And to be schort, excuse yourself, and perswade thame the maist ye can, yat ye ar constranit to mak persute aganis zour enemies. Ze sall say aneuch, gif the mater or ground do lyke yow, and mony fair wordis to Lethingtoun. Gif ye lyke not the deid, send me word, and leif not the blame of all unto me.
[Of this letter there is no version in the Record Office, the only other version being the published French translation].
Letter VIII.
My Lord, sen my letter written, zour brother in law yat was, come to me verray sad, and hes askit me my counsel, quhat he suld do efter to morne, becaus thair be mony folkis heir, and among utheris the Erle of Sudderland, quha wald rather die, considdering the gude thay have sa laitlie ressavit of me, than suffer me to be caryit away, thay conducting me; and that he feirit thair suld sum troubil happin of it: of the uther syde, that it suld be said that he wer unthankfull to have betrayit me. I tald him, that he suld have resolvit with zow upon all that, and that he suld avoyde, gif he culd, thay that were maist mistraistit.
He has resolvit to wryte thairof to zow be my opinioun; for he has abaschit me to se him sa unresolvit at the neid. I assure myself he will play the part of an honest man. Bot I have thocht gude to advertise zow of the feir he hes yat he suld be charget and accusit of tressoun to ye end yat, without mistraisting him, ze may be the mair circumspect, and that ze may have ye mair power. For we had zisterday mair then iii. c. hors of his and of Levingstoun's. For the honour of God, be accompanyit rather with mair then les; for that is the principal of my cair.
I go to wryte my dispatche, and pray God to send us ane happy enterview schortly. I wryte in haist, to the end ye may be advysit in tyme.
[There are no important variants in the only other version of this letter—the published French translation.]
The following are the French versions of the first sentence of each letter, printed in the Scots translation, published in London in 1572 (p. 163).
Letter I. Il semble qu' avecques vostre abscence soit joynt le oubly, [74]ceu qu'au partir vous me promistes de vos nouvelles. Et toutes foys je n'en puis apprendre, &c.
Letter II. Estant party du lieu ou je avois laissé mon cœur il se peult aysément juger quelle estoit ma contenance, veu ce qui peult un corps sans cœur, qui à esté cause que jusques à la Disnée je n'ay pas tenu grand propos, aussi personne ne s'est voulu advancer jugeant bien qu'il n'y faisoit bon, &c.
Letter III. Monsieur, si l'ennury de vostre absence, celuy de vostre oubly, la crainte du danger, tant provué[75] d'un chacun à vostre tant aymée personne, &c.
Letter IV. J'ay veillé plus tard la haut que je n'eusse fait, si ce n'eust esté pour tirer ce que ce porteur vous dira, que je trouve la plus belle commodité pour excuser vostre affaire qui ce purroit présenter, &c.
Letter V. Mon cœur, helas! fault il que la follie d'une femme, dont vous cognoissez assez l'ingratitude vers moy, soit cause de vous donner desplaisir, &c.
Letter VI. Monsieur, helas! pourquoy est vostre fiance mise en personne si indigne, pour soupconner ce qui est entierement vostre. J'enrage, vous m'aviez promis, &c.
Letter VII. Du lieu et l'heure[76] je m'en rapporte à vostre frere et à vous. Je le suivray, et ne fauldray en rien de ma part. Il trouve beaucoup de difficultez, &c.
Letter VIII. Monsieur, de puis ma lettre escrite vostre beau frere qui fust, est venu à moy fort triste, et m'a demandé mon conseil de ce qu'il feroit apres demain, &c.
The slight variations in the other French versions are noted above. There are no Record Office or Hatfield versions of I., II., VII., and VIII., and there is no "Published French" version of III.
The Love Sonnets.
Henderson's Casket Letters.
The "divers fond ballads" referred to in the letter of Elizabeth's Commissioners of October 11th, 1568, consist of the following "sonnets" in French.
The sonnets are printed from the English edition of Buchanan's Detection (1571). The lines in italics are translated from the Scots by Professor York Powell.