw herself,
entirely into the arms of France. This led to a new
project, known by the name of " The Association,"
and which appears to have originated about this time.
It was proposed to the young king, that in order to
have his title to the Scottish throne recognised by the
powers of Europe, none of whom, with the exception
of England, had yet publicly given him the name of
king, he should resign the crown to his mother, under
the condition, that she should retransmit it to him, and
retire from all the active duties of the government.
But before pursuing this scheme, which led ultimately
to important consequences, it is necessary to attend to
the state of the Church, and its violent collision with
the crown.
The struggle between Episcopacy, which had been
originally established at the time of the Reformation,
and the Presbyterian form of Church government,
was now assuming every day a more determined and
obstinate form. The young king, with his ministers,
and favourites, Lennox and Arran, and a large pro-
portion of the nobility, supported Episcopacy. The
ministers of the Kirk, and the great body of the burghers,
and middle and lower classes of the people, were zeal-
ously attached tr the Presbyterian model ; and con-
sidered the office of a bishop as anti-Scriptural, and a
remnant of Popery. In a General Assembly, held
some time previous to this, the " Platform " of Eccle-
siastical government, drawn up Andrew Melvil, had
been ratified by a majority of the ministers ; and re-
ceived the solemn sanction of the Church, under the
1581. JAMES VI. 91
title of " The Second Book of Discipline."" * Under
these conflicting circumstances, the Duke of Lennox,
whose influence with the young king gave him an
almost absolute power in the disposal of patronage,
appointed Mr Robert Montgomery to the vacant
bishoprick of Glasgow. It was notorious to all, that
this was a collusive and Simoniacal transaction ; for
Montgomery resigned the temporalities of the See to
the duke, and was contented to receive a small annual
stipend out of its revenues. But the clergy, at first
waving this objection, pronounced a high censure upon
Montgomery, and interdicted him from accepting a
bishoprick. He remonstrated, and was supported by
the king and his council; who contended, that as
Episcopacy had never been abolished by the three
Estates, no illegal act had been committed.
The General Assembly of the Church soon after
was convened in the capital ; and as some private in-
telligence had been sent to Scotland of the intended
" Association " between the imprisoned queen and the
king her son, this ecclesiastical convention met in a
state of much excitement.-f- It was known that various
missionary priests were covertly intriguing in the
country ; that George Douglas had arrived on a mission
from France, charged with secret despatches from the
Bishops of Glasgow and Ross, her agents in that realm ;
and great dread was entertained of Lennox's increasing
influence over the mind of the young king. Determin-
ed measures, therefore, were adopted by the Church.
Articles against Montgomery were drawn up, which
condemned, in strong terms, his life, conversation, and
* Calderwood's History, pp. 97, 102, convened April 20, . 581. Confes-
sions of Faith, vol. ii. p. 807.
t Calderwood, p. 1 18.
92 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1581.
opinions ; and although, upon investigation, many
faults objected to him turned out to be frivolous and
unfounded, other matters were proved, which, it was
contended, utterly incapacitated him for the office
which he had accepted. He received an injunction,
therefore, to continue in his ministry at Stirling ; and,
under pain of the highest censures, to abandon all
thoughts of the bishoprick.
During these transactions, Elizabeth, who had be-
come alarmed on the subject of Scotland, and dreaded
the preponderating influence of Lennox and Arran,
despatched Captain Nicolas Arlington, an able officer
of the garrison at Berwick, on a mission into that
country. He was instructed to use his utmost efforts
to persuade the king to continue in amicable relations
with England ; to sow, if possible, by some secret
practice, a division between the Duke of Lennox and
the Earl of Arran ; and to expose the devices of
France and Spain for the overthrow of religion, and
the resumption of power by the Scottish queen.* It
had been the advice of Sir Robert Bowes, in a letter
addressed to Burghley, that every means should be
adopted to increase some jealousies which, owing to
the pride and intolerance of Arran, had arisen between
him and the duke. But after every effort to " blow the
coals," *f as he expressed it, these proud rivals became
convinced that their safest policy was to forget their
differences, and unite against their common enemies.
A reconcilement, accordingly, took place ;| and Len-
nox, strong in the continued attachment of the king,
and the new friendship of Arran, determined to con-
* State-paper Office, October 26, 1581, Instructions for N. Arrington, sent
into Scotland. Copy.
t MS. State-paper Office, Bowes to Burghley, October 18, 1581.
I Historie of King James the Sext, p. 186.
1581. JAMES VI. 93
centrate his whole strength against that faction of the
Kirk which opposed themselves to Episcopacy, and
had threatened his bishop with deposition.
At this moment secret information of a threatening
nature arrived from France. The reports regarding
the progress of " The Association " between the queen-
mother and her son were confirmed. It was said, that
Lord Arbroath, the head of the great house of Hamil-
ton, now in banishment, was to be restored by French
influence, under the condition, that the " Mass 1 ' should
return along with him. And Mr John Durie, one of
the ministers of Edinburgh, sounded a fearful note of
alarm, in a sermon which he delivered in the High
Church of the city. The king, he said, had been
moved by certain courtiers, who now ruled all at their
will, to send a private message to the King of France
and the Duke of Guise, and to seek his mother's bless-
ing. He knew this, he declared, from the very man
who was employed in the message George Douglas,
Mary's sworn servant ; and he painted in strong col-
ours the deplorable effects which might be anticipated
from such a coalition. It was proposed, in these dark
counsels, that the king should resign the crown to his
mother, and she convey it again to him, with an as-
surance, that he should then be acknowledged as king
by France, and by the powers of Europe, which, up
to this time, had refused him the royal title. And
what must inevitably follow from all this ? If the
transaction were completed, it would be argued, that
the establishment of religion, and all other public
transactions since the coronation, were null ; that the
king's friends were traitors, and their adversaries his
only true subjects. After the sermon, a remarkable
conference took place betveen the Earls of Argyle
94 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1581.
and Gowrie, and the ministers, Durie, Lawsoii, and
Davison, in the council-house. On being pressed as
to the French intrigues, Argyle confessed that he had
gone too far ; but affirmed, that if he saw anything
intended against religion, he would forsake his friends,
and oppose it to his utmost. To Gowrie, Davison
the minister of Libberton, in alluding to the murder
of Riccio, used a still stronger argument " If things,"
said he, " go forward as they are intended, your head,
my lord, will pay for Davie^s slaughter. But Scottish
nobles now are utterly unworthy of the place they
hold : they would not, in other times, have suffered
the king to lie alone at Dalkeith with a stranger,
whilst the whole realm is going to confusion ; and
yet the matter (they significantly added) might be
reformed well enough with quietness, if the noblemen
would do their duty."*
Nor were these warnings and denunciations confined
to the nobility. The young king, when sitting in his
private chamber in the palace of Stirling, received an
admonition quite as solemn as any delivered to his
subjects. Mr John Davison, along with Duncanson
the royal chaplain, and Mr Peter Young, entered the
apartment ; and Davison, after pointing out the dread-
ful state of the country, exhorted him to put away those
evil councillors who were so fast bringing ruin upon the
commonweal, and his own soul. " My liege," said he,
" at this present, there are three jewels in this realm
precious to all good men Religion, the Commonweal,
and your Grace's person. Into what a horrible con-
fusion the two first have fallen all men are witness ;
but as to the third, your grace hath need to beware,
not only of the common hypocrites and flatterers, but
* MS. Caldenvood, Ayscongh, 4736, fol. 1172.
1582. JAMES vi. 95
more especially of two sorts of men. First, such as
opposed themselves to your grace in your minority :
whereby they have committed offences for which they
must yet answer to the laws ; and, therefore, must
needs fear the king. Remember the saying ' Multis
terribilis, caveto multos." 1 The second sort, are those
who are conjured enemies to religion. If (he concluded)
your grace would call to you such godly men as I could
name, they would soon show you whom they think to
be included in these two ranks." It had been arranged
beforehand, that should the young king exhibit any
desire to profit by this counsel, Davison was to name
the Lairds of Dun, Lundie, and Braid, with Mr Robert
Pont and Mr James Lawson, two of the leading minis-
ters ; but James, after hearing the exordium, and
observing hurriedly that it was good counsel, started
off from the subject, and broke up the interview.*
These scenes of alarm and admonition were followed
by a violent attempt of Montgomery to possess him-
self of the bishoprick, in which he entered the Church
at Glasgow, accompanied by a band of the royal guard,
and in virtue of a charge addressed by the king to that
Presbytery, endeavoured to expel the established min-
ister from the pulpit, and to occupy his place. This
was resisted by the Kirk ; and the ministers of the
Presbytery of Glasgow were in consequence summoned
before the Council : -f- but they defended themselves
with the greatest courage, and, when pressed by the
king, declined the judgment of the sovereign, or his
judges, in a matter not of a civil but of a purely
spiritual nature. Lawson, Durie, Andrew Hay, and
a large body of the ministers and elders from Edin-
* MS. Caldenrood, British Museum, fol. 1172.
t April 13, 1582.
96 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1582.
burgh, Dalkeith, and Lithgow, accompanied them to
Stirling ; and when the king insisted that they should
receive Montgomery, and warned them of the fatal
consequences of a refusal, he was boldly reminded by
Durie, that such intemperate proceedings would only
lead to the excommunication of the man whom he
favoured.* This threat, and the preparations for
carrying it into immediate execution, alarmed the
object of the quarrel himself; and the submission of
Montgomery to the jurisdiction and sentence of the
Kirk, led to a temporary cessation of the controversy.
This lull, however, proved exceeding brief ; and was
soon followed by a more determined collision between
the antagonist principles of Presbyterianism and Epis-
copacy. The Kirk at this time possessed, amongst its
ministers, some men of distinguished learning, and of
the greatest courage. Durie, Lawson, Craig, Lindsay,
Andrew Melvil, Thomas Smeton, Pont, Davison, and
many others, presided over its councils ; and formed
a spiritual conclave which, in the infallibility they
claimed, and the obedience they demanded, was a
hierarchy in everything but the name. Eloquent,
intrepid, and indefatigable, they had gained the affec-
tions of the lower classes of the people ; and were
supported, also, by the increasing influence of the
burghs and the commercial classes. Animated by
such feelings, wielding such powers, and backed by
such an influence, it was not to be expected that they
would be easily put down. The great cause of Episco-
pacy, on the other hand, was supported by the young
* Calderwood MS., fol. 1174. Montgomery incensed against Andrew
Hay, one of the ministers, threatened to bring him to justice, as art and
part in foreknowing and concealing the late king's murder. The only ground
of the charge was, that Mr Andrew Hay was uncle to the Laird of Tallo,
(Hay,) who was executed for the murder.
1582. JAMES vi. 97
king, who was himself no contemptible theologian ; by
the Duke of Lennox, the Earl of Arran, and a large
portion of the old nobility. Abroad, it looked to the
sympathy and assistance of France : and as the whole
hopes of the imprisoned queen, and the great body of
the Roman Catholics in England, rested on Lennox
and his friends, they were inclined to strengthen his
hands in every possible way. The power of this party
had recently been shown by the destruction of Morton,
which they carried through with a high hand against
the whole influence of England and the Kirk ; and,
flushed by this success, they resolved to renew the battle
with the Presbyterian party, in the case of the Bishop
of Glasgow ; which, however insulated or insignificant
it might appear at first sight, really involved the es-
tablishment or destruction of Episcopacy. Montgo-
mery, a weak man, and wholly under the influence of
Lennox, was easily persuaded to retract his submission,
and repeat his attempts to possess himself of the bishop
rick ; whilst, at this moment, the feelings of the
ministers were goaded to the highest pitch of jealousy
and resentment, by the arrival of a messenger from the
Duke of Guise : ostensibly, he came with a present of
horses to the king ; but it was suspected that more
was intended than mere courtesy. The person who
brought this gift was Signor Paul, the duke's master-
stabler, and, as was asserted, one of the most active and
remorseless murderers at the massacre of St Bartho-
lomew.* It was scarcely to be expected that this
should be tamely borne ; and John Durie, the min-
ister of Edinburgh, instantly rode to Kinneil, Arran's
* MS. Caldcrwood, Ayscough, 4736, fol. 1189. " This Seignor Paul was
a famous murtherer at the massacre at Paris. No fitter man could be sent
to make pastime to the king."
VOL. VIII. G
98 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1582.
castle, where the king had determined to receive Guise^s
envoy. Meeting Signer Paul in the garden, the minis-
ter hastily drew his cap over his eyes, declaring he would
not pollute them by looking on the devil's ambassador ;
and, turning to the king, rebuked him sharply for
receiving gifts from so odious a quarter. " Is it with
the Guise," said he, " that your grace will interchange
presents with that cruel murderer of the saints?
Beware, my liege, I implore you, (he continued,) beware
with whom you ally yourself in marriage ; and remem-
ber John Knox's last words unto your Highness
remember that good man's warning, that so long as
you maintained God's holy Gospel, and kept your
body unpolluted, you would prosper. Listen not, then,
to those ambassadors of the devil, who are sent hither
to allure you from your religion." * To this indignant
sally, James, overawed by the vehement tone of the
remonstrant, quietly answered, "that his body was
pure ; and that he would have no woman for his wife
who did not fear God and love the Evangell." }
From Kinneil, Durie returned to Edinburgh, where
his zeal flamed up to the highest pitch; and, transform-
ing the pulpit, as was the practice of those times, into
a political rostrum for the discussion of the measures
of the government, he exposed the intrigues of Lennox,
the schemes of the queen-mother, and the profligacy
of the court, in such cutting and indignant terms, that
he was immediately summoned before the council, and
ordered to quit the city. J The strictest injunctions, at
the same time, were directed to the provost and magis-
trates to carry this sentence of banishment into execu-
* MS. Calderwood, fol. 1189, and MS. Letter, State-paper Office, B.C.,
Woddrington to Walsingham, Berwick, May 15, 1582. The interview be-
tween Durie and the king at Kinneil, took place on the llth May. MS.
Calderwood. f Ibid. MS. Calderwood, fol. 1 189.
J See Proofs and Illustrations, No. VIII.
1582. JAMES VI. 99
tion under pain of treason.* Lennox's party, at this
moment, was described by the laird of Carmichael, (a
Scottish gentleman employed to transmit secret infor-
mation to Walsingham,) as guiding all at court. Its
ranks, as he informed the English secretary, embraced
Arran, a great persecutor of the preachers, Huntley,
Seton, Ogilvy, the Prior Maitland, (this was the
younger brother of the famous Secretary Lethington,)
Balfour, Robert Melvil, Mr David Makgill, and one
Mr Henry Keir. These, he added, were all Papists.-f-
But Carmichael, himself probably a rigid Presbyterian,
was little disposed to make any distinction between
those who supported Episcopacy, and the friends of
the Church of Rome. Yet it must be remembered,
that the reported intrigues between the court of Spain
and the duke, with the secret negotiations of the Jesuits
for the association of the queen-mother with her son
in the government, gave him no little countenance in
the assertion ; and the vigour with which Lennox
pushed forward his measures against the Kirk, seemed
to indicate a very formidable combination of forces.
Undismayed, however, by the attack of their adver-
saries, the party of the Kirk only roused themselves
to a more determined opposition : retaliated, by
excommunicating Montgomery ; and called upon the
people to weep for their sins, and be prepared to peril
all, rather than part with their religion. The country,
at this moment, must have presented an extraordinary
picture : the pulpits rang with alternate strains of
lamentation and defiance. Patrick Simpson, alluding
to the fate of Durie, declared, that the principal link
in the golden chain of the ministry was already broken.
* MS. Calderwood, fol. 1189, May 30, 1.582.
t MS. Letter, State-paper Office, June 1, 1582. Laird of Carmichael to
Walsingham.
100 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1582.
Davison, a firmer spirit, whose small figure and un-
daunted courage had procured him from Lennox the
sobriquet of the "petit diable" exhorted his auditors
to take courage, for God would dash the devil in his
own devices ; and, on the twenty-seventh of June, an
extraordinary Assembly of the Church was convened
in the capital, to meet the crisis which, in the language
of the times, threatened destruction to their Zion.*
The proceedings were opened by a remarkable sermon,
or lecture, which Andrew Melvil delivered from the
pulpit of the New Kirk. He chose for its subject the
fourth chapter of the first Epistle to Timothy; and, in
speaking of the fearful trials and heresies of the " latter
days," inveighed, in no gentle terms, against the au-
dacious proceedings of the court. The weapon now
raised against them, he described as the " bloody gully}*
of absolute power." " And whence," said he, " came
this gully ? From the pope. And against whom was
it used? Against Christ himself: from whose divine
head these daring and wicked men would fain pluck
the crown, and from whose hands they would wrench
the sceptre." These might be deemed strong expres-
sions, he added, but did not every day verify his words,
and give new ground for alarm ? Need he point out to
them the king's intended demission of the crown to his
mother? Was not the palpable object of this scheme,
which had been concocting these eight years past, the re-
sumption of her lost power, and with it the reestablish-
inent of her idolatrous worship ? Who were its authors?
Beaton bishop of Glasgow, and Lesley bishop of Ross.
And by what devices did this last-named prelate explain
their intentions to the imprisoned princess? To the
* MS. Calderwood, fol. 1189, 1J90, 1191, 1192.
} Gully : a large knife ; a sword, or weapon.
1582. JAMES VI. 101
letters which he sent, he had added a painting of a
queen, with a little boy kneeling at her feet and im-
ploring her blessing; whilst she extended one hand to
her son, and with the other pointed to his ancestors,
as if she exhorted him to walk in their footsteps, and
follow their faith.*
At this Assembly, it was warmly debated whether
Durie was bound to obey the sentence of banishment
a point upon which opinions were much divided. The
provost and magistrates contended that they must exe-
cute the law which had pronounced the sentence, or
become themselves amenable to its penalties. One
party of the ministers, taking a middle course, advised
that two of their brethren, Mr David Ferguson and
Mr Thomas Buchanan, should be sent to remonstrate
with the king. But from this the fiery Davison loudly
dissented.. Ye talk, said he, of reponing John Durie.
Will ye become suppliants for reinstating him whom
the king had no power to displace ; albeit, his foolish
flock have yielded ? At this, Sir James Balfour started
to his feet, and fixed his eyes sternly on the speaker.
Balfour was notorious as one of the murderers of Darn-
ley; yet having been acquitted of that crime by a
packed jury, he had resumed his functions as an elder
of the Kirk.-f- Such a man was not likely to overawe
the bold minister ; and he undauntedly continued.
"Tell me what flesh may or can displace the great
King's ambassador, so long as he keeps within the
bounds of his commission ?" Saying this, he left the
Assembly in great heat, perceiving that the question
would be carried against him, which accordingly hap-
pened; for, on the resumption of the debate, it was
* MS. Calderwood, Ayscough, 4736, fol. 1192. June 27, 1582.
t MS. Letter, State-paper Office, B.C., Scrope to Burghley, Aug. 18, 1581.
102 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1582.
determined that Durie should submit, if the magistrates,
who belonged to his flock, insisted. They did so: and
that very evening, he was charged not only to depart
from the town, but not to reside within the freedom
and bounds of the city. * About nine o'clock the same
night, he was seen taking his way through the principal
street of the city, accompanied by two notaries, and a
small band of his brethren ; among whom were Lawson,
Balcanquel, and Davison. On reaching the Market-
cross, he directed the notaries to read a written protes-
tation, in which he attested the sincerity of his life and
doctrine; and declared, that although he obeyed the
sentence of banishment, no mortal power should prevent
him from preaching the Word.^ Upon this, placing
a piece of money in the hands of the notaries, he took
instruments, as it was termed ; and, during the cere-
mony, Davison, who stood by his side, broke into
threats and lamentation. " I too must take instru-
ments," cried he; " and this, I protest, is the most
sorrowful sight these eyes ever rested on : a shepherd
removed by his own flock, to pleasure flesh and blood,
and because he has spoken the truth. But plague,
and fearful judgments, will yet light on the inventors."
All this, however, passed away quietly, except on the
part of the speakers; and the denunciations of the
minister appear to have met with little sympathy. A
shoemaker's wife in the crowd cried out, if any would
cast stones at him, she would help.! A bystander,
also, was heard to whisper to his neighbour, looking
with scorn on the two protesters, " If I durst, I would
take instruments that ye are both knaves."
* MS. Calderwood, British Museum, Ayscough, 4736, fol. 1195-6.
t MS. Calderwood, fol. 1196.
J MS. Calderwood, fol. 1196. This same woman had troubled the Kirk
much in Morton's time. Her name was Urquhart.
Calderwood, MS. Hist. fol. 1196.
1582. JAMES VI. 103
Shortly before this, a conference had been held at
Stirling, between the commissioners of the court and
the Kirk, which had concluded by the king directing the
ministers to present him with a list of the grievances
of which they complained. They accordingly prepared
their " Articles," which, in bold and unequivocal lan-
guage, drew the distinction between the obedience they
owed to the king and the submission that was due to
the Kirk. They complained, that the monarch, by
advice of evil councillors, had taken upon him that
spiritual authority which belonged to Christ alone, as
the King and Head of His Church ; and, as examples
of this unwarrantable usurpation, appealed to the late
banishment of Durie, the maintaining an excommuni-
cated bishop, the interdicting the General Assembly
from the exercise of their undoubted spiritual rights,
and the evil handling of the brethren of Glasgow for
doing their duty in the case of Montgomery.*
The presentation of these Articles was intrusted to a
committee of the ministers. It embraced Pont, Lawson,
Smeton, Lindsay, Hay, Polwart, Blackburn, Galloway,
Christison, Ferguson, James Melvil, Buchanan, Brand,
Gillespie, Duncanson the minister of the king's house-
hold, and Andrew Melvil principal of the new College
at St Andrew's. To these a single layman was added
in the person of Erskine of Dun, a name much vener-
ated in the history of the Kirk. It had been agreed,
that these " Griefs" should be presented to the king in
the beginning of July ; and on the sixth of that month,
this intrepid band of ministers set out for Perth, where
James then held his court. Their adversaries had in
vain made many exertions to intimidate them; and
* MS. State-paper Office, Advertisements from Scotland, June 22, 1 582.
MS. Calderwood, fol. 1198-9.
104 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1582.
secret information had been sent by Sir James Melvil,
to his relative AndrewMelvil, that his life was in dan-
ger; but he only thanked God that he was not feeble
in the cause of Christ, and proceeded forward with his
brethren. On being ushered into the presence-chamber,
they found Lennox and Arran with the king ; and laid
their remonstrance on the table. Arran took it up,
glanced his eye over it, and furiously demanded " Who
dares sign these treasonable Articles?" " We dare,"
responded Andrew Melvil, " and will render our lives
in the cause." As he said this, he came forward to
the council-table, took the pen, subscribed his name,
and was followed by all his brethren. The two nobles
were intimidated by this unlooked-for courage : the
king was silent ; and, after some conference, the min-
isters were dismissed in peace.*
It would have been well for Lennox and Arran had
they taken warning from these symptoms of determined
opposition ; but they underrated the influence of the
ministers, and were not aware that, at this moment, a
strong party of the nobility was forming against them.
It was fostered by the Kirk, and encouraged by Eng-
land ; whilst its leaders, as usual in such enterprises,
appear, about this time, to have drawn up a written
contract, which declared the purposes for which they
had leagued together. This paper was entitled the
" Form of the Band, made among the noblemen that
is enterprised against Dobany;"-f- and it described, in
strong language, the causes which had led to the as-
sociation. These were said to be, the dangers incurred
by the professors of God's true religion ; the intended
* MS Calderwood, fol. 1200, 1201.
f* Caligula, C. vii. fol. 14, British Museum. A copy. Dobany is
D'Aubigny, the Duke of Lennox.
1582. JAMES VI. 105
overthrow of the Gospel, hy godless men, who had
crept into credit with the king's majesty ; the perver-
sion of the laws ; the wreck of the ancient nobility and
the ministers of religion; the interruption of the amity
with England ; and the imminent peril of the king's
person, unless some remedy were speedily adopted.
" Wherefore," (it continued,) " we have sworn, in
God's presence, and engaged, by this 'Band,' to punish
and remove the authors of these intended evils, and to
reestablish justice and good order, as we shall answer
to the Eternal God, and upon our honour, faith, and
truth." * The original of this important paper has
not been preserved ; and the names of the associators
do not appear in the copy : but we may pronounce
them, from the evidence of other letters, to have been
the Earls of Gowrie, Mar, Glencairn, Argyle, Mont-
rose, Eglinton, and Rothes, with the Lords Lindsay,
Boyd, and many others. f" The principal enemies to
Lennox among the ministers, were Lawson, Lindsay,
Hay, Smeton, Polwart, and Andrew Melvil.j
At the time this Band was formed, its authors had
not fixed upon any precise mode of attack ; but the
events which now occurred brought their measures to
a head, and compelled them to act upon the offensive.
Shortly previous to the interview of the ministers
with the king at Perth, Montgomery had been rein-
stated in the bishoprick of Glasgow by the royal
command ; and the sentence of excommunication pro-
nounced upon him by the Kirk was reversed, and de-
clared null. To soften, at the same time, the effect
* Caligula, C. vii. fol, 14, British Museum. A copy. See also MS.
Calderwood, p. 1210.
+ Caligula, C. vii. fol. 18, MS. Letter. Woddrington to Walsfogham,
July 19, 1582, Berwick.
I MS. Calderwood, fol. 1201.
106 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1582.
of this strong measure of defiance, the king, by a public
proclamation, renounced all intention of making any
changes in religion ; and Montgomery, confiding in
his restored honours, ventured from his seclusion at
Dalkeith, where he had resided with his patron Lennox,
and once more showed himself in Edinburgh. But
Lawson, one of the leading ministers, flew to the
magistrates, accused them of permitting an excommu-
nicated traitor to walk the streets ; and compelled
them to discharge him from their city.* As he de-
parted, Montgomery threatened that, within half an
hour, they should change their tone ; and, within a
brief space, returned with a royal proclamation, which
was read at the Cross, commanding all men to accept
him as a true Christian and good subject. He brought,
also, letters to the same purport, which were sent to
the Lords of Session. All, however, was in vain, so
strong was the popular current against him. The
provost, in an agony of doubt between his duty to
the king and his allegiance to the Kirk, imprecated
vengeance upon his head, and declared he would have
given a thousand merks he had never seen his face.
The Judges refused to hear him ; and a report arising,
that he should be again expelled, an immense crowd
assembled. Tradesmen, armed with bludgeons, and
women with stones, waited round the door of the court ;
and their expected victim would probably have been
torn in pieces, had he not been smuggled away by the
magistrates through a narrow lane called the Kirk
Heugh, which led to the Potterrow gate. His retreat,
however, became known ; the people broke in upon him
with many abusive terms. False traitor ! thief! man-
sworn carle ! were bandied from mouth to mouth ; and
* MS. Calderwood fol. 1198, 1201. July 2, 1582, and July 24.
1582. JAMES vi. 107
as he sprung through the wicket, he received some
smart blows upon the back. So little sympathy did
he meet with from the king, that, when the story
reached the court at Perth, James threw himself down
upon the Inch, and, callmg him a seditious loon, fell
into convulsions of laughter.*
The effect, however, was different upon Lennox.
His penetration did not enable him to see the formidable
strength which was gradually arraying itself against
him ; and his blind obstinacy only hurried on the
catastrophe. At the instigation of France,-f- he de-
termined, by a sudden attack, to overwhelm his ene-
mies ; and, assisted by the force which himself and
Arran could command, to seize the Earls of Gowrie,
Mar, and Glencairn, with Lindsay, and the chief of
the Protestant nobles. Having achieved this, and
banished the leading ministers of the Kirk, he looked
forward to a triumphant conclusion of his labours in
the establishment of Episcopacy, and the association of
the imprisoned queen with the government of her son.
Bowes, however, the English ambassador, became
acquainted with these intentions, and informed the
Protestant lords of the plot for their destruction. The
minuteness of the information which this veteran
diplomatist elicited by his pensioned informers, is
remarkable.]; He assured Gowrie and his friends, that
they must look to themselves, or be content soon to
change a prison for a scaffold; that he had certain
intelligence the king had consented to arraign them
of a conspiracy against his person : and they knew,
that if convicted of treason, their fate was sealed. It
* MS. Calderwood, fol. 1202.
f Sir R. Bowes to Secretary Walsingham, August 15, 1582. Original
draft. From the Original Letter-Book of Sir Robert Bowes, kindly com-
municated to me by my friend Sir Cuthbert Sharp.
t See Proofs and Illustrations, No. IX.
108 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1582.
was by Walsmgham's orders that Bowes made this
communication, in the hope that it would rouse the
enemies of Lennox to immediate exertion ; nor was he
disappointed.* Appalled by the news, and aware that
even a brief delay might sweep them over the precipice
on which they stood, they felt the necessity of acting
upon the moment. The only danger to be dreaded
was in prematurely exploding the mine already in
preparation, and thus risking a failure. The band,
or contract, as we have seen, had been drawn up ; but
it was still unsigned by many of the nobility. There
was scarcely time to concentrate all their forces ; and
although they made sure of the approval of the minis-
ters of the Kirk, who had already cordially cooperated
with them in all their efforts against Lennox, still these
ecclesiastical associates were now scattered in different
parts of the country, and could not be individually
consulted. On the other hand, the danger was immi-
nent ; and, if they acted instantly, some circumstances
promised success. The young king was at Perth,
separated both from Lennox and Arran.-J- He had
resorted to that country to enjoy his favourite pastime
of the chase ; his court was few in number ; Gowrie,
Glammis, and Lindsay, three of the chief conspirators,
were all-powerful in the neighbourhood of Perth ; and
should they delay, as had been intended, till the king
removed to the capital, it would become more difficult,
if not impossible, to execute their design. In this state
of uncertainty, they received intelligence which made
them more than suspect that Lennox had discovered
* Original draft, Sir Robert Bowes to Walsingham, August 25, 1582,
Bo-wes' Letter-Book. See, also, Woddrington to Walsingham, July 19,
1582, Caligula, C. vii.
f Wednesday, August 22. Lennox was then at Dalkeith, Arran at Kin-
neil, the first place tive miles, the second eighteen miles from Edinburgh.
1582. JAMES VI. 109
their conspiracy.* This settled the question: and
having once decided on action, their proceedings were
as bold as they had before been dilatory. In an in-
credibly short time, Gowrie, Mar, Lindsay, the Master
of Glammis, and their associates, assembled a thousand
men, and surrounded Ruthven castle, where the king
then lay. It was Gowrie's own seat; and James, who,
it appears, had no suspicion of the toils laid for him,
had accepted the invitation of its master, thinking only
of his rural sports. To his astonishment, the Earls of
Mar and Gowrie entered his presence, removed his
guards, presented a list of their grievances, and, whilst
they professed the utmost fidelity to his person, took
special care that all possibility of escape was cut off.
Meanwhile, the intelligence flew to Arran that the
king was captive ; and he, and Colonel Stewart his
brother, set off in fiery speed at the head of a party
of horse. Their attempt at rescue was, however, too
late ; for Colonel Stewart was attacked, and defeated
by Mar and Lochleven, who threw themselves upon
him from an ambush, where they had watched his
approach ; whilst Arran, who had galloped by a nearer
way to Ruthven, was seized the moment he entered
the castle court, and confined under a guard. All this
had passed with such rapidity, and the lords who sur-
rounded the king treated him with so much respect,
that James deluded himself with the hope that he
might still be a free monarch. But next morning
dispelled the illusion. As he prepared to take horse,
the Master of Glammis intimated to him that the lords
who were now with him deemed it safer for his grace
to remain at Ruthven. James declared he would go
* MS. Letter, Sir George Bowes to Walsingham, August 26, 1572, Bowes'
Letter-Book. Melvil's Memoirs, pp. 277, 281.
110 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1582.
that instant, and was about to A eave the chamber, when
this baron rudely interposed, and placing his leg before
the king, so as to intercept the door-way, commanded
him to remain. The indignity drew tears from the
young monarch ; and some of the associated lords
remonstrated with Glammis ; but he sternly answered,
" Better bairns * greet, than bearded men," a speech
which his royal master never afterwards forgot or
forgave.-f-
But although thus far successful, the actors in this
violent and treasonable enterprise were in a dangerous
predicament. Gowrie, Mar, Glammis, and Lindsay,
were indeed all assured of each other, and convinced
that they must stand or fall together; but the band or
covenant which, according to the practice of the times,
should have secured the assistance of their associates,
was still unsigned by a great majority of the most
powerful nobles and barons, on whose assistance they
had calculated. On the other hand, the Duke of
Lennox could reckon on the support of the Earls of
Huntley, Sutherland, Morton, Orkney, Crawford, and
Bothwell ; besides Lords Herries, Seton, Hume, Sir
Thomas Ker of Fernyhirst, Sir James Balfour, the
Abbot of Newbottle, and many inferior barons ; whilst
the Earls of Caithness, March, and Marshal, professed
neutrality.! This array of opposition was sufficiently
appalling; and for a brief season the enterprisers of
the Raid of Ruthven (as it was called) began to waver
and tremble ; but a moment's consideration convinced
* Bairns, children ; greet, weep.
f MS. Calderwood, Ayscough, 4737, fol. 682, 683. Spottiswood, p. 320.
J State-paper Office, JNames of the noblemen and lords that as yet stand
with the Duke, September 5, 1582.
MS. Caligula, C. vii. fol. 23, Sir George Carey to Burghley, September
1582. JAMES VI. Ill
them, that if there was danger in advance, there was
infinitely greater in delay. They were already guilty
of treason ; they had laid violent hands on the king's
person ; had defied Lennox, imprisoned Arran, out-
raged the laws, and raised against them the feelings,
not only of their opponents, but of all good citizens.
If they drew back, ruin was inevitable. If they went
forward, although the peril was great, the struggle
might yet end triumphantly. They had the young
king in their hands, and could work upon his timidity
and inexperience, by menacing his life : they had pos-
session of Arran, also a man whom they dreaded far
more than the gentler and vacillating Lennox : they
were certain of the active support of the ministers of
the Kirk ; and Bowes and Walsingham had already
assured them of the warm approval, and, if necessary,
the assistance of England. All this was encouraging;
and they determined, at every risk, to press on reso-
lutely in the revolution which they had begun.
In the mean time, whilst such scenes passed at Ruth-
ven, the capital presented a stirring scene. Lennox,
who was at his castle of Dalkeith, in the immediate
neighbourhood of the city, when he received the intel-
ligence of the surprise of the king, deeming himself
insecure in the open country, took refuge with his
household within the town. On his arrival, the magis-
trates despatched messengers to Ruthven, to ascertain
the truth or falsehood of the king's captivity from his
own lips ; the ministers of the Kirk began to exult,
and rouse the people to join with the Ruthven lords ;
and Mr James Lawson, although earnestly entreated,
by the provost of the city, to be temperate in his
sermon, replying, in the words of Micah, that what
112 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1582.
the Lord put in his mouth he would speak,* seized the
opportunity to deliver, from the pulpit, a bitter and
emphatic attack upon the duke and his profligate
associate, Arran. It was true, he said, that these two
harons had subscribed the Confession of Faith, pro-
fessed the true religion, and communicated with their
brethren at the Lord's table ; but their deeds testified
that they were utter enemies of the truth. Had they
not violated discipline, despised the solemn sentence of
excommunication, set up Tulchan bishops, and traduced
the most godly of the nobility and of the ministry ?
And as for this Duke of Lennox, what had been his
practices since the day he came amongst them? With
what taxes had he burdened the commonwealth, to
sustain his intolerable pride ? What vanity in apparel ;
what looseness in manners ; what superfluity in ban-
queting ; what fruits and follies of French growth had
he not imported into their simple country ? Well
might they be thankful ; well praise God for their
delivery from what was to have been executed the
next Tuesday. Well did it become Edinburgh to take
up the song of the Psalmist " Laqueus contritus est, et
nos liberati sumus.^^
Whilst the ministers of the Kirk thus eulogised the
enterprise of the Ruthven lords, Elizabeth, who had
speedily received intelligence of their success, despatch-
ed Sir George Carey to Scotland, with letters to the
young king, and instructions to cooperate with her
Ambassador Bowes, in strengthening the hands of
Gowrie and his faction. Randolph, too, wrote in
great exultation to Walsingham, rejoicing in the
* Calderwood, MS. History, fol. 1205-6.
t Calderwood, MS. fol. 1206, Ayscough, 4736, British Museum.
1582. JAMES VI. 113
success of the revolution ; and, with the avidity and
instinct of the bird which comes out in the storm,
requesting to be again employed in the troubled at-
mosphere of Scotland. Unmoved by the violence of
the measures which had been adopted, he, in the spirit
of the Puritan party to which he belonged, pronounced
the king's captivity a reward conferred by God on his
sincere followers. " If it be true," said he, " that the
king be now in the Protestants' hands, the duke pur-
sued, Arran imprisoned, and his brother slain, we may
then see from this what it is to be true followers of
Christ, in earnest preaching, and persevering in set-
ting forth His word without respect or worldly poli-
cies. 1 '* It seems strange it should never have occurred
to this zealous diplomatist, that the imprisonment of
a king, and the violent invasion and slaughter of his
councillors, were not the fruits to be expected from
the gospel of peace and love.
Meanwhile, the captive monarch considered the late
proceedings in a very different light, and meditated
many schemes of escape and revenge ; but he was
alone, and closely watched : he did not even consider
his life in safety ; and although it would be difficult to
believe that Go \vrie and his associates had any such
atrocious designs, yet the history of Scotland afforded
him too good a ground for these apprehensions. Len-
nox, on the other hand, was timid and irresolute,
allowed the precious moments for action to pass, and
contented himself with despatching Lord Herries. and
the Abbot of Newbottle, with some offers of recon-
ciliation, which were instantly rejected.^
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, September 2, 1582, Maidstone,
f MS. Letter, State-paper Office.
VOL. VIII. H
114 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1582.
These envoys, on arriving at Stirling, where Gowrie
and his fellow-conspirators now held the king a pri-
soner, were not permitted to see James in private, but
were introduced to him in the council-chamber, where
they declared their message. "The Duke of Len-
nox," they said, " had sent them to inquire into the
truth of a rumour, that his sovereign lord was forcibly
detained in the hands of his enemies ; for if it were so,
it was his duty to set him free ; and with the assis-
tance of his good subjects, he would instantly make the
attempt." The scene which occurred, on the delivery
of this message, must have been an extraordinary one.
Without giving Gowrie, or his friends, a moment to
reply, James started from his seat, crying out it was
all true : he was a captive ; he was not at liberty to
go where he chose, or to move a step without a guard :
and he bade them tell it openly, that all who loved
him should assist the duke, and achieve his deliverance.
The Ruthven lords were, for a moment, overwhelmed
with confusion : but they outbraved the accusation.
Their sovereign, they declared, had no more faithful
subjects than themselves ; nor should he be denied to
go where he pleased ; only, they would not permit
the Duke of Lennox and the Earl of Arran to mis-
lead him any longer. If he valued, therefore, the life
of that person, he would do well to cause him to retire
instantly, and quietly, to France. If this were not
done, they must call him to account for his late actions,
and enforce against him the most rigorous penalty of
the law.* Such was the message which they sent
back by Lord Herries ; and they followed it up by a
peremptory command to Lennox to deliver up Dura-
* Spottiswood, p. 320-321
]582. JAMES VI. 115
barton castle, quit the kingdom within twelve days,
and, meanwhile, confine himself with a small train to
his houses of Aberdour or Dalkeith ; orders which,
after a short consideration, he despondinglj and
pusillanimously prepared to obey.*
* Copy of the time, endorsed, 14th Septemher from Stirling, 20th
September to Windsor; also MS. Letter, Bowes to Walsingham, Stirling,
20th September, 1582, Bowes' Letter-Book.
116 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1582.
CHAP. III.
JAMES THE SIXTH.
15821584.
CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS.
England. I France. I Germany. I Spain. | Portugal. I Pope.
Elizabeth. 1 Henry III. I Rudolph II. | Philip II. | Philip II. | Gregory XIII.
ALL was now joy and exultation with the Ruthven
lords, and the ministers of the Kirk, who cordially
embraced their cause. Mr John Durie, who had been
banished from his pulpit, in the capital, was brought
back in processional triumph. As he entered the
town, a crowd of nearly two thousand people walked
before him bareheaded, and singing the 124th Psalm ;
and, amid the shouts of the citizens, conducted him
to the High Church.* It was observed that Lennox,
from a window, looked down on the crowd, and tore
his beard for anger ; but although still supported by
a considerable party amongst the citizens, he showed
no disposition to contest the field with his enemies ;
and next day, accompanied by Lord Maxwell, Ferny-
hirst, and others of his friends, he left the city, and
took the road to Dalkeith. This, however, was only
to blind his opponents ; for he soon wheeled off in an
* MS. Calderwood, fol. 1212 They sung it in four parts.
i582. JAMES VI.
opposite direction, and, with eighty horse, galloped to
Dumbarton.*
Meanwhile, Gowrie and his associates carried all
with a bold hand. They had already compelled the
king to issue a proclamation, in which he declared that
he was a free monarch, and preferred to remain for the
present at Stirling : both assertions being well known
to be false. They now committed Arran to a stricter
ward, summoned a convention of the nobility for an
early day, required the Kirk to send commissioners to
this Assembly, promised to hear and remove its com-
plaints, and gave a cordial welcome to Sir George Carey
and Sir Robert Bowes, the English ambassadors, who
had now arrived at Stirling.-f-
At this audience Carey delivered a gracious message
from his royal mistress ; but when he alluded to the
dangerous practices of Lennox, and charged him with
meditating an alteration in religion, and the overthrow
of the king^s estate and person, James could not con-
ceal his passion and disgust. He warmly vindicated
his favourite : affirmed that nothing had been done by
Lennox alone, but with advice of the council; and
declared his utter disbelief that any treason could be
proved against him.J Elizabeth and Walsingham,
however, trusted that this would not be so difficult ;
for they had lately seized and examined two persons,
who managed the secret correspondence which the im-
prisoned Queen of Scots had recently carried on with
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Archibald Douglas to Randolph, 12th
September, 1582. Calderwood, MS. Hist., fol. 1213.
t Calderwood, MS. Hist., Ayscough, 4736, fol. 1211-12. Ibid. fol. 1213.
Carey had audience on the 12th September, MS. Letter, State-paper Office,
14th September, 1582, Carey to Elizabeth. Endorsed by himself "Copy
of my Letter to the Queen's Majesty." Bowes was at Berwick on the 10th,
and at Stirling on the 14th September. Bowes' Letter-Book.
I Calderwood, MS. History, fol. 1213.
118 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1582.
Lennox, her son, and the court of France. These
were, George Douglas of Lochleven, the same who had
assisted the queen in her escape ; and the noted Archi-
bald Douglas, cousin to the late Regent Morton, who
had remained in exile in England since the execution
of his relative and the triumph of Lennox.
This Archibald, a daring and unprincipled man, had
been a principal agent in the murder of Darnley, and
had played, since that time, a double game in England.
He had become reconciled to Lennox, and was trusted,
in their confidential measures, by Mary and the French
court ; whilst he had ingratiated himself with Eliza-
beth, Walsingham, and Randolph, to whom he un-
scrupulously betrayed the intrigues of their opponents.
On the late fall of Arran, the mortal enemy of the
house of Douglas, he had written an exulting letter to
O ' O
Randolph,* and had begun his preparations for his
return to his native country, when he was seized, by
the orders of the English queen, his house and papers
ransacked, and his person committed to the custody
of Henry Killigrew, who, by no means, relished the
charge of the "old Fox," as he styled him, in his letter
to Walsingham. -f
From the revelations of these two persons much was
expected ; and George Douglas confessed that he had
carried on a correspondence between Mary and her
son, in which she had consented to " demit" the crown
in his favour, on the condition of being associated with
him in the government: he affirmed, too, that her
friends in France had consented to recognise him as
king. It was evident, also, that a constant communi-
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Archibald Douglas to Randolph, Sept.
12, 1582. See Proofs and Illustrations, No. X.
t MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Henry Killigrew to Walsingham, Sept.
1582. JAMES VI. 119
cation had been kept up between Lennox and the
captive queen, in which the Bishop of Glasgow, her
ambassador at the French court, had assisted ; but it
would have required much ingenuity to construe this
into treason on the part of Lennox, and the examina-
tions of Archibald Douglas gave no colour to the ac-
cusation. Arran, indeed, who was still a prisoner at
Ruthven, offered to purchase his freedom by discovering
enough to cost Lennox his head; * but the lords would
not trust him, and preferred relying on their own ex-
ertions to accepting so dangerous an alliance.
In these efforts they derived the most active assis-
tance from the ministers of the Kirk, who, on first
hearing of the enterprise at Ruthven, despatched Mr
James Lawson, and Mr John Davison, to have a pre-
liminary conference with Gowrie and his associates at
Stirling ;-f- and, a few days after, sent a more solemn
deputation, including Andrew Melvil and Thomas
Smeton, to explain to the privy-council the griefs and
abuses of which the Kirk demanded redress. J At
this meeting, the causes which had led to the late re-
volution were fully debated ; and a band or covenant
was drawn up, declaring the purposes for which it had
been undertaken, and calling upon all who loved their
country, and the true religion, to subscribe it, and
unite in their defence. Two days after this, Lennox,
from his retreat at Dumbarton, published an indignant
denial of the accusations brought against him ; in which
he demanded a fair trial before the three Estates, and
declared his readiness to suffer any punishment, if
found guilty. He alluded, in this, to the king's
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Archibald Douglas to Randolph, Sept.
12, 1582.
t On the 15th September, 1582. MS. Calderwood, fol. 1227.
J Ibid. MS. Calderwood, fol. 1225.
320 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1582.
captivity; and retorted against the Ruthven lords
the charge of treason : but the associates fulminated
a counter declaration ; repelled this as an unfounded
calumny; and insisted, that to say the king was de-
tained against his will, was a manifest lie, the contrary
being known to all men.* What shall we say or
think of the Kirk, when we find its ministers lending
their countenance and assent to an assertion which
they must have known to be utterly false?
In the midst of these commotions which followed
the Raid of Ruthven, occurred the death of Buchanan,
a man justly entitled to the epithet great, if the true
criteria of such a character are originality of genius,
and the impression left by it upon his age. His in-
tellect, naturally fearless and inquisitive, caught an
early and eager hold of the principles of the Reforma-
tion; and having gone abroad, and fallen into the toils
of the inquisition, persecution completed what nature
had begun. In politics he was a republican; and his
famous treatise " De Jure Regni apud Scotos," was
the first work which boldly and eloquently advocated
those principles of popular liberty, then almost new,
and now so familiar to Europe. In religion he was at
first a leveller, and with the keen and vindictive tem-
per which distinguished him, exerted every effort to
overthrow the Roman Catholic Church ; but, in his
later years, when the struggle took place between
Episcopacy and Presbyterianism, his sentiments be-
came more moderate or indifferent; and latterly he took
no part in those busy intrigues of the Kirk and its
supporters which terminated in the Raid of Ruthven.
Of his poetical works, so varied in style and so excel-
lent in execution, it is difficult to speak too highly ;
* MS. Calderwood, fol. 1225.
1582. JAMES VI. 121
for seldom did a finer and more impassioned vein of
poetry flow through a Latinity that, without servile
imitation, approached so near to the Augustan age. In
his history of his native country he is great, but un-
equal: his was not the age of severe and critical in-
vestigation: the school in which he studied was that
O
of Livy and the historians of ancient Rome, in which
individuality and truth is often lost in the breadth and
generality of its pictures. But in their excellencies,
he has equalled and sometimes surpassed them. The
calm flow of his narrative, his lucid arrangement, the
strong sense, originality, and depth of his reflections,
and the ease and vigour of his unshackled style, need
not dread a comparison with the best authors of the
ancient world. The point where he fails is that in
which they, too, are weakest the cardinal virtue of
truth. It is melancholy to find so much fable embalmed
and made attractive in his earlier annals ; and when
he descends later, and writes as a contemporary, it is
easy to detect that party spirit and unhappy obliquity
of vision, which distorts or will not see the truth. In
an interesting letter quoted by the best of his bio-
graphers,* and written not long before his death, he
tells his friend, that having reached his seventy- fifth
year, and struck upon that rock beyond which nothing
remains for man but labour and sorrow, it was his
only care to remove out of the world with as little
noise as possible. With this view he abstracted him-
self from all public business; left the court at Stirling,
and retired to Edinburgh ; where, on the twenty-eighth
September, 1582, his wishes were almost too literally
fulfilled : for amid the tumult and agitation which
succeeded the Raid of Ruthven, his death took place
* Irving's Life of Buchanan, p. 273.
J22 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1582.
in his seventy-sixth year, unnoticed, unrecorded, and
accompanied by such destitution, that he left not enough
to defray his funeral. He was buried at the public
expense in the cemetery of the Grey Friars : but his
country gave him no monument ; and at this day the
spot is unknown where rest the ashes of one of the
greatest of her sons.*
Soon after the death of Buchanan, the General
Assembly met at Edinburgh on the ninth October ;
and the noblemen who had engaged in the enterprise
at Ruthven, having laid before this great ecclesiastical
council their " Declaration " of the grounds on which
they acted, received, to their satisfaction, the cordial
approval of the Kirk; Nor was this all: the Assembly
issued their orders, that every minister throughout
the kingdom should justify the action, and explain to
his congregation the imminent perils from which it had
delivered religion, the commonwealth, and the king^s
person ; and not satisfied even with this, it was deter-
mined to institute a rigid prosecution of all persons
who presumed to express a different opinion, -j* But
although thus resolute in the support of the Ruthven
confederates, as far as concerned their seizure of the
king, the ministers severely rebuked the same noblemen
for the profligacy of their lives, and their sacrilegious
appropriation of the ecclesiastical revenues. Davison
the minister of Libberton, in his conference withGowrie
and his friends, called loudly on them to begin their
reformation of the commonwealth with a thorough re-
form of their sinful and abominable conversation, pol-
and the spot -where it once was is not now known.
t MS. Calderwood, fol. 1232, 3, 4; also, fol. 1236.
1582. JAMES vr. 123
luted as it was by swearing, lust, and oppression; and
to show the sincerity of their repentance by resigning
the teinds into the hands of their true owners; * whilst
Craig, in preaching before the court, drew tears from
the eyes of the young monarch by the severity of his
rebuke.^
About this time, Sir Robert Bowes, the English
ambassador at Edinburgh, having learnt that the cele-
brated casket, which contained the disputed letters of
Mary to Bothwell, had come, in the late troubles, into
the possession of the Earl of Gowrie, communicated
the intelligence to Elizabeth. By her anxious and
repeated orders he exerted himself to obtain it ; but
without success. Gowrie at first equivocated, and was
unwilling to admit the fact ; but when Bowes convinced
him that he had certain proof of it, he changed his
ground, alleging that such precious papers could not
be delivered to Elizabeth without the special directions
of the king. This was absurd, for James at this mo-
ment was a mere cipher ; but the leader in the late
revolution did not choose to part with papers which,
in his busy and intriguing career, he might one day
turn to his advantage.^ Gowrie's is the last hand into
which we can trace these famous letters, which have
since totally disappeared.
The situation of James was now pitiable and degrad-
ing. He hated the faction who had possession of his
person ; but terror for his life compelled him to dis-
semble, and he was convinced, that to gain delay and
* MS. Calderwood, fol. 1227.
t Ibid. fol. 1228.
+ The letters of Bowes, upon this subject, are preserved in his original
Letter-Book, now before me, and kindly communicated by Sir Cuthbert
Sharp. Very full extracts from them were printed by Robertson, in his
Last edition, from copies sent him by Birch.
124 'HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1582.
throw his enemies off their guard by appearing recon-
ciled to the dismissal of Lennox, was the surest step
to a recovery of his liberty. The most anxious wish
of his heart was to see the duke restored to his former
power; but to betray this now, would, he thought, be
to bring his favourite into more imminent peril; whilst
if he allowed him to retire for a short season to France,
he might not only escape ruin, but return with renewed
influence and power. There were some friends of
Lennox, on the other hand, who exhorted him strongly
to attack his enemies, and assured him that every day
spent in inactivity, added strength to their position
and weakened his own; whereas, if he boldly faced the
danger, they were ready to assemble a force sufficient
to overwhelm Gowrie, and rescue the king. These so
far prevailed, that on one of the dark nights of Decem-
ber,* it was resolved to attack the palace of Holyrood,
massacre the Ruthven lords, and carry off the king ;
but the ministers, and Sir George Bowes the English
ambassador sounded the alarm ; a strong watch was
kept; and although Fernyhirst, Maxwell, Sir John
Seton, and other barons, were known to have joined
Lennox, and parties of horsemen were seen hovering
all night round the city, the enterprise, from some
unknown cause, was abandoned, and the king remained
a prisoner.*^
This failure was a triumph to the opposite faction,
who lost no time in following up the advantage. A
letter was sent to the duke, to which the king had been
* On the 4th December, 1582.
t MS. Calderwood, fol. 1244, 1245. Also, MS. Letter, Sir George Bowes
to Walsingham, December 6, 1S82, which gives an interesting account of the
intended attempt. It was proposed to slay the Earl of Mar, the Abbot of
Dunfennline, the Prior of Blantyre, and Mr John Colvile. Bowes' Letter-
Book.
1 582. JAMES vi. 125
compelled to put his name, charging him with disturbing
the government, and with recklessly endangering the
safety of the royal person ; whilst a herald was de-
spatched to command him, in the name of the council,
instantly to leave the country upon pain of treason.*
This order, after many vain pretexts and fruitless delays,
he at last oheyed ; having first sent a passionate re-
monstrance to his royal master, against the cruelty
and injustice with which he had been treated.-f- On
his road to London, (for he had obtained permission
to pass through England into France,) he encountered
two ambassadors who were posting to the Scottish
court: La Motte, who carried a message from the King
of France; and Davison, who was commissioned by
Elizabeth to examine the state of parties in Scotland
and cooperate with Bowes in strengthening the Ruth-
ven faction. It was the anxious desire of the English
queen that no communication should take place between
La Motte and the duke, as she had received secret
information that this Frenchman came to promote the
great scheme of an " association" between Mary and
her son, by which the Scottish queen was nominally
to be joined with him in the government, whilst he was
to retain the title of king.J It was believed, also, that
he was empowered to propose a marriage between the
young king and a daughter of France; and to strengthen
the Catholic party by promises of speedy support.
Walsingham, therefore, threw every delay in the way
of the French ambassador; and he acted so success-
* MS. Letter, Sir George Bowes to Walsingham, December 9, 1582.
Bowes' Letter-Book.
f MS. Letter, State- paper Office, endorsed by Cecil, " From tbe Duke of
Lennox to tbe Scottish King: from Dumbarton, December 16'," 1582. See
Proofs and Illustrations, No. XI.
I MS. State-paper Office, January 20, 1582-3, " Article presentee pa? la
Motte."
126 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1582-3.
fully, that La Motte found all his purposes counter-
acted. He was eager to hurry into Scotland before
Lennox had left it; but matters were so managed,
that they only met on the road ; and here, too, Davison,
who had received his lesson, took care that their con-
ference should be of the briefest description.* Lennox
then passed on to London, and the French and English
ambassadors held their way for Scotland.
Meanwhile, the Ruthven lords, with their allies the
ministers of the Kirk, were much elated by the triumph
over Lennox ; and Bowes, in a letter to Walsingham,
assured the secretary, that Elizabeth might have them
all at her devotion if she would but advance the money
necessary for their contentment and the support of the
king.-f- They selected Mr John Colvile, who had acted
a principal part in the late revolution, to proceed as
ambassador to the English queen. He came nominally
from the King of Scots, but really from them, and
brought letters to Walsingham from Gowrie, Mar,
the Prior of Blantyre, and the Abbot of Dunfermline,
the great leaders of that party. On his arrival at court,
he found there his old antagonist the Duke of Lennox,
who had brought a letter and a message to Elizabeth
from his royal master. This princess had, at first,
refused to see him under any circumstances; but after-
wards admitted him to a private interview, in which,
to use the homely but expressive phrase of Calderwood
the historian of the Kirk, " she rattled him up," J
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Davison to Burgliley, January 3, 1582.
Also, MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Sir W. Mildmay to Walsingham, Dec.
29, 1582. Also, MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Burghley or Walsingham
to Mr Bowes, January 4, 1582-3.
f MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham, about the 18th
December, 1582.
J The interview took place on Monday, January 14, 1582-3. MS Calder-
wood, fol. 1250.
1582-3.
JAMES VI.
127
addressing to him, at first, many cutting speeches on
his misgovernm ent ; to which the duke replied with
so much gentleness and good sense, that she softened
down before they parted and dismissed him courte-
ously.*
' During Lennox's brief residence in London, Secre-
tary Walsingham exerted the utmost efforts to dis-
cover his real sentiments on religion ; as the ministers
of the Kirk insisted that, notwithstanding his professed
conversion, he continued a Roman Catholic at heart ;
and that the whole principles of his government had
been, and would continue to be, hostile to England. It
is curious to observe by what low devices, and with
what complete success, the English secretary became
possessed of Lennoxes most secret feelings and opinions.
There was at the English court one Mr William
Fowler, a gentleman of Scottish extraction, and appa-
rently connected with the duke, who had admitted him
into his secret confidence. Fowler, at the same time,
had insinuated himself into the good graces of Mau-
vissiere, the resident French ambassador at the court
of Elizabeth ; and, by pretending a devoted attach-
ment to French interests and the cause of the captive
Queen of Scots, he had become acquainted with much
of the intentions and intrigues of Mary and her friends.
This man was a spy of Walsingham's ; and his letters
to this statesman, detailing his secret conversations
with Lennox and Mauvissiere, have been preserved.
The picture which they present is striking. In their
first interview, Lennox showed much satisfaction.
" Your mother's house," said he to Fowler, " was the
first I entered, in coming to Scotland, and the last I
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office,
ham, January, 1582-3.
(Fowler, I think) to Walsing-
128 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1582-3.
quitted, in leaving the country. 1 " The duke then told
him that the French ambassador was not in London,
but had been sent for suddenly to court. This was a
trick, he added, to prevent a meeting between him
and Mauvissiere ; and he heard, also, that the Queen
of England would not see him ; but, in truth, he had
little to say to her, except to complain of the conduct
of her ambassador in Scotland. At this moment their
conference was broken off by some of the courtiers,
who appeared dissatisfied that they should talk to-
gether ; and the Master of Livingston, who was in the
confidence of Lennox and his friends, joined the party.
Fowler, upon this, took Livingston aside, and expressed
his astonishment that the duke should have left Scot-
land when he could muster so strong a party against
his enemies. Livingston replied, that Lennox knew
both his own strength and the king's good will ; but
that he had been forced to leave Scotland, " because
the king mistrusted very much his own life and safety;
having been sharply threatened by the lords, that, if
he did not cause the duke to depart, he should not be
the longest liver of them all. 1 ' 1 * Arran, it appeared,
had also written to James, assuring him that the only
surety for his life was to send Lennox out of Scot-
land ; and Fowler, in his secret meetings with Mau-
vissiere the French ambassador, had the address to
elicit from him, and communicate to Walsingham, the
intended policy of France. La Motte Fenelou had
been sent, he said, to renew the old league with Scot-
land ; to offer succour to the young king, if he found
him in captivity, and a guard for the security of his
person ; to promise pensions to the principal noble-
* Fowler to Walsingham, January 5, 1582-3. MS. Letter, State-paper
Office. Fowler used a mark, or cipher, for his name.
1582-3. JAMES VI 129
men in Scotland, as they had in Cardinal Beaton's
time ; and, if possible, to advise a marriage with
Spain. As to James's religious sentiments, Lennox
had assured Mauvissiere that the young king was so
constant to the Reformed faith, that he would lose his
life rather than forsake it ; and when the ambassador
asked the duke whether he, too, was a Huguenot, he
declared that he professed the same faith as his royal
master.*
At the same time that he thus fathomed the schemes
of Lennox and the French court, Walsingham had
secured and corrupted another agent of the captive
queen, who, on the discovery of his practices with
Mary and the English Catholics, had, as we have
above seen, been thrown into prison by Elizabeth.
This was that same Archibald Douglas, above men-
tioned as a man of considerable ability and restless
intrigue. It had been proposed by Lennox to bring
Douglas back to Scotland, and employ his power and
talents against the English faction and the Kirk ; but
the young king had shrunk from receiving a man
stained with his father's blood : and the prisoner,
anxious for his freedom, was ready to purchase it by
betraying the secrets of his royal mistress ; consenting
to plot against her with the same activity which he
had exerted in her behalf. -J- We shall soon perceive
the success of this base scheme, and its fatal influence
upon the fate of Mary.
In the mean time, Elizabeth gave an audience to
Colvile the ambassador of Gowrie and the Kirk, and
assured him of her entire approval of their spirited
* Fowler to Walsingham, January 19, 1582-3. Also same (as I Uhink)
to Walsingham, January, l58'2-3.
t State-paper Office, to Walsiugham, January, 1582-3.
VOL. VIII. I
130 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1582-3.
proceedings against Lennox. She cautioned him, in
strong terms, against French intrigues ; observing,
that though the king promised fair, yet, as the recent
conspiracy for seizing his person plainly showed,
" Satanas non dormit;" and she concluded by a general
assurance of support, and a promise to restore Archi-
bald Douglas to his native country, as soon as he had
cleared himself from the accusations against him in
England.* Scotland, during these transactions, must
have been in a state of extraordinary excitement : it
was a busy stirring stage, upon which the young king,
the ministers of the Kirk, the French ambassador,
and Gowrie, with the rest of the Ruthven lords, acted
their different parts with the utmost zeal and activity.
James, whom necessity had made an adept in political
hypocrisy, or, as he sometimes styled it, king-craft,
pretended to be completely reconciled to the departure
of Lennox, and said nothing in condemnation of the
violent conduct of his opponents ; whilst he secretly
intrigued for the recall of his favourite, and anticipated
the moment when he should resume his liberty, and
take an ample revenge upon his enemies. The minis-
ters, on their side, deemed the season too precious to
be neglected ; they had expelled the man whom they
considered the emissary of Antichrist, the young
kirig^s person was in the hands of their friends, and
they determined that he should remain so.
Such being the state of things, the arrival of
Monsieur de Menainville the French ambassador, and
his request to have a speedy audience of the king,
aroused them to instant action. From the pulpits
resounded the notes of warning and alarm : France
* State-paper Office, January 18, 1582-3, Her Majesty's Answer to Mr
Colvile's Negotiation.
1582-3. JAMES VI. 131
was depicted as the stronghold of idolatry ; the
French king pointed out as the Tiger who glutted
himself with the blood of God's people ; it became
amongst them a matter of serious debate whether it
O
were lawful to receive any ambassador from an idola-
ter ; and when the more violent could not carry their
wishes, and it was decided that, " in matters politick,"
such a messenger might be permitted to enter the
kingdom, a committee was appointed to wait upon the
young king, and read him a solemn lesson of admoni-
tion.* In this interview James behaved with spirit,
and proved a match in theological and political con-
troversy for the divines who came to instruct him.
These were, Pont, Lawson, Lindsay, and Davison ;
and, on entering the royal cabinet, they found Gowrie
the Justice-clerk, and others of the council, with the
king, who thanked them for their advice, but observed
that he was bound by the law of nations to use courtesy
to all ambassadors. Should an envoy come from the
pope, or even from the Turk, still he must receive him.
This Lawsou stoutly controverted; but the king not
only maintained his point, but took occasion to blame
the abuse with which this minister had assailed the
French monarch. " As for that," said they, " the
priests speak worse of your grace in France, than we
of the King of France in Scotland." " And must ye
imitate them in evil?" retorted James. "Not in evil,"
was their answer, " but in liberty. It is as fair for us
to speak the truth boldly, as they boldly speak lees;-f-
and if we were silent, the chronicles would speak and
reprove it." " Chronicles," said James, "ye write not
histories when ye preach." Upon which Davisou
* MS. Calderwood, pp. 1247, 1251, inclusive, British Mnscum.
t " Lees" lies.
132 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1582-3.
whispered in Lawson's ear, that preachers had more
authority to declare the truth in preaching, than any
historiographer in the world. Gowrie then observed,
that as hasty a riddance as might be, should be got of
the French ambassadors ; and the ministers took their
leave, but Davison lingered for a moment behind his
brethren, craved a private word in the king's ear, and
remonstrated sotto voce against his profane custom of
swearing in the course of his argument. " Sir," said
he, " I thought good to advertise you, but not before
the rest, that ye swore and took God's name in vain
too often in your speeches." James was nowise dis-
pleased with this honest freedom ; but, accompanying
the reverend monitor to the door of the cabinet, put
his hand lovingly upon his shoulder, expressed his
thanks for the reproof, and, above all, lauded him for
the unusually quiet manner in which it had been ad-
ministered.*
No such reserve or delicacy, however, was shown by
the ministers to the French ambassadors ; and Mon-
sieur de Menainville a man of great spirit was com-
pelled to vindicate their privileges in his first public
audience. It had been debated by the Kirk, with a
reference to their arrival, whether private masses should
be permitted under any circumstances ; and aware of
this, he had scarcely risen from kissing the king's
hand, when he put on his cap, and boldly claimed the
privileges which belonged to his office. " I am come,"
said he, " from the most Christian King of France, my
sovereign, to offer all aid to the establishment of quiet-
ness ; and being an ambassador, and not a subject, I
crave to be treated as such ; and as I have food allotted
for my body, so do I require to be allowed the food of
* MS. Caldenvood, fol. 1250, 1252.
1582-3. JAMES VI. 133
my soul, I mean the Mass ; which if it is denied me,
I may not stay and suffer a Christian prince's authority
and embassy to be violated in my person." * This
spirited address made much noise at the time; and
drew from Mr James Lawson, on the succeeding Sab-
bath, a counterblast of defiance, in which, seizing the
opportunity of elucidating the mission of the King of
Babylon, he "pointed out the French ambassage," and
denounced Monsieur de Menainville as the counterpart
of the blasphemous and railing Rabshakeh. Nor was
this all: the indignation of the Kirk was roused to a
O
still higher pitch, when the king commanded the ma-
gistrates of the capital to give (as had been usual in
such cases) a farewell banquet to De la Motte Fenelon.
This ambassador now proposed to return to France,
leaving his colleague, Monsieur de Menainville, to
watch over the interests of that kingdom in Scotland;
and nothing could equal the abuse and opprobrious
terms which were employed, to convince men of the
horror of such a proposal. Even the sacred ornament
of the cross, which La Motte, who was a knight of
the order of the "Saint Esprit," wore upon his mantle,
was described as the badge of Antichrist ; and when
the influence of the ministers was found insufficient to
stay the feast, a solemn fast was proclaimed for the
same day, to continue as long as the alleged profane
entertainment was enacting. At this moment, the
scene presented by the capital was extraordinary. On
one side the king and his courtiers indulging in mirth
and festive carousal ; whilst, on the other, was heard
the thunder of the Kirk, and its ministers "crying out
all evil, slanderous, and injurious words that could be
spoken against France;" and threatening with ana-
* MS. Calderwood, fol. 1253.
134 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1582-3.
thema and excommunication the citizens who had dared
to countenance the unhallowed feast.*
Meanwhile the king became every day more weary
of his captive condition ; and secretly favoured the
efforts of De Menainville, who remained in Scotland,
and spared neither money nor promises in drawing
together a faction against Gowrie and his associates.
It was necessary, however, to act slowly and with
great caution, for the keen eyes of Bowes and Davi-
son, Elizabeth's agents at the Scottish court, early
detected these intrigues. Walsingham, too, was in-
formed of the frequent communications which took
place between the captive queen and her son ; and his
spies and agents on the continent sent him, almost
daily, information of the correspondence of the Eng-
lish refugees and foreign Catholics with their friends
in England.-f* Had Elizabeth seconded, as was ne-
cessary, the indefatigable efforts of her ministers, it
can hardly be doubted that she would have overthrown
the efforts of France ; but her parsimony was so ex-
cessive,! that Walsingham found himself compelled
to renounce many advantages which the slightest sa-
crifice of money would have secured. It was in vain
that she commanded Bowes and Davison to remon-
strate with the young king, to warn him of the con-
federacies of foreign princes against religion, to point
out the great forces lately raised in France, to declare
her astonishment at his suffering the insolence of De
Menainville, and receiving, as she heard he had done,
with complacency, the congratulations of La Motte
* Spottiswood, p. S24. Historic of James the Sext, pp. 196, 197. MS.
Calderwood, p. 1253.
t MS. Caklerwood, fol. 1254.
i Orig. Minute, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Bowe?, March 2,
1583-3. Also, State-paper Office, same to same, Feb. 27, 15JJ2-3.
1582-3. JAMES VI. 135
on his intended " association " with his mother, the
Queen of Scots. It was in vain that she expressed
her alarm at the report which had reached her, that
he meant to recall the Duke of Lennox from France,
and restore the Earl of Arran to his liberty ; in vain
that she begged him to peruse the letter written to him
with her own hand, expressing her opinion of that tur-
bulent man whose ambition knew no limits, and would
inevitably cast his State into new troubles. These re-
monstrances James, who was an early adept in diplo-
matic hypocrisy, received with expressions of gratitude
and devotedness ; but they did not in the slightest
degree alter his efforts to regain his freedom, and
strengthen his party; whilst, with a talent and sagacity
superior to his years, he controlled the more violent
of his friends, forbade all sudden movements, and
calmly watched for a favourable moment to put forth
his strength, and resume his freedom.
This patience, indeed, was still necessary ; for,
although gradually losing ground, the strength
of Gowrie, and the faction of the Kirk, was yet too
powerful for their opponents ; and a convention having
been held by them in the capital, (eighteenth April,
1583,) it was resolved to assemble parliament. Against
this measure James, who dreaded the proscription of
his friends, and the total overthrow of his designs, re-
monstrated in the strongest terms, and even to tears,
when his request was denied. He prevailed so far,
however, as to have the meeting of the three Estates
' O
delayed till October; and cheerfully consented that a
friendly embassy should be despatched to England.
To this service, two persons of very opposite principles
were appointed: Colonel Stewart, the brother of the
I^arl of Arran, who was much in the king's confidence,
136 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1582-3.
and had been bribed by De Menainville; and Mr John
Colvile, who was attached to Govvrie and the Ruthven
lords. Their open instructions were to communicate
to Elizabeth, from the king, the measures he had
adopted for the security and tranquillity of his realm;
to request her approval and assistance; to move her
to restore the lands in England which belonged to his
grandfather the Earl of Lennox, ,and the Countess of
Lennox his grandmother, and to have some consulta-
tion on his marriage.* They were, lastly, enjoined to
make strict inquiry whether any act was contemplated
in prejudice of his succession to the English crown,
and, if possible, to ascertain the queers own feelings
upon this delicate subject.-f- De ]\lenainville the French
ambassador still lingered in Scotland, although he
had received his answer and applied for his passports;*
but the king was unwilling that he should leave court
before he had completely organized the scheme for his
delivery. Of all these intrigues Walsingham was fully
aware: for De la Motte Fenelon, in passing through
London, had informed Fowler of the great coalition
against the Ruthven lords; and Fowler, of whose
treacherous practices the ambassador had no suspicion,
told all again to Walsingham. || It appeared, from
these revelations, that la Motte had in his pocket, to
be presented to his master the French king, a list of
the most powerful nobleman in Scotland who had band-
ed together for the king's delivery. These were the
Earls of Huntley, Arran, Athole, Montrose, Rothes,
* MS. Calderwood, fol. 1257. State-paper Office, April, 1583, Instruc-
tions to Colonel Stewart.
f Instructions to Colonel Stewart, ut supra.
Calderwood, MS. fol. 1265.
La Motte arrived in London about the 20th February, 1582-3. State-
paper Office, Walsingham to Bowes, February 20, 1582-3.
|| State-paper Office, Fowler to Walsingham, March 28, 1583.
1582-3. JAMES vi. 137
Morton, Eglinton, Bothwell, Glencairn, and Crawford,
with the Lords Hume and Scton. The young king
himself had secretly assured La Motte Fenelon, "that,
although he had two eyes, two ears, and two hands, he
had but one heart, and that was French ; "* and so suc-
cessfully had De Menainville laboured, that he had not
only strengthened his own faction, but sown such dis-
trust and jealousy amongst its opponents, that Gowrie,
their chief leader, began to tremble for his safety, and
vacillate in his fidelity to his former associates. }
At this moment, Rocio Bandelli, Menainville's
confidential servant, who was carrying his letters to
Mauvissiere, his brother ambassador at the English
court, betrayed his trust, opened the despatches, and
gave copies of them to Sir Robert Bowes, who imme-
diately communicated their contents to Walsingham.
The young king, it appeared by their contents, had
been urged to explode the mine, and at once destroy
the lords who held him in durance ; but he dreaded
to lose Elizabeths favour, and was convinced that a
premature attempt would ruin all. His wish was to
dissemble matters till the return of his ambassadors,
Colonel Stewart and Colvile, from the mission to Eng-
land, and they had not yet left Scotland. Mauvissiere,
in the mean time, had warned Menainville, that Stew-
irt, whose passion was money, was likely to betray
him ; and his reply is so characteristic that I insert
it : " As to him who comes into England, (he means
Stewart,) all your reasons, as far as my judgment goes,
militate against your own opinion. For if it is his
* State- paper Office, Walsingham to Davison and Bowes, March 9, 1582-3.
Orig. Minute.
h State-paper Office, Copie de la Premiere Lettre. Endorsed, Menain-
ville to La Motte ; but I think the letter is written to Mauvissiere, March
'28, 1583.
138 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1583.
trade to be treacherous to all the world, why should
he be unfaithful to me more than to any other ? He
loves money : granted ; but to take my gold does not
hinder him from receiving another's. May we not
hope, that such a man will do more for two sums than
for one ? He is a party man. I admit it ; but show
me any man who has his own fortune at heart, and
does not trim with the times? His chief interest lies
in England, believe me, much less than in another
place which you wot of, where he may hope to gain
more by a certain way in which I have instructed him,
(and which he will show } T ou,) than by any other
service in the world. For the rest, the game is a good
game."* *
It must have been tantalizing to Walsingham, whose
unceasing exertions had thus detected the plots of the
French court in Scotland, to find that all their efforts
to defeat them, and keep the English party together,
were ruined by Elizabeth's extreme parsimony. In
other matters, not involving expense, she was active
and vigorous enough. Holt, the Jesuit, who was en-
gaged in secret transact ions with the Scottish Catholics,
had been seized at Leith ; and Elizabeth strongly
recommended that he should be, as she expressed it,
" substantially examined, and forced, by torture," to
discover all he knew.-f- She wrote to Gowrie, and to
the young king ; J she urged her busy agent, Bowes,
to press Menainville's departure ; but the moment
that Burghley, the Lord Chancellor, and Walsingham,
recommended the instant advance of ten thousand
* Copy, State-paper Office, Menainville to Mauvissiere, March 28, 1583.
The original is in French. Also, State-paper Office, Bowes to Walaingham,
March 28, 1583.
f State-paper Office, Walsingham to Bowes, April 15, 1583.
J MS. State-paper Office, Gpwrie to Elizabeth, April 24, 15J
1583.
1583. JAMES VI. 139
pounds to counteract the French influence in Scotland,
" she did utterly mislike such a point, (to use Wal-
singham's words,) because it cast her into charges."*
Of this sum one half was to be given to the young
king, and the rest expended upon the nobility, and
the entertainment of a resident minister at the Scottish
court ; but, when moved in the business, the queen
would not advance a farthing.
About this same time, and shortly before the Scottish
ambassadors set out for England, the captive Queen
of Scots, worn out with her long imprisonment, and
weary of the perpetual dangers and anxieties to which
the efforts of the Catholic party exposed her, renewed
her negotiations with Elizabeth. Some months before
O
this she had addressed a pathetic and eloquent appeal
to that princess, imploring her to abate the rigour of
her confinement, to withdraw support from the rebels
who kept her son in durance, and to listen to the
sincere offers she had so repeatedly made for an accom-
modation. Some of the passages in this letter were
so touchingly expressed, that it is difficult to believe
even the cold and politic heart of the English queen
could have been insensible to them ; but there were
others so cuttingly ironical, and at the same time so
true, that we cannot wonder the epistle remained, for a
considerable time, unanswered. -J- At length, however,
Elizabeth despatched Mr Beal, one of her confidential
servants, a strict Puritan, and a man of severe satur-
nine temper, to confer with the imprisoned queen. It
may be doubted whether she had any serious intentions
of listening to Mary : but she was anxious, before sho
* MS. State-paper Office, Walsingham to Bowes, March 2, 1582-3. Also,
Fowler to Walsingham, State- paper Office, April, 1583.
f It will be found with a translation in Whitaker, vol. iv. p. 401.
140 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1583.
received the ambassadors, Stewart and Colvile, to probe
her feelings, and ascertain how far there existed any
mutual confidence between her and her son; and BeaFs
letters to Walsingham present us with an interesting
picture of this conference. Lord Shrewsbury had been
associated with him in the negotiation, of which he
gave this account to the English secretary : " Since
our last despatch," said he, " this earl and I have once
repaired unto this lady ; and whilst he went out to
meet some gentleman of the country at the cockfight,
it pleased her to spend some part of the afternoon in
talk with me, of sundry matters of the estate of Scot-
land. * * In conclusion, she solemnly protested,
before Nau,* that she and her son would do anything
they could to deserve her majesty's favour ; and said
that she was not so irreligious and careless of her
honour and the force of an oath, as either before God
or man she should be found to break that which she
had promised ; and she added, that she was now old,
and that it was not for her now to seek any ambition
or great estate, either in the one realm or the other,
as in her youth she might ; but only desired to live
the rest of the small time of her life in quietness, in
some honourable sort : she said she was diseased and
subject to many sicknesses, albeit, these many winters,
she never was so well as she was this. She had a great
heart which had preserved her, and desired now to be
at rest, by the making of some good accord with her
majesty, her son, and herself."
Seal then told Mary that, in his opinion, such an
agreement or association as had been contemplated
was not desired in Scotland, either by the young king
or the nobility.
* Monsieur Nau, Mary's secretary.
1583. JAMES VI. 341
" For the nobility," said she, " all that might hinder
it are already gone. I have offended none of them
which are now remaining ; and therefore I doubt not
but they will like thereof. These are principally to
be doubted: Lindsay, Gowrie, Lochleven, Mar, and
Angus. Lindsay is a hasty man, and was never
thought to be of any great conduct or wit ; and if he
would do anything to the contrary, the way to win
him was, to suffer him to have a few glorious words
in the beginning, and afterwards he would be wrought
well enough. In the association passed between her
and her son,"" she said, " all former offences done to
her were pardoned;" adding, "that whatsoever account
her majesty now maketh of Gowrie, his letters unto
the Duke of Guise, sent by one Paul, which brought
certain horses unto her son into Scotland, can declare
that he will yield unto anything : she marvelleth how
her majesty dared trust him ;" and said, " that because
the Earl Morton did not, in a particular controversy
that was between him and Lord Oliphant, do what
he would, he was the cause of his death. * * There-
fore," she said, "there was no stability or trust in him.
Lochleven hath (as she said) made his peace already.
Mar was her god-child, and, in her opinion, like to
prove a coward and a naughty-natured boy. * *
Angus had never offended her, and therefore she wished
him no evil ; but his sirname never had been friends
to the Stewarts, and she knew the king her son loved
him not. * * Touching her son," she observed,
" that he was cunning enough not to declare himself
openly, in respect of his surety and danger of his life,
being in his enemies' 1 hands ; and what," said she,
"will you say if his own letters can be showed to that
effect 2" * * On another occasion, some days later,
142 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1583.
she confirmed this ; observing, that, although James
might appear to be satisfied with Gowrie and the rest,
he only dissembled and waited his time, and must seek
some foreign support if he did not embrace England,
as he was too poor a king to stand alone against such
a nobility ; besides, Monsieur La Motte had told her
he was well grown, and his marriage could not be
delayed more than a year or two. " His father was
married when he was but nineteen years old, and the
Duke of Lorrain when he was but sixteen. * * As
to herself, she was sure (she said) of a great party
amongst the Scottish nobles, and had a hundred of
their bands to maintain her cause, on the occurring of
any good opportunity : yet she desired no ambitious
estate, either in that country or this, but only her
majesty ''s favour, and liberty.*
Elizabeth, having thus elicited as much as possible
from Mary, and even procured from the captive prin-
cess some offers which might open the way to the
recovery of her liberty, communicated all that had
passed to Bowes, her ambassador at the Scottish court;
and commanded him, in a secret interview with the
young king, to sound his feelings regarding the restor-
ation of his mother to liberty, and her association with
himself in the government. *f- The matter was to be
managed with the utmost secrecy ; and the English
queen was so anxious to receive an instant answer, that
Walsingham recommended Bowes to set a gallows upon
the packet, as he had done on his own ; a significant
hint sometimes given in those times to dilatory couriers. J
* MS. State-paper Office, Papers of Mary queen of Scots, April 1 7, 1583.
Lord Shrewsbury and Mr Deal to Walsingham. Also, April 2:2, 1583 ; same
to same.
f Minute, State-paper Office, April 25, 1583, Walsingham to Bowes.
Ibid.
1583. JAMES vi. 143
In all this, Elizabeth had no serious intention of either
delivering her captive, or permitting her to be associated
with her son: her wish was to defeat the whole scheme,
by making the young prince jealous of his mother; and
in this she appears to have succeeded. It is certain,
at least, that in his secret interview with the English
ambassador, James expressed himself with much sus-
picion and selfishness ; and when Bowes showed him
the paper containing Mary^s offers to Elizabeth, he
animadverted upon them with so much severity and
acuteness, that, had the ambassador himself been the
critic, we could scarcely have expected a more deter-
mined disapproval. Thus, in pointing to the eighth
article, which related to their being jointly associated
in the government, he doubted, he said, that some
prejudice might come to him, as well at home as other-
wise ; since it seemed so worded, that she should not
only be equal with him in authority and power, but
also have the chief place before him: a matter danger-
ous to his State and title to this crown. Besides, he
observed, sundry obstacles might be found in the person
of his mother, which might annoy both him and her.
She was a Papist; she had a council resident in France,
by whom she was directed; she was so entangled with
the pope, and others her confederates, that she could
not deliver herself from suspicion. In honour she
could not abandon her friends in France ; and as, in
the person of Queen Mary, (alluding to Elizabeth^
predecessor,) he said it was found, and seen to the
world, that her own mild nature could not suppress
the great cruelty of her councillors, but that their
desire prevailed to persecute and torment God's people;
to overthrow the whole state and government estab-
lished by King Edward the Sixth. * * So the
144 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1583.
Protestants and others in England, desiring a peaceable
government and estate, might both doubt to find the
like effects in the person of his mother, and be affrayed
to come under the rule of a woman thus qualified.
These impediments and dangers, he added compla-
cently, would not be found in his own condition, but
rather an expectation of good parts, or qualities pro-
mising better contentment and satisfaction. He then,
at Bowes 1 request, gave him the whole history of the
correspondence between himself and the captive queen;
expressed the deepest gratitude to Elizabeth for this
confidential communication ; and concluded by assuring
him, that, as he was convinced Mary preferred herself
before him in this proposal, till he saw much more
clearly than he yet could, the bottom of the business,
and her true meaning, he would go no farther without
communicating with the English queen, and taking
the advice of his council ; whose opinion he could not
now have, on account of the solemn promise of secrecy
to Elizabeth.*
It is evident, through the whole of this negotiation,
that James, if he expressed his real feelings, had a
single eye to his own interest; and cared little what
became of his unfortunate mother, provided he secured
an undivided sceptre in Scotland, and his succession to
the English crown on Elizabeth^ death. One only
thing may be suggested in his defence: It is just pos-
sible that, in all this he dissembled, with the object of
blinding Elizabeth and Bowes to his purposes for the
recovery of his liberty and the overthrow of the English
faction. But of this, the result will enable us more
truly to judge.
In the beginning of May, Menainville, having fully
* MS. State-paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham, Edinburgh, May 1 , 1583.
1583 JAMES VI. 145
organized the plot for the overthrow of the Ruthven
lords, and the return of the Duke of Lennox to power,
took shipping from Leith for the court of France: and
so confidently did he express himself to his secret
friends, that Bowes, who had a spy amongst them, told
Walsingham he might look for a new world in August.*
At the same time, the Scottish ambassadors, Colonel
Stewart and Mr John Colvile, accompanied by Mr
David Lindsay, one of the ministers of Edinburgh,
who went at James 1 special request, repaired to Lon-
don, where they were banqueted by Leicester, and soon
admitted to an audience by Elizabeth. This princess
was, as usual, profuse in her professions and advice
to her young cousin the King of Scots, but exceedingly
parsimonious of her money. *f* On the subject of his
marriage, upon which he had solicited her advice, she
promised to write herself; but referred all other points
to her council. It was urged by Colvile, in the strong-
est terms, that the king's person could not be deemed
in safety, unless the Scottish Guard were increased.
By this he meant, in plain language, that James could
not be kept in captivity without a larger body of hired
soldiers to hold the opposite faction in check. In them,
to use the words of the ambassadors, " the life of the
cause consisted."]: And yet Elizabeth could scarcely
be prevailed on to advance the paltry sum of three
hundred pounds, which she insisted Bowes must pay
upon his own credit : and " if," said Walsingham, when
he sent him her commands in this matter, "her Majesty
should happen to lay the burden upon you, I will not
* MS. State-paper Office, April 24, 1583, Bowes to Walsingham. Ibid.
May 1, 1583, same to same.
+ MS. State-paper Office, Orig. Minute, Walsingham to Bowes, May 9,
1583. MS. Calderwood, British Museum, fol. 12GG. Also, MS. State-paper
Office, Heads of Advice to be given to the King of Scots.
t MS. State-paper Office, Colvile to Walsingham, May 7, 1583.
VOL. VIII. K
146 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1583.
fail to see you myself discharged of the same."* It
had been one great purpose of Colonel Stewart, in this
embassy, to ascertain whether most could be gained by
the proffered friendship of England or France. He
knew that the first object of his master the young king,
was to strike the blow which should restore him to
liberty: but this once secured, there remained the
ulterior question, whether he should then " run the
French or the English course." And if the English
queen had been content to relieve James of the load
of debt which overpowered him; if she had frankly
communicated with him on the succession, and given
him her advice upon his marriage; there was every
probability that he would have continued at her devo-
tion. Only two days after the Scottish ambassadors
had left court on their return, Bowes wrote from Edin-
burgh to Walsingham, that the Earls of Huntley,
Athole, Montrose, and other barons, had met at Falk-
land; that their " purpose to welter -f* the court and
State" was no secret; and that nothing but a satisfac-
tory message from their royal mistress could save the
English faction, and prevent a change of government. J
Yet all this did not alter the resolution of the English
O
queen. It was in vain that the ambassadors remon-
strated with Walsingham ; that they reminded him of
the promises made by the queen to the lords who had
seized the king at Ruthven ; of the exhortations sent
them, at the beginning of the action, to be constant ;
of the assurances given to them of assistance both
* MS. State-paper Ofice, Minute, Walsingham to Bowes, May 9, 1583.
See Proofs and Illustrations, No. XII.
+ To welter : to throw the government into a state of movement and dis-
turbance.
J MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham, May 31, 1583.
1583. JAMES VI. 147
in men and money.* Gowrie found himself cheated
out of the sums he had spent upon the common cause :
and perceiving the course which things must take,
determined to make his peace with James on the first
occasion. Bowes 1 advances to the English faction were
discouraged; and Walsingham bitterly complained,
that even the wretched three hundred pounds, which
he had given from his own pocket, would turn out to
be a dead loss to the ambassador, if he looked for pay-
ment to her majesty, and not to himself. " Thus, you
see," said he, " notwithstanding it importeth us greatly
to yield all contentment to that nation, [Scotland,]
how we stick at trifles ! I pray God we perform the
rest of things promised. "-f-
At this crisis, intelligence arrived of the death of
the Duke of Lennox in France. J He had been for
some time in delicate health; but the Scottish king
had looked forward with confidence to his recovery,
and his grief was extreme. His feelings became more
poignant when he found the deep affection which his
favourite had expressed towards himself on his death-
bed: enjoining his eldest son to carry his heart to his
royal master in Scotland; and dying, apparently, in
the Reformed faith. On the day of his death he
addressed a letter to James, informing him that his
7 O
recovery was hopeless ; and advising him to trust no
longer to Angus, Mar, Lindsay, or Gowrie, whom he
suspected were devoted to the English faction; but
to give his confidence to those whom he termed his
* MS. Letter. State-paper Office. Colvile and Stewart to Walsingham. May
1R, 1581.
t MS. State-paper Office, Walsingham to Bowes, May 29, 1583.
J MS. State-paper Office, Fowler to Walsingham, Tuesday, 1583.
J48 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1583-
own party. A blank, however, had been left for their
names, and he expired before it was filled up.*
This event threw an obstacle in the way of the
immediate execution of that plot for his liberty, which
the young king had been so long concerting, and from
the success of which he had so fondly looked forward
to the restoration of his favourite.-f- Elizabeth seized
this interval again to sound the king, and some of the
leading men in Scotland, regarding 'those recent nego-
tiations which had been carried on with the captive
queen for her restoration to liberty, and her intended
"association," with her son. Both prince and council
treated the idea with repugnance. James observed to
Bowes, that, although, as a dutiful son, he was ready
to exert himself to procure the comfort and liberty of
his mother, he was neither bound to this scheme of an
" association," as she had asserted, nor would he ever
consent to it in the form which she had proposed. The
councillors were still more violently opposed to Mary
on both points. The association they said, had been
proposed in Moray's regency, and absolutely rejected;
and they were confident it would meet the same fate
now ; and for her liberty, if, under restraint, she could
keep up so strong a faction, what would she do when
free?"*
This secret consultation between the English am-
bassador and the king, took place at Falkland on the
twenty-fourth June; and so completely had James
blinded Bowes, that he left court and returned to the
* MS. Calderwood, fol. 1268, 1269. Also, MS. State-paper Office, Wal-
Bingbam to Bowes, June 12, 1583.
T MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Walsingbam to Bowes, June 5, 1583.
MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham, June 29, 1583,
Edinburgh.
1583. JAMES VI. 149
capital, unsuspicious of any change. Next day, John
Colvile, who, with Colonel Stewart, had just returned
from England, assured Walsingham " that all things
were quiet, and that the last work of God, in the
duke's departure, had increased the friendly disposition
of the king." * But the letters were still on their way
to England when all these flattering hopes were over-
thrown, and the ambassador received the astounding
intelligence, that the king had thrown himself into the
castle of St Andrew's ; that the gates of the place were
kept by Colonel Stewart and his soldiers ; that none
of the nobility had been suffered to enter, but such as
were privy to the plot; and that the Earls of Crawford,
Huntley, Argyle, and Marshal, were already with the
monarch. On the heels of this news came a horseman
in fiery speed from Mar to Angus ; and this earl,
the moment he heard of the movement, despatched
a courier by night with his ring to Bothwell, urging
him to gather his Borderers and join him instantly ;
which he did. But the two barons were met, within
six miles of St Andrew's, by a herald, who charged
them, on pain of treason, to disband their forces, and
come forward singly. They obeyed, rode on, saw James,
and received his orders to return home and remain at
their houses till he called for them.-f-
A few days showed that this sudden, though blood-
less revolution, was complete. The king was his own
master, and owed his freedom to the ability with which
he had organized the plot and blinded his adversaries, j
Gowrie, Mar, and Angus, the three lords who had led
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, June 25, 1583, Colvile to Walsingham.
+ MS. Calderwood, fol. 1270. Angus' messenger arrived on the Lord's
aay at night. MS. Letter, Bowes to Walsingham, June 29, 1583, Bowes'
Let t-er- Book.
J MS. Letter, Bowes' Letter- Book, Bowes to Walsingham, July 3, 1583.
150 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1583.
the faction of England, and kept him in durance, were
in despair; but Gowrie, more politic than his. associ-
ates, had secured a pardon for himself some time before
the crisis.* His colleagues in the triumvirate fled;
and to crown all, Arran, who, there is every reason to
believe, had been privy to the whole, after a brief in-
terval returned to court, was embraced by the king,
and soon resumed all his pride and ascendancy.*!*
It was now nearly ten mouths since the Raid of
Ruthven ; and as James had dissembled his feelings
as long as he remained in the power of the leaders
of that bold enterprise, the world looked not for any
great severity against them. But the insult had sunk
deeper than was believed ; and it was soon evident that
the king had determined to convince his people that
the person of the monarch and the laws of the land,
should neither be invaded nor broken with impunity.
A proclamation was set forth,^ which characterized
the enterprise at Ruthven as treason ; and whilst it
assured his subjects, that all who acknowledged their
oSence should experience the mercy of their prince,
avowed his resolution to proceed vigorously against
the impenitent and refractory. At the same time, he
published a declaration "of the good and pleasant death
in the Lord" of his late dear cousin the Duke of Len-
nox ; informing his subjects that this nobleman had
departed in the profession of the true Christian faith
established within his realm in the first year of his
reign ; and denouncing penalties upon all who pre-
* MS. State-paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham, July 9, 1583. Calder-
wood MS. fol. 1-273.
"t 1 MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham, August 5, 1583.
MS. State-paper Office, copy of the Proclamation, July 30, 1583. Also,
Spottiswood, p. 3'J6. Also, Bowes to Walsingham, July 31, 1583.
1583. JAMES VI. 151
tended ignorance of this fact, or dared to contradict
it, in speaking or in writing, in prose or rhyme.*
This public vindication of the memory and faith of
his favourite, was intended to silence the ministers of
the Kirk, who had deemed it their duty to cast out
some injurious speeches against the duke ; one of them
affirming that, as he thirsted for blood in his lifetime,
so he died in blood :-f* an allusion to the disease of
which he was reported to have fallen the victim. This
harsh attack upon his favourite justly and deeply
offended the king ; and Lawson, the author of the
calumny, having been commanded to appear at court,
he, and a small company of his brother ministers, re-
paired to Dunfermline, and were conducted into the
presence chamber. Here, owing to the recent changes,
they found themselves surrounded with the strange
faces of a new court. Soon after the king entered,
and, whilst they rose and made their obeisance, James,
to their astonishment, took not the slightest notice, but
passing the throne, which all expected he was to oc-
cupy, sat down familiarly upon a little coffer, and "eyed
them all marvellous gravely, and they him, for the space
of a quarter of an hour ; none speaking a word ; to the
admiration of all the beholders." j The scene, intended
to have been tragic and awful, was singularly comic :
and this was increased when the monarch, without
uttering a syllable, jumped up from his coffer, and
" glooming" upon them, walked out of the room. It
was now difficult to say what should be done. The
ministers had come with a determination to remonstrate
* State-paper Office, copy of the Proclamation for Lennox, July 27, 1583.
Also, MS. Letter, Bowes' Letter-Book, July 31, J583. Bowes to Walsing-
hani.
t MS. Calderwood, fol. 1270.
Ibid.
152 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1583.
with their sovereign against the recent changes ; and
he, it was evident, enraged at their late conduct, had
resolved to dismiss them unheard ; but, whilst they
debated in perplexity, he relented in the cabinet, to
which he had retired, and called them in. Pont then
said they had come to warn him against alterations.
" I see none," quickly rejoined the king ; " but there
were some this time twelvemonth, (alluding to his
seizure at Ruthven :) where were your warnings
then?" "Did we not admonish you at St Johnston?"
answered Pont. "And, weje it not for our love to your
Grace," interrupted Mr David Ferguson, " could we
not easily have found another place to have spoken
our minds than here?" This allusion to their license
in the pulpit made the king bite his lip ; and the storm
was about to break out, when the same speaker threw
oil upon the waters, by casting in some merry speeches.
His wit was of a homely and peculiar character. James,
he said, ought to hear him, if any; for he had demitted
the crown in his favour. Was he not Ferguson, the
son of Fergus the first Scottish king? and had he not
cheerfully resigned his title to his Grace, as he was an
honest man and had possession? " Well," said James,
" no other king in Europe would have borne at your
hands what I have." " God forbid you should be like
other European kings ! " was the reply ; "what are they
but murderers of the saints? ye have had another sort
of upbringing: but beware whom ye choose to be about
you ; for, helpless as ye were in your cradle, you are
in deeper danger now." " I am a Catholic king," re-
plied the monarch, "and may choose my own advisers."
The word Catholic was more than some of the minis-
ters could digest, and would have led to an angry
altercation, had not Ferguson again adroitly allayed
3583. JAMES VI. 153
their excited feelings. " Yes, brethren," said he,
turning to them, " he is a Catholic ; that is, a univer-
sal king ; and may choose his company as King David
did, in the hundred and first psalm." This was a
master-stroke; for the king had very recently translated
this psalm into English metre, and Ferguson took
occasion to commend his verses in the highest terms.
They then again warned him against his present coun-
cillors ; and one of the ministers, stooping down, had
the boldness to whisper in his ear, that there was no
great wisdom in keeping his father's murderers, or their
posterity, so near his person. Their last words were
stern and solemn. " Think not lightly, Sir," said they,
" of our commission ; and look well that your deeds
agree with your promises, for we must damn sin in
whoever it be found : nor is that face upon flesh that
we may spare, in case we find rebellion to our God,
whose ambassadors we are. Disregard not our
threatening ; for there was never one yet in this realm,
in the place where your Grace is,, who prospered after
the ministers began to threaten him." At this, the
king was observed to smile, probably ironically, but he
said nothing; and, as they took their leave, he laid his
hand familiarly on each. Colonel Stewart then made
them drink, and they left the court.* I have given
this interview at some length, as it is strikingly char-
acteristic both of the prince and the ministers of the
Kirk.
On receiving intelligence of the revolution in Scot-
land, Elizabeth wrote, in much alarm, to Bowes,-f and
resolved to send an ambassador with her advice and
remonstrance to the king. She hesitated, however,
* MS. Calderwood, fol. 1272.
i MS. Letter, State-paper Office, July 10, 1583, Walsingham to Bowes.
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1583.
between Lord Hunsdon her cousin, and the now aged
Walsingham ; and two months were suffered to pass
before she could be brought to a decision. During this
interval, all was vigour upon the part of the king and
Arran, whilst despondency and suspicion paralyzed
and divided their opponents. Angus, the head of the
house of Douglas, and one of the most powerful noble-
men in the country, was banished beyond the Spey ; *
Mar and Glammis were ordered to leave the country;^
the Laird of Lochleven was imprisoned, and commanded
to deliver his houses to Rothes ; Lord Boyd and Colvile
of Easter Wemyss retired to France ; whilst, on the
other hand, the friends of the Queen of Scots, and
those who had been all along attached to the interests
of France, saw themselves daily increasing in favour
and promoted to power. Those officers of the king^s
household, who were suspected of being favourable to
England, were removed, to make way for others of the
opposite party. It was observed that James had given
a long secret conference to young Graeme of Fintry, a
devoted Catholic, lately come from France, with letters
(as Bowes believed) from the Duke of Guise. It was
even noted, that a present of apples and almonds had
been sent from Menainville to the kins; : a token con-
O
certed to show that all was ripe for the completion of
the plot which he had devised when last in Scotland.
In short, although the young king continued to make
the fairest professions to Bowes, and addressed a letter
to Elizabeth, in which he expressed the greatest devo-
tion to her service, and the most anxious desire to
* Spottiswood, p. 32(>.
+ MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham, September 19,
1583.
J MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham, July 27, 1583.
MS. Id. Ibid. Also, MS. State-paper Office, July 29, 1583, Sen-ants
of the King's house discharged.
]583. JAMES VI. 155
preserve the amity between the two kingdoms, it was
evident to this ambassador that all was false and dis-
sembled.
Amid these scenes of daily proscriptions and royal
hypocrisy, the veteran statesman, Sir Francis Wal-
singham, arrived at the Scottish court.* His instruc-
tions directed him to require satisfaction from the king
regarding the late strange actions which had taken
place, so inconsistent with his friendly professions to
his royal mistress ; he was to use every eifort to per-
suade James to reform the accident, which the queen
was ready to impute rather to evil counsel than to his
own wishes ; and to assure him that, if he consented
to alter this new course, he should not fail to taste of
her goodness. "f* But it required a very brief observa-
tion to convince Walsingham that his mission was too
late. He found himself treated with coldness. His
audience was unnecessarily delayed ; and when at last
admitted, the young king was in no compliant mood,
although he received him with much apparent courtesy. J
To his complaints of the late changes, James replied,
that he had every wish to maintain friendship with
her majesty : but this he would now be better able to
accomplish, with a united than a divided nobility.
Before this, two or three lords had usurped the govern-
ment; they had engaged in dangerous courses, and
had brought their ruin upon themselves. Walsing-
ham then attempted to point out the mischief that
must arise from displacing those councillors who were
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Burghley, September
6, 1583. He came to Edinburgh 1st September. MS. Calderwood, fol.
1278. See Proofs and Illustrations, No. XIII.
f MS. State-paper Office, Instructions for Sir F. Walsingham, August
13, 1583.
MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Burghley, September
6, 1583, Edinburgh.
156 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1583.
best affected to Elizabeth; but James sharply, and
" with a kind of jollity, 11 (so wrote the old statesman
to his royal mistress,) reminded him that he was an
absolute king; that he would take such order with his
subjects as best liked himself;* and that he thought
his mistress should be no more curious to examine the
affections of his council than he was of hers. " And
yet," said Walsingham, " you are but a young prince
yet, and of no great judgment in matters of govern-
ment ; and many an elder one would think himself
fortunate to meet an adviser like my mistress. But
be assured, she is quite ready to leave you to your
own guidance : I have not come down to seek an alli-
ance for England, which can live well enough without
Scotland, but to charge your majesty with unkind
dealing to her highness, and to seek redress for past
errors. "-f- The ambassador then complained of some
late outrages which had been committed by the Scots
upon the Borders ; and the king having promised in-
quiry, and requested to see him next day in private,
he took his leave. This secret conference, however,
does not appear to have taken place. The probability
is, that Arran, who carried himself towards Walsing-
ham with great pride, had prevented it ; and, having
bid adieu to the king, the English secretary wrote to
Burghley in these ominous terms : * * * " You will
easily find that there is no hope of the recovery of this
young prince ; who, I doubt, (having many reasons to
lead me so to judge,) if his power may agree to his
will, will become a dangerous enemy. * * * There is
no one thing will serve better to bridle him, than for
* MS. Letter, Original draft, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Eliza-
beth, September II, 1583.
+ MS. Letter, draft, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Elizabeth, Sept,
II, I o83, St Johnston.
1583.
JAMES VI.
157
her majesty to use the Hamiltons in such sort as they
may be at her devotion." *
This last hint, of the use which might be made of
Lord John and Lord Claud Hamilton, the sons of the
late Duke of Chastelherault, who had been long in
banishment, and now lived in England, was acted upon
by Bowes ; and brief as had been Walsingham^s stay
in Scotland, he had found time to sow the seeds of a
counter-revolution, by which he trusted to overwhelm
Arran, and place the king^s person once more in the
power of the friends of Elizabeth. By his advice,
Bowes bribed some of the leading nobles ; and in less
than a week after Walsingham's departure, his busy
agent wrote to him that the good course, begun by him
in that realm, was prosperous ; that he had met with
many of the persons appointed, who promised to do
what was committed to them ; and that already the
well-affected were in comfort, and their adversaries in
fear.f
This new plot Walsingham communicated to Eliza-
beth in a letter which has unfortunately disappeared,
but to which he thus alluded in writing to Burghley
from Durham, on his journey back to the English
court : " There is an offer made to remove the ill-
affected from about the king, which I have sent to her
majesty. They require speedy answer : and that the
matter may be used with all secrecy, I beseech your
lordship, therefore, that when her majesty shall make
you privy thereunto, you will hasten the one and ad-
vise the other." | * * * Arran"s quick eye, however,
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Burghley, September
11, !>>.;.
H- MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham, September 17,
1583.
MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Walsineham to Burghley, September
22, 1583, Durham.
158 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1583.
had detected these machinations : orders were given to
double the royal guards, the strictest watch was kept
at court ; * and although a body of forty horse were
observed one night to hover round Falkland, and all
in the palace dreaded an attack, the alarm passed
away. The " Bye course" (the name given to the pro-
jected conspiracy) was thus abandoned; and Elizabeth,
who was dissatisfied with Walsingham's ill success,
determined to reserve her judgment on the Scottish
affairs, and recalled Bowes from Scotland.-f-
This coldness in the English queen completely dis-
couraged the opponents of the late revolution ; and
before the end of the year, the king and Arran had
triumphed over every difficulty. Angus, Mar, and
Glammis, the Lairds of Lochleven and Cleish, the
Abbots of Dunfermline and Cambuskenneth, with
others who had acted in concert with Gowrie, were
compelled to acknowledge their offences and sue for
mercy ; whilst a convention was held at Edinburgh,
in which the good sense and moderation of the king
were conspicuous, in restoring something of confidence
and peace even to the troubled elements of the Kirk.J
Considering the difficulty of this task, it gives us no
mean idea of James 1 powers at this early age ; when
we find him succeed ing in taming the fiery and almost
indomitable spirits of one party of the ministers, and
reconciling to his present policy the more placable
division of the Presbyterians. The great subject of
contention between the court and the Scottish clergy
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham, October 22,
1583.
f MS. State-paper Office, Elizabeth to Bowes, September 22, 1 583. Also,
Ibid., Bowes to Walsingham, October 15, 1583. Also, Ibid., Walsingham
to Bowes, September 30, 1583, York.
J MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham, Nov. 1, 1581
1583. JAMES VI. 159
was the outrage committed at Ruthven; a transaction
which had received the solemn sanction of the Kirk,
but which the prince, however compelled to disguise
his sentiments at the time, justly considered rebellion.
On this point James was firm. He had recently made
every effort to bring the offenders to a confession of
their crime ; and had appointed some commissioners,
chosen from the ministers and the elders of the Kirk,
to confer with them upon the subject.* But this
gentle measure not producing all the effects contem-
plated, a parliament was convened at Edinburgh, and
an Act unanimously passed, which pronounced " the
surprise and restraint of the royal person" in August
last " a crime of high treason, of pernicious example,
and meriting severe punishments." The former act of
council, which had approved of it, was abrogated, as
having been passed by the rebels themselves during the
restraint of their sovereign ; and the king now declared
his determination to punish, with the severest penalties,
all who refused to sue for pardon, whilst he promised
mercy to all who acknowledged their offence. -f-
These determined measures were at length success-
ful ; and the great leaders of the faction, who had
hitherto remained in sullen and obstinate resistance,
submitted to the king's mercy. Angus retired beyond
the Spey; the Earl of Mar, the Master of Glammis,
with the Abbots of Dryburgh and Cambuskenneth,
repaired to Ireland ; Lord Boyd, with the Lairds of
Lochleven and Easter Wemyss, passed into France ;
and other of their associates were imprisoned, or warded
within the strictest bounds. Mr John Colvile alone,
though he had been as deeply implicated as them all,
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham, Nov. 28, 1583.
i 1 MS. Act, State-paper Office, December 7, 1583.
160 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1583.
refusing submission, fled to Berwick;* whilst Gowrie,
who had already obtained pardon, reiterated his vows
of obedience, and remained at court. { It was impos-
sible, however, wholly to subdue the Kirk. Mr John
Durie, one of the ministers, denounced the recent pro-
ceedings in the pulpit at Edinburgh, and was followed
in this course by Melvil the Principal of the College of
St Andrew's. But Durie was compelled, by threats
of having his head set upon the West Port, one of the
public gates of the city, to make a qualified retraction ; J
and Melvil only saved himself from imprisonment by
a precipitate flight to Berwick. This man, whose
temper was violent, and who was a strict Puritan in
religion and a Republican in politics, when called before
the council, resolutely declined their jurisdiction,
affirming that he was amenable only to the Presbytery
for anything delivered in the pulpit ; and when the
king attempted to convince him of the contrary, he
arrogantly told him, that " he perverted the laws both
of God and man/' The removal of so stern an oppo-
nent was- peculiarly grateful to the court ; and as James
had assured the commissioners of the Kirk, that he
was determined to maintain the Reformed religion, and
to lay before his council the remedies theyrecommended
for restoring tranquillity to the country, it was anx-
iously hoped that the distracted and bleeding State
might be suffered to enjoy some little interval of re-
pose. ||
During these transactions, the young Duke of Len-
nox, having left the French court, arrived in Scotland.
* MS. Letter. State-paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham, Dec. 29, 1583.
t Ibid.
t MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham, Dec. 29, 1583.
Spottiswood, p. 330.
U MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham, Nov. 1, 1583.
1583. JAMES VI. 161
He was accompanied by the Master of Gray ; a person
destined to act a conspicuous part in future years, and
whom the king had expressly sent on this mission.
On coming ashore, at Leith, they were met by Arran
and Huntley, and carried to Kinneil, where the court
then lay. James received the son of his old favourite
with the utmost joy; restored him to his father's
honours and estates ; and, as he was then only thir-
teen, committed him to the government of the Earl of
Montrose.*
It was now expected that a period of order and quiet
would succeed the banishment of the disaffected lords ;
for although the counsels of Arran were violent, there
was a wiser and more moderate party in the king's
confidence, which checked, for a little while, his rash-
ness and lust of undivided power. To this class belonged
the celebrated Sir James Melvil, with his brother Sir
Robert, and some of the more temperate spirits in the
Kirk. One of these, Mr David Lindsay, accounted
amongst the best of the brethren, addressed a letter,
at this time, to Bowes the late ambassador, in which
he spoke in high terms of the young king. He advised
Bowes to write to James ; informed him that advice
from him was sure to be well received ; and added, that
his royal master had recently, in private, assured him,
that Secretary Walsingham was the wisest man he
had ever spoken with ; that the more he had pondered
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham, November 16,
1583. Ibid., same to same, Nov. 20, 1583. Spottiswood, p. 328. The
affection of this prince for the family of his old favourite is a pleasing trait
in his character. Nothing could make him forget them. Some time after
this, two of his daughters were brought over from France ; of whom he
married one to the Earl of Huntley, the other to the Earl of Mar. A third
was destined to an equally honourable match, but she had vowed herself to
God, and could not be won from the cloister; and in later years, after his
accession to the English crown, James received, with undiminished interest,
the youngest son of the house, and advanced him to great honour.
VOL. VIII. L
162 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1583-4.
on the counsels he had given him, in their late meeting,
the better and more profitable they appeared. " I
perceive," said he to Bowes, " his majesty begins to
take better tent [heed] to his own estate and weal nor
[than] he has done heretofore; and espies the nature of
such as rather regards their own particular, nor the quiet-
ness of this country and his majesty"^ welfare ; which
compels him to see some better order taken, and that by
the advice of the most upright and discreet men that
he can find in this country : for he showed me himself,
that he got councillors enough to counsel him to wound
and hurt his commonwealth ; but finds very few good
chirurgeons to help and heal the same, and therefore
must play that part himself." *
Little did this excellent member of the Kirk dream,
that at the moment he was breathing out his own secret
wishes, and those of his sovereign, for peace, into the
bosoms of Bowes and Walsingham, and entreating their
cooperation as peacemakers, these very men were busy
getting up a new rebellion in Scotland, to which their
royalmistress gaveherfull approval : but nothing can be
more certain. The chief conspirators were the banished
noblemen, Angus, Mar, the Master of Glammis, the
Earl of Bothwell, Lord Lindsay, and their associates.
Of these, Mar and Glammis passed over secretly from
their retreat in Ireland ; Angus left his refuge in the
north ; the two sons of the Duke of Chastelherault,
Lord Claud and Lord John Hamilton, were sent down
by Elizabeth from England to the Borders ; whilst
Gowrie, who, to cover his purposes of treason had
sought and obtained the king's license to visit the
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Mr David Lindsay to Mr Bowes, Leith,
November 2, 1583. See an account of Mr David Lindsay, in Lord Lind-
say's "Lives of the Lindsays," vol. i. p. 215-217; a most interesting and
agreeable work, privately printed by that nobleman.
1583-4. JAMES vi. 163
continent, lingered in Scotland to arrange the plan of
the insurrection.* In England, the great agent, in
communicating with Walsingham and Bowes, was
that same Mr John Colvile with whom we are already
acquainted ; and his letters, as well as those which yet
remain of Bowes and Walsingham, admit us into the
secrets of the conspiracy, and distinctly show the ap-
proval of the English queen and her ministers. Gowrie,
as it appears, had hesitated for some time between
submitting to the king and embarking in the plot : but
Bowes wrote to Walsingham, (on the fourth March,
1583-4,) that he had abandoned all thoughts of con-
cession, and stood faithful to his friends. He added,
that the ground and manner of the purpose was known
to very few, as it was thought requisite to keep it
secret till the time of the execution approached. Some
delay, however, took place, regarding the course to be
pursued with a certain bishop, who was considered too
powerful an antagonist to be continued in power; and
Colvile, who managed the plot in London, had a secret
meeting with Walsingham on this delicate point; after
which, he wrote to him in these words : " Concerning
the bishop, the more I think of the matter, the more
necessity I think it, that he, and all other strangers
of his opinion, were removed; for it is a common pro-
verb, Hostes si intus sint, frustra dauduntur fores;
neque anteguam expellantur tute cubandum est.^ But
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham, Jan. 20, 1583-4.
Explained, as to the meaning of the ciphers, by the letter of Bowes to Wal-
singham, State-paper Office, December '29, 1583. Also, MS. Letter. State-
paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham, January 24, 1583-4. Also, MS. Letter,
State-paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham, February 13, 1583-4. Also,
State-paper Office, B.C., Forster to Walsingham, March 28, 1584. Also,
MS. Calderwood, British Museum, 4736, fol. 1315.
f MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Colvile to Bowes, March 23, 1583-4.
This must, I think, have been either Bishop Adamson, or Montgomery
bishop of Glasgow.
1G4< HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
although Bowes, Walsingham, and Colvile, were no
mean adepts in planning an insurrection, they had to
compete with an antagonist in Arran, who detected
and defeated all their machinations. His eyes were
in every quarter : not a movement taken by Gowrie,
or Mar, or Glammis, escaped him. He was aware that
a Band had been drawn up, and signed by many of
his enemies in Scotland, by which they solemnly en-
gaged to assassinate him, and compel the king to admit
them to his councils. * He had received information
that, in the end of March, a general assembly of the
nobles, who trusted to overturn the government, would
be held at St Johnston. But he awaited their opera-
tions with indifference ; for he knew that the Earls of
Glencairn and Athole, upon whom Gowrie, Angus, and
Mar, principally depended, were traitors to their own
friends, and had already revealed everything to him.
When the meeting accordingly did take place, and the
insurgent noblemen called upon all who were solicitous
for the advancement of the Word of God, and the
setting forth of his glory, to join their banner, their
appeal found no response in the hearts of the people ;
and the assembly fell to pieces without striking a
blow.-f-
This premature movement, and its ill success, inti-
midated the conspirators, and gave new courage to
Arran and the king, who sent a secret messenger to
Elizabeth, offering the most favourable terms of ac-
commodation, and assuring her, that in supporting
* Historic of James the Sext, p. 203. Also, MS. Calderwood, British
Museum, 4736, Ayscough, fol. 1316'.
f- MS. Letter, British Museum, Caligula, C. viii. fol. 5, Bowes to "Wal-
singham, April 10, 1584, Berwick. Also, Ibid., same to same, fol. 3, April
5, 1584, Berwick. MS. Letter, State-paper Office, B.C., Forster to Wal-
singham, April 2, 1584.
1584. JAMES VI. 565
Gowrie and his friends, she was the dupe of some
dangerous and unquiet spirits, whose purposes varied
every month, and who were not even true to each
other.* The queen hesitated. Colvile had recently-
received from his brother the Laird of Cleish, one of
the conspirators, certain articles of agreement be-
tween them and the English queen, which they ex-
pected to be signed. These he was to correct and
present to Elizabeth. But this princess was in a
dilemma. If she signed the articles, she bound her-
self to the faction ; and should they be discomfited,
she furnished evidence of her encouraging rebellion
in subjects ; an accusation which Arran and his
friends would not be slow to use. On the other
hand, Colvile maintained that the late failure at St
Johnston was to be ascribed to the folly and impa-
tience of some of their friends ; and that now all was
ready for the outbreak and success of the great plot.
Gowrie was at Dundee, waiting only for the signal
from his fellow-conspirators. Angus, Mar, and Glain-
mis, were ready to rise and march upon Stirling. If
they succeeded, the power, probably the life of Arran,
was at an end ; a new order of things must be estab-
lished in Scotland ; and the men whom she had just
deserted, would be in possession once more of the person
of the young king, and rule all. At this crisis, this
busy partisan, Colvile, exerted himself to the utmost.
He found that the English queen, whilst she verbally
gave her warm approval to the insurgents, " expressing
her gracious and motherly care of the well-doing of
the noblemen,'" steadily refused either to sign their
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Colvile to his brother the Laird of
Cleish, April 16, 1584. Endorsed hy Cecil, Mr Colvile ; and by Colvile
himself, Copy of my last letter sent to Scotland.
166 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
articles, or to receive any messenger from them, till
they were openly in arms. He implored them to be
contented with these general assurances ; and declared,
that immediate action, without sending any further
advertisements to England, could alone secure success.
The examples by which he confirmed this argument
were the murder of Riccio, the seizure of Queen Mary
at Faside, and the recent " Raid of Ruthven."
" If," said he, " advertisements had been sent to
England before the execution of Davie, the taking of
the Queen at Faside, and of Arran at Ruthven, I think
none of these good actions had ever been effectuate.
But you know, that after all these enterprises were
execute, her majesty ever comforted the enterprisers
thereof in all lawful manner, albeit, she was not made
privy to their intentions. Chiefly after the late attempt
at Ruthven, it is fresh remembrance how timeously
Sir George Carey and Mr Robert Bowes, her majesty's
ambassadors, arrived to countenance the said cause.
But now, when men does nothing but sit down to
advise when it is high time to draw sword and defend,
and will lie still in the mire unstirring, and expecting
till some friend, passing by, shall pull them out, it
appears well that they either diffide in the equity of
their cause, or else are bewitched, and so useless, and
that they can feel nothing till they be led to the
shambles, as was the poor Earl of Morton.* If (he
proceeded) matters were resolutely ordered, what more
consultation is needed, (seeing religion, the king's
honour, and all good men is in extreme danger;) but
first courageously, such as are agreed, to join together
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, April 16, 1584, Mr Colvile to his
brother. Colvile's ignorance of the secret history of Riccio's murder is
striking. See vol. vii. of this History, p. 18-28.
1584. JAMES VI. 167
in secret manner for the king's deliverance, as was
done at Ruthven ; or if this cannot be, then to convene
at some convenient place openly, publish proclamation
to the people for declaration of their lawful and just
cause, and so pursue the present adversaries till either
they were apprehended or else reduced to some extrem-
%."*
When Colvile spoke of the poor Earl of Morton
being led to the shambles, he little thought how soon
his words were to prove prophetic in the miserable
fate of Gowrie : but so it happened. Arran, who was
informed of every particular, had quietly suffered the
plot to proceed to the very instant of its execution.
Having secretly instructed his own friends to be ready
with their forces at an instant's warning, he did not
move a step till his adversaries were in the field ; and,
by an overt act, had fixed upon themselves the crime
of rebellion. The moment this was ascertained, and
when he knew that Gowrie only waited at Dundee for
a signal to join his friends, who were advancing upon
Stirling, he despatched Colonel Stewart to arrest him;
who, with a hundred troopers, coming suddenly to that
town before sunrise, surrounded his castle. It was
difficult, however, in these times of feudal misrule and
hourly danger, to find a Scottish baron unprepared ;
and the earl bravely held his house against all assailants
for twelve hours. But he was at last overpowered,
seized, and carried a prisoner to Edinburgh.-f- At the
same moment that these scenes were acting at Dundee,
word had been brought to the court, that the Earls of
Mar and Angus, with the Master of Glammis, and
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, April 16, 1584, Mr Colvile to his brother,
t MS. Letter, Caligula, C. viii. fol. 9, Bowes to Walsingham, April 19,
1584, Berwick.
168 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
five hundred horse had entered Stirling, and possessed
themselves of the castle ; and when Stewart entered
Edinburgh with his captive, he found it bristling with
arms and warlike preparations ; the drums beating,
and the young king, in a high state of excitement,
assembling his forces, hurrying forward his levies, and
declaring that he would instantly proceed in person
against them.* So soon were the musters completed,
that within two days an army of twelve thousand
men were in the field ; and James, surrounded by his
nobles, led them on to Stirling. These mighty exer-
tions, however, were superfluous. The insurgent lords
did not dare to keep together in the face of such a
force ; and leaving a small garrison in the castle of
Stirling, fled precipitately through east Teviotdale
into England, and solicited the protection of Eliza-
beth. -J- As they passed Kelso in the night, Bothwell,
their old friend, met them, and held a secret conference ;
but as such a meeting with traitors might have cost
him his head, they agreed that at daybreak he should
chase them across the Border; which he did, acting his
part, in this counterfeit pursuit, with much apparent
heat and fury.J James then took possession of Stir-
ling ; the castle surrendered on the first summons ;
four of the garrison, including the captain, were hanged ;
Archibald Douglas, called the constable, was also exe-
cuted ; and it was soon seen that the utmost rigour was
intended against all connected with the conspiracy.
As its authors were the chief leaders of the Protes-
* MS. Letter, British Museum, Caligula, C. viii. fol. 13, Bowes to Wal-
gingham, April 23, 1584, Berwick. Ibid. fol. 13*, Bowes to Walsingham,
April 26, 1584, Berwick.
t MS. Cahlerwood, Ayscough, 4736, fol. 1321.
J Id. Ibid.
MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Bowes to Walsingham, May 7 1584.
1584. JAMES vi. 16.9
tant faction, and its objects professed to be the preser-
vation of religion, and the maintenance of the true
Word of God, it was suspected that the ministers of
the Kirk were either directly or indirectly implicated.
Of these, three, Mr Andrew Hay, Mr James Lawson,
and Mr Walter Balcanquel, were summoned to court;
and two in particular, Galloway minister of Perth,
and Carmichael minister of Haddington, were searched
for at their houses by the king^s guard, but could not
be found. They afterwards, with Polwart subdean
of Glasgow, John Davison minister of Libberton, and
the noted Andrew Melvil, fled to England.*
In the mean time, it was determined to bring Gowrie
to trial. Of his guilt, there was not the slightest
doubt. He had been a chief contriver of the plot, and
the most active agent in its organization : but there
was some want of direct evidence ; and a base device,
though common in the criminal proceedings of these
times, was adopted to supply it. The Earl of Arran,
attended by Sir Robert Melvil, and some others of
the privy-councillors, whose names do not appear,
visited him in prison ; and professing great concern
for his safety, informed him that the king was deeply
incensed against him, believing that he had the chief
hand in expelling his favourite, the Duke of Lennox.
Gowrie declared, that his part in the disgrace of the
duke was not deeper than that of his associates ; but
anxiously besought them, as old friends, to sue to the
king for a favourable sentence. They replied, that to
become intercessors for him in the present state of
James 1 feelings, would only ruin themselves, and not
serve him. " What, then," said he, " is to be done?''
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Moyse's Memoirs, p. 50. Hist. James
the Sext, p. 103.
170 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
" Our advice," said they, " is, that you write a general
letter to the king, confessing your knowledge of a
dasign against his majesty's person ; and offering to
reveal the particulars, if admitted to an audience.
This will procure you an interview, which otherwise
you have no chance of obtaining. You may then
vindicate your innocence, and explain the whole to the
king." "It is a perilous expedient," answered Gowrie.
" I never entertained a thought against the king; but
this is to frame my own dittay,* and may involve me
in utter ruin." " How so ?" said his crafty friends :
" your life is safe if you follow our counsel ; your death
is determined on if you make no confession." " Goes
it so hard with me ?" was Gowrie's reply. " If there
be no remedy, in case I had an assured promise of my
life, I would not stick to try the device of the letter."
"I will willingly pledge my honour," said Arran, "that
your life shall be in no danger, and that no advantage
shall be taken of your pretended confession."^ Thus
entrapped, the unfortunate man wrote the letter as he
was instructed ; it was sent to the king, but he waited
in vain for a reply ; and on the trial, when the jury
complained of defective evidence, and declared that
they could find nothing to justify a capital condemna-
tion, Arran, who, contrary to all justice and decency,
was one of their number, drew the fatal letter from his
pocket, and appealed to the accused whether he could
deny his own handwriting. " It is mine assuredly,"
said Gowrie, " nor can I deny it ; but, my lords, this
letter was written, these revelations were made, on a
solemn promise of my life. You must remember it
* Dittay, accusation.
+ MS. State-paper Office, Form of certain devices used by Arran and
Sir R. Melvil against Gowrie, enclosed by Davison in a letter to Walsing-
ham, dated May 27, 1 :84, Berwick.
1584. JAMES VI. 171
all," said he, looking at Arran, and turning to the lords
who had accompanied him to the prison, " how at first
I refused ; how earnestly I asserted my innocence ;
how you sware to me, upon your honour and faith, that
the king granted me my life, if I made this confession."
The Lord Advocate replied, that the lords had no
power to make such a promise ; and when the prisoner,
with the energy of a man struggling between life and
death, appealed to their oaths, these pretended friends
declared that by them no such promise had been made.*
The jury then retired to consider their verdict ; and
as Arran rose to leave the room, Gowrie made a last
effort to remind him of old times and early friendship ;
but his speech fell on a cold ear: and the prisoner,
apparently indifferent, calling for a cup of wine, drank,
and shook hands with some of his friends around him.
He sent, also, by one of them, a pathetic message to
his wife ; begging him to conceal his fate from her,
as she was just delivered of her child, and the news,
if heard suddenly, might be fatal to her. At this
moment the jury returned and declared him guilty,
a sentence which he received with much firmness : then
instantly rising to speak, the judge interrupted him,
telling him that his time was short, as the king had
already sent down the warrant for his execution.
" Well, my lord," said he, " since it is the king's con-
tentment that I lose my life, I am as willing to part
with it as I was before to spend it in his service ; and
the noblemen, who have been upon my jury, will know
the matter better hereafter. And yet, in condemning
me, they have hazarded their own souls, for I had their
promise. God grant my blood be not on the king's
* MS. British Museum, Caligula, C. viii. fol. 24, Form of examination,
and death of William earl of Gowrie, May 3, 1584.
172 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584
head ! And now, my lords," continued the unfortunate
man, " let me say a word for my poor sons. Let not
my estates be forfeited. The matters are small for
which I suffer. Failing my eldest hoy, then, let my
second succeed him." It was answered, he was found
guilty of treason, and, by law, forfeiture must follow.
The last scene of the tragedy was brief. He was
allowed to retire for a few moments, with a minister,
to his private devotions. He then walked out upon
the scaffold, asserted his innocence of all designs against
the king^s person to the people who were assembled ;
repeated the account of the base artifice to which he
had fallen a victim ; and turning to Sir Robert Melvil,
who stood beside him, begged him to satisfy the heads-
man for his clothes, as he had left the dress in which
he died to his page. The Justice-clerk then assisted
him to undo his doublet, and bare his neck ; Gowrie
himself tied the handkerchief over his eyes, and kneel-
ing down, " smilingly," as it was remarked by an
eye-witness, rested his head upon the block. It was
severed from the body by a single blow ; and his three
friends, Sir R. Melvil, the Justice- clerk, and Stewart
of Traquair, wrapping the remains in the scarlet cloth
which he had himself directed to be the covering of
the scaffold, had them buried, after the head had been
sewed on to the body.*
* MS. British Museum, Caligula, C. viii. fol. 29. Account written by a
person present at the trial. It is difficult to reconcile the conduct of Sir
Robert Melvil to Gowrie, as described by Davison, with this sentence in the
above account : " He was buried by his three friends, Sir Robert Melvil, the
Justice-clerk, and Sir Robert Stewart of Traquair ;" and we find, from the
same source, that, on the scaffold, Gowrie turned to Melvil, with a last
request, as if intrusting it to his dearest friend. All this makes me suspect
that Melvil only accompanied Arran, and did not assist him in entrapping
Gowrie. Yet, anxious as I was to think the best, the assertion, contained
in the original paper sent by Davison to Walsingham, was too clear and
direct to permit me to omit it.
1584. JAMES VI. 173
Gowrie died firmly, and it is to be hoped, sincerely
penitent ; but even in this dark age of unscrupulous
crime and aristocratic ambition few men had more
need of repentance. His early age was stained with
the blood of the unfortunate Riccio ; he and his father
being two of the principal assassins. In his maturer
years, he accompanied Lindsay in that harsh and
brutal interview with Mary, when they compelled her,
in her prison at Lochleven, to sign the abdication of
the government. Since that time, his life had been
one continued career of public faction ; his character
was stained by a keen appetite for private revenge ; *
and, although all must reprobate the base contrivances
resorted to, to procure evidence against him on his trial,
it is certain that, in common with Mar, Angus, and
Glammis, he had engaged in a conspiracy to overturn
the government.-}- It is singular to find, that a man
thus marked so deeply with the features of a cruel
age, should have combined with these considerable
cultivation and refinement. He was a scholar, fond
of the fine arts, a patron of music and architecture,
and affected magnificence in his personal habits and
mode of living. Common report accused him of being
addicted to the occult sciences ; and, on his trial, one
of the articles against him was his having consulted a
witch : but this he treated with deep and apparently
sincere ridicule.
* " Quant an Compte de Gourie il resemble toujours aluy mesine, collere
ct vindicatif et sur lequel peult plus la souvenance d'une injure passee, quo
toute aultre prevpiance de 1'avenir." Menainville to Mauvissiere, March
28, 1583. State-paper Office.
t MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Colvile to Walsingham, May 12, 1584.
J74 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
CHAP. IV.
JAMES THE SIXTH.
15841586.
CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS.
England.
Elizabeth.
France.
Henry III.
Germany.
Rudolph II.
Spain.
Philip II.
Portugal.
Philip II.
Popes.
Gregory XIII.
Sixtus V.
THE death of Gowrie, and the flight of his fellow-con-
spirators, left Arran in possession of the supreme power
in Scotland, and filled Elizabeth and her ministers with
extreme alarm. They knew his unbounded ambition ;
they were aware of the influence which he possessed
over the character of the young king : his former
career had convinced them that his talents were quite
equal to his opportunities. He combined military
experience, and the promptitude and decision which
a soldier of fortune so often acquires, with a genius
for State affairs, and a ready eloquence, in which all
could see the traces of a learned education. To this
was added a noble presence and figure, with command-
ing manners, which awed or conciliated as he pleased
those whom he employed as the tools of his greatness.
Elizabeth suspected, also, and on good grounds, that
although he professed a great regard for the reformed
religion declaring his fears lest the faction of the
queen-mother should regain its influence in Scotland,
1584. JAMES VI. 175
and seduce the mind of the young monarch from the
truth still these asseverations were rather politic than
sincere. For their truth, she and her councillors had
no guarantee : and looking to the profligacy of his
private life, his bitter opposition to the Presbyterian
clergy, and his constant craving after forfeitures and
power, they conjectured that his alleged devotion to
England, and desire to continue the amity, was rather
a contrivance to gain time till he looked about him,
than any more permanent principle of action.
All this was embarrassing to the English queen and
her ministers : and there were other difficulties in the
way of their recovery of influence in Scotland, to which
it was impossible to shut their eyes. They had trusted
that the late conspiracy, if successful, would restore
Lord Arbroath and Lord Claud Hamilton to their
ancient authority and estates ; and that their union
with the Earl of Angus, who wielded the immense
power of the house of Douglas, would enable them to
crush Arran, and destroy the French faction in Scot-
land. But Arran was now triumphant ; and his en-
mity to the houses of Douglas and Hamilton was deep
and deadly. Their restoration, he well knew, must
have been his utter ruin. He had brought the Regent
Morton to the scaffold ; he had possessed himself of
the title and estates of the unfortunate Earl of Arran ;
and as long as he continued in power, Elizabeth fore-
saw that the exiles would never be permitted to return.
She had difficulties, also, with the faction of the Kirk.
They had hitherto been encouraged by England ; and
had been employed, by Burghley and Walsingham,
as powerful opponents of the French faction and the
intrigues of the queen-mother. But Elizabeth had
herself no sympathies for the Presbyterian form of
176 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
Church government : she had often blamed the fac-
tious and Republican principles disseminated by its
ministers ; and now, when the party of the Kirk were
no longer dominant, she felt disposed to regard them
with coldness and distrust.* On the other hand, the
young king had avowed his determined enmity to
Rome ; whilst his opposition was simply to Pres-
bytery as contrasted with Episcopacy. He had form-
ed a resolution to maintain, at all risks, against the
attacks of its enemies, the Episcopal form of govern-
ment which had been established in Scotland. He was
assisted in this great design by Arran, a man not
easily shaken in his purposes ; and by Adamson arch-
bishop of St Andrew's, whose abilities were of a high
order, both as a divine and a scholar : and now that
Gowrie was gone, and the other great leaders of the
Kirk in exile, there was every probability that James
would succeed in his object. It became, therefore, a
question with Elizabeth, whether she might not gain
more by encouraging the advances of Arran, than she
would lose by withdrawing her support from the exiled
lords.
Such being her feelings, she resolved to be in no
hurry to commit herself till she had sent a minister to
Scotland, who should carefully examine the exact state
of parties in that country. When the conspiracy broke
out, Mr Davison had been on his road thither ; but
he was arrested on his journey, at Berwick, by letters
from Walsingham :{ and when the French ambassador,
who was resident at the English court, requested the
queen's permission to repair to Scotland and act as a
mediator between the factions, Elizabeth readily con-
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Davison, June 17, 1584.
f MS. Letter, State-paper Office, April 2y, 1584, Walsingham to Davison.
1584. JAMES VI. 177
sented.* She was the more inclined to choose this
moderate course, as the King of France had recently
offered to engage in a strict league with England. He
had declared his earnest desire to see the three crowns
united in perfect amity, and his wishes that the afflicted
State of Scotland should be restored to quiet : whilst
he had instructed his ambassador to visit the captive
Queen of Scots ; to exert himself to the utmost to
mitigate the rigour of her confinement, and, if possible,
to procure her restoration to liberty. }
In the mean time, Arran and the king, although they
professed a firm resolution to maintain pacific relations
with England, adopted energetic measures to secure
their triumph and complete the ruin of their enemies.
A parliament was held at Edinburgh,^ in which Angus,
Mar, Glammis, and their numerous adherents, were
declared guilty of treason, and their estates forfeited
to the crown ; whilst some laws were passed, which
carried dismay into the hearts of the Presbyterian
clergy, and amounted, as Davison declared to Walsing-
ham, to the supplanting and overthrow of the govern-
ment of the Kirk. The authority of the king was
declared supreme in all causes, and over all persons.
It was made treason to decline his judgment, and that
of his council, in any matter whatsoever ; the jurisdic-
tion of any court, spiritual or temporal, which was not
sanctioned by his highness and the three Estates, was
discharged ; and no persons, of whatever function or
quality, were to presume, under severe penalties, to
utter any slanderous speeches against the majesty of the
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Davison, May 4, 1584.
Ibid, same to same, May 10, 1584.
t MS. State-paper Office, draft, Points in the French Ambassador's
Letter, May 13, 1584.
$ MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Davison to Walsingham, May 23, 1584.
VOL. VIII. M
178 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
throne, or the wisdom of the council; or to criticise, in
sermons, declamations, or private conferences, their
conduct and proceedings.* All ecclesiastical assem-
blies, general or provincial, were prohibited from
convening; and the whole spiritual jurisdiction was
declared to be resident in the bishops : the sentence
of excommunication pronounced against Montgomery
was abrogated; and a commission granted to the Arch-
bishop of St Andrew's, for the reformation of the
University of St Andrew"^ : a seminary of education,
which was suspected to be in great need of purification
from the heterodox and Republican doctrines of its
exiled principal, Melvil.-f- To these laws it was added,
that all persons who had in their possession the His-
tory of Scotland, and the work, De Jure Regni,
written by Buchanan, should bring them to the
Secretary of State, to be revised and reformed by him.J
It had been suspected by the Kirk that such measures
were in preparation ; and Mr David Lindsay, one of
the most temperate of the ministers, had been selected
to carry to the king a protest against them ; but before
this took place, he was seized in his own house, and
carried out of bed, a prisoner, to the castle of Black-
ness^ It was alleged that he had been engaged in
secret practices with England ; and this created a
presumption that he had been cognizant of the recent
conspiracy of Gowrie. Such severity, however, did
not intimidate his brethren ; and when the recent acts
against the Kirk were proclaimed at the Cross, on the
Sunday after the rise of the parliament, Robert Pont
* Spottiswood, fol. 333. MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Davison to
Walsingham, May 23, J584.
t MS Letter, State-paper Office, Davison to Walsingham, May 27, 1584.
J Ibid.
{j MS. Letter, State- paper Office, Davison to Walsingham, May 23, 1584-
1584. JAMES VI. 379
and Balcanquel, two of the ministers of tie capital,
openly protested against them. Having satisfied their
conscience, and warned their flock against obedience,
O
they deemed it proper to provide for their own safety ;
and fled in the night, followed hard by some of the
king's guard, who had orders to arrest them. They
escaped, however, and entered Berwick by daybreak.*
Elizabeth now ordered Davison to proceed to
Scotland, and the young king despatched the cele-
brated Sir James Melvil, who was then much in his
confidence, to meet him on the Borders. Melvil's
commission was to sound the ambassador's mind before
he received audience : and after their meeting he des-
patched a letter to his brother, Sir Robert Melvil, in
which he gave a minute and graphic account of their
conversation, as they rode together towards the court.
Davison he described as all smiles and gentleness, full
of thanks for the noble train which had met him on
the Marches, and earnest in his hopes that he might
prove a more happy instrument of amity than his
diplomatic predecessors, Randolph and Bowes. Sir
James 1 reply was politely worded, but significant and
severe. He had little doubt, he said, that the inten-
tions of the Queen of England were sincere; her offers
assuredly were fair, and the rebellion of subjects against
their prince could not but be hateful to her; and yet the
proceedings of her councillors and ministers appeared
far otherwise to clear-sighted men. As for the king
his master, he was now a man both in wit and person-
age, and acute enough to look more to deeds than
words. It is the custom (continued Melvil) of some
countries to hold their neighbours in civil discord, and
send ambassadors to and fro to kindle the fire under
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Davison to Walsirgham, May 27, 1584.
180 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
colour of concord. No words could more plainly point
out the recent proceedings of Elizabeth; but Sir James
was too much of a courtier not to avoid the direct
application. He utterly disclaimed having that opinion
of her majesty, or of the ambassador himself, that
many had of some counsellors and ambassadors ; but
he assured him, unless her majesty proceeded otherwise
with the king than she had done yet, matters were
able* [likely] to fall out to her unmendable miscon-
tentment. I would not speak of auld^f* done deeds,
said he, pursuing the attack ; but now lately, when
Mr Walsingham was sent, his majesty was in good
hope of a strait amity to be packed in respect of his
own earnest inclination and the quality of him that
was sent, and could find nothing but an appearance
of changement of mind in him, either upon some new
occasion, or by the persuasion of some other party ;
and, nevertheless, his majesty dealt favourably and
familiarly with him, and showed favour unto sundry,
that were suspected, at his request, and kept straitly
some speeches that were between them ; albeit, after-
wards Master Bowes alleged the contrary, in such sort
that sundry thought it were done to pick a quarrel.
And, whereas, (continued Melvil, alluding to the late
conspiracy of Gowrie,) his majesty was mercifully
inclined to all his subjects, both they with some of
England and some of England with them had practised,
whereof her majesty had some forewarning, yet, they
drew to plain rebellion by them that came het-fut^ out
of England and Ireland, and were now returned and
treated there again ; and, then, you will say the queen
* " Able " is the vrord in the original. There is some error, however ;
the sense requires " likely."
f Auld ; old. J Het-fut ; hot-foot.
1584. JAMES VI. 181
loves his majesty the queen seeks his majesty's pre-
servation ! What is this but mockery ?* This was
a home-thrust, which Davison, who knew its truth,
could not easily parry ; nor was he more comfortable
when Sir James alluded to the conduct of the Kirk, and
the state of religion. Lord Burghley himself, said
Melvil, when in Scotland at the time of the siege of
Leith, had been scandalized at the proceedings of the
ministers, and gave plain counsel to put order to them,
or else they would subvert the whole estate ; and yet
now, said he, they are again crying out against the
king's highness, whose life and conversation is better
reformed and more godly than their own. He then
detailed to him more particularly, as they rode along,
the " slanderous practices of some of these busy fac-
tioners ; " and ended with this advice: Mr Ambassador,
if the queen require friendship, she must like the
king's friends ; she must hate his enemies ; and either
deliver them into his hands, or chase them forth of her
country, as she did at his majesty's mother's desire
after the slaughter of Davy. Your mistress need not
dread the king : he is young, far more bent on honest
pastime than on great handling of countries ; and,
unless compelled by such doings as have been carried
on lately, he will keep this mind for many years yet.
He is young enough (this was a glance at the succes-
sion to Elizabeth) to abide upon anything God has
provided for him.-f*
The two friends, by this time, had reached Melvil's
country seat, from which they rode to the court at
Falkland ; and Davison was admitted to his audience.
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Sir James Melvil to my Lord of Pitten-
weem, or Sir Robert Melvil of Karny.
t Id. Ibid.
182 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
He found the young Duke of Lennox, and the Earls
of Arran, Huntley, Montrose, and other nobles, around
the king, who received his letters with courtesy; but
expressed himself in passionate terms against the re-
bellious nobles, whom, he said, he expected Elizabeth
to deliver into his hands. To this, Davison replied,
that no one could be more tender of his estate and
preservation than his mistress. As to the noblemen
whom he termed rebels, she was as yet utterly ignorant
of the true circumstances of the late alteration, (by
this mild term she alluded to Gowrie's treason;) but
she had always regarded these nobles as men who had
hazarded their lives in his service; nor could she now
deliver them without blemish to her honour. Did his
majesty forget, that he had himself blamed Morton
for the delivery of Northumberland in his minority ;
and had recently refused to give up Holt the Jesuit,
who had been concealed in Scotland, and was a no-
torious intriguer against her majesty's government ?
Besides, she had good cause of offence from the late
conduct of Livingston, his servant, whom he had sent
up to require the delivery of Angus and his friends.
This man had spread reports injurious to her honour:
he had asserted that Gowrie had written a letter, in
prison, accusing Elizabeth of a plot against the life
both of Mary and the young king. The whole was a
foul and false slander ; and she knew well the strata-
gems which had been used to procure such a letter;
but she did, indeed, think it strange that the king
himself should credit such stories of one whose life and
government had been as innocent and unspotted as
hers, and who had shown such care of himself, and
sisterly affection to his mother.* For the banished
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, June 10, 1584, Davison to Walsingliam.
1584. JAMES VI. 183
noblemen, she should take good care they should create
no trouble to his kingdom.
To all this James answered, with a spirit and readi-
ness for which Davison was not prepared, that for this
last assurance there was not much necessity. He could
look, he hoped, well enough himself to the defence of
his kingdom against such rebels as she now thought
good to protect. The case of Holt, he said, was not
parallel. He was a mean and single subject : they
were noblemen of great houses and alliance. For Gow-
rie's letter, it was true such a letter had been written ;
but its terms were so general, as to touch neither her
majesty, nor any other persons in particular: nor was
the accusation ever substantiated by proof. Her ma-
jesty's honour, therefore, was unblemished. James
then turned to lighter subjects, talked of his hunting
and pastimes, and handed the ambassador over to Mon-
trose, with whom he dined.*
A few days 1 observation convinced Davison that
James felt as deeply as he had expressed himself; and
that, although Arran's power was great, the king's
inclinations seconded, if they did not originate, all those
severe measures which were now adopted against the
banished nobles and the ministers. Nothing was heard
of, from day to day, but prosecutions, arrests, forfei-
tures, and imprisonments ; whilst Arran, and the nobles
and barons who had joined his party, exultingly divided
the spoil. The immense estates of the family of Dou-
glas were eagerly sought after: and Davison, in a letter
to Walsingham, conveyed a striking picture of the
general scramble, " with the misery and confusion of
the country." The proceedings of this court, said he,
are thought so extreme and intolerable- as have not
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, 10th June, 1584, Davison to Walsingham.
184 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584-
only bred a common hatred and mislike of the instru-
ments, but also a decay of the love and devotion of the
subjects to his majesty. * * The want of their
ministers exiled ; the imprisonment of Mr David Lind-
say in the Blackness; and the warding of Mr Andrew
Hay in the north, who refused to subscribe their late
acts of parliament, do not a little increase the murmur
and grudging of the people ; besides, the lack of the
ordinary ministry here, which is now only supplied by
Mr John Craig and Mr John Brand, at such times as
they may be spared from their own charges. The
king is exceedingly offended with such of them as are
fled, blaming them to have withdrawn themselves
without cause, notwithstanding some of their friends
were already in hands, and warrant given forth for
their own charging and apprehending before their
departure. Immediately upon their returning, (he
continued,) the Bishop of Glasgow, and Fintry, another
excommunicate, came to this town, and were absolved,
jure politico, from the sentence of excommunication, and
now have liberty and access to the court. * * The
prisoners are all yet unrelieved of their wards, save
Lindsay and Mr William Lesly, who, by the great
suit of the Laird and Lady Johnston, hath obtained
his life. The Bishop of Moray and George Fleck
remain in Montrose. Bothwell hath been an earnest
suitor for Coldingknowes ; but hath yet obtained no
grace : he hath gotten the grant of Cockburnspeth ; Sir
William Stewart hath Douglas; the Secretary Mait-
land, Boncle; and the Colonel, Tantallon: all belong-
ing to Angus, whose lady doth yet retain her dowry.
The Colonel hath, besides, the tutory of Glammis, with
the Master's living. Huntley hath gotten Paisley and
Buquhans lands ; Montrose, Balmanno, belonging to
1584. JAMES vi. 185
George Fleck; Crawford hath gotten the Abbey of
Scone; Montrose the office of treasurer and the lord-
ship of Ruthven; Arran, Dirleton, Cowsland, and
Newton: all some time belonging to Gowrie, whose
wife and children are very extremly dealt withal.
Athole stands on terms of interdicting, for that it is sus-
pected he will relieve and support them. Glencairn hath
taken the castle of Erskine; the Laird of Clackmannan
hath spoiled Alloa : both belonging to the Earl of Mar,
whose living is yet undistributed, save the lordship
of Brechin, which is given to Huntley. The Laird of
Johnston hath gotten Locharnell, belonging to George
Douglas. The living of the rest in exile being like to
follow the same course. Arran (he went on to observe)
had been promoted to the high office of chancellor ;
Sir John Maitland had been made secretary; Sir
Robert Melvil, treasurer-depute ; and Lord Fleming,
lord chamberlain : whilst Adamson, the Archbishop
of St Andrew's, was in high favour, constantly at court,
and busily occupied in his schemes for the total destruc-
tion of the Presbyterian form of Church government,
and in the persecution of its ministers and supporters.*
Calm and cold as was the language of this letter, the
sum of public misery and individual suffering contained
in such a description must have been great and intense;
and yet such scenes of proscription and havoc were
too common in Scotland to make any deep impression
upon Elizabeth, who, when the political tools with
which she worked were worn out or useless, was ac-
customed to cast them aside with the utmost indiffer-
ence. } But her ambassador struck upon a different
string, and one which instantly vibrated with alarm
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Davison to Walsingham, June 10, 1584.
t Ibid
186 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
and anger, when he assured her, that a complete re-
volution had taken place in the feelings of the young
king towards his mother; that they kept up a constant
communication ; and that all the observations made
by him, since his arrival in Scotland, convinced him
that French politics, and the influence of the captive
queen, regulated every measure at the Scottish court.*
All pointed to this. The association, concluded already,
or on the point of being concluded, between them, by
which Mary was to resign the kingdom to her son ;
the late revolution at St Andrew's ; the execution,
exile, or imprisonment of such as had been constant in
religion ; the alteration of the Protestant magistracy
in the burghs ; the reception of English Jesuits into
Scotland ; the negotiations of the Scottish nobles now
in power with the Bishops of Glasgow and Ross,
Mary's ambassadors and instruments at the courts of
France and Spain ; the frequent intelligence between
the young king and his mother ; his speeches in her
favour, and his impatience of hearing anything in her
dispraise : all were so many facts, to which the most
cursory observer could scarcely shut his eyes ; and
which, to use Davison's words to Walsingham, clearly
demonstrated that the Scottish queen, though else-
where in person, sat at the stern of the government,
and guided both king and nobles as she pleased. "f*
This was an alarming state of things to Elizabeth.
The king was now grown up : his marriage could not
be long delayed. If, by his mother's influence, it took
place with a daughter of France ; if to tt,e intrigues
of the Spanish faction of the Roman Catholics in her
own realm, were to be added the revived influence of
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Davison to Walsingham, June 10, 1584.
J- MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Davison to Walsingham, May 28, 1584.
1584. JAMES VI.
the Guises in Scotland, and an increased power of ex-
citing rebellion in Ireland ; what security had she for
her crown, or even for her life ? A conspiracy against
her person was at this moment organizing in England;
for which Francis Throckmorton was afterwards exe-
cuted.* Of its true character it is difficult to form an
opinion ; but whether a real or a counterfeit plot, it
was enough to alarm the country. It seems certain,
that many Jesuits and seminary priests were busy in
both kingdoms exciting the people to rebellion : slan-
derous libels, and treatises on tyrannicide, were printed
and scattered about by those who considered the Queen
of England a usurper and a heretic : her enemies looked
to the Queen of Scots as the bulwark of the true faith
in England: and Mary, impatient under her long
captivity, naturally and justifiably felt disposed to
encourage every scheme which promised her liberty
and rest. At this moment, when all was so gloomy,
the faction in Scotland by whose assistance Elizabeth
had hitherto kept her opponents in check, had been
suddenly overwhelmed ; its leaders executed, or driven
into banishment ; and a government set up, the first
acts of which had exhibited a complete devotedness to
the friends and the interests of Mary.
The English queen was, therefore, compelled, by
the imminency of the danger, to put the question,
How was this crisis to be met? Having consulted
Davison, she found that any attempt at direct medi-
ation in the favour of the banished lords, would, in
the present temper of the young king, be unsuccessful ;
and to use open force to create a counter-revolution,
and restore the Protestant ascendency, was a path full
* Carte, vol. iii. p. 386.
188 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
of peril.* Setting both these aside, however, there
were still three ways which presented themselves to
revive her influence, and check the headlong violence
by which things were running into confusion and
hostility to England. One was to secure the services
of Arran, who possessed the greatest influence over
James. He had secretly offered himself to Elizabeth,
declared his constancy in religion as it was professed
in England, and his conviction, that to preserve the
amity with that realm was the best policy for his
sovereign. He undertook, if the English queen fol-
lowed his counsel, to keep the young king his master
unmarried for three years ; and he requested her to
send down to the Border, some nobleman of rank in
whom she placed confidence; whom he would meet
there, and to whom, in a private conference, he would
propose such measures as should be for the lasting
benefit of both countries. A second method, directly
contrary to this, was to support the banished lords,
Angus, Mar, and Glammis, with money and troops ;
to employ them to overwhelm Arran, and compel the
king to restore the reformed faction, and the exiled
O
ministers of the Kirk. A third scheme presented
itself, in the offers which the captive queen herself had
made at this moment to Elizabeth. She was now old,
she said ; ambition had no charms for her ; she was
too much broken in health and spirits, by her long
imprisonment, to meddle with affairs of State. All
that she now wished, was to be restored to liberty, and
permitted to live in retirement, either in England, or
in her own country. She could not prevent her friends,
and the great body of the Roman Catholics in Europe,
from connecting her name with their efforts for the re-
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Davison to Burghley, June 23, 1584.
1584. JAMES VI. 189
storation of the true faith ; from soliciting her approval,
and organizing plans for her deliverance. All this re-
sulted from her having been so long detained a captive
against the most common principles of law and justice;
but if the queen would adopt a more generous system
and restore her to liberty, she was ready, she said, to
make Elizabeth a party to the association, which was
now nearly completed, with her son; to resign the
government into the hands of the young king; to use
her whole influence in reconciling him to the exiled
lords ; to promote, by every method in her power, the
amity with England ; and not only to discourage the
intrigues of the Roman Catholics against the govern-
ment of her good sister, but to put her in possession
of many secret particulars, known only to herself, by
which she should be enabled to traverse the schemes
of her enemies, and restore security to her person and
government.
All these three methods presented themselves to
Elizabeth, and all had their difficulties. If she ac-
cepted Arran's offer, it could hardly be done except
after the old fashion, which she so much disliked: of
pensioning himself and his friends; outbidding France;
and setting her face against his mortal enemies, the
Douglases and the Hamiltons, whose return must be
his ruin. If she sent back the exiled lords, it equally
involved her in expense, and pledged her to the support
of the Kirk ; to whose Presbyterian form of govern-
ment, and high claims of infallibility and independence,
she bore no favour. If she embraced Mary's proposals,
her safest, because her justest and most generous
course, she acted in hostility to the advice of Burgh-
ley and Walsingham, who were deemed her wisest
councillors ; and who had declared, in the strongest
190 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
possible terras, that the freedom of the Scottish queen
was inconsistent with the life of their royal mistress,
or the continuance of the Protestant opinions in Eng-
land. Having weighed these difficulties, Elizabeth
held a conference with her confidential ministers, Lord
Burghley and Walsingham. Although of one mind
as to the rejection of the offers of Mary, they, contrary
to what had hitherto taken place, differed in opinion
on the two alternatives which remained. Burghley
advised her to gain Arran, to send a minister to hold
a secret conference with him on the Borders,* and,
through his influence, to manage the young king.
Walsingham, on the other hand, warmly pleaded for
the banished lords. No trust, he affirmed, could be
put in Arran ; and, as long as he ruled all, there
would be no peace for England : but at this instant,
so great was the unpopularity of the young king and
this proud minister, that if her majesty sent home the
banished lords, with some support in money and sol-
diers, they would soon expel him from his high ground,
and restore English ascendency at the Scottish court.
Having considered these opinions, Elizabeth decided
that she would exclusively follow neither, but adopt
a plan of her own. It was marked by that craft and
dissimulation which, in those days of crooked and
narrow policy, were mistaken for wisdom. To all the
three parties who had offered themselves, hopes were
held out, Arran was flattered, his proposals accepted ;
and Lord Hunsdon, the cousin of the English queen,
directed to meet him in a conference on the Borders. -f-
At the same moment, a negotiation, which had been
opened a short while before with the Queen of Scots, was
* MS. State-paper Office. Instructions to Lord Hunsdon, June 30, 1584.
flbid.
1584. JAMES VI. 191
rene^ ed. She was once more deluded with the dream
of liberty ; and encouraged to use her influence with
her son, and persuade him to more charitable feelings
towards England and the exiled lords : * and, lastly,
these noblemen and the banished ministers of the
Kirk, were fed with hopes, that the queen would re-
store them to their country; strengthen them with
money and arms, and gratefully accept their service
to overwhelm both Arran and the Scottish queen. (
In this way Elizabeth persuaded herself that she
could hold in her hand, and ingeniously play against
each other, the main strings which moved the principal
puppets of the drama. If Arran proved true to his
promises, as Burghley anticipated, she could easily
cast off the banished lords ; if false, as Walsingham
judged likely, they were ready, at her beck, to rise
and overwhelm him. Whilst, from the captive queen,
whose restoration to liberty was never seriously con-
templated, she expected to gain such disclosures as
should enable her to traverse the constant intrigues of
her enemies. It is to be remembered, that all these
three modes of policy were carried on at one and the
same time ; and it is consequently difficult to bring
the picture clearly, or without confusion, before the
eye : but it must be attempted.
Elizabeth, in the beginning of July, informed James
that she had accepted his offers, and had appointed
Lord Hunsdon to hold a conference with Arran on the
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, May 10, J 584, Walsingham to Davison.
Ibid., Randolph to Davison, May 13, 1584. Ibid., Walsingham to Davison,
May 20, 1584. Ibid., Papers of Mary queen of Scots, Lord Shrewsbury
and Mr Beal to Walsingham, May 16', 1584 ; and Ibid., Walsingham to
Lord Shrewsbury, June 16, 1 584 ; and Ibid., Mary queen of Scots to the
French ambassador, July 7, 1584.
t MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Col vile to Walsingham, 25th May,
1584.
192 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
Borders. * The arrangements for this meeting, how-
ever, which was to be conducted with considerable
pomp and solemnity, could not be completed till
August; and Davison, the English ambassador in
Scotland, employed this interval in getting up a fac-
tion in favour of the banished lords, in undermining
the influence of Arran, and in tampering with the
governor of the castle of Edinburgh, for its delivery
into the hands of the queen. For all this Walsingham
sent special instructions: and whilst his secret agents
were busy in Scotland, Colvile had private meetings
with Elizabeth, and laboured to gain the Hamiltons
to join the exiled noblemen. It was hoped, in this
way, that the foundation of a movement would be laid,
by which, if Arran played false, a result which both
Elizabeth and Walsingham expected, the banished
nobles should break into Scotland, seize or assassinate
the Scottish earl, get possession of the person of the
king, and put an end to the French faction in that
country. This, as will be seen in the sequel, actually
took place, though the course of events interrupted
and dela} r ed the outbreak. -f*
It was now time for the appointed conference; and,
on the fourteenth of August, the Earl of Arran and
Lord Hunsdon met at Foulden Kirk ; a place on the
Borders, not far from Berwick. It was one object of
the Scottish lord to impress the English with a high
idea of his power; and the state with which he came
was that of a sovereign rather than a subject. His
retinue amounted to five thousand horse, and he was
attended by five members of the privy-council, who,
whilst Hunsdon and he alone entered the church,
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Davison, July 2, 1584.
t MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Colvile to Walsingham, May '25, 1584.
1584. JAMES vt. 193
waited obsequiously without in the churchyard. All,
even the highest noblemen, appeared to treat him with
such humility and deference, that Lord Hunsdon,
writing to Burghley, observed, they seemed rather
servants than fellow-councillors ; and Sir Edward
Hoby, who was also on the spot, declared he not only
comported himself with a noble dignity and grace, but
was, in truth, a king, binding and loosing at his plea-
sure.* In opening the conference, Arran professed
the utmost devotion to the service of the English
queen; and with such eloquence and earnestness, that
Hunsdon declared he could not question his sincerity.
There was a frankness about his communications which
impressed the English lord with a conviction of their
truth; and Hoby, who knew Elizabeth's love of hand-
some men, sent a minute portrait of him to Burghley,
recommending him to the favour of his royal mistress.
For the man, said he, surely he carrieth a princely
presence and gait, goodly of personage, representing
a brave countenance of a captain of middle age, very
resolute, very wise and learned, and one of the best
spoken men that ever I heard : a man worthy the
queen's favour, if it please her.-j-
But to return to the conference. Hunsdon, on his
side, following the instructions of Elizabeth, complained
of the recent unkind conduct of James in seeking an
alliance with France, and encouraging the enemies of
England. It was well known, he said, to his royal
mistress, that this young prince, instead of fulfilling
his promises to her to whom he owed so much, was
practising against her. His harbouring of Jesuits ;
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Hunsdon to Burghley, August 14, 1584.
Ibid., Sir Edward Hoby to Lord Burghley, August 15, 1584.
+ MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Sir Edward Hoby to Lord Burghley,
August 15, 1584.
VOL. VIII. K
J94 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
his banishment of the noblemen best affected to Eng-
land ; his intended " association " with his mother ;
his intercourse with the pope; his contemptuous treat-
ment of her ambassadors, all proved this ; and would,
ere now, have called down a severe retaliation,* had he
not recently shown a change of mind, and expressed a
desire of reconciliation, which she was willing to believe
sincere. She now trusted that Arran would act up
to his protestations ; and employ his influence with
the king his master, for the restoration of amity be-
tween the two crowns, and the return of the exiled
nobility.
In his reply to this, Arran did not affect to conceal
the intrigues of France and Spain to gain the young
king ; but he assured Hunsdon that all his influence
should be exerted to counteract their success, and pro-
mote the amity with England. As to Elizabeth's
complaints, some he admitted to be true, some he
denied, others he exculpated. His master, he said,
had never dealt with any Jesuits, and knew of none
in his dominions: the Scottish king had no intentions
of carrying forward "the association" with his mother;
nor had he any secret intrigues with the pope. Arran
admitted James" 1 severity to some of the English
ambassadors : but had it not been for the reverence
borne to their mistress, they would have been used
with harder measure ; for James had Mr Randolph's
own hand to prove him a stirrer up of sedition : and it
was Mr Bowes, her majesty's ambassador, who was
the principal plotter of the seizure of the king's person
at Ruthveu, and the recent rebellious enterprise at
Stirling. As for the banished lords, it was strange,
indeed, to find her majesty an intercessor for men who
had cast off their allegiance, and taken arms against.
1584. JAMES VI. 195
their natural prince ; and whose proceedings had been
so outrageous, that neither the king, nor he himself,
could entertain the idea of their return for a moment.
Angus, Mar, and their companions, had never ceased
to plot against the government. Let Hunsdon look
back to the course of the last two years. With what
shameful ingratitude had Angus treated the king his
master, in the business of the Earl of Morton, in the
affair of the Raid of Ruthven, when they seized and
imprisoned him, (Arran,) and threatened the king
they would send him his head in a dish, if he did not
instantly banish Lennox ! Hunsdon pleaded against
this the king's own letter to Elizabeth, which showed
that he was pleased with the change. Arran smiled
and said, it was easy to extort such a letter from a
prince they had in their hands. Hunsdon replied, that
James ought to have secretly sought advice from Bowes
the English ambassador. Bowes ! retorted Arran.
Bowes, as the king well knew, was at the bottom of
the whole conspiracy for his apprehension. And then,
look to the dealings of the same lords in the last affair,
which cost Gowrie his head. With what craft did
they seduce the ministers ; plotting my death, and
the king^s second apprehension, had it not been happily
detected and defeated. Nay, said he, getting warmer
as he proceeded, what will your lordship think, if I
tell you, that at this moment the men you are pleading
for as penitent exiles, are as active and cruel-minded
in their captivity as ever ; and that, at this instant,
I have in my hands the certain proofs of a plot now
going forward, to seize the king, to assassinate myself,
to procure, by treachery, the castle of Edinburgh, and
to overturn the government ? * Tis but a few days
* MS. State-paper Office, Hunsdon to "SValsingham, August 14, 1584
196 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
since all this has been discovered : and can your lord-
ship advise your mistress to intercede for such traitors?
This was too powerful an appeal to be resisted; and
Hunsdon, changing the subject, spoke of the conspir-
acies against Elizabeth. Adverting to Throckmorton's
recent treason, he declared that his mistress the queen
well knew that, at this moment, there were practices
carrying on in the heart of her kingdom for the dis-
turbance of her government. She knew, also, that the
King of Scots and his mother were privy to these;
nay, she knew that it was intended he should be a
principal actor therein. Let him dislose them all fully
and frankly, and he should find that the English queen
knew how to be grateful. To this, Arran promptly
answered, that nothing should be hid from Elizabeth,
and no effort omitted by the king or himself to satisfy
her majesty on this point. He then showed Hunsdon
his commission under the Great Seal, giving him the
broadest and most unlimited powers ; and the confer-
ence, which had lasted for five hours, was brought to
an end.* On coming out of the church, both Hunsdon
and he appeared in the highest spirits and good humour.
It was evident to the lords, who had waited without,
that their solitary communications had been of an
agreeable nature; and the Scottish earl seemed resolved
that his own people should remark it ; for, turning to
the lords about him, he said aloud, " Is it not strange
to see two men, accounted so violent and furious as
we two are, agree so well together, I hope, to the
contentment of both crowns and their peace !"} At
and MS. Notes of the same interview. Endorsed by Burghley, August 13,
1584 ; also, Ibid., Hunsdon to Burghley, August 14, 1584.
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Hunsdon to Walsingham, August 14,
1584. Ibid., same date, Hunsdon to Burghley.
t MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Sir Edward Hoby to Dr Parry, August
'5, 1584.
1584. JAMES VI. 197
this moment, Hunsdon and Arran were reckoned the
proudest and most passionate noblemen in their two
countries ; but' for this excessive cordiality there
were secret reasons, if we may believe an insinuation
of Walsingharn's to Davison. Hunsdon and Lord
Burghley had a little plot of their own to secure the
favour of the young King of Scots, by gaining Arrau,
and bringing about a marriage between James and a
niece of the English earl; who, as cousin to Elizabeth,
considered his kin as of royal blood.* On this point,
Walsingham felt so bitterly, that he accused his old
friends of worshipping the rising sun ; and observed,
that her majesty had need now to make much of faith-
ful servants. "f*
On coming out of the church, Arran called for the
Master of Gray, a young nobleman of his suite, and
introduced him to Hunsdon. It was impossible not to
be struck with the handsome countenance and graceful
manners of this youth. He had spent some time at
the court of France ; and, having been bred up in the
Roman Catholic faith, had been courted by the house
of Guise, and employed by them as a confidential en-
voy in their negotiations with the captive Queen of
Scots. He had always professed the deepest attach-
ment to this unhappy princess ; and the young king
had, within the last year, become so captivated with
his society, that Mary, who had too rapidly trusted
him with much of her secret correspondence, sanguinely
hoped that his influence would be of the highest service
to her, in regaining a hold over the affections of her
son. But Gray, under an exterior which was preemi-
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Hunsdon to Burghley, October 1, 1584.
Also, MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Davison to Burghley, July 27, 1584.
t MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Davison, July 12, 1584.
198 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584
nently beautiful, though too feminine to please some
tastes, carried a heart as black and treacherous as any
in this profligate age ; and, instead of advocating, was
prepared to betray the cause of the imprisoned queen.
To her son the young king, and the Earl of Arran, he
had already revealed all he knew ; and he now presented
a letter from James his master to Hunsdon. Its con-
tents were of a secret and confidential kind, and related
to the conspiracies against Elizabeth, which gave this
princess such perpetual disquiet. After enjoining on
Hunsdon the strictest concealment of all he was about
to communicate from every living being, except his
royal mistress, Gray informed him that the King of
Scots meant to send him speedily as ambassador to
England, with some public and open message to Eliza-
beth ; under colour of which, he was to be intrusted
with the commission of disclosing all the secret prac-
tices of Mary. Had Hunsdon kept his promise, we
should have known nothing of all this ; but, next
morning, he communicated it to Burghley, in a letter
meant only for his private eye. It is to the preserva-
tion of this letter, that we owe our knowledge of a
transaction which brings the young king, and his
favourite the Master of Gray, before us in the degrading
light of informers : the one betraying his mother; the
other selling, for his own gain, the secrets with which
he had been intrusted by his sovereign. This is so
dark an accusation, that I must substantiate it by an
extract from the letter in question. " Now, my lord,"
said Hunsdon, addressing Burghley, "for the principal
point of such conspiracies as are in hand against her
majesty, I am only to make her majesty acquainted
withal by what means she shall know it yet will I
acquaint your lordship with all. The king did send
1584. JAMES vi. ]99
the Master of Gray, at this meeting, to me, with a
letter of commendation, under the King^s own hand,
whom he means presently to send to her majesty, as
though it were for some other matters ; but it is he
that must discover all these practices, as one better
acquainted with them than either the king or the earl,
(but by him.*) He is very young, but wise and
secret, as Arran doth assure me. He is, no doubt,
very inward with the Scottish queen, and all her affairs,
both in England and France ; yea, and with the pope,
for he is accounted a Papist; but for his religion, your
lordship will judge when you see him ; but her majesty
must use him as Arran will prescribe unto her; and so
shall she reap profit by him. * * * I have written
to Mr Secretary [Walsingham] for a safe conduct to
him ; but nothing of the cause of his coming, but
only to her majesty and to your lordship. If Mr Secre-
tary be slow for this safe conduct, I pray your lordship
further it, for the matter requires no delay ."}
The conference was now concluded, and Arran had
succeeded in persuading Lord Hunsdon, not only of
his sincerity and devotion to the service of Elizabeth,
but of his entire hold over the mind of his royal master.
If Lord Burghley, to whom he professed the utmost
attachment, would cooperate firmly with himself and
Hunsdon, and the Master of Gray, he was able, he
affirmed, to hold the young king entirely at the devo-
tion of the Queen of England. He did not despair to
unite the two crowns in an indissoluble league ; and,
by exposing the practices of her enemies, to enable
Elizabeth to traverse all the plots of Mary and the
* These words seem superfluous, yet they are in the original letter.
f- MS. Letter, State- paper Office, Hunsdon to Burghley, Aug. 14, 1584.
200 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
Roman Catholics. But there were two parties, whom,
he declared, they must put down at all risks. The
one laboured for the liberty of the captive queen, and
her association in the government with her son. The
other was, at this moment, intriguing in every way
for the return of Angus and the exiled lords ; for the
triumph of the Kirk over Episcopacy, and the reestab-
lishment of the Republican principles which had led to
the Raid of Ruthven, and the other conspiracies for
seizing the king, and using him as their tool. The
first party was supported by France, Spain, and the
Spanish faction of the Roman Catholics in England.
Its agents on the continent were the Bishops of Ross
and Glasgow, whose emissaries, the Jesuits and semi-
nary priests, were, at that moment, plotting in Scot-
land ; it possessed many friends in the privy-council
and nobility of Scotland, such as, Maitland the
chancellor, Sir James and Sir Robert Melvil,* the
Earl of Huntley, .and it might, indeed, be said, the
whole body of the Roman Catholic peers in both coun-
tries. It was from this party that the late conspiracies
against the queen of England had proceeded, as her
majesty would soon discover by the embassy of the
Master of Gray; and, if she listened to his (Arrant)
advice, it would be no difficult matter to detach James
for ever from his mother and her friends. But to
effect this, she must put down the other faction of the
banished lords. The king, he said, hated Angus, their
leader ; and Angus and the whole house of Douglas,
were still boili'ng in their hearts to revenge on their
sovereign, and on Arran, the death of the regent Mor-
ton. As to the banished lords of the house of Hamilton,
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Hunsdon, Aug. 12, 1584.
1584. JAMES VI. 201
their return must be his (Arran's) destruction ; and,
for the exiled ministers of the Kirk, James was so
incensed against them, and so bent upon the estab-
lishment of Episcopacy, that he would listen to no
measures connected with their restoration. Yet this
party for the return of the banished lords, was sup-
ported by Walsingham in England, and Davison her
majesty's ambassador in Scotland ; and their busy
agent, Colvile, was admitted to secret audiences with
Elizabeth, and fed with hopes of their return. If this
policy were continued, (so argued Arran,) it would
blast all his efforts for the binding his young master
to the service of Elizabeth ; for rather than one of the
banished lords should set his foot in Scotland, James,
he was assured, would throw himself into the arms of
France and Spain, and carry through the project of an
association with his mother the captive queen.
These arguments of Arran explain that jealousy and
irritation which appeared in many of Secretary Wal-
singham's letters regarding the conference between him
and Hunsdon. This crafty statesman was well aware
that there was a conference within a conference, to
which he was kept a stranger ; a secret negotiation*
between Burghley and Hunsdon, the exact object of
which he could not fathom ; but by which he felt his
own policy regarding Scotland shackled and defeated.
He looked, therefore, with suspicion upon Burghley ""s
whole conduct in the affairs of Scotland at this time ;
and these feelings were increased by the court which
Arran had paid to Burghley's nephew, Sir Edward
Hoby, who formed one of Hunsdon's suite at the con-
ference.
This accomplished person, on the conclusion of the
conference, rode from Foulden Kirk, with the Earl of
202 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
Arran, to the ground where he had left his troops ;
the distance was three miles ; they had ample time
for secret talk ; and Hoby, next morning, described
the conversation, in letters addressed both to his uncle
Burghley, and his kinsman Dr Parry.* The Scottish
earl was particularly flattering and confidential. Bring-
ing Hoby near his troops, which were admirably mount-
ed and accoutred, he pointed to them significantly, and
shaking his head, told him in these ranks there were
many principal leaders, who would gladly send him
out of the world if they could, so mortally did they
hate him ; but he feared them not. Nay, such was
his power, and his enemies' weakness at this moment,
that if Elizabeth would accept his offers, she should
have twenty thousand men at her service. To devote
himself to her, indeed, would be his highest pride.
As for France and Spain, he cared little for either.
He neither needed their friendship, nor feared their
enmity ; but with the favour of his royal master,
could live in Scotland independent of both ; and for
these conspiracies against his life, the same God who
had defended him in Muscovy, Sweden, and Germany,
would cast his shield over him at home. Arran then
appears to have changed the subject to James 1 expec-
tations as Elizabeth's successor, the State of England,
the rival interests of the Catholic and Protestant fac-
tions in reference to this delicate point, and the probable
effects of Mary's intrigues for the recovery of her liberty
upon the prospects of her son. So, at least, may be
conjectured from Hoby's description of the great and
weighty discourses into which he entered ; and he
ended by assuring him, that the King of Scots desired,
* MS. Letter. State-paper Office, Sir Edward Hoby to Dr Parry. Aug.
15, 1584.
] 584. JAMES VI. 203
of all things in the world, to place himself, and his
whole interests, in the hands of. Lord Burghley and
Lord Hunsdon, the one as the wisest head, and the
other the boldest heart in England.* When it is
recollected that Arran was no friend of the Queen of
Scots, and that Burghley was not only opposed to
every scheme for her liberty, but had often repeated
his conviction, that her life was inconsistent with
Elizabeth's security, we require no more certain evi-
dence of the melancholy fact, that James was ready,
at this instant, to desert her cause and betray her de-
signs to her bitterest enemies.
On his return, from this conference, to the capital,
Arran, presuming on its successful issue, resumed the
management of affairs with a high and proud hand.
A few days before he met Hunsdon he had, as we have
just seen, discovered a conspiracy against the govern-
ment. In this plot, the captain of the castle of Edin-
burgh had been detected tampering with Davison and
Walsingham, for the delivery of the fortress into the
hands of the English faction ; and Arran wisely re-
solved to defeat all recurrence of such attempts, by
taking possession of the place in person. -f* He, ac-
cordingly, removed the governor and officers, substi-
tuted his own creatures in their room, demanded the
keys of the crown jewels and wardrobe from Sir
Robert Melvil ; and, with his lady and household,
occupied the royal apartments within the castle. J
He had now four of the strongest fortresses of the
country at his devotion, Dumbarton, Stirling, Black-
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Sir Edward Hoby to Lord Burghley
Aug. 15, 1584.
t MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Davison, July ]2, 1584 t
and Ibid., Walsingham to Davison, Aug. 13, 1584.
J MS. State-paper Office, Davison to Walsingham, Aug. 16, 1 j84.
204 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
ness, and Edinburgh ; and his ambition enlarging by
what it fed on, he assumed a kingly consequence and
state which offended the ancient nobility, and excited
their fear and envy. On his return from the confer-
ence at Foulden Kirk, he was welcomed with cannon
by the castle ; a ceremony, as it was remarked, never
used but in time of parliament, and to the king or
regents : and when, soon after, summonses were issued
for the meeting of the three Estates, all the country
looked forward with alarm to a renewal of the pro-
scriptions and plunder which had already commenced
against the exiled lords. But the reality even outran
their anticipation. Arran, assisted by his lady, a
woman whose pride and insolence exceeded his own,
domineered over the deliberations of parliament ; and,
to the scandal of all, insisted on those Acts, which they
had previously prepared, being passed at once without
reasoning.* Sixty persons were forfeited;^ many
were driven to purchase pardons at a high ransom ;
and the unhappy Countess of Gowrie was treated with
a cruelty and brutality which excited the utmost com-
miseration in all who witnessed it. This lady, a
daughter of Henry Stewart lord Methven, on the
last day of the parliament, had obtained admission to
an antechamber, where, as the king passed, she hoped
to have an opportunity of pleading for herself and her
children ; but, by Arran's orders, she was driven into
the open street. Here she patiently awaited the king's
return, and cast herself, in an agony of tears, at his
feet, attempting to clasp his knees ; but Arran, who
walked at James 1 hand, hastily pulled him past, and,
pushing the miserable suppliant aside, not only threw
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Davison to Walsingham, Aug. 24, 1.584.
f MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Davison to Walsingham, Aug. 1C, 1584.
1584. JAMES VI. 205
her down, but brutally trode upon her as the cavalcade
moved forward, leaving her in a faint on the pavement.
Can we wonder that the sons of this injured woman,
bred up in the recollection of wrongs like these, should,
in later years, have cherished in their hearts the deep-
est appetite for revenge ?
Immediately after the parliament, the king repaired
to his palace at Falkland; whilst Arran, Montrose, and
the other lords of his party, now all-powerful, remained
in Edinburgh, engaged in pressing on the execution of
the late acts, for the confiscation and ruin of their op-
ponents. Of these, by far the most formidable was the
Earl of Angus; who, although banished, and now at
Newcastle, retained a great influence in Scotland. He
was the head of the Presbyterian faction in that country,
the great support of the exiled ministers ; and it was
his authority with Walsingham that traversed Arran\s
and James 1 schemes for a league between England and
Scotland, on the broad basis of the establishment of
Episcopacy. It was resolved, therefore, to cut off this
baron; and Arran, and his colleague Montrose, the
head of the powerful house of Graham, made no scruple
of looking out for some desperate retainer, or hired
villain, to whom they might commit the task. Nor,
in these dark times, was such a search likely to prove
either long or difficult. They accordingly soon pitched
upon Jock or John Graham of Peartree, whom Montrose
knew to have a blood feud with Angus ; sent a little
page called Mouse to bring the Borderer to Edinburgh ;
feasted and caressed him during the time of the parlia-
ment, and carried him afterwards to Falkland, where
the two earls, and the king, proposed to him not only
to assassinate their hated enemy, but to make away
with Mar and Cambuskenneth, his brother exiles, at
206 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
the same time. Jock at once agreed to murder Angus,
and was promised a high reward by the young monarch ;
but he declined having anything to do with Mar, or
Cambuskenneth, with whom he had no quarrel; and
he left the palace, after receiving from Montrose a
short matchlock, or riding-piece, which was deemed
serviceable for the purpose in hand. But this atrocious
design was not destined to succeed. The villain, who
was probably lurking about in the neighbourhood of
Newcastle, was detected and seized, carried before Lord
Scrope, compelled to confess his intention; and infor-
mation of the whole plot was immediately transmitted
by Scrope to Walsingham.* The English secretary re-
commended, that the discovery should be kept a secret
from all, except Angus and Mar, who were privately
warned of the practices against them; and it is from
the confession of the Borderer himself, which he made
before Scrope, that these particulars are given. The
intended assassin thus described his interview with
the king: After stating that he had arrived late at
night at the palace, they brought him, he said, into
the king^s gallery, where he [the king] was alone by
himself: and only he, Montrose, and Arran, and this
examinant, being together, the king himself did move
him, as the other two had done, for the killing of
Angus, Mar, and Cambuskenneth: to whom he an-
swered, that for Mar and Cambuskenneth, he would
not meddle with them ; but for Angus, he would well
be contented to do that, so as the king would well
reward him for that. And the king said, he would
presently give him sixty French crowns, and twenty
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, B.C., December 22, 1584, Scrope to
Walsingham. " For the matter of Peartree, I have kept the same secret,
saving to the Earls of Angus and Mar, who, I trust, will use it as the same
behoveth."
1584. JAMES vi. 207
Scottish pound land to him and his for ever, lying in
Strathern, near Montrose.*
These facts are so distinctly and minutely recorded
in the manuscript history of Calderwood, who has
given the whole of GrahanVs declaration, that it was
impossible to omit them; but although there is little
doubt of the truth of the intended murder, so far as
Arran and Montrose are concerned, it would be, per-
haps, unfair to believe in the full implication of the
young king, on the single evidence of this Border
assassin. To return, however, from this digression to
Arrar/s headlong career. His hand, which had recent-
ly fallen so heavily on the nobility, was now lifted
against the Kirk. Proclamation was made that all
ministers should give up the rental of their benefices ;
and that none should receive stipend but such as had
subscribed the new-framed policy, by which Presbytery
was abrogated and Episcopacy established. As was
to be expected, many of the clergy resisted, and were
commanded to quit the country within twenty days :
nor were they permitted, as before, to take refuge with
their banished brethren in England or Ireland. *f* All
this was carried through at the instigation of the
primate, Archbishop Adamson ; who had recently re-
turned from England, and exerted himself to purify the
universities from the leaven of Presbyterian doctrine,
and to fill the vacant pulpits with ministers attached
to the new form of policy. His efforts, however, met
with bitter opposition. At St Andrew's, the archi-
episcopal palace in which Adamson resided, was sur-
rounded by troops of students, who armed themselves
* MS. Calderwood, British Museum, 1468, Examination of Jock Graham
of Peartree, taken before the Lord Scrope, Warden of the West Marches at
Carlisle, November 25, 1584.
f MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Davison to Walsingham, Aug. 16, 1584.
208 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
with harquebusses, and paraded round the walls,
bidding the primate remember how fatal that See had
been to his predecessor, and look for no better issue.
Montgomery the Bishop of Glasgow was attacked in
the streets of Ayr by a mob of women and boys, who
with difficulty were restrained from stoning him, and
kept pouring out the vilest abuse, calling him atheist
dog, schismatic excommunicate beast, unworthy to
breathe or bear life.* Some of the ministers, also,
refusing to imitate the example of their brethren who
had fled from their flocks, remained to brave the
resentment of the court ; and taking their lives in
their hands, openly preached against the late acts,
and declared their resolution not to obey them. The
anathema of one of these, named Mr John Hewison,
minister of Cambuslang, has been preserved. It is
more remarkable, certainly, for its courage than its
charity ; and may be taken as an example of the tone
of the high Puritan faction to which he belonged.
Preaching in the Blackfriars at Edinburgh, on the text
which declares the resolute answer of St Peter and St
Paul to the council of the Pharisees, he passed from
the general application to the trials of the Kirk at
that moment, and broke out into these words: "But
what shall we say ? There is injunction now given
by ane-f wicked and godless council, to stop the mouths
of the ministers from teaching of the truth ; and sic J
a godless order made, as the like was never seen before.
There is ane heid of the Kirk made; there being nae jj
heid but Jesus Christ, nor cannot be. Stinking and
baggage heidis !H an excommunicated sanger !** an
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Davison to Walsingham, Aug. 16, 15154.
* Ane, one. Sic, such. Heid, head.
|| Nae, none. If Heidis, heads. ** Sanger, singer.
] 584. JAMES vi. 209
excommunicate willane,* \vha sail never be obeyed
here ! We will acknowledge nae prince, nae magistrate,
in teaching of the Word ; nor be bounden to nae in-
junctions, nor obey nae acts of parliament, nor nae other
thing that is repugnant to the Word of God : but will
do as Peter and John said, Better obey God nor man.
But it is not the king that does this. It is the wicked,
godless, and villane council he has, and other godless
persons, that inform his majesty wrangously,-f- whereof
there is aneugh J about him. For my own part," he
continued, warming in his subject with the thoughts
of persecution, " I ken I will be noted. I regard
not. What can the king get of me but my head and
my blood \ I sail never obey their injunctions ; like
as I request all faithful folk to do the like." || The
prediction of this bold minister was so far verified,
that he was apprehended, and order given to bring
him to justice ; but for some reason not easily disco-
vered, the trial did not take place. IT
It was at this same time, that Mr David Lindsay,
one of the persecuted ministers, whose mind, in the
solitude of his prison at Blackness, had been worked
into a state of feverish enthusiasm, was reported to
have seen an extraordinary vision. Suddenly, in the
firmament, there appeared a figure in the likeness of a
man ; of glorious shape and surpassing brightness :
the sun was above his head, the moon beneath his
feet ; and he seemed to stand in the midst of the
stars. As the captive gazed, an angel alighted at the
feet of this transcendant Being, bearing in his right
hand a red naked sword, and in his left a scroll ; to
* Willane, villain. -\- Wrangously, wrongfully.
J Aneugh, enough. Ken, know.
|| MS. State-paper Office, original, Accusation of Mr John Hewison.
TI MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Davison to Walsinghara, July 14, 1584,.
VOL. VIII O
210 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
whom the glorious shape seemed to give commandment;
upon which, the avenging angel, for so he now
appeared to be, flew rapidly through the heavens, and
lighted on the ramparts of a fortress ; which Lindsay
recognised as the castle of Edinburgh. Before its gate
stood the Earl of Arran and his flagitious consort: the
earl gazing in horror on the destroying minister, who
waved his sword above his head ; his countess smiling
in derision, and mocking his fears. The scene then
changed : the captive was carried to an eminence, from
which he looked down upon the land, with its wide
fields, its cities and palaces. Suddenly the same
terrible visitant appeared : a cry of lamentation arose
from its inhabitants ; fire fell from heaven on its de-
voted towns the sword did its work the rivers ran
with blood and the fields were covered with the dead.
It was a fearful sight ; but, amidst its horrors, a little
bell was heard ; and, within a church which had stood
uninjured even in the flames, a remnant of the faithful
assembled ; to whom the angel uttered these words of
awful admonition. " Metuant Justi. Iniquitatem
fugite. Deligite Justitiam et Judicium ; aut cito
revertar et posteriora erunt pejora prioribus." * Lind-
say asserted that it was impossible for him to ascertain
whether this scene, which seemed to shadow out the
persecutions and prospects of the Kirk, was a dream
or a vision ; but it brought to his mind, he said, a
prophecy of Knox ; who, not long before his death,
had predicted great peril to the faithful in the eigh-
teenth year of the reign of James.
Elizabeth now recalled Davison from Scotland,^
* Sir George TVarrender, MS. vol. B., fol. 59. " A vision [which "] ap-
peared to Mr David Lindsay, he being in his bed in the house of Blackness,
in the month of October, 1 584.
t MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Davison to Walsingharo, Sept. 17, 1584.
1584.
JAMES VI.
211
and looked anxiously for James' promised ambassador,
the Master of Gray, whose mission had, as she thought,
been somewhat suspiciously delayed. But this gave
her the less anxiety, as she had, in me mean time,
continued her correspondence with the banished lords ;
whom, at any moment, she was ready to let loose
against Arran and the king.* She, at the same time,
resumed her negotiations with Mary; and this un-
fortunate princess, who had so often been deluded with
hopes, which withered in the expected moment of ac-
complishment, was, at last, induced to believe that the
blessed period of freedom had arrived. Even Wal-
singham declared himself pleased with her offers, and
advised his royal mistress to be satisfied with them. "I*
Such was the crisis seized by the accomplished villany
of the Master of Gray, to betray his royal mistress,
and to enter the service of Elizabeth. Before he threw
off the mask, he had the effrontery to write to Mary,
affecting the highest indignation at the suspicions she
had expressed of his fidelity ; and declaring, that the
best mode to serve her interests was that which he was
now following. It was necessary, he said, that the
young king her son, should, in the first instance, treat
solely for himself with Elizabeth, and abandon all
thoughts of "the association 1 ' with his mother. This,
he affirmed, would disarm suspicion; and James. having
gained the confidence of the English queen, might be
able to negotiate for her liberty. But Mary, who was
already aware of Gray's treachery, from the representa-
tions of Fontenay the French ambassador, promptly
and indignantly answered, that any one who proposed
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Walsingliam to Captain Reid, Sept. 23,
1584.
f Sadler Papers by Scott, vol. ii.
212 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
such a separation between her interests and those of
her son, or who opposed " the association," which was
almost concluded, must be her enemy, and in that
light she would regard him. To this Gray returned
an angry answer, and instantly set off for England.*
At Berwick, he had a private consultation with
Hunsdon, whose heart he gained by his sanctimonious
deportment in the English church, and by the frank-
ness with which he communicated his instructions.
His principal object, he declared, was to insist, that
the banished lords should either be delivered up by
Elizabeth, or dismissed from her dominions. If this
were done, or if the queen were ready to pledge her
word that it should be done, he was prepared, he said,
to disclose all he knew of the secret plots against her
person and government; and he would pledge himself,
that no practice had been undertaken, for the last five
years, against herself, or her estate, by France, Spain,
the Scottish queen, or the pope, but she should know
it, and how to avoid it.-f Gray had been expressly
ordered by James to hold his confidential communica-
tions with Burghley alone, and to repose no trust in
Walsingham, whom the young king regarded as his
enemy. From Arran he had received the same in-
junctions ; and nothing could exceed the confidence
which both monarch and minister seemed disposed to
place in Cecil. The king paid court to him in a long
pedantic letter, written wholly in his own hand ; in
which he discoursed learnedly upon Alexander the
Great and Homer ; modestly disclaiming any parallel
between himself and the conqueror of Darius, but ex-
* Papers of Master of Gray, Bannatyne Club, p. 30-37.
t Hunsdon to Burgbley, October 19, 1584, Papers of Master of Gray,
p. 13.
1584. JAMES VI. 213
alting Cecil far above such " a blind, begging fellow' 1
as the Grecian bard. He addressed him as his friend
and cousin, and assured him, that he considered him-
self infinitely fortunate in being permitted to confide
his most secret affairs to such a counsellor ; to whom,
he was convinced, he already owed all the prosperity
which hitherto had attended him.* Arran, at the
same time, wrote in the most flattering and confiden-
tial terms to Sir Edward Hoby, Burghley's nephew;
and Hunsdon was requested by James to repair from
Berwick to the English court, that he might assist in
their consultations. -f-
Gray now proceeded to London, and was speedily
admitted to an audience of Elizabeth. It may be
necessary, for a moment, to attend to the exact atti-
tude and circumstances in which this princess now
stood. She had the party of the banished lords, now
in England, at her command. Angus, Mar, Lord
Arbroath the head of the house of Hamilton, Glammis,
and many other powerful barons, were in constant
communication with Walsinghana ; their vassals on
the alert ; the exiled ministers of the Kirk eager to
join and march along with them. They held them-
selves ready at her beck ; and she had only to give the
signal for them to cross the Border and attack Arran,
to have it instantly obeyed. On the side of Mary,
this poor captive had been drawn on, by the prospect
of freedom, to offer the sacrifice of everything which
belonged to her as an independent princess, and which
she could give up with honour. By the long-con-
templated " association " with her son, she had agreed
to resign the government into his hands, and to re-
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, James to Burghley, October 14, 1584.
t Id. Ibid.
214 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584.
nounce for ever all connexion with public affairs, were
she only allowed to live in freedom, with the exercise
of her religion. Here, then, the Queen of England
had only to consent ; and, in the opinion of even the
suspicious Walsingham, she was safe.
Such was the state of things, when the Master of
Gray made his proposals from a third party, the
young king and Arran. From his intimate knowledge
of the most secret transactions of the Scottish queen
and the Catholic faction, he was possessed, as he
affirmed, of information which vitally touched her
majesty's person and estate.* This he was ready to
reveal ; but on condition that she would deliver up
the banished lords, or drive them out of her dominions ;
break off all treaty with Mary on the subject of the
association; and advance a large sum of money, in the
shape of an annual proof of her affection to the young
king. The first was absolutely necessary; for the
king his master was animated with the strongest hatred
of his rebels. The second was equally so ; for Mary's
liberty was inconsistent with the security of both the
Queen of England and James ; her unshaken attach-
ment to the Roman Catholic faith rendering any
" association " with her son highly dangerous to Eliza-
beth ; whose efforts ought to be directed to separate
their interests, and to secure the establishment of a
government in Scotland under a minister opposed to
Mary. And here Gray artfully laid the foundation
of his own rise with Elizabeth, and of Arran's disgrace.
Arran, he insinuated, was not so deeply devoted to
her majesty, or so hostile to the Scottish queen as he
pretended. He was proud, capricious, tyrannical, and
* Papers of the Master of Gray, p. 13, Hunsdon to Burghley, October 19,
1584.
1584. JAMES VI. 215
completely venal. The king, too, was in such need
of money, that Elizabeth would do well to remember
that his politics, at this time, depended on the supply
of his purse. If France bid highest, France would
have both the minister and his master. Arran, too,
by his pride and extortions, was daily, almost hourly,
raising up a formidable party against him. None, he
said, dared to aspire to any interest with the king,
whom he did not attack and attempt to ruin. Already
he, the Master of Gray, was the object of his jealousy
and hatred, for the favour with which the king regarded
him. All was yet, indeed, smooth and smiling between
them : but he knew well, this very embassy had been
given him with the view of separating him from hia
master. The storm was brewing; but, if Arran tried
to wreck him as he had done so many others, he might
chance, proud as he was, to have a fall himself. So
confident did he feel, he said, in the love of his royal
master, that, if Elizabeth would grant him her support,
he was certain he could supplant this insolent favourite,
gain the young king, unite England and Scotland in
an indissoluble league, recall the banished lords, over-
whelm all the secret plots of the Roman Catholics,
and completely separate Mary and her son. To effect
all this, however, would require time ; for, on two
points, the king would be hard to be moved. If the
exiles came back, they would bring Andrew Melvil
and the banished ministers of the Kirk along with
them ; and, at this moment, the very mention of such
a result, would excite James' determined opposition.
Elizabeth was highly pleased with this proposal.
She had long distrusted Arran ; and felt that her best
security lay in the return of the Protestant lords.
She was anxious to break off her negotiation with Mar v ;
216 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584
but did not like the odium of such a course. The
blame would be thrown on the King of Scots by Gray's
plan ; and this she liked much. She knew the unre-
mitting efforts of France and Spain to gain the young
king; and felt assured, that her only safeguard would
be an " association " between her own kingdom and
Scotland, from which Maryshould be entirely excluded;
and the basis of which should be the defence of the
reformed religion against the perpetual attacks of the
Roman Catholics in Europe.
There were some circumstances of recent occurrence
which greatly strengthened her in this course. Father
Crichton, a Jesuit, happening to be on his voyage to
Scotland from Flanders, the vessel was chased by
pirates, and he was observed to tear some papers and
cast them away. But the wind blew them back into
the ship: they were picked up, put together, and found
to contain a proposal for an invasion of England by
Spain and the Duke of Guise. As one object proposed
here, and in all such plots, was the delivery of the
Queen of Scots and the dethronement of Elizabeth,
their constant recurrence was now m,et by an " Asso-
ciation " for the protection of the English queen's
government and life, first proposed by Leicester, and
eagerly subscribed by persons of all ranks and deno-
minations. The terms of this association were after-
wards solemnly approved by parliament, and an act
passed for the safety of the queen's person. It stated,
that if any invasion or rebellion should be made in her
dominions, or any enterprise attempted against her
person, by or for any person pretending a title to the
crown after her death, she might, by a commission
under the Great Seal, constitute a court for the trial
of such offences, and which should have authority to
1584. JAMES VI. 217
pass sentence upon them. It added, that a judgment
of " Guilty " having been pronounced, it should im-
mediately be made public ; and that all persons against
whom such sentence was passed, should be excluded from
all claim to the crown, and be liable to be prosecuted
to the death, with their aiders and abettors, by her
majesty 's subjects.* This league was evidently most
unjust towards the Scottish queen, as it made her re-
sponsible, and liable to punishment, for the actions of
persons over whom she had no control. She saw this ;
and at once declared that " the association" had no
other object than indirectly to compass her ruin. But
if alarming to Mary, it was proportionally gratifying
to Elizabeth. She persuaded herself that if her sub-
jects thus united to protect her person, and preserve
the reformed faith, she ought vigorously to second
their efforts ; and this inclined her to look graciously
on Gray. The measures, therefore, proposed by him
were adopted. It was resolved to undermine Arran,
as the first step for the restoration of the banished
lords ; and the other objects, it was trusted, would
follow. To cooperate with Gray, Sir Edward Wotton
was chosen to succeed Davison as ambassador in Scot-
land. He was a man of brilliant wit and insinuating
* O
address, a great sportsman, an adept in hunting and
"wood-craft;" and these qualities, with a present of
eight couple of the best hounds, and some choice horses,
would, it was believed, entirely gain the heart of the
young king. Wotton, too, as we learn from Sir James
Melvil, was a deep plotter, and capable of the darkest
designs, whilst to the world he seemed but an elegant,
light-hearted, and thoughtless man of fashion.
* Carte, vol. iii. p. 587.
218 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584-5.
Having laid these schemes for the ruin of his cap-
tive sovereign and of Arran his friend, the Master of
Gray returned to the Scottish court, and received the
thanks of the king, and his still all-powerful favourite,
for the success with which he had conducted his nego-
tiations.* To disarm suspicion, it was judged prudent
that, for some time, all should go on serenely. Eliza-
beth wrote in flattering terms to Arran. She, at the
same time, commanded the banished lords to remove
from Newcastle into the interior ; -f and, in return for
this, Gray had the satisfaction of assuring her, that
he found the king his master in so loving a disposition
towards her, that he could not feel more warmly were
he her natural son. He was equally successful in at
once creating a breach between Mary and James. The
just and merited contempt with which Fontenay the
French ambassador had stigmatized Gray's base deser-
tion of that princess, furnished him with a subject of
complaint to the king and council ; and he so artfully
represented the dangerous consequences which must
follow " an association " between the young king and
his mother, that it was unanimously resolved it should
never take place.J
This was a great point gained ; and to secure further
success, he implored Elizabeth and her ministers to
humour James for the present, by entirely casting off
Angus and the exiled lords ; whose despair was great
when they found the predicament in which they stood.
They appealed in urgent terms to Walsingham; de-
* MS. Letter, Waster of Gray to Elizabeth, January 24, 1584-5.. Ibid.,
Colvile to Walsingham, December 31, 1584. Also, Papers of Master of
Gray, p. 41, Master of Gray to Walsingham, January 24, 1584-5.
+ MS. State-paper Office, Colvile to Walsingham, December 31, 1584.
+ MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Master of Gray under the title of Le
Lievreau to Elizabeth.
1584-5.
JAMES VI.
219
clared that even now, if the queen would say the word,
they would break across the Border, surprise the per-
son of the king, and chase Arran with ignominy from
the country. Everything was ready for such an effort,
and their friends only waited their arrival. But their
proposal for an irruption was coldly received. Wal-
singham wrote to them, that her majesty, seeing the
hard success of the late enterprise at Stirling, was
doubtful some like plot might have like issue ; and
preferred a more temperate system of mediation, in
Scottish affairs, to a more violent course.* The exiles,
therefore, submitted; and James and Arran, exulting
in their success, recommenced their persecution of the
Kirk.
All ministers were compelled, on penalty of depri-
vation, to subscribe the acts of parliament which estab-
lished the Episcopal form of government; forbidden to
hold the slightest intercourse with their brethren who
had fled for conscience sake ; and even prosecuted if
they dared to pray for them.-f- This extreme severity
appears to have been followed by a very general sub-
mission to the obnoxious acts ; and as it was followed
up by the removal of the banished lords into the in-
terior of England, and a prohibition of any Scottish
minister from preaching, publicly or privately, in that
realm, the cause was considered at the lowest ebb. A
letter, written at this time by David Hume, one of
the exiles, from Berwick, to Mr James Carmichael, a
recusant brother of the Kirk, gave some details which
carried sorrow to the hearts of the brave little remnant
which still stood out against the court. It told, in
homely, but expressive phrase, that all the ministers
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Colvile, Jan. 10, 1584-5.
J* Spottiswood, p. 3.%'.
220 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1584-5.
betwixt Stirling and Berwick, all Lothian, and all
the Merse, had subscribed, with only ten exceptions;
amongst whom, the most noted were Patrick Simpson
and Robert Pont ; that the Laird of Dun, the most
venerable champion of the Kirk, had so far receded
from his primitive faith as to have become a pest to
the ministry in the north; that John Durie, who had
so long resisted, had ''cracked his curple 1 " 1 * at last, and
closed his mouth ; that John Craig, so long the coad-
jutor of Knox, and John Brande, his colleague, had
submitted; that the pulpits in Edinburgh were nearly
silent so fearful had been the defection except, said
he, a very few, who sigh and sob under the cross. His
own estates, he added, had been forfeited, his wife and
children beggared ; and yet he might be grateful he
was alive, though in exile, for at home terror occupied
all hearts. No man, said he in conclusion, while he
lieth down, is sure of his life till day.f
This miserable picture was increased in its horrors
by the violent proceedings of Arran against all con-
nected with the banished lords ; by his open contempt
of the laws, and the shameful venality of his govern-
ment. His pride, his avarice, his insolence to the
ancient nobility, and impatience of all who rivalled
him in the king's affections, made his government in-
tolerable ; and the Master of Gray, beginning to find
that he was looked upon with suspicion by this daring
man, concluded that the moment had come for the
mortal struggle between them.
At this time, Sir Edward Wotton, the English am-
* " Cracked his curple." Curple, Scots ; f. e. crupper ; meaning that the
crupper had broken, and Durie, saddle and all, had come violently to the
ground.
+ MS. Letter in MS. Calderwood, British Museum, Ayscough, 4736, foL
1528.
1585.
JAMES VI.
221
bassador, arrived in Edinburgh. He was instructed
to congratulate James on his wise determination to
break off " the association " with his mother the cap-
tive queen ; and to encourage him to enter into a firm
league with England. The ambassador was also di-
rected by Elizabeth to hold out to the Scottish king
good hopes of a pension ; but Walsingham, her prudent
secretary, advised him not rashly to name the sum set
down in his instructions, as its small sound might
rather do harm than good.* As he found opportunity,
he was to sound the king, also, on the subject of his
marriage, naming the King of Denmark's daughter ;
and to assure him, that his deep animosity against the
banished lords, was, in her opinion, immoderate and
unjust. Last summer, she said, the Earl of Arran
had, in his letters to her, accused them of a conspiracy
against his life; and now, recently, she had investigated
a similar story brought up by James' ambassador, the
Justice-clerk : but both tales, in the end, proved so
weak and groundless, that she had good cause to think
them maliciously devised to serve some end.-f
Such were Wotton's open instructions ; and, as he
seconded all he said by a present of eight couple of
buckhounds, and brought some noble horses for the
royal stud, James received him with the youthful
boisterous delight, which such gifts usually produced
in the royal mind. But the ambassador had a darker
and more secret commission. During Gray's late stay
at the court of England, he had contrived, with the
approval of Elizabeth and the assistance of Walsing-
ham, a plot for the destruction of Arran; and Bellen-
* MS. State-paper Office, Minute, Walsingham to Wotton, May 23, 1585.
+ MS. State-paper Office, Instructions to Sir Edward Wotton, April,
1585.
222 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1585.
den the Justice-clerk, who had recently visited England,
had been prevailed on by the queen to join it. Wotton
was now sent down to take the management ; and at
the moment when he arrived, he found the Master of
Gray deliberating with his brother conspirators, whether
it were best to seize and discourt* their enemy, or to
assassinate him. The Lord Maxwell, now best known
by the title of Earl of Morton, had joined the plot,
having a mortal feud with Arran ; and it is not im-
probable the more violent course would have been
chosen, when Gray received, by the hands of Wotton,
a letter from Elizabeth, recommending them to spare
him. Wotton next day wrote thus to Walsingham :
" By my letter that myself did deliver to the Master
of Gray from her majesty, their purpose is altered, at
her majesty's request, to deal with him by violence ;
notwithstanding, upon the least occasion that shall be
offered, they mean to make short work with him."-f-
Gray, also, on the same day, addressed a letter to the
English secretary, assuring him, that he would comply
with the queen's wishes, and not resort to violence,
except he saw some hazard to his own life. Adding,
emphatically and truly, as to his own character, "when
life is gone all is gone to me."|
In the midst of these intrigues, all was bustle and
pleasure at the Scottish court. The king hunted,
feasted, and made progresses to his different palaces,
and the seats of his nobility. The ambassador, in
whose society he took much delight, attended him on
all his expeditions ; occasionally mingling State affairs
* To discourt; a phrase not unusual in the letters of this time ; meaning
to banish any minister from the king's presence and councils.
f MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Wotton to AValsingham, May 31, 1585.
MS. Letter. State-paper Office, Master of Gray to Walsingham, May
31, 1385.
1585.
JAMES VI.
223
with the chase, or the masque, or the banquet; re-
commending the speedy adjustment of the league
with Elizabeth ; sounding him lightly on the point
of his marriage ; touching on the melancholy divisions
amongst his nobility, which were increased by his con-
tinued severity to the banished lords ; and sometimes
adverting, with extreme caution, and in general terms,
to the delicate subject of the promised pension. To
the league with England, James showed the strongest
inclination. It appeared to him, he said, most wise
and necessary, that the " Confederacy," which had re-
cently been entered into by the various Roman Catholic
princes, to prosecute the professors of the reformed
faith, should be met by a union of the Protestant
powers in their own defence ; and when the various
heads of this treaty, transmitted by Walsingham to
Wotton, were laid before him, they met with his cor-
dial approbation.* On his marriage, he showed no
disposition to speak with seriousness ; and Gray as-
sured Wotton, that to deal lightly in that matter
would be best policy, his young master having no
inclination to match himself at this moment. His
mind was wholly engrossed with his pastime, hunting,
and his buckhounds. Of this passion, a ludicrous
outbreak occurred shortly before Wotton's arrival.
James, at the end of a sharp and successful run,
calling for a cup of wine, drank to all his dogs ; and,
in particular, selecting and taking the paw of an old
hound, named Tell True, who had greatly distin-
guished himself, he thus apostrophized his favourite :
" Tell True, I drink to thee above all my hounds ;
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Wotton to Walsinsrham, June .5, 1585.
Ibid., June 7, 1585, Heads of the League. Ibid., Walsingham to Wotton,
June '27, 1585. Also, Ibid., Thomas Miller to Archibald Douglas, July 8,
1585.
224 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1585.
and would sooner trust thy tongue than either Craig
or the bishop." Craig was the royal chaplain, and
the prelate, Montgomery bishop of Glasgow. This
anecdote was reported again to the banished ministers
of the Kirk; and mourned over more seriously, and
as pointing to a deeper depravity, than it seems to
have indicated.*
Wotton was pleased to find that James continued
constant in his resolution not to enter into any asso-
ciation with the captive queen; but, on the other hand,
there were two subjects on which the young monarch
was immoveable, his love for Arran, and his enmity
to the banished Protestant lords and their ministers.
These were most serious impediments in the way of
the negotiation; and as the conspirators suspected that
Arran was already intriguing with France, to traverse
the league with England, many secret conversations
took place between the English ambassador and the
conspirators, as to the propriety of cutting off this
powerful favourite at once, before he should do more
mischief. Wotton duly and minutely communicated
what passed, at such interviews, to Walsingham and
Elizabeth ; and although the letters are, in many
places, written in cipher, and wherever the intended
murder is directly mentioned, the words have been
partially scored out ; still, fortunately for the truth,
we have a key to the cipher, and the erasure is often
legible. Strange and revolting as it may sound to the
ears of modern jurisconsults, it is nevertheless certain,
that the Lord Justice-clerk Bellenden, the late ambas-
sador to England, and the second highest criminal
judge in the country, promised Wotton to find an
* Calderwood MS., British Museum, fol. 1528, David Hume to Mr James
Carmichael, March 20, 1584-5.
1585.
JAMES VI.
assassin of Arran, if he would engage that his royal
mistress would protect him. Wotton was much puzzled
with this, and still more embarrassed when he received
a private visit from the proposed murderer himself ;
who figures in his letter as 38, and appears to have
been Douglas provost of Lincluden.* The English
ambassador had been carefully warned not to implicate
Elizabeth, by any promises, but to leave the matter
to themselves; and as it is curious to observe how, in
those times, an ambassador informed a Secretary of
State of an intended assassination, and probed his mind
as to the encouragement which should be held out, it
may be interesting to give some short passages of his
letter to Walsingham. " The Tuesday, in the morn-
ing, 38 came likewise to me, that used, in effect, the
same discourse that had done before, all tending
to a necessity of ; which, for the weal
of the realms, should be done, so that the doers of it
have thanks for their labour. I propounded to him,
whether he might not be better discourted by way of
justice. ' Yea,' quoth he, ' worthily for twenty offen-
ces ; but the king will not admit such proceedings. 1 *
Then I asked if 20 [Morton] might not attempt it,
seeing he was already engaged ; but that, for want of
secrecy, he said, and distance, was full of danger. At
last I perceived, by his speech, that himself was to do
it. * * * The thing he requires, as he saith, is
to have thanks for his labours, and for his good affec-
tion he bears to her majesty': and if he fortune to
despatch it, that he be relieved with some money, to
support him in the estate of a gentleman, till he were
able to recover the king^s favour again ; and this I
trust, quoth he, 14 [the Earl of Leicester] and 15 [Mr
* MS. Letter, Wotton to Walsingham, June 9, 1585. Caligula, C. viii. fol. 109.
VOL. VIII. p
226 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1585.
Secretary] will not deny. In general speeches, I told
him that your honours were personages that had him
in special recommendation. * * * I told him I
would make relation of this matter to your honours :
and he said he would write himself to Mr Secretary ;
and so praying me, if I did write aught, to commit his
name to cipher, we departed." * This is a very shock-
ing picture ; but the quiet way in which the intended
murderer of Arran talked of his projected deed, is,
perhaps, less abhorrent than Wotton's own words to the
Justice-clerk, when this dignitary of the law pleaded
the necessity of cutting him off, and offered to provide
the man to do it. " I paused a while, (so Wotton
wrote to Walsingham,) and, remembering that I had
no commission to persuade them, or animate therein,
further than they saw cause themselves, specially in
things of this nature, I durst not promise aught to
encourage them ; and therefore told him, that I wist
not what to say to the matter. To move her majesty
I would not ; neither did I think it fit for her to
hear of it beforehand : to abuse them I would not ;
only, for mine own part. I was commanded to in-
crease their credit with the king so long as I abode
here. * * I wished rather, if it might be, to have
him discourted. * * * In the end, to be quit
of him, (for, to be plain with your honour, I found
myself in a great strait and desire not to be ac-
quainted with the matter ; which, if it must be done,
I wished rather to have been done ere I came hither,)
I asked what opinion 38 [the provost] had hereof, and
wished him to confer with him, which he said he would,
* MS. Letter, British Museum, Caligula, C. viii. fol. 195, Wotton to
Walsingham, June 1, 1585. Also, MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Wotton
to Walsingham, July 29, 1585.
1585. JAMES VI. 227
and departed." * With SS^s opinion, and offer, in his
own person, to finish the business, we are already
acquainted. But it is needless to get farther involved
in the meshes of this conspiracy, from which Arran
escaped, at this time, by his own vigilance and the
coldness of the ambassador, who would fain have en-
sured the profits of success, without the responsibility
of failure.
In the mean time, Wotton had completely succeeded
in the principal and avowed object of his mission.
James had determined that the proposed league be-
tween England and his kingdom, for the defence of
religion, should be concluded. He had revised and
amended the various articles ; and, with the view of
bringing forward the subject, had assembled a conven-
tion of his nobility at St Andrew's, when an event
occurred, which threatened to throw all into confusion.
This was the slaughter of Lord Russell in a Border
affray, which took place at a meeting, or day of truce,
as it was called, between Sir John Foster and Ker of
Fernyhirst, the Wardens of the Middle Marches, -f-
There is good reason to believe that this unfortunate
affair was wholly unpremeditated, for so Foster himself
declared in his letter written to Walsingham the day
after; J but, as Fernyhirst happened to be the intimate
friend of Arran, it instantly occurred to the crafty
diplomacy of the English secretary, and Wotton the
ambassador, that a good handle was given by the
death of Russell, to procure the disgrace of this hated
* MS. Letter, British Museum, fol. 195. Caligula, C. viii. June 1, 1585.
+ July 28.
J MS. Letter, State-paper Office, B.C., Sir John Foster to Walsingham,
July 28.
MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Wotton to Walsingham, July 31, 1585,
St Andrew's.
228 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1585.
minister. Foster, therefore, was directed to draw up
a paper, the purport of which was to show that the
attack had been preconcerted ; * and Wotton did not
scruple to declare to the young king, that one of the
bravest noblemen of England had been murdered by
the contrivance of Arran and Fernyhirst.
James, who was cast down at this interruption of
the league, and unprepared for the violence of Wotton,
could not conceal or command his feelings, but shed
tears like a child : protested his own innocence ; and
wished all the lords of the Borders dead, provided
Lord Russell were alive again. Nor were these mere
words : Arran was imprisoned in the castle of St
Andrew's ; Fernyhirst was threatened to be sent to
stand his trial in England ; and a strict investigation
into the whole circumstances of the alleged murder
took place. But the result rather evinced the inno-
cence, than established the guilt of Fernyhirst. Arran,
meanwhile, bribed the Master of Gray, who procured
his imprisonment at St Andrew's to be exchanged for
a nominal confinement to his own castle at Kinneil ;
and this scheme, for the ruin of the court favourite,
bid fair, by its unexpected result, to reestablish his
influence over the young king, and increase his power.-}-
All this fell heavily on Wotton and Walsingham.
Arran had resumed his intrigues with France; it was
believed that he had adopted the interests of the im-
prisoned queen ; who, as we shall immediately see, was
* MS. State-paper Office, B.C., Sir John Foster's Reasons to prove that
the murder of Lord Russell was intended. This paper probably misled
Camden, who gives an exaggerated account of the whole dispute. Kennet,
vol. ii. p. 505.
+ MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Wotton to Walsingham, July 29 and
30, 1585 ; also ibid., same to same, August 6, and 7, 1585, St Andrew's ;
and ibid., August 13, 1585, same to same ; and ibid., August li), 1585, same
to same; and ibid., August 21, 1585, same to same.
1585.
JAMES VI.
229
now busily engaged in organizing that great plot for
the invasion of England and her own delivery from
captivity, which was known by the name of Babing-
ton's conspiracy. At the same moment Burghley and
Walsingham, who, by intercepting Mary's letters, had
discovered her designs against their royal mistress,
were occupied in weaving those toils around Mary, and
possessing themselves of those proofs of her guilt, by
which they trusted to bring her to the scaffold. It
was to them, therefore, of the utmost consequence, that
the league between England and Scotland should be
concluded before they made their great effort against
Mary ; that the young king should be bound to Eliza-
beth by ties for mutual defence and the maintenance
of the established religion ; and that Arran, and French
interests and intrigues, should not repossess their power
over his mind. Yet the only counterpoise to Arran,
in James' affections, lay in the Master of Gray, their
great tool and partisan ; and he had betrayed them.
There could not be a doubt that Arran owed to him
his late deliverance from prison. Gray had proved
false, too, at the critical moment when he was privy
to all their schemes against this favourite ; so that it
became equally hazardous to trust him or to throw him
off. What, then, was to be done ? It was necessary
to act rapidly to act decidedly; and yet it was
almost impossible for Elizabeth's ministers to make a
single move against Arran without the fear of failure.
From this difficulty they were delivered by the fertile
brain and flagitious principles of the very man who
had so recently betrayed them the Master of Gray.
He, too, had his misgivings as to the insecurity of the
ground on which he stood, and in his dilemma sought
the advice of Archibald Douglas, now in banishment
230 HISTORY OF SCOTLAXD. 1585-
in England, the intimate friend of Walsingham, and
equally familiar with the party of the exiled lords and
the expatriated ministers of the Kirk ; who, since the
fall of Morton, had found a retreat in England. To
this man, who had been stained by the murder of
Darnley ; and, since then, engaged in innumerable
plots, sometimes for, and sometimes against the queen-
mother Gray addressed a singular letter, which yet
remains, in which he laid open his secret heart, and
required his advice, as the friend he loved best in the
world. He told him frankly that the Queen of Eng-
land had deserted and almost ruined him. It was by
her advice, and relying upon her promises of support,
that he had matched himself against Arran ; that he
had sought Arran's life, and Arran his ; and now that
he was reduced to a strait, where were all her promises ?
To continue to deal frankly with her was impossible ;
and must lead to his overthrow. What parties, then,
were left to be embraced? Arran, the imprisoned
queen, the French politics, the Roman Catholic in-
terests in Europe ? This was impossible : Arran,
although obliged to him for his recent escape, was the
falsest of men, and never to be long trusted ; Arran
knew, too, that he would have taken his life. As to
the Scottish queen, he (Gray) could never hope to be
trusted by Mary after deserting her ; and his perfidy
was perfectly known to the whole body of the Catholics.
One party only remained, by uniting himself with
which a revolution might be effected in Scotland : the
party of the banished lords, and their expatriated
friends, the ministers of the Kirk. If Angus, Mar,
and the Master of Glammis, could make up their dif-
ferences with their exiled brethren, Lords Claud and
John Hamilton, with whom they were still at feud, and
1585.
JAMES VI.
231
unite in invading Scotland, there would be little doubt
of a strong diversion in their favour. To them, Gray
said, he would promise all his influence ; it might
happen, too, that he would find means to rid them of
Arran ; but as to this he would make no stipulation.
Yet, if the deed could still be done so secretly, that
his knowledge of the M doer" should not be suspected,
he would still make the attempt. At all events, they
should be joined by Bothwell and Lord Hume ; and
he could promise, also, he thought, for Cessford. He
concluded his letter, by assuring Douglas that this
was the only plan left, which had the slightest likeli-
hood of success; that if the exiled noblemen were ever
to make the attempt, now was the time when he would
promise them they should muster, at least, two to one
against their enemies ; and he ended his letter with
these emphatic words : Persuade yourself, if the ban-
ished lords come down, the king shall either yield, or
leave Scotland.*
This new plot was readily embraced by the outlawed
lords and the ministers of the Kirk, and warmly en-
couraged by Wotton, the English ambassador, who
immediately communicated it to Walsingham, in a
letter from Dumbarton, whither he had accompanied
the young king upon a hunting party. The Master
of Gray had sought him out, he said, and informed him,
that he was now convinced they had run all this while
a wrong course, in seeking to disgrace Arran with the
king, whose love towards him was so extreme, that
he would never suffer a hair of his head to fall to the
ground, if he might help it. It was evident, he con-
tinued, that as long as Arran should remain in favour
* MS. Letter, British Museum, Caligula, C. viii. fol. 222, Master of Gray
to Archibald Douglas, August 14, 1585.
232 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1585.
with the king, it would be impossible to bring home
the lords by fair means : that, unless they might be
restored, the league could neither be sure, nor the
Master of Gray, and the rest of his party, in safety.
For Arran, recovering the king's person, would be able,
with his credit, to ruin them, and divert the king from
the queen ; or, finding his affection towards her irre-
moveable, would not stick to convey him into France.
Wotton then proceeded to inform Walsingham of
Gray's new plot. It was the advice, he said, of this
experienced intriguer, that her majesty, having so good
occasion ministered by the death of my Lord Russell,
should pretend to take the matter very grievously, and
refuse to conclude the league for this time. She might
then let slip the lords, (meaning Angus and his asso-
ciates,) who, with some support of money, and their
friends in Scotland, might take Arrau, and seize on
the king's person ; in which exploit Gray promised
them the best aid he and his faction could give. Gray
added, that if Walsingham found this overture well
liked at the English court, he would direct a special
friend of his and the exiled lords, very shortly into
England, who might confer with Angus and the rest
about the execution of the plot. This (continued
Wotton, addressing Walsingham) was the effect of
Gray's whole speech, saving that, in the end, he said,
in answer of an objection I made, that he would under-
take this thing, being alone, to bring the league to a
perfect conclusion.*
This letter was written on the twenty-fifth of Au-
gust ; and so actively did Gray proceed with his plot,
* State-paper Office, Wotton to Walsingham, Dumbarton, August 25,
158.5. This letter is written partly in cipher ; hut I quote it from the con-
temporary decipher written above each character or number.
1585.
JAMES VI.
233
that, within a week after, it had assumed a more serious
shape. In Scotland he had gained the Earl of Mor-
ton, formerly Lord Maxwell, a powerful Border baron,
who had been suspected to be in the interest of Arran.
In England, not only Angus, Mar, Glammis, and
their friends, were secured as actors, but also the Lords
Claud and John Hamilton, the mortal enemies of Arran,
who had remained in banishment since the year 1579,
when they were forfeited for the murder of the Regents
Moray and Lennox. These two noblemen agreed to
a reconciliation with Angus and his party, with whom
they had been at feud, and determined to unite against
Arran.
Wotton, the English ambassador, lent to all this his
active assistance ; and his letters to Walsingham, which
are still preserved, present us with an interesting pic-
ture of the growth of the conspiracy.* Some time
before this, the Earl of Morton, who was Warden of
the West Borders, and whom few noblemen in Scotland
could surpass in military power and experience, had
incurred the resentment of the king by an attack upon
the Laird of Johnston, in which he slew Captain Lam-
mie, who commanded a company of the royal forces
which James had sent to reinforce Johnston. This
enraged the king, who, by the advice of Arran, deter-
mined to lead an army against the insurgent ; -f- and
at this crisis of personal danger, overtures being made
to Morton, he, to secure his safety, readily embraced
the offers of Gray, and joined the conspiracy. | This
* State-paper Office, Wotton to Walsingham, September 1, 1585. This
letter is greatly defaced, by some person having erased the proper names
and emphatic words ; but enough is left to show the nature of the plot, and
the full approval of Wotton. Also, State-paper Office, same to same.
+ State-paper Office, Wotton to Walsingham, September 30, 15?>5.
Historic of James the Sext, pp. 212, 213. State-paper Office, Wotton
to Walsingham, September 30, 1585, Stirling.
234 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1585.
was a great point gained, and gave the utmost satis-
faction to Wotton and Walsingham, to whom it was
immediately communicated.*
But although nothing could exceed the activity and
talent (if we may use this term) of Gray and Wotton,
in the management of this plot, their efforts were
counteracted by the coldness and delays of Elizabeth,
and the reviving influence of Arran. This nobleman,
still nominally confined to his house at Kinneil, on
the charge of being accessary to Lord Russell's death,
was yet daily recovering his power over the king's
mind ; and it was now well known that, having been
deceived and thrown off by Elizabeth, he had embraced
the interests of France, from which government he had
recently received a large supply of money. ^ Under
his protection, Holt, Dury, and Bruce, three noted
Jesuits, were secretly harboured in Scotland, J and
busily engaged in intrigues for the restoration of the
queen-mother, and the reestablishment of the Roman
Catholic faith. Nor was this all. Arran, as we
have already seen, could organize plots, and frame
secret schemes for surprise and assassination, as well
as his enemies. He had been too early educated in
the sanguinary and unscrupulous policy of these times
not to be an adept in such matters ; and whilst Gray
and Wotton were weaving their meshes round him,
they knew that counter-plots were being formed against
themselves, of the existence of which they were certain,
although they could not detect the agents. The two
great factions into which the State of Scotland was
* State-paper Office, Wotton to Walsingham, September 30, 1585, Stirling.
f" Orig. State-paper Office, Wotton to Walsingham, September 4, 1585,
Stirling. Also, same to same, August 21, 1585.
1 Id. Ibid.
Orig. State-paper Office, Wotton to Walsingham, Stirling, September
18, 1585.
1585.
JAMES VI.
235
divided, were ihus mutually on their guard, and jea-
lously watching each other ; both armed, both intent
on their dark purposes, busy in gaining partisans and
in anticipating the designs of their opponents ; so that
it seemed a race who should soonest spring the mine
which was to overwhelm and destroy their adversary.
In such circumstances, nothing could be more pain-
ful and precarious than the situation of Wotton, the
English ambassador. He knew, and repeatedly wrote
to Walsingham, that his life was in danger. His
intrigues had been partially discovered by Arran.
Colonel Stewart, the brother of that nobleman, and
Captain of the Royal Guard, had upbraided him for
his perfidy before the king ; and although the ambas-
sador gave him the lie on the spot, the truth was too
well known for any to be deceived by this bravado.*
It was under the influence of such feelings that he
thus addressed Walsingham : " Though ye in Eng-
land be slow in resolving, Arran and his faction sleep
not out their time : for they are now gathering all
the forces they can make, and, within three or four
days, Arran meaneth to come to the court, and to
possess himself of the king, in despite of the Queen of
England, as he saith ; which, if he do, I mean to retire
myself to the Borders for the safety of my life, whereof
I am in great danger, as my friends which hear the
Stewarts 1 threatenings daily advertise me. Your Hon-
our knoweth what a barbarous nation this is, and how
little they can skill of points of honour. Where every
man carrieth a pistol at his girdle, (as here they do,)
it is an easy matter to kill one out of a window or door,
and no man able to discover who did it. Neither doth
it go for payment with those men to say, I am an
* State-paper Office, Wotton to Walsingham, September 22, 1585.
236 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1585.
ambassador, and therefore privileged ; for even their
regents and kings have been subject to their violence.
" This notwithstanding, (he continued,) I would not
be so resolute to depart, if, by my tarrying, I might
do her majesty any service. But I find the king so
enchanted by Arran, and myself so hated of him, as
I cannot hope to negotiate to any purpose so long as
Arran shall be in court. If (he added) the Queen of
England would send down the lords, they will be able
to work wonders here, and to remedy all inconvenients.
If the Queen of England do it not, this country will
be clean lost, and all her friends wrecked. Other hope
to England than in them, I see none ; the king being
young and easily carried, and most about him either
Papists or Atheists."* In a second letter, written to
Walsingham on the same day, Wotton added this
emphatic paragraph :
" The Master of Gray,f through our long English
delay, findeth himself driven to a great strait. For
the king presseth him greatly to meet with Arran,
and threateneth, that, unless he do it, he shall have
just cause to suspect him. But the Master assureth
me he will, by one means or other, avoid it, and will
hold good these fourteen days. Therefore, what ye
will do, must be speedily done.
" I am not, for my own part, (he added,) the great-
est favourer of [violent courses,] and, therefore, have
hitherto rather related other men's speeches, and opin-
ions than given my advice. But now matters frame
so overthwartly, as I must needs conclude, that no
good can be done here, but by the [way] of ; j
* State-paper Office, September 22, 1 585. Stirling, Wotton to Walsingham.
(- Scored, but tolerably clear.
Ciphers occur here. The word was probably " violence."
1585
JAMES VI.
237
which being used, you may bring even the proudest of
us to [cry*] for misericorde on our knees." {
All was now ripe for execution of the plot. Morton
had been gained, and his force was in readiness on the
Border. Angus, Mar, and Glammis, with their friends,
had, by the mediation of the banished ministers, been
reconciled to the Lords Claud and John Hamilton.
The Master of Gray, in the mean time, remained at
court, and played into the hands of his brother con-
spirators ; watching his opportunities, taking every
advantage against the opposite faction ; communicat-
ing, through Wotton and Archibald Douglas, with
the exiled lords and the ministers ; and keeping up
an intercourse with Morton by the Provost of Lin-
cludeu, a Douglas, t It was this same fierce partisan,
who, in the former conspiracy, had been pitched upon
to put Arran to death ; and, as Gray had declared
to Douglas, his resolution to " essay" the same again,
if it could be quietly and secretly achieved, it is not
improbable that the provost may have been again
engaged to further the cause by assassinating this
hated person. Such being the ripeness of all things,
Wotton, who still remained at the Scottish court,
although in daily danger of his life, wrote hastily to
Walsingham, on the fifth of October, assuring him,
that the king had resolved to send his forces against
Morton, before the twentieth of October, and would
probably lead them in person. Arran, he added, was
to be liberated ; and if the lords meant to surprise
* I put [cry] in brackets, as the word is not clear in the original.
t State-paper Office, Wotton to Walsingham, September 22, 1585, Stirling.
J State-paper Office, Wotton to Walsingham, September 30, 1585, Stir-
ling. Also, another letter, written on the same day, from the same to the
same.
MS. Letter, Wotton to Walsingham, June 9, 1585, Caligula, C. viii.
238 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1585.
him, and strike the blow with any hope of success,
it must be done instantly. *
These arguments had the desired effect; and Elizabeth,
being assured that no time was to be lost, commanded
her ambassador to require an audience of the King of
Scots, and make a peremptory demand for the delivery
into her hands of Ker of Fernyhirst, whom she stig-
matized as the murderer of Lord Russell. It was
certain that this would be refused ; and her object was
to afford a pretext for the retirement of Wotton from
the Scottish court, at the moment when the conspiracy,
which he had organized with such persevering activity,
was to take effect.-f- But matters framed themselves
otherwise. Early in October, the banished lords,
Angus, Mar, and the Master of Glammis, who were
then in London, received Elizabeth's permission to set
out on their enterprise ; but by the advice of the
ministers of the Kirk, their companions in exile, they
first held an exercise of humiliation at Westminster,
and, with many tears, (so writes the historian of the
Kirk,) besought God to strengthen their arm, and
grant them success against their enemies. J They
then set forward, accompanied by their ministers, Mr
Andrew Melvil, Mr Patrick Galloway, and Mr Wal-
ter Balcanquel ; and pressing forward to Berwick, met
there with the Hamiltons and their forces.
These movements could not be concealed ; and the
tidings flying quickly into Scotland, became known
to the king and the English ambassador at the same
moment. It was a stirring and remarkable crisis.
James, by this time, was fully aware of the intrigues
* State-paper Office, Wotton to Walsingham, October 5, 1585, Stirling,
t Copy, State-paper Office, October 12, 1585, Wotton to Walsingham.
Also, draft, October 11, 1585, Walsingham to Wotton.
J Calderwood, MS. Hist., Ayscough, 4736, fol. 1545.
1 585. JAMES VI. 239
of Wotton ; and resolving to make him a hostage for
his own security, gave orders to seize the ambassador
in his house, and carry him with the army, which
was then on the point of marching against Morton.
Wotton, however, received intimation of his danger.
At night-fall he threw himself upon a fleet horse ;
galloped to Berwick, and, from that city, wrote in
much agitation to Walsingham and the queen ; de-
claring that he had been plunged into the greatest
difficulty by the reports of the advance of the lords ;
that he knew the king meant to arrest him, and that
he had preferred rather to flee from Scotland, and peril
her majesty's displeasure, than to remain and thus
bring ruin upon the common cause.*
All was now confusion at court. Arran, breaking
from his ward, hurried from Kinneil to court, and
rushing into the young king's presence, declared that
the banished lords were already in Scotland, and
rapidly coming forward with their forces ; accused the
Master of Gray as the author of the whole conspi-
racy, and urged James to send for him instantly and
put him to death. -f- Gray was then absent from court,
raising his friends in Perthshire, and was thrown into
perplexity and agitation on receiving the king's mes-
sage. If he disobeyed it, he dreaded the overthrow
of the plot, and the retreat of Angus and his friends ;
if he returned to court, he cast himself within the toils
of his mortal enemy Arran. Yet choosing the boldest,
which in such a crisis is generally the most successful
course, he braved the peril, rode back to court, entered
the royal presence, defended himself from the accusa-
tion, and was so graciously received, that Arran and
* State-paper Office, October 15, 1585, Berwick, Wotton to Elizabeth ;
same to Walsingham.
t Relation of the Master of Gray, by Bannatyne Club, p. 59.
I
240 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1585.
his faction had determined, as their last hope, to stab
him even in the king's presence,* when a messen-
ger arrived in fiery haste, with the news that the
advanced parties of the banished lords had been seen
within a mile of Stirling. They had first met at Kelso,
separated to raise their men, concentrated their whole
troops at Falkirk on the thirty-first October, and,
from this, marched towards that city at the head of
eight thousand men. To resist such a force would
have been absurd. Arran knew that his head was
the only mark they shot at ; that he was surrounded
by enemies within as well as without the town ; and
that his life was not safe for a moment. As the only
resource left him, therefore, he fled secretly from Stir-
ling, accompanied by a single horseman. His retreat
was followed by the instant occupation and plunder of
the town by Angus and his forces ; whilst Montrose,
Crawford, and the other lords of the opposite faction,
threw themselves, as their last resource, into the
castle ; which (to use the Master of Gray^s own ex-
pression) was in a manner crammed full of great
personages with the king some friends, some ene-
mies.-f- Preparations for a siege were now commenced ;
and the lords had already set up their banners against
the " spur," or principal bastion, when the king sent
out the Master of Gray with a flag of truce, to demand
the cause of their coming. They replied, it was to
offer their duty to his majesty, and kiss his hands : to
which it was answered, that the king was not at that
moment solicitous of an interview ; but if they would
retire for a brief space, their lands and honours should
be restored. Still, however, they insisted on a personal
* Relation of the Master of Gray, by Bannatyne Club, p. 59.
t Ibid. p. 60.
1585. JAMES vi. 241
interview, and James declared his readiness to agree
to it on three conditions : safety to his own person ;
no innovation to be made in the State ; and an assur-
ance for the lives of such persons as he should name.
To the two first they instantly consented ; to the last,
they replied, that as they were the injured persons,
and their enemies were about the king, they must, for
their own security, have them delivered into their
hands, with the castles and strengths of the realm.*
This negotiation, which was conducted by Gray, the
arch-contriver of the whole plot, could only terminate
in one way. James was forced to submit : the gates
were opened, the Earls of Montrose, Crawford, and
Rothes, with Lord Down, Sir William Stewart, and
others, made prisoners ; and the banished lords con-
ducted into the king's presence. On their admission,
they fell on their knees ; and Lord Arbroath, the
head of the house of Hamilton, taking precedency from
his near alliance to the crown, entreated his majesty's
gracious acceptance of their duty, and declared that
they were come in the most humble manner to solicit
his pardon. It was strange to see men who, a few
hours before, with arms in their hands, had dictateo.
terms of submission to their sovereign, now sue so
submissively for mercy : but the scene was well acted
on both sides ; and James, an early adept in hypocrisy,
performed his part with much address.
" My lord," said he to Hamilton, " I never saw you
before ; but you were a faithful servant of the queen
my mother, and of all this company have been the
most wronged. But for the rest of you, (casting his
glance over the circle on their knees,) if you have been
* Relation of the Master of Gray. Papers of the Master of Gray, printed
Ly Bannatyne Club, p. CO.
VOL. VIII. Q
242 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND 1585,
exiles, was it not your own fault? And as for you,
Francis, (he continued, turning to Bothwell,) who has
stirred up your unquiet spirit to come in arms against
your prince? When did I ever wrong thee! To you
all, who I believe meant no harm to my person, I am
ready, remembering nothing that is past, to give my
hand and heart; on one condition, however, that you
carry yourselves henceforth as dutiful subjects."*
This interview was followed by measures which
showed that these apparently submissive lords were
not disposed to lose their opportunity. Arran was
proclaimed a traitor at the market-place, and in the
king's name ; the royal guard altered, and its command
given to the Master of Glammis ; the castle of Dum-
barton delivered to Lord Arbroath ; that of Edinburgh
to Coldingknowes ; Tantallon to Angus ; and Stirling
to Mar. On the same day, a pacification and remis-
sion was published in favour of the exiles, who now
ruled everything at their pleasure. All faults were
solemnly forgiven ; and the whole of the measures lately
carried into effect with such speed and success, declared
to be done for the king's service. "f
Immediately after the seizure of Stirling, the Master
of Gray communicated the entire success of the plot
to the English court, by letters to the queen herself,
Archibald Douglas, and Secretary Walsingham. He
assured the English secretary, that the banished men
were in as good favour as they ever enjoyed: nothing
was now required but that Elizabeth should send an
ambassador, and the intended league between the two
kingdoms would be concluded without delay. J The
* Spottiswood, pp. 342, 343.
+ Relation of the Master of Gray, p. 61.
I State-paper Office, Master of Gray to Walsingham, November C, 1585,
1585. JAMES VI. 243
queen, accordingly, despatched Sir William Knolles,
who had audience at Lithgow on the twenty-third
November, and was received by James with much
courtesy. The king professed himself to be entirely
at her majesty's devotion ; declared he was ready to
join in league with England, both in matters of reli-
gion and civil policy; and that although at first offended
at the sudden invasion of Angus and his friends, he
was now satisfied that they sought only their own
restitution, and, indeed, had found them so loving and
obedient, that he had rather reason to bless God so
great a revolution had been effected without bloodshed,
than to regret anything that had happened. Knolles,
too, as far as he had an opportunity of judging, con-
sidered these declarations sincere. He observed no
distrust on the part either of the lords or their sove-
reign. They kept no guard round him, but suffered
him to hunt daily with a moderate train ; and as Arran
had fled to the west coast, and Montrose, Crawford,
and the rest of that party were in custody, no fear of
change or attack, seemed to be entertained.*
Such was Knolles 1 opinion ; although, in the end of
his letter, he hinted that the king might dissemble
according to his custom ; a suspicion which next day
seemed to have increased.^ Apparently, however,
these misgivings were without foundation ; for a par-
liament assembled shortly after at Linlithgow, in which
it was unanimously resolved that there should be a
strict league concluded with Elizabeth.^ On this
* State-paper Office, Mr William Knolles to Walsingham, Lithgow,
November 23, 1585.
t State-paper Office, Knolles to Walsingham, Lithgow, Nov. 24, 1585.
J State-paper Office, certified copy of the Act of Parliament authorizing
the King of Scots to make league with the Queen's Majesty of England,
December \Q, 1585.
244 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1585-6.
occasion, the king, if we may judge from his address to
the three Estates, expressed extraordinary devotedness
to England, and the most determined hostility to the
Koman Catholics. He alluded to the confederating
together of the " bastard Christians," (to use his own
words,) meaning, as he said, the Papists, in a league,
which they termed holy, for the subversion of true
religion in all realms through the whole world. These
leagues, he observed, were composed of Frenchmen
and Spaniards, assisted with the money of the King
of Spain and the pope, and must be resisted, if Pro-
testants had either conscience, honour, or love of them-
selves. To this end, he was determined, he said, to
form a counter-league, in which he was assured all
Christian princes would willingly join ; and as the
Queen of England was not only a true Christian
princess, but nearest to them of all others, in consan-
guinity, neighbourhood, and goodwill, it was his fixed
resolution to begin with her.* To second this, the
king despatched Sir William Keith with a friendly
message to the English queen ; requesting her to send
down an ambassador, by whose good offices the pro-
posed treaty might be carried into effect : -f- and Ran-
dolph, whose veteran experience in Scottish diplomacy
was considered as peculiarly qualifying him for such
an errand, was intrusted with the negotiation. He
arrived in Edinburgh on the twenty-sixth February,
having been met at Musselburgh, six miles from the
capital, by the Justice-clerk, and a troop of forty or
fifty gentlemen, many of them belonging to the royal
household.
* Copy, State-paper Office, the Scottish king's Speech concerning a League
in Religion with England.
f- State-paper Office, Randolph to AValsingham, February 24, 1585-6,
Berwick.
1585-6. JAMES VI. 245
The English ambassador was prepared ^o find his
mission one of no easy execution ; * for in the interval
between the parliament at Lithgow and his arrival at
court, the fair prospects anticipated by Gray and
Knolles had become clouded. An ambassador had
been sent from France, and was reported to have
brought with him a freight of French crowns. Holt
the Jesuit, and other brethren of that order, were still
secretly harboured in the north, supported by Huntley,
Montrose, Crawford, and other nobles of the Roman
Catholic faith; the agents of the queen-mother were
busy with their intrigues both in Scotland and in Eng-
land ; and Morton, that powerful baron, whose union
with Angus and the Hamiltons had so recently turned
the scale against Arran, presuming upon his recent
success, openly professed the Roman Catholic faith,
and caused Mass to be celebrated in the provost church
of Lincluden.-f-
All these were ominous appearances; and although
James had instantly summoned Morton, and impri-
soned him in Edinburgh castle, yet the king was
known to be so great a dissembler that few trusted
his professions.
Randolph had been instructed by his royal mistress
to congratulate the monarch upon the quiet state of
his realm ; to express her willingness to proceed with
the treaty, for a firm and lasting religious league be-
tween the two kingdoms, which had been interrupted;
and to warn him against the intrigues of France. He
was also to require the delivery of Fernyhirst, who,
she still insisted, was guilty of the murder of Lord
* Copy, State-paper Office, Roger Ash ton to (as I conjecture) Walsing-
ham, January 17, 1585-6.
t Spottiswood, p. 344. Copy, State-paper Office, Roger Ashton to Wal-
singham, January 17, 1585-P.
246 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1585-6.
Russell ; to urge James to prosecute Morton for his
late audacious contempt of the law; to advise the
severest measures againt Arran, who still lurked in
the west of Scotland ; and to insist on the delivery of
Holt, Brereton, and other Jesuits; or, at least, to their
banishment from his dominions. In return for all this,
should it be faithfully performed, Elizabeth declared
her readiness to fix a yearly pension on the king, and
to grant a solemn promise, under her hand and seal,
that she would permit no measures to be brought for-
ward against any title he might pretend to the succes-
sion to the English crown.*
On being admitted to an audience, which took place
the third day after his arrival, Randolph, at first,
found nothing but smiles and fair weather at court.
The king assured him, that he felt himself bound to
the queen his mistress, as strictly as if she were his
own sister ; that he esteemed her advice the best he
could possibly receive, and meant, God willing, to fol-
low it."f Having spoken this so loud, that most that
stood by could hear it, James, entering into more
private talk, told him of the arrival of the French
ambassador, and spoke slightingly of his youth and
ignorance of Scotland and Scotsmen. This led to
some remarks on the house of Guise, and the intrigues
of the Jesuits ; to which the king answered, he had
but one God to serve ; and as for the Papists, that
Morton himself, and some others, would be arraigned
within a few days. Before the audience was concluded,
Randolph exhibited a little packet, " curiously sealed
and made up," which he gallantly pressed to his lips,
* Original draft, State-paper Office, principal points of Mr Randolph's
Instructions.
j- MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Randolph to (Walsingham ? )
March 2, 1585-6.
1585-6. JAMES vi. 247
and delivered to the young monarch. It was a private
letter from Elizabeth, which James, stepping aside,
read with every appearance of devotion ; and, placing
it in his bosom, declared that all his good sister's desires
should be fulfilled.*
These fair professions, however, were not fully to be
trusted; for Randolph, in a subsequent conversation
with Secretary Maitland and Bellenden the Justice-
clerk, became aware that great offers had been made
to the young king by France; and that, although the
royal hand was, as yet, uncontaminated by French
gold, the court necessities were so urgent, that it was
not certain how long this magnanimity might continue.
These counter intrigues, however, were for the present
defeated; and the ambassador, with great address, pro-
cured the king's signature to the league with England,
and sent Thomas Milles his assistant and secretary to
present it to Elizabeth for her ratification.-f- Milles
was, at the same time, instructed to warn the English
queen to have special care, at that moment, of her own
person ; and to reveal the particulars of a conspiracy
against her, which was then hatching in Scotland. On
this delicate point the ambassador wrote, both to Burgh-
ley and Walsingham : but he referred simply to Milles'
verbal report, and added to the English secretary this
ominous sentence: "The men, and, perchance, the
women, are yet living, and their hearts and minds all
one, that devised or procured the devilish mischiefs
that hitherto, by God's providence, she hath escaped.
You have heard, both out of Spain and France, what
is to be doubted out of the Low Countries. I have
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office. Randolph to (Walsingham?)
March 2, 1585-6.
+ State-paper Office, 1st April, 1586, Randolph to Lord Burghley, by
Thomas Milles.
248 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
seen what warning hath been given for her majesty
to look unto herself; and, in the presence of God, I
fear as much despite and devilishness from hence as
from them all; though I judge the king as free as
myself, and could himself be content that he were out
of this country."*
These disclosures of Milles to Elizabeth unfortu-
nately do not appear ; but there can be no doubt that
they were connected with that conspiracy afterwards
known as " Babington's plot." It is certain that this
plot had its ramifications in Scotland; that the captive
queen had still a powerful party in that kingdom, at
the head of which was Lord Claud Hamilton ; ancj
many of her adherents were busily intriguing with
France, Spain, and Rome. The league with England
was distasteful to Secretary Maitland and a large por-
tion of the nobility. They maintained, and with great
appearance of reason, that the king, before he had been
so readily induced to sign a treaty of so much impor-
tance, ought to have secured some commercial privileges
to his subjects, similar to those enjoyed by them in
France; that Elizabeth should have made some public
and explicit declaration regarding their master's title
to the English crown ; and that the annuity which he
was to receive ought to bear some proportion to the large
offers of those foreign princes, which his adherence to
England had compelled him to refuse. All this, they
said, he had neglected; and, without consulting his
council, had recklessly rushed into a treaty which he
would speedily repent.-}- This threat seemed prophetic :
* State-paper Office, Randolph to "Walsingham, April 2, 1586.
) State-paper Office, Archibald Douglas to Walsingham, May 6, 1586.
Also, Original draft, State-paper Office, Walsingham 's abridgment of Archi-
bald Douglas' letters of the 5th, 6th, and llth May.
1586. JAMES VI. 249
on Milles' arrival with Elizabeth's signature to the
league, James discovered that the pension, which as
first promised by Wotton amounted to twenty thou-
sand crowns, had dwindled down to four thousand
pounds; and the same envoy brought the king a
private letter, written with her own hand, in terms of
such severe and sarcastic admonition, that it utterly
disgusted and enraged him.* It was presented by
Randolph, in an interview which he had with James
in the garden of the palace ; and, as he read it, the
young monarch colouring with anger, swore "by God,"
that, had he known what little account the queen
would make of him, she should have waited long
enough before he had signed any league, or disobliged
his nobles, to reap nothing but disappointment and
contempt.
This fit of disgust was fostered, as may easily be
believed, by Secretary Maitland and his friends, and
it required all the address of Randolph to soften the
royal resentment and hold the king to his engagements.
At last, however, everything was arranged, and the
ambassador, in a letter to Walsingham, congratulating
himself upon a speedy return home, advised this min-
ister to be careful in the choice of his successor at the
Scottish court. "Your honour knows," said he, "that
non ex omni ligno fit Mercurius ; and he has need of a
long spoon that feeds with the devil. "-f-
Having procured the young king's signature to the
articles of the league, Randolph left the Scottish court ;
and in the succeeding month the negotiation was finally
concluded by the commissioners of both countries, who
* State-paper Office, Randolph to Walsingham, May 13, 1586, Edinburgh.
T State-paper Office, Randolph to Walsingham, May 28, 1586, Edinburgh,
250 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
met at Berwick. * In this important treaty it was
agreed between the Queen of England and the Scottish
king, that they should inviolably maintain the religion
now professed in both countries against all adversaries,
nothwithstanding any former engagements to the con-
trary. If any invasion should be made into their domin-
ions, or any injuries should be offered them by foreign
princes or States, no aid was to be given to such foreign
attack by either of the contracting parties, whatever
league, affinity, or friendship, might happen to exist
between them and such foreign powers. If England
were invaded by a foreign enemy, in any part remote
from Scotland, the King of Scots promised, at Eliza-
beth^ request, to send two thousand horse, or five
thousand foot, to her assistance, but at her expense ;
and if Scotland were attacked, the queen was to de-
spatch three thousand horse, or six thousand foot, to
assist James ; but if the invasion of England should
take place within sixty miles of the Scottish Border,
James engaged, without delay, to muster all the force
he could, and join the English army. If Ireland should
be invaded, all Scottish subjects were to be interdicted,
under pain of rebellion, from passing over into that
kingdom. All rebels harboured within either country,
were to be delivered up, or compelled to depart the
realm. No contract was to be made by either of the
princes, with any foreign State, to the prejudice of this
league. All former treaties of amity between the pre-
decessors of the two princes were to remain in force ;
and on the Scottish king^s attaining the age of twenty-
five, he engaged, that the "league should be confirmed
vol. ii. p. i
paper Office, Randolph to Walsingham, June 24, 1586. Ibid. Proclamation
at Berwick of the Commissioners, July 5, 1586.
1586. JAMES vi. 251
by parliament ; his sister, the English Queen, promis-
ing the same for her part."* It will be observed,
that all consideration of the condition or interests of
the unhappy Queen of Scots is studiously avoided both
by her son and by Elizabeth. Indeed her name does
not appear to have been once alluded to during the
whole transactions. It will, however, be seen by the
sequel, that although no reference was openly made to
Mary, the main object of Elizabeth in completing this
strict alliance with the son, was to detect and defeat
the intrigues and conspiracies of the mother.
The happy conclusion of this league was a matter
of sincere congratulation to the English queen ; but she
had intrusted to Randolph another somewhat difficult
negotiation. This was to induce James to recall and
pardon the well-known Archibald Douglas, whom she
had herself recently imprisoned, but who had purchased
his freedom by betraying the secrets of the Scottish
queen. This gentleman, with whose name and history
we are already in some degree familiar, united the
manners of a polished courtier to the knowledge of a
scholar and a statesman. He was of an ancient and
noble house ; he had been for years the friend and
correspondent of Burghley and Walsingham; and he
was now in great credit with the English queen. But
Douglas had a dark as well as a bright side ; and
exhibited a contradiction or anomaly in character by
no means unfrequent in those days : the ferocity of a
feudal age, gilded or lacquered over by a thin coating
of civilisation. Externally all was polish and amenity ;
truly and at heart the man was a sanguinary, fierce,
crafty, and unscrupulous villain. He had been per-
* MS. State-paper Office, Principal points of the articles of the League,
JulyS, 1586.
252 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 158b.
sonally present at Darnley's murder, although he only
admitted the foreknowledge of it; he had been bred as
a retainer of the infamous Bothwell; he had afterwards
been employed by the Scottish queen, whom he sold
to her enemies; and Elizabeth's great purpose in now
interceding for his return from her court to his own
country, was to use his influence with the young king
against his mother and her faction. He now brought
a letter written by that princess to the king in his
favour;* and it is little to James 1 credit, that he
speedily obtained all he asked. A mock trial was got
up ; a sentence of acquittal pronounced ; and Douglas
was not only restored to his estates and rank, but ad-
mitted into the highest confidence with the sovereign,
whose father he had murdered. Nay, strange to tell,
James held a secret conversation with him on the dark
subject of Darnley's assassination; and as Douglas
instantly sent a report of it to Walsingham, we get
behind the curtain. The king commanded all the
courtiers to retire ; and, finding himself alone with
Douglas, after reading the Queen of England's letter,
thus addressed him :
" At your departure, I was your enemy ; and now,
at your returning, I am and shall be your friend. You
are not ignorant what the laws of this realm are, and
what best may agree with your honour to be done for
your surety. I must confess her majesty's request in
your favour to be honourable and favourable, and your
desire to have come by assize f to be honest ; and I
myseif do believe that you are innocent of my father's
murder, except in foreknowledge and concealing ; an
* MS. draft, State-paper Office, Elizabeth to James, Scottish Royal
Letters, April 6, 1586.
f To have come by assize ; to be tried by a jury.
1586. JAMES vi. 253
fault so common in those days, that no man of any
dealing could misknaw;* and yet so perilous to be
revealed, in respect of all the actors of that tragedy,
that no man, without extreme danger, could utter any
speech thereof, because they did see it and could not
amend it: and, therefore, I will impute unto you
neither foreknowledge nor concealing; and desire that
you will advise by my secretary what may be most
agreeable to my honour and your surety in trial, and
it shall be performed. "-J- These are remarkable words,
and probably come very near the truth as to the fore-
knowledge of the king's murder possessed by every
man of any note or consequence in the court. It is
evident the king kept at a distance from all direct
mention of his mother's name. The general expres-
sions which he used may either infer that the queen
must have known of the intended murder, but could
not, without imminent peril, have revealed or prevented
it, or that she knew and permitted it. As to Douglas'
own active share in the murder, it was positively
asserted by his servant on the scaffold, and at a
moment when there could be no temptation to deny
or disguise the truth, that he was present at the ex-
plosion, and returned from it covered with soil and
dust.
* Misknaw ; be ignorant.
f MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Archibald Douglas to \Vaisinglj am. Gth
May, 1586.
254 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586
England.
Elizabeth.
CHAP. V.
JAMES THE SIXTH.
15861587.
CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS.
France. I Germany. I Spain. I Portugal. I Pope.
Henry III. I Rudolph I. I Philip II. I Philip IL | Sixtus V.
ELIZABETH, as has been already hinted, had a great
purpose in view, when she concluded this league and
sent Archibald Douglas into Scotland. Two months
before, her indefatigable minister, Walsingham, had
detected that famous conspiracy known by the name
of " Babington's plot," in which Mary was implicated,
and for which she afterwards suffered. It had been
resolved by Leicester, Burghley, and Walsingham,
and probably by the queen herself, that this should be
the last plot of the Scottish queen and the Roman
Catholic faction ; that the time had come when suf-
ferance was criminal and weak ; that the life of the
unfortunate, but still active and formidable captive,
was inconsistent with Elizabeth's safety and the liberty
of the realm. Hence the importance attached to this
league, which bound the two kingdoms together, in a
treaty offensive and defensive, for the protection of
the Protestant faith, and separated the young king
from his mother.
1586. JAMES VI. 2o5
and pardon of Archibald Douglas, who had sold him-
self to Elizabeth, betrayed the secrets of Mary, and
now offered his influence over James to be employed
in furthering this great design for her destruction.
It is now necessary to enter upon the history of this
plot, and Mary's alleged connexion with it, one of
the most involved and intricate portions of the history
of the two countries. To be clear, and prevent the
mind from getting entangled in the inextricable meshes
of Walsingham and his informers, it will be proper for
a moment to look back. Mary had now been nineteen
years a captive ; and, upon the cruelty and illegality
of her imprisonment during this long and dreary period,
there can be but one opinion. She was seized and
imprisoned during a time of peace ; contrary to every
feeling of generosity, and in flagrant violation of every
principle of law and justice. On the one hand, it was
the right and the duty of such a prisoner to attempt
every possible means for her escape ; on the other, it was
both natural and just that the Catholic party, in Eng-
land and Scotland, should have combined with France
and Spain to deliver her from her captivity, and avenge
upon Elizabeth such an outrage on the law of nations
as the seizure of a free princess. But the same party
regarded Elizabeth as a heretic, whose whole life had
been obstinately opposed to the truth. Some of them
went so far as to consider her an illegitimate usurper,
whose throne belonged to the Queen of Scots. They
had plotted, therefore, not only for Mary's deliverance,
but for the reestablishment of their own faith in Eng-
land, and for Elizabeth's deposition; nay, some of them,
mistaking fanaticism for religion, against Elizabeth's
life. All these conspiracies continued more or less
during the whole period of Mary's captivity, and had
256 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
been detected by the vigilance of Elizabeth's ministers,
acting through the system of private spies ; one ot the
most revolting features of an age which regarded craft
and treachery as necessary parts of political wisdom.
With all these plots the Queen of Scots had been in
some degree either directly or indirectly connected :
her rival felt acutely (and such a feeling was the re-
tributive punishment of the wrong she had committed^
the misery of keeping so dangerous a prisoner; but up
to this time, there seems to have been no allegation
that Mary was implicated in anything affecting Eliza-
beth's life, in anything more, in short, than a series of
plots continued at different times for her own escape.
Nor did Elizabeth very highly resent them. So far
at least from adopting the extreme measures to which
she had been advised by many of her councillors, she
had repeatedly entered into negotiations with her royal
captive, in which she held out the hope of her liberty
on the one hand ; whilst Mary, on the other, promised
not only to forsake all connexion with public affairs,
and leave the government to her son, but to impart to
her good sister the most valuable secret information.
These scenes had been so repeatedly begun, and re-
peatedly broken off, that they had become almost
matters of yearly form. On both sides, in all this,
there was probably much suspicion and insincerity ;
but chiefly on the part of Elizabeth : for Mary, at last
sinking under the sorrows of so long a captivity, and
worn out by deferred hope, became ready to pay the
highest price for freedom ; to give up the world,
to sink into private life, to sacrifice all except her
religion, and her title to the throne. It was on this
principle, that she was ready to enter into that agree-
ment with her son already alluded to known by the
1586. JAMES vi. 257
name of " the Association. 1 ' By the terms of this,
James was to continue king; his mother resigning her
right into his hands, and taking up her residence, with
an allowance according to her rank, either in England
or Scotland. Elizabeth, to whom the whole design
was communicated, and who was included as a party
to the treaty, was to release the Scottish queen, resume
with her the friendly relations which had been so often
broken off, and receive, in return, such general good
advice, and such secret revelations, as Mary could give
consistently with fidelity to her friends.
Now, at the very time when this association seemed
to be concluded; when the hopes of the unhappy cap-
tive were at the highest ; when she was looking forward
to her liberty with the delight " which the opening of
the prison brings to them that are bound," the cup,
for the hundredth time, was dashed from her lips.
Throckmorton's treason occurred ; a plot still involved
in great obscurity. Parry's conspiracy, also, took
place, which included an attempt against the life of
the English queen ; and the covenant, or "association,"
for the defence of Elizabeth's person, was concluded at
the urgent instance of Leicester, by which " men of
all degrees throughout England bound themselves, by
mutual vows and subscriptions, to prosecute to the
death all who should directly or indirectly attempt
anything against their sovereign." It was in vain that
Mary disclaimed all connexion with these plots, affirm-
ing passionately, and apparently sincerely, that it
would be cruel to hold her responsible for all the wild
attempts of the Roman Catholic faction who professed
to be her friends, but did not inform her of their pro-
ceedings; in vain, that she offered to sign the associ-
ation for Elizabeth's safety, and act upon it as if she
VOL. VIII. E
258 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
were her dearest sister. She was met by a cold refusal ;
the treaty for her freedom was abandoned ; thp Master
of Gray, and Archibald Douglas, men whom sne had
implicitly trusted, were bribed to betray her most
private transactions; and, as the last and bitterest in-
gredient in her misery, her own son broke off all inter-
course with her, threw himself into the arms of the
English queen, and, by the " League" which we have
just seen concluded, became the sworn pensioner of her
enemy, and the avowed persecutor of that religion which
she firmly believed to be the truth. Are we to wonder
that, under such circumstances, she renounced her
promises to Elizabeth, and, as a last resource, encour-
aged the Roman Catholics to resume their projects
for the invasion of England, her delivery from cap-
tivity, and the restoration of what she believed the
only true Church?
It is certain, that two years before this, in 1584, she
had been cognizant of Throckmorton's plot already
alluded to, which had been got up by the English
Catholic refugees in Spain and France for the invasion
of England, the dethronement of Elizabeth, and her
own delivery. One of the principal managers of this
conspiracy was Thomas Morgan, a devoted Catholic,
Mary's agent on the continent, a man deeply attached
to her interests, and who had been long trained in the
school of political intrigue. The rest were Francis
Throckmorton, who suffered for it ; Thomas, Lord
Paget ; Charles Arundel, who fled to France ; and
some others. It is extremely difficult to discover what
portion of the plot was real, and what fictitious ; but
that schemes were in agitation against Elizabeth, in
which the Spanish ambassador, Mendoza, participated,
and with which Mary was well acquainted, cannot be
1586. JAMES VI. 259
doubted. So clear did her servant Morgan's guilt
appear to the King of France, in whose dominions he
then resided, that although he refused to deliver him
up as Elizabeth required, he threw him into prison,
sent his papers to England, and treated him with much
severity. Even in this durance, he managed to con-
tinue his secret practices ; but Mary, who had now
entered into negotiations with the queen for her liberty,
renounced, for a season, all political intrigue ; and the
smouldering embers of the recent conspiracies were
allowed to cool and burn out, whilst she looked forward
with sanguine hope to her freedom. When, however,
this hope was blasted ; when she was removed from
the gentler custody of the Earl of Shrewsbury to the
severer jailorship of Paulet ; * when she was haunted
by reports of private assassination, and at last saw
Elizabeth and her son indissolubly leagued against
her, she resumed her correspondence with Morgan, and
welcomed every possible project for her escape.^
At this time, Walsingham, the English queen's
principal secretary, had brought the system of secret
information to a state of high perfection, if we may
use such an expression on the subject. The Queen
of Scots, the French and Spanish ambassadors, the
English Roman Catholic refugees, were surrounded
by his creatures, who insinuated themselves into their
confidence, pretended to join their plots, drew them
on to reveal their secrets, and carried all their disco-
veries to their employers. Amongst these base tools
of Walsingham, were Poley, a man who had found
means to gain the ear and the confidence of Morgan,
* In October, 1 584, Mary was removed from the castle of Sheffield to
"Wingfield. In January, 1.585-6, from Wingfield to Tutbury. In January,
1586-7, from Tutbury to Chartley.
f Camden in Kennet, vol. ii. p. 501.
260 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
and been employed by him in his secret correspondence
with the Catholics of England and France ; * Gilbert
Gifford, a seminary priest of a good family in Stafford-
shire, who was also intrusted by Morgan with his
secrets ; Maud, a sordid wretch, who pretended great
zeal for the Catholic faith; and some others. He
was also assisted by Thomas Phelipps, a person of
extraordinary skill in detecting real, and concocting
false plots by forging imaginary letters, and of equal
talent in discovering the key to the most difficult and
complicated ciphers. In his service, too, was one
Gregory, who, by reiterated practice, had acquired the
faculty of breaking and replacing seals with such nicety,
that no eye could suspect the fracture. [ By means
of these agents Walsingham, about the same time that
the league had been concluded between Elizabeth and
the King of Scots, discovered a conspiracy for the
assassination of that princess. Of this atrocious de-
sign, Ballard, a seminary priest, and Savage, an English
officer who had served in the Netherlands, were the
principal movers ; but Morgan, Mary's agent, un-
doubtedly encouraged the plot, and drew into it some
of the English Catholic refugees. At the same time,
the former great project for the invasion of England,
the dethronement of Elizabeth, and the escape of Mary,
was resumed by Spain, France, and the Scottish queen's
Catholic friends in England and Scotland; and the
captive princess herself became engaged in a secret
correspondence on this subject with Morgan, Charles
Paget, Sir Francis Englefield, and the French and
* Murdin, p. 499, Morgan to Mary. Ult. Martii, 1586.
f MS. State-paper Office, Original cipher and decipher, endorsed by
Phelipps. Papers of Mary queen of Scots, Pietro, April 24, 1586, and
Gilbert Gifford's Letter, deciphered by Curie. Pietro was one of the names
by which Gilbert Gifford was designated.
1586. JAMES vi. 261
Spanish ambassadors. Here, then, were two plots
simultaneously carrying on ; and amongst the actors
to whom the execution was intrusted, some persons
were common to both, that is, some were sworn to
assist alike in the invasion and in the assassination ;
others knew only of the design against the government,
and had no knowledge of the darker purpose against
Elizabeth. Amongst these last, up to a certain date
which can be fixed, we must undoubtedly class the
Scottish queen. She was fully aware of, and indeed was
an active agent in the schemes which were in agitation
for the invasion of the country and her own deliver-
ance ; * but she was ignorant at first of any designs
against the life of her enemy .^ Whether to the last
she remained so ignorant of all, has been disputed;
but, in the mean time, the predicament in which she
stood, as all must see, was one of extreme peril, and
so the result proved. Walsingham, through his spies,
became acquainted with both plots ; and his fertile and
unscrupulous mind, assisted and prompted by such an
instrument as Phelipps, projected a scheme for involv-
ing Mary in a knowledge of both, and thus drawing
her on to her ruin. Such being the general design,
let us now look more minutely into the history and
proceedings of the conspirators.
John Savage, a Roman Catholic gentleman, who
had served in the wars of the Low Countries, becoming
acquainted with some fanatical priests of the Jesuit
seminary of Rheims, was induced, by their arguments,
to believe that the assassination of the English queen
would be a meritorious action in the sight of God.
* MS. State-paper Office, Morgan to Mary, a decipher in Phelipps' hand.
Ult. Martii, 1586', printed in Murdin, p. 481.
) Murdin, p. 527, Morgan to Mary, July 4, 1586.
262 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586
They argued that the papal bull, by which this prin-
cess was excommunicated, was dictated by the Holy
Spirit ; and that to slay any person thus anathematized
must be accounted an act of faith, and not of murder.
Savage, thus worked upon, took a solemn vow that
he would kill the queen ; and prepared to return to
England for the purpose.* Previous to his departure,
however, John Ballard, a priest of the same seminary,
and a busy agent of Morgan, returned to France, from
a tour which he had made amongst the Catholics of
England and Scotland. The purpose of his mission
thither had been to organize the plot for the invasion
of England ; the object of his return was to confer
upon the same subject with Mendoza the Spanish
ambassador, Charles Paget, and the other English
Catholic refugees. Ballard was accompanied by Maud,
the person already mentioned as a spy of Walsingham,
who had deceived Ballard and Morgan, by pretending
a great zeal for the Catholic cause ; and through this
base person the English secretary became acquainted
with all their proceedings.-f- Paget being consulted,
argued strongly that no invasion could succeed during
the lifetime of Elizabeth ; and Ballard, assuming the
disguise of a soldier, and taking the name of Captain
Fortescue, or Foscue, came back to England much
about the same time as Savage, whose fell purpose
Morgan had communicated to him.
O
Soon after his arrival, Ballard addressed himself
to Anthony Babington, a young gentleman of large
fortune, and ancient Catholic family, in Derbyshire,
* Carte, vol. iii. p. 601 ; and MS. British Museum, Caligula, C. ix. fol.
290, Savage's Contwssion.
f- Carte, vol. iii. p. 601, Camden in Kennet, vol. ii. p. 515. Murdin, p.
517, Charles Paget to Mary, May 29, 1586.
1586. JAMES vi. 263
who had before this shown great zeal and activity in
the service of the Queen of Scots. This was known
to Ballard; and he, therefore, confidently opened to
him the great scheme for the invasion of England ;
explained the ardour with which it had been resumed
by Morgan and the Scottish queen ; and exhorted him
to second their efforts by every means in his power.
Babington, it is certain, had been long warmly devoted
to Mary. He had formed, when he was in France, an
intimate friendship with Morgan; had been introduced
to Beaton the Bishop of Glasgow, her ambassador in
that country ; and had returned to England with
letters from both these persons, which strongly recom-
mended him to the Scottish queen. From this time,
for the period of two years, he had continued to supply
her with secret intelligence, and to receive and convey
her letters to her friends.* Latterly, however, all
intercourse had been broken off; whether for some
private cause, or on account of the greater strictness
of Mary's confinement, does not appear certain. This
interruption of Mary's correspondence with Babington
had, however, given distress to Morgan ; and most
unfortunately, as it happened for the Scottish queen,
he had written to her, in urgent terms, on the ninth
of May, 1586, advising her to renew her secret inter-
course with him, and describing him as a gentleman
on whose ability and high honour she might have the
firmest reliance.-f-
On being sought out by Ballard, Babington evinced
all his former eagerness for the service of the captive
queen ; but expressed strongly the same opinion as that
* Hardwicke's Papers, vol. i. p. 227.
+ Murdin, p. 513, Morgan to the Queen of Scots, May 9, 1586, or old
style, April 29. Mary and her secretaries always followed the Roman or
new, Walsingham, Burghley, and Phelipps, the old style.
264 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
already given by Charles Paget, that no invasion or
rising in England could succeed as long as Elizabeth
lived. Ballard then communicated to him Savage's
purpose of assassination ; adding, that the gentleman
who had solemnly bound himself to despatch that
princess was now in England. This revelation pro-
duced an immediate effect ; and Babington expressed
a decided opinion that the simultaneous execution of
both plots held out the fairest prospect of success. It
w r ould be dangerous, however, he said, to intrust the
assassination to only one hand : it might fail, and all
would be lost. He suggested, therefore, an improve-
ment, by which the murder should be committed by
six gentlemen of his acquaintance, of whom Savage
should be one ; whilst he pointed out the best havens
where foreign troops might be landed; summed up
the probable native force with which they were likely
to be joined ; and demonstrated the surest plan for
the escape of the Scottish queen.* With all this
Ballard was highly pleased ; and from the time when
the first meeting with Babington took place, -f* he
and Babington employed themselves in discovering,
amongst their acquaintance, such men as they deemed
likely to engage in this abominable design. Three
were soon procured to join with Savage. Their names
were Abingdon, the son of the late cofferer of the queen's
household ; Barnwell, who was .connected with a noble
family in Ireland ; and Charnock, a Catholic gentle-
man in Lancashire. J Some time after, the number
of six was made up by the addition of Charles Tilney,
* Murdin, p. 513. Morgan to the Queen of Scots, May 9, 1586 ; or old
style, April 29. Also Camden in Kennet, vol. ii. p. 515.
f" This period or interval cannot be precisely fixed. It seems to have been
between the 27th of May and the 25th June.
Camden in Kennet, vol. ii. p. 516.
1586. JAMES vi. 265
one of the queen's band of gentlemen pensioners, and
Chidiock Titchbourne. Other gentlemen of their
acquaintance were engaged to assist in the project for
the invasion, and the escape of Mary ; but the darker
purpose of assassination was not revealed to them.*
During all this time, Mary, on account of the strict-
ness of her confinement under Sir Amias Paulet, had
found it extremely difficult to continue her correspon-
dence with her friends abroad ; but she had never
abandoned the project of the Spanish invasion : and on
the fifth May, she addressed a letter to Charles Paget,
giving minute directions regarding the likeliest method
of succeeding in their common enterprise against Eliza-
beth. From this letter, which, though long, is highly
interesting, some passages must be given. They de-
velop the whole plot for the invasion of England, and
exhibit a determination in her designs against Eliza-
beth, which, when known, (as they came to be by the
interception of the letter,) could not fail to excite
extreme resentment.
" With an infinite number of other letters in cipher,
(so she addressed Paget,) I received five of yours, dated
the fourteenth January, sixteenth of May, and last of
July 1585, and the fourth of February 1586. But,
for their late arrival here, and all at once, it hath not
been possible for me to see them all deciphered. And
I have been, since the departure from Wingfield,^ so
wholly without all intelligence of foreign affairs, as,
not knowing the present state thereof, it is very diffi-
cile for me to establish any certain course for reestab-
lishing the same on this side ; and methinks I can see
* MS. State-paper Office, decipher by Phelipps, Marv to Mendoza, May
20, 1586.
f- Mary was removed to Wingfield in October 1584.
266 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
no other means to that end, except the King of Spain,
now being pricked in his particular by the attempt
made on Holland and the course of Drake, would
take revenge against the Queen of England whilst
France, occupied as it is, cannot help her ; wherefore
I desire that you should essay, either by the Lord
Paget during his abode in Spain, or by the Spanish
ambassador, to discover clearly if the said King of
Spain hath intention to set on England."
Mary then proceeded to state, with great force, the
reasons which ought to move the Spanish king to
adopt this course ; after which, she thus expressed
her hopes of giving him effectual assistance :
" Now, in case that he deliberate to set on the Queen
of England, esteeming it most necessary that he assure
himself also of Scotland, either to serve with him in
the said enterprise, or, at the least, to hold that coun-
try so bridled that it serve not his enemy ; I have
thought good that you enter with the ambassador of
Spain, in these overtures following; to wit, that I
shall travel by all means to make my son enter in the
said enterprise ; and if he cannot be persuaded there-
unto, that I shall dress a secret strait league among
the principal Catholic lords of that country, and their
adherents, to be joined with the King of Spain, and
to execute, at his devotion, what of their parts shall
be thought meet for advancing of the said enterprise ; so
being they may have such succours of men and money
as they will ask ; which, I am sure, shall not be very
cnargeable, having men enough within the country,
and little money stretching far and doing much there.
Moreover, (continued Mary,) I shall dress the means
to make my son be delivered in the hands of the said
King of Spain, or in the pope's, as best by them shall
J58G. JAMES vi. 267
be thought good ; but with paction and promise to set
him at liberty, whensoever I shall so desire, or that
after my death, being Catholic, he shall desire again
to repair to this isle. * * * This is the best
hostage that I and the said lords of Scotland can give
to the King of Spain for performance of that which
may depend on them in the said enterprise. But
withal must there be a regent established in Scotland,
that [may] have commission and power of me and my
son, (whom it shall be easy to make pass the same,
he being once in the hands of the said lords,) to govern
the country in his absence ; for which office I find none
so fit as the Lord Claud Hamilton, as well for the rank
of his house, as for his manhood and wisdom ; and to
shun all jealousy of the rest, and to strengthen him the
more, he must have a council appointed him of the prin-
cipal lords, without whom he shall be bound not to
ordain anything of importance. 1 should think myself
most obliged to the King of Spain, that it would please
him to receive my son, to make him be instructed and
reduced to the Catholic religion, which is the thing in
the world 1 most desire ; affecting a great deal rather
the salvation of his soul than to see him monarch of all
Europe ; and I fear much, that so long as he shall re-
main where he is, (amongst those that found all his
greatness upon the maintenance of the religion which
he professeth,) it shall never be in my power to bring
him in again to the right way ; whereby there shall
remain in my heart a thousand regrets and apprehen-
sions, if I should die, to leave behind me a tyrant and
persecutor of the Catholic Church.
" If you see and perceive the said ambassador to
have goust in these overtures, and put you in hope of
a good answer thereunto, which you shall insist to have
with all diligence, I would then, in the mean time, you
268 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
should write to the Lord Claud, letting him understand
how that the King of Spain is to set on this country,
and desireth to have the assistance of the Catholics of
Scotland, for to stop, at least, that from thence the
Queen of England have no succours ; and to that effect,
you shall pray the said Lord Claud to sound and grope
the minds hereunto of the principal of the Catholic
nobility in Scotland. * * * And to the end they
may be the more encouraged herein, you may write
plainly to the Lord Claud, that you have charge of me
to treat with him of this matter. But by your first
letter, I am not of opinion that you discover yourself
further to him, nor to other at all, until you have
received answer of the King of Spain, which being con-
form to this designment, then may you open more to
the Lord Claud ; showing him, that to assure himself
of my son, and to the end (if it be possible) that things
be passed, and done under his name and authority, it
shall be needful to seize his person, in case that will-
ingly he cannot be brought to this enterprise ; yea,
and that the surest were to deliver him into the King
of Spain's hands, or the pope's, as shall be thought
best ; and that in his absence, he depute the Lord
Claud his lieutenant-general and regent in the go-
vernment of Scotland ; which, you are assured, I may
be easily persuaded to confirm and approve. For if
it be possible, I will not, for divers respects, be named
therein, until the extremity. * * * I can write
nothing presently to the Lord Claud himself, for want
of an alphabet between me and him, which now I send
you herewith enclosed without any mark on the back,
that you may send it unto him."*
Here, then, was Mary's plan minutely detailed by
* MS. State-paper Office, decipher by Phelipps, Queen of Scots to Charles
Paget, May 20, 1586, Chartley.
1586. JAMES vi. 269
herself; in which Spain was to "set on England,"
as she expressed it ; Lord Claud Hamilton to be
made regent in Scotland ; her son, in the event of
his refusal to turn Catholic, and combine against
Elizabeth, to be seized, imprisoned, and coerced into
obedience.
The vigour and ability with which the whole is laid
down, needs no comment; and the Scottish queen
omitted no opportunity to encourage her friends in
that great enterprise which was now regarded as the
forlorn hope for the recovery of her liberty, and the
restoration of the Catholic faith in Britain.* All this
time, however, Mary had no communication with
Ballard. He had been specially warned not to attempt
to hold any intercourse with the queen ; and she had
been informed by Morgan, in a letter written from his
prison, that such an agent was in England labouring
busily in her behalf, but that there were strong reasons
why she should avoid, for the present, all communica-
tion with him. "He followeth (said he) some matters
of consequence, the issue whereof is uncertain ; where-
fore, as long as these labours of his and matters do
continue, it is not for your majesty's service to hold
any intelligence with him at all, lest he, or his partners,
be discovered, and they, by pains or other accidents,
discover your majesty afterwards to have had intelli-
gence with them, which I would not should fall out
for any good in the world. And I have specially warned
the said Ballard (he continued) not to deal at any
hand with your majesty, as long as he followeth the
* MS. State-paper Office, Mendoza to the Queen of Scots, May 19, 1586,
decipher by Phelipps. Ibid., decipher by Phelipps, Sir Francis Englefield
to Nau, May 3, 1586'. Ibid., Archbishop of Glasgow to Mary, decipher,
20th May, 1586. See supra, pp. 247, 248, Randolph's intimation of this
Conspiracy to Walsingham.
270 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
affairs that he and others have in hand, which tend
to do good, which I pray God may come to pass; and
so shall your majesty be relieved by the power of
God."*
In a postscript of a letter of Morgan's to Curie,
Mary's French secretary, written on the same day,
which was intercepted and deciphered by Phelipps, an
indirect allusion was made to these practices of Ballard
against the life of Elizabeth. " I am not unoccupied
(said he) although 1 be in prison, to think of her
majesty's state, and yours that endure with her, to
your honours ; and there be many means in hand to
remove the beast that troubleth all the world." 1 " 1 ^
But although Mary, thus warned, prudently ab-
stained from any communication with Ballard, she
continued in active correspondence with Morgan,
Englefield, Mendoza, Paget, and Persons, on the sub-
ject of " the great enterprise." The principal person
through whom she transmitted her letters was Gil-
bert Gvfford, who had sold himself to Walsingham.
Her letters, accordingly, were regularly intercepted,
deciphered by Phelipps, copied, considered by Wal-
singham, and then forwarded to their destination.^;
The English minister, therefore, was quite as well
acquainted with the plot for the invasion of the realm,
and the insurrection of the Roman Catholics, as the
conspirators themselves. He knew, also, the desperate
designs of Ballard, Babington, and his fellows, against
the queen's life; yet, as Mary had abstained from all
intercourse with the conspirators, there was no evi-
* Morgan to the Queen of Scots, Murdin, p. 527.
\" MS. State-paper Office, Morgan to Curie, decipher by Phelipps, 24th
June old style, 4th July new.
+ MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Paulet to Wals'nghani, llth April,
1586.
1586. JAMES vi. 271
dence to connect her with their designs. There might
be presumptions against her; (and it seems to me im-
possible for any one to have read Morgan's allusion
to the secret designs of Ballard without having a
suspicion of some dark purpose ;) but nothing had
yet brought her into direct contact with Ballard or
Babington. Here, then, was the difficulty; and as
Walsingham pondered over the way to remove it, it
seems to have fallen out, most unhappily for the Scot-
tish queen, that in consequence of the advice of Mor-
gan, she resolved to renew her correspondence with
Babington, who probably about this time had returned
from France to England, bringing with him the letter
of the twenty-ninth April above-mentioned.* It has
been imagined, that Mary was drawn on to renew her
correspondence with Babington by a stratagem of
Walsingham's ; but although Walsingham was busy
and ingenious in his stratagems after the correspon-
dence had begun, there is no proof that any measures
of his led to its renewal; and it is evident, from what
has been already stated, that for this purpose no trick
or stratagem was required.
But, however this may be, Mary could not have
adopted a more fatal step ; indeed, it was the very
crisis of her fate. Hitherto, she knew only of the
project for the Spanish invasion ; and, listening to the
suggestions of prudence and suspicion, had connected
herself in no way with Ballard and the plot against
Elizabeth's life. Had she continued thus cautious,
she was ignorant, and she was safe. But Babington
arrived in England; his residence lay in the near
neighbourhood of Mary's prison; Morgan had given
* Supra, p. 264
272 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
him a letter to that princess, recommending the re-
newal of their intercourse. The person who then
managed the secret conveyance of Mary's letters was
the treacherous Gifford. He, we know, would first
convey it to Walsingham to be deciphered ; it would
be then forwarded to the Scottish queen. What a
moment of suspense must this have been for the English
secretary, who was watching, silent and darkling, for
the evidence which might convict the captive queen ?
Had she suspected, or hesitated, or delayed, Morgan,
who was in communication with Ballard, and likely
to be soon informed of Babington having joined the
plot against Elizabeth's life, might have warned her
against having any communication with him, as he
had done against corresponding with Ballard. But
Mary, if we are to believe the letters produced on her
trial, which, however, she affirmed to be forgeries, had
no suspicion. She wrote to Babington, at first, briefly.
He, if we are to accept as genuine a copy of his letter
produced at the trial, replied at great length. In his
reply, the scheme for the invasion was connected with
the conspiracy for the assassination of the queen.
Mary again answered ; at least so it was alleged by
her enemies, who produced a copy of her reply; she
there gave directions for the landing of the troops and
her own escape; she alluded also to the assassination;
and in her letter, if genuine, certainly did not deprecate
it. The agent who managed this secret correspondence
was Gifford; the man in whom Babington chiefly con-
fided was Poley. Both were sold to Walsingham :
every letter was thus carried first to him, deciphered
by Phelipps, copied and reserved for evidence ; every
conversation between the conspirators was reported.
At last, when all seemed ripe for execution, the signal
1586. JAMES VI. 273
was given ; Gifford and his base assistants dropt the
mask ; Walsingham stept from behind the curtain ;
Ballard and Babington were seized ; and the unfortu-
nate captive, one moment elated with hope, and joyous
in the anticipation of freedom, found herself in the
next detected, entangled, lost. This rapid summary
has been given, to bring, at one glance, under the
reader's eye, the great lines in this miserable and in-
tricate story; and, before proceeding to trace it farther,
one observation must be added. From the system
adopted by Walsingham, and the assistance he might
derive from the unscrupulous ingenuity of Phelipps,
it is clear that, if he were so base as to avail himself
of it, he was in possession of a machinery by which he
could make Mary appear guilty of any plot he pleased.
The letters of her correspondents, Morgan, Babington,
Paget, and others, were written in cipher to her, and
her replies were conveyed in cipher to them. Both
fell into the hands of the English secretary ; and, at
the subsequent trial of Mary, the two long letters
which proved, as was contended, the queen's accession
to the plot against Elizabeth's life, were produced, not
in the originals, but in alleged copies of the deciphered
documents. Nothing can be more evident than that,
under such a system, Mary may have been wholly
innocent, and yet may have been made to appear
guilty. The real letters which passed between her
and Babington, and which were never produced, may
have related solely to the great project for the invasion
of England, and her escape. The copies of these
letters, avowedly taken by Phelipps, Walsingham's
servant, may have been so manufactured as to connect
the invasion with the assassination of Elizabeth. We
shall afterwards see that Mary asserted this was
VOL. VIII. S
274 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
really done : but, meanwhile, let us proceed with the
story.
Mary had two secretaries, named Nau and Curie :
the first a man of ability, intelligence, and education,
but quarrelsome, and fond of political intrigue ; the
second, chiefly employed as a clerk and decipherer:
both of them enjoying her confidence, and intrusted
with the management of her secret correspondence.
It does not exactly appear when the Scottish queen
received, through Babington, Morgan's letter, recom-
mending the renewal of her correspondence with this
gentleman ; but, on the fourth July, 1586,* Curie
sent to Gifford, or to the substitute who sometimes
acted for him, a packet, in which he enclosed a letter,
which he begged him to convey to Anthony Babing-
ton. The letter accompanying this packet was in
cipher, and in the following words :
" On Sunday last, I wrote unto you by this bearer,
having received nothing from you since your letter
dated the sixteenth of this instant. -f- I hope to have
her majesty"^ despatch, mentioned in rny foresaid,
ready for to-morrow sevennight, [conform to] the ap-
pointment. In the mean season, her majesty prayeth
you to send your foot-boy, so closely as you can, with
these two little bills : the one so ?r marked, to Master
Anthony Babington, dwelling most in Derbyshire, at
a house of his own, within two miles of Winkfield ;
as I doubt not but you know for that in this shire
he hath both friends and kinsmen ; and the other bill,
without any mark, unto one Richard Hurt Mercer,
dwelling in Nottiughame Tower. Unto neither of the
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Curie ioff [Gifford,] July 4, Saturday.
j- By this is meant the 16th of June.
J MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Curie toff [Gifford,] July 4, Saturday.
1586. JAMES vi. 275
two foresaid personages your said boy needeth not to
declare whose he is, (unless he be already known by
them with whom he shall have to do;) but only ask
answer, and what is given him, to bring it to your
hands ; which her majesty assureth herself you will,
with convenient diligence, make come unto her. Her
majesty desireth that you would, on every occasion
you have to write hither, participate unto her such
occurrences as come to your knowledge, either foreign
or within the realm ; and, in particular, what you
understand of the Earl of 'Shrewsbury his going to
court. God preserve you. Chartley, of July the fourth,
on Saturday." *
This letter, the authenticity of which there is no
reason to dispute, is a small slip of paper written
wholly in cipher; the decipher being added below
it by Phelipps, but much mutilated. It will not,
however, escape an attentive reader, that the writer
does not specify by whom the enclosed letter to
Anthony Babington was written. It may have been
from Mary, or it may possibly have been from her
secretary, Nau, or from Curie. Walsingham and
Burghley, indeed, afterwards alleged at the trial, and
it was so pleaded, that the enclosure was a letter from
the Queen of Scots to Babington ; and this original
letter is certainly alluded to as extant in a list drawn
* This letter is preserved in cipher in the State-paper Office, in a most
valuable collection of original papers and letters, entitled, " Papers of Mary
queen of Scots." The deciphered part, in Phelipps' hand, is, much of it,
illegible. It is now printed, for the first time, from a decipher, by Mr
Lemon of the State-paper Office. It is singular, as that gentleman has re-
marked, that Curie, or Nau, in writing it, made an error in the date. In
158 f >, the 4th of July, Roman style, which Mary's secretaries used, was on
a Friday, not a Saturday ; Saturday was the 5th of July, but the writer had
mistaken the day of the month. This trivial circumstance appears to me
to confirm the authenticity of the letters ; and there is another instance of
carelessness in it ; he speaks, although writing on the 5th July, of the 16th
"of this instant ;" evidently meaning the Kith June. This tells the same
way.
276 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
up by Burghley ; but if it ever existed, it is now lost.
It was not brought forward at the trial, when Mary
demanded to see it, and alleged that no such letter
was ever written by her: a copy was all that was then
produced; and a copy of the decipher is all that we
now have.* This letter, purporting to be addressed
by Mary to Babington, was as follows:
" My very good friend, albeit it be long since you
heard from me, no more than I have done from you,
against my will ; yet would I not you should think I
have the meanwhile, or ever will be unmindful of the
effectual affection you have showed heretofore towards
all that concerneth me. I have understood, that upon
the ceasing of our intelligence, there were addressed
unto you, both from France and Scotland, some packets
for me. I pray you, if any be come to your hands,
and be yet in place, to deliver them to the bearer hereof,
who will make them to be safely conveyed unto me.
And I will pray God for your preservation. At
Chartley, your assured good friend, MARIE R."-f-
When the packet containing this letter reached
Gifford, it was immediately conveyed to Sir Amias
Paulet, who transmitted it to Walsingham on the 29th
June, with many regrets that it appeared to him too
small to contain any very important matter. He, at
* It may be added, that there is also in the State-paper Office, a copy of
the same letter in cipher, made by some unknown hand, most probably
Gifford's, on the back of the small ciphered letter already quoted, of date
the 4th July, enclosing to Gifford the queen's letter to Babington. It may
be conjectured that Gifford, before forwarding the original to Babington,
took a copy of it on the back of his own letter. This letter was deciphered
for me by Mr Lemon, and is exactly the same as that printed in the text,
with the exception, that the date is thus given in the ciphered letter : " Of
June the twenty-fifth, at Chartley, by your assured good friend, MARIE R."
The long interval between June 25 and July 5, can only be accounted for
by supposing that Mary, in writing to Babington, contrary to her usual
practice, used the old style ; whilst Curie, or Nau, in writing to Gifford, and
enclosing the queen's letter, used the new. The 25th June old style, was
exactly the 5th July new, as there should be a difference of ten days.
+ A1S. Copy, State-paper Office, Mary to Babington, June 25.
1586. JAMES vi. 277
the same time, informed the English secretary, that
Phelipps, who was then in London, and to whom
Elizabeth and Walsingham appear to have committed
the management of the whole plot for the interception
of Mary's letters, had written a letter to him, in which
he laid down a new plan of operations, by which he
hoped to succeed more surely and speedily. Paulet,
however, rejected it as dangerous, and liable, by ex-
citing suspicion, to break off the good course already
begun.* He added, that this was the more to be
feared, as it was expected that, on the third of the
month, " great matter " would come from these peo-
ple. Three days after this letter of Paulet's of the
twenty-ninth June,*f Mary wrote from Chartley to
Morgan, informing him that Pietro, the name given
to Gifford in their letters, at his last return from
France, had brought her three letters from him, one
of which regarded Babington. She stated, also, that
she had received an anonymous letter, which, she
imagined, came from Poley, who made courteous offers ;
but she was afraid to deal in it till she had ascertained
the matter more certainly ; advising Morgan, for the
greater security, to keep those persons with whom she
had to deal as much as possible unknown to each other.
She then added this remarkable passage regarding her
intercourse with Babington : " As to Babington, he
hath both kindly and honestly offered himself and all
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Paulet to Walsingham, June 29, 1586.
In this letter of Paulet, which is too long to quote, we obtain a clear view
of the machinery and the actors in this secret correspondence. Mary em-
ployed a brewer, who supplied the castle, and went by the name of " the
hones* man," to receive her letters from Gifford. He carried the answers
to Gifford again, or to a cousin of his, who acted as his substitute ; and all
the three were in the pay of Walsingham and Paulet ; so that the letters of the
queen, or her secretaries, were sure to be intercepted, sent to Walsingham,
deciphered by Phelipps, and then retransmitted to Paulet, who forwarded
them to their destination.
f On the 12th July new style, or 2d July old.
278 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
his means, to be employed any way I would ; where-
upon I hope to have satisfied him by two of my several
letters since I had his. He hath seen that mine hath
prevented him with all lawful excuses shown on my
part of the long silence between us." In the conclusion
of the same letter, the Scottish queen, in answer to
the passage regarding Ballard, already quoted from
Morgan's letter of the fourth July,* thus spoke of
him : "I have heard of that Ballard of whom you
write, but nothing from himself, and, therefore, have
no intelligence with him."^
On the day after, thirteenth July, Nau, Mary's
secretary, wrote to Babington, informing him that his
mistress had received his letters " yesternight," that
is, on the evening of the twelfth July ; | which letters,
he added, before this bearer's return, cannot be deci-
phered. He then continued : " He (the bearer) is,
within three days, to repair hither again, against which
time her majesty's letter will be in readiness. In the
mean time, I would not omit to show you, that there
is great assurance made of Mr Poley's faithful serving
of her majesty ; and by his own letters [he] hath
vowed and promised the same." But he subjoined this
caution. " As yet, her majesty's experience of him
is not so great as I dare embolden you to trust him
much; he never having written to her majesty but
once, whereunto she hath not yet answered. * * *
Let me know plainly what YOU understand of him.
Twelfth July, Chartley. NAU."
Although these two letters, the first from Mary to
* Supra, p. 269.
f- MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Original decipher by Phelipps, Mary to
Morgan, 12th July new style, t. e., *2d July old.
J July 12 new style ; July 2 old.
MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Original decipher by Phelipps, endorsed,
Nan to Babington, July 13.
1586. JAMES VI. 279
Morgan, the second from Nau to Babington, appear
not in the original, but only in the decipher, which is
in the handwriting of Phelipps, and must therefore
be regarded with suspicion, there seems no sufficient rea-
son for doubting their authenticity; and they establish
the fact, that the Scottish queen, at this time, had
twice written to Babington, and meant to write again.
They prove, also, that, on the twelfth July, she had
received letters from Babington. But with regard to
the subject of his offers to her, or her reply to him,
upon which depends the whole question of her guilt,
all is still dark.
To understand what occurred next, the reader must
keep in mind, that in his secret communications with
Mary, Babington sometimes remained at Lichfield in
the neighbourhood of Chartley, and sometimes went to
London, for the purpose of holding his private meetings
with the conspirators, and also of visiting Secretary
Walsingham, to whom, strange as it may appear, he
had offered himself as a spy upon the practices of the
Roman Catholic party. His object in this was evident.
He believed that Walsingham knew nothing of his
designs ; and hoped, under this disguise, to become
acquainted with all the secret purposes of the secretary.
But Walsingham was too old a diplomatist to be thus
taken in. He accepted his offers, and made his own
use of them. Hitherto Babington seems to have been
in London when he received, through Gifford or his
substitutes, the letters from Mary ; but he now pro-
posed to come down to Lichfield, and communicate
with her secret messenger in person. It is evident
that this change made some alteration necessary on
the part of Walsingham and Phelipps ; for the delay
which must have occurred in having the intercepted
280 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
letters sent up to London, deciphered, copied, and
retransmitted to be delivered again to Babington, would
have raised suspicion, and must, in all probability, have
led to discovery. Phelipps, therefore, was sent down
to Chartley,* where, on pretence of some other busi-
ness, he took up his residence with Sir Amias Paulet;
and thus no time was lost in deciphering the inter-
cepted letters, and no suspicion raised. In this way
Walsingham trusted that he would be enabled, follow-
ing out what they had begun, to draw the nets more
tightly round the Scottish queen ; and procure, at last,
a clear and positive ground of conviction. Keeping
this in view, the correspondence grows more and more
interesting.
Phelipps left London for Chartley on the evening
of the seventh July,^ and on the way thither he met
a messenger with a packet from Sir Amias Paulet to
Walsiugham, which, according to the directions he
had received from this minister, he opened. It con-
tained a letter of Mary's to the French ambassador.
This the decipherer carried back with him to Chartley,
determining to copy it with all speed, and send it up
again ; adding in his letter, that he knew the ambas-
sador was expecting it earnestly. " By Sir Amias'
letter, (to quote his note to Walsingham,) I find (said
he) all things to stand in so good terms, as my abode
here will be the less, but for Babington's matters, which
I beseech you resolve thoroughly and speedily ."J * *
The arrival of Phelipps at Chartley was not unnoted
by the Scottish queen, whose mind, with the acuteness
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Phelipps to Walsingham, Chartley,
July 14, 1586. Also, Ibid., Phelipps to Walsingham, Stilton, July 8.
j- It is stated by Dr Lingard, that he brought with him Babington's long
letter to Mary, and it seems very probable that he did so ; but I have found
on authority for this, and none is given for it.
MS. State-paper Office, Phelipps to Walsingham, July 8, 1S86.
1586. JAMES VI. 281
and suspicion produced by a long captivity, eagerly
scrutinized every new person or circumstance which
might affect her destiny. She remembered that Mor-
gan had employed many years ago a gentleman of the
same name; but she had never seen him. Could this
be the same, and was he to be trusted, or might he not
be some new spy or eavesdropper of her enemies ? To
ascertain this, she sent a minute description of his
person to Morgan.* He must have arrived at Chart-
ley on the ninth July, and, having deciphered the
intercepted packet to the French ambassador, he, on
the fourteenth, transmitted it with this letter to Wal-
singham.
" It may please your honour, the packet is presently
returned, which I stayed, in hopes to send both that
and the answer to Ba.*J* letter at once : in the mean-
while beginning to decipher that which we had copied
out before. And so I send your honour her letter to
the French ambassador, which was in cipher, and her
letters to the Lord Claud J and Courcelles out of cipher.
Likewise, the short note was sent to Bab., wherein is
somewhat only in answer of that concerned Poley in
his. We attend her very heart in the next. She begins
to recover health and strength, and did ride about in
her coach yesterday. I had a smiling countenance,
but I thought of the verse
" ' Cum tibi dicit Ave sicut ab hoste Cave.
I hope by the next to send your honour better mat-
* " He was," she said, " of low stature, slender every way, dark, yellow-
haired on the head, and clear yellow-bearded, pitted in the face with small-
pocks, short-sighted, and, as it appeared, about thirty years of age." We
have hero a minute portrait of an acute, unscrupulous, and degraded man ;
whose talents, as a spy and decipherer, were so successfully employed by
Walsingham in the detection and destruction of the Scottish (jueen.
+ Ba., for Babington.
J Lord Claud Hamilton.
282 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
ters." * * The postscript of this letter is important.
" If the posts make any reasonable speed, these will
be with you by to-morrow noon; and G. G. (he means
Gilbert Gifford) may have delivered his packet and
received his answer by Sunday; which then despatched
hither, would give great credit to the action ; for other-
wise we look not to depart this se'nnight, and, there-
fore, as good all that belonged hereto were done here
as at London."*
How strange a scene was that now presented by the
castle of Chartley, Mary's prison. The poor queen
carrying on a plot for her escape ; watching anxiously
the fate of her letters on which all depended, and
believing all safe ; whilst Phelipps, living then under
the same roof, and meeting her, as he says, with a
smiling countenance, was opening every packet ; com-
municating her most secret thoughts to Walsingham
and Elizabeth ; and weaving, at her very elbow, the
toils in which she was to be caught.
On this same day, the fourteenth July, Sir Amias
Paulet wrote to Walsingham, acquainting him that
the packet sent by Mr Phelipps had been thankfully
received ; with such answer given by writing as the
shortness of the time would allow; and a promise made
to answer more at length at the return of the honest
man ; which, he added, would be in three days. This
packet, brought down by Phelipps, and thankfully
received by Mary, appears to have contained a long
letter from Babington. It described the conspiracy
for the invasion of the realm, the escape of the Scot-
tish queen, and the assassination of Elizabeth. This
letter, which was not produced at the trial, and which
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, July 14, 1586, Phelipps to Walsingham,
Chartley.
1586. JAMES VI. 283
Mary denied having ever received, no longer exists,
if it ever did exist, in the original ; but a copy, in a
clerk's hand, has been preserved. Its purport was to
excuse his long silence, every means of conveying his
letters having been cut off since the time that she had
been committed to the custody of such a Puritan as
Paulet. He then gave an account of his conference
with Ballard ; informed her of the intended murder of
the Queen of England by six gentlemen selected for
that purpose, and of his resolution to set her at the
same time at liberty ; and he requested her to assign
rewards to the actors in this tragedy, or to their pos-
terity should they perish in the attempt.*
It is to be remembered, that this day, the fourteenth
July in Sir Annas'" letter and Mr Phelipps" 1 , was the
twenty-fourth July according to the new style, which
Mary and her secretaries, Curie and Nau, followed in
their letters ; and, accordingly, we find that Curie, on
the twenty-second July new, or twelfth July old style,
and on the twenty-seventh July new, or seventeenth
old, wrote two short letters in cipher, which were de-
ciphered by Phelipps, then at Chartley. They were
addressed to Gifford; and in the first, he told him,
that the Queen of Scots had received his letter, dated
the twelfth of that instant, with its enclosure ; that
she was grateful for his diligence, but approved of his
cousin Gilbert's advice, not to employ frequently a
certain person to whom he had alluded. He (Curie)
then added this sentence : " If Mr Babingtor. be past
down to the country, for whom this character x shall
serve in time coming, her majesty prayeth you to cause
convey to him this enclosed, otherwise to staj it until
* Carte, vol. iii. p. 603. Lingard, vol. viii. p. 205.
284 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND 1586.
you hear from her majesty again. With ray next I
shall do my best to satisfy you touching the other
characters. God have you in protection. Of July
twenty-two. CURLE, Chartley."*
In the other letter, of the twenty-seventh July,
Curie wrote to the same person, or to Gilbert Gifford,
much to the same purpose, informing him, that Mary
had received his letter of the twenty-fifth inst. ; that
she commended his zeal, and begged him to have "this
enclosed surely delivered in the hands of Anthony
Babington, if he were come down in the country ;
otherwise to keep it still in his own hands, or his
brother's, until Babington should arrive." He goes
on to say, that, within ten days, her majesty would
have a packet ready to be sent to the French ambas-
sador by his boy, who, by the same means, might also
carry the other to Babington at London, if he was not
come sooner.-f-
Here, then, at last, is the anxiously expected packet
from Mary to Babington, to which, as we have seen,
Phelipps alluded in his letter of the fourteenth July,
when he wrote to Walsingham, with such emphatic
eagerness, " We attend her very heart in the next."
It was enclosed in the packet with this letter of Curie's
of the twenty-seventh July, and was instantly pounced
upon by those who were watching for it. Accordingly,
on the nineteenth July, which, it must be recollected,
is the twenty-ninth July new style, Phelipps wrote in
exultation from Chartley to Walsingham : " It may
please your honour, you have now this queen's answer
to Babington, which I received yesternight. If he be
in the country, the original will be conveyed into his
* MS. State-paper Office, cipher and decipher, July 22, Curie,
f MS. State-paper Office, cipher and decipher, July 27, 1586.
] 586. JAMES vi. 285
hands, and, like enough, answer returned. 1 hope
for your honour's speedy resolution touching his ap-
prehension or otherwise, that I may dispose of myself
accordingly. I think, under correction, you have
enough of him ; unless you would discover more par-
ticularities of the confederates, which may be done even
in his imprisonment. If your honour mean to take
him, ample commission and charge would be given
to choice persons for search of his house. It is like
enough, for all her commandment, her letter will not
be so soon defaced. I wish it for an evidence against
her, if it please God, to inspire her majesty with the
heroical courage that were meet for the avenge of God's
cause, and the security of herself and this state. At
least, I hope she will hang Nau and Curie, who justly
make Sir Amias Paulet take upon him the name she
imputes to him of a jailor of criminals. * * *
I have sent you herewith of this queen's letters in the
packet was last sent, those to the Bishop of Glasgow,
Don Lewis, and Morgan. * * * She is very bold
to make way to the great personage ; and, I fear, he
will be too forward in satisfying her for her change
till he see Babington's treasons, which 1 doubt not
but your honour hath care enough of not to discover
which way this wind comes in. I am sorry to hear
from London, that Babington was not yet taken, and
that some searches, by forewarning, have been frus-
trated."*
Phelipps concluded his letter, by cautioning Wal-
singham against one Thoroughgood, who had applied
for a license to leave the country, and whom he sus-
pected might be Ballard under a feigned name ; and
added this postscript : " It may please your honour,
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Phelipps to Walsingham, July 19, 1586.
286 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
by Berdon, or ray man, to inform yourself whether
Babington be at London or no; which known, we will
resolve presently upon return." Paulet also wrote
briefly, but joyfully, to Walsingham . His words, he
said, would be few ; the papers now sent containing
matter enough for one time ; but he rejoiced that
" God had blessed his labours, giving him the reward
of true and faithful service ; and trusted that the queen,
and her grave councillors, would make their profit of
the merciful providence of God towards her highness
and England."*
It must here be remarked, that there seems no good
reason to doubt the perfect authenticity of those two
notes of Curlers, of the twenty-second and twenty-
seventh July ; and, therefore, no ground for questioning
the fact, that the Queen of Scots had transmitted two
several letters to Babington : neither can there be any
doubt that the letters of Phelipps, written on his road
to Chartley, and during his residence there, are authen-
tic ; for they, like Curie's notes, are preserved, and
prove themselves. But it is certainly remarkable,
and cannot but excite suspicion, that, at this critical
moment, the originals of Mary's two letters to Bab-
ington, which Phelipps undoubtedly received, and the
contents of which proved, as was affirmed, Mary's
knowledge of the plot against Elizabeth's life, have
both disappeared. Nay, the singularity goes farther;
for Mary sends two letters to Babington, one on the
twenty-fifth, the other on the twenty-seventh; and
only one was afterwards produced against her, and that
confessedly not an original. All the other letters of
Curie, Morgan, Nau, Gifford, and others, in these
intricate doings, have been preserved, and generally
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Paulet to Walsingham, July 20, 1586,
1586. JAMES vi. 287
with the decipher; but this letter, the most important
of all, on which, indeed, the whole question turned, is
a copy. At the trial, when this copy was produced
and argued on, when Mary solemnly asserted that it
was never written by her, and challenged her enemies
to show the original, it was not forthcoming. It is
impossible not to regard this as a suspicious circum-
stance, coupled with the fact already noticed, that the
letter of Babington to Mary is in the same predicament,
and exists only as a copy ; and this suspicion is greatly
increased by an assertion of Camden, that, after inter-
cepting and opening the Scottish queen's letter to
Babington, Walsingham, and his assistant Phelipps,
cunningly added to it a postscript in the same char-
acters, desiring him to set down the names of the six
gentlemen, and it is likely (he observes) other things
too.* Hitherto this statement of Camden, which
involves a charge of so dark a kind against Walsiug-
ham, has rested on his bare averment, unsupported by
all evidence ; but I have found recently in the State-
paper Office, a small letter written wholly in the same
cipher as that of Mary's long letter to Babington, and
endorsed in the hand of Phelipps, " The postscript of
the Scottish queen's letter to Babington." It runs
thus, and certainly gives great support to the allegation
of Camden : " I would be glad to know the names
and qualities of the six gentlemen which are to accom-
plish the designment ; for that it may be I shall be
able, upon knowledge of the parties, to give you some
further advice necessary to be followed therein ;-f- as
* Camden in Kennet, vol. ii. p. 517.
t After this, in the original cipher, follows this sentence scored through,
but so as to be quite legible : " And even so do I wish to be made acquainted
with the names of all such principal pcisons, as also wo be already as also
who be."
258 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
also, from time to time, particularly how you proceed ;
and as soon as you may, for the same purpose, who be
already, and how far every one, privy hereunto." *
The exact bearing of this postscript, as a proof of
Mary's innocence, will afterwards appear. In the
mean time, it is sufficient to remark, that it goes far
to establish the fact, that her letters to Babington were
tampered with, and added to by Walsingham.
Returning, however, to the contents of her reply,
we find that Mary, in this real or pretended letter to
Babington, entered fully into the details of the intended
invasion. She recommended them to examine deeply,
first what forces they might raise ; what captains they
should appoint; of what towns and havens they could
assure themselves ; where it would be best to assemble
their chief strength ; what number of foreign auxili-
aries they required ; what provision of money and
armour ; by what means the six gentlemen deliberated
to proceed; and in what manner she should be assisted
in making her escape. Having weighed all this, she
recommended them to communicate the result, and
their intentions, to Mendoza the Spanish ambassador,
to whom she promised to write; she enjoined on them
the greatest caution and secrecy : and, to conceal their
real designs, advised them to communicate it only to
a few, pretending to the rest of their friends that they
were arming themselves against some suspected attack
of the Puritans. She then expressed herself in these
remarkable words :
" Affairs being thus prepared, and forces in readiness,
* This was deciphered for me by Mr Lemon of the State-paper Office, who
has added this sentence : " I hereby declare, that the above is a true and literal
decipher of the document in the State-paper Office in cipher, endorsed by
Phelipps T/te Postscript of tlie Scottish Queen's letter to Babington. The
lines struck through with the pen are in a similar manner struck through
iii the original. ROBT. LEMON." The spelling has been modernised.
1586. JAMES VI. 289
both without and within the realm, then shall it be time
to set the six gentlemen to work ; taking order, upon
the accomplishing of their design, I may be suddenly
transported out of this place, and that all your forces,
in the same time, -be on the field to meet ,ine. * * *
Nor for that there can be no certain day appointed
of the accomplishing of the said gentlemen's design-
ment, to the end that others may be in readiness to
take me from hence, I would that the said gentlemen
had always about them, or, at the least, at court, four
stout men furnished with good and speedy horses, for,
so soon as the said design shall be executed, to come
with all diligence, to advertise thereof those that shall
be appointed for my transporting ; to the end that,
immediately thereafter, they may be at the place of
my abode, before that my keeper can have advice of the
execution of the said design, or at least before he can
fortify himself within the house, or carry me out of the
same. It were necessary to despatch two or three of
the said advertisers by divers ways, to the end that if
one be staid, the other may come through ; and at the
same instant, were it also needful, to assay to cut off
the post's ordinary ways. This is the plat which 1
find best for this enterprise, and the order whereby you
should conduct the same for our common securities.
* I shall assay, (she continued,) that at the
same time that the work shall be in hand in these
parts, to make the Catholics of Scotland arise, and
to put my son in their hands ; to the effect that from
thence our enemies here may not prevail to have any
succour." She then added this caution, little believing
7 O
that, in the moment she was writing, her cause had
been betrayed, " Take heed of spies and false brethren
that are amongst you, specially of some priests already
VOL. VIII. T
290 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
practised by our enemies for your discovery ; and in
any wise, keep never any paper about you that in any
sort may do harm ; for from like errors have come the
condemnation of all such as have suffered heretofore."
* * * In the last place, the queen informed
Babington, that for a long time past, she had been a
suitor to have the place of her confinement changed,
and that Dudley castle had been suggested, to which
place it was not unlikely she might be removed by the
end of summer. She then observed, " If I stay here,
there is for that purpose [her escape] but one of these
three means following to be looked [to.] The first,
that at one certain day, appointed, in my walking
abroad on horseback on the moors, betwixt this and
Stafford, where ordinarily you know very few people
do pass, a fifty or threescore men, well horsed and
armed, come to take me there ; as they may easily,
my keeper having with him ordinarily but eighteen
or twenty horsemen only with dags.* The second
mean is, to come at midnight, or soon after, to set
fire in the barns and stables, which you know are near
to the house ; and whilst that my guardian's servants
shall run forth to the fire, your company (having every
one a mark whereby they may know one another under
night) might surprise the house, where, I hope, with
the few servants I have about me, I were able to give
you correspondence. And the third : some that bring
carts hither, ordinarily coming early in the morning,
their carts might be so prepared, and with such cart-
leaders, that being cast in the midst of the great gate,
the carts might fall down or overwhelm, and that there-
upon you might come suddenly with your followers
Dags Pistols.
1586, JAMES VI. 291
to make yourself master of the house and carry me
away." * * * She concluded her letter with ex-
pressions of deep gratitude to Babington : " What-
soever issue the matter taketh, I do and will think
myself obliged, as long as I live, towards you for the
offers you make to hazard yourself as you do for my
delivery ; and by any means that ever I may have,
I shall do my endeavour to recognise, by effects, your
deserts herein. I have commanded a more ample
alphabet to be made for you, which herewith you will
receive. God Almighty have you in protection !
Your most assured friend for ever. X . Fail not to
burn this present quickly."*
As soon as Walsingham had procured this letter,
which directly implicated Mary, not only in the con-
spiracy for the invasion, but proved, by inference, her
assent to the plot for the assassination of the English
queen, he determined to secure Ballard and his fellows
on the first opportunity. It was necessary, however,
to act with extreme caution. If one of the conspir-
ators was laid hold of before another, the rest might
o
take alarm and escape, the news reach Chartley, and
Mary, whose papers he had resolved to seize, might
order everything to be destroyed. He was too acute
not to anticipate great difficulty even after all he had
done and intercepted. The letters of Mary to Morgan
and to Babington were not in the queen's hand, but
in cipher, and were written by her secretaries, Nau or
Curie. She might deny them. The small notes en-
closing these letters were also in cipher, and confessedly
from Curie and Nau. She might assert that they had
written them without her orders, and unknown to
* MS. Copy, State-paper Office.
292 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
her.* The only way of completing the proof was
to search her repositories for the original minutes
or rough drafts of these letters, and to seize Curie
and Nau, and compel them to confess all they knew.
Hence the extreme danger of giving any alarm at
Chartley, which might lead to the destruction of the
one, or the escape of the other. Babington apparently
was still unsuspicious, and in constant communication
with Walsingham. Contrary to his original intention,
he had given up his plan of going down to Lichfield,
and had remained in London, where he held secret
meetings with Ballard, Savage, Poley, Dun, and the
other conspirators.
In these difficult circumstances, Walsingham was
compelled to act rapidly, and yet with caution. He
sent for Phelipps, (July twenty-second,) who remained
still at Chartley, busy in the task of deciphering the
last letters intercepted, addressed to Mendoza and the
French ambassador.-f- Elizabeth, he said, would thank
him, on his arrival, with her own lips; but as Babing-
ton was still in London, he must bring with him the
original letter of Mary to this traitor. It was not,
however, brought up by the decipherer till the twenty-
seventh or twenty-eighth, and was then conveyed to
Babington by a secret messenger, to whom he promised
to have the answer ready by the second of August. J
And here, in passing, it seems very important to re-
mark, that the original letter of Mary to Babington,
the letter which brought home to her the knowledge
* The reader will observe, that I am here reasoning on the assumption that
Mary's letters to Babington, as they appear in the copies, were authentic.
f MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Phelipps, July 22,
1 586, Papers of Mary.
MS. Letter, State-paper OSice, Paulet to Walsingham, July 29, 1586,
Papers of Mary.
1586. JAMES VT. 293
of the conspiracy against the queen's life, and which
has been already fully quoted, was confessedly in the
hands of Phelipps the decipherer from the evening of
the eighteenth July, when he intercepted it, * to the
twenty-seventh or twenty-eighth of the same month,
a period of nine days at the least. There was ample
time, therefore, to make any changes or additions
which might seem necessary for the implication of the
Scottish queen. So far with Walsirigham all had
proceeded well. Babington had received the important
letter, and promised his answer. Meanwhile, the task
of arresting Ballard had been committed to Milles, one
of Walsingham's secretaries ; but this conspirator used
so many devices, and glided about so mysteriously,
often changing his lodging, that for some time he
eluded all their vigilance. At last he was seized and
lodged in the Counter, a prison in Wood Street.-f-
Phelipps, however, began to be in great alarm about
Babington, who had now become suspicious that they
were discovered, and instead of keeping his appoint-
ment for the second August, had ridden out of town,
none knew where. The truth seems to have been,
that the unhappy man was in an agony of suspense.
He had discovered Maud's treachery, and trembled
for their plot being on the point of detection. If he
fled the cause was lost. If he remained, it might be
to perish miserably. He at last resolved to write to
Mary, and return with the vain hope of still over-
reaching Walsingham. His letter to the Scottish
queen, dated the third August, was intercepted like
the rest.J It informed her of their danger, but con-
* See supra, p. 284.
+ MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Milles to Walsingham, August 4, 1586.
J MS. Letter, State -paper Office, Phelipps to Walsingham, Aug. 2, 1586.
294 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
jured her not to be dismayed, for all would yet go well.
It was God's cause, lie said, and that of the Church ; it
must succeed: and they had sworn to perform it or die.
He added, that he would send the answer to her pro-
positions, and their final determination, in the next.*
This promised letter, however, he was destined never to
write. He returned to London on the fourth August,
the day on which Ballard was apprehended; heard
the fatal news ; attempted a feeble remonstrance with
Walsingham ; was reassured by the crafty excuses of
that veteran intriguer for a few hours; again doubted
and trembled ; and at last eluding the men who were
set to watch his motions, escaped, in disguise, with
some of his companions, and concealed himself in St
John's Wood, near the city.
Walsingham appears hitherto, in these plots and
counterplots, to have acted on his own responsibility ;
but it had at length become necessary to determine 0*1
Mary's fate : and with this view, he now, for the first
time, laid before Elizabeth, in their full extent, the
appalling discoveries which he had made; the conspi-
racy for the invasion of the realm ; and that also
against her own life. The queen was thunderstruck.
She saw her extreme danger. The plot was evidently
proceeding in her own dominions, in Scotland, in Spain,
perhaps in France ; yet, though its general purpose
was clear, its particular ramifications, especially in
Scotland, and at Eome, were still unknown. She now
recalled to mind Randolph"^ solemn and warning
letter, written from Edinburgh some months before
this.-f* The persons to whom he alluded must be
fellow-conspirators of Ballard; and this man, who
* MS. Letter, Copy, State-paper Office, Babington to the Queen of Scots,
August 3, 1586. f Supra, p. 247.
1586. JAMES VI. 295
seemed the principal agent, could probably tell all.
Walsingham had used the precaution of apprehending
him, simply on the charge of being a seminary priest,
and, as such, interdicted by law from entering England.
Elizabeth, under these circumstances, commanded
Walsingham to keep everything still to himself. It
was not time yet, she said, to consult the council : she
and he must act alone ; and it was her advice that he
should first bribe some of Ballard's confidants, if he
knew of any such, and thus elicit his secrets. She
suggested, also, that if any cipher used by the traitor
in his correspondence had come to his hands, he might
employ it to extract from him the particulars of the
plot against her life. It is from Walsingham's answer
to this proposition of the queen that the above parti-
culars are drawn ; and the letter itself is too interesting
to be omitted. It is as follows :
" It may please your most excellent majesty, I
will, as duty bindeth me, most pointedly observe your
majesty's commandment, especially in keeping to my-
self both the depth and the manner of the discovery
of this great and weighty cause. The use of some apt
instrument towards Ballard, if there could be such a
one found as he could confidently trust, or we might
stand assured would deal faithfully, nothing would
work so good effect as such a course. The party that
hath been used between us, seemeth not in any sound
concert with him, though he was content for the ser-
ving of his turn to use him. Touching the use of a
cipher, there is none between him and any other come
to my hands, so as nothing can be wrought that way
as your majesty most politicly adviseth. Mr Vice-
chamberlain* and I are humbly to crave your majesty's
* Sir C. Hatton.
296 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
directions touching the placing of Ballard afore exami-
nation. He remaineth now under a most strait guard
in one of the Counters ; and for the avoiding of
intelligence, there are two trusty * placed with him to
attend on him. In case he shall not lay himself open
by disclosing, then were it fit he were committed to
the Tower, with two trusty men to attend on him, to
the end he may be examined out of hand, and forced
by torture to utter that which otherwise he will not
disclose." -f-
We must now turn to Mary, who not only remained
in utter ignorance of all that happened, but continued
her secret correspondence with her foreign friends
"greedily," as Paulet expressed it, when he intercepted
the packet. J The time had now come to disclose the
toils. On the third of August, Mr Waad, a privy-
councillor, posted from London ; met Paulet in the fields
near Chartley, and held a secret consultation. Its re-
sult was soon seen. The Scottish queen was still fond
of the chase. She had cheerfully boasted to Morgan,
in one of her letters, that when her enemies were re-
presenting her as bedrid, she was able to handle her
cross-bow, and follow a stag. On the morning of the
eighth August, her keeper, Paulet, invited her to hunt
in the neighbouring park of Tixall, belonging to Sir
Walter Ashton : she accepted, rode from Chartley,
with a small suite, amongst whom were Nau and Curie
her secretaries, and had not proceeded far, when Mr
Thomas Gorges encountered them, and riding up to
the queen, informed her of the discovery of the con-
* So in original.
f MS. State-paper Office, Orig. drafts, Walsingham, to Elizabeth, about
5th or 6th August, 1586.
$ MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Paulet to Walsingham, July 30, 1586.
The Queen of Scots to Morgan, July 27, 1586. Murdin,p. 534.
1586. JAMES vi. 297
spiracy; adding, that he had received orders not to
suffer her to return to Chartley, but to carry her to
Tixall. At the same instant, Nau and Curie were
seized, kept separate from each other, and hurried
away, under a strong guard, to London. Mary was
completely taken by surprise. She broke into violent
reproaches, and called upon her suite to defend their
mistress from the traitors who dared to lay hands on
her. But a moment's reflection convinced her they
were far too weak for resistance; and she suffered
Paulet to lead her to Tixall. * Here, by Elizabeth's
orders, she was kept a close prisoner, secluded from
her servants, refused the ministry of her private chap-
lain, served by strangers, deprived of the use of writing
materials, and completely cut off from all intelligence.
Whilst this scene of arrest was acting in the fields,
Mr Waad had arrived at Chartley; where he broke
open her repositories, seized her caskets, papers, letters,
and ciphers; and was, soon after, joined by Paulet,
who took possession of her money. All was then
packed up and sealed, preparatory to being sent to
Elizabeth, who now appears to have directed every
step. This princess was overjoyed at the success
which had attended the arrest of Mary : she wrote to
Paulet, addressing him as the most faithful of her
subjects ; promised him a reward " non omnibus
datum;' 1 '' and, soon after, sent a new message, eagerly
desiring him to write the whole story of everything
done to Mary; not that she suspected (as she said)
he had omitted any part of his duty, but " simply
that she might take pleasure in the reading thereof.** 1 ^
* MS. State-paper Office, Sir Amias Paulet's Postils to Mr William
Waad's Memorial. Ibid., Esnevall to Courcelles, October 7, 1586.
f MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Mr Necasius Yetswert to Sir Francis
Walsingharn, Windsor, August 19, 1586.
298 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
Above all things, Elizabeth urged the safe keeping,
and immediate transmission to her, of the caskets
found in the Queen of Scots' 1 repositories. These, and
the things contained in them, she declared were, in
her esteem, of far greater value than Nau or Curie ;
and, not content with a written message, she deputed
a special envoy from Windsor to look after these trea-
sures and bring them at once.*
Shortly before this, Elizabeth had a new triumph
in the seizure of Babington and his companions. Till
now, they had escaped the officers who were in pursuit ;
but driven at last by hunger from the woods into the
open country, they were apprehended near Harrow,
and carried in triumph to London, amid the shouts
and execration of the citizens. There was no want of
evidence against them, and their own confessions cor-
roborated all; but after the day for their trials had
been fixed, and everything seemed ready, the English
queen suddenly caught alarm, from the idea, that if
the charge made by the crown lawyers, and the evi-
dence of the witnesses deeply implicated Mary, her
own life was not safe. Elizabeth had not yet resolved
on the trial of the Scottish queen, and the evidence
against her was most imperfect. Her two secretaries,
Nau and Curie, had as yet confessed nothing which
materially involved their mistress. No original minutes
of the letters to Babington had been found.f Even
if Mary's trial were to take place, it was clear that a
considerable interval must elapse between her arraign-
* Could it be that the queen expected to find, amongst these treasures,
the famous casket, containing the letters of Bothwell, -which she had made
such strenuous exertions to get into her possession in 1583? See supra,
p. 123. Lingard, 4th edition, vol. viii. p. '212.
t MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Phelipps, September
3, 1586.
1536. JAMES vi. 299
ment and the execution of the conspirators ; and, in
this interval, what might not be attempted- against her
own life? Though some of the leading conspirators
were taken, yet many desperate men might still be
lurking about court; and so intensely did she feel
upon this subject, that, on the evening of the twelfth
September, the very day before the trial, she sent
repeated messages and letters to Burghley, command-
ing that, in the " Indictment " and in the evidence,
there should be no enlargement of the Queen of Scots 1
crime. It was her favourite, Sir Christopher Hatton
the Vice-chamberlain, who transmitted these wishes
to Burghley ; and the reason he gave was, that Eliza-
beth felt that it might be perilous to herself, if any-
thing were given in evidence which touched Mary
" criminally for her life. 11 *
Amid these alarms the trials proceeded ; and Babiug-
ton, Ballard, and Savage, with the rest of the conspir-
ators being found guilty, were executed on the twentieth
and twenty-first of September, with a studied cruelty,
which it is revolting to find proceeded from Elizabeth's
special orders.
She had at first suggested to her council, that some
"new device 11 should be adopted to enhance their
tortures, and strike more terror into the people ; to
which it was answered by Burghley, that the manner
of the execution prescribed by law, would be fully as
terrible as any other new device, if the hangman took
care to " protract the action," to the extremity of their
pains, and to the sight of the multitude who beheld it.-f-
The executioner by special direction did so : but the
* MS. Letter, Burghley to Sir Christopher Hatton, September 12, 1586,
discovered by Mr Leigh, who is at present preparing a work on Babington's
Conspiracy.
Linii
ingiird, vol. viii., 8vo edition, pp. 215, 216.
300 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
sight of seven men cut up alive, after being partially
strangled, was found to excite the rage and disgust of
the multitude; and next day the second seven were
permitted to be executed after a milder fashion.*
But, leaving these cruel scenes, we must turn to
the unhappy Mary. On the twenty-fifth August, she
was removed from Tixall, to her former residence at
Chartley, under the charge of Sir Amias Paulet, and
a body of gentlemen of the neighbourhood, to the
number of a hundred and forty horse. This strong
escort Elizabeth thought necessary x from the suspicion
that many comihiserated Mary's fate; and, indeed,
Walsingham's letters betrayed considerable uneasiness
on the subject. But his apprehensions were needless;
for nothing could now be more utterly helpless than the
situation of the royal captive. She had been deprived,
during her stay at Tixall, of all her servants, and was
surrounded by strangers. When seen coming from
the gate of the castle, a crowd of poor people assembled
round her; and on some asking alms, she answered,
weeping, that she had nothing to give. All has been
taken from me, said she: I am a beggar as well as
you. Then turning to Sir Walter Ashton, the pro-
prietor of Tixall, and the other gentlemen, she again
burst into tears, exclaiming, " Good gentlemen, I am
not witting of anything intended against the queen."
On reaching Chartley castle, her old prison, an affecting
incident occurred. The wife of Curie her secretary,
had been confined during the interval between Mary's
removal and her return ; and before going to her own
chamber, the queen, with the affectionate consideration
which she always showed to her servants, went to visit
* Camden in Kennet, vol. ii. p. 518.
1586. JAMES VI. 301
the mother and child. It was a female; and turning
to Paulet, who stood by, she begged him, since her
own priest was removed from her, to suffer his chaplain
to christen the babe and give it the name of Mary.
It might have been imagined that Sir Amias, who
constantly talked of Catholicism as idolatry, and
believed Protestantism to be the truth, would have
welcomed the proposal; but he peremptorily refused.
The queen said nothing at the time ; but retiring for
a short season, came again into the room, and taking
the infant on her knee, dipped her hand in a basin of
water, and sprinkling its face, said, " Mary, I baptize
thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost." Paulet, in a letter to Walsingham,
which described the scene, affected to be shocked at
a scandal which he might himself so easily have pre-
vented. He was ignorant, probably, that the Catholic
Church, under such circumstances, permitted lay bap-
tism ; but the man was of a perverse, churlish temper
a strict Puritan, and, as his letters often showed,
more remarkable for his zeal than his charity.* Mary
now proceeded to her own apartment ; and on reaching
it, the keys of the chamber, and of her coffers, were
offered to one of her servants, who had been at length
suffered to attend on her : but the queen commanded
him not to receive them; and bade Mr Barrel, one of
Paulet's assistants, open the door. He did so; and on
entering, finding her papers seized, and her repositories
empty, she expressed herself with deep indignation :
declaring that there were two things which the Queen
of England could never take from her, her English
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Paulet to Walsingham, August 22,
1586. Ibid., same to the same, August 24, 158G. Ibid., same to the same,
August 27, 1586.
S02 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586,
blood, and her Catholic religion. She then added,
that some of them might jet be sorry for this outrage;
a threat which ruffled and disturbed Paulet.*
All the efforts of Elizabeth and Walsingham were
now directed to collect conclusive evidence against the
Scottish queen. Her secretaries, Nau and Curie, were
in their hands, and repeatedly examined ; but up to
the third of September, their confessions did not
materially involve their mistress.-f- The evidence
connecting her with the general conspiracy for the
invasion of the realm was perfectly clear ; her cor-
respondence with France, Spain, and Scotland, and
her secret practices with the Catholics in England,
was fully made out. But this was not considered
enough ; and Walsingham, in despair, wrote to Phe-
lipps, then at Chartley, that Nau and Curie would
by no means be brought to confess that they were
acquainted with the letters that passed between their
mistress and Babington : adding, " I would to God
that these minutes could be found .'"J It is evident
that, by these minutes, the secretary meant such
rough drafts or notes, of Mary's letters to Babington,
as he conjectured might be preserved in her reposi-
tories: and here we have a clear admission that, unless
such were found, the evidence against the Scottish
queen was considered incomplete. At this moment
of perplexity and difficulty Burghley wrote to Sir
Christopher Hatton, suggesting, that it was terror for
themselves that kept the Scottish queen's secretaries
silent : they refused, as he thought, to implicate their
mistress, because it might bring ruin on themselves ;
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Paulet to Walsingham, Aug. 27, 158G.
) MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Walsingham to Phelipps, Sept. 3, 1586.
1 Ibid.
1586. JAMES VI. 303
but, he added, assure them of safety, and then we shall
have the whole truth from them. "Surely, then," said
h, (to use his own revolting expressions,) "they will
yield in writing somewhat to confirm their mistress" 1
crime, if they were persuaded that themselves might
scape, and the blow fall upon their mistress, betwixt
her head and her shoulders." * So jocularly could the
aged treasurer anticipate the scaffold and the block
for the unhappy victim whom he was so solicitous to
sacrifice. On the same day (fourth September) Wal-
singham wrote to Phelipps, who was then at court. It
was evident, he said, that Mary's "minutes were not
extant." He directed him, therefore, to seek access to
Elizabeth, and persuade her to promise some extra-
ordinary favour to Curie, \vho had admitted, in general
terms, his mistress' correspondence with Babington,
but obstinately refused to be more explicit.^
Both this person, Curie, and his brother secretary,
Nau, were, in truth, in a difficult dilemma. If they
acknowledged that the correspondence between the
queen and Babington was in their handwriting, whether
the letters were in written characters or in cipher, or
whether they related simply to the project of invasion,
or included an allusion to the plot against Elizabeth's
life, they stood convicted of treason. If they remained
obstinate, they had before them the dreadful alter-
native of the Tower and the torture. They acted as
might have been expected in such circumstances : at
first denied everything, and at length made a partial
admission, which increased the presumptions, but
was not conclusive, against the Scottish queen. On
* MS. Letter, Burghley to Sir Christopher Hatton, September 4, 1586;
discovered by Mr Leigh. Lingard, vol. viii. p. 21.9.
f- MS. Letter, State-paper Office, "VValsingham to Phelipps, September
4, 1586.
304 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586
the fifth September, the day after Burghley had writ-
ten to Hatton, Nau, actuated, no doubt, by Hatton's
promises of escape and pardon, described minutely
the manner in which Mary managed her secret cor-
respondence. The queen, he said, would never allow
anything secret or important to be written anywhere
but in her cabinet, himself and Curie sitting at
the table. It was her usual practice to dictate the
points which she was pleased should be written ; he
took them down, read them over to her, drew out the
letters, again submitted them for correction, and finally
delivered them to be put into cipher and disposed of
according to her orders. In this manner were written
the intercepted letters of the queen to the Archbishop
of Glasgow, Charles Paget, and the Spanish ambassa-
dor: but as to the letter to Babiugton, he declared
that his mistress had delivered it to him for the most
part written in her own hand.* It was Curie, he said,
who finally translated and put the letters in cipher ;
and this same process had taken place with this letter
as with the rest. This evidence was far from being
sufficiently explicit or satisfactory ; and various at-
tempts were made to amend it. Burghley now threat-
ened Nau with the Tower ;^ and the terror of his
commitment drew from him, on the tenth September,
a long declaration, addressed privately to Elizabeth ;
which Burghley threw aside as of no importance, as it
did not charge the Scottish queen with any direct
accession to the conspiracy for Elizabeth's death, but
simply with having previously known that such a plot
* MS. State-paper Office, September 5, 1586. Endorsed in Phelipps'
hand, " 6th September, Copie, Nau his confession of the manner of writing
and making up his Mistress' pacquets ; and that she wrote Babington's letters
with her own hand."
j- Letter, Burghley to Walsingham, Sept. 8, 1586 ; in Ellis, vol. iii. p. 5,
1586. JAMES VI. 805
existed.* The queen, Nau affirmed, had neither invented
nor desired, nor in any way meddled with this plot,
but had confined herself to the designs for the invasion
of the realm and her escape; and at this crisis the
unfortunate letter from Babington had arrived, which
Mary had received, but did not consider herself bound
to reveal. It is quite clear that this declaration, wrung
out from Nau, did not corroborate, but rather contra-
dicted .the alleged letter of the Scottish queen to
Babington, a sufficient reason why Burghley should
have disregarded it. After an interval of eleven days,
Nau and Curie were a^ain examined before the Lord
O
Chancellor, Burghley, and Sir Christopher Hatton.
Babington and his companions had been executed the
day before : on that same morning seven more conspir-
ators, had been drawn to Tyburn. In the interval
between this examination and their last, Ballard had
been so " racked" that he was carried to the bar and
arraigned in a chair ;-f- and it was hoped that, under
the influence of terror for a similar fate, the secretaries
would declare all. Of this last examination no perfect
account has been preserved : but in an original minute
drawn up by Phelipps, it is stated that Nau confessed
that Curie had deciphered Babington's letter to Mary:
that he (Nau) afterwards took down, from her dicta-
tion, the points of her answer; in which his mistress
required Babington to consider what forces they might
raise, what towns they might assure, where were the
fittest places to assemble, what foreign forces were
required, what money they should demand, what were
* MS. State-paper Office, September 10, 1586. Endorsed, " Nau's long
declaration of things of no importance, sent privately to her Majesty." This
endorsation is wholly in Burghley's hand.
t MS. State-paper Office, Secret Advertisements, Babington, September
16, 1586.
VOL. VIII. U
S06 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
the means by which the six gentlemen deliberated to
proceed, and in what manner she should be gotten out
of the hold she was in.* Nau added, that there was
one other clause of his mistress'' letter to Babington,
in which she advised the six gentlemen to have about
them four stout men with good horses, who, as soon
as their purpose was executed, were to bring speedy
intelligence to the party appointed to transport the
queen of Scots. This statement of Nau was corrobor-
ated by Curie; who added, that his mistress wished
him to burn the English copy of the letters sent to
Babington. -f-
It was now considered that there was sufficient
evidence against the Queen of Scots, and there only
remained the question of the mode of trial; nor was
this long in deliberation. Elizabeth held a special
consultation with Burghley on the twenty-fourth Sep-
tember ; J and after considerable discussion and delay
in the privy-council, a commission was issued on the
fifth October to thirty-six individuals, including peers,
privy-councillors, and judges, directing them to in-
quire into, and determine all offences committed against
the statute of the 27th of the queen, either by Mary,
daughter and heiress of James the Fifth, late King
of Scotland, or by any other person whomsoever.^
Chasteauneuf, the French ambassador, having heard
of these proceedings, demanded, in the name of his
master, that the Scottish queen should have counsel
assigned her for her defence ; but this was peremptorily
refused ; and on the sixth of October, Sir Amias Paulet,
Sir Walter Mildmay, and Mr Barker a notary, waited
* MS. State-paper Office, September 21, 1586.
+ Hardwicke Papers, vol. i. p. 237.
J MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Burghley to Phelipps, Sept. 24, 1586.
Lingard, vol. viii. p. 2'J2.
1586. JAMES vi. 307
on Mary at Fotheringay castle, in Northamptonshire,
to which place she had been removed from Chartley,
and delivered her a letter from their mistress. It
stated briefly and severely, that to her great and in-
estimable grief, she understood that Mary pretended,
with great protestations, to have given no assent to,
and even to have been ignorant of, any attempt against
her state and person. It asserted, that the contrary
would be verified by the clearest proofs : that she had,
therefore, sent some of her chief and ancient noblemen
to charge her with having consented to that most hor-
rible and unnatural conspiracy lately discovered; that,
living as she did within the protection of, and thereby
subject to her laws, she must abide by the mode of
trial which they enjoined; and she, therefore, required
her to give credit to those noblemen who held her
commission under the great seal, and make answer
to whatever they objected against her.*
Mary read the English queen's letter with great
composure. " I cannot but be sorry," said she, " that
iny sister is so ill informed against me, as to have
treated every ofter made by myself, or my friends,
with neglect. I am her highness' nearest kinswoman,
and have forewarned her of coming dangers ; but have
not been believed: and latterly, 'the association' for
her majesty's preservation, and the Act passed upon
it, have given me ample warning of all that is intended
against me. It was easy to be foreseen, that every
danger which might arise to my sister from foreign
princes, or private persons, or for matter of religion,
would be laid to my charge. I know I have many
enemies about the queen. Witness my long captivity ;
the studied indignities I have received ; and now this
* MS. draft, State-paper Office, October 5, 1586.
308 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
last association between my sister and my son, in which
I was not consulted, and which has been concluded
without my consent. As to my answer to the accu-
sation now made, (continued Mary,) her majesty's
letter is indeed written after a strange sort. It seems
to me to partake of the nature of a command ; and it
is, perhaps, expected that I am to reply as a subject.
What ! " she then exclaimed, catching fire at the word,
whilst her eye flashed, and the colour for a brief space
rose in her cheek ; " does not your mistress know that
I was born a queen ? and thinks she that I will so far
prejudice my rank and state, the blood whereof I am
descended, the son who is to follow me, and the foreign
kings and princes whose rights would be wounded
through me, as to come and answer to such a letter
as that ? Never ! Worn down as I may appear, my
heart is great, and will not yield to any affliction. But
why discuss these matters \ Her majesty knows the
protestation I have once before made to the Lord Chan-
cellor and Lord De la Ware ; and by that I still abide.
I am ignorant of the laws and statutes of this realm :
I am destitute of council : I know not who can be my
competent peers : my papers have been taken from
me ; and nobody dareth, or will speak in my behalf,
though I am innocent. I have not procured or en-
couraged any hurt against your mistress. Let her
convict me by my words, or by ray writings. Sure I
am neither the one nor the other can be produced
against me. Albeit, I am free to confess, that, when
my sister had rejected every offer which I made. I
remitted myself and my cause to foreign princes." * A
few days after this spirited and dignified answer was
* MS. State-paper Office, October 12, 1536, The Scottish Queen's first
Answers.
1586. JAMES vi. 309
reported to Elizabeth, the thirty-six commissioners
arrived at Fotheringay, and chose a deputation from
their number to wait upon the queen ; who, after four
successive interviews with them, adhered to her re-
solution, and declined their jurisdiction. Into the
clear and convincing reasons which she alleged for
this proceeding it is unnecessary to enter, although it
is impossible not to be struck with the spirit, ability,
and talent, with which, unbefriended and unassisted
by any one, she held her ground against the subtlety
and perseverance of her assailants. On one of these
occasions, turning to the Lord Chancellor Bromley, she
requested him to explain the meaning of that passage
in the Queen of England's, letter, which affirmed that
she was subject to the laws of England, and lived
under the queen's protection. " I came," said she,
" into England to request assistance, and I was in-
stantly imprisoned. Is that protection V Bromley
was taken by surprise, and contented himself by an
evasion. The meaning of their royal mistress, he said,
was plain ; but, being subjects, it was not their part
to interpret it.* Elizabeth was immediately informed
of this determined refusal of Mary. She learned, at
the same time, the resolution of her commissioners to
hear the evidence, and pronounce sentence, although
the accused declined to plead ; and she wrote privately
to Burghley the Lord Treasurer, commanding him
and the other commissioners not to pronounce sen-
tence till they had repaired to her presence and made
a report of the whole proceedings.^
* Camden in Kennet, vol. ii. p. 521.
t MS. Letter, copy, British Museum, Caligula, C. ix. fol. 332. The Eng-
lish Queen to Lord Burghley, October 12. MS. State-paper Office, The
Queen to the Lord Treasurer, and the Commissioners ; a draft, in Secretary
Davison's hand.
310 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
It would have been well for Mary had she adhered
to this first resolution ; but some expressions of Sir
Christopher Hatton the Vice-chamberlain made a deep
impression upon her. He had insinuated that her de-
clining to answer would be interpreted as an admission
of guilt : he implored her to remember that even if
she refused to appear before the commissioners, (for
hitherto Mary had received their deputation in her
private chamber,) they must proceed against her in
absence ; and at the same moment, she received a
brief and menacing note from Elizabeth ; in which
severity, if she remained obstinate, was blended artfully
with a promise of favour, should she relent. It was
in these words :
" You have in various ways attempted to deprive
me of my life, and to bring ruin on my kingdom by
shedding of blood. I have never proceeded so hardly
against you ; but, on the contrary, have cherished and
preserved you as faithfully as if you were my own self.
Your treasons will be proved and made manifest to
you in that place where you now are. For this reason,
it is our pleasure that you answer to the nobility and
barons of my kingdom as you would do to myself were
I there in person ; and as my last injunction, I charge
and command you to reply to them. I have heard of
your arrogance ; but act candidly, and you may meet
with more favour. ELIZABETH."*
We may imagine the bitter smile with which the
royal captive read this letter, in which Elizabeth, in
the nineteenth year of her imprisonment, took credit
to herself for the kindness and protection she had ex-
* This is translated from the French of Chasteauneuf, (Life of Thomas
Egerton, Lord Chancellor, p. 86,) who says he translates it word for word
from the English original. Lingard, vol. viii. p. 223.
1586. JAMES VI. 311
tended to Mary. But there was a menace in its tone
which shook her resolution : the last sentence held out
a hope of favour : she had no one to advise with ; and
after a night of much suspense and trouble, she con-
sented to appear before the commissioners.
The court was held on Friday the fourteenth October,
in the great hall at Fotheringay, which had been pre-
pared for the purpose, having, at the upper end, a chair
and canopy of state. It bore the arms of England only,
and Mary was not suffered to occupy it. On each side
of the room were benches for the commissioners. On
one hand sat the Lord Chancellor Bromley, the
Lord High Treasurer Burghley, with the Earls of
Oxford, Kent, Derby, Worcester, Rutland, Cumber-
land, Warwick, Pembroke, and Lincoln : on the other,
the Lords Abergavenny, Zouch, Morley, Stafford, Grey,
Lumley, and other peers. Near to these were the
knights of the privy-council, Crofts, Hatton, Walsing-
ham, Sadler, Mildmay, and Paulet. At a short
distance in advance were placed the two Chief Justices
of England and the Chief Baron of the Exchequer
opposite them, the other justices and barons, with two
doctors of the civil law ; and at a table in the middle
sat Popham the Queen's Attorney-general, Egerton
the Solicitor-general, Gawdy the Queen's Sergeant-at-
law, the Clerk of the Crown, and two writers to take
down the proceedings.* Before the bar stood such
gentlemen and others as were permitted to be present.
On this day, at nine in the morning, Mary, attended
by a guard of halberdiers, and leaning on Sir Andrew
Melvil and her physician, entered the court. She was
dressed in black, with a veil of white lawn thrown
over her. One of her maids of honour carried her
* Howel, 1173.
312 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
train, another a chair covered with crimson velvet,
another a footstool ; and as she walked to her seat, it
was observed that she was lame and required support.*
On coming into the middle of this august assembly,
the queen bowed to the lords : then observing that
her chair was not allowed to be placed under the
canopy of state, but lower, and at the side, she appear-
ed to feel the indignity. " I am a queen," said she,
looking proudly and resentfully for a moment. " I
have married a King of France ; and my seat ought
to be there." But the feeling was brief; and her
features assumed again their melancholy cast, as she
regarded the multitude of peers, statesmen, and judges.
" Alas ! " said she, " here are many counsellors, and
yet there is not one for me."-f- Having then seated
herself with great dignity, the Lord Chancellor stood
up and declared, that the queen's majesty had at last
determined to bring her to trial, in consequence of the
practices used by her against her life : that she was
not moved to this by personal fear, or from any
malice ; but because, if she failed to do so, she would
be guilty of neglecting the cause of God, and of bear-
ing the sword in vain. He was followed by Burghley
the Lord Treasurer, who requested her to hear their
commission, which was read by the clerk. On its
conclusion, Mary rose up and answered that it was
well known to all now present, that she had come into
England to require assistance ; and, contrary to all law
and justice, had been made a prisoner. As for any
commission empowering them to bring her to trial,
no one could grant it, because no one was her superior.
* British Museum, copy, Caligula, C. 5x. fol. 333. Order of the Proceedings
at the arraignment of the late unfortunate Queen of Scots at Fotheringay.
f Chasteauneuf to Henry the Third, from the king's Library at Paris,
October 30, 158G ; printed in Life of Lord Chancellor Egerton, p. 86.
1586. JAMES VI. 313
She was a free princess, an anointed queen, subject to
none but God; she had already delivered a protestation
to this effect, and she desired her servants to bear
witness that her answers were now made under this
protestation.* Sergeant Gasvdy spoke next : entered
into a narrative of the whole plot, and brought for-
ward the arguments, by which (he contended) it must
be apparent to all, that the Scottish queen was ac-
quainted with the conspiracy against the life of Eliza-
beth. He explained Ballard's dealing with Morgan
and Paget in France, the conspiracy for the invasion
of England, and his repair to that country for the
purpose of completing the plot ; he adverted to the
transactions between Ballard and Babington, to the
formation of the new conspiracy against the life of the
English queen ; to the renewal of the correspondence
between Mary and Babington, which took place at
this moment ; and he iconcluded by contending that
she had approved of the plot, had promised her assis-
tance, and pointed out the readiest mode for its
execution. f
To this Mary answered, that she had never seen
Anthony Babington, nor received any letter from him,
nor herself written any to him ; that she knew nothing
of Ballard, and had never relieved him ; as for the
Catholics of England, they were oppressed and took
many things hardly. This she knew, and had repre-
sented it to the queen her sister, imploring her to take
pity on them. She acknowledged, also, that she had
received offers of assistance from anonymous corre-
spondents, but she had not embraced such offers ; and
* Camden, vol. ii. of Kennet, p. 522.
+ MS. British Museum, Caligula, C. ix. fol. 333. Howel's State Trials,
vol. i. pp. 1171, 1182.
314 HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND. 1586-
how was it possible for a captive, shut up in prison, to
search out the names or the intentions of unknown
persons, or to hinder what they attempted ? It was
possible that Babington had written such a letter as
he described, but let them prove that it had come into
her hands ; * and as for her own letters, let them
produce them, and she would know what to answer.
Copies of the letter from Babington to the Queen
of Scots, and of Mary's alleged answer, were then read ;
Babington's written confession was also quoted, besides
the confessions of Dun, Titchbourne, and Ballard, three
of his fellow conspirators ; and it was contended by the
Attorney-general Puckering, and by the Lord Trea-
surer Burghley, that nothing could be clearer than
the evidence thus adduced, of direct connivance and
approval. Mary, with great readiness, replied, that
all this evidence was second-hand, or hearsay. They
spoke of the letters which she had received, of the
answers she had sent ; and they brought forward
copies of a long letter from a man whom she had
never seen, and a detailed answer, point by point,
which she had never written. Was this garbled and
manufactured evidence to be produced against her?-f-
Let them produce the originals of these letters, if
such originals ever existed. If Babington's letter
was in cipher, as was alleged, she would then be able
to compare the cipher with the copy now before them,
to test the one by the other, and to discover whether
it really was written in her alphabet or secret cipher,
of which it was possible that her enemies might, by
* Camden, p. 522.
f* Avis de ce qui a este faict en Angleterre par Monsieur de Bellievre sur
les affaires de La Royne D'Escosse. Published in Egerton's Life of Lord
Chancellor Egerton, pp. 98, 103.
1586. JAMES VI. 315
some treachery or other, have procured a copy. And
as for her alleged letter to Babington, if it too was
written in cipher, and the original had been inter-
cepted by them, why was it not now produced ? If
she was entitled to call for the original of Babington's
alleged letter to her, much more were her accusers
bound to produce the original of her pretended letter
to Babington. She would then be able to examine it,
to disprove it, and to detect the fraud which had been
practised against her. At present she must be con-
tented with a simple and solemn asseveration that she
had not written the letters which had been now read,
and that she was guiltless of any plot against the life
of the Queen of England.
" I do not deny," said she, weeping, " that I have
longed for liberty, and earnestly laboured to procure
it. Nature impelled me to do so ; but I call God to
witness, that I have never conspired the death of the
Queen of England, or consented to it. I confess that
I have written to my friends, and solicited their as-
sistance in my escape from her miserable prisons, in
which she has now kept me a captive queen for nine-
teen years : but I never wrote the letters now pro-
duced against me. 1 confess, too, that I have written
O > '
often in favour of the persecuted Catholics ; and had
I been able, or, even now at this moment were I able,
to save them from their miseries by shedding my own
blood, I would have done it ; and would now do it :
but what connexion has this with any plot against the
life of the queen ? and how can I answer for the dan-
gerous designs of others, which are carried on without
my knowledge ? It was but lately, she added, that I
received a letter from some unknown persons, entreat-
516 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
ing my pardon if they attempted anything without
my knowledge."*
To this Burghley, who had taken all along a most
active part against her, undertook to reply ; insisting
strongly on the written confession of Bahington, and
the declarations of her own secretaries, Curie and Nau.
This confession, and these declarations, suhscribed by
the parties themselves who made them, were now on
the table ; and they proved, he said, in the clearest
manner, the correspondence between the queen and
Babington. The whole history of it was developed
point by point, it was opened by the brief notes written
sometimes by Curie, sometimes by Nau ; it was they
who had deciphered the letters of Babington, and com-
municated their contents to their mistress. Nay, the
exact manner had been specified, in which the answer
had been prepared by Nau. It was composed partly
from minutes by the queen, and from verbal dictation ;
it was written out at length in French, revised by
Mary, translated and put into cipher by Curie, and
then secretly sent to its destination. The letters also
of the Scottish queen to Englefield, of a date as far
back as ninth October, 1584, proved, as he said, that
the great plot, for the invasion of England, was then
in agitation ; her letter to Charles Paget, on the
twenty-first of May last, (1586,) showed its resump-
tion at that period; the letter of Charles Paget to
the Scottish queen, of the twenty-ninth May, con-
nected her with Ballard and Mendoza the Spanish
ambassador; and the letters of the twenty-seventh
July, to Lord Paget, Sir Francis Englefield, Mendoza,
the Bishop of Glasgow, and Charles Paget, corroborated
* Avis de Monsieur Bellievre, p. 103. Caaiden, p. 523.
1586. JAMES VI. SI 7
not only the confessions of the conspirators, but the
contents of the letters between her and Babington, and
the written testimony of her own secretaries.
During this address of the Lord Treasurer, he had
occasion to mention the Earl of Arundel, as implicated
in some degree, with the conspiracy; upon which
Mary burst into tears, and lamented, with passionate
expressions, the calamities which the noble house of
Howard had endured for her sake ; but, soon drying
her eyes, and reassuming her dignity and composure,
she once more, in reply to the arguments of the Lord
Treasurer, asseverated her innocence of any plot against
the queen's life. What Babington (she said) might,
or might not confess against her, she was ignorant of;
neither was it possible for her to say or discover,
whether this written confession was in his handwriting
or not. But why had they executed him before they
had confronted him with herself, and permitted her to
examine him ? If he were now before them, she would
have so dealt with him, that the truth would have come
out ; but they had taken good care to make this im-
possible. And the same thing might be said of Nau
and Curie ; why was she not confronted with them ?
Why was she not permitted to examine them ? They
at least, were alive : they might have been here if her
adversaries had felt confident that they would have
corroborated their written confessions. Curie, she was
assured, was an honest man, though it was strange to
find one in his station adduced as a witness against
her. Nau was a more politic and talented person; he
had been secretary to the Cardinal Lorrain, and she
had received recommendations in his favour from her
brother, the French king ; but she was by no means
assured that hope, or fear, or reward, might not have
SIS HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
influenced him to give false evidence against her; and
it was well known that he had Curie at his beck, and
could make him write whatever he pleased. It was
asserted truly, that her letters were written, and put
into cipher, by these secretaries. But what security
had she, that they had not inserted into them such
things as she had never dictated ? Was it not possible,
also, that they might have received letters addressed
to her, which they never delivered? was it not possible
that they might have answered letters in her name,
and in her cipher, which she had never seen? "And
am I," said she, with great animation and dignity,
" am I, a queen, to be convicted on such evidence as
this ? Is it not apparent, that the majesty and safety
of princes falls to the ground, if they are to depend
upon the writings and testimony of their secretaries ?
I have delivered nothing to them, but what nature dic-
tated to me under the desire of recovering my liberty;
and I claim the privilege of being convicted by nothing
but mine own word or writing. If they have written
anything which may be hurtful to the queen, my sister,
they have written it altogether without my knowledge :
let them bear the punishment of their inconsiderate
boldness. Sure I am, that if they were here present,
they would clear me of all blame in this cause : and
still more certain am I, that had my papers not been
seized, and were I not thus deprived of my notes and
letters, I could have more successfully and minutely
answered every point which has been so bitterly argued
against me."*
In the course of these proceedings (for it would be
unjust to call that a trial where the prisoner was de-
* MS. British Museum, Caligula, ix. fol. 383. Hovel's State Trials,
vol. i. pp. 1182, 1183. Also Caniden in Kennet, vol. ii. p. 523.
1586. JAMES vi. 319
prived of counsel, not permitted access to her papers,
and debarred from calling witnesses) Mary made a
direct attack on Secretary Walsingham, in speaking
of the facility with which her letters and ciphers might
be counterfeited. " What security have I," said she,
"that these are my very ciphers? a young man lately
in France, has been detected forging my characters.
Think you, Mr Secretary, that I am ignorant of your
devices used so craftily against me ? Your spies sur-
rounded me on every side ; but you know not, perhaps,
that some of your spies on me proved false, and brought
intelligence to me. And if such have been his doings,
my lords," she continued, appealing to the assembly,
" how can I be assured that he hath not counterfeited
my ciphers to bring me to my death ? Has he not
already practised against my life, and that of my son? 11
Upon this, Walsingham, rising in his place, warmly
disclaimed the imputation. " I call God to witness,
said he, that as a private person, I have done nothing
unbeseeming an honest man; nor, as a public servant
of my royal mistress, anything unworthy of my office ;
but I plead guilty to my having been exceeding careful
for the safety of the queen, and this realm. I have
curiously searched out every practice against both :
nor if Ballard, the traitor, had offered me his help in
the investigation, would I have refused it. With this
plausible, but really indirect and evasive disavowal,
Mary declared herself satisfied ; and after some argu-
ments of the Lord Treasurer, and the crown lawyers,
which it is unnecessary to notice, the court adjournfed
till next morning.
The proceedings on the second day were not mate-
rially different from the first. Mary was still alone,
unassisted, and, it may be added, undismayed; although
S20 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
at times she gave way to tears, and seemed to feel her
desolate condition. She renewed her protestation,
declining the jurisdiction of the court ; and demanded
that it should be recorded. As to the plot itself of
which she was accused, some little variation took place
in her mode of defence. On the former day, she had
been wholly ignorant of the circumstances which were
to be brought against her; and had commenced her
defence by a general denial or disavowal of all treason-
able correspondence. She was now aware of the evi-
dence, and partially admitted and defended her letters
to Morgan, Paget, and Mendoza; she even acknow-
ledged such notes as, by her secretaries acting under
her orders, had been sent to Babington;* but she
again most pointedly asserted, that these notes and
letters referred solely to the project for her escape.
This project, she said, it was perfectly justifiable in
her to encourage by every means, even by the invasion
of the realm : she then reiterated her denial of being
accessary to the conspiracy against the queen's person;
and entered into a detail of her repeated offers of ac-
commodation made to that princess. It had been her
sincere desire, she affirmed, to remove every ground
of dissatisfaction from the -mind of her sister; but her
proposals were disallowed, or suspected, or despised ; so
that, remaining a captive, she was driven to practices
for her escape. " And now," said she, " with what
injustice is this cause conducted against me ! my letters
are garbled, and wrested from their true meaning: the
originals kept from me: no respect shown to the reli-
gion which I profess, or the sacred character I bear as a
queen . 1 f careless of my personal feelings, think at least,
* Egerton, p. 103, Avis de Monsieur Bellievra.
1586. JAMES vi. 321
my lords, of the royal majesty which is wounded through
me : think of the precedent you are creating. Your own
queen was herself accused of a participation in Wyatfs
plot; yet she was innocent. And Heaven is my witness
that, although a good Catholic, and anxious for the
welfare and safety of all who profess that faith, I would
shudder to purchase it at the price of blood. The life of
the meanest of my people, has been ever dear to me ;
and far rather would I plead with Esther, than take the
sword with Judith ; though I know the character that
has been given me by my enemies, and how they brand
me as irreligious." She then solemnly appealed to
God, and to all foreign princes, against the injustice
with which she had been treated. " I came into Eng-
land," she exclaimed, " relying on the friendship and
promises of the Queen of England. I came, relying
on that token which she sent me. Here, my lords,"
she said, drawing a ring from her finger, and showing
it to her judges ; " here it is : regard it well : it came
from your royal mistress. And trusting to that pledge
of love and protection, I came amongst you : * you can
best tell how that pledge has been redeemed. I desire,
said she, in conclusion, that I may have another day
of hearing. I claim the privilege of having an advocate
to plead my cause ; or, being a queen, that I may be
believed upon the word of a queen." 1 ~\-
The task of answering this appeal, was again under-
taken by Burghley, who recapitulated the evidence
against her ; Mary frequently interrupting him by
asseverations of her innocence, and a demand for more
decided proof. It would now have been the time for
the commissioners to deliver their opinions, and to
* Courcelles' Negotiations, p. 18, Bamiatyne Club Edition,
f Camden, pp. 5'J4, 5'25.
VOL. VIII. X
S22 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
pronounce sentence ; but, to the surprise of many
present, the court broke up, having adjourned their
meeting to the twenty-fifth October, at Westminster.
The alleged ground of this abrupt measure, was the
informality of pronouncing sentence before the record,
or official report of the proceedings, was completed :
the true cause, was the secret letter of Elizabeth
already quoted.*
On the same day, on which the court broke up, the
High Treasurer repaired to his country seat of Burgh-
ley, from which he wrote the following letter to Davi-
son. It is valuable, as illustrating the real character
of so noted a statesman as Lord Burghley : the appro-
bation with which he speaks of his own eloquence ;
the complacent description he gives of his success in
counteracting the pity which most generous minds
would have felt for Mary's desolate condition ; and
the cold sneer with which he styles her the " Queen
of the Castle," are all in keeping with his former un-
feeling witticism, on the probability of the blow falling
between her neck and shoulders. Here is his letter.
" Mr Secretary. Yesternight, upon receipt of your
letter, dated on Thursday, I wrote what was thought
would be this day's work. The Queen of the Castle
was content to appear again afore us in public, to be
heard : but, in truth, not to be heard for her defence;
for she would say nothing but negatively, that the
points of the letters that concerned the practice against
the queen's majesty were never by her written, nor of
her knowledge. The rest, for invasion, for escaping
by force, she said she will neither deny nor affirm.
But her intention was, by long artificial speeches, to
* MS. Letter, British Museum, Caligula, C. ix. 333. Howel's State
Trials, vol. i. p. 1187.
1586. JAMES VI. 823
move pity ; to lay all blame upon the queen's majesty,
or rather on the council, that all the troubles past did
ensue; avowing her reasonable offers and our refusals.
And in this her speeches I did so encounter her with
reasons out of my knowledge and experience, as she had
not that advantage she looked for; as I am assured
the auditory did find her case not pitoyable, [and] her
allegations untrue, by which means great debate fell
yesternight very long, and this day renewed with great
stomaching. But we had great reason to prorogue our
Session till the twenty-fifth ; and so we of the council
will be at court on the twenty-second; and we find all
persons here in commission fully satisfied, as, by her
majesty's order, judgment will be givni at our next
meeting."*
The same day, Walsingham wrote on the same sub-
ject to Leicester, declaring that even Mary's best friends
thought her guilty; and adding, that but for a secret
command of Elizabeth, they would have pronounced
sentence. This delay and indecision appears to have
so greatly annoyed the secretary, that he represented
it as a judgment from heaven, that her majesty had
no power to proceed against her as her own safety re-
quired. }
On the twenty-fifth of October, the commissioners
met in the Star-chamber at Westminster, and the same
proofs were adduced against the Scottish queen which
had been brought forward at Fotheringay ; with the
exception that her secretaries, Nau and Curie, were
now examined, and corroborated their letters and con-
* MS. Letter, British Museum, Caligula, C. ix. fol. 433. Burghley to
Davison, October 15, 1580 ; since, Ellis, vol. i. p. 13.
t MS. Letter, Caligula, C. ix. fol. 415, Walsingham to Leicester, Oct.
15, 1580'.
324 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
fessions.* The former confessions of these two secre-
taries had been unsatisfactory to Walsingham and
Burghley ; *f* they proved the queen to have received
letters from Babington, and to have dictated to them
certain answers in reply ; but judging from the imper-
fect papers which remain,]: there was no certain proof
in their confessions that Mary had dictated the pas-
sages which implied a knowledge of the conspiracy
against Elizabeth's life ; and, on this second occasion
at Westminster, they merely corroborated their former
confessions. But Nau, if we may trust his own
account, did more; for he openly asserted that the
principal points of accusation against his royal mistress
were false ; and, refusing to be silenced by Walsing-
ham who attempted to overawe and put him down, he
declared that the commissioners would have to answer
to God and all Christian kings if, on such false charges,
they condemned an innocent princess. ||
Into these proceedings against Mary at West-
minster it is unnecessary to enter farther. At Fother-
ingay we had the accused without the witnesses ; at
the Star-chamber we have the witnesses without the
accused: for Mary remained at Fotheringay under
the morose superintendence of Paulet, whilst the in-
vestigation proceeded at Westminster, directed by the
indefatigable and unrelenting Burghley. Having heard
the evidence, the commissioners, as was to be antici-
pated, pronounced sentence against the queen : declar-
ing that, since the first of June, in the twentv-seventh
*
year of Elizabeth, divers matters had been compassed
* Hardwicke Papers, vol. i. p. 224.
f* Burghley to Walsingham, September 8.
Lingard, vol. viii. p. 219. Ibid. p. 229.
U Ibid.
1586. JAMES VI.
and imagined within this realm of England, by An-
thony Babington and others, with the privity of the
Queen of Scots, tending to the hurt, death, and de-
struction of the royal person of her majesty the Queen
of England.* They intimated, at the same time, with
the object of conciliating the Scottish king, that nothing
in this sentence should affect James 1 title to the English
crown ; which should remain exactly in the same
state as if the proceedings at Fotheringay had never
taken place.
A few days after this, parliament met, and after
approving and confirming this sentence, unanimously
petitioned Elizabeth, as she valued Christ's true reli-
gion, the security of the realm, her own life, and the
safety of themselves and their posterity, to consent
that the sentence against the Queen of Scots should
be published. To enforce their request, they called
to her remembrance the anger of God against Saul
when he spared Agag king of the Amalekites, and his
displeasure with Ahab for pardoning Benhadad.^
The answer of Elizabeth was striking ; and probably
sincere, except in the pity and sorrow it expressed
for Mary. She acknowledged, with expressions of
deep gratitude to God, her almost miraculous preser-
vation ; and professed the delight she experienced,
after a reign of twenty-eight years, to find her sub-
jects 1 good will even greater to her now than at its
commencement. Her life, she said, had been "danger-
ously shot at; 1 ' but her sense of danger was lost in
sorrow, that one so nearly allied to her as the Queen
of Scots, should be guilty of the crime. So far had
she herself been from bearing her sister any ill will,
* Hovel, vol. i. p. 1189.
+ Camden in Kennet, vol. ii. p. 52G.
326 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
that, upon discovering Mary's treasonable practices,
she had written her, that if she would privately con-
fess them they should be wrapt up in silence ; and
now, if the matter had only involved dangers to her-
self, and not the welfare of her people, she protested
that she should willingly pardon Mary. It was only
for her people that she, Elizabeth, desired to live ;
and, if her death could bring them a more flourishing
condition, or a better prince, she would gladly lay
down her life.
After somewhat more in this strain, she informed
parliament that their last act had reduced her to great
difficulties ; and, in dwelling upon the sorrow felt for
Mary, she artfully introduced a circumstance, which
was well calculated to rouse their utmost resentment :
telling them that it was but a short while since she
had, with her own eyes, seen and read an " oath, by
which some persons had engaged to kill her within a
month." This was on the twelfth November, and
two days after, (fourteenth,) the queen sent the Com-
mons a message by her Vice-chamberlain, Sir Christo-
pher Hatton, requesting them to consider whether
they could not devise some gentler expedient, by which
her commiseration for the Scottish queen might be
allowed to operate, and her life be spared.* On the
eighteenth, after much debate, both Houses unani-
mously answered, "that they could find no other way ;"
and this brief but stern decision was forthwith carried
by the Lord Chancellor and the Speaker of the House
of Commons to the queen, who was then at Richmond.
This communication, it was expected, would elicit
* MS. Letter. Sir George Wai-render's MS. Collection, Archibald Dou-
glas to the Master of Gray, November 2^, 1 586, London. Also, Archibald
Douglas to the King, December 8, Warrender MSS., 1586.
1586. JAMES vi. 327
something direct and definite from Elizabeth; but the
answer which she gave was one of studied ambiguity.
" If," said she, addressing the chancellor, " I should
say unto you that I mean not to grant your petition
by my faith, I should say unto you more than, per-
haps, I mean ; and if I should say unto you I mean
to grant your petition, I should then tell you more
than it is fit for you to know: and so I must deliver
you an answer answerless."*
It was now deemed proper that the captive queen
should be informed of these proceedings. Since the
breaking up of the court at Fotheringay, she had
remained there under the custody of Paulet, whose
letters to Walsingham breathed a personal dislike to
his prisoner. On the twenty-second November, Lord
Buckhurst, and Mr Beal the clerk of the privy-council,
arrived at Fotheringay, and communicated to her the
sentence of death, which had been pronounced by the
commissioners, its ratification by parliament, and the
earnest petition of both Houses for her immediate
execution. They warned her not to look for mercy;
spoke severely of her attachment to the Catholic faith,
which made her life incompatible with the security of
the Reformed opinions; and promised her the ministra-
tions of a Protestant divine in her last hours. The
Queen of Scots heard them with theutmost tranquillity,
and mildly, but firmly, declined all such religious
assistance. She declared that the judgment of the
court was unjust, as she was innocent of all consent
to the plot against Elizabeth's life ; but she implored
them, in the name of Christ, to permit her to have
the spiritual consolations of her almoner, whom she
knew to be in the castle, although debarred from her
* Parliamentary History, vol. iv. p. 298.
328 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
presence. For a brief period this was granted : but
the indulgence was considered too great, and he was
once more removed. Farther and more studied in-
sults were soon offered. On the day after the arrival
of Buckhurst, Paulet entered her chamber without
ceremony, and informed her that, as she was now no
longer to be considered a queen, but a private woman
dead in law, the insignia of royalty must be dispensed
with. Mary replied, that whatever he or his sovereign
might consider'her, did not much move her; she was an
anointed princess, and had received this dignity from
God: into his hands alone would she resign both it
and her soul.* As for their queen, she as little ac-
knowledged her for her superior, as she did her heretical
council for her judges; and, in spite of the indignities
they offered, would die, as she had lived, a queen.
This spirited answer greatly enraged Paulet, who
commanded Mary^s attendants to take away the " dais,"
or cloth of state ; and, when they refused, called in
some of his own people, who executed the order. He
then put on his hat, sat down in her presence, and
pointing to the billiard-table which stood in the cham-
ber, ordered it to be removed, remarking that these
vain recreations no longer became a person in her
situation. Such brutal and insolent conduct would
have disgraced the commonest jailor in the kingdom ;
and the man who was guilty of this outrage, could
plead no order from Elizabeth.^
That princess now gave orders that the sentence
against the Queen of Scots should be proclaimed to the
people; and so highly excited were the citizens in
the metropolis with the real or fancied dangers which
* Martyre de la Royne D'Escosse. Jebb, vol. ii. pp. 293, 294.
+ Letter of Mary in Jebb, vol. ii. p. 293. Also, Bisselii Maria Stuarta
Acta, p. 219.
1586. JAMES VI. 329
they had escaped, that the communication was received
with every mark of public rejoicing.* To Mary it
brought no new pang, so far as life was concerned ;
but she became agitated with the suspicion that Eliza-
beth, to avoid the odium of a public execution, would
endeavour to have her privately assassinated: and this
new idea gave her the utmost inquietude.f Nor, if
we are to believe Camden.J were these ideal terrors.
Leicester, he affirms, on the first discovery of the con-
spiracy, had given it as his advice, that Mary should
be privately poisoned ; and had even sent a divine to
persuade Secretary Walsingham of the lawfulness of
such a course, which he, however, utterly rejected and
condemned. So horrid an accusation against Leicester
would require some decided proof, which the historian
has not given ; and it will be afterwards seen that
Walsingham's aversion to such a course was exceed-
ingly short-lived. It was at this time that Mary
addressed her last letter to Elizabeth, in these touch-
ing and pathetic terms :
" Madam I bless God with my whole heart, that,
by means of your final judgment, he is about to put a
period to the wearisome pilgrimage of my life. I
make no petition that it should be prolonged, having
already but too well known its bitterness : I only now
supplicate your highness, that, since I cannot hope for
any favour from those exasperated ministers who hold
the highest offices in your state, I may obtain, from
your own sole bounty, these three favours:
" First, As it would be vain for me to expect a
burial in England, accompanied by the Catholic rites
practised by the ancient mouarchs, your ancestors and
* Lingard, vol. via. p. 233.
f Letter of Mary to the Duke of Guise. Jebb, 334.
Camden in Kennet, vol. ii. p. 519.
3oO HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
mine, and since the sepulchres of my fathers have
heen broken up and violated in Scotland, I earnestly
request that, as soon as my enemies shall have glutted
themselves with my innocent blood, my body may be
carried by my servants to be interred in holy ground:
above all, I could wish in France, where rest the ashes
of the queen my most honoured mother. Thus shall
this poor body, which has never known repose as long
as it was united to my soul, have rest at last, when it
and my spirit are disunited.
" Secondly, I implore your majesty, owing to the
terror I feel for the tyranny of those to whose charge
you have abandoned me, let me not be put to death
in secret, but in the sight of my servants and others.
These persons will be witnesses to my dying in the
faith, and in obedience to the true Church; and it will
be their care to rescue the close of my life and the
last breathings of my spirit from the calumnies with
which they may be assailed by my enemies.
"Thirdly, I request that my servants, who have
clung to me so faithfully throughout my many sorrows,
may be permitted freely to go where they please, and
to retain the little remembrances which my poverty
has left them in my will.
" I conjure you, Madam, by the blood of Jesus
Christ, by our near relationship, by the memory of
Henry the Seventh, our common ancestor, by the
title of queen, which I bear even to my death, refuse
me not these poor requests, but assure me of your
having granted them by a single word under your hand.
" I shall then die, as I have lived,
" Your affectionate Sister and Prisoner,
"MARY THE QUEEN."*
* Jebb, vol. ii. pp. 91,92.
1586. JAMES VI. 331
No answer was ever returned to this pathetic ap-
peal, nor, indeed, is it absolutely certain that Elizabeth
ever received it; but, in the mean time, some exertions
to save the Scottish queen, were made by the French
king, and by her son the King of Scotland. Henry
the Third had never, during the long course of her
misfortunes, exhibited for Mary any feelings of personal
affection or deep interest, although, from political con-
siderations he had frequently espoused her cause; but
the idea that a queen and a near relative should be
arraigned, condemned, and executed, was so new and
.appalling, that he deemed it imperative to interfere,
and sent Monsieur de Bellievre his ambassador to
present his remonstrances to the English queen. After
many affected delays, Elizabeth received him in un-
usual state upon her throne, and heard his message
with a flashing eye and flushed and angry counte-
nance.* She restrained her feelings, however, suffi-
ciently to make a laboured reply, pronounced a high
encomium upon her own forbearance, promised a speedy
and definite answer, protracted the time for more than
a month by the most frivolous excuses, and, at last,
drove the ambassador to declare, that if Mary was ex-
ecuted, his master must resent it. The English queen,
fired at this threat, demanded whether his master had
empowered him to use such language; and, having
found that it was warranted by Bellievre^s instructions,
wrote a letter of lofty defiance to Henry, and dismissed
his envoy. Aubespine the resident ambassador re-
newed the attempt ; but a pretended plot against the
life of Elizabeth, which was said to be traced to some
of his suite, furnished a subject for a new and bitter
* November 27.
332 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
quarrel; and this, for a time, interrupted all amicable
relations between the two crowns.*
On the side of Scotland, James 1 efforts were not
more successful. This young prince had been early
informed of the conspiracy by Walsingham, and had
written to Elizabeth congratulating her upon the dis-
covery.-f The English secretary had employed his
friend, the Master of Gray, to sound his royal mas-
ter as to the intended proceedings against the Queen
of Scots ; and bade that nobleman remind the young
king, that any mediation for Mary would come with
a bad grace from a prince whose father had received
such hard measure at her hands. J
To confirm James in these feelings, care had been
taken to send him an account of the plot, with full
extracts from the alleged intercepted correspondence
of the Queen of Scots and Babington . In these letters,
James must have perceived the severe terms in which
he was spoken of by Mary, and become acquainted
with her advice given to Lord Claud Hamilton, to
seize his person and place him under a temporary
restraint. Such revelations were little calculated to
foster or preserve any sentiments of affection in a son
towards a mother whom he had never known. Yet
all this cannot excuse the coldness and indifference
which he manifested. Monsieur de Courcelles, who
was then in Scotland, received instructions from the
French king to incite the young monarch to interfere
for Mary : but he replied that his mother was in no
danger ; and as for the conspiracy, she must be con-
* Carte, vol. iii. pp. 613, 614.
( 10th September. MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Master of Gray '.o
Burghley, September 10, 1586.
MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Original draft by Walsingham, Septem-
ber 17, 1586.
1586. JAMES VI. 333
tented, he said, to drink the ale she had brewed. He
loved her as much as nature and duty bound him ; but
he knew well she bore him as little good will as she
did the Queen of England : her practices had already
nearly cost him his crown, and he could be well con-
tent she would meddle with nothing -but prayer and
serving of God.*
O
These selfish and moderate sentiments were far from
acceptable to the Scottish nobles and people, who felt
the treatment offered to the mother of their sovereign,
and the superiority assumed by Elizabeth, as a national
insult. Angus, Lord Claud Hamilton, Huntley, Both-
well, Herries, and all the leading men about court,
protested loudly against her insolence; and declared
their resolution rather to break into open war, than
suffer it to proceed to further extremity. -f- On this
subject, indeed, the feelings of the nobles had become
so excited, as to impel them to speak out with fierce'
plainness to the king himself. James, it seems, sus-
pected that Elizabeth would send an ambassador to
persuade him to remain passive, whatever extremities
might be adopted against his mother; and turning to
the Earl of Bothwell, a blunt soldier, he asked his
advice what he should do. If your majesty, said he,
suffers the process to proceed, I think, my liege, you
should be hanged yourself the day after. George
Douglas, also, (the same brave and attached friend of
Mary, who had assisted in her escape from Lochleven,)
remonstrated in strong terms with his royal master ;
warning him to beware of giving credit to the lying
tales of some about him, who were the pensioned slaves
* October 4. Extract of Monsieur Courcelles' Negotiations, Bannatyne
edition, p. 4.
t Extract of Courcelles' Negotiations, pp. 11,13. Bannatyne Club edition.
334 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586.
of Elizabeth, and paid to create bad blood between him
and his parent. " And yet," answered James, " how
is it possible for me to love her, or to approve her pro-
ceedings ? Did she not write to Fontenay, the French
ambassador here, that unless I conformed myself to
her wishes, I should have nothing but the lordship of
Darnley ; which was all my father had before me ? Has
she not laboured to take the crown off my head, and
set up a regent ? Is she not obstinate in holding a
different religion ? " " For that matter," said Douglas,
" she adheres to her faith, in which she hath been
brought up, as your majesty doth to yours : and, look-
ing to the character of your religious guides, she thinks
it better that you should come over to her views than
she to yours." " Ay, ay," said the king, " truth it is
I have been brought up amid a company of mutinous
knavish ministers, whose doctrine I could never ap-
'prove ; but yet, I know my religion to be the true one."
In the mean time, the alarming news from England,
and the representations of the French king, convinced
James, that the question was no longer as to the im-
prisonment, but the life of Mary; and the moment he
embraced this idea, his whole conduct changed. He
wrote a letter of strong and indignant remonstrance to
Elizabeth, and despatched it by Sir William Keith,
who was instructed to express himself boldly, and with-
out reserve upon the subject. He, at the same time,
and by the same ambassador, addressed a threatening
note to Walsingham, whom he considered his mother's
greatest enemy ; and he commanded Keith, on his
arrival at the English court, to cooperate with the
French ambassador in all his efforts for the safety of
the unhappy princess, whose fate seemed to be so fast
approaching. He had already written strongly to
1586. JAMES VI. 335
Archibald Douglas, his ambassador at the English
court.* But it was suspected, on good grounds, that
Douglas was wholly in the hands of Elizabeth and
Walsingham ; and currently said, that as he had been
at the father's murder, he would have his hand as deep
in the mother's death.-f
On Keith's arrival at the English court,J Eliza-
beth and her ministers attempted to frustrate the
object of his mission, by the usual weapons of delay
and dissimulation. When at last admitted, the queen
affected the utmost solicitude for Mary's life ; but
represented herself as driven to extremities by the re-
monstrances of her ministers, and the fears of her people.
" And yet," said she, turning to the ambassador, " I
swear by the living God, that I would give one of my
own arms to be cut off, so that any means could be
found for us both to live in assurance. I have already,"
she continued, " saved her life, when even her own
subjects craved her death : and now judge for your-
selves which is most just, that I who am innocent, or she
who is guilty, should suffer." || Repeated interviews
took place, and Elizabeth on one occasion.declared, that
no human power should ever persuade her to sign the
warrant for Mary's execution ; but in the mean time,
the sentence against her had been made public. Lei-
cester, Burghley, and Walsingham, advised her death.
* Appendix to Robertson's History of Scotland, No. XLIX. King James
to Archibald Douglas, October 1586 ; also same, No. L. Archibald Douglas
to the King, October 16, 1.586.
f- Lodge's Letters, vol. ii. (8vo edit.) p. 295, Master of Gray to Archibald
Douglas, December 9, 1586.
J "November 5, MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Keith to Davison, Nov.
5, 1586, London.
Sir George Warrender MSS. B. fol. 341, Archibald Douglas to James,
December 8, 1586.
|| MS. Warrender, B. fol. 333, Douglas to the Master of Gray, November
2-2, 1586.
336 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586
The people, alarmed by reports of the meditated in-
vasion by Spain, and uew plots against their princess,
became clamorous on the same subject; and James,
agitated by the ill success of Keith, sent him new in-
structions, with a private letter written in passionate
and threatening terms.* On communicating it to the
English queen, she broke into one of those sudden and
tremendous paroxysms of rage, which sometimes shook
the council-room, and made the hearts of her ministers
quail before her. It was with the greatest difficulty
that she was prevented from chasing Keith, who had
spoken with great boldness, from her presence. But
Leicester her favourite at last appeased her; and, on
the succeeding day, she dictated a more temperate
reply to the young king. On his side also, James re-
pented of his violence, and, unfortunately for his own
honour, was induced to adopt a milder tone; to write
an apologetic letter to Elizabeth ; and to despatch the
Master of Gray and Sir Robert Melvil. with instruc-
tions, to explain that his " meaning, in all that had
hitherto been done," was modest and not menacing.-f-
Nothing could be more selfish and pusillanimous than
such conduct. The Scottish nation and the nobility
were loud in their expressions of indignation. Eager
to avenge the disgrace inflicted on their countrv, the
, '
nobles had already armed themselves, to break across
the Border, and take the quarrel into their own hands;
but the king, who had received a private communication
from Walsingham,J was thinking more about his suc-
cession to the English crown than the peril of his
* Wai-render MSS, B. 341, Douglas to the King, December 8, 1586.
+ MS. Letter, Copy, \Varrender MSS, B. fol. 336, King James to Eliza-
beth, December 15, 1586.
+ Warrender MSS, B. fol. 334. A memorial of certain Leads to be com-
municated to the Lord Secretary of Scotland.
1586-7. JAMES vi. 337
parent : and, intimidated by the violence of Elizabeth,
judged it better to conciliate than exasperate. It is
difficult to believe that James had any very deep desire
to save his mother's life, when he selected so base and
unworthy an intercessor as the Master of Gray. The
king must have known well that this man had already
betrayed her, that he was a sworn adherent of Eliza-
beth, and that Mary's safety or return to power and
influence brought danger to this envoy himself. So
fully were these Gray's feelings, that, in a letter to
his friend Archibald Douglas, written as far back as
October eleventh, he described " any good to Mary
as a staff for their own heads ;" and assured him " he
cared not although she were out of the way."* The
result was exactly what might have been anticipated :
Gray on his arrival at the English court, (twenty-
ninth December,) in his public conferences with Eliza-
beth and her ministers, and in the open despatches
intended for the eyes of the Scottish council, exhibited
great apparent activity and interest in the cause of
the Scottish queen. -f- But this was all unreal: for
secretly he betrayed her ; cooperated with Archibald
Douglas in his enmity; whispered in Elizabeth's ear
the significant proverb, " The dead don't bite ;" per-
suaded her, that although there was much clamour,
there was little sincerity in his master's remonstrances ;
and notwithstanding the honest endeavours of Sir
Robert Melvil against his base efforts, encouraged her
to proceed to those extremities which she was willing,
yet afraid to perpetrate. J
* Lodge, vol. ii. 8vo edition, p. 289. See also Murdin, pp. 573, 576.
)- Robertson's Appendix, No. L. A Memorial for his Majesty, by lh
Master of Gray, January 12, 158C-7.
+ Camden in Kennet, vol. ii. p. 533.
VOL. VIII. Y
338 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586-7.
In her first interview with these new ambassadors,
Elizabeth received their offers with her characteristic
violence. They proposed that Mary should demit
her right of succession to the English crown to her
son. " How is that possible ?" said the queen ; " she
is declared 'inhabil 1 and can convey nothing." "If
she have no rights," replied Gray, "your majesty
need not fear her ; if she have, let her assign them
to her son, in whom will then be placed the full title
of succession to your highness." "What," said Eliza-
beth, with a loud voice and great oath ; " get rid of
one, and have a worse in her place ? Nay, then I put
myself in a more miserable case than before. By
God's Passion, that were to cut mine own throat ;
and for a duchy or an earldom to yourself, you, or
such as you, would cause some of your desperate
knaves to kill me. No, by God ! your master shall
never be in that place." Gray then craved, that
Mary's life might at least be spared for fifteen days,
to give them time to communicate with the king : but
this she peremptorily refused. Melvil implored her
to give a respite, were it only for eight days. " No,"
said Elizabeth, rising up, and impatiently flinging out
of the apartment, " not for an hour."* After such a
reception, it was impossible not to anticipate the worst ;
and although, on a succeeding occasion, the queen ap-
peared somewhat mollified, the ambassadors left her
with the conviction, that fears for herself, and not any
lingering feelings of mercy towards Mary, were the
sole causes of her delay.
It was at this time that the Scottish king, having
required the ministers of the Kirk to pray for his
* Robertson's Appendix. No. L. : Memorial of the Master of Gray. Janu-
ary 12, 158G-7.
1586-7. JAMES vi. 339
unhappy mother, then in the toils of her enemies and
daily expecting death, received a peremptory refusal.
This was the more extraordinary, since James had
carefully worded his request so as to remove, as he
thought, every possibility of opposition ; but finding
himself deceived, he directed Archbishop Adamson
to offer up his prayers for the queen, in the High
Church of the capital. To his astonishment he found,
on entering his seat, that one of the recusant ministers,
named Cowper, had preoccupied the pulpit. The king
addressed him from the gallery, told him that the
place had been intended for another ; but added, that
if he would pray for his mother, he might remain
where he was. To this, Cowper answered, that he
would do as the Spirit of God directed him : a signi-
ficant reply to all who knew the character of the times,
and certainly amounting to a refusal. A scene of con-
fusion ensued. James commanded Cowper to come
down from the pulpit : he resisted. The royal guard
sprang forward to pull out the intruder ; and he de-
scended, denouncing woe and wrath on all who held
back ; declaring, too, that this hour would rise up in
witness against the king, in the great day of the Lord.
Adamson then preached on the Christian duty of
prayer for all men, with such pathetic eloquence, and
so powerfully offered up his intercession for their un-
fortunate queen, that the congregation separated in
tears, lamenting the obstinacy of their pastors.*
Meanwhile, reports were circulated in England,
which were artfully calculated to inflame the people
and to excuse severity towards Mary. It was said
one day, that the Spaniards had landed at Milford
* Spottiswood, p. 334.
340 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586-7.
Haven, and that the Catholics had joined them ; the
next, that Fotheringay castle was attacked, and that
the Queen of Scots had made her escape ; then came
rumours that the northern counties were already in
rebellion, and that a new conspiracy was on foot to
slay the queen and set fire to London.*
Amidst these fictitious terrors, the privy-council
held repeated meetings, and pressed Elizabeth to give
her warrant for the execution ; Leicester, Burghley,
and Walsingham, entreated, argued, and remonstrated,
but she continued distracted and irresolute between
the odium which must follow the deed and its neces-
sity ; at last, amid her half sentences and dark hints,
they perceived that their mistress wished Mary to be
put to death, but had conceived a hope they would
spare her the cruelty of commanding it, and find some
secret way of despatching her ; she even seemed to
think, that if their oath to " the association " for her
protection did not lead to this, they had promised much,
but actually done nothing. From such an interpreta-
tion of their engagement, however, they all shrunk.
The idea of private assassination was abhorrent, no
doubt, to their feelings ; but they suspected, also, that
Elizabeth's only object was to shift the responsibility of
Mary's death from her shoulders to theirs; and that
nothing was more likely than that, the moment they
had fulfilled her wishes, she should turn round and
accuse them of acting without orders. Meanwhile,
she became hourly more unquiet, forsook her wonted
amusements, courted solitude, and often was heard
muttering to herself a Latin sentence taken from some
of those books of Emblemata, or Aphorisms, which
* Camden in Kenne 4 vol. ii. p. 533. Ellis's Letters, 2d Series, vol. iii.
pp. 100', 109.
1586-7. JAMES VI. 341
were the fashion of the day : Aut fer aut feri ; ne
feriare,feri* This continued till the first of February,
when the queen sent for Mr Davison the secretary at
ten in the morning. On arriving at the palace, he
found that the Lord Admiral Howard had been con-
versing with Elizabeth on the old point, the Scottish
queen's execution; and had received orders to send
Secretary Davison to her with the warrant, which had
already been drawn up by Burghley the Lord Trea-
surer, } and lay in his possession unsigned. Davison
hasted to his chamber, and coming instantly back with
it and some other papers in his hand, was called in by
Elizabeth, who, after some talk on indifferent topics,
asked him what papers he had with him. He replied,
divers warrants for her signature. She then inquired
whether he had seen the Lord Admiral, and had brought
the warrant for the Scottish queen's execution. He
declared he had, and delivered it into the queen's hand;
upon which she read it over, called for pen and ink,
deliberately signed it, and then looking up, asked him
whether he was not heartily sorry she had done so.
To this bantering question he replied gravely, that
he preferred the death of the guilty before that of the
innocent, and could not be sorry that her majesty
took the only course to protect her person from immi-
nent danger. Elizabeth then commanded him to take
the warrant to the chancellor and have it sealed, with
her orders that it should be used as secretly as possible ;
and by the way, said she, relapsing again into her jocu-
lar tone, " you may call on Walsingham and show it
* Either strike or be stricken ; strike lest thou be stricken. Camden in
Kennet, vol. ii. p. 534.
t Caligula, C. ix. fol. 470. For a minute and interesting account of the
whole proceedings of Davison. see Sir Harris Nicolas' Life of Dav'son, pp.
79 105.
342 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 158b'-7-
him : I fear the shock will kill him outright." She
added that a public execution must be avoided. It
should be done, she said, not in the open green or court
of the castle, but in the hall. In conclusion, she for-
bade him absolutely to trouble her any farther or let
her hear any more till it was done ; she, for her part,
having performed all that in law or reason could be
required. *
The secretary now gathered up his papers, and was
taking his leave, when Elizabeth stayed him for a
short space; and complained of Paulet and others, who
might have eased her of this burden. Even now,
said she, it might be so done, that the blame might
be removed from myself, would you and Walsingham
write jointly, and sound Sir Amias and Sir Drew
Drury upon it. To this Davison consented, promis-
ing to let Sir Amias know what she expected at his
hands; and the queen, having again repeated in an
earnest tone, that the matter must be closely handled,
dismissed him. "I*
All this took place on the morning of the first of
February. In the afternoon of that day, Davison
visited Walsingham, showed him the warrant with
Elizabeth's signature, consulted with him on the horrid
communication to be made to Paulet and Drury; and
repairing to the chancellor, had the Great Seal affixed
to the warrant. The fatal paper was then left in the
hands of that dignitary; and Walsingham and Davison
the same evening wrote and despatched a letter to
Fotheringay, recommending to her keepers, the secret
assassination of their royal charge, at the queen their
* Davison's Defence, drawn up by himself, in Caligula, C. ix. fol. 470,
printed by Nicolas. Life of Davison, Appendix A.
t N icolas' Life of Davison, p. 84.
1586-7. JAMES vi. 343
mistress" 1 special request. This letter, taken from an
original found amongst Paulet's own papers,* was in
these calm and measured terms :
To SIR AMIAS PAULET.
"After our hearty commendations. We find by
speech lately uttered by her majesty, that she doth
note in you both a lack of that care and zeal for her
service that she looketh for at your hands ; in that
you have not in all this time, of yourselves, (without
other provocation,) found out some way to shorten
the life of that queen ; considering the great peril she
is subject unto hourly, so long as the said queen shall
live. Wherein, besides a lack of love towards her,
she noteth greatly, that you have not that care of
your own particular safeties, or rather of the preser-
vation of Religion, and the public good and prosperity
of your country, that reason and policy commandeth ;
especially, having so good a warrant and ground for
the satisfaction of your consciences towards God, and
the discharge of your credit and reputation towards
the world, as the oath of " Association, " which you
both have so solemnly taken and vowed ; and especially
the matter wherewith she standeth charged being so
clearly and manifestly proved against her: and there-
fore she taketh it most unkindly that men, professing
that love towards her that you do, should in any kind
of sort, for lack of the discharge of your duties, cast
the burden upon her ; knowing, as you do, her indis-
position to shed blood, especially of one of that sex
and quality, and so near to her in blood as the said
queen is.
* Life of Davison, p. 85. Hearne's Robert of Gloucester, vol. ii. p. 676.
344 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586-7.
" These respects, we find, do greatly trouble her
majesty, who, we assure you, has sundry times pro-
tested, that if the regard of the danger of her good
subjects and faithful servants did not more move her
than her own peril, she would never be drawn to as-
sent to the shedding her blood. We thought it very
meet to acquaint you [with] these speeches lately
passed from her majesty, referring the same to your
good judgments. And so we commit you to the pro-
tection of the Almighty. Your most assured friends,
" FRANCIS WALSINGHAM.
" WILLIAM DAVISON.
" London, February 1st, 1586."*
With the letter, Davison sent an earnest injunction
that it should be committed to the flames ; promising
for his part to burn, or as he styled it, " make a
heretic " of the answer. Cruel and morose, however,
as Paulet had undoubtedly been to Mary, he was not
the common murderer which Elizabeth took Mm to
be, and refused, peremptorily, to have any hand in her
horrid purpose. He received the letter on the second
of February, at five in the afternoon, and at six the
same evening, having communicated it to Drury, re-
turned this answer to Walsingham.
" Your letters of yesterday, coming to my hands
this present day at five in the afternoon, I would not
fail, according to your directions, to return my answer
with all possible speed ; which [I] shall deliver unto
you with great grief and bitterness of mind, in that I
am so unhappy to have liven to see this unhappy day,
in the which I am required, by direction from my
most gracious sovereign, to do an act which God and
\- Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle, by Hearne, vol. ii. p. 674.
1586-7. JAMES vi. 345
the law forbiddeth. My good livngs and life are at
her majesty's disposition, and I am ready to lose them
this next morrow, if it shall so please her : acknow-
ledging that I hold them as of her mere and gracious
favour. I do not desire them to enjoy them but with
her highness 1 good liking ; but God forbid that I
should make so foul a shipwrack of my conscience, or
leave so great a blot to my poor posterity, to shed
blood without law and warrant. Trusting that her
majesty, of her accustomed clemency, will take this
my dutiful answer in good part." *
This refusal, as we have seen, was written on the
second February, in the evening, at Fotheringay ; and,
next morning, (the third, Friday,) Davison received
an early and hasty summons from Elizabeth, who called
him into her chamber, and inquired if he had been with
the warrant to the chancellor's. He said he had; and
she asked sharply why he had made such haste. " I
obeyed your majesty's commands," was his reply; "and
deemed it no matter to be dallied with." " True,"
said she, " yet methinks the best and safest way would
be to have it otherwise handled." He answered to
this, that, if it was to be done at all, the honourable
way was the safest ;-f- and the queen dismissed him.
But by this time the warrant, with the royal signature,
was in the hands of the council ; and on that day
they addressed a letter, enclosing it, to the Earl of
Shrewsbury. This letter was signed by Burghley the
Lord Treasurer, Leicester, Hunsdon, Knollys, Wal-
singham, Derby, Howard, Cobham, Sir Christopher
Hatton, and Davison hirnself.J Yet some fears as
346 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586-7.
to the responsibility of sending it away without the
queen's knowledge, made them still hesitate to despatch
it. In this interval, Paulefs answer arrived ; and as
Walsingham, to wliom he had addressed it, was sick,
(or, as some said, pretended illness,) the task of com-
municating it to Eli^beth fell on Davison. She read
it with symptoms of great impatience ; and, breaking
out into passionate expressions, declared that she hated
those dainty, nice, precise fellows, who promised much,
but performed nothing: casting all the burden on her.
But, she added, she would have it done without him,
by Wingfield. Who this new assassin was, to whom
the queen alluded, does not appear.*
The privy-council, meanwhile, had determined to
take the responsibility of sending off the warrant for
the execution upon themselves ; and, for this purpose,
intrusted it to Beal the clerk of the council ; who, on
the evening of Saturday the fourth of February, ar-
rived with it at the seat of the Earl of Kent ; and,
next day, being Sunday, proceeded to Fotheringay
and communicated it to Sir Amias Paulet and Sir
Drew Drury.-f- Intelligence was then sent to the
Earl of Shrewsbury, Grand Marshal of England, who
lived at no great distance from Fotheringay ; and, on
Tuesday morning, the seventh February, this noble-
man and the Earl of Kent came to the castle with
several persons who were to give directions or to be
employed in the approaching tragedy. For some days
before this, Mary's servants had suspected the worst ;
but the preparations which now took place, and the
arrival of so many strangers, threw them into despair.
* Davison's Defence ; Nicolas' Life of Davison, p. 103 ; and Id. Appen-
dix A.
+ La Mort de la Royne D'Escosse, in Jebb, vol. ii. p. 512.
1586-7. JAMES VI. 347
On Tuesday after dinner, at two o'clock, the two earls
demanded an audience of the Queen of Scots, who sent
word that she was indisposed and in bed ; but if the
matter were of consequence, she would rise and receive
them. On their reply that it could brook no delay,
they were admitted after a short interval ; and Kent
and Shrewsbury coming into the apartment, with
Paulet, Drury, and Beal, found her seated at the
bottom of her bed, her usual place, with her small
work-table before her.* Near her stood her physician
Burgoin, and her women. When the earls uncovered,
she received them with her usual tranquil grace ; and
Shrewsbury, in few words, informed her that his royal
mistress, Elizabeth, being overcome by the importunity
of her subjects, had given orders for her execution; for
which she would now be pleased to hear the warrant.
Beal then read the commission; to which she listened
unmoved and without interrupting him. On its con-
clusion she bowed her head, and, making the sign of
the cross, thanked her gracious God that this welcome
news had, at last, come; declaring how happy she
should be to leave a world where she was of no use,
and had suffered such continued affliction. She assured
the lords that she regarded it as a signal happiness,
that God had sent her death at this moment, after so
many evils and sorrows endured for his Holy Catholic
Church : " That Church," she continued, with great
fervour of expression, " for which I have been ready, as
I have often testified, to lay down my life, and to shed
my blood drop by drop. " Alas," she continued, " I did
not think myself worthy of so happy a death as this;
but I acknowledge it as a sign of the love of God, and
humbly receive it as an earnest of my reception into the
* La Mor* de la Royne D'Escosse, Jebb, vol. ii. p. 612.
348 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586-7.
number of his servants. Long have I doubted and spe-
culated for these eighteen or nineteen years, from day to
day, upon all that was about to happen to me. Often
have I thought on the manner in which the English have
acted to imprisoned princes ; and, after my frequent
escapes from such snares as have been laid for me, I
have scarce ventured to hope for such a blessed end as
this." She then spoke of her high rank, which had
so little defended her from cruelty and injustice: born
a queen, the daughter of a king, the near relative of
the Queen of England, the grand-daughter of Henry
the Seventh, once Queen of France, and still queen-
dowager of that kingdom ; and yet, what had all this
availed her ? She had loved England ; she had de-
sired its prosperity, as the next heir to that crown ;
and, as far as was permitted to a good Catholic, had
laboured for its welfare. She had earnestly longed for
the love and friendship of her good sister the queen ;
had often informed her of coming dangers ; had cher-
ished, as the dearest wish of her heart, that for once
she should meet her in person, and speak with her in
confidence ; being well assured that, had this ever
happened, there would have been an end of all jealousies
and dissensions. But all had been refused her ; her
enemies, who still lived and acted for their own inter-
ests, had kept them asunder. She had been treated
with ignominy and injustice ; imprisoned contrary to
all faith and treaties; kept a captive for nineteen years ;
" and, at last," said she, laying her hand upon the New
Testament which was on her table, " condemned by a
tribunal which had no power over me, for a crime of
which I here solemnly declare I am innocent.* I have
* La Mort de la Royne D'Escosse, p. G18.
1586-7. JAMES VI. 349
neither invented, nor consented tc> nor pursued any
conspiracy for the death of the Queen of England."
The Earl of Kent here hastily interrupted her, declar-
ing that the translation of the Scriptures on which she
had sworn was false, and the Roman Catholic version,
which invalidated her oath. " It is the translation in
which I believe," answered Mary, " as the version of
our Holy Church. Does your lordship think my oath
would be better if I swore on your translation, which
I disbelieve?"
She then entreated to be allowed the services of her
priest and almoner, who was in the castle, but had
not been permitted to see her since her removal from
Chartley. He would assist her, she said, in her pre-
parations for death, and administer that spiritual
consolation, which it would be sinful to receive from
any one of a different faith. To the disgrace of the
noblemen, the request was refused : nor was this to be
attributed to any cruelty in Elizabeth, who had given
no instructions upon the subject; but to the intolerant
bigotry of the Earl of Kent, who, in a long theological
discourse, attempted to convert her to his own opinions ;
offering her, in the place of her confessor, the services
of the Protestant Dean of Peterborough, Dr Fletcher,
whom they had brought with them. Mary expressed
her astonishment at this last unexpected stroke of
cruelty ; but bore it meekly as she had done all the
rest, although she peremptorily declined all assistance
from the dean. She then inquired what time she
should die ; and the earls having answered " To-morrow
at eight in the morning,' 1 made their obeisance, and
left the room. On their departure she called her
women, and bade them hasten supper, that she might
have time to arrange her affairs. Nothing could be
350 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586-7.
more natural, or rather playful, than her manner at
this moment. " Come, come," said she, " Jane Ken-
nedy, cease weeping, and be busy. Did I not warn
you, my children, that it would come to this? and
now, blessed be God! it has come; and fear and sorrow
are at an end. Weep not, then, nor lament, but re-
joice rather that you see your poor mistress so near
the end of all her troubles. Dry your eyes, then, and
let us pray together/ 1
Her men-servants, who were in tears, then left the
room, and Mary passed some time in devotion with her
ladies. After which she occupied herself in counting
the money which still remained in her cabinet; divid-
ing it into separate sums, which she intended for her
servants ; and then putting each sum into a little purse
with a slip of paper, on which she wrote, with her own
hand, the name of the person for whom it was destined.
Supper was next brought in, of which she partook
sparingly, as was usual with, her ; conversing from
time to time with Burgoin her physician, who served
her; and sometimes falling into a reverie, during which
it was remarked that a sweet smile, as if she had heard
some good news, would pass over her features, lighting
them up with an expression of animated joy, which,
much changed as she was by sorrow and ill health,
recalled to her poor servants her days of beauty. It
was with one of these looks that, turning to her phy-
sician, she said, " Did you remark, Burgoin, what that
Earl of Kent said in his talk with me : that my life
would have been the death, as my death would be the
life of their religion? Oh, how glad am I at that
speech ! Here comes the truth at last, and I pray
you remark it. They told me I was to die, because
I had plotted against the queen ; but then arrives this
1586-7. JAMES VI. 351
Kent, whom they sent hither to convert me, and what
says he ? I am to die for my religion."*
After supper, she called for her ladies, and asking
for a cup of wine, drank to them all, begging them to
pledge her ; which they did on their knees, mingling
their tears in the cup, and asking her forgiveness if
they had ever offended her. This she readily gave
them, bidding them farewell with much tenderness,
entreating in her turn their pardon, and solemnly
enjoining them to continue firm in their religion, and
forget all their little jealousies, living in peace and
love with each other. It would be easier to do so
now, she added, since Nau, who had been so busy in
creating dissensions, was no longer with them. This
was the only subject on which she felt and expressed
herself with something like keenness ; repeating more
than once, that he was the cause of her death, but
adding that she forgave him. She next examined her
wardrobe, and selected various dresses as presents to
her servants, delivering them at the moment, with
some kind expression to each. She then wrote to her
almoner, lamenting that the cruelty of her enemies
had refused her the consolation of his presence with
her in her last moments, imploring him to watch and
pray with her that night, and to send her his absolu-
tion."f After this she made her will; and lastly, wrote
to the King of France. By this time it was two in
the morning, and finding herself fatigued, she lay
down, having first washed her feet, whilst her women
watched and read at her bedside. They observed that,
* Camden in Kennet, vol. ii. p. 534. Mort de la Royne D'Escosse. Jebb,
vol. ii. p. 625.
+ The letters are preserved, and will be found printed in Jebb. vol. ii. pp.
627, 63U.
352 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586-7.
though quite still and tranquil, she was not asleep,
her lips moving, as if engaged in secret prayer. It
was her custom to have her women read to her at
night a portion of the " Lives of the Saints," a book
she loved much ; and this last night she would not
omit it, but made Jane Kennedy choose a portion, for
their usual devotions. She selected the life entitled,
" The Good Thief," which treats of that beautiful and
affecting example of dying faith and divine compassion.
" Alas ! " said Mary, " he was indeed a very great
sinner, but not so great as I am. May my Saviour,
in memory of His Passion, have mercy on me, as He
had on him, at the hour of death." * At this moment
she recollected that she would require a handkerchief
to bind her eyes at her execution ; and bidding them
bring her several, she selected one of the finest, which
was embroidered with gold, laying it carefully aside.
Early in the morning she rose, observing that now
she had but two hours to live ; and having finished
her toilet she came into her oratory, and kneeling
with her women before the altar, where they usually
said mass, continued long in prayer. Her physician
then, afraid of her being exhausted, begged her to take
a little bread and wine ; which she did cheerfully,
thanking him, at the same time, for giving her her
last meal.
A knock was now heard at the door, and a messenger
came to say that the lords waited for her. She begged
to be allowed a short time to conclude her devotions.
Soon after, a second summons arriving, the door was
opened, and the sheriff alone, with his white wand,
walked into the room, proceeded to the altar, where
the queen still knelt, and informed her that all was
* Mort de la Royne D'Escosse, Jebb, vol. ii. p. 631.
1586-7. JAMES VI. 353
ready. She then rose, saying simply, " Let us go ; **
and Burgoin her physician, who assisted her to rise
from her knees, asking her at this moment whether she
would not wish to take with her the little cross and
ivory crucifix which lay on the altar, she said : " Oh
yes, yes ; it was my intention to have done so : many,
many thanks for putting me in mind !" She then
received it, kissed it, and desired Annibal, one of her
suite, to carry it before her. The sheriff, walking
first, now conducted her to the door of the apartment ;
on reaching which, her servants, who had followed her
thus far, were informed that they must now turn back,
as a command had been given that they should not
accompany their mistress to the scaffold. This stern
and unnecessary order was received by them with loud
remonstrances and tears ; but Mary only observed,
that it was hard not to suffer her poor servants to be
present at her death. She then took the crucifix in
her hand, and bade them affectionately adieu ; whilst
they clung in tears to her robe, kissed her hand, and
were with difficulty torn from her, and locked up in
the apartment. The queen after this proceeded alone
down the great staircase, at the foot of which she was
received by the Earls of Shrewsbury and Kent, who
were struck with the perfect tranquillity and unaffected
grace with which she met them. She was dressed in
black satin, matronly, but richly ; and with more
studied care than she was commonly accustomed to
bestow. She wore a long veil of white crape, and
her usual high Italian ruff ; an Agnus Dei was sus-
pended by a pomander chain round her neck, and her
beads of gold hung at her girdle.* At the bottom of
the staircase she found Sir Andrew Melvil, her old
* See Proofs and Illustrations, No. XV.
VOL. VIII. Z
354 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586-7.
affectionate servant, and master of her household,
waiting to take his last farewell. On seeing her he
lluug himself on his knees at her feet, and bitterly
lamented it should have fallen on him to carry to
Scotland the heart-rending news of his dear mistress'
death. " Weep not, my good Mclvil," said she,
" but rather rejoice that an end has at last come to
the sorrows of Mary Stuart. And carry this news
with thee, that I die firm in my religion, true to Scot-
land, true to France. May God, who can alone judge
the thoughts and actions of men, forgive those who
have thirsted for my blood ! He knows my heart ;
He knows my desire hath ever been, that Scotland
and England should be united. Remember me to
my son," she added. " Tell him I have done nothing
that may prejudice his kingdom of Scotland. And
now, good Melvil, my most faithful servant, once more
I bid thee farewell." She then earnestly entreated
that her women might still be permitted to be with her
at her death ; but the Earl of Kent peremptorily re-
fused, alleging that they would only disturb every thing
by their lamentations, and he guilty of something
scandalous and superstitious ; probably dipping their
handkerchiefs in her blood. "Alas, poor souls !" taiil
Mary, " I will give my word and promise they will
do none of these things. It would do them good to
bid me farewell ; and I hope your mistress, who is a
maiden queen, hath not given you so strait a commis-
sion. She might grant mo more than this, were I a
far meaner person. And yet, my lords, you know I
am cousin to your queen, descended from the blood of
Henry the Seventh, a married Queen of France, and
an anointed Queen of Scotland. Surely, surely they
will not deny me this last little request : my poor
1 5S6-7. JAMES vi. 355
girls wish only to see me die."* As she said this,
a few tears were observed to fall, for the first time ;
and after some consultation, she was permitted to have
two of her ladies and four of her gentlemen beside her.
She then immediately chose Burgoin her physician,
her almoner, surgeon, and apothecary, with Jane
Kennedy and Elizabeth Curie. Followed by them,
and by Melvil bearing her train, she entered the great
hall, and walked to the scaffold, which had been
erected at its upper end. It was a raised platform,
about two feet in height, and twelve broad, surrounded
by a rail, and covered with black. Upon it were
placed a low chair and cushion, two other seats, and
the block. The queen regarded it without the least
change of countenance, cheerfully mounted the steps,
and sat down with the same easy grace and dignity
with which she would have occupied her throne. On
her ri<rht werejseated the Earls of Kent and Shrewsburv,
* *
on her left stood the Sheriffs, and before her the two
executioners. The Earl of Kent, the Dean of Peter-
borough, Sir Amias Paulet, Sir Drew Drury. Beal
the Clerk of tbe Privy-council, and others stood beside
the scaffold ; and these, with the guards, officers, at-
tendants, and some of the neighbouring gentry, who
had been permitted to be present, made up an assem-
blv of about two hundred in all. Beal then read the
w
warrant for her death, which she heard with apparent
attention ; but those near her could see, by the sweet
and absent expression of her countenance, that her
thoughts were far off.
When it was finished, she crossed herself, and ad-
dressed a few words to the persons round the scaffold.
* La Mort d la Rovne D*Escone, Jebb, vol. ii. pp. 635, 636.
356 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586-7.
She spoke of her rights as a sovereign princess, which
had been invaded and trampled on, and of her long
sorrows and imprisonment ; but expressed the deepest
thankfulness to God, that, being now about to die for
her religion, she was permitted, before this company,
to testify that she died a Catholic, and innocent of
having invented any plot, or consented to any prac-
tices against the queen's life. " I will here," said she,
"in my last moments, accuse no one; but when I am
gone, much will be discovered that is now hid, and the
objects of those who have procured my death be more
clearly disclosed to the world.
Fletcher the Dean of Peterborough now came up
upon the scaffold, and, with the Earls of Kent and
Shrewsbury, made an ineffectual attempt to engage
Mary in their devotions; but she repelled all their
offers, at first mildly, and afterwards, when they in-
sisted on her joining with them in prayer, in more
peremptory terms. It was at this moment that Kent,
in the excess of his Puritanism, observing her in-
tensely regarding the crucifix, bade her renounce such
antiquated superstitions : " Madam," said he, " that
image of Christ serves to little purpose, if you have
him not engraved upon your heart." " Ah," said
Mary, " there is nothing more becoming a dying
Christian than to carry in his hands this remem-
brance of his redemption. How impossible is it to
have such an object in our hands and keep the heart
unmoved ! "*
The Dean of Peterborough then prayed in English,
being joined by the noblemen and gentlemen who were
present; whilst Mary, kneeling apart, repeated portions
* Martyre de Marie Stuart, Royne D'Escosse. Jebb, vol. ii. pp. 47, 200,
307 ; and same volume, Mort de la Royne D'Escosse, 637.
1586-7. JAMES VI. 357
of the Penitential Psalms in Latin,-f- and afterwards
continued her prayers aloud in English. By this time,
the dean having concluded, there was a deep silence, so
that every word was heard. Amid this stillness she
recommended to God his afflicted Church, her son the
King of Scotland, and Queen Elizabeth. She declared
that her whole hope rested on her Saviour; and, al-
though she confessed that she was a great sinner, she
humbly trusted that the blood of that immaculate
Lamb, which had been shed for all sinners, would wash
all her guilt away. She then invoked the blessed
Virgin and all the saints, imploring them to grant
her their prayers with God; and finally declared that
she forgave all her enemies. It was impossible for any
one to behold her at this moment without being deeply
affected; on her knees, her hands clasped together and
raised to Heaven, an expression of adoration and divine
serenity lighting up her features, and upon her lips
the words of forgiveness to her persecutors. As she
finished her devotions she kissed the crucifix, and,
making the sign of the cross, exclaimed in a clear,
sweet voice, " As thine arms, O my God, were spread
out upon the cross, so receive me within the arms of
thy mercy : extend thy pity, and forgive my sins ! "
She then cheerfully suffered herself to be undressed
by her two women, Jane Kennedy and Elizabeth Curie,
and gently admonished them not to distress her by
their tears and lamentations; putting her finger on
her lips, and bidding them remember that she had
promised for them. On seeing the executioner come
up to offer his assistance, she smiled, and playfully
f" The pailms, as numbered in the reformed version, were xxxi. li. and xci.
In the vulgate, Miserere mei Deus ; In te, Domine,speravi ; Qui habitat iiiad-
jutorio. Mort de la Royne D'Escosse, in Jebb, vol. ii. p. 638. Lingard,
Tol. viii. p. 248.
358 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1586-7.
said she had neither been used to such grooms of the
chamber, nor to undress before so many people. When
all was ready she kissed her two women, and, giving
them her last blessing, desired them to leave her, one
of them having first bound her eyes with the handker-
chief which she had chosen for the purpose. She then
sat down, and, clasping her hands together, held her
neck firm and erect, expecting that she was to be be-
headed in the French fashion, with a sword, and in a
sitting attitude. Those who were present, and knew
nothing of this misconception, wondered at this; and
in the pause, Mary, still waiting for the blow, repeated
the psalm, " In thee, O Lord, have I trusted: let me
never be put to confusion."* On being made aware
of her mistake she instantly knelt down, and, groping
with her hands for the block, laid her neck upon it
without the slightest mark of trembling or hesitation.
Her last words were, " Into thy hands I commend my
spirit, for thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of
truth." At this moment the tears and emotions of
the spectators had reached their height, and appear,
unfortunately, to have shaken the nerves and disturbed
the aim of the executioner, so that his first blow was
ill directed, and only wounded his victim. She lay,
however, perfectly still, and the next stroke severed
the head from the body. The executioner then held
the head up and called aloud, " God save the queen !"
" So let all Queen Elizabeth^ enemies perish !" was
the prayer of the Dean of Peterborough; but the
spectators were dissolved in tears, and one deep voice
only answered, Amen. It came from the Earl of Kent/f*
* In te, Domine, confido : non confundar in sternum.
f- Mort de la Royne D'Escosse, p. 641. Martyre de Marie Stuart. Jebb,
vol. ii. p. 308. Camden in Kennet, vol. ii. p. 535. Ellis's Letters, 2d series,
vol. iii. p. 117.
1586-7. JAMES VI. 359
An affecting incident now occurred. On removing
the dead body, and the clothes and mantle which lay
beside it, Mary's favourite little dog, which had fol-
lowed its mistress to the scaffold unperceived, was
found nestling under them. No entreaty could prevail
on it to quit the spot ; and it remained lying beside
the corpse, and stained in the blood, till forcibly carried
away by the attendants.*
* Mort de la Royne D'Escosse, Jebb, vol. ii. p. 641. Ellis's Letters, 2d
series, vol. iii. p. 117.
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
FROM
MANUSCRIPTS,
IN
HER MAJESTY'S STATE-PAPER OFFICE,
AND OTHER COLLECTIONS,
HITHERTO UNPRINTED.
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
No. I.
Attack on Stirling, 26<A April, 1578, p. 32.
A MINUTE and interesting account of the successful attack on Stir-
ling castle, which led to the restoration of Morton to the supreme
power in the government, will be found in the following letter from
Sir Robert Bowea to Lord Burghley.
BOWES 10 BURGHLEY.*
" Edinburgh, April 28, 1578.
" May it please your Lordship. On Saturday last, about six in the
morning, the Earl of Mar, accompanied with the Abbots of Dryburgh
and Cambuskenneth,'and their servants ordinarily lodged in the
castle of Stirling, came to the castle gate, with pretence to go a-hunt-
ing; and finding there the Master and his servants, the abbots called
the Master aside, charging him that he had much abused the Earl of
Mar his nephew, and far overseen himself in withholding the custody
of the king and castle from the earl. The Master, after reasonable
excuse made, found that they pressed to possess the keys, and com-
mand the piece ; and reaching himself to an halbert, his servants came
to assist him. Dryburgh and some with him stayed the Master;
Cambuskenneth and his complices assaulted the rest; when Buchanan,
one of the Master's men, was sore hurt. After the fray pacified, the
Master and the abbots withdraw themselves to the hall to debate the
* Orig. British Museum, Caligula, C. v. fol. 89.
364 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
matter ; and Argyle being then a-bed, rose speedily, and came with
a small number to the hall, where, hearing that the Master and the
abbots were in quiet communication, he retired himself to his chamber,
and, arming himself, he assembled his servants, that with the Master
were able to have overmatched the other. But the Master being
then fully satisfied, Argyle was likewise soon after appeased; and
then yielding possession for the earl, they agreed at length to remove
thence, and draw to concord, specially to satisfy the king, who of the
tumult, as is reported, was in great fear, and teared his hair, saying
the Master was slain. And as I am informed, his grace by night,
hath been by this means so discouraged, as in his sleep he is here-
with greatly disquieted. After all this was ended, the Earls of Argyle
and Mar, the two abbots and Mr Buchanan,* advertised by their
letters this council of this accident; declaring that the parties were
well reconciled; and persuaded the council to proceed forwards in the
course determined for the government, as no such matter had hap-
pened. Argyle departed out of the castle, and he is now gone to
levy his forces, meaning to return within two days at the farthest.
u In this uproar, the eldest son of the Master was so crushed in the
throng, as he died the next day. The Master is fallen into vehement
disease with danger of his life.
w Upon the coming of the said letters from Stirling, on Saturday
about nine in the afternoon, the council assembled ; and after some
hot humours digested, they despatched Montrose that night towards
Stirling, to understand, and certify to them the true state of the
matter, to persuade quietness about the king's person, and to continue
this present government established until the next parliament.
" Montrose, after long abode at the Lord of Livingston's house,
came to Stirling in the next day, and was received into the castle.
He putteth the council in good hope that the matter is well pacified,
and that this government shall not by this accident be impeached.
Whereupon the most part of this council, pretending to have the
king's letters commanding their repair to him, are departed this day
towards Stirling; but what shall ensue hereof is greatly doubted.
" Lochleven being speedily advertised of the doings of the abbots,
came the same day to Stirling, and with some difficulty, (as out-
wardly was showed,) was let into the castle with one servant, whom
presently he returned to Lochleven to the Earl of Morton, and him-
self remaineth still in the castle. The Earl of Morton, upon the first
advertisement, came to Lochleven ; despatched his servant to the
Earl of Angus, to put all his friends and forces in a readiness on an
* This was the celebrated Buchanan.
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 365
hour's warning. And many noblemen, being friends to these two
earls, have done the like; nevertheless they show no force nor assem-
bly as yet.
" The Lords of the Council have likewise levied all their powers,
drawing some part with all possible speed towards Stirling, and leav-
ing the residue in readiness upon warning.
" Some are of opinion, that the council will be readily received and
welcomed to the king and to all the castle, without further change ;
and many think that, by the means of the abbots, the king shall cause
them to retire to their own houses, till his pleasure be further known.
And in case they disobey the same ; then to lay siege and take the
castle. That then the king will cause the Earl of Morton and other
nobles to levy their power within the realm, to raise the siege, and
rescue his person from their violence. What storm shall fall out of
these swelling heats doth not yet appear. But I think, verily, and
that within two or three days, that it will burst into some open
matter ; discovering sufficiently the purposes intended ; wherein, to
my power, I shall seek to quench all violent rages, and persuade
unity and concord among them; which, if this sudden chance had not
happened, might easily have taken place. Thus referring the rest to
the next occasion,
" And with humble duty, &c.
" ROBERT BOWES."
No. II.
Composition between Morton and Ms Enemies, p. 38.
Lord Hunsdon's letter from Berwick to Lord Burghley, referred to
in the text, and preserved in the British Museum, Caligula, C. v. fol.
101, gives some interesting particulars of the composition between
Morton and his powerful opponents. It is as follows :
HUNSDON TO BURGHLEY.
"Berwick, August 19, 1578.
" My very good Lord I will not trouble your k rdship with any
long discourse touching this matter in Scotland."
Hunsdon then refers Burghley to Mr Bowes' letter, " who," he
says, " has the greatest merit in bringing about peace : otherwise
there had been such a slaughter as would not have been appeased in
Scotland these many years, the malice of the lords and their adherents,
especially the Wardens of Tew dale and the Merse and their bands,
366 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
which was their greatest force against Morton, was so great and so
desirous of revenge. They of the Merse made them a standard of
blue sarcenet, and in it a child painted within a grate, with this
speech out of his mouth, ' Liberty I crave, and cannot it have.' They
seemed to answer under it, ' Either you shall have it, or we will die
for it ;' so as, though their malice to Morton was their quarrel indeed,
yet they made the detaining of the king their colour.
" My lord, the queen's maj : hath now both sides at her devotion,
and the party of Athole and Argyle more in show than the king's ;
for the king's side terms the others Englishmen, because they were
contented to put the whole of their causes to her majesty ; which the
other lords, being required of Mr Bowes to do the like, Morton
utterly refused the same, saying that the K. and his council would
end them. But if Mr Bowes' travel, and some other means, had not
taken place, it was very like that Morton had been hard bested ; for
although the king's side were something more in number, yet were
the others better chosen men, far better horsed and armed, and,
besides, few of them but, either for their own causes or their friends,
bare Morton a deadly hatred and sour desire of revenge, which was
but in few of the king's side against any of the other lords. I pray
God her majesty do so deal now, having both sides at her devotion,
as she may keep them both ; which surely she may easily do if she
will.
" The king hath sent her majesty a cast of Falcons. I would be
glad that her majesty would remember him with some token.
" Thus have I troubled, &c. &c. &c.,
" F. HUNSDON."
No. III.
Destruction of the House of Hamilton by Morton in 1579, p. 47.
The following letter of Captain Nicholas Arrington to Lord Burgh-
ley, describes his negotiations with the young king, and the deep
feeling of hatred and revenge which animated so many of the nobility
against the house of Hamilton. It is preserved in the British Museum,
Caligula, C. v. fol. 130.
NICHOLAS ARRTNGTON TO BURGHLEY. ,
" Berwick, 10th October, 1579.
" Right Honourable Having given my attendance, as well at
Stirling as at Edinburgh, these twenty-six days, for answer of the
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 367
king to such letters and instructions as I had to deliver and deal in
from the queen's highness my sovereign with the king there ; and
having used my duty and diligence there to my simple knowledge,
as well to the king himself as to the whole board and nobility, * *
I have now received the king's letters in answer, which I send here-
with to your honour, as also a letter to her highness from the Earl
of Morton, &c. Yet, in using such conference with his grace, as her
majesty's letters and instructions did lead me unto, touching the
Hamiltons, I could not find in the king other than fervent hatred
against them, and as it were a fear he had of them, if they should
remain or inhabit within that realm, to be dangerous to his person.
I found the like devotion of the whole nobility there towards them,
and not willing to pity their cause ; and thought not only discourtesy
in receiving them in England, but as much in soliciting their causes,
being so odious murderers to the king's dearest friends ; yet seeming
to be grateful of her majesty's good [will] in forewarning the danger
that might happen to the king's estate by their banishment into foreign
countries, being of so great a house and quality. * * Touching
the present state of that country, the king hath not been directly
moved by the council, or any number of councillors or noblemen
together, for any marriage with any particular person. Yet it is
thought that, as there be several factions in that matter, so every one
of them seeketh to persuade the K. to marry in that place that may
be best for their own purpose ; wherein some look for France, some
for Spain, some for Denmark ; and it is said the matter will be offered
to the queen shortly, with request to dispose himself such way as
shall be found most convenient for his marriage ; and it seems that
the K., of his own inclination, best liketh and affecteth to match with
England in marriage, in case he may find her majesty favourable to
him.
" Touching Monsieur de Aubigny, it appeareth that the king is
much delighted with his company, and he is like to win to special
favour ; and not only to be Earl of Lennox in reversion, (after the
earl present,) but also to have some part of the Hamiltons' lands,
if he may be drawn to religion. He hath not, as yet, dealt in any
matter of marriage with the king, nor in any matter of great weight,
but defers all those things to further time. He means to abide in
Scotland this winter. His wife is looked for there, with her younger
brother Andracks. He lives in court more than his living will bear,
as is thought ; whereupon some judges he is borne with some greater
than himself. He hath many followers, as Mr Henry Ker and others,
that are much suspected ; which they perceive, causing them to ba
more wary to meddle in anything as yet.
368 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
" This parliament holds at Edinburgh, the 20th of this month,
which is thought chiefly for these causes : for the forfeiture of the
Ilamiltons and Sir James Balfour ; for the confirmation of all things
done in the regents' times during the king's minority ; and for order
to he done in the king's house and revenues. The heartburn and
hatred betwixt the Earl of Morton and the Kers and the Humes,
who depend upon Argyle, Montrose, and that fellowship, still con-
tinueth.
" The king is generally well loved and obeyed of both sides, and of
all the people. Thus craving pardon for my evil scribbling, using
more another weapon than the pen, I do commit your honour to the
preservation of the Almighty.
" NICHOLAS ARRINGTON."
No. IV.
Poisoning of the Earl of Aihole, and State of Parties in
Scotland, p. 47.
The two following letters, which are printed from the originals in
the Bowes Papers, relate to the state of the country immediately after
the death of the Earl of Athole :
LETTER FROM AN ANONYMOUS CORRESPONDENT OF SIR GEORGE
BOWES. Dated, 29th April, 1579.*
" The Spirit of the Lord Jesus be with you for salutation.
" I wrote to you before, the day and date of the Earl of Athole
deid,+ quhilk was the 24th of this instant April.
" He was opened and bowelled on Sunday, and it is plainly said
he was poisoned, for so they perceive when he was opened. The
Earl of Montrose and the Bailie of Arrol is left chief councillors to
the Earl of Athole 's son, quhilk J is eighteen years old.
" His father has given him in command to keep friendship with all
them that he was in friendship withal before.
" There is great strife and debate quhilk should be chancellor ; but
the Earl of Argyle has gotten the grant of it at the king.
" Morton is at Castle Semple with Boyd, and has ane enterprise
upon the Hamiltons, at least seems so ; but all is falsett he means.
" To this effect, Captain Crawford is to take up ane hundred men,
* From the Bowes MSS. orig. f Death, which.
Quhilk which, for who. Falsett, falsehood.
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 369
and Captain Hume ane other hundred ; but I think my Lord of
Athole's deid shall make them run a new course.
" Ye shall surely know that Athole's fellowship will not leave the
common cause ; and, therefore, I think ye shall hear of some alter-
ation shortly.
" Our name and the Kers is lying at wait what shall be enterprised.
I wrote to you before we shall never be Morton's.
" It is thought that Argyle shall take Athole's place plain upon him,
and begin where he left ; and Montrose will be a spur to the same.
" We are surely informed that the King of Denmark has levied six
thousand men to come on Orkney and Shetland : by whose means
this is done I wrote to you before in my last letter.
" The Earl of Angus remains at Tantallon.
. " The court is very quiet at this time. I pray God preserve our
king, for he is in great hazard : for if they begin the Italian fashion
in the king's house, what good shall we look for so long as he is there 1
Surely, I fear me, if he be not gotten out of their hands, they will the
like with him. As I hear farther, you shall be advertised.
" Written the 29th April, 1579. Your loving friend,
LETTER OF INTELLIGENCE FROM AN ANONYMOUS CORRESPONDENT TO
SIR GEORGE BOWES.
" Sir, Albeit the time hath been short since your departure, the
accidents and mutations in this realm hath not been of small impor-
tance. As I wrote to you of before, that the Earl of Athole his sickness
was thought to be mortal, so is he now departed this present life, at
Kincardine, the 25th of April, not without great suspicion, and a
crying out that he was poisoned. And yet I think, with time, that
bruit will vanish, notwithstanding that the Lord of Aratully,* whose
name is Stewart, was by the Earl of Montrose, and the remanent
friends that was present when the corpse was opened, sent to the
king's majesty, humbly requiring for trial and punishment. To whom
his majesty answered, Giff that matter were true, it concerned
himself for divers respects ; and yet, as it were a shame to him to
leave the matter untried, and gif need required unpunished, so were
it ane sin to slander any innocent personage : and therefore he would
not fail, first to take trial, and thereafter to proceed to punishment.
" The hail J friends of the dead are convened at Dunkelden on the
3d of May, where the young Earls of Athole and Montrose put in
* Grandtully. f If. Whole.
VOL. VIII. 2 A
S70 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
deliberation what were best way to come by ane revenge of th'>3
heinous fact.
" It hath been concluded with that assembly, that not only those
which were present should crave justice of this matter at the king's
majesty, but also all the sociats of the Falkirk should be convened to
crave the same. Upon this conclusion, a convention of the foresaids
is appointed to be at Edinburgh upon the 15th May ; but I am of
opinion that this their appointed diet shall not hold, in respect of the
causes subsequent.
" Upon the 1st May, a matter, before concluded, was put in execu-
tion. Letters was directed by the king and council to charge the
Lords of Arbroath and Paisley to exhibit their brother, the Earl of
Arran, before the king in Stirling, upon the 20th of the said month ;
which letters was only devised to put the said lords in hope that no
further shall proceed against them but by the order aforesaid.
" The Earl of Morton before that time was sent to Dalkeith, the
Earl of Angus to Douglas, the Earl of Lennox to Glasgow, the Lord
Ruthven to Stirling ; all these persons having their forces privately
warned upon the 3d of May, marched towards Hamilton and Draff-
nage, where they made their rendezvous before their setting forward.
The twae brether* was fled away, and left the house garnished; which
are now enclosed, and ready to be given up.
"Immediately after the said lords was upon the fields to press
towards Hamilton, when they were certain that no intelligence could
prevent their doings, proclamation was sent forth by the king and
council, at an hour proclaimed in divers sheriffdoms, to follow the
same lords for prosecuting and apprehending of the two foresaid
brethren and their complices. * * *
" This sudden and unexpected dealing and proceeding, is like to
put such affray in the minds of the associates at Falkirk, that their
appointed diet for meeting at Edinburgh shall turn to great uncer-
tainty.
" Besides this, the Lord Seton is charged to appear personally at
Stirling, upon the 6th day hereof, to answer super inguirendis; where
he is, for divers respects, to be committed to ward.
" John Seton, second son to the said lord, arrived in this country
upon the 2d of May. He is created Cavallero de Buca of the Catholic
King of Spain. But I believe this commission shall be of the less
efficacy, that his father is now by chance happened in the midst of
these troubles. * * By fame nobody is charged with this heinous
fact of poison but the Lady Mar, and her brother the comptroller,
* The two brothers.
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 371
quhilk* is thought shall be after trial evanished; because divers does
believe, that this bruit hath rather proceeded upon malice to found
ane quarrel upon, nor upon any sure ground. Ye may, by yourself,
consider that all these matters tends to this fine,f to bring the king
to Edinburgh out of fear. * * The rulers of his affairs and person
are looked for to be these : the Earls Morton, Buchan, Argyle gif J
he will leave the associates, and Montrose in like manner, and the
Lord Ruthven. It is thought, that &, at the king's desire, shall be
accept upon him the office of chancellor ; and failing of that, it is in
question betwixt Argyle and Buchan, of thir twae || whay shall be
thought meetest by the king and council.
* I write only unto you nudam et reram historiam, leaving to your
own judgment to discourse what shall follow ; whilk is able enough
to do, in respect that all the affairs of this country is better to you
known nor by writing can be explained.
" I have had large conference with ar,^I which I cannot at this time
commit to writing. It appeareth that he is in part offended with
some proceedings, but yet easily mitigate, gif the great word to you
known shall be spoken.
" The Flemish painter is in Stirling, in working of the king's por-
traiture, but expelled forth of the place at the beginning of thir
troubles. I am presently travelling to obtain him license to see the
king's presence thrice in the day, till the end of his work ; quhilk
will be no sooner perfected nor nine days, after the obtaining of this
license." * * *
No. V.
James' Letter to Mary, p. 66.
In the State-paper Office, there is an original letter of the young
king, written at this time to his mother the captive queen. Mary
had sent him a ring; and the little ape which appears in the postscript,
whose fidelity he so much commends, was perhaps also a present
from her.
The letter of James is as follows :
* Quhilk, which. f Fine, end. J Gif, if.
So in the original. The writer had meant to score out be, but forgot.
|| Thir twae, these two.
^1 Morton is here meant, I think. What the "great word" was which
the writer thinks would operate like a talisman on this proud and able peer,
is not easily discovered.
372 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
JAMES VI. TO MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.*
" Je vous supplie tres humblement de croire que ce n'a poinct ests
de ma bonne vollonte que Tostre seqretaire s'en soit retorne sens quil
m'aye donne vostre lettre, et faict entendre ce que luy avies commende
de me dire ayent treu beaucoup de regret de ce qui sen est passe, car
je serois infiniment fache que long crust que je ne vous voulu se porter
1'honneur et le devoir que je vous doibs, ayant esperense que avecque
le temps Dieu me fera grace de vous faire prendre de ma bonne et
affectionne amyte"e, sachent asses qu'apres luy tout 1'honneur qu'ay
ence monde, je le tiens de vous.
" Je resceu la bague quil vous a pleu m'envoyer laquelle je garderay
bien pour 1'honneur de vous. Et vous en envoye une aultre, que je
vous supplie treshumblement de vouloir resevoir daussy bon cueur
comme je resceue la vostre. Vous m'aves bien faict paroistre par les
avertisemens quil vous a pleu me faire par vos dernieres lettres,
combien vous metes bonne mere. Vous supplient treshumblement
que sy en endendes davantage de men advertir pour y mettre ordre
le mieulx quil me sera possible, aquoy je desja commense ainsi quen-
tendres par le Compte de Lenox, vous supplient de m'y estre aydente
et de me donner vostre bon conseil et advis lequel je veulx ensuyire
a celle. De vous rendre plus certaine quen toute chose on il vous
plaira de me commender vous me trouverez toujours vostre tres obeis-
sant filz. Vous baisent tres humblement les mains prient Dieu, &c.
" Vostre obeisant Filz a jamais,
"JACQUES R.f
" Madame, je vous recommende la Fidelite de mon petit singe qui
ne bouge daupres de moy, par lequel me manderes souvent de noz
nouvelles.
" A la Royne D'Escosse,
" Ma tres Honores Dame."
No. VI.
Randolph's Negotiation in Scotland, and Elizabeth's Attempt to
sane Morton, p. 78.
The following letter of Randolph to Walsingham, written imme-
diately before his leaving that country, after his unsuccessful attempt
* January 29, 1580-1.
+ This signature and the postscript are written in the young king's own
band.
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 373
to save Morton, and the abstract from his original account of his
negotiation upon this subject, contain many interesting particulars, too
detailed and minute for a general history.
RANDOLPH TO WALSINGHAM.*
" May it please your honour. There is so much matter fallen out
against Morton, as I am credibly informed, by the confession of Whit-
tingham brother to Archibald Douglas, George Fleck, Andrew Nesbit,
John Reid, and Saunders Jerdan, that it is thought nothing can now
save his life. The king's self is so vehement against him, and not
one councillor that dare open his mouth for him. All men are ap-
palled ; courage and stomach quite overthrown. His enemies pursue
these matters hot against him, and his friends able to do him no good.
Neither can I yet be particularly informed of the matters they have
against him. I think his days will not be long here ; and yet have
I wrought for him, and yet do for him, as for mine own self. The
good course that was intended for meeting of commissioners is now
smally accounted of; alleging now that nothing less was intended
than that Morton's case should be committed to treaty. Your honour
hath now both to consider and advise what is to be done, and that
with all expedition. * * *
" * * I have been here so well dealt with, that, besides the libel
set upon my lodging's door on Wednesday last, I had a shot bestowed
on the window of my chamber, in the place where I am wont to sit
and write. My good hap was to be away when it was shot, otherwise
either Milles or I had been past writing ; for the piece being charged
with two bullets, struck the wall opposite before me, and behind him,
where I am accustomed to sit, the table between us. Some show of
search is made for fashion's sake. The rest I have written to my
Lord Hunsdon, &c. And so. * Edinburgh, 25th March, 1581."
T. R."
MR RANDOLPH'S NEGOTIATION IN SCOTLAND.-)-
" 1 7th January, R. took his journey into Scotland from Berwick.
" By the way, he received word of Morton's being removed from
Edinburgh castle to Dumbarton castle, which made him hasten for-
ward. Next day after his arrival, he had an audience of the king.
The king promised Morton should be put to his trial.
* Orig. March 25, 1581.
)" The original paper, of which this is an abstract, appears to me to o in
the handwriting of one of Walsingham's clerks.
374 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
"2d Audience, 21st January. The king promised that nothing
should he done against Morton, without open trial and lawful favour.
About this time came the bruit of her majesty's forces about the
Borders; this gave him [Randolph] greater boldness to proceed both
with the king and against D'Aubigny.
" 3d Audience, 25th January. R. charged some of the Scottish
council with breaking the amity, especially Lennox ; and produced
two intercepted letters written by the B. of Glasgow : Lennox
warmly defended himself. He gave copies of the letters, and demanded
a speedy reply. All this time the report of the forces on the Borders
continued.
" 4th Audience, 30th January. The king begged to hear any
further matter against Lennox. After this the ambassador began to
deal according to the third part of his instructions; to deal with such
of the nobility as came unto him ; to represent the hazard to the
king's person, and the danger to themselves (intending to make out
a party in this way, fit to join with her majesty's forces.) At first
he had good hope ; but finding that, day by day, the king grew more
affectionate to the one and aggravated against the other, they all
began to fail ; and ' no man seemed willing either to enterprise it
himself, or join with others in this action.' As these things were thus
underhand in brewing, the king sent his answer by a clerk of the
council.
" 1st. that Morton's trial was delayed for want of Archibald Dou-
glas.
" 2d. The matter against Lennox seemed to be forged.
" After this, the king assembled the General Estates of the realm,
the matter being weighty, on the 20th February. The interval gave
R. time to labour privately with the nobility, representing the great-
ness of Aubigny, his offences against Elizabeth, and the danger to
themselves. He also, in a private access to the king, laid before him
his estate at large : the king took all well.
" All this time the Earl of Lennox made private means to speak
with Randolph, standing still upon his purgation, which (being so
commanded) he still resisted, which, notwithstanding grieved him
[Randolph] much, as he understood a reconciliation was about to be
wrought between Lennox and Morton, and the king approved of it ;
and was to have gone to Glasgow the better to contrive the matter ;
' albeit that purpose took not effect ; for Morton's friends, esteeming
this course dishonourable, broke it off.'
' " It was next determined to send Lord Seton from the king to her
maj.
" This staid by Randolph.
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 375
fe 'The bruit of the gathering of English forces on the Borders con-
tinuing, it was determined to appoint a lieutenant and 12 captains,
with commissions to levy 120 men.
" All this time, as matters grew worse, Mr Randolph omitted not
underhand to procure a party, labouring by all means to make Mor-
ton's case fearful unto them, and the greatness of Lennox odious ;
alluring them by promises of Elizabeth's support. Notwithstanding
all, vel prece vel pretio, though many seemed forward, no man would
be foremost, no assurance could be had except on Angus, Mar, and
Glencairn. They said also, there was a want of sufficient proof of
the matters with which Lennox was charged withal.
" On the other hand, the friends of Lennox were not idle, and made
a great impression, urging, that Elizabeth's injustice and severity
against an innocent man, showed she had more in view than the trial
of Morton and the dismissal of D'Aubigny.
" At last, the 20th February, the day of the convention, arrived.
R. before it had a private conference with the king, and he obtained
an audience of the whole assembly on the 24th February, when he
repeated all his message and arguments, showed all that the queen
had done for the realm and the king, in a speech of almost two hours'
length, added some further matter against D'Aubigny contained in
Ross' letter, and so left the Parliament House. D'Aubigny at that
assembly said nothing.
" To this assembly came Angus, with his friends, having all the
time before kept himself aloof, (he had assurance from the king,)
spending the day within doors, and the night in the fields, for fear of
his enemies: but as it fortuned, his abode was not long in Edinburgh ;
for being secretly advised of certain practices intended against him
by the Earl of Montrose and his own wife, upon the intercepting of
certain letters passed between them, suddenly, in the night, he de-
parted the town unto Dalkeith ; where, finding his wife, and after
speech with her, he in due time prevented the mischief, acquainted
the king with the matter dealing by Mar, who abode still in court,
and sent her away home unto her father.*
" The convention held not long. It was agreed, if war came from
England, 40,000 L. Scots should be advanced by the barons and
boroughs. Every day bred a new disorder. The bruit of wars grew
stronger, men stirring in all parts, the ambassador grew odious
and his death suspected, and the court in a manner desperate. For
all this, he forbore not to call for his answer : the council was per
plexed, and Lennox still stood up to his justification.
* Her father was Mar.
376 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
" Morton abode still at Dumbarton, straitlier kept than before,
(although his larger liberty was craved by the ambassador.) Angus
absented himself from the court ; and being suspected of dealing
with the ambassador, made Lennox, Montrose, and Argyle, and that
party, stand on their guard. The party from the first got up by the
ambassador yet hung in doubt; but Angus was weakened by the late
accident. Montrose and Rothes became his deadly enemies, and all
went wrong.
"8th March. The answer so long in framing was at last given
by the king. It was stated in it, that all griefs and jealousies should
be healed by a meeting of commissioners on the frontiers. During
the time that this answer was aframing, the ministers, who continually
in their sermons preached against the disorders of the court,to prevent
the wrath of God, that now seemed to be imminent, published a general
fast, to be held through the realm from the first Sunday in March to
the second of the same. This promised meeting of commissioners on
the Borders might have been to good purpose, had it not been for the
discovery of the practices between Angus and the ambassador, by
Angus and Morton's own servants, which caused the ambassador to
be greatly suspected and disliked. Whereupon a)l persons were
examined that resorted to him, viz. George Fleck, the Laird of Mains,
the Laird of Spot, John Reid, and Whittingham,* all servants and
nearest kinsmen to Morton and Angus. Angus himself was banished
beyond the Spey. He laboured, notwithstanding, by conference with
the clans, his friends Glencairn, Boyd, Lochleven, Clanquill, Dryburgh,
and Drumquhassel, to combine together a sufficient party to join with
her majesty's forces on the Borders ; and might have wrought good
effect, had not their own trustiest servants betrayed them, overthrow-
ing all their purposes, to the great danger of themselves and Mr
Randolph. The faithless and traitorous dealing of Whittingham was
most noted, like a deep dessembler and fearful wretch. From the
beginning, having had the handling and knowledge of all matters of
importance and secrecy between Angus and the rest, in the end, with-
out compulsion, by a voluntary confession he discovered their whole
proceedings, not regarding his nearness of blood, or bond of duty to
the Earls of Angus and Morton, or the danger he threw the other
noblemen into. This man's treachery made Angus be put to the horn,
and the ambassador ill handled. The king upon this intending to
acquaint Elizabeth with the result of the confessions by an envoy, and
proceeding with greater severity against Angus, Morton, and Mar.
Randolph, finding his longer abode useless, and dangerous to himself,
* Douglas of Whittingham.
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 377
retired to Berwick, there to await her majesty's further orders.
Within two days a gentleman from Angus and Mar came to him to
declare their state, and wishing to know when and where they were
to await his coming. But finding their party not sufficiently strong
nor trustworthy, it was thought imprudent to hazard the advance of
her majesty's forces ; and so the messenger was dismissed. Thus
were they deserted. In the meantime, news came daily of their
proscription, and seizing their houses, summoning of Stirling castle
held by Mar, fortifying Leith, at last they heard that Mar was
reconciled, and Angus left alone. Such being the state of matters,
it was thought best to discharge her majesty's forces, to remain in
these terms of divorce, and to call Mr Randolph home." *
It appears, in the above account of Randolph's negotiation, although
I have not given the passage in the abstract, that at one time there
was a proposal for a reconciliation between Lennox and Morton, on
conditions which the king approved of. The following paper shows
that these conditions were of the most severe nature, imprisonment
for life being the first :
CONDITIONS OFFERED BY THE KING TO MORTON AND ARCHIBALD
DOUGLAS. 16th May.
" Angus to move his uncle
" 1. That he shall be confined for life.
" 2. That the Earl of Morton and A. D.f shall renounce all actions
for goods taken from them since 29th December last.
" 3. That he shall give up Dalkeith to the king for ever.
" 4. Renounce his right to the castle of Blackness, and sheriffship
and lands of Linlithgow, to the king.
" .5. Give up the office of Admiralty and sheriffship of Lothian to
the king.
" 6. Cause his base son James prior of Pluscardine, give the priory
to Lord Seton.
" 7. Pay the whole charges of the soldiers levied since last Decem-
ber.
* 8. Pay to the king a 100 stone weight of bullion, coined without
warrant during his regency."
* Original, May 6. + Archibald Douglas.
S78 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
No. VII.
Letters on the Troubles, Trial, and Death of the Regent Morton,
p. 69.
The following interesting letters, relative to the troubles, trial,
and death of the Regent Morton, are taken from the originals pre-
served in the Harleian Collection in the British Museum. The volume
of the Harleian is No. 6999, to which my attention was drawn by the
Rev. Joseph Stevenson.
SIR R. BOWES TO LORD BURGHLEY AND SIR FRANCIS WALSINGHAM.
January 7, 1580-1.
" It may please your good Lordship and your Honour. Yesterday
Mr Archibald Douglas came out of Tyvedale hither, openly to Ber-
wick, to seek her majesty's relief to the Earl of Morton in his present
distress, and her highness' succour to himself."
He had offered himself for trial, if they would give him a fair trial
and exempt him from the torture which was threatened, but finding
his house seized, and his goods and papers seized, he had fled to
Berwick. * * * *
" My servant, lately addressed into Scotland to learn the certainty
of these new accidents, returned yesternight, giving me to understand,
that on Saturday the last of December, as before hath been signified,
Captain James Stewart, with the privity and especial commandment
of the king, and in the council-chamber in the presence of the king
and that council, accused the Earl of Morton for the murder of the
king's father; not opening particularly at that time any other offence
against him, as once was intended, and as is pretended to be done
hereafter. After large discourse made by the earl for his own ac-
quittal, he concluded, and with such sharp words against the captain
his accuser, as, the captain returning to him like and bitter terms,
they were ready to pass to blows, which was chiefly stayed by the
Lords Lindsay and Cathcart ; and the earl was removed into the
chapel to his own servants, and the captain put out at the other
door to the gardens ; others that waited there in great numbers,
looked for the beginning of the broil. Albeit many friends and ser-
vants of the earl, being a great strength, and able to have delivered
him at his pleasure, persuaded the earl to put himself in safety ; yet
he refused to tarry with them, and returned to the council. And
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 379
James Stewart, understanding of his presence there, rushed in again,
whereupon a new scuffle begun, that was likewise stayed by the
lords aforesaid ; and hereupon all the earl's servants and friends were
commanded, upon pain of treason, to depart, and whereunto the earl
commanded them to obey.
" The Earl of Argyle Lord Chancellor, (the chief instrument against
Morton,) asked the Earl of Angus, then sitting in council with them,
what should be done ; but Angus alleging that the matter did so
narrowly touch and concern him, as he would not vote therein. Like-
wise the Earl of Lennox refused to vote. At length the Earl of
Eglinton persuaded that the king's advocate and council might be
conferred withal ; which advocate being ready, affirmed, that upon
such accusations of treasons, the party accused ought to be committed
to sure custody, and afterwards tried as to the laws and case should
appertain. Whereupon the Earl of Morton was committed to a
chamber in Holyrood-house, and there kept until the next Monday, on
which he was conveyed to the castle of Edinburgh, where he remain-
eth. The town of Edinburgh, and many others, offered liberally for
his delivery ; nevertheless, he always refused to be delivered in any
sort, other than by the order of the laws. Mr John Craig, in his
sermon on the Sunday following, did, upon the leading of his text,
inveigh greatly against false accusations. Whereupon Captain James
Stewart, as it is informed for truth, threatened him with his dagger
drawen, charging him to forbear to touch him, or otherwise he should
receive his reward. * * The Lord Boyd, accused also for the
murder of the king's father, is summoned to appear, and not yet
corned.
" It is said Sir James Balfour had come out of France. * * *
It is now thought as dangerous in Scotland to confer with an English-
man, as to rub on the infected with the plague. * * *
" ROBERT BOWES."
RANDOLPH TO LORDS HUNSDON AND HUNTINGDON.*
"Edinburgh, 16th March, 1580-1.
The first portion of the letter is unimportant. He then proceeds
as follows :
" Angus' intent I know not. Yesterday it was determined in
council he should be commanded to ward beyond the river of Spey.
Carmichael, and the Prior, and Mains, are commanded not to come
at Angus, on pain of forfeiture of their goods, ipso facto; and means
* Harleian, 6999.
S80 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
is made to apprehend them, hut yet none of them are taken. The
Laird of Whittingham is boasted to wear the boots, but I hear it
will not be so. Spot hath had a sight of them, as I hear. * * All
the court is set on mischief. Captain Stewart taketh upon him as a
prince, and no man so forward as he. I spake, on Tuesday, long
with the king. There passed nothing on his part from him, but very
good speeches of her majesty, which I exhorted him to show forth in
actions and in deed. He promiseth much if the meeting of the com-
missioners be. I charged more his council than himself of the un-
kindness lately showed unto the Q,. my mistress, that no one point
of her requests could be yielded, specially for the Earl of Morton,
that was, [not] so much as his liberty upon sufficient caution, until
the day were appointed for his trial, might be granted. Whereat he
fell again in speech of Mr Archibald Douglas ; and I answered him
with partial dealings, and favour showed to Sir James Balfour. I
told him in what house he lieth in, between the church and castle,
upon the right hand. I told who had spoken with him, Lennox,
Seton, and others ; and that means would be made shortly to bring
him into his own presence. I spake again of the band in the green
box, containing the names of all the chief persons consenting to the
king's murder, which Sir James either hath, or can tell of. I told
him that I heard daily of new men apprehended, examined, and
boasted with the boots, to find matter against the Earl of Morton ;
and he that was privy to the murder, and in whose house the king
was killed, and was therefore condemned by parliament, was suffered
to live unpunished and untouched, in his chief and principal town."
* * Randolph then states that he asked leave to depart from Scot-
land, adding, that after another farewell interview with the king, he
hoped " it would be the last that he ever should have to do with that
king and council." " I have again this day spoken with Angus'
trusty friend, who gave me some notes touching the bands, and is
gone unto him. I have given therein my advice. What will be
farther done I know not ; but sure I am Angus will not obey the
charge for putting himself in ward. * * * George Fleck had
yesternight the boots, and is said to have confessed that the Earl of
Morton was privy to the poisoning of the Earl of Athole, whereon
they have sent for the Earl of Morton's chamberlain, Sandy Jerdan,
from Dumbarton. They have also in hand Sandy , George
Fleck's servant, whom they suppose to know many of Morton's
secrets, &c. Your L.,
" THOMAS RANDOLPH."
PBOOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 381
RANDOLPH TO LORD HUNSDON.
"March 20, 1580-1.
" Whatsoever was intended by my Lord Angus is discovered by
tbe voluntary confession of the Laird of Whittingham, that hath left
nothing unspoken that he knew against any man, and much more
than any man would have done upon so small occasion at all to say
anything, being neither offered the boots, nor other kind of torment.
The ministers have seen it, and in their sermons give God great
thanks therefor.,
" The enterprise should have been (as they say) to have taken the
house where the king lieth, by forged keys, and intelligence by some
within ; to have slain the Earl of Lennox, Montrose, and Argyle ; and
to have possessed themselves of the king to have sent him into Eng-
land. Albeit, these things have so small appearance of truth to have
been intended indeed, as, for mine own part, I mean to suspend my
judgment thereof till further trial be had." " He hath also confessed
that he was here, with the Earl of Angus, at my lodging, and what
passed between us. * * I think it will fall out that George Fleck
hath played as honest a part against his master, as Whittingham
hath done for the Earl of Angus, for he hath been so sore booted.
But his legs serve him well enough to walk up and down, which I
know to be true.
" Poor Sandy Jerdan came yesterday to this town, from Dumbar-
ton, and is lodged near to the court : one on whom the burden is laid
to have ministered the bread and drink that poisoned Athole. So
accused by Affleck. What is done to him I know not.
" The suspicion of this poisoning of the Earl of Athole is thought
to be great, for that it is said John Provend bought it. And he is
fled thereupon, no man knowing where he is. * * * Robert
Semple, for the making of a ballad, is taken and put in prison.
Robert Lekprevik, for the printing thereof, is also fled, but not
found. * * * *
" THOMAS RANDOLPH."
SIR JOHN FOSTER TO SIR F. WALSINGHAM.*
" Pleasit your Honour to be advertised, that this day a man of
mine, whom I sent into Scotland about certain business, is returned
unto me with certain news, whereof I think my Lord of Hunsdon
* Original, June 4, 1581, Alnwick.
382 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
hath already written unto you ; but, notwithstanding, I thought I
could do no less but advertise your honour thereof. That is, of the
death of the Earl of Morton, who was convicted on Thursday, and
adjudged to be hanged, drawn, and quartered on Friday. And there
was twenty-two articles put against him ; but there was none that
hurt him but the murder of the king, which was laid unto him by
four or five sundry witnesses. The first is the Lord Bothwell's
testament. The second, Mr Archibald Douglas, when he was his
man. Mr Archibald Douglas' man is the accuser of him, that bare a
barrel of powder to the blowing up of the king into the air; and that,
for haste to come away, the said Mr Archibald Douglas left one of
his pantafles at the house end. And, moreover, he was convicted for
the speaking with the Lord Bothwell after his banishment in Eng-
land before the king's murder, and then the consenting to the murdering
of the king, and the binding his band of manrent to the said Lord
Bothwell to defend him, and no person to be excepted. And the
queen's confession, when she was taken at Carberrie Hill : she said
he was the principal man that was the deed doer and the drawer of
that purpose. Thus, having none other news worthy of advertisement
to send unto your honour at this time, I humbly take my leave, at
my house, nigh Alnwick, this 4th June, 1581.
" JOHN FOSTER.
"P.S. The man that brought me these news came from Edin-
burgh on Friday last, at two of the clock, and then the said Earl of
Morton was standing on the scaffold, and it is thought the accusa-
tions that were laid against him were very slender, and that he died
very stoutly."
No. VIII.
Scottish Preaching in 1582. John Durie's Sermon, p. S8.
The sermon of Mr John Durie, alluded to in the text, is parti-
cularly described in the following extract from a letter of Sir Henry
Woddrington to Sir Francis Walsingham. It is preserved in the
British Museum, Caligula, C. vii. fol. 7, and dated 26th May, 1582.
WODDRINGTON TO WALSINGHAM.
" Upon Wednesday, being the 23d inst., Mr John Durie preached
in the Cathedral Church of Edinburgh, where divers noblemen were
present, the effect thereof tending to the reproof of the Bishop of
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 383
Glasgow, as plainly terming him an apostate and mansworn traitor
to God and his Church. And that even as the Scribes and Pharisees
could find none so meet to betray Christ as one of his own school and
disciples, even so this duke, with the rest of the faction, cannot find
so meet an instrument to subvert the religion planted in Scotland as
one of their own number, one of their own brethren, and one nourished
among their own bowels, who likewise touched the virtuous bringing
up of the king, fearing now they have some device to withdraw him
from the true fear of God, and to follow the devices and inventions of
men, affirming that he was moved to think so, for that he saw all that
were manifestly known to be enemies to the Church and religion to be
nearest unto his person, and others that were favourers and maintainers
thereof put off the court, or to have small countenance there showed
them. And likewise, he touched the present sent by the Duke of
Guise to the king in these manner of speeches : ' I pray you what
should move Guise, that bloody persecutor and enemy unto all truth,
that pillar of the pope, to send this present by one of his trustiest ser-
vants unto our king ? Not for any love : no, no, his pretence is known.
And I beseech the Lord the Church of Scotland feel it not oversoon.
The king's majesty was persuaded not to receive it ; for why ?
What amity or friendship can we look for at his hands, who hath been
the bloodiest persecutor of the professors of the truth in all France ?
Neither was there ever any notable murder or havoc of God's people
at any time in all France but he was at it in person ; and yet for all
this, the duke and Arran will needs have our king to take a present
from him. If God did threaten the captivity and spoil of Jerusalem
because that their king, Hezekiah, did receive a letter and present
from the King of Babylon, shall we think to be free committing the
like, or rather worse ? And because you, my lords, which both do see
me, and even at this present hears me, I say, because you shall
not be hereafter excusable, I tell it you with tears. I feel such
confusion to be like to ensue that I fear me will be the subversion
and ruin of the preaching of God's Evangile here in the Church of
Scotland. I am the more plain with you, because I know there is
some of you in the same action with the rest. I know I shall be
called to an account for these words here spoken ; but let them do
with this carcase of mine what they will, for I know my soul is in the
hands of the Lord, and, therefore, I will speak, and that to your
condemnation, unless you speedily return.' And then, in the prayers
made, he prayed unto the Lord, either to convert or confound the
duke. The sermon was very long, godly, and plain, to the great
comfort and rejoice of the most number that heard it or do hear
of it." * * *
384 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
No. IX.
Sir Robert Bowes to Walsingham, written immediately previous to the
Raid of Ruthten. 15th August, 1532. P. 107.
The minute and accurate information of Bowes communicated to
Walsingham and the faction of the Protestant lords, which led to the
enterprise termed the Raid of Ruthven, is proved by the following
extract from a letter of Sir Robert Bowes to Walsingham, dated
Durham, 15th August, 1582 :
BOWES TO WALSINGHAM.
" * * * I am informed the duke intendeth to persuade the king's
majesty to commit to ward the Earls of Glencairn and Mar, the Lord
Lindsay and Boyd, and sundry others best affected in religion, and loving
the amity aforesaid ; and also afterwards to hasten the death of the
principals of them, whom I hear that he will not pursue for the death
of David the Italian, (as from France ye have been advertised,) but
rather to charge them with late matter and conspiracy intended, and
to have been put in execution by them and their complices in the last
month of July against the king and himself. And in case the infor-
mation given me be true, then there is a secret intention and practice
in device, that after the execution of such principal persons in Scot-
land as would be most ready to defend religion, and the apprehension
and safe custody of others known to be chiefly devoted that way, the
alteration of that state in Scotland should be attempted ; and the
matter to reach into England so far, and with such speed as the
[confederates] who practice could perform. The truth and secret
herein may be best learned in France, I think, from whence the
device and direction for the execution is said to come. The variance
between the duke and the Earl of Gowrie, the progress of the mat-
ter against the new Bishop of Glasgow, both entreated in Edinburgh,
the labour of the duke to win nobles and gentlemen to enter into
friendship and band with him, the purpose of some persons in Scot-
land to proceed in the provision of remedy against the dangerous
course presently holden there, with all other intelligence and oc-
currents in that state and realm * * are so sufficiently signified to
you, as I need not trouble you with needless repetition." * *
The conspiracy with which Lennox meant to charge the Protestant
party alluded to in the above letter of Bowes, must be the same as
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 385
that mentioned by Sir Henry Woddrington in a letter addressed (as
I think) to Walsingham some time before this, dated 19th July, U82.
After stating that the king was with the duke at St Johnston, he ob-
served, that " the ministers had accused the duke of supporting the
Bishop of Glasgow, who was excommunicated." He then adds,
" The duke is about to charge them with the late conspiracy and
practice, wherein they were about to have procured him to hare been
shot and slain." * *
No. X.
Archibald Douglas to Randolph. pp. 116, 117.
It is stated in the text, that, on the successful issue of the Raid of
Ruthven, the notorious Archibald Douglas wrote from London an
exulting letter to his old friend, Randolph. The original is in the
State-paper Office, endorsed by Randolph himself " Mr Nemo." It
is spirited and characteristic :
ARCHIBALD DOUGLAS TO RANDOLPH. 12th September, 1582, London.
" SIR, from Scotland, by letters, I am advertised, that the duke
being in Edinburgh with some few lords, he made choice of Herries
and Newbottle to send the king, and lords with his majesty, some offers,
which were all rejected.
" The said lords returned to Edinburgh accompanied with Cessford
and Coldingknows, who gave the duke a charge to render the castle
of Dumbarton to the Earl of Mar, in name of the king ; to avoid the
town of Edinburgh, and retire himself to Dalkeith or Aberdour, in
private manner, there to await the king's farther pleasure. The duke
seeming to obey the charge, made him as he would ride to Dalkeith ;
but in the midway he turned, and is fled to Dumbarton, where, I
think, he shall not make great cheer, if he render not that castle
shortly.
" The king will hold his convention at Edinburgh upon the 15th
day hereof : to the which the duke is charged to compear ; but I
think he shall not obey. When law has given the stroke against
him I believe ye shall hear news of his escaping. Your special good
friend, the Earl of Arran, for the singular and constant affection he
bears to the duke, offers to accuse him of high treason, if they will
Bpare his life to serve and assist the party that is with the king.
Pity it were that he should not be well used in respect of his rare
VOL. VIII. 2 B
386 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
qualities natural, beautified with his virtuous education in moral
philosophy : wherein he has so well profited, that his behaviour is
marvellous, specially in treating of ambassadors ; which makes me to
believe that your worship, as one honoured with that dignity, will
interpone some special request in his favours. If ye be disposed so
to do, I will take the pains to be your messenger, for the safe con-
veying thereof to her majesty's ministers in Scotland.
" Your' physic, ministered at your late being in that realm, begins
now to be of so mighty operation, that banished men are like to
have place to seek trial of their innocency, or else, I think, very
shortly it shall be hard to discern the subject from the traitor.
From such a market ye may think that I shall not be long absent.
I am to take my journey towards that country shortly. If your
sorel horse's price be so low as a poor banished man's money may
amount unto it, I pray you send him hither, and I will pay what
price ye set upon him, so it be reasonable. And so, &c.
" London, this 12th of September.
" A. DOUGLAS."
No. XI.
The Duke of Lennox's last Letter to the King of Scots, p. 125.
This letter is preserved in the State-paper Office, in a copy of the
time, endorsed by Burghley, " From the Duke of Lennox to the
Scottish King from Dumbarton, 16th December, 1582." It is as
follows :
" Sire, Je me rescens le plus malheureux homme du monde, de
voir la mauvaise opinion que vostre majeste a prise de moy, et de
ce que la persuasion de ceux, qui sont aupres de vous maintenant^
vous ont fait croire, que j'avois aultre intention que de vous rendre
1'obeissance et la fidelite que je vous doibs. Croyez je vous supplie
tres humblement, que ces motz d'inconstance et desloyaulte que me
mandes dans vostre lettre qu'ay laisse' gaigner a mes ennemis sur
moy, m'ont raporte une grande crevecoeur. Car je n'eusse jamais
pense que vostre majeste m'eust voulu ecrire telz mots, et je me prie
a Dieu que tous ceulx qui vous serve, et se disent vos fideles servi-
teurs,vous serve avec aultant d'afiection et de fidelite comme jay le
fait, pendant que jay eu ceste honneur d'estre a vostre service.
" Sire, Je ne crains nullement deestre accuse" d'inconstance et de
desloyaulte. C'est chose jamais remarque' en moy, mais si Ton me
veult accuser d'avoir faict une tasche a mou honneur pour vous obeir,
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 387
il faut bien que je 1'avoue, car il est tres veritable, et me senible que
1'engagement de mon dicte honneur vous doibt assez rendre le preuve
de ma diet obeissance et fidelite.
" Ce m'est ung piteux reconfort a mon partement, que apres avoir
receu le dur traictment que j'ay receu, et endure les paines, et tor-
mens et ennuis ; qu'ay endure depuis trois ans, pour m'estre affec-
tionne a vostre service, en vous servent fidelement (comme jay faict)
que de voir vostre majeste indigne centre moy, pour seulement avoir
evite le danger qui me pouvoit avenir, et lequelle peutestre avoit este
conclu sans vostre sceu, sous ombre que les Comptes d' Angus et de
Mar n'avoient pas signe 1'asseurance, dont la procuration de diet
Mar peut donner asses tesmoignage. Et pense que si tout chose soit
bien recherechee' que [vous] trouverez que comme il estoit entre Fal-
kirk et Callender, qu'il y en a eu de sa troupe, que luy donnera con-
eeil de m'enfermer au diet Callender, et d'envoyer querir a le diet
Angous, ce qu'ayant entendu, voyant qu'il n'y avoit pas ung des
seigneurs n'y gentilhommes aryves a Lythgou, le Mardy a six heures
de soir, excepte Laird de Wachton et les serviteurs et amis de Mons r .
de Leviston, pour la seurte de ma vie, laquelle je scay estre recherchee
par eulx, je me suis seulement retire en ce lieu, en attendant que
vostre majeste donnast ordre que je puisse passer seurement, et ce
qui vous avoit demande* de passer par Carleill, estoit parce que ce
chemin la m'estoit beaucoup plus seur que celui de Barwick. Mais
puis que c'est vostre volonte que je prenne ce chemin la je vous obeiray,
et suyvant vostre commandement je partiray Mardy de ce lieu et m'en
iray coucher a Glasgow, le Mecredy a Callender, en Jeudy a Dalkeith,
et Vendredy a Dunbar, et si mes hardes que je suis constraint de faire
faire a Lislebourg, me soyent apportees le jour la, je ne faudray
d'estre le lendemain a Barwick, et on elles me pourront estre appor-
tees. Je vous supplie tres humblement, de me permettre de les at-
tendre au diet Dunbar, et de me vouloir faire envoyer a Dalkeith
tout ce que m'avez promis, par le diet Maistre George Young, et
aussi de mander ung gentilhomme de me venir rencontrer que le diet
Maistre George mande a vostre majeste, lequel vous yra trouver puia
qu'il m'a veu party de a fin de vous asseurer de 1'obeissance
que je vous vouley rendre. Priant Dieu, sire, qu'il vous ayt en sa
sauve garde. De Dumbarton, 16 de Deceinbre, 1582.
" De vostre majeste,
" Le tres humble et fidele serviteur,
" LENNOX."
388 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
No. XII.
The King's Recovery of his Liberty in 1583, p. 146.
In the month of May, 1583, when James was pondering on the
plot for the recovery of his liberty, and his escape from the thraldom
in which he was kept by the Ruthven lords, there occurs a remark-
able letter written by Fowler to Walsingham, which shows that the
young king had first disclosed his secret intentions to the Master of
Glammis. This is strange enough ; for Glammis, as we have seen,
(supra, p. 109,) was one of the leaders of the "Raid of Ruthven."
The letter is as follows. It is preserved in British Museum, Caligula,
C. vii. fol. 148 :
FOWLER TO WALSINGHAM.
"May, 1583.
" MY LORD, After my most humble commendations and service,
I do send your honour such proofs of my fidelity, that your honour
may thereby well judge of my true meaning. The king hath entered
in conference with the Master of Glammis after this sort : ' I intend
to go in progress, and first to Falkland, and thereafter to the Glammis.
What think you, Master, shall I be welcome ? ' The other answered
that his welcome should be better than his majesty's entertainment ;
because, saith he, ' I am less able now than I was these five years
before : ' meaning of his loss and fine of xx. thousand pounds, which
he paid, by the Duke of Lennox's means, for the killing of the Earl
of Crawford's man. The king answered, ' Master, are you not yet
contented and sufficiently revenged ? If you had not turned that
night to Ruthven, these things, which were then devised, would never
have taken effect. Well, Master, I will forgive you ; and if you will
conform yourself now to my request, your losses shall be faithfully
repaired you hereafter.' ' Sir,' said he, ' what is your will ? Com-
mand me in anything : your majesty shall be obeyed, yea, were it
in the killing of the best that are about your majesty.' The king
answered, ' Master, I mean not so : but because I think it stands not
with my honour to be guided by other men's will, I would things were
changed, which you only may perform, if you follow my device.
None mistrusteth you ; and, therefore, I will come to the Glammis,
where you may have such power for that effect, that I will remain
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 389
your prisoner, so that you debar these from me who hath me at their
devotion.' To conclude, the other hath agreed thereto, and shall
conclude therein, if good counsel prevent it not.* * *
" As these things must come to light, so would I they so should
be used, as the chief intelligence should be known not to have corned
from hence ; otherwise I shall be suspected, and incur the king's
hatred and the Master of Glammis' displeasure." * * *
No. XIII.
Walsingham's Embassy to the Scottish Court, in September 1583,
p. 155.
The following letter, from the State-paper Office, relates to this
' interesting embassy :
WALSINGHAM TO BURGHLET.
Edinburgh, 6th September, 1583.
" My very good Lord Since I last wrote unto your lordship I
have received three sundry letters from you, by the which I find your
lordship hath obtained so much leisure as to see your house at Burgh-
ley; where I could have been content, having finished here, to her
majesty's contentment the charge committed to me, to have met your
lordship. I mean, with the leave of God, according to my promise
made to Sir Thomas Cecil, to see him there, and to survey such
faults as have been committed in your buildings by reason of your
lordship's absence ; and yet am I in hope to come time enough in my
return to see him at Snape ; for here I see little hope to do any good,
so resolutely and violently are they carried into a course altogether
contrary to the amity of this crown, which by the better sort is greatly
misliked of : and it is thought that they which have the whole
managing of the aifairs cannot long stand, so hateful do they grow
generally to all estates in this realm.
" Though I press my audience very earnestly, yet can they not
resolve neither of the time nor place. They are now, as I learn,
busily occupied how they may excuse their breaches of promises and
other attempts against her majesty, but most especially how they
may excuse the late outrage committed in the Middle Marches, by
yielding fair words and promises for satisfaction. This kind of pro-
ceeding cannot but render them hateful that now manage the affairs ;
for I find the Borderers, the loose men only excepted, generally in-
390 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
clined to continue good peace with England. The Burrows, also,
who live by traffick, and are grown to be wealthy by the long-con-
tinued peace between the two realms, do not willingly hear of any
breach. The ministers, who foresee how greatly the common cause
should be shaken if discord between the two nations should break
out, will not omit to do their best endeavours to prevent the same.
I will not fail, at my access, to press both speedy redress and full
satisfaction, as well of that outrage as of divers others committed this
last month. * * It shall be necessary for her majesty, in these
doubtful times, considering how they stand affected that have now
the helm in hand here, to place some horsemen and footmen upon
the Borders for a season, which may serve well for some other pur-
pose, as your lordship shall hereafter understand. * * * At
Edinburgh, the 6th September, 1583.
" Your Lordship's, &c.,
" FRANCIS WALSINGHAM.
"After I had written my letter, Mr James Melvil came unto me
from the king to excuse the delay of my audience, without bringing
any certain knowledge when the same should be granted, which
moved me to deal roundly with him." * *
No. XIV.
Historical Remarks on the Queen of Scots' supposed Accession to
Babington's Conspiracy.
That Mary was a party to this plot, so far as it involved a project for
her escape, may be assumed as certain; indeed, she appears to have ad-
mitted it, by implication at least, on her trial. But the question remains,
and it is one deeply affecting Elizabeth and her ministers was she cog-
nizant of the resolution to assassinate the English queen ? did she
permit, or encourage this atrocious design 1 After a careful research
into the history of this conspiracy, and an anxious desire to procure
and weigh every document connected with it, I believe Mary's solemn
assertion to be true, that she neither gave any encouragement to
the plot, nor was aware of its existence. Hume, who pronounces
Mary guilty, has written on this conspiracy with all his inimitable
clearness and plausibility ; but unfortunately with much of his usual
carelessness as to facts and dates, which enter deeply into the ques-
tion, and which a little trouble might have enabled him to discover
and to rectify. Dr Lingard, in an acute note added to the last edition
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 39 1
of his History,* has supported Mary's innocence ; and Dr Rohertson,
without interrupting his narrative by critical remarks, has assumed
it. Referring the reader to the works of these eminent men, I shall
now briefly give some additional facts and observations, from which
there arises the strongest presumption, if not absolute proof, of the
innocence of the Queen of Scots.
First. It is evident, from the history of this conspiracy as given
in the text, that Phelipps the decipherer had much, almost every-
thing in his power as to the proof of Mary's guilt or innocence. He
was admitted by Walsingham into all " the secrets of the cause," (to
use Paulet's phrase ;) he enjoyed the full confidence of this minister
and his royal mistress. It does not appear that any other person,
about Walsingham or the Queen of England could decipher. There
are letters in the State-paper Office, and in the British Museum,
which prove that whenever any intercepted letters in cipher fell into
the hands of Elizabeth or Secretary Walsingham, they were forth-
with sent to Phelipps " to be made English ;"-f- and it is certain that
he did decipher, and retain in his hands for ten days, the letter in
cipher from Mary to Babington, upon a copy of which that princess
was convicted. It is evident from all this, that Phelipps had the
power and the opportunity to alter the letters of Babington or of
Mary which were sent him to be deciphered ; and owing to the
ignorance of his employers in this intricate science, he might have
done so without much, or almost any fear of discovery. But it may
be asked, Could he be so base as to garble these letters? or was Wal-
singham so lost to all sense of justice and honour as to have permit-
ted it?
To this I reply, that there is preserved in the State-paper Office a
* Note M. vol. viii. History of England, p. 434.
t MS. Letter, Caligula, C. ix. fol. 455. Davison to Phelipps, Dec. 11.
DAVISOX TO PHELIPPS.
" Mr Phelipps. Her majesty delivered me the ticket here enclosed for
your exercise, because she thinketh you now be idle. When you have made
English thereof, I doubt not but you will return it back to her highness :
and so, in the meantime, I commit you to God. At the court the llth
December "
There is another letter of Walsingham in Caligula, C. ix. fol. 455, writ-
ten, I think, evidently to Phelipps, though the address does not appear:
" I send you herewith enclosed another letter, written from the King c'
Spain unto some noblemen within this realm, which was delivered unto mi
by her majesty, together with the other letter of Don Bernardino remaining 1
in your hands, which, if it may be deciphered, will, I hope, lay open the
treachery that reigneth here amongst us. Her majesty hath promised to
double your pension, and to be otherwise good unto you. And so I commit
you to God. The 30th Nov., 1585. *F. WALSINGHAM."
392 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
letter or petition of Phelipps to the Earl of Salisbury, an extract
from which I give below, which proves, that in one noted instance he
had availed himself of his talents and opportunity to a base and un-
scrupulous extent. In this case he did not add to or alter any letter
placed in his hands; but he did much more. He composed, or created,
an entirely imaginary correspondence. He wrote letters under the
name of an imaginary person to a real person, who enjoyed the con-
fidence of the Spanish government, and who, by the forgery of these
letters, was betrayed into a correspondence with Phelipps, who made
his own uses of his base contrivance. All this he acknowledges in a
letter to the Earl of Salisbury, which is an undoubted original, writ-
ten in his own hand, * pleading in extenuation of the forgery, that it
was done for the benefit of the state.
Such being the unscrupulous character of this person, is it any
overstrained supposition, that such a man would have felt little hesi-
tation in altering the letters of the Queen of Scots, to suit the purposes
of her enemies?
But here it is asked, (and the argument is insisted on by Hume,)
* State-paper Office, April 29, 1606. Thomas Phelipps, original, in his
own hand, dated (in pencil) April 29, 1606:
" Phelipps humbly prayeth, that the king's majesty may be moved to
descend into a gracious consideration of his case, and he doubteth not but
his majesty shall find cause to conceive much better of his proceedings than
it seemeth he doth.
" The truth is, that there never was any real or direct correspondence hela
with Owen. But, by a mere stratagem and sleight in the late queen's time,
that State upon an occasion, was entertained in an opinion of an intelligence
with an imaginary person on this side, such as was none in rerum naturd,
which Owen, abused, did manage on that side, as Phelipps for the queen's
service did on this. The manner whereof and the means were particularly
declared to my Lord of Salisbury by Ph. when he was first called in question,
who had himself made some use of it in the queen's time ; and you, Mr
Lieutenant can, best of any man, remember how the queen and my Lord of
Essex served themselves of it.
" In the carriage of this business, the imaginary correspondent being
pressed to find somebody that should set afoot certain overtures, touching
peace and the jewels of the house of Burgundy, and such like, Phelipps
was nominated and used for those purposes, to the contentment of both sides,
as it fell out at sundry times, without that it was known, or so much as
suspected, that Phelipps was the man that indeed managed all matters.
" With the queen's life this course was supposed to have been quite de-
termined ; but shortly after, upon the hope of amity, which was growing
between this realm and Spain, an address was newly made to the imaginary
correspondent in Maucididor's name, to have Phelipps moved to concur with
those that should be set a-work both for peace and league of firm amity
between the princes, with large offers, and promises of honourable gratifica-
tion to all such as could do any good therein.
" Which being a thing in itself not unlawful, and Phelipps seeing oppor-
tunity offered him to make himself thereby of use, he willingly embraced."
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 393
would a man of such high honour and probity as Walsingham
have been guilty of so base a proceeding ? As to this alleged probity
and honour, Hume, it is evident, trusted to the common eulogies
which, in popular works, have been bestowed on Elizabethan states-
men. Happily, however, the correspondence of Elizabeth's ministers
remains to test this praise ; and Walsingham has left many letters
which prove, incontestably, that, in working out any object which he
was persuaded was for the good of the state, he was quite as crafty
and unscrupulous as his brethren. In those dark times, the scale of
moral duty and honour was miserably low : justice, truth, religion,
were names common in men's mouths, but slightly regarded in their
actual dealings. To open letters, to rob an ambassador's desk, to
corrupt his servants, to forge his signature, were all allowable methods
of furthering the business of the state. The reader is already well
aware of the little value placed on human life, of the frequency of
private assassination, and the encouragement given to it by the
highest statesmen of the age. To argue on the honour and probity
of such men as we should be entitled to do had they lived in our
own times, (lax as this age may be in some things) must lead to
error. Nay, Hume himself was aware of, and states one instance in
which Walsingham acted with a total disregard of all high principle.
This historian tells us, that the English secretary, when he had in-
tercepted and opened Mary's letters to Babington, added to them a
postscript in the same cipher, in which she desired him to inform her
of the names of the conspirators ; hoping thus to elicit from Babing-
ton the whole secrets of the plot. Was it possible that any man of
common probity could have so acted ? and what are we to think of
his letter quoted in the text, in which, in obedience to the English
queen's commands, he solicited Paulet to put Mary privately to
death? Could a man of the slightest probity have written that
letter ?
It appears, then, that Phelipps and Walsingham were persons
capable of such a course as garbling and altering Mary's letters:
it is evident that Phelipps had the power and the talent to do so ;
and we have seen, from the history of the conspiracy given in the
text, that both were anxious to convict her and bring her to punish-
ment. But it may be said, All this is presumption : where is the
proof that they added anything to these letters ? In answer to this
may be first quoted, the forged postscript endorsed in Phelipps'
handwriting, "Postscript of the Scottish Queen's letter to Babington,"*
inquiring the names of the six gentlemen. Hume, following Cam-
* Supra, p. 287.
394 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
den,* asserts that Walsingham added a postscript of this import to
one of Mary's letters to Babington. It is singular, however, that it
should not have struck this historian, that no such postscript appeared
in any of Mary's alleged letters produced at the trial ; and had this
charge, which involves so grave a delinquency in Walsingham, rested
on the single assertion of Camden, one would certainly have hesitated
to believe it. But the case is altered by the discovery, (mentioned
in the text, p. 287,) of this postscript in cipher, endorsed by Phelipps,
and preserved in the State-paper Office. Now, such a postscript was
either what it purports to be an original of Mary's, or a true copy
of such an original, or a forgery. If it we're an original of Mary's,
or a true copy of such, why, it may be asked, was in not produced
against her at the trial? It connected her with the six conspirators,
who were Babington's associates ; and in this light would have been
decided evidence against her. But no use was made of it at the
trial ; and it may be conjectured, from this suppression, that, after
having exercised his skill in fabricating it, Phelipps changed his
scheme for the conviction of the Scottish queen, and introduced the
sentences connecting her with the six gentlemen who were to assas-
sinate the English queen into the body of the letters, rather than in
a postscript at the end.
In the next place, although there is no direct evidence by which
we can detect Phelipps or Walsingham in the act of garbling and
altering Mary's letters, yet strong presumptive evidence is furnished
by the circumstances of the trial itself ; and this even after making
allowance for the partiality and disregard of justice which appears iu
all the judicial proceedings of those times.
It is evident that Mary could only be proved guilty by the produc-
tion of her own letters ; by the production of the minutes, or rough
drafts of these in her own hand ; by the evidence of her secretaries,
Nau and Curie, who wrote the letters ; or by the evidence of Phelipps,
who deciphered them. The limits to which I must confine these
remarks will not permit me to go into detail ; but it may be observed,
that on each of these modes of proof, the evidence against the Scottish
queen, either totally fails, or is defective.
1. No original of Babington's long letter to her, or of her answer
to Babington, was produced. Mary anxiously demanded the pro-
duction of both, and positively asserted that she had never written
the letter of which they produced a copy ; but she demanded it in
vain, and she was convicted on the evidence of this avowed copy.
2. It was stated by Nau, her secretary, that the greater part of her
* Hume, p. 453. Edition 1832. In one volume. Camden in Kennet,
vol. ii. p. 517.
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 395
letter to Babington was copied by him from a minute in Mary's own
hand, written in French, which, he stated, would be found amongst
her papers,* and which, if we are to believe Nau's declaration,
Elizabeth and her ministers had really in their hands, and could have
produced if they pleased.f Now, these French minutes written in
Mary's hand, if they had contained the guilty passages connecting
her with the plot against Elizabeth's life, would undoubtedly have
proved the case against her. Why then were they not produced ?
It seems plain, that if found at all, of which there is reason to doubt,J
they did not contain any mention of the plot against Elizabeth's life.
Here, again, the proof against the Scottish queen totally fails.
3. As to Nau and Curie, the manner of dealing with thpse two
secretaries of Mary betrays, in a striking way, the weakness of the
proof against her. She anxiously requested to be allowed to examine
them ; and engaged, if this were permitted, to prove by their testimony,
that she was innocent. This was denied : she was shown some de-
positions to which they had attached their signatures ; and other
declarations were produced wholly written by them, the contents of
which, it was argued, proved her guilty of sending the long letter to
Babington. Mary's reply to these depositions has been already stated
in the text ; but it is here material to attend to an observation of Dr
Lingard, who contends, and apparently with perfect justice that,
judging from the only papers which now remain, it does not appear
that Nau or Curie were ever shown the original of Mary's letter in
cipher to Babington, or the true deciphered copy of it ; but merely
an abstract of the principal points in it, so made up as to render it
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, September 7, 1586.
WAAD TO PHELIPPS.
" Her majesty's pleasure is, you should presently repair hither ; for that,
upon Nau's confession, it should appear we have not performed the search
sufficiently ; for he doth assure we shall find, amongst the minutes which
were in Pasquier's chests, the copies of the letters wanting, both in French
and English." * * *
f Orig. State-paper Office, Nan's first answer, September 3, 1586'. " II
luy pleust me bailler une minute de lettre escripte de sa main pour la polir
et mettre au net, ainsi qu'il apparoit a vos Honneurs avoir este faict ayant
Tune et 1'autre entre vos mains." * * *
J On the 3d September, Nau, in a paper in the State-paper Office, en-
dorsed by Burghley, " Nau's first Answer," speaks as if Elizabeth and her
ministers had Mary's original minutes, written by herself, in their hands.
But next day, September 4, Walsingham, in a letter to Phelipps, State-
paper Office, says, " the minute of her answer is not extant ; " and on the 7th
September, these alleged minutes and letter of Mary's were still wanting ;
for Waad writes to Phelipps to search anew for them. (State-paper Office,
Waad to Phelipps, 7th September, 1586.) I have discovered no proof that
they were ever found.
S96 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
doubtful whether they included the guilty passages which Mary so
solemnly affirmed were not dictated or written by her.* It is true,
indeed, that in the State-paper Office, and in the British Museum
also, there are preserved copies of Mary's letter to Babington, with
the copy of an attestation signed by Curie and Nau ; but in what
terms is it given ? Do they verify, on oath, that this is a true copy
of the letter written by them from Mary's dictation, and sent to
Babington ? Far from it. Nau simply says, he truly thinks, to the
best of his recollection, this is the letter; and Curie, that it was either
this letter, or one like it, that he put in cipher.f And it was on such
an attestation as this that Burghley contended that the Scottish queen
was guilty I
4. There was yet one other way in which the defects of the proof
against Mary might have been supplied. If Walsingham and Burghley
could not produce the original of her letter to Babington if they had
no minutes of this letter in her own handwriting they still had
Phelipps, who had deciphered it, and who could have attested on oath
the accuracy of his own decipher, and its agreement with the copy
produced at the trial. Why was this man not produced I Can the
motive be doubted ?
There are three original papers preserved in the State-paper Office,
which appear to me to establish Mary's innocence, on as convincing
grounds as the question admits of. It has been already noticed, that
when Nau affirmed that the greater part of Mary's letter to Babington
was taken by him from an original in the queen's hand, and that this
minute of her answer would be found in her repositories, a strict
search was made, which was wholly unsuccessful ; and on the 4th
September, Walsingham became convinced that " the minute was not
extant." This failure of obtaining proof against Mary, threw Wal-
singham into great perplexity, in the midst of which he wrote this
letter to Phelipps :
WALSINGHAM TO PHELIPPS.
" This morning I received the enclosed from Francis Milles ; and
this afternoon he made report unto me of his proceeding with Curie
* Lingard, Hist, of England, vol. viii. pp. 220, 221 ; and Appendix, pp.
436, 487.
f " Je pense de v'ray que c'est la lettre escripte par sa Majeste a Babing-
ton, comme il me souventt. Ainsi signe. " NAU."
"Telle ou semblable me semble avoir este la reponse escripte en Francois
par Mons r Nau, laquelle j'ay traduit,et mis en chifre, comme j'en fais men-
tion au pied d'une copie de lettre de Mr Babington, laquelle Mons r Nau a
gigne le premier. Ainsi signe, " GILBERT CURLK."
" 5,*h September, 1586."
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 397
accordingly as is set down in the enclosed ; by the which you may
perceive that Curie doth both testify the receipt of Babington's letters,
as also the queen his mistress' answer to the same, wherein he chargeth
Nau to have been a principal instrument. I took upon me to put him
in comfort of favour, in case he would deal plainly ; being moved
thereto for that the minute of her answer is not extant, and that I
saw Nau resolved to confess no more than we were able of ourselves
to charge him withal.
" If it might please her majesty, upon Curie's plain dealing, and
in respect of the comfort I have put him in to receive grace for the
same, to extend some extraordinary favour towards him, considering
that he is a stranger and that which he did was by his mistress'
commandment, I conceive great hope there might be things drawn
from him worthy of her majesty's knowledge ; for which purpose I
can be content to retain him still prisoner with me, if her majesty
shall allow of it.
" I pray you therefore procure some access unto her majesty, that you
may know her pleasure therein, with as convenient speed as you may.
And so God keep you. From Barnelme, the 4th September, 1586.*
" FR. WALSINGHAM."
This letter proves that no minutes in Mary's handwriting, connecting
her with the letter to Babington, had then (4th September) been found ;
that Nau had confessed nothing that implicated her ; and that all
Walsingham's hopes rested on bribing Curie, by some "extraordinary
favour," to make further disclosures.
In these difficulties, it seems to have struck Phelipps, that Curie
and Nau might be intimidated into confessing something against
Mary, by showing them that they had already, by their written de-
clarations, confessed enough against themselves to involve a charge
of treason, as abettors of the plot for the invasion of England, and
the escape of the Scottish queen. The idea of Phelipps was, to say
to these secretaries of the Queen of Scots " We have already enough
against you to hang you ; but be more explicit : tell us something
which may connect your mistress with Babington's designs against
Elizabeth's life, and you shall receive ' some extraordinary favour.' "
For this purpose, Phelipps on the 4th September, the very day on
which Walsingham wrote the above letter, drew up some remarks,
which he sent to Burghley, who has endorsed them " From Phelipps."
This paper is entitled, " An Extract of the points contained in the
minutes written by Nau and Curie, arguing their privity to the enter-
* MS. Letter, State-paper Office, Papers of Mary Queen 'if Scots.
398 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
prise of the Catholics, and their mistress' plot." 4th September, 158&.
The reader must pardon its abrupt and unfinished state, remembering
that this makes it more authentic. It has been carefully read and
marked by Burghley, and is as follows :
" Nau and Curie are charged to be privy and partakers of the con-
spiracy made by the Papists for the invasion and a rebellion within
the realm; as also of a plot laid by their mistress, and sent by her unto
the said Papists, with direction for execution of their enterprise, by
the minutes of the letters sent to divers persons following, which they
have confessed to be their own hands :
" Nau. K. The letter K, written from the Scottish Q,. to Charles
Paget, 27th July, being Nau his hand, hath these express words
beginning at the letter K, Sur le retour de Hallard, fyc. In English
thus : ' Upon the return of Ballard into this country, the principal
Catholics which had despatched him unto that side for want of in-
telligence with me, have imparted unto me their intentions conform
to that which you wrote thereof ; but more particularly demanding
my directions for the execution of the whole. I have made them a
very ample despatch, containing point by point my advice touching
all things requisite, as well on this side the sea as on that, to bring to
pass their design,' &c.
" The same written in English by Curie, the letter marked D.
"Nau. L. The letter marked L, written from the Scottish Q,
to the B. of Glasgow, 27th July, being Nau his hand, containeth a
direction unto the said B. to renew the practices with the King of
Spain and the Pope, for reformation (as she terms it) of this island
an advice to raise some contrary faction in Scotland to that of Eng-
land, to disturb the quiet of this isle she assureth that the principal
Catholics of England were never better disposed than at this present,
being resolute to set upon the rest. Wills him to know of her cousin
the D. of Guise, if, the peace being made in France, he may not em-
ploy himself in this action with the forces, which, without suspicion,
he may have in readiness by that mean, &c.
" F. The letter F, written by the Scottish queen to Mendoza, 27th
July, being Nau his hand, containeth, in express terms, that upon
intelligence of the K. of Spam's good intention in these quarters, she
hath written very amply to the principal Catholics, touching a design
which he hath sent them, with his advice upon every point, to resolve
upon the execution thereof. And particularly that she hath sent unto
them to despatch one in all diligence unto him, sufficiently instructed
to treat with him according to the general offers that had been made
him of all things to be required on the behalf of his master. She
wills him to give the bearer credit which shall be sent from the
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 399
Catholics, as to herself. The said deputy of the Catholics, she saith,
shall inform him of the means of her escape, &c.
" Curie* 0. The letter marked 0, written by the Q. of Scots to
the L. Paget, 27th July, with Curie's hand, argueth an overture
made by the Catholics of this realm to the Spanish ambassador, Men-
doza, which she says she thinks his brother hath acquainted him
with : she saith she hath written very amply to the principal of the
said Catholics, for to have, upon a plot which she hath dressed for
them, their common resolutiou ; and for to treat accordingly with
the K. of Spain, she hath addressed them unto him ; and she prays
him to consider deeply of the said plot, and all the particularities for
the execution thereof ; namely, for the support, both men, armour,
munition, and money, which is to be had of the Pope, and King of
Spain.
" There is a minute of the same in French, und er Nau his hand.
" Curie.-]- E. The letter marked E, written by the Scattish Q.
to Sir Francis Englefield, 27th July, of Curie's hand, containeth the
same in effect also." * * *
In the above summary of proofs against the Queen of Scots and
her two secretaries, drawn up by Phelipps, and evidently founded on
all the original letters which had been then recovered, and with which
either Nau or Curie could be connected, there is not, it will be seen,
the slightest proof of Mary's participation in Babington's plot against
Elizabeth's life: nor does there appear to have been anything in these
letters, written by her secretaries, connecting her or them with such
a design. The plot related entirely, as is shown by these proofs, to
the Spanish invasion of England, and the plans drawn up by Mary
for her escape to which she pleaded guilty.
This defect appears to have struck Burghley, and Phelipps en-
deavoured to supply it by drawing up for this statesman a second
SUMMARY, endorsed by Burghley : " From Phelipps," and dated on
the same day as the former, 4th Sept., 1586. This paper appears to me,
from its admissions and omissions, to be almost conclusive in establish-
ing the innocence of Mary. It is entitled, " Arguments of Nau and
Curie's privity to the whole conspiracy, as well of invasion as rebel-
lion, and murder of the queen's person ;" and is as follows :
" Their privity to that was written by their mistress touching the
two former points both to Mendoza, the L. Paget, Charles Paget, Sir
Francis Englefield, and the B. of Glasgow, in the letters of the 27th
* This word, Curie, on the margin, is in Burghley's hand.
+ The name, " Curie," is in Burghley 's hand.
+ MS. State-paper Office, Papers of Mary Queen of Scots.
400 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
July, thus marked F, 0, K, D, E, L ; which minutes are of their
own hands, as themselves confess, the like trust not unlike to be given
for writing those to Babington.
" The first letter written by that queen unto Babington, as it seemeth,
since his intelligence was renewed, being of the 26th June, is of Curie's
hand, (litera B ;) and the secret intelligencer, Barnaby,* is directed
by Curie's letter where to find Babington, litera B.
" The second letter, likewise coming from Nau to Babington, touch-
ing their assurance of Poley, is of Curie's hand, (litera P ;) and it
argueth a letter sent in cipher from Babington, which Curie, or the
inditer thereof, was to decipher, which was Nau. In the same letter
Curie taketh order that )-( shall stand for Babington's name.
" Litera A showeth that there was another letter in cipher sent to
Babington by the secret messenger, 27th July, which Babington shall
confess to be the bloody letter. The letters to Babington, and from
Babington, two of them were very long, and all in cipher, fair written,
(as Babington will confess ;) and therefore it cannot choose but that
the queen's letter was put in cipher by Nau or Curie, and Babington's
letter likewise deciphered.
" The new alphabet sent to be used in time to come between that
queen and Babington, accompanying the bloody despatch, is of Nau's
hand.
" The heads of that bloody letter sent to Babington, touching the de~
signment of the queen's person, [by this he means the plot to assassinate
Elizabeth,] is of Nau's hand likewise.
" They cannot any way say it should stand with reason that the
queen did decipher, and put in cipher, her letters herself. For it
appeareth that she despatched ordinarily more pacquets every fort-
night than it was possible for one body well exercised therein to put
in cipher, and decipher those sent ; much less for her, being diseased,
a queen, &c.
" It appeareth all letters were addressed to one of them, Nau or
Curie ; for that in the deciphering there is, for the most part, a post-
script found to them excusing sometimes the error or length of the
cipher, sometimes of their private occasions, &c."
Such is this second " Summary." Now it will be noted that Phe-
lipps argues thus. The letters of Mary to Mendoza, Lord Paget, and
others, marked F, 0, K, D, E, L, were written from minutes drawn
up by Curie and Nau from Mary's dictation. It is, therefore, to be
* Barnaby is a name for Gilbert Gifford. " Curie's Letter," 19th June ;
State- paper Office, in which he sap "^"stands also for Barnaby, or Gilbert
Gifford."
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 401
presumed, that a similar trust would be given them for writing th
letters to Babington. Is there not here an express admission by
Phelipps, that there was no proof that Mary had given any instructions
whatever to her secretaries, which connected her with the alleged
letter to Babington produr jd on her trial. He presumes that she
may have given instructions for Babington's letter, because she gave
such instructions for the letters to Mendoza, Paget, and the rest.
But there is a still more important fact stated by Phelipps in this
second " Summary." The heads of the bloody letter to Babington
had, it appears, been found, although the minutes of this same letter,
which Nau affirmed to have been given him by the queen in her own
handwriting, had not been found. And these heads, let it be observed,
were in the handwriting of Nau himself, not of Mary.
It is, therefore, evident, that the utmost exertions, and the strictest
search on the part of Mary's enemies, directed by all the skill and
vigour of Walsingham, and carried into effect by the unscrupulous
artifices and ingenuity of Phelipps, had not been able to find the
smallest scrap of evidence under Mary's hand, which could connect her
with the plot against Queen Elizabeth's life. Last of all, we have in
this " Summary" the admission that all the letters, (which includes
Babington's among the rest,) were addressed not to Mary, but either
to Nau or Curie that Mary relied on Nau and Curie to decipher them
and that the queen's alleged letter to Babington was put in cipher
either by Nau or Curie. If, then, (to sum up these proofs,) Babing-
ton's alleged letter was not addressed to Mary if she had nothing
to do with deciphering it if the alleged answer in cipher was not
made by her if there were no minutes in her hand for that answer
if Nau and Curie's declarations do not connect her with the plot
against the queen's life and if Phelipps, whose evidence under such
a lack of proof could alone have supplied the deficiency, was not
brought forward it appears difficult to resist the conclusion, that
Mary was implicated solely in a plot for her escape, that she was
entirely ignorant of the project for Elizabeth's assassination, and that
she was the victim of forged letters manufactured by her enemies.*
It would be easy to corroborate this conclusion by some additional
arguments, drawn from the successive declarations of Nau, and other
letters or papers preserved in the British Museum and State-paper
* In the British Museum, Caligula, C. ix. fol. 458, there is a confession of
Thomas Harrison, who styles himself Secretary to Sir Francis Walsingham,
in which he states that Walsingham, Fhelipps, and himself, contrived the
conspiracy, and forged the letters, for -which Mary suffered death. I have
not given this confession, because I know one part of it to be false, and dare
not trust the rest.
402
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
Office ; but enough has been said upon the point, and any reader who
wishes to pursue the inquiry, will find ample materials in these two
noble repositories of original information. He will there find the
lists, notes, and arguments which Lord Burghley drew np previous
to the trial of the Scottish queen ; upon which I cannot enter, but
the whole have been examined and carefully weighed, and the result
is a confirmation of the opinion of Mary's innocence.
No. XV.
Queen Mary's Beads, p. 353.
My friend, Mr Howard of Corby castle, has in his possession a pair
of golden beads, with a gold crucifix attached to them, ornamented
with drop pearls. These beads belonged to the late Charles duke
of Norfolk, and were part of the collection of Thomas earl of Arun-
del : the tradition in that noble family being, that they were worn
by the unfortunate Mary at the time of her death, and sent by her,
as a last token of affection, to the then Earl or Countess of ArundeL
END OF VOLUME EIGHTH.
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