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work upon his fears. They told him, and they told Morton, that if they would say nothing of the murder, 'the Queen of Scots would make with them what reasonable end she could devise; ' while, on the other hand, whatever Elizabeth might now say to him, for her own immediate ends, she was really determined to restore the Queen of Scots at all events and under all circumstances; they held her promise in her own handwriting; and if Murray was now to inflict so deep a wound upon his mistress, she would never forgive him.

Murray had come to the conference prepared to act honourably, and the fear of evil consequences to himself would not much have influenced him; but he had proved in his own person the value of Elizabeth's fair words; and he determined not to proceed till he had made another effort to ascertain where he was standing.

He said therefore that although he was well able to reply to the Queen of Scots' charges, and to show that he and his friends had good grounds for what they had done, yet they were unwilling to charge the King their sovereign's mother with crimes which hitherto they had concealed, and manifest to the world her infamy and dishonour.' Before they would venture on a step so

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1 Knowles, who was present at | York, wrote on the 9th of October to Cecil I see that my Lord Herries, for his part, laboureth a reconciliation to be had without the extremity of odious accusations. My Lord of Ledington also saith to me that he would wish these matters to be ended in dulce manner, so that it

might be done with safety.-MSS. QUEEN OF SCOTS, Rolls House.

2 Norfolk to Pembroke, Leicester, and Cecil, October II: MSS. Ibid.

3They did not let to say that they had your Majesty's promise to show in writing to confirm the same.'-Norfolk, Sussex, and Sadler to Elizabeth, October 9: Ibid.

serious, they required to be informed whether the language which they had heard from Herries was true, and whether, if the Queen of Scots was proved guilty, she was really to be forced upon them again.

The Commissioners pointed, in reply, to the instructions given by Elizabeth to themselves; her Highness hoped that the Queen of Scots might be found innocent; if it proved otherwise, she would not stain her conscience with the maintenance of wickedness.

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Murray said that, notwithstanding these words, there was a very general belief that the Queen of Scots was to be replaced, 'however matters fell out.' It was so reported in Scotland; and it was so said at that very moment at York. He could not but suspect that, although her Highness might not restore the said Queen immediately, yet means would be wrought to her relief at a later time, to their no little danger.' He produced four questions, to which he said he must have a clear answer before he would proceed with the accusations.

First. Had the Commission power to pass sentence of guilty or not guilty, according to the merits of the

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Second. If they had this power, did they intend to use it ?

Third. If he made his charge, and proved it, what was to be done with the Queen of Scots ?

Fourth. Would the Queen of England, in that case, maintain the authority of the young King?

The cause,' he said, 'was so weighty, and it touched

them all so near, that they all resolved not to accuse the Queen of the murder until they knew for certain what they were to look for.'

"They be in hopes and comfort,' wrote the Commissioners, 'that if they do not bring up the worst charges, the Queen of Scots will be induced to a reasonable composition; and on the other side, if they proceed to extremity, they be out of hope of any good composition, and so shall live always in danger.'1

'It seems,' Sussex wrote separately, they be bent to one of two ends-either to prove her guilty of the murder, and then never to hearken after to any composition, wherein they will not deal before they may be assured that if the murder is tried, the Queen will so keep her as she shall by no means work their hurt hereafter or else leaving off entirely to charge her with the murder, seek a reconcilement and composition of all causes, without touching her any ways in her honour.'"

It might have been thought from the language of her Commission that this was precisely the end at which Elizabeth was aiming. She did not wish the Queen of Scots to be found guilty; she had seemed to desire that she should not be accused. But such a conclusion would not have answered, because it would have been too complete. She would be unable to detain the Queen of Scots any longer in England; she would have purchased for herself only the resentment and suspicion of all parties and the stain, which she admitted to the

1 Norfolk, Sadler, and Sussex to Elizabeth, October 9: MSS. QUEEN OF SCOTS.

2 Sussex to Cecil, October 9: MSS. QUEEN OF SCOTS.

accusation.

Spanish ambassador that she desired should rest upon the Queen of Scots, would disappear in the absence of The Catholic world would universally accept the acquittal, and the danger of her own position would be infinitely aggravated. The consequences of her own crooked conduct were coming back upon her. She had not meant, and she did not mean, to act unfairly; but she would not accept the lessons which Knowles had tried to teach her, that the more honourable way was the plain way; she could never travel with comfort on a straight road anywhere.

On the morning of the 9th, while Murray was still pausing upon his answer, Norfolk rode out with Maitland to Cawood, and told him at great length, that, whatever happened, Elizabeth had determined ‘not to end the cause at that time.' She professed to wish that Murray should avoid extremities, yet, in reality, she intended him to utter all he could to the Queen of Scots' dishonour; to cause her to come in disdain with the whole subjects of the realm, that she might be the more unable to attempt anything to her disadvantage.' 'Without appointing the matter,' she intended to keep the Queen of Scots in England till she should think time to show her favour.' She was making use of the Lords for her own purposes; she was merely saying to them whatever would answer her immediate end, and she would throw them over as soon as it suited her convenience.1

1 The Bishop of Ross to the Queen of Scots, October 9, part cipher.-Cotton. MSS. CALIG. C.

Norfolk himself was so little careful of truth that perhaps he invented this dangerous statement as a means of working upon Murray; but it was so precisely a repetition of the former treatment which Murray had met with; it agreed so closely with her language to de Silva, that in all probability it was no more than a betrayal of the confidence which his mistress had really reposed in him. Maitland begged the Duke to speak to the Regent himself, and the next morning arranged a private interview between them. The Duke explained to Murray at length the feelings of the English nobility on the Scotch succession. He spoke of Mary Stuart's claims to the crown; of the powerful party who, for various reasons, were desirous of supporting those claims; and the injury which would be inflicted, both on her own and the Prince's prospects, if her character was publicly stained. After dwelling again on what he had said to Maitland, he added, truly or falsely, another illustration of Elizabeth's insincerity. She pretended to desire, he said, that Bothwell should be taken and punished, yet she had refused to intercede with the King of Denmark for his extradition; her Majesty would never solicit the same, but purposely held him living above the said Queen's head to stay her from any other marriage.' He pointed out how much safer it would be for Murray now, when the opportunity was open to him, to come to an understanding with his own sovereign: and then, indirectly approaching his own great secret, the Duke said, it would be convenient the Queen of Scots had more children, there being but one

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