Volume I Part 7 (1/2)

Mary, however, was by this time convinced of Elizabeth's want of sincerity, and formed, therefore, a matrimonial plan of her ohich, she flattered herself, would be considered judicious by all parties It will be recollected, that, during the troubles which ensued soon after Mary's birth, Matthew, Earl of Lennox, having drawn upon himself the suspicion, both of the Protestant and Catholic parties in Scotland, retired into England, where Henry VIII gave hilas was daughter of the eldest daughter of Henry VII, the Princess Margaret, who, upon the decease of her first husband Jae the Lady Margaret was the issue Lennox, belonging as he did to the house of Stuart, was himself related to the Royal Fa the children of Henry VIII, and the direct line of succession by her mother's first husband Jaal heir to the crown of England The first child of this e died in infancy The second, afterwards known as Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, was born in 1546, and was, consequently, about four years younger than Mary This disparity in point of years, though unfortunate in another point of vieas not such as to preclude the possibility of an alliance between two persons, in whose veins flowed so much of the blood of the Stuarts and the Tudors

Henry VIII had, along with his niece, bestowed upon Lennox English lands, from which he derived a yearly revenue of fifteen hundred marks His own estates in Scotland were forfeited, so that he thus calish than a Scottish subject He had long, however, nourished the secret hope of restoring his fortunes in his native land His wife, as a wo spirit, induced him, at an early period, to educate his son with a view to his aspiring to the hand of the Scottish Queen On the death of Francis II she went herself to Paris, for the purpose of ingratiating herself with Mary, and securing a favourable opinion for Darnley Mary, probably, gave her soht, at a future date, take her proposals into serious consideration; for it appears, by some papers still preserved in the British Museum, that few rejoiced more sincerely at the Queen's safe arrival in Scotland, than Lady Lennox She is said to have fallen on her knees, and, with uplifted hands, thanked God that the Scottish queen had escaped the English shi+ps For this piece of piety, and to show her the necessity of taking less interest in the affairs of Elizabeth's rival, Cecil sent Lady Lennox to prison for so the difficulties which stood in the way of all her other suitors, Mary, in the year 1564, began seriously to think of Darnley A e with hie, the rival clailish succession, failing issue by Elizabeth; and it would give to Scotland a native prince of the old royal line It was difficult to see what reasonable objections could be ht at all events have an opportunity of judging for herself, Mary granted the Earl of Lennox permission to return to Scotland, in 1564, after an exile of twenty years, and prohts Elizabeth, ell aware of the ultimate viehich this journey was undertaken, and had certainly no desire to forward their accomplishment, acity, she calculated that much discord and jealousy would arise, out of the Earl's suit, in favour of his son She knew that the House of Hamilton, whose clainised, looked upon the Lennox fahty nobility of Scotland would ill brook to see a stripling elevated above the heads of all of theland; and in the words of Robertson, ”she hoped by this pledge to keep the negotiation entirely in her own hands, and to play the saame of artifice and delay which she had planned out, if her recommendation of Leicester had been more favourably received”

In the Parliament which assembled towards the end of the year 1564, Lennox was restored to his estates and honours Such of his possessions as had passed into the hands of the Earl of Argyle, were surrendered with extre the e with Darnley, continued obstinate in his hatred The Earl of Murray too, aware that this new connection would be a fatal blow to his influence, set his face against it from the first Maitland, on the contrary, who felt that he had been hitherto kept too much under by the priret the decline of his ascendancy The Secretary, and most of the other members of the Privy Council, were assiduously courted by Lennox He made presents both to the Queen and them of valuable jewels; but to Murray, whose enht in the government, however, had not yet decreased, is apparent, froratify the Protestants, in the parlia of mass, except in the Queen's chapel, punishable with loss of goods, lands, and life: and the Archbishop of St Andrews having infringed this act, was imprisoned, in spite of Mary's intercession, for some months

Early in 1565, Darnley obtained leave from Elizabeth to set out for Scotland His ostensible purpose was to visit his father, and to see the estates to which he had been recently restored; but that his real object was to endeavour to win the good graces of Mary, was no secret

Elizabeth's wish being to involve Mary in a quarrel, as ith soland, there was much art in the plan she laid for its accoo into Scotland to recover his forfeited estates, and that his son should follow hiood fortune; she even went the length of reco them both to the especial favour of the Scottish Queen; but of course said not a word of any suspicions she entertained of the projected alliance As soon as it should appear that Mary's resolution was taken, she would affect the greatest indignation at the whole proceedings, and pretend that they had been cunningly devised and executed, hoping either to break off thebut a bed of roses Thus was the Scottish Queen to be systeratify the splenetic jealousy, and lull the selfish terrors, of her sister of England

Darnley, in the midst of a severe snow-storh Upon his arrival he found that Mary was at Wemyss Castle in Fife, whither, at his father's desire, he immediately proceeded The impression which it is said he made upon the Queen, at even his first interview, has beenprincipally to Robertson's account of this matter, acutely remarks, ”The Scottish historians would have us believe, that Mary fell desperately in love with Darnley at first sight; they would have us suppose, as sie of twenty-two,” (it should have been twenty-three), ”who knew the world, and had seen the -school Miss, who had never till now seen a man” Mary received Darnley frankly, and as one who accustomed to adlance It was not Mary's character to allow herself to be won before she ooed She was, no doubt, glad to perceive that Darnley was one of the handso men of the day She said playfully, that ”he was the lustiest and best proportioned long ood deal race of his person, the easy elegance of his carriage, the agreeable regularity of his features, and the anihted up, as it was, by a pair of dazzling eyes He excelled too in all the showy andnobility His riding and dancing were unrivalled; and to gratify Mary, he avohether real or affected, a great fondness for poetry and h stature, lang and small, even and brent up; well instructed from his youth in all honest and comely exercises”[83]

It was not, however, Darnley's exterior in which Mary and her subjects were principally interested The bent which nature and education had given to his mind and character, was a ard to his religious sentih his mother was a Catholic, he hiland[84] In Scotland, he saw the necessity of ingratiating himself with the Reforh, to hear Knox preach

But Darnley's greatin the school of experience, and in the very heat and fire of youth, he was raised to an e hiiddy, and made his inferiority theand violent teht, perhaps, have been tamed down by adversity, but which only ran into wilder waste in the sunshi+ne of prosperity He was passionately fond of poithout the ability to make a proper use of it It is not unlikely that, had he continued a subject for soht have divested himself of some of the follies of youth, and acquired a contempt for many of its vices But his honours cath of his character, never very great, was crushed under the load Conscious of his inability to cope with persons of talent, he sought to gather round hi to flatter him on account of his rank, or to join hi his ill-regulated liberality Of the duties of a courtier, he knew sonorant The polish of his ained hiave utterance to his hasty opinions and ill-grounded prejudices, speedily converted them into enemies He had only been a short time in Scotland, when he remarked to one of the Earl of Murray's brothers, who pointed out to him on the map the Earl's lands, ”that they were too extensive” Murray was told of this; and, perceiving what he had to expect when Darnley becaly Mary, whose affliction it was to have husbands far inferior to herself in uarded in future That he was somewhat violent and self-sufficient, she did not feel to be an insuperable objection, considering, as she did, the political advantages that ht accrue from the alliance She hoped that time would improve him; and besides, she did not yet know the full extent of his imperfections, as he had, of course, been anxious to show her only the fairer side of his character Melville speaks of hi prince, who failed rather for lack of good counsel than of evil will ”It appeared to be his destiny,” says he, ”to like better of flatterers and evil coood ood coht have produced worthy effects” Randolph himself allows, that for soreat promise of him” He had been about a month at Court before he ventured to propose hiave hi hi to accept of a ring, which he offered her[85] This was not like one who had fallen in love at first sight But the Queen invariably conducted herself with becoer re, his intentions

Darnley, thus finding that, though the ball was at his foot, the gae with his father's assistance, as powerful a party as possible to support his pretensions Sir James Melville was his friend, and spoke in his favour to Mary All the Lords who hated or feared Murray did the sa ere, the Earls of Athol and Caithness, and the Lords Ruthven and Huent than any of these, Darnley found in David Rizzio, who, as the Queen's French Secretary, and one whose abilities she respected, had a good deal of influence with her Rizzio knew that for this very reason he was hated by Murray, and others of the Privy Council He was, therefore, not ill pleased to find hiht after by her future husband, for he hoped thus to retain his place at Court, and perhaps to rise upon the ruin of some of those ished his downfal An accidental illness which overtook Darnley, when the Queen, with her Court, was at Stirling, about the beginning of April 1565, was another circumstance in his favour At first, his complaint was supposed to be a common cold, but in a few days it turned out to be the measles The natural anxiety which Mary felt for Darnley's recovery, induced her to exhibit a tenderer interest in him than she had ever done before She paid hi attentions, and continued thely attacked by an ague, almost immediately after his recovery fro, that while Mary was thus occupied in attending to Darnley, the Earl of Bothwell returned to Scotland from his involuntary banishotten, and he was suh; but not liking to trust hiain left the country for sixutterance to several violent threats against Murray and Maitland, and speaking so disrespectfully of the Queen, that Randolph says she declared to him, upon her honour, that he should never receive favour at her hands[87]

The Queen of Scots being now resolved to bestow her hand on Darnley, sent her Secretary, Maitland, to London, to intimate her intentions, and to request Elizabeth's approbation This was the very last thing Elizabeth ive The matter had now arrived exactly at the point to which she had all along wished to bring it She had prevailed upon Mary to abandon the idea of a foreign alliance; she had induced her to throay so the Earl of Leicester; she had consented, first that the Earl of Lennox, and then that his son Darnley, should go into Scotland; and she did not say a single syllable against it till she had allowed Mary to be persuaded, that no e in Christendom could be more prudent It was now that the cloven-foot was to betray itself; that her faction was to be called upon to exert itself in Scotland; that the cup was to be dashed from Darnley's lips; and that Mary was to be involved in the vortex of civil dissension

The historian Castelnau, whom Mary at this time sent as her ambassador to France, and who there obtained their Majesties' consent to the land, he found the Queenthat Mary had subtracted her relation and subject, and that she was intending to ainst her approbation ”And yet I am sure,” adds Castelnau, ”that these words were very far fro to set this s by halves She asseation of Cecil, they gave it as their unanie with my Lord Darnley appeared to be unmeet, unprofitable, and directly prejudicial to the sincere ae determination was founded, the Privy Council did not condescend to state It is not difficult, however, to do so for them, the more especially as an official paper is still preserved, drawn up by Cecil himself, in which the explanations he attempts serve to disclose more fully his own and his Queen's policy He did not think this e ”meet or profitable;” because, in the first place, it would have given great content to those ere anxious that Mary's succession to the English crown should not be set aside; and in the second place, because, by representing it as dangerous, a plausible pretence would be furnished to all Mary's ene the Queen of Scots Cecil proceeds to point out explicitly how the harassing system was to be carried on _First_, It was to be represented, that in France the houses of Guise and Lorraine, and all the other leading Catholics; and in Scotland, all who hated the Duke of Chatelherault and the Hamiltons, and Murray and the Reformers, and were devoted to the authority of Roe _Second_, It was to be spread abroad that the Devil would stir up some of the friends of Mary and Darnley, to alienate the minds of Elizabeth's subjects, and even to atten; and, under the pretext of preventing such evils, the ainst all suspected persons; and, _Third_, Tumults and rebellions in Scotland were to be fomented in all prudent and secret ways[90]

To report to Mary the decision of her Privy Council, Elizabeth sent Sir Nicolas Throck on the 15th of May 1565, and, in an audience which Mary gave hi and disallowance of what she was pleased to ter with nity and unanswerable argument, replied, that she was sorry Elizabeth disliked the match, but that, as to her ”disallowance,” she had never asked the English Queen's permission,--she had only communicated to her, as soon as she had made up her own mind, the person whom she had chosen She was not a little surprised, she added, at Elizabeth's opposition, since it had been expressly intilish resident, Randolph, that if she avoided a foreign alliance, ”she land or Scotland, without any exception”

Her choice had fallen upon Lord Darnley, both fro Elizabeth's kinslish and Scottish blood royal, she had ireeable to her Majesty and the realland

Convinced, by so decided an answer to his remonstrance, that Mary's resolution was fixed, Throckmorton wrote to Elizabeth, that she could not hope to stop the e, unless she had recourse to violence But Elizabeth had too much prudence to take up arate others to this ly, Throckents, received orders to deal with the Scottish malcontents, and especially the Earl of Murray, whom he was to assure of Elizabeth's support, should they proceed to extremities Murray was likewise invited to enter into a correspondence with Cecil, an invitation hich he willingly coive the whole affair as serious an air as possible, a fresh supply of troops was sent to the Earl of Bedford, Elizabeth's Lieutenant of the Borders; and her Wardens of the Marches were commanded to show nofrom any breach of peace The Earl of Northumberland, as attached to the Lennox family, was detained in London; and Lady Lennox herself, was committed to the Tower Lady Solish succession in opposition to Mary, was received very graciously at the Court of Westminster Means were used to induce Secretary Maitland to associate himself with Murray, and the other discontents; and, all this time, that no suspicion of such insiduous enht be entertained on the Continent, the good opinion of France and Spain was carefully courted

Elizabeth next wrote letters to Lennox and Darnley, coland without delay Randolph was desired to wait upon theot little satisfaction from either;--Lennox firmly, and Darnley contemptuously, refused to obey the mandate of recall Randolph then waited upon the Queen to ascertain her mind on the subject Mary felt keenly the contemptible jealousy and envy hich she was treated by Elizabeth; and received the English resident with greater reserve than she had ever done before, ”as a man new and first come into her presence that she had never seen” Randolph asked, if she would give Lennox and Darnley perland Mary smiled at the question, which was an artful one, and said,--”If I would give them leave, I doubt what they would do themselves; I see no will in them to return” Randolph answered with insolence, that they must either return, or do worse; for that, if they refused, and were supported by Mary in that refusal, the Queen his ed upon both them and her

The Queen of Scots e her mind, and so disrity of her purpose, Mary was not to be easily driven frolish court, to state onceany just cause of offence to Elizabeth, but at the sae and vexatious, any opposition to a e, to which there did not seem to be one plausible objection He was desired also to coiven to Mary's aunt, the Lady Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox But her chief anxieties arose from the state of matters nearer hoyle, and Glencairn, had now openly declared theton and Morton were suspected of giving it only a very doubtful support There was, in consequence, a great change at Mary's court They who had forether; and a new set of men, little accusto, Cassils, Montgomery, and others, came into favour It was now that Mary found Rizzio, as active, and well acquainted with all the details of public business, and was, besides, liked by Darnley, of the greatest use to her; and being deserted by her ladly availed herself of his services

CHAPTER XIII

MARY'S MARRIAGE WITH DARNLEY

Murray,his sche to the Earl and his associates, ”next unto God, is the Queen's Majesty, (Elizabeth,) who in the meantime to provide for theive theement She wrote letters to the heads of the party; means were taken to win over to their views the General assembly, which met in June 1565, the members of which, as Randolph says, were ”never more constant or more earnest;” and the nobles summoned by Mary to a convention at Perth, were all taave their consent and approbation to the proposed ed Randolph to inform his mistress, in the name of hirieved to see such extren; that they lamented the state of their country, which tended to utter ruin; and that they feared the nobility would be forced to asseether, so to provide for the state, that it should not utterly perish” In other words, they had made up their mind to rebellion; at all events, to prevent Darnley fro the crown, and an ascendancy over them,--and probably, if an opportunity should offer, to put Mary in confinement, and rule the country the which Elizabeth had long laboured to produce in Scotland ”Some that have already heard,” says Randolph, ”ofthe Countess of Lennox), ”like very well thereof, and wish both father and son to keep her company The question hath been asked me, whether, if they were delivered us into Berwick, ould receive them? I answered, that we could not nor would not refuse our own, in what sort soever they cay would be required for proceeding to these extreave out that a conspiracy had been formed to assassinate him at the Convention at Perth His story was, that there had been a quarrel between one of his own servants and another man, as supported by retainers of Athol and Lennox, and that it had been arranged that they should renew their dispute at Perth, and that he himself should be slain in the affray, which was expected to ensue But the evidence of a plot against him rests only upon Murray's own state athat heto cohness and to her Council, that his purgation in that behalf, was not so sufficient as the matter required;” and his excuse was not sustained[93]

The treasonable views entertained by Murray and his friends, are involved in no such doubt In these tiovernn; and all historians of credit agree in affir the experiment On Sunday, the first of July, 1565, the Queen was to ride with Darnley and a sston at Callander, the baptism of one of whose children she had promised to attend Murray knew that it would be necessary for her to pass, in the course of this journey, through several steep and wild passes, where she and her attendants ht easily be overpowered At what precise spot the attack was to be made, or whether that was not left to the chapter of accidents, does not appear Knox, as, of course, too staunch a Presbyterian directly to accuse the great lay-head of his church of so treasonable a design, says that the path of Dron (a rugged pass about three miles south of Perth), had been mentioned, whilst Sir James Melville and others, point out the Kirk of Beith, which stood on a solitary piece of ground, between Dumfermline and the Queensferry But late upon the previous Saturday night, a rumour reached Mary of the contemplated plot To prevent its execution, she ordered the Earl of Athol and Lord Ruthven, to collect ih their exertions, she left Perth nextat five, accompanied by three hundred horseyle at Castle Cahbourhood of the Queensferry, and Lord Rothes, who had joined in the conspiracy, at a place called the Parrot Well, not far distant The Queen, however, to their great disappointround on which they intended to intercept her, both uarded than they had anticipated, they were obliged to reyle did not coh Kinross[94]

On Mary's return to Edinburgh she found that an atteh the conjoined influence of Knox and Murray, to stir up to sedition sooted Presbyterians--on the plea that Darnley favoured Popery Two or three hundred of the malcontents, or _brethren_, as Knox calls them, asseht have led to disagreeable consequences, had not Mary arrived just in time to disperse and overawe thereater distance, held so at Stirling on the 17th of July, openly raised the standard of rebellion But, aht upon her side, remained undaunted, and, at no period of her life, did her strength of mind appear more conspicuous To retain that confidence, which she knew the great majority of her subjects still placed in her, she issued procla her determination to abstain, as she had hitherto done, froion; she wrote, with her own hand, letters to rity of her intentions; and, she sent requisitions to all upon who on them to collect their followers, and come armed to her assistance