"There is no one in this country but you who holds this opinion," replied the Queen, "or who does not know that I came to this country in a simple fishing-boat, which was to take me no farther than I wished. I came against the judgment of the nobles who were with me, of whom some are still alive. They dissuaded me from coming, saying I was putting myself in the hands of the enemies of my country and my own, from whom I should never escape, as they would put me to death; and they would not accompany me until I gave them an attestation and certificate in my handwriting that it was against their wish, and in spite of them, that I came to England. You show yourself very ignorant of my affairs, as you have shown in other conversations. When I was at Lochleven Queen Elizabeth said, and wrote, that she would employ all her friends to deliver me from prison and subdue my enemies. If she did not wish to keep her promise to me, who came to her trusting in it, she should have sent me away, and not have detained me (against) her promise."
Sir Amyas, nothing daunted, continued to boast of the kindness shown by his mistress in her treatment of Mary, and then he and Sir Drue Drury, addressing themselves this time to Melville, who was also present, united in praising Morton, after which they proceeded to declare that the King of Scotland had great cause to respect the Queen of England, and that she had been a good mother to him; that it was not the English who had withdrawn him from his mother's friendship, but he himself who would not enter into any league in which she took part. The English dealt with him as King of Scotland, they said, who was recognised as such in England and in all foreign countries, and had been publicly acknowledged in full Parliament in England and Scotland.
"You have no feelings of honour," said the Queen, "if you praise so wicked a man as the Earl of Morton, who is held to be a tyrant and an usurper, who pillages and destroys all the possessions of the poor Scottish subjects, holds my son a prisoner, is a false traitor, and given up to a life of debauchery and public wickedness." To this Melville added other facts of the kind, having known Morton.
"I marvel within myself," continued Mary, "how the Queen of England can consider herself a good mother to my son, having always kept him apart from me, and prevented his having friendship with me. You do wrong in following young Gray's advice, to treat with the son rather than with the mother, to whom the kingdom belongs, and not to him. Far from being King, I protested in Scotland that my resignation was forced from me; I permitted him to take the title of King on the condition that he should consult me on affairs of importance to the kingdom, that he should do nothing without me, otherwise I should not support him in anything. Foreign kings only recognised him on these conditions, which not being observed, I cannot acknowledge him as King, and I doubt me the Queen of England has said by her own mouth to her people, and even to the Ambassadors of France, and to Nau, that she had never acknowledged him as King, nor had yet given him the title."
All these matters had already been discussed at the trial. "The Queen," said Bourgoing, "took occasion to say that they repeated these things on purpose to displease her more, and to attempt to extract something from her, as it may be supposed from the fact that Sir Amyas could not bear what Her Majesty had said concerning certain members of the council who were hostile to her, she said, and did all they could against her, and this she would say of some of them she could name till death, whom she would nevertheless pardon with all her heart."
"You do ill in this," replied Paulet, "as you should die in charity; there is no one of the council who wishes to do you evil against his conscience. You go against God in retaining such an opinion of them."
"I do not feel my conscience charged by this," said Mary, "nor have I offended God, who does not forbid one to die in an opinion of which one is sure, nor to speak in dying of that of which one has a perfect knowledge; although most surely He commands us to forgive, which I do, as I have already said, but I do not at present feel drawn to flatter, and will flatter no one, not striving to escape from their hands by this means. Being resolved to die, and preparing for this, I do not intend to purchase my life, or purchase any grace, by flattery. I do not give any, and I do not ask for any, do with me what you wish. What I ask of the Queen has nothing to do with my deliverance, but only concerns my religion, and for the discharge of my conscience, being on the point of putting my affairs in order touching my will, my servants, and my funeral."[77]
On the day following this interview Paulet wrote the following confidential letter to Davison, in which he states very plainly his reasons for delaying to send Mary's letter to Queen Elizabeth:—
We were not a little perplexed with this motion of writing, and, indeed, did forbear to deliver our answer until we had considered of the matter privately between ourselves, wherein, as we feared greatly to give any the least cause of delay of the due examination [execution] of the long-desired justice, so, having received lately Her Majesty's express commandment to make offer to this lady to convey her letters if she were disposed to write, although she did not accept thereof at that time, yet, doubting lest our refusal to yield unto it at this present might be offensive to Her Highness, and perchance breed some slander to the cause, we condescended to her desire, beseeching God so to direct the sequel thereof as the same may redound to His glory and Her Majesty's safety, whereof there were no doubt, if we were as willing to take the advantage of great and urgent occasions to further this expected sacrifice, acceptable to God and man, as we are easily diverted from it upon every similar suggestion. All good and faithful subjects will be always careful of Her Majesty's safety, but specially in the time of Christmas now at hand, which giveth occasion to many dangerous assemblies. We are content to be found faulty of this pardonable jealousy. Being not able to do any good in this service, we should be very sorry, and should think ourselves more than unhappy if anything should come from us that might do hurt. And, therefore, to be plain with you as with our very friend, we have used all convenient means to delay the receiving of this, to the end it might arrive at the court too late to stay any action touching this lady that might be intended before Christmas, being strongly persuaded that the delay of the execution until after Christmas will give great cause to suspect an everlasting delay, either through Her Majesty's too great inclination to mercy, or by reason of the danger of her person in the Christmas, a time subject to dangerous assemblies. And thus, etc.