(according to her subsequent explanation of what befell her) the violence which rendered her marriage with Bothwell a necessity, if the offspring which she expected from it was to be born legitimate.

But this concluding outrage determined the action of the nobility. The last virtue which failed a Scot was jealousy of his country's honour-and they felt that they were becoming the byword of Europe. They wrote to Mary on the 27th of April offering her their swords, if it was true that she had been carried off unwillingly,' and requesting to be certified of her pleasure; but whatever that pleasure might be, they determined to acquiesce no longer in her remaining the companion of Bothwell. Elizabeth had given them no sign of encouragement, but du Croq, the French ambassador, said, that whenever they pleased to ask for it, they might have assistance from France. The Scotch alliance was of infinite moment to the Court of Paris; the Queen of Scots had forfeited for a time the affection even of her own relations; she had flung away the interests of the Catholic League upon a vulgar passion; and if the Scots would return to their old alliance, the French Court were ready to leave them free to do as they pleased with her. There was a profound belief that the Queen of Scots was a lost woman; that she would be a disgrace to any cause with which she was connected; and if the friendship of Scotland could be

The Lords to the Queen of Scotland, April 27, from Aberdour:

MS. in possession of Mr Richard
Almack.

recovered to France by sacrificing her, it would be cheaply purchased.

Thus assured of support from one side or the other, the Earls of Mar, Morton, Athol, Argyle, and others, assembled at Stirling a few days after Mary Stuart was carried off. They were determined at all hazards to take her out of Bothwell's hands, and if, after the letter which they had addressed to her, she persisted in remaining with him, they made up their minds to depose her and crown the infant Prince.1 Kirkaldy, a friend of England, induced them with some difficulty to consult Elizabeth once more.

'The cold usage of my Lord of Murray,' Sir Robert Melville wrote to Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, 'lost your sovereign many hearts in this realm; they may be recovered, if she will be earnest in this most honest cause, and nourish a greater love than ever was between the countries, that both Protestant and Papist may go one way.2

'The Queen,' wrote Kirkaldy to Lord Bedford,3 'will never cease till she has wrecked all the honest men of this realm. She was minded to cause Bothwell ravish her to the end that she may the sooner end the marriage which she promised before she caused murder her husband. There is many that would revenge the murder, but that they fear your mistress. The Queen minds hereafter to take the Prince out of the Earl of

Mar's hands, and put him in his hands that murdered his father. I pray your Lordship let me know what your mistress will do, for if we seek France we may find favour at their hands, but I would rather persuade to lean to England.'

Elizabeth still continued silent, and the

May, French overtures continuing, the Lords were unwilling to wait longer upon her pleasure. It was known that Bothwell intended to destroy the Prince, for fear the Prince when he grew to manhood should revenge his father's death. There was no time to be lost, and they insisted on knowing explicitly what they were to look for from England. Du Croq, they said, had promised in the name of the King of France, that if they would relinquish the English alliance, they should have assistance to suppress' Bothwell. Du Croq had warned the Queen herself that if she mar ried Bothwell, she must expect neither friendship nor favour' from the French Court. Finding that she would give no ear' to his remonstrances, he had offered to join the Lords at Stirling openly in his master's name; he had been lavish of promises if at the same time they would abandon the English alliance; and the Lords gave Elizabeth to understand that she must send them some answer, and hold out to them some encouragement, or the hand so warmly offered by France would be accepted.1

1 Sir Robert Melville impressed on Cecil the same view of the question.

6

'Thus far,' he said, 'I will make your honour privy. France has offered to enter in bond with the no

Elizabeth, since her misadventure at the time of the Darnley marriage, had resolved to have no more to do with Scotch insurgents. Interference between subject and Sovereign had never been to her own taste. She had yielded with but half a heart to the urgency of Cecil, and she had gone far enough to commit herself, without having intended even then to go farther. The result had been failure, almost dishonour, and the alienation of a powerful party who till that time had been her devoted adherents. She was again confronted with a similar difficulty, and at a time which was extremely critical. The eight years, at the end of which, by the terms of the peace of Cambray, Calais was to be restored to England, had just expired. She had sent in her demand, and the French Government had replied that the peace of Cambray had been violated by England in the occupation of Havre, and that they were no longer bound by its provisions. On the part of England, it had been rejoined that the peace had been first broken by France in the usurpation of the English arms by Mary Stuart and the Dauphin, and by the notorious preparations which had been made to dethrone Elizabeth in their favour. So the dispute was hanging. The feeling between the two countries was growing sore

and dangerous, and in the midst of it Elizabeth was encountered by the dilemma of having to encourage a fresh revolt of the Scots, or of seeing the entire results of Cecil's policy undone, and Scotland once more in permanent alliance with England's most dangerous neighbour. What was she to do? As usual, she attempted to extricate herself by ambiguities and delays. Lord Grey's instructions were out of date before he had started. She did not renew them; Grey remained at the Court, and she communicated with the Lords through the Earl of Bedford, who had returned to Berwick.

The rescue of the Queen, she said, the prosecution of the murderers of Darnley, and the protection of the young Prince, were objects all of which were most desirable; she was pleased to find her own friendship preferred to that of France; but she desired to be informed "how she might, with honour to the world and satisfaction to her conscience,' 'intermeddle' to secure those objects. She could not see how it could be said that the Queen of Scots was forcibly detained by Bothwell, seeing that the Queen of Scots had advertised her in a contrary manner;' and again, however much the punishment of the murderers was to be wished for, if Bothwell married the Queen-being by common fame the principal author of the murder '—she could not tell how it could be brought about without open show of hostility.' The Lords therefore must tell her more particularly how they meant to proceed, and she hoped their intentions might be such as she could allow of in