Letter from Mr. Archibald Douglas to the Queen of Scots.
Robertson's History of Scotland, App. XIV., from Harl. Lib. xxxvii. bk. ix. fol. 126.
... It may please your Majesty to remember in the year of God 1566, the said Earl of Morton, with divers other nobility and gentry, were declared rebels to your Majesty.... True it is that I was one of that number, that heavily offended against your Majesty, and passed into France the time of our banishment, at the desire of the rest, to humbly pray your brother the most Christian King, to intercede that our offences might be pardoned.—Your Majesty's mind so inclined to mercy, that, within short space thereafter, I was permitted to repair into Scotland, to deal with Earls Murray, Atholl, Bothwell, Argyll, and Secretary Lethington, in the name and behalf of the said Earl Morton, Lords Ruthven, Lindsay, and remanent accomplices.... At my coming to them ... they declared that the marriage betwix you and your husband had been the occasion already of great evil in that realm ... they had thought it convenient to join themselves in league and band with some other noblemen resolved to obey your Majesty as their natural sovereign, and have nothing to do with your husband's command whatsoever; if the said earl would for himself enter into that band, they could be content to humbly request and travel by all means with your Majesty for his pardon.... They desired that I should return sufficiently instructed in this matter to Stirling, before the baptism of your son, whom God might preserve. This message was faithfully delivered by me at Newcastle in England, where the said earl then remained, in presence of his friends and company, where they all condescended to have no further dealing with your husband, and to enter into the said band. With this deliberation, I returned to Stirling, where ... your Majesty's gracious pardon was granted unto them all.... Immediately after, the said Earl of Morton repaired to Whittinghame, where the Earl Bothwell and Secretary Lethington came to him; what speech passed there amongst them, as God shall be my judge, I knew nothing at that time; but at their departure I was requested by the said Earl Morton to accompany the Earl Bothwell and Secretary to Edinburgh, and to return with such answer as they should obtain of your Majesty, which being given to me by the said persons, as God shall be my judge, was no other than these words, "Show to the Earl Morton that the Queen will hear no speech of that matter appointed unto him." When I craved that the answer might be made more sensible, Secretary Lethington said, that the earl would sufficiently understand it, albeit few or none at that time understand what passed amongst them. It is known to all men, as well by the railing letters passed betwixt the said earl and Lethington, when they became in divers factions, as also a book set forth by the ministers, wherein they affirm that the earl has confessed to them, before his death, that the Earl Bothwell came to Whittinghame to propose the calling away of the King your husband, to the which proposition the said Earl of Morton affirms that he could give no answer unto such time he might know your Majesty's mind, which he never received....
SECTION VIII
THE END
CONTENTS
| [1.] | Connecting Note. |
| [2.] | Contemporary Verses on the Babington Conspiracy. |
| [3.] | Queen Mary's Letter to Queen Elizabeth on hearing the announcement of her sentence. |
| [4.] | Clauses from Queen Mary's Will. |
| [5.] | Appeal for Spiritual Faculties. |
| [6.] | "O Domine Deus, speravi in te." |
| [7.] | Contemporary Official Report of the Execution. |
Queen Mary's life, after the conclusion of the conference at Westminster, was occupied with plots and negotiations for her escape from captivity. The proposal for her marriage with the Duke of Norfolk was opposed both in Scotland and in England; and an insurrection was raised by the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, which was speedily suppressed (November, 1569). In January of the following year the Earl of Moray was assassinated at Linlithgow, and the Earl of Lennox, Darnley's father, succeeded him as Regent. Maitland of Lethington finally seceded from the "King's party," and allied himself with Kirkaldy of Grange, who held Edinburgh Castle for Mary. The Norfolk conspiracy continued to raise the expectations of the Marians till the capture, in the spring of 1571, of Charles Baillie, who was carrying letters from the papal agent, Rudolfi, for Queen Mary, Norfolk, the Spanish ambassador, and the Bishop of Ross. On the strength of Baillie's disclosures, Norfolk was put to death in June 1572. Elizabeth declined to gratify the English Parliament by executing her prisoner, but attempted to arrange for her delivery to the Earl of Morton, now Regent of Scotland, with a view to his accepting the responsibility for Mary's death. Morton broke off the negotiations as Elizabeth refused to give her open sanction to the deed. Edinburgh Castle surrendered in June 1573, and its fall, and the loss of Lethington and Grange, gave the death-blow to the hopes of the Queen of Scots. She maintained, however, a constant correspondence with Elizabeth and with Spain and Rome, clutching eagerly at any hope of release, however vague. In 1586 she became involved, to what extent is disputed, in what is known as the Babington Conspiracy, which had for its object the assassination of Elizabeth and her ministers, and the restoration of Catholicism throughout Great Britain. Walsingham received information as to the plot, and obtained possession of letters alleged to be written by Mary to Babington. The conspirators were put to death, and Mary was tried by a Commission of Peers in the end of 1586. The following verses, addressed to the conspirators, indicate the common feeling in England at the time. They are quoted from a poem by William Kempe, published in 1587, and entitled "A Dutiful Invective against the moste haynous Treasons of Ballard and Babington ... together with the horrible attempts and actions of the Queen of Scottes.... For a New Yeares gift to all loyall English subjects." The author of the verses is not Kemp the player, but a writer of some treatises on Education. Cf. "Dict. Nat. Biog."