at Tutbury give this.”
It was not till just the close of 1568 that Shrewsbury was certain of his new duty and in a position to write that triumphant postscript. Within a month, in the beginning of the New Year, he had taken over from Sir Francis Knollys the task which was to prove so engrossing, stupendous, so provocative of every imaginable complication, official and domestic.
Imagine the excitement of my Lady at such a juncture! She knew the Scottish Queen only by hearsay, and her curiosity must have been kept at boiling pitch while her heart swelled with importance in the anticipation of the additional chatelaine’s duties thrust upon her by the august guest. She had known what it was to deal with a princess in captivity, for she had been acquainted with Elizabeth before her accession. The present matter was far more vital, more portentous. The Queen who rode wearily from Bolton Castle to Sheffield and thence to Tutbury must be humoured as Queen, served as queens are served, but a network of rules were being prepared, not only for her own retinue and the household, but for earl and lady.
The Earl, foreseeing all such domestic complications, had asked the Council for directions as to the treatment of his prisoner. “Remembrances for my L. of Shrewsbury” stands at the head of notes, in his handwriting, all duly numbered. Of these No. 5 reads, “For my wife’s access unto her, if she send for her.”
To this the reply in Cecil’s handwriting is, “The Queen of Scots may see the Countess, if she is sick, or for any other necessary cause, but rarely. No other gentlewoman must be allowed access to her.” The remainder of the rules are strict enough, and the pleasant country-house picture drawn by the French Ambassador, De la Forest, in the letter quoted, is rudely effaced by these details. Shrewsbury is to be well fortified by an array of facts against the Scottish Queen, lest her pleading should win his sympathies and her captive condition arouse his indignation too deeply. How the regulations at every turn reveal Elizabeth of England—at once autocratic and apprehensive of her own importance, at once trustful and suspicious! The document is so vital a part of the household appanage of the Shrewsburys from this moment until the close of their wardership that it is worth quoting in the concise form in which, partly in the original and partly as abstract, it is given in Leader’s admirable Mary Queen of Scots in Captivity.
“A memorial of certain thinges imparted by the Q. Matie to the erle of Shrewsbery, for the causes following. Gyven at Hampton Courte, the xxvjth day of January 1568, the xjth year of her Mates reign. The Q. has chosen him in consequence of his approved loyalty and faithfulness, and the ancient state and blood from which he is descended, to have the custody of the Queen of Scots.
“The Earl is to treat her, being a Queen, of the Queen Elizabeth’s blood, with the reverence and honour meet for a person of his state and calling and for her degree. He must ask Lord Scrope and the Vice Chamberlain [Knollys] about the ceremonies used by them towards her, that ‘she may not find herself to be in the usage of herself abused, nor by this removing to have her State amended.’
“Whatever honour he gives her he must take care that by no pretence she finds any means to gain any rule over him to practise for her escape. She must have no opportunity either to escape nor yet to practise with anyone to help her to escape. He doubtless knows how important it is to the Queen’s honour and reputation and quietness that Mary does not depart without the Queen’s assent. No persons must be in conference with her except those already placed about her as her ordinary servants, and those who have special licence from the Queen. The latter for no longer time than is mentioned in the licence.
“If any persons coming to visit the Earl or anyone in his household, proffer to come to her presence, or to have conference with any belonging to her, or if she invites them to come to her presence in the house or abroad, under colour of hunting, or other pastime, he shall warn them to forbear, and if needful use his authority to make them desist, and send their names to the Queen.
“Persons coming out of Scotland to see her, if of degrees above that of servants, or if noted to be busy men and practicers, must be remitted to the Queen for licence. If they are mean servants or persons coming only to have relief of her, he shall not be so straight towards them as to give her occasion to say she is kept a prisoner, and yet he must understand their errands and not suffer them to abide where she shall be, or to hover about the country.