Volume I Part 9 (2/2)
Shortly after her husband's departure froh, the Queen, attended by her officers of state, set out upon a progress towards the Borders, with the view, in particular, of holding justice-courts at Jedburgh The southern marches of Scotland were alement which the secret practices, first of Murray and afterwards of Morton, both aided by Elizabeth, had given to the turbulent spirit of the Borderers, called loudly for the interference of the law Mary had intended to hold assizes in Liddisdale in August, but on account of the harvest, postponed leaving Edinburgh till October On the 6th or 7th of that month, she sent forward Bothwell, her Lieutenant, to make the necessary preparations for her arrival, and on the 8th, the Queen and her Court set out,--the noble been summoned to meet her with their retainers at Melrose On the 10th she arrived at Jedburgh There, or it reeable news, that on the very day she left Edinburgh, her Lieutenant's authority had been insulted by so his Castle of Herh, he had been severely and dangerously wounded Different historians assign different reasons for the attack ht over the tribe of Elliots, to revenge his present disgrace upon one whoreater probability, assert, that it was only a riot occasioned by thieves, whose lawless proceedings Bothished to punish But whichever statement be correct, the report of what had actually taken place was, as usual, a good deal exaggerated when it reached Mary Being engaged, however, with public business at Jedburgh, she was prevented, for several days, fro that she had leisure on the 16th of theinformed that her Lieutenant was still confined with his wounds, she paid hi across the country with some attendants, both to inquire into the state of his health, and to learn to what extent her authority had been insulted in his person She reh the sa[160]
The above simple statement of facts, so natural in themselves, and so completely authenticated, acquires additional interest when compared with the common version of this story which Buchanan and his follower Robertson have contrived to render prevalent ”When the news that Bothas in great danger of his life,” says Buchanan, ”was brought to the Queen _at Borthwick_, though the _winter_ was very sharp, she _flew in haste_, first to Melrose, then to Jedburgh There, though she received certain intelligence that Bothas alive, yet, being ih in such a bad ti the difficulty of the way, and the danger of robbers, she put herself on her journey with such attendants as hardly any honest h he was but of a mean condition, would trust his life and fortune to Frohty diligent in ht thither”[161] The whole of this is a tissue of wilful misrepresentation
No one, unacquainted with Buchanan's character, would read the state that Mary proceeded direct fro an hour by the way Now, if Mary heard of Bothwell's accident at Borthwick (which is scarcely possible), it must have been, at the latest, on the 9th of October, orof the 8th; but, so far fro in a hurry in consequence, it appears, by the Privy Council Register, that she did not reach Jedburgh till the 10th, and, by the Privy Seal Register, that she did not visit Here Castle till the 16th of the month[162] Had she really ridden froh in one day, she would have performed a journey of nearly seventy h she had wished it As to her ereat preparations for Bothwell's being brought thither,” she certainly ood use of her ti of the 16th, and next day she was taken dangerously ill The ate falsehood concerning Mary, are sufficiently known; but, being known, Robertson ought to have been well convinced of the truth of his allegations before he drew inferences upon such authority But the Doctor had laid down the principle, that he was to judge of Mary's love for Bothwell by its _effects_; and it became, therefore, convenient for hie Castle was one of those effects ”Mary _instantly_ flew thither,” he says, ”with an ily nity of a queen”
Now, ”instantly,” must mean, that she allowed at all events six, and probably seven days to elapse; and that, too, after being inforer one of the most powerful and best affectioned of her nobility had incurred in her behalf Robertson e, that she staid only an hour or two at the Castle ”Upon her finding Bothwell slightly wounded,” says Tytler, ”was it love that ht to Jedburgh, by the saree possessed her heart, it must have supplied her with ht in her lover's co herself to the inconveniences of an uncoht air at that season” If Mary had been blaree of callousness and indifference, there would have been almost more justice in the censure With honest warh at Robertson's false dates and frothy declamation”[163]
On the 17th of October, Mary was seized with a severe and dangerous fever, and for ten days her life was esteeer; indeed, it was at one tih, that she was dead The fever was acco or convulsion-fits, of an unusual and alar description They frequently lasted for three or four hours; and during their continuance, she was, to all appearance, lifeless Her body was motionless; her eyes closed; herout of these, she suffered thecollapsed, and her lith so an to despair of recovery She suether the noblemen ith her, in particular Murray, Huntly, Rothes, and Bothwell, and gave the advice and instructions Bothas not at Jedburgh when the Queen was taken ill, nor did he show any greater haste to proceed thither when he heard of her sickness than she had done to visit hie Castle[164] After requesting her council to pray for her, and professing her willingness to submit to the will of Heaven, Mary recommended her son to their especial care She entreated that they would give every attention to his education, suffering none to approach hiht pervert hishily advised the saion, which she had practised; and she concluded, by requesting that suitable provision should be made for the servants of her household, to whom Mary was scrupulously attentive, and by all of whom she was much beloved Fortunately however, after an opportunity had been thus afforded her of evincing her strength of ness to meet death, the violence of her disease abated, and her youth and good constitution triumphed over the attack
Darnley, ith his father at Glasgow, probably did not hear of the Queen's illness till one or two days after its commencement; but as soon as he was oing to see her Here again, we discover the marked distinction that characterized Darnley's conduct towards his wife and towards her nobility
With Mary herself he had no quarrel; and though his love for her was not so strong and pure as it should have been, and was easily forgotten when it stood in the way of his own selfish wishes, he never lost any opportunity of evincing his desire to continue on a friendly footing with her When he last parted from her at Holyrood, he had said that she should not see his by her unexpected illness, he cah, on the 28th of October The Queen was, by this ti still uncertain, Darnley's arrival was far froreeable to her ministers Should Mary die, one or other of theent, an office to which they knew that Darnley, as father to the young prince, had strong claims It was their interest, therefore, to sow dissension in every possible way, between the Queen and her husband; and they tre affection they entertained for each other, ain rekindled into a more ardent flame Mary, when cool and dispassionate, they knew they could e easily; but Mary, when in love, chose, like most other women, to have her oay They received Darnley, on the present occasion, so forbiddingly, and gave hiht with Mary, he was glad again to take his departure, and leave her to carry on the business of the state, surrounded by those designing and factiousthe web of her ruin
On the 9th of Noveh, and went to Kelso, where she remained two days She proceeded thence to Berwick, attended by not fewer than 800 knights and gentlemen on horseback From Berwick, she rode to Dunbar; and fromillar, where she arrived on the 20th of Nove which time an occurrence of importance took place
END OF VOLUME FIRST
PRINTED BY J HUTCHISON, FOR THE HEIRS OF D WILLISON
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Polydore, lib 26 quoted by Leslie--”Defence of Mary's Honour,”
Preface, p xiv--Apud Anderson, vol I
[2] Knox seems not only to justify the assassination of Cardinal Beaton, but to hint that it would have been proper to have disposed of his successor in the same way ”These,” says he, ”_are the works of our God_, whereby he would admonish the tyrants of this earth, that, in the end, he will be revenged of their cruelty, what strength soever they make in the contrary But such is the blindness of man, as David speaks, that the posterity does ever follow the footsteps of their wicked fathers, and principally in their impiety: For how little differs the cruelty of that bastard, that yet is called Bishop of St Andrews, from the cruelty of the former, ill after hear”--Knox's Hist of the Reforments of Scottish History”
[4] Keith, p 68--Knox's History, p 94-6
[5] M'Crie's Life of Knox, vol i p 222
[6] M'Crie's Life of Knox, vol ii p 206
[7] The Biographer of Knox goes perhaps a little too far, when he proposes to alleviate the sorrow felt for the loss of these architecturalthe antiquarian that _Ruins_ inspire more lively sentiments of the sublime and beautiful than enuity, but not of sound reasoning It is rather a curious doctrine, that a Cathedral or Monastery does not look best with all its walls standing--M'Crie's Life of Knox, vol I p 271
[8] It is worth while observing hat a total want of all Christian charity Knox speaks of the death of Mary of Guise Alluding to her burial, he says:--”The question was ainstood that any superstitious rites should be used within that reale; and so was she clapped in a coffin of lead, and kept in the Castle from the 9th of June until the 19th of October, when she, by Pinyours, was carried to a shi+p, and so carried to France What poard; but in it we see that she, that delighted that others lay without burial, got it neither so soon as she herself (if she had been of the counsel in her life) would have required it, neither yet so honourable in this realm as sometimes she looked for It may perchance be a pronosticon, that the Guisean blood cannot have any rest within this realan her belly and loathsos to swell, and so continued till that God did execute his judgain--”God, for his mercy's sake, rid us of the rest of the Guisean blood Amen” As Keith remarks, it was not by this spirit that the Apostles converted the world--Keith, p 129
[9] M'Crie's Life of Knox, Vol 1 p 323
[10] By the kindness of Mr Brown of Glasgow, the ingenious delineator of the Royal Palaces of Scotland, we are enabled to give, as the vignette to the present Volu theof the very rooeon the first floor, iht of birds
[11] Sadler's State Papers and Letters, vol i p 263