defiance. In a second proclamation he invited his accuser to come forward, prove his charge, and claim his reward. An answer instantly appeared, again unsigned, but declaring that if the 2000l. was produced and was deposited in some indifferent hand, and if two of the Queen's servants, Bastian, and Joseph Rizzio, David's brother, were arrested, the writer, and four others with him,' would declare themselves and make good their words. Perhaps the names mentioned suggested too close a knowledge of dangerous facts. The men were not arrested, and the council said no more; but as the silence and inaction continued, the tongues of all men were loosed, and the thoughts which were in the minds of every one burst into the air. Midnight cries were heard in the wynds and alleys of Edinburgh, crying for vengeance upon the Queen and Bothwell. Each day as it broke showed the walls pasted with 'bills,' in which their names were linked together in an infamous union of crime-and, bold as they were, they were startled at the passionate instinct with which their double guilt had been divined. Fifty desperate men guarded the Earl whenever he appeared in the street. If he spoke to any one 'not assured his friend, his hand was on his dagger hilt;' and he swore savagely, 'that if he knew who were the setters-up of the bills and writings, he would wash his hands in their blood.'1

The atmosphere of Edinburgh grew unpleasant. The Court thought of removing into easier and safer

1 Drury to Cecil, February 28: Border MSS.

quarters at Stirling, and an intimation was conveyed to Lord Mar, who was in charge of the castle, that the Queen wished to be his guest. Mar however declined to admit within the gates a larger force than he could keep in order, and Bothwell dared not leave his followers behind him. The hereditary guardian of the Prince was too important a person to quarrel with, and it was necessary to put up with the refusal.1

Secured as he was of the support or silence of the principal noblemen, Bothwell had evidently not been prepared for such an outburst of emotion about a mere murder. A thrust with a dirk or a stroke with a sword was the time-hallowed and custom-acknowledged method of ridding the world of an enemy. The pitiful desertion of his companions after Rizzio's murder had left Darnley almost without a single friend; and but for a new spirit which was pouring with the Reformation into Scottish life, the mere destruction of a troublesome boy would have been but the wonder of a day, forgotten in the next tragedy. The change of times however was not understood till it was felt, and it was supposed that a short absence of the Court would give time for passion to cool. Forty days of close seclusion was the usual period prescribed for Royal mourning; but the Queen found the confinement injurious to her health, and as Stirling was impracticable, she turned her

1 The Earl of Mar is not the | been dealt with, but he will not best liked of, for he might have had | yield.'-Sir William Drury to Cecil, guests. But he will have no more February 19: Border MSS. than such as he may rule. He hath

Feb. 16.

thoughts elsewhere.' Darnley was privately buried at Holyrood on the night of the 15th; his horses and clothes were given to Bothwell; and on the morning of the 16th, Mary Stuart, attended by Bothwell, Huntly, Argyle, Maitland, Lords Fleming, Livingston, and a hundred other gentlemen, rode away to the house of Lord Seton, near Preston Pans. The Archbishop of St Andrews, the Primate of Scotland, gave the party the sanction of his right reverend presence. As a Hamilton, he could not but look with favour on the destruction of the heir of the rival house of Lennox. The Queen was committing herself to a course, of which the end, to his experienced eyes, was tolerably clear; and Mary Stuart once out of the way, Chatelherault, by prescriptive right, would again become Regent, and the baby-Prince alone remain between the house of Hamilton and the Scottish crown.3 Lord Seton entertained the royal party in person.

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1 Leslie, Bishop of Ross, the first champion of Queen Mary's honour,' gives a singular reason for her neglect of the usual observance on this occasion. As to the forty days of mourning, he said, which ought to have been kept, Kings might be mourned for in that way; but Darnley was only a king by courtesy; he was a subject, and took his honour from his wife, and therefore her Grace mourned after another sort.' -Defence of Queen Mary's Honour, printed by Anderson.

2 The clothes were sent to a tailor to be altered for their new

VOL. VIII.

owner.

The tailor said it was the custom of the country, the clothes of the dead were always the right of the hangman.-CALDERWOOD.

3 The false dealing of the Hamiltons, which in the sequel will appear more clearly, was seen through at the time. Sir William Drury wrote, 'It is judged the Bishop of St Andrews encourages the Queen and Bothwell in this manner to proceed not from any good-will to either of them, but for both their destructions the rather to bring his friends to their purpose.'-Drury to Cecil, May 6: Border MSS.

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The Queen, relieved from the suggestions and reminiscences of Edinburgh, recovered rapidly from the indisposition which was the excuse of her departure. The days were spent in hunting and shooting, varied only with the necessary attention to immediate and pressing business. Elizabeth was to be written to. She could not be left without formal information of her cousin's death; and Sir Robert Melville, whom Elizabeth knew and liked, was chosen as the bearer of the communication. The Queen of England had objected so strongly to the original marriage with Darnley, and had been so indignant and alarmed at the consummation of it, that it was doubtless expected that she would accept placidly the news that he was put out of the way. To sweeten the information still further, and remove all possible unpleasantness, Mary Stuart empowered Melville to say that she was now prepared to yield on the great point which she had so long contested, to ratify the disputed clause in the Treaty of Leith, and abandon her pretensions to Elizabeth's crown.1

In France also there were special matters Feb. 16-24. to be arranged with convenient speed. More than once already Mary Stuart had experienced the inconvenience of the unprotected condition in which she Quant aux trois choses qui | traicté qui 6 ou 7 ans passées en m'ont estée communiquez par Mel- estoit faict, vous promettant que je ville, j'entends par toutes ces in- la demandois aultant pour vostre structions que continuez en grande bien que pour quelque proffit qui envie de me satisfaire, et qu'il vous m'en resouldra.'-Elizabeth to the contentera d'octroyer la requeste que Queen of Scots, February 24, 1567: my lord Bedford vous faict en mon MSS. Scotland, Rolls House. nom pour la ratification de vostre

lived at Holyrood. The sovereign, though feudal head of the military force of the kingdom, yet commanded the services of the lieges only through the noblemen to whom they owed their first obedience; and while the Earl of Argyle had but to raise his finger and 5000 breechless followers would be ready at the moment to follow him through life and death, the sovereign, if the nobles held aloof, commanded but the scanty services of the scattered vassals of the Crown lands. The present prospects of the Court were at least precarious. She felt that neither she herself nor Bothwell would be the worse for the presence of a foreign guard undistracted by the passions of Scottish factions. She had therefore already begun the arrangements for the enrolment of a company of French harquebuss-men. Her French dowry would pay for them. They could be called the Prince's Guard, and Bothwell could command them. The times were growing more urgent, and she wrote a second letter from Seton House to the Archbishop of Glasgow, desiring him to ask at once for the unpaid arrears which were owing to her; to accept no refusal; if he could not get the whole, to take as much as the Court would give; and she would then send over some one to enlist men for her service.1

1 'And for the company of men- | company's payment cannot be grantat-arms, we pray you use even the like diligence to have the matter brought to pass in favour of the Prince our son, as we mentioned in our other letters sent you for that purpose; and although the whole

ed, leave not off but take that which shall be offered. The captain must be our son; for the lieutenant there is none in that country (France) whom we can be content to place in that room. Upon your advertise