[739] The marriage of Lord James Stewart with Agnes Keith, daughter of William Earl of Marischel, was celebrated on the 8th of February 1561-2, in the Church of St. Giles, Edinburgh, "with sik solemnitie as the lyk hes not bene sein befoir; the haill Nobilitie of this Realme being thair present, and convoyit thame doun to the Abbay of Halyrudhous, quhair the banket wes maid, and the Quenis Grace thairat." (Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 70) The same authority mentions the rejoicings on that occasion, and that the Queen conferred the honour of Knighthood on Wishart of Pittarrow, Lermonth of Dairsy, Kirkaldy of Grange, Stewart of Traquair, Murray of Balvaird, and five others.
[740] That is, John Knox.
[741] "At this notable marriage, (says Randolph to Cecil,) one thing there was which I must testify with my own hand, which is, that upon Shrove Tuesday, at night, sitting among the Lords at supper, in sight of the Queen, and placed for that purpose, she drank unto the Queen's Majesty (Elizabeth,) and sent me the cup of gold, which weighed eighteen or twenty ounces." (Letter, 12th February 1561-2, quoted by Mr Tytler, vol. vi. p. 258.)
[742] Randolph, in a letter to Cecil, dated 27th December 1561, has given a somewhat similar account of this riot or "disorder which was of late in this town." The letter is printed in Keith's History, vol. ii. p. 128.
[743] In June 1571, Cuthbert Ramsay was elected one of the Magistrates of Edinburgh. He joined the Queen's adherents in defending the Castle, under Sir William Kirkaldy of Grange, in 1573; and on the 3d of June, when the Castle was surrendered, Ramsay was one of the prisoners who were conducted by the English forces to Leith; but he appears to have escaped the ignominious fate awarded by Queen Elizabeth to the gallant chief, and his brother Mr. James Kirkcaldy, who were hanged for treason on the 3d of August 1573.
[744] It would appear that a General Assembly or Convention was sitting at Edinburgh, towards the end of December 1561, when this occurence took place; and it was resolved to present the Supplication to the Queen:
"The whilk day, tuiching the slander takin be the horrible fact and impietie committed within this burgh under silence of night, be Marques Dalbuiff and his colleagues, in breaking up of Cuthbert Ramsay his zets and doores, and searching and seiking his dochter-in-law to oppresse her, as appeirit; it is thought good be the haill Kirk, that a Supplicatioun be made and given in to the Quenis Majestie, in the name of the Professors of the Evangell, and the personis before nominat present the samein, to seik the answer thairof." (Booke of the Universal Kirk, vol. i. p. 11.)
[745] In the Book of the Kirk, "gudlie provydit."
[746] In the Book of the Kirk, "laid asyde."
[747] The Cardinal Charles de Lorraine, Archbishop and Duke of Rheims, was the second son of Claude Duke de Guise. He was born 17th February 1524. He obtained the See of Rheims in 1538, and was consecrated in 1545, when twenty-one years of age. We need not refer to Protestant writers for his character, or to the work entitled the Legend of his Life, as it is admitted that to avarice and inordinate pride, he joined cruelty, want of faith, and licentiousness. Brantome admits that the Cardinal was no ornament to the Church, when he says, "qui, quoique mauvais Chrétien, etait, pour le temps, tres-bon Catholique." He died 24th December 1574, aged 49.