1565.] CONDEMNATION OF REBEL LORDS. 171 in exile-all sworn foes to Murray. When Thomworth came, sent by Elizabeth, to insist that she should do nothing against the reformation in England, she gave an ambiguous reply; she did the same when warned not to make any change in Scotland; and when, as instructed, he urged her to drop her displeasure against Murray, she desired that there might be no meddling in the affairs of Scotland. She was in fact inveterate against her brother. She lost no time in collecting a force, with which she drove him and the other lords to seek refuge in Argyle. They soon after appeared in arms in the western counties; the queen in person led her forces against them, riding at the head of her troops with loaded pistols in her girdle. The lords made a rapid march to Edinburgh, but as the people there did not join them as they had expected, and the queen pursued them closely, they retired to Dumfries, still followed by their implacable sovereign, and finding resistance hopeless, they crossed the borders and sought refuge in England. Murray and Hamilton abbot of Kilwinning repaired to London. In the presence of the French and Spanish ambassadors, Elizabeth, it is said, made them declare that she had not excited them to take arms against their sovereign. When they had done so she called them traitors, and ordered them to quit her presence*. They retired to the northern marches, where Elizabeth secretly supplied them with money, and interceded for their pardon with their queen. Chatelherault was forgiven on condition of his retiring to France, but Mary declared to Randolph that she would rather lose half her kingdom than show mercy to Murray. The king and her chief counsellors, * Such is the account given by Melvill and the other Scottish writers. Lord Burleigh (Raumer, Elizabeth and Mary, p. 70) says Elizabeth asked Murray "if he had ever undertaken anything against the person of his queen. This he most solemnly denied, and implored her to conserve the amity between her majesty and his sovereign." In conclusion" she spoke very roundly to him before the ambassadors, that whatsoever the world said or reported of her she would by her actions let it appear that she would not for the price of a world maintain any subject in any disobedience against a prince." Huntley, Athol and Bothwell, were all hostile to him; so also was Rizzio, though he had, says Melvill," sued him earnestly and more humbly than could be believed, with the present of a fair diamond," for his interest in his behalf. But what most weighed with the queen was a message from her uncles desiring her not to pardon the banished lords. This was brought by Clernau, the bearer of the treaty lately concluded at Bayonne for the extirpation of protestantism, to which she readily affixed her signature. A parliament was summoned for the 12th of March 1566, in order to attaint the rebel lords, and to take steps toward the re-establishment of popery. CHAPTER X. ELIZABETH (CONTINUED). 1566-1571. Murder of Rizzio.-Mary's affection for Bothwell.-Murder of the king.-Proceedings in consequence of it.-Mary marries Bothwell.-Association of the nobles. Surrender of the queen ;-her imprisonment and abdication ;-her escape and flight into England.-Conference at York and Hampton Court.Proposed marriage with the duke of Norfolk.-Rising in the North.-Death and character of the regent Murray.-State of politics.-Elizabeth excommunicated. THE execution of those projects however was prevented by the perpetration of a deed which proved pregnant with calamity to the royal house of Scotland. Mary had now ceased to love her husband; the first fervour of her affection being over, she saw that he was devoid of every estimable quality, brutal in temper, and addicted to the grossest intemperance. She therefore gave no heed to his urgent demand of the crown-matrimonial; she treated him with neglect and even aversion; all her favour was monopolized by Rizzio, with whom the jealous Darnley now suspected her of improper familiarity. "It is a sore case," said he one day (Feb. 10) to his uncle Douglas, "that I can get no help against that villain David." "It is your own fault," was the reply, "you cannot keep a secret." Soon after, a league, confirmed by the king's oath and signature, was formed between him and the lords Ruthven, Morton, Lindsay, and Maitland of Lethington: they were to put Rizzio to death; and procure him the crown-matrimonial; he was to bear them 'scathless,' to obtain an amnesty for the banished lords, and to secure the protestant religion. This compact was made on the 1st of March, and on the night of the 9th (Saturday) Ruthven, having risen from his bed of sickness for the purpose, and cased himself in his armour, the associates were brought by Darnley up a private staircase which led to the apartment where Mary, now six months gone with child, was sitting at supper with Rizzio and lady Argyle. The king went in and stood by her chair with his arm round her waist. Ruthven entered pale and haggard, supported by two men. He desired that Rizzio should quit the room; the queen said it was her will he should be there. Rizzio ran behind her for safety; a tumult ensued; the table was overturned; Rizzio was dragged out and despatched in the antechamber with fiftysix wounds. The queen meantime was interceding for him, and a very indelicate conversation took place between her and her husband in the presence of Ruthven respecting his resumption of his conjugal rights. She then sent to learn the fate of Rizzio, and when she found that he was dead, she said, "No more tears; I must think of revenge ;" and she never was heard to lament him more. Bothwell and Huntley, when they learned what had occurred, made their escape from the palace by a window. On Monday (the 11th) Murray and his friends came to Edinburgh. Mary embraced and kissed her brother when she saw him, saying that "if he had been at home he would not have allowed her to be so discourteously handled." He was affected even to tears. Mary now tried her arts on her weak, unstable husband, and she actually succeeded in prevailing on him to abandon his confederates and make his escape with her the following night out of the palace. They fled to Dunbar. The king issued a proclamation denying all knowledge of the conspiracy. Bothwell, Huntley and other nobles repaired with their followers to Dunbar, and on the 19th the queen re-entered Edinburgh at the head of eight thousand men. The murderers of Rizzio were obliged to fly into England. The contempt and hatred which Mary felt for her worthless husband she could not conceal; her whole confidence was now given to Bothwell, between whom and Murray she effected a reconciliation. 1566.] BIRTH OF PRINCE JAMES. 175 On the 19th of June the queen was delivered of a son. Sir James Melvill was immediately despatched with the tidings to Elizabeth. When he arrived, the queen, who had just recovered from a severe illness, was at her favourite palace of Greenwich. She was dancing after supper: Cecil whispered the news to her; she instantly stopped and sat down, resting her cheek on her hand. At length she gave vent to her feelings in these words: "The queen of Scots is mother of a fair son, while I am but a barren stock." What could be more natural, what more blameless than such language? Yet those who will see nothing but duplicity in her conduct, ascribe to dissimulation the cheerful countenance with which she received Melvill next morning, and the readiness with which she assented to his request that she would be godmother to the infant prince. The alienation between Mary and her husband increased from day to day. He found himself generally shunned; for to show him any attention was a sure mode of losing the queen's favour. In his vexation he formed the absurd project of quitting the kingdom and going to the continent; but the silly plan came to no effect. Meantime the queen's visible partiality for Bothwell gave occasion to rumours injurious to her character, and an incident which occurred in the following October added strength to suspicion. She went to Jedburgh to hold a justiciary court for suppressing the disorders of the borders. Bothwell, whom she had made warden of the marches, preceded her by some days, and being wounded in the hand in a scuffle with one of the borderers named Elliott, was conveyed to his castle of Hermitage. The queen having passed some days in great anxiety on his account took the sudden resolution of going herself to see him. Though the weather was bad and the roads in a wretched state, she rode with a few attendants to Hermitage, a distance of twenty miles, and having assured herself that his life was in no danger, returned the same day to Jedburgh. Her bodily exertion, combined with mental uneasiness, threw her the next day |