Master Randolph, agent for the Queen of England, was then, and for some time after, in no small conceit with our Queen; for his mistress' sake, she drank to him in a cup of gold, which he possessed with greater joy for the favour of the giver, than for the gift and its value; and yet it was honourable. The things that then were in handling betwixt the two Queens—Lethington, Secretary Cecil, and Master Randolph being ministers—were of great weight, as we will afterwards hear.
Disorderly Conduct of Earl Bothwell and others.
This winter, the Earl Bothwell, the Marquis D'Elbœuf, and Lord John of Coldingham, played riot in Edinburgh, misordered the whole town, broke Cuthbert Ramsay's gates and doors, and searched his house for his good-daughter,[196] Alison Craik. This was done in despite of the Earl of Arran, whose mistress the said Alison was suspected to have been. The horror of this fact, and the rarity of it, highly commoved all godly hearts. The Assembly and the nobility were in the town for the most part; and they concluded to crave justice by supplication. This they did....
This supplication was presented by divers gentlemen. At first the flatterers of the Court stormed, and asked, "Who durst avow it?" The Master, now Lord Lyndsay, answered, "A thousand gentlemen within Edinburgh." Others were ashamed to oppose themselves to the supplication in public; but they suborned the Queen to give a gentle answer until such time as the Convention was dissolved. This she did; for she lacks no craft, both to cloak and to maintain impiety. She alleged that her uncle was a stranger and had a young company; but that she should put such order to him, and unto all others, that thereafter they should have no occasion to complain....
But punishment of that enormity and fearful attempt we could get none: more and more they presumed to do violence, and frequented nightly masking. Some, as Robin Craig's household, because his daughter was fair, delighted therein; others lamented, and began to bear the matter very heavily. At length, the Lord Duke's friends assembled one night upon the causeway. The Abbot of Kilwinning (who then was joined to the Church, and, as we understand, doth yet abide so) was the principal man at the beginning. To him repaired many faithful; and amongst others came Andrew Stewart, Lord Ochiltree, a man rather born to make peace than to brag upon the causeway, and demanded the quarrel. Being informed of the former enormity, he said, "Nay, such impiety shall not be suffered so long as God shall assist us. By His grace, we will maintain the victory that God in His mercy hath given." So he commanded his son, Andrew Stewart, then Master, and his servants to put themselves in order, and to bring forth their spears and long weapons; and thus did others.
Word came to the Earl Bothwell and his party that the Hamiltons were upon the gait.[197] Vows were made that the Hamiltons should be dung not only out of the town, but also out of the country. Lord John of Coldingham had married the Earl Bothwell's sister, a sufficient woman for such a man; others drew the Lord Robert; and so they both joined with the Earl Bothwell. But the stoutness of the Marquis Le Bœuf, D'Elbœuf they call him, is most to be commended; for in his chamber, within the Abbey, he started to a halbert, and ten men were scarcely able to hold him; but, as hap was, the inner gate of the Abbey kept him that night. The danger was betwixt the Cross and the Salt Tron; and so he was a large quarter of a mile from the shot and slanting[198] of bolts. The Master of Maxwell gave declaration to the Earl Bothwell that, if he stirred from his lodging, he, and all that would assist him, should resist him in the face: these words did somewhat beat down that blast. The Earls of Huntly and Moray,[199] being in the Abbey where the Marquis was, came with their companies, sent from the Queen to stay that tumult. This they did; for Bothwell and his party were commanded to keep their lodgings, under pain of treason.
Plots against the Earl of Moray.
It was whispered by many that the desire for a quarrel with the Earl of Moray was as strong as was any hatred that the Hamiltons bore against the Earl Bothwell, or he against them. Indeed, either had the Duke very false servants, or else the Earl of Moray's death was conspired oftener than once by Huntly and the Hamiltons. Suspicion of this burst forth so far that one day the said Earl, being upon horse to come to the sermon, was charged by one of the Duke's own servants to return and abide with the Queen.
Earl Bothwell speaks with John Knox.
The Earl Bothwell, by means of James Barron, burgess[200] and merchant of Edinburgh, desired to speak with John Knox secretly. The said John gladly granted this request, and spake with him one night, first in the said James's lodging, and thereafter in his own study. The said Earl lamented his former inordinate life, and especially that he had been provoked by the enticements of the Queen Regent to do that which he sorely repented, as well as his conduct towards the Laird of Ormiston, whose blood had been spilt, albeit not by his fault. But his chief dolour was that he had misbehaved himself against the Earl of Arran, whose favours he was most willing to redeem, if it were possible that he might do so. He desired the said John to give him his best counsel. "For," said he, "if I might have my Lord of Arran's favours, I would wait upon the Court with a page and few servants, to spare my expenses. At present I am compelled, for my own safety, to keep a number of wicked and unprofitable men, to the utter destruction of what of my living there is left."