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HISTORY OF ENGLAND
THE FALL OF WOLSEY
TO THE DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA.
VOLUME VII.
ELIZABETH.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
fa/\^a//'o
I ,-••-' '•" •- ••(Mw&zt
THE FALL OF WOLSEY
TO
THE DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA.
JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE, M.A.
REGIUS PROl'ESSOR OF JIODLRN IIIS1ORY JN THE UNIVERSITY OK OXFORD.
VOLUME VII.
ELIZABETH.
€fcitixm.
LONDON :
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
1893.
3)5
V.7
RICHARD CLAY & SONS,
LONDON & BUNGAY.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME VIL
CHAPTER XLT.
THE ENGLISH AT HAVRE.
PAGE
Reform of the English Currency .. : :? • •• 2
Condition of England . . . . . . - . 9
Character of Cecil .. [••i;i •• •• 10
Social Disorganization . . . . . . . . 12
Opiate of the Clergy . . . . . . . . 14
Deans and Chapters . . . . . . . . 14
Ruinous condition of the Parish Churches . . . . ' 16
Temper of the Country Clergy . . . . . . 19
Difficulties of the Bishops . . . . . . 20
The English Catholics apply to the Pope for permission
to attend the English Service . . . . . . 22
The Request is Refused . . . . . . 24
Sir N". Throgmorton is taken Prisoner by the Duke of
Guise . . . . . . . . 26
The English Catholics are threatened with Persecution 29
Meeting of Parliament .. .. '''YV ;:j* i 30
Debate on the Succession. . . . . . . 33
Penal Laws against the Catholics . . . . . . 35
Petition to the Queen to name a Successor . . . , 39
Trial of Bonner . . . . . . 44
Story of Chatelar .. .. ".J «(-'•' r'Vi 46
Murder of the Duke of Guise fi7".J>ft . . . . 48
vi CONTENTS.
PAGE
Proposed Marriage between Mary Stuart and Don Carlos 5 1
Elizabeth wishes her to marry Lord Robert Dudley . . 5?
Speech of the Queen in Parliament . . . . 5*
Proceedings of Convocation . . » . . . 5$
The Civil War in France is brought to an end . . 6z
Elizabeth refuses to evacuate Havre . . . . 63
War with France . . . . . . 66
Siege of Havre . . . . . . 67
The Plague attacks the Garrison . . . . 68
Surrender of Havre . . . . . . 72
The Plague in London . . ' . . . . 74
Philip consents to the Marriage between the Queen of
Scots and Don Carlos . . . . . . • • 7 7
Death of de Quadra . . . . . . . . 82
The Marriage of the Queen of Scots with a safe person is
made a Condition of her Eecognition . . . . 85
Knox protests against her Marriage with a Catholic . . 88
He sends warning to Cecil . . . . 90
Relations between England and Spain . . . . 93
The« Carlos Project cools . . . . . . . . 96
Elizabeth again attempts to work on the Queen of Scots 97
CHAPTER XLII.
SHAN 0' NEIL.
Ireland under Queen Mary . . . . . . 101
Habits and Character of the People ... . . 102
The especial Wretchedness of the Pale . . . . 104
Report of 1559 . . . . . . no
The King of Spain declines the Advances of the Irish
Chiefs . . . . . . . . ..in
The Scotch in Antrim . . . . . . ..in
The O'Neil and his Children 112
CONTENTS. vii
PAGE
Election of Shan O'Neil by Tanistry . . . . 114
Schemes of Shan for the Ulster Sovereignty . . 1 1 6
Philip again discourages an Irish Eebellion . . . . 118
Loyalty of the Earl of Kildare . . . . ..119
Letter of Shan O'Neil to Elizabeth . . . . 120
The English Government proposes to Invade Ulster . . 122
Shan carries off the Countess of Argyle . . . . 124
Skirmish at Armagh . . . . . . . . 125
Defeat of the Earl of Sussex . . . . . . 127
Attempt to procure the Assassination of Shan . . 131
Second Invasion of Ulster . , . . . . 133
Shan goes to London . . . . . . . . 135
Shan at the Court of Elizabeth . . . . . . 136
Murder of the Baron of Dungannon . . . . 140
Indentures between Shan and Elizabeth, and return of
Shan to Ireland . . . . . . . . 142
Fresh Treachery of Sussex . . . . 143
Shan again Rebels . . . . . . . . 145
The Countess . . . . . . . . . . 148
Disagreements between the Irish Council and the Earl
of Sussex . . . . . . . . . . 149
Campaign in Ulster . . . . . . . . 150
Irish Successes . . . . . . 152
Second attempt to Assassinate Shan . . . . 156
Triumph of Shan . . . . . . 160
Inquiry into the Disorders of the Pale . . . . 161
Sir Nicholas Arnold . . . . . . . . 162
Desolation of Munster . . . . . . . . 164
CHAPTEE XLIII.
THE EMBASSY OF DE S1LVA.
War with France . . . . . . . . 166
Negotiations for Peace . . . . . 169
vni CONTENTS.
PAGE
The Peace of Troyes .. .. .. ..176
Conspiracies to Murder Elizabeth . . . . ..177
Defences of England . . ? .". . . . . 178
The Erench Embassy at Bekesbourne . . . . 179
Improved Relations with Spain . . . . . . 181
r^The Succession .. i:;.:-; :l •.-."' .. 182
Mary Stuart and Lord Robert Dudley .. - -. i 183
The Earl of Bothwell . . . . . . \ :-v 185
Mary Stuart prefers Darnley . . . . ; . 188
Elizabeth urges Lord Robert ""?(-•- .. : i'-u 188
Book of John Hales on the Succession . . i*J. >. 191
Objections to Darnley in Scotland . . . . 193
Guzman de Silva comes to England . . . . 195
Reception of de Silva at the Court . . >".:. 196
A Party at Richmond -;•'. . . . . . . 199
The Dudley Marriage . . . . . . 202
Elizabeth at Cambridge . . . . . , 203
Disorders in the Church . . . . 205
Fresh thoughts of the Archduke Charles . . . . 207
Sir James Melville . . . . . . 209
Lord Robert Dudley is created Earl of Leicester . . 213
Delay of Parliament . . . . . . ..215
Mary Stuart's Eriends in England • . ."'• "" v". 215
Conversation between Eluabeth and de Silva '$*;* 217
The Scotch Succession .. i \ $$** ;;» 220
Instructions to Bedford and Randolph Kl^^aJ .;; ^ 22i
State of Feeling in Scotland .. .. '•' *!,"•* 224
Conference at Berwick .• ; . . . . 226
Final Demands of the Scots .. .. ..-229
Reply of Cecil . . . . . , ' . . . . 231
33avid^izzio . . . . . . . . . . 233
Affected Compliance of Mary Stuart ,. v. 234
Proposed Marriage between Elizabeth and the King of
France . . . . . . v*:* . . 237
Darnley goes to Scotland . . 'L » 'i . . 244
CONTENTS. ix
PAGE
The Settlement of the Succession is postponed . . 246
} Discipline of the Church of England . . . . 249
£_Marriage of the Clergy . . . . . . . . 250
The Queen and the Bishops . . . . . . 251
The Queen insists on the Observance of the Act of Uni-
formity "''••,. . . . . . . . . 252
The Queen at Paul's Cross . . . . . . 256
Archbishop Parker remonstrates .. V;' .. 257
Ecclesiastical Commission at Lambeth . . . . 259
Riots in London . . . . . . . . 260
Letter of Parker to Cecil . . . . . . 261
[""Alarm in Scotland . . . . . . . . 263
1 Scene at the Market Cross at Edinburgh . . 264
The Queen of Scots resolves to marry Darnley . . 265
Approbation of Philip and the I)uke of Alva . . 268
Agitation at the English Court . . . . . . 269
Attitude of Murray . . . . . . . . 272
Sir Nicholas Throgmorton at Stirling . . . . 276
Character of Darnley . . . . . . . . 279
I Probable Consequence of the Darnley Marriage . . 281
\Resolutions of Council . . . . '. . ' V'. 286
A Game at Chess ' -• • , • • • • • • 2&9
The Archduke again . . . . . . . . 291
CHAPTER XLIV.
THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE.
State of Parties in Scotland . . - ", .,' . . 292
Strength of Mary Stuart's Position . . 294
Lennox and JDarnley are ordered to return to England 297
Elizabeth invites the Scotch Protestants to Rebel, and
promises to assist them . . r ... . .. 299
Measures in the General Assembly . . . . 301
Renewed Promises of Support from England . . 303
x CONTENTS.
PAGE
Randolph expostulates with Mary Stuart .. .. 308
Lennox and Darnley throw off their Allegiance to
Elizabeth . . . . . . . . ,V:,,f 309
Marriage of Mary Stuart and Darnley . . . . 311
Mission of Tamworth . . . . . . ..313
Irresolution of Elizabeth . . . . . . 3 1 7
The Lords of the Congregation in arms . . . . 318
Mary Stuart takes the Field . . . . . . 320
Retreat of the Lords . . . . . . . . 320
Elizabeth determines to Break her Promise . . . . 323
•The Archduke . . . . . . . . . . 326
Marriage of Lady Mary Grey . . . . . . 327
Debate in the English Council . . . . . . 331
Resolution .not to interfere in Scotland . . . . 334
The Lords of the Congregation at Dumfries . . 335
Flight of the Lords into England . . . . . . 338
Remonstrance of the Earl of Bedford . . . . 338
Murray goes to London . . . . . . • • 343
Reception of Murray by the Queen . . . . 344
Private Protest of Murray . . . . . . 349
Letter of Elizabeth to Mary Stuart . . . . 350
Questionable Instructions to Randolph . . . . 351
Anticipated consequence of Elizabeth's Conduct . . 353
Resentment of Argyle . . . . . . • • 355
Advice of Sir N. Throgmorton to Mary Stuart . . 357
Mischievous Influence of Rizzio . . . . • • 359
Mary Stuart applies for help to Philip . . . . 360
Philip communicates with the Pope . . . . 361
Elizabeth begins to recover herself . . . . 365
Catholic League in Europe . . . . . . 368
Differences between Mary Stuart and her Husband . . 370
The Crown Matrimonal . . . . . . • • 3 7 1
Mary Stuart and Rizzio . . . . •. , . . 372
Divisions among the Scotch Protestants . . . . 374
Conspiracy to murder Rizzio and restore Murray - ,^.. . 377
CONTENTS. xi
PAGE
Randolph is expelled from Scotland . . . . 379
Sketch of the Plot . . . ; . . . . 382
Intended Attainder of Murray . . . . . . 383
The Queen's Eooms at Holyrood . . . . . . 385
Murder of Eizzio . . . . . . . . 387
Return of Murray . . . . . . . . 396
Escape of Mary Stuart to Dunbar . . . . . . 40 1
Return in form to Edinburgh . . . . . . 404
Flight of the Conspirators . . . . . . 404
Letter of Morton and Ruthven to Cecil . . . . 405
CHAPTER XLV.
THE MVRDERJ)F^ DASNLE7.
( Popularity of Mary Stuart in England . . . . 407
General Character of Elizabeth's Policy .. .. 409
Prospects of the Queen of Scots . . . . . . 411
Treachery of Darnley . . . . . . . . 415
Argyle threatens to join Shan O'Neil . . . . 417
A Spy at Holyrood . . . . . . . . 420
Letter of Elizabeth to the Queen of Scots . . . . 422
Birth of James Stuart . . . . . . . . 424
.The Archduke or Leicester . . . . . . 425
Increasing strength of Mary Stuart's Party . . . . 430
Elizabeth visits Oxford . . . . . . . . 432
Position of Darnley in Scotland . . . . . . 436
Mary Stuart and Both well . . . . . . 437
Intended Flight of Darnley to England .. ..441
\ The Scotch Council at Holyrood . . . . .' . 442
Meeting of the English Parliament . . . . 445
The Bishops' Bill ,'\>. '.i.'ii .. .. 445
The Succession . . . . . . . . 448
The Queen Promises to Marry . . . . . . 449
The Queen and de Silva , . . . . . - . •<. 451
*ii CONTENTS.
SAGS
Parliament resolves to Address the Queen on the Suc-
cession . . . . . . . . . . 454
Presentation of the Address . . . . . . 456
Reply of Elizabeth . . . . . . . . 458
Irritation of the House of Commons . . . . 46 1
Question of Privilege . . . . . . . . 463
Remonstrance . . . . . . . . . . 464
Speech of Mr Dalton . . . . . . . . 466
The Queen yields . . . . . . . . 468
Subsidy Bill .. j.^'^ .. ,. .. 469
The Thirty-nine Articles . . . , . . 473
Silva and Elizabeth .. .. .-•-•?-.. •». 475
Proposed Covenant between the two Queens . . 481
Close of the Session *•*.. . . . . . . . 483
Speech of Elizabeth ^ v,. .. .. .. 484
The Queen of Scots at Jedburgh . . . . . . 488
Her dangerous Illness . . . . . . . . 489
Differences with Darnley . V : . ,. . . 491
Consultation at Craigmillar / . VJ-J .. .. 492
Bond for the Destruction of Darnley . . . . 496
Baptism of James, and recall of Morton . . . . 498
Illness of Darnley at Glasgow . . . . . . 499
Mary Stuart visits him . . . . . . . . 503
Letter to Both well . . . ; .- . . ' H 508
Plan of Kirk-a -Field ;. .. .. ..512
Darnley is removed thither from Glasgow . . . . 513
The Last Night , ; ; - . . ''; . 518
Murder of Darnley . . . . . . 521
Effect on the Catholics in England 'V,1 . . 523
CHAPTER XLVI.
DEATH OF a NEIL.
The English Army in Ireland , . . . . . 525
SirT. Stukeley 525
CONTENTS. xiii
PAGE
Irish Policy of the Tudor Sovereigns . . ... 528
Projects for Irish Eeform . . . . . . 529
The Primacy . . . . . . . . . . 531
Shan O'JSeil defeats the Scots . . . . • • 533
Invasion of Connaught . . . . . . • • 534
Sir Henry Sidney appointed Deputy . . 536
The Presidency of Munster . . . . 539
Sidney lands in Ireland . . . . . . . . 541
Shan O'Neil at Home . . . . . . . . 544
Sidney demands Men and Money . . . . . . 546
Anger and Hesitation of Elizabeth . . . . 548
Alliance between O'Neil and Argyle . . . . 550
Shan O'Neil writes for Assistance to France . . 551
Sidney ineffectually demands his Eecall . . . . 552
Plan for a Campaign . . . . . . • • 554
The Ormond-and Desmond Controversy . . . . 557
Troops are sent from England under Col. Edward
Eandolph . . . . . . . . . . 558
Desmond refuses to join Shan . . . . . . 560
The Antrim Scots . . . . . . . . 560
Sidney Invades Ulster .. ... • .. ..562
Col. Eandolph at Derry . . . . . . . . 564
Success of Sidney . . . . . . 565
Ill-humour of Elizabeth and Advice of Cecil . . 566
Defeat of Shan and Death of Col. Eandolph . . 570
The Scots attack Shan . . . . . . . . 570
Pestilence at Derry . . . . . . ..571
Final Euin of the Settlement . . . . . . 574
Shan's Last Battle . . . . . . . . 575
Death of Shan * . . . . . . 578
CHAPTER XL1.
THE ENGLISH AT HAVRE.
IN the face of enormous difficulties Elizabeth and her
ministers had restored England to its rank in Eu-
rope. They had baffled Spain, wrested Scotland from
the Guises, and played with accomplished dexterity on
the rivalries and jealousies of the Romanist powers. By
skill and good fortune they had brought the Catholics
at home to an almost desperate submission ; and now,
with the country armed to the teeth, they were subsi-
dizing a Protestant rebellion in France, and fastening
themselves once more upon the French soil.
The expenses of so aggressive and dangerous a policy
had been great, yet Elizabeth's talent for economy had
saved her from deep involvements ; and while courtiers
whined over her parsimony, the burden of public debt
bequeathed by Mary had received no increase, and was
even somewhat diminished. The wounds were still
green which twenty years of religious and social con-
fusion had inflicted on the. common wealth ; but here too
there were visible symptoms of amendment : above all,
VOL. VII. 1
REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 41.
the poisonous gangrene of the currency, the shame
and scandal of the late reigns, had been completely
healed.
No measure in Elizabeth's reign has received more
deserved praise than the reformation of the coinage.
The applause indeed has at times overpassed her merit -r
for some historians have represented it as accomplished
at the cost of the Crown ; whereas the expense, even to
the calling in and recoining the base money, was born&
to the last penny by the country. Elizabeth and her
advisers deserve the credit only of having looked in the
face, and of having found the means of dealing with, a
complicated and most difficult problem.
When the ministers of Edward the Sixth arrived at
last at the conviction that the value of a shilling de-
pended on the amount of pure silver contained in it, and
that the base money therefore with which the country
had been flooded must be called down to its natural
level, the people it was roughly calculated had lost some-
thing over a million pounds. An accurate computation
however was impossible, for the issues of the Govern-
ment, large as they were, had been exceeded by those of
private coining establishments in England and abroad,
where the pure coin left in circulation was melted down
and debased.
The evil had been rather increased than diminished
by the first efforts at reformation. The current money
was called down to an approach to its value in bullion,
and it was then left in circulation under the impression
that it would no longer be pernicious ; but the pure
I56p.] THE ENGLISH A T HA VRE. 3
shillings of Edward's last years could not live beside the
bad, and still continued either to leave the country or
to be made away with by the comers. The good reso-
lutions of further reform with which Mary commenced
her reign disappeared as her finances became strait-
ened ; the doctrinal virtues superseded the moral ; and
relapsing upon her father's and her brother's evil pre-
cedents, she poured out a fresh shower of money con-
taining but three ounces of silver with nine of alloy, and
attempted to force it once more on the people at its
nominal value.
The coining system acquired at once fresh impetus;
and Elizabeth on coming to the throne found prices
everywhere in confusion. Amidst the variety of stand-
ards and the multitude of coins recognized by the law,
the common business of life was almost at a stand-still.
Of current silver there was such as remained of Edward's
pure shillings, containing eleven ounces and two penny-
weights of silver in the pound; the shillings of the
first year of Mary containing ten ounces ; and the
old shillings of Henry the Eighth containing eleven
aunces.
Of testers or sixpences, the coin in common use, there
were four sorts : the tester of eight ounces of silver in
the pound, the tester of six, the tester of four, and the
tester of three ; with groats, rose pence, and other small
coins, of which the purity varied in the same proportion.
The testers of eight, six, and four ounces had been issued
originally as shillings, and had been called do^n to six-
pences. These three kinds were all of equo1. value, ' for
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[cir. 41.
that which lacked in fineness exceeded in weight/ l and
ihey were really worth fourpence halfpemty. The fourth
kind, the tester of three ounces, was worth only twopence
halfpenny ; but ' the worst passed current with the best '
in the payment of the statute wages of the artisan or
labourer. The working man was robbed without know-
ing how or why, while the tradesmen and farmers, aware
that a sixpence was not a sixpence, defied the feeble
laws which attempted to regulate the prices of produce,
charged for their goods on a random scale, and secured
themselves against loss by the breadth of margin which
they claimed against the consumer.
The earliest extant paper on the subject in the reign
of Elizabeth is the composition of the Queen herself.
With the rise in prices the landowners generally had
doubled their rents, while the rents of the Crown lands
had remained unchanged. The ounc'e of silver in the
currency of the Plantagenets, instead of being coined
into the five shillings of later usage, had been divided
only into a quarter of a mark, or three shillings and
four pence. Elizabeth proposed to return to the earlier
.scale, and retaining the same nominal rent of which she
found herself in receipt, to allow 'the tenants of im-
proved rents to answer their lords after the rate of the
abatement of value for every pound a mark ; ' 2 while
1 Paper on Coinage : endorsed
in Cecil's hand, Mr Stanley's opin-
ion : Domestic MSS., Elizabeth, vol.
xiii.
- « Wherein,' she said, ' the lord
«i:uii not be much hindered, being
able to perform almost every way as
much with the mark as he was with
the pound.' — (Opinion of her Ma-
jesty for reducing the state of tho
coin, 1559) : Domestic MSS. Eliza-
beth.
1500.] THE ENGLISH A T II A VRE. j
all outstanding debts or contracts might be graduated
in the same proportion.
The objections to this project, it is easy to see, would
have been infinite. It fell through — was heard of no-
more. But in their first moments of serious leisure,
immediately after the Scotch war, in September 1560,
the council determined at all hazards to call in the entire
currency, and supply its place with new coin of a pure
and uniform standard. Prices of all kinds could then
adjust themselves without further confusion.
The first necessity was to ascertain the proportions
of good and bad money which was in circulation. A
public inquiry could not be 'ventured for fear of creating
a panic, and the following rudely ingenious method
was suggested as likely to give an approximation to the
truth . ' Some witty person was to go among the
butchers of London, and to them rather than to any
other, because they retailed of their flesh to all manner
of persons in effect — so that thereby of great likelihood
came to their hands of all sorts of money of base coin :
and to go to a good many of them — thirty- six at least
— and after this manner, because they should not under-
stand the meaning thereof, nor have no suspicion in
that behalf — requiring all of them to put all the money
that they should receive the next forenoon by itself, and
likewise that in the afternoon by itself, and they should
have other money for the same ; promising every one
of them a quart of wine for their labours, because that
there was a good wager laid whether they received more
money in the afternoon — whereof nine score pounds
6 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.41.
bijing received of the butchers, after the manner afore-
said, being all put together, then all the shillings of
three ounces fine and under, but not above, should be
tried and called out — as well counterfeits after the same
stamp and standard as others ; and after the rest of the
money might be perused and compared one with an-
other.'1
Either by this or some other plan, the worst coin in
circulation was found to be about a fourth of the whole,
while the entire mass of base money of all standards was
guessed roughly at i,2oo,ooo/. How to deal with it
was the next question. Sir Thomas Stanley offered
several schemes to the choice of the Government.
1 . The testers, worse and better together, might be
called down from sixpence to fourpence ; a period might
be fixed within which they must be brought to the
Mint, and paid for at that price. The 1,200,000^. would
be bought in for 8oc,ooo/. ; the bullion which it con-
tained, being recoined and reissued at eleven ounces
fine, would be worth 837,500^. ; and the balance of
37>o°°^ *n favour of the Government, together with the
value of the alloy, would more than cover the expenses
of the process. If the Queen wished to make a better
thing of it, the worst money might be sent to Ireland,
as the general dirt heap for the outcasting of England's
vileness.
2. The bad coin might be called in simply and paid
1 ' A manner to make a proof how many sorts of standards are current
commonly within this realm : ' Lansdoivne MSS. 4.
* 560. ] THE ENGLISH A T HA VRE. 7
for at the Mint according to its bullion value, a percent-
age being allowed for the refining.
3. If the Queen would run the risk she might re-
lieve her subjects more completely by giving the full
value of fourpencc halfpenny for the sixpence, three
halfpence for the half groat, and so on through the
whole coinage, allowing three-quarters of the nominal
value, and taking her chance— still with the help of
Ireland — of escaping unharmed.1
Swiftness of action, resolution, and a sufficient num-
ber of men of probity to receive and pay for the moneys
all over the country, were the great requisites.2 The
people were expected to submit to the further loss with-
out complaint if they could purchase with it a certain
return to security and order. Neither of Stanley's
alternatives were accepted literally. The standard for
Ireland had always been something under that of Eng-
land. But the Queen would not consent to inflict more
suffering on that country than she could conveniently
help. The Irish coin should share in the common re-
storation, and be brought back to its normal proportions.
On 2 7 th of September the evils of an uneven and
vitiated currency were explained by proclamation. The
people were told that the Queen would bear the cost of
refining and recoining the public moneys if they on their
side would bear cheerfully their share of the loss ; and
they were invited to bring in and pay over to persons
1 Mr Stanley's opinion: Domestic MSS.f Elizabeth, vol. xiii. 1
House.
2 Bacon to Gccil, October 14, 1560: MS. Ibid. vol. xiv.
'8 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 41.
appointed to receive it in every market town the impure
silver in their hands. For the three better sorts of
tester the Crown would pay the full value of fourpence
halfpenny, and for the half groats and pence in propor-
tion. For the fourth and most debased kind, which
was easily distinguishable, it would pay twopence
farthing.
To stimulate the collection a bounty of threepence
was promised on every pound's worth of silver brought
in. Refiners were sent for from Germany ; the Mint
at the Tower was set to work under Stanley and Sir
Thomas Fleetwood ; and -in nine months the impure
stream was washed clean, and a silver coinage of the
present standard was circulating once more throughout
the realm. ,TJ
Either a large fraction of the base money was not
-brought in, or the estimate of the quantity in circulation
had been exaggerated. The entire weight collected was
'631,950 Ibs. ; 638,0007. (in money) was paid for it by
-the receivers of the Mint, and it yielded when melted
down 244,416 Ibs. of silver, worth in the new coinage of
• eleven ounces fine 733, 248/. •, So far therefore there was
a balance in favour of the Crown of 95,13.5^. ; but the
cost of collection, the premiums, and other collateral
losses reduced the margin to 49,7767. 9-9. 3^. Thirty-
five thousand six hundred and eighty-six pounds, fifteen
- shillings and sixpence (35,686/. 15*. 6d.) was paid for
the refining and re-minting ; and when the whole trans-
* action was completed Elizabeth was left with a balance
in her favour of fourteen thousand and seventv-nine
J56o.j
THE ENGLISH A 7' HA VRE.
9
pounds, thirteen shillings, and ninepence (14,079^
33*. yd.) L
Thus was this great matter ended, not as it has been
represented by means of two hundred thousand crowns
raised by Gresham in Flanders. The two hundred
thousand crowns indisputably were raised there, but it
was to buy saltpetre, and corselets, and. harquebusses ;
and the reform of the coin cost nothing beyond the
thought expended on it.
But the country was sick of other disorders less easy
to heal. The silent change in the relations of rich and
poor, the eviction of small tenants, the erection of a
new race of men on the ruins of the abbeys, whose eyes
were more on earth than heaven, the universal restless-
ness of mind, and the uprooting of old thought on all
subjects divine or human, had confused the ancient
social constitution of the English nation. Customs and
opinions had vanished, and laws based upon them had
become useless or mischievous. The under-roll of the
peasant insurrection was still perceptible in the wealo
ness of the Government and the anarchy of the country
population.
The petty copyholders dispossessed of their tenures
had contracted vagrant habits ; the roads were patrolled
by highwaymen who took purses in broad daylight in
the streets of London itself; and against these symp-
1 ' Chances of refining the base
money received into the Mint since
1V1 ichaolmas 1560 until Michaelmas
1561, and of the charges of the
workmanship on coining to fine
money thereof made ; with a note of
the provisions and other charges in-
cident to the same, the \\raste of
melting and blemishing being Dome,*
— Lanstfowhe 3I/SS. 4.
io REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 41
loins was contending the reactionary old English spirit
which had gathered strength under Mary, the single
good result of her reign. Grass lands were again brown-
ing under tillage, farm-houses were re-built, and the
small yeomen fostered into life again ; but a vague un-
rest prevailed everywhere. Elizabeth's prospects dur-
ing her first years were so precarious that no one felt
confident for the future ; and the energy of the country
hung distracted, with no clear perception what to do or
in what direction to turn..
The problem for statesmen was to discern among
the new tendencies of the nation how much was sound
and healthy, how much must be taken up into the con-
stitution of the State before the disturbed elements set-
tled into form again.
A revolution had passed over England of which the
religious change was only a single feature. New avenues
of thought were opening on all sides with the growth of
knowledge ; and as the discoveries of Columbus and
Copernicus made their way into men's minds, they found
themselves, not in any metaphor, but in plain and literal
prose, in a new heaven and a new earth. How to
send the fresh blood permeating healthily through the
veins, how to prevent it from wasting itself in anarchy
and revolution — these were the large questions which
Elizabeth's ministers had to solve.
In this as in all else Cecil was the presiding spirit.
Everywhere among the State papers of these years
Cecil's pen is ever visible, Cecil's mind predominant.
In the records of the daily meetings of the council
j 56 1 . ] THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE. 1 1
Cecil's is the single name which is never missed. In the
Queen's cabinet or in his own, sketching Acts of Parlia-
ment, drawing instructions for ambassadors, or weighing
on paper the opposing arguments at every crisis of poli-
tical action ; corresponding with archbishops on liturgies
and articles, with secret agents in every corner of Europe
or with foreign ministers in every court, Cecil is to be
found ever restlessly busy ; and sheets of paper densely
covered with brief memoranda remain among his manu •
scripts to show the vastness of his daily labour and the
surface over which he extended his control. From the
great duel with Rome to the terraces and orange groves
at Burghley nothing was too large for his intellect to
grasp, nothing too small for his attention to condescend
,to consider.
In July 1561, under Cecil's direction, letters went
round the southern and western counties desiring the
magistrates to send in reports on the working of the
laws which affected the daily life of the people, on the
wages statutes, the acts of apparel, the poor laws; the
•tillage and pasture laws, the act for ' the maintenance
of archery/ and generally on the condition of the popu-
lation. A certain Mr Tyldsley was commissioned pri-
vately to follow the circulars and observe how far the
magistrates either reported the truth or were doing their
•duty ; and though the reports are lost Tyldsley's letters
remain, with his opinion on the character of the Eng-
lish gentry.
If that opinion was correct the change of creed had
not improved them. The people were no longer trained
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[en. 4-r.
iii tlie use of arms because the gentlemen refused to
set the example. ' For tillage it were plain sacrilege
to interfere with it, the offenders being all gentlemen
of the richer sort ; ' while ' the alehouses ' — ' the very
stock and stay of false thieves and vagabonds/ were
supported by them for the worst of motives. The peers
had the privilege of importing wine free of duty for the
consumption of their households. By their patents
.they were able to extend the right to others under shel-
ter of their name ; and the tavern-keepers ' were my
lord's servants, or my master's servants ; yea, and had
such kind of licenses, and license out of license to them
and their deputies and assignees, that it was some dan-
ger to meddle with them/ l The very threat of inter-
ference either with that or any other misdemeanour in
high places caused Cecil to be generally detested.2 Go
1 The intention of the exemption
had been the encouragement of
' hospitality ' in the great country
houses. Times were changing, and
the old-fashioned ' open house ' was
no longer the rule. Without abol-
ishing the privilege the council re-
stricted the quantity which each
nobleman Avas allowed to import.
Dukes and archbishops were allowed
ten pipes annually ; marquises nine
pipes ; earls, viscounts, barons, and
bishops, six, seven, and eight. — Do-
mestic MSS., Elizabeth, vol. xx.
2 ' This be you most sure of, that
as much evil as can be invented by
the devilish wit of them that be
nought is spoken against you.
' It is not yet four clays past
since one of my men said unto me,
* Sir, would to God ye would not
meddle so much as ye do, nor be so
earnest ; ' for, said he, ' if ye heard
so much as I do hear, ye would
marvel. For even they that do-
speak you most fairest to your face
do name you behind your back to be
an extreme and cruel man, with a
great deal more than shall need to
rehearse; and they say,' said lie,
' that all these doings is long of Mr
Secretary Cecil. I do know,' said
he, ' all this to be truth, for I do
hear it amongst their servants, and
belike they have heard it of their
masters at one time or another*
And further,' said he, ' when I was
last in London, there Avas a business
in hand as touching Avhat wages
watermen should take going from
1562]
THE ENGLISH A T HA VRE.
where lie would, Tyldsley said, ' lie could find 110 man
earnestly bent to put laws in execution ; ' ' every man
let slip and pass forth. : ' so that ' for his part he did look
for nothing less than the subversion of the realm, to
which end all things were working/
Equally unsatisfactory were the reports of the state of
religion. The constitution of the Church offended the '
Puritans ; the Catholics were as yet unreconciled to tho
forms which had been maintained to conciliate them ;
and to the seeming cordiality with which the Liturgy
was at first received, a dead inertia soon succeeded in
which nothing lived but self-interest. The bishops and
the higher clergy were the first to set an example of evil.
The friends of the Church of England must acknowledge
with sorrow that within two years of its establishment
the prelates were alienating the estates in which they
possessed but a life interest — granting long leases and
taking fines for their own advantage. The council had
to inflict upon them the disgrace of a rebuke for neg-
lecting the duties of common probity.1
The marriage of the clergy was a point on which the
people were peculiarly sensitive.2 A mistress might be
ont place to another, which thing
was much cried out upon ; and they
say that Mr Cecil was all the doer of
that matter too. Surely,' said he,
4 he is not beloved ; and therefore
for God's sake, sir, he you ware. I
have not spoken any of this to the
intent that I would have you either
to leave off or to slack any part of
all your godly doings, but rather if
I could to sharp you further against
the devil and all his wicked instru-
ments.' ' — MrTyldsley's lleport, Sep-
tember 3, 1561 : Domestic MSS.,
Elizabeth, vol. xix.
1 Articles for the Bishops' obli-
gation?, 1560: Domestic MSS. Eli-
zabeth.
'z The frequent surnames of Clark,
Parsons, Deacon, Archdeacon, Derm,
Prior, Abbot, Bishop, Frcre, ana
Monk, are memorials of the con-
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[<JH. 41.
winked at; lawful marriage was intolerable, and espe-
cially intolerable for members of cathedrals and colle-
giate bodies who occupied the houses and retained the
form of the religious orders. While therefore canons
and prebends were entitled to take wives if they could not
do without them, they would have done better had they
taken chary advantage of their liberty. To the. Anglo-
Catholic as well as the Romanist a married priest was a
scandal, and a married cathedral dignitary an abomin-
ation.
' For the avoiding of such offences as were daily con-
ceived by the presence of families of wives and children
within colleges, contrary to the ancient and comely-
order of the same/ Elizabeth, in 1560, forbade deans
and canons to have their wives residing with them
within the cathedral closes under pain of forfeiting
' their promotions/ Cathedrals and colleges, she said,
had been founded ' to keep societies of learned men
professing study and prayer;' and the rooms intended
for students were not to be sacrificed to women and
children.1
The Church dignitaries treated the Queen's injunc-
tion as the country gentlemen treated the statutes.
"Deans and canons, by the rules of their foundations, were
directed to dine and keep hospitality in their common
hall. Those among them who had married broke up
cubinagc which was generally prac-
tised in England by the clergy so
long as they were forbidden to
ma ivy.
1 Proclamation by the Queen for
the eviction of wives out of colleges
(In Cecil's hand) : Domestic MSS.t
Elizabeth, vol. xix.
1561.] THE ENGLISH A T HA VRE. 1 5
into their separate houses, where, in spite of Elizabeth,
they maintained their families. The unmarried ( tabled
abroad at the ale-houses/ The singing-men of the choirs
became the prebends' private servants, ' having the
Church stipend for their wages.1 The cathedral plate
adorned the prebendal side-boards and dinner-tables.
The organ-pipes were melted into dishes for their
kitchens ; the organ-frames were carved into bedsteads,
where the wives reposed beside their reverend lords;
while the copes and vestments were coveted for their
gilded embroidery, and were slit into gowns and bodices.
Having children to provide for, and only a life-interest
in their revenues, the chapters like the bishops cut
down their woods, and worked their fines, their leases,
their escheats and wardships, for the benefit of their own
generation. Sharing their annual plunder, they ate
and drank and enjoyed themselves while their oppor-
tunity remained ; for the times were dangerous, and
none could tell what should be after them.'
' They decked their wives so finely for the stuff and
fashion of their garments as none were so fine and trim.'
By her dress and ' her gait ' in the street ' the priest's
wife was known from a hundred other women ; ' while
in the congregations and in the cathedrals they were
distinguished ' by placing themselves above all other the
most ancient and honourable in their cities ;' 'being the
Church — as the priests' wives termed it — their own
Church ; and the said wives did call and take all things
belonging to their church and corporation as their own ; '
as 'their houses,' 'their gates,' 'their porters,' 'their
j& KETGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.41.
servants/ 'their tenants/ ' their manors/ 'their lord-
ships/ 'their woods/ 'their corn.' l
Celihacy had been found an unwholesome restric-
tion ; married clergymen might have been expected to
do their duties the better rather than the worse for
the companionship ; and such complaints as these might
be regarded as the inevitable but worthless strictures of
malice and superstition. But it was not wholly so.
While the shepherds were thus dividing the fleeces the
sheep were perishing. In many dioceses in England
a third of the parishes were left without a clergyman,
resident or non-resident. In 1561 there were
1561. J.
in the Archdeaconry of Norwich eighty parishes
where there was no resident incumbent ; in the Arch-
deaconry of Suffolk a hundred and thirty parishes
\vere almost or entirely in the same condition.2 In
some of these churches a curate attended on Sun-
days. In most of them the voices of the priests were
silent in the desolate aisles. The children grew up
unbaptized ; the dead buried their dead. At St Helen's
in the Isle of Wight the parish church had been built
upon the shore for the convenience of vessels lying at
the anchorage. The Provost and Fellows of Eton were
the patrons, and the benefice was among the wealthiest
in their gift ; but the church was a ruin through which
the wind and the rain made free passage. The parish-
1 Complaints against the Dean and Chapter of Worcester :
., Elizabeth, vol. xxviii.
2 STRYI-E'S Annals of Hie Reformation, vol. i.
1561.] THE EXGLISII A T II A VKE. \ 7
ioners 'were fain to bury their corpses themselves/
And 'joining- as it did hard to one of the chief roads of
England, where all sorts of nations were compelled to
take succour and touch, the shameful using of the same
church caused the Queen's council and the whole realm
to run in slander.' l
'It brcedeth,' said Elizabeth in a remonstrance which
she addressed to Archbishop Parker, ' no small offence
and scandal to sec and consider upon the one part the
curiosity and cost bestowed by all sorts of men upon
their private houses ; and on the other part the unclean
and negligent order and spare keeping of the houses of
prayer, by permitting open decays and ruins of cover-
ings of walls and windows, and by appointing unmeet
and unseemly tables with foul cloths, for the communion
of the sacrament ; and generally leaving the place of
prayer desolate of all cleanliness and of meet ornament
for such a place, whereby it might be known a place
provided for divine service.' 2
Nor again were the Protestant foreigners who had
taken refuge in England any special credit to the Re-
formation. These exiled saints were described by the
Bishop of London us ' a marvellous colluvies of evil
persons, for the most part facinoro*'., cbriosi, ct scctarii.9
Between prelates reprimanded by the council for fraudu-
lent administration of their estates, chapters bent on
1 Presentation of George Oglander : Domestic JlfSS., Elizabeth, Rolls
House.
2 The Queen to the Archbishop of Canterbury, 1560 (Cecil's liand) :
Domestic MSB., vol. xv,
VOL. VII. 2
iS REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 41.
justifying Cranmer's opinion of such bodies — that 'they
were good vianders, and good for nothing else ' — and a
clergy among whom the only men who had any fear of
God were the unmanageable and dangerous Puritans,
the Church of England was doing little to make the
Queen or the country enamoured of it. Torn up as it
had been by the very roots and but lately replanted, its
hanging boughs and drooping foliage showed that as yet
it had taken no root in the soil, and there seemed too
strong a likelihood that, notwithstanding its ingenious
framework and comprehensive formulas, it would wither
utterly away.
' Our religion is so abused/ wrote Lord Sussex to
Cecil in 1562, 'that the Papists rejoice; the neuters do
not mislike change, and the few zealous professors lament
the lack of purity. The people without discipline, utterly
devoid cf religion, come to divine service as to a May-
game ; the ministers for disability and greediness be
had in contempt; and the wise fear more the impiety
of the licentious professors than the superstition of the
erroneous Papists. God hold his hand over us, that our
lack of religious hearts do not breed in the mean time
his wrath and revenge upon us.' L
Covetousiiess aurl impiety moreover were not the
only dangers. The submission of the clergy to the
changes was no proof of their cordial acceptance of them.
The majority were interested only in their benefices,
which they retained and neglected. A great many con-
1 Sussex to Cecil, July 22, 1562 ; from Chester : Irish M-SS. Rolls House.
1 56 1 . J THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE. 1 9-
tinned Catholics in disguise : they remained at their
post scarcely concealing, if concealing at all, their true
creed, and were supported in open contumacy by the
neighbouring noblemen and gentlemen.
In a general visitation in July 1561 the clergy were
required to take the oath of allegiance. The Bishop of
Carlisle reported that thirteen or fourteen of his rectors
and vicars refused to appear, while in many churches in
his diocese mass continued to be said under the coun-
tenance and open protection of Lord Dacres : and the
clergy of the diocese generally he described as wicked
' imps of Antichrist ; ' ' ignorant, stubborn, and past
measure false and subtle/ Fear only, he said, would
make them obedient, and Lord Cumberland and Lord
Dacres would not allow him to meddle with them.1
The Border of "Wales was as critical as the Border
of Scotland. In August of the same year ' the Popish
justices ' of Hereford commanded the observance of St
Lawrence's day as a holyday. On the eve no butcher
in the town ventured to sell meat ; on the day itself
' no gospeller ' durst work in his occupation or open his
shop. A party of recusant priests from Devonshire were
received in state by the magistrates, carried through the
streets in procession, and so ' feasted and magnified as
Christ himself could not have been more reverentially
entertained/ 2
In September, Bishop Jewel going to Oxford reported
the fellows of the college so malignant that ' if he had
1 The Bishop of Carlisle to Cecil : Domestic MSS., vol. xviii.
- The Bishop of Hereford to Cecil : Domestic MSS., vol. six.
20 REIGX OF E LIZ ABE TIL [011.41.
proceeded peremptorily as lie might/ lie would not have
left two in any one of them ; and here it was not a peer
or a magistrate that Jewel feared, but one higher than
both, for the Colleges appealed to the Queen against
him ; and Jewel could but entreat Cecil with many
anxious misgivings to stand by him. He could but pro-
test humbly that he was only acting for God's glory.1
The Bishop of Winchester found his people ' obsti-
nately grovelled in superstition and Popery, lacking not
priests to inculcate the same daily in their heads ; ' and
himself so unable to provide ministers to teach them,
that he petitioned for permission to unite his parishes
and throw two or three into one.2
The Bishop of Durham, called a clergyman before
him to take the oath. The clergyman said out before a
crowd, 'who much rejoiced at his doings,' 'that neither
temporal man nor woman could have power in spiritual
matters but only the Pope of Rome ; ' and the lay
authorities would not allow the Bishop to punish a man
who had but expressed their own feelings ; more than
one member of the Council of York had refused the oath
and yet had remained in office ; the rest took courage
when they saw those that refused their allegiance ' not-
only unpunished but had in authority and estimation ; '
and distracted ' with the poisoiiful and malicious minds
about him,' the Bishop said that 'where he had but little
wit at his coming he had now almost none left him, and
wished himself a sizar at St John's again.' 3
1 Jewel to Cecil: Domestic J/&S'., vol. xix.
. ibid., vol. xxi. 3 .l/.S'. Ibid., vol. xix.
1561.] THE ENGLISH A T HA VRE. 21
Finally, in 1562, the Bishop of Carlisle once more
complained that between Lord Dacres and the Earls of
Cumberland and Westmoreland, ' Gfod's glorious gospel
could not take place in the counties under their rule.'
The few Protestants * durst not be known for fear of a
shrewd turn ; ' and the lords and magistrates looked
through their fingers — while the law was openly defied.
The country was full of ' wishings and wagers for the
alteration of religion ; ' ' rumours and tales of the
Spaniards and Frenchmen to come in for the reform-
ation of the same:' while the articles of the secret
league between the Guises and Spain for the extirpation
of heresy circulated in manuscript in the houses of the
northern gentlemen.1
The Queen's own conduct had been so uncertain, she
had persisted so long in her determination to invite the
Queen of Scots into England, svith a view of acknow-
ledging her in some form or other as her successor, she
had given so marked an evidence of her retrogressive
tendencies in appointing these very Earls of Westmore-
land and Cumberland to receive Mary Stuart on the
Border, that no one ventured to support a spiritual
authority which in a year or two might vanish like a
mist. And it was not till Elizabeth had been driven at
last into the French quarrel, had given up the inter-
view, and had sent her troops to Havre to co-operate
with the Huguenots, that the reforming party recovered
heart again ; and the Romanists discovered that unless
1 Domestic M'SS.* vol xxi.
22 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 41.
they were prepared for immediate rebellion they must
move more cautiously.
itfa. The first effect of their disappointment was
August a curious one> On the 7th of August de Qua-
dra wrote to the Spanish minister at Rome begging him
to ask the Pope in the name of the English Catholics
whether they might be present without sin at i the com-
mon prayers/ ' The case,' de Quadra said, ' was a new
and not an easy one, for the Praj^er-book contained
neither impiety nor false doctrine. The prayers them-
selves were those of the Catholic Church, altered only so
far as to omit the merits and the intercession of the
saints ; so that, except for the concealment, and the in-
jury which might arise from the example, there would
be nothing in the compliance itself positively unlawful.
The communion could be evaded : on that point they
did not ask for a dispensation. They desired simply to
.be informed whether they might attend the ordinary
services/ The Bishop's own opinion was that no
general rule could be laid down. The compulsion to
.which the Catholics were exposed varied at different
times and places ; the harm which might arise to others
varied ; nor had all been equally zealous in attempting
to prevent the law from passing or in afterwards ob-
structing the execution of it. While therefore he
had not extenuated the fault of those who had given
way to the persecution, he had in some cases given them
a hope that they had not sinned mortally. At the same
time he had been cautious of weakening the resolution
of those who had been hitherto constant. If the Pope
15'jj.]- THE ENGLISH A 7 JTA VRE. 23
had more decided instructions to give, lie said he would
gladly receive them. There was another class of cases
also which there was a difficulty in dealing with. Many
of the English who had fallen into heresy had repented
and desired to be absolved. But the priests, who could
receive them back, were scanty and scattered ; and there
was extreme danger in resorting to them. In some in-
stances they had been arrested, and under threat of tor-
ture had revealed their penitents' names. The Bishop
said he had explained to the Catholics generally that
allowance was made for violence, but they wished for a
general indulgence in place of detailed and special ab-
solution ; and although he said that he did not himself
consider that this would meet the difficulty, he thought
it right to mention their request.1
The question of attendance on the English service
was referred to the Inquisition, where the dry truth was
expressed more formally and hardly than de Quadra's
leniency would have preferred.
' Given a commonwealth in which Catholics were
forbidden under pain of death to exercise their religion ;
where the law required the subject to attend conventi-
cles ; where the Psalms were sung and the lessons taken
from the Bible were read in the vulgar tongue, and
where sermons were preached in defence of heretical
opinions, might Catholics comply with that law without
peril of damnation to their souls ? '
Jesuitism was as yet but half developed. The In-
1 DC Quadra to Vargas, August 7 • MS. Si»ift>icas.
24 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.41.
quisition answered immediately with a distinct negative.
Although the Catholics were not required to com-
municate with heretics, yet hy their presence at their
services they would assume and affect to believe with
them. Their object in wishing to be present could only
be to pass for heretics, to escape the penalties of dis-
obedience ; and God had said, ' Whosoever is ashamed
of me and of my words, of him will I be ashamed/
Catholics, and especially Catholics of rank, could not
appear in Protestant assemblies without causing scandal
to the weaker brethren.
In giving this answer Pope Pius desired to force the
Catholics to declare themselves, and precipitate the col-
lision which Philip's timidity had prevented.
On the other point he was more lenient. He em-
powered de Quadra, as a person not amenable to the
English Government, to accept himself the abjuration of
heretics willing to forsake their errors, and to empower
others at his discretion to do the same whenever and
wherever he might think good.1
Before the order of Pius had reached England, the
impatience of the Catholics had run over in the abortive
conspiracy of the Poles. In itself most trivial, it served
as a convenient instrument in the hands of Cecil to ir-
ritate the Protestants. The enterprise in Fra-nce ap-
pealed to the loyalty of the people, who flattered them^
selves with hopes of Calais, and the elections for the
Parliament, which was to meet at the spring of the new
1 Pius IV. to dc Quadra : MS. Sintfincas.
1563.]
THE ENGLISH A T HA VRE.
year, were carried on under the stimulus of the excite-
ment. The result was the return of a House of Com-
mons violently Puritan ; and those who were most
anxious to prevent the recognition of the Queen of Scots
ibund themselves opportunely strengthened by the pre-
mature eagerness with which her claims had been pressed.
MaitlaiicVs intended mission to London had been
postponed till the meeting ; but meanwhile Sir William
Cecil had ominously allowed all correspondence between
them to cease;1 and Randolph, on the 5th of I563.
January, wrote from Edinburgh of the general Januu:7-
fear and uneasiness that 'things would be wrought in
the approaching Parliament which would give little
pleasure in Scotland.'2 Diplomacy however still con-
tinued its efforts. Notwithstanding the rupture with
the Guises, the admission of Mary Stuart's right was
still played off before Elizabeth as a condition on which
France might be pacified and Calais restored : and
there was always a fear that Elizabeth misrht turn back
id
upon her steps and listen. To end the crisis, Sir Thomas
Smith advised her to throw six thousand men, some
moonlight night, on the Calais sands. The garrison had
been withdrawn after the battle of Dreux to reinforce
the Catholic army, and not twro hundred men were left
to defend the still incomplete fortifications.3 But Eliza-
1 Maitland to Cecil, January 3 :
Scotch MSS. Solly House.
• Randolph to Cecil : MS. Ibid.
a Sir T. Smith to Elizabeth,
January 2 : FOIJDES, vol. ii. The
beneficial effects of the French con-
quest had already been felt in the
Pale. Before the expulsion of the
English it was almost a desert. Sir
Thomas Smith held out as an in-
ducement for its recovery, that it had
become ' the plentil'ullcst country ir
all France.'
26 REIGN OF ELIZABETH, [cir. 41
beth was as incapable as Philip of a sudden movement,
and she had no desire to exchange her quarrel with the
Guises — which after all might be peaceably composed —
for a declared war with a united France. She knew
that she had not deserved the confidence of the Hugue-
nots, and she had already reason to fear that they might
turn against her.
The day after the battle of Dreux, Throgmorton, un-
able to rejoin the Admiral, was brought in as a prisoner
into the Catholic .camp. The Duke of Guise sent for
him, and after a long and conciliatory conversation on
the state of France, spoke deprecatingly of the injustice
of Elizabeth's suspicions of himself and his family, and
indicated with some distinctness that if she would with-
draw from Havre Calais should be given up to her.1
Elizabeth, catching at an intimation which fell in
with her private wishes, replied with a promise ' that
nothing should be done in Parliament to the displeasure
of the Queen of Scots.' Mary Stuart had recovered
credit by her expedition to the north ; and her confidence
in Elizabeth's weakness again revived: not indeed that
Elizabeth was really either weak or blind, but in consti-
tutional irresolution she was for ever casting her eye
over her shoulder, with the singular and happy effect of
1 ' If they cannot accord among
themselves, then I perceive they
mind to treat with you favourably,
and I believe to satisfy your Majesty
about Calais, provided that from
henceforth you do no more aid the
Prince and the rebels.' — Throgmor-
ton to Elizabeth, January 3 : Con-
n-ay MSS.
'These men have two strings to
their bow — to accord with the
Prince and to accord with her Ma-
jesty also ; but not with both at once
to both's satisfactions.' — Throg-
morton to Cecil, January 3 : FOUBES,
vol. ii.
.1563-1
THE ENGLISH A T HA VRE.
keeping the Catholics perpetually deluded with false ex-
pectations, and of amusing them with hopes of a change
which never came.
Her resolution about the Scottish succession promised
a stormy and uneasy session ; and Cecil before its com-
mencement, still uncertain how far he could depend upon
her, made another effort to rid the Court of de Quadra.
The Spanish ambassador was suspected without reason
of having encouraged the Poles. He was known to have
urged Philip to violence, and to be the secret support
and stay of the disaffected in England and Ireland.
Confident in the expected insurrection of the Low Coun-
tries, Cecil was not unwilling to risk an open rupture
with Spain, which would force Elizabeth once for all on
the Protestant side.
AYew days before Parliament was to meet, an Italian
Calvinist, in the train of the Vidame of Chartres, was
passing Durham Place when a stranger, who was loung-
ing at the gate, drew a pistol and fired at him. The ball
passed through the Italian's cap and wounded an Eng-
lishman behind him. The assassin darted into the house
with a crowd at his heels ; and the Bishop, knowing no-
thing of him, but knowing the Italian to be a heretic,
bade his servants open the water gate. The fugitive
sprung down the steps, leapt into a boat, and was gone.
Being taken afterwards at Gravesend, he confessed
under torture that he had been bribed to commit the
murder by the Provost of Paris. De Quadra, who had
made himself an accomplice after the fact, was required
to surrender the keys of his house ; and his steward re
28
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[en. 41.
fusing to comply, the mayor sent workmen who changed
the locks.
De Quadra went to the palace to complain ; but the
Queen, without permitting herself to be seen, referred
him to the council ; and Cecil at last told him that he
could not be allowed to remain at Durham Place. All
the Papists in London attended mass there ; every mal-
content, every traitor and enemy of the Government,
came there at night to consult him. The disturbance
which had broken out in Ireland was due to the advice
given by de Quadra when O'Neil was in London ; and
but for the care which the Queen had taken of him he
would probably have long before been murdered by the
mob.1
De Quadra was not a man to be discomposed by high
words. He replied that whatever he had done he had
done by his master's orders ; and complaints against
himself were complaints against the King o*f Spain. If
he had seemed to act in an. unfriendly manner, the times
were to blame ; if he did not profess the English re-
ligion, he professed the religion of Christendom ; and
those noble and honourable men who came to his house
to mass came where they had a right to come and did
not deserve Cecil's imputations
Hot words passed to and fro. Cecil charged the
Bishop with maintaining traitors and rebels. De Quadra
1 Do Quadra to Philip, January
IO: MS. Simrnicas. The accourt
of the matter sent by the English
council to Sir Thomas Chaloner,
agrees closely with that of de Quadra,
dwelling only in fuller detail on the
midnight conferences of conspirators
and traitors held at Durham Place :
Spanish MtS., Januiry 7: Rolls
Ifouse.
1563 ] THE ENGLISH A T II A VKE. 29
said it was not lie or his master who were most guilty
of using religion as a stalking-horse to disturb their
neighbours' peace.
Cecil said the Bishop had encouraged Pole and For-
tescue. The Bishop answered truly enough that he had
had nothing to do with them or their follies.
'The meaning of it all/ de Quadra wroie to Philip,
' is this : they wish to dishearten the Catholics whom
the Parliament will bring together from all parts of the
realm. I am not to remain in this house because it has
secret doors and entrances which we may use for mis-
chief. They are afraid, and they have cause to be afraid.
The heretics are furious at seeing me maintain the Ca-
tholics here with some kind of authority, and they can-
not endure it ; but a few days ago the Lord Keeper said
that neither the Crown nor religion were safe so long as
I was in the realm. It is true enough, as Cecil says,
that I may any day be torn in pieces by the populace.
Ever since this war in France, and the demonstrations
in Paris against the heretics, the Protestant preachers
have clamoured from the pulpit for the execution of
* Papists/ Even Cecil himself is bent on cruelty ; and
did they but dare they would not leave a Catholic alive
in the land.
' But the faithful are too large a number, and if it
comes to that they will sell their lives dear. London
indeed is bad enough : it is the worst place in the
realm : and it is likely — I do not say it in any fear, but
only because it is a thing which your Majesty should
know — that if they force me to reside within the walls
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 41.
of the city something may happen to me. The council
themselves tell me that if I am detected in any con-
spiracy my privilege as ambassador shall not save me.
They wish to goad me on to violence that they may
have matter to lay before the Queen against me.' l
Believing or pretending to believe that de Quadra,
notwithstanding his denial, was really implicated in the
affair of the Poles, Cecil overshot his mark. Chaloner
was instructed to demand the Bishop's recall ; and
meanwhile he was allowed still to reside in Durham
Place, but with restrictions upon his liberty. The
water gate was closed, sentinels were posted at the
lodge, the house was watched day and night, and every
person who went in or out was examined and registered.2
While this fracas was at its heat, on the i2th of
January Parliament opened, and with it the first Convo-
cation .of the English Church. The sermon at St Paul's
was preached by Day, the Provost of Eton ; that at
Westminster by Dr JNowell. The subject of both was
the same : the propriety of ' killing the caged wolves ' —
that is to say, the Catholic bishops in the Tower — with
the least possible delay.3
The session then began. The Lord Keeper in the
1 De Quadra to Philip, January
IO : 3/6'. tiimancas.
• DC Quadra to Philip, January
27: /1/6'. Ibid.
3 ' El Martes se abri6 el Parla-
mcnto, y lo que se predico tanto en
"Westminster en presencia de la
Reyna como en San Pablo en el
sinodo ecTiCsiastieo fue principal-
mente persuadir que se matascn los
lobos encerrados; enteudiendo por
los obispos presos.' — De Quadra to
, January 14: MS. Ibid. It
is mournful to remember that No-
well was the author of the English
Church Catechism in its present
form. See note at the end of this
chapter.
1563.] THE ENGLISH A T HA VRE. 3 1
usual speech from the throne dwelt oil the internal dis-
orders of the country, the irreligion of the laity, the
disorder and idleness of the clergy. He touched briefly
on the events of the three last years ; and in speaking
by name of the House of Guise, he said that if tl.ey had
not been encountered in Scotland they must have been
fought with under the walls of York.
Then passing to France, he said that the Queen by
the same cause had been compelled to a second similar
interference there. He alluded pointedly to a disloyal
faction in England, by whom the foreign enemies were
encouraged. He spoke shortly of the late devilish con-
spiracy, and then concluded with saying that reluctant
as they knew the Queen to be to ask her subjects for
money, they would be called upon to meet the expenses
which she had incurred in the service of the Common-
wealth.
Sir Thomas Williams, the Speaker of the Lower
House, followed next in the very noblest spirit of Eng-
lish Puritanism. With quaint allegoric and classical
allusions interlaced with illustrations from the Bible, he
conveyed to the Queen the gratitude of the people for
a restored religion and her own moderate and gentle
Government. He described the country however as
still suffering from ignorance, error, covetousness, and
a thousand meaner vices. Schools were in decay,
universities deserted, benefices unsupplied. As ho
passed through the streets, he heard almost as many
oaths as words. Then turning to the Queen herself he
went on thus —
32 REIGX OF EL IZAJiE 7 77. |c H . 4 1 .
' We now assembled, as diligent in. our calling, have
thought good to move your Majesty to build a fort for
the surety of the realm, to the repulsing of your enemies
abroad : which must be set upon firm ground and stead-
fast, having two gates — one commonly open, the other
as a postern, with two watchmen at either of them — one
governor, one lieutenant, and no good thing there want-
ing ; the same to be named th.e Fear of God, the
governor thereof to be God, your Majesty the lieuten-
ant, the stones the hearts of your faithful people, the
two watchmen at the open gate to be called Knowledge
and Virtue, the two at the postern gate to be called
Mercy and Truth.
' This fort is invincible if every man will fear God ;
for all governors reign and govern by the two watch-
men Knowledge and Virtue ; and if you, being the
lieutenant, see Justice and Prudence, her sisters, exe-
cuted, then shall you rightly use your office ; and for
such as depart out of this fort let them be let out at
the postern by the two watchmen Mercy and Truth,
and then shall you be well at home and abroad.'1
All that was most excellent in English heart and
feeling — the spirit which carried England safe at last
through its trials — spoke in these words. Those in
whom that spirit lived were few in number : there was
never an ago in this world's history when they were
other than few ; but few or many they arc at all times
the world's true sovereign leaders ; and Elizabeth,
1 Speech of Sir Thomas Williams : DEWES' Journals, pp. 64, 65
1563.]
THE ENGLISH A T HA VRE.
33
among her many faults, knew these men when she saw
them, and gave them their place, and so prospered she
and her country. The clergy cried out for the blood of
the disaffected ; the lay Speaker would let them go by
the postern of Mercy and Truth.
These introductions over, the House proceeded to
business. The special subject, of which all minds were
full, had been passed over both by Bacon and "Williams ;
but the Commons fastened upon it without a moment's
delay. There were no signs of the Queen's marrying,
notwithstanding her half promise to her first Parlia-
ment. She had been near death, and the frightful un-
certainty as to what would follow should she die indeed
was no longer tolerable.
On the 1 8th the question was talked over : the
different claimants and their pretensions were briefly
considered, and as had been anticipated the tone of
feeling was as adverse as possible to the Queen of Scots.
The Scottish nobles had not been forgiven for having
supported her in refusing to ratify the treaty. To
secure their sovereign the reversion of the English
crown they were held to have repaid the assistance
which had saved them from ruin with the basest ingra-
titude. Sir Ealph Sadler broke out with a fierce
invective upon the ' false, beggarly, and perjured '
nation, whom ' the very stones ' in the English streets
would rise against.1 Another speaker challenged Mary
Stuart's pretensions on the ground of English law.
Papers, voi. ni [>. 303.
VOL. vn.
34
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 41.
It was admitted on all sides, this person said, that
the Queen of Scots' succession had been 'barred' by
the will of Henry the Eighth ; but some people pre-
tended that the will had not been signed with his hand,
some that he had never made a will at all ; there was
no mention of it on the Patent Rolls ; 1 and if the
original had existed why was it not produced ? This
last question could not be answered ; 2 but there was
proof enough of the reality of the will ; there were
abundant entries of this and that detail of it which had
been acted upon ; and of the executors there were still
many who survived. The dispute however was not
narrowed to that single issue. The Queen of Scots was
an alien, and no person could inherit in England who
was not born of English parents on English soil.
Lady Lennox was an alien also ; for though she was
born at York it was but in a passing visit ; her father
Angus was a Scot, and when he married her mother he
had another wife living. The only legal heir was the
heir appointed by Henry the Eighth — Lady Catherine
Grey, the injured and imprisoned wife of Hertford.3
1 This is true. Neither is there
any record of the will on the Roll,
nor any sign of erasure where the
entry ought to have been.
- This mysterious concealment
can only be explained as the deliber-
ate act of Elizabeth, who was deter-
mined to maintain Mary Stuart's
rights, and who felt that it would
be impossible if the will was pro-
duced.
3 Oration spoken in Parliament.
— Domestic MSS., Elizabeth, vol.
xxvii. Lady Catherine Grey's po-
pularity had been increased by an
accident which had redoubled Eli-
zabeth's displeasure. Sir Edmund
Warner, taking pity on his young
prisoner, had allowed her husband
to have access to her room ; the re-
sult was a second infant ; and fe-
cundity was a virtue especially
valued in an English princess.
1 Este negocio de Catalina,' wrote De
IS63-]
THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE.
35
The result of the first discussion was the resolution to
prepare an address to the Crown. But de Quadra was
able to learn that the question would not be settled ; the
Queen was determined to keep her promise to Mary
Stuart ; and Cecil, on the I4th, wrote to Sir Thomas
Smith that however Parliament might press her 'the
unwillingness of her Majesty to have a successor known r
would prevent a conclusion.1 The strength of Eliza-
beth's resolution would soon be tried. Meanwhile, on
the 2oth, Cecil explained to the Commons the cause of
the interference in France.2 On the 25th he was heard
at the bar of the House of Lords on the same subject ;
and his speech was chiefly directed against Philip, whom
he accused of having entangled England in war while
its titular king, and then of having betrayed it at Cam-
bray ; of having taken part with the Queen's enemies
in every difliculty in which she had been involved ; and
of having lent his strength to make the Duke of Guise
sovereign of France and Mary Stuart Queen of England
— 'Queen of England/ 'as she was already styled by her
household at Holyrood.'3
A penal Bill against the Catholics was next laid be-
fore the Upper House. It was described as ' a law
against those who would not receive the new religion/
bloody in its provisions as the preachers desired, and
Quadra on the 27th of January, ' va
cobrando fuercjas entre estos de la
nueva religion, y el parir la hace
bieu quista del pueblo.' — De Quadra
to Philip. MS. Simancas.
1 Cecil to Sir T. Smith, January
14: WRIGHT'S Elizabeth and her
Times, vol. i.
8 DEWES' Journals.
3 De Quadra to Philip, January
27 : ^/'S'. Simancas.
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 41.
contrived rather as a test of opinion than of loyalty.
At once and without reserve or fear the Catholic
Lords spoke out : Northumberland said the heretics
might be satisfied with holding other men's bishoprics
and benefices without seeking their lives ; when they
had killed the clergy they would kill the temporal
lords next : the Earl swore that he would speak as his
conscience bade him ; he would protest against the
law ; and he believed that most of the Lords who heard
him were of the same opinion with himself.1
Montague followed on the same side and at greater
length : —
* A law was proposed,' he said, 'to compel Papists,
under pain of death, to confess the Protestant doctrine to
be true. Such a law was neither necessary nor was it
just. The Catholics were living peaceably, neither
disputing nor preaching nor troubling the common-
wealth in any way. The doctrine of the Protestants, if
they had a doctrine, had been established against the
consent of the ecclesiastical estate ; and it was absurd,
so long as the world was full of disputes and the opinions
of those best able to judge were divided, for one set of
men to compel another to accept their views as true or
to pretend that there was no longer room for doubt.
1 De Quadra to Philip: MS.
Simancas. The Supremacy Bill,
which ultimately passed, was brought
into the House of Lords on the 25th
<7f February. De Quadra's letter,
describing Northumberland's speech,
was written on the 2yth of January, ;
and must therefore refer to some
other Bill — unnoticed in the meagre
journals — which was thrown out.
The ambassador distinctly says that
there was a vote — ' vinieudo a votard
los Senores.'
1563.] THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE. 37
The Protestants might be content with what they had
got without forcing other men to profess what they did
not believe and to make God a witness of the lie. To
take an oath against their consciences or else to be put
to death was no alternative to be offered to reasonable
men ; and if it came to that extremity the Catholics
would defend themselves. A majority might be found
to vote for the law if the bishops were included ; but the
bishops were a party to the quarrel and had no right to,
be judges in it. The bishops had no business with pains
and penalties ; they should keep to their pulpits and
their excommunications and leave questions of public
policy to the lay Lords.'1
Had Montague been despotic in England the Protest-
ants would have had as short a shrift as the Huguenots
were finding in France ; but even a Catholic of the six-
teenth century, when in opposition, could be more tem-
perate than a Protestant in power. The Bill was lost
or withdrawn to reappear in a new form : and the Peers
who had checked the zeal of Bonner and Gardiner had
the credit of staying in time the less pardonable revenge
of their antagonists.
On the French question there were anak ^ous differ-
ences of opinion. When the temper of Parliament had
been felt it was found that, notwithstanding the Puritan
constitution of the Lower House, the feeling was in
favour only of the recovery of Calais. The Lords and
Commons ' -resolved to yield their whole power in goods
1 Annals of the Reformation : STKYPE, vol. i.
38 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 41.
and bodies to recover Calais, to maintain Newhaven and
any war which might arise thereof ; ' but they were not
so ready to contribute to the charge ' of supporting the
army of the Protestants/ x The disposition of the people
was the same as the disposition of the Queen ; and Eliza-
beth, warned on many sides that she could not trust
Conde, and only half trusting Coligny, wrote to Sir
Thomas Smith that in a doubtful quarrel she could not
press her subjects too far. He need not hint to the
Admiral that there was ' any slackness ' on her part ; but
' she would be glad if some indirect means could be
devised' to compose the religious difficulties — though
' toleration was not stablished so universally as the Ad-
miral desired' — provided England could have ' its right
in Calais and the members thereof/ and the money
which she had lent Conde partially, if not wholly, re-
paid.2
Both Queen and country were falling back on the
' hollow dealing' which she had regretted so bitterly on
the fall of Houen ; and then as ever it wTas found dan-
gerous to follow private objects behind an affected zeal
for a noble cause. Six thousand Englishmen paid with
their lives for this trifling with Coligny, while the
coveted Calais was forfeited for ever ; the Huguenots
obtained the half- toleration which Elizabeth desired for
them ; and they found the value of it on the day of St
Bartholomew.
But to return to the succession.
1 Elizabeth to Sir T. Smith, January 25 : FORBES, vol. ii.
2 Ibid.
1563.] THE ENGLISH AT HAVRE. 39
111 the interval of these discussions the address of the
Commons was drawn ; and on the 28th the Speaker with
the whole House attended to present it in the gallery of
the palace. Commencing with an elaborate compliment
011 the Queen's services to the country, Sir Thomas
Williams proceeded to say that the nation required for
their perfect security some assurance for the future.
Her Majesty had been dangerously ill, and the Com^
rnons had supposed that in calling them together so
soon after her recovery she had intended to use their
assistance to come to some conclusion. He reminded her
of Alexander's generals ; he reminded her — more to the
purpose — of York and Lancaster; and the realm, he said,
was beset with enemies within and without. There was
'a faction of heretics in her realm — contentious and
malicious Papists — who, most unnaturally against their
country, most madly against their own safety, and most
treacherously against her Highness, not only hoped for
the woful day of her death, but also lay in wait to ad-
vance some title under which they might revive their
late unspeakable cruelties. The Commons saw nothing
to withstand their desires but her only life ; they feared
much to what attempt the hope of such opportunity —
nothing withstanding them but her life — might move
the Catholics ; and they found how necessary it was
that there should be more set and known between her
Majesty's life and the unkindness and cruelty they in-
tended to revive.' Ignorant as they were to whom the
crown ought to descend, and being unable to judge of the
limitation of the succession in King Henry's will, their
40 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [m. 41
first desire was that her Majesty would marry, their
second that she wouid use the opportunity of the session
to allow some successor in default of heirs of her body
' to be determined by Act of Parliament ; ' while they,
on their part, ' for the preservation and surety of her
Majesty and her issue/ would devise ' the most penal,
sharp, and terrible statutes to all who should practise
against her safety.'
By the nomination of a Protestant suc-
cessor Elizabeth had everything to gain ;
while, if Mary Stuart was acknowledged, her life would
not be safe for a day. Her policy in every way was to
acquiesce in the prayer of the Commons ; and yet she
listened with ill- concealed impatience. She said briefly
that on a matter of such moment she could give no
answer without further consideration, and she then
abruptly turned her back on the deputation and with-
drew.1
If de Quadra was rightly informed she had been
half prevailed on to name the Earl of Huntingdon, with
the condition that she herself should have Lord Robert.
But Dudley had made no advances in the favour of the
Peers, and Huntingdon was a Puritan and Dudley's
brother-in-law ; Lord Arundel, with the Howards, still
inclined to Lady Catherine Grey, of whom the Queen
could not endure to hear ; and thus all parties were at
issue.
The Upper House followed the Lower with an ad-
1 'Con tun to Ifs volviu las espaldas y se entro en su aposento.' — DC
Quadra to Philip, February 6 : MS. Simancas.
1563.]
THE ENGLISH A T HA VRE.
dress to the same purpose. Elizabeth said bitterly that
' the lines which they saw in her face were not wrinkles
but small-pox marks ; God had given children to St
Elizabeth, and old as she was he might give children to
her ; if she appointed a successor it would deluge Eng-
land in blood/ l
Both Houses were profoundly angry. The Protest-
ants supposed that the Queen was sacrificing the Re-
formation and the country to her secret passion for
Lord Robert ; and that she was studiously allowing the
Scottish Queen's pretensions to drift into tacit recogni-
tion. Day after day throughout the session the subject
continued to be harped upon. A Bill was proposed by
Cecil by which, if the Queen died, the privy council
were to continue in office with imperial authority till
Parliament could decide on the future sovereign. But
this too came to nothing, 2 and the Queen continued to
give evasive answers till the prorogation of Parliament
should leave her free again.
And yet the Protestant party were determined to
carry something which should answer their purpose ;
and at once — though the first penal law had been lost —
enable them to hold down the Catholics, and in case of
Elizabeth's death, to prevent Mary Stuart's succession.3
To check the exultation of Montague and his friends at
their first success in Parliament, Cecil contrived another
1 De Quadra to Philip, February
6 : MS. Simancas.
2 Draft of an Act of Parliament,
in Cecil's hand : Domestic MSS. vol
3 ' Esta Icy contra los Catolicos no
se ha hecho con otra fin mas prin-
cipal que de excluir la de Escocia
desta sucession por via indirecta.' —
De Quadra to Philip, February 20.
.f3 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 41.
demonstration against de Quadra. On the day of the
Purification the foreign Catholics in London came as
usual in large numbers to hear mass at Durham Place.
The guard at the gate took their names as they passed
in ; and before the service was over an officer of the
palace guard entered from the river, arrested every
Spaniard, Fleming, and Italian present, and carried
them off to the Fleet. They were informed on their re*
lease that thenceforward no stranger, not even a casual
visitor to the realm, should attend a service unsanctioned
by the laws.1
On the scth of February a Bill was introduced, by
which, without mention of doctrine, Protestant or Ca-
tholic, all persons who maintained the Pope's authority
or refused the oath of allegiance to the Queen, for the
first offence should incur a premuiiire, for the second the
pains of treason. Should the Bill pass it was believed
to be the death-warrant of the imprisoned bishops ; and
even in the Lower House voices were raised in opposition.
Cecil in a passionate speech declared that the House was
bound in gratitude not to reject what was necessary for
the Queen's security. Her life was in danger because
she was the defender of English liberty ; the King of
Spain desired her to send representatives to Trent ; she
had refused, and he was threatening her with war ; and
the Pope was offering millions of gold to pay the cost
of an invasion of England. The Queen herself would
die before she would yield, but her subjects must stand
De Quadra to Philip, February 6 and February 20.
1563.] THE ENGLISH AT HAVRE. 43
by her with laws and lives and goods. There was no
aelp elsewhere. The Germans used fine words, but they
failed at the pinch. The Emperor had been gained
over by the Pope. Their reliance must be on themselves
and their own arms, and nowhere else.
After Cecil, rose Sir Francis Knowles, who said that
there had been enough of words : it was time to draw
the sword. The Commons were generally Puritan.
The opposition of the Lords had been neutralized by a
special provision in their favour, and the Bill was car-
ried. The obligation to take the oath was extended to
the holder of every office, lay or spiritual, in the realm.
The clergy were required to swear whenever their or-
dinary might be pleased to tender them the oath ; the
members of the House of Commons were required to
swear when they took their seats ; members of the
Upper House were alone exempt, the Act declaring, with
perhaps designed irony, that the Queen was otherwise
assured of the loyalty of the Peers.1 Without this
proviso de Quadra was assured that they would have
refused to consent ; and even with it he clung to the hope
that the Catholic noblemen would be true to themselves.
But he was too sanguine, and Cecil carried his point.
Heath, Bonner, Thirlby, Feckenham, and the other
prisoners at once prepared to die. The Protestant ec-
clesiastics would as little spare them as they had spared
the Protestants. They would have shown no mere}
themselves, and they looked for none.
5 Elizabeth^ cap. I.
44
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 41.
Nor is there any doubt what their fate would have
been had it rested with the English bishops. Imme-
diately after the Bill had received the royal assent, the
hated Bonner was sent for to be the first victim. Home,
Bishop of Winchester, offered him the oath, which it was
thought certain that he would refuse, and he would then
be at the mercy of his enemies. Had it been so the
English Church would have disgraced itself ; but Bon-
ner's fate would have called for little pity. The law
however stepped in between the prelates and their prey
— as Portia between Shylock and Antonio — and saved
them both. By the Act archbishops and bishops might
alone tender the oath ; and Bonner evaded the dilemma
by challenging his questioner's title to the name. When
Home was appointed to the See of Winchester his pre-
decessor was alive ; the English bishops generally had
been so irregularly consecrated that their authority,
until confirmed by Act of Parliament, was of doubtful
legality ; and the judges of the Court of Queen's Bench
caught at the plea to prevent a needless cruelty. Bon-
ner was again returned to the Marshalsea, and Home
gained nothing by his eagerness but a stigma upon him-
self and his brethren.1
The remaining business of the session passed over
without difficulty : the grant of money was profusely
liberal ; 2 an Act was passed for the maintenance of the
navy, which will be mentioned more particularly in a
1 Annals of the Reformation :
STRYPE, vol. i. part 2, pp. 2 to 8.
2 ' Two fifteenths and tenths on
personal property, and an income
tax of ten per cent, for two years.
'563-1
THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE.
45
future chapter ; a tillage Act revived the statutes of
Henry the Seventh and Henry the Eighth for the re-
building of farm-houses and breaking up the large pas-
tures.1 The restoration of the currency made a wages
Act again possible, but the altered prices of meat and
corn required a revision of the scale. The magistrates
in the different counties were empowered to fix the rate
according to the local prices, their awards being liable
to revision by the Court of Chancery, to which returns
were to be periodically made.2 Other remarkable pro-
visions were added to restore the shaken texture of Eng-
lish life. During the late confused time the labourer
had wandered from place to place doing a day's work
where he pleased. Masters' were now required to hire
their servants by the year, neither master to part with
servant nor servant with master till the contract was
expired, unless the separation was sanctioned by two
These acts all indicated a recovered or recovering
tone. The solid English life, after twenty years of con-
vulsion, was regaining consistency.
1 5 Elizabeth, cap. 2.
2 5 Elizabeth, cap. 4. "Wages
varied with the time of year, and the
rates were read out every month in
the parish churches. The average
in 1563 maybe gathered with toler-
able accuracy from the scale which
Was ruled for the county of Bucks
before the passing of the Act. The
price of food after the restoration of
the currency was found to have risen
a third. The penny, which in terms
of bread, meat, and beer, had been
worth under Henry the Eighth
twelve pence of our money, was now
worth eight pence. The table of
wages in Bucks in 1561 was for the
common labourer sixpence a day
from Easter to All Hallowc ; five
pence a day from All Hallows to
Easter ; and eight pence a day in
the hay and corn harvest.— Tyldsley's
Report : Domestic MSS.. vol. xix.
46 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 41.
The well-being of the people however turned on the
success of Elizabeth's policy, and hung on the thread of
her single life ; while neither Lords nor Commons had
as yet received an answer to their addresses. On the
i6th of February she sent a message by Cecil that she
had not forgotten them, and entreating their patience :
but ten days passed and nothing was done ; and by that
time Maitland had arrived from Scotland with an offer
from his mistress — of course as a condition of recogni-
tion— to make herself ' a moyenneur of a peace ' with
France, which would give back Calais to England.
There was a hope that by such an offer even the unwill-
ingness of Parliament might be overcome ; and Mait-
land was prudently feeling his way when one of those
strange adventures occurred which so often crossed the
path of the Queen of Scots, and gave her history the in-
terest— not perhaps of tragedy, for she was selfish in
her politics and sensual in her passions — but of sonic
high-wrought melodrama.
In the galley in which she returned to Scotland there
was present a young poet and musician named Chatelar.
Gifted, well-born, and passionate, the handsome youth
had for some months sighed at her feet in Holyrood.
He went back to France, but he could not remain there.
The moth was recalled to the flame whose warmth was
life and death to it. He was received on his return
with the warmest welcome. Mary Stuart admitted him
to her labours in the Cabinft, and he shared her plea-
sures in the festival or the dance. ' So familiar was he
with the Queen early and late that scarcely could any
15630
THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE.
47
of the nobility have access to her/ * She leant upon his
shoulder in public, she bewitched him in private with
her fascinating confidence ; 2 and interpreting her be-
haviour and perhaps her words too favourably, he one
night concealed himself in her bedroom. He was dis-
covered by the ladies of the bedchamber before the
Queen retired ; and the next morning she commanded
him with a sharp reprimand to leave the Court. But
Mary Stuart pardoned easily the faults of those whom
she liked. Chatelar was forgiven, and again miscon-
struing her kindness, four nights later the poor youth
repeated his rash adventure. He came out upon the
Queen while she was undressing, and ' set upon her with
such force and in such impudent sort that she was fain
to cry out for help/
Hearing her shrieks Murray rushed into the room:
Chatelar was of course seized and carried off and tor-
tured. Confessing the worst intentions with wild bra-
vado, he was executed a week after in the Market Place
at St Andrew's, chanting a love-song as he died ; and
the Queen after some natural distress recovered her
spirits.
1 KNOX.
2 Randolph, Avho was describing
what he had himself seen, said in a
-etter to Cecil, 'Your Honour heareth
the beginning of a lamentable story,
whereof such infamy will arise as I
fear, howsoever well the wound be
healed, the scar will for ever remain.
Thus your Honour seeth what
mischief cometh of the over-great
familiarity that any such personage
showeth unto so unworthy a creature
and abject a varlet, as her Grace
used with him. Whatsoever colour
can be laid upon it, that it was done
for his master's sake (Chatelar had
been in the train of M. d'Amville),
I cannot but say it had been too
much to have been used to his
master's self by any princess alive
—Scotch MSS, Rolls House.
48
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 41
She had probably nothing worse to accuse herself of
than thoughtlessness ; and the truth might have been
told without danger of compromising her. It is strange
that Maitland, in a fear that it might affect the success
of his mission, thought it worth his while to cover the
story with an incredible lie. Maitland had two objects
in London — one, to secure the succession for his mistress
by assuring Elizabeth that she had nothing to fear from
so true a friend ; the other, to consult the Spanish am-
bassador on the marriage with the Prince of Spain, which
of all things on earth Elizabeth most dreaded for her.
It was this last object chiefly which he thought the
Chatelar affair might hinder ; he therefore told de Qua-
dra that Chatelar before his death had declared that he
had been employed by the Huguenots to compromise
Mary Stuart's reputation ; he had concealed himself in
her room, intending to be seen in leaving it, and then
to escape.1
Two days after Chatelar was executed Mary Stuart
lost a far nobler friend. A pistol-ball fired from behind
a hedge closed the career of the Duke of Guise under
the walls of Orleans. The assassin Poltrot was a boy
of nineteen. Suspicion pointed to the Admiral and
Theodore Beza as the instigators of the crime ; and
1 'Las personas,' de Quadra
adds, 'que le enviaron a esta tan
gran traycion, dice Ledington que
ban sido mas de una ; pero la que
principalmente le dio la instruccion
y elrecaudo fue Madame de Curosot.'
— De Quadra to Philip, March 28.
Madame de Curosot was probahly
Charlotte de Laval, the wife of the
Admiral. This preposterous story
passed current with the Spaniards,
and reappears in a despatch of de
Chantonnay to Philip. — TEULET,
vol. v. pp. 2, 3.
1563.] THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE. 49
Chatilloii never wholly convinced the world of his inno-
cence, for Poltrot himself accused him while the horses
were tearing him in pieces. However it was, that single I
shot shattered the Catholic confederacy and changed the
politics of Europe. The Guise family fell with theii
head into sudden ruin. The Due d'Aumale, badly
wounded at Dreux, lived but to hear of his brother's
murder, and followed him in a few hours. The
Grand Prior died of a cold caught in the same
battle.1 Of the six brothers, who but a few months before
held in their hands the fortunes of France, three were
dead ; of the three remaining the Marquis d'Elbreuf was
shut up in Caen Castle, closely besieged by Chatillon ;
the Cardinal of Lorraine was absent at Trent ; and the
Cardinal of Guise was the single member of the family
who had no capacity. The other great leaders of France
had disappeared with equal suddenness : Montmorency
was a prisoner in Orleans, Conde a prisoner in Paris ;
St Andre was dead, Navarre was dead; Catherine found
herself relieved of rivalry and able to govern as she
pleased. The Queenof_Scots had no longera friend
in France who cared to stand by her ; and well indeed
after this blow might she lament to Randolph the misery
of life, and say with tears ' she perceived now the world
was not that which men would make it, nor they the
happiest that lived the longest in it.' 2
Mary Stuart's prospects in England had been on the
eve of arrangement, when Elizabeth, relieved of the
1 VABILLAS.
2 Randolph to Cecil, April i : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
VOL. VII. 4
50 REIGA? OF E LIZ ABE 777. [en . 4 1 .
dread of the Duke of Guise, believed herself again at
leisure to trifle, or to insist on new conditions before she
need consent to the recognition.
The following letters and abstracts of letters for a
moment lift the veil of diplomacy, and reveal the in-
ward ambitions, aims, and workings of the different
parties : —
SUMMARY OF A LETTER FROM THE BISHOP OF AQUILA
TO THE KING OF SPAIN.1
March 18.
The Bishop of Aquila understanding that Maitland
the Secretary of the Queen of Scots desired to speak
with him, invited the said Secretary to dinner. The
conversation turned chiefly on two points — the succes-
sion of his mistress to the English crown and her mai
riage.
On the first Maitland said that with the Queen of
England's permission lie had discussed with Cecil the
terms on which the Queen of Scots would relinquish her
present claim on the English crown, provided the succes-
sion was secured to her in the event of the Queen of
England's death without children.
The conditions he said had been arranged ; and the
two Queens were to have met to conclude the agree-
ment ; when the death of the Duke of Guise changed
all, and he could no longer hope that his mistress's right
would ever be admitted.
1 The original letter of de Quadra is not preserved. The translation
is from a contemporary abstract.
1 563.] THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE. 5 1
The Bishop, seeing that Maitland was perplexed, and
wishing to learn whether he had anything more on his
mind, said that if his mistress would marry where the
Queen of England wished she might then no doubt have
all that she desired.
Maitland replied that to this there were two objec-
tions : in the first place the Queen of Scots would never
marry a Protestant ; in the second place she would
marry neither Catholic nor Protestant at the will of or
in connection with the Queen of England, not though
the succession could be absolutely made sure to her.
The husband whom Elizabeth would give her would be
but some English vassal ; and if she married below her
rank her difficulties would remain as great as ever. To be
nominated as successor would be of no use to her unless
she had power to enforce her rights ; * while she would
forfeit the good will of the Catholics by seeming to give
way. The Earl of Arran she abhorred ; the Duke of
Ferrara, whom the Queen-mother of France proposed to
her, she despised. She would sooner die than marry any
one lower in rank than the husband whom she had
lost
The Bishop asked what she would think of the
Archduke Charles of^ Austria.
Tlaitland replied that the Archduke would satisfy
neither his mistress nor her subjects. He was a mere
dependent on the King of Spain, and could not be
thought of unless the King of Spain — as was not likely
1 ' Porque sin fuer^as proprias nunca podria executar la declaration que
se hiciese.'
52 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 41.
—would interfere in England on a large scale, emphati-
cally and effectually.
The Secretary then spoke at length of the fears of the
Queen of England lest the Prince of Spain should marry
his mistress. The Queen-mother too, he said, feared it
equally and with good reason, for if the King of Spain
would consent he might add England, Ireland, and
Scotland to his dominions. Nothing could be more easy,
so great was the anxiety of the English Catholics for that
marriage and for the union of the Crowns. When the
Bishop objected that the Scots might oppose it on the
ground of religion, the Secretary admitted that the
nobility of Scotland were generally Protestant ; but they
were devoted to the Queen, and would be content that
she should marry a Catholic if it was for the interests of
the realm. Means could be found to work upon them.
The Catholics at first might be allowed mass in their
private houses — by and by they would have churches.
Lord James was most favourable to the marriage, and if
the Bishop wished he would come to London and speak
with him.
As to the feeling in England, the Bishop confirms
Maitland's account from his own knowledge. One noble-
man offers, if it can be brought about, to serve the King
of Spain with a thousand horse ; others are almost as
forward ; and the state of the realm is such that the
union of the island under a single powerful and Chris-
tian prince is the sole means by which religion can be
reformed. The whole body of the English Catholics
desire the Bishop to represent this in their names to the
1563.] THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE. ^
King of Spain as spoken from their ver}' heart and soul ;
they assure him that it is their universal wish, and that
no obstacle can prevent it from being carried into effect
if his Majesty will only consent.
DE QUADRA TO PHILIP II.
London, March 28.
' Maitland tells me that four or five days ago, speak-
ing of the affairs of France and of the Queen of Scots'
marriage, the Queen of England said that if his mistress
would be guided by her she would give her a husband
that should be all which she could desire ; the Queen
of Scots should have Lord Robert, on whom God
had bestowed so many charms that were she herself
to marry she would prefer him to all the princes in the
world.
* Maitland by his own account replied that her Ma-
jesty was giving a wonderful proof of her affection for
the Queen his mistress in offering to bestow upon her an
object so dear to herself. If his mistress came to love
Lord Robert as much as her Majesty loved him, he
feared even so she might not marry him for fear of de-
priving her Majesty of what she so much valued.
' After more of these courtesies the Queen said,
' Would to God the Earl of Warwick was as charming
as his brother — we might then each have had our own/
Maitland would not understand the hint ; but she kept
to the subject and went on, 'Not. that my Lord
Warwick is ill-looking or ungraceful, but he is rough,
and lacks the sweet delieacv of Robert ; he is brave
54 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 41.
enough and noble enough to deserve the hand of a
princess.'
' Maitland did not like the ground on which he found
himself, so to end the conversation he said that the
Queen his mistress was still young ; her Majesty had
better first marry Lord Eobert herself ; if she had child-
ren it would be all which the realm required of her ;
should no such event happen, and should God call her
to his mercy, his mistress might inherit both crown and
husband ; and with one or the other of them there could
be no doubt of a family. The Queen laughed, and the
subject dropped.
' There has been a proposal in the Upper House to
limit the succession to the heads of four or five English
families, leaving the Queen to choose among them. The
plan was Cecil's, and the object was of course to secure
the crown to some one of his own party ; while the pride
of the great houses named would be flattered with the
distinction, whether her choice rested on them or not.
The Queen herself wishes to be allowed to bequeath the
crown by will. They will perhaps pass a resolution ex-
cluding women to make sure of keeping out the Queen
of Scots.'
SUMMARY OF A LETTER FROM DE QUADRA TO THE
KING OF SPAIN.
April 3.
' The Queen is really anxious for this marriage be-
tween the Queen of Scots and Lord Robert ; but she is
Contemporary abstract,
1563.] THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE. 55
not likely to succeed. Maitland demands the recogni-
tion, and threatens great things if it is not conceded.
With the succession secured to her, he tells the Queen
that she will be content to remain on good terms. If
she is left in uncertainty, he says that she must seek
other friends abroad.
' Cecil answers that if means can be found to provide
for his mistress's safety during her lifetime, and to pre-
vent a religious revolution from following afterwards,
the claims of the Queen of Scots shall be admitted forth-
with. Maitland rejoins that this is nothing but words.
He has now gone to France. At parting he told me that
if his mistress could not have our Prince she would do
what she could to obtain the King of France. The Arch-
duke Charles she will not hear of. Her own subjects
and the English Catholics alike object to the Archduke,
and would prefer Lady Margaret's son Lord Darnley.
' Rawlet, the Secretary of the Queen of Scots, assures
de Quadra that the Lord James and the whole Scotch
nobility, Protestant as well as Catholic, wish for the
Prince of Spain. Ten or twelve English peers and
knights also have memorialized the Bishop about it, and
some of them are willing to swear fealty to the Prince
and the Queen of Scots together.' l
Unaware of the pit which threatened to open under
her feet, and warming herself with the project of the
Lord Robert marriage, which would elevate her favourite
56 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.41.
and, as she supposed, would be a shelter to herself, Eliza-
beth meanwhile felt herself able to dismiss the Parlia-
ment and to answer the addresses of the Houses before
they separated.
On Saturday the loth of April she went down to the
Lords to give her assent to the Acts of the session. Sir
Thomas Williams paid her the usual compliments, com-
paring her to the great queens of fable or history — to
' Palestina,' who reigned before the deluge, to Ceres who
followed her, and other benefactresses of mankind real or
imaginary ; without entering again upon painful sub-
jects, he contented himself with expressing a wish at the
close of his speech to see her happily married.
A formal answer of a corresponding kind was read
by Bacon — and then Elizabeth rose and in her own style
spoke as follows :
' Since there can be no duer debt than prince's word,
to keep that unspotted, for my part, as one that would
be loth that the self thing that keeps the merchant's
credit from craze, should be the cause that prince's speech
should merit blame, and so their honour quail : an an-
swer therefore I will make, and this it is :
' The two petitions that you presented me, in many
words expressed, contained these two things in sum as
of your cares the greatest — my marriage and my success-
or— of which two, the last I think is best to be touched ;
and of the other a silent thought may serve ; for I had
thought it had been so desired as none other tree's
blossoms should have been minded ere hope of my fruit
had been denied you. But to the last, think not that
1563.] THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE. 5 7
you had needed this desire, if I had seen a time so fit,
and it so ripe to be denounced. The greatness of the
cause therefore and need of your returns doth make me
say that which I think the wise may easily guess — that
as a short time for so long a continuance ought not to
pass by rote, as many telleth tales, even so as cause by
conference with the learned shall show me matter worthy
utterance for your behoof, so shall I more gladly pursue
your good after my days, than with my prayers be a
means to linger my living thread.
' And this much more will I add for your comfort. I
have good record in this place that other means 1 have-
been thought of than you mentioned, perchance for your
good as much, and for my surety no less, which if pre-
sently could have been executed had not been deferred.
But I hope I shall die in quiet with Nunc Dimittis,
which cannot be without I see some glimpses of your
following after my graved bones. And by the way, if
any doubt that I am as it were by vow or determina-
tion bent never to trade that life (of marriage), put out
1 hut, heresy ; your belief is awry — for as I think it best
for a private woman, so do I strive with myself to think
it not most meet for a prince — and if I can bend my
will to your need, I will not resist such a mind/ 2
1 i.e. — The Lord Robert mar-
riage as the condition of the recog-
nition.
2 A manuscript version of this
speech, at Hatfield, leaves little
doubt that the text as given by
D'Ewes is substantially correct. The
few varieties of reading do not ufi'ect
the more complicated passages, and
we are obliged to conclude that
Elizabeth really spoke with these
intricate and strange involutions. A
date upon the MS., April 10, 1563,
fixes the occasion on which the
speech was delivered.
58 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 41.
With this oration Parliament was prorogued ; and
Elizabeth had kept her word to the Queen of Scots.
With the Parliament ended also the first Convocation
of the English Church — of the doings of which some-
thing should be said — although what Convocation might
decide affected little either the stability or the teaching
of the institution which it represented.
The Church of England had been reproached with
teaching no definite doctrine. It was proposed that
'NowelPs Catechism,' ' Edward's Articles/ and 'Jewel's
Apology,' lately written at Cecil's instigation, should be
bound together and receive authoritative sanction —
1 whosoever should speak against the same to be ordered
as in cases of hereby.' An effort was made to get rid of
vestments and surplices, organs and bells — ' the table to
stand no more altarwise ; ' the sign of the cross to be
abolished in baptism ; and kneeling at the Communion
to be left indifferent, or discountenanced as leading to
superstition.
The more advanced Calvinists demanded the reinvi-
goration of that aged iniquity, the Ecclesiastical Courts,
with a new code of canon law ; the clergy meanwhile to
have power to examine into the spiritual condition of
their parishioners ; to admonish them if their state was
unsatisfactory; to excommunicate them if admonition
failed ; and excommunication to mean the loss of civil
rights, imprisonment, fine, and the secular arm. Adul-
terers and fornicators were to be put to open shame,
flogged at the cart's tail, banished or imprisoned for
life ; and moral offences generally were to be dealt with
by similar means.
1563.] THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE. 59
It was no doubt well that English people should
understand the faith which they professed ; it was well
that they should be prevented so far as possible from
committing sin ; but it would not perhaps have contri-
buted in the long run to the end desired, if the clergy
had been again empowered to deal with these things in
their own peculiar manner.
This last ambition was quenched and did not reap-
pear. Six formulas committing the Church to ultra-
Protestantism were lost by the near majority of fifty-nine
to fifty- eight, while the discussion generally resulted ii?
the restoration of thirty- nine of the original forty- two
articles of Edward as a rule of faith for the clergy. The
Bishop of Worcester introduced a measure to prevent
his order from making away with the Church property.
Petitions were presented for a more strict observance of
Sunday, which came to nothing. This, in the main,
was the work aimed at or accomplished by Convocation :
more moderate than might have been expected from the
spirit in which the session had opened. The clergy
were learning their position, and as a body were willing
to work heartily on the narrow platform to which their
pretensions had been limited. They^too disappeared
with the Parliament, and the Queen was left to extricate
herself as she could from the embroglio in France.
Although she knew nothing of the overtures of the
Scots to Spain, there was much in Philip's attitude which
was seriously menacing. His ambassador in Paris was
advising the Government to refuse the restoration of
Calais, while he himself professed to Chaloner his hope
that England would recover it. Many thousand Span-
60 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.41.
iards were serving in the French army, while more
were preparing to join them ; and it seemed as if his
chief anxiety was to stimulate the war.
The King of Spain had deeply resented the treat-
ment of his ambassador. The Bishop of Aquila, he told
Elizabeth, had been placed in England to preserve the
alliance between his subjects and hers ; and in what he
had done had but obeyed the orders which he had re-
ceived with his appointment.1 Gresham reported from
Flanders, as the belief on the Bourse, that ' there would
be much ado with the summer for religion, when King
Philip would disturb all he could to maintain Papistry ; '
and Gresham/s own uniform advice to Elizabeth was to
buy saltpetre, cast cannon, and build ships.2
More important and far more alarming was the like-
lihood of a peace in France in which England, as the
phrase went, ' was to be left out at the cart's tail/ To
the extent to which Elizabeth had been seeking objects
of her own behind her affectation of a desire to help the
Huguenots, the Huguenot leaders felt themselves en-
titled to desert her could they obtain the toleration
which was of moment to themselves. Elizabeth had
been ready to sacrifice them could she recover Calais by
it. The Prince of Conde must have felt his conscience
easy in repaying her in her own coin.
On the ;th of March Sir Thomas Smith believed that
he had obtained what Elizabeth wanted ; and that he
1 Philip II. to Elizabeth, April 2, 1563 : Spanish MSS. Rolls
House.
• Gresham to Cecil, March 21 : I'lanilti-s MSS.
1563-] THE ENGLISH AT HAVRE. 61
would have peace and Calais in a month.1 The Queen-
mother had been ingeniously deluding him, that she
might have evidence of treachery to lay before Conde,
whom, on the 8th of the same month, she met with the
Constable on an island in the Loire.
The eclipse of the Guises enabled the interest of
France once more to be preferred to the interest of Rome.
Catherine offered Conde his brother's place as Lieuten-
ant-General, with a moderate toleration — something
perhaps in advance of that of which Elizabeth had ad-
vised the acceptance — for the Calvinists. The Calvinists
should pray to God as they pleased if they would cease
to molest the Catholics. The ' strangers ' on both sides
should be sent home ; the Spaniards should retire from
the south, the English should evacuate Normandy. The
Prince had promised Elizabeth that he would agree to no
terms without giving her notice — and he kept his word.
He wrote both to her and to Sir Thomas Smith, saying
that he had taken arms for the freedom of conscience
which was now conceded ; he assumed, without mention-
ing Calais, that Elizabeth had assisted him for the same
object ; and the object being secured there was no longer
occasion for continuing the war.2
In vain Elizabeth required him to remember his
honour and promise ; in vain she bade him beware ' how
he set an example of perfidy to the world/ She was
but receiving the measure which she had prepared for
1 Smith to Cecil, March 7 : FORBES, vol. ii.
2 Conde to Elizabeth, March 8 ; Cond6 to Sir T. Smith, March 1 1 :
FOBBES, vol. ii.
62 KEIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.41.
her allies. Peace was signed in France on the 25th of
March, and notice was sent to Warwick that the purpose
of the war being happily accomplished, he was expected
to withdraw from Havre.1
The Prince however was unwilling to press
matters to extremity. On the 8th of April he
protested in a second and more gracious message, that
neither by him nor by the Admiral had the town been
placed in English hands ; but he offered, in the name
of himself, the Queen-Regent, and the entire nobility of
France, to renew solemnly and formally the clause in
the Treaty of Cambray for the restoration of Calais in
1567 ; to repay Elizabeth the money which she had lent
him, and to admit the English to free trade and inter-
course with all parts of France.
Could Elizabeth have temperately considered the
value of these proposals she would have hesitated before
she refused them ; but she was irritated at having been
outwitted in a transaction in which her own conduct
had not been pure. The people, with the national
blindness to everything but their own injuries, were as
furious as the Queen. The garrison at Havre was only
anxious for an opportunity of making ' the French cock
cry cuck.'2 They promised Elizabeth that 'the least
molehill about her town should not be lost without
many bloody blows ; ' and when a few days later there
came the certainty that they would really be besieged,
they prayed ' that the Queen would bend her brows and
1 "Warwick to the Council, March 31 : FOIJHES, vol. ii.
2 Pelham to Throgmorton, April 5 : Couwtiy MSS.
r 563. ] THE ENGLISH AT HA VKE. 63
wax angry at the shameful treason ; ' ( the Lord War-
wick and all his people would spend the last drop of
their blood before the French should fasten a foot in
the town.'1
The French inhabitants of Havre had almost settled
the difficulty for themselves. Feeling no pleasure, what-
ever they might affect, in having ' their antient enemies'
among them, they opened a correspondence with the
Khingrave. A peasant passing the gates with a basket
of chickens was observed to have something under his
clothes. A few sheets of white paper was all which the
guard could discover ; but these, when held to the fire,
revealed a conspiracy to murder Warwick and admit
the French army.2 The townspeople, men, women, and
children, were of course instantly expelled; and the
English garrison in solitary possession worked night
and day to prepare for the impending struggle.
It was with no pleasure that Conde felt himself
obliged to turn against Elizabeth the army which her
own money had assisted him to raise. She had answered
his proposals by sending to Paris a copy of the
articles which both the Prince and the Admiral
had subscribed. ' No one thing/ she said, * so much
offended her as their unkind dealing after her friend-
ship in their extremity ; ' while Sir Thomas Smith, on
the other side, described Conde as a second King of
Navarre going the way of Baal Peor, and led astray by
* Midianitish women.5 Yet, had Elizabeth's own deal-
1 Pelham to Throgmorton, April 15 : Con way MSS.
2 Henry King to Chaloner : Spanish MSS.
64 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.41.
ings been free from reproach, it was impossible for Conde,
had he been ever so desirous of it, to make the imme-
diate restoration of Calais a condition of the peace. Had
the war been fought out with the support of England
in the field till the Catholics had been crushed, even
then his own Huguenots would scarcely have permitted
the surrender. Had he held out upon it when the two
factions were left standing so evenly balanced, he would
have enlisted the pride of France against himself and
his cause, and identified religious freedom with national
degradation. Before moving on Havre he made an-
other effort. He sent M. de Bricquemaut to explain
his position and to renew his offers enlarged to the ut-
most which he could venture. The young King wrote
himself also accepting Elizabeth's declaration that her
interference had been in no spirit of hostility to France,
entreating that she would continue her generosity, and
peace being made, recall her forces.1 The ratification
of the treaty of Cambray was promised again, with
' hostages at her choice ' for the fulfilment of it, from
the noblest families in France.
But it was all in vain. Elizabeth at first would not
see Bricquemaut. She swore she would have no deal-
ings with ' the false Prince of Conde,' and desired, if
the French King had any message for her, that it should
be presented by the ambassador Paul de Foix. When
de Foix waited on her with Charles's letter she again
railed at the Prince as ' a treacherous, inconstant, per-
1 Charles IX. to Elizabeth, April 30 : FORBES, vol. ii.
1563.] THE ENGLISH AT HA VRh . 65
jured villain.'1 De Foix, evidently instructed to make
an arrangement if possible, desired her. if she did not
like the Prince's terms to name her own conditions, and
promised that they should be carefully considered. At
first she would say nothing. Then she said she would
send her answer through Sir Thomas Smith ; then sud-
denly she sent for Bricquemaut, and told him that ' her
rights to Calais being so notorious, she required neither
hostages nor satisfaction; she would have Calais de-
livered over ; she would have her money paid down ;
and she would keep Havre till both were in her
hands/
Bricquemaut withdrew, replying briefly that if this
was her resolution she must prepare for war. Once
more de Foix was ordered to make a final effort. The
council gave him the same answer which Elizabeth had
given to Bricquemaut. He replied that the English
had no right to demand Calais before the eight years
agreed on in the treaty of Cambray were expired. The
council rejoined that the treaty of Cambray had been
broken by the French themselves in their attempt to
enforce the claims of Mary Stuart, that the treaty of
Edinburgh remained unratified, and that the fortifica-
tions at Calais and the long leases by which the lands
in the Pale had been let proved that there was and
could be no real intention of restoring it ; ' so that it
was lawful for the Queen to do any manner of thing
for the recovery of Calais ; and being come to the quiet
1 De Quadra to Philip, May 9 : MS. Simancas.
VOL. vu. 6
66 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 41.
possession of Havre without force or any other unlaw-
ful means, she had good reason to keep it.' *
On Bricquemaut's return, Catherine de Medici lost
not a moment. The troops of the Rhingrave, which
had watched Havre through the spring, were reinforced.
The armies of the Prince and of the Cruises, lately in the
field against each other, were united under the Constable,
and marched for Normandy.
In England ships were hurried to sea ; the western
counties were allowed to send out privateers to pillage
French commerce ; and depots of provisions were estab-
lished at Portsmouth, with a daily service of vessels
between Spithead and the mouth of the Seine. Recruits
for the garrison were raised wherever volunteers could be
found. The prisoners in Newgate and the Fleet — high-
waymen, cutpurses, shoplifters, burglars, horse-stealers,
1 tall fellows ' fit for service — were drafted into the army
in exchange for the gallows ; 2 and the council deter-
mined to maintain in Havre a constant force of six thou-
sand men and a thousand pioneers, sufficient, it was
hoped, with the help of the fleet and the command of
the sea, to defy the utmost which France could do.
Every day there was now fighting under the walls
of the town, and the first successes were with the English.
Fifty of the prisoners taken at Caudebecque, who had
since worked in the galleys, killed their captain and
carried their vessel into Havre. A sharp action followed
1 ' A conference between the French King's ambassador and certain of
her Majesty's Council, June 2.' — Conway MSS., Cecil's hand.
2 Domestic MSS , Elizabeth, vol. xxviii.
1563.]
THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE.
with the Rhingrave, in which the French lost fourteen
hundred men, and the English comparatively few.
Unfortunately young Tremayne was among the
killed, a special favourite of Elizabeth, who had dis-
tinguished himself at Leith, the most gallant of the
splendid band of youths who had been driven into exile
in her sister's time, and had roved the seas as privateers.
The Queen was prepared for war, but not for the cost of
war. She had resented the expulsion of the French in-
habitants of Havre : she had ' doubted ' if they were
driven from their homes ' whether God would be con-
tented with the rest that would follow ; ' 1 she was more
deeply affected with the death of Tremayne ; and War-
wick was obliged to tell her that war was a rough game ;
she must not discourage her troops by finding fault with
measures indispensable to success ; for Tremayne, he
said, 'men came there to venture their lives for her
Majesty and their country, and must stand to that which
God had appointed either to live or die/2
The English had a right to expect that
they could hold the town against any force
which could be brought against them ; while the priva-
teers, like a troop of wolves, were scouring the Channel
and chasing French traders from the seas. One uneasy
symptom alone betrayed itself : on the yth of June Lord
Warwick reported that a strange disease had appeared
in the garrison, of which nine men had suddenly died.3
June.
The Queen to Warwick, May 22 : FORBES, vol. ii.
2 Warwick to Cecil, June 9 : Domestic MS.
8 Warwick to Cecil, June 7 : MS. Ibid.
68 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 41.
But the intimation created little alarm. For three
more weeks the English Court remained sanguine, and
talked not only of keeping Havre, but of carrying the
war deeper into Normandy. ' I was yesterday with the
Queen/ wrote de Quadra on the 2nd of July. ' She said
she was about to send six thousand additional troops
across the Channel, and the French should perhaps find
the war brought to their own doors. Cecil and the
Admiral said the same to me. They have fourteen ships
well armed and manned besides their transports, and
every day they grow more eager and exasperated/1
But on that day news was on the way which abridged
these large expectations. ' The strange disease ' was the
plague ; and in the close and narrow streets where seven
thousand men were packed together amidst foul air and
filth and summer heat, it settled down to its feast of
death. On the yth of June it was first noticed ; on the
27th the men were dying at the rate of sixty a day ;
* those who fell ill rarely recovered ; the fresh water
was cut off, and the tanks had failed from drought.
There was nothing to drink but wine and cider ; there
was no fresh meat, and there were no fresh vegetables.
The windmills were outside the walls and in the hands
of the enemy ; and though there was corn in plenty the
garrison could not grind it. By the 29th of June the
deaths had been five hundred. The corpses lay unburied
or floated rotting in the harbour. The officers had
chiefly escaped ; the common men, worse fed and worse
1 09 Quadra to the Duchess of Parma. July 2 : MS. Simancas.
THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE.
69
lodged, fell in swathes like grass under the scythe, and
the physicians died at their side/
The Prince of Conde, notwithstanding the last answer
to de Foix, had written on the 26th of June a very noble
letter to Elizabeth. ' To prevent war/ he said, ' the
King and Queen, the Princes of the blood, the Lords of
the Council, the whole Parliament of Paris, would renew
the obligation to restore Calais at the eight years' end.
It was an offer which the Queen of England could accept
without stain upon her honour, and by agreeing to it
she would prove that she had engaged in the quarre]
with a chief eye to the glory of God and the maintenance
of the truth/1
Elizabeth had fiercely refused ; and when this ter-
rible news came from Havre she could not — would not
— realize its meaning. She would send another army,
she would call out the musters, and feed the garrison
from them faster than the plague could kill. Cost what
it would Havre should be held. It was but a question
of men, money, and food; and the tarnished fame of
England should be regained.2
And worse and worse came the news across the water.
When June ended, out of his seven thousand men War-
wick found but three thousand fit for duty, and the
enemy were pressing him closer, and Montmorency had
joined the Rhingrave. Thousands of workmen were
throwing up trenches under the walls, and thousands of
1 Conde to Elizabeth, June 26: FORBES, vol. ii.
2 The Council to Wai-wick, June 29 j Elizabeth to "Warwick, July 4
Founw
70 REIGN OF ELIZA&E TH. [CH. 4 1 .
women were carrying and wheeling earth for them. Of
the English pioneers but sixty remained alive, and the
French cannon were already searching and sweeping the
streets. Reinforcements were hurried over by hundreds
and then by thousands. Hale, vigorous English country-
men, they were landed on that fatal quay : the deadly
breath of the destroyer passed upon them, and in a few
days or hours they fell down, and there were none to
bury them, and the commander could but clamour for
more and more and more.
On the nth of July but fifteen hundred
men were left. In ten days more at the pre-
sent death rate Warwick said he would have but three
hundred alive.1 All failed except English hearts. ' Not-
withstanding the deaths/ Sir Adrian Poynings reported,
' their courage is so good as if they be supplied with
men and victual they trust by God's help yet to with-
stand the force of the enemy and to render the Queen a
good account thereof.'2 Those who went across from
England, though going, as they knew, to all but certain
death, 'kept their high courage and heart for the
service.'8
Ship after ship arrived at Havre with its doomed
freight of living men, yet Warwick wrote that still his
numbers waned, that the new comers were not enough
to repair the waste. The ovens were broken with the
1 "Warwick to the Council, July u : FORBES, vol. ii. Endorsed ' Haste,
post haste for thy life ! Haste, haste, haste ! '
2 Sir Adrian Poynings to Cecil, July 6 : Domestic MSS., Elizabeth.
3 Sir Adrian Poynings to Cecil, July 9 : Domestic MSS., Elizabeth.
1 563. ] THE ENGLISH A T HA VRE. 71
enemy's shot, the bakers were dead of the plague. The
besiegers by the middle of the month were closing in
upon the harbour mouth. A galley sent out to keep
them back was shot through and sunk with its crew
under the eye of the garrison. On the 1 9th their hearts
were cheered by large arrivals, but they were raw boys
from Gloucestershire, new alike to suffering and to arms.
Cannon had been sent for from the Tower, and cannon
came, but they were old and rusted and worthless. * The
worst of all sorts/ wrote Warwick, 'is thought good
enough for this place/ It was the one complaint which
at last was wrung from him.
To add to his difficulties the weather broke up in
storms. Clinton had twenty sail with him, and three
thousand men ready to throw in. If the fleet could have
lain outside the harbour the ships' guns could have kept
the approaches open. But a south-west gale chained
Clinton in the Downs ; the transports which sailed from
St Helen's could not show behind the island, and there
was a fear that the garrison, cut off from relief, might
have been overpowered in their weakness and destroyed.
Too late for the emergency, and still with sullen un-
willingness to yield, the Queen on the soth sent over
Throgmorton to accept Conde's terms. But the French
Court was with the besieging army, and knew the con-
dition of Warwick's troops too well to listen. The
harbour was by that time closed ; the provisions were
exhausted ; the French understood their power and
meant to use it. Warwick, ordered as he had been to
hold the place under all conditions, ' was prepared to
72 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 41.
die sword in hand ' rather than surrender without the
Queen's permission ; but in a few days at latest those
whom the sword and pestilence had spared famine would
make an end of. Fortunately Sir Francis Knowles, who
was in command at Portsmouth, had sent to the Court
to say that they must wait for no answer from France ;
they must send powers instantly to "Warwick to make
terms for himself. A general attack had been arranged
for the morning of the 2 7th. Lord Warwick knew that
he would be unable to resist, and with the remnant of
his men was preparing the evening before to meet a
soldier's death, when a boat stole in with letters, and he
received Elizabeth's permission to surrender at the last
extremity.
War, plague, and storm had done their work, and
had done it with fatal efficacy. Clinton was chafing
helplessly at his anchorage ' while the French were
lying exposed on the beach at Havre.' He could not
reach them, and they could but too effectually reach
Warwick. Knowing that to delay longer was to expose
the handful of noble men who survived with him to
inevitable death, and himself wounded and ill, the
English general sent at once to the Constable to make
terms. The Constable would not abuse his advantage,
and on the 29th of July Havre was restored to France,
the few English troops remaining being allowed to de-
part with their arms and goods unmolested and at their
leisure.
The day after, the weather changed, and Clinton ar-
rived to find that all was over, and that Warwick him-
1 563. ] THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE. 73
self was on board a transport ready to sail. The Queen-
mother sent M. de Lignerolles on board Clinton's ship
to ask him to dine with her. He excused himself under
the plea that he could not leave his men ; but he said
to de Lignerolles ' that the plague of deadly infection
had done for them that which all the force of France
could never have done/ l
Thus ended this unhappy enterprise in a disaster
which, terrible as it seemed, was more desirable for Eng-
land than success. Elizabeth's favouring star had pre-
vented a conquest from being consummated which
would have involved her in interminable war. Had it
not been for the plague she might have held Havre ;
but she could have held it only at a cost which, before
many years were over, would have thrown her an ex-
hausted and easy prey at the feet of Philip.
The first thought of Warwick, ill as he was, 011
reaching Portsmouth, was for his brave companions.
They had returned in miserable plight, and he wrote to
the council to beg that they might be cared for. But
there was no occasion to remind Elizabeth of such a
duty as this : had she been allowed she would have gone
at once at the risk of infection to thank them for their
gallantry.2 In a proclamation under her own
hand she commended the soldiers who had
faced that terrible siege to the care of the country ; she
entreated every gentleman, she commanded every
official, ecclesiastical or civil, in the realm to see to their
1 Clinton to Cecil, July 31 : Domestic MS8., Elizabeth.
2 Lord Robert Dudley to the Q,ueeu, August 7 : Domestic MSS., vol. xxix.
74 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 41.
necessities ' lest God punish them for their unmerciful-
ness ; ' she insisted with generous forethought ' that no
person should have any grudge at those poor captains
and soldiers because the town was rendered on con-
ditions : ' * she would have it known and understood that
there wanted no truth, courage, nor manhood in any of
them from the highest to the lowest ; ' ' they would have
withstood the French to the utmost of their lives.; but
it was thought the part of Christian wisdom not to
tempt the Almighty to contend with the inevitable
mortal enemy of the plague/ 1
Happy would it have been had the loss of Havre
ended the calamities of the summer. But the garrison,
scattering to their homes, carried the infection through
England. London was tainted already, and with the
heat and drought of August the pestilence in town and
village held on its deadly way.
The eruption on the skin which was usual with the
plague does not seem to have attended this visitation of
it. The first symptom was violent fever, burning heat
alternating with fits of shivering ; the mouth then be-
came dry, the tongue parched, with a pricking sensation
in the breast and loins ; headache followed and languor,
with a desire to sleep, and after sleep came generally
death, ' for the heart did draw the poison, and the
poison by its own malice did pierce the heart/ When
a man felt himself infected ' he did first commend him-
self to the highest Physician and craved mercy of him.'
Proclamation by the Queen, August I : Domestic MSS.
1563.] THE ENGLISH A T HA VRE. 75
Where lie felt pain he was bled, and he then drank the
' aqua contra pestem ' — the plague water — buried him-
self in his bed, and if possible perspired. To allay his
thirst he was allowed sorrel- water and verjuice, with
slices of oranges and lemons. Light food — rabbit,
chicken or other bird — was taken often and in small
quantities. To prevent the spread of the contagion the
houses and streets and staircases were studiously
cleaned ; the windows were set wide open and hung
with fresh green boughs of oak or willow ; the floors
were strewed with sorrel, lettuce, roses, and oak leaves,
and freely and frequently sprinkled with spring water
or else with vinegar and rose-water. From cellar to
garret six hours a day the houses were fumigated with
sandalwood and musk, aloes, amber, and cinnamon. In
the poorest cottages there were fires of rosemary and
bay. Yet no remedy availed to prevent the mortality,
and no precaution to check the progress of the infection.
In July the deaths in London had been two hundred a
week ; through the following month they rose swiftly
to seven hundred, eight hundred, a thousand, in the
last week of the month to two thousand ; and at that
rate with scarcely a diminution the people continued to
die till the November rains washed the sewers and ken-
nels clean, and the fury of the disorder was spent.
The bishops, attributing the calamity to super-
natural causes, and seeing the cause for the provocation
of the Almighty in the objects which excited their own
displeasure, laid the blame upon the theatres, and peti-
tioned the Govcrnmentoto inhibit plays and amuse-
76 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 41.
ments.1 Sir William Cecil, not charging Providence
till man had done his part, found the occasion rather in
the dense crowding of the lodging-houses, 'by reason
that the owners and tenants for greediness and lucre
did take unto them other inhabitants and families to
dwell in their chambers ; ' he therefore ordered that
' every house or shop should have but one master and
one family/ and that aliens and strangers should re-
move.2
The danger alarmed the council into leniency to-
wards the State prisoners. The Tower was emptied.
The Catholic prelates were distributed among the
houses of their rivals and successors ; Lady Catherine
Grey was committed to the charge of her father's
brother, broken in health, heart, and spirit, praying,
but praying in vain, that ' her lord and husband might
be restored to her/ and pining slowly towards the
grave into which a few years later she sank.3
The victims who died of the plague were chiefly ob-
scure ; one person however perished in it whose disap-
pearance the reader will perhaps regret.
The_sjfcory_jnustgo back for a few pages.
The King of Spain, after receiving de Quadra's
letter which contained the proposals of the Queen of
Scots for the Prince of Spain, took time to consider his
answer, and at length on the I5th of June
replied as follows : —
1 Grindal to Cecil, February 22, 1564: Lansdowne MSS. 7.
2 SirWm. Cecil's Injunction: MS. Ibid.
3 Letters of Lord John and Lady Catherine Grey : Lansdowne MSS.
'563.] THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE. 77
PHILIP II. TO THE BISHOP OF AQUILA.
June 15.
1 1 have pondered over the conversation which has
passed between you and Maitland on the marriage be-
tween his mistress and the Prince my son, and I am
much pleased with the discretion which you showed in
your replies.
' Perceiving as I do that if this marriage can be
brought about it may be the beginning of a better state
of things in England, I am willing to admit the consi-
deration of it ; and if you believe that those who have
spoken with you on the subject are persons whom you
can trust, you will use their assistance to bring the thing
about.
' You will leaf n from Maitland and from the Queen
of Scots what friends they most rely upon in England.
You will judge whether the names which they mention
are of sufficient weight, and you will at once communi-
cate with me. Above all you will be secret, for the
good to be looked for depends on the marriage being
completed before anything is heard of it. If the
French know that I have given my consent there is no
step to which their fears will not drive them to prevent
the consummation of it, or, if we persist in spite, of
them, to hinder the good fruit which may be otherwise
looked for. As to the Queen of England and the
heretics, you can imagine for yourself what they are
likely to do. You must therefore be most cautious with
whom you speak on the subject, and in your choice of
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 41.
agents through, whom to communicate with the Queen
of Scotland.
* The Emperor also, you will observe, after what has
passed between the Cardinal of Lorraine and himself,1
can know nothing of the wishes of the Queen of Scots
herself or of her subjects ; he looks on his son's affair
as already settled ; and I may say for myself that were
there any likelihood of that marriage taking effect I
should prefer it to the other.2 I should not move in the
matter at all till the Emperor was undeceived were it
not for what you tell me of the unwillingness of that
Queen and her advisers to accept the Archduke, and
of the small advantage which they anticipate from the
Austrian connection.
' I am alarmed especially at the possibility of her
marrying a French King again, for I cannot but re-
member the trouble which her last alliance in that
quarter occasioned me. Should she marry in that
quarter, I know but too well that at no distant time I
shall be forced into war to protect the Queen of Eng-
land from an invasion such as was intended before ;
and you can judge yourself whether that is an event to
which I can look with pleasure.
1 The Cardinal of Lorraine, in a
personal interview with Ferdinand,
had proposed a marriage between his
niece and the Archduke Charles.
3 A note in the margin of the let-
ter, in Philip's autograph, shows his
extreme slowness and caution : —
' Be punto en punto me vieis avisando
de lo que en esto pasara, sin venir
a convencion ninguna ; mas de en-
tender lo que arriba se dice, hasta
que yo os avise de lo que en ello se
me ofriciese y se hubiese de hacer ;
aunque podreis ascgurarlos que mi
intencion es la que aqui se dice.'
1563.] THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE. 79
' You will ascertain what support the Scots can count
upon in England, and you will not prevent them from
increasing their party ; but you will not involve your-
self with any particular person further than you have
already done. Let them do the work by themselves,
let them gain what friends they can among the Catho-
lics and others whom they trust. It anytnmg is dis-
covered it must be their affair and not mine.
' As for what you say of the dependence of the
English Catholics upon me, I am anxious to do the very
utmost which I can for them. You will animate and
console them as usual ; only of all things in the world
you must be careful not to let your own hand be seen.
You know what would follow.
' I am very sorry for the Act which the Queen has
obtained from Parliament against those who will not
accept her as Head of the Anglican Church. The
bishops and other Catholics are now in danger of death.
They have begun already, you tell me, with the Bishop
of London.
. ' I am glad to hear that the Emperor has remon-
strated, though I fear it will do little good. I have
myself also written to the Queen ; and you will yourself
do and say whatever promises to be most effective to
make them change their purpose. I know that I can
depend on you in this, feeling as you do so acutely
about it.' l
1 Ferdinand, immediately on the
passing of the Act, wrote to beg that
the Catholic bishops. The ingenuity
of the lawyers might have been less
no violence might be used towards i successful had not Elizabeth been
8o
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[en. 41.
To Philip's letter a few lines were added by the
Duke of Alva :
ALVA TO THE BISHOP OF AQUILA.
June i 6.
'Although his Majesty in his own letter has told
you how important it is to be secret in the affair of the
marriage of the Queen of Scots, I cannot but myself
reiterate the same caution. The world must know
nothing till all is actually over, or no good will come
of it.
'You will therefore charge those with whom you
have to deal to allow no hint of our purpose to trans-
pire. You will let us know step by step how the nego-
tiation proceeds, and his Majesty will take measures
accordingly/
-No answer could have promised better for Mary
Stuart's hopes; but it had been long in coming, and
the diplomacy of conspiracy was restless and feverish.
Maitland, after his visit to France, returned to
London in July to learn what de Quadra had
heard. He had as yet heard nothing, and Maitland' s
views meanwhile had been qualified by a conversation
with Catherine de Medici. The Queen-mother, as
able to shield herself behind Fer-
dinand's and Philip's letters. Arch-
bishop Parker also lent his assist-
ance. In a circular to his brother
bishops he desired them, with the
Queen's and Cecil's connivance, not
to offer tho oath to any one a second
time without referring to himself;
' not,' he said, ' that he had warrant
to stay the execution of impartial
laws,' but being ready ' to jeopard
his private estimation if the purpose
which the Queen would have done,
might be performed.' — STRYPE'S
Life of Parker, vol. i. pp. 249, 250.
1563.] THE ENGLISH A T HA VKR. 8l
Philip had foreseen, dreaded nothing so much as this
Spanish marriage ; and to prevent it she had promised
that if the Queen of Scots would remain unmarried for
two years, Charles the Mnth and the crown of France
would again be at her service. Construing Philip's
silence unfavourably, Maitland allowed de Quadra to
see that he thought well of the French connection. In
vain de Quadra spoke of the Archduke Charles. Mait-
land would not hear of him unless with a distinct un-
derstanding that Philip would make his mistress Queen
of England. It was yet possible too for the Queen of
Scots to extort favourable terms from Elizabeth.
Before Maitland returned to Scotland, E]izaheih--iB.
her parting jnterview bade him tell Mary Stuart that if
she married into the houses of Austria, France, or Spain,
she would take it as an act of war.1 She would prefer
a marriage at home for her. But there were the Pro-
testant Princes ; there was the King of Denmark; there
was the Duke of Ferrara : any one of these she might
choose, or any French nobleman not of royal rank, and
she should be named successor at once.
Maitland entered too far into these views for de
Quadra's peace. He feared that Mary Stuart herself in
her passionate desire for recognition might consent after
all to some marriage detrimental to the interests of
Catholicism,2 and in dread of such a catastrophe, and
1 'No podria de dejarla de tener
por enemiga.' — De Quadra to Philip,
June 26 : MS. Simancas.
2 ' Es de temer que la golosina de
ser declurada sucesora deste lieyno
VOL. vn.
no haga aquella Eeyna condescender
en algun casamiento menos conveni-
ente 5. las cosas de la religion.' — De
Quadra to Philip, June 2'6 : MS.
Simancas.
b2 RRIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 41.
not trusting Maitland, the Spanish ambassador, on his
own responsibility, sent an English friend to lay before
her the wishes of the Catholics, and to assure her that
whether she obtained the Prince of Spain, or accepted
the Archduke Charles, Philip in either case would sup-
port her claims in England by arms.1
At this crisis the letters of Philip and Alva reached
London. De Quadra regretted that his commission was
so cautiously worded ; but he lost not a moment in de-
spatching his own secretary, Luis de Paz, to Holyrood.
As a blind to the English Government he sent him first
to Chester, under pretence of inquiring into the seizure
of a Spanish ship by pirates. At Chester de Paz found
that the pirates in question were Scots — and went on as
if to seek redress at Edinburgh. There he saw Mary
Stuart, Maitland, and Murray. His message was re-
ceived with delight by all of them. The Queen of Scots
wrote to the Duchess of Parma, relinquishing with eager
gratitude every other prospect for herself. The Bishop
of Ross hurried off to London to de Quadra to agree to
all conditions which Philip might ask.2 The long and
dangerous labours of the indefatigable ambassador were
at last, it seemed, about to prosper and bear fruit — when
in the moment of success he was taken away. Luis de
Paz returned to London on the 26th of Au-
August.
gust to find him dying. 'He knew me,' Luis
Que tenga fuerzas para conseguir su derecko 5, este Reyno.' — MS.
2 Note of the mission of Luis de Paz to Scotland, by Diego Perez .
MIGNET'S Life of Mary Stuart. Appendix C.
1563-3
THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE.
wrote, ' and answered bravely when I spoke to him.
He was grieved to end his services at a moment when
he hoped to be of use. His last words were, ' I can do
no more.' ' 1
So died a good servant of a falling cause — faith-
ful even unto death. The Bishop of Aquila had the
character of his race and his profession. In the arts of
diplomatic treachery he was an accomplished master.
Untiring and unscrupulous, skilled in the subtle wind-
ings of the heart, he could stimulate the conscience into
heroism, or play with its weakness till he had tempted
it to perdition — as suited best with the ends which he
pursued with the steadiness of a sleuthhound. He would
converse in seeming frankness from day to day with
those whom with his whole soul he was labouring to
blast into ruin. Yet he was brave as a Spaniard should
be—brave with the double courage of an Ignatius and
a Cortez. He was perfectly free from selfish and igno-
ble desires, and he was loyal with an absolute fealty to
his creed and his King. It was his misfortune that he
served in a cause which the world now knows to have
been a wrong cause; but qualifications in themselves
neither better nor worse than those of Alvarez de Quadra
won for Walsingham a place in the brightest circle of
English statesmen.
How it might have fared with Mary Stuart and Don
Carlos had de Quadra lived to complete tiie work for
which he was so anxious, the curious in such things
puedo mas.' — Memoir of Luis de Paz : MS. Simancas.
84 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 41.
may speculate. The Prince of Spain had the intellect
and the ferocity of a wolf; the Queen of Scots had a
capacity for relieving herself of disagreeable or incon-
venient companions. Yet they would scarcely perhaps
have made their lots more wretched than they actually
were : we wonder at the caprices of fortune ; we com-
plain of the unequal fates which are distributed among
mankind — but Providence is more even-handed than it
seems ; Mary Stuart might have been innocent and
happy as a fishwife at Leith ; the Prince of Spain
might have arrived at some half-brutal usefulness
breaking clods on the brown plains of Castile.
Philip's orders had been so well observed that no
hints had transpired of what was intended. The Arch-
duke Charles was the supposed candidate in the Spanish
and Imperial interest. The Cardinal of Lorraine had
arranged the marriage with Ferdinand. It had been
talked of in the Council of Trent. It had been argued
upon in a Parliament which met at Edinburgh in the
preceding June. The name of the Prince of Spain was
mentioned from time to time, but rather as a vague
surmise ; and the last thought which entered the mind of
any one was that Philip would seriously substitute his
son for his cousin. The Austrian match was the object
of Elizabeth's fears ; and what she had said to Maitland
she directed Randolph to submit formally to the Queen
of Scots herself.
To settle the succession in some way, and if possible
to settle it in Mary Stuart's favour, she said, was her
most ardent desire. She had combated hitherto the wish
I563-]
THE ENGLISH A T HA VRE.
of Parliament to disinherit Mary. On public ground
she was anxious for the union of the realms- — and pri
vately she considered the Queen of Scots' claim to be
the best. But the Queen of Scots, if she was to succee<
to the English crown, must make up her mind to accep
the Eeformation, if not as her own conviction yet as thi
public law of the realm. If she chose to marry a Catholic
prince, if she chose to make herself the representative o
a Catholic party and policy, Parliament would unques-\
tionably renew the attempt to bar her title ; the country
would not submit again to the Pope and the Inquisition,
and Elizabeth would herself be unable to take her part
further.1
* She did not believe/ Elizabeth continued — and the
clause is in her own handwriting ; ' she did not believe
that the Queen of Scots meant anything against herself; '
and 'she might perhaps be borne in hand that some num-
ber in England might be brought to allow } her general
schemes. But she warned her sister not to be ' abused ' by
1 ' To consider her own particu-
lar which, in the way of friendship
towards her, we do most weigh, we
do assure her by some present proof
that we have in our realm, upon
some small report made thereof (of
the Austrian marriage), we well per-
ceive that, if we do not meddle and
interpose her authority, it will not
he long before it shall appear that as
much as wit can imagine will be
used to impeach her intention for
the furtherance of her title. And
considering the humours of such as
mind— except our authority or the
fear of us shall stay them — their own
particular, what can our sister think
more hurtful to her than by this
manner of proceeding by her friends
that be not of her natural nation nor
of her kingdom— first, to endanger
the amity betwixt us ; secondly, to
dissolve the concord between the two
nations; thirdly, to disappoint her
of more than ever they shall re-
cover.'—Elizabeth to Randolph, Au-
gust 20 : Cotton. MSS., CALIO.B. 10.
86 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 41.
foolishness. 'If she tried that way she would come to no
good/ For both their own sakes and for the sake of both
the countries she implored the Queen of Scots to avoid
a, course which might "' become a perpetual reproof to
both of them through all posterity/ If she married the
Archduke, England must and would accept that act as a
declaration of hostility. If she would take advice which
she might assure herself was well meant towards her, she
would marry some one to whom no suspicion could be
attached. Her title should then be examined, and
should receive the fullest support which she herself could
give it — ( her own natural inclination being most given
to further her sister's interest and to impeach what
should seem to the contrary.'
As to the person — an English nobleman would best
please the English nation ; and measuring the attractive-
ness of the offer by her self-sacrifice in making it, Eliza-
beth said that ' she could be content to give her one
whom perchance it could be hardly thought she could
agree unto.' But she would not bind the Queen of
Scots to this choice or to that ; England required only
that she should not marry any one * of such greatness
as suspicion might be gathered that he might intend
trouble to the realm ; ' she might take a husband where
I she pleased ' so as he was not . sought to change the
Vgolicy ' of the English nation, which it was certain ' that
they would in no wise bear.' l
What right, it has been asked impatiently, had Eliza-
1 Instructions to Randolph, August 20: Cotton. MSS., CALTG. B. 10.
Matter committed to Thomas Randolph, August, 1563 : Scotch MSS.
Holla House.
1 563-] THE ENGLISH A T HA VRE. 87
betli to interfere with Mary Stuart's marriage ? As much
right, it may be answered, as Mary Stuart had to pre-
tend to the succession of the English crown. Those who
aspire to sovereignty must accept the conditions under
which sovereignty can be held. The necessities of State
which at the present day bar the succession of a Roman
Catholic, were stronger a thousandfold when a Catholic
sovereign might bring back with her the fires of Smith-
field: and the fault of Elizabeth was rather in for-
bearing to insist upon a change of creed than in being
willing to accept a successor with a less effective security
for her harmlessness.
Nor was it Elizabeth only who had a right to be
alarmed. Murray, Argyle, and Maitland had been led
astray by vanity and idle ambition. In their eagerness
to give a sovereign to England they had half lost their
interest in the Reformation, or had closed their eyes
to the dangers to which they exposed it. But there
were those in Scotland to whom the truth of God was
more than crowns and kingdoms — to whom the re-
volution which had passed over their country was too
precious to be fooled away by courtiers' weakness or a
woman's cunning. Knox knew as well as Mary knew
the fruit which would follow if she married a Catholic
prince. He had laboured to save Murray from the spell
which his sister had flung over him ; but Murray had
only been angry at his interference, and ' they spake
not together familiarly for more than a year and a half/ 1
1 KNOX'S History of the Eef or motion.
88 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.41
The falling off of his friends threw the weight of the
battle upon Knox. In ' the Parliament time/ when the
Lords, thinking then only of the Austrian Charles, had
been congratulating one another on the great match in-
tended for their Queen, Knox rose in the pulpit at St
Giles's and told them all 'that whenever they, professing
the Lord Jesus, consented that a Papist should be head of
their sovereign, they did as far as in them lay to banish
Christ from the realm ; they would bring God's venge-
ance on their country, a plague on themselves, and
perchance small comfort to their sovereign/
It was language which should not have been needed,
for it was language which they should themselves have
used. It was language which with the necessary change
of diction any English statesman would have used from
the Revolution till the present day. It contained but a
plain political truth of which Knox happened to be the
exponent.
Mary recognized her enemy. Him alone she had failed
to work upon, and believing herself sure of the Lords she
gave her anger its course.
In imagination Queen of Scotland, England, Ireland,
Spain, Flanders, Naples, and the Indies — in the full tide
of hope and with the prize almost in her hands, she was
in no humour to let a heretic preacher step between her
and the soaring flights of her ambition. She sent for
Knox, and her voice shaking between tears and passion,
she said that never had prince been handled as she;
she had borne his bitterness, she had admitted him to
her presence, she had endured to be reprimanded, and
1 563 .] THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE. 89
yet she could not be quit of him. ; ' she vowed to God
she would be avenged/
Quiet, collected — seeing through and through her,
yet with a sound northern courtesy, the Reformer an-
swered that when it pleased God to open her eyes she
would see that he had done nothing to offend her ; in
private he had been silent ; ' in the preaching place ' he
must obey God Almighty.
'But what/ she asked, 'have you to do with my
marriage ? '
He said his duty was to preach the Evangel : the \
nobility were so much addicted to her affections that!
they had forgotten their duty, and he was therefore j
bound to remind them of it.
' But what/ she repeated, ' have you to do with my
marriage ? what are you within this commonwealth ? *
' A subject born within the same, madam/ he replied ;
' and one whose vocation and conscience demands plain-
ness of speech ; and therefore, madam/ he went on, ' I
say to yourself what I spake in yonder public place —
whenever the nobility shall consent that you be subject
to an unfaithful husband, they renounce Christ and be-
tray the realm.'
The Queen again sobbed violently.
Knox stood silent till she had collected herself. He
then continued — ' Madam, in God's presence I speak ; I
never delighted in the weeping of any of God's creatures ;
yea, T can scarcely abide the tears of my own boys whom
my own hand corrects ; but seeing I have but spoken
the truth as my vocation craves of me, I must sustain
90 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 41.
your Majesty's tears rather than hurt my conscience/
Soon after this conversation Randolph brought Eliza-
beth's message. In his account of the interview he
gives a noticeable sketch of Mary Stuart's personal
habits.
Active and energetic when occasion required, this
all-accomplished woman abandoned herself to intervals
of graceful self-indulgence. Without illness or imagin-
ation of it she would lounge for days in bed, rising only
at night for dancing or music ; and there she reclined
with some light delicate French robe carelessly draped
about her, surrounded by her ladies, her council, and
her courtiers, receiving ambassadors and transacting
business of State. It was in this condition that Ran-
dolph found her. She affected the utmost cordiality;
she listened graciously to his communication ; she pro-
fessed herself grateful for Elizabeth's interest in her; she
desired him to be cautious to whom he spoke, and re-
ferred him for her answer to Maitland and Murray. But
with all her address she could not conceal from him
that more was intended than she allowed to appear.
Her want of interest in the Austrian marriage was
evident, and Randolph himself feared ' she might be more
Spanish than Imperial.' * A month later John Knox had
discovered the secret and made haste to tell Cecil what
was impending. It was no Austrian prince on whom
Mary's eyes were fixed. The King of Spain had con-
sented to give her his son. The Queen of France offered
1 Randolph to Cecil, September 4 : Scotch MSS. Eolls Souse.
I563-]
THE ENGLISH A T If A VRE.
her the hand of Charles the Ninth. She would take
Don Carlos if Philip kept his word. If Don Carlos
failed her she would take the French King. The
majority of her council had consented to what would be
their own destruction, and ' the greater part would before
long draw the better after them.' The Queen of Eng-
land would be amused with smooth answers ; but the
mask would soon be laid aside. There was still hope of
the constancy of the Earl of Murray. But if Murray
followed the rest ' the rage of the storm would overthrow
the force of the strongest ' — ' all through the inordinate
affection of her that was born to be a plague to the realm.5
'Thus,' Knox concluded, 'you have the
plainness of my troubled heart ; use it as ye
will answer to God and as ye tender the commonwealth ;
the Eternal assist you with His Spirit.'1
In the midst of these encompassing perils
Elizabeth bore herself bravely. The death-
rate in London at the end of December was still two
hundred a week ; the country was smarting under the
disaster at Havre ; the French difficulty was likely to
lead to a general war2 in which Spain would take part ;
and Mary Stuart married to a Catholic prince formed the
October.
December.
1 Knox to Cecil, October 5 :
Scotch MSS. A postscript adds —
' The Inch between Leitli and King-
horn is left void. What strange
fowl shall first alight there God
knoweth.'
2 ' By many intelligences here, I
see none other but war to ensue be-
tween us and the French King ere
it be long. God send grace that
King Philip's subjects be not also
our enemies, for we suspect as much.'
— Francis Chaloner to Sir Thomas
Chaloner, December 18 : Spanish
MSS. Rolls House.
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 41.
ominous centre round which the clouds were forming.
Yet Elizabeth to the world appeared to be given up to
amusement, caring for nothing but pleasure, and wasting
her fondness upon idle and tawdry favourites. 'The
Queen/ wrote Francis Chaloner to his brother, ' thinks
of nothing but her love affairs ; she spends her days with
her hawks and hounds and her nights in dances and
plays. Though all things go ill with England she is
incapable of serious thought. The Court is as merry as
if the world were at our feet ; and the ingenious fool
who can devise the best means of trifling away time is
the man most admired and prized.'1
Yet Elizabeth was but concealing her real nature
behind a mask of levity. Her spirits rose with trouble,
and her high qualities were never more thoroughly
awake.
Notwithstanding the struggle in Normandy, peace
still existed in name between England and France ; but
Catherine demanded as an indemnity for the aggression
on French territory a formal surrender of the English
claim on Calais. Elizabeth answered that she would
brave all consequences before she would submit ' to that
dishonour : y 2 and a declaration of war was daily ex-
pected. Philip had offered to mediate, but with the key
1 ' Regina tota amoribus dedita
?st, venationibusque aucupiis choreis
et rebus ludicris insumens dies noc-
tesque ; nihil serio tractatur, quan-
quam omnia adverse cedant ; tamen
jocamur hie, perinde ac si orbera
universum debellati fuerimus. Et
qui plures nugandi modos ridicule
studio excogitaverit, quasi vir summo
pretio dignus suspicitur. — Spanish
MSS,
2 Elizabeth to Chaloner, Decem-
ber, 1563 : MS. Ibid.
THE ENGLISH A r
93
to Philip's policy in her hand she left him unanswered
till his ministers complained to her ambassador of her
scanty courtesy ; l and then for reply she bade Chaloner
tell Philip that in her past difficulties, though he had
many opportunities of helping her, she had received
nothing from him but ' good words : ' he desired to have
her at his feet, acting under his orders, and humbly
petitioning for his support ; but never in that position
should Philip see her : she doubted whether a protracted
residence of an ambassador at the Court of Spain was
any longer expedient ; she had half resolved to continue
her diplomatic intercourse with him only through the
Regent in Flanders ; better an open enemy than a
treacherous friend ; if the worst came she could en-
counter it.2
In her bearing towards Mary Stuart she showed at
the same time large forbearance and a clear foreseeing
statesmanship. She knew the Queen of Scots' intentions
beyond all uncertainty, but she still hoped to win her
over to a safer course with the prospect of the suc-
cession ; 3 while Mary Stuart, on her part, would not
risk a quarrel till the Spanish affair had gone further.
De Quadra's death had broken the link of her com-
1 Chaloner to Elizabeth, Decem-
ber 19 : Spanish MSS. Rolls House.
2 Elizabeth to Chaloner : MS.
Ibid.
3 Luis de Paz, who was left in
charge at the Spanish embassy after
de Quadra's death, wrote to Philip
on the 3rd of December that Eliza-
beth had been speaking of the mar-
riage between the Queen of Scots
and the Prince of Spain, and had
said positively it should never be.
' No, no ! ' ' que no se hara.' It
was thought, he said, that she would
tempt the Queen of Scots to give it
up by the largeness of her offers on
the other side. — MS. Simancas.
94 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 41.
munication with Philip, and since the visit of Luis de
Paz she had heard no more from him.
After a delay of some weeks she had replied to Ran-
dolph's message, thanking Elizabeth for her advice ;
to gain time and to avoid committing herself to a re-
fusal, she desired to be told explicitly which of the
many candidates for her hand would be ' allowed' in
England and which would not ; and again with more
distinctness what would be done for her if she married
as Elizabeth wished.
It is quite certain that the Queen of Scots had no
real intention of being guided by Elizabeth.
November.
Quadra that she would
not marry a Protestant even if her recognition was an
accomplished fact. The inquiry therefore could only
have been finesse. Elizabeth, with less temptation to in-
sincerity, replied 'that the principal marriage which
would make all other marriages fortunate, happy, and
fruitful was the conjunction of the two countries and the
two Queens ; ' but she warned the Queen of Scots that
'whatever mountains of felicity or worldly pomp' she
might promise herself by going her own way, she would
find her hopes in the end deceive her ; the fittest hus-
band for her would be some English or Scottish nobleman ;
but if she preferred to look elsewhere all Christendom
was open, excepting only — as the Queen of Scots desired
her to be explicit — the royal Houses of Spain, France,
or Austria. A marriage into either of these could be
construed only into a renewal of the schemes which
she hud entertained ' in her late marriage with the
1563-]
THE ENGLISH A T HA VR&
95
French King ; but no other restriction should be placed
upon her choice and no other difficulty raised/ Eliza-
beth trusted only that her selection ' might be such as
should tend to the perpetual weal of the two kingdoms
— the conjunction whereof she counted the only mar-
riage of continuance and blessedness — to endure after
their own lives to posterity to the pleasure of Almighty
God and the eternal renown of themselves as queens and
good mothers of their countries/
To the last question of the Queen of Scots — what
should be done for her if she complied — Elizabeth
answered that she would ' proceed forthwith to the in-
quisition of her right by all good means in her favour ;
and finding it fall to her advantage, upon plain under-
standing had what manner of marriage she should make,
she would proceed to the denunciation of her title as she
would do for her own natural daughter.' 1
It was long before Randolph was allowed an audience
to give this second message. The Queen of Scots had
quarrelled again with Knox, whom she attempted to
provide with lodgings in Edinburgh Castle; the Lords
had interfered, and anger and disappointment had made
her ill.
Moreover she was still waiting for letters
from Spain which would not arrive. She was
waiting and would have long to wait ; for the fire of
resolution no longer fanned by de Quadra's letters had
grown faint again, and other schemes and other anxieties
1 Elizabeth to Randolph, November 17 : Cotton. MSS. CALIG. B. 10,
Scotch MtiS. Rolls House.
96 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 41.
were distracting Philip's mind from Scotland. The death
of Gfuise and the compromise between Conde and Cathe-
rine had destroyed the party which he had raised in
France. Ferdinand of Austria was on the edge of the
grave. There was a project for marrying the daughter
of Maximilian, who would succeed to the Empire, to
Charles the Ninth ; and this alliance might serve to re-
new the broken league among the Catholic powers, or at
all events might relieve him of his fear that the prize-
might be secured by Mary Stuart. A grave difficulty
lay in the character of Don Carlos himself. ' The cruel
and sullen disposition of the Prince of Spain ' was be-
coming more dangerous as he grew towards manhood.
His brain had been hurt by a fall. His appetite was so
furious that no gluttony could satisfy it. His passions
were so violent that the King himself durst not thwart
him lest he should die in the suffocation of his rage.1
Such a youth was no promising subject of a matrimonial
intrigue — no safe foundation on which to build a policy.
Towards England Chaloner described Philip as ' un-
certain whether the ancient league or present personal
respects should most prevail with him/ The best- in-
formed Spaniards held a war to be eventually inevit-
able ; but they did not expect it immediately. The
Pope was labouring to bring about a cordial action be-
tween the Catholic sovereigns, and it was thought he
would eventually succeed ; but the critical condition of
Flanders — fermenting on the edge of rebellion — would
1 Minutes of Sir Thomas Chaloner, December 19 : Spanish MSS.
. 563.] THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE. 97
probably postpone for the present the rupture with
Elizabeth. Philip, Chaloner said, was ' a prince of good
disposition, soft nature, and given to tranquillity/ who
if left to himself would leave England in peace ; but
Alva, Ruy Gomez, de Feria, and others by whom he
was surrounded were men of another temperament ; and
Elizabeth's wellwishers in Spain advised her to make
peace with France in time, and reserve her strength for
the future struggle.1
The condition of Don Carlos however forbade the
further mooting of the Scotch or any other marriage for
him, and Mary Stuart's hope of sharing the Crown of
Spain, whatever else she might expect from Philip,
faded away. It was necessary for her to turn her
thoughts elsewhere ; and uncertain what to do she
at length admitted Randolph to her cabinet once
more.
She was again in bed. It was after dinner. Murray,
Maitland, Argyle, and a number of other noblemen were
present.
' Now, Mr Randolph/ she said, kissing as she spoke
a diamond heart — a present from Elizabeth — which
hung about her neck : ' Now, Mr Randolph, I long to
hear what answer you have brought me from my good
sister. I am sure it cannot be but good/
Randolph delivered his message.
She listened without interest till he spoke of her
recognition, when she became at once attentive. She
1 Minutes of Sir Thomas Chaloner, December 19 : Spanish MSfi.
TOL. VII. 7
9» REIGN OF E LIZ ABE 777 [' 1 1. 4 1 .
expected however to hear some person mimed as tlie
husband desired for her.
' You have more to tell me/ she said, ' let me hear
all/
Randolph answered that his commission extended
no further.
Lord Argyle approached the bed. 'My Lord/ she
said to him, ' Randolph here would have me marry in
England. What say you ? '
' Is the Queen of England become a man ? ' said
Argyle.
' Who is there, my Lord/ said she, ' that you would
wish me to marry ? '
' Whoever your Majesty can like well enough/ the
Earl answered. '-I would there was so noble a man in
England as you could like/
'That would not please the Hamiltons/ said the
Queen.
' If it please God and be good for your Majesty's
country/ Argyle rejoined, ' what matter it who is dis-
pleased ? '
She passed the subject off.1
She dismissed Randolph without an answer, and
weeks passed before she sent for him again. He spoke
to Murray and Maitland, to all those lords who were
under the deepest obligations to England, but they were
cold and reserved.
' The Lord everlasting bring it to pass/ he wrote to
1 Randolph to Cecil, December 13, December 21, and December 30:
Scotch MSS. Eolls House.
1563.] THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE. 99
Elizabeth, ' that we may rather rejoice in the birth of
your Majesty's body before any other without the same,
whom God may put in your heart to yield your right
unto after your Majesty's days/ *
Randolph to Elizabeth, January 21, 1564 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
NOTE TO p. 30.
EXTRACT from the Sermon of Dr Nowell made at the opening of
Parliament, January 12, 1562-3, from a manuscript in the library of
Caius College, Cambridge : —
' Furthermore, where the Queen's Majesty of her own nature is
wholly given to clemency and mercy, as full well appeareth hitherto ;
for in this realm was never seen a change so quiet and so long since
reigning without blood (God be thanked for it) ; howbeit those which
hitherto will not be reformed, but obstinate and can skill by no
clemency or courtesy, ought otherwise to be used. But now will
some say^ * Oh, bloody man that calleth this the house of right, and
now would have it made a house of blood.' But the Scripture teach-
eth us that divers faults ought to be punished by death, and therefore
following God's precepts it cannot be accounted cruel ; and it is not
against this house, but the part thereof ; to see justice ministered to
them who will abuse clemency. Therefore the goodness of Her Ma-
jesty's clemency may well and ought now therefore to be changed to
justice, seeing it will not help. But now to explicate myself, I say,
if any man keeping his opinion, will, and mind, close within himself,
and so not open the same, then he ought not to be punished, but
when he openeth it abroad then it hurteth and ought to be cut off:
And especially, if in anything it touch the Queen's Majesty ; for
such errors of heresy, ought not, as well for God's quarrel as the
realm's, to be unlocked unto, for clemency ought not to be given to
100
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 4i.
the wolves to kill and devour as they do the lambs, for which cause
it ought to be foreseen ; for that the Prince shall answer for all that
so perish, it lying in her power to redress it, for by the Scriptures
murderers, breakers of the holy day, and maintainers of false religion
ought to die by the sword.
' Also some other sharp laws for adultery, and also for murder,
more stricter than for felony — which in France is well used, as the
wheel for the one, the halter for the other, which if we had here I
doubt not within few years would save many a man's life.'
101
CHAPTER XLII
SHAN O NEIL.
THE currency speculations of the Government of
Edward the Sixth had not recommended to the
Irish the morals of the Reformation; the plays of
Bishop Bale had failed to convert them to its theology.
On the accession of Mary the Protestant missionaries
had fled from their duties, being unambitious of mar-
tyrdom, and the English service which had been forced
into the churches disappeared without sound or effort.
The monasteries of the four shires, wherever the estates
had remained with the Crown, were rebuilt and rein-
habited ; beyond the border of the Pale the Irish chief-
tains followed the example, wherever piety or super-
stition were stronger than avarice. In the south the
religious houses had been protected from spoliation by
the Earl of Desmond, and the monks had been secretly
supported ; with the change of government they were
reinstated in their homes, and the country reverted to
its natural condition. The English garrisons cessed
and pillaged the farmers of Meath and Dublin ; the
102 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 42.
chiefs made forays upon each other, killing, robbing,
and burning. When the war broke out between Eng-
land and France there were the usual conspiracies and
uprisings of nationality ; the young Earl of Kildare,
in reward to the Queen who had restored him to his rank,
appearing as the natural leader of the patriots.
Ireland was thus happy in the gratification of all its
natural tendencies. The Brehon law readvanced upon
the narrow limits to which, by the exertions of Henry
the Eighth, the circuits of the judges had been ex-
tended ; and with the Brehon law came anarchy as its
inseparable attendant. ' The Lords and Gentiles of the
Irish Pale that were not governed under the Queen's
laws were compelled to keep and maintain a great
number of idle men of war to rule their people at home,
and exact from their neighbours abroad — working
every one his own wilful will for a law — to the spoil of
his country and decay and waste of the common weal
of the same.' 'The idle men of war ate up all to-
gether ; ' the lord and his men took what they pleased,
' destroying their tenants and themselves never the
better ; ' ' the common people having nothing left to
lose/ became ' as idle and careless in their behaviour as
the rest/ ' stealing by day and robbing by night/ Yet
it was a state of things which they seemed all equally
to enjoy, and high and low alike ' were always ready to
bury their own quarrels to join against the Queen and
the English/ 1
1 The disorders of the Irishry, 1559 : Irish MSS. Roll* Honsf.
1559-]
SHAN a NEIL.
103
At the time when the crown passed to Elizabeth the
good and bad qualities of the people were thus described
by a correspondent of the council.
1 The appearance and outward behaviour of the Irish
sheweth them to be fruits of no good tree, for they
exercise no virtue, and refrain and forbear from no
vice, but think it lawful to do every man what him
listeth.
' They neither love nor dread God nor yet hate the
devil. They are worshippers of images and open idol-
aters. Their common oath they swear is by books,
bells, and other ornaments which they do use as holy
religion. Their chief and solemnest oath is by their
lord's or master's hand, which whoso forsweareth is
sure to pay a fine or sustain a worse turn.
' The Sabbath day they rest from all honest exer-
cises, and the week days they are not idle, but worse
occupied.
' They do not honour their father or mother so much
as they do reverence strangers.
' For every murder they commit they do not so soon
repent ; for whose blood they once shed, they lightly
never cease killing all that name.
1 They do not so commonly commit adultery ; not
for that they profess or keep chastity, but for that they
seldom or never marry, and therefore few of them are
lawful heirs, by the laws of the realm, to the lands they
possess.
' They steal but from the strong, and take by vio-
lence from the poor and weak.
104 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 42.
' They know not so well who is their neighbour as
whom they favour ; with him they will witness in right
and wrong.
' They covet not their neighbours' goods, but com-
mand all that is their neighbours' as their own.
' Thus they live and die, and there is none to teach
them better. There are no ministers. Ministers will
not take pains where there is no living to be had, nei-
ther church nor parish, but all decayed. People will
not come to inhabit where there is no defence of
law.'1
The condition of the Pale was more
miserable than that of the districts purely
Irish. The garrison took from the farmers by force
whatever they required for their support, paying for
it in the brass shillings in which they themselves
received their own wages. The soldiers robbed the
people; the Government had before robbed the sol-
diers ; and the captains of the different districts in
turn robbed the Government by making false returns
of the number of men under their command. They
had intermarried with the Irish, or had Irish mis-
tresses living in the forts with them, and thus for the
most part they were in league with those whom they
were maintained to repress ; so that choosing one
master instead of many, and finding themselves obnox-
ious to their own countrymen by remaining under a rule
from which they derived no protection, the tenantry of
The disorders of the Irishry, 1559 : Jm// MSS. Rolls Howe.
I559-]
SHAN O1 NEIL.
Meath flocked by hundreds over the northern border,
and took refuge with O'Neil.1
Sir Edward Bellingham in 1549, by firmness of hand
and integrity of heart, had made the English name re-
spected from the Giant's Causeway to Yalentia. Could
Bellingham have lived a few years longer — could
Somerset or Northumberland or Mary, so zealous each
in their way for * the glory of God/ have remembered
that without common sense and common honesty at the
bottom of them, creeds and systems are as houses built
on quicksands — the order which had taken root might
have grown strong under the shadow of justice, and
Ireland might have had a happier future.
But this was not to be. The labour and expense of
a quarter of a century was thrown idly away. The
Irish army, since the rebellion of Lord Thomas Fitz-
gerald, had cost thirteen or fourteen hundred thousand
pounds, yet the Pale was shortened and its revenues
decreased ; the moral ruin was more complete than the
1 After six years of discipline
and improvement, Sir Henry Sidney
described the state of the four shires,
the Irish inhabitants, and the Eng-
lish garrison, in the following lan-
guage :—
'The English Pale is over-
whelmed with vagabonds — stealth
and spoil daily carried out of it ; the
people miserable — not two gentlemen
in the whole of it able to lend
twenty pounds. They have neither
horse nor armour, nor apparel nor
victual. The soldiers be so beggar-
like as it would abhor a general to
look on them ; yet so insolent as to
be intolerable to the people, so rooted
in idleness as there is no hope by
correction to amend them, yet so
allied with the Irish I dare not trust
them in a fort or in any dangerous
service. They have all an Irish
w e or two — never a married
wife among them ; so that all is
known that we intend to do here.' —
Sidney to Leicester, March 5, 1556 :
Irish MSS. Bolls House.
io6 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. ICH. 42.
financial, and the report of 1559 closed with an earnest
exhortation to Elizabeth to remember that the Irish
were her subjects ; that it was her duty as their sove-
reign 'to bring the poor ignorant people to better
things/ ' and to recover so many thousand lost souls
that were going headlong to the devil.'1
Following close on the first survey, a more detailed
account was furnished to Cecil of the social condition of
the people. The common life of a chief and the rela-
tions between any two adjoining tribes were but too
familiar and intelligible. But there was a general
organisation among the people themselves, extending
wherever the Irish language was spoken, with a civiliz-
ation of an Irish kind and an intellectual hierarchy.
Besides the priests there were four classes of spiritual
leaders and teachers, each with their subdivisions.
' The first/ wrote Cecil's correspondent, ' is called
the Brehon, which in English is called f the judge ; '
and before they give judgment they take pawns of both
the parties, and then they will judge according to their
own discretion. These men be neuters, and the Irish-
men will not prey them. They have great plenty of
cattle, and they harbour many vagabonds and idle per-
sons ; and if there be any rebels that move rebellion
against the prince, of these people they are chiefly
maintained ; and if the English army fortune to travel
in that part where they be, they will flee to the moun-
1 Irish MSS. Rolls House.
IS59-]
SHAN a NEIL.
107
tains and woods, because they would not succour them
with victuals and other necessaries.
' The next sort is called the ' Shankee.' They also
have great plenty of cattle wherewith they do succour
the rebels. They make the ignorant men of the country
believe that they be descended of Alexander the Great,
or of Darius, or of Caesar, or of some other notable
prince, which makes the ignorant people to run mad
and care not what they do — the which is very hurtful
to the realm.
' The third sort is called ' Denisdan,' which is to
say in English the 'Boulde.' These people be very
hurtful to the commonwealth, for they chiefly maintain
the rebels ; and further they do cause them that would
be true, to be rebellious — thieves, extortioners, murder-
ers, raveners — yea and worse if it was possible. Their
first practice, if they see any young man descended of the
septs of 0 or Mac, and have half a dozen about him, then
.will they make a rhyme wherein they will commend his
father and his ancestors, numbering how many heads
they have cut off, how many towns they have burned,
how many virgins they have deflowered, how many
notable murders they have done ; and in the end they
will compare them to Annibal, or Scipio, or Hercules,
or some other famous person — wherewithal the poor
fool runs mad and thinks indeed it is so. Then will he
gather a sort of rascals to him, and he must get him a
prophesier who shall tell him how he shall speed as he
thinks. Then will he get him lurking to the side of a
io8 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 42.
wood and there keepeth him close till morning; and
when it is daylight then will they go to the poor vil-
lages, not sparing to destroy young infants and aged
people ; and if a woman be ever so great with child, her
will they kill, burning the houses and corn, and ran-
sacking the poor cots. Then will they drive all the
kine and plough horses, with all other cattle, and drive
them away. Then must they have a bagpipe blowing
before them, and if any of the cattle fortune to wax
weary or faint they will kill them rather than it should
do the owner good. And if they go by any house of
friars or religious house, they will give them two or
three beeves ; and they will take them and pray for
them — yea, and praise their doings, and say 'his father
was accustomed so to do ; ' wherein he will rejoice.
* And when he is in a safe place they will fall to a
division of the spoil according to the discretion of the
captain. Now comes the rhymer that made the rhyme
with his ' Rakery.' The ' Raker ' is he that shall utter
the rhyme, and the rhymer himself sits by with the cap-
tain very proudly. He brings with him also his harper,
who plays all the while that the raker sings the rhyme.
Also he hath his bard, which is a foolish fellow who must
nave a horse given him. The harper must have a new
saffron shirt and a mantle ; and the raker must have two
or three kine ; and the rhymer himself a horse and har-
ness, with a nag to ride on, a silver goblet, and a pair of
bedes of coral with buttons of silver. And this with
more they look for to have for the reducing of the people,
to the disruption of the commonwealth and blasphemy
1559-]
SHAN a NEIL.
109
of God ; for this is the best thing the rhymer causeth
them to do.
1 The fourth sort are those which in England are
called Poets. These men have great store of cattle, and
use all the trade of the others with an addition of pro-
phecies. These are maintainers of witches and other
vile matters to the blasphemy of God and to the impover-
ishing of the commonwealth.
' These four septs are divided in all places of the
four quarters of Ireland and some of the islands beyond
Ireland, as ' the Land of the Saints/ l the ' Innis
Buffen/ ' Innis Turk/ ' Innis Main/ and ' Innis Clare.'
These islands are under the rule of O'Neil, and they are
very pleasant and fertile, plenty of wood, water, and
arable ground and pastures, and fish, and a verv temper-
ate air.2
' There be many branches belonging to the four septs
— as the Gogath, which is to say the glutton, for one of
them will eat half a mutton at a sitting : another called
the Carrow; he commonly goeth naked and carrieth
dice and cards with him, and he will play the hair off
his head ; and these be maintained by the rhymers.
* There is a set of women called the Goyng women.
They be blasphemers of God, and they run from country
to country sowing sedition among the people. They are
common to all men ; and if any of them happen to be
1 Arran, outside Galway Bay.
2 At present they are barren
heaps of treeless moors and moun-
tains. They yield nothing but
scanty oat-crops and potatoes, and
though the seas are full of fish as
ever, there are no hands to catch
them. The change is a singular
commentary on modern improve-
ments.
I io REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 42.
with child she will say that it is the great Lord adjoin-
ing, whereof the Lords are glad and do appoint them, to
he nursed.
' There is another two sorts that goeth about with
the Bachele of Jesus,1 as they call it. These run from
country to country ; and if they come to any house
where a woman is with child they will put the same
about her, and whether she will or no causeth her to
give them money, and they will undertake that she shall
have good delivery of her child, to the great disruption
of the people concerning their souls' health.
' Others go about with St Patrick's crosier, and play
the like part or worse ; and no doubt so long as these
be used the word of God can never be known among
them, nor the Prince be feared, nor the country
prosper.'
So stands the picture of Ireland, vivid because simple,
described by some half- Anglicised, half-Protestantized
Celt who wrote what he had seen around him, careless
of political philosophy or of fine phrases with which to
embellish his diction. The work of civilization had
again to begin from the foundation. Occupied with
Scotland and France and holding her own throne by so
precarious a tenure, Elizabeth, for the first eighteen
months of her reign, hud little leisure to attend to it ;
and the Irish leaders, taking advantage of the opportun-
ity, offered themselves and their services to Philip's am-
bassador in England. The King of Spain, who at the
1 The Baculum Jesus, said to have been brought over by St Patrick.
2 Report ou the State of Ireland, 1559: Irish MSS. Rolls House.
'559-]
SHAN &NEIL.
in
beginning desired to spare and strengthen Elizabeth,
sent them a cold answer, and against Philip's will the
great Norman families were unwilling to stir. The true-
bred Celts however, whose sole political creed was hatred
of the English, were less willing to remain quiet. To
the Celt it was of small moment whether the English
sovereign was Protestant or Catholic. The presence of
an English deputy in Dublin was the symbol of his
servitude and the constant occasion for his rebellion. Had
there been no cause of quarrel the mere pleasure of
fighting would have insured periodical disturbances ; and
in Ulster there were special causes at work to produce a
convulsion of peculiar severity.
Identical in race and scarcely differing in language,
the Irish of the north and the Scots of the Western
Isles had for two centuries kept up a close and increas-
ing intercourse. Some thousand Scottish families had
recently emigrated from Bute, Arran, and Argyleshire,
to find settlements on the thinly peopled coasts of An-
trim and Down. The Irish chiefs had sought their
friendship, intermarried with them, or made war on
them, as the humour of the moment prompted ; but
their numbers had steadily increased whether welcome
or unwelcome, and at Elizabeth's accession they had be-
come objects of alarm both to the native Irish, whom
they threatened to supplant, and to the English, whom
they refused to obey.
Lord Sussex, who was Mary's last deputy, had made
expeditions against them both in the Isles and in Ulster ;
but even though assisted by the powers of O'Neil had
112 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 42.
only irritated their hostility. They made alliance with
the O'Donnells who were O'NeiTs hereditary enemies.
James M'Connell and his two brothers, near kinsmen of
the House of Argyle, crossed over with two thousand
followers to settle in Tyrconnell, while to the Callogh
O'Donnell, the chief of the clan, the Earl of Argyle him-
self gave his half-sister for a wife.
With this formidable support the O'Donnells threat-
ened to eclipse their ancient rivals, when there rose up
from among the O'Neils one of those remarkable men
who in their own persons sum up and represent the
energy, intellect, power, and character of the nation to
which they belong.
In the partial settlement of Ireland which had been
brought about by Henry the Eighth, the O'Neils, among
the other noble families, surrendered their lands to the
Crown to receive them again under the usual feudal
tenure ; and Con O'Neil the Lame had received from
Henry for himself and his heirs the title of Earl of
Tyrone. For himself and his heirs — but who the heirs
of Con O'Neil might be was not so easy to decide. His
son Shan in explaining his father's character to Elizabeth
said that he was ' a gentleman/ — the interpretation of
the word being that ' he never denied any child that was
sworn to him, and that he had plenty of them.' l The
favourite of the family was the offspring of an intrigue
with a certain Alyson Kelly, the wife of a blacksmith at
Dundalk. This child, a boy named Matthew, grew to
Shau O'Neil to Elizabeth, February 8, 1561 : Irish MSS, Rolh Home.
I559-] SHAN CfNEIL. 113
be a fine dashing youth such as an Irish father delighted
to honour ; and although the Earl had another younger
son, Shan or John, with some pretensions to legitimacy,
Henry the Eighth allowed the father to name at his will
the heir of his new honours. Matthew Kelly became
Baron of Dungannon when O'Neil received his earldom ;
and to Matthew Kelly was secured the reversion on his
father's death of the earldom itself.
No objection could be raised so long as Shan was a
boy ; but as the legitimate heir grew to manhood the
arrangement became less satisfactory. The other sons
whom Con had brought promiscuously into the world
were discontented with the preference of a brother whose
birth was no better than their own ; and Shan, with their
help, as the simplest solution of the difficulty, at last
cut the Baron of Dungannon's throat.
They manage things strangely in Ireland. The old
O'Neil, instead of being irritated, saw in this exploit a
proof of commendable energy. He at once took Shan
into favour, and had he been able would have given him
his. dead brother's rights ; but unfortunately the Baron
had left a son behind him, and the son was with the
family of his grandmother beyond the reach of steel or
poison.
Impatient of uncertainty and to secure himself by
possession against future challenge, Shan next conspired
against his father, deposed him, and drove him into the
Pale, where he afterwards died ; and throwing over his
English title and professing to prefer the name of O'Neil
to any patent of nobility held under an English sove-
VOL. VII. 8
114
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 42.
reign, he claimed the right of succession by Irish cus-
tom, precedent, and law. In barbarous and half-bar-
barous tribes there is generally some choice exercised
among the members of the chiefs family, or some rule
is followed, by which the elder and stronger are pre-
ferred to the young and weak. In our own Heptarchy
the uncle, if able and brave, was preferred to the child
of an elder brother.
In Tyrone the clan elected their chief from the blood
of the ancient kings ; and Shan, waiving all question of
legitimacy, received the votes of his people, took the
oath with his foot upon the stone, and with the general
consent of the north was proclaimed O'Neil.1
This proceeding was not only an outrage against
order, but it was a defiance of England and the English
system. The descent to an earldom could not be regu-
lated by election, and it was obvious that the English
\ Government must either insist upon the rights of the
I young Baron of Dungannon, or relinquish the hope of
( feudalizing the Irish chieftains.
Knowing therefore that he could not be
left long in the enjoyment of his success, Shan
O'Neil attempted to compose his feud with the O'Don-
nells, and his first step was to marry O'Donnell's sister.
1560.
1 * They place him that shall be
called their captain upon a stone
always reserved for that purpose, and
commonly placed on a hill.' — SPEN-
SEH'S View of the State of Iceland.
The stone in Westminster Abhey
brought from Scone by Edward the
First was one of these, and according
to legend is the original Lias Fail or
thundering stone on which the Irish
kings were crowned. The Lias
Fail however still stands on Tara
Hill, ready for use when Ireland's
good time returns.
i56o.]
SHAN a NEIL.
But the reconciliation was of brief duration ; the smaller
chiefs of Ulster in loyal preference for greatness attached
themselves for the most part to the O'Neils. Shan, no
longer careful of offence, l misused ' his wife ; and the
Callogh, at the time when the notice of the English
Government began to be drawn towards the question,
was preparing, with the help of the Scots, to revenge her
injuries.1
Where private and public interests were closely in-
terwoven there was a necessary complication of sides
and movements. The English Government, in the be-
lief that the sister of the Earl of Argyle might be a
means of introducing Protestantism into Ulster, made
advances to the M'Connells whom before they had
treated as enemies ; they sent a present to the Countess2
of some old dresses of Queen Mary's ' for a token of
favour/ and they promised to raise the Callogh to a
rival earldom on condition of good service.
They were encountered however by an embarrassing
cross current. The M'Connells affected to reciprocate
the English good will, but the Earl of Argyle's con-
1 A detailed account of these
proceedings is found in a letter of
Lord Justice Fitzwilliam to the
Earl of Sussex, written on the 8th
of March, 1560.— Irish MSS. Rolls
House.
2 This lady, who was mentioned
ahove as the wife of the Callogh
and the half-sister of Macallummore,
is always described in the Irish de-
spatches as the Countess of Argyle.
There is no difficulty in identifying
the person. It is less easy to under?
stand the title.
3 ' MEMOKANDUM. — To send to
O'Donnell, with the Queen's thanks
for service done, and her promise to
make him an Earl on further merit
on his part. The gown and kirtle
that were Queen Mary's, with some
old habiliments, to he sent to the
Countess Avgyle, O'Donneli's wife,
for a token of favour to her good dis-
position in religion.' —Irish MSS.
f 16 REIGN' OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 42.
nection with the reforming party in Scotland had not
touched the dependencies of his clan. The hearts of
ninety-nine out of every hundred persons on the north of
Tweed were fixed on securing the English crown either
for Arran or for Mary Stuart ; and James M'Connell was
heard in private to say that the Queen of Scots was right-
ful Queen of England.1 Shan O'Neil therefore adroitly
availed himself of the occasion to detach from the O'Doii-
nells their formidable northern allies. The ' misused *
wife being disposed of by some process of murder or
otherwise, he induced M'Connell to give him his daugh-
ter. He married or proposed to marry her — for ties of
this kind sat with astonishing lightness on him — and
the Callogh was outmanoeuvred.
Again an interval, and there was another and a bolder
change. Either the new lady did not please Shan or
his ambition soared to a higher flight. Supposing that
the Scots in Ireland would not dare to resent what the
jEarl of Argyle should approve, and that the clan would
welcome his support to Mary Stuart's claims, he had
scarcely rid himself of his first wife and married a second
than he wrote to the Earl proposing that his sister the
Countess should be transferred from O'Donnell to him-
self. The M'Connells could be got rid of, and the
Scotch colony might pass under the protection of the
1 ' At my kinsman being with
him in Kintyre, James M'Connell
ministered to him very evil talk
against the Queen's Majesty, saying
the Queen of England was a bastard,
and the Queen of Scotland rightful
heir to the crown of England. It
was not once nor twice, but divers
times ; not only by him but by his
wife also.' — John Piers to Sir Wil-
liam Fitz william. Irish MSS. Rolls
1560. ] SHAN O NEIL. 1 1 7
O'Neils. James M'Connell's daughter might be thought
a difficulty, ' but we swear to you our kingly oath/ the
audacious Shan dared to write, ' that there is no impedi-
ment by reason of any such woman.'1
Unprepared to recognize such swift transmutations,
and at that time concerned with the rest of his party in
the scheme for the elevation of the Earl of Arran, Ar-
gyle contented himself with enclosing Shan's letter to
the English council. He told them briefly that O'Neil
was the most dangerous person in Ireland ; and he said
that unless the Queen was prepared to acknowledge him
she had better lose no time in bringing him to reason.2
So matters stood in Ireland in the spring of 1560,
when the conspiracy of the Guises and the necessity of
defending her throne forced Elizabeth into the Scotch
war. The deputy, Lord Sussex, was in England ; Sir
William Fitzwilliam was left in command in Dublin,
watching the country with uneasy misgivings ; and from
the symptoms reported to him from every quarter he
anticipated, notwithstanding Philip's coldness, a summer
of universal insurrection ; the Parliament of the Pale
had given the Catholics a rallying cry by endorsing the
Act of Uniformity ; and ' big words/ ' prophecies of the
expulsion of the English within the year/ and rumours of
armies of liberation from France and Spain, filled all
the air. The outward quiet was undisturbed, but ' in-
wardly never such fears since the rebellion of Lord
Thomas Fitzgerald/ The country was for the most part
1 Notice and letter sent by the Earl of Argyle ; Irish MSB. Rolls House
3 Ibid.
118 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 42.
a wilderness, but the desolation would be no security.
The Irish, Fitzwilliam anxiously reported, could keep
the field where the English would starve ; ' no men of
war ever lived the like, nor others of God's making as
touching feeding and living ; they were like beasts and
vermin bred from the earth and the filth thereof; but
brute and bestial as by their outward life they showed,
there was not under the sun a more craftier vipered
undermining generation/ *
The immediate fear was of the great southern earls.
If Kildare and Desmond rose, the whole of Ireland would
rise with them, even the Pale itself. They had promised
Fitzwilliam to be loyal, but he did not trust them.
They had met at Limerick in the winter ; they were
known to have communicated with Shan, and O'Brien
of Inchiquin had gone to Spain and France to solicit
assistance. If he brought back a favourable answer, the
Geraldines ' would take the English part until such time
as the push came, and then the English company should
be paid home/2
Most fortunately for Elizabeth the success of the
Queen of Scots was more formidable to Philip than
the temporary triumph of heresy. He discouraged all
advances to himself; he used his best endeavours to pre-
vent the Irish from looking for assistance in France ;
and although his advice might have been little attended
to had the Guises been at liberty to act, Elizabeth's
intrigues with the Huguenots had provided them with
1 Fitzwilliam to Cecil, March and April, 1560 : Irish MSS. Holla Rouse.
2 Ibid.
1560.] SHAN a NEIL. 119
sufficient work at home. They could spare no troops
for Ireland while they were unable to reinforce their
army at Leith.
O'Brien however received promises in abundance.
Three French ships accompanied him on his return, and
Irish imagination added thirty or forty which were said
to be on the way. Kildare called his retainers under
arms, and held a Parliament of chiefs at Maynooth which
was opened with public mass. In speeches of the time-
honoured type the patriotic orators dwelt upon the
wrongs of Ireland ; they swore that they would be
* slaves ' no longer ; they protested ' that their kingdom
was kept from them by force by such as were aliens in
blood ; ' and Fitzwilliam, frightened by the loud words,
wrote in haste for assistance that ' the English might
fight for their lives before they were all dead.'1
"With the death of Henry the Second, the fall of
Leith, and the failure of the French to appear, the
Irish courage cooled and the more pressing danger
passed off. Kildare's larger knowledge showed him
that the opportunity was gone. His father's death on
the scaffold and his own long exile had taught him
that without support from abroad a successful insurrec-
tion was impossible ; and having no personal interests
to defend he bought his pardon for the treason which
he had meditated by loyally returning to his allegiance.
Shan O'Neil was less favourably circumstanced.
His rank and his estates were at stake, and he on his
Advertisements out of Ireland, May 28, 1560 : Irish MSS. Soils House.
120 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.42.
part had determined never to submit at all unless he
was secured in their possession. But he too thought it
prudent to temporize. His father was by this time
dead. He was required to appear before Elizabeth in
person to explain the grounds on which he challenged
his inheritance ; and after stipulating for a safe-conduct,
and an advance of money for expenses of his journey,
he affected a willingness to comply ; but he chose to
treat with the Government at first hand, and in a cha-
racteristic letter to Elizabeth he prepared the way for
his reception.
He described his father's miscellaneous habits, and
* gentlemanlike ' readiness to acknowledge every child
that was assigned to him ; he explained his brother's
birth and his own election as the O'Neil ; he then pro-
ceeded thus :— *
' The deputy has much ill-used me, your
Majesty; and now that I am going over to
see you I hope you will consider that I am but rude
and uncivil, and do not know my duty to your
Highness nor yet your Majesty's laws, but am one
brought up in wildness far from all civility. Yet have
I a good will to the commonwealth of my country ;
and please your Majesty to send over two commission-
ers that you can trust that will take no bribes nor
otherwise be imposed on, to observe what I have done
to improve the country and to hear what my accusers
have to say ; and then let them go into the Pale and
1 The voluininousness of the letter renders some abridgment necessary;
but the character, suhstancc, and arrangement are preserved.
1561.] SHAN C? NEIL. 121
hear what the people say of your soldiers with their
horses and their dogs and their concubines. Within
this year and a half three hundred fanners are
come from the English Pale to live in my country
where they can he safe.
' Please your Majesty, your Majesty's money here
is not so good as your money in England, and will
not pass current there. Please your Majesty to
send me three thousand pounds of English money to
pay my expenses in going over to you, and when I
come back I will pay your deputy three thousand
pounds Irish, such as you are pleased to have current
here.
( Also I will ask your Majesty to marry me to some
gentlewoman of noble blood meet for my vocation. I
will make Ireland all that your Majesty wishes for you.
I am very sorry your Majesty is put to such expense.
If you will trust it to me I will undertake that in three
years you shall have a revenue where now you have
continual loss.
' Also your Majesty's father granted certain lands to
my father O'Neil and to his son Matthew. Mat Kelly
claims these lands of your Majesty. We have a saying
among us Irishmen that ' whatsoever bull do chance to
bull any cow in any kerragh, notwithstanding, the right
owner of the cow shall have the calf and not the owner
of the bull.' How can it be or how can it stand with
natural reason that the said Matthew should inherit
my father's lands, and also inherit his own rightful
father the smith's, and also his mother's lands which
122 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.42.
the said Matthew hath peaceably in possession ? J 1
Whether Shan would follow up his letter by really
going over was not so certain. It depended on the
answer which he received, or on the chances which
might offer themselves to him of doing better for him-
self in some other way.
The English Government had no advantage over
him in sincerity. Towards Ireland itself the intentions
of Elizabeth were honourable ; but she had determined
to use her first leisure in restoring order and obedience
there; and for Shan the meaning of his summons to
England was merely to detain him ' with gentle talk/
till Sussex could return to his command and the Eng-
lish army be reinforced.
Preparations were made to send men and money in
such large quantities that rebellion should have no
chance ; and so careful was the secrecy which was ob-
served to prevent Shan from taking alarm, that a detach-
ment of troops sent from Portsmouth sailed with sealed
orders, and neither men nor officers knew that Ireland
was their destination till they had rounded the Land's
End.2
Notwithstanding these precautions Shan's friends
found means to put him on his guard. He was to have
sailed from Dublin, but the weeks passed on and he did
not make his appearance. At one time his dress was
1 Shan O'Neil to Queen Elizabeth, February 8, 1561 : Irish JTSS.
Compare Shan 0'ISTeil to Cecil (same date).
2 Matters to be ordered for Ireland, February 25, March 4, March 13 :
Irish MSS.
1S6i.j SHAN a NEIL. 123
not ready ; at another he had 110 money, and pressed to
have his loan of the three thousand pounds sent up for
him into Tyrone ; and to this last request Fitzwilliam
would give no sort of encouragement, ' being/ as he
said, ' for his own part unwilling to lend Shan five
shillings on his bond, and being certain that he would
no sooner have received the money than he would laugh
at them all.'
The Government however cared little whether he
submitted or stayed away. As yet they had not been
forced to recognize Shan's ability, and the troops who
were to punish him were on their way. Kildare, whom
Elizabeth most feared, had gone to London on her first
invitation. As long as Kildare was loyal Desmond
would remain quiet ; and no serious rebellion was con-
sidered any longer possible. O'Donnell was prepared
to join the English army on its advance into Ulster ;
and the Scots, notwithstanding their predilection for
Mary Stuart, were expected to act as Argyle and as his
sister ' should direct.'
But Shan had prepared a master-stroke which dis-
concerted this last arrangement. Though his suit found
no favour with the Earl of Argyle, he had contrived
to ingratiate himself with 'the Countess.' The Scots
were chiefly anxious to secure their settlements in
Antrim and Down ; and Shan was a more useful ally for
them than Elizabeth or the feeble Callogh. The lady
from whom such high hopes had been formed cared less
for Protestantism than for the impassioned speeches of a
lover ; and while Queen Mary's gown and kirtle were
124 REIGN1 OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 42.
on their way to her, Fitzwilliam was surprised with the
sudden news that Shan had made a raid into Tyrconnell
and had carried off both her and her husband. Her
Scotch guard, though fifteen hundred strong, had offered
no resistance ; and the next news was that the Callogh
was a prisoner in Shan's castle, and that the Countess
was the willing paramour of the 0' Neil. The affront
to M'Connell was forgiven, or atoned for by private ar-
rangement ; and the sister of the Earl of Argyle — an
educated woman for her time, ' not unlearned in Latin/
' speaking French and Italian/ ' counted sober, wise, and
no less subtle ' — had betrayed herself, her people, and
her husband.1
The O'Neils by this last manoeuvre became supreme
in Ulster. Deprived of their head, the O'Donnells sunk
into helplessness ; the whole force of the province, such
as it was, with the more serious addition of several
thousand Scotch marauders, was at Shan's disposal, and
thus provided he thought himself safe in defying Eng-
land to do its worst.
Both sides prepared for war. Sussex returned to
Dublin at the beginning of June; his troops and sup-
plies had arrived before him ; and after a debate in ' the
council' the Irish of the Pale were invited to join in a
' general hosting ' into Tyrone on the first of
July. Sussex himself, as a preliminary move,
made a dash upon Armagh. He seized the cathedral,
which he fortified as a depot for his stores. Leaving a
Fit/william to Cecil, May 30: Irish MSS.
SHAN O'NETL.
125
garrison there lie fell back into Meath, where in a few
days he was joined by Ormond with flying companies
of ' galloglasse.'
But Sussex did not yet understand the man with
whom he was dealing. He allowed himself to be amused
and delayed by negotiations ; J and while he was making-
promises to Shan which it is likely that he intended to
disregard, Armagh was almost lost again.
Seeing a number of kerne scattered about the town
the officer in command sallied out upon them, when
Shan himself suddenly appeared, accompanied by the
Catholic Archbishop, on a hill outside the walls ; and the
English had but time to recover their defences when
the whole Irish army, led by a procession of monks and
'every man carrying a faggot/ came on to burn the
cathedral over their heads. The monks sung a mass ;
the primate walked three times up and down the lines,
' willing the rebels to go forward, for God was on their
side.' Shan swore a great oath not to turn his back
while an Englishman was left alive ; and with scream
and yell his men came on. Fortunately there were no
Scots among them. The English, though outnumbered
ten to one, stood steady in the churchyard, and after a
sharp hand to hand fight drove back the howling crowd.
The Irish retired into the ' friars' houses ' outside the
cathedral close, set them on lire, and ran for their lives.
1 'The second of this .month we
assembled at Raskreagh, Mid still
treated with Shan for his going to
your Majesty, making him great
offers if he would go quietly.'— Sus-
sex to the Queen, July 16 : Irish
3f88.
126 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [01143.
So far all was well. After this there was no more
talk of treating; and by the i8th, Sussex and Ormond
were themselves at Armagh, with a force — had there
been skill to direct it — sufficient to have swept Tyrone
from border to border.
The weather however was wet, the rivers were high,
and slight difficulties seemed large to the English com-
mander. He stayed in the town doing nothing till the
end of the month, when his provisions began to run
short, and necessity compelled him to move. Spies
brought him word that in the direction of Cavan there
were certain herds of cows which an active party might
cut off; and cattle-driving being the approved method
of making war in Ireland, the Deputy determined to
have them.
The Earl of Ormond was ill, and Sussex, in an evil
hour for his reputation, would not leave him. His troops
without their commander set out with Irish guides for
the spot where the cows had been seen.
O'Neil as may be supposed had been playing upon
Saxon credulity ; the spies were his own men ; and the
object was merely to draw the English among bogs and
rivers where they could be destroyed. They were to
have been attacked at night at their first halting-place ;
and they escaped only by the accident of an alteration
of route. Early the following morning they were march-
ing forward in loose order ; Fitzwilliam, with a hundred
horse, was a mile in advance ; five hundred men-at-arms
with a few hundred loyal Irish of the Pale straggled
after him ; another hundred horse under James Wing-
field brought up the rear.
1561.] SHAN &NEIL. 127
Weaker in numbers, for his whole force did not
amount to more than six hundred men, O'Neil came up
with them from behind. Wingfield instead of holding
his ground galloped forward upon the men-at-arms, and
as horses and men were struggling in confusion together,
on came the Irish with their wild battle-cry — ' Laundarg
Abo ! '— 'The bloody hand ! '—< Strike for O'BTeil.' The
cavalry, between shame and fear, rode down their own
men, and extricated themselves only to fly panic-stricken
from the field to the crest of an adjoining hill, while
Shan's troopers rode through the broken ranks ' cutting
down the footmen on all sides/
Fitzwilliam, ignorant of what was passing behind him,
was riding leisurely forwards, when a horseman was ob-
served galloping wildly in the distance and waving his
handkerchief for a signal. The yells and cries were
heard through the misty morning air, and Fitzwilliam,
followed by a gentleman named Parkinson and ten or
twelve of his own servants, hurried back 'in a happy
hour.'
. Without a moment's delay he flung himself into the
melee. Sir George Stanley was close behind him with
the rest of the advanced horse ; ' and Shan, receiving-
such a charge of those few men and seeing more coming
after/ ran no further risk, blew a recall note and with-
drew impursued. Fitzwilliam' s courage alone had pre-
vented the army from being annihilated. Out of five
hundred English, fifty lay dead, and fifty more were
badly wounded ; the Irish contingent had disappeared ;
and the survivors of the force fell back to Armagh so
' dismayed ' as to be unfit for further service.
128 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 42.
in his official report to the Queen the Earl of Sussex
made light of his loss, and pretended that after a slight
repulse he had won a brilliant victory. The object of
the false despatch however was less to deceive Elizabeth
than to blind the English world. To Cecil the Deputy
was more open, and though professing still that he had
escaped defeat, admitted the magnitude of the disaster.
' By the cowardice of some/ Sussex said, ' all was like
to have been lost, and by the worthiness of two men all
was restored and the contrary part overthrown. It was
by cowardice the dreadfullest beginning that ever was
seen in Ireland ; and by the valiantness of a few (thanks
be given to Grod !) brought to a good end. Ah ! Mr
Secretary, what unfortunate star hung over me that day
to draw me, that never could be persuaded to be absent
from the army at any time, to be then absent for a
little disease of another man ? The rereward was the
best and picked soldiers in all this land. If I or any
stout man had been that day with them, we had made
an end of Shan, which is now further off than ever it
was. Never before durst Scot or Irishman look on
Englishmen in plain or wood since I was here ; and now
Shan, in a plain three miles away from any wood, and
where I would have asked of God to have had him, hath
with a hundred and twenty horse and a few Scots and
galloglasse, scarce half in numbers, charged our whole
army, and by the cowardice of one wretch whom I hold
dear to me as my own brother, was like in one hour to
have left not one man of that army alive, and after to
have taken me and the rest at Armagh. The fame of
SHAN a NEIL.
129
August.
the English army, so hardly gotten, is now vanquished,
and I wrecked and dishonoured by the vileness of other
men's deeds.' 1
The answer of Cecil to this sad despatch
betrays the intriguing factiousness which dis-
graced Elizabeth's Court. Lord Pembroke seemed to
be the only nobleman whose patriotism could be depended
on ; and in Pembroke's absence there ' was not a person
— no/ Cecil reiterated, 'not one,' who did not either
wish so well to Shan O'Neil or so ill to the Earl of
Sussex as rather to welcome the news than regret the
English loss.2
The truth was soon known in London notwithstand-
ing 'the varnished tale' with which Sussex had sought
to hide it. A letter from Lady Kildare to her husband
represented the English army as having been totally
defeated ; and Elizabeth, irritated as usual at the profit-
less expense in which she had been involved, determined,
in her first vexation, to bury no more money in Irish
morasses. Kildare undertook to persuade Shan into
conformity if she would leave him in possession of what
it appeared she was without power to take from him ;
the Queen consented to everything which he proposed,
and the old method of governing Ireland by the Irish —
that is, of leaving it to its proper anarchy — was about
to be resumed. Most tempting and yet most fatal ;
for the true desire of the Irish leaders was to cut the
links altogether which bound them to England, and
1 Sussex to Cecil, July 31 : Irish MSS.
2 Cecil to Sussex, August 12 : WRIGHT, vol. i.
VOL. VII.
9
130 REIGN QF ELIZABETH. [011.42
England could not play into their hands more effectively
than by leaving them to destroy at their leisure the few
chiefs who had dared to be loyal.
Kildare returned ito Dublin with full powers to act as
he should think best ; while Sussex, leaving a garrison
as before in Armagh Cathedral, returned with the dis-
pirited remnant of his army into the Pale. Fitzwilliam
was despatched to London to explain the disaster to
the Queen ; and the Irish council sent a petition by his
hands, that the troops who had been so long quartered
in the four shires should be recalled or disbanded. Use-
less in the field and tyrannical to the farmer, they were
a burden on the English exchequer and answered no
purpose but to make the English name detested.
The petition corresponded but too well with Elizabeth' s
private inclination, but Fitzwilliam while he presented
it did not approve of its recommendations ; he implored
her — and he was supported in his entreaties by Cecil —
to postpone, at least for a short time, a measure which
would be equivalent to an abandonment of Ireland.
The Queen yielded, and in allowing the army to remain
permitted it to be reinforced from the trained soldiers
of Berwick. Fitzwilliam carried back with him three
thousand pounds to pay the arrears of wages ; Cecil
pressed hard for three thousand besides ; but Elizabeth
would risk no more till ( she saw some fruit arise from
her expenditure.'
To Shan O'Neil she sent a pardon with a safe- con-
duct for his journey to England if Kildare could prevail
on him to come to her ; and ' accepting the defeat as
1561.] SHAN a NEIL. 131
i/he chance of war which she must bear/ she expressed
to Sussex her general surprise at his remissness, with
her regret that an English officer should have disgraced
himself by cowardice. She desired that Wingfield might
be immediately sent over and that the other offenders
should be apprehended and imprisoned.1
Meantime Sussex, having failed in the field, had at-
tempted to settle his difficulties by other methods. A
demand from Shan had followed him info the Pale that
the Armagh garrison should be withdrawn. The bearers
of the message were Cant well, 0 'Neil's seneschal, and a
certain Neil Grey, one of his followers, who affected to
dislike rebellion and gave the Deputy an opportunity of
working on him. Lord Sussex, it appeared, regarded
Shan as a kind of vermin whom having failed to capture
in fair chase he might destroy by the first expedient
which came to his hand.
The following letter betrays no misgivings either on
the propriety of the proceeding which it describes, or on
the manner in which tho intimation of it would be re-
ceived by the Queen.
THE EARL OF SUSSEX TO QUEEN ELIZABETH.
August 24, 1561.
' May it please your Highness,
' After conference had with Shan O'Neil's seneschal
I entered talk with Neil Grey ; and perceiving by him
1 Memoranda of Letters from Ireland, August 20 (Cecil's hand).— Cecil
to Sussex, August 21 ; Elizabeth to Sussex, August 20: Irish MSS.
Rolls Houst.
1 32 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.42.
that he had little hope of Shan's conformity in anything,
and that he therefore desired that he might be received
to serve your Highness, for that he would no longer
abide with him, and that if I would promise to receive
him to your service he would do anything that 1 would
command him, I sware him upon the Bible to keep
secret that I should say unto him, and assured him if it
were ever known during the time I had the government
there, that besides the breach of his oath it should cost
him his life. I used long circumstance in persuading
him to serve you to benefit his country, and to procure
assurance of living to him and his for ever by doing of
that which he might easily do. He promised to do what
I would. In fine I brake with him to kill Shan ; and
bound myself by my oath to see him have a hundred
marks of land by the year to him and to his heirs for his
reward. He seemed desirous to serve your Highness
and to have the land, but fearful .to do it doubting his
own escape, after with safety, which he confessed and
promised to do by any means he might escaping with
his life. What he will do I know not, but I assure your
Highness he may do it without danger if he will. And
if he will not do that he may in your service, then will
be done to him what others may. God send your High-
ness a good end.
*' Your Highness' s
' Most humble and faithful Subject and Servant,
' T. SUSSEX.1
' From Ardbrachan.'
Irish MSS. Rolls Home
1561 ] SHAN a NEIL. 133
English honour like English coin lost something of
its purity in the sister island. Nothing came of this un-
desirable proposal. Neil Grey however kept his secret,
and though he would not risk his life by attempting
the murder, sought no favour with Shan by betraying
Sussex.
Elizabeth's answer — if she sent any answer — is nol
discoverable. It is most sadly certain however that
Sussex was continued in office ; and inasmuch as it will
be seen that he repeated the experiment a few months
later, his letter could not have been received with any
marked condemnation.
Shortly after, Fitzwilliam returned from England
with the Berwick troops, and before the season closed
and before Kildare commenced his negotiations the
Deputy was permitted to make another effort to repair
the credit of English arms.
Despatching provisions by sea to Lough Foyle, he
succeeded this time in inarching through Tyrone and in
destroying on his way four thousand cattle which he
was unable to carry away ; and had the vessels arrived
in time he might have remained in Ulster long enough
to do serious mischief there. But the wind and weather
were unfavourable. He had left Shan's cows to rot
where he had killed them ; and thus being without food,
and sententiously and characteristically concluding that
' man by his policy might propose but God at his will
did dispose/ 1 Lord Sussex fell back by the upper waters
of Lough Erne sweeping the country before him.
Sussex to Elizabeth, September 21 : Irish MSS. Rolls House.
134 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 42.
O'Neil in the interval had been burning villages in
Meath ; but the Deputy had penetrated his stronghold,
had defied him on his own ground, and he had not ven-
tured to meet the English in the field. The defeat of
July was partially retrieved and Sussex was in a better
position to make terms. Kildare, in the middle of
October, had a conference with Shan at Dundalk, and
Shan consented to repair to Elizabeth's presence. In
the conditions however which he was allowed to name
he implied that he was rather conferring a favour than
receiving one, and that he was going to England as a
victorious enemy permitting himself to be conciliated.
He demanded a safe- conduct so clearly worded that
whatever was the result of his visit he should be free to
return ; he required a complete amnesty for his past
misdeeds, and he stipulated that Elizabeth should pay
all expenses for himself and his retinue ; the Earls of
Ormond, Desmond, and Kildare must receive him in
state at Dundalk and escort him to Dublin ; Kildare
must accompany him to England ; and most important
of all, Armagh Cathedral must be evacuated.
On these terms he was ready to go to London ; he
did not anticipate treachery ; and either he hoped to per-
suade Elizabeth to recognize him, and thus prove to the
Irish that rebellion was the surest road to prosperity
and power, or at worst by venturing into England and
returning unscathed he would show them that the
Government might be defied with more than impunity.
Had Neil Grey revealed to him those dark overtures
of Sussex the Irish chief would have relied less boldly on
1561.]
SHAN CPNEtL.
December.
English good faith. When his terms were made known
to Elizabeth's council the propriety of acceding to them
was advocated for * certain secret respects ; ' and even
Sir William Cecil was not ashamed to say ' that in
Shan's absence from Ireland something might be cavilled
against him. or his for ncn-observing the covenants on
his side ; and so the pact being infringed the matter
might be used as should be thought fit.' l
The intention of deliberate dishonour was
not persisted in. Elizabeth, after some uncer-
tainty whether concessions so ignominious could be
safely made, wrote to accept them all except the evacu-
ation of the cathedral. Making a merit of his desire
to please her, Shan said that although for ' the Earl of
Sussex he would not mollify one iota of his agreement/
yet he would consent at the request of her Majesty ; 2
and thus at last, with the Earl of Kildare in attendance,
a train of galloglasse, a thousand pounds in hand and a
second thousand waiting for him in London, the cham-
pion of Irish freedom sailed from Dublin and l^2.
appeared on the 2nd of January at the Eng- JanuaiT-
lish Court.
Not wholly knowing how so strange a being might
conduct himself, Cecil, Pembroke, and Bacon received
him privately on his arrival at the Lord Keeper's house*
They gave him his promised money and endeavoured to
impress upon him the enormity of his misdemeanours.
Their success in this respect was indifferent. When
1 Cecil to Throgmorton, November 4, 1561 : Ccnway MSS.
" Kildare to Cecil, December 3 : flfS. Ibid.
136 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 42.
Cecil spoke of rebellion Shan answered that two thou-
sand pounds was a poor present, from so great a Queen.
When Cecil asked if he would be a good subject for the
future, he was sure their honours would give him a few
more hundreds. He agreed however to make a general
confession of his sins in Irish and English ; and on the
6th of the month Elizabeth received him.
The council, the Peers, the foreign ambassadors,
bishops, aldermen, dignitaries of all kinds, were present
in state as if at the exhibition of some wild animal of
the desert. O'Neil stalked in, his saffron mantle sweep-
ing round and round him, his hair curling on his back
and clipped short below the eyes which gleamed from
under it with a grey lustre, frowning fierce and cruel.
Behind him followed his galloglasse bare-headed and
fair-haired, with shirts of mail which reached their knees,
a wolfskin flung across their shoulders, and short broad
battle-axes in their hands.
At the foot of the throne the chief paused, bent for-
ward, threw himself on his face upon the ground, and
then rising upon his knees spoke aloud in Irish :—
' Oh ! my most dread sovereign lady and Queen, like
as I, Shan O'JNeil, your Majesty's subject of your realm
of Ireland, have of long time desired to come into the
presence of your Majesty to acknowledge my humble
and bounden subjection, so am I now here upon my
knees by your gracious permission, and do most humbly
acknowledge your Majesty to be my sovereign lady and
Queen of England, France, and Ireland ; and I do con-
fess that for lack of civil education I have offended your
1562.] SHAN a NEIL. 137
Majesty and your laws, for the which I have required
and obtained your Majesty 's pardon. And for that I
most humbly from the bottom of my heart thank your
Majesty, and still do with all humbleness require the
continuance of the same ; and I faithfully promise here
before Almighty God and your Majesty, and in presence
of all these your nobles, that I intend by God's grace to
live hereafter in the obedience of your Majesty as a sub-
ject of your land of Ireland.
' And because this my speech being Irish is not well
understanded, I have caused this my submission to be
written in English and Irish, and thereto have set my
hand and seal ; and to these gentlemen my kinsmen and
friends I most humbly beseech your Majesty to be mer-
ciful and gracious lady.' 1
To the hearers the sound of the words was as the
howling of a dog.2 The form which Shan was made to
say that he had himself caused to be written, had been
drawn for him by Cecil ; and the gesture of the culprit
was less humble than his language ; the English cour-
tiers devised ' a style ' for him, as the interpretation of
his bearing, ' O'Neil the Great, cousin to St Patrick,
friend to the Queen of England, enemy to all the world
besides.' 3
The submission being disposed of, the next object was
to turn the visit to account. Shan discovered that not-
1 Irish MSS. Rolls House.
2 ' He confessed his crime and rebellion with howling.'— CAMDEN. So
Hotspur says — ' I had rather hear Lady my brach howl in Irish.'
3 CAMPION.
138 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [cH. 42.
withstanding his precautions he had been outwitted in
the wording of the safe-conduct. Though the Govern-
ment promised to permit him to return to Ireland, the
time of his stay had not been specified. Specious pre-
texts were invented to detain him ; he required to be
recognized as his father's heir ; the English judges
desired the cause to be pleaded before themselves ; the
young Baron of Dungannon must come over to be heard
on the other side; and while to Shan it was pretended
that the Baron had been sent for, Cecil wrote privately
to Fitzwilliam to prevent him from leaving Ireland.
At first the caged chieftain felt no alarm, and he
used his opportunities in flattering and working upon
Elizabeth. He wrote to her from time to time, telling
her that she was the sole hope and refuge which he pos-
sessed in the world ; in coming to England his chief
desire had been to see that great person whose fame
was spoken of through the earth, and to study the
wisdom of her Government that he ' might learn how
better to order himself in civil polity.' If she would
give him his father's earldom, he said, he would maintain '
her authority in Ulster, where she should be undisputed
Queen over willing subjects; he would drive away all her
enemies; he would expel Mary Stuart's friends the Scots;
and with them it seems he was prepared to dismiss his
•' countess ; ' for ( he was most urgent that her Majesty
would give him some noble English lady for a wife with
augmentation of living suitable ; ' and he on his part
would save the Queen all further expense in Ireland
with great increase of revenue.' As the head of the
1562.] SHAN &NE1L. 139
House of O'Neil lie claimed undisputed sovereignty over
the petty Ulster chiefs. He admitted that he had killed
his brother, but he saw nothing in so ordinary an action
but what was right and reasonable.1
So the winter months passed on. At last, when
January was gone, and February was gone,
and March had come, and ' the young Baron '
had not appeared, Shan's mind misgave him. His time
had not been wasted ; night after night he had been
closeted with de Quadra, and the insurrectionary re-
sources of Ireland had been sketched out as a bait to
Philip. His soul in the land of heretics had been cared
for by holv wafers from de Quadra's chapel ; but his
body he began to think might be in the lion's den,
and he pressed for his dismissal.
A cloud of obstacles was immediately raised. The
Queen, he was told, was indifferent who had the earl-
dom provided it was given to the lawful heir ; and as
soon as the Baron arrived the cause should instantly be
heard. When Shan was still dissatisfied, he was recom-
mended if he wished for favour ' to change his garments
and go like an Englishman.'
He appealed to Elizabeth herself. With an air of
ingenuous simplicity he threw himself, his wrongs, and
his position on her personal kindness, ' having no refuge
nor succour to flee unto but only her Majesty.' His
presence was urgently required in Ireland ; the Scots
were ' evil neighbours ; ' his kinsmen were fickle : if
Shan O'Ncil to Elizabeth, January: Irish MSS,
140 REIGN OF ELIZABETH [CH. 42.
however her Majesty desired him to scay he was her
slave, he would do all which she would have him do ; he
would only ask in return that ' her Majesty would give
him a gentlewoman for a wife such as he and she might
agree upon ; ' and he begged that he might be allowed
— the subtle flatterer — to attend on the Lord Robert ;
' that he might learn to ride after the English fashion,
to run at the tilt, to hawk, to shoot, and use such other
good exercises as the said good lord was most apt unto/1
He had touched the Queen where she was most sus-
ceptible, yet he lost his labour. She gave him no Eng-
lish lady, she did not let him go. At length the false
dealing produced its cruel fruit, the murder of the boy
who was used as the pretext for delay. Sent for to
England, yet prevented from obeying the command,
the young Baron of Duiigannon was waylaid at the be-
ginning of April in a wood near Carlingford
by Tirlogh O'Neil. He fled for his life with
the murderers behind him till he reached the bank of a
deep river which he could not swim, and there he was
killed.2
The crime could not be traced to Shan. His rival
was gone, and there was no longer any cause to be
pleaded ; while he could appeal to the wild movements
of his clan as an evidence of the necessity of his presence
among them.
The council were frightened. O'Neil promised
largely, and Elizabeth persuaded herself to believe him.
1 Shan O'Neil to Elizabeth, March : Irish MSS.
- Fitz william to Cecil, April 14 : Irish MSS.
1562.] SHAN G1 NEIL. 141
She durst not imprison him; she could no longer
detain him except by open force : she preferred to
bribe him into allegiance by granting him all that he
desired.
The earldom — a barren title for which he cared little
— was left in suspense. On the 2oth of April an inden-
ture was signed by Elizabeth and himself, in which
Shan bound himself to do military service and to take
the oath of allegiance in the presence of the Deputy ;
while in return he was allowed to remain Captain of
Tyrone with feudal jurisdiction over the northern coun-
ties. The Pale was to be no shelter to any person whom
he might demand as a malefactor. If any Irish lord
or chief did him wrong, and the Deputy failed within
twenty days to exact reparation, Shan might raise an
army and levy war on his private account. One feeble
effort only was made to save O'Donnell, whose crime
against O'Neil had been his devotion to England.
O'Neil consented to submit O'Donnell's cause to the
arbitration of the Irish earls.1
A rebel subject treating as an equal with his sove-
reign for the terms on which he would remain in his
allegiance was an inglorious spectacle ; and the admis- (
sion of Shan's pretensions to sovereignty was one more
evidence to the small Ulster chiefs that no service was
worse requited in Ireland than fidelity to the English
Crown. The M'Guyres, the O'Reillies, the O'Donnells
— all the clans who had stood by Sussex in the pre-
1 Indenture between the Queen of England and Shan O'Neil, April 30,
1562 : Irish MSS.
1 42 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. JCH. 42
ceding summer — were given over to their enemy bound
hand and foot. Yet Elizabeth was weary of the expense,
and sick of efforts which Were profitless as the cultiva-
tion of a quicksand.
True it was that she was placing half Ireland in the
hands of an adulterous, murdering scoundrel ; but the
Irish liked to have it so, and she forced herself to hope
that he would restrain himself for the future within
bounds of decency.
Shan therefore with his galloglasse returned in glory,
his purse lined with money, and honour wreathed about
his brows. On reappearing in Tyrone he summoned the
northern chiefs about him ; he told them that ' he had
not gone to England to lose but to win ; ' they must
submit to his rule henceforth or they should feel his
power
The O'Donnells, in vain reliance on the past promises
of the Deputy, dared to refuse allegiance to him. With-
out condescending to the form of consulting the Govern-
ment at Dublin, he called his men to arms and marched
into Tyrconnell, killing, robbing, and burning in the old
style, through farm and castle.
The Earl of Sussex, not knowing how to act, could
but fall back on treachery. Shan was bound by his
engagement to take the oath of allegiance in Dublin.
The Lord Deputy desired him to present himself at the
first opportunity. The safe-conduct which accompanied
the request was ingeniously worded ; and enclosing a
copy of it to Elizabeth, Sussex inquired whether in the
event of Shan's coming to him he might not twist
1562.
SHAN VNE1L*
'43
the meaning of the words, and make him
August.
prisoner.1
But Shan was too cunning a fish, and had been too
lately in the meshes, to be caught again in so poor a
snare. His duty to the Queen, he replied, forbade him
to leave his province in its present disturbed condition.
He was making up for his long fast in England from his
usual amusements ; and when fighting was in the wind
neither he nor his troopers, nor as it seemed his clergy,
had leisure for other occupations. The Catholic Primate
having refused allegiance to Elizabeth, the See of Armagh
was vacant, and Sussex sent down a conge d'&ire for the
appointment of ' Mr Adam Loftus.' He received for
answer ' that the chapter there, whereof the greater part
were Shan O'Neirs horsemen, were so sparkled and out
of order that they could by no means be assembled for
the election/2
Once more Lord Sussex set his trap, and
this time he baited it more skilfully. The
Scotch countess was not enough for Shan's ambition.
His passionate desire for an English wife had survived
September.
1 The safe -conduct was worded
thus : — Plenam protectionem nos-
tram per praesentes dicto Joanni
concedimus qua ipse ad praemissa
perficienda cum omnibus quibuscun-
que qui cum illo venerint ad nos
venire et a nobis cum voluerint li-
bere recedere valeant et possint
absque ulla perturbatione seu moles-
tatione.'
The word ' prsumissa ' referred to
the oath of allegiance ; it was an-
ticipated that Shan would make a
difficulty in doing homage to Sussex
as Elizabeth's representative ; and
Sussex thought he might then lay
hands on him for breach of compact.
— Sussex to Elizabeth, August 27:
Irish MSS.
z Sussex to Elizabeth, September
2: Irish
J44 REIGN OF ELIZABETH [01.42.
his return, and Elizabeth in this point had not gratified
his wishes. Lord Sussex had a sister with him in Dub-
lin, and Shan sent an intimation that if the Deputy
would take him for a brother-in-law their relations for
the future might be improved. The present sovereign
of England would perhaps give one of her daughters
to the King of Dahomey with more readiness than the
Earl of Sussex would have consigned his sister to Shan
O'Neil ; yet he condescended to reply ' that he could not
promise to give her against her will/ but if Shan would
visit him ' he could see and speak with her, and if he
liked her and she him they should both have his good
will.'1 Shan glanced at the tempting morsel with wist-
ful eyes. Had he trusted himself in the hands of
Sussex he would have had a short shrift for a blessing
and a rough nuptial knot about his neck. At the last
moment a little bird carried the tale to his ear. ' He
had advertisement out of the Pale that the lady was
brought over only to entrap him, and if he came to the
Deputy he should never return.'2
After this second failure Sussex told Elizabeth that
she must either use force once more or she must be pre-
pared to see first all Ulster and afterwards the whole
'Irishry' of the four provinces accept Shan for their
sovereign. There was no sort of uncertainty as to O'Neil's
intentions : he scarcely affected to conceal them. He
had written to the Pope ; he was in correspondence with
the Queen of Scots ; he had established secret relations
1 Sussex to the Queen, September 20 : Irish MSS.
2 Sussex to Elizabeth, September 29 : Irish MSS.
[562.] SHAN O' NEIL. 145
with. Spain through de Quadra ; and Sussex advised
war immediate and unsparing. ' No greater danger/
he said, ' had ever been in Ireland ; ' he implored the
Queen not to trifle with it, and with a modest sense of
his own failures he recommended her to send a more
efficient person than himself to take the command — not,
he protested, ' from any want of will, for he would spend
his last penny and his last drop of blood for her Majesty/
but he knew himself to be unequal to the work.
Post after post brought evidence of the fatal conse-
quences of the quasi recognition of Shan's sovereignty.
Right and left he was crushing the petty chiefs, who one
and all sent to say that they must yield unless England
supported them. Sussex wrote to him in useless menace
* that if he followed his foolish pride her Majesty would
destroy him at the last.' He ' held a parley ' with the
Irish council on Dundalk Bridge on the iyth of Sep-
tember, and bound himself ' to keep peace with the
Queen' 'for six months; ' but he felt himself discharged
of all obligations towards a Government which had aimed
at his life by deliberate treachery. In the face of hi«
ambiguous dealings the garrison had been still main-
tained at Armagh ; at the beginning of October
the hostages for his good behaviour, which he
had sent in on his return from England, escaped from
Dublin Castle ; and on the loth, in a dark, moon-
less night the guard at the cathedral were alarmed
with mysterious lights like blown matches glimmering
through the darkness. Had the troops ventured out to
reconnoitre, some hundreds of ' harquebusmen ' were in
VOL. VII. 10
I46
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 42.
ambush to cut them off. Suspecting treason they kept
within their walls, and Shan was compelled to content
himself with driving their cattle ; but had they shown
outside not a man of them would have been left alive.
The next day the Irish came under the gate and taunted
them with 'cowardice/ ' telling them the wolves had
eaten their cattle, and that the matches they thought they
saw were wolves' eyes/1
Con O'Donnell, the Callogh's son, wrote piteously to
Elizabeth that after carrying off his father and his
mother, Shan had now demanded the surrender of his
castles ; he had refused out of loyalty to England, and
his farms were burnt, his herds were destroyed, and he
was a ruined man.2
A few days later M' Guy re, from the banks of Lough
Erne, wrote that Shan had summoned him to submit ;
he had answered ' that he would not forsake the English
till the English forsook him ; ' ' wherefore/ he said, i 1
know well that within these four days the sayed Shan
will come to dystroy me contrey except your Lordshypp
will sette some remedy in the matter.' 3
Sussex was powerless. Duly as the unlucky chief
foretold, Shan came down into Fermanagh ' with a great
1 Sussex to Elizabeth, October
15 Irish MSS.
2 Con O'Donnell to Elizabeth,
September 30: Irish MSS. Holts
Souse. Sussex, in forwarding the
letter, added —
' This Con is valiant, wise, much
disposed of himself to civility, true
of his word, speaketh and writeth
very good English, and hath natural
shame-fastness in his face, which few
of the wild Irish have, and is as-
suredly the likeliest plant that can
grow in Ulster to graft a good sub-
ject on.'
8 M'Guyre to Sussex, Octobei 9 :
WRIGHT'S Elizabeth, vol. i. p. 93.
1562.]
SHAN a NEIL,
147
hoste ; ' M'Guyre still kept his truth to England ;
' wherefore Shan bygan to wax mad and to cawsse his
men. to bran all his corn and howsses ; ' he spared neither
church nor sanctuary ; three hundred women and chil-
dren were piteously murdered ; and M'Guyre himself
'clean banished/ as he described it, took refuge with
the remnant of his people in the islands on the lake,
whither Shan was making boats to pursue him.
' Help me, your lordship/ the hunted wretch cried in
his despair to Sussex ; ' I promes you, and you doo not
sy the rather to Shan O'Nele is besynes, ye ar lyke to
make hym the strongest man of all Eiiond, -for every
man wyll take an exampull by me gratte lostys ; take
hyd to yourself by thymes, for he is lyke to have all the
power from this place thill he come to the wallys of
Gallway to rysse against you/ l
Elizabeth knew not now which way to
November.
turn. Force, treachery, conciliation, had been
tried successively, and the Irish problem was more hope-
less than ever. Sussex had protested from the first
against the impolicy of recognizing Shan ; the event
had proved that he was right, and the Queen now threw
herself upon him and the council of Ireland for advice.
In the dense darkness of the prospects of Ulster there
was a solitary gleam of light. Grown insolent with
prosperity, Shan had been dealing too peremptorily with
1 Shan M'Guyre to Sussex,
October 2Or and November 25 ;
WEIGHT, vol. i. M'Guyre adds a
curious caution to Sussex to write to
him in English and not in Latin,
because he would not clerks noi
other men should know his mind.
148
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[en. 42.
the Scots ; his countess, though compelled to live with
him and to be the mother of his children, had felt his
brutality, repented of her folly, and perhaps attempted
to escape. In the day time when he was abroad ma-
rauding, she was coupled like a hound to a page or a
horse-boy, and only released at night when he returned
to his evening orgies.1 The fierce Campbells were not
men to bear tamely these outrages from a drunken
savage on the sister of their chief ; and Sussex conceived
that if the Scots could by any contrivance be separated
from Shan they might be used ' as a whip to scourge
him.'
Elizabeth bade Sussex do his best. The Irish coun-
cil agreed with the Deputy that the position of things
' was the most dangerous that had ever been in Ireland ; '
and that if the Queen intended to continue to hold the
country Shan must be crushed at all hazards and at all
costs. In desperate acquiescence she consented to supply
the means for another invasion ; yet, with characteristic
perversity, she refused to accept Sussex's estimate of his
own inability to conduct it. In submitting to his opin-
ion she insisted that he should take the responsibility of
carrying it into action.
Once more therefore the Deputy prepared for war.
Fresh stores were thrown into Armagh, and the troops
there increased to a number which could harass Tyrone
1 ' Shan O'^eil possesseth O'Don-
nelTs wife, and by him she is with
child. She is all day chained by the
arm to a little boy, and at bed and
board, when he is present, she is at
liberty.' — Randolph to Cecil; Scotch
MSS. Bolls House
1562.] SHAN CPNEIL. 149
through the winter. The M'Connells were plied with
promises to which they were not unwilling to listen ;
and among -the O'Neils themselves a faction was raised
opposed to Shan under Tirlogh, the murderer of the
Baron of Dungannon. O'Donnell was encouraged to
hold out; M'Ghiyre defended himself in his islands.
By the beginning of February Sussex undertook to re-
lieve them.
Unhappily the Deputy had but too accurately mea-
sured his own incapacity. His assassination plots were
but the forlorn resources of a man who felt his work too
heavy for him ; the Irish council had no confidence in
a man who had none in himself; and certain that any
enterprise which was left to him to conduct would end
in disaster, they were unwilling to waste their men, their
money, or their reputation. The army was disaffected,
disorganized, and mutinous ; Sussex lamented its con-
dition to the Home Government, but was powerless to
improve it ; at length Kildare and Ormond, in the name £-
of the other loyal noblemen and gentlemen, declared
that they had changed their minds ; they declined to
supply their promised contingents for the invasion, and
requested that it should be no longer thought of. The
farmers of the Pale gathered courage from the example.
They too refused to serve. When required to
December.
supply provisions, they replied with complain-
ing of the extortion of the soldiers. They swore ' they
would rather be hanged at their own doors ' than
establish such a precedent. ' If the Deputy looked to
have provisions from them he would find himself de-
150 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 42.
ceived ; ' and Sussex, distracted and miserable, could
only declare that the Irish council was in a conspiracy
' to keep O'Neil from falling/ l
Thus February passed and March, and
M'Gruyre and O'Donnell were not relieved.
At last, between threats and entreaty, Sussex wrung
from Ormond an unwilling acquiescence ;
and on the 6th of April, with a mixed force
of Irish and English, ill armed, ill supplied, dispirited
and almost disloyal, Sussex set out for the north. He
took but provision for three weeks with him. A vague
hope was held out by the farmers that a second supply
should be collected at Dundalk.
The achievements of an army so composed and so
commanded scarcely require to be detailed. The sole
result of a winter's expensive, if worthless, preparation
was thus summed up in the report from the Deputy to
the Queen : —
1 April 6. The army arrives at Armagh.
' April 8. We return to Newry to bring up stores
and ammunition which had been left behind.
'April ii. We again advance to Armagh, where
we remain waiting for the arrival of galloglasse and
kerne from the Pale.
'April 14. A letter from James M'Connell, which
we answer.
'April 15. The galloglasse not coming, we go upon
Shan's cattle, of which we take enough to serve us ;
1 Sussex to Elizabeth, February 19 ; Sussex to the English Council,
March i ; Sussex to Cecil, March i : Irish MSS. Rolls
1563.] SHAN O1 NEIL. i$i
we should have taken more if we had had galloglasse.
' April 1 6. We return to Armagh.
* April 17, 1 8, 19. We wait for the galloglasse. At
last we send back to Dublin for them, and begin to
fortify the churchyard.
' April 20. We write to M'Connell, who will not
come to us, notwithstanding his promise.
' April 21. We survey the Trough Mountains, said
to be the strongest place in Ireland.
' April 22. We return to Armagh with the spoil
taken, which would have been much greater if we had
had galloglasse, ' and because St George's even forced
me, her Majesty's lieutenant, to return to Divine serv-
ice that night.
1 April 23. ' Divine service.' '
The three weeks had now all but expired ; the pro-
visions were consumed ; it was necessary to fall back on
the Pale, and if the farmers had kept their word, if he
could obtain some Irish horse, and if the Scots did not
assist Shan, which he thought it likely that they would
do, Sussex trusted on his next advance that he would
accomplish something more. Conscious of failure, he
threw the blame on others. ' I have been commanded
to the field,' he wrote to Cecil, 'and I have not one
penny of money ; I must lead forth an army and have
no commission ; I must continue in the field and I see
not how I shall be victualled ; I must fortify and have
no working tools/ 1
Sussex to the Council, April 24 ; Sussex to Cecil, April 24 : Irish MSS.
152 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 42.
Such, after six months of preparation, was the De-
puty's hopeless condition ; the money, in which, if the
complaints in England of the expenses of the Irish war
were justified, he had not been stinted, all gone ; and
neither food nor even spade and mattock. In the Pale
'he could not get a man to serve the Queen, nor a
peck of corn to feed the army.' 1 At length, with a
wild determination to do something, he made
a plundering raid towards Ologher, feeding
his men on the cattle which they could steal, wasted a
few miles of country, and having succeeded in proving
to the Irish that he could do them no serious harm,
relinquished the expedition in despair. He exclaimed
loudly that the fault did not rest with him. The Scots
had deceived him. ' The Englishry of the Pale ' were
secretly unwilling that the rebellion should be put
down. The Ulster chiefs durst not move because they
distrusted his power to protect them. The rupture be-
tween England and France had given a stimulus to the
rebellion, and ' to expel Shan was but a Sisyphus' la-
bour/ 2
There may have been some faint foundation for
these excuses. The Irish council, satisfied of the De-
puty's incapacity, had failed to exert themselves ; while
in England the old policy of leaving Ireland to be
| governed by the Irish had many defenders ; and Eliza-
beth had been urged to maintain an inefficient person
against his will in the command, with a hope, un-
1 Sussex to the Council, April 28 : Irish MSS.
2 Sussex to Cecil, May 20.
1563-] SHAN a NEIL. 153
avowed by those who advised her, that he would fail.
Most certainly the English commander had done no
injustice to his incompetency. Three hundred horses
were reported to have been lost, and Cecil wrote to in-
quire the meaning of it. Sussex admitted that ' the
loss was true indeed.' Being Easter-time, and he
having travelled the week before and Easter-day till
night, thought fit to give Easter Monday to prayer —
and in this time certain churls stole off with the horses.1
The piety which could neglect practical duty for
the outward service of devotion, yet at the same time
could make overtures to Neil Grey to assassinate his
master, requires no very lenient consideration.
The news of the second failure reached Elizabeth
at the crisis of the difficulty at Havre. She was strain-
ing every nerve to supply the waste of an army which
the plague was destroying. She had a war with France
hanging over her head. She was uncertain of Spain and
but half secure of the allegiance of her English subjects.
It was against her own judgment that the last enterprise
had been adventured, and she reverted at once to her
original determination to spend no more money in re-
forming a country which every effort for its amendment
plunged into deeper anarchy. She would content herself
with a titular sovereignty. She would withdraw or
reorganize on a changed footing the profligate and
worthless soldiers whose valour flinched from an enemy,
and went no further than the plunder of a friend. The
Sussex to Cecil, May 26 : Irish MSS.
154 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 42.
Irish should be left to themselves to realize their own
ideals and govern themselves their own way.
Sir Thomas Cusak, a member of the Irish council,
came over with a scheme which, if the Queen consented
to it, would satisfy the people and would ensure the re-
turn of Shan O'Neil to a nominal allegiance. The four
provinces should constitute each a separate presidency.
Ulster, Connaught, and Munster should be governed in
the Queen's name by some Irish chief or nobleman — if
not elected by the people, yet chosen in compliance with
their wishes. O'Neil would have the north, the O'Briens
or the Clanrickards the west. The south would fall to
Desmond. On these conditions Cusak would under-
take for the quiet of the country and for the undis-
turbed occupation of the Pale by the English Govern-
ment.
Prepared as Elizabeth had almost become
to abandon Ireland entirely, she welcomed
this project as a reprieve. She wrote to Sussex to say
that, finding his expedition had resulted only in giving
fresh strength to Shan O'Neil, 'she had decided to
come to an end of the war of Ulster by agreement
rather than by force ; ' and Cusak returned the first
week in August empowered to make whatever conces-
sions should be necessary, preparatory to the proposed
alteration.
To Shan O'Neil he was allowed to say that the Queen
•was surprised at his folly in levying war against her ;
nor could she understand his object. She was aware of
his difficulties ; she knew ' the barbarity ' of the people
1563.] SHAN a NEIL. 155
with whom he had to deal ; she had never intended to
exact any strict account of him ; and if he was dis-
satisfied with the arrangements to which he had consented
when in England, he had but to prove himself a good
subject, and he l should not only have those points re-
formed, but also any pre-eminence in that country which
her Majesty might grant without doing any other person
wrong/ If he desired to have a council established at
Armagh, he should himself be the president of that
council ; if he wished to drive the Scots out of Antrim,
her own troops should assist in the expulsion; if he was
offended with the garrison in the cathedral, she would
gladly see peace maintained in a manner less expensive
to herself. To the Primacy he might name the person
most agreeable to himself; and with the Primacy, as a
/natter of course, even the form of maintaining the Pro-
testant Church would be abandoned also.
In return for these concessions the Queen demanded
only that to save her honour Shan should sue for them
as a favour instead of demanding them as a right.1 The
rebel chief consented without difficulty to conditions
which cost him nothing ; and after an interview with
Cusak, O'Neil wrote a formal apology to Elizabeth, and
promised for the future to be her Majesty's true and
faithful subject. Indentures were drawn on the lyth of
December, in which the Ulster sovereignty was trans-
ferred to him in everything but the name ; and the
treaty — such treaty as it was — required only Elizabeth's
1 Instructions to Sir Thomas Cusak, August 7 : Irish MSS,
156 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 42.
signature, when a second dark effort was made to cut
the knot of the Irish difficulty.
As a first evidence of returning cordiality, a present
of wine was sent to Shan from Dublin. It was consumed
at his table, but the poison had been unskilfully pre-
pared. It brought him and half his household to the
edge of death, but no one actually died. Refined
chemical analysis was not required to detect the cause of
the illness; and Shan clamoured for redress with the
fierceness of a man accustomed rather to do wrong than
to suffer it.
The guilt could not be fixed on Sussex.
The crime was traced to an English resident
in Dublin named Smith; and if Sussex had been the
instigator, his instrument was too faithful to betray him.
Yet, after the fatal letter in which the Earl had revealed
to Elizabeth his own personal endeavours to procure
O'Neil's murder, the suspicion cannot but cling to him
that the second attempt was not made without his con-
nivance. Nor can Elizabeth herself be wholly acquitted
of responsibility. She professed the loudest indig-
nation; but she ventured no allusion to his earlier
communication with her ; and no hint transpires of
any previous displeasure with Sussex's confessions to
herself.
In its origin and in its close the story is wrapped in
mystery. The treachery of an English nobleman, the
conduct of the inquiry, and the anomalous termination
of it, would have been incredible even in Ireland, were
not the original correspondence extant in which the
1563.] SHAN a NEIL. 157
facts are not denied. Elizabeth, on the receipt of
O'NeiTs complaint, directed Sir Thomas Cusak to look
into the evidence most scrupulously ; she begged Shan
to produce every proof which he could obtain for the
detection 'both of the party himself and of all others
that were any wise thereto consenting ; to the intent
none might escape that were parties thereunto of what
condition soever the same should be.'
' We have given commandment/ she wrote
October.
to Sussex, ' to show you how much it grieveth
us to think that any such horrible attempt should be
used as is alleged by Shan O'Neil to have been at-
tempted by Thomas Smith to kill him by poison ; we
doubt not but you have, as reason is, committed the said
Smith to prison, and proceeded to the just trial thereof;
for it behoveth us for all good and honourable respects
to have the fault severely punished, and so we will and
charge you to do.' l
' We assure you/ she wrote to Cusak, ' the indigna-
tion which we conceive of this fact, being told with some
probability by you, together with certain other causes
of suspicion which O'Neil hath gathered, hath wrought
no small effect in us to incline us to bear with divers
things unorder ly passed, and to trust to that which you
have on his behalf promised hereafter in time to come.'2
It is in human nature to feel deeper indignation at
a crime which has been detected and exposed than at
guilt equally great of which the knowledge is confined
1 The Queen to Sussex, October 15 : Irish MSS.
8 The Queen to Sir Thomas Cusak Irish MSS.
'.t$& REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [01.42.
to the few who might profit by it ; yet after the repeated
acts of treachery which had been at least meditated to-
wards Shan with Elizabeth's knowledge, she was scarcely
justified in assuming a tone of such innocent anger ;
nor was the result of the investigation more satisfactory.
After many contradictions and denials Smith at last
confessed his guilt, took the entire responsibility on
himself, and declared that his object was to rid his
country of a dangerous enemy. The English law in the
sixteenth century against crimes of violence has not been
suspected of too much leniency ; yet it was discovered
by some strange interpretation that as the crime had
not been completed it was not punishable by death.
Notwithstanding Elizabeth's letter there was an evident
desire to hush up the inquiry ; and strangest of all, Sir
Thomas Cusak induced O'Neil to drop his complaint. ' I
persuaded O'Neil to forget the matter/ Cusak
wrote to Cecil, ' whereby no more talk should
grow of it ; seeing there is no law to punish the offender
other than by discretion in imprisonment, which O'Neil
would little regard except the party might be executed
by death, and that the law doth not suffer. So as the
matter being wisely pacified it were well done to leave
it.51
Behind the fragments of information preserved in
the State correspondence, much may remain concealed,
which if found might explain a conclusion so unexpected.
Had Smith been the only offender it might have been
Sir Thomas Cusak to Cecil, March 22, 1564: Irish MSS.
1563.] SHAN a NEIL. t $9
expected that lie would have been gladly sacrificed as an
evidence of Elizabeth's evenhandedness, and Shan per
haps did not care for the punishment of a subordinate
if he could not reach the principal.
He used the occasion however to grasp once more at
the great object of his ambition, and to obtain with it if
possible a refined revenge on Sussex. Seeing Elizabeth
anxious, whether honestly or from motives of policy, to
atone for the attempt to murder him, he renewed his
suit to her for an English wife. The M'llams, relations
of the Countess of Argyle, had offered him a thousand
pounds to let her go ; and Elizabeth half promising if
the Countess were restored to her friends to consider his
prayer, he fixed on Sussex's sister, who had been em-
ployed as the bait to catch him; so to humble the
haughty English Earl into the very dust and dirt.
Elizabeth's desire to conciliate however stopped short
of ignominy. Lord Sussex deserved no better, nor his
sister if she had been a party to her brother's plot ; but
Cecil did not even venture ' to move the matter to the
Queen, fearing how she might take it ; ' and Shan, lay-
ing by his resentment, contented himself with the sub-
stantial results of his many successes. M'Gfuyre had to
fly from his islands ; O'Donnell's castles were surren-
dered ; the Armagh garrison was withdrawn at last.
Over lake and river, bog and mountain, Shan was un-r
disputed Lord of Ulster — save only on the Antrim shore
where the Scots maintained a precarious independence.
So absolute was he that with contemptuous pity he
opened the doors of the Callogh's prison. The aged and
160 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 42.
broken chief came to sue for maintenance at the Court
to which his fidelity had ruined him ; and Cusak con-
soled Cecil with saying that ' he was but a poor creature
without activity or manhood/ and that ' O'Neil, con-
tinuing in his truth, was more worthy to be embraced
than three O'Donnells/1
Here then for the present the story will leave Shan,
safely planted on the first step of his ambition, in all but
the title sole monarch of the north. He built himself a
fort on an island in Lough Neagh, which he called
' Foogh-ni- Grail '—or ' Hate of Englishmen ; ' and grew
rich on the spoils of his enemies, ' the only strong man
in Ireland.' He administered justice after a paternal
fashion, permitting no robbers but himself ; when wrong
was done he compelled restitution, ' or at his own cost
redeemed the harm to the loser's contentation.' 2 Two
hundred pipes of wine were stored in his cellars ; six
hundred men-at-arms fed at his table — ' as it were his
janissaries ; ' and daily he feasted the beggars at his
gate, ' saying it was meet to serve Christ first/ Half
wolf, half fox, he lay couched in his ' Castle of Male-
partus/ with his emissaries at Rome, at Paris, and at
Edinburgh. In the morning he was the subtle and
dexterous pretender to the Irish throne ; in the after-
noon, ' when the wine was in him/ he was a dissolute
savage revelling in sensuality, with his unhappy coun-
tess uncoupled from her horse-boy to wait upon his
pleasure.
1 Cusak to Cecil, 1564 : Irish MSS.
2 CAMPION.
1564.] SHAN a NEIL. 161
He broke loose from time to time to keep his hand
in practice : at Carlingford, for instance, he swept off one
day some two hundred sheep and oxen, while his men
violated sixty women in the town.1 But Elizabeth looked
away and endeavoured not to see ; the English Govern-
ment had resolved ' to stir no sleeping dogs in Ireland
till a staff was provided to chastise them if they would
bite.' 2 Terence Daniel, the Dean of those rough-riding
canons of Armagh, was installed as Primate ; the Earl
of Sussex was recalled to England ; and the new Arch-
bishop, unable to contain his exultation at the blessed
day which had dawned upon his country, wrote to Cecil
to say how the millennium had come at last — glory be
to God !
Meantime Cecil set himself to work at the root of
the evil. Relinquishing for the present the hope of ex-
tending the English rule in Ireland, he endeavoured to
probe the secret of its weakness and to restore some kind
of order and justice in the counties where that rule sur-
vived. On the return of Sussex to England Sir Thomas
Wroth and Sir Nicholas Arnold were sent over as com-
missioners to inquire into the complaints against the
army. The scandals which they brought to light, the
recrimination, rage, and bitterness which they provoked,
fill a large volume of the State Papers.
Peculation had grown into a custom ; the most bare-
faced frauds had been converted by habit into rights ;
and 'a captain's' commission was thought ' ill-handled '
1 Fitzwilliam to Cecil, June 17, 1565 : 7mA MSS.
2 Cecil to Sir Nicholas Arnold : 7mA MSS.
VOL. VII. 11
162 RElGtf OF ELIZABETH. |CH. 42.
if it did not yield beyond the pay 500^. a year. The
companies appeared in the pay books as having their
full complement of a hundred men. The actual number
rarely exceeded sixty. The soldiers followed the ex-
ample of their leaders, and robbed and ground the pea-
santry. Each and all had commenced their evil ways,
when the Government itself was the first and worst
offender.
A few more years — perhaps months — of such doings
would have made an end of English dominion. Sir
Thomas Wroth described the Pale on his arrival as a
weltering sea of confusion — ' the captains out of credit/
* the soldiers' mutinous, the English Government hated ;
' every man seeking his own, and none that which was
Christ's ; ' ' few in all the land reserved from bowing
the knee to Baal ; ' ' the laws for religion mere words.' l
Something too much of theological anxiety impaired
Wroth's usefulness. He wished to begin at the outside
with reforming the creed. The thing needful was to
reform the heart and to bring back truth and honesty.
Wroth therefore was found unequal to the work ; and
the purification of the Pale was left to Arnold — a hard,
iron, pitiless man, careful of things and careless oi
phrases, untroubled with delicacy, and impervious to
Irish ' enchantments.' The account books were dragged
to light ; where iniquity in high places was registered
in inexorable figures. The hands of Sir Henry Ratcliffe,
the brother of Sussex, were not found clean. Arnold
1 Sir Thomas Wroth to Cecil, April 16: Irish M88.
1564.] SffAN ONEiL. 163
sent him to the castle with the rest of the offenders.
Deep leading drains were cut through the corrupting
mass ; the shaking ground grew firm ; and honest,
healthy human life was again made possible. With the
provinces beyond the Pale Arnold meddled little, save
where, taking a rough view of the necessities of the
case, he could help the Irish chiefs to destroy each other.
To Cecil he wrote —
' I am with all the wild Irish at the same point I
am at with bears and bandogs ; when I see them fight,
so they fight earnestly indeed and tug each other well,
I care not who has the worst/ l
Why not, indeed ? Better so than to hire assassins !
Cecil, with the modesty of genius, confessed his ignor-
ance of the country and his inability to judge ; yet in
such opinions as he allowed himself to give there was
generally a certain nobility of tone and sentiment.
' You be of that opinion,' he replied, ' which many
wise men are of — from which I do not dissent, being an
Englishman ; but being as I am a Christian man, I am
not without some perplexity to enjoy of such cruelties/ 2
Arnold however, though perhaps not personally
responsible, saw the Irish rending each other as he
desired. The formal division into presidencies could not
be completed on the moment ; but English authority
having ceased to cast its shadow beyond the Pale, the
leading chiefs seized or contended for the rule. In the
north O'Neil was without a rival. In the west the
1 Sir Nicholas Arnold to Cecil, January 29, 1565 : Irish MSS.
2 Cecil to Sir N. Arnold, February 28 ; Irish MSS.
1 64 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 42.
O'Briens and the Clanrickards shared without disputing
for them the glens and moors of Galway, Clare, and
/ Mayo. The richer counties of Munster were a prize to
excite a keener competition ; and when the English
Government was no longer in a position to interfere, the
feud between the Butlers and the Geraldines of the
south burst like a volcano in fury, and like a volcano in
^r the havoc which it spread. Even now the picture
drawn by Sir Henry Sidney and repeated by Spenser
can scarcely be contemplated without 'emotion. The
rich limestone pastures were burnt into a wilderness ;
through Kilkenny, Tipperary, and Cork, ' a man might
ride twenty or thirty miles nor ever find a house stand-
ing ; ' * and the miserable poor were brought to such
wretchedness that any stony heart would have rued the
same. Out of every corner of the woods and glens
they came creeping forth upon their hands, for their
legs could not bear them ; they looked like anatomies
of death ; they spoke like ghosts crying out of their
graves ; they did eat the dead carrions, happy where
they could find them ; yea, they did eat one another
soon after, insomuch as the very carcasses they spared
not to scrape out of their graves ; and if they found a
plot of watercresses or shamrocks, there they flocked as
to a feast for a time. Yet were they not all long to
continue therewithal, so that in short space there were
none almost left, and a most populous and plentiful
country was suddenly left void of man and beast ; yet
surely in all that war there perished not many by the
SHAN ONEIJ
165
sword, but all by the extremity of famine which they
themselves had wrought/1
1 Compare Spenser's ' State of
Ireland ' with ' A Description of
Munster,' by Sir Henry Sidney,
after a journey through it in 1566.
The original of Sidney's despatch is
in the Record Office. It was printed
hy Collins. — Sidney Papers, vol. ;
1 66
CHAPTER XLIIL
THE EMBASSY OF DE S1LVA.
THE policy of Elizabeth towards the French Protest-
ants had not been successful. Had her assistance
been moderately disinterested she would have secured
their friendship, and at the close of the eight years,
fixed by the Treaty of Cambray for the restoration of
Calais, she would have experienced the effects of their
gratitude. By the forcible retention of Havre after the
civil war was ended she had rekindled hereditary animo-
sities ; she had thrown additional doubt on her sincerity
as a friend of the Reformation ; she had sacrificed an
English army, while she had provided the French Go-
vernment with a fair pretext for disowning its obliga-
tions, and was left with a war upon her hands from
which she could hardly extricate herself with honour.
A fortnight before Havre surrendered, the Prince of
Conde had offered, if she would withdraw from it, that
the clause in the Treaty of Cambray affecting Calais
should be reaccepted by the King of France, the Queen-
mother, the Council, the Noblesse, and the Parliament.
1 564. ] THE E MB ASS V OF DE SIL VA. 1 67
She had angrily and contemptuously refused ; and now
with crippled finances, with trade ruined, with the
necessity growing upon her, as it had grown upon her
sister, of contracting loans at Antwerp, her utmost hope
was to extort the terms which she had then rejected.
Unable to maintain a regular fleet at sea she had
let loose the privateers, whose exploits hereafter will
be more particularly related. In this place it is enough
to say that they had found in the ships of Spain,
Flanders, or even of their own country, more tempting
booty than in the coasting traders of Brittany. English
merchants and sailors were arrested in Spanish harbours
and imprisoned in Spanish dungeons in retaliation for
' depredations committed by the adventurers ; '• while a
bill was presented by the Madrid Government of two
million ducats for injuries inflicted by them on Spanish
subjects.1 In vain Philip struggled to avoid a quarrel
with Elizabeth ; in vain Elizabeth refused to be the
champion of the Reformation : the animosities of their
subjects and the necessity of things were -driving them
forward towards the eventually inevitable breach.
Mary Stuart was looking to the King of Spain and the
King of Spain to Mary Stuart, each as the ally de-
signed by Providence for the other ; and the English
Government in this unlucky war with France was
quarrelling with the only European power which, since
the breach of Henry the Eighth with the Papacy, had
been cordially its friend. The House of Guise was
1 Reasons for a peace with France, March 10, 1564: French MSS.
Rolls Home.
158
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 43.
under eclipse. The Queen of Scots' ambitions were no
objects of interest to the Queen- mother. The policy
of France was again ready to be moderate, national,
anti-Spanish, and anti- Papal, to be all which England
would most desire to see it. It was imperatively neces-
sary that Elizabeth should make peace, that she should
endure as she best might the supposed ingratitude of
Conde, and accept the easiest terms to which Catherine
de Medici would now consent.1
1 A letter of Sir John Mason to
Cecil expresses the sense entertained
by English statesmen of the necessity
of peace :— 'My health, I thank God,
1 have recovered, nothing remaining
but an ill cough, which will needs
accompany senectutem meam to the
journey's end ; whereof my care is
much lessened by the great care of
the many sicknesses that I see in
our commonwealth, which is to me
more dear than is either health or
life to be assaulted with; which
would God were* but infirmities as
you do term them, ac 11011 potius
Kaieoi]9tiai, seu quod genus morbi iis
sit magis immorigerum et ad san-
andum rebellius ; and that worse is,
cum universae corporis partes nobis
doleant a vertice capitis usque ad
plantain pedis, dolorem tamen (for
any care that is seen to be had
thereof) sentire non videmur, quod
mentis acgrotantis est indicium. A
great argument whereof is that in
tot Reipublica) difficultatibus editur
bibitur luditur altum dormitur pri-
vata curantur publica negliguntur
ceu riderent omnia et pax rebus esset
altissima. The fear of God, whereby
all things were wont to be kept
in indifferent order, is in effect gone,
and he seemeth to weigh us and to
conduct our doings thereafter. The
fear of the Prince goeth apace after,
whereof we see daily proof both by
sea and land. It is high time there-
fore for her Highness to take some
good way with her enemy, and to
grow with him to some reasonable
end, yielding to necessity cui ne Dii
quidem resistunt, et non ponere
rumores ante salutem ; and to an-
swer our friends in reason, so as
rebus foris constitutis, she may
wholly attend to see things in better
order at home ; the looseness where-
of is so great, as being not remedied
in time, the tempest is not a little to
be feared cum tot coactai nubes nobis
minantur, which God of his mercy,
by the prayer of decem justi, a nobis
longissirae avertat.
' The Queen is expected to go
north on progress, whereunto no
good man will counsel her. There
1564.]
THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA.
169
The diplomatic correspondence which had
January.
continued since the summer had so far been
unproductive of result. The French pretended that the
Treaty of Cambray had been broken by the English
in the seizure of Havre, and that Elizabeth's claims on
Calais, and on the half million crowns which were to
be paid if Calais was not restored, were alike forfeited.
They demanded therefore the release of the hostages
which they had given in as their security ; and they
detained Sir Nicholas Throgmorton on his parole until
their countrymen were returned into their hands.
The English maintained on the other side that they
had acted only in self-defence, that the treaty had been
first violated by the French when Francis and Mary
assumed Elizabeth's arms and style, that the House of
Guise had notoriously conspired against her throne,
and that Calais therefore had been already forfeited to
themselves.
Between these two positions Paul de Foix, the
French ambassador in London, Sir Thomas Smith,
Elizabeth's ambassador in Paris, and Throgmorton
with a special and separate commission, were en-
deavouring to discover some middle ground of agree-
ment.
The French hostages individually had proved them-
be in this city and about it numbers
of men in much necessity, some for
lack of work and some for lack
of will to work. If these, with
others that have possessed the high-
ways round about, be not by some I
good means kept in awe, I fear there
will be ill dwelling near unto Lon-
don by such as have anything to
take to.' — Mason to Cecil, March 8 :
Lansdowne MSS. 7.
r 70 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
selves a disagreeable burden on Elizabeth. They had
been sent to reside at Eton, where they had amused
themselves with misleading the Eton boys into iniquity ;
they had brought ambiguous damsels into the Fellows'
Common Room, and had misconducted themselves in
the Fellows' precincts 'in an unseemly manner.' To
give them up was to acquiesce in the French interpret-
ation of the Calais question. They were therefore
arrested in retaliation for the arrest of Throgmorton,
and were thrown into prison.
Yet the exigencies of England required peace, and
France knew it ; and the negotiations took a form
which might without difficulty have been foreseen;
Elizabeth made demands on which she durst not insist,
and she acquiesced at last in a conclusion which was
made humiliating by the reluctance with which it was
accepted.
On the 28th of January Sir Thomas Smith reported
that the Queen-mother and her ministers were anxious
to come to terms, that they desired nothing better than
a return to the ' natural love ' which had existed ' be-
tween old King Francis and King Henry ; ' but that to
speak any more of 'the ratification of the Treaty of
Cambray was lost labour.' : Elizabeth knew that she
must give way, yet she desired to give way with
dignity : instead of replying to Smith she wrote to
Throgmorton, who was intrusted with powers to nego-
tiate independently of his colleague. She admitted
1 Sir Thomas Smith to Elizabeth, January 28 : French M8S. Rolls
{fount.
1564-] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 171
that if the treaty was not to be ratified she could not
stand out upon it ; yet unwilling to commit herself
formally she desired Throgmorton to go ' as of himself '
to the Queen-mother and inquire whether she would
consent to a general peace with a mutual reservation of
rights. She said that she would not part with the
hostages. If their restitution was demanded as a right
' she would rather abide the worst that could be done
against her/ There might be a private understanding
that on the signature of the treaty they should be re-
leased from arrest ; but even so they must remain in
England l until the French had either paid the money
or had given mercantile security for it. To surrender
them otherwise would be an admission that the Treaty
of Cambray was no longer binding.
February was consumed in diplomatic fencing over
these proposals ; and Throgmorton tried in turn the
Queen-mother, the Cardinal of Lorraine, the Constable,
the Cardinal of Bourbon, and the Chancellor. But if
Elizabeth was afraid of doing anything to compromise
the treaty, the French were equally afraid of doing
anything to acknowledge it. They would give no
second security to recover the hostages ; they would
not pay the half million crowns because it was the sum
1 We mean not by any our own
act to consent that the hostages
should depart hence, as persons in
whom we had no interest in respect
of the Treaty of Cambray, without
we may have caution according to
the treaty ; and though they be not
here but for a sum of money, yet if
we should let them depart, having
neither the money nor other hostages,
nor yet caution of merchants, we
should thereby to our dishonour con-
sent that the treaty was void.' —
Elizabeth to Throgmorton, February
3 : French MSS. Molls House.
172 RKIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
which the treaty named. Throgmorton said that his
mistress would make no objection to six hundred
thousand if they were afraid of the stipulated figures ;
but this way out of the difficulty did not commend
itself.
La Halle, a gentleman of the Court, aiming at Eliza-
beth through her weak side, suggested a present of a
hundred thousand crowns to Lord Robert. The Queen-
mother offered to add to it some rich jewel from the
French crown ; but Sir Nicholas encouraged this sug-
gestion as little as the French Court had encouraged the
other. At last the Cardinal of Lorraine in private told
him that a hundred and twenty thousand crowns would
be paid for the hostages — so much and no more. The
Prince of Conde and those in the French council whom
the Queen of England had obliged the most were op-
posed to making any concessions at all, and only wished
the war to continue ; and the Cardinal hinted as a rea-
son for Elizabeth's consent that it was well known that
she could not trust her own subjects.
To this last suggestion Throgmorton answered that
'Although there were some that desired the Roman
religion, as he thought there were, yet the former agi-
tations and torments about the change of religion had
so wearied each party that the whole were resolved to
endure no more changes, for they were so violent ; all
sorts, of what religion soever they were, did find more
ease and surety to serve and obey than to rebel ; and for
proof the greatest number of those that had lost their
lives in the wars at Newhaven and other places were
1564.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 173
reported to be of the Roman religion : so as surely the
diversity of conscience did not in England make diversi-
ties of duties or breed new disobedience/ l
Some truth there 'doubtless was in this ac-
count of the state of English feeling; yet
Throgmorton could scarcely have felt the confidence
which he expressed. The disaffection of the Catholics
was but too notorious, although Philip had embarrassed
their action by forbidding them to look to France for
assistance.
The loyalty or disloyalty of the English people how-
ever did not touch the immediate question. Beyond the
hundred and twenty thousand crowns the French offer
would not rise. Throgmorton .wrote home for instruc-
tions, and the proposal was met in the spirit which
usually characterized Elizabeth's money transaction.-.
The Queen replied with directing the ambassadors to
demand four hundred thousand crowns ; if the French
refused, she said that they might descend to three hun-
dred thousand, and must protest that they had no power
to go lower ; if there was no hope of obtaining three
hundred thousand, ' they must do their uttermost to
make the sum not less than two hundred thousand.'
These instructions were delivered in the usual form
to the State messenger Somers, and appeared to be an
ultimatum ; but Somers carried with him a second sealed
packet which he was not to deliver except at the last
extremity. The ambassadors were to be able to say with
1 Throgmorton to Elizabeth, February 28 : French MSS. Poll* House.
174 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. |CH. 43.
a clear conscience that they had no authority to accept
less than the two hundred thousand; yet sooner than
let the chance of peace escape they were to be allowed
at the last extremity to take whatever Catherine de
Medici would give.
The French Court was at Troyes when Somers ar-
rived. Smith and Throgmorton, who had been employed
hitherto as rivals — each informed of but half the truth,
and intrusted with information which had been concealed
from the other — were united at last in a common hu-
miliation. With the first despatch in his hand Sir
Thomas Smith repaired to the Queen-mother, and de-
scended his scale so far as he then knew that his powers
extended. Catherine replied shortly that the recovery
of Havre had cost France two millions of gold ; on the
sum to be paid to Elizabeth ' she had not bargained and
huckstered and altered her terms as the English had
done ; she had fixed in her own mind at first what she
would give ; and she would give that or nothing/ She
intended to leave Troyes the following morning. If
not accepted in the mean time the offer would be with-
drawn.
"With this answer Smith returned to his brother am-
bassador. They were looking blankly in each other's
faces when Somers produced his second letter. The seal
was broken. They found themselves permitted to con-
sent ; and they sent a message to Bourdin, Catherine's
secretary, begging him to come to them. Their tempers
Were not improved by the position in which Elizabeth
had placed them ; and while waiting for Bourdiii's ar-
1564.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SlLVA. i?$
rival each laid on the other the blame of their bad suc-
cess. Throgmorton ' chafed and fumed/ ' detested and
execrated himself ! ' and then accused his companion of
having betrayed to the Queen-mother the secret of the
second commission. Smith protested that he could not
have betrayed what he did not know ; but five years
of ' practice ' and conspiracy were ending in shame ; and
Sir Nicholas could not bear it and was unreasonable.
Sir Thomas Smith himself describes the scene.
' ' I tell the Queen-mother ! ' quoth I. « Why or
how should I tell her ? '
' ' Thou liest ! ' said Throgmorton, ' like a whoreson
traitor as thou art ! '
' ' A whoreson traitor ! Nay, thou liest ! ' quoth I.
' I am as true to the Queen's majesty as thou, every
day in the week, and have done and do her Highness as
good service as thou.'
1 Hereupon Sir Nicholas drew his dagger, and poured
out such terms as his malicious and furious rage had in
store ; and called me ' arrant knave/ ' beggarly knave/
'traitor/ and other such injuries as came next to hand
out of his good store.
' I drew my dagger also. Mr Somers stepped be-
tween us ; but as he pressed with his dagger to come
near me, I bade him stand back and not come no nearer
to me, or I would cause him stand back, and give him
such a mark as his Bedlam furious head did deserve/1
To such a pass had two honest men been brought by
1 Smith to Cecil, April 13 : French MSS. Rolls House.
176 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
Elizabeth's bar gain- driving. Throgmorton felt tlie
wound most deeply, as the person chiefly answerable for
the French policy. Tie had offered ( to lie in prison
for a year rather than the enemy should have their
will.' To rouse the Queen to fierceness he had quoted
the French proverb, that ' if she made herself a sheep
the wolf would devour her ; '* and it ended in his being
compelled at last to haggle like a cheating shopkeeper,
and to fail.
The ruffled humours cooled at last, and when quiet
was restored Smith proposed one more attempt to
' traffic ; ' but Sir Nicholas would not give Catherine
any further triumph ; Bourdin came, and the Peace of
Troyes was arranged.
The terms were simple. Complicated claims and
rights on both sides were reserved ; the Treaty of Cam-
bray was neither acknowledged nor declared void ; the
French hostages were to be released from England ; the
French Government undertook to pay for them the
hundred and twenty thousand crowns ; and free trade
was to be allowed 'between the subjects of both sove-
reigns in all parts of their respective dominions.' J
The unfortunate war was at an end. Elizabeth was
obliged to bear graciously with the times ; and her bit-
terness was reserved for the Prince of Conde. From
him she charged Smith to demand instant repayment of
the loan which she had advanced to him in his hour of
difficulty. * We mean not,' she said, ' to be so deluded as
1 ' Si tu te fais ung moutou le loup te mangera/
2 Peace of Troyes RYMER.
1 564. ] THE E MB ASS Y OF DE SILVA. 177
both to forbear our money and to have Lad at this time
no friendship by his means in the conclusion of the
peace/ l
The peace itself came not an hour too soon. Scarcely
was it signed than news arrived from Italy that the
Sacred College had repented of their first honest answer
to the English Catholics who had asked leave to attend
the established services. It had been decided in secret
council to permit Catholics in disguise to hold benefices
in England, to take the oaths of allegiance, and to serve
Holy Church in the camp of the enemy. ' Remission of
sin to them and their heirs — with annuities, honours,
and promotions/ was offered 'to any cook, brewer,
baker, vintner, physician, grocer, surgeon, or other who
would make away with the Queen ; ' the curse of God
and his vicar was threatened against all those 'who
would not promote and assist by money or otherwise the
pretences of the Queen of Scots to the English crown ; ' 2
the Court of Rome, once illustrious as the citadel of the
saints, was given over to Jesuitism and the devil ; and
the Papal fanatics in England began to weave their
endless web of conspiracy — aiming amidst a thousand
variations at the heart of Queen Elizabeth.
The ruffle with France sunk speedily into
May.
calm. The ratifications were promptly ex-
changed. Lord Hunsdon went to France, taking with
1 Elizabeth to Sir T. Smith, May 2 : French MSS. Rolls House
2 Report of E. Dennum, April 13, 1564 : STRYPE'S Annals of Eliza-
beth^ vol. i., part 2, p. 54.
VOL. VII. 12
i78
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 43.
him the Garter for the young King.1 M. de Gonor
and the Bishop of Coutances came to England ; and an
attempt, not very successful, was made to show them
in their reception that England was better defended
than they supposed. In January, when a French in-
vasion was thought likely, Archbishop Parker had re-
ported ' Dover, "Walmer, and Deal as forsaken and
unregarded for any provision ; ' * the people feeble, un-
armed, and commonly discomforted towards the feared
mischief.' The Lord Warden had gone to his post ' as
naked without strength of men.' The Archbishop, living
at Bekesbourne with the ex-Bishop of Ely and another
Catholic at free prison, felt uneasy for his charge ; and
not sharing Throgmorton's confidence and believing
that if the French landed they would carry all before
them, wrote to Cecil to warn him of the danger ' which
if not looked to he feared would be irreparable.'
' If the enemy have an entry/ he said, ' as by great
consideration 'of our weakness and their strength, of
their vigilance and our dormitation and protraction, is
like, the Queen's majesty shall never be able to leave to
her successors that which she found delivered her by
God's favourable hand.' 2
1 The ceremony was nearly spoilt
by an odd accident. The Garter,
though Hunsdon said it cost her
Majesty dear, was a poor and shabby
one. It had been made on the com-
mon pattern, as if for some burly
English nobleman, and would not
remain on the puny leg of Charles
the Ninth Hunsdon was obliged to
send back in haste for one which had
belonged to King Edward or King
Philip. 'These things,' he said,
'touch her Majesty's honour.' —
French MSS., May, 1564: Rolls
House.
2 Parker to Cecil, January 20
and February 6, 1564: Lansdowne
MSS.
1 564. ] THE EMBA SS Y OF DE SIL VA. 1 79
The peril had passed over ; and for fear the French
ambassadors might carry back too tempting a report of
the defencelessness of the coast, Lord Abergavemiy was
directed — as if to do them honour — to call under arms
the gentlemen of the south-eastern counties.
The result not being particularly successful,
the Archbishop invited De Gronor and the Bishop of
Coutances to Bekesbourne, and ' in a little vain brag,
psrhaps infirmity/ showed them his well-furnished
armoury, hoping that his guests would infer that if a
prelate * had regard of such provisions others had more
care thereabout/ 1
The thin disguise would have availed little had there
been a real desire for the continuance of the war. In
the unprotected shores, the open breezy downs, the
scattered and weakly-armed population, they observed
the facility of invasion, and remarked upon it plainly.
But Catherine de Medici had no interest in Mary
Stuart and no desire to injure Elizabeth. Mary Stuart's
friends were rather at Madrid than at Paris ; and the
French ministers were more curious of the religious
condition of England than of its military defences.
Their visit to Bekesbourne therefore gave occasion
for the Archbishop and his visitors to compare eccle-
siastical notes. The Bishop of Coutances expressed the
unexpected pleasure which it had given him to find
that ' there was so much reverence about the sacra-
ments/ l that music was still permitted in the quires/
Parker to Cecil, June 3 : Domestic MSS. Elizabeth, vol. xxxiii.
i8o REIGN OF ELIZABE TH. [CH. 43.
and that the lands of the suppressed abbeys had been
bestowed ' for pious uses.' He wished that as happy a
change could be worked in France ; and marvelled that
the deposed bishops should have been f so stiff ' in re-
fusing ' to follow the Prince's religion ; ' he noted and
delighted in English mediocrity ; charging the Genevans
and the Scots with going too far in extremities/ The
Archbishop told him that ' there were priests and bish-
ops in England both married and unmarried ; ' ' he did
not disallow thereof, and was contented to hear evil of
the Pope/
The ambassadors proceeded to London, leaving be-
hind them an agreeable impression of themselves, and
carrying with them a sunny memory of a pleasant Eng-
lish summer home, with its woods and gardens and
cawing rooks and cheery social life ; the French pages
had been so well schooled in their behaviour that when
they were gone the Archbishop was surprised to find
' he could not charge them with purloining the worth of
one silver spoon/ l On both sides of the Channel, in
London and Paris, the peace once made there was the
warmest endeavour to obliterate painful recollections ;
the moderate party was in power at the Court of Cathe-
rine, and with it the liberal anti-Spanish foreign policy ;
the interests of France and England were identical on
the great political questions of the day ; and Elizabeth
was fortunate in having a treaty forced upon her which
obliged Philip to look with less favour on the Queen of
Parker to Cecil, June 3 : Domestic- MSS., Elizabeth, vol. xxxiii.
1564-]
THE EMBASSY OF DE S1LVA.
[Si
Scots — which compelled the Spanish ministers to post-
pone their resentment against English piracies, and
drove them rather to dread their own inability to retain
their Low Countries than to seek opportunities for in-
terference abroad.
The King of Spain had intended to send no more
ambassadors to England till Mary Stuart was on. the
throne : on the Peace of Troyes he changed his mind,
and resumed or affected to resume his friendly relations
with Elizabeth. Guzman de Silva received his commis-
sion as de Quadra's successor ; and once more in the old
language Luis de Paz, the Spanish agent in London,
reported to Granvelle ' the affliction and discontent of
the English Catholics, who had been encouraged to hope
that their trials were at an end, who had rested their
entire hopes on Philip, and now knew not where to
turn/ l
Mary Stuart, as her hopes of the Prince of Spain
grew fainter, was pausing over the answer which she
should make to Elizabeth's last proposals. She had been
in communication throughout the winter with the
Netherlands, and was perhaps aware in some degree of
the difficulties created by the Prince's character. She
had iiejasd^ely_refused the Archduke of Austria whom
Philip wished her to take in his son's stead ; and al-
though the Spanish Court, waiting probably for some
1 ' Los Catolicos del Reyno estan
muy afligidos con gran descontento,
viendo que todas las esperangas que
tenian eran en su Magd., y que no
veen semblante ninguno para prin-
ciple de remediar tanta desventura.'
—Luis Romano to Granvelle, 1564-
MS. Simancas.
Ib2 kElGN OF ELIZABETH. jcri. 43.
favourable change in Don Carlos, had not yet deter-
mined that the marriage must be given up, the Queen
of Scots knew enough to prevent her from feeling san-
guine of obtaining him. It became necessary for he;
to consider whether she could make anything out of the
English overtures.
Elizabeth's attitude towards her was in the main
honourable and statesmanlike. The name of a successor,
as she said herself, was like the tolling of her death-bell.
In her sister's lifetime she had experienced how an heir-
presumptive with an inalienable right became inevitably
a rallying point of disaffection. She did not trust the
Queen of Scots, and if she allowed her pretensions to bq
sanctioned by Act of Parliament she anticipated neglect,
opposition — perhaps worse. But of assassination she
could scarcely be in greater danger than she was already;
and if she could induce Mary to meet her half way in
some moderate policy, and if the Queen of Scots, instead
of marrying a Catholic prince and allying herself with
the revolutionary Ultramontanes, would accept an Eng-
lish nobleman of whose loyalty to herself she could feel
assured, she was ready to sacrifice her personal unwill-
ingness to what she believed to be the interest of her
people. There could then be no danger that England
would be sacrificed to the Papacy. Some tolerant creed
could be established which Catholics might accept with-
out offence to their consciences, and Protestants could
live under without persecution ; while the resolution of
the two factions into neutrality, if not into friendship,
the union of the crowns, and the confidence which would
1564.
THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA.
arise from a secured succession, were objects with which
private inclination could not be allowed to interfere.
Elizabeth had made the offer in good faith, with a sin-
cere hope that it would be accepted, and with a fair
ground of confidence that with the conditions which she
had named the objections of the House of Commons to
the Queen of Scots would be overcome.
Even in the person whom in her heart she desired
Mary to marry, Elizabeth was giving an evidence of the
honesty of her intentions. Lord Robert Dudley was per- .',
haps the most worthless of her subjects ; but in the
loving eyes of his mistress he was the knight sans peur et
sans reproche ; and she took a melancholy pride in offer-
ing her sister her choicest jewel, and in raising Dudley,
though she could not marry him herself, to the rever-
sion of the English throne.
She had not indeed named Lord Robert formally in
Randolph's commission. She had spoken of him to e.
Maitland, but she had spoken also of the Earl of War-
wick ; and she perhaps retained some hope that if Mary
would be contented with the elder brother she might
still keep her favourite for herself.1 But if she enter-
1 Randolph himself seems to have
thought something of the kind. On
the 2 ist of January, before the peace
with France, he wrote to Elizabeth :
' The French have heard through
M. de Foix of your Majesty's intent,
and the Cardinal of Guise is set to
hinder it. He writes to the Queen
of Scots to beware of your Majesty,
that you mean nothing less than
good faith with her ; and that it
proceedeth of finesse to make her
believe that you intend her good, or
that her honour shall be any way
advanced by marriage of anything
so base as either my Lord Robert or
Earl of Warwick, of which two your
Majesty is determined to take the
one and to give her the other.
Though this whole matter be not
i84
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 43.
tained any such thought she soon abandoned it ; her
self-abnegation was to be complete ; and in ignorance of
the objections of Mary Stuart to the Archduke Charles
she had even allowed Cecil at the close of 1563 to re-
open negotiations with the Emperor for the transfer of
his son to herself. Ferdinand however had returned a
cold answer. He had been trifled with once already.
Elizabeth had played with him, he said, for her own pur-
poses with no real intention of marriage ; and neither
he nor the Archduke should be made ridiculous a second
time.1 Elizabeth accepted the refusal and redoubled
her advances to Mary Stuart ; relinquishing, if she had
ever really entertained, the thought of a simultaneous
marriage for herself until she had seen how her scheme
for Dudley would end.
She was so capable of falsehood that her own expres-
sions would have been an insufficient guarantee for her
sincerity ; yet it will be seen beyond a doubt that those
around her — her ministers, her instruments, Cecil, Ran-
dolph, the foreign ambassadors — all believed that she
really desired to give Dudley to Mary Stuart arid to
settle the Scottish difficulty by it. In this, as in every-
thing else, she was irresolute and changeable; but neither
her conduct nor her words can be reconciled with the
hypothesis of intentional duplicity; and the weak point
of the project was that which she herself regarded with
true, your Majesty seeth that he
hath a shrewd guess at it.' — Ran-
dolph to Elizabeth, January 21 :
Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
1 Christopher Mundt to Cecil,
December 28, 1563 : Burghky Pa-
pers, HAINES.
1564.] THE EMBASSY OF DR SILVA. 185
the greatest self- admiration. She was giving in Lord
Robert the best treasure which she possessed ; and Cecil
approved the choice to rid his mistress of a companion
whose presence about her person was a disgrace to her
But no true_^iend of the Queen of Scots could advise
her to accept a husband whom Elizabeth dared not marry
for fear of her subjects' resentment. The first two months
of the year passed off with verbal fencing ; the Queen
of Scots was expecting news from Spain, and Murray
and Maitland declined to press upon her the wishes of
Elizabeth ; * while Mary herself began to express an
anxiety which derives importance from her later history
for the return to Scotland of the Earl of Both well.
Both well, it will be remembered, had been charged
two years before by the Earl of Arran with a design of
killing Murray and of carrying off the Queen. He had
been imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle, and had escaped,
not it was supposed without Mary's connivance. He
had attempted to fly to France, but had been driven by
foul weather into Berwick, where he was arrested by the
English commander. When Randolph informed the
Queen of Scots of his capture ' he doubted whether she
did give him any thanks for the news ; ' and a few days
after she desired that he should be sent back ' to her
keeping.' Her ministers ' suspecting that her mind was
more favourable to him than was cause/ and fearing that
she wished for him only ' to be reserved in store to be
employed in any kind of mischief,' had said that they
1 Letters of Randolph to Cecil and Elizabeth, January and February,
1564 : MS. Rolls House.
i86 kEtGN OF ELIZABETH. |CH. 43.
would rather never see him in Scotland again ; and Itan-
dolph took the opportunity of giving Cecil his opinion
of the Karl of Bothwell.
' One thing I thought not to omit, that I know him as
mortal an enemy to our whole nation as any man alive ;
despiteful above measure, false and untrue as a devil.
If he could have had his will, neither the Queen's Ma-
jesty had stood in as good terms with the Queen of Scots
as she doth, nor minister left alive that should be a
travailer between their Majesties for a continuance of
the same. He is an enemy to my country, a blasphem-
ous and irreverent speaker both of his own sovereign
and the Queen's Majesty my mistress ; and over that the
godly of this whole nation hath cause to curse him for
ever. Your honour will pardon me thus angrily to
write ; it is much less than I do think or have cause to
think.'1
Having an animal of this temper in her hands Eliza-
beth had not been anxious to let him go. Bothwell was
detained for three months at Berwick, and was then sent
for to London. The English Government, exasperated
at the unexpected support which the Scotch Protestants
then were lending to Mary Stuart's claims, trusted by
keeping him in close confinement and examining him
strictly to extract secrets out of him which could be used
to reattach them to England — some proof that the Queen
intended as soon as occasion served to turn round against
them and against the Reformation.2
1 Randolph to Cecil, January I 2 'La de Inglaterra, deseosa de
22, 1563 : MS. Rolls House. \ descubrir alguna cosa que pudiese
^564.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 187
Bothwell was too loyal to his mistress to betray her ;
but the cage door was not opened. More than a year ^
had passed since his arrest, and he was still detained,
without right or shadow of right, a prisoner in the Tower.
At length, however, Mary Stuart pleaded so loudly for
him that Elizabeth could not refuse. In the midst pf
the marriage discussion the Queen of Scots asked as a
favour what if she had pleased she could have demanded
as a right. Bothwell was let go, and made his way into »-
France.
This object secured, Mary Stuart addressed herself
more seriously to the larger matter. The Emperor, sup-
ported by the Cardinal of Lorraine, was still pressing the
Archduke Charles upon her, and to make the offer more
welcome he proposed to settle <5n his son an allowance of
two million francs a year. But the Archduke Charles <-
was half a Protestant, and was unwelcome to the English
Catholics. At the end of February she sent her secre-
tary to Graiivelle to explain the reasons which obliged
her to refuse the Austrian alliance, and to learn conclus-
ively whether she had anything to hope from Spain.1
If the Prince of Spain failed, her friends in England
wished that she should marry LordJDarnley. She now
proposed to play with the position, to affect submission,
to induce the Queen of England herself, if possible, to
propose Darnley to her ; and by accepting him with de-
causar division eritre la de Escocia y I De Quadra to Philip, April 24,
Milord James y los demas Protes-
tantes, le ha hecho venir aqui, donde
sera examinado y bien guardado.
Este es evangelic que aqui se usa.' —
1563 : MS. Simancas.
1 Mary Stuart to Granvelle :
LABANOFF, vol. i. p. 200.
i88 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
ferential and seeming reluctance, to obtain the long-de-
sired recognition. Once married to Darnley and ad-
mitted by Parliament as heir-presumptive, her course
would then be easy. At the bottom of her heart she
had determined that she would never cease to be Eliza-
beth's enemy ; never for a moment had she parted with
the conviction that the English crown was hers, and that
Elizabeth was a usurper. But without support from
abroad she was obliged to trust to her address ; could
she win her way to be ' second person/ and were she
married with Elizabeth's consent to the favourite of the
insurrectionary Catholics, she could show her colours with
diminished danger ; she could extort concession after
concession, make good her ground inch by inch and
yard by yard, and at lasl, when the favourable moment
came, seize her rival by the throat and roll her from her
throne into the dust. Elizabeth had offered her the
choice of any English nobleman. Darnley's birth and
person marked him out as the one on whom her choice,
if anywhere, might naturally be expected to rest. It
was with some expectation of hearing his name at least
as one among others that she at last pressed Elizabeth
to specify the person whom she had in view for her. It
was with some real and much affected surprise that she
found the name when it came at last — to be that of Lord
Robert Dudley — and of Lord Robert Dudley alone.
Randolph conveyed Elizabeth's wishes to
her, and with "them a distinct promise that
as Dudley's wife the Queen of England would have her
named as successor.
1564.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 189
She commanded herself so far as to listen cautiously.
She objected to Dudley's inferiority of rank and said
that a marriage with him would impair her honour.
It was honour enough, Randolph replied, to inherit
such a kingdom as England.
' She looked not/ she said, ' for the kingdom, for her
sister might marry and was likely to live longer than
herself; she was obliged to consider her own and her
friends' expectations, and she did not think they would
agree that she should abase her state- so far.'
So far she answered in public ; but Mary Stuart'
art was to affect a peculiar confidence in the person
whom she was addressing. She waited till she wai
alone, and then detaining Randolph when the courtiers
were gone she said :
1 Now, Mr Randolph, tell me, does your mistress in
good earnest wish me to marry my Lord Robert ? '
Randolph assured her that it was so.
' Is that,' she said, ' conform to her promise to use
me as a sister or daughter to marry me to her subject ? '
Randolph thought it was.
' If I were a sister or a daughter,' she said, ' were it
not better to match me where some alliance or friend-
ship might ensue than to marry me where neither
could be increased ? '
The alliance which his sovereign desired, Randolph
answered, was the perpetual union of the two realms jn
a single monarchy.
'The Queen your mistress,' she said, ' being assured
of me, might let me marry where it may like me ; and I
190 RE JON OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
always should remain friend to her ; she may marry her-
self and have children and what shall I have gained ? '
Randolph said his mistress must have provided for
that chance and would act honourably. But Mary Stuart
replied justly that she could take no step of so great con-
sequence without a certainty to rely upon ; she bade him
tell Elizabeth that the proposal was sudden — she could
give no answer without longer thought ; she had no.
objection to Lord Robert's person, but the match was
unequal; commissioners on both sides might meet to
consider it ; more she could not say. She left Randolph
with an impression that she had spoken as she felt, and
Maitland bade him not be discouraged. If Elizabeth
would pay the price she might obtain what she wished.
Yet some secret friend advised Randolph to be on his
guard in the following remarkable words : — ' Whereso-
ever she hovers and how many times soever she doubles
to fetch the wind, I believe she will at length let fall her
anchor between Dover and Berwick, though perchance
not in that fort, haven, or road that you wish she
should.' J
Elizabeth, either satisfied from Randolph's report
that the Queen of Scots was on the way to compliance,
or determined to leave her nothing to complain of, at
once gave a marked evidence that on her part she would
adhere to her engagement. Although the debate in
Parliament had gone deeply into the succession ques-
tion, yet it had been carried on with closed doors ; and
1 Randolph to Cecil, March 20 and April 13, 1564: Scotch MSS
Hoik Home.
1564-] THE EMBASSY OF DE S2LVA. 191
the turn which it had taken was unknown except by
rumour to the public. Lady Catherine Grey was still,
though pining in captivity, the hope of the Protestants;
and John Hales, Clerk of the Hanaper — report said
with Cecil's help and connivance — collected the sub-
stance of the arguments in her favour ; he procured
opinions at the same time from Italian canonists in sup-
port of the validity of her marriage with Lord Hert-
ford ; and out of these materials he compiled a book in
defence of her title which was secretly put into circula-
tion. The strongest point in Lady Catherine's favour
— the omission of the Scottish line in the will of Henry
the Eighth — could only be touched on vaguely, the will
itself being still concealed ; but the case which Hales
contrived to make out, representing as it did not only
the wishes of the ultra-Protestants but the opinions at
this time of Lord Arundel and the Howards, was strong
enough to be dangerous. Elizabeth, who in addition to
her political sympathies cherished a vindictive dislike
of her cousin, sent Hales to the Fleet and inflicted on
Cecil the duty of examining and exposing what she
chose to regard as conspiracy.1
The imprisonment of Hales was accepted as little
less than a defiance of the Protestant party in England,
and as equivalent to a public declaration in favour of
the Queen of Scots. The long- talked- of meeting of
' In this matter I am by com- { nee ad sinistram ; and yet I am
mandnient occupied, whereof I could
be content to be delivered; but I
will go upright neither ad dextram
not free from suspicion.' — Cecil to
Sir Thomas Smith, May, 1564 :
WRIGHT'S Elizabeth, vol. i. "
192 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
the Queens was again expected in the approaching
summer, and the recognition of Mary Stuart was antici-
pated with more certainty than ever as the result of the
interview.
The Queen of Scots however was growing impa-
tient with hopes long deferred. She either disbelieved
Elizabeth's honesty or misinterpreted her motives into
fears. As Darnley was not offered to her she more
than ever inclined towards getting possession of him ;
and .anticipating a storm she would not wait to let
events work for her, and showed her intentions pre-
maturely in preparing the way for his acceptance in
Scotland.
The Earl of Lennox, it will be remembered, had lost
his estates in the interests of England. For some years
past he had pressed for their restoration, and his petition
had been supported by Elizabeth. So long as Mary had
hopes elsewhere she had replied with words and excuses.
The lands of Lennox had been shared among the friends
of the Hamiltons. The lands of Angus, which he claimed
in right of his wife, were held in trust for his nephew
by the Earl of Morton, whom the Queen of Scots durst
not quarrel with. The law in Scotland was the law
of possession, and the sword alone would have rein-
stated the exiled nobleman. The position of his family
had hitherto been among the greatest objections to her
thinking seriously of Lord Darnley as a husband. If
Elizabeth offered him, she would have less to fear; if
to gratify the English Catholics she was to marry him
against Elizabeth's will, she would have in the first
1564-] THE EMBASSY OF DE S1LVA. 193
instance, to depend on her subjects to maintain her, and
among them the connection might prove an occasion of
discord.
So long as the Hamiltons were strong the marriage
would have been absolutely impossible. Chatelherault,
however, was now in his dotage ; the Earl of Arran
was a lunatic ; the family was enfeebled and scattered ;
and Mary Stuart wTas enabled to feel her way towards
her object by allowing Lennox to return and sue for his
rights. Could the House of Lennox recover its rank in
Scotland the next step would be more easy.
Had she affected to consult Elizabeth — had she'\
openly admitted her desire to substitute Darnley for
Lord Robert — affecting no disguise and being ready to
accept with him the conditions and securities which the
English Parliament would have attached to the mar-
riage— Elizabeth would probably have yielded, or in
refusing would have given the Queen of Scots legitimate
ground of complaint.
But open and straightforward conduct did not suit
the complexion of Mary Stuart's genius : she breathed
more, freely, and she used her abilities with better effect,
in the uncertain twilight of conspiracy.
Although bofh Murray and Maitland consented to
the return of Lennox, the Protestants in Scotland
instantly divined the purpose of it. 'Her meaning
therein is not known/ wrote one of Randolph's corre-
spondents to him on the 3ist of April, 'but some sus-
pect she shall at last be persuaded to favour his son ;
we are presently in quiet, but I fear it shall not be for
VOL. VIL 13
194 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.43.
long, for tilings begin to grow to a ripeness, and there
are great practisers who are like to set all aloft.' l
'The Lady Margaret and the young Earl are looked
for soon after/ wrote Knox ; ' the Lord Bothwell will
follow with power to put in execution whatever is de-
manded, and Knox and his preaching will be pulled by
the ears/2
This last contingency would not have
deeply distressed Elizabeth ; but she knew
Mary Stuart too well to trust her smooth speeches.
The Queen of Scots had represented the return of Len-
nox as a concession to the wishes of her dear sister, the
Queen of England. The expressions of friendliness
were somewhat overdone, and served chiefly to place
Elizabeth on her guard.
Randolph sent an earnest entreaty that Lennox
should be detained in England ; and when the Earl
applied for a passport to Scotland, a variety of pretexts
were invented for delay or refusal.
Mary Stuart wanted the self-control for successful
diplomacy. She saw that she was suspected, and the
suspicion was the more irritating because it was just.
Her warmer temper for the moment broke loose. She
sent for Randolph, bade him go to his mistress and tell
her that there could be no interview in the summer :
her council disapproved of it. She wrote violently to
Elizabeth herself, and Maitland accompanied the letter
with another to Cecil, in which he laid on England the
1 to Randolph, April 31 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
* Knox to Randolph, May 3 : Ibid.
1 564.] THE E MB ASS Y OF DE SIL VA. 1 95
failure of all the attempts to reconcile the two Queens.
Why Lennox should be prevented from returning when
Elizabeth herself had supported his suit, he professed
himself unable to understand. The conduct of the Eng-
lish Court was a mystery to him, and ' he much feared
that God, by the ingratitude of both the nations being
provoked to anger, would not suffer them to attain so
great worldly felicity as the success of the negotiation '
for the union.1
On these terms stood Elizabeth and Mary
June.
Stuart in the beginning of June, when the
new Spanish ambassador, Don Diego Guzman de Silva,
arrived in London. De Silva, though a more honour-
able specimen of a Castilian gentleman, was far inferior
to de Quadra in ability for intrigue ; yet he was a man
who could see clearly and describe intelligibly the
scenes in the midst of which he lived ; and his de-
spatches are more pleasing and, under some aspects,
more instructive than the darker communications of his
predecessor.
In the following letters he tells the story of his re-
ception at Elizabeth's Court, where, the curtain being
once more lifted, Lord Robert Dudley is still seen at his
old game, professing at home an increasing attachment
to the Reformation, abroad maintaining an agent at the
Vatican, and declaring himself to Philip the most de-
voted servant of Rome.
1 Maitland to Cecil, June 6, June 23, and July 13 : Scotch MSS. Rolls
House.
196 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
DE SILVA TO PHILIP II.
London, June 2J.
' I arrived in London the 1 8th of this month. The
day following, the Queen sent an officer of the house-
hold to welcome me in her name. I had previously
received a number of kind messages from the Lord
Robert, and in returning him my thanks I had asked
him to arrange my audience with her Majesty. She
promised to see me on Thursday the 22nd. The Court
was at Richmond : I went up the river in a barge and
landed near the palace. Sir Henry Dudley and a rela-
tive of Sir Nicholas Throgmorton met me at the stairs,
and brought me to the Council Room. There Lord
Darnley, Lady Margaret Lennox's son, came to me
from the Queen, and escorted me into her presence.
' As I entered, some one was playing on a harpsi-
chord. Her Majesty rose, advanced three or four steps
to meet me, and then giving me her hand, said in Italian
she did not know in what language to address me. I
replied in Latin, and after a few words I gave her your
Majesty's letter. She took it, and after first handing
it to Cecil to open, she read it through.
' She then spoke to me in Latin also — with easy
elegance — expressing the pleasure which she felt at my
arrival. Her Court, she said, was incomplete without
the presence of a minister from your Majesty ; and for
herself she was uneasy without hearing from time to
time of your Majesty's welfare. Her ' ill friends ' had
told her that your Majesty would never send an am-
1564-]
THE EMBASSY OF DE SlLVA.
197
bassador to England again. She was delighted to find
they were mistaken. Her obligations to your Majesty
were deep and many, and she would show me in her
treatment of myself that she had not forgotten them.
' After a few questions about your Majesty she then
took me aside and inquired about the Prince, how
his health was, and what his character was. She talked
at length about this ; and then falling back into Italian,
which she speaks remarkably well, she began again to
talk of your Majesty. Your Majesty, she said, had
known her when she was in trouble and sorrow. She
was much altered since that time, and altered she would
have me to understand much for the better/
Some unimportant conversation followed and de Silva
took his leave, Lord Darnley again waiting upon him to
his barge.
A postscript was added in cipher : —
' An intimate friend of Lord Robert Dudley has just
been with me. I understand from him that Lord Robert
was on bad terms with Cecil before the late book on the
succession appeared, and that now the enmity between
them is deeper than ever, because he takes Cecil to have
been the author of it.1 The Queen is furious, but there
are so many accomplices in the business that she has
been obliged to drop the prosecution. This gentleman,
although he desires me to be careful how I mention Lord
Robert's name, yet entreats me at the same time to lose
1 Lord Robert hoped that if the
Queen of Scots was recognized as
heir to the throne after Elizabeth
and her children, the country would
waive the objection to himself in the
desire to see the Queen married.
19S REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
no opportunity of urging the Queen to severe measures.
If Cecil can once be dismissed from the council, the
Catholic religion and your Majesty's interests in England
will all be the better for it. Lord Robert, who is your
Majesty's most faithful friend, believes that this book
may be the knife with which to cut his throat. If the
Queen can be prevailed upon to part with him much
good will follow, and I am strongly advised to use Lord
Robert's assistance.
' I have said that I shall always welcome Lord
Robert's help, that your Majesty I was well aware would
wish me to do so, and that in the present matter I will
do what I can ; but I mean to move cautiously and to
see my way before I step/
DE SILVA TO PHILIP II.
July 2.
* Lord Robert is more pressing than ever in offering
his assistance to your Majesty. The gentleman of whom
I spoke tells me that Lord Robert has still hopes of the
Queen ; and that if he succeeds, the Catholic religion
will be restored. Again cautioning me to be secret, he
informed me that Lord Robert was in communication
with the Pope about it, and had agents residing con-
tinually at the Papal Court. He spoke of his intentions
in the warmest terms, especially with reference to the
restoration of the truth.
' The interests at stake are so weighty, there are so
many pretensions liable to be affected, and such a multi-
tude of considerations on all sides which may not be
1564 ] THE EMBASSY OF DE SlLVA. 1 90
overlooked, that I must entreat your Majesty to direct
me what to do and say. I have not as yet exchanged
a word upon the subject with any one except the person
I speak of. I suspect the French have been trying to
make use of Lord Eobert. His father, people tell me.
had large French connections/
DE SILVA TO PHILIP II.
July 10.
'I have been at Court at Richmond again. The
Queen was in the garden with the ladies when I arrived,
and she bade the Grand Chamberlain bring me to her.
She received me with the most pointed kindness. She
had been so anxious to see me, she said, that she could
not help giving me the trouble of coming.
' She took me aside and led me into a gallery, where
she kept me for an hour, talking the whole time of your
Majesty, and alluding often to her embarrassments when
she first came to the throne. I need not weary your
Majesty with repeating her words; but she spoke with
unaffected sincerity, and seemed annoyed when we were
interrupted by supper.
' The meal was attended with the usual ceremonies.
Nothing could be more handsome than the entertain-
ment. She made the band play the ' Battle of Pavia,'
and declared it was the music that she liked best in the
world.
' After supper she had more conversation with me ;
and as it was then late I thought it time to take my
leave : but the Queen said I must not think of going ;
there was a play to be acted which I must see. She
200 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
must retire to her room for a few minutes, she said, but
she would leave me in the hands of Lord Robert. The
Lord Robert snatched the opportunity of her absence to
speak of his obligations to your Majesty, and to assure
me that he was your most devoted servant. She returned
almost immediately, and we adjourned to the theatre.
The piece which was performed was a comedy, of which
I should have understood but little had not the Queen
herself been my interpreter. The plot as usual turned
on marriage. While it was going on the Queen recurred
to the Prince of Spain, and asked about his stature. I
replied that his Highness was full grown. She was
silent a while, and then said —
' ' Eveiy one seems to disdain me. I understand you
think of marrying him to the Queen of Scots ? '
''Do not believe it, your Majesty/ I said. 'His
Highness has been so ill for years past with quartan
ague and other disorders that his marriage with any one
has been out of the question. Because he is better now,
the world is full of idle stories about him. Subjects are
never weary of talking of their princes/
' ' That is true/ she answered. ' It was reported a
few days since in London that the King my brother
intended to offer him to me.'
' The play was followed by a masque. A number of
people in black and white, which the Queen told me
were her colours, came in and danced. One of them
afterwards stepped forward and recited a sonnet in her
praise ; and so the spectacle ended. We adjourned to a
saloon where a long table was laid out with prest rvod
1564.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 201
fruits and sweetmeats. It was two in the morning
before I started to return to London. The Queen, at
the same time, stepped into her barge and went down
the river to Westminster.'
It is possible that the communications from Lord
Robert to the Spanish ambassador were part of a deliber-
ate plot to lead Philip astray after a will-o'-the-wisp ;
to amuse him with hopes of recovering Elizabeth to the
Church, while she was laughing in her sleeve at his
credulity. If Lord Eobert was too poor a creature to
play such a part successfully, it is possible that he too
was Elizabeth's dupe. Or again, it may have been that
Elizabeth was insincere in her offer of Lord Robert to
the Queen of Scots, while she was sincere in desiring. the
recognition of Mary Stuart's title — because she hoped
that to escape the succession of a Scottish princess, one
party or other would be found in England to tolerate
her marriage with the only person whom she would
accept. If the Queen was playing a false game, it is
hard to say which hypothesis is the more probable ; yet,
on the one hand, it will be seen that Cecil, Randolph —
every one who has left an opinion on record — believed
that she was in earnest in desiring Mary Stuart to accept
Lord Robert; while, on the other hand, the readiness
with which the Spanish Court listened to Lord Robert's
overtures proves that they at least believed that he had
a real hold on Elizabeth's affections ; and it is unlikely,
with the clue to English State secrets which the Spanish
ministers undoubtedly possessed, that they would have
202
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 43.
been deceived a second time by a mere artifice. The
least subtle explanations of human things are usually the
most true. Elizabeth was most likely acting in good
faith when she proposed to sacrifice Dudley to the Queen
of Scots. Lord Robert as probably clung to his old
hopes, and was sincere — so far as he could be sincere at
all — in attempting to bribe Philip to support him in
obtaining his object.
That this was Philip's own opinion appears certainly
from his answer to de Silva.
PHILIP II. TO I)E SILVA.
6.
' Your reply to the advances made to you by Lord
Robert's friend was wise and cautious. So long as Cecil
remains in power you must be careful what you do. If
means should offer themselves to overthrow him, every
consideration should move you not to neglect the oppor-
tunity ; but I leave you to your own discretion.
* As to Lord Robert's marriage with the Queen : if
he will assure you that when he becomes her husband
he will restore the true ancient and Catholic faith, and
will bring back the realm under the obedience of the
Pope and the Holy See, you may promise in our name
that we will assist him to the uttermost of our power.
' The propositions of the Irish Catholics you will cut
short, courteously but firmly.1 The time does not suit
to encourage rebellion in that quarter. They have ap-
* Alluding to something in a
letter of de Silva' s which is lost.
The same letter contained expres-
sions about Lord Robert's agent in
Rome, which would have shown
more clearly what de Silva himself
1564-]
THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA.
203
plied to me before and I have answered always in the
same tone.
' I have read what you say of the book on the succes-
sion ; of the Queen's anger ; and of the suspicions indi-
cated to you by Lord Robert that Cecil was at the bot-
tom of it. I avail myself of the occasion to tell you my
opinion of that Cecil. I am in the highest degree dis-
satisfied with him. He is a confirmed heretic ; and if
with Lord Robert's assistance you can so inflame the
matter as to crush him down and deprive him of all
further share in the administration, I shall be delighted
to have it done. If you try it and fail, be careful that
you are not yourself seen in the matter/
Over such mines of secret enmity walked Cecil,
standing between his mistress and her lover, and nevei
knowing what a day would bring forth.
At the beginning of August the Court broke
up from Richmond. Elizabeth went on pro-
gress, and for a time had a respite from her troubles.
Among other places she paid a visit to Cambridge, where
she had an opportunity of showing herself in her most
attractive colours.
The divisions of opinion,' the discrepancies of dress
and practices by which Cambridge, like all other parU
of England, was distracted, were kept out of sight by
Cecil's industry. He hurried down before her, per-
All£USt.
thought about Lord Kobert. Philip
answers — ' En lo de aquel caballero
Ingles que se tuv6 en Roma, y
platicas que os aviso mi Embajador
que habia tenido con su Santidad,
sospechamos lo mismo que vos.'
204 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
suaded the college authorities for once into obeying the
Act of Uniformity ; ordered the fellows and chaplains
to appear in surplices ; concealed the dreary communion
tables in the college chapels behind decent coverings ;
and having as it were thrown a whitewash of order over
the confusion, surprised the Queen into an expression of
pleasure. The Church of England was not, after all. the
miserable chaos which she had believed ; and ' contrary
to her expectation, she found little or nothing to dis-
please her/
She was at once thrown into the happiest humour ;
and she moved about among the dignitaries of the Uni-
versity with combined authority and ease. She ex-
changed courtesies with them in Latin ; when they
lauded her virtues she exclaimed ' Non est veritas ; '
when they praised the virgin state she blessed them for
their discernment : she attended their sermons ; she was
present at their disputations ; and when a speaker mum-
bled she shouted 'Loquimini altius.' The public orator
addressed her in Greek — she replied in the language of
Demosthenes. On the last day of her visit she addressed
the University in Latin in the Senate House. In a few
well-chosen sentences she complimented the students on
their industry ; she expressed her admiration of the
colleges and chapels — those splendid monuments of the
piety of her predecessors. She trusted, if God spared
her life, she might leave her own name not undistin-
guished by good work done for England.
Not one untoward accident had marred the harmony
of the occasion. The Queen remained four days ; and
THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA.
20S
left the University with the first sense of pleasure which
she had experienced in the ecclesiastical administration.
Alas ! for the imperfection of human things. The rash-
ness of a few boys marred all.
Elizabeth had been entreated to remain one more
evening to witness a play which the students had got
up among themselves for her amusement. Having a
long journey before her the following day, and desiring
to sleep ten miles out of Cambridge to relieve the dis-
tance, she had been unwillingly obliged to decline.
The students, too enamoured of their performance to
lose the chance of exhibiting it, pursued the Queen to
her resting-place. She was tired, but she would not
discourage so much devotion, and the play commenced.
The actors entered on the stage in the dress of the
imprisoned Catholic bishops. Each of them was distin-
guished by some symbol suggestive of the persecution.
Bonner particularly carried a lamb in his arms at which
he rolled his eyes and gnashed his teeth. A dog brought
up the rear with the host in his mouth. Elizabeth could
have better pardoned the worst insolence to herself: she
rose, and with a few indignant words left the room ; the
lights were extinguished, and the discomfited players
had to find their way out of the house in the dark, and
to blunder back to Cambridge.1
It was but a light matter, yet it served to irritate
1 De Silva to the Duchess of
Parma, August 19 : MS. Simancas.
De Silva was not present, but de-
scribed the scene as he heard it from
an eye-witness. The story naturally
enough is not mentioned by Nicolls,
who details with great minuteness
the sunny side of the visit to tho
University : / rogresses of Elizabeth,
1564.
206 REIGN* OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
Elizabeth's sensitiveness. It exposed the dead men's
bones which lay beneath the whited surface of Uni-
versity good order ; and she went back to London with
a heart as heavy as she carried away from it. The vast
majority of serious Englishmen, if they did not believe
in transubstantiation, yet felt for the sacrament a kind
of mysterious awe. Systematic irreverence had in-
truded into the churches ; carelessness and irreligion
had formed an unnatural alliance with Puritanism ;
and in many places the altars were bare boards resting
on tressels in the middle of the nave. The communi-
cants knelt, stood, or sat as they pleased ; the chalice
was the first cup which came to hand ; and the clergy-
men wore surplice, coat, black gown, or their ordinary
dress, as they were Lutherans, Calvinists, Puritans, or
nothing at all.1
The parish churches themselves, those amazing
monuments of early piety, built by men who themselves
lived in clay hovels while they lavished their taste,
their labour, and their wealth on ' the house of God/
were still dissolving into ruin. The roofs were break-
ing into holes ; the stained whitewash was crumbling
off the damp walls, revealing the half-effaced remains
of the frescoed stories of the saints ; the painted glass
was gone from the windows; the wind and the rain
swept through the dreary aisles ; while in the church-
yards swine rooted up the graves.
And now once more had come a reaction like that
1 Varieties used in the administration of the service, 1564 : Lansdoivne
MSS.
1 564. ] fffE EM BASS Y OF DE SIL VA . 207
which had welcomed Mary Tudor. In quiet English
homes there arose a passionate craving to be rid of all
these things ; to breathe again the old air of reverence
and piety ; and Calvinism and profanity were working
hand in hand like twin spirits of evil, making a road
for another Mary to reach the English throne.
The progress being over, Elizabeth returned .to the
weary problems which were thickening round her more
and more hopelessly. From France came intelligence
that ' a far other marriage was meant for the Queen of
Scots than the Lord Robert ; with practices to reduce
the realm to the old Pope, and to break the love be-
tween England and Scotland.' l The Earl of Lennox
had been allowed to cross the Border "at last as a less
evil than the detaining him by violence ; but Cecil
wrote from Cambridge to Maitland, ' making no obscure
demonstration of foul weather/ Parliament was ex-
pected to meet again in October, and with Parliament,
would come the succession question, the Queen's
marriage question, and their thousand collateral vexa-
tions. Either in real uncertainty, or that she might
have something with which to pacify her subjects,
Elizabeth was again making advances towards the
eternal Archduke. His old father Ferdinand, who had
refused to be trifled with a second time, was dead.
Ferdinand had left the world and its troubles on the
25th of July ; but before his death, in a conversation
with the Duke of Wurtemburg, he had shown himself
1 Sir T. Smith to Cecil (cipher), Sept. I, 1564: French MSS. Rolls
House.
208
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 43
September.
less implacable. An opportunity was offered for re-
opening the suit, and Cecil, by the Queen's order, sent a
message through Mundt the English agent in Germany,
to the new Emperor Maximilian, that although for his
many excellent qualities the Queen would gladly have
married Lord Robert Dudley, yet, finding it impossible,
she had brought herself to regard Lord Robert as a
brother, and for a husband was thinking of the Arch-
duke.1 On the 1 2th of September a resolu-
tion of council was taken to send an embassy
to Vienna, ostensibly to congratulate Maximilian on
his accession — in reality to feel the way towards ' the
prince with the large head/ 2 A few days later, during
an evening stroll through St James's Park, Elizabeth
herself told the secret to de Silva, not as anything
certain, but as a point towards which her thoughts
were turning.3
The Queen of Scots meantime, to whom every
uttered thought of Elizabeth was known, began to re-
pent of her precipitate explosion of temper. She had
obtained what she immediately desired in the return of
1 Cecil to Mundt, September 8,
1 564 : Jussu Regina. Burghley
Papers, HAINES, vol. i.
2 l Some one is to be sent with
condolences on the death of the
Emperor — Sir H. Sidney or Sir N.
Throgmorton or 1 or Lord Robert ;
which it shall be I think nobody yet
knoweth. But to tell you the truth,
there is more meant than condolence
or congratulation. It may be an
intention for the marriage with the
Archduke. This may be very
strange, and therefore I pray you
keep it very close.' — Cecil to Sir
T. Smith, September 12, 1564:
WRIGHT, vol. i.
3 De Silva to the Duchess of
Parma, Sept. 23 : MS. Simancas.
Elizabeth said that the Court fool
advised her to have nothing to do
with Germans, who were a poor
heavy-headed set.
1564-] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 209
Lennox; her chief anxiety was now to prevent the
Austrian marriage, and to induce Philip, though she
could not marry his son, to continue to watch over her
interests. In September the Spanish ambassador IE
Paris wrote that his steps were haunted by Beton,
Mary's minister ; he had met the advances made to
him with coldness and indifference ; but Beton had
pressed upon him with unwearied assiduity ; l desiring,
as it appeared afterwards, to learn what Philip would
do for his mistress in the event of her marriage with
Darnley.
At the same time it was necessary to soothe
Elizabeth, lest she might withdraw her protection, and
allow Parliament to settle the succession unfavourably
to the Scottish claims. Maitland therefore having
forfeited Cecil's confidence, the Queen of Scots obtained
the services of a man who, without the faintest preten-
sions to statesmanship, was as skilled an intriguer as
Europe possessed. Sixteen years had passed since Sir
James Melville had gone as a boy with Monluc, Bishop
of Valence, to the Irish Castle, where Monluc by his
light ways was brought to shame. From the Bishop,
Melville had passed to the Constable Montmorency.
Erom Montmorency he had gone to the Elector Pala-
tine, and had worked himself into a backstairs intimacy
with European courts and princes. Mary Stuart her-
self had probably known him in France ; and in the
spring of 1564 she wrote to request him to return to
1 Don F. de Alava to Philip II., Styjtember 20, 1564: TEULET, vol.
VOL. VII. 14
210
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH, 43.
Scotland to be employed in secret service. So highly
she valued his abilities, that notwithstanding her
poverty she settled on him an annual pension of a
thousand marks — twice the income perhaps of the
richest nobleman in Scotland.1 He was already ac-
quainted with Elizabeth, who, according to his own
account, had spoken confidentially with him about the
Queen of Scots' marriage.
This Melville it was whom Man^ Stuart now selected
to be her instrument to pacify and cheat Elizabeth, to
strengthen her party at the English Court, and to
arrange with Lady Lennox for Darnley's escape to
Scotland. She directed him to apologize to Elizabeth
for the hasty letter which she had written, and to beg
that it might be forgotten. He was to entreat her not
to allow his mistress's interests to suffer any prejudice
in Parliament ; and further, he had secret instructions
from Mary's own lips, the nature of which he indicates
without explaining himself more completely — ( to deal
with the Spanish ambassador, Lady Margaret Douglas,
and sundry friends she had in England of different
opinions.'
Melville left Edinburgh towards the end of Septem-
ber,2 preceded by Randolph, who, after communicating
with Elizabeth, was on the point of returning to Scotland
1 So Melyille himself says in his
Memoirs ; hut, Melville's credibility
is a very open question.
2 The copy of his instructions
printed in his Memoirs is dated Sep-
tember 28. But Melville was in
London on Michaelmas-day, when
Lord llobert Dudley was created
Earl of Leicester, and was present at
the ceremony ; 28 is perhaps a mis-
print for 20.
THE EMBASSY OF DE SlLVA.
at the time of Melville's arrival. The information which
Randolph had brought had been utterly unsatisfactory,
and Elizabeth was harassed into illness and was in the
last stage of despair. * I am in such a labyrinth about
the Queen of Scots/ she wrote on the 23rd of September
to Cecil, ' that what to say to her or how to satisfy her
I know not. I have left her letter to me all this time
unanswered, nor can I tell what to answer now. Invent
something kind for me which I can enter in Randolph's
commission and give me your opinion about the matter
itself.5 1
In this humour Melville found Elizabeth. She was
walking when he was introduced in the garden at West-
minster. He was not a stranger, and the Queen rarely
allowed herself to be long restrained by ceremony. She
began immediately to speak of ' the Queen of Scots'
despiteful letter ' to her. ' She was minded/ she said,
' to answer it with another as despiteful ' in turn. She
took what she had written out of her pocket, read it
aloud, and said that she had refrained from sending it
only because it was too gentle.
Melville, accustomed to Courts and accustomed to
Elizabeth, explained and protested and promised. With
his excuses he mingled flattery, which she could swallow
1 'In ejusmocli labyrintho posita
sum de response meo reddendo ad
Reginam. Scotiso, ut nesciam quo-
modo illi satisfaciam, quum neque
toto isto tempore illi ullum respon-
sum dederim, nee quid mihi dicen-
dum nunc sciarn. Invenias igitur
aliquid boni quod in mandatis scrip-
tis Randall dare possira, et in hac
causa" tuam opinionem mihi indica.
Endorsed in Cecil's hand — ' The
Queen's Majesty's writing, being
sick, September 23.' — Scotch MS 8
Rolls House.
212 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
when mixed by a far less skilful hand ; in his first in-
terview he so far talked her into good humour that ' she
did not send her angry letter ; ' and although he satisfied
himself at the same time that she was dealing insincerely
with his mistress, he perhaps in this allowed his sus-
picions to mislead him. Elizabeth was only too happy
to believe in promises which it was her interest to find
true. Personally she cared as little for the Queen of
Scots as the Queen of Scots cared for her ; but Mary
Stuart's position and Mary Stuart's claims created an
intense political difficulty for which there appeared but
one happy solution ; and Elizabeth, so far as can be seen
from the surface of the story, clutched at any prospect
of a reasonable settlement with an eager credulity.
Melville might indeed naturally enough believe Eliza-
beth as insincere as he knew himself to be. At the
very moment when he was delivering Mary's smooth
messages, apologies, and regrets he knew himself to be
charged with a secret commission to the Catholic con-
spirators ; but Elizabeth's duplicity does not follow
from his own, and she may at least be credited with
having been honest when she had no interest in being
otherwise. She saw the Scotch ambassador daily, and
the Queen of Scots' marriage was the incessant subject
of discussion. Melville said his mistress would refer it
to a commission. Murray and Maitland might meet
Bedford and Lord Robert at Berwick to talk it
over.
1 Ah ! ' she said, ' you make little of Lord Robert,
naming him after the Earl of Bedford. I mean to make
1564.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 213,
him a greater earl and you shall see it done. I take him
as my brother and my best friend/
She went on to say that she would have married
Lord Robert herself had she been able. As she might
not, she wished her sister to marry him ; and ' that
done/ ' she would have no suspicion or fear of any
usurpation before her death, being assured that Dudley
was so loving and trusty that he would never permit
anything to be attempted during her time.'1
' My Lord Robert's promotion in Scotland
J October.
is earnestly intended, Cecil wrote a few days
later to Sir Thomas Smith. 2 On Michaelmas-day he
was created Earl of Leicester at Westminster in Mel-
ville's presence — to qualify him for his higher destiny ;
while Elizabeth, vain of his beauty, showed off his fair
proportions and dwelt on the charms which she was
sacrificing.
Nor was she unaware of Melville's secret practices or
of Mary's secret desires. ' You like better,' she said
sadly to the ambassador, ' you like better yonder long
lad ' — pointing to Darnley, who, tall and slim with soft
and beardless face, bore the sword of state at the cere-
mony.
To throw her off the scent Melville answered that
' no woman of spirit could choose such an one who more
resembled a woman than a man.' ' I had no will,' he
said of himself, ' that she should think that 1 had an
eye that way, although I had a secret charge to deal
1 MELVILLE'S Memoirs. 2 Cecil to Smith. October 4 : WRIGHT, vol. i.
214 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. rCH. 43.
with Lady Lennox to procure liberty for him to go to
Scotland/
Elizabeth was not deceived, but she chose to blind
herself. Clinging to her favourite scheme, she allowed
a legal opinion to be drawn out in favour of the Scottish
title. She promised Melville that when Parliament met
she would again protect his mistress's interests. The
poor Archduke was to be once more cast overboard ; she
undertook to bind herself never to marry unless f neces-
sitated by her sister's hard behaviour ; ' and last of all—-
as the strongest evidence which she could give that she
was acting in good faith — she risked the discontent
which would inevitably be provoked, and postponed the
Parliament till the spring or the following autumn.
Randolph, who had been detained on Melville's arrival,
was sent off to tell Mary that ( the tragedy created by
her letter had turned into comedy ; ' the Queen of Eng-
land would consent with pleasure to the proposed meet-
ing of commissioners ; and meanwhile — ' contrary to the
expectation and desire of her people, contrary to the
disposition of no small number of her council and also
to some detriment of herself for her own private lucre,
by the intention of her people to have gratified her with
some subsidy — her Majesty had by proclamation pro-
longed her Parliament that should have been even now
begun in October : meaning of purpose to have no as-
sembly wherein the interests of her sister might be
brought in question until it were better considered that
no harm might thereof ensue to her, and that her
Majesty and the Queen of Scots might have further
1 564. ] THE EM BASS Y OF DE SILVA. 215
proceedings in the establishment of their amity/ l
In the delay of the Parliament the Queen of Scots
had gained one step of vital moment ; she had next to
obtain the consent of her own people to her marriage
withjbrnley ; shehacl to strengthen the Lennox faction
that it might be strong enough to support her against
the Hamiltons, and when this was done to get the per-
son of I)arnTeyTnto her hands.
Lennox himself was distributing presents with
lavish generosity in the Court at Holyrood. Melville
when he returned to Scotland carried back with him
Lady Margaret's choicest jewels to be bestowed to the
best advantage. For the full completion of the scheme
it was necessary to delude Elizabeth into the belief that
Mary Stuart would give way about Leicester ; and
having satisfied her that she really had nothing to fear
from Darnley's visit to Edinburgh, to obtain leave of
absence for him for three months to assist Lennox in
the recovery of his property. When the father and
son were once on Scottish soil she could then throw off
the mask.
The ambassador had employed his time well in
England making friends for his mistress, and had car-
ried back with him from London profuse promises of
service; some from honourable men who looked to
Mary Stuart's succession as a security fbr the peace of
the country, some from the courtier race who desired to
save their own fortunes should the revolution come.
1 Message sent by Randolph to the Queen of Scots, October 4 : Scotch
MSS. Rolls House.
216 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
Among these last was Leicester — that very Leicester
in whose affection Elizabeth was blindly confiding, who
was to be her own protection when she had named
Mary Stuart her heir. The man who thought it no pre-
posterous ambition to aspire to the hand of Elizabeth,
excused himself to Melville with abject apologies as
having been forced to appear as the suitor of a princess
whose shoes he was unworthy to loose ; he implored
the Queen of Scots to pardon him for ' the proud pre
tences which were set forward for his undoing by Cecil
and his secret enemies/ l
On the position and views of Lord Robert — on the
state of feeling at the Court — on the Scotch and other
questions — additional light is thrown by a letter of de
Silva written on the 9th of October.
DE SILVA TO PHILIP.2
London, October 9.
' The gentleman sent hither from the Court of Scot-
land has returned, and this Queen has written by him
to say that for various reasons there will be no Parlia-
ment this year. The succession question therefore will
be allowed to rest. She says she is not so old that her
death need be so perpetually dragged before her.
' Cecil has intimated to the heretical bishops that
they must look to their clergy ; the Queen is determined
to bring them to order and will no longer tolerate their
extravagances.
1 MELVILLE'S Memoirs.
7 JUS. Simancas.
1 5 64. ] THE E MB ASS Y OF DE SILVA. 217
' He desires them too to be careful how they proceed
against the Catholics; the Queen will not have her
good subjects goaded into sedition by calumnies -on their
creed or by irritating inquiries into their conduct. I
am told that the bishops do not like these cautions.
Cecil understands his mistress and says nothing to her
but what she likes to hear. He thus keeps her in good
humour and maintains his position. Lord Robert is
obliged to be on terms with him although at heart he
hates him as much as ever. Cecil has more genius than
the rest of the council put together and is therefore
envied and hated on all sides.
' The Queen, happening to speak to me about the
beginning of her reign, mentioned that circumstances
had at first obliged her to dissemble her real feelings in
religion ; but God knew, she said, that her heart was
sound in his service ; with more to the same purpose :
she wanted to persuade me that she was orthodox, but
she was less explicit than I could have wished.
' I told her (she knew it already) that the preachers
railed at her in the most insolent language for keeping
the cross on the altar of her chapel. She answered that
she meant to have crosses generally restored throughout
the realm.
1 Again and again she has said to me, ' I am insulted
both in England and abroad for having shown more
favour than I ought to have shown to the Lord Robert.
I am spoken of as if I were an immodest woman. I
ought not to wonder at it : I have favoured him because
of his excellent disposition and for his many merits ;
2i8 REIGN- OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
but I am young and lie is young and therefore we have
been slandered. God knows they do us grievous wrong,
and the time will come when the world will know it
also. I do not live in a corner — a thousand eyes see all
that I do and calumny will not fasten on ine for ever/
' She went on to speak of the Queen of Scots, whose
beauty she warmly praised.
' ' Some tell me/ she said, ' that my sister will marry
your Prince after all/
' I laughed and said that the last story which I had
heard was that the Queen of Scots was to marry the
King of France.
1 She said that could not be, ' The Queen-mother
and the Queen of Scots were not good friends/
' The Lord Robert, whom they now call Earl of
Leicester, has been with me again repeating his protest-
ations of a desire to be of use to your Majesty. He
mentioned particularly the troubles in the Low Coun-
tries and the necessity of taking steps to pacify them.
'I assured him of the confidence which your Ma-
jesty felt in his integrity and of the desire which you
entertained for his advancement. I repeated the words
which the Queen had used to me about religion ; and
I said that now when she was so well disposed there
was an opportunity for him which he should not allow
to escape. If the Queen could make up her mind to
marry him and to reunite England to the Catholic
Church your Majesty would stand by him, and he should
soon experience the effects of your Majesty's good- will
towards him ; the Queen's safety should be perfectly
1 564 J TtfE EMBASS Y OF DE SILVA. 219
secured and he should be himself maintained in the re-
putation and authority which he deserved.
' He answered that the Queen had put it off so long
that he had begun to fear she would never marry him
at all. He professed himself very grateful for my offer,
but of religion he said nothing. In fact he is too ill-
informed in such matters to take a resolute part on either
side unless when he has some other object to gain.
'I told him that the dependence of the Catholics
was wholly on the Queen and himself. To him they
attributed the preservation of the bishops and of the
other prisoners ; and I said that by saving their lives
he had gained the good-will of all Christian princes
ibroad and of all the Catholics at home, who as he well
knew were far more numerous than those of the new
religion. The heretics notoriously hated both him and
his mistress, and had not the Catholics been so strong
would long ago have given them trouble ; the Queen
could see what was. before her in the book on the
succession, which after all it appeared she was afraid to
punish.
' His manner was friendly, but I know not what he
will do. Had the Catholics as much courage as the
heretics, he would declare for them quickly enough, for
he admits that they are far the larger number ; things are
in such a state that the father does not trust his child.'
To return to the Queen of Scots' marriage. Not-
withstanding Lennox's efforts and Lady Margaret's
jewels the Scottish noblemen were difficult to manage
220 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
Mary Stuart was still unable to act without her brother
and Maitland ; and the Earl of Murray was a better
Protestant than Knox believed him to be, and Mait-
land's broad statesmanship had little in common with
the scheming conspiracies which were*hatched in the
chambers of priests. Maitland's single object was the
union of the realms, where Scotland, in compensation for
the surrender of its separate independence, would have
the pride of giving a sovereign to its ancient enemy.
While therefore he was zealous for the honour of his
mistress, he had no interest in those collateral objects of
religious revolution and personal revenge of which
Mary was in such keen pursuit. With the Darnley
connection, as it appeared afterwards, he had no sym-
pathy, unless Darnley was freely offered by Elizabeth
and the choice was freely sanctioned by the two Parlia-
\ ments.
So far therefore Maitland was ill suited for the
Queen of Scots' purposes ; on the. other hand, he was
by far the ablest minister that she possessed. He wag_
fanatically eager — so far as a man of so cool and clear
an intellect could be fanatical about anything — to secure
the English succession for her ; and aware of his value,
she~named himTwith her brother to meet the English
commissioners and consider in form Elizabeth's pro-
posals. The conference was to be kept secret from the
world. The Queen of Scots would go to Dunbar in the
middle of November. The two ministers would leave
her as if for a few days' hawking on the Tweed, and the
Governor of Berwick would invite them to visit him.
1 564. ] THE EMBA SS Y OF DE SILVA. 221
Lord Bedford and Randolph were to represent Eng-
land ; and Elizabeth's instructions to them are a fresh
evidence of the feelings with which she regarded Leices-
ter. When Leicester's name was first officially men-
tioned, Maitland had urged on Cecil the propriety of
leaving Mary's choice of a husband as little restricted
as possible. If Elizabeth objected to a foreign prince
she must at least permit a free selection among the Scotch
and English nobility. Besides Darnley there was Nor-
folk, there was Arundel — each more eligible than the
son of the parvenu Northumberland ; and Elizabeth
had no right to demand more than a marriage which
did not threaten herself or the liberty of England.
But Elizabeth's heart was fixed on Leicester, and
she could see no merit anywhere but in him. ' Among
all English noblemen/ she said, in giving her directions
to the commissioners, ' she could see none for her own
contentation meeter for the purpose than one who for
his good gifts she esteemed fit to be placed in the num-
ber of kings and princes; for so she thought him
worthy: and if he were not born her subject, but had
happened with these qualities to be as nobly born under
some other prince as he was under herself, the world
should have well perceived her estimation of him. The
advantage of the marriage to the Earl of Leicester would
not be great, but to the Queen of Scots it would be
greater than she could have with any other person.
The Earl would bring with him no controversy of title
to trouble the quietness of the Queen of Scots, and she
preferred him to be the partaker of the Queen of Scots'
222 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. fen. 43.
fortunes, whom, if it might lie in her power, she would
make owner and heir of her own kingdom. She had
already placed a check on all other pretenders to the
succession ; and whatever sovereign might do in the
direction of the matter for her sister's advantage should
not be wanting. If after her recognition the Queen of
Scots should desire to reside in England she would her-
self bear the charge of the family both of her and of the
Earl of Leicester as should be meet for one sister to do
for another.'
But Elizabeth admitted that before the recognition
could be carried through Parliament the Queen of Scots
must first accept the indispensable condition. She
should receive the prize which hung before her eyes
only when she was Leicester's wife, and till that time
she must be contented with a promise that she should
not be disappointed. ' If she require to be assured first/
Elizabeth continued with an appearance of mournful
sincerity, if she will not marry till an Act of Succession
in her favour has been actually passed, 'you may of
yourselves say it may work in us some scruple to
imagine that in all this friendship nothing is more
minded than how to possess that which we have ; and
that it is but a sorrowful song to pretend more shortness
of our life than is cause, or as though if God would
change our determination in not desiring to marry, we
should not by likelihood have children. We can mean
no better than we do to our sister ; we doubt not that
she shall quietly enjoy all that is due to her, and the
more readier we are so to do, because we are so naturally
1564.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 223
disposed with great affection towards her, as before God
we wish her right to be next to us before all other.3 1
Mary Stuart herself meanwhile was in close com-
munication with Lady Lennox, and was receiving from
her more and more assurances of the devotion of the
English Catholics. Randolph, on his return to Edin-
burgh from London, found Maitland open-mouthed at
the suspension of the prosecution of Hales for his book
on the succession. The Scotch Court had expected that
he would have been ' put to death as a traitor/
Randolph protested against the word ' traitor ' inas-
much as it implied ' the certainty of the Queen of Scots7
claim/ ' which many in England did not believe to be
certain at all.' ' Hales has not deserved death,' he said,
* and imprisonment was the worst which could be in-
flicted/
Maitland spoke menacingly of the disaffection among
the Catholics. Randolph ' bade him not make too much
account of conspirators ; ' ' the behaviour of the Scotch
Court/ he said, ' was so strange that he could only sup-
pose they meant to quarrel with England ; ' ' and with
these words they grew both into further choler than
wisdom led them/ 2
Mary's own language was still smooth, affectionate,
and confiding; but Maitland and even Murray pro-
tested beforehand that when the commission met they
would agree to no conditions and accept no marriage
1 Elizabeth to Bedford and Randolph, October 7, 1564: /Scotch MSS
Rolls House.
2 Randolph to Cecil, October 24 : Scotch MSS. Soils House.
224 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43
for their mistress unless her title was first fully admitted
and confirmed. Darnley's name was not mentioned ;
but ' it was through the mouths of all men that it was a
thing concluded in the Queen's heart ; ' and Randolph
was under the mistaken impression that Maitland was
as much in favour of it as his mistress.1
'Their object/ Randolph, on the 7th of
November, wrote to Elizabeth, ' is to have the
Lord Darnley rather offered by your Majesty than de-
sired of themselves ; ' ' but your Majesty I am assured
will consider the unfitness of the match for greater
causes than I can think of any — of which not the least
will be the loss of many a godly man's heart that by
your Majesty enjoy eth now the liberty of their country,
and know but in how short a time they shall lose the
same if your Majesty give your consent to match her
with such an one as either by dissention at home or lack
of knowledge of God and his word may persecute them
that profess the same.'2
\ The Scotch Protestants comprehended instinctively
the thousand dangers to which they would be exposed.
[The House of Lennox was the hereditary enemy of the
'Hamiltons, who had headed the Revolution of 1559.
Darnley was known to be a Catholic ; and his marriage
with Mary Stuart was well understood to mean a
i Catholic revolution.
' The terrible fear is so entered into their hearts/
continued Randolph, ' that the Queen tendeth only to
1 Randolph to Cecil, October 31 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
2 Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
1564.] THE EMBASSY OF DE S1LYA. 225
that, that some are well willing to leave their country,
others with their force to withstand it, the rest with
patience to endure it and let God work His will.'
Mail land seems to have believed that Mary .Stuart
would be moderate and reasonable even if she was
recognized unconditionally arid was left to choose her
own husband ; he professed to imagine that some
' liberty of religion ' could be established in the modern
and at that time impossible sense in which wolf and
dog, Catholic and Protestctut, could live in peace to-
gether, neither worried nor worrying each other. But
few of the serious Reformers shared his hope ; and a
gajp_was already opening wide between him and the
Earl of Murray-.— Maitland was inclined to press Eng-
land ' to the uttermost ; ' Randolph, in a private con-
versation with Murray, ' found in that nobleman a mar-
vellous good will ' to be guided by Elizabeth, although
he was disturbed by the conflict of duties. The Earl, as
the meeting of the commissioners approached, in his
perplexity sent Elizabeth a message, ' that whatever he
might say, or however vehement he might seem to be in
his mistress's cause, he hoped her Majesty would not
take it as if he was in any way wanting in devotion to
her.' Both Murray and Randolph were nervously con-
scious of their incapacity to cope with Maitland in a
diplomatic encounter.
' To meet with such a match,' Randolph wrote to
Elizabeth, ' your Majesty knoweth what wits had been
fit. How far he exceedeth the compass of one or two
heads that is able to govern a Queen and guide a whole
VOL. VII. 15
226
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 43.
realm alone, your Majesty may well think. How unfit
I am, and how able is he to go beyond me, I would it
were not as I know it to be.' 1
Little time was lost in preparation. On the i8th of
November the four commissioners met at Berwick :
Bedford, a plain, determined man, with the prejudices of
a Protestant and the resolution of- an English states-
man ; Randolph, true as Bedford to Elizabeth, but en-
tangled deeply in the intricacies of diplomacy, and
moving with more hesitation ; Murray, perplexed as we
have seen ; and Maitland, at home in the element in
which he played with the practised pleasure of a master.
The preliminaries were soon disposed of. Both sides
agreed on the desirableness of the union of the realms ;
and the English ministers admitted the propriety of the
recognition of the Queen of Scots, if adequate securities
could be provided for Elizabeth's safety and for the
liberties of the realm.
The main subject was then approached. Lord Bed-
ford said that his mistress would undertake to favour
Mary Stuart's title if Mary Stuart would marry where
the English council wished ; and he proposed the Earl
of Leicester as a suitable husband for her.
' The Earl of Leicester/ Maitland replied, ' was no
1 Randolph to Elizabeth, Novem-
ber 7 ; Cotton. MSS., CALIG. B. 10.
On the same day Randolph wrote to
Leicester : ' I would you were to be
at Berwick to say somewhat for
yourself, for there I assure you some-
what will be said of you that for
your lordship may tend to little good.
How happy is your life that between
these two Queens are tossed to and
fro. Your lordship's luck is evil if
you light not in some of their laps
that love so well to play.' — Scotch
MSS. Rolls Souse.
1564.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 227
fit marriage for his mistress taken alone ; and he desired
to be informed more particularly what the Queen of
England was prepared to do in addition. Indefinite
promises implied merely that she did not wish the
Queen of Scots to make a powerful alliance ; his mis-
tress could not consent to make an inferior marriage
while the Queen of England was left unfettered ; the
Queen of England might herself marry and have child-
ren/
* It is not the intention of the Queen of England/
said Randolph, ' to offer the Lord Robert only as Earl
of Leicester without further advancement. She desires
to deal openly, fairly, and kindly, but neither will her
Majesty say what she will do more, nor ought she to
say, till she knows in some degree how her offer will be
embraced/ ' As you/ he said particularly to Maitland,
* have spoken an earnest word, so I desire without of-
fence to have another, which is that if you think by
finesse, policy, or practice, or any other means, to wring
anything out of her Majesty's hands, you are but abused
and do much deceive yourselves.'
As much as this had probably been foreseen on all
sides. Maitland wished to extort an independent ad-
mission of Mary's claims from which Elizabeth would
not afterwards be able to recede ; the English would
admit nothing until Mary had consented generally to
conditions which would deprive her of the power of being
dangerous. But it seems that they were empowered, if
Leicester was unacceptable, to give the Queen of Scots
the larger choice which Maitland demanded. Cecil had
228 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
foreseen that Leicester would be rejected. ' I think/
he said, writing on the 26th of November to Sir Thomas
Smith, ' that no marriage is more likely to succeed than
, if it may come from them.'
The name omitted was doubtless Darnley's. De Silva,
in describing the conference to Philip, said that the
English commissioners had given the Scots the alterna-
tive of Leicester, Norfolk, or Darnley.1 Of Norfolk at
that time there had been little mention or none. Darn-
ley perhaps Elizabeth would have consented to allow
if the Queen of Scots would ask for him ; for in giving
way to Mary Stuart's wishes she could have accompanied
her consent with restrictions which would render the
marriage innocuous ; while the Queen of Scots on the
other side would have accepted Darnley had Elizabeth
offered him • for Elizabeth would have been unable to
shackle her own proposal with troublesome stipulations.
No matter what promises Elizabeth might make, no
matter to what engagements she might bind herself, the
Queen of Scots had long resolved to agree to nothing
which would alienate the Catholics. As Maitland had
told the Bishop of Aquila, she could have no confidence
that any engagement would be observed unless she was
supported by a force independent of Elizabeth ; and if
she married Darnley it was necessary for her to keep
unimpaired her connection with the party of insurrec-
tion, and with the foreign Catholic powers.
Xhus neither side would be the first to mention Dam-
1 De Silva to Philip, December 18 : MS, Simancas.
1564.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 229
,ley_. The arguments played round the mark but never
reached it ; and at last, when there was no longer a hope
of a satisfactory end, the commissioners found it was use-
less to waste time longer. They parted without a quarrel,
yet without a conclusion, Maitland summing up his own
demands in the following words : —
* That the Queen of England would permit his mis-
tress to marry where she would, saving in those royal
houses where she desired her to forbear ; that her
Majesty would give her some yearly revenue out of the
realm of England, and by Parliament establish unto her
the crown, if God did his will on her Majesty, and left her
without children ; in so doing her Majesty might have
the honour to have made the marriage, and be known to
the world to have used the Queen of Scots as a dear and
loving sister/1
Immediately after the breaking up of the conference
Mary Stuart wrote to request that Lord Darnley might
be allowed to join his father in Scotland, and assist him
in the recovery of the Lennox estates. Had Elizabeth
anticipated what would follow she would probably, in-
stead of complying, have provided Darnley with a lodg-
ing in the Tower. But the reports from Scotland were
contradictory ; Lennox said openly that ' his son should
marry the Queen ; ' yet Randolph ' knew of many, by
that which had been spoken of her own mouth, that the
marriage should never take eifect if otherwise she might
have her desire.' Lennox had succeeded imperfectly in
Report of the Conference at Berwick : Cotton. MSS., CALIG. B. 10.
230 RE TON OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
making a party amongst the lords ; and Darnley's eleva-
tion to the Crown of Scotland would wake a 'thousand
sleeping feuds. The requested permission was suspended
without being refused ; while Elizabeth began again as
usual to play with thoughts of the Archduke. Cecil
sent to Germany to urge Maximilian to propose in form
for her hand ; l while stranger still, Catherine de Medici
meditated an alliance between Elizabeth and her son
Charles the Ninth. Elizabeth was twenty-nine and
Charles not more than fourteen ; but political conveni-
ence had overruled more considerable inequalities ; and
though Elizabeth affected to laugh at the suggestion as
absurd, de Silva reminded her that the difference of age
was scarcely greater than that between Philip and her
sister ; while the Queen-mother of France made the pro-
posal, as will presently be seen, in perfect seriousness.2
On their return to Edinburgh from Ber-
December. . •• T»T . •• ! -, ..,
wick, Maitland and Murray wrote a joint letter
to Cecil, in which they recapitulated their arguments at
the conference and put forward again the demand on be-
half of their mistress with which Maitland had concluded.
They dwelt on the marriages abroad which were offered
to her acceptance — far exceeding in general desirable-
ness that which was proposed by Elizabeth. They ex-
pressed themselves however deferentially, and professed
a desire which both of them really felt for a happy ter-
mination of the difficulty.
Cecil's answer was straightforward, consistent, and
1 Boger Strange to Gaspar Prcgnyar, February i, 1565 : HAYNES, vol. i.
2 De Silva to Philip, October 9 : ,]/>•'. Simancas.
1564.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 231
honourable. He was glad to perceive from their letter,
he said, that they were beginning to comprehend the
Queen of England's real feelings. If they persisted in
!;he tone which they had first assumed they would alienate
England altogether. They talked of proposals to marry
their mistress in this place and that ; there were pro-
posals for his own mistress as well, and they would do
better in confining themselves to the subject which was
immediately before them. They professed to desire to
know the Queen of England's real wishes. They knew
them already perfectly well. His mistress had never
vnried either in her words or in her intentions. She
wished well to the Queen of Scots. She had no objec-
tion to the Queen of Scots' recognition as second person
if England could be satisfied that its liberties would not
be in danger.
' And now,' Cecil said, ' in return for this you propose
that the Queen's Majesty should permit your Sovereign
to marry where she would, saving in some places pro-
hibited, and in that consideration to give her some yearly
revenue out of the realm of England, and by Parliament
establish the succession of the realm to her ; and then
you add that it might be the Queen's Majesty's desire
would take effect. Surely, my Lord of Ledington, I see
by this — for it was your speech — you can well tell how
to make your bargain. Her Majesty will give the Earl
of Leicester the highest degree that any nobleman may
receive of her hand ; but you look for more — you would
have with him the establishment of your Sovereign's
title to be declared in the second place to the Queen's
232 REIGN OF ELIZABE 777. [CH. 43.
Majesty. The Queen's Majesty will never agree to so
much of this request, neither in form nor substance, as
with the noble gentleman already named. If you will
take him she will cause inquisition to be made of your
Sovereign's rights ; and as far as shall stand with justice
and her own surety, she will abase such titles as shall be
proved unjust and prejudicial to her sister's interest.
You know very well that all the Queen's Majesty mind-
eth to do must be directed by the laws and by the con-
sent of the three Estates ; she can promise no more but
what she can with their assent do.. The Queen of Eng-
land, if trusted as a friend, may and will do what she
will never contract or bargain to do or submit to be
pressed to do. It is a tickle matter to provoke sove-
reigns to determine their succession.
' Wherefore, good my Lords/ Cecil concluded, ' think
hereof, and let not this your negotiation, which is full
of terms of friendship, be converted into a bargain or
purchase ; so as while in the outward face it appears a
design to conciliate these two Queens and countries by
a perpetual amity, in the unwrapping thereof there be
not found any other intention but to compass at my
Sovereign's hands a kingdom and a crown, which if
sought for may be sooner lost than gotten, and not being
craved may be as soon offered as reason can require.
Almighty Grod assist you with His spirit in your de-
liberation upon this matter to make choice of that which
shall increase His glory and fortify the truth of the
gospel in this isle.'1
' Cecil to Maitland and Murray, December 16 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
1564.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 233
Before this letter reached Scotland Maitland had be-
come disposed to receive it in the spirit in which it was
written. He had expressed his regret to Randolph for
having ' meddled ' with English Catholic conspirators ;
he was drawing off from the dangerous policy to which
he appeared to have committed himself ; and Randolph,
who a month before had been more afraid of him than
of any man in Scotland, wrote on the 1 6th of December,
the date of Cecil's despatch, that 'he never thought
better of him than at that moment/1
So anxious Maitland seemed to be to recover ^55.
the confidence of the English Government, that Janu«7-
except for the opposition which he continued to offer —
when opposition had become dangerous — to the Darnley
marriage, it might have been thought that he was in
league with Mary to throw Elizabeth off her guard. His
motives must in part remain obscure. He had perhaps
become acquainted with Darnley in England, and had
foreseen the consequences if a youth of such a tempera-
ment came in too close contact with his mistress. Per-
haps too he had never meant to do more than play with
poisoned tools ; and withdrew when he saw that Eliza-
beth would not be frightened with them. But an obvious
reason for Maitland's change of posture was to be frmnrl
in the new advice and the new-advisers that were finding
favour withjthe Uueen~oT^Scots. Two years before, M.
de "Slofet, the ambassador from Savoy, had brought in
bis suite to Mary Stuart's Court an Italian named David
Rizzio. The youth — he was about thirty — became a
Randolph to Cecil, December 16 : MS. Ibid.
\
234 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.43.
favourite of Mary. Like Chatelar, lie was an accom-
plished musician ; he soothed her hours of solitude with
love songs, and he had the graceful tastes with which
she delighted to amuse her leisure. He had glided
gradually into her more serious confidence, as she dis-
covered that he had the genius of his countrymen for
intrigue, and that his hatred for the Reformers rivalled
her own in its intensity.
The adroit diplomacy of statesmen found less favour in
Mary's cabinet than the envenomed weapons of deliberate
fraud. Rhe_shook off the^control of the one supremely
able minister that she possessed, and shejwent_on with
renewejjjpnjt, disembarrassed of a companion whojvas
too honourable for her present schemes. To the change
of counsellors may be attributed her sudden advance in
the arts of intrigue. On a sudden, none knew why
she professed a readiness to yield to Elizabeth's wishes.
* Her mind to the Lord Robert/ she said to Randolpli
at the end of January, ( was as it ought to be to so
noble a gentleman ; ' ' such a one as his mistress would
marry were he not her subject ought to content her ; '
' what she would do should depend on the Queen of
England, who should wholly guide her and rule her.' *
She deceived Maitland as she deceived Randolph,
and Maitland wrote warmly to Cecil, full of hopes
'that the great work at which they had so long
laboured together, the union of the two countries,
would be accomplished at last to their perpetual hon-
Randolph to Cecil, February 5 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
I565.J
THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA.
235
our.' l It appears as if she had persuaded him that
she had looked the Darnley marriage in the face and
had turned away from it as too full of danger ; and even
Cecil was so far convinced that he entered in his diary
at the date of these letters — ' Mr Randolph writeth at
length of the Queen of Scots' allowance of my Lord of
Leicester, and giveth great appearance of success in the
marriage.' 2
On the 6th of February Randolph wrote
again to Leicester as if there was no longer
any doubt that he would be accepted. ' This Queen,'
he said, ' is now content to give good ear to her Majesty's
suit in your behalf; she judges you worthy to be husband
to any Queen.'3 And though Randolph himself still
vaguely anticipated evil, and though other persons who
understood the state of things in Scotland shared his
misgivings,4 Elizabeth permitted herself to be persuaded
February.
1 Maitland to Cecil, January 16
and February i : MS. Rolls House.
2 Cecil's Diary, February 5.
3 Randolph to Leicester, Feb-
ruary 6 : WRIGHT, vol. i.
4 Among the Conway MSS. there
is a remarkable paper, unsigned and
unaddressed, on the Lennox question
in Scotland, and on the views sup-
posed to be entertained by Lady
Lennox and her busband. It shows
how remarkably the religious parties
were intersected by family feuds ;
and how disintegrating and danger-
ous to the Catholic party in Scotland
the marriage of Mary Stuart and
Darnley must have been.
NOTE OF AFFAIRS IN SCOTLAND.
February 3, 1564-5.
' Enemies to the Earl of Lennox
— All the Protestants of that realm
in general, and in special the Duke
of Chatelherault, with all the Hamil-
tons in Clydesdale, Linlithgow, and
Edinburgh ; the Bishop of St An-
drew's ; the Abbot of Kilwinning ;
the Bishop of Glasgow ; all the Be-
tons ; the allies of the late Cardinal
of St Andrew's ; the Laird of Borth-
wick, and all the Scots. The Earl
of Argyle, sister's son to the Duke ;
all the Campbells; the Earl of
Glencairn, whose eldest son is sister's
son to the Duke; and all the Cu»-
236
REIGN OF E LIZ ABE TIL
[CH. 43-
that Mary Stuart was at last sincere. Cecil and Leicester
shared her confidence or were prepared to risk the ex-
ninghams. The Earl of Eglinton
was never good Lennox. The Earl
of Cassilis, young, and of small con-
duct. The remnants of Huntley's
house will favour the Duke, and so
will James M'Connell, and others
of the Isles. The Lord James and
Ledington in their hearts have mis-
liked Lennox ; unless now, in hope
to continue their rule in that realm,
they may he changed. The Earl of
Morton, being chancellor; the young
Earl of Angus, Drumlanrig, and all
the Douglasses, with the Justice
Clerk ; M'Gill and their alliance, if
my Lady Lennox do not relinquish
her title to the Earldom of Angus,
which I suppose, in respect of the
greater advancement, she hath al-
ready promised. The Lords Max-
well and Erskine, allied to Argyle.
Livingstone is fi'iend to the Duke,
and Fleming likewise. Borthwick
will hang with the Douglasses. The
Earl of Montrose and the Leslies,
being Protestants.
' Of these [some] may be won,
partly in hope that Darnley will
embrace religion, which I doubt will
never be, partly by preferment of
spiritual lands, partly by money, and
partly but in fear by the authority
and in respect of other insolent pre-
tences.
' Friends hoped upon it —
* The Humes and the Kers, albeit
they will choose the best side.
'The Earl of BothweU, of no
force now.
1 The Earl Athol ; the Earl Errol ;
the Lords Ruthven and Seton ; the
gentlemen of Lennox, and some of
the Barony of Renfrew. The Laird
of Tullybardine, a young head.
'The Queen, being his chief
countenance, thinketh from the.
Duke's overthrow, if she can bring
it to pass, to advance Lennox as her
heir-apparent, failing of her issue.
If Darnley can hit the mark, then
carcth my Lady (Lady Lennox) nei-
ther for the Earldom of Lennox,
Angus, nor lands in England, hav-
ing enough that way; and if the
Queen can bring it about, division
shall follow. The overthrow of re-
ligion is pretenced; the French to
be reconciled ; their aid again to be
craved ; and if they can, they intend
to pretend title here in England,
where they make account upon
friends. Whenas they have Lennox,
Darnley, and the mother within their
border, whatsoever nourishing words
be used for the shift, either here or
in Scotland, by Lady Lennox, her
son, or husband, their hearts portend
enmity to our Sovereign and division
to her realm. They are only bent
to please and revenge the Queen of
Scots' quarrel, and to follow her
ways, who remembereth, as I am in-
formed, her mother, her uncle Guise,
and her own pretences. This realm
hath a faction to serve their turn.
Betwixt Chatelherault and Lennox,
take heed that ye suffer not that
Chatelherault be overthrown, and in
1565.]
THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA.
237
periment; and Darnley was allowed leave of absence
for three months in the belief that it might be safely
conceded.
Darnley therefore went his way. Elizabeth herself
meanwhile, half desponding, half hopeful of the re-
sult, and perhaps to hold a salutary fear over the
Queen of Scots, listened to the proposals of Catherine
de Medici for Tier own marriage with the boy King of
France.
On the 24th of January the Queen-mother addressed
a letter to Paul de Foix, setting forth that, consider-
ing the rare excellence of the Queen of England, the
position of England and France, separated as they were
only by a three hours' passage, and the deep interests
of both countries in their mutual prosperity, she would
feel herself the happiest mother in the world if either
of her sons could convert so charming a sister into a
daughter equally dear.1
Before Mary Stuart had given signs of an alteration
of feeling, and immediately that she was made aware of
the ill success of the conference at Berwick, Elizabeth
had been again haunted by the nightmare of marriage.
Again Cecil had communicated with Maximilian, and in
the end advance him who shall he
enemy to this realm. It may fall
out the Queen's Majesty's purpose
may be followed hy them of Scot-
land, in which case it should be well ;
but I, in my simple opinion, am in
despair thereof, for they look for her
where the Lord preserve her, and
therefore betimes seek ways to stop
the tide, and fill their hands full at
home, which may well be done.' —
Conway MSS. Rolls House.
1 * Me sentirois la plus heureuse
mere du monde si un de mes enfans
d'une bien aymee so3ur m'en avoit
faict une tres chere fille.' — Catherine
de Medici to Paul de Foix. Vie de
Marie Stuart : MIGNET ; Appendix.
238 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. LCii. 43.
writing to Sir Thomas Smith, on the J5th of December,
he had said :
1 This also I see in the Queen's Majesty, a sufficient
contentation to be moved to marry abroad ; and if it
may so please Almighty God to lead by the hand some
meet person to come and lay hands on her to her con-
tentation, I could then wish myself more health to
endure my years somewhat longer, to enjoy such a
world here as I trust will follow ; otherwise I assure
you as now things hang in desperation I have no com-
fort to live.' 1
Cecil's interest was in the Archduke who was a
grown man. Elizabeth, if she was obliged to marry
preferred perhaps a husband with whom her connection
for a time would be a form.
When Paul de Foix read Catherine's letter to her
she coloured, expressed herself warmly grateful for an
offer of which she felt herself unworthy, and wished
that she had been ten years younger. She feared, she
said, that if at her age she married any one so young as
the King of France, it would be with her as it had been
with her sister and King Philip. In a few years she
would find herself a discontented old woman deserted
by a husband who was weary of her.
The ambassador politely objected. She might have
children to give stability to the throne ; virtue never
grew old, and her greatness would for ever make her
loved.
1 Cecil to Sir T. Smith, December 15 : WUIGUT, vol. i.
1565'] THE EMBASSY OF DE SUVA. 239
She said she would sooner die than be a neglected
wife, and yet, while conscious of its absurdity, she
allowed the thought to rest before her. She admitted
that her subjects desired her to marry. They would
perhaps prefer an Englishman for her ; but she had no
subject in England of adequate rank except the Earl of
Arundel, and Arundel she could not endure. She
could have loved the noble Earl of Leicester, but her
subjects objected and she was bound to consult their
wishes.
So with a promise to consider the proposal she gra-
ciously dismissed de Foix and proceeded to consult Cecil.
The careful Cecil with methodical gravity paraded the
obvious objections, the inequality of age, the danger,
should the marriage prove fruitful, of the absorption of
England into France, the risk of being involved in
continental wars, and the innovations which might be
attempted upon English liberty and English law.
Elizabeth admitted the force of these considerations,
but she would not regard them as decisive. De Foix
suggested that the crown of England might be entailed
on the second son or the second child ; and Catherine
de Medici herself, excited by Elizabeth's uncertainty,
became more pressing than ever, and made light of
difficulties.
She even tempted Cecil with splendid offers if he
would recommend tjie French alliance and do her a
pleasure ; but she had mistaken the temperament which
she was addressing. Cecil answered like himself ' that
he thought neither of how to gratify the Queen of
240
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 43.
France nor of any gift or recompense which might
accrue to himself; his sole care was for the service of
God, the weal of his mistress, and the interests of the
realm ; if the marriage would further these it should
have his hearty support, if otherwise no second con-
sideration could move him.' 1
The Queen-mother was too eager to be daunted.
The Queen of Spain was coming, in the course of the
spring, to Bayonne on a visit to her mother. Some
marriage in Philip's interest would then probably be
proposed for her son ; and while de Foix was working
on Elizabeth, Catherine herself continued to press upon
the English ambassador and to urge the necessity of an
immediate resolution.2
Elizabeth really thought for the time that
unless she could succeed with Mary Stuart her
choice lay only between the Archduke and the King of
France. She told de Silva in March that she must
marry or she could not face another Parliament, whilst
she durst not marry Leicester for fear of an irisurrec-
1 MIGNET'S Mary Stuart ; Ap-
pendix.
2 Sir Thomas Smith reports a
singular Order of Council for the
behaviour of the French Court, in
preparation for the Queen of Spain's
visit :—
' Oraers are taken in the Court,
that no gentleman shall entertain
with talk any of the Queen's maids
except it be in the Queen's presence,
T except he be married. And if any
demoiselle do sit upon a form or
stool, he may sit by her, but not lie
along as the fashion was afore in
this Court, with other such restraints,
which whether they be made for this
time of Lent, or to somewhat imi-
tate the austerity of the Spanish
Court, that they should not be of-
fended' or think evil of the liberty
used in this Court, I cannot tell.' —
Sir T. Smith to Cecil, April 10 •
French MSS. Rolls HOVM
1565.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 241
tion.1 Catherine de Medici knew the necessity which
was bearing upon her, and laboured hard with Sir
Thomas Smith to remove the objections raised by
Cecil.
Age was nothing, she said. If the Queen
of England was contented with the age of
her son he would find no fault with hers. Elizabeth
professed to fear that a marriage with the King of
France might oblige her to be often absent from Eng-
land. Catherine could see no difficulty in governing
England by a viceroy ; and it was to no purpose that
Smith urged that the English people were less easy to
govern than the French, and that their princes
had trouble enough to manage them though they re-
mained always at home. He told Catherine that he
thought she was too precipitate ; the young people
might meet and make acquaintance. ' You are a young
man, sir/ he said to Charles himself ; ' when you are
next in Normandy you should disguise yourself, go
lustily over unknown, and see with your own -eyes/
The Queen-mother laughed, but said it could not be.
She must have an answer at once ; and the match was
so advantageous for both parties that she could not be-
lieve Elizabeth would refuse. France and England
united could rule the world, for French and English
soldiers united could conquer the world. ' France had
the honour for horsemen, English footmen were taken
for invincible.'
1 De Silva to Philip, March 17 : MS. Simancas.
VOL. VII. 10
242 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
The conversation turned on the chances of children,
where Catherine was equally confident ; and the dia-
logue which followed was reported by Sir T. Smith in a
letter to Elizabeth herself : —
1 The Queen told me that she was married when
King Henry had but fifteen years and she fourteen ;
and that Mr Secretary Cecil had a child at fourteen
years of age, as her ambassador had written to her ;
and, said she, ' you see my son, he is not small nor little
of growth/
' With that the King stood upright.
' ' Why/ said "she, ' you would show yourself bigger
than you be/ and laughed.
* ' But what think you will be the end, M. TAmbas-
sadeur/ saith she ; ' I pray you tell me your opinion
frankly/
' ' By my troth, madame/ quoth I, ' to say what I
think, I think rather it will take effect than no ; and
yet in my letters I see nothing but deliberation and ir-
resolution and request of delay to consult; butmethinks
it groweth fast together and cometh on hotlier than I
did imagine it would have done ; and that maketh me
judge rather that at the last it will take effect than
otherwise. But methinks on your part and the King's
you make too much haste. If the King had three or
four more years and had seen the Queen's Majesty and
was taken in love with her, then I would not marvel at
this haste/
' ' Why/ said the King, ' I do love her indeed/
1 ' Sir/ quoth I, ' your age doth not yet bear that
'565.1
THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA.
243
you should perfectly know what love meaneth ; but you
shall shortly understand it, for there is no young man,
prince nor other, but he doth pass by it. It is the
foolishest thing, the most impatient, most hasty, most
without respect that can be/
' With that the King blushed.
' The Queen said this is no foolish love.
' ' No, Madame/ quoth I, ' this is with respect and
upon good grounds, and therefore may be done with
deliberation/ ' x
* * So your Majesty is to marry the King of France
after all/ said de Silva to Elizabeth a little after this.
* She half hid her face and laughed. ' It is Lent,
she said ; ' and you are a good friend, so I will confesi
my sins to you. My brother the Catholic King wished
to marry me, the King of Sweden and Denmark wished
to marry me, the King of France wishes to marry
me.
And the Archduke also/ said de Silva.
' l Sir Thomas Smith to Elizabeth,
April 15 : French MSS. Rolls Home.
Elizabeth had desired the am-
bassador to describe the young King
to her. Smith said he was a pale,
thin, sickly, ungainly boy, with large
knee and ankle joints. His health
had been injured by over-doses of
medicine. He seemed amiable,
cheerful, and more intelligent than
might have been expected, ' seeing
he had not been brought up to learn-
ing, and spoke no language but his
In a letter to Cecil, the ambassa-
dor said —
' The Queen-mother hath a very
good opinion of you. She liketh
marvellous well that you had a son
in your fourteenth or fifteenth year,
for she hopeth therefore that her son
the King shall have a son as well
as you in his sixteenth year, and
thinketh you may serve as an ex-
ample to the Queen's Majesty not to
contemn the young years of the
Kinjr's.'— Smith to Cecil MS Ibid.
244 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
' ' Your Prince,' she went on without noticing the
interruption, ' is the only one who has not been at my
feet ; I have had all the rest.'
' ' When the King my master failed/ replied de
Silva, 'he supposed your Majesty would never marry
at all.'
' ' There was no need of so hasty a conclusion/ she
said ; ' although it is true that at that time I was very
unwilling to marry ; and I assure you that if at this
moment I could name any fitting person to succeed to
my crown I would not marry now ; I have always
shrunk from it ; but my subjects insist, and I suppose I
shall be forced to comply unless I can contrive some
alternative, which will be very difficult. The world,
when a woman remains single, assumes that there must
be something wjong about her, and that she has some
discreditable reason for it. They said of me that I
would not marry because I was in love with the Earl of
Leicester, and that I could not marry him because he
had a wife already ; yet now he has no wife, and for all
that I do not marry him, although at one time the
King my brother advised me to do it. But what are
we to do ? tongues will talk, and for ourselves we can
but do our duties and keep our account straight with
God. Truth comes out at last, and God knows my
heart that I am not what people say I am.' ' *
feanwhile in Scotland the drama was fast pro-
gressing. Darnley reached Edinburgh on the I2th of
1 MIONET ; Appendix 6.
i565.]
THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA.
245
February; and a week later he was introduced to Mary
at Wemyss Castle in Fife. As yet he had but few
friends : the most powerful of the Catholic nobles
looked askance at him ; the Cardinal of Lorraine, the
Cardinal of Guise, and the widowed Duchess, misunder-
standing the feeling of his friends in England, imagined
that in accepting a youth who had been brought up at
Elizabeth's Court, the Queen of Scots was throwing
up the game.1 The Archbishop of Glasgow, Mary's
minister in Paris — a Beton, and therefore an hereditary
enemy of Lennox — sent an estafette to Madrid in the
hope that Philip would dissuade her from a step which
he regarded as fatal ; and though Melville, who was in
the confidence of the English Catholics, assured her
' that no marriage was more in her interest, seeing it
would render her title to the succession of the crown
unquestionable/ although Rizzio, 'the known minion
of the Pope/ threw himself into Darnley's intimacy so
warmly * that they would lie sometimes in one bed to-
gether/ 2 Mary Stuart either disguised her resolution,
or delayed the publication of it till Philip's answer
should arrive. She had not yet relinquished hope of
extracting concessions from Elizabeth by professing a
1 "When Mary's final resolution
to marry Darnley was made known
in Paris, Sir Thomas Smith wrote to
Leicester, ' The Cardinal of Guise,
Madame de Guise, and the Scottish
ambassador, are in a marvellous
agony for the news of the marriage
of the Scottish Queen with the Lord
Darnley. They have received letters
out of Scotland from some friends
there, which when they had read,
they fell weeping all that night.' —
Smith to Leicester, April, 1565 :
French MSS. Rolls House.
2 CALDERWOOD.
346 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
desire to be guided by her ; she was afraid of driving
Elizabeth by over-precipitancy to accept the advances
of France.
In the interval therefore she continued to assure
Randolph that she would be guided by ' her sister's '
wishes. ' How to be sure that it is her real mind and
not words only/ Randolph wrote on the ist
of March, ' is harder than I will take upon
me , but so far as words go, to me and others she seems
fully determined. I never at any time had better
hopes of her than now.' 1
Yet the smooth words took no shape in action. She
pressed Randolph every day to know Elizabeth's resolu-
tion, but the conditions on both sides remained as they
were left at Berwick. Elizabeth said to Mary Stuart,
* Marry as I wish and then you shall see what I will
do for you.' Mary said, ' Recognize me first as your
successor and I will then be all that you desire.' Each
distrusted the other ; but Elizabeth had the most pro-
ducible reason for declining to be credulous. However
affectionate the Queen of Scots' language might be, the
Treaty of Edinburgh remained unratified.
The more Mary pressed for recognition therefore,
the more Elizabeth determined to withhold what if
once conceded could not afterwards be recalled, till by
some decisive action her suspicion should have been
removed. With the suspense other dangerous symp-
toms began to show themselves. Soon after Darnley's
Randolph to Cecil, March I : Scotch AfSS. Rolls Souse.
1565.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 24?
appearance the Queen of Scots made attempts to rein-
troduce the mass. Murray told Eandolph that < if she
had her way in her ' Papistry ' things would be worse
than ever they were.' Argyle said that unless she
married as the Queen of England desired ' he and his
would have to provide for their own.' The chapel at
Holyrood was thrown open to all comers ; and while
the Queen insisted that her subjects should ' be free to
live as they listed,' the Protestants ' offered their lives
to be sacrificed before they would suffer such an abomin-
ation.' Becoming aggressive in turn they threatened
to force the Queen into conformity, and they by their
violence ' kindled in her a desire to revenge.' _Mary_
Stuart was desiring merely to reconcile the Catholics of
the anti-Lennox faction to her marriage with Darnley.
There was fighting about the chapel door ; the priest
was attacked at the altar ; and in the daily quarrels at
the council-board the Lords of the Congregation told
Mary openly that ' if she thought of marrying a Papist
it would not be borne with.' l Suddenly, unlooked for
and uninvited, the evil spirit of the storm, the Earl of
Both well, reappeared at Mary's Court. She disclaimed
all share in his return ; he was still attainted ; yet
there he stood — none daring to lift a hand against him
— proud, insolent, and dangerous.
At this crisis Randolph brought Mary a message
which shewas desired Jo^acgfipiL^as^final ; that until
Elizabeth had herself married ojrha d made up her mind
1 Randolph to Cecil, March 15, March 17, and March 20: MS. Rolls
House,
248 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
not to marrv^ the succession must remainunsettled.
The Queen of Scots ( wept her fill ; ' but tears in those
eves were no sign of happy promise. Randolph so little
liked the atmosphere that he petitioned for his own
recall. Lennox had gathered about him a knot of wild
and desperate youths — Cassilis, Eglinton, Montgomery,
and Bothwell — the worst and fiercest of all. Darnley
had found a second friend and adviser besides Rizzio in
Lord Robert Stuart, the Queen's half-brother, ' a man
full of all evil/ The Queen's own marriage with him
was now generally spoken of; and Chatelherault, Argyle,
and Murray gave the English ambassador notice that
mischief was in the wind, ' and joined themselves in a
new bond to defend each other's quarrels.' 1
' To help all these unhappy ones,' Randolph wrote to
Cecil, ' I doubt not but you will take the best way ;
and this I can assure you, that contrary to my sovereign's
will, let them attempt, let them seek, let them send to
all the cardinals and devils in hell, it shall exceed their
power to bring anything to pass, so that be not refused
the Queen of Scots which in reason ought to content
her.' 2
The elements of uncertainty and danger were already
too many, when it pleased Elizabeth to introduce another
which completed the chaos and shook the three king-
*-, doms. Despising doctrinal Protestantism too keenly to
do justice to its professors, Elizabeth had been long
growing impatient of excesses like that which had
1 Randolph to Cecil, March 20 : Cotton. 3LSS. <"ALIG. B. 10.
2 Ibid.
1565.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA 249
shocked her at Cambridge, and had many times expressed
her determination to bring the Church to order. Her
own creed was a perplexity to herself and to the world.
With no tinge of the meaner forms of superstition, she
clung to practices which exasperated the Reformers,
while the Catholics laughed at their inconsistency ; her
crucifixes and candles, if adopted partly from a politic
motive of conciliation, were in part also an expression of
that half belief with which she regarded the symbols of
the faith ; and while ruling the clergy with a rod of iron,
and refusing as sternly as her father to tolerate their
pretensions to independence, she desired to force upon
them a special and semi-mysterious character ; to dress
them up as counterfeits of the Catholic hierarchy ; and
half in reverence, half in contempt, compel them to
assume the name and character of a priesthood, which
both she and they in their heart of hearts knew to be
an illusion and a dream.
Elizabeth's view of this subject cannot be called a
fault. It was the result of her peculiar temperament ;
and in principle was but an anticipation of the eventual
attitude into which the minds of the laity would subside.
But the theory in itself is suited only to settled times,
when it is safe from the shock of external trials : from
the first it has been endured with impatience by those
nobler minds to whom sincerity is a necessity of exist-
ence ; and in the first establishment of the English
Church, and especially when Elizabeth attempted to
insist on conditions which overstrained the position, she
tried the patience of the most enduring clergy in the world.
2 5°
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 43.
Her first and greatest objection was to their marriage.
The holy state of matrimony was one which she could
not contemplate without bitterness ; and although she
could not at the time of her accession prevent the clergy
from taking wives, and dared not re-enact the prohibitory
laws of her sister, she refused to revive the permissive
statutes of Edward. She preferred to leave the arch-
bishops and bishops with their children legally illegiti-
mate and themselves under the imputation of concubin-
age. Nor did time tend to remove her objections.
Cecil alone in 1561 prevented her from making an
attempt to enforce celibacy.1 To the Archbishop of
Canterbury himself ( she expressed a repentance that he
and the other married bishops were in office, wishing it
had been otherwise ; ' she thought them worse as they
were, ' than in the glorious shame of a counterfeited
chastity ; ' ' I was in horror,' the Archbishop wrote after
a conversation with her on the subject, ' to hear such
words come from her mild nature as she spake concern-
ing God's holy ordinance of matrimony/ * Princes
hitherto had thought it better to cherish their ecclesias-
tical state as conservators of religion ; the English
bishops alone were openly brought in hatred, shunned
and traduced before the malicious and ignorant people
as beasts without knowledge, as men of effrenate intem-
1 ' Her Majesty continues very
ill-affected towards the state of ma-
trimony in the clergy ; and if I were
not therein very stiff, her Majesty
would utterly and openly condemn
and forbid it.' — Cecil to Archbishop
Parker, August 12, 1561 : STRYPB'S
Life of Parker.,
1565.] THE EM BASS V OF DE SILVA. 251
perancy, without discretion or any godly disposition
worthy to serve in their state/ 1
In the same spirit the Queen attempted to force her
crucifixes into the parish churches ; and she provoked by
it immediate rebellion. The bishops replied with one
voice ' that they would give their lives for her ; but
they would not set a trap for the ignorant and make
themselves guilty of the blood of their brethren ; ' ' if by
the Queen's authority they established images, they
would blemish the fame of their notable fathers
who had given their lives for the testimony of God's
truth.'
Thus the antagonism went on, irritating Elizabeth
on her side into dangerous traffickings with the Bishop
of Aquila and his successor ; while Parker declared
openly that he must obey God rather than man ; and,
that however the Queen might despise him and his
brethren, ' there were enough of that contemptible flock
that would not shrink to offer their blood for the defence
of Christ's verity.' 2
The right however, as has been already pointed out,
was not wholly on the Protestant side. The recollec-
tions of Protestant ascendancy in the days of Edward
were not yet effaced ; and the inability of the Eeformers
to keep in check the coarser forms of irreverence and
irreligion was as visible as before. They were them-
selves aggressive and tyrannical; and when prebendaries'
1 Parker to Cecil : STRYPE'S Life of Parker. * Ibid.
252 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
wives melted tlie cathedral organ-pipes into dish-covers
and cut the frames into bedsteads, there was something
to be said even in favour of clerical celibacy. The bad
relations between the Crown and the spiritual estate
prevented the clergy from settling down into healthy
activity. The Queen insulted her bishops on one side ;
the Puritans denounced them on the other as imps of
Antichrist ; and thus without effective authority — with
its rulers brought deliberately into contempt — the
Church of England sunk deeper day by day into
anarchy.
Something no doubt it had become necessary to do ;
but Elizabeth took a line which however it might be
defended in theory was approved of only by the Catho-
lics— and by them in the hope that it would prove the
ruin of the institution which they hated.
At the close of 1564, after the return of the Court
from Cambridge, an intimation went abroad that the
Queen intended to enforce uniformity in the adminis-
tration of the services and to insist especially on the use
of the surplice and cap — the badges which distinguished
the priest from the Genevan minister. The Puritan
clergy would sooner have walked to the stake in the
yellow robes of Sanbenitos. But it was in vain that the
Dean of Durham insisted that it was cruel to use force
against Protestants while ' so many Papists, who had
never sworn obedience to the Queen nor yet did any
part of their duty to their flocks, enjoyed their liberty
and livings.5 It was in vain that Pilkington and others
of the bishops exclaimed against disturbing the peace
1565 ] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 253
of the Church at such a time ' about things indifferent.' 1
On the 24th of January the Queen addressed a letter to
the Archbishop of Canterbury, ' that whereas the eccle-
siastical government ought to be the example in its per-
fection to all others — by the carelessness of him the
Archbishop and of the other bishops, differences of
opinion, differences of practice, differences in the rites
used in the churches, had risen up throughout the
realm, to the great offence of godly, wise, and obedient
persons. She had hoped that the bishops would in
time have remembered their duties ; but finding her ex-
pectation disappointed she had now resolved to use her
own authority and suppress and reform all novelties,
diversities, and varieties. The Act of Uniformity should
be obeyed in all its parts, and the bishops must see to it
at their peril/ In the first draft of the letter a clause
was added in Cecil's hand, recommending them to act
with moderation ; but the words were struck through
and a menace substituted in their place that ' if the
bishops were now remiss, the Queen would provide
other remedy by such sharp proceedings as should
not be easy to be borne by such as were disordered ;
and therewith also she would impute to them the cause
thereof.' 2
Much might have been said on the manner of these
injunctions. To the matter there was no objection, pro-
1 Pilkington to Leicester, October 25, 1564: STKYPE'S Parker, Ap-
pendix.
2 The Queen to Archbishop Parker, January 24, 1565 ; STKYPE'S Life
of Parker.
254 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
vided discretion had been observed in limiting the points
which were to be insisted on within the bounds which
were indispensably necessary, and provided the bishops'
powers were equal to the duties imposed upon them.
Henry the Eighth had again and again issued similar
orders ; and on the whole, because he was known to be
evenhanded and because the civil authority supported
the ecclesiastical, he had held in check the more dan-
gerous excesses both of Catholic and Protestant. But
the reformed opinions had now developed far beyond
the point at which Henry left them. They had gained
a hold on the intellect as well as on the passions of the
best and noblest of Elizabeth's subjects ; and on the
other hand, as the Dean of Durham complained, vast
numbers of the Catholic clergy were left undisturbed in
their benefices who scarcely cared to conceal their creed.
The bishops were rebuked if they attempted to exact
the oath of allegiance from Papist recusants ; while the
Queen's displeasure was reserved for those who were
true from the bottom of their hearts to the throne
which the Catholics were undermining. The ablest
and worthiest of the English clergy were those on
whom the injunctions would press. most heavily. Eliza-
beth it seemed had not yet forgiven the good service
which they had done her when Anne Hobsart died, and
when but for them she would have married Lord Robert.
But there was no escape. The surplice should be
worn though it scorched like the robe of Nessus. The
Archbishop, with the help of the Bishops of London,
Ely, Lincoln, and Winchester, drew up a body of articles
1565.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 255
for ' uniformity of apparel and ritual/ and submitted
them to Cecil for approval. Elizabeth, meanwhile had
supplemented her first orders by a command that * mat-
ters in controversy in religion ' should not be discussed
in sermons ; the clergy while wearing Catholic garments
were not to criticise Catholic doctrines. The Archbishop
told Cecil that while ' the adversaries ' were so busy on
the Continent writing against the English Liturgy, this
last direction was thought ' too unreasonable ; ' and im-
plored him ' not to strain the cord too tight ; ' while he
requested an order in writing from the Queen, addressed
to himself and the Bishop of London, as their authority
for enforcing her first commands.1
Neither a letter from herself however, nor assistance
in any form from the Government, would Elizabeth allow
to be given. The bishops should deliver their tale of
bricks, but they should have no straw to burn them.
They were the appointed authorities, and by them she
was determined at once that the work should be done
and that the odium of it should be borne.
She did something indeed ; but not what Parker
desired. As if purposely to affront the Protestants, the
Court had revived the ceremonies of the Carnival. On
Shrove Tiiesday Leicester gave a tournament and after-
wards a masque, where Juno and Diana held an argu-
ment on the respective merits of marriage and celibacy.
Jupiter, as the umpire, gave sentence at last for matri-
mony ; and the Queen, who had the Spanish ambassador
1 Parker to Cecil, March 3, 1565 : Lansdoivne MSS. 8.
256 REIGN Ofi ELIZABETH. \cn. 43.
as usual at her side, whispered to him ' that is meant
for me/ A supper followed, but not till past midnight.
As Lent had begun the ambassador declined to eat, and
Elizabeth laughed at him. The next day
being A sh Wednesday, de Silva accompanied
her to St Paul's, where Nowell, the Dean, was to preach.
A vast crowd had assembled— more, the Queen thought,
to see her than to hear the sermon. The Dean began,
and had not proceeded far when he came on the subject
of images — * which he handled roughly/
' Leave that alone/ Elizabeth called from her seat.
The preacher did not hear, and went on with his invec-
tives. ' To your text ! Mr Dean/ she shouted, raising
her voice ; ' To your text ; leave that ; we have heard
enough of that ! To your subject.'
The unfortunate Doctor Nowell coloured, stammered
out a few incoherent words, and was unable to go on.
Elizabeth went off in a rage with her ambassador. The
congregation — the Protestant part of it — were in
tears.1
Archbishop Parker, seeing the Dean ' utterly dis-
mayed/ took him ' for pity home to Lambeth to
dinner ; ' 2 and wrote to Cecil a respectful but firm re-
monstrance. Without the letter for which he had ap-
plied he was powerless to move. The bishops, without
the support of the Queen or council, would only be
laughed at. Let Leicester, Bacon, Cecil himself, and
the Queen send for the Protestant ministers if they
1 De Silva to Philip, March 12 : MS. Simancas.
2 Parker to Cecil, March 8 : Lansdowm M&S, 8.
1565.] THE EMBASSY OF DE S1LVA. 257
pleased, and say to them what they pleased. TLey had
begun the trouble, and it was for them to pacify it. ' I
can do no good,' he said. 'If the ball shall be tossed
unto us, and we have no authority by the Queen's hand,
we will sit still ; I will no more strive against the
stream — fume or chide who will. The Lord be with
you ! ' l
Still labouring to do his best, the Archbishop called
a meeting of the bishops and invited them either to re-
commend obedience among the clergy or to abstain
from encouraging them in resistance. But the bishops
were now as angry as the Queen. They refused in a
body to ' discourage good Protestants ; ' and Parker told
Elizabeth plainly that unless she supported him in car-
rying them out the injunctions must be modified. He
had to deal with men * who would offer themselves to
lose all, yea, their bodies to prison, rather than conde-
scend ; ' while the lawyers told him that he could not
deprive incumbents of their livings 'with no more
warrant but the Queen's mouth/
While Parker addressed the Queen, the other
bishops waited on Cecil with the same protest. The
Reforming clergy, they said, refused everywhere ' to
wear the apparel of Satan ; ' ' Christ had no fellowship
with Belial ; ' and ' for themselves they would not be
made Papists in disguise/
Cecil, who knew that all appeals to Elizabeth in her
present humour would only exasperate her, replied that
1 Parker to Cecil, March 8 : Lansdowne MS&
VOL. VII. 17
258 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.43.
* they talked more rhetoric than reason ; the Queen
must be obeyed or worse would follow.' l
Never were human beings in a more cruel position.
Elizabeth sat still in malicious enjoyment of the torture
which she was inflicting, while Parker and Grindal,
after a fresh consultation with the lawyers, undertook
at last to summon the London clergy and attempt to
extort a promise from them to obey the Act of Uni-
formity ; if the clergy refused, the Archbishop supposed
that the Court was prepared for the consequences, and
that he must proceed to sequestration and deprivation ;
but while he consented to submit to the Queen's com-
mands he warned Cecil of the inevitable consequences :
many churches would be left destitute of service ; many
ministers would forsake their livings and live at print-
ing, teaching children, or otherwise as they could :
' what tumults would follow, what speeches and talks
were like to rise in the realm and in the city, he left it
to Cecil's wisdom to consider ; ' and driven as he was
against his will to these unwise extremities, he again
entreated that some member of the council might be
joined in commission with him ' to authorize the Queen's
commandments.' 2
On this last point Elizabeth would yield nothing.
The clergy were under the charge of the bishops ; and
the bishops should manage them with law or without.
One or two of the most violent of the London preachers
were called before the council and ' foul chidden : ' but
1 De Silva to Philip, March 12.
2 Parker and Grindal to Cecil, March 20 : Lansdowne MSS. 8.
1565.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 259
lay interference with them was limited to remonstrance.
The responsibility of punishing them was flung per-
sistently on the Archbishop, who at length, after once
more ineffectually imploring Cecil ' to pacify the Queen/
opened a commission at Lambeth with the Bishop of
London on the 26th of March.
A few hours' experience sufficed to justify the worst
alarm. More than a hundred of the London clergy
appeared. Sixty-one promised conformity ; a few
hesitated ; thirty- seven distinctly refused and were sus-
pended for three months ' from all manner of ministry.'
They were the best preachers in the city ; ( they showed
reasonable quietness and modesty other than was looked
for/ but submit they would not.1 As an immediate con-
sequence, foreseen by every one but the Queen, the
most frequented of the London churches either became
the scenes of scandal and riot or were left without
service. When the Archbishop sent his chaplains to
officiate, the congregation forcibly expelled them. The
doors of one church were locked, and six hundred
citizens * who came to communion ' were left at the
doors unable to find entrance ; at another, an Anglican
priest, of high church tendencies, who was sent to take
the place of the deposed minister, produced a wafer
at the sacrament ; the parishioners, when he was reading
the prayer of consecration, removed it from the table
' because it was not common bread/ At a third church
the churchwardens refused to provide surplices. The
Parker to Cecil, March 26 : Lansdownc MSti. 8.
260
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 43.
April,
Bishop of London was besieged in his house at St Paul's
by mobs of raging women whom he vainly entreated to
go away and send their husbands instead. Unable to
escape from the hands of these Amazons he was about
' to pray aid of some magistrate ' to deliver him ; and
was rescued only by one of the suspended clergy who
persuaded them to go away quietly — ' yet so as with
tears they moved at some hands compassion/ 1 Every-
where ( the precise Protestants ' ' offered their goods and
bodies to prison rather than they would relent/
Simultaneously and obviously on purpose
Elizabeth forced upon the people the most
alarming construction of the persecution. On Good
Friday, her almoner Guest, the high church Bishop of
Rochester, preached a sermon in the Chapel Royal on
the famous Hoc est corpus memn. He assured his con-
gregation again and again ' that the bread at the
sacrament was the very body, the very same body
which had been crucified/ 'and that the Christian
must so take it and so believe of it/ and an enthusi-
astic Catholic in the audience was so delighted to hear
the old doctrine once more in the Sovereign's presence,
that he shouted out — ' That is true, and he that denies
it let him be burnt/
On Easter Tuesday Elizabeth in stiff black velvet
and with all solemnity and devotion publicly washed
the feet of a poor woman ; and the washing business
V Parker to Cecil, March 26,
March 28, April 3, April 12 : Lana-
iowm MM. Griudal to Cecil, May
4 : Domestic MS8.t Elizabeth, vol.
xxxix.. Rolls House.
1565.]
THE EMBASSY OF DE STLVA.
261
over, with slow deliberation she had a large crucifix
brought to her which she piously kissed.1 In part per-
haps she was but a politic hypocrite, and desired to
deceive de Silva and Philip ; but the world took her at
her word and believed that she was openly making pro-
fession of Catholicism while she was compelling the
Protestants to be their own destroyers/
Once more Parker poured out to Cecil his despair
and distraction.2
Zambeth, April 28.
' SIR, — The Queen's Majesty willed my Lord of York
to declare her pleasure determinately to have the orders
go forward. I trust her Highness hath devised how it
may be performed. I utterly despair therein as of my-
self and therefore must sit still as I have now done,
always waiting either for toleration or else further aid.
Mr Secretary, can it be thought that I alone, having sun
and moon against me, can compass this difficulty ? if
you of her Majesty's council provide no otherwise for
this matter than as it appeareth openly, what the sequel
will be horresco vel reminiscendo cogitare. In King
Edward's days the whole body of the council travailed
in Hooper's attempt ; my predecessor Cranmer of blessed
memory,3 labouring in vain with Bishop Ferrars, the
1 * Acabando de lavar el pie a la
pobre, hacia de mucho espacio una
cruz muy larga y bien hecha para
besar en ella de que pesaba a
muchos de los que alii estaban.' —
De Silva to Philip, April 21 : M8.
flimancas.
2 Archbishop Parker to Cecil :
Lansdowne MSS. 9.
3 Parker's words are ' ray prede-
cessor D. Cranraer labouring in vain,'
&c. D. is Divus, and the expres-
sion in the text is its nearest Eng-
lish equivalent.
262 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [cif. 43.
council took it in hand ; and shall I hope to do that
which the Queen's Majesty will have done ? What I
hear and see, what complaints he brought to me, I shall
not report, [or] how I am used of many men's hands.
I commit all to God. If I die in this cause — malice so
far prevailing — I shall commit my soul to God in a good
conscience. If the Queen's Majesty he no more con-
sidered, I shall not marvel what he done or said to me.
If you hear and see so manifestly as may be seen, and
will not consult in time to prevent so many miseries, I
have and do by these presents discharge my duty and
conscience to you in such place as ye be. I can promise
to do nothing but hold me in silence within my own
conscience, and make my complaints to God ut exsurgat
Deus et judicet causam istam, ille, ille, qui comprehendit
sapientes in astutia eorum.1 God be with your honour.
' Your honour's in Christ,
'i£ 'MATT. CANTTJAR.'
The alarm produced by Elizabeth's attitude was not
confined to the English Protestants. Adam Loftus,
titular Archbishop of Armagh, bewailed to Cecil the
malice of the crafty ' devil and subtle Satan ' who was
' turmoiling and turning things topsy-turvy, bringing in
' a mingled religion, neither wholly with nor wholly
against God's word.' Such a religion was ' the more
dangerous,' the Irish primate thought, 'as it was ac-
counted good and comely ; ' but for himself he would
1 * That God may arise, and may judge in this caiise, — Ho — lie— who
taketh the wise in their own craftiness.'
i SOS-1
THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA.
261
rather see God followed wholly or Baal followed wholly ;
' it was dangerous to urge a necessity in things which
God's word did set at liberty.'1
Far worse was the effect in Scotland. The rigid Cal-
vinists, who had long watched Elizabeth with jealous
eyes, clamoured that she was showing herself at last in
her true colours. { Posts and packets flying daily in the
air,' brought such news as lost her and lost England
' the hearts of all the godly.' No imagination was too
extravagant to receive credit. The two Queens were
supposed to be in a secret league for the overthrow of the
truth, and Darnley's return was interpreted as part of an
insidious policy — at once ' to match the Queen of Scots
meanly and poorly,' and to confirm her in her evil ways
1 by marrying her to a Papist.' The ' godly ' exclaimed in
anguish ' that no hope was left of any sure establishment
of Christ's religion, but all was turned to confusion.'
* The evil effect ' on men's minds was described ' as be-*
yond measure infinite ; ' and Mary Stuart's desire to
obtain liberty of conscience for the Catholics and tl^e
increasing favour which she showed to Darnley, were
alike set down to Elizabeth.
The Leicester scandals were revived with new anec-
dotes to confirm them.2 The Protestants, goaded into,
1 The Archbishop of Armagh to
Cecil, 1565: Irish MSS. Rolls
2 'It is in every man's mouth
that lately the Duke of Norfolk's
Grace and my Lord of Leicester
playing at tennis, the Queen
beholding them, and my Lord Ro-
bert, being very hot and sweating,
took the Queen's napkin out of her
hand and wiped his face, which the
Duke seeing said he was too saucy,
and swore he would lay his racket
upon his face. Hereupon arose a
264
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 43-
fear and fury, swore that the priests at Holyrood should
be hanged, and ' idolatry ' be no more suffered. Mary
Stuart being on a visit at Lundy in Fife, the Laird — ' a
grave antient man with a white head and a white beard '
— led his seven sons before her, all tall and stalwart men.
They knelt together at her feet. ' The house/ the laird
said, ' was hers and all that was in it, and he and his
boys would serve her truly till death ; ' ' but he prayed
that while she remained no mass should be said there.'
She asked why. He said it was ' worse than the mickle
de'il.'1
Remonstrance did not rest in words. A priest in
Edinburgh, taking courage from the reports which were
in the air, said mass at Easter at a private house.
He was denounced, caught, hurried before the town
magistrates, and having confessed, was fastened hand
and foot to the market cross. There from two o'clock
in the afternoon till six he stood exposed, while 'ten
thousand eggs ' were broken upon his face and body ; and
the hungry mob howled round his feet and threatened
to dash his brains out with their clubs as soon as
he was taken down. The Provost, who had gone con-
tentedly home to supper, was obliged to return with the
city guard to bring him off in safety ; and the miserable
wretch pasted with slime and filth was carried senseless
tumult, and the Queen offended sore
with the Duke. This tale is told by
the Earl of Athol. Whatsoever is
most secret among you is sooner at
this Queen's ears than some would
think it. I would your doing
better, or many of your tattling
tongues shorter.' — Randolph to
Throgmorton, March 31 : Scotch
MSS. Rolls Home.
1 Randolph to Cecil, March 27:
MS. Ibid.
I56S-1
THE EMBASSY OF DE S1LVA.
265
into the Tolbodth and there made fast in irons with two
of his congregation at his side.1
The Queen of Scots, who was at Stirling when she
heard of this cowardly outrage, sent for the Provost,
and ordered him to release his prisoner ; ' not however/
wrote an unknown correspondent in relating the story to
Randolph,2 ' without great offence of the whole people ; '
' whereby/ he said, ' I trust whenever the like occurs
again, and there be knowledge gotten, execution will be
made in another manner of sort without seeking of fur-
ther justice at the magistrate's hands ; I assure you
there is greater rage now amongst the faithful nor ever
I saw since her Grace came to Scotland/
Meantime Mary Stuart, weary of the mask which she
had so long worn, and unable to endure any longer these
wild insults to her creed and herself, determined to run
the chance of dividing Scotland, to throw herself on the
loyalty of the Catholic party in her own country, in
England, and abroad, to marry Darnley and dare the
worst which Elizabeth could do. Whether she had re-
ceived any encouraging answer from Philip before she
made up her mind does not appear. It is most likely
however that she had learnt from the Government in the
Netherlands what the answer would be when it arrived ;
and the opinions of the Spanish ministers, when made
1 Randolph to Cecil, April, 1565 :
Rolls House MS.
3 One of a number of letters to
Randolph, in the Rolls House, writ-
ten in the same hand, and signed
' You know who.' To this person,
whoever he was, Randolph was in-
debted for much of his secret in-
formation. The hand partly resem-
bles that of Kirkaldy of Grange ;
partly, though not to the same de
gree, that of Knox.
.266 REIGN OF RUZABETIT. [cir. 43.
known at last, were decisively favourable. After a consult-
ation at the Escurial the Duke of Alva and the Count
de Feria recommended Philip by all means to support the
Queen of Scots in taking a Catholic husband who by
blood was so near the English crown ; and Philip sent
her word, and through de Silva sent word to the English
Catholics, that she and they might rely on him to bear
them through.1
Tired of waiting, and anticipating with justifiable
confidence that Philip would approve, the Queen of
Scots in the middle of April came to a fixed resolution
As Darnley was an English subject it was necessary to
go through the form of consulting the English sove-
reign ; and Maitland, who to the last moment had be-
lieved that he had been successful in dissuading his
mistress from so rash a step, was the person chosen to
inform Elizabeth that the Queen of Scots had made her
choice, and to request her consent.
With but faint hopes of success — for he knew too
much to share the illusions of his countrymen — Mait-
land left Edinburgh on the i5th of April, taking Ran-
dolph with him as far as Berwick. Three days later he
reached London. Mary Stuart still trusted Maitland
with her secrets, in the belief that although he might
disapprove of what she was doing he would remain true
to her. He carried with him private messages to de
Silva and Lady Lennox, and was thoroughly aware of
all that, she intended. It is certain however from Mait-?
1 MS. Simancaii.
15650
THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA.
267
land's subsequent conduct that although ready to go
with his mistress to the edge of a rupture with Eliza-
beth he was not prepared for open defiance. Elizabeth's
conduct had been so strange and uncertain that it was
possible that she might make no difficulty. Even the
Spanish ambassador believed that although she would
prefer Leicester, yet sooner than quarrel with the Queen,
of Scots she would agree to the marriage with Darnley ;
and with a faint impression that it might be so Mait-
land had accepted the commission. Yet either Mait-
land betrayed his trust, or Elizabeth already knew all
that he had to tell her : immediately after his arrival
de Silva reported that the Queen of England 'had
changed her mind ; ' 1 while Mary Stuart, as soon as she
was freed from the restraint of Maitland's presence, no
longer concealed that she had made up her mind irre-
vocably whether Elizabeth consented or refused.
Letters from Randolph followed close behind Mait-
land to say that the marriage was openly declared ;
Lady Lennox even told de Silva that she believed it
had secretly taken place ; and amidsi^the exultation of^
the Catholics a general expectation spread through
England that 'the good time was at hand when the
King of Spain and the Queen of Scots would give them
back their own again/ 2
Nor were their hopes without sound foundation.
Mary Stuart, as soon as her resolution was taken, de-
1 ' A lo que he podido en tender esta Reyna se ha mncho alterado de este
negocio.'— Do Silva to Philip, April 25 : MS. Simnncas.
• Ibid.
268 RETGN OF RLI7.ARRTTL [CH. 43.
spatched a messenger post haste to Spain to acquaint
Philip with it and to tell him that she depended on his
support. The messenger met the Duke of Alva at
Bayonne, where the Duke answered for his master in
terms which corresponded to her warmest hopes.
' I replied/ wrote Alva in a despatch to Philip, 'that
I had your Majesty's instructions to inform the Queen
of Scots of your Majesty's interest in her welfare ; I said
that your Majesty earnestly desired to see her in the
great position to which she aspired ; and you were as-
sured that both for herself and for the realm she could
not do better than marry the young Lennox.
'Your Majesty, I continued, recommended her to
conduct herself with great caution and dissimulation to-
wards the Queen of England, and for the present espe-
cially to refrain from pressing her in the matter of the
succession. The Queen of England might in that case
do something prejudicial to the Queen of Scots' interests,
and either declare war against her or else listen to the
proposals of the Queen-mother of France and marry the
young King. If the Queen of -Scots would follow your
Majesty's advice your Majesty would so direct and sup-
port her that when she least expected it she would find
herself in possession of all that she desired.' *
The messenger flung himself at Alva's feet and
wept for joy. His mistress, he said, had never in her
life received such happy news as these words would
convey to her; and he promised that she would act
1 Alva to Philip, June ; TKULET, vol. v.
1565.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 269
in every particular as the King of Spain advised.
Although this conversation took place two months
after Maitland's despatch to England, yet it spoke of a
foregone conclusion which Elizabeth too surely antici-
pated. In the first flurry of excitement she sent Lady
Lennox to the Tower ; and uncertain whether she
might not be too late, she proposed to send Sir Nicholas
Throgmortoii on the spot to Scotland, to say that ' if
the Queen of Scots would accept Leicester, she should
be accounted and allowed next heir to the crown as
though she were her own born daughter ; ' but ' as this
was certain and true on one side, so was it also certain
on the other that she would not do the like with any
other person.'1
The situation however was too serious to allow
Elizabeth to persist in the Leicester foible. The narrow
and irritating offer was suspended till it could be more
maturely considered; and on the 1st of May
the fitness or unfitness of the marriage of the
Queen of Scots and Lord Darnley was discussed ' with
long deliberation and argument ' in the English coun-
cil. The result was a unanimous conclusion ' that the
marriage with the Lord Darnley, being attended with
such circumstances as did appear, was unmeet, unpro-
fitable, directly prejudicial to the amity between the
two Queens, and perilous to the concord of the realm.'
But so little desirable did it seem to restrict the Queen
of Scots' choice unnecessarily, so unjust it seemed to
1 First draft of instructions to Sir S. Throgmorton, April 24 ; /Scotch
Mtiti. Holls House.
270 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
force upon her the scoundrel object of Elizabeth's own
affections, that Cecil and his friends urged the necessity
of meeting freely and cordially her demand for recog-
nition ; and they advised their mistress to offer the
Queen of Scots ' a free election of any other of the
nobility, either in the whole realm or isle or any other
place/ Tor themselves/ the council, 'thinking the
like of the rest of the nobility and sage men of the
realm, did for their parts humbly offer to her Majesty
that whatever could be devised for the satisfaction of
the Queen of Scots with some other meeter marriage
should be allowed with their advice and furthered with
their services when her Majesty should command them.' 1
With these more generous instructions, Sir N.
Throgmorton started for Scotland on the 4th of May.
Maitland, whom, in order to prolong his absence from
Edinburgh, Mary Stuart had directed to go on to
France, returned with the English ambassador in loyal
disobedience, to add his own persuasions : he still hoped
that the Queen of Scots might be tempted by the pro-
spect of immediate recognition to accept either Arundel,
Norfolk, or the Prince of Conde. If she would consent
to marry either of these three, the English Government
would do for her 'more than she had asked or even
could expect.' 2
1 Determination of the council
on the Queen of Scot's marriage,
signed Winchester, Norfolk, Derby,
Pembroke, Clinton, W. Howard, Ed.
llogers, Fr. Knolles, W. Cecil, Ab.
Cave, "W. 1'etre, John Mason, R.
Sackvillo.— Cotton. MSti. CALIU.
B. 10. Endorsed, ' This is a copy
of the paper delivered to Sir N.
Throgmorton.'
2 Paul de Foix to the Quecu-
mother, May 2, May 10 : TEULET
vol. ii
1565.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 271
But neither these offers, tempting as they would
have been a few weeks before, nor the admonitory cau-
tions of the Duke of Alva, came in time to save Mary
from the rash course into which she was plunging. The
presence of Lennox and Darnley had lashed the Scottish
factions into fury, and Queen and Court were within
the influence of a whirlpool from which they could no
longer extricate themselves. The lords on all sides
were calling their retainers under arms. The Earl of
Murray, at the expense of forfeiting the last remains of
his influence over his sister, had summoned Bothwell
to answer at Edinburgh a charge of high treason.
Bothwell would have defied him had he dared; but
Murray appeared accompanied by Argyle and 7000
men on the day fixed for the trial ; and the Hepburn
was once more obliged to fly. On the other hand,
Mary was lavishing on Darnley the most extravagant
demonstrations of affection. He was ill, and with con-
fiding carelessness she installed herself as his nurse at
his bedside. She accused her brother, when he remon-
strated, of ' seeking to set the crown on his own head/
Argyle and Murray durst not appear together at the
Court, ' that if need were the one might relieve the
other/ The miserable Chatelherault could only mutter
his feeble hope that he might die in his bed; while
Lennox boasted openly, e that he was sure of the great-
est part of England, and that the King of Spain would
be his friend.'
Lennox's men went openly to mass, and ' such pride
was noted in the father and the son ' that they would
272 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
scarcely speak to any common nobleman. ' My young
lord lying sick in his bed boasted the Duke that he
would knock his pate when he was whole ; ' while ' the
preachers looked daily to have their lives taken from
them/ and ' the country was so far broken that there
was daily slaughter without redress, stealing on all
hands, and justice almost nowhere/ 1
Although the report of the completion of the mar-
riage was premature, yet the arrangements for it had
been pushed forward with eager precipitancy. Mary
Stuart's friends in England had informed her of the
resolution of the council ; she despatched one of the
Betons to delay Throgmorton at Berwick; and the
leading lords were sent for one by one to Stirling,
where the Court was staying, and were requested to
sign a paper recommending Darnley as a fitting person
to be the Queen's husband. Murray's signature could
be ill dispensed with. He was invited among the rest,
and overwhelmed with courtesies — Mary, Lennox, and
Darnley contending with each other in their professions
of regard. Murray however was the first to refuse.
'He had no liking thereof/ The Earl of Morton had
been gained over by a release from Lady Lennox of her
claims on Angus ; and if Murray would have complied
he might have had the lands of three counties for his
reward; but in vain Mary pleaded, in vain Mary
threatened. She took her brother into a room apart ;
she placed the paper in his hand, and required him to
Randolph to Cecil, May 3 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
1565.] THE EMBASSY OF DE STLVA. 273
sign it on his allegiance. He asked for time : she said
no time could be allowed because others were waiting
for his example.
Murray's character, so much debated among histo-
rians, was, in the eye of those who knew him, a very
simple one. He was true, faithful, honourable, earnest,
stout both for the defence of God's glory and to save his
sovereign's honour ; and he was fearful that her doings
might make a breach of amity between the two realms. l
For five years he had laboured to reconcile two oppos-
ing duties : he was a zealous Protestant, but he had
saved his sister from persecution, and had quarrelled
with his friends in her defence ; he had maintained her
claims on the English succession with the loyalty of a
Scot ; he had united his special patriotism with as noble
an anxiety for the spiritual freedom of the united realms.
Few men had resisted more temptations to play a selfish
game than Murray ; none had carried themselves with
more conspicuous uprightness in a difficult and most
trying service. To the last, and long after he had
known the direction in which his sister's aims were
tending, he had shielded her with his name, he had as-
sisted her with his counsels, he had striven hard to save
her from the sinister and dangerous advisers to whom
she was secretly listening: but he could hesitate no
longer ; under the miserable influence of Rizzio and her
foreign correspondents, she was bringing revolution and
civil war upon Scotland, and the choice was forced upon
1 Randolph to Cecil, May 21 • Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
VOL. VII. 18
274 RETGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
him between his countr^^iid'-4riH--pe¥SQiial aft'ec-
tiojnu
He implored the Queen to pause. She reproached
him with being a slave to England. He said ' that he
could not consent to her marriage with one who he
could not assure himself would set forth Christ's true
religion/ She told him scornfully 'it was well known
from whom he had received that lesson/ ' He answered
with humility, but he would not sign ; ' and Mary was
left to act alone or with her own and Darnley's friends,
and to endeavour to rid herself of Murray by such other
means as might offer themselves.1
Her messenger meanwhile had sped fast upon his
way to England, and encountered Throgmorton at
Newark. Mary Stuart, concealing her resentment at
Maitland's disobedience, sent him by Beton's hands
' the sweetest letter that ever subject received from
sovereign/ wanting neither love, eloquence, despite,
anger, nor passion ; she bade him "go back and tell
Elizabeth .that she had been trifled with too long, and
that she would now follow her own mind and choice ;
with the advice of her nobles she would take such an
one as she thought good, and she would no longer be
fed with yea and nay, and depend on such uncertain
dealing.
But she had far mistaken Maitland if she believed
that he would travel with her on the road into which
she had been tempted by Rizzio. So desperate it seemed
Randolph to Cecil, May 8 : Scotch MSS. Rolls Souse.
1565.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 275
to him that he would have had her dragged back from
it by force.
' I never saw Lidington in such perplexity and pas-
sion/ wrote Throgrnorton ; ' I could not have believed
he could have been so moved ; he wishes I had brought
with me authority to declare war if the Queen of Scots
persist, as the last refuge to stay her from this unad-
vised act.'
Mary Stuart's orders to Maitland to return to London
were so distinct that he hesitated before he again dis-
obeyed ; he remained at Newark for a few hours after
Throgmorton had gone forward ; but the extremity was
so serious that he ran all risks and overtook the ambas-
sador at Alnwick. At the Border they heard the alarm-
ing news that Chatelherault had been bribed into com-
pliance with the marriage ' by a written promise to enjoy
his own/ ' Let the Earl of Northumberland be stayed
in London/ Throgmorton wrote back to Leicester :
' from what I hear it is very necessary. Examine ^Sir
Richard Cholmondley, and look well and sharp to the
doings of that party.' /The Papists in these parts do
rouse themselves.' ' Look to yourselves and her Ma-
jesty's safety.' ' Sir Henry Percy is dangerous.' 1
Time pressed. On the I5th Lord Darnley was to be
created Earl of Ross at Stirling; when, being an English
subject, he would swear allegiance to the Queen of Scots
without leave sought or obtained from his own sovereign.
A dukedom had been first intended for him ; the higher
1 Throgmorton to Leicester and Cecil, from Berwick, May n and 12
Scotch MSS. Rolls Home.
276 RETON OF ELIZABETH. [en. 43.
title had been suspended', and the foolish boy struck
with his dagger at the justice-clerk who was sent to tell
him of the unwelcome change. But whether earl or
duke he would alike p.oTrmm'ttrftagnTi to Elizabeth, and
Throgmorton hurried forward to be in time if possible
to prevent a catastrophe which would make reconciliation
hopeless. A message from the Queen of Scots met him
at Edinburgh that he should have his audience when the
creation was over, and that he must remain where he
was till she sent for him. So well he wished to Mary
that he would not obey ; he pushed right on to Stirling
and reached the castle on the morning of the fatal day.
But the gates were locked in his face ; and it was not
till toward evening that he received an intimation that
the Queen would receive him.
When he was at last admitted into her presence the
creation was over ; the oath had been sworn ; and the
Queen of Scots stood triumphant, her eyes flashing pride
and defiance, surrounded by half the northern lords.
Sir Nicholas Throgmorton and Mary Stuart had last
met on the eve of her departure from France, when he
had vainly entreated her to ratify the Treaty of Edin-
burgh. He was now witnessing another act of the
same drama.
In England he had been a warm advocate of her re-
cognition, and she received him with gracious kindness.
He presented his despatches ; he then said that he was
sent by the Queen of England to express ' her surprise
at the hasty proceedings with the Lord Darnley, seeing
how he and his father had failed, of their dutv in enter-
1565.] THE EMBASSY OF DE S1LVA. 277
prising such a matter without her Majesty's knowledge
and consent.'
Mary Stuart, affecting the utmost surprise, in turn
professed herself at a loss to understand Elizabeth's
meaning. It was not to be supposed, she said, that she
would remain always unmarried; the foreign princes
who had proposed for her had been unwelcome to the
Queen of England, and she had imagined that in taking
an English nobleman who was equally acceptable to
both realms, she would have met her sister's wishes
most exactly.
The truth sprung to Throgmorton's lips ; he had been
a true friend to her and he would speak plainly.
He told her that she knew very well what the Queen
of England had desired ; and she knew also that she was
doing the very thing which was not desired. The Queen
of England had wished her to take some one ' who would
maintain the amity between the two nations ; ' and by
Lord Darnley that amity would not be maintained.
Argument was of course unavailing. The Queen of
Scots had on her side the letter of Elizabeth's words —
for Darnley was the nominee of the English Catholics ;
and the Catholics outnumbered the Protestants. After
some discussion she promised to suspend the celebration
of the marriage for three months, in the hope that in
the interval Elizabeth would look more favourably on it ;
but Throgmorton saw that she was determined ; and he
doubted whether she would adhere to the small conces-
sion which she had made.
' The mutter is irrevocable/ he reported to Elizabeth •
278 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
'I do find this Queen so captivate either by love or
cunning — or rather to say truly by boasting or folly —
that she is not able to keep promise with herself, and
therefore not able to keep promise with your Majesty in
these matters/1
Anticipating an immediate insurrection in Northum-
berland and Yorkshire, he begged that Bedford, who had
gone to London, might return to Berwick without an
hour's delay ; and that the troops there might be largely
reinforced. He returned at his leisure through York,
to inform the council there of the names of dangerous
persons which he had learnt in Scotland ; and mean-
while he sketched a course of action to Leicester and
Cecil which would either prevent the marriage or cripple
it with conditions which would deprive it of its danger.
Elizabeth he thought should immediately make pub-
lic ' the indignity ' which had been offered her by the
Queen of Scots, and should declare without ambiguity
her intention of ' chastising the arrogancy ' of subjects
who had disowned their allegiance. He recommended
the arrest of the Earl of Northumberland, the detention
of Lady Lennox * in close and separate confinement/ and
the adoption of prompt measures to disabuse 'the Papists'
of their belief 'that they were themselves in credit and
estimation.' An eye should be kept on the Spanish
ambassador — ' there the matter imported much ' — and
favour should be shown to Lady Catherine Grey, who,
though fast sinking under hard usage, still survived.
1 Throgmortou to Elizabeth, May 21 : Scotch MSS. Soils Rome.
1565-] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 279
The English Government should avoid differences with
France and Spain ; and then ' either a breach of the
matter would follow or else a good composition.' l
Randolph, after Throgmorton's departure, continued
at his post, and sent up accounts from week to week of
the position of parties and of the progress of the
crisis.
He described Darnley as a conceited, arrogant, intol-
erable fool ; he spoke of Murray as true to his mistress
in the highest sense, and still labouring to save her from
herself — of Maitland ' as more honest than many looked
for ' — of Argyle and the Lords of the old Congregation
as true to their principles, and working all together — of
the Earl of Ruthven alone ' as to his shame stirring coals
to bring the marriage to effect/ ' Of the poor Queen
herself he knew not what to say, 'so pitiful her condition
seemed to him ; ' ' he had esteemed her before/ he said,
' so worthy, so wise, so honourable in all her doings ; '
and he ' found her so altered with affection towards Lord
Darnley that she had brought her honour in question,
her estate in hazard, her country torn to pieces/2
Affection it might be, or else, as Maitland thought,
' the foundation of the matter might have been anger
and despite : ' so far from loving the weak idiot whom
she had chosen, she was more likely already shuddering
at the sacrifice which her ambition and revenge had de-
manded ; Lord Darnley had few qualities to command
either love or respect from Mary Stuart.
1 Throgmorton to Cecil and Leicester, May 21 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
'* Randolph to Leicester and Cecil, May 21 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House
280 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
' David Rizzio/ continued Randolph in a
later letter, ' is he that now worketh all, chief
secretary to the Queen and only governor to her good
man. The bruits here are wonderful, men's talk very
strange, the hatred towards Lord Darnley and his house
marvellous great, his pride intolerable, his words not to
be borne, but where no man dare speak again. He
spareth not also in token of his manhood to let blows
fly where he knows they will be taken. When men
have said all and thought what they can, they find no-
thing but that God must send him a short end or
themselves a miserable life. They do not now look for
help from England. Whatsoever I speak is counted but
wind. If her Majesty will not use force let her spend
three or four thousand pounds. It is worth the expense
of so much money to cut off the suspicion that men
make of her Majesty that she never liked thing in her
life better than to see this Queen so meanly matched.
She is now so much altered from that which lately she
was known to be, that who now beholdeth her doth not
think her to be the same. Her Majesty is laid aside ;
her wits not such as they were ; her beauty other than
it was; her cheer and countenance changed into I
wot not what — a woman more to be pitied than any
that ever I saw. The Lord Darnley has said that if
there were war to-morrow between England and Scot-
land, this Queen should find more friends in England
than the Queen's Majesty's self/1
Randolph to Leicester ad Cecil, Juno 3 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
1565-] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 281
Maitland continued to write confidentially to Cecil,
promising to do his best to prevent a collision between
the two countries, and entreating Cecil to assist him.
Randolph, distracted by the suspicions of Elizabeth's
motives which he saw round him, advised that ' unless
the Queen of Scots was to be allowed to take her will/
an English army should advance to the Border, and
that he should be himself empowered to promise the
Congregation distinct and open support. In that case
all would be well. ' The Papists should be bridled at
home, and all intelligence cut oif between them and the
Scots : and either Mary Stuart would be put to the
hardest shift that ever prince was at, or such a stir in
Scotland that what part soever was strongest should be
the longer liver.'1
The agitation in England after Throgmorton's return
was almost as great. A series of remarkable documents
remain to illustrate the alarm with which the crisis was
regarded, and to reveal many unexpected features in the
condition of the country.
First is a paper in Cecil^hand, dated the 2nd of June,
entitled ' The perils and troubles that may presently
ensue and in time to come follow upon the marriage of
the Queen of Scots with the Lord Darnley.'
' The minds/ thus this paper runs, ' of all such as be
affected to the Queen of Scots either for herself, or for
the opinion of her pretences to this crown, or for the
desire to have a change in the form of religion in this
Randolph to Cecil, June 12: Ibid.
282 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
realm, or for the discontentation they have of the
Queen's Majesty or her successors or of the succession
of any other besides the Queen of Scots, shall be by this
marriage erected, comforted, and induced to devise and
labour how to bring their desires to pass ; and to make
some estimate what persons these are, to the intent the
quantity of the peril may be weighed, the same may be
composed in these sorts either within the realm or
without.
* The first are such as are especially devoted to the
Queen of Scots or the Lord Darnley by bond of blood
and alliance — as all the House of Lorraine and Guise
for her part, and the Earl of Lennox and his wife with
all such in Scotland as be of their blood there and have
received displeasure by the Duke of Chatelherault and
the Hamiltons.
* The second are all manner of persons both in this
realm and in other countries that are devoted to the
authority of Rome and mislike of the religion here re-
ceived ; and in these two sorts are the substance of them
comprehended that shall take comfort in this marriage.
' Next therefore is to be considered what perils and
troubles these kind of men shall intend to this realm.
1 The general scope and mark of all their designs is
and always shall be to bring the Queen of Scots to have
the royal crown of this realm ; and therefore though
their devices may vary amongst themselves for the com-
passing hereof, according to the accidents of the times,
and according to the impediments which they shall find
by means of the Queen's Majesty's actions and govern-
1565.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 283
ment, yet all their purposes shall wholly and only tend
to make the Queen of Scots Queen of this realm and to
deprive our sovereign lady thereof. And in these their
proceedings there are two manner of things to be con-
sidered, the one of which is far worse than the other.
The one is intended by them that, either for malicious
blindness in religion or for natural -affection to the
Queen of Scots or the Lord Darnley, do persuade them-
selves that the said Queen of Scots hath presently more
right to the crown than our sovereign the Queen, of
which sort be all their kindred of both sides and all such
as are devoted to the Papacy either in England, Scotland,
Ireland, or elsewhere. The other is meant of them
which less maliciously are persuaded that the Queen of
Scots hath only right to be the next heir to succeed the
Queen's Majesty and her issue, of which sort few are
without the realm but here within ; and yet of them not
so many as are of the contrary. And from these two
sorts shall the devices and practices proceed.
' From the first are to be looked for these perils. It
is to be doubted that the devil will infect some of them
to imagine the hindrance of our dearest sovereign lady
by such means as the devil will suggest to them;
although it is to be assuredly hoped that Almighty God
will — as hitherto He hath — graciously protect and pre-
serve her from such dangers.
' There will be attempted by persuasions, by bruits
and rumours and such like, to alienate the minds of good
subjects from the Queen's Majesty, and to conciliate
them to the Queen of Scots, and in this behalf the
284 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43.
frontier and the north will be much solicited and
laboured. There will be attempted tumults and rebel-
lions, specially in the north towards Scotland, so as
thereupon may follow some open extremity by violence.
There will be by the said Queen's council and friends
a new league made with France or Spain that shall be
offensive to this ^realm and a furtherance to their title ;
and it is also likely they will set on foot as many prac-
tices as they can both upon the frontier and in Ireland
to occasion the Queen's Majesty to continue her charges,
thereby to retain her from being wealthy or potent.
From the second is not much to be feared ; but they
will content themselves to serve notedly the Queen 's
Majesty and so to impeach her not to marry ; but to
hope that the Queen of Scots shall have issue, which
they will think to be more plausible to all men because
thereby the Houses of England and Scotland shall be
united in one, and thereby the occasions of war shall
cease; with which persuasions many people may be
seduced and abused to incline themselves to the Queen
of Scots.'1
The several points thus prepared by Cecil for the
consideration of the council were enlarged in the dis-
cussion which ensued on them.
' By some it was thought plainly that the peril was
greater by the marriage with the Lord Darnley than
with the mightiest prince abroad ; ' a stranger would
have few friends in England ; the Lord Darnley being
Cotton. Mtiti. CAUG. 13. 10.
1565.] THE EMBASSY OF DE STLVA. 285
an English subject, ' whatever power he could make by
the faction of the Papists or other discontented persons
would be so much deducted from the power of the
realm/ 'A small faction of adversaries at home was
more dangerous than thrice their number abroad ; ' and
it was remembered that ' foreign powers had never pre-
vailed in England but with the help of some at home/
It ' had been observed and manifestly seen before
this attempt at marriage, that in every corner of the
realm, the factions that most favoured the Scottish title
had grown stout and bold ; ' ' they had shown them-
selves in the very Court itself ; ' and unless checked
promptly ' they would grow so great and dangerous as
redress would be almost desperate/ ' Scarcely a third
of the population were assured to be trusted in the mat-
ter of religion, upon which only string the Queen of
Scots' title did hang ; ' and ' comfort had been given to
the adversaries of religion in the realm to hope for
change/ ' by means that the bishops had dealt straightly
with some persons of good religion because they had
forborne to wear certain apparel and such like things
— being more of form and accident than any substance/
' The pride and arrogancy of the Catholics had been in-
creased ' by the persecution of the Protestants ; while if
the bishops attempted to enforce conformity on the other
side ' the judges and lawyers in the realm, being not the
best affected in religion, did threaten them with pre-
munire, and in many cases letted not to punish and de-
fame them,' ' so that they dared not execute the ecclesi-
astical laws/
286 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.43.'
For much of all this the Queen was responsible.
She it was who more than any other person had nursed
the Scottish faction ' at the Court. If the bishops had
been too eager to persecute the Catholics, it was she who
had compelled Parker to suspend the ablest of the Pro-
testant ministers. ' But the sum of the perils was made
so apparent as no one of the council could deny them to
be both many and very dangerous.' They were agreed
every one of them that the Queen must for the present
relinquish her zeal for uniformity, and that the prosecu-
tions of the clergy must cease till the question could be
reconsidered by Parliament ; they determined to require
the oath of allegiance of the judges, ' so that they should
for conscience' sake maintain the Queen's authority/ to
replace the nonjuring bishops in the Tower, to declare
forfeited all benefices held by ecclesiastics who were re-
siding abroad, and to drive out a number of seditious
monks and friars who had fled across the Border from
Scotland and were serving as curates in the northern
churches. Bedford meanwhile should go down to Ber-
wick taking additional troops with him ; the ' powers
of the Border ' should be held in readiness to move at
an hour's notice ; and a reserve be raised in London to
march north in case of war. Lennox and Darnley
might then be required to return to England on their
allegiance. If they refused they would be declared
traitors and their extradition demanded of the Queen of
Scots under the treaties.
So far the council was unanimous. As to what
should be done if the Queen of Scots refused to sur-
1565.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 287
render them opinions were divided. The bolder party
were for declaring immediate war and sending an army
to Edinburgh ; others preferred to wait till events had
shaped themselves more distinctly ; all however agreed
on the necessity of vigour, speed, and resolution. ' No
persons deserving of mistrust were to be suffered to
have any rule of her Majesty's subjects or lands in the
north ; ' they might ' retain their fees/ ' but more
trusty persons should have the rule of their people/
The Earl of Murray and his friends should be com-
forted and supported ; and ' considering the faction and
title of the Queen of Scots had for a long time received
great countenance by the Queen's Majesty's favour
shown to the said Queen and her ministers,' the council
found themselves compelled to desire her Majesty ' by
some exterior act to show some remission of her dis-
pleasure to the Lady Catherine and the Earl of Hert-
ford/
Further — for it was time to speak distinctly, and
her Majesty's mode of dealing in such matters being
better known than appreciated — she was requested,
after considering these advices, to choose which of them
she liked, and put them in execution in deeds and not
pass them over in consultations and speeches.1
Nor did the council separate without returning once
more to the vexed question of the Queen's marriage.
1 The words in italics are under-
lined in the original.
Summary of consultations and
advices given to her Majesty, June,
1565 : Cotton. MSS. CALIG. B. 10.
Debates in Council, June 4, 1565:
Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
288 RETCN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 43.
So long as she remained single they represented gravely
that ' no surety could be devised to ascertain any per-
son of continuance of their families and posterities.'
The French affair had dragged on. Elizabeth had
coquetted with it as a kitten plays with a ball. The
French ambassador, De Foix, on the 2nd of May made
an effort to force an answer from her one way or the
other. ' The world/ he said, ' had been made in six
days, and she had already spent eighty and was still un-
decided.' Elizabeth had endeavoured to escape by say-
ing that the world ' had been made by a greater artist
than herself; that she was constitutionally irresolute,
and had lost many fair opportunities by a want of
promptitude in seizing them/ Four days later on the
receipt of bad news from Scotland she wavered towards
acceptance : she wrote to Catherine de Medici to say
' that she could not decline an offer so generously made ;
she would call Parliament immediately, and if her sub-
jects approved she was willing to abide by their resolu-
tion.' l
A parliamentary discussion could not be despatched
in a moment. The Queen-mother on receiving Eliza-
beth's letter asked how soon she might expect an an-
swer; and when Sir T. Smith told her that perhaps
four months would elapse first, she affected astonish-
ment at the necessity of so much ceremony. If the
Queen of England was herself satisfied she thought it-
was enough.
La response de la Reyne,' May 6 : French MSB. Rolls ITmtse.
1565.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SILVA. 289
'Madam,' replied Smith, 'her people be not like
your people ; they must be trained by doulceur and
persuasion, not by rigour and violence. There is no
realm in Christendom better governed, better policied,
and in more felicity of quiet and good order than is the
realm of England ; and in case my sovereign should go
to work as ye say, Grod knows what would come of it :
you have an opinion that her Majesty is wise ; her
answer is very much in a little space and containeth
more substance of matter than multitude of words.' l
Catherine de Medici but half accepted the excuse,
regarding it only as a pretext for delay. Yet Elizabeth
was probably serious, and had the English council been
in favour of the marriage, in her desperation at the
attitude of Mary Stuart she might have felt herself
compelled to make a sacrifice which would insure for
her the alliance of France. Paul de Foix one day at the
end of May found her in her room playing chess.
' Madam/ he said to her, ' you have before you the
game of life. You lose a pawn ; it seems a small mat-
ter ; but with the pawn you lose the game/
'* I see your meaning/ she answered. ' Lord Darn-
ley is but a pawn, but unless I look to it I shall be
checkmated/
She rose from her seat, led the ambassador apart, and
said bitterly she would make Lennox and his son smart
for their insolence.
De Foix admitted and made the most of the danger;
1 Smith to Elizabeth, May, 1565 : French MSS. Rolls House.
VOL. vn. 19
290 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.43.
' her enemies/ he allowed, ' all over the world were
wishing to see Mary Stuart and Darnley married/ and
unfortunately there were also clearsighted, able English
statesmen who desired it as well, as a means of uniting
the crowns. ' But your Majesty/ he added, ' has in
your hands both your own safety and your rival's ruin.
France has been the shield of Scotland in its English
wars. Take that shield for yourself. The world is
dangerous, the strongest will fare the best, and your
Majesty knows that the Queen of Scots dreads no one
thing so much as your marriage with the most Christ-
ian King/
With mournful irony Elizabeth replied that she did
not deserve so much happiness.1 The English council
in pressing her to take a husband was thinking less of
a foreign alliance than of an heir to the crown ; and
the most Christian King was unwelcome to her advisers
for the reason perhaps for which she would have pre-
ferred him to any other suitor. The full-grown, able-
bodied Archduke Charles was the person on whom the
hearts of the truest of her statesmen had long been
fixed. The Queen referred de Foix to the council ;
and th° council, on the 2nd of June, informed him
\ * that on mature consideration and with a full appreciation
\of the greatness of the oifer, the age of the King of
\France, the uncertainty of the English succession, and
the unlikelihood of children from that marriage, for
1 Paul dc Foix to the Quccn-motber, June 3 ; TEULET, vol. ii.
1565.] THE EMBASSY OF DE SlLVA. 291
several years at least, obliged them to advise their mis*
tress to decline his proposals.' x
The next day Elizabeth sent for the ambassador of
the Duke of Wurtemberg who was acting in England
in behalf of Maximilian. She told him that she had
once resolved to live and die a maiden Queen ; but she
deferred to the remonstrances of her subjects, and she
desired him to tell the Emperor that she had at last
made up her mind to marry.2 She had inquired of the
Spanish ambassador whether the King of Spain still
wished to see her the wife of his cousin. The ambas-
sador had assured her that the King could not be more
anxious if the Archduke had been a child of his own.
She said that she could not bind herself to accept a
person whom she had never seen ; but she expressed
her earnest wish that the Archduke should come to
England.
The minister of Wurtemberg in writing to Maxi-
milian added his own entreaties to those of the Queen ;
he said that ' there was no fear for the Archduke's hon-
our ; the Queen's situation was so critical that if the
Archduke would consent to come she could not dare to
affront the Imperial family by afterwards refusing his
hand/' Sl
1 MIGNET'S Mary Stuart, vol. i. p. 146.
5 ' Se constituisse mine nwbere.'
3 Adam Schetowitz to Maximilian, June 4, 1565 : BurghUy Papers^ vol. i
2Q2
CHAPTER XL1V.
\
THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE.
THE two Queens were again standing in the same
relative positions which had led to the crisis of 1560.
Mary Stuart was once more stretching out her hand to
grasp Elizabeth's crown. From her recognition as heir-
presumptive, the step to a Catholic revolution was imme-
diate and certain ; and Elizabeth's affectation of Catholic
practices would avail little to save her. Again, as before,
the stability of the English Government appeared to
depend on the maintenance of the Protestants in Scot-
land; and again the Protestants were too weak to protect
themselves without help from abroad. The House of
Hamilton was in danger from the restitution of Lennox
and the approaching elevation of Darnley ; the Earl of
Lennox claimed the second place in the Scotch succes-
sion in opposition to the Duke of Chatelherault ; and the
Queen of Scots had avowed her intention of entailing her
crown in the line of the Stuarts. Thus there were the
same parties and the same divisions. But the Protestants
Were split among themselves among the counter-influ-
ences of hereditary alliance and passion. The cession of
1565.] THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE. 293
her claims 011 the lands of Angus by Lady Margaret,
had won to Darnley's side the powerful and dangerous
Earl of Morton, and had alienated from Murray the
kindred houses of Ruth veil and Lindsay. There was no
longer an Ar ran marriage to cajole the patriotism of the
many noblemen to whom the glory of Scotland was
dearer than their creed ; and all those whose hearts were
set on winning for a Scotch prince or princess the
English succession were now devoted to their Queen.
Thus the Duke of Chatelherault with the original group
who had formed the nucleus of the Congregation —
Murray, Argyle, Gleiicairn, Boyd, and Ochiltree —
found themselves alone against the whole power of their
country.
Secure oil the side of France, Elizabeth would have
been less uneasy at the weakness of the Protestants, had
the loyalty of her own subjects been open to no sus-
picion ; but the state of England was hardly more satis-
factory than that of Scotland. In 1560 the recent loss
of Calais and the danger of foreign invasion had united
the nation in defence of its independence. Two-thirds
of the peers were opposed at heart to Cecil's policy ; but
the menaces of France had roused the patriotism of the
nation. Spain was then perplexed and neutral ; and the
Catholics had for a time been paralyzed by the recent
memories of the Marian persecution.
Xow, although the dangers were the same, Elizabeth's
embarrassments were incomparably greater. T^e studied
trifling with which she had disregarded the general
anxiety for her marriage had created a party for the
494 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.44.
Queen of Scots amidst the most influential classes of the
people. The settlement of the succession was a passion
among them which amounted to a disease ; while tho
union of the crowns was an object of rational desire to
every thoughtful English statesman. The Protestants
were disheartened ; they had gained no wisdom by
suffering ; the most sincere among them were as wild
and intolerant as those who had made the reign of
Edward a by- word of mismanagement ; the Queen was
as unreasonable with them on her side as they were TX-
travagant on theirs ; while Catholicism, recovering from
its temporary paralysis, was reasserting the superiority
which the matured creed of centuries has a right to
claim over the half- shaped theories of revolution. Had
Mary Stuart followed the advice which Alva gave to her
messenger at Bayonne, had she been prudent and for-
bearing and trusted her cause to time till Philip had
disposed of the Turks and was at leisure to give her his
avowed support, the game was in her hands. Her choice
of Darnley, sanctioned as it was by Spain, had united in
her favour the Conservative strength of England ; and
either Elizabeth must have allowed the marriage and
accepted the Queen of Scots as her successor, or she must
have herself yielded to pressure, fulfilled her promises at
last, and married the Archduke Charles.
This possibility and this alone created Mary's diffi-
culties. She knew what Philip's engagements meant ;
she knew that Spain desired as little as France to see
England and Scotland a united and powerful kingdom ;
and that if Elizabeth could be recalled out of her evil
1565-] THE DARN LEY MARRIAGE, 295
ways by a Catholic alliance, the cabinet of Madrid
would think no more of Darnley or herself. She would
have to exchange an immediate and splendid triumph
for the doubtful prospect of the eventual succession
should her rival die without a child.
Nor did Elizabeth herself misunderstand the necessity
to which she would be driven, unless Mary Stuart saved
her by some false move. She had played so often with
the Archduke's name that her words had ceased to
command belief; but at last she was thinking of him
seriously — the more seriously perhaps because many
Englishmen who had before been most eager to provide
her with a husband were now as well or better satisfied
with the prospect of the succession of the Queen of
Scots.
' The Queen,' de Silva wrote on the 8th of June to
Philip, 'has taken alarm at the divisions among her
subjects. A great many of them she is well aware are
in favour of Lord Darnley and Mary Stuart. Several
of the most powerful noblemen in England have long
withdrawn from the Court and are looking to this mar-
riage for the union of the two crowns. The Queen
must now come to a resolution about the Archduke
Charles. She understands fully that a marriage with
him is the sole means left to her of preserving her
alliance with your Majesty, of resisting her enemies,
and of preventing a rebellion. She detests the thought
of it ; and yet so strange is her position that she dares
not encounter Parliament for fear her excuses may be
Accepted. The people have ceased to care whether she
296 REIGN OP ELIZABETH. [CH. 44-
marries or remains single ; they are ready to entail the
crown on the King and Queen of Scotland.
' Her hope at present is to throw Scotland into con-
fusion with the help of the Duke of Chatelherault, who
cannot endure that the House of Lennox should he pre-
ferred to the Hamiltons. She is frightening the Hugue-
nots in France by telling them that if the Queen oi
Scots obtains the English crown she will avenge her
uncle's death and assist the Catholics to extirpate them.
She will temporize till she see how her tricks succeed.
If she can save herself by any other means she will not
marry/ l
The two players were not ill-matched, though for
the present the Queen of Scots had the advantage.
* The matter/ said Sir Thomas Smith, ' was not so sud-
denly done as suddenly it did break out ; the practice
was of an elder time. It was finely handled to make the
Queen's Majesty a labourer for the restitution of the
father and a sender in of the son.' 2 Elizabeth had been
outmanoeuvred and had placed herself in a perilous
dilemma. Half the council had advised her to demand
the extradition of Darnley and Lennox and declare war
if it was refused. She had rejected the bolder part of
the advice ; but she had allowed Throgmorton to pro-
mise Murray and his friends that if they interfered by
force to prevent the marriage they should be supported
by England ; and if they rose in arms and failed, and
if they called upon her to fulfil her engagements,
4 For las Cartas de Londrcs, de viii. Junio, 1565.' — MS. Simancas.
3 Sin ith to Cecil, July 3 : French JM'.S'. Rnfl* Home.
I5C5-J THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE. 297
she would have to comply and run all hazards, or she
would justify the worst suspicions which the Scotch
Protestants already entertained of her sincerity, and
convert into enemies the only friends that she possessed
among Mary Stuart's subjects.
In the first outburst of her anger she seemed pre-
pared to dare everything. After the departure of
Throgmorton from Scotland the Queen of Scots sent
Hay of Balmerinoch with a letter in which she protested
with the most innocent simplicity that in all which she
had done she had been actuated only by the purest
desire to meet her dear sister's wishes ; that she was
alike astonished and grieved to hear that she had done
wrong ; but that as Elizabeth was dissatisfied she would
refer the question once more to a commission; and on
her own side she proposed the unsuspicious names of
Murray, Maitland, Morton, and Glencairn.1
Had Elizabeth complied with this suggestion she
would have committed herself to an admission that a <
question existed, and that the Darnley marriage was not . j
wholly intolerable. She had no intention of admitting ^ j&
anything of the kind. She replied with requiring Len- ^ >\P"
nox and Darnley on their allegiance to return immedi- ^
ately to England ; and the Queen of Scots' letter she
answered only with a request that they might be sent
home without delay.
Neither Lennox nor Mary expected such peremptory
dealing. The order of return was short of a declaration
The Queen of Scots to the Queen of England, June 14 : KEITH.
298
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 44.
of war, and some of those who knew Elizabeth best did
not believe that war was coming ; * but Mary Stuart
knew too well her own intentions to escape misgivings
that the Queen of England might be as resolute as her-
self. When Randolph presented the letter with the
message which accompanied it, she burst into tears ;
Lennox was silent with dismay; Darnley alone, too
foolish to comprehend the danger, remained careless and
defiant,2 and said shortly ' he had no mind to return.'
Mary Stuart as soon as she could collect herself said she
trusted that her good sister did not mean what she had
written. Randolph replied that she most certainly did
mean it ; and speaking plainly, as his habit was, he add-
ed ' that if they refused to return and her Grace com-
forted them in so doing, the Queen his mistress had both
power and will to be revenged on them, being her sub-
jects/
From the Court Randolph went to Argyle and
Murray, who had ascertained meanwhile that there was
no time to lose ; the Bishop of Dunblane had been sent
1 Paul de Foix to Catherine de
Medici, June 18: TEULET, vol. ii.
2 A sad and singular horoscope
had already been cast for Darnley.
4 His behaviour,' Randolph wrote to
Cecil, ' is such that he is come in
open contempt of all men that were
his chief friends. What shall become
of him I know not ; but it is greatly
to be feared he can have no long life
amongst this people. The Queen,
being of better understanding, seek-
eth to frame and fashion him to the
nature of her subjects ; but no per-
suasion can alter that which custom
hath made in him. He is counted
proud, disdainful, and suspicious,
which kind of men this soil of any
other can least bear.' — Randolph
to Cecil, July 2: Cotton. MSS.
CALIG. B. 10. Printed in KEITH.
1565.] THE DARNLE Y MARRIA GE. 299
to the Pope ; Mary Stuart had obtained money from
Flanders ; she had again sent for Both well, and she
meant immediate mischief. The two Earls expressed
their belief that ' the time was come to put to a remedy.'
( They saw their sovereign determined to overthrow
religion received, and sore bent against those that de-
sired the amity with England to be continued, which
twp_j3OLnts they were bound in conscience to maintain
and defend.' They had resolved therefore ' to withstand
such attempts with all their power, and to provide for
their sovereign's estate better than she could at that
time consider for herself/ They intended to do nothing
which was not for their mistress's real advantage ; Sir
Nicholas Throgmorton had assured them of the Queen
of England's ' godly and friendly offer to concur with
and assist them ; ' the Queen of England's interest was
as much concerned as their own ; and they ' humbly
desired the performance of her Majesty's promises : '
they did not ask for an English army ; if her Majesty
would give them three thousand pounds they could
hold their followers together, and would undertake the
rest for themselves ; Lennox and Darnley could be
seized and ' delivered into Berwick/ if her Majesty
would receive them.
To these communications Randolph replied
with renewed assurances that Elizabeth would
send them whatever assistance they required. He
gave them the warmest encouragement to persevere
and as to the father and son whom they proposed to
<oo KK1GN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 44.
kidnap, the English Government, lie said, 'could not
and would not refuse their own in what sort soever they
came.' l
The Queen of Scots was not long in receiving intelli-
gence of what the lords intended against her. She
sent a message to her brother requesting that he would
meet her at Perth. As he was mounting his horse a
hint was given him that if he went he would not return
alive, and that Parnley and Rizzio had formed a plan
to kill him. He withdrew to his mother's castle at
Lochleven and published the occasion of his disobedi-
ence. Mary Stuart replied with a countercharge that
jhe Earl of Murray had proposed to take her prisoner
ftnd carry off Darnley to England. Both stories were
probably true : Murray's offer to Randolph is sufficient
evidence against himself. Lord Darnley's conspiracy
against the Earl was no more than legitimate retalia-
tion. Civil war was fast approaching ; and it is im-
possible to acquit ElizabettTof having done her_best to
foster jt. Afraid to takean open part lest she should
! have an insurrection on her own hands at home, she
was ready to employ to the uttermost the assistance of
the Queen of Scots' own subjects, and she trusted to
diplomacy or accident to extricate herself from the con-
sequences.
On receiving Randolph's letter, which explained
with sufficient clearness the intentions of the Protestant
noblemen, she not only did not find fault with the en-
1 Randolph to Cecil, July 2 and July 4 : Cotton. MSS. CAI.IG. B. id.
Printed in KEITH.
1565.] 77/7: DA RNLE Y MARRIA Gh. 301
gagements to which he had committed her, but she
directed him under her own hand to assure them of her
perfect satisfaction with the course which they were
preparing to pursue. She could have entertained no
sort of doubt that they would use violence ; yet she did
not even conceal her approbation under ambiguous or
uncertain phrases. She said that they should find her
' in all their just and honourable causes regard their
state and continuance ; ' ' if by malice or practice they
were forced to any inconveiiiency they should find no
lack in her ; ' she desired merely that in carrying out
their enterprise they would ' spend no more money than
their security made necessary, nor less which might
bring danger/ 1
As the collision drjew_near both parties prepared for
it by endeavouring to put themselves right with the
country. No sooner was it generally known in Scot-
land that the Queen intended to marry a Catholic than
the General Assembly rushed together at Edinburgh.
The extreme Protestants were able to appeal to the ful-
filment of their predictions of evil when Mary Stuart
was permitted the free exercise of her own religion.
Like the children of Israel on their entrance into
Canaan, they had made terms with wickedness : they
had sown the wind of a carnal policy and were now
reaping the whirlwind. A resolution was passed — to
which Murray, though he was present, no longer
raised his voice in opposition — that the sovereign was
Elizabeth to Randolph, July 10 : Printed in KEITH.
*v
-V
302 REIGN OF ELIZABETH, [en. 44.
not exempt from obedience to the law of the land, that
the mass should be put utterly away, and the reformed
service take the place of it in the royal chapel.
Mary Stuart had been described by Randolph as so
much changed that those who had known her when
she was under Murray's and Maitland's tutelage were
astonished at the alteration ; manner, words, features,
all were different ; in mind and body she was said to be
swollen and disfigured by the tumultuous working of
her passions.
So perhaps she may have appeared in Randolph's
eyes ; and yet the change may have been more in Ran-
dolph's power of insight than in the object at which he
looked. Never certainly did she show herself cooler or
more adroit than in her present emergency. She re*
plied to the Assembly with returning from Perth to
Edinburgh ; and as a first step towards recovering
their confidence she attended a Protestant sermon. To
the resolution of the General Assembly she delayed her
answer, but she issued circulars protesting that neither
then nor at any past time had she entertained a thought
of interfering with her subjects' religion ; the tolera-
tion which she had requested for herself she desired
only to extend to others; her utmost wish had been
that her subjects might worship God freely in the form
which each most approved.1
A Catholic sovereign sincerely pleading to a Pro-
testant Assembly for liberty of conscience might have
1 Circular by the Queen, July 17.
i565.]
THE DARNLE Y MARRIA GE.
3<>3
been a lesson to the bigotry of mankind ; but Mary
Stuart was not sincere ; and could the Assembly have
believed her they would have thought her French
teaching was bearing fruits more deadly than Popery
itself. The Protestant respected the Catholic as an
honest WQjjhi^per_QXsQmething, though that something
might be_the_ jLevil. ' Liberty of conscie^e ' was the
crime of the Laodiceans, which hell and heaven alike
The attendance of Mary Stuart at sermon produced
as little effect on the Congregation as Elizabeth's
candles and crucifixes on the hatred of the English
Papists. The elders of the Church dispersed ; Argyle,
Murray, and their friends withdrew to Stirling ; and
on the i8th of July they despatched a messenger to
Elizabeth with a bond in which they pledged them- p jj .
selves to resist all attempts either to restore the Catholic e
ritual or to dissolve the English alliance. From their
own sovereign they professed to hope for nothing but
evil. They looked to the Queen of England ' as under
.Grod protectress most special of the professors of re-
ligion ; ' and they thanked her warmly for the promises
of help on which it was evident that they entirely
relied.1
They relied on those promises ; and to have doubted
0
1 ' Understanding by your High-
ness's ambassador, Sir N. Throg-
morton, and also by the information
of your Majesty's servant Master
Randolph, the good and gracious
mind which your Majesty with con-
tinuance beareth to the maintenance
of the Gospel and us that profess
the same,' &c. —The Lords in Stir-
ling to the Queen of England, July
1 8 : KEITH, vol. ii. p. 329.
304 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.44.
them would have been nothing less than a studied in-
sult. The English ambassador was ordered a second
time, and more imperiously, to command Lennox and
Darnley to go back to England ; while avowedly by the
direct instructions of his mistress he laid her thanks
and wishes before the lords in a formal and written
address.1
RANDOLPH TO THE LORDS OF SCOTLAND.2
July, 1565.
' Right Honourable and my very good Lords, — It
is not out of your remembrance that Sir Nicholas
Throgmorton being at Stirling ambassador for the
Queen's Majesty my mistress to the Queen's Majesty
your sovereign, it was declared at good length both to
her Grace's self and also to you of her honourable
council, what mi silking the Queen my mistress hath
that the Lord t)amley should join marriage with the
Queen you!' sovereign, for divers and weighty reasons ;
of which some were there presently rehearsed, others
for great and weighty respects left unspoken until occa-
sion better serve to utter her Majesty's griefs for the
strange manner of dealing that hath been used towards
her divers ways and by divers persons contrary to that
expectation she had. The Queen your sovereign hav-
ing answered that she would in no wise alter her deter-
mination, the Queen my mistress commanded this
1 It is necessary, at the risk of
being tedious, to dwell on these
particulars of Elizabeth's conduct.
Each separate promise was as a nail
which left a rent in her reputation
when she endeavoured to free her-
self.
2 Lansdvivne JlfSS. 8.
1565.] THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE. 305
resolution and answer to be propounded in council, aud
to be considered according to the weight thereof, being
touched thereby as well in honour as that it was
against the repose and tranquillity of her Majesty's
realm. And her Majesty's council remaining in that
mind that before they were of — which is that divers
ways it must needs be prejudicial to the amity of the
two countries, that it tendoth greatly to the subversion
of Christ's true religion received and established in
them both, they have not only received that with con-
tent which your lordships have subscribed with your
hands, but also have become suitors to your Majesty
that she will provide for her own surety and the surety
of the realm against all practices and devices, from
wheresoever they be intended.
' And forasmuch as nothing is more needful for both
the realms than the continuance of a good and perfect
amity between them and those whose hearts God hath
united in one true and perfect doctrine, they have also
desired that it will please her Majesty that she will
have consideration of the Protestants and true pro-
fessors of religion in this realm of Scotland, that Christ's
holy word may be continued amongst them, and the
amity remain betwixt both the countries. And because
of all the apparent troubles that may ensue, as well for
the subversion of Christ's word in both the countries as
also for the breach of amity, the Earl of Lennox and
his son, the Lord Darnley, are known to be the authors,
and many of their practices, as well in England, Scot-
land, and further parts, to that end discovered, it pleased
VOL. vii. 20
306 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44.
the Queen my mistress to begin at the root and ground
of all these mischiefs, and thereof hath presently sent
her express commandment to them both, charging them
to leave the realm of Scotland, and repair unto her
presence as they will avoid her Majesty's indignation ;
in refusing of which they shall give further occasion
for her to proceed against them and their assisters than
willingly she would.
' And to the intent it may be further known what
the Queen's my mistress's purpose is if they do con-
trary to this charge of her Majesty, I am commanded
to assure all persons here that the Queen my mistress
meaneth to let the Queen your sovereign well under-
stand by her deeds how she can measure this dishonour-
able kind of dealing and manner of proceeding ; and
according to the effect of such answers as shall be given
unto me, as well from the Queen's Majesty your sove-
reign as from the Earl of Lennox and his son, and
what thereof shall follow, her Majesty meaneth to let it
manifestly appear unto the world how to use her towards
such as so far forget themselves.
' To give also declaration of the tender care and
good consideration the Queen my sovereign has over
all those of this nation that mind to keep the realm
without alteration of the religion received, and will not
neglect her Majesty's friendship, I am commanded to
assure all such as persist therein that it is fully resolved
and determined to concur with them and assist them as
either need or occasion shall press them.
'This, my lords, being the effect of that which I
1565.] 'I HE DARNLEY MARRIAGE. 307
know to be my mistress's will and express command-
ment given unto me to communicate unto your lord-
ships as I saw cause, and knowing now the time most
fit for that purpose, I thought good to send this same
to you in writing.'
In strict conformity with these promises, the Earl
of Bedford returned to his charge on the Border : the
Earl himself was under the impression that if the lords
were in extremity he was to enter Scotland ; and so
satisfied and so confident was Murray, that he wrote to
Bedford on the 22nd of July ' as to one to whom God
had granted to know the subtle devices of Satan/ tell-
ing him that the force on which the Qjieen__of Scots
most relied lay among the Maxwells, /the Humes7)and
the Kers of the Border, and begging him, as if he was
already an auxiliary in the field, ' to stay off their
power/ l
Randolph presented his second demand for the re-
turn of the two noblemen to England. He spoke first
to Mary Stuart, who, half frightened, half defiant,
found herself on the edge of a conflict to which her own
resources were manifestly inadequate, while she could
not but feel some uncertainty after all how far she could
rely on the secret promises of her English friends. She
complained passionately that she had been trifled with ;
she spoke of Henry the Eighth's will, which she dared
Elizabeth to produce, in obvious ignorance that had
Elizabeth consented, her hopes of a peaceable succession
1 Murray to Bedford, July 22 : KETT»J.
308 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 44.
would be gone for ever. Randolph told her she was
' abused.' She threatened that if the English Parlia-
ment meddled with the rights either of herself or of
Darnley, she would ( seek friends elsewhere/ and would
not fail to find them.
Randolph knew Mary well and knew her manner.
He saw that she was hesitating, and he once more
attempted expostulation. * The Queen of England/
he truly said, ' had been her kindest friend. She might
have compelled her to ratify the Treaty of Edinburgh :
but she had passed it over ; she had defended her claims
when the Scotch succession had not another supporter ;
unless she had taken the crown from off her own head
and given it to her, she could have done no more than
she had done/
Mary appeared to be moved. She asked if nothing
could induce Elizabeth toJJ.a
Darnley. Randolph replied that after the attitude
which she had assumed, the conditions would be strin-
gent. A declaration would have to be made by herself
and the Scotch Parliament that she made no preten-
sions to the English crown during the life of Eliza-
beth or her children ; she must restore to her council
the Protestant noblemen with whom she had quarrelled ;
and she must conform l to the religion established by
law in Scotland.2
1 It is interesting to observe how
the current of the Reformation had
wept Elizabeth forward in spite of
uerself.
2 ' Qu'elle entretienne la religion
qui est aujourdhuy aii Royaulme, et
en ce faysant recoyve, en sa bonne
grace, et en leur premier estat cenlx
qu'elle a aliene d'elle ; etqu'elle luy
face declaration, autorisee par son
r 565 -J THE DARNLE Y MARRIA GE. 309
It was to ask Mary Stuart to sacrifice ambition,
pride, revenge — every object for which she was mating
herself with the paltry boy who was the cause of the
disturbance. She said ' she would make no merchandise
of her conscience/ Randolph requested in Elizabeth's
name that she would do no injury to the Protestant
lords who were her ' good subjects/ She replied that
Elizabeth might call them ' good subjects ; ' she had
found them bad subjects, and as such she meant to treat
them.
The turn of Lennox and Darnley came next. The
ambassador communicated Elizabeth's commands to
them, and demanded a distinct answer whether they
would obey or not. Lennox, to whom age had taught
some lessons of moderation, replied that he was sorry to
offend ; but that he might not and durst not go. He
with some justice might plead a right to remain ; for he
was a born Scot and was living under his first allegiance.
Darnley, like a child who has drifted from the shore in
a tiny pleasure boat, his sails puffed out with vanity,
and little dreaming how soon he would be gazing back on
England with passionate and despairing eyes, replied
' that he acknowledged no duty or obedience save to the
Queen of Scots/ whom he served and honoured ; ' and
seeing/ he continued, * that the other your mistress is so
envious of my good fortune, I doubt not but she may
•also have need of me, as you shall know within few days ;
Parlement qu'elle ne pretend rien au
Koyaulme d'elle, ne de sa posterite.'
— Analyse d'uuc depeche de M. de
Foix au Hoy, August 12 : TEULET,
310 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44.
wherefore to return I intend not ; I find myself very
well where I am, and so I purpose to keep me ; and this
shall be for your answer.'
' You have much forgotten your duty, sir, in such
despiteful words/ Randolph answered ; ' it is neither
discreetly spoken of you nor otherwise to be answered
by me than that I trust to see the wreck and overthrow
of as many as are of the same mind.'
So saying, the stout servant of Elizabeth turned on
his heel ' without reverence or farewell.'1
Elizabeth's attitude and Randolph's language were as
menacing as possible. But experience had taught Mary
Stuart that between the threats and the actions of the
Queen of England there was always a period of irresolu-
tion ; and that with prompt celerity she might crush the
disaffection of Scotland while her more dangerous enemy
was making up her mind. She filled Edinburgh with the
retainers of Lennox and Huntly ; she summoned Murray
to appear and prove his accusations against Darnley under
pain of being declared a traitor ; she sent a message
through de Silva to Philip that her subjects had risen
in insurrection against her with the support of the
Queen of England to force her to change her religion ; 2
and interpreting the promise of three months' delay,
which she had made to Throgmorton as meaning a delay
into the third month, she resolved to close one element
of the controversy and place the marriage itself beyond
debate. On the evening of the 28th of July Edinburgh
1 Randolph to Cecil, July 21 : Cotton. MSS. CALIG. B. 10.
J De Silva to Philip, July 28 : M8. Simancas.
THE DARNLE Y MARK I A GE.
311
was informed by trumpet and proclamation that the
Queen of Scots having determined to take to herself as
her husband Henry Earl of Hoss and Albany, the said
Henry was thenceforth to be designated King of Scot-
land, and in all acts and deeds his name would be asso-
ciated with her own.1 The crowd listened in silence. A
single voice cried ' God save his Grace ! ' but the speaker
was Lennox. ^ — — ____^^
The next da}|^July_t^29th^bemg Sunday, while the
drowsy citizens of Edinburgh were still in their morning
sleep, Mary Stuart became the wife of Darnley. The
ceremony took place in the royal chapel just after sun-
rise. It was performed by a Catholic priest, and with
the usual Catholic rites ; the Queen for some strange
reason appearing at the altar in a mourning dress of
black velvet, ' such as she wore the doleful day of the
burial of her husband.' Whether it was an accident —
whether the doom of the House of Stuart haunted her at
that hour with its fatal f or eshado wings — or whether
simply for a great political purpose she was doing an act
which in itself she loathed, it is impossible to tell ; but
that black drapery struck the spectators with a cold
uneasy awe.
But such dreamy vanities were soon forgotten. The
deed was done which Elizabeth had forbidden. It re-
1 The title was a mere sound.
The crown matrimonial could be
conferred only by Act of Parliament ;
nor would Mary Stuart share the
reality of her power with a raw boy
whose character she imperfectly
knew. But Darnley was impatient
for the name of king ; ' He would
in no case have it deferred a day,'
and the Queen was contented to
humour him.
3.i2 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44.
mained to be seen to what extremity Elizabeth in her
resentment would be provoked. The lords had been
long waiting at Stirling for a sign from Berwick ; but
no sign came, and when the moment of extremity arrived
Bedford had no definite orders. They remembered 1 559,
when they had been encouraged by similar promises to
rebel, and when Elizabeth had trifled with her engage-
ments so long and so dangerously. Elizabeth had given
her word ; but it was an imperfect security ; and the
uncertainty produced its inevitable effect in dishearten-
ing and dividing them. ' Though your intent be never
so good to us/ Randolph wrote to Leicester on the
3 ist of July, 'yet we fear your delay that our ruin shall
prevent your support ; when council is once taken
nothing is so needful as speedy execution : upon this we
wholly depend ; in her Majesty's hands it standeth to
save our lives or suffer us to perish ; greater honour her
Majesty cannot have than that which lieth in her power
to do for us/1
While the Congregation were thus held in suspense,
Mary Stuart was all fire, energy, and resolution. She
understood at once that Elizabeth was hesitating ; she
knew that she had little to fear from Argyle and Murray
until they were supported in force from England ; and
leaving no time for faction to disintegrate her own sup-
porters or for the Queen of England to make up her mind,
she sent letters to the noblemen on whom she could rely,
desiring them to meet her in arms at Edinburgh
on the 9th of August.
WRIGHT'S Elizabeth, vol. i.
1565.] THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE. 313
Elizabeth as post after post came in from Scotland
lost her breath at the rapidity of the Queen of Scots*
movements ; and resolution became more impossible^
as the need-jxf it became more pressing. On receiving
the news that the marriage was actually completed
she despatched Tarn worth, a gentleman of the bed-
chamber, to assure the Queen of Scots that what-
ever might be pretended to the contrary she had
throughout been sincerely anxious to support her in-
terests. The Queen of Scots had not given her the
credit which she deserved, and was now ' imagining
something else in England to content her fancy, as vain
persons sometimes would/ Leaving much to Tain-
worth's discretion, she bade him nevertheless let the
Queen of Scots see that her present intentions were
thoroughly understood. ' She was following the advice
of those who were labouring to extirpate out of Scotland
the religion received there ; ' the Protestants among her
own subjects were to be destroyed 'to gain the favour of
the Papists in England ; ' ' so as with the aid that they
would hope to have of some prince abroad and from
Home also upon pretence of reformation in religion, she
might when she should see time attempt the same that
she did when she was married to France/ It was not
for Elizabeth to say what might happen in Scotland ;
' but for any other device that the Queen of Scots might
be fed withal, she might be assured before God she would
find all designs, consultations, intelligences, and advices,
from wherever they might come to her, far or near, to be
vain and deceitful.' Let her relinquish these idle ima-
ginings, let her restore Murray to the council and un-
314 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 44.
del-take to enter into no foreign alliance prejudicial to
English interests, and she might yet regain the confid-
ence of her true friends.
Had Tamworth's instructions gone no further they
would have been useless without being mischievous ;
but a fijjjJTgrjriPHsagft hftf.rnyprl fh
which Elizabeth was yielding. A fortnight previously
she had required the Queen of Scots to abandon her
own creed ; she now condescended to entreat that if her
other requests were rejected the Scotch Protestants
might at least be permitted to use their own religion
without molestation.1 She might have frightened Mary
by a demonstration of force as prompt as her own. To
show that she saw through her schemes, yet at the same
time that she dared not venture beyond a feeble and
hesitating protest, could but make the Queen of Scots
desperate of further concealment, and encourage her to
go forward more fearlessly than ever.
' Mary Stuart/ when Tamworth came into her pre-
sence, ' gave him words that bit to the quick/ To the
Queen of England's suspicions she said she would reply
with her ' own lawful demands.' ' The Queen of Eng-
land spoke of imaginations and fancies;' 'she was sorry
her good sister thought so disdainfully of her as she
would meddle with simple devices. If things went so
that she was driven to extremities and practices, she
would make it appear to the world that her devices
were not to be set at so small a price/ Playing on
1 Instructions to Turn worth, August I : MS. lioils House.
1565.] THE DARNLKY MARRIAGE 315
Elizabeth's words with a straightforward but irritating
irony, she said ' that by Grod's grace it should appear
to the world that her designs, consultations, and in-
telligences would prove as substantial and no more
vain and deceitful than such as her neighbours them-
selves had at any time taken in hand ; ' while as to
Murray's restoration, she had never yet meddled be-
tween the Queen of England and her subjects ; but now,
' induced by her good sister's example/ ' she would re-
quest most earnestly for the release and restoration to
favour' of her mother-in-law the Lady Margaret,
Countess of Lennox.1
Had Philip of Spain been at Mary's shoulder he
would have advised her to spare her sarcasms till an
armada was in the Channel or till Elizabeth was a
prisoner at her feet. As soon as she had made sure of
Darnley he would have recommended her to omit no
efforts for conciliation. She need not have relin-
quished one emotion of hatred or one aspiration for re-
venge ; but she would have been taught to wait upon
time to soothe down the irritation which she had roused,
to cajole with promises, and to compel Elizabeth by the
steady if slow pressure of circumstances to give way
step by step.
But Mary Stuart was young and was a woman. Her
tongue was__ready and her passions^ strong^^Philip
cared sincerely for Romanis^mjJElizabeth cared for Eng-
lish liberty, the Earl of Murray cared for the doctriner
1 Answer of the Queen of Scots to Tarn worth : Printed in KEITH.
316 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44,
of the Reformation ; Mary Stuart was chiefly interested
in herself, and she was without the strength of self-
command which is taught only by devotion to a cause.
So confident was she that in imagination she had already
seated herself on Elizabeth's throne. To the conditions
of friendship offered by Tamworth, she replied in lan-
guage which could scarcely have been more peremptory
had she entered London at the head of a victorious
army. Not condescending to notice what was demanded
of herself, she required Elizabeth immediately to de-
clare her by Act of Parliament next in the succession ;
and failing herself and her children, to entail the crown
on Lady Margaret Lennox and her children 'as the per-
sons by the law of God and nature next inheritable/
The Queen of England should bind herself ' neither to
do nor suffer to be done either by law or otherwise '
anything prejudicial to the Scottish title ; to abstain
in future from all practices with subjects of the Scottish
Crown ; to enter no league and contract 110 alliance
which could affect the Queen of Scots' fortunes unfa-
vourably. On these terms, but on these alone, she would
consent to leave Elizabeth in undisturbed possession
during her own or her children's lifetime ; she would
abstain from encouraging the English Catholics to rise
in rebellion in her behalf, and from inviting an inva-
sion from Spain or France;1 and she condescended to
promise — to throw dust in the eyes of the Protestants
in both countries — although she was receiving the sup-
1 Offer of the King and Queen of Scotland, by Mr Tamworth, August,
1 565 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
1565-] THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE. 317
port of the Pope and seeking the support of the King of
Spain in the sole interests of Romanism — that in the
event of herself and her husband succeeding to the
throne of England, the religion established there by law
should not be interfered with.
An answer, every sentence of which must have stung
Elizabeth like a whip-lash, might have for the moment
satisfied Mary Stuart's passion ; but her hatred of hej
sister of England was passing into contempt, and she
believed she might trample upon her with impunity.
Tamworth having received his message desired to
return with it to England. He applied for a passport,
which was given him signed by Darnley as King of
Scotland ; and Elizabeth had forbidden him to recog-
nize Darnley in any capacity but that of the Queen'
husband. He desired that the wording might be changed :
his request was refused. He requested that a guard
might escort him to the Border : it could not be grant-
ed. He set out without attendance and without a safe-
conduct : he was arrested and carried prisoner to Hume
Castle.
The lords at Stirling had been already so perplexed
by E1iKRhfijlv[H_^jj'iJyj;Sat. they had broken upland
dispersed. Argyle and Murray retired to the western
Highlands, and sent an earnest message that unless they
could be immediately relieved they would be over-
thrown.1 The arrest of Tamworth added to their dis-
may. Yet in spite of past experience they could not
1 Tamworth to Cecil and Leicester, August 10 : Scotch MSS., Rolls
House
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 44.
believe Elizabeth capable of breaking promises so em-
phatically and so repeatedly made to them. They wrote
through Randolph that they were still at the Queen of
England's devotion. They would hold out as long as
their strength lasted ; but it was already tasked to the
uttermost, and if left to themselves they would have to
yield to superior force.
The catastrophe came quicker than they anticipated .
The friends of the Congregation were invited by cir-
culars to meet at Ayr on the 24th of August. On the
2^th the Queen of Scots — after a tempestuous interview
\vith Randolph, who had demanded Tarn worth's release
— mounted her horse and rode out of Edinburgh at the
head of 5000 men to meet her enemies in the field.
Darnley, in gilt armour, was at her side. She herself
carried pistols in hand and pistols at her saddlebow.
Her one peculiar hope was to encounter and destroy
her brother, against whom, above and beyond his poli-
tical opposition, she bore an especial and unexplained
animosity.1
1 ' I never heard more outrage-
ous words than she spoke against
my Lord of Murray. She said she
would rather lose her crown than
not be revenged upon him. She has
some further cause of quarrel with
him than she cares to avow.' — Ran-
dolph to Cecil, August 27: MS.
Rolls House. Shortly after, Ran-
dolph imagined that he had dis-
covered the ' further cause.' ' The
batred conceived against my Lord of
Murray is neither for his religion
nor yet for that she now speaketh —
that he would take the crown from
her, as she said lately to myself — but
that she knoweth that he knoweth
some such secret fact, not to be
named for reverence sake, that stand -
eth not with her honour, which he
so much detesteth, being her brother,
that neither can he show himself as
he hatli done, nor she think of him
but as of one whom she mortally
hateth. Here is the mischief, this
is the grief; and how this may be
565-]
THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE.
319
With the money sent her from abroad she had con-
trived to raise six hundred ' harquebussmen/ whom the
half- armed retainers of the lords could not hope to en-
gage successfully. Passing Linlithgow and Stirling she
swept swiftly round to Glasgow, and cut off the retreat
of the Protestants into the western hills. A fight was
looked for at Hamilton, where ' a hundred gentlemen of
her party determined to set on Murray in the battle, and
either slay him or tarry behind lifeless.' l
Outnumbered — for they had in all but 1300 horse —
and outmanoauvred by the rapid movements of the
Queen, the Protestants fell back on Edinburgh, where
they expected the citizens to declare for them. On the
last of August, six days after Mary Stuart had left
solved and repaired it passeth man's
wit to consider. This reverence, for
all that he hath to his sovereign,
that I am sure there are very few
that know this grief; and to have
this obloquy and reproach of her re-
moved, I believe he would quit his
country for all the days of his life.'
—Randolph to Cecil, October 13 :
MS. Ibid.
The mystery alluded to was ap-
parently the intimacy of Mary Stu-
art with Rizzio, which was already
so close and confidential as to pro-
voke calumny. In the face of Ran-
dolph's language it is difficult to say
for certain that Mary Stuart had
never transgressed the permitted
limits of propriety ; yet it is more
likely that a person so careless of
the opinions of others, and so warm
and true in her friendships, should
have laid herself open to remark
through some indiscretion, than that
she should have seriously compro-
mised her character. It seems cer-
tain that Murray intended to have
hanged Rizzio. Paul de Foix asked
Elizabeth for an explanation of the
Queen of Scots' animosity against
her brother : —
* Elle s'estant ung peu teue, et
secoue sa teste, me respondit que
c'estoit pour ce quo la Royne d'Es-
cosse avoit este informee que le
Comte de Murray avoit voullu
pendre ung Italien nomine David
qu'elle aymoit et favorisoit, luy don-
nant plus de credit que ses affaires
et honneur ne devoient.' — Paul de
Foix au Roy : TEULET, vol. ii.
1 Randolph to Cecil, September
4 : MS. Rolls House.
320 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44.
Holyrood, Chatelherault, Murray, Glencairn, Rothes,
Boyd, Kirkaldy, and a few more gentlemen, rode with
their servants into the West Port, and sending a courier
to Berwick with a pressing entreaty for help, they pre-
pared to defend themselves. But the Calvinist shop-
keepers who could be so brave against a miserable priest
had no stomach for a fight with armed men. The
Queen was coming fast behind them like an avenging
fury ; and Erskine, who was inclining to the royal side,
began to fire on the lords from the castle. ' In the town
they could find neither help nor support from any one/
and the terrified inhabitants could only entreat and
even insist that they should depart. A fortnight before,
a little money and a few distinct words from England
would have sufficed to save them. Mary Stuart's cour-
age and Elizabeth's remissness had by this time so
strengthened the party of the Queen that ' little good
could now be done without greater support than could
be in readiness in any short time/ The lords could only
retire towards the Border and wait Elizabeth's pleasure.
' What was promised/ Randolph passionately wrote to
Cecil, 'your honour knoweth. Oh that her Majesty's
mind was known ! If the Earl of Bedford have only
commission to act in this matter both Queens may be in
one country before long. In the whole world if there
be a more malicious heart towards the Queen my
sovereign than hers that here now reigneth, let me be
hanged at my home-coming or counted a villain for
Randolph to Cecil, September 4 ; MS. Rolls Roust
1565.] THE DA RX LEY MARRIAGE. 321
Mary meanwhile had re-entered Edin-
Scptcmber.
burgh, breathing nothing but anger and de-
fiance. Argyle was in his own Highlands wasting the
adjoining lands of Athol and Lennox ; but she scarcely
noticed or cared for Argyle. The affection, of a sister
for a brother was curdled into a hatred the more ma-
lignant because it was unnatural. Her whole passion
was concentrated on Murray, and after Murray on
Elizabeth.
The day before she had left Holy rood for the west an
Englishman named Yaxlee had arrived there from
Flanders. This person, who has been already mentioned
as in the service of Lady Lennox, had been emplo}Ted
by her as the special agent of her correspondence with
the continental Courts. Lady Lennox being now in the
Tower, Yaxlee followed the fortunes of her son, and
came to Scotland to place himself at the disposal of Mary
Stuart. He was a conspirator of the kind most danger-
ous to his employers, vain, loud, and confident, fond of
boasting of his acquaintance with kings and princes,
and ' promising to bring to a good end whatsoever
should be committed to him/ ' The wiser sort' soon
understood and avoided him. The Queen of Scots
however allowed herself to be persuaded by her hus-
band, and placed herself in Yaxlee's power. She told
him all her schemes at home and all the promises
which had been made to her abroad. The Bishop of
Dunblane at Rome had requested the Pope to lend
her twelve thousand men, and the Pope was waiting
only for Philip's sanction and co-operation to send
VOL. VII. 21
322 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.44.
them.1 She selected Yaxlee to go on. a mission to
Spain to explain her position, and to ' remit her claims,
prospects, and the manner of the prosecution thereof
to Philip's judgment and direction.
Yain of the trust reposed in him, the foolish creature
was unable to keep his counsel. His babbling tongue
revealed all that he knew and all that he was commis-
sioned to do ; and the report of it was soon in Cecil's
hands.2
Philip would no doubt be unwilling to move.
Philip, like Elizabeth, was fond of encouraging others to
run into difficulties by promises which he repudiated if
they were inconvenient ; and in this particular instance
Mary Stuart had gone beyond his advice and had placed
herself in a position against which the Duke of Alva
had pointedly warned her. But the fears of the Spaniards
for the safety of the Low Countries were every day in-
creasing ; they regarded England as the fountain from
which the heresies of the continent were fed ; and they
looked to the recovery of it to the Church as the only
means of restormg^order injtheir own provinces.3
1 Capitulo de Cartas del Cardinal
Pacheco a su Magd., 2 September,
1565 : MS. Simancas.
2 ' Memoir of tile proceedings of
Francis Yaxlee,' in Cecil's hand-
writing : Cotton. MSS. CALIG. B.
10. The name of the person is left
blank in Cecil's manuscript, but a
French translation of the memoir
was found in Paris by M. Teulet, and
on the margin is written, l Celluy
qui est laisse en blanc c'cst Yaxlee.'
3 4
Esta materia de Escocia y de
aqui es de tanta importancia como se
puede considerar ; porque si este
Reyno se reduxiese, parece que se
quitara la fucnte de los hereges de
Flanders y de Francia, y aun las
intelligencias de Alemania, que, como
aqui, hay necessidad destas malas
ayudas para sostenerse.' — De Silva
to Philip, August 20 MS. Si-
mancas.
1 565 . ] THE DARNLE Y MARR1A GE. 323
Elizabeth was perfectly aware of the dangers which
were thickening round her, and the effect was to end
her uncertainty and to determine her to shake herself
clear from the failing fortunes of the noblemen whom
she had invited to rebel. They had halted at Dumfries,
close to the Border, where Murray, thinking that ' no-
thing worse could happen than an agreement while the
Queen of Scots had the upper hand and they without a
force in the field/ was with difficulty keeping together
the remnant of his party. The Earl of Bedford, weary
of waiting for instructions which never came, wrote at
last half in earnest and half in irony to Elizabeth to
propose that she should play over again the part which
she had played with Winter ; he would himself enter
Scotland with the Berwick garrison, and ' her Majesty
could afterwards seem to blame him for attempting such
things as with the help of others he could bring about/2
But Elizabeth was too much frightened to consent even
to a vicarious fulfilment of her promises. She replied
that if the lords were in danger of being taken the Earl
might cover their retreat into England ; she sent him
three thousand pounds which if he pleased he might
place in their hands ; but he must give them to under-
stand precisely that both the one and the other were his
own acts, for which she would accept neither thanks
nor responsibility. ' You shall make them perceive your
case to be such/ she said, ' as if it should appear other-
wise your danger should be so great as all the friends
1 Murray to Randolph, Sep- I 2 Bedford to Elizabeth : JUS,
tcmber 8 : MS. Rolls Howe. Ibid.
324 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.44.
you have could not be able to save you towards us.' l
At times she seemed to struggle with her ignominy,
but it was only to flounder deeper into distraction and
dishonour. Once she sent for the French ambassador :
she told him that the Earl of Murray and his friends
were in danger for her sake and through her means ;
the Queen of Scots was threatening their lives ; and
she swore she would aid them with all the means which
God had given, and she would have all men know her
determination. But the next moment, as if afraid of
what she had said, she stooped to a deliberate lie. De
Foix had heard of the 3000^., and had ascertained be-
yond doubt that it had been sent from the Treasury ;
yet when he questioned Elizabeth about it she took re-
fuge behind Bedford, and swore she had sent no money
to the lords at all.2
' It fears me not a little/ wrote Murray on the 2ist,
' that these secret and covered pretendings of the Queen's
Majesty there, as matters now stand, shall never put
this cause to such end as we both wish, but open declar-
ation would apparently bring with it no doubt.'3 ' If
her Majesty will openly declare herself/ said Bedford,
* uncertain hearts will be determined again and all will
go well.' 4
Paul de Foix himself, notwithstanding his know-
ledge of Elizabeth, was unable to believe that she would
1 Elizabeth to Bedford, September 12 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
2 De Foix to the Queen-mother, September 18: TEULET, vol. ii.
3 Murray to Bedford, September 21 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
* Bedford to Cecil: MS. Ibid.
1565] THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE. 325
persevere in a course so discreditable and so dangerous.
80 easy it would be for her to strike Mary Stuart down,
if she had half the promptitude of Mary herself, that it
seemed impossible to him that she would neglect the
opportunity. As yet the party of the Queen of Scots
had no solid elements of strength : Bizzio was the chief
councillor ; the Earl of Athol was the General — ' a youth
without judgment or experience, whose only merit was
a frenzied Catholicism.' * Catherine de Medici, who
thought like de Foix, and desired to prevent Elizabeth
from becoming absolute mistress of Scotland, sent over
Castelnau de Mauvissiere to mediate between the Queen,
of Scots and her subjects. But Mary Stuart understood
better the temperament with which she had to deal ; she
knew that Elizabeth was thoroughly cowed and jright-
ened, and that she had nothing to fear: She sent a
message to Castelnau that she would allow neither
France nor England to interfere between her and her
revolted subjects; while her rival could only betake
herself to her single resource in difficulty, and propose
again to marry the Archduke.
There was something piteous as well as laughable in
the perpetual recurrence of this forlorn subject. She
was not wholly insincere. When pushed to extremity
she believed that marriage might become her duty, and
she imagined that she was willing to encounter it. The
game was a dangerous one, for she had almost exhausted
the patience of her subjects, who might compel her at
1 De Foix to the Queen-mother, September 18 : TEULET, vol. ii.
326 REIGN OF ELIZABETH [en. 44.
last to fulfil in earnest the hopes which she had excited.
It would have come to an end long before had it not
been that Philip, who was irresolute as herself, allowed
his wishes for the marriage to delude him into believing
Elizabeth serious whenever it was mentioned ; while the
desirableness of the Austrian alliance in itself, and the
extreme anxiety for it among English statesmen, kept
alive the jealous fears of the French. To de Silva the
Queen appeared a vain, capricious woman, whose plea-
sure it was to see the princes of Europe successively at
her feet ; yet he too had expected that if her Scotch
policy failed she would take the Archduke in earnest at
last, and thus the value of the move was not yet wholly
played away, and she could use his name once more to
hold her friends nrd her party together.
As a matter of course, when the Archduke was talked
of on one side the French had their candidate on the
other ; and Charles the Ninth being no longer in ques-
tion, Paul de Foix threw his interest on the side of Lei-
cester. While the Queen of Scots was displaying the
spirit of a sovereign and accomplishing with uncommon
skill the first steps of the Catholic revolution, Elizabeth
was amusing herself once more with balancing the attrac-
tions of her lover and the Austrian prince : not indeed
that she any longer wished to marry even the favoured
LorTOlobert ; ' If she ever took a husband/ she said to
de Foix, * she would give him neither a share of her
power nor the keys of her treasury ; her subjects wanted
a successor, and she would use the husband's services to
obtain such a thing ; but under any aspect the thought
1565.]
THE DARNLE Y MA RRIA GE.
3*7
of marriage was odious to her, and when she tried to
make up her mind it was as if her heart was being toin
out of her body.' 1
Yet Leicester was fooled by the French into a brief
hope of success. He tried to interest Cecil in his cause
by assuring him that the Queen would marry no one but
himself; and Cecil mocked him with a courteous answer,
and left on record, in a second table of contrasts with
the Archduke, his own intense conviction of Leicester's
worthlessness.2
A ludicrous Court calamity increased the troubles of
the Queen and with them her unwillingness to declare
war against the Queen of Scots. The three daughters of
the Duke of Suffolk had been placed one after the other
in the line of succession by Henry the Eighth. Lady
Jane was dead ; Lady Catherine was dying from the
effects of her long and cruel imprisonment ; the third,
Lady Mary, had remained at the Court, and one evening
in August when the Scotch plot was thickening got her-
self married in the palace itself ' by an old fat priest in
a short gown ' to Thomas Keys the sergeant porter.3
Lady Mary was * the smallest woman in the Court/ Keys
1 She said she was resolved —
*Ne departir jamais a celuy qui
seroit son mary ni de ses biens ni
forces ni raoyens, ne voulant s'ayder
de luy que pour laisser successeur
<Telle a ses subjectz ; mais quand
clle pensoit de ce faire, il luy sem-
bloit que Ton luy arrachast le cccur
<lu ventrc ; tnnt clle en estoit de son
naturcl eslonguec.' — Paul de Foix
to the Queen-mother, August 22:
TEULET, vol. ii.
2 ' De Matrimonio Reginse An-
glia3.' Reasons against the Earl of
Leicester : Burghley Papers, vol. i.
3 This marriage was before men-
tioned by me as having taken place
at the same time with that of Lady
Jane Grey and Guilford Dudley. I
was misled by Dugdale.
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 44.
was the largest man, and that seemed to have been the
chief bond of connection between them. The lady was
perhaps anxious for a husband and knew that Elizabeth
would keep her single till she died. Discovery followed
^before worse had happened than the ceremony. The
burly sergeant porter was sent to the Fleet to grow thin
on discipline and low diet ; the Lady Mary went into
private confinement ; and both were only too eager to
release each other and escape from punishment. The
bishops were set to work by the council to undo the
knot and found it no easy matter.1 Elizabeth had a
fresh excuse for her detestation of the Greys and a fresh
topic on which to descant in illustration of the iniquities
of matrimony.
De Mauvissiere meanwhile, undeterred by the Queen
of Scots' message, had made his way to Edinburgh, but
only to find that he had come upon a useless errand.
The Earl of, Bothwell had rejoined Mary Stuart in tke
middle of her triumph, ' a man/ said Randolph, ' fit to be
made a minister of any shameful act against God or
man ; ' 2 and Both well's hatred for Murray drew him closer
than ever to Mary's side. In the full confidence _pf
success and surrounded by persons whose whole aim was
to feed the fire of her passion, she would listen, to no-
thing which de Mauvissiere could urge^. In vain he
warned her~oTthe experience of France ; in vain ho re-
1 Privy Council Register, Au-
gust, 1565. Proceedings of council
on the marriage of the Lady Mary
Grey: MS. Domestic, L
Rolls House. I ishop of Lone on to-
Cecil : MS. Ibid.
2 Randolph to Cecil, September
20 : •' o'ch MtS. Eolls Hous :
THE DARNLE Y MARRIAGE.
329
minded her of the siege of Leith and of the madness of
risking a quarrel with her powerful and dangerous neigh-
bour. ' Scotland/ she said, ' should not be turned into
a republic ; she would sooner lose her crown than wear
it at the pleasure of her revolted subjects and the Queen
of England ; instead of advising her to make peace,
Catherine de Medici should have stepped forward to her
side and assisted her to avenge the joint wrongs of
France and Scotland ; if France failed her in her ex-
tremity, grieved as she might be to leave her old allies,
she would take the hand which was offered her by
Spain ; she would submit to England — never.' 1
From the moment when she had first taken the field,
she had given her enemies no rest; she had swept Fife,
the hotbed of the Protestants, as far as St Andrew's.
The old Laird of Lundy — he who had called the mass
the mickle deil — was flung into prison and his friends
and his family had to fly for their lives. At the end of
September she was pausing to recover breath at Holy-
rood before she made her last swoop upon the party at
Dumfries. The Edinburgh merchants found her money,
her soldiers with lighted matchlocks assisting them to
unloose their purse-strings. With October she would
march to the Border, and in her unguarded moments
she boasted that she would take her next rest at the
gates of London.2
It was now necessary for Elizabeth to come to some
1 Castelnau de Mativissiere to
Paul do Foix, September : TEULET,
vol. ii.
2 Paul de Foix to the King of
France, September 29 ; TEULET,
vol. ii.
330 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.44.
resolution which she could avow — either to interfere at
once or distinctly to declare that she did not mean to
interfere. Cecil, according to his usual habit, reviewed
the situation and drew out in form its leading features.
The two interests at stake were religion and the succes-
sion to the Crown* For religion ' it was doubtful how
to meddle in another prince's controversy : ' ' so far as
politic laws were devised for the maintenance of the
Gospel Christian men might defend it,' ' yet the best
service which men could render to the truth was to serve
God faithfully and procure by good living the defence
thereof at His Almighty hand/ The succession was at
once more critical and more impossible to leave un-
touched. The Queen of Scots appeared to intend to
exact her recognition as ' second person ' at the point of
the_svvord. The unwillingness of the Queen of England
to marry had unsettled the minds of her subjects, who,
' beholding the state of the Crown to depend only on the
breath of one person/ were becoming restless and uneasy ;
and there were symptoms on all sides which pointed
' towards a civil quarrel in the realm/ The best remedy
would be the fulfilment of the hopes which had been so
long held out to the nation. If the Queen would marry
all danger would at once be at an end. If she could not
bring herself to accept that alternative, she might make
the intrigues of the Scottish Queen with her Catholic
subjects, the practising with Rome, the language of
Darnley to Randolph, and the continued refusal to ratify
the Treaty of Edinburgh, a ground for declaring war.1
1 Note in Cecil's hand, September, 1565; JITS'. Rolls House
4565.] THE DARNLEV MARRIAGE. 331
Every member of the council was summoned to Lon-
don. The suspected Earls of Cumberland, Westmore-
land, and Northumberland were invited to the Court, to
remove them from the Border where they would perhaps
T}e dangerous ; and day after day the advisers of the
'Crown sat in earnest and inconclusive deliberation. A
lucid statement was drawn up of Mary Stuart's proceed-
ings from the day of Elizabeth's accession ; every aggres-
sive act on her part, every conciliatory movement of the
'Queen of England, w,ere laid out in careful detail to assist
the council in forming a judgment ; the history was
brought down to the latest moment, and one only im-
portant matter seems to have been withheld — the unfor-
tunate promises which Elizabeth had made to the Earl
of Murray and his friends at a time when she believed
that a demonstration in Scotland would be sufficient to
frighten Mary Stuart, and that she would never be called
on to fulfil them.
In favour of sending assistance to the Protestant
noblemen, it was urged that the Queen of Scots notori-
ously intended to overthrow the reformed religion, and
to make her way to the English throne ; the title of the
Queen of England depended on the Reformation ; if the
Pope's authority was restored she would no longer be
regarded as legitimate^. To sit still in the face of the
attitude which the Queen of Scots had assumed was to
encourage her to continue her practices ; and it was
more prudent to encounter an enemy when it could be
done at small cost and in her own country than to wait
to be overtaken at home by war and rebellion which
would be a thousand times more dangerous and costly.
332 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.44,"
Ojt_the_otlier hand, to defend^ the insurgent subjects
of a neighbouring sovereign was a dangerous precedent.
If Elizabeth was justified in maintaining the Scotch Pro-
testants, the King of Spain might claim as fair a right
to interfere in behalf of the English Catholics. Tha
form which a war would assume, and the contingencies
which might arise from it, could not be foreseen, while
the peril and expense were immediate and certain.
The arguments on both sides were so evenly balanced
that it was difficult to choose between? them. The council
however, could it be proved that the Queen of Scots was
in communication with the Pope to further her designs
on England, were ready to consider that ' a great matter.'
The name of the Pope was detested in England by men
who believed themselves to hold every shred of Catholic
doctrine ; the creed was an opinion ; the Pope was a po-
litical and most troublesome fact, with which under no
circumstances were moderate English gentlemen inclined
to have any more dealings. The Pope turned the scale ;
and the council, after some ineffectual attempts to find a
middle course, resolved on immediately confiscating the
estates of the Earl of Lennox ; while they recommended
the~Queen to demand the ratification of the Treaty of
Edinburgh, to send a fleet into the Forth, and to despatch
a few thousand men to Berwick, to be at the disposal of
the~EarT of Bedford^
Had these steps been taken, either Mary Stuart must
have yielded, or there would have been an immediate
1 Notes of the Proceedings in Council at Westminster, September 24.
In Cecil's hand : Cotton. MtiS. CALIG. B. 10. Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
1565.] THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE. 333
war. But the council, though consenting and advising
a decided course, were still divided : Norfolk, Arundel,
Winchester, Mason, and Pembroke were in favour in the
main of the Queen of Scots' succession, and they regarded
Calvinists and Calvinism with a most heartfelt and gen-
uine detestation. Elizabeth in her heart resented the
necessity of identifying herself with the party of John
Knox, and her m^o^^a£i<^^om_ day to day. After
the resolution of the council on the 24th she spoke at
length to the French ambassador in praise of Murray,
who, if his sister could but have known it, she said, was
her truest friend — a noble, generous, and good man ; she
was fully aware of the Queen of Scots' designs against
her ; and when de Foix entreated her not to break the
peace, she refused to give him any assurances, and she
told him that if France assisted Mary Stuart she should
receive it as an act of hostility against herself.1
But her energy spent itself in words, or rather both
the Queen and those advisers whom she most trusted,
•even Sir William Cecil himself, oscillated backwards
into a decision that the risk of war was too great to be
encountered. The example might be fatal : the Catholic
powers might interfere in England ; the Romanists at
home might mutiny ; while to move an army was ' three
times more chargeable than it was wont to be, whereof
the experience at Havre might serve for example.' 2 Two
days after their first resolution therefore the council
1 Paul de Foix to the King of France, September 29 ; TEULET, vol. ii.
2 ' Causes that move me not to consent presently to war,' September
26. Note in Cecil's hand : Cotton. MSS. CALIG. B. 10.
334
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 44.
assembled again, when Cecil informed them ' that he
found a lack of disposition in the Queen's Majesty to
allow of war or of the charges thereof;' she would break
her word to the lords whom she had encouraged into
insurrection ; but it was better than to run the risk of
a conflagration which might wrap all England in its
flames. The idea of forcible interference was finally
abandoned. De Mauvissiere remained at Edinburgh
sincerely endeavouring to keep Mary within bounds;
and Cecil himself wrote a private letter of advice to her
which he sent by the hands of a Captain Cockburn.
There were reasons for supposing that her violence
might have begun to cool. Darnley had desired that
the command of the army might be given to his father ;
the Queen of Scots had insisted on bestowing it upon
Bothwell,1 who had won her favour by promising to bring
in Murray dead or alive ; 2 and Lennox was holding off
from the Court in jealous discontent.
Cockburn on his arrival at Holyrood placed
October.
himself in communication with de Mauvis-
siere. They waited on Mary together ; and, expatiating
on the ruinous effect of the religious wars of the Guises
which had filled France with rage and hatred, they
entreated her for her own sake to beware of the miser-
able example. The French ambassador told her that
if she looked for aid from abroad she was deceiving her-
1 Randolph speaking of Mary
Stuart's relation with Bothwell at
tins time says — ' I have heard a
thing most strange, whereof I will
not make mention till I have better
assurance than now I have.' — Ran-
dolph to Cecil, October 13: MS.
Rolls House.
2 Cockburn to Cecil, October 2 ;
MS. Ibid.
1 565 . ] THE DARNLE Y MA KRIA GK. 335
self ; France would not help her and would not permit
the interference of Spain ; so that she would bring her-
self ' to a hard end/ Cockburn ' spoke his mind freely
to her to the same effect ' and ' told her she was in
great danger/ 1
Mary Stuart ' wept wondrous sore ; ' but, construing
Elizabeth's unwillingness to declare war into an admis-
sion of her own strength, she was deaf to advice as she
had been to menace. She disbelieved de Mauvissiere
and trusted soon to hear from Yaxlee that the Spanish
fleet was on its way to the English Channel ; at least
she would not lose the chance of revenge upon her
brother : f she said she would hear of no peace till she
had Murray's or Chatelherault's head.' 2
A few hundred men from Berwick would probably
have ended her power of so gratifying herself ; yet on
the other hand it might have been a spark to explode an
insurrection in England ; and Elizabeth preferred to
hold aloof with her arm half raised — wishing yet fearing
to strike — and waiting for some act of direct hostility
against herself. As far as the peace of her own
country was concerned her policy was no d.oubt a
prudent one ; but it was pursued at the expense of her
honour^_i^jTiined for the time her party in Scotland ;
and it was an occasion of fresh injury to the fugitives
at Dumfries.
As soon as Murray with his few dispirited friends
had reached the Border, he despatched Sir Robert Mel-
1 Cockburn to Cecil, October 2 : MS. Rolls House.
~ Bedford to Cecil, October 5 ; Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
336 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.44.
ville to London to explain his situation and to request
in form the assistance which had been promised him.
Elizabeth assured Melville that she was sorry for their
condition. She bade him return and tell Murray that
she would do her very best for himself and his cause ;
but she could not support him by arms without declar-
ing war against the Queen of Scots, and she could not
declare war ' without just cause/ If the Queen of Scots
therefore were to offer him ' any tolerable conditions '
she would not have him refuse ; 'if on the other hand
the indignation of the Queen was so cruelly intended as
he and his companions could obtain no end with preserv-
ation of their lives, her Majesty, both for her private
love towards those that were noblemen and of her
princely honour and clemency towards such as were
tyrannically persecuted, would receive them into her
protection, save their persons and their lives from ruin,
and so far would give them aid and succour ; ' she would
send a commissioner to Scotland to intercede with the
Queen, ' and with him also an army to be used as her
Majesty should see just occasion given to her/ l
The lords had become f desperate of hope and as
men dismayed ; ' they had repented bitterly of ' having
trusted so much to England : ' 2 Chatelherault, Glen-
cairn, Kirkaldy — all in fact save Murray — desired to
make terms with Mary, and were feeling their way to-
wards recovering her favour at the expense of the Queen
of England, whom they accused of betraying them.
1 Answer to Robert Melville, October i : Scotch MSS. Rolls Hoitse.
2 Bedford to Cecil, October 5 : MS. Ibid.
1 565 . ] THE DARNLE Y MARRIA GE. 337
When Melville returned with Elizabeth's anssver it was
interpreted into a fresh promise of interference in their
behalf, not only by the lords, whom, anxiety might have
made sanguine, but by the bearer of the message to
whom Elizabeth had herself spoken. They immediately
recovered their courage, broke off their communications
with the Queen of Scots, and prepared to continue their
resistance.
Elizabeth would have done better if she had spoken
less ambiguously. Mary Stuart, who had paused to as-
certain what they would do, set out at once for the
Border with Athol, Both well, and a motley force of
18,000 men. She rode in person at their head in steel
bonnet and corselet, ' with a dagg at her saddlebow/ l
declaring that ' all who held intercourse with England
should be treated as enemies to the realm ; ' while
Darnley boasted that he was about ' to be made the
greatest that ever reigned in the isle of Britain.' *
Hizzio was still the presiding spirit in Mary's council,
chamber. ' You may think/ wrote Randolph, ' what
the matter meaneth that a stranger and a varlet should
have the whole guiding of the Queen and country.' 3
The army was but a confused crowd : of loyal friends
the Queen could really count on none but Bothwell,
young Athol, and perhaps Hun try; 'fop rf^t- were as
like to turn against her as stand by her/ She perhaps
trusted to some demonstration from Berwick to kindle
Randolph to Cecil, October 13:
Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
1 8 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
3 MS. Ibid.
2 Randolph to Leicester, October
VOL. vn. 22
-338 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 44.
them into enthusiasm through their patriotism ; but
Elizabeth disappointed eqmjllyJbQth her enemies and her
friends ; she would give no excuse to the Queen of Scots
to complain that England had broken the peace. The
'• few hundreds ' with whose assistance the lords under-
took to drive their sovereign back to Edinburgh were
not forthcoming ; the army more than half promised to
Melville was a mere illusion ; and Bedford was confined
by his orders to Carlisle, where he was allowed only to
receive Murray and his party as fugitives : they had
now therefore no resource except to retreat into Eng-
land ; the Queen of Scots following in hot pursuit, glared
across the frontier at her escaping prey, half tempted to
follow them and annihilate the petty guard of the Eng-
lish commander : l but prudence for once prevailed ; she1
halted and drew back.
So ended the insurrection which had been^ under-
, taken at Elizabeth's instigatipnjjind mainly in Eliza-
beth's interests. Having failed to prevent the catas-
trophe she would gladly now have heard no more of it ;:
but she was not to escape so easily. Even among her own
subjects there were some who dared to speak unpalatable
truths to her. Bedford, who had been sent to the north
with an army which he believed that he was to lead
to Edinburgh, wrote in plain, stern terms to the Queen
herself ' that the lords, in reliance upon her Majesty's
promise, had stood out against their sovereign, and now
1 ',A few hundred men would
have kept all right. , I fear they
she had used, and we are all unpro-
vided.'—Bedford to Cecil, October
\vill break with us from words which ! 13 : Scotch MS 8. Rolls Home.
1565.] THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE. 339
knew not what to do ; l while to Cecil, not knowing how
deeply Cecil was responsible for the Queen's, conduct, he
wrote in serious sorrow. In a previous letter he had
spoken of ' the Lords of the Congregation/ and Eliza-
beth had taken offence at a term which savoured of too
advanced a Protestantism.
' The poor noblemen/ he now said, ' rest so amazed
and in so great perplexity they know not what to say,
do, or imagine. My terming them Lords of the Con-
gregation was but used by me because I saw it re-
ceived by others ; for that it is not plausible, I shall
omit it henceforth, wishing from my heart the cause
was plausibly received, and then for terms and names
it should be no matter. The Earl of Murray I find
constant and honourable, though otherwise sore per-
plexed, poor gentleman, the more the pity. As her
Majesty means peace we must use the necessary means
to maintain peace ; albeit I know that the Queen useth
against the Queen's Majesty our sovereign all such re*
proachful and despiteful words as she can ; besides her
practices with foreign realms, which her Majesty's
father I am sure would have thought much of. Yet as
her Majesty winketh at the same, I must know what I
am to do, whether in dealing with the wardens on the
Border I am to recognize commissions signed by the
Lord Darnley as King of Scotland.' 2
Randolph, ashamed and indignant at the deception
of which he and Throgmorton had been the instru-
1 Bedford to the Queen, October 13 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
2 Bedford to Cecil, October 13 and October 26 : MS. Ibid.
340 £EIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.44.
ni cuts, insisted ' that tlie Queen of Scots meant evil
and nothing but evil/ and that however long she was
borne with she would have to be brought to reason by
force at last. 'You, my lord/ he wrote anxiously to
Leicester, ' do all you can to move her Majesty ; it is
looked for at your hand, and all worthy and godly men
of this nation shall love and honour you for ever ; let it
be handled so that this Queen may know how she has
been misguided and ill-advised to take so much upon
her — not only against these noblemen, but far above
that if she had power to her will.' l
But it was, from Murray himself that Elizabeth had
to encounter the most inconvenient remonstrances. ~To
save .England from a Oatholic revolution and to save
England's Queen from the machinations of a dangerous
rival, the Earl of Murray had taken arms against his
sovereign, and he found himself a fugitive and an out-
law, while the sacred cause of the Reformation in his
own country had been compromised by his fall. His
life was safe,, but Mary Stuart, having failed to take or
kill him, was avenging herself on his wife, and the first
news which he heard after reaching England was that
Lady Murray had been driven from her home, and
within a few weeks of her confinement was wandering
shelterless in the woods. Submission and soft speeches
would have been his more prudent part, but Murray, a
noble gentleman of stainless honour, was not a person
to sit down patiently as the dupe of timidity or fraud.
itaridolph to Leicester, October 18 : Scotch MSS. Rolls Home.
1565.] THE DARN LEY MARRIAGE. 341
He wrote shortly to the English council to say that
in reliance on the message brought him by Sir Robert
Melville he had encouraged his friends to persevere in
resistance at a time when they could have made their
peace ; and through * their Queen's cold dealing ' both
he and they were now forced to enter England. If
there was an intention of helping them he begged that
it might be done at once, and that Scotland might be
saved from ruin.1
By the same messenger he wrote more particularly
to Cecil : ' He did not doubt,' he said, ' that Cecil under-
stood fully the motives both of himself and his friends ;
they had enterprised their action with full foresight of
their sovereign's indignation, being moved thereto by
the Queen of England and her council's hand writ
directed to them thereupon ; ' the ' extremities ' had
followed as they expected ; the Queen of Scots would
now agree to 110 condition, relying on the Queen of
England's ' coldness : ' he was told that the Queen's
Majesty's conscience was not resolved to make open
war without further motive and occasion ; the Queen's
Majesty was perfectly aware ' that he had undertaken
nothing for any particularity of his own, but for good
affection to follow her own counsel ; her Majesty had
been the furtherer and the doer, and he with the other
noblemen had assisted therein to their power.' 2
Nor were the lords contented with written protests :
they were determined to hear from Elizabeth's own lips
1 Murray to the Council, October 14 : Scotch MSS. JRolls House.
2 Murray to Cecil, October 14: MS. Ibid.
342 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 44-
an. explanation of their desertion. Murray himself and
the Abbot of Kilwinning were chosen as the representa-
tives of the rest ; and Bedford, after an affectation of
opposition which he did not carry beyond a form, sent
to the Queen on the iyth of October to prepare for
their appearance in London. Pressed by the conse-
quences of her own faults Elizabeth would have con-
cealed her conduct if possible from her own eyes ; least,
of all did she desire to have it thrown in her teeth
before all the world. She had assured Paul de Foix
at last that she would give the lords no help, and
would wait to be attacked. She wished to keep clear of
every overt act which would justify the Queen of Scots
in appealing to France and Spain. She had persuaded
.herself that Mary Stuart's army would disperse in a
few days for want of supplies, that the lords would re-
turn over the Border as easily as they had crossed it ; l
and that she could assist them with money behind the
scenes without openly committing herself. These plans
and hopes would be fatally disconcerted by Murray's
appearance at the Court, and she sent Bedford's courier
flying back to him with an instant and angry command
to prevent so untoward a casualty. She had said again
and again that ' she would give no aid that should
break the peace/ The coming up of the Earl of
Murray ' would give manifest cause of just complaint
to the Queen of Scots ; J and she added with curious
self- exposure, ' neither are these kind of matters in
1 Paul de Foix to the King of France, October 16 : TEULET, vol. ii.
THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE.
343
this open sort to be used/ If Murray had not yet set
out she required Bedford ' to stay him by his au-
thority ; ' if he had started he must be sent after and
recalled.1
The harshness of Elizabeth's language was softened
by the council, who expressed their regret ' that the
common cause had not hitherto had better success ; '
they promised their own support ' so far as their power
and credit might extend ; ' but they entreated Murray
•' patiently to accommodate himself to her Majesty's re-
solution.' 2
Unluckily for Elizabeth, Murray had anticipated
the prohibition, and had followed so closely behind the
announcement of his approach that the couriers charged
with the letters of the Queen and council met him at
Ware. He opened the despatch which was addressed
to himself, and immediately sent on a note to Cecil re-
gretting that he had not been sooner made aware of the
'Queen's wishes, but saying that as he had come so far,
he should now remain where he was till he was in-
formed of her further pleasure.
Embarrassed, irritated, and intending at all hazards
to disavow her connection with the lords, Elizabeth,
since Murray had chosen to come to her, resolved to
turn his presence to her advantage. When she had
once made up her mind to a particular course she never
1 Elizabeth to Bedford, October
20 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
2 The Council to Murray, October
20: Scotch MSS. Rolls House. The
letter is signed by Norfolk, Pem-
broke, Lord William Howard, ami
Cecil.
344
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[cir. 44*
hesitated on the details whatever they might cost. The
Earl of Murray was told that he would be received ; he
went on to London, and on the night of his arrival
the Queen sent for him and arranged, in a private inter-
view, the comedy which she was about to enact.1
The following morning, the 22nd of October, he
was admitted to an audience in public, at which de
Foix and de Mauvissiere, who had by this time returned
from Scotland, were especially invited to be present.
De Silva describes what ensued, not as an eye-witness,
but from an account which was given to him by the
Queen herself.2
Elizabeth having taken her place with the council
and the ambassadors at her side, the Earl of Murray
entered modestly dressed in black. Falling on one
knee he began to speak in Scotch, when the Queen in-
terrupted him with a request that he would speak in
French, which she said she could better understand ,.
Yo fue avisado que la noche | herself, and the Courts of France
antes desta platica el de Murray
estuvo con ella y con el secretario
Cecil buen rato. donde se debio con-
sultar lo que paso el dia siguiente.' —
De Silva to Philip, November 5.
And again, 'La Keyna oyo al de
Murray la noche que llego en se-
ere to, y oti'O dia hizo aquella de-
mostracion delante del Embajador
de Francia.' — Same to the same,
November 10: MS. Simancas. A
report of the proceedings in the
Rolls House, which was drawn up
for the inspection of Mary Stuart i
and Spain, states that ' the Queen
received Murray openly and none
otherwise.' The consciousness that
she had received him otherwise ex-
plains words which else might have
seemed superfluous.
2 The account in Sir James Mel
ville's Memoirs is evidently takei
from the official narrative, with
which in most points it verbally
agrees. De Silva's is but little dif-
ferent. The one variation of im-
portance will be noticed.
1565] THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE. 345
Murray objected that he had been so long out of prac-
tice that he could not properly express himself in
French ; and Elizabeth, whose object was to produce
an effect on de Foix and his companion, accepted his
excuse for himself; but she said that although he might
not be sufficient master of the idiom to speak it, she
knew that he understood it when he heard it spoken ;
she would therefore in her own part of the conversa-
tion make use of that language.
She then went on 'to express her astonishment that,
being declared an outlaw as he was by the Queen of
Scots, the Earl of Murray should have dared to come
unlicensed into her presence. The Queen of Scots had
been her good sister, and such she always hoped to find
her. There had been differences between them which
had made her fear for their friendship ; but the King
of France had kindly interposed his good offices be-
tween herself, her sister, and her sister's subjects ; and
the two ministers who had been his instruments in that
good service being at the moment at her Court, she had
requested both them and others to attend oil the pre-
sent occasion to hear what she was about to say. She
wished it to be generally understood that she would do
nothing which would give just offence to the Queen of
Scots, or which would impair her own honour. The
world, she was aware, was in the habit of saying that
her realm was the sanctuary for the seditious subjects of
her neighbours ; and it was even rumoured that she
had instigated or encouraged the insurrection in Scot-
land. She would not have done such a thing to be
346 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.44.
sovereign of the universe. God, who was a just God,
she well knew would punish her with the like troubles
in her own country; and if she encouraged the subjects
of another prince in disobedience, lie would stir her
own people into insurrection against herself. So far as
she knew, there were two causes for the present dis-
turbances in Scotland ; the Queen of Scots had married
without the consent of her Estates, and had failed to ap-
prize the princes her neighbours of her intentions ; the
Earl of Murray had attempted to oppose her and had
fallen into disgrace. This was the first cause. The
second was that the Earl of Lennox and his house
were opposed to the reformed religion ; the Earl
of Murray feared that he would attempt to destroy it,
and with his friends preferred to lose his life rather
than allow what he believed to be the truth to be over-
thrown. The Earl had come to the English Court to
request her to intercede with his sovereign that he
might be heard in his defence. There were faults
which proceeded of malice which deserved the rigour
of justice — one of these was treason against the person
of the sovereign ; and were she to understand that the
Earl of Murray had meditated treason she would
arrest and chastise him according to his demerits ; but
she had known him in times past to be well-affectioned
to his mistress ; he had loved her, she was confident,
with the love which a subject owes to his prince.
There were other faults — faults committed through
imprudence, through ignorance, or in self-defence,
which might be treated mercifully. The Earl of Mur-
1565.] THE DARNLE Y MARK I A GE. 347
ray s fault might be one of these ; she bade him
therefore say for which cause he had instigated the
late disturbances/
Elizabeth had exercised a wise caution in preparing
Murray for this nvgpofitpro1^ "harangue. He com-
manded himself, and replied by calling God to witness
of the loyalty with which he had ever served his sove-
reign : she had bestowed lands, honour, and rewards
upon him far beyond his desert ; he had desired
nothing less than to offend her, and he would have
stood by her with life and goods to the utmost of his
ability.
Elizabeth then began again : ' She held a balance
in her hand/ she said ; ' in the one scale was the
sentence of outlawry pronounced against him by the
Queen of Scots, in the other were the words which he
had just spoken. But the word of a Queen must out-
weigh the word of a subject in the mind of a sister sove-
reign, who was bound to show most favour to her own
like and equal. The Earl had committed actions deserv-
ing grave reprehension : he had refused to appear
when lawfully summoned ; he had taken up arms
and had made a league with others like himself to levy
war against his sovereign. She had been told that he
was afraid of being murdered, but if there had been a
conspiracy against him he should have produced the
proofs of it in his sovereign's presence/
Murray replied in Scotch, the Queen interpreting as
he went on. He said that it was true that there had
been a conspiracy ; the condition of his countrv was
348 REIGN OF ELIZABE TIL [en. 44,
such that he could not have saved his life except by the
means which he had adopted.
Elizabeth had doubtless made it a condition of her
further friendship that he should say nothing by which
she could herself be incriminated ; and he contented
himself with entreating her to intercede for him to ob-
tain the Queen of Scots' forgiveness. She affected to
hesitate. The Queen of Scots, she said, had so often
refused her mediation that s"he knew not how she could
offer it again, but she would, communicate with her
council, and when she had ascertained their opinions he
should hear from. her. Meanwhile she would have him
understand that he was in great danger, and that he
must consider himself a prisoner.
The Earl was then permitted to withdraw. The
Queen went aside with the Frenchmen, and assuring
them that they might accept what they had witnessed
as the exact truth, she begged that they would commu-
nicate it to the King of France. To de Silva, when he
was next admitted to an audience, she repeated the story
word by word, and to him as well as to the others she
protested that rebels against their princes should receive
from her neither aid nor countenance.1
So ended this extraordinary scene. Sir James Mel-
ville's narrative carries the extravagance one point fur-
ther. He describes Elizabeth as extorting from Murray
an acknowledgment that she had not encouraged the
rebellion, and as then bidding him depart from her
1 De Silva to Philip, November 5 : JUS. Simancas.
1565-] THE DARNLE Y MARR1A GE. ^49
presence an an unworthy traitor. Sir James Melville
•does but follow an official report which was drawn up
under Elizabeth's eye and sanction, to be sent to Scot-
land and circulated through Europe. It was thus there-
fore that she herself desired the world to believe that
she had spoken ; and one falsehood more or less in a web
of artifice could scarcely add to her discredit. For
Murray's sake however it may be hoped that he was
spared this further ignominy, and that de Silva's is the
truer story.
If the Earl did not declare in words however that
Elizabeth was unconnected with the rebellion, he allowed
her to disavow it in silence, and by his forbearance cre-
ated for himself and Scotland a claim upon her grati-
tude. He was evidently no consenting party to the de-
ception ; and after leaving her presence he wrote to her
in a letter what he had restrained himself from publicly
•declaring. 'Her treatment of him would have been
more easy to bear/ he said, ' had he known in what he
had offended ; 9 l he had done his uttermost with all his
power to serve and gratify her ; ' and ' the more he con-
sidered the matter it was ever the longer the more
grievous to him : ' noblemen who had suffered in former
times for maintaining English interests in Scotland,
4 when their cause was not to be compared to the pre-
sent, had been well received and liberally gratified ; '
while he who had ' endeavoured to show a thankful
heart in her service when any occasion was presented,
could in no wise perceive by herHighness's answer any
affection towards his present state ; ' ' her declaration
3 50 REIGN OF ELIZA BE TH. [c 1 1 . 44.
had been more grievous to him than all his other
troubles ; ' he trusted that ' he might in time receive
from her some more comfortable answer/ 1
It does not appear that Elizabeth saw Murray any
more. She was only anxious to be rid of his presence,
which was an intolerable reproach to her ; and with
these words — the least which the occasion required, yet
not without a sad dignity — he returned to his friends
who had been sent on to Newcastle, where they were
ordered for the present to remain. Elizabeth was left
to play out in character the rest of her ignoble game.
To the ambassadors, whom she intended to deceive, it
was a transparent farce ; and there was probably not a
house in London, Catholic or Protestant, where her con-
duct, which she regarded as a political masterpiece, was
not ridiculed as it deserved. But it must be allowed at
least the merit of completeness. An elaborate account
of the interview with Murray was sent to Randolph to-
be laid before the Queen of Scots; Elizabeth accom-
panied it with an autograph letter in which she at-
tempted to impose on the keenest-witted woman living
by telling her she wished ' she could have been present
to have heard the terms in which she addressed her re-
bellious subject/ ' So far was she from espousing the
cause of rebels and traitors,' she said, ' that she should
hold herself disgraced if she had so much as tacitly
borne with them ; ' ' she wished her name might be
blotted out from the list of princes as unworthy to hold
1 The Earl of Murray to Queen Elizabeth, from "Westminster, October
31 Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
1565]
7777s DARN LEY MARRIAGE.
351
a place among them/ if she had done any such thing.1
At the same time she wrote to Randolph himself,
saying frankly that her first impulse on Murray's ar-
rival had been to accept partially, if not entirely, the
conditions of peace which the Queen of Scots had offered
to Tarn worth. If the Queen of Scots would promise
not to molest either herself or her children in the pos-
session of the English throne, she had been ready to
pledge her word that nothin'g should be done in Eng-
land in prejudice of the Queen of Scots' title to ' the
second place.' On reflection however it had seemed
imprudent to show excessive eagerness. She had there-
fore written a letter which Randolph would deliver ;
and he might take the opportunity of saying that
although the Darnley marriage had interrupted the
friendship which had subsisted between the Queen of
Scots and herself, yet that she desired only to act hon-
ourably and kindly towards her ; and if the Queen of
Scots would undertake to keep the peace, and would
give the promise which she desired, she would send
commissioners to Edinburgh to make a final arrange-
ment.2
1 'Aussy je luy (Randolph) q,y
declare tout au long le discours cntrc
moy et ung de voz subjoctz lequel
j'cspere vous contentera; soubhaitant
-que voz oreillez en eussent ete juges
pour y entendre et 1'honneur et
1' affection que je monstrois en vostre
'endroit ; tout au rebours de ce qu'on
diet que je defendois voz mauvaises
subjectz centre vous ; laquelle chose
82 tiendra tousjours tres eloignee de-
mon coeur, estant trop grande igno-
minic pour une princesse a souffrir,
non que a faire; soubhaitant alors
qu'on me esblouisse du rang des
princes comme estant indigne de
tenir lieu.' — Elizabeth to the Queen
of Scots, October 29 : Scotch MSS.
Rolls Home.
- Elizabeth to Randolph, October
29 : Scotch MSS. Rolls Hottse.
352 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.44.
In a momentary recovery of dignity she added at
the close of her letter, that if the Queen of Scots refused,
* she would defend her country and subjects from such
annoyance as might be intended, and would finally use
all such lawful means as God should give her to redress
all offences and injuries already done or hereafter to be
done to her or her subjects.' l But an evil spirit of
trickery and imbecility had taken possession of Eliza-
beth's intellect. The Queen of Scots naturally expressed
the utmost readiness to receive commissioners sent from
England to concede 'so much of what she had asked.
By the time Mary's answer came, her Majesty, being no
longer in a panic, had become sensible of the indignity
of her proposal. She therefore bade Randolph ' so com-
pass the matter that the Queen of Scots should rather
send commissioners to England, as more honourable to
herself; ' and ' if the Queen of Scots said, as it was like
she would, that the Queen of England had offered to
send a commission thither, he should answer that he in-
deed said so and thought so, but that he did perceive he
had mistaken her message.'2
Elizabeth's strength, could she only have known it,
lay in the goodness of the cause which she represented.
The essential interests both of England and Scotland
were concerned in her success. She was the champion
of liberty, and through her the two nations were eman-
cipating themselves from spiritual tyranny. By the
side of the Jesuits she was but a shallow driveller in
Elizabeth to Randolph, October 29 : Scotch MSS. Rolls Home.
2 Elizabeth to Randolph, November 26 : MS. Ibid.
1565.] THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE. 353
the arts to which she condescended ; and she was about
to find that after all the paths of honour were the paths
of safety, and that she could liave chosen no weapon
more dangerous to herself than the chicanery of which
she considered herself so accomplished a mistress. She
had mistaken the nature of English and Scottish gentle-
men in supposing that they would be the instruments
of a disgraceful policy, and she had done her rival cruel
wrong in believing that she could be duped with arti-
fices so poor.
' Send as many ambassadors as you please to our
Queen/ said Sir William Kirkaldy to Bedford ; l they
shall receive a proud answer. She thinks to have a
force as soon ready as you do, besides the hope she has
to have friendship in England. If force of men and
ships come not with the ambassadors, their coming and
travail shall be spent in vain/ 1
Even Cecil perhaps now deplored the
. . , . TI • November.
enects 01 his own timidity. I have received,
wrote Bedford to him, 'your .gentle and sorrowful
letter. It grieveth me that things will frame no better.
The evil news will be the overthrow of three hundred
gentlemen of Scotland that are zealous and serviceable/
Too justly Bedford feared that the Scotch Protestants
in their resentment would ' become the worst enemies
that England ever had ; ' too clearly he saw that Eliza-
beth by her miserable trifling had ruined her truest
friends ; that however anxious she might be for peace
1 Kirkaldy to Bedford, October 31 : Scotch MSS. Bolls House.
VOL. vn. 23
354 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44.
' the war would come upon her when least she looked
for it ; ' and that Mary Stuart now regarded her with
as much contempt as hatred. ' Alas ! my lord/ he
wrote to Leicester, ' is this the end ? God help us all
and comfort these poor lords. There is by these deal-
ings overthrown a good duke, some earls, many other
barons, lords, and gentlemen, wise, honest, religious.
Above all am I driven to bemoan the hard case of the
Earl of Murray and the Laird of Grange, whose affec-
tion to this whole realm your lordship knows right well.
I surely think there came not a greater overthrow to
Scotland these many years ; for the wisest, honestest,
and godliest are discomfited and undone. There is now
no help for them, unless God take the matter in hand,
but to commit themselves to their prince's will and
pleasure. And what hath England gotten by helping
them in this sort ? even as many mortal enemies of
them as before it had dear friends ; for otherwise will
not that Queen receive them to mercy, if she deal no
worse with them ; nor without open and evident de-
monstration of the same cannot they assure themselves
of her favour ; and the sooner they thus do the sooner
they shall have her to conceive a good opinion of them,
and the sooner they shall be restored to their liveli-
hoods.' l
' Greater account might have been made of the
lords' good-will/ wrote Randolph. ' If there be living
a more mortal enemy to the Queen my mistress than
Bedford to Leicester, November 5 : Scotch MSS. Holla House.
1 5 65 . ] THE DARNLE Y MARRIA GE. 355
this woman is, I desire never to be reputed but the
vilest villain alive/ l ' The lords/ concluded Bedford,
scornfully, ' abandoned by man and turned over to God,
must now do the best they can for themselves.-'
And what that was, what fruit would have grown
from those strokes of diplomatic genius, had Mary
Stuart been equal to the occasion, Elizabeth would ere
long have tasted in deposition and exile or death.
Randolph, faithful to the end, might say and unsay,
might promise and withdraw his word, and take on
himself the blame of his mistress's changing humour ;
Bedford, with ruin full in view before him, might pro-
mise at all risks ' to obey her bidding.' But the lords
of Scotland were no subjects of England, to be be-
trayed into rebellion in the interests of a country which
they loved with but half their hearts, and when danger
came to be coolly * turned over to God.' Murray might
forgive, for Murray's noble nature had no taint of self
in it ; but others could resent for him what he himself
could pardon. Argyle, his brother-in-law, when he
heard of that scene in London, bade Randolph tell his
mistress ' he found it very strange ; the Queen of Scots
had made him many offers, and till that time he had
refused them all ; if the Queen of England would re-
consider herself he would stick to the English cause and
fight for it T^ith lands and life ; but he demanded an
answer within ten days. If she persisted he would
make terms with -his own sovereign/ 2 The ten days
1 Randolph to Leicester, November 8 : Ibid.
2 Randolph ito Cecil, November 19.
356 KEIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44.
passed and no answer came. Argyle withdrew the
check which through the Scots of the Isles he had held
over Shan O'Neil, and Ireland blazed into fury and
madness ; while Argyle himself from that day forward
till Mary Stuart's last hopes were scattered at Langside,
became the enemy of all which till that hour he had
most loved and fought for.
Nor was Argyle alone in his anger. Sir James Mel-
ville saw the opportunity, and urged on his mistress a
politic generosity. From the day of her return from
France he showed her that she had ' laboured without
effect to sever her nobility from England/ The Queen
of England had now done for her what for herself she
could not do ; and if she would withdraw her prose-
cutions, pardon Murray, pardon Chatelherault, pardon
Kirkaldy and Glencairn, she might command their de-
votion for ever/ l Melville found an ally where he
could have least looked for it to repeat the same advice.
Sir Nicholas Throgmorton had for the last six years
been at the heart of every Protestant conspiracy in
Europe. He it was of whose experienced skill Eliza-
beth had availed herself to light the Scotch insurrection.
His whole nature revolted against the paltry deception
of which he had been made the instrument ; and now
throwing himself passionately into the interests of the
Queen of Scots, he advised the lords ' to sue for pardon
at their own Queen's hands, and engage never to offend
her again for the satisfaction of any prince alive ; '
1 MELVILLE'S Memoirs.
1565.] THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE. .357
while more daringly and dangerously he addressed
Mary Stuart herself.
'Your Majesty/ he said, 'has in England many friends
who favour your title for divers respects ; some for con-
science thinking you have the right ; some from personal
regard ; some for religion ; some for faction ; some for
the ill-will they bear to Lady Catherine your competitor.
Your friends and enemies alike desire to see the succes-
sion settled. Parliament must meet next year at latest ;
and it must be your business meanwhile to assure your-
self of the votes of the majority, which if you will you
can obtain. You have done wisely in marrying an
Englishman ; we do not love strangers. Make no
foreign alliance till you have seen what we can do for
you. Keep on good terms with France and Spain, but
do not draw too close to them. Go on moderately in
religion as you have hitherto done, and you will find
Catholics as well as Protestants on your side. Show
clemency to the banished lords. You will thus win
many hearts in England. Be careful, be generous, and
you will command us all. I do not write as ' a fetch '
to induce you to take the lords back ; it is thought ex-
pedient for your service by many who have no favour to
them and are different from them in religion
' The Earl of Murray has offended you it is true ; but
the Protestants persuade themselves that his chief fault
in your eyes is his religion, and on that ground they
take his side. Pardon him, restore him to favour, and
win by doing so all Protestant hearts. The lords will
in no wise if they can eschew it be again in the Queen
358 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 44-
of England's debt, neither by obtaining of any favour at
your hand by her intervention, nor yet for any support
in time of their banishment. Allow them their charges
out of their own lands, and the greater part even of the
English bishops will declare for you.' l
Never had Elizabeth been in greater danger ; and the
worst features of the peril were the creations of her own
untruths. Without a fuller knowledge of the strength
and temper of the English Catholics than the surviving
evidence reveals, her conduct cannot be judged with
entire fairness. Undoubtedly the utmost caution was
necessary to avoid giving the Spaniards a pretext for
interference ; and it is due to her to admit that her own
unwillingness to act openly on the side of the northern
lords had been endorsed by that of Cecil. Yet she_had
been driven intpjyDpsitionjfrom which^ had Mary Stuart
understood how to use her advantage, she would scarcely
have eert^ abletoextricate_hersejf. If the Queen of
__
Scots had relied on her own judgment she woul3~pro-
bably have accepted the advice of Melville and Throg-
morton and her other English friends ; she would have
declared an amnesty, and would have rallied all parties
except the extreme Calvinistic fanatics to her side. But
such a policy would have involved an indefinite prolong-
ation of the yoke which she had already found intoler-
able ; she must have concealed or suspended her intention
of making a religious revolution, and she must have
continued to act with a forbearance towards the Pro-
1 Letter from Sir N. Throgmorton to the Queen of Scots : Printed by
Sir James Melville ; abridged.
i 565 .] THE DARNLE Y MARRIA GE. 359
testants which, her passionate temper found more and
more difficulty in maintaining. The counsels of David
Rizzio were worth an army to English liberty : she had
surrendered herself entirely ajad exclusively to Rizzjo^
guidance ; and when Melville attempted to move the
dark and dangerous Italian ' he evidenced a disdain of
danger and despised counsel.' Rizzio, 'the minion of
the Pope/ preferred the more direct and open road of
violence and conquest, which he believed, in his ignor-
ance of the people amongst whom he was working, to be
equally safe for his mistress, while it promised better for
other objects which he had in view for himself. Already
every petition addressed to the Crown was passing
through his hands, and he was growing rich upon the
presents which were heaped upon him to buy his favour.
He desired rank as well as wealth ; and to be made a
peer of Scotland, the reward which Mary Stuart intended
for him, he required a share of the lands of the banished
earls, the estates of Murray most especially, as food at
once for his ambition and revenge.
It is time to return to his friend and emissary, Francis
Yaxlee, who went at the end of August on a mission to
Philip.
The conditions under which the King of Spain had
promised his assistance seemed to have arrived. Mary
Stuart had married Lord Darnley as he advised ; her
subjects had risen in insurrection with the secret support
of the Queen of England, who was threatening to send
an army into Scotland for their support. She had run
into danger in the interests of the Church of Home, and
360 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44.
she looked with confidence to the most Catholic King to
declare for her cause. Yaxlee found Philip at the begin-
ning of October at Segovia. Elizabeth's diplomacy had
been so far successful that the Emperor Maximilian was
again dreaming that she would marry the Archduke
Charles. He was anxious to provide his brother with a
throne : he had been wounded by Mary Stuart's refusal
to accept the Archduke, when his marriage with her had
been arranged between himself and the Cardinal of Lor-
raine, with the sanction of the Council of Trent. Eliza-
beth had played upon his humour, and he had reverted
to the scheme which had at one time been so anxiously
entertained by his father and Philip.1 The King of
Spain's own hopes of any such solution of the English
difficulty were waning ; yet he was unwilling to offend
the Emperor, and he would riot throw away a card which
might after all be the successful one. It was perhaps
the suspicion that Philip was not acting towards her with
entire sincerity which urged Mary Stuart into precipi-
tancy; or she might have wished to force Elizabeth into a
position in which it would be impossible for any Catholic
sovereign to countenance her. But Elizabeth, on the one
hand, had been too cautious, and Philip on the other,
though wishing well to the Queen of Scots and evidently
1 A noche recibi una carta de
Chantonnay del 27 del pasado en
que me escribe que habiendo dicho
al Emperador de parte de V. Md. que
si era necesario que, para que se
hiciese el negocio del matrimonio
mano sobrello, y que el Empevador
le habia respondiclo que no estaba
desahuciado deste negocio, y le diria
lo que sobrello habia de escribir &
V. Md. El deseo es grande que [el
Emperador] tiene a este negocio.' —
del Archiduque con la de Inglaterra, De Silva to Philip, November 10 .
V. Md. escribiese a la Reyiia de su MS. Simancas.
i565.]
THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE.
believing that she was the only hope of the Catholic
cause in England, yet could not overcome his constitu-
tional slowness. He was willing to help her, yet only
as Elizabeth had helped the Scotch insurgents, with a
secrecy which would enable him to disavow what he had
done. He was afraid of the Huguenot tendencies of the
French Government ; he was afraid that if he took an
open part he might set a match to the mine which was
about to explode in the Low Countries : he therefore
repeated the cautions which Alva had given Beton at
Bayonne ; he gave Yaxlee a note for twenty thousand
crowns which would be paid him by Grranvelle at Brus-
sels ; he promised if Elizabeth declared war to contri-
bute such further sums as should be necessary ; but he
would do it only under shelter of the name of the Pope
and through the Pope's hands ; in his own person he
would take no part in the quarrel; the time, he said,
was not ripe. He insisted especially that Mary Stuart
should betray no intention of claiming the English throne
during Elizabeth's lifetime. It would exasperate the
Queen of England into decisive action, and justify her to
some extent in an immediate appeal to arms.1 As little
would he encourage the Queen of Scots to seek assistance
from her uncles in France. She might accept money
wherever she could get it, but to admit a French army
into Scotland would create a greater danger than it
would remove.2
1 ' Porque esto la escandalizaria
mucho y daria gran ocasion para
ejecutar contra ellos lo que pudiese,
y en alguna manera seria justificar
su causa.'— Answer to Yaxlee : MIG-
NET vol. ii. p. 200. 2 Ibid.
362 REIGN OF ELIZABE TH [CH. 44.
With this answer Yaxlee was dismissed : and so
anxious was Philip that Mary Stuart should know his
opinion that he enclosed a duplicate of his reply to de
Silva, with directions that it should be forwarded imme-
diately to Scotland, and with a further credit for money
should the Queen of Scots require it.
Yet Philip was more anxious for her success and more
sincere in his desire to support her than might be
gathered froin.Jiis_c_autious language .toJtifiJiajnhassador ;
and his real feelings may be gathered from a letter
which he wrote after Yaxlee had left Segovia to Cardinal
Pacheco his minister at Rome.
PHILIP II. TO CARDINAL PACHECO.1
October 1 6.
' I have received your letter of the 2nd of September,
containing the message from his Holiness on the assist-
ance to be given to the Queen of Scots. As his Holiness
desires to know my opinion, you must tell him first that
his anxiety to befriend and support that most excellent
and most Christian princess in her present straits is
worthy of the zeal which he has ever shown for the good
cause, and is what his disposition would have led me to
expect. The Queen of Scots has applied to myself as
well as to his Holiness ; and possessing as I do special
knowledge of the condition of that country, and having
carefully considered the situation of affairs there, I have
arrived at the following conclusions : —
1 MS. Simancas.
1565.] THE DARN LEY MARRIAGE. 363
' There are three possibilities —
' i. Either the Queen of Scots may find herself at war
only with her own subjects, and may require assistance
merely to reduce her own country to obedience and to
maintain religion there ; or,
1 2. The Queen of England, afraid for her own safety,
may openly support the rebels and heretics in their
insurrection, and herself undisguisedly declare war ; or,
' 3. The Queen of Scots may attempt to extort by
arms the recognition of her claims on the English suc-
cession.
* In either or all of these contingencies his Holiness
will act in a manner becoming his position and his cha-
racter if he take part avowedly in her behalf. I myself
am unwilling to come prominently forward, but I am
ready to give advice and assistance, and that in the fol-
lowing manner : —
' Suppose the first case that the Scotch rebels find no
support from any foreign prince, their strength cannot
then be great, and the Queen of Scots with very little
aid from us will be able to put them down. It will be
sufficient if we send her money, which can be managed
secretly ; and if his Holiness approves he will do well to
send whatever sum he is disposed to give without delay.
I shall myself do the same, and indeed I have already
sent a credit to my ambassador in England for the Queen
of Scot's use.
' If the Queen of England takes an open part, more
will be required of us, and secrecy will hardly be possible
even if we still confine ourselves to sending money.
364 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44.
Whatever be done, however, it is ray desire that it be
done entirely in his Holiness's name. I will contribute
in my full proportion ; his Holiness shall have the fame
and the honour.
' The last alternative is far more difficult. I foresee
so many inconveniences as likely to arise from it that
the most careful consideration is required before any step
is taken. Nothing must be done prematurely ; and his
Holiness I think should write to the Queen of Scots and
caution her how she proceeds. A false move may ruin
all, while if she abide her time she cannot fail to succeed.
Her present care should be to attach her English friends
to herself more firmly, and wherever possible to increase
their number ; but above all she should avoid creating a
suspicion that she aims at anything while the Queen of
England is alive. The question of her right to the suc-
cession must be continually agitated, but no resolution
should be pressed for until success is certain. If she
grasp at the crown too soon she will lose it altogether.
Let her bide her time before she disclose herself: and
meanwhile I will see in what form we can best inter-
fere. The cause is the cause of God, of whom the Queen
of Scots is the champion. We now know assuredly that
she is the sole gate through which religion can be
restored in England ; all the rest are closed.'
The unfortunate Yaxlee, having received his money in
Flanders, was hurrying back to his mistress when he was
caught in the Channel by a November gale, and was
flung up on the coast of Northumberland a mangled
bo.ty, recognizable only by the despatches found upon
1565.] THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE. 365
his person. They told Elizabeth little which she did not
know already. She was perhaps relieved from the fear
of an iminediate interposition from Rpg.inj the expecta-
tion of which, as much as any other cause, had led to the
strangeness of her conduct. But she knew herself to be
surrounded with pitfalls into which a false step might at
any moment precipitate her ; and she could resolve on
nothing. One day she thought of trying to persuade
the Queen of Scots to establish ' religion ' on the English
model ; ' or if that could not be obtained that there
might be liberty of conscience, that the Protestants
might serve God their own way without molestation/1
Then again in a feeble effort to preserve her dignity she
would once more attempt to entrap the Queen of Scots
into sending commissioners to England to sue for a settle-
ment of the succession, which naturally did but increase
Mary Stuart's exasperation.2 Bothwell made a raid on
the Borders and carried off five or six English prisoners.
The Earl of Bedford made reprisals, in the faint hope
that it might force Elizabeth into a more courageous
attitude. She first blamed Bedford ; then, stung by an
insolent letter from the Queen of Scots, she flashed up
with momentary pride and became conscious of her in-
justice to Murray.
The Scotch Parliament was summoned for
December,
the ensuing February, when Murray and his
friends would be required to appear, and if they failed
1 Instructions to Commissioners going to Scotland, November, 1565
Cotton. MSS. CALIQ. B. 10.
2 Randolph to Cecil, December 15 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
366 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 44.
to present themselves would be proceeded against for
high treason. The Queen of Scots, at Rizzio's instiga-
tion, was determined to carry an Act of Attainder and
forfeiture against them, which Elizabeth felt herself
bound in honour to make an effort to prevent. So
anxious she had been for the first two months after
they had come to England to disclaim connection with
them that she had almost allowed them to starve ;
and Randolph, on Christmas-day, wrote to Cecil that
Murray 'had not at that time two crowns in the
world.' * But this neglect was less the result of de-
liberate carelessness than of temporary panic ; and as
the alarm cooled down she recovered some percep-
tion of the obligations under which she lay.
At length therefore she consented for herself to
name two commissioners if the Queen of Scots would
name two others ; and in writing on the subject to
Randolph, under her first and more generous impulse,
she said that ' her chief intention in their meeting was,
if it might be, that some good might be done for the
Earl of Murray/ Her timidity came back upon her
before she had finished her letter ; she scored out the
words and wrote instead ' the chief intention of this
meeting on our part is, covertly though not manifestly, to
procure that some good might be done for the Earl/2
More painful evidence she could scarcely have given of
her perplexity and alarm.
Bedford and Sir John Foster were named to repre-
1 Randolph to Cecil, December 25 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
2 Elizabeth to Eandplph, January 10: Ibid.
1565.] THE DARNLE Y MARRIAGE. 367
sent England. The Queen of Scots, as if in deliberate
insult, named Bothwell as a fit person to meet with
them ; and even this, though wounded to the quick,
Elizabeth endured, lest a refusal might ' increase her
malice.'1
So the winter months passed away ; and the time
was fast approaching for the meeting of the Scottish
Parliament. The Queen of Scots was by this time
pregnant. Her popularity in England was instantly
tenfold increased ; while from every part of Europe
warnings came thicker and thicker that mischief was
in the wind. ' The young King and Queen of Scots,'
wrote Sir Thomas Smith from Paris, 'do look for a
further and a bigger crown, and have more intelligence
and practice in England and in other realms than you
think for. Both the Pope's and the King of Spain's
hands be in that dish further and deeper than I think
you know. The ambassadors of Spain, Scotland, and
the .Cardinal of Lorraine be too great in their devices
for me to like. The Bishop of Glasgow looks to be a
cardinal, and to bring in Popery ere it be long, not
only into Scotland but into England. I have cause to
say to you vigilate ! ' '
1 It is written/ Randolph reported to Leicester,
' that this Queen's faction increaseth greatly among
you. I commend you for that ; for so shall you have
religion overthrown, your country torn in pieces, and
never an honest man left alive that is good or godly.
1 Elizabeth to Randolph, February 2 : Lamdowne MSS. 8.
2 Sir T. Smith to Cecil, March 1565-6 : French MSS. Roll* House.
368 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44.
Woe is me for you when David's (Rizzio's") son shall be
a king of England/ l
j^66 At length a darker secret stole abroad, that
January. piug the Fiftllj wllQ had just succeeded to the
Papal chair, had drawn away Catherine de Medici from
the freer and nobler part of the French people ; that
she had entered on the dark course which found its
•
outcome on the day of St Bartholomew ; and that a
secret league had been formed between the Pope and
the King of France and the Guises for the uprooting of
the reformed faith out of France by fair means or foul.
Nor was the conspiracy confined to the Continent ; a
copy of the bond had been sent across to Scotland,
which Randolph ascertained that Mary Stuart had
signed.2 At the moment when it arrived she had been
moved in some slight degree by Melville's persuasions,
and perhaps, finding that Philip also advised modera-
tion, she was hesitating whether she should not pardon
the lords after all. But the Queen-mother's messenger,
M. de Yillemont, entreated that she would under no
circumstances whatever permit men to return to Scot-
land who had so long thwarted and obstructed her.
The jun^xpectftrl siippm^^ftm-Jgra.rip.e blew her passion
into flame again ; 3 and she looked only to the meeting
of the Parliament, from which the strength of the
Protestants would now be absent, not only to gratify her
own and Rizzio's revenge but to commence her larger
1 Randolph to Leicester, January 29 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
2 Randolph to Cecil, February 7 : Ibid.
3 MELVILLE'S Memoirs.
1566.] . THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE. 369
and long-cherished projects. She Determined to make
an effort to induce the^ Estates to re-establish Catholic-
ism as the relig^n^of^Scotland^J-eaving the Protestants
for the present with liberty of conapjfmnftj 1-mf. with
small prospect of retaining long a privilege which when
in power they had rafnagdj;o their opponents.
The defeat of the lords and the humiliating exhibi-
tion of Elizabeth's fears had left Mary Stuart to out-
ward appearance mistress of the situation. There was
no power in Scotland which seemed capable of resisting
her. She wrote to Pius to congratulate him on her
triumph over the enemies of the faith, and to assure
him that ' with the help of God and his Holiness she
would leap over the wall.'1 Bedford and Randolph
ceased to hope ; and Murray, in a letter modestly and
mournfully beautiful, told Cecil that unless Elizabeth
interfered, of which he had now small expectation, ' for
anything that he could judge ' he and his friends were
wrecked for ever.2
Suddenly, and from a quarter least expect-
--•— — -i- — i — _— C— February.
edxj^ little cloud rose over the halcyon pros-
pects of the Queen of Scots,_wrapped the heavens in
blackness, and burst over her head in a tornado. On
the political stage Mary Stuart was but a great actress.
The ' woman ' had a drama of her own going on behind
the scenes ; the theatre caught fire ; the mock heroics of
the Catholic crusade burnt into ashes ; and a tremendous
1 Mary Stuart to the Pope, January 21, 1566 : MIGNET.
2 Murray to Cecil, January 9 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House
VOL. vn. 24
370 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44-
domestic tragedy was revealed before the astonished
eyes of Europe.
Towards the close of 1565 rumours went abroad in
Edinburgh, coupled with the news that the Queen was
enceinte, that she was less happy in her marriage than
she had anticipated. Shp Tmd expected Darnley to be
passive in her handstand she was findingj;hatjie was
too foolish to be controlled : a proud, ignorant, self-
willed boy was aT the best an indifferent companion to
an accomplished woman of the world ; and when he
took upon himself the airs of a king, when he affected
to rule the country and still more to rule the Queen, he
very soon became intolerable. The first open difference
between them arose from the appointment of Bothwell
as lieutenant-general in preference to Lennox. The
Lennox clan and kindred, the Douglases, the Euthvens,
the Lindsays, who were linked together in feudal
affinity, took the affront to themselves ; and Darnley,
supported by his friends, showed his resentment by ab-
senting himself from the Court.
' The Lord Darnley/ wrote Randolph on the 2oth
of December,1 'followeth his pastimes more than the
Queen is content withal ; what it will breed hereafter I
cannot say, but in the mean time there is some mislik-
iiig between them/
It was seen how Darnley, at the time of his
marriage, grasped at the title of King. As he found
his wishes thwarted he became anxious, and his kins-
1 Scotch MSS. Bolls House.
1566.3
THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE.
37'
men with him,; that the name should become a reality,
and * the crown matrimonial ' be legally secured to him
at the approaching Parliament. But there were signs
abroad that his wish would not be acceded to ; Mary
Stuart was unwilling to part with her power for the
same reason that Darnley required it.
On Christmas- day Randolph wrote again of ' strange
alterations.' ' A while ago/ he said,1 ' there was
nothing but King and Queen ; now the Queen's hus-
band is the common word. He was wont in all writings
to be first named ; now he is placed in the second.
Lately there were certain pieces of money coined with
their faces Heiiricus et Maria ; these are called in and
others framed. Some private disorders there are among
themselves ; but because they may be but amantium irce,
or ' household words/ as poor men speak, it makes no
matter if it grow no further.'
In January a marked affront was passed on Darnley.
M. Rambouillet brought from Paris ' the Order of the
Cockle ' for him. A question rose about his shield.
Had * the crown matrimonial ' been intended for him he
would have been allowed to bear the royal arms. The
Queen coldly * bade give him his due/ and he was en-
rolled as Duke of Rothsay and Earl of Ross.2 Darnley
retaliated with vulgar brutality. He gave roistering
parties to the young French noblemen in Rambouillet's
train and made them drunk.3
1 Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
2 KNOX ; History of the Reform-
ation.
8 ' Sick with draughts of aqua
composita.'
372 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 44.
One day he was dining with the Queen at the house
of a merchant in Edinburgh. He was drinking hard
as usual, and when she tried to check him ( he not only
paid no attention to her remonstrance, but also gave her
such words as she left the place with tears.' Something
else happened also, described as ' vicious,' the nature of
which may be guessed at, at some festivity or other
on ' Inch Island ; ' l and as a natural consequence the
Queen ' withdrew her company ' from the Lord Barn-
ley ; a staircase connected their rooms, but they slept
apart.2
Side by side with the estrangement from her hus-
band, Mary Stuart ad™if,f,pri "Riggn'o tn olnsnr and closer
intimacy. Signor David, as he was called, became the
Queen's inseparable companion in the council-room and
the cabinet. At all hours of the day he was to be
found with her in her apartments. ^She kept late
hours, and he was often alone with her till midnight.
He had the control of all the business of the State ; as
Darnley grew troublesome his presence was dispensed
with at the council, and a signet, the duplicate of the
King's, was intrusted to the favoured secretary. Find-
ing himself so deeply detested by the adherents of
Lennox, Rizzio induced the Queen to show favour to
those amongthe banishedjords who were most hostile
to the King and were least determined^ in their Pro-
to return as a support against the Lennox faction in
1 Sir "William Drury to Cecil, I B. 10 : Printed in KEITH.
February 16 : Cotton. MSS. CALIG. I 2 RUTHYEN'JJ Narrative. KEITH.
1566.] THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE. 373
case of difficulty ; 1 while among the Congregation — as
was seen in one of Randolph's letters — the worst con-
struction was placed on the relations between the Queen
and the favourite.
Thus a King's party and a Queen's party had
shaped themselves within six months of the marriage :
Scotland was the natural home of conspiracies, for law
was powerless there, and social duty was overridden by
the more sacred obligation of affinity or private bond.
On the J3th of February (the date is important) Ran-
dolph thus wrote to Leicester : —
' I know now for certain that this Queen repent eth
her marriage, that she hateth the King and all his kin;
I know that he knoweth himself that he hath a par-
taker in play and game with him ; I know that there
are practices in hand contrived between the father and
the son to come by the crown against her will ; I know
that if that take effect which is intended, David, with
the consent of the King, shall have his throat cut
within these ten days. Many things and grievouser
and worse are brought to my ears, yea of things in-
tended against the Queen's own person/ 2
It was observed on the first return of Lennox that
1 ' The Duke of Chatelherault,
finding so favourable address, hath
much displeased both the King and
David and others. If there should
between her and the Lord Darnley
arise such controversy as she could
his father, who is in great misliking not well appease, the Duke's aid she
of the Queen. She is very weary of would use.' — Drury to Cecil, Febru-
ary 1 6 : Cotton. MSS. CALIG. B. 10.
2 Printed in TYTLER s History
him. Thus it is that those that de-
pend wholly on him are not liked of
her, nor they that follow her in like
manner aie not liked of him, as i
of Scotland.
374 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [0*1.44.
the enmities and friendships of his family intersected
and perplexed the leading division between Catholics
and Protestants. Lord Darnley had been brought to
Scotland as the representative of the English Catholics
and as a support to the Catholic faction ; but it was
singular that the great Scottish families most nearly
connected with him were Protestants; while the
Gordons, the Hamiltons, the Betons, the relations
generally of Chatelherault, who was Lennox's principal
rival, were chiefly on the opposite side. The confusion
hitherto had worked ill for the interests of the Re-
formers. The House of Douglas had preferred the
claims of blood to those of religion : the Earl of Ruth-
ven, though Murray's friend, was Darnley's uncle,1 and
had stood by the Queen through the struggle of the
summer ; Lindsay, a Protestant to the backbone, had
married a Douglas and went with the Earl of Morton ;
the desire to secure the crown to a prince of their own
blood and race had overweighed all higher and nobler
claims.
The desertion of so large a section of his friends
had been the real cause of Murray 's failure ; Protest-
antism was not dead in Scotland, but other interests
had paralyzed its vitality, just as four years before
Murray's eagerness to secure the English succession for
his sister had led him into his first and fatal mistake of
supporting her in refusing to ratify the Treaty of
Edinburgh. The
! Ruthven had married a half-sister of Lady Margaret Lennox.
r 566. ] THE DARNLE Y MARRIA GE. 3 75
husband flung all parties back into their natural
places ; Lennox, who twenty years before had been
brought in from France in the interest of Henry the
Eighth as a check on Cardinal Beton, drifted again
into his old position in the front of tho Protestant
league ; and Darnley's demand for the matrimonial
crown, though in himself the mere clamour of dis-
appointed vanity, was maintained by powerful noble-
men, who though they neither possessed nor deserved
the confidence of the Reformers, yet were recognizing
too late that they had mistaken their interest in leav-
ing them.
But the matrimonial crown it became every day more
clear that Darnley was not to have ; Rizzio above all
others was held responsible for the Queen's resolution to
refuse it, and for this, as for a thousand other reasons,
he was gathering hatred on his devoted head. A
foreigner, who had come to Scotland two years before as
a wandering musician, was thrusting himself into the
administration of the country, and pushing from their
places the fierce lords who had been accustomed to dic-
tate to their sovereign. As a last stroke of insolence he
was now aiming at the chancellorship, of which the
Queen was about to deprive in his favour the great chief
of the House of Douglas. ( %^\k***^
While their blood was set on fire with these real and
fancied indignities Lord Darnley, if his word was to be
believed, went one night between twelve and one to the
Queen's room. Finding the door locked he knocked,
but could get no answer. At length after he had called
376
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH 44
many times, and had threatened to break the lock, the
Queen drew back the bolt. He entered and she appeared
to be alone, but on searching he found Rizzio half-dressed
in a closet.1
Darnley's word was not a good one : he was capable
of inventing such a story to compass his other purposes,
or if it was true it might have been innocently explained.
The Queen of Scots frequently played cards with Kizzio
late into the night, and being a person entirely careless
of appearances she might easily have been alone with
him with no guilty intention under the conditions which
Darnley described. However it was, he believed or pre-
tended that he had found evidence of his dishonour, and
communicated his discovery to Sir George Douglas an-
other of his mother's brothers, who at Darnley's desire
on the loth of February informed the Earl of Ruthven.
Once before, it appeared, ' the nobility had given
Darnley counsel suitable to his honour ' — that is to say,
they had intimated to him their own views of Eizzio's
proceedings and character. Darnley had betrayed them
to the Queen, whe had of course been exasperated.
Ruthven had been three months ill; he was then
1 'L'une cause de la mort de
David est que le Roy quelques jours
auparavant, environ une hcure apres
minuict, seroit alle heurter a, la
chambre de ladicte dame, qui estoit
audcssus de la sienne ; et d'aultant
que apres avoir plusieurs fois heurte
i'on ne luy respoiidoit point il auroit
apelle souvent la Royne, la priant de
ouvrir, et snfin }a menacant do
rompre la porte ; a cause de quoy
elle lui auroit ouvert. Laquelle
ledict Roy trouva seule dedans ladicte
chambre ; mais ayant cberche par-
tout il auroit trouve dedans son
cabinet ledict David en cbemise,
couvert seullement d'une robbe
fourree.' — Analyse d'une depeche de
M. de Foix a la Reyne mere :
TEULET, vol. ii. p. 267.
1566.] THE DARN1.EY MARPSAGE. 377
scarcely able to leave his bed and was inclined at first
to run into no further trouble ; but pressed at length by
Darnley's oaths and entreaties, he saw in what had oc-
curred an opportunity for undoing his work of the
summer and for bringing back the banished lords. Par-
liament was to meet in the first week in March to pro-
ceed with the forfeitures, so that no time was to be lost.
Ruthven consulted Argyle, who was ready to agree to
anything which would save Murray from attainder.
Maitland, who since his conduct about the marriage had
TifiATn nnflftr nn Ao1ipgA; gave his warm adhesion ; and
swiftly and silently the links of the scheme were welded.
The plan was to punish the miserable minion who, what-
ever his other offences, was notoriously the chief insti-
gator of the Queen's bitterness against her brother, and
to give the coveted crown matrimonial to Darnley, pro-
vided he on his part l would take the part of the lords,
bring them back to their old rooms, and establish reli-
gion as it was at the Queen's home-coming.' l
The conspirators for their mutual security drew a
'bond,' to which they required Darnley's signature, that
he might not afterwards evade his responsibility. On
their side they 'undertook to be liege subjects to the said
Prince Henry, to take part with him in all his lawful
actions, causes, and quarrels, to be friends to his friends
and enemies to his enemies.' At the Parliament they
would obtain for him ' the crown matrimonial for his
life ; ' and ' failing the succession of their sovereign they
Randolph to Cecil, February 20 : ScoteA Jf&9 Rolls Rouse.
378 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44
would maintain his right to the crown of Scotland after
her death.' Religion should be ' maintained and estab-
lished as it was on the arrival of their sovereign lady
in the realm.' ' They would spare neither life, lands,
goods, nor possessions in setting forward all things to
the advancement of the said noble prince, and would
intercede with the Queen of England for favour to be
shown both to himself and to his mother.'
Darnley promised in return that the banished noble-
men ' should have free remission of all their faults ' as
soon as the possession of the crown matrimonial enabled
him to pardon them, and till he obtained it he under-
took to prevent their impeachment. The lords might
return at once to Scotland in full possession of i their
lands, titles, and goods.' If they ' were meddled with*
he would stand by them to the uttermost, and religion
should be established as they desired.1
Copies of these articles were carried by swift messen-
gers to Newcastle. Eizzio's name was not mentioned ;
there was nothing in them to show that more was in-
tended than a forcible revolution on the meeting of Par-
liament ; and such as they were, they were promptly
signed by Murray and his friends. Argyle subscribed,
Maitland subscribed, Ruthven subscribed ; Morton hesi-
tated, but at the crisis of his uncertainty Mary Stuart
innocently carried out her threat of depriving him of the
chancellorship, and he added his name in a paroxysm
of anger. It need not be supposed that the further
1 Bond subscribed Marcb 6, 1566 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House,
I566-]
THE DARNLE Y MARRIA GE.
379
secret was unknown to any of them, but it was unde-
sirable to commit the darker features of the plot to
formal writing.
Meanwhile the Queen of Scots, all unconscious of the
deadly coil which was gathering round her, had chosen
the moment to order Randolph to leave Scotland. She
entertained not the faintest suspicion of the conspiracy,
but she knew that the English ambassador had shared
Murray's secrets, that he had been Elizabeth's instru-
ment in keeping alive in Scotland the Protestant faction,
and that so long as he remained the party whom she
most detested would have a nucleus to gather round.
Believing that she could do nothing which Elizabeth
would dare to resent, she called him before the council,
charged him with holding intercourse with her rebels,
and bade him begone.1 The opportunity was ill selected,
for Elizabeth had been for some time recovering her
firmness ; she had sent Murray money for his private
necessities ; in the middle of February she had so far
overcome both her economy and her timidity, that she
supplied him with a thousand pounds ' to be employed
in the common cause and maintenance of religion ; ' 2
and before she heard of the treatment of Randolph she
had taken courage to write with something of her old
manner to the Queen of Scots herself.
1 She had not intended,' she said, ' to have written on
1 The Queen of Scots to Eliza-
l)oth, February 20: Scotch MSS.
Eolk House.
2 Acknowledgment by tbe Earl of
Murray of the receipt of moneys
from tbe Queen's Majesty, February,
1566: MS. Ibid.
380 RF.IGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44.
the subject again to her, but bearing tbat ber interces-
sion bitberto in favour of tbe lords had been not only
fruitless, but tbat at tbe approaching Parliament the
Queen of Scots meant to proceed to the worst extremities,
she would no longer forbear to speak ber mind/ The
Earl of Murray had risen in arms against her only to
prevent her marriage and for the defence of his own life
from tbe malice which was borne him ; he was tbe truest
and best of her subjects; and therefore, she said, 'in
the interest of both the realms we are moved to require
you to have that regard that the Earl and others with
him may be received to your grace, or if not that you
will forbear proceeding against him and tbe others until
some better opportunity move you to show them favour.'
In this mood Elizabeth was not inclined to
bear with patience the dismissal of her ambas-
sador. Proudly and coldly she replied to Mary Stuart's
announcement of what she had done, ' that inasmuch as
the Queen of Scots bad been pleased to break the usages
of nations and pass this affront upon her, as this was the
fruit of the long forbearance which she had herself shown,
she would be better advised before she entered into any
further correspondence ; she would take such measures
as might be necessary for her own defence ; and for the
Earl of Murray, to deal plainly, she could not, for her
honour and for tbe opinion she had of his sincerity and
loyalty towards his country, but see him relieved in
England, whereof she thought it convenient to advertise
1 Elizabeth to the Queen of Scots, February 24 : Scotch M88. Rolh
House.
1566.]
THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE.
the Queen of Scots ; if harm came of it she trusted God
would convert the evil to those that were the cause of it.' *
The first and probably the second of those letters
never reached their destination : the events which were
going forward in Scotland rendered entreaties and threats
in behalf of Murray alike unnecessary.2 Randolph,
though ordered off, was unwilling to go till he saw the
execution of the plot : he made excuses for remaining
till an escort came to his door with orders to see him
over the frontiers, and he was compelled to obey. Both-
well met him on the road to Berwick with apologies and
protests ; but Randolph said he knew that Bothwell and
one other — no doubt Rizzio — were those who had advised
his expulsion. They desired to force Elizabeth to de-
clare war, when Bothwell hoped 'to win his spurs.'3
Far enough was the Queen of Scots from the triumph-
ant war which she was imagining ; far enough was Both-
well from his spurs, and Rizzio from his chancellorship
and the investiture of the lands of Murray. The mine
was dug, the train was laid, the match was lighted, to
scatter them and their projects all to the winds.
The Parliament was summoned for Monday, the nth
of March ; on the T2th the Bill of Attainder against
the lords was to be brought forward and pressed to imme-
diate completion. On Friday, the 8th, the conspirators
1 Elizabeth to the Queen of
Scots, March 3 : Lansdowne MSS. 8.
2 ' A great business is in hand in
Scotland, which will bring about
the recall of the Earl of Murray, so
that we have forborne to forward
your Majesty's letters in his behalf.'
— Randolph and Bedford to Eliza-
beth, March 6 : Scotch MSS. .Rolls
House.
3 Randolph to Cecil, March 6 :
MS. Ibid.
382 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [c:u. 44.
sent a safe- conduct, signed by Darnley, to bring Murray
back to Scotland. m Lord Hume had been gained over,
and had undertaken to escort his party through the
marches, and before the Earl and his companions could
reach Edinburgh all would be over.1
The outline of the intended proceedings was sketched
by Randolph- for Cecil's information on his arrival at
Berwick.
BEDFORD AND RANDOLPH TO CECIL.2
Berwick^ March 6.
* The Lord Darnley, weary of bearing the name of a
king and not having the honour pertaining to such a
dignity, is in league with certain of the lords for a great
attempt, whereby the noblemen now out of their country
may without great difficulty be restored, and in the end
tranquillity ensue in that country. Somewhat we are
sure you have heard of diverse discords and jars between
the Queen and her husband ; partly for that she hath
refused him the crown matrimonial, partly for that he
hath assured knowledge of such usage of himself as
altogether is intolerable to be borne, which, if it were not
over- well known, we would both be very loth that it
could be true. To take away this occasion of slander
he is himself determined to be at the apprehension and
execution of him whom he is able manifestly .to charge
with the crime, and to have done him the most dishonour
that can be to any man, much more being as he is. We
1 Bedford and Randolph to Cecil and Leicester, March 8 : Scotch MSS.
Rolls House. 8 MS. Ibid.
1566.]
THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE,
383
need not more plainly describe the person — you have
heard of the man whom we mean.
'The time of execution and performance of these
matters is before the Parliament, as near as it is. To
this determination there are privy in Scotland these
— Argyle, Morton, E/uthven, Boyd, and Lidington ; in
England these — Murray, Grange, Rothes, myself (Bed-
ford), and the writer hereof (Randolph).
' If the Queen will not yield to persuasion, we know
not how they propose to proceed. If she make a power
at home she will be fought with ; if she seek aid from
abroad the country will be placed at the Queen's Ma-
jesty's disposal to deal as she think fit/
In the blindness of confidence, and to prevent the
chance of failure in Parliament, Mary Stuart had col-
lected the surviving peers of the old ' spiritual estate/
the Catholic bishops and abbots, and placed them ' in
the antient manner/ intending, as she herself declared,1
( to have done some good anent the restoring the auld
religion, and to have proceeded against the rebels ac-
cording to their demerits/ On Thursday, the yth, she
presided in person at the choice of the Lords of the
Articles, naming with her own mouth ' such as would
say what she thought expedient to the forfeiture of the
banished lords ;2 and on Friday there was a preliminary
1 The Queen of Scots to the
Archbishop of Glasgow, April 2 :
KEITH.
2 RUTHVKN'S narrative. — 'Who
those the Lords of the Articles ? '
Ruthven said to the Queen. 'Not
I,' said the Queen. ' Saving your
presence,' said he, ' you chose them
all, and nominated them.'
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 44.
meeting at the Tolbooth to prepare the Bill of Attainder.
The Lords of the Articles,1 carefully as they had been
selected, at first reported ( that they could find no cause
sufficient for so severe a measure/2 The next day —
Saturday — the Queen appeared at the Tolbooth in per-
son, and after ' great reasoning and opposition ' carried
her point. ' There was no other way but the lords
should be attainted/3 The Act was drawn, the for-
feiture was decreed, and required only the sanction of
the Estates.4
The same day, perhaps at the same hour, when Mary
Stuart was exulting in the consciousness of triumph, the
conspirators were completing their preparations. Sun-
day, the loth, had been the day on which they had first
fixed to strike their blow. But Darnley was impatient.
He swore that ' if the slaughter was not hasted ' he
would stab David in the Queen's presence with his own
hand. Each hour of delay was an additional risk of
discovery, and it was agreed that the deed should be
done the same evening. Euthven proposed to seize
Rizzio in his own room, to try him before an extempor-
ized tribunal, and to hang him at the market cross. So
commonplace a proceeding however would not satisfy
the imagination of Darnley, who desired a more dra-
matic revenge ; he would have his enemy seized in the
1 The Lords of the Articles were
a committee chosen from the Three
Estates, and according to law,
chosen by the Estates, to prepare
the measures which were to be sub-
mitted to Parliament.
2 RUTH YEN'S narrative.
3 KM ox.
4 The Queen of Scots to the
Archbishop of Glasgow, April 2 :
KEITH.
1 566.] THE DARNLE Y MARRIA GE. 385
Queen's own. room, in the very sanctuary of his inti-
macy ; ' where she might be taunted in his presence be-
cause she had not entertained her husband as she ought
of duty/ The ill-spirited boy, in retaliation for treat-
ment which went it is likely no further than coldness
and contempt, had betrayed or invented his own dis-
grace, to lash his kindred into fury and to break the
spirit of the proud woman who had humbled him with
her scorn.
The Queen's friends — Huntly, Athol, Sutherland,'
Bothwell, Livingston, Fleming, Sir James Balfour, and
others — were in Edinburgh for the Parliament, and had
rooms in Holyrood ; but as none of them dreamt of
danger there were no troops there but the ordinary
guard, which was scanty and could be easily over-
powered. It was arranged that as soon as darkness had
closed in the Earl of Morton with a party of the
Douglases and their kindred should silently surround
the palace : at eight o'clock the doors should be sei/cd
and no person permitted to go out or in ; while Morton
himself with a sufficient number of trusted friends should
take possession of the staircase leading to the Queen's
rooms, and cut off communication with the rest of the
building. Meanwhile the rest . But a plan of the
rooms is necessary to make the story intelligible. The
suite of apartments occupied by Mary Stuart were on
the first floor in the north-west angle of Holyrood
Palace. They communicated in the usual way by a
staircase with the large inner quadrangle. A door
from the landing led directly into the presence chamber ;
VOL. vii. 25
386 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44.
inside the presence chamber was the bedroom ; and be-
yond the bedroom a small cabinet or boudoir not more
than twelve feet square, containing a sofa, a table, and
two or three chairs. Here after the labours of the day
the Queen gave her little supper parties. Darnley's
rooms were immediately below, connected with the bed-
room by a narrow spiral staircase, which opened close to
the little door leading into the cabinet.
' Knowing the King's character, and that he would
have a lusty princess afterwards in his arms/ the con-
spirators required his subscription to another bond, by
which he declared that all that was done ' was his own
device and intention ; ' and then after an early supper
together, Huthven, though so ill that he could hardly
stand, with his brother George Douglas, Ker of Faldon-
side, and one other, followed Darnley to his
room, and thence with hushed breath and
stealthy steps they ascended the winding stairs. A
tapestry curtain hung before the cabinet. Leaving his
companions in the bedroom, Darnley raised it and
entered. Supper was on the table ; the Queen was sit-
ting on the sofa, Rizzio in a chair opposite to her, and
Murray's loose sister, the Countess of Argyle, on one
side. Arthur Erskine the equerry, Lord Robert Stuart,
and the Queen's French physician were in attendance
standing.
Darnley placed himself on the sofa at his wife's side.
She asked him if he had supped. He muttered some-
thing, threw his arm round her waist, and kissed her.
As she shrank from him half surprised, the curtain was
1 566.]
THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE,
387
again lifted, and against the dark background, alone,
his corslet glimmering through the folds of a crim-
son sash, a steel cap on his head, and his face pale as
if he had risen from the grave, stood the figure of
Huthven.
Glaring for a moment on Darnley, and answering
his kiss with the one word ' Judas/ Mary Stuart con-
fronted the awful apparition, and demanded the mean-
ing of the intrusion.
Pointing to Bizzio, and with a voice sepulchral as
his features, Huthven answered :
' Let yon man come forth ; he has been here over
long/
* "What has he done ? ' the Queen answered ; ' he is
here by my will.' ' What means this ? ' she said, turn-
ning again on Darnley.
The caitiff heart was already flinching. * Ce n'est
rien ! ' he muttered. ' It is nothing ! ' l But those
whom he had led into the business would not let it end
in nothing.
'Madame/ said Ruthven, 'he has offended your
honour ; he has offended your husband's honour ; he has
caused your Majesty to banish a great part of the no-
bility that he might be made a lord ; he has been the
1 Bedford and Randolph in their
report from Berwick, said the King
answered ' It was against her hon-
our.' But these words were used
by Ruthven. An original report,
printed by TEULET, vol. ii. p. 262,
compared with that given by Mary
herself in the letter to the Archbishop
of Glasgow, printed in KEITH,
creates a belief that the words in the
text were those which Darnley really
used. They are more in keeping
with his character.
388 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44.
destroyer of the commonwealth, and must learn his duty
better/
' Take the Queen your wife to you/ he said to Darn-
ley, as he strode forward into the cabinet.
The Queen started from her seat ' all amazed/ and
threw herself in his way, while Rizzio cowered trembling
behind her and clung to her dress.
Stuart, Erskine, and the Frenchman, recovering from
their astonishment and seeing Ruth ven apparently alone,
1 made at him to thrust him out/
' Lay no hands on me/ Ruthven cried, and drew his
dagger ; ' I will not be handled/ In another moment
Faldonside and George Douglas were at his side. Fal-
donside held a pistol at Mary Stuart's breast ; the bed-
room door behind was burst open, and the dark throng
of Morton's followers poured in. Then all was con-
fusion ; the table was upset, Lady Argyle catching a
candle as it fell. Ruthven thrust the Queen into Darn-
ley's arms and bade him hold her ; while Faldonside
bent Rizzio's little finger back till he shrieked with pain
and loosed the convulsive grasp with which he clung to
his mistress.
' Do not hurt him/ Mary said faintly. ' If he has
done wrong he shall answer to justice/
' This shall justify him/ said the savage Faldonside,
drawing a cord out of his pocket. He flung a noose
round Rizzio's body, and while George Douglas snatch-
ed the King's dagger from its sheath, the poor wretch
was dragged into the midst of the scowling crowd and
borne away into the darkness. He caught Mary's bed
1 566. ] THE DARNLE Y MARRIA GE. 389
as he passed ; Faldonside struck him sharply on the
wrist • he let go with a shriek, and as he was hurried
through the anteroom the cries of his agony came back
upon Mary's ear ; ' Madame, madame, save me ! save
me ! — justice — I am a dead man ! spare my life ! '
Unhappy one ! his life would not be spared. They
had intended to keep him prisoner through the night
and hang him after some form of trial ; but vengeance
would not wait for its victim. He was borne alive as
far as the stairhead, when George Douglas, with the
words ' This is from the King,' drove Darnley's dagger
into his side ; a moment more and the whole fierce crew
were on him like hounds upon a mangled wolf ; he was
stabbed through and through with a hate which death
was not enough to satisfy, and was then dragged head
foremost down the staircase, and lay at its foot with
sixty wounds in him.
So ended Rizzio, unmourned by living soul save her
whose favour had been his ruin, unheeded now that he
was dead as common carrion, and with no epitaph on his
remains except a few brief words from an old servant of
the palace, so pathetic because so commonplace. The
body was carried into the lodge and flung upon a chest
to be stripped for burial. ' Here is his destiny/ the
porter moralized as he stood by ; ' for on this chest was
his first bed when he came to this place, and there now
he lieth a very niggard and misknown knave.' l
The Queen meanwhile, fearing the worst but not
1 RUTHVEN'S narrative.
390
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 44.
knowing that Rizzio actually was dead, had struggled
into her bedroom, and was there left with Ruthven and
her husband. Ruthven had followed the crowd for a
moment, but not caring to leave Darnley alone with her
had returned. She had thrown herself sobbing upon a
seat ; the Earl bade her not be afraid, no harm was
meant to her ; what was done was by the King's order.
' Yours ! ' she said, turning on Darnley as on a
snake ; ' was this foul act yours ? Coward ! wretch ! did
I raise you out of the dust for this ? '
Driven to bay he answered sullenly that he had good
cause ; and then his foul nature rushing to his lips he
flung brutal taunts at her for her intimacy with Rizzio,
and complaints as nauseous of her treatment of himself.1
'Well/ she said, 'you have taken your last of me
and your farewell ; I shall never rest till I give you as
sorrowful a heart as I have at this present.'
Ruthven tried to soothe her, but to no purpose.
Could she have trampled Darnley into dust upon the
spot she would have done it. Catching sight of the
1 The expressions themselves are
better unproduced. The conversa-
tion rests on the evidence of Euthven,
which is considerably better than
Darnley 's, and if it was faithfully
related might justify Randolph's
view of the possible parentage of
James the Sixth. But the recollec-
tion of a person who had been just
concerned in so tremendous a scene
v,«s not likely to be very exact.
Bedford and Randolph believed the
worst : * It is our part,' they said in
a despatch to the English council,
" rather to pass the matter over in
silence than to make any rehearsal of
things committed to us in secret;
but we know to whom we write ; '
and they went on to describe the
supposed conversation word for word
as Ruthven related it. Those who
are curious in Court scandals may
refer to this letter, which has been
printed by Mr Wright in the first
volume of Elizabeth and her Times.
1566.] THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE. 391
empty scabbard at his side, she asked him where his
dagger was.
He said he did not know.
1 It will be known hereafter/ she said ; 'it shall be
dear blood to some of you if David's be 'spilt. Poor
David ! ' she cried, ' good and faithful servant ! may
God have mercy on your soul/
Fainting between illness and excitement, Ruthven
with a half apology sank into a chair and called for
wine.
1 Is this your sickness ? ' she said bitterly. ' If I die
of my child and the commonwealth come to ruin, there
are those who will revenge me on the Lord Ruthven.
Running over the proud list of friends with which she
had fooled her fancy, she threatened him with Philip
and Charles and Maximilian and her uncles and the
Pope.
* Those are over- great persons/ Ruth veil answered,
' to meddle with so poor a man as me. No harm is
meant you. If aught has been done to-night which
you mislike, your husband and none of us is the
cause/
The courage and strength with which the Queen
had hitherto borne up began to give way.
* What — what have I done to be thus handled ? ' she
sobbed.
' Ask your husband/ said the Earl.
' No/ she said, ' I will ask you. I will set my crown
before the Lords of the Articles, and if they find I have
offended, let them give it where they please/
392 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44.
' Wlio chose the Lords of the Articles ? ' Ruthven
answered with a smile, ' you chose them all.'
At this moment the boom was heard of the alarm
bell in Edinburgh. A page rushed in to say that there
was fighting in the quadrangle ; and the Earl, leaning
heavily on a servant's arm, rose and went down.
Huntly, Sutherland, and Both well, hearing the noise
and confusion, had come out of their rooms to know
what it meant. Morton's followers required them to
surrender : they had called a few servants about them
and were defending themselves against heavy odds when
Ruthven appeared. Ill as he was he thrust himself
into the melee, commanded both sides to drop their
arms, and by the glare of a torch read to them Darn-
ley's bond. ' The banished earls,' he said, ' would be
at Holyrood in the morning, and he prayed that all
feuds and passions might be buried in the dead man's
grave.'
The Queen's friends, surprised and outnumbered,
affected to be satisfied ; the leaders on both sides shook
hands ; and Both well and Huntly withdrew to their
own apartments, forced open the windows, dropped to
the ground and fled.
This disturbance was scarcely over when the Pro-
vost of Edinburgh came out of the Canon gate with four
hundred of the town guard, and demanded the meaning
of the uproar. The Provost was a supporter of the
Queen ; Mary dashed from her seat, wrenched back the
casement, and cried out for help.
'Sit down,' some ruffian cried. 'If you stir you
1566.]
THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE.
393
shall be cut in collops and flung over the walls.' J She
was dragged away, and Darnley, whose voice was well
known, called out that the Queen was well, that what
had been done was done by orders from, himself, and
that they might go home. The citizens bore no good
will to Rizzio : too familiar with wild scenes to pay
much heed to them, they inquired no further, and went
back to their homes, leaving eighty of their number to
assist Morton in the guard of the palace.
Ruthven returned for a moment, but only to call
Darnley away and leave the Queen to her rest. The
King withdrew, and with him all the other actors in
the late tragedy who had remained in the scene of it.
The ladies of the Court were forbidden to enter, and
Mary Stuart was locked alone into her room amidst the
traces of the fray, to seek such repose as she could find.
So closed Saturday, the pth of March, at Holyrood.
The same night another dark deed was done in Edin-
burgh, which passed scarce noticed in the agitation of
the murder of Rizzio. Mary of Lorraine the year
before her death had a chaplain named Black; he
was a lax kind of man, and after being detected in
sundry moral improprieties, had been banished to Eng-
land, where he held a cure in the English Church near
Newcastle. His old habits remained with him : he
acknowledged to Lord Bedford one bad instance of se-
duction ; but it is to be supposed that he had merit of
1 The speaker is not known.
Mary says in her letter to the Arch-
bishop of Glasgow, 'The Lords in
our face declared that we should b<?
cut down.' It was not Ruthven,
who was still absent.
394 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44.
some kind, for Mary Stuart, as soon as she was emanci-
pated from the first thraldom of the Puritans, recalled
him, took him into favour, and appointed him one of
the Court preachers. He had better have remained in
Northumberland. A citizen encountered him a little
before Christmas in some room or passage where he
should not have been. He received ' two or three blows
with a cudgel and one with a dagger/ and had been
since unable to leave his bed. While Edinburgh was
shuddering over the scene in the palace, a brother or
husband who had matter against the chaplain — the
same perhaps who had stabbed him — finished his work,
and murdered the wounded wretch where he lay.1
In the morning at daybreak a proclamation went
out in the King's name that the Parliament was_ post-
poned, and that ' all bishops, abbots, and Papists should
depart the town7~~ Murray was expected in a few
hours ; "no one knew how deep or how far the con-
spiracy had gone, and the Catholics, uncertain what to
do, offered no resistance. What_was to be done with
the Queen was the next difficulty. They had caged
their bird, but it might be less easy to hold her ; and
if they believed the Queen was crushed or broken, the
conspirators knew little of the temper which they had
undertaken to control: sleeping behind jhat_grace of
form and charm of manner there lay a^piritjwhich no
misfortune could tame— a nature like a panther's, mer-
ciless and beautiful — and along with it every dexterous
Randolph to Cecil, March 13 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
1 566. ] THE DARNLE Y MARRIA GE. 395
art by which women can outwit the coarser intellects of
men.
In the silence and solitude of that awful night she
nerved herself for the work before her. With the grey
of the twilight she saw Sir James Melville passing under
her window, and called to him to bring the city guard
and rescue her ; but Melville bowed and passed on ; at
that moment rescue was impossible; she had nothing
to depend upon but her own courage and her husband's
folly. Could she escape her friends would rally round
her, and her first thought was to fly in the disguise of
one of her gentlewomen. But to escape alone, even if
possible, would be to leave Darnley with the lords ; she
resolved to play a bolder game, to divide him from
them, and carry him off, and to leave them without the
name of a king to shield their deed.
In the first agony of passion she had been swept
away from her self-control, and she had poured on her
husband the full stream of her hate and scorn. He re-
turned to her room on the Sunday morning to find her
in appearance subdued, composed, and affectionate. To
Mary Stuart it was an easy matter to play upon the
selfish, cowardly, and sensual nature of Darnley. As
Ruthven had foreseen, she worked upon him by her ca-
resses ; she persuaded him that he had been fatally de-
ceived in his supposed injuries ; but she affected to
imagine that he had been imposed on by the arts of
others, and when he lied she pretended to believe him.
She uttered no word of reproach, but she appealed to
him through the chiM — his child — whose safety was
396 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44.
endangered ; and she prayed that at least, situated as
she was, she might not be left entirely among men,
and that her ladies might be allowed to attend her.
Soft as the clay of which he was made, Darnley ob-
tained the reluctant consent of Morton and Ruthven.
The ladies of the palace were admitted to assist at the
Queen's morning toilet, and the instant use she made of
them was to communicate with Huntly and Bothwell.
The next point was to obtain larger liberty for herself.
Towards the afternoon ' she made as though she would
part with her child; ' a midwife was sent for, who, with
the French physician, insisted that she must be removed
to a less confined air. To Darnley she maintained an
attitude of dependent tenderness ; and fooled in his
idle pride by the prayers of the woman whom he be-
lieved that he had brought to his feet, he was led on to
require that the guard should be removed from the
gate, and that the exclusive charge of her should be
committed to himself.
The conspirators, ' seeing that he was growing effem-
inate, liked his proposals in no way ; ' they warned him
that if he yielded so easily ' both he and they would
have cause to repent ; ' and satisfied that the threat of
miscarriage was but ' trick and policy/ they refused to
dismiss a man from his post, and watched the palace
with unremitting vigilance.
So passed Sunday. As the dusk closed in, a troop of
horse appeared on the road from Dunbar. In a few
moments more the Earl of Murray was at the gate.
It was not thus that Mary Stuart had hoped to meet
1 5 66. ] THE DARNLE Y MARRIA GE. 197
her brother. His head sent home by Bothwell from
the Border, or himself brought back a living prisoner,
with the dungeon, the scaffold, and the bloody axe —
these were the images which a few weeks or days
before she had associated with the next appearance in
Edinburgh of her father's son. Her feelings had un-
dergone no change. He knew some secrets about her
which she could not pardon the possessor, and she
hated him with the hate of hell ; but the more deep- set
passion paled for the moment before a thirst for revenge
*on Rizzio's murderers.
On alighting the Earl was conducted immediately
to the Queen's presence. The accomplished actress
threw herself sobbing into his arms.
' Oh my brother/ she said as she kissed him, ' if you
had been here I should not have been so uncourteously
handled.'
Murray had ' a free and generous nature.' But a
few hours had passed since she had forced the unwilling
Lords of the Articles to prepare a Bill of Attainder
against him ; but her shame, her seeming helplessness,
and the depth of her fall touched him, and he shed
tears.
The following morning Murray, Ruthven,
Morton, and the rest *of the party, met to
consider the next step which they should take. Little
is known of their deliberations except from the sus-
pected source of a letter from Mary Stuart to the Arch-
bishop of Glasgow. Some, she said, proposed to keep
her a perpetual prisoner, some to put her to death.
398 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44.
some ' that she should be warded in Stirling Castle till
she had approved in Parliament what they had done,
established their religion, and given to the King the
whole government of the realm/
Some measure of this sort they were without doubt
prepared to venture ; it had been implied in the very
nature of their enterprise : yet to carry it out they re-
quired Darnley's countenance, and fool and coward as
they knew him to be they had not fathomed the depth of
his imbecility and baseness. While the lords were in
consultation the Queen had wormed the whole secret
from him ; he told her of the plot for the return of
Murray and his friends, with the promises which had
been made to himself ; he revealed every name that he
knew, concealing nothing save that the murder had
been his own act and design and provoked by his accusa-
tions against herself; he had forgotten that his own hand-
writing could be produced in deadly witness against
him. From that moment she played upon him like an
instrument ; she showed him that if he remained with
the lords he would be a tool in their hands; she assured
him of the return of her own affection for him, and
flattered his fancy with visions of greatness which
might be in store for him if he would take his place
again at her side ; she talked of ' his allies the con-
federate princes,' who would be displeased if he changed
his religion ; she appealed again to the unborn heir of
their united greatness, and she bound him soul and
body to do her bidding.
After possessing him with the plans which she hud
1566.] THE DARN LEY MARRIAGE. 399
formed to escape, she sent him to the lords to promise
in her name that she was ready to forget, the past, and
to bury all unkindness in a general reconciliation.
They felt instinctively that what they had done could
never really be pardoned ; but Ruth ven, Morton, and
Murray returned with Darnley to her presence, when
again, with the seeming simplicity of which she was so
finished a mistress, she repeated the same assurances.
She was ready, she said, to bind herself in writing if
they would not trust her word ; and while the two
other noblemen were drawing a form for her to sign,
she took Murray by the hand and walked with him for
an hour. She then retired to her room. Darnley, as
soon as the bond was ready, took charge of it, promis-
ing to return it signed on the following day ; and
meanwhile he pressed again that after so much conces-
sion on her part they were bound to meet her with
corresponding courtesy, and to spare her the ignominy
of being longer held a prisoner in her own palace.
Had they refused to consent, an attempt would have
been made that night by Bothwell to carry her off by
force. But to reject the request of Darnley, whose
elevation to a share of the throne was the professed ob-
ject of the conspiracy, was embarrassing and perhaps
dangerous ; they gave way after another warning ; the
guard was withdrawn, Euthven protesting as he
yielded that ' whatever bloodshed followed should be
on the King's head.
The important point gained, Darnley would not
awake suspicion by returning to the Queen ; he sent her
400 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44.
word privately that ' all was well ; ' and at eight in the
evening Stewart of Traquair, Captain of the Royal
Gruard, Arthur Erskine, ' whom she would trust with a
thousand lives/ and Standen, a young and gallant gen-
tleman, assembled in the Queen's room to arrange a
plan for the escape from Holyrood. The first question
was where she was to go. Though the gates were no
longer occupied the palace would doubtless be watched ;
and to attempt flight and to fail would be certain
ruin. In th<? Castle of Edinburgh she would be safe
with Lord Erskine, but she could reach the Castle only
through the streets which would be beset with enemies ;
and unfit as she was for the ^xertion, she_determined to
make for Dunbar.
She stirred the blood of the three youths with the
most touching appeal which could be made to the gen-
erosity of man. Pointing to the child that was in her
womb, she adjured them by their loyalty to save the un-
born hope of Scotland. So addressed they would have
flung themselves naked on the pikes of Morton's troopers.
They swore they would do her bidding be it what it
would; and then ' after her sweet manner and wise direc-
tions, she dismissed them till midnight to put all in order
as she herself excellently directed/
' The rendezvous appointed with the horses was near
the broken tombs and demolished sepultures in the
ruined Abbey of Holyrood/1 A secret passage led
underground from the palace to the vaults of the abbey ;
Then standing at the south-eastern angle of the Royal Chapel.
1566.] THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE. 401
and at midnight Mary Stuart, accompanied by one serv-
ant and her husband — who had left the lords under pre-
tence of going to bed — ' crawled through the charnel-
house, among the bones and skulls of the antient kings/
and 'came out of the earth* where the horses were shiver-
ing in the March midnight air.
The moon was clear and full. ( The Queen with in-
credible animosity was mounted en croup behind Sir
Arthur Erskine upon a beautiful English double geld-
ing/ ' the King on a courser of Naples ; ' and then away
— away — past Restalrig, past Sir Arthur's Seat, across
the bridge and across the field of Musselburgh, past Seton,
past Prestonpans, fast as their horses could speed ; ' six
in all — their Majesties, Erskine, Traquair, and a cham-
berer of the Queen/ In two hours the heavy gates of
D unbar had closed behind them, and Mary Stuart was
safe.1
Whatever credit is due to iron fortitude and intel-
lectual address must be given without stint to this extra-
ordinary woman. Her energy grew with exertion ; the
terrible agitation of the three preceding days, the wild
escape, and a midnight gallop of more than twenty miles
within three months of her confinement, would have
1 The account of the escape is
taken from a letter of Antony
Standen, preserved among the Cecil
MSS. at Hatfield; the remaining
details of the murder and the cir-
cumstances connected with it, are
collected from RUT fi YEN'S narrative,
Bedford and Randolph, printed by
WRIGHT ; the two Italian accounts
in the seventh volume of LABA-
NOFF; C ALDER WOOD'S History;
Mary Stuart's letter to the Arch-
bishop of Glasgow, and a letter of
Paul de Foix, printed by TEULET.
printed in KEITH ; the letters of
VOL. VII. 26
402
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 44.
shaken the strength of the least fragile of human frames,
but Mary Stuart seemed not to know the meaning of the
word exhaustion ; she had scarce alighted from her horse
than couriers were flying east, west, north, and south,
to call the Catholic nobles to her side ; she wrote her
own story to her minister at Paris, bidding the Arch-
bishop in a postscript anticipate the false rumours which
would be spread against her honour, and tell the truth
— her version of the truth — to the Queen-mother and
the Spanish ambassador.
To Elizabeth she wrote with her own hand, fierce,
dauntless, and haughty, as in her highest prosperity.1
' 111 at ease with her escape from Holyrood, and suffer-
ing from the sickness of pregnancy, she demanded to
know whether the Queen of England intended to support
the traitors who had slain her most faithful servant in
her presence. If she listened to their calumnies and
upheld them in their accursed deeds, she was not sc
unprovided of friends as her sister might dream ; there
were princes enough to take up her quarrel in such a
cause.
The loyalty of Scotland answered well its sovereign's
summons. The faithful Both well, ever foremost in good
or evil in Mary Stuart's service, brought in the night-
riders of Liddesdale, the fiercest of the Border marauders;
Huntly came, forgetting his father and brother's death
and his own long imprisonment ; the Archbishop of St
1 This letter may be seen in the
Rolls House ; the strokes thick and
slightly uneven from excitement, but
strong, firm, and without sign of
tremulousness.
1 566. ] THE DA RNLE Y MA RRIA GE. 403
Andrew's — an evil omen to Darnley — was followed by a
thousand Hamiltons ; Erskine from the Castle sent
word of his fidelity ; and the Earl Marshal, Athol,
Caithness, and a hundred more hurried to Dunbar with
every trooper that they could raise. In four days the
thousandjnen .
On the other hand the conspirators' plans were discon-
certed hopelessly by the flight of the King. Perplexed,
divided, uncertain what to do when the slightest hesi-
tation was ruin — they lost confidence in one another and
in their cause. Had they held together they could still
have collected force enough to fight. The Western High-
lands were at the devotion of Argyle, and he at any time
could command his own terms ; but Elizabeth's behaviour
in the preceding autumn had for ever shaken Argyle' s
policy. The Queen ' not venturing,' as she said herself,
' to have so many at once on her hands,' sent to say she
would pardon the rebellion of the summer and would
receive into favour all who had not been present at or
been concerned in the murder of Bizzio. ' They seeing
now their liberty and restitution offered them, were
content to leave those who were the occasion of their
return, and took several appointments as they could.'1
G-lencairn joined Mary at Dunbar; Eothes followed;
and then Argyle, the central pillar of the Protestant
party. Three only of those who had beenjin Eng-
land refused to desert their friends— the stainless noble
Randolph to Cecil, March 21.
4o4 REIGN OF ELIZABETH [CH. 44.
Murray, Kirkaldy of Grange, and the Laird of Patarrow.
' Tliese standing so much upon their honour and promise
would not leave the other without likelihood to do them
good/1
Thus within a week from her flight Mary Stuart was
able to return in triumph to Edinburgh. She had suc-
ceeded so entirely that she was already able to throw off
the mask towards Darnley. Sir James Melville met her
on the road : she ' lamented to him the King's folly and.
ingratitude ; ' and it was to no purpose that the old far-
sighted diplomatist warned her against indulging this
new resentment ; the grudge never left her heart,2 and
she had made the object of it already feel the value of the
promises with which she had wrought upon his weakness.
' The King spoke to me of the lords/ said Melville, ' and
it appeared that he was troubled that he had deserted
them, finding the Queen's favour but cold.'3
The conspirators, or 'the Lords of the new at-
teniptate ' as they were called, made no effort to resist.
Erskine threatened to fire on them from the Castle, and
before the Queen reached Holyrood, JRuthven, Morton,
Maitland, Lindsay, Faldonside, even Knox, were gone
tKeir several ways, most of them making- for the Border
to take shelter with Bedford at^Berwick. Murray too
lefFTMmburgh with them, and intended to share their
fortunes ; but Ruthven and Morton, generous as him-
self, wrote to beg him ' as the rest had fallen off, not to
endanger himself on their account, but to make his peace
'• Randolph to Cecil, March 21 2 MELVILLE'S Memoirs 3 Ibid.
1 566.] THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE. 405
if he was able ; ?1 anc^^urraj^lfeeliDg that he would do
more good for them and for his country by remaining at
home than by going with them into a second exile,
returned to his sister" and was received with seeming^
cordiality
Bothwell, whose estates had been forfeited for his
share in the Arran conspiracy, was rewarded for his serv-
ices by ' all that had belonged to Lidington.' The
unfortunate King, ' contemned and disesteemed of all/
was compelled to drain the cup of dishonour. He de-
clared before the council ' that he had never counselled,
commanded, consented to, assisted, or approved' the
murder of Eizzio. His words were taken down in
writing and published at the market cross of every
town in Scotland. The conspirators retorted with send-
ing the Queen the bond which they had exacted from
him, in which he claimed the deed as exclusively his
own ; while the fugitives at Berwick addressed a clear,
brief statement of the truth to the Government in
England :
MORTON AND RUTHVEN TO CECIL.2
Berwick, March 2J.
' The very truth is this : — the King, having con
ceived a deadly hatred against David Rizzio, an Italian,
and some others his accomplices, did a long time ago
move unto his ally the Lord Ruthven that he might in
no way endure the misbehaviour and offence of the
foresaid David, and that he might be fortified by him
1 Randolph to Cecil, Marcn 21 : Scotch MSS. Rolls Souse.
2 Scotch MSS. Molls Souse.
406 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44.
and some others of the nobility to see the said David
executed according to his demerits ; and after due de-
liberation the said Lord Ruthven communicated this
the King's mind to the Earl of Morton, with whom
having deeply considered the justice of the King's
desires in respect of the manifold misbehaviours and
misdeeds of the said David Rizzio, tending so mani-
festly to the great danger of the King's and Queen's
Majesties and the whole estate of that realm and com-
monweal— he not ceasing to abuse daily his great estate
and credit to the subversion of religion and the justice
of the realm, as is notoriously known to all Scotland
and more particularly to us — we, upon the considera-
tions aforesaid, found good to follow the King's deter-
mination anent the foresaid execution ; and for divers
considerations we were moved to haste the same, con-
sidering the approaching Parliament, wherein deter-
mination was taken to have ruined the whole nobility
that then was banished ; whereupon we perceived to
follow a subversion of religion within the realm, and
consequently of the intelligence betwixt the two realms
grounded upon 'the religion ; and to the execution of
the said enterprise the most honest and the most
worthy were easily induced to approve and fortify the
King's deliberation.
'How be it in action and manner of execution,
more was followed of the King's advice kindled by an
extreme choler than we minded to have done.
' This is the truth, whatever the King say now, and
we are ready to stand by it and prove it.'
CHAPTER XLV.
THE MURDER OF DARNLEY.
THE murder of Eizzio had deranged Mary Stuari/s
projects in Scotland, and had obliged her to post-
pone her intended restoration of Catholicism ; but her
hold on parties in England was rather increased than
injured by the interruption of a policy which would
have alarmed the moderate Protestants. The extreme
Puritans still desired to see the succession decided in
favour of the children of Lady Catherine Grey ; but
their influence in the State had been steadily diminish-
ing as the Marian horrors receded further into the
distance. The majority of the peers, the country
gentlemen, the lawyers and the judges, were in favour
of the pretensions which were recommended at once by
justice and by the solid interests of the realm. The
union of the crowns of Scotland and England was the
most serious desire of the wisest of Elizabeth's states-
men, and the marriage of Mary Stuart with Darnley
had removed the prejudice which had attached before
to her alien birth.
408 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 45.
The difficulty which had hitherto prevented her re-
cognition, had been the persistency with which she
identified herself with the party of revolution and
ultramontane fanaticism. The English people had no
desire for a Puritan sovereign, but as little did they
wish to see again the evil days of Bonner and Gardiner.
They were jealous of their national independence ; they
had done once for all with the Pope, and they would
have no priesthoods, Catholic or Calvinist, to pry into
their opinions or meddle with their personal liberty.
For a creed they would be best contented with a some-
thing which would leave them in communion with
Christendom and preserve to them the form of super-
stition without the power of it.
Had Elizabeth allowed herself to be stayed by the
ultra- Protestants, Mary Stuart would have appealed to
arms and would have found theweiffhtiest portion of
the nation on her side. Had the Queen of Scots' pre-
tensions been admitted so long as her attitude to the
Reformation was that of notorious and thorough-going
hostility, she would have supplied a focus for disaffec-
tion. A prudent and reasonable settlement would have
oeen then made impossible; and England sooner or
later would have become the scene of a savage civil war
like that which had lacerated France.
Elizabeth, with the best of her advisers, expected
that as she grew older Mary Stuart would consent to
guarantee the liberties which England essentially
valued, and that bound by conditions which need not
have infringed her own liberty of creed, she could be
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 409
accepted as the future Queen of the united island. It
was with this view that the reversion of the crown had
been held before Mary Stuart's eyes coupled with the
terms on which it might be hers, while the Puritans
had been forbidden to do anything which might have
driven her to the ultimatum of force.
The intrigues with Spain, the Darnley marriage, and
the attitude which the Queen of Scots had assume-d
in connection with it, had almost precipitated a crisis.
Elizabeth had been driven in despair to throw herself on
the fanaticism of the Congregation, to endorse the de-
mands of Knox that the Queen of Scots should abjure
her own religion, and afterwards to retreat from her
position with ignominious and dishonourable evasions.
Yet the perplexit}r of a sovereign whose chief duty at
such a time was' to prevent^ a civil war, deserves _or_ de-
mands a lenient consideration. Had Elizabeth declared
war in the interest of Murray and the Protestants, she
would have saved her honour, but she would have pro-
voked a bloody insurrection ; while it would have be-
come more difficult than ever to recognize the Queen of
Scots, more hopeless than ever to persuade her into
moderation and good sense. If Elizabeth's conduct in
its details had been__alike_jiinjgTincipled and unwise, the
broader bearjrigs jrf Jhex._^ and
commendable ; her caprice and vacillation arose from
her consciousness of the difficulties by which she was on
every side surrounded. The Queen of Scots herself had
so far shown in favourable contrast with her sister of
England : she had deceived her enemies, but she had
4to REIGN OF ELIZABETH. |CH. 45,
never betrayed a friend. The greater simplicity of her
conduct however was not wholly a virtue : it had been
produced by the absence of all high and generous con-
sideration. Ambition for herself and zeal for a_creed
which suited her habitsjwere motives of action which
involved and required no inconsistencies. From the
( day onTwhich she set foot in Scotland she had kept her
eye on Elizabeth's throne, and she had determined to
Restore Catholicism ; but her public schemes were but
mirrors in which she could see the reflection of her own
greatness, and her creed was but the form of conviction
which least interfered with her self-indulgence : the
passions which were blended with her policy made her
incapable of the restraint which was necessary for her
success ; .while her French training had taught her les-
sons of the pleasantness of pleasure, for which she was
/ at any time capable of forgetting every other consider-
' ation. Elizabeth forgot the woman in the Queen, and
after her first mortification about Leicester preserved
little of her sex but its caprices. Mary Stuart when
lunder the spell of an absorbing inclination could fling
jher crown into the dust and be woman all.
Could she have submitted to the advice so consist-
ently pressed upon her by Philip, Alva, Melville, Throg-
morton, by every wise friend that she possessed, the
impatience of the English for a settlement of the suc-
cession would have rendered her victory certain. She
had only to avoid giving occasion for just complaint or
suspicion, and the choice of the country notwithstand-
ing her creed — or secretly perhaps in consequence of it
1566.]
THE MURDER OF DARNLE Y.
— would have inevitably at no distant time have been
determined in her favour. Elizabeth she knew to be
more for her than against her. The Conservative
weight of the country party would have far outbalanced
the Puritanism of the large towns.
But a recognition of her right to an eventual in- •
heritance was not at all the object of Mary Stuart's am-
bition ; nor in succeeding to the English throne did she
intend to submit to trammels like those under which
she had chafed in Scotland. She had spoken of herself
not as the prospective but as the actual Queen of Eng-
land/; 1 she had told the lords who had followed her to
Dumfries that she would lead them to the gates of Lon-
don ; she would not wait ; she would make no com-
promise ; she woujd jsyjcfijach the sceptre out of_Eliza-;
beth's hands with a Catholic army at her back as the
firsiTstep of a Catholic revolution. Even here — so far
had" fortune favoured her — she might have succeeded
could she but have kept Scotland united, could she but
have availed herself skilfully of the exasperation of the
Lords of the Congregation when they found themselves
betrayed and deserted, could she have remained on good
terms with her husband and his father, and kept the
friends of the House of Lennox in both countries true
1 ' That Queen the other day was
in a merchant's house in Edinburgh
where was a picture of the Queen's
Majesty , when some had said their
opinions how like or unlike it was to
the Queen's Majesty of England,
'No,' said she, 'it is not like, for I
am Queen of England. ' These high
words, together with the rest of her
doings and meanings towards this
realm, I refer to others to consider.'
— Bedford to Leicester, February 14,
1566. PEPYSIAN MSS. Cambridge.
4i2 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [01.45.
to her cause. That opportunity she had allowed to
escape. It remained to be seen whether she had learnt
prudence fronTlhe catastrophe from which she had so
narrowly" escaped ; whether she would now abandon her
more dangerous courses, and Jail back on moderation ;
or whether if she persisted in trying the more ventur-
ous game she could bring herself to forego the indulgence
of those personal inclinations and antipathies which had
caused the tragedy at Holyrood. If she could forget
her injuries, if she could renounce with Rizzio's life her
desire to revenge his murder, if she avoided giving
open scandal to the Catholic friends of Darnley and his
mother, her prospects of an heir would more than re-
establish her in the vantage-ground from which she had
been momentarily shaken.
Elizabeth, either through fear or policy, seemed as
anxious as ever to disconnect herself from the Congre-
gation. The English Government had been hiformed
a month beforehand of the formation of the plot ; they
had allowed it to be carried into execution without re-
monstrance ; but when the thing was done and Murray
was restored the Quegnjnadejhaste to clear_herself of
the suspicion of having favoured it. Sir Robert Mel-
ville was residing in London, and was occupied notori-
ously in gaining friends for the Scotch succession.
Elizabeth sent for him, and when it was too late to save
Rizzio she revealed to him the secret information which
had been supplied by Randolph ; nay, in one of the
many moods into which she drifted in her perplexities,
she even spoke of Argyle and Murray as ' rebels pre-
1566.] THE MURD ER OF DA RNLE Y. 413
tending reformation of religion/ There were too many
persons in England and Scotland who were interested
in dividing the Protestant noblemen from the English
Court. The Queen's words were carried round to rend
still further what remained of the old alliance ; and
Randolph, discredited on all sides, could but protest to
Cecil against the enormous mischief which Elizabeth's
want of caution was producing.1
It appeared as_i£~the .Quem had veered
. x, """I r~ April.
round once more ana was again throwing her-
self wholly into Mary Hliinrt'a interests. She replied to
the letter which the Queen of Scots addressed to her
from Dunbar by sending Melville to Scotland with
assurances of sympathy and help ; she wrote to Darnley
advising him ' to please the Queen of Scots in all things/
and telling him that she would take it as an injury to
herself if he offended her again ; she advised Murray
1 to be faithful to the Queen his sovereign ' under pain
of her own displeasure.2 As to the second set of fugi-
tives who had taken shelter in England — Morton,
Ruthven, and the rest — she told Bedford that she would
neither acquit nor condemn them till she was more fully
informed of their conduct, and that for the present they
might remain under his protection ; 3 but she insisted
that they must move to a distance from the frontier,
and Melville was allowed to promise Mary Stuart ' that
they should meet with nothing but rigour/
1 Randolph to Cecil, June 17.
The letter is addressed significantly
'To Mr Secretary's self, and only
for himself.' — Burghley Papcrs^'ol. i.
2 Sir R. Melville to Elizabeth,
April I : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
3 Elizabeth to Bedford, A»ril 2 :
MS. Ibid.
4i4 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 45.
De Silva informed Philip that the terror of the scene
through which she had passed had destroyed the hope
which the Queen of Scots had entertained of combining
her subjects against the Queen of England. 'She had
found them a people fierce, strange, and changeable; she
could trust none of them ; l and she had therefore re-
sponded graciously to the tone which Elizabeth assumed
towards her/ In an autograph letter of passionate gra-
titude Mary Stuart placed herself as it were under her
sister's protection ; she told her that in tracing the history
of the late conspiracy she had found that the lords had
intended to imprison her for life, and if England or
France came to her assistance they had meant to kill
her ; she implored Elizabeth to shut her ears to the
calumnies which they would spread against her, and with
engaging frankness she begged that the past might be
forgotten ; she had experienced too deeply the ingratitude
of those by whom she was surrounded to allow herself to
be tempted any more into dangerous enterprises ; for her
own part she was resolved never to give offence to her
good sister again ; nothing should be wanting to restore
the happy relations which had once existed between them;
and should she recover safely from her confinement she
hoped that in the summer Elizabeth would make a pro-
gress to the north, and that at last she might have an
opportunity of thanking her in person for her kindness
and forbearance/ 2
1 De Silva to Philip : MS. Simancas.
2 The Queen of Scots to Elizabeth, April 4 : Scotch MSS. Printed by
LABANGFF, vol. vii. p. 300.
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 415
This letter was sent by the hands of a certain
Thornton, a confidential agent of Mary Stuart, who had
been employed on messages to Kome. 'A very evil
and naughty person, whom I pray you not to believe/
was Bedford's credential for him in a letter of the 1st of
April to Cecil. He was on his way to Home again on this
present occasion. The public in Scotland supposed that
b ? was sent to consult the Pope on the possibility of
divorcing Darnley; and it is remarkable that the Queen
of Scots at the close of her own letter desired Elizabeth to
give credit to him on some secret matter which he would
communicate to her. She perhaps hoped that Elizabeth
would now assist her in the dissolution of a marriage
which she had been so anxious to prevent.
It was not till her return to Edinburgh that the whole
circumstances became known to her which preceded1 the
murder ; and — whether she had lost in Rizzio a favoured
lover, or whether the charge against her had been in-
vented by Darnley to heat the blood of his kindred — in
either case his offence against the Queen was irreparable
and deadly, and every fresh act of baseness into which
he plunged increased the loathing with which she re-
garded him. The poor creature laboured to earn his
pardon by denouncing accomplice after accomplice.
Maitland's complicity was unsuspected till it was re-
vealed by Darnley. He gave up the names of three other
gentlemen ' whom only he and no man else knew to be
privy.' * Maitland's lands were seized, and he had him-
1 Randolph to Cecil, April 2 : Scotch MSS. Soils House.
4i6
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 45
self to fly into the Highlands. One of the three gentle-
men was executed ; but the Queen while she used his
information repaid his baseness with deserved scorn.
The bond which he had signed was under her eyes ; and
the stories which he had told against her were brought
forward by the lords in their own justification. While
distrust and fear and suspicion divided home from home
and friend from friend> the contempt and hate of all alike
was centred on the unhappy caitiff wjio had betrayed
both parties^ in_turnj and Darnley, who was so lately
dreaming of himself as sovereign of England n.nd Scot-
land, was left towander alone about the country as if
the curse of Cain was clinging to him.1
Meanwhile Elizabeth was reaping a 'harvest
of inconveniences from her exaggerated demon-
strations of friendliness. The Queen of Scots taking her at
her word demanded that Morton and Ruthven should be
either surrendered into her hands, or at least should not
be permitted to remain in England. Elizabeth would
have consented if she had dared, but Argyle and Murray
identified their cause with that of their friends. Murray
was so anxious that they should do well that 'he
wished himself banished for them to have them as they
were/ Though they had generously begged him to run
no risks in their interest, he had told his sister ' that
they had incurred their present danger only on his
May.
1 'He is neither accompanied
nor looked upon by any nobleman ;
attended by certain of bis own serv-
ants and six or eight of his guard,
he is at liberty to do or go what or
where he will.' — Eandolph to Cecil,
April 25 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
:566.]
77i£ MURDER OF DARNLEY.
417
account ; ' while Argyle sent word to Elizabeth that if
she listened to the Queen of Scots' demands he would
join Shan O'lSTeil.1 Yainly Elizabeth struggled to ex-
tricate herself from her dilemma ; resentment was still
pursuing her for her treachery in the past autumn.
She dared not shelter the conspirators, for the Queen
of Scots would no longer believe her fair speeches, and
de Silva was watching her with keen and jealous
eyes ; 2 she dared not surrender or expel them lest the
last Englishman in Ireland should be flung into the sea.
She could but shuffle and equivocate in a manner which
had become too characteristic. Ruthven was beyond
the reach of human vengeance : he had risen from his
sick bed to enact his part in Holyrood, he had sunk
back upon it to die. To Morton she sent an order, a
copy of which could be shown to the Queen of Scots, to
leave the country ; but she sent with it a private hint
that England was wide, and that those who cared to
conceal themselves could not always be found.3 Argyle
she tried to soothe and work upon, and she directed
Randolph to ' deal with him.' She understood, she said,
' that there was a diminution of his good will towards
her service, and specially in the matter of Ireland/ and
that ' he alleged a lack of her favour in time of his need.'
1 Randolph to Cecil, May 1 3 and
May 23 : MS. Ibid.
2 ' Con todas las promesas y de-
mostraciones que esta Reyna ha
hecho a la de Escocia al presente de
la promoter ayuda y serle amiga y
no consentir estos ultimos conspira-
VOL. VII.
dores en su Reyno, como oygo estan
en Newcastle.' — De Silva to Philip,
May 18: MS. Simancas.
3 Morton to Cecil, May 16 ; Lei-
cester to Cecil, July n: Scotch
MSS. Rolls House.
27
418 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.45.
' She had been right sorry for the trouble both of him
and his friends ; she had done all that in honour she
could do, omitting nothing for the Earl of Murray's
preservation but open hostility; she trusted therefore
that he would alter his mind and withdraw him from
the favouring of that principal rebel being sworn cruel
adversary to the state of all true religion.' If possible
Randolph was to move Argyle by reasoning and remon-
strance; if he failed, ' sooner than O'Neil should receive
any aid from thence she would be content to have some
portion of money bestowed secretly by way of reward
to the hindrance of it.' And yet, she said — her thrifty
nature coming up again — the money was not to be pro-
mised if the Earl could be prevailed on otherwise ; ' of
the matter of money she rather made mention as of a
thing for Randolph to think upon until he heard farther
from her than that he should deal with any person
therein.' l
But Elizabeth was not to escape so easily,
and Ar gyle's resentment had reached a heat
which a more open hand than Elizabeth's would have
failed.to cool. Murray was ready to forget his own wrongs,
but Argyle would not forget them for him, and would
not forget his other friends. c If the Queen of England/
the proud M'Callum-More replied, ' would interfere in
behalf of the banished lords, and would undertake that
in Scotland there should be no change of religion,' he
on his part ' would become O'Neil's enemy, and hinder
1 Elizabeth to Randolph, May 23: Scotch MSS. Rolls House, and
Lansdowne MSS. 9.
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 419
what he could the practices between the Queen his
sovereign and the Papists of England/1 But Eliza-
beth must accept his terms ; it was a matter with which
money, in whatever quantity, had nothing to do. The
practices with the English Catholics had begun again,
or rather, in spite of Mary Stuart's promises to abstain
from such transactions for the future, they had never
ceased ; and a curious discovery was about to be made
in connection with them. A report had been sent by
Murray to Cecil that there was an Englishman about
the Court at Holyrood who was supposed to have come
there on no good errand ; he was one of the Rokebys
of Yorkshire, and was closely connected with the great
Catholic families there. But Cecil it seems knew more
of Hokeby's doings than Murray knew. He had gone
across the Border to be out of the way of the bailiffs ;
and Cecil, who suspected that Mary Stuart was still
playing her old game, and had before been well ac-
quainted with Hokeby, sent him word l that he might
purchase pardon and help if he would use his acquaint-
ance in Scotland to the contentation of the Queen's
Majesty/ in other words, if he would do service as a
spy. Rokeby, who wanted money and had probably no
honour to lose, made little objection. His brother-in-
law, Lascelles, who was one of Mary Stuart's stanchest
friends and correspondents, gave him letters of introduc-
tion, and with these he hastened to Edinburgh, and was
introduced by Sir James Melville to the Queen.
Randolph to Cecil, June 13 : Scotch HISS. Ibid.
420 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 45.
In a letter to Cecil he thus describes his reception : —
' In the evening, after ten o'clock, I was sent for in
secret manner, and being carried into a little closet in
Edinburgh Castle the Queen came to me ; and so doing
the duty belonging to a prince, I did offer my service,
and with great courtesy she did receive me, and said I
should be very welcome to her, and so began to ask me
many questions of news from the Court of England and
of the Queen and of the Lord Robert. I could say but
little ; so being very late, she said she would next day
confer with me in other causes, and willed me take my
ease for the night.
' The next night after I was sent for again, and was
brought to the same place, where the Queen came to me,
she sitting down on a little coffer without a cushion and
I kneeling beside. She began to talk of her father, Las-
celles, and how much she was beholden to him, and how
she trusted to find many friends in England, whensoever
time did serve ; and did name Mr Stanley, Herbert, and
Dacres, from whom she had received letters, and by
means she did make account to win friendship of many
of the nobility — as the Duke of Norfolk, the Earls of
Derby, Shrewsbury, Northumberland, Westmoreland,
and Cumberland. She had better hopes of them for that
she thought them all to be of the old religion, which she
meant to restore again with all expedition, and thereby
win the hearts of the common people. Besides this she
practised to have two of the worshipful of every shire of
England, and such as were of her religion, to be made her
friends, and sought of me to know the names of such as
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 421
were meet for that purpose. I answered and said I had
little acquaintance in any shire of England but only
Yorkshire, and there were great plenty of Papists. She
told me she had written a number of letters to Christo-
pher Lascelles with blank superscriptions; and he to
direct them to such as he thought meet for that purpose.
She told me she had received friendly letters from di-
verse, naming Sir Thomas Stanley and one Herbert, and
Dacres with the crooked back — thus meaning that after
she had friended herself in every shire in England with
some of the worshipful or of the best countenance of the
country, she meant to cause wars to be stirred in Ireland,
whereby England might be kept occupied ; then she
would have an army in readiness, and herself with her
army to enter England — and the day that she should
enter her title to be read, and she proclaimed Queen.
And for the better furniture of this purpose she had
before travailed with Spain, with France, and with the
Pope for aid ; and had received fair promises with some
money from the Pope, and more looked for.' l
Such a revelation as this might have satisfied Eliza-
beth that it was but waste of labour to attempt any more
to return to cordiality and confidence with the Queen of
Scots ; yet, either from timidity, or because she would not
part with the hope that Mary Stuart might eventually
shake off her dreams and qualify herself for the succession
by prudence and good sense, she would not submit to the
conditions on which Argyle offered to remain her friend.
1 Christopher Bokeby to Cecil, June 1566 : Hatfield MSS. Printed in
the Burghley Papers, vol. i.
422 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 45,
She could not conceal that she was aware of Mary Stuart's
intrigues with her subjects ; but she chose to content
herself with reading her a lecture, as excellent as, it was
useless, on the evil of her ways. Messengers were
passing and repassing continually between the Court at
Holyrood and Shan O'Neil. Other and more sincere
English Catholics than Rokeby were coming day after
day to Holyrood to offer their swords and to be admitted
to confidence. Elizabeth, in the middle of June, sent
Sir Henry Killigrew to remonstrate, and ' to demand
such present answer as should seem satisfactory,'1 while
to his public instructions she added a private letter of
her own.
1 Madam/ she wrote to the Queen of Scots, ' I am
informed that open rebels against my authority are re-
ceiving countenance and favour from yourself and your
councillors. The news, madam, I must tell you with
your pardon do much displease us. Remove these briars,
I pray you, lest some thorn prick the hand of those who
are to blame in this. Such matters hurt to the quick.
It is not by such ways as these that you will attain the
object of your wishes. These be the by-paths which
those follow who fear the open road. I say not this for
any dread I feel of harm that you may do me. My trust
is in Him who governs all things by His justice, and
with this faith I know no alarm. The stone recoils often
on the head of the thrower, and you will hurt yourself
— you have already hurt yourself — more than you can
1 Instructions to Sir H. Killigrew, sent to the Queen of Scots, June 15.
Cecil's hand : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 423
hurt me. Your actions towards me are as full of venom
as your words of honey. I have but to tell my subjects
what you are, and I well know the opinion which they
will form of you. Judge you of your own prudence —
you can better understand these things than I can write
them. Assure me under your own hand of your good
meaning, that I may satisfy those who are more inclined
than I am to doubt you. If you are amusing yourself at
my expense, do not think so poorly of me that I will
suffer such wrong without avenging it. Hemember, my
dear sister, that if you desire my affection you must learn
to deserve it.' l
Essentially Elizabeth was acting with the truest
regard for the Queen of Scots' interests, and was in fact
behaving with extraordinary forbearance. It was un-
fortunate that petty accidents should have so perpetually
given her rival a temporary advantage and an excuse
for believing herself the injured party. Among the
Catholics of whose presence at her Court Sir H. Killi-
grew was instructed to complain, the spy of Cecil had
been especially named. Already the Queen of Scots had
been warned to beware how she trusted Rokeby ; and
at once, with an affected anxiety to meet Elizabeth's
wishes, she ordered his arrest and the seizure of his
papers. Cecil's letters to him were discovered in his
correspondence, and the evidence of the underplot was
too plain to permit Elizabeth to return upon so doubt-
ful a ground.2
1 Elizabeth to the Queen of Scots, June 13 : Scotch HfSS. Rolls House.
- Killigi-ew to Cecil, July 4 : MS, Ibid.
424 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.45.
These however and all subsidiary questions were soon
merged in the great event of the summer. On the I9th
of June, in Edinburgh Castle, between nine and ten in
the morning, was born James StuarLheir-presumptive to
the united crowns of England and Scotland. Better
worth to Mary Stuart's ambition was this child than all
the legions of Spain and all the money of the Vatican ;
the cradle in which he lay, to the fevered and anxious
glance of English politicians, was as a Pharos behind
which lay the calm waters of an undisturbed succession
and the perpetual union of the too long divided realms.
Here if the occasion was rightly used lay the cure for a
thousand evils ; where all differences might be forgotten,
all feuds be laid at rest, and the political fortunes of
Great Britain be started afresh on a newer and brighter
career.
Scarcely even in her better mind could the birth of
the Prince of Scotland be less than a mortification to
Elizabeth — knowing, as she could not fail to know, the
effect which it would produce upon her subjects. Parlia-
ment was to have met in the spring, and she had at-
tempted to force herself into a resolution upon her own
marriage, which would enable her to encounter the
House of Commons. In the middle of February she
believed that she had made up her mind to the Arch-
duke. Sir Richard Sackville had been selected as a
commissioner to arrange preliminaries at Vienna ; and
she had gone so far as to arrange in detail the con-
ditions on which her intended husband was to reside in
England.
I566.]
THE MURDER OF DARNLE Y.
425
' I do understand this to be the state of his [Sack-
ville's] despatch/ wrote Sir N. Throgmorton to Lei-
cester.1 'Her Majesty will tolerate the public contract
for the exercise of the Archduke's Roman religion, so
as he will promise secretly to her Majesty to alter the
said religion hereafter. She doth farther say that if
the Archduke will come to England she promiseth to
marry him unless there be some apparent impediment.
She maketh the greatest difficulty to accord unto him
some large provision to entertain him at her and the
realm's cost as he demandeth.'
So far had her purpose advanced — even to a haggling
over the terms of maintenance ; yet at the last moment
the thought of losing Leicester for ever became unbear-
able. He was absent from the Court, and Elizabeth
determined to see him once more before the fatal step
was taken.
'After this was written/ Throgmorton concluded,
'I did understand her Majesty had deferred the signing
of Sackville's despatch until your Lordship's coming/
Cecil at the same time wrote to inform Leicester of
the Queen's resolution ; and either the Earl believed that
it was his policy to appear to consent, or else, if he may
be credited with any interval of patriotism, he was ready
for the moment to forget his own ambition in the inter-
est of England.2
1 February, 1566, endorsed, in
Leicester's hand — 'A very consider-
able letter.'— PEPYSIAN MSS. Mag-
dalen College, Cambridge.
2 ' I heartily thank you, Mr Se-
cretary, for your gentle and friendly
letter, wherein I perceive how far
her Majesty hath resolved touching
the matter she dealt in on my com-
ing away. I pray God her Highness
426
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 45
As however it had been Mary Stuart's first success
after her marriage with Darnley which had driven Eliza-
beth towards a sacrifice which she abhorred; so Rizzio's
murder, the return of Murray and his friends, and the
recovered vitality of the Protestants in Scotland, gave
her again a respite. As Mary Stuart's power to hurt
her grew fainter, the Archduke once more ceased to
appear indispensable ; and when Leicester came back to
the Court Sackville's mission was again put off. Again
the Queen began to nourish convulsive hopes that she
could marry her favourite after all. Again Cecil had
to interfere with a table of damning contrasts between
the respective merits of the Austrian Prince and the
English Earl ; l and again, when remonstrance seemed
may so proceed therein as may bring
but contentation to berself and com-
fort to all that be hers. Surely
there can be nothing that shall so
well settle her in good estate as that
way — I mean her marriage — when-
soever it shall please God to put her
in mind to like and to conclude. I
know her Majesty hath heard enough
thereof, and I wish to God she did
hear that more that here abroad is
wished and prayed for. Good will
it doth move in many, and truly it
may easily appear necessity doth re-
qjuire of all. We hear ourselves
methinks it is good sometimes that
some that be there should be abroad,
for that is sooner believed that is
seen than heard; and in hope, Mr
Secretary, that her Majesty will now
earnestly intend that which she hath
of long time not yet minded, and
delay no longer her time, which can-
not be won again for any gift, I will
leave that with trust of happiest
success, for that God hath left it the
only means to redeem us in this
world.' — Leicester to Cecil, Febru-
ary 20, 1566 : Domestic MSS., Eliza-
beth, vol. xxxix., Rolls House.
much also when we be there, but
1 DE MATRIMONIO REGINJE ANGLUE CUM EXTERO PRINCIPE.
April, 1566.
Reasons to move the Queen to accept Reasons against the Earl of
Charles.
his birth.
'Besides his person
t ' She shall not diminish the
Leicester
[. ' Nothinjr is increased by mar-
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 427
to fail, the pale shadow of Lady Dudley was called up
honour of a prince to match with a
prince.
2. ' When she shall receive mes-
sages from kings, her husband shall
have of himself by birth and coun-
tenances to receive them.
3 'Whatsoever he shall bring
to the realm he shall spend it here
in the realm.
4. ' He shall have no regard to
any person but to please the Queen.
5. 'He shall have no opportunity
nor occasion to tempt him to seek
the crown after the Queen, because
he is a stranger, and hath no friends
in the realm to assist him.
6. 'By marriage with him the
Queen shall have the friendship of
riage of him, either in riches, esti-
mation, or power.
2. ' It will be thought that the
slanderous speeches of the Queen
with the JEarl have been true.
3. ' He shall study nothing but
to enhance his own particular friends
to wealth, to office, to lands, and to
offend others —
7 Sir H. Sidney. Leighton.
7 Earl Warwick. Christmas.
Sir James Crofts. Middleton.
Henry Dudley. Middlemore.
John Dudley. Colshill.
Foster. Wiseman.
Sir F. Jobson. Killigrew.
Appleyard. Molyneux. t—
Horsey.
4. ' He is infamed by the death
of his wife.
5. ' He is far in debt.
6. ' He is like to prove unkind,
or jealous of the Queen's Majesty.
King Philip, which is necessary, con-
sidering the likelihood of falling out
with France.
7. ' No Prince of England ever remained without good amity of the
House of Burgundy, and no prince ever had less alliance than the Queen
of England hath, nor any prince ever had more cause to have friendship
and power to assist her estate.
8. ' The French King will keep Calais against his pact.
9. ' The Queen of Scots pretendeth title to the crown of England, and
so did never foreign prince since the Conquest.
10. ' The Pope also, and all his parties, are watching adversaries to
this crown.' — Bun/hley Papers, vol. i. p. 444.
428
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 45
out of the tomb and waved the lovers once more asun-
der.1
Thus the season passed on ; summer came, and
James's birth found Elizabeth as far from marriage as
ever ; Parliament had been once more postponed, but
the public service could be conducted no longer without
a subsidy, and a meeting at Michaelmas was inevitable.
Scarcely was Mary Stuart delivered and the child's
sex made known, than Sir James Melville was in the
saddle. The night of the I9th he slept at Berwick; on
the evening of the 22nd he rode into London. A grand
party was going forward at Greenwich : the Queen was
in full force and spirit, and the Court in its summer
splendour. A messenger glided through the crowd and
spoke to Cecil; Cecil whispered to his mistress, and
Elizabeth flung herself into a seat, dropped her head
upon her hand, and exclaimed ' The Queen of Scots is
the mother of a fair son, and I am but a barren stock.'
Bitter words!- — how bitter those only knew who had
watched her in the seven years' struggle between pas-
sion and duty.
She could have borne it better perhaps had her own
scheme been carried out for a more complete self-sacri-
fice, and had Leicester been the father of the future
king. Then at least she would have seen her darling
honoured and great ; then she would have felt secure of
1 It was probably at this time
Appleyard made his confession that
' he had covered his sister's murder,'
and that Sir Thomas Blount was
secretly examined by the council.
There is little room for doubt that <"
the menace of exposure was the in-
strument made use of to prevent
Elizabeth from ruining herself.-—
See cap. 39.
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 429
her rival's loyalty and of the triumph of tnose great
principles of English freedom for which she had fought
her long, and as it now seemed, her losing battle. The
Queen of S(^is_.]iaji_£halLeiigejl her crown, intrigued
wit£ her subjects, slighted her councils, and defied her
menaces, and this. was the result.
But Elizabeth had been apprenticed in self-control.
By morning she had overcome her agitation and was
able to give Melville an audience.
The ambassador entered her presence radiant with
triumph. The Queen affected, perhaps she forced her-
self to feel, an interest in his news, and she allowed
him to jest upon the difficulty with which the prince
had been brought into the world. ' I told her/ he re-
ported afterwards,1 ' that the Queen of Scots had dearly
bought her child, being so sore handled that she wished
she had never been married. This I said by the way
to give her a scare from marriage and from Charles of
Austria.' Elizabeth smiled painfully and spoke as
graciously as she could, though Melville believed that
at heart she was burning with envy and disappointment.
The trial was doubtless frightful, and the struggle to
brave it may have been but half successful ; yet when
he pressed her to delay the recognition no longer she
seemed to feel that she could not refuse, and she pro-
mised to take the opinion of the lawyers without fur-
ther hesitation. So great indeed had been the dis-
appointment of English statesmen at the last trifling
1 MELVILLE'S Memoirs.
430 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 45.
ttdth the Archduke that they had abandoned hope.
The Scottish Prince was the soleohject_of their interest,
and all tEe" motives winch before had recommended
Mary Stuart were working with irresistible force.
Whatever might be the Queen's personal reluctance,
Melville was able to feel that it would avail little ; the
cause of his mistress, if her game was now played with
tolerable skill, was virtually won. Norfolk declared
for her, Pembroke declared for her, no longer caring to
conceal their feelings ; even Leicester, now that his own
chances were over, became ' the Queen of Scots' avowed
friend/ and pressed her claims upon Elizabeth, ' alleg-
ing that to acknowledge them would be her greatest
security, and that Cecil would undo all.' 1 All that
Melville found necessary was to give his mistress a few
slight warnings and cautions.
Her recognition as second person he knew
that she regarded as but a step to the de-
thronement of Elizabethj nor did he advise her to
abandon her ambition. He did not wish her to slacken
her correspondence with the Catholics ; she need not
cease ' to entertain O'Neil ; ' but he required her only
to be prudent and secret. ' Seeing the great mark her
Majesty shot at, she should be careful and circumspect,
that her desires being so near to be obtained should not
be overthrown for lack of management.' 2
Schooled for once by advice, Mary Stuart
August.
wrote from her sick bed to Melville's brother
1 MELVILLE'S Memoirs. 2 Ibid.
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 431
Robert. The letter appeared to be meant only for him-
self, but it was designed to be shown among the Pro-
testant nobility of England. She declared in it that
she meant nothing but toleration in religion, nothing
but good in all ways ; she protested that she had no
concealed designs, no una vowed wishes ; her highesv
ambition went no farther than to be recognized by
Parliament, with the consent of her dear sister.
With these words in their hands the Melvilles mad*
swift progress in England. Elizabeth's uncertainties
and changes had shaken her truest friends ; and evei\
before the Parliament some popular demonstrations were
looked for.
' There are threats of disturbance/ de Silva wrote in
August, ' and trouble is looked for before the meeting
of Parliament. For the present we are reassured, but
it is likely enough that something will happen. The
Queen is out of favour with all sides : the Catholics
hate her because she is not a Papist, the Protestants
because she is less furious and violent in heresy than
they would like to see her ; while the courtiers complain
of her parsimony/ l James Melville was soon able to
send the gratifying assurance to the Queen of Scots,
that should Elizabeth continue the old excuses and de-
lays ' her friends were so increased that many whole
shires were ready to rebel, and their captains already
named by election of the nobility.' 2
In such a world and with such humours abroad the
1 De Silva to Philip, August 23, 1566 : MS. Simancas.
- Mi LVILLE'S Memoirs.
432 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 45.
approaching session could not fail to be a stormy one ;
and Elizabeth knew, though others might affect to be
ignorant, that if sheW as forced into a recognition of
MgT^_Stuart__a OatholiftjrgvfJTjLtjnTi won]r[jnnj^ hft many
months...distant.
At the beginning of August, to gather strength and
spirit for the struggle, she went on progress, not to the
northern counties where the Queen of Scots had hoped
to meet her, but first to Stamford on a visit to Cecil,
thence round to Woodstock, her old prison in the peril-
ous days of her sister, and finally, on the evening of the
3 1st, she paid Oxford the honour which two years before
she had conferred on the sister University. The pre-
parations for her visit were less gorgeous, the recep-
tion itself far less imposing, yet the fairest of her cities
in its autumnal robe of sad and mellow loveliness, suited
the Queen's humour, and her stay there had a peculiar
interest.
She travelled in a carriage. At Wolvercot, three
miles out on the Woodstock road, she was met by the
heads of houses in their gowns and hoods. The approach
was by the long north avenue leading to the north gate ;
and as she drove along it she saw in front of her the
black tower of Bocardo, where Cranmer had been long
a prisoner, and the ditch where with his brother martyrs
he had given his life for the sins of the people. The
scene was changed from that chill, sleety morning, and
the soft glow of the August sunset was no unfitting
symbol of the change of times ; yet how soon such
another season might tread upon the heels of the de-
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 433
parting summer none knew better than Elizabeth. She
went on under the archway and up the corn- market be-
tween rows of shouting students. The students cried
in Latin * Yivat Regina/ Elizabeth amidst bows and
smiles answered in Latin also, * Grratias ago, gratias
ago/
At Carfax, where Bishop Long-lands forty years be-
fore had burnt Tyndal's Testaments, a professor greeted
her with a Greek speech, to which with unlooked-for
readiness she replied again in the same language. A
few more steps brought her down to the great gate of
Christ Church, the splendid monument of Wolsey and
of the glory of the age that was gone. She left the car-
riage, and with de Silva at her side she walked under a
canopy across the magnificent quadrangle to the Cathe-
dral. The dean after evening service entertained her
at his house.
The days of her stay were spent as at Cambridge —
in hearing plays or in attending the exercises of the
University. The subjects chosen for disputation in the
schools mark the balance of the two streams of ancient
and modern thought, and show the matter with which
the rising mind of England was beginning to occupy
itself. There were discussions on the tides — whether or
how far they were caused by the attraction of the moon.
There were arguments on the currency — whether a debt
contracted when the coin was pure could be liquidated
by the payment of debased money of the same nominal
value. The keener intellects were climbing the stairs of
the temple of Modern Science, though as yet they were
VOL. vn. 28
434 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 45.
few and feeble and they were looked upon askance with
orthodox suspicion. At their side the descendants of
the schoolmen were working on the old safe methods,
proving paradoxes by laws of logic amidst universal ap-
plause. The Professor of Medicine maintained in the
Queen's presence that it was not the province of the
physician to cure disease, because diseases were infinite,
and the infinite was beyond the reach of art ; or again,
because medicine could not retard age, and age ended
in death., and therefore medicine could not preserve life.
"With trifles such as these the second childhood of the
authorities was content to drowse away the hours. More
interesting than either science or logic were perilous
questions of politics, which Elizabeth permitted to be
agitated before her.
The Puritan formula that it was lawful to take arms
against a bad sovereign was argued by examples from the
Bible and from the stories of the patriot tyrannicides of
Greece and Home. Doctor Humfrey deserted his friends
to gain favour with the Queen, and protested his horror
of rebellion ; but the defenders of the rights of the
people held their ground, and remained in possession of
it. Pursuing the question into the subtleties of theology,
they even ventured to say that God himself might in-
stigate a regicide, when Bishop Jewel, who was present,
stepped down into the dangerous arena and closed the
discussion with a vindication of the divine right of kings.
More critically — even in that quiet haven of peaceful
thought — the great subject of the day, which Elizabeth
called her death-knell, still pursued Her. An eloquent
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLE Y. 435
student discoursed on the perils to which a nation was
exposed when the sovereign died with no successor de-
clared. The comparative advantages were argued of
elective and hereditary monarchy. Each side had its
hot defenders ; and though the votes of the University
were in favour of the natural laws of succession, the
champion of election had the best of the argument, and
apparently best pleased the Queen. When in the pero-
ration of his speech he said he would maintain his opinion
'with his life, and, if need were, with his death,'1 she
exclaimed, ' Excellent — oh, excellent ! '
At the close of the exercises she made a speech in
Latin as at Cambridge. She spoke very simply, depre-
cating the praises which had been heaped upon her. She
had been educated well, she said, though the seed had
fallen on a barren soil ; but she loved study if she had
not profited by it, and for the Universities she would
do her best that they should flourish while she lived, and
after her death continue long to prosper.
So five bright days passed swiftly, and on the sixth
she rode away over Magdalen Bridge to Windsor. As
she crested Headington Hill she reined in her horse and
once more looked back. There at her feet lay the city
in its beauty, the towers and spires springing from
amidst the clustering masses of the college elms ; there
wound beneath their shade the silvery lines of the Cher-
well and the Isis.
' Farewell, Oxford ! ' she cried ; ' farewell, my good
' Hoc vita et si opus est et morte comprobabo.'
436 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 45.
subjects there ! — farewell, my dear scholars, and may
God prosper your studies ! — farewell, farewell ! ' l
The Queen of Scots meanwhile had recovered rapidly
from her confinement, and it seemed as if she had now
but to sit still and wait for the fortune which time had
so soon to bestow ; yet Melville, on his return to Scot-
land, found her less contented than he expected. The
Pope, if it was true that she had desired a divorce from
her husband, had not smiled upon her wishes; and
Melville's well-meant efforts to console her for her do-
mestic troubles with her prospects in England, failed
wholly of their effect. Five days after James's birth,
Killigrew reported that although Darnley was in the
Castle and his father in Edinburgh, ' small account was
made of them;' Murray, though he continued at the
Court, ' found his credit small and his state scarce better
than when he looked daily for banishment ; ' Maitland
was still a fugitive, and his estates, with the splendid
royalties of Dunbar, were in possession of Bothwell ;
-7 ' BothwelPs credit with the Queen was more than all the
rest together.'2
It seemed as if Mary Stuart, brave as she might be,
in that stormy sea of faction and conspiracy requiredja,
man's arm to support hejrj_she wanted jsome one on
whose devotion she could depend__to_8hield her from a
second night of terror, and such a man she had found in
/ Bothwell — tEe boldest, the most recHess, the most un-
i principled of all the nobles in Scotland. Her choice
thouglTTmprudent was not unnatural. Bothwell from
1 NICHOLLS'S Progresses of Elizabeth.
2 Killigrew to Cecil, June 24.
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLE Y. 437
his earliest manhood had been her mother's stanchest
friend ; Bothwell, when the English army was before
Leith — though untroubled 'with faith in Pope or Church
or Grod, had been more loyal than the Catholic lords ;
and though at that time but a boy of twenty- two he had
fought the cause of France and of Mary of Lorraine
when Huntly and Seton were standing timidly aloof.
Afterwards when Mary Stuart returned, and Murray
and Maitland ruled Scotland, Bothwell continued true
to his old colours, and true to the cause which the Queen
of Scots in her heart was cherishing. Hating England,
hating the Reformers, hating Murray above all living
men, he had early conceived projects of carrying off his
mistress by force from their control — nor was she her-
self supposed to have been ignorant of his design. The
times were then unripe, and Bothwell had retired from
Scotland to spend his exile at the French Court, in the
home of Mary Stuart's affection ; and when he
. . July,
came back to her out of that polished and evil
atmosphere, she found his fierce northern nature varn-
ished with a thin coating of Parisian culture, saturated
with Parisian villany, and the Earl himself with the
single virtue of devotion to his mistress, as before he
had been devoted to her mother. Her own nature was
altogether higher than BothwelPs; yet courage, strength,
and a readiness to face danger and dare crime for their
sakes, attract some women more than intellect however
keen, or grace however refined. The affection of the
Queen of Scots for Bothwell is the best evidence of her
innocence with Rizzio.
As soon as she had become strong enough to move
43S REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 45.
she left the close hot atmosphere of the Castle, and at
the end of July, attended by her cavalier, she spent her
days upon the sea or at the Castle of Alloa on the Forth.
She had condescended to acquaint Darnley with her in-
tention of going, but with no desire that he should ac-
company her; and when he appeared uninvited at Alloa
he was ordered back to the place from which he came.
' The Queen and her husband/ wrote the Earl of Bed-
ford on the 3rd of August, 'agree after the
old manner. It cannot for modesty nor for
the honour of a Queen be reported what she said of him/ l
Sir James Melville, who dreaded the effect in England
of the alienation of the friends of Lady Lennox, again
remonstrated and attempted to cure the slight with
some kind of attention. But Melville was made to feel
that he was going beyond his office ; in her violent
moods Mary Stuart would not be trifled with, and at
length he received a distinct order ' to be no more fami-
liar with the Lord Darnley/ 2 Water parties and hunt-
ing parties in the Highlands consumed the next few
weeks. Though inexorable towards her husband the
Queen, as the summer went on, found it necessary, to take
Aer Jjr other inta -favour again, and to gain the confidence
of^the TJ/nglish JPrntpsj^]rf.s by flffpp.firLg-a^JCP^rlinAss to
be _guided Jayjiis advice. Maitland's peace had been
made also, though with more difficulty. Bothwell, who
was in possession of his estates, refused to part with them •
and in a stormy scene in the Queen's presence Murray
1 Bedford to Cecil, August 3 : Cotton. MSS. CALIG. B. 10.
2 MELVILLE'S Memoirs.
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 439
told him ' that twenty as honest men as he should lose
their lives ere he reft Liddington.' 1 The Queen felt
however that her demand for recognition in England
would be effective in proportion to the umrnmTEj "with
which she was supported by her own nobility ; she felt
the want of Maitland's help ; and visiting her resent-
ment for the death of Bizzio on her miserable husband
alone, she was ready to forget the share which Maitland
had borne in it, and exerted herself to smooth down and
reconcile the factions at the Court. She contrived to
bring Maitland, Murray, Argyle, and Bothwell secretly
together ; ' the matter in dispute ' was talked over and
at last amicably settled.2
From Maitland to Morton was a short step. The
lords now all combined to entreat his pardon from the
Queen, and in the restoration to favour of the nobles
whom he had invited to revenge his own imagined
wrongs, and had thus deserted and betrayed, the miser-
able King read his own ruin. One after another he had
injured them all ; and his best hope was in their con-
tempt. Even Murray's face he had good cause to
dread. He with Rizzio had before planned Murray's
murder, and now seeing Murray at the Queen's side he
let fall some wild passionate words as if he would again
try to kill him. So at least the Queen reported, for it
was she who carried the story to Murray, ' and willed the
Earl to speer it at the King ; ' it was believed after-
wards that she desired to create a quarrel which would
1 Advertisements out of Scotland, August, 1566 : MS. Rolls House.
* Maitland to Cecil, September 20 : MS. Ibid,
4/ro REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 45.
rid her of one or both of the two men whom she
hated worst in Scotland. But if this was her object she
had mistaken her brother's character ; Murray was not
a person to trample on the wretched or stoop to igno-
ble game , he spoke to Darnley ' very modestly ' in
the Queen's presence; and the poor boy might have
yet been saved could he have thrown himself on the
confidence of the one noble-hearted person within his
reach. He muttered only some feeble apology how-
ever, and fled from the Court 'very grieved/ He could
not bear, so some one wrote, ' that the Queen should
use familiarity with man or woman, especially the
Lords of Argyle and Murray which kept most company
with her.'1
Lennox, as much neglected as his son, was
September. . .
living privately at Glasgow, and between
Glasgow and Stirling the forlorn Darnley wandered to
and fro, 'misliked of all,' helpless and complaining,
and nursing vague impossible schemes of revenge. He
had signed the articles by which he bound himself to
maintain the Reformation; he now dreamt of taking
from Mary the defence of the Church. He wrote to
the Pope and to Philip complaining that the Queen of
Scots had ceased to care for religion, and that they must
look to him only for the restoration of Catholicism.
His letters, instead of falling harmless by going where
they were directed, were carried to Mary, and might
have aggravated her animosity against him had it ad-
Advertisements out of Scotland, August, 1566 . MS. Rolls House.
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 441
mitted of aggravation. Still more terrified, he then
thought of flying from the kingdom. The Scotch
council was about to meet in Edinburgh, in the middle
of September ; the Queen desired that he would attend
the session with her ; he refused, and as soon as she was
gone he made arrangements to escape in an English
vessel which was lying in the Forth. ' In a sort of
desperation' he communicated his project to the French
ambassador, du Croq, who had remained after the
Queen's departure at Stirling. He told him it seems
that he should go to the Scilly Isles ; perhaps like Sir
Thomas Seymour with a notion of becoming a pirate
chief there. When du Croq questioned him on his rea-
sons for such a step, he complained 'that the Queen
would give him no authority ; ' 'all the lords had
abandoned him, he said ; he had no hope in Scotland
and he feared for his life.'
Better far it would have been had they allowed him
to go, better for himself, better for Mary Stuart, better
for human history which would have escaped the inky
stain which blots its page ; yet his departure at such a
time and in such a manner would attract inconvenient
notice in England — it would be used in Parliament in
the debate on the succession. Du Croq carried word to
Mary Stuart. Lennox, after endeavouring in vain to
dissuade him, wrote to her also in the hope that he
might appease her by giving proofs of his own loyalty ;
and Darnley, finding his purpose betrayed, followed the
French ambassador to Edinburgh, and on the evening
of the 29th of September presented himself at the gates
442 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.45.
of Holy rood. He sent in word of his arrival — but he
said he would not enter as long as Murray, Argyle, and
Maitland were in the palace. The Queen went out to
him, carried him to her private apartments, and kept
him there for the night. The next morning the council
met and he was brought or led into their presence.
There they sat — a hard ring of stony faces : on one side
the Lords of the Congregation who had risen in insur-
rection to prevent his marriage with the Queen, whom
afterwards he had pledged his honour to support and
whom he had again betrayed — now, by some inexplic-
able turn of, fortune, restored to honour while he was
himself an outcast ; on the other side Huntly, Caith-
ness, Bothwell, Athol, the Archbishop of St Andrew's,
all Catholics, all Bizzio's friends, yet hand in hand now
with their most bitter enemies, united heart and soul to
secure the English succession for a Scotch Princess,
and pressing with the weight of unanimity on the
English Parliament ; yet he who had been brought
among them in the interest of that very cause was ex-
cluded from share or concern in the prize ; every noble
present had some cause of mortal enmity against him ;
and as he stood before them desolate and friendless he
must have felt how short a shrift was allowed in Scot-
land for a foe whose life was inconTenient.
The letter of the Earl of Lennox was read aloud.
Mary Stuart said that she had tried in vain to draw
from her husband the occasion of his dissatisfaction ;
she trusted that he would tell the lords what he had
concealed from herself; and then turning to him with
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 443
clasped hands like a skilled actress on the stage, ' Speak/
she said, ' speak ; say what you complain of ; if the
blame is with me do not spare me/
The lords followed, assuring him with icy polite-
ness that if he had any fault to find they would see it
remedied.
Du Croq implored him to take no step which would
touch his own honour or the Queen's.
What could he say ? Could he tell the truth that
he believed his Royal Mistress and those honourable
lords were seeking how to rid the world of him ? That
was his fear ; and she and they and he alike * knew it —
but such thoughts could not be spoken. And yet he
had spirit enough to refuse to cringe or to stand at the
bar to be questioned as a prisoner. He said a few un-
meaning words and turned to go, and they did not dare
detain him. ' Adieu, Madam/ he said as he left the
room, ' you will not see my face for a long space ; gen-
tlemen, adieu/ 1
Four days later they heard that the ship
. J . , , J , October,
was ready in which he was about to sail ; and
it appears as if they had resolved to let him go. . But
in an evil hour for himself he had another interview
with the French ambassador; du Croq, after a long
conversation, persuaded him that the clouds would clear
away and that fortune would again look beneficently upon
him. The English ship sailed without him, and Darnley
remained behind to drift upon destruction, ' hated/ as
1 Du Croq to the Archbishop of Glasgow, October 15 ; The Lords of
Scotland to the Queen-mother of France, October 8 : Printed in Keith.
444
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 45.
du Croq admitted, ' by all men and by all parties — be-
cause being what he was he desired to be as he had
been and to rule as a king.'1 In him the murderers of
Rizzio found a scapegoat, and the Queen accepted with
seeming willingness the vicarious sacrifice. The__pa-
litical^elatipns between England and Scotland relapsed
into their old bearings. Maitland was found again
corresponding with the English ministers on the old
subject of the union of the realms, while the Queen of
Scots herself wrote to Cecil with affected confidence
and cordiality, just touching — enough to show that she
understood it — on the treachery of Rokeby, but profess-
ing to believe that Cecil wished well to her and would
assist her to gain her cause.2
So stood the several parties in the two kingdoms
when Elizabeth returned from her progress and prepared
to meet her Parliament.3 Four years h.ad passed since
1 Du Croq to the Queen-mother
of France, October 17: TEULET,
vol. ii.
2 Maitland to Cecil, October 4 ;
The Queen of Scots to Cecil, October
5 : MS. Rolls House.
3 An entry in the Privy Council
Register shows how anxiously the
English Government were still watch-
ing the Queen of Scots, and how
little they trusted her assurances.
October 8, 1566.
'A letter to Sir John Foster,
Warden of the Middle Marches,
touching the intelligence received out
of Scotland of the sending of the
Earl of Argyle towards Shan O'Neil
with a hundred soldiers of those that
were about the Scottish Queen's own
person, with commission also to levy
all his own people and the people
of the Isles to assist Shan against the-
Queen's Majesty. And because the
understanding of the truth of this
matter is of great importance, and
necessary to be boulted out with
speed, he is required that under pre-
tence of some other message he take
occasion to send with convenient
speed some discreet person to the
Scottish Court, to procure by all the
best means he may to boult out the
very certainty hereof. And in case
he shall find inde£d that the said
1566.]- THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 445
the last troubled session : spring after spring, autumn
after autumn, notice of a Parliament had gone out ; but
ever at the last moment Elizabeth had flinched, know-
ing well what lay before her. Further delay was at
last impossible : the Treasury was empty, the humour
of the people was growing dangerous. Thus at last on
the 3oth of September the Houses reassembled. The
first fortnight was spent in silent preparations ; on the
T 4th the campaign opened with a petition from the
bishops, which was brought forward in the form of a
statute in the House of Commons. It will be remem-
oered that after the Bill was passed in the last session
empowering the Anglican prelates to tender the vote of
allegiance to their predecessors in the Tower, they had
been checked in their first attempt to put the law in
execution by a denial of the sacredness of their conse-
cration, and the judges had confirmed the objection.
To obviate this difficulty and to enable the bench at last
to begin their work of retaliation, a Bill was brought in
declaring that ' inasmuch as the bishops of the Church
of England had been nominated according to the pro-
visions of the Act of Henry the Eighth,1 and had been
consecrated according to the form provided in the
Prayer-book, they should be held to have been duly and
advertisements are true, then to de-
mand audience of the Scottish Queen
and to deliver unto her the Queen's
Majesty's letter,* sent herewith, re-
quiring answer with speed ; and in
case he shall find the said enterprise
is intended only, and not executed,
then he shall procure to stay the
same by the best means he may.'
1 25 Hen. VIII. cap. 20.
Not found.
446
KEIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 45.
lawfully appointed, any statute, law, or canon to the con-
trary notwithstanding/ In this form, untrammelled
by further condition, the Act went from the Commons
to the Lords, and had it passed in its first form there
would have been an immediate renewal of the attempt
to persecute. The Lords however were better guardians
than the Commons of English liberties. Out of 8 1 peers
22 were the bishops themselves, who as the promoters
of the Bill unquestionably voted for it in its fulness ;
yet it was sent back, perhaps as an intimation that there
had been enough of spiritual tyranny, and that the
Church of England was not to disgrace itself with imi-
tating the iniquities of Rome. A proviso was added
that the Act should be retrospective only as it affected
the general functions of the episcopal office,1 but was
not to be construed as giving validity to the requisition
of the oath of allegiance in the episcopal courts; or a*s
giving the bishops power over the lives or lands of the
1 ' Provided always that no per-
son or persons shall at any time
hereafter be impeached or molested
in body, lands, livings, or goods, by
occasion or means of any certificate
by any Archbishop or Bishop here-
tofore made, or before the last day of
this present Session of Parliament
to be made by authority of any Act
passed in the first session of this
present Parliament, touching or con-
cerning the refusal of the oath de-
clared and set forth by Act of Par-
liament in the first year of the reign
of our Sovereign Lady the Queen :
and that all tenders of the said oath
made by any Archbishop or Bishop
aforesaid, or before the last day of
the present Session to be made
by authority of any Act established
in the first Session of this present
Parliament, and all refusals of the
same oath so tendered, or before the
last day of this present Session to be
tendered by any Archbishop or
Bishop by authority of any law
established in the first session of
this present Parliament, shall be
void, and of none effect or validity in
the law.' — Statutes of the Realm, 8
Elizabeth, cap. I.
I566.]
THE MURDER OF DARNLEY.
447
prisoners who had refused to swear.1 The Bill, although
thus modified, left the bench with powers which for the
future they might abuse ; and although there was an
understanding that those powers were not to be put in
force, eleven lay peers still spoke and voted absolutely
against admitting the episcopal position of men who had
been thrust into already occupied sees.2 To have thrown
the measure out altogether however would have been
equivalent to denying the Church of England a right to
exist : it passed with this limitation, and the bishops,
with a tacit intimation that they were on their good
behaviour, were recognized as legitimate.
The Consecration Bill was however but a preliminary
skirmish, preparatory to the great question which both
Houses, with opposite purposes, were determined to bring
forward. The House of Commons was the same which
had been elected at the beginning of the reign in the
strength of the Protestant reaction. The oscillation of
1 ' La peticion que se dio en el
Parlaraento por parte de los obispos
Protestantes acerca de su confirma-
. cion se paso por la Camara baja
sin contradicion. En la alta tuvo
once contradiciones, pero pasose ; no
confirmandolo ellos sino a lo que
hasta aqui se habia hecho en el
ejercicio de su officio ; con tanto que
no se entendiese la confirmacion
contra lo que hubiesen hecho ni
podrian hacer en materia de sangre
ni de bienes temporales. Lo de la
sangre se entiende por el juramento
que pcdian a Bonner el bucn Obispo
de Londres, y a otros, acerca de lo de
la religion, que es por lo que princi-
palmente dicen que pedian la confir-
macion; aunque daban a entender
que por otros fines lo de bienes tem-
porales ban sentido; pero no fue
segun entiendo este el intento ; sino
que obviar a que no les pierdan los,
que no querian hacer el juramento.'
— De Silva to the King, November
II, 1566: MS. Simancas.
2 Non-contents — Earls Northum-
berland, "Westmoreland, Worcester,
and Sussex; Lords Montague, Mor-
ley, Dudley, Darcy, Mountcagle,
Cromwell, and Mordaunt.
448 REIGN OF ELIZABETH, [CH. 45.
public feeling had left the majority of the members un-
affected ; they were still anxious to secure the reversion
of the crown to the dying Lady Catherine and her child-
ren ; and the tendencies of the country, generally in
favour of the Scotch succession, made them more desirous
than ever not to let the occasion pass through their
hands. The House of Lords was in the interest of Mary
Stuart, but some divisions had been already created by
her quarrel with Darnley. The Commons perhaps
thought that although the peers might prefer the Queen
of Scots, they would acquiesce in the wife of Lord Hert-
ford sooner than endure any more uncertainty ; the
Peers may have hoped the same in favour of their own
candidate : they may have felt assured that when the
question came once to be discussed, the superior right of
the Queen of Scots, the known opinions of the lawyers
in her favour, the scarcely concealed preference of the
great body of English gentlemen, with the political ad-
vantages which would follow on the union of the crowns,
must inevitably turn the scale for Mary Stuart, whatever
the Commons might will. Both Houses at all events
were determined to bear Elizabeth's vacillation no longer,
to believe no more in promises which were made only to
be broken, and either to decide once for all the future
fortunes of England, or lay such a pressure on the Queen
that she should be forbidden to trifle any more with her
subjects' anxiety for her marriage.
On the 17th of October Cecil brought forward in the
Lower House a statement of the expenses of the French
and Irish wars. On the 1 8th Mr Molyneux, a barrister,
1566.] TUE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 449
proposed at once, amidst universal approbation, 'to revive
the suit for the succession/ and to consider the demands
of the exchequer only in connection with the determina-
tion of an heir to the throne.1
Elizabeth's first desire was to stifle the discussion at
its commencement. Sir Ralph Sadler rose when Moly-
neux sat down, and ' after divers propositions ' ' declared
that he had heard the Queen say in the presence of the
nobility that her Highness minded to marry.* Sadler
possessed the confidence of the Protestants, and from him,
if from any one, they would have accepted a declara-
tion with which so steady an opponent of the Queen of
Scots was satisfied ; but the disappointment of the two
previous sessions had taught them the meaning of words
of this kind ; a report of something said elsewhere to
' the nobility ' would not meet the present irritation ;
' their mind was to continue their suit, and to know her
Highness' s answer.'
Elizabeth found it necessary to be more specific. The
next day, first Cecil, then Sir Francis Knowles, then Sir
Ambrose Cave, declared formally that the ( Queen by
God's special providence was moved to marry, that she
minded for the wealth of the commons to prosecute the
same, and persuaded to see the sequel of that before
further suit touching the succession.'2 Cecil and Cave
were good Protestants, Knowles was an advanced Puritan,
1 'October 18. — Motion made by
Mr Molyneux for the reviving of
the suit for the succession, and to
proceed with the subsidy, was very
VOL. vii. 29
well allowed by the House.' — Com-
mons' Journals, 8 Elizabeth.
2 Commons' Journals, 8 Elizabeth.
450
KE1GN OF ELIZABETH.
[en. 45-
yet they were no more successful than Sadler ; ' the law-
yers ' still insisted ; the House went with them in de-
clining to endure any longer a future which depended 011
the possible * movements' of the Queen's mind; and a vote
was carried to press the question to an issue and to invite
the Lords to a conference. The Lords, as eager as the
Commons, instantly acquiesced. Public business was
suspended, and committees of the two Houses sat daily
for a fortnight, preparing an address to the Crown.1
1 Cecil, who was a member of the
Commons' Committee, has left a
paper of notes touching the main
points of the situation : —
< October, 1556.
* To require both marriage and
the stablishing of the succession is
the uttermost that can be desired.
* To deny both, the uttermost
that can be denied.
'To require marriage is most
natural, most easy, most plausible to
the Queen's Majesty.
* To require certainty of succes-
sion is most plausible to all people.
' To require the succession is
hardest to be obtained, both for the
difficulty to discuss the right and
the loathsomeness of the Queen's
Majesty to consent thereto.
* The difficulty to discuss it is by
reason of —
1. ' The uncertainty of indiffer-
ency in the parties that shall discuss
it.
2. ' The uncertainty of the right
pretended.
'The loathsomeness to grant it
is by reason of natural suspicion
against a successor that nuth right
by law to succeed.
* Corollarium.
4 The mean betwixt them is to
determine effectually to marry, and
if it succeed not, then proceed to dis-
cussion of the right of succession.'
—Domestic MSS., Elizabeth, vol. xl.
Another paper, also in Cecil's
hand, contains apparently a rough
sketch for the address to the
Crown : —
' That the marriage may proceed
effectually.
' That it may be declared how
necessary it is to have the succession
stablished for sundry causes.
'Surety and quietness of the
Queen's Majesty, that no person may
attempt anything to the furtherance
of any supposed title when it shall
be manifest how the right is settled.
Whereunto may also be added sun-
dry devices to stay every person in
his duty, so as her Majesty may
reign assuredly.
'The comfort of all good sub-
jects that may remain assured, how
and whom to obey lawfully, and how
1566.]
THE MURDER OF DARNLEY.
45 11
In spite of her struggles the Queen saw the net closing
round her. Fair speeches were to serve her turn no
longer, and either she would have to endure some husband
whom she detested the very thought of, or submit to a
settlement the result of which it was easy to foresee.
Into her feelings, or into such aspect of them as she
chose to exhibit, we once more gain curious insight
through a letter of de Silva. So distinctly was Eliza-
beth's marriage the object of the present move of the
House of Commons that the Queen of Scots, in dread of
it, was contented to withdraw the pressure for a deter-
mination in her own favour, and consented to bide
her time*
GUZMAN DE SILVA TO PHILIP II.1
October 26.
' The Parliament is in full debate on the succession.
The Queen is furious about it ; she is advised that if the
question come to a vote in the Lower House the greatest
number of voices will be for the Lady Catherine. This
to avoid all errors in disobedience,
whereby civil wars may be avoided.
'And because presently it seem-
eth very uncomfortable to the Queen's
Majesty to hear of this at this time,
and that it is hoped that God will
direct her heart to think more com-
fortably hereof, it may be required
that her marriage may proceed with
all convenient speed; and that if
her Majesty cannot condescend to
enter into the disquisition and stab-
lishing of the succession in this Ses-
sion, that yet for the satisfaction of
her people she will prorogue this
Parliament until another short time,
within which it may be seen what
God will dispose of her marriage,
and then to begin her Parliament
again, and to proceed in such sort
as shall seem meetest then for the
matter of succession, which may with
more satisfaction be done to her Ma-
jesty if she shall then be married.' —
Domestic MSS. Rolls House.
1 MS. Simancas.
452 -KEIGN OF ELIZABE TIL [CH. 45.
lady and her husband Lord Hertford are Protestants ;
c*nd a large number, probably an actual majority of the
Commons, being heretics also, will declare for her in
self-defence.
' I have never ceased to urge upon the Queen the in-
convenience and danger to which she will be exposed if
a successor is declared, and on the other hand her perfect
security as soon as she has children of her own. She
understands all this fully, and she told me three days
ago that she would never consent. The Parliament, she
said, had offered her two hundred and fifty thousand
pounds as the price of her acquiescence ; but she had
refused to accept anything on conditions. She had re-
quested a subsidy for the public service in Ireland and
elsewhere, and it should be given freely and graciously
or not at all. She says she will not yield one jot to
them let them do what they will ; she means to dis-
semble with them and hear what they have to say, so
that she may know their views, and the lady which each
declares for1 — meaning the Queen of Scots and Lady
Catherine. I told her that if she would but marry, all
this worry would be at an end. She assured me she
would send this very week to the Emperor and settle
everything ; and yet I learn from Sir Thomas Heneage,
who is the person hitherto most concerned in the Arch-
duke affair, that she has grown much cooler about it.
' The members of the Lower House are almost all
Protestants, and seeing the Queen in such a rage at
' For conocer las voluntaries y saber la dama de cada uno.'
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 4^3
them, I took occasion to point out to her the true
character of this new religion, which will endure no rule
and will have everything at its own pleasure without
regard to the sovereign authority; it was time for her
to see to these things, and I bade her observe the
contrast between these turbulent heretics and the quiet
and obedience of her Catholic subjects. She said she
could not tell what those devils were after.1 They
want liberty, madam, I replied, and if princes do not
look to themselves and work in concert to put them down,
they will find before long what all this is coming to.2
1 She could not but agree with me : she attempted
a defence of her own subjects, as if there was some
justice in their complaints of the uncertainty of the suc-
cession; but she knows at heart what it really means,
and by and by when she finds them obstinate she will
understand it better. I told her before that I knew they
would press her, and she would not believe me.
' Melville, the agent of the Queen of Scots, was with
me yesterday. That Queen's disagreement with her
husband is doing her much mischief here ; yet she has so
much credit with the good all over the- realm that the
1 ' Respondiome que no sabia que
querian estos demonios.'
2 Elizabeth had before affected to
be alarmed at the revolutionary ten-
dencies of Protestantism. On the
1 5th of the preceding July, de Silva
wrote —
4 The Queen must be growing
anxious. She often says to me that
jects now-a-days to anarchy and re-
volution. I invariably reply that
this is the beginning, middle, and
end of the inventors of new religions.
They have an eye only to their own
interests ; they care neither for God
nor law, as they show by their works;
and princes ought to take order
among themselves and unite to chas-
she wonders at the tendency of sub- j tise their excesses.'— MS. Simancas*
454 REIGX OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 45.
blame is chiefly laid on the Lord Darnley. I have told
Melville to urge upon them the necessity of reconcilia-
tion ; and I have written to the Commendador Mayor of
Castile at Rome to speak to the Pope about it, and to
desire his Holiness to send them his advice to the same
effect. Melville tells me the lords there are working
together wonderfully well. He has given this Queen to
understand that since she is reluctant to have the suc-
cession discussed, his mistress is so anxious to please her
that she will not press for it ; she will only ask that if
the question is forced forward after all, she may have
notice in time that she may send some one to plead in
her behalf.
* This Queen is full of gratitude for her forbearance ;
she has told her that her present resolution is to keep
the matter quiet ; should her endeavours be unsuccessful
however, the Queen of Scots shall have all the informa-
tion and all the help which she herself can give.
' Melville learns from a private source that this Queen
will fail in her object. The question will be forced in
the Queen of Scots' interest, and with the best inten-
tions. Her friends are very numerous ; we shall soon
see how things go.'
Melville's information was right. Having failed in
full Parliament, Elizabeth tried next to work on the com-
mittee. The Marquis of "Winchester was put forward to
prevent the intended address. He brought to bear the
weight of an experience which was older than the field
of Bosworth ; but he was listened to with impatience ;
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 455
not a single voice either from Peers or Commons was
found to second him. Unable to do anything through
others, the Queen sent for the principal noblemen con-
cerned to remonstrate with them herself in private.
The Duke of Norfolk was the first called, and rumour
said, though she herself afterwards denied the words,
that she called him traitor and conspirator. Leicester,
Pembroke, Northampton, and Lord William Howard
came next. Norfolk had complained of his treatment to
Pembroke : Pembroke told her that the Duke was a
good friend both to the realm and to herself; if she would
not listen to advice and do what the service of the com-
monwealth required, they must do it themselves.
She was too angry to argue ; she told Pembroke he
spoke like a foolish soldier, and knew not what he was
saying. Then seeing Leicester at his side, ' You, my
lord/ she said, 'you! If all the world forsook me I
thought that you would be true ! '
1 Madam/ Leicester said, ' I am ready to die at your
feet ! '
' What has that to do with it ? ' she answered.
' And you, my Lord Northampton/ she went on —
turning from one to the other ; ' you who when you had
a wife of your own already could quote Scripture texts
to help you to another ; 1 you forsooth must meddle with
marriages for me ! You might employ yourself better I
think.'
She could make nothing of them nor they of her.
1 Northampton's divorce and second marriage had been one of the great
scandals of the days of Edward.
456 REIGN OF ELIZABEHT. [CH. 4s
Botli Queen and lords carried their complaints to de
Silva ; the lords urging him to use his influence to force
her into taking the Archduke; Elizabeth complaining of
their insolence and especially of the ingratitude of
Leicester. Her very honour, she said, had suffered for
the favour which she had shown to Leicester ; and now
she would send him to his house in the country, and the
Archduke should have nothing to be jealous of.1
The committee- went on with the work.
' On the 2nd of November the form of the ad-
dress was still undetermined ; they were undecided
whether to insist most on the marriage, or on the nom-
ination, or on both. In some shape or other however a
petition of a serious kind would unquestionably be pre-
sented, and Elizabeth prepared to receive it with as
much self-restraint as she could command. Three days
later she understood that the deliberations were con-
cluded. To have the interview over as soon as possible
Elizabeth sent for the committee at once ; and on the
afternoon of the 5th of November, ' by her Highnesses
special commandment/ twenty-five lay Peers, the
Bishops of Durham and London, and thirty members
of the Lower House presented themselves at the palace
at Westminster.
The address was read by Bacon.
After grateful acknowledgments of the general go
vernment of the Queen the two Houses desired, first, to
express their wish that her Highness would be pleased
1 De Silva to Philip, November 4 : MS. Simancas.
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 457
to marry ' where it should please her, with whom it should
please her, and as soon as it should please her/
Further, as it was possible that her Highness might
die without children, her faithful subjects were anxious
to know more particularly the future prospects of the
realm. Much as they wished to see her married, the
settlement of the succession was even more important,
' carrying with it such necessity that without it they
could not see how the safety of her royal person or the
preservation of her Imperial crown and realm could be or
should be sufficiently and certainly provided for/ ' Her
late illness (the Queen had been unwell again), the
amazedness that most men of understanding were by
fruit of that sickness brought unto/ and the opportunity
of making a definite arrangement while Parliament was
sitting, were the motives which induced them to be more
urgent than they would otherwise hav,e cared to be.
History and precedent alike recommended a speedy de-
cision. They hoped that she might live to have a child
of her own ; but she was mortal, and should she die be-
fore her subjects knew to whom their allegiance was
due, a civil war stared them in the face. The decease ot
a prince leaving the realm without a government was
the most frightful disaster which could befall the com-
monwealth ; with the vacancy of the throne all writs
were suspended, all commissions were void, law itself was
dead. Her Majesty was not ignorant of these things.
If she refused to provide a remedy ' it would be a danger-
ous burden before God upon her Majesty ! ' They had
therefore felt it to be their duty to present this address ;
458 REIGN Ofi 'ELIZABETH. LCH. 45.
and on their knees they implored her to consider it and
to give them an answer before the session closed.1
Elizabeth had prepared her answer ; as soon as Bacon
ceased, she drew herself up and spoke as follows : —
* If the order of your cause had matched the weight
of your matter, the one might well have craved reward,
and the other much the sooner be satisfied. But when
I call to mind how far from dutiful care, yea rather how
nigh a traitorous trick, this tumbling cast did spring, I
muse how men of wit can so hardly use that gift they
hold. I marvel not much that bridleless colts do not
know their rider's hand, whom bit of kingly rein did
never snaffle yet. Whether it was fit that so great a
cause as this should have had this beginning in such a
public place as that, let it be well weighed. Must all
evil bodings that might be recited be found little enough
to hap to my share ? Was it well meant, think you,
that those that knew not how fit this matter was to be
granted by the Prince, would prejudicate their Prince in
aggravating the matter ? so all their arguments tended
to my careless care of this my dear realm/
So far she spoke from a form which remains in her
own handwriting.2 She continued perhaps in the same
style ; but her words remain only in the Spanish of de
Silva.
1 She was not surprised at the Commons/ she said ;
* they had small experience and had acted like boys ;
1 D'EwES* Journals, 8 Elizabeth. MSS., Elizabeth, vol. xli. Roll*
* Answer to the Parliament by House
by
the Queen ; Autograph : Domestic
I566.]
THE MURDER OF DARNLEY.
459
but that the Lords should haA^e gone along with them she
confessed had filled her with wonder. There were some
among them who had placed their swords at her disposal
when her sister was on the throne, and had invited her
to seize the crown ; l she knew but too well that if she
allowed a successor to be named, there would be found
men who would approach him or her with the same en-
couragement to disturb the peace of the realm. If she
pleased she could name the persons to whom she alluded.
When time and circumstances would allow she would
see to the matter of their petition before they asked her ;
she would be sorry to be forced into doing anything
which in reason and justice she was bound to do ; and
she concluded with a request that her words should not
oe misinterpreted/
So long as she was speaking to the lay Peers she
controlled her temper ; but her passion required a safety-
valve, and she rarely lost an opportunity of affronting
and insulting her bishops.
Turning sharp round where Grindal and Pilkington
were standing —
' And you doctors/ she said — it was her pleasure to
ignore their right to a higher title ;2 ' you, I understand,
1 ' Entre los cuales habia habido
algunos que reynando su hermana le
ofrecian a ella ayuda y la querian
mover a que quisicse procurar en su
vida la corona.' — De Silva al Rey,
II November, 1566: MS. Siman-
cas.. It is tolerably certain that the
Queen used these words. De Silva
heard them first from the Queen her-
self, and afterwards from the Lords
who were present.
2 'Volviendose a los obispos
que se hallaron presentes a la pla-
tica, dij6, Vosotros doctores, no le*
llamando obispos, que haceis muchas
oraciones/ &c.
4ta REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 45.
make long prayers about this business. One of you
dared to say, in times past, that I and my sister were
bastards ; and you must needs be interfering in what
does not concern you. Go home and amend your own
lives, and set an honest example in your families. The
Lords in Parliament should have taught you to know
your places ; but if they have forgotten their duty I
will not forget mine. Bid I so choose I might make the
impertinence of the whole set of you an excuse to with-
draw my promise to marry ; but for the realm's sake, T
am resolved that I will marry ; and I will take a husband
that will not be to the taste of some of you. I have not
married hitherto out of consideration for you, but it
shall be done now, and you who have been so urgent
with me will find the effects of it to your cost. Think
you the prince who will be my consort will feel himself
safe with such as you, who thus dare to thwart and cross
your natural Queen ? '
She turned on her heel and sailed out of the hall of
audience, vouchsafing no other word. At once she sent for
de Silva, and after profuse thanks to himself and Philip
for their long and steady kindness, swelling with anger
as she was, she gave him to understand that her course
was chosen at last and for ever ; she would accept the
Archduke and would be all which Spain could desire.
Many of the peers came to her in the evening to
make their excuses : they said that they had been mis-
led by the council, who had been the most in favour of
the address ; and they had believed themselves to be
acting as she had herself desired. The Upper House
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 461
she might have succeeded in controlling ; but the
Commons were in a more dangerous humour. They
were prepared for a storm when they commenced the
debate ; and they were not disposed to be lectured into
submission. The next day Cecil rose in his place : the
Queen, he said, had desired him to tell them that she
was displeased, first, that the succession question should
have been raised in that House without her consent
having been first asked ; and secondly, because ' by
the publication abroad of the necessity of the matter/
and the danger to the realm if it was left longer un-
decided, the responsibility of the refusal was thrown
entirely upon her Majesty. The ' error/ she was ready
to believe, had risen chiefly from want of thought, and
she was ready to overlook it. For the matter itself her
Highness thought that by her promises to marry she
had rather deserved thanks than to be troubled with
any new petition. ' The word of a prince spoken in a
public place' should have been taken as seriously
meant; and if her Majesty had before told them that
she was unwilling, they should have been more ready
to believe her when she said that she had made up her
mind. Time and opportunity would prove her Majesty's
sincerity, and it was unkind to suppose that she would
fail in producing children. Loyal subjects should
hope the best. Her Majesty had confidence in God's
goodness ; and except for the assurance that she would
have an heir, she would not marry at all. On this
point she required the Houses to accept her word. For
the succession she was not surprised at their uneasiness ;
462 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.45.
she was as conscious as they could be of the desirable-
ness of a settlement. At the present moment how-
ever, and in the existing state of parties in the realm,
the thing was impossible, and she would hear no more
of it.1
The Queen expected that after so positive a declar-
ation she would escape further annoyance; but times
were changing, and the relations with them between
sovereigns and subjects. The House listened in silence,
not caring to conceal its dissatisfaction. The Friday
following, being the 8th of November, l Mr Lambert
began a learned oration for iteration of the suit to the
Queen on the succession.' 2
Whether they were terrified by the spectre of a
second York and Lancaster war, or whether they were
bent on making an effort for Lady Hertford before they
were dissolved and another House was elected in the
Scottish interest, or whether they disbelieved Elizabeth's
promises to marry, notwithstanding the vehemence of
her asseverations, the Commons seemed resolute at all
hazards to persevere. Other speeches followed on the
same side, expressing all of them the same fixed deter-
mination ; and matters were now growing serious. The
Spanish ambassador never lost a chance of irritating
the Queen against the Protestant party ; and on Satur-
day, stimulated by de Silva's invectives, and convinced,
perhaps with justice, that she was herself essentially
right, Elizabeth sent down an order that the subject
1 Report made to the Commons' I MSS. Rolls Home.
House by Mr Secretary : Domestic I 2 Cbmwons' Journal*.
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 463
should be approached no further on pain of her dis-
pleasure. The same night a note was flung into the
presence-chamber saying that the debate on the suc-
cession had been undertaken because the commonwealth
required it, and that if the Queen interfered it might
be the worse for her.1
In the most critical period of the reign of Henry
the Eighth, speech in Parliament had been ostenta-
tiously free ; the Act of Appeals had been under dis-
cussion for two years and more, Catholic and Protestant
had spoken their minds without restraint ; yet among
the many strained applications of the treason law no
peer or commoner had been called to answer for words
spoken by him in his place in the legislature. The
Queen's injunction of silence had poured oil into the
fire, and raised a. fresh and more dangerous question of
privilege. As soon as the House met again on Monday
morning Mr Paul Wentworth rose to know whether
such an order ' was not against the liberties ' of Par-
liament.2 He and other members inquired whether a
message sent by a public officer was authority sufficient
to bind the House, or if neither the message itself nor
the manner in which it was delivered was a breach of
privilege, * what offence it was for any of the House to
declare his opinion to be otherwise/ 3 The debate lasted
1 ' A noche echaron en la camera
de presencia un escrito que contenia
en sustancia que se habia tratado en
el Parlamento de la sucesion porque
convenia al bien del Reyno, y que si
la Reyna no consentia que se tratase
dello que veria alguuas cosas que no
le placerian.' — De Silva to Philip,
November 1 1 : MS. Simancas.
2 Commons' Journals, 8 Elizabeth.
8 Note of Proceedings in Parlia.
ment, November 1 1 : Domestic MSS ,
Elizabeth, vol. xli.
464
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH.
five hours, and (a rare if not unprecedented occurrence)
was adjourned.
Elizabeth, more angry than ever, sent for the Speaker ;
she insisted ' that there should be no further argument ; '
if any member of either House was dissatisfied he
must give his opinion before the council.
The Commons having gone so far had no intention
of yielding ; and de Silva watched the crisis with a
malicious hope of a collision between the two Houses
and of both with the Queen. The Lower House, he said,
was determined to name a successor, and was all but
unanimous for Lady Catherine ; the Peers were as decided
for the Queen of Scots.1 A dissolution would leave the
Treasury without a subsidy, and could not be thought
of cave at the last extremity. On% the return of the
Speaker the Commons named a committee to draw up
an answer, which, though in form studiously courteous,
was in substance as deliberately firm.2 The finishing
touch was given to it by Cecil, and the sentences added
in his hand were those which insisted most on the
liberty of Parliament, and most justified the attitude
which the Commons had assumed.
After thanking the Queen for her promise to marry,
and assuring her that whatever she might think to the
1 'Ellos pretenden libertad de
proceder a lo del nombramiento de
la sucesion en la qual en la camara
superior tendra mucha parte la de
Escocia ; se tiene por cicrto y assi lo
creo que Caterina tendra casi todos
los de la Camara baja, y assi parece
que inclina todo a emocion.' — De
Silva to Philip, November 13: MS.
Simancas.
2 Draft of an Address to the
Queen, submitted to the Committee
of the Commons' House : Domestic
MSS.t Elizabeth, vol. xli.
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 465
contrary they meant nothing but what became them as
loyal subjects, they said that they submitted reluctantly
to her resolution to postpone the settlement of the suc-
cession, being most sorry that any manner of impediment
had appeared to her Majesty so great as to stay her from
proceeding in the same.'1 They had however received a
message implying ' that they had deserved to be de-
prived, or at least sequestrated, much to their discomfort
and infamy,2 from their ancient and laudable custom,
always from the beginning necessarily annexed to their
assembly, and by her Majesty always 3 confirmed — that
is, a lawful sufferance and dutiful liberty to treat and
devise matters honourable to her Majesty and profitable
to the realm.' Before this message reached them ' they
had made no determination to deal in any way to her
discontentation ; they therefore besought her of her
motherly love that they might continue in their course
of duty, honouring and serving her like children, with-
out any unnecessary, unaccustomed* or undeserved yoke
of commandment ; so5 should her Majesty continue the
singular favour of her honour, wherein she did excel all
monarchs, for ruling her subjects without misliking ;
and they also would enjoy the like praise above all other
people for obeying without constraint — than the which
1 The words in Italics were added
by Cecil.
2 Added in Cecil's hand.
3 The word first written was
graciously.' Cecil scratched through
graciously,' as if it implied that the
liberties of the House of Commons
depended on the pleasure of the So-
vereign, and substituted ' always.'
4 Cecil's hand.
5 The conclusion is entirely
Cecil's.
VOL. VII. 30
466 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 45.
no prince could desire more earthly honour, nor no
people more earthly praise/
No one knew better than Elizabeth how to withdraw
from an indefensible position, and words so full of firm-
ness and dignity might perhaps have produced an effect;
but before the address could be presented a fresh apple
of discord was thrown into the arena.
A book had appeared in Paris, written by a refugee
Scot named Patrick Adamson. The subject of it was
the birth of James ; and the Queen of Scots' child was
described as the heir of the English throne. Copies
had been scattered about London, and Elizabeth had
already directed Mary Stuart's attention to the thing
' as a matter strange and not to be justified.'1
On the 2 ist of November, on occasion of a measure
laid before the House against the introduction of sedi-
tious books, from abroad, a Mr Daltori brought forward
this production of Adamson in the fiercest Protestant
spirit.
How say you,' he exclaimed, ' to a libel set forth in
print calling the Infant of Scotland Prince of England,
Scotland, and Ireland ? Prince of England, Scotland,
and Ireland ! What enemy to the peace and quietness
of the realm of England — what traitor to the crown of
this realm hath devised, set forth, and published this
dishonour against the Queen's most excellent Majesty
and the crown of England ? Prince of England, and
Queen Elizabeth as yet having no child ! — Prince oi'
Elizabeth to Bedford, November 13: Scotch MSS. Soils House.
i$66.] Ttffi MURDER OF DARNLEY. 467
England, and the Scottish Queen's child ! — Prince of
Scotland and England, and Scotland before England !
who ever heard or read that before this time ? What
true English heart may sustain to hear of this villany
and reproach against the Queen's Highness and this hei
realm ? It is so that it hath pleased her Highness at
this time to bar our speech ; but if our mouths shall be
stopped, and in the mean time such despite shall happen
and pass without revenge, it will make the heart of a
true Englishman break within his breast/
With the indignity of the matter being,' as he
afterwards said, ' set on fire/ Dalton went on to touch
on dangerous matters, and entered on the forbidden
subject of the Scottish title. The Speaker gently
checked him, but not before he had uttered words which
called out the whole sympathy of the Commons, and
gave them an opportunity of showing how few friends
in that House Mary Stuart as yet could count upon.1
The story was carried to the Queen : she chose to
believe that the House of Commons intended to defy
her ; she ordered Dalton into arrest and had him ex-
amined before the Star Chamber ; she construed her own
orders into a law, and seemed determined to govern the
House of Commons as if it was a debating society of
riotous boys.
The Commons behaved with great forbearance:
they replied to the seizure of the offending member by
requesting ' to have leave to confer upon the liberties
1 Mr Dalton's Speech, according to the Report : Domestic MSS., Eliza
6etht vol. xli.
468 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 45.
of the House. The original question of the succession
was lost in the larger one of privilege, and the address
which they had previously drawn seemed no longer
distinct enough for the occasion. The council im-
plored Elizabeth to consider what she was doing. As
soon as her anger cooled she felt herself that she had
gone too far, and not caring to face a conference, ' fore-
seeing that thereof must needs have ensued more in-
convenience than were meet/ she drew back with
temper not too ruffled to save her dignity in giving
way. Her intention had been to extort or demand the
sanction of the House for the prosecution of Dalton.
Discovering in time that if they refused she had no
means of compelling them, she would not risk an open
rupture. The prisoner was released * without further
question or trial/ and on the 25 th she sent orders to
the Speaker ' to relieve the House of the burden of her
commandment/ She had been assured, she said, that
they had no intention of molesting her, and that they
had been ' much perplexed ' by the receipt of her
order ; ' she did not mean to prejudice any part of the
laudable liberties heretofore granted to them ; ' she
would therefore content herself with their obedient be-
haviour, and she trusted only that if any person should
begin again to discuss any particular title, the Speaker
would compel him. to be silent.1
The Commons were prudent enough to make the
1 Note of the words of the Queen to the Speaker of the House of Com-
mons : Domestic M8S., Elizabeth, vol. xli. Leicester to Cecil, November
27 : MS. Ibid.
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 469
Queen's retreat an easy one. Having succeeded in re-
sisting a dangerous encroachment of the crown they
did not press their victory. The message sent through
the Speaker was received by the House ' most joyfully,
with most hearty prayers and thanks for the same/ x
and with the consent of all parties the question of Par-
liamentary privilege was allowed to drop.
Yet while ready to waive their right of discussing
further the particular pretensions of the claimants of
the crown, the Commons would not let the Queen
believe that they acquiesced in being left in uncertainty.
Two months had passed since the beginning of the
session, and the subsidy had not been so much as
discussed. The succession quarrel had commenced
with the first motion for a grant of money, and had
lasted with scarcely an interval ever since.
It was evident that although Elizabeth's objection to
name a successor was rested on general grounds, it ap-
plied as strongly to Lady Catherine as to the Queen of
Scots,1 and had arisen professedly from the Queen's own
experience in the lifetime of her sister ; yet the Com-
mons either suspected that she was secretly working in
the Scottish interest, or they thought at all events that
her procrastination served only to strengthen that
interest, and that Mary Stuart's friends every day grew
more numerous.
The Money Bill was reintroduced on the 27th. The
House was anxious to compensate by its liberality for
1 Commons' Journals, 8 Elizabeth.
470 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 45.
the trouble which it had given on other subjects, and
the Queen was privately informed that the grant we uld
be made unusually large. Elizabeth, determined not to
be outdone, replied that although for the public service
she might require all which they were ready to offer,
' she counted her subjects, in respect of their hearty good
will, her best treasurers ; ' and ' she therefore would
move them to forbear at that time extending their gift
as they proposed/ The manner as well as the matter
of the message was pointedly gracious, yet the Com-
mons would have preferred her taking the money and
listening to their opinions ; and the bribe was as un-
successful as the menace, in keeping them silent. They
voted freely the sum which she would consent to take.
It amounted in a rough estimate to an income tax of
seven per cent, for two years ; but an attempt was
made to attach a preamble to the Bill which would
commit the Queen in accepting it to what she was
straining every nerve to avoid. Referring to the
promise which she had made to the Committee, 'the
Commons humbly and earnestly besought her with the
assistance of God's grace, having resolved to marry, to
accelerate without more loss of time all her honourable
actions tending thereto ; } while ' submitting themselves
to the will of Almighty God, in whose hands all power
and counsel did consist, they would at the same time
beseech Him to give her Majesty wisdom well to fore-
see, opportunity speedily to consult, and power with
assent of the realm sufficiently to fulfil without un-
necessary delay, all that should be needful to her sub-
/S66.]
THE MURDER OF DARNLEY.
471
jects and their posterity in the stablishing the succes-
sion of the crown, first in her own person and progeny,
and next in such persons as law and justice should
peaceably direct — according to the answer of Moses :
* The Lord God of the spirit of all flesh set one over,
this great multitude which may go out and in before
them, and lead them out and in, that the Lord's people
may not be as sheep without a shepherd/ ' 1
The meaning: of language such as this
. oo ^ December.
could not be mistaken. All the political ad-
vantages of the Scottish succession would not com-
pensate to 'the Lord's people' for such a shepherd
as the person into whose hands they seemed to be
visibly drifting. It was a grave misfortune for the
Protestants that they could produce no better can-
didate than Lady Catherine Grey, who had professed
herself a Catholic when Catholicism seemed likely to
serve her turn ; and to whom, notwithstanding her
legal claim through the provisions of the will of Henry
the Eighth, there were so many and so serious ob-
jections. The friends of the Queen of Scots had set in
circulation a list of difficulties in the way of her ac-
knowledgment, the weight of which fanaticism itself
could not refuse to admit.2
1 Preamble for the Subsidy Bill :
Domestic MSS., vol. xli. Rolls
House.
2 ' Whatever be said, it is no-
torious that when Sir Charles Bran-
don married the French Queen he
had a wife already living.
' The Lady Katherine is therefore
illegitimate.
'Even if this were not so, yet
such hath been her life and beha-
viour, and so much hath she stained
herself and her issue, as she is to be
thought unworthy of the crown.
472
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 45.
It is uncertain whether the preamble was ever
forced on Elizabeth's attention. The draft of it alone
For she was married, as you know,
to the Lord Herbert ; the marriage
was performed and perfected by all
necessary circumstances ; there was
consent of parties, consent of parents,
open solemnizing, continuance till
lawful years of consent, and in the
mean time, carnal copulation ; all
which, save the last, are commonly
known, and the last, which might be
most doubtful, is known by confes-
sion of them both. She herself
hath earnestly acknowledged the
same.
* A divorce was procured by the
Earl of Pembroke in Queen Mary's
reign, against their wills, so that it
cannot be legal.
' Afterwards, she by dalliance fell
so carnal company with the Earl of
Hertford, which was not descried till
the bigness of her belly bewrayed her
ill hap. The marriage between them
was declared unlawful by the Bishop
who examined it.
'The mother wicked and lasci-
~ious ; the issue bastarded.
' If she were next in the blood
royal, her fault is so much the more
to have so foully spotted the same.
She can have no lawful children.
Deut. xiii. 23 : — It is written, ' a
bastard and unlawful -born person
may not bear rule in the church and
commonweal : ' a law devised to
punish the parents for their sins, so
that such a mother ought in no case
to be allowed to succeed.
' Next as to King Henry' swill :—
4 He had no power to bequeath
the crown, except so far as Parlia-
ment gave him leave ; and Parlia-
ment could only give him leave so
far as the power of Parliament ex-
tended. The words of the statute
give him no absolute or unlimited
power to appoint an unfit person to
the crown, not capable of the same
— as unto a Turk, an infidel, an in-
famous or opprobrious person, a fool
or a madman.
1 But again, he had power to
order the succession, either by Let-
ters Patent, or by his will, signed
with his own hand.
' He has not done it by Letters
Patent ; of that there is no doubt.
' His will, there are witnesses
[ sufficient, and some of them that
subscribed the same testament can
truly and plainly testify, that he did
not subscribe.
* The stamp might be appended
when the King was void of memory,
or else when he was deceased, as
indeed it happened, as more mani-
festly appeared by open declaration
made in Parliament by the late Lord
Paget and others, that the King did
not sign it with his own hand, and
as it is plain and probable enough
by the pardon obtained for one Wil-
liam Clerke for putting the stamp tc
the said will after the King was de-
parted.
' As to the enrolment in Chancery,
:566.]
THE MURDER OF DARNLE Y.
473
remains to show what the Commons intended ; and
either they despaired of prevailing on the Queen to
accept the grant while such a prelude was linked to it,
and were unwilling to embarrass the public service ;
or they preferred another expedient to which they
trusted less objection might be raised : the preamble
at all events was abandoned ; they substituted for it
a general expression of gratitude for the promise to
marry, and sent the Bill to the Lords on the iyth of
December.
Meanwhile on the 5th a measure was introduced
which, if less effective in the long run for the protection
of the Reformation than the declaration of a Protestant
successor, would have ended at once the ambiguity of
the religious position of Elizabeth. The Thirty-nine
Articles, strained and cracked by three centuries of eva-
sive ingenuity, scarcely embarrass now the feeblest of
consciences. The clergyman of the nineteenth century
subscribes them with such a smile as might have been
worn by Samson when his Philistine mistress bound his
arms with the cords and withes. In the first years of
Elizabeth they were the symbols by which the orthodox
Protestant was distinguished from the concealed Catholic.
The liturgy with purposed ambiguity could be used by
and the evidence on the Rolls that
the will was accepted and acted on,
this is nothing. It was his will
whether signed or not, and so far as
legacies, etc., were concerned, such
as he had power to make by the
common law, so far it might be
acted on. But in so far as the suc-
cession was concerned, it was invalid,
because the form prescribed by the
empowering statute, 35 Hen. VIII.,
had not been observed.' — Answer to
Mr Hales' Book of the Succession,
December, 1566: Domestic MS.,
Elizabeth, vol. xli.
474 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 45.
those who were Papists save in the name ; the Articles
affirmed the falsehood of doctrines declared by the
Church to be divine, and the Catholic who signed them
either passed over to the new opinions or imperilled his
soul with perjury. In their anxiety for conciliation, and
for the semblance of unanimity, Elizabeth's Government
had as yet held these formulas at arm's length : the
Convocation of 1562 had reimposed them so far as their
powers extended ; but the decrees of Convocation were
but shadows until vitalized by the legislature ; and both
Queen and Parliament had refused to give the authority
of law to a code of doctrines which might convulse the
kingdom.
On the failure of the suit for the succession, a Bill was
brought into the Lower House to make subscription to
the Articles a condition for the tenure of benefices in the
Church of England. The move was so sudden and the
Commons were so swift that there was no time for re-
sistance. It was hurried through its three readings
and given to the bishops to carry through the Lords..
A letter from de Silva to Philip shows the import-
ance which both Catholic and Protestant attached
to it :—
DE SILVA TO PHILIP II.
December, 1566.
' Religion is again under discussion here ; these
heretic bishops are urging forward their malicious pre-
tences ; they say that it is desirable for the realm to
profess an uniform belief, and they desire to have their
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 475
doctrine enforced by temporal penalties as soon as it has
been sanctioned by Parliament.
' The Catholics are in great alarm and entreat the
Queen to withhold her sanction. I spent some time with
her yesterday, and to bring on the subject I said that
the Subsidy Bill having been passed it would be well if
she let the Parliament end. The longer it lasted the
more annoyance it would cause to her ; and she might
assure herself that these popular assemblies could not
fail to produce disquiet, more particularly where the
Commons had liberty of speech and were so much in-
clined to novelties.
' She agreed with me in this. She said the Commons
had now entered upon a subject which was wholly alien
to their duties ; they were acting in contradiction to
their late professions, and she would endeavour to send
them about their business before Christmas.
' I pointed out to her the mischievous intention of the
men who had brought these religious questions forward.
They had no care for her or for the commonwealth, and
they simply meant sedition. She was at peace so far
and had lived and reigned in safety all these years on
the principles on which Cecil had carried on the govern-
ment. If there was now to be a change, the insolence
of the upholders of novelties would disturb everything.
Hitherto the Pope and the Catholic powers had ab-
stained from declaring against her, in the belief that
her subjects were equitably and wisely governed, and
that she would allow no one to be injured or offended.
Should they now see her preparing to change her course
476 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. JCH. 45
they would perhaps reconsider the situation and troubles
might ensue, of which I, as the minister of your Majesty
who so ardently desired her well-being, could not but
give her honest warning.
' She went into the subject at some length. She said
that those who were engaged upon it had given her to
understand that it was for her own good, and had pro-
mised every one of them to stand by her and defend her
against all her enemies.
' I told her she could not but see that these new re-
ligionists were only frightening her — in order that they
might bring her to declare more decisively for them and
against the Catholics. They pretended that if she se-
parated herself from them — if she did not yield in all
points to what they wished — she would be in danger on
account of the sentence which had been given at Rome
in favour of Queen Catherine. I could assure her that
she had but to express a desire to that effect and the
Pope would immediately remove the difficulty ; I knew,
in fact, that he was extremely anxious to remove it.
Being her father's daughter, born in his house, having
been named by him with consent of Parliament to suc-
ceed after her sister, and being Queen in possession, she
had nothing really to fear — she would find powerful
friends everywhere.
' It was true, she admitted, that the Pope had of-
fered to reverse the sentence, but he had made it a con-
dition that she should submit to him absolutely and
unreservedly.
' If his Holiness had done this, I said, he was not
I566.J THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 477
actuated by any covetous ambition, but by the sincerest
interest in herself and the realm. In the present Pope
she might feel the fullest confidence ; and at all events
there was no more reason for making innovations now
than there had been at the beginning of her reign. She
Would do better to wait till time should enable her to
see her way.
' She said that she thought as I did : she believed
however that her people were afraid if she married
the Archduke that the old religion would be brought in
again ; they were pressing forward these changes as a
precaution.
' A little while ago, I said, her council were most
afraid that she would not marry at all.
' True, she answered ; that was their fear or their
pretended fear— and their present conduct showed how
dishonest they had been. Marry however she would,
if it was only to vex them. She would have been glad,
she said, had there been any one in Parliament who
could have checked the Bill in its progress; if it passed
the Lords she feared she would be unable to resist the
pressure which would be brought to bear upon her/
Either Elizabeth feared another quarrel and dis-
trusted her own strength, or she wished to deceive de
Silva into believing her opposition to the Bill to be more
sincere than it really was. The remonstrances of the
Catholics however and her own better judgment prevailed
at last. She collected her courage and sent a message
to the Peers desiring that the Bill of Religion should go
no further. The bishops were the persons in the Tipper
REIGN Off ELIZABETH.
. 4$.
House, for whom alone the question had much interest ;
and Elizabeth understood how to manage them. The
Commons had resisted one. order — the bishops thought
they could resist another. Their first impulse was to
entreat the Queen to reconsider her command — to let
the debate go forward, and 'if the Bill was found good
by the Lords that she would be pleased for the glory of
God to give her gracious assent to the same/ l A peti-
tion to this effect was presented carrying the signatures
of the two archbishops and thirteen bishops. The
Queen sent immediately for Parker and three or four
more, and inquired which of them had been the original
promoters of the Bill. Though it first appeared in the
Lower House, she said, it must have been set in motion
by some one on the Bench; and though she had no ob-
jection to the doctrine of the Articles — ' for it was that
which she did openly profess ' — she objected seriously
to sudden irregular action ' without her knowledge and
consent* on a question of such magnitude.
Had Elizabeth scolded in the tone usual with her
towards the Church authorities she might have found
them obstinate ; but she spoke reasonably and they were
frightened. The archbishops, though their names headed
the signatures to the petition, disclaimed eagerly the
responsibility of the initiation. She bade them find
ou-t by whom it had been done. The Archbishop of
Canterbury reported to Cecil ' that most of his brethren
answered, as he had done, that they knew nothing of
1 Petition of the Bishops to the Queen, December, 1566: Domestic
MSS., Elizabeth, vol. xli.
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARtfLEY. 4%
it.' Having extracted a disavowal from the majority of
the Bench, Elizabeth was able .to shield her objections
behind their indifference; she had checkmated them
and the obnoxious measure disappeared.
Thus gradually the storms of the session were blow-
ing over. The Queen seemed at last to have really re-
solved on marriage, and her determination gave her
courage to encounter her other difficulties with an
increase of firmness. She promised the advocates
of the Scotch title that the will of Henry the Eighth
should be examined immediately on the close of
the session, and that a fair legal opinion should be
taken on the Queen of Scots5 claims ; * and she gave
Mary Stuart a significant evidence of her good will in
closing promptly and peremptorily a discussion which
had commenced at Lincoln's Inn, in the interests of the
rival candidate. The lawyers, disappointed of their
debate in the House of Commons, began it again in the
Inns of Court — where there was no privilege to pro-
tect incautious speakers. Mr Thornton, an eloquent
advocate of Lady Catherine, was sent to the Tower ;
and even Cecil earned the thanks of the Queen of Scots
by the energy with which he seconded his mistress
in silencing opposition.2
1 Do Silva to Philip, December
1 6 : MS. Simancas.
2 On the 5th of January, Murray
thanked Cecil in his own and the
Queen's name for ' his cordial deal-
ing.' 'Her Majesty,' wrote Mait-
land to him, ' is very well satisfied
with your behaviour. I praj you so
continue, not doubting but you shall
find her a thankful princess.' ' Mel-
ville,' he added, 'reports nothing
but good of you, touching the repair-
ing the injury done against my
mistress at Lincoln's Inn.' — Scotch
MSS. Rolls House.
Cecil's conduct in the succession
4So
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 45-
Elizabeth herself wrote to the Queen of Scots, no
longer insisting on the treaty of Leith — no longer sti-
struggle is not easy to make out.
Neither memorandum nor letter of
his own remain to show his real feel-
ings ; but though he might naturally
have been looked for among the
supporters of Lady Catherine Grey,
he seems to have given thorough
satisfaction to the friends of the
Queen of Scots. He must have
written to Maitland immediately
after Elizabeth's first answer to the
address of the Houses, regretting
her resolution to leave the question
unsettled; and he must have led
Maitland to suppose that he had
wished Mary Stuart to have been
the person nominated ; for Maitland,
answering his letter on the nth of
November, gave him ' hearty thanks
for the pains which he had taken
in the busy matter which he had
in hand,' and then went on more
pointedly —
* I look not in my time to see the
matter in any perfection, for I think
it is not the pleasure of God to have
the subjects of this isle thoroughly
settled in their judgment ; for which
cause he doth keep things most ne-
cessary undetermined, so as they
shall always have somewhat where-
with to be exercised. The experi-
ence I have had of late in my own
person makes me the less to marvel
when I hear your doings are mis-
construed by backbiters. Whoso-
ever will meddle with public affairs
and princes must be content to bear
that burden. I never doubted the
sincerity of your intentions, and I
doubt not time shall convince those
that think the contrary even in their
own conscience, whenas themselves
shall be content to justify your
councils, whicli now are ignorant to
what scope they are directed.'
On the 1 7th of November, Mary
Stuart herself wrote to Cucil, saying
' that the bruits were passed which
reported him to be a hinderer to her
advancement, and that she knew
him to be a wise man.'
On the 1 8th Murray wrote that
'he had always found Cecil most
earnest to produce good feeling and
a sound understanding between Eng-
land and Scotland, and between the
two Queens : and so,' he said, ' my
trust is that ye will continue favour-
able to the end in all her Highness's
affairs, which for my own part I will
most earnestly crave of you, being
most assured there is no daughter in
the isle doth more reverence her na-
tural mother nor my Sovereign the
Queen your mistress. Nor sure I am
can she be induced by any means to
seek or procure that which may in
any sort offend her Majesty.' — Scotch
MSS. Rolls House.
It is possible that even Cecil's
vigilance had been laid asleep by the
submissive attitude which the Queen
of Scots had assumed towards Eliza-
beth, and by the seeming restoration
of Murray to her confidence.
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 481
pulating for embarrassing conditions. Substantially
conceding all the points which were in dispute between
them, she proposed that they should mutually bind
themselves by a contract in which Mary Stuart should
undertake to do nothing against Elizabeth during the
lifetime of herself or her children ; while Elizabeth
would ' engage never to do or suffer anything to be
done to the prejudice of the Queen of Scots' title and
interest as her next cousin/ l
The Queen of Scots declared herself, in I567.
reply, assured of Elizabeth's ' good mind and January-
entire affection ' towards her ; ' she did not doubt that
in time her sister would proceed to the perfecting and
consideration of that which she had begun to utter, as
well to her own people as to other nations — the opinion
which her sister had of the equity of her cause ; ' and
she promised to send a commission to London to settle
the terms in which the contract ' might pass orderly to
both their contentments.' 2
Thus the struggle was over ; though unrecognized
by a formal Act of Parliament Mary Stuart had won the
day and was virtually regarded as the heir-presumptive
to the English throne. Elizabeth's own wishes had
pointed throughout to this conclusion, if the Queen of
Scots would consent to seek her object in any other
capacity than as the representative of a revolution. The
reconciliation of the two factions in Scotland and the
1 Elizabeth to the Queen of
Scots, December, 1566: MS. Eolls
Home.
2 The Queen of Scots to Eliza-
beth, Jan. 3. 1567: Scotch M8S.
Rolls Home,
VOL. VII. 31
482 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 45.
restoration of Murray and Maitland to confidence and
authority were accepted as an indication of a changed
purpose ; and harassed by her subjects, goaded into a
marriage which she detested, and exhausted by a strug-
gle which threatened a dangerous breach between her-
self and the nation, Elizabeth closed the long chapter of
distrust, and yielded or prepared to yield all that was
demanded of her.
Having thus made up her mind she resolved to break
up the Parliament and to punish the refractory Hoube
of Commons by a dissolution. After another election
the Puritans would be in a minority. The succession
could be legally established without division or quarrel,
guarded by such moderate guarantees as might secure
the mutual toleration of the two creeds.
For the first time in parliamentary history a session
had been wasted in barren disputes. On the 2nd of
January between two and three in the afternoon the
Queen appeared in the House of Lords to bring it to an
end. The Commons were called to the bar ; the
Speaker, Mr Onslow, read a complimentary address, in
which he described the English nation as happy in a
sovereign who understood her duties, who prevented her
subjects from injuring one another and knew ' how to
make quiet among the ministers of religion/ He
touched on the many excellences of the constitution, and
finally with some imprudence ventured an allusion to
the restrictions on the royal authority.
1 There be/ he said, ' for the prince provided princely
prerogatives and royalties, yet not such as the prince
1567.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 483
can take money or other things or do as she will at her
own pleasure without order ; but quietly to suffer her
subjects to enjoy their own without wrongful oppression ;
whereas other princes by their liberty do take as pleaseth
them/
' Your Majesty/ he went on turning to Elizabeth,
* has not attempted to make laws contrary to order, but
orderly has called this Parliament, which perceived cer-
tain wants and thereunto have put their helping hands,
and for help of evil manners good laws are brought
forth.'
Then going to the sorest of all sore and wounding
subjects, he concluded, ' we give hearty thanks to God
for that your Highness has signified your pleasure of
your inclination to marriage, which afore you were not
given unto ; which is done for our safeguard, that when
God shall call you you may leave of your own body to
succeed you. Therefore God grant us that you will
shortly embrace the holy state of matrimony when and
with whom God shall appoint and shall best like your
Majesty.'
Elizabeth's humour, none the happiest at the com-
mencement, was not improved by this fresh chafing of
her galled side. She had come prepared to lecture
others, not to listen to a homily. She beckoned Bacon
to her and spoke a few words to him. He then rose
and said that the general parts of the Speaker's address
her Majesty liked well, and therefore he need not touch
on them ; on the latter and more particular expressions
used in it a few words were necessary.
484 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.45.
' Politic orders/ he said, * be the rules of all good
acts, and touching them that you have made to the over-
throwing of good laws ' (your Bill of Religion, with
which you meant to tyrannize over conscience), ' these
deserve reproof as well as the others deserve praise. In
which like cause you err in bringing her Majesty's pre-
rogative into question, and for that thing wherein she
meant not to hurt any of your liberties. Her Majesty's
nature however is mild ; she will not be austere ; and
therefore though at this time she suffer you all to de-
part quietly into your counties for your amendment, yet
as it is needful she hopeth the offenders will hereafter
use themselves well/
The Acts of the session were then read out and re-
ceived the royal assent ; all seemed over, and it was by
this time dusk ; when Elizabeth herself in the uncertain
light rose from the throne, stood forward in her robes,
and spoke.
1 My Lords and other Commons of this assembly :
although the Lord Keeper hath according to order very
well answered in my name, yet as a periphrasis I have a
few words further to speak unto you, notwithstanding I
have not been used nor love to do it in such open assem-
blies. Yet now, not to the end to amend his talk, but
remembering that commonly princes' own words are
better printed in the hearers' memory than those spoken
by her command, I mean to say thus much unto you.
' I have in this assembly found such dissimulation
where I always professed plainness, that I marvel thereat ;
yea two faces under one hood, and the body rotten,
1567.] THE MURDER OF DARN LEY. 485
being covered with the two vizors succession and liberty
— which they determined must be either presently
granted, denied, or deferred ; in granting whereof they
had their desire ; and denying or deferring thereof,
those things being so plaudable as indeed to all men they
are, they thought to work me that mischief which never
foreign enemy could bring to pass — which is the hatred
of my Commons.
' But alas ! they began to pierce the vessel before the
wine was fined, and began a thing not foreseeing the
end, how by this means I have seen my well- wilier s from
my enemies, and can as meseemeth very well divide the
House into four : —
' i. The broachers and workers thereof, who are in
the greatest fault.
' 2. The speakers, who by eloquent tales persuaded
the rest, are next in degree.
' 3. The agreers, who being so light of credit that the
eloquence of those tales so overcame them that they gave
more credit thereunto than unto their own wits.
' 4. Those that sat still and mute and meddled not
therewith, but rather wondered disallowing the matter ;
who in my opinion are most to be excused.
' But do you think that either I am so unmindful of
your surety by succession, wherein is all my care, consi-
dering I know myself to be but mortal ? No, I warrant
you. Or that I went about to break your liberties ?
No, it never was in my meaning ; but to stay you before
you fell into the ditch. For all things have their time ;
and although perhaps you may have after me a better-
486 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 45.
learned or wiser, yet I assure you, none more careful over
you ; and therefore henceforth, whether I live to see the
like assembly or no, or whoever it be, yet beware how
you prove your prince's patience as you have now done
mine.
1 And now to conclude all this ; notwithstanding, not
meaning to make a Lent of Christmas, the most part of
you may assure yourselves that you depart in your
prince's grace.
1 My Lord Keeper, you will do as I bid you.'
Again Bacon rose and in a loud voice said, ' The
Queen's Majesty doth dissolve this Parliament. Let
every man depart at his pleasure.'
Elizabeth swept away in the gloom, passed to her
barge, and returned to the palace. The Lords and Com-
mons scattered through the English counties, and five
years went by before another Parliament met again at
Westminster in a changed world.
On that evening the immediate prospect before Eng-
land was the Queen's marriage with an Austrian Catholic
prince, the recognition more or less distant of the Ca-
tholic Mary Stuart as heir-presumptive, the establish-
ment with the support and sanction of the Catholic
powers of some moderate form of Government, under
which the Catholic worship would be first tolerated and
then creep on towards ascendency. It might have
ended, had Elizabeth been strong enough, in broad in-
tellectual freedom ; more likely it would have ended in
the reappearance of the Marian fanaticism, to be en-
countered by passions as fierce and irrational as itself;
1567.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 487
and to the probable issue of that conflict conjecture fails
to penetrate.
But the era of toleration was yet centuries distant ;
and the day of the Roman persecutors was gone never
more to reappear. Six weeks later a powder barrel ex-
ploded in a house in Edinburgh, and when the smoke
cleared away the prospects of the Catholics in England
were scattered to all the winds.
The murder of Henry Stuart Lord Darnley is one of
those incidents which will remain till the end of time
conspicuous on the page of history. In itself the death
of a single boy, prince or king though he might be, had
little in it to startle the hard world of the sixteenth
century. Even before the folly and falsehood by which
Mary Stuart's husband had earned the hatred of the
Scotch nobility, it had been foreseen that such a frail
and giddy summer pleasure-boat would be soon wrecked
in those stormy waters. Had Darnley been stabbed in a
scuffle or helped to death by a dose of arsenic in his bed,
the fair fame of the Queen of Scots would have suffered
little, and the tongues that dared to mutter would have
been easily silenced. But conspiracies in Scotland were"!
never managed with the skilful villany of the Continent ;
and when some conspicuous person was to be removed I
out of the way, the instruments of the deed were either /
fanatic religionists who looked on themselves as the serv-
ants of God, or else they had been wrought up to the
murder point by some personal passion which was not
contented with the death of its victim, and required a
fuller satisfaction in the picturesqueness of dramatic re- \
488 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 45.
venge. The circumstances under which the obstacle to
Mary Stuart's peace was disposed of challenged the at-
tention of the whole civilized world, and no after efforts
availed in court, creed, or nation, to hide the memory of
the scenes which were revealed in that sudden lightning
flash.
The disorders of the Scots upon the Border had long
been a subject of remonstrance from the English Govern-
ment. The Queen of Scots, while the Parliament was
sitting at Westminster, desired to give some public proof
of her wish to conciliate ; and after the strange appear-
ance of Darnley in September at the council at Edin-
burgh, she proposed to go in person to Jedburgh and
hear the complaints of Elizabeth's wardens. The Earl
of Both well had taken command of the North Marches :
he had gone down to prepare the way for the Queen's
appearance, and on her arrival she was greeted with the
news that he had been shot through the thigh in a
scuffle and was lying wounded in Hermitage Castle. The
Earl had been her companion throughout the summer ;
her relations with him at this time — whether innocent or
not — were of the closest intimacy ; and she had taken
into her household a certain Lady Heres, who had once
been his mistress.
I566 She heard of his wound with the most
October. alarmed anxiety ; on every ground she could
ill afford to lose him ; l and careless at all times of
bodily fatigue or danger, she rode, on the I5th of
1 ' Ce ne luy eust pas este peu de perte de le perdre ! ' were the unsus-
picious words of du Croq on the I7th of October.— TECLET, vol. ii. p. 28q.
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARN LEY. 489
October, twenty-five miles over the moors to see him.
The Earl's state proved to be more painful than danger-
ous, and after remaining two hours at his bed-side she
returned the same day to Jedburgh. She had not been
well : ' thought and displeasure/ which, as she herself
told Maitland, l ' had their root in the King/ had
already affected both her health and spirits. The long
ride, the night air, and ' the great distress of her mind
for the Earl/ proved too much for her ; and though she
sat her horse till her journey 's end, she fainted when
she was lifted from the saddle, and remained two hours
unconscious. Delirium followed with violent fever, and
in this condition she continued for a week. She was
frequently insensible ; food refused to remain upon her
stomach ; yet for the first few days there seemed to be
( no tokens of death ; ' she slept tolerably, and on Tues-
day and Wednesday the 2 2nd and 23rd she was thought
to be improving. An express had been sent to Glasgow
for Darnley, but he did not appear. On Friday the
25th there was a relapse ; shiver ings came on, the body
grew rigid, the eyes were closed, the mouth set and
motionless ; she lost consciousness so entirely that she
was supposed to be dying or dead ; and in expectation
of an immediate end a menacing order to keep the
peace was sent out by Murray, Maitland, Huntly, and
the other Lords who were in attendance on her.
The physician, ' Master Naw/ however, 'aperfyt
man of his craft/ ' would not give the matter over/ He
1 Maitland to the Archbishop of Glasgow : Printed in KEITH.
490 REIGN1 OF ELIZABETH. [011.45.
restored the circulation by chafing the limbs ; the
Queen came to herself at last, broke into a profuse per-
spiration, and fell into a natural sleep. When she
awoke, the fever was gone, but her strength was pros-
trated. For the few next days she still believed herself
in danger, and with the outward signs, and so far as could
be seen with the inward spirit, of Catholic piety, she
prepared to meet what might be coming upon her.
The Bishop of Ross was ever on his knees at her bed-
side ; and courageous always, she professed herself
ready to die if so it was to be. She recommended the
Prince to the lords ; through Murray she bequeathed
the care of him to Elizabeth — through du Croq to the
King of France and Catherine de Medici — and for
Scotland she implored them all as her last request ' to
trouble no man in his conscience that professed the
Catholic faith/ in which she herself had been brought
up and was ready to die.
How much of all this was real, how much theatri-
cal, it is needless to inquire ; the most ardent admirer of
Mary Stuart will not claim for her a character of piety,
in any sense of the word which connects it with the
moral law ; those who regard her with most suspicion
will not refuse her the credit of devotion to the Catholic
cause.
In a week all alarm was at an end. At length, but
so late that his appearance was an affront, Darnley
arrived : he was received with coldness ; but for the in-
terposition of Murray he would not have been allowed
to remain a single night, and the next morning he was
1566.]
THE MURDER OF DARNLE Y.
491
dismissed to return to his father. In unhappy contrast
the Earl of Both well was brought as soon as he could be
moved to Jedburgh ; and on the loth of Novem-
ber the Court broke up, and proceeded by slow
journeys towards Edinburgh for the Prince's baptism.
At Kelso the Queen found a letter from her husband.
It seems that he had been again writing in complaint
of her to the Pope and the Catholic powers.1 He was
probably no less unwise in the words which he used to
herself; and she exclaimed passionately in Murray's
and Maitland's presence ' that unless she was freed of
him in some way she had no pleasure to live, and if she
could find no other remedy she would put hand to it
herself.' 2
Leaving Kelso and skirting the Border, she looked
from Halydon Hill over Berwick and the English lines,
and that fair vision of the future where Darnley was
the single darkening image. A train of knights and
gentlemen came out to do her homage and attend her
to Ayemouth ; the Berwick batteries as she went by
saluted the heiress of the English crown ; all through
Northumberland, through Yorkshire, to the very gates
of London^Jiad she cared to visit Elizabeth, Mary
Stuart wouldJ£ve been then received with all butjregal
honours. The Earl of Bedford — of all English nobles
the most determined of her opponents — was preparing
1 De Silva in a letter, late in the
winter, to Philip, spoke of writing
to the Queen of Scots — ' A cerca del
mal oficio que su marido hahia hecho
contra ella con V. Md. y con el Papa
y Principes en lo de su religion.' —
MS. Simancas.
2 CALDERWOOD.
492 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. |CH. 45.
to be present at the approaching baptism to make his
peace as Elizabeth's representative. From D unbar she
wrote to Cecil and the rest of the council as to * her
good friends/ to whom she committed the care of ' her
cause/ From thence she passed on to Craigmillar l to
recruit her strength in the keen, breezy air.
Some heavy weight still hung upon her spirits : her
brilliant prospects failed to cheer her. ' The Queen is
at Craigmillar/ wrote du Croq at the end of November ;
' she is still sick, and I believe the principal part of her
disease to consist of a deep grief and sorrow : nor can
she, it seems, forget the same ; again and again she
says she wishes she were dead/ 2
To the lords who had attended her to Dalkeith the
cause of her trouble was but too notorious. Instead of
listening to her entreaties to relieve her of her husband,
the Pope had probably followed the advice of de Silva,
and had urged her to be reconciled to him : at any rate
she must have known the anxiety of her English friends,
and must have felt more wearily than ever the burden
of the chain with which she had bound herself. Both-
well, Murray, Maitland, and Huntly continued at her
side, and at Craigmillar they were joined by Argyle.
The lords and gentlemen who had been concerned
in Rizzio's murder had by this time most of them re-
ceived their pardon ; but the Queen had still found
herself unable to forgive Morton, who, with Lindsay,
young Ruthven, and Ker, was still in exile in England.
1 Three miles south of Edinburgh, on the road to Dalkeith
2 Du Croq to the Archbishop of Glasgow : KEITH.
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 493
Their friends had never ceased to intercede for them.
One morning, while Argyle was still in
bed, Murray and Maitland came to his room ;
and Maitland, beginning upon the subject, said that
the * best way to obtain Morton's pardon was to promise
the Queen to find means to divorce her from her
husband/
Argyle said he did not know how it could be done.
' My Lord/ said Maitland, ' care you not for that,
we shall find the means to make her quit of him well
enough, if you and Lord Huntly will look on and not
take offence.'
Scotland was still entangled in the Canon Law, and
some trick could be made available if the nobles agreed
to allow it. Huntly entered as the others were talking.
They offered him the restoration of the Gordon estates
if he would consent to Morton's return : he took the
price, and agreed with the rest to forward the divorce.
The four noblemen then went together to Bothwell,
who professed equal readiness ; he accompanied them to
the Queen ; and Maitland in the name of the rest under-
took to deliver her from Darnley on condition that she
pardoned Morton and his companions.
Mary Stuart was craving for release : she said gener-
ally that she would do what they required ; but embar-
rassed as she was by her connection with Rome, she was
unable to understand how a divorce could be managed,
or how, if they succeeded, they could save the legitimacy
of her child. So obvious a difficulty could not have been
unforeseen. Under the old law of the Church the dis-
494
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 45.
solution of marriage was so frequent and facile, that by
a kind of tacit agreement children born from connec-
tions assumed at the time to be lawful, were, like Mary
and Elizabeth of England, allowed to pass as legitimate,
and to succeed to their fathers' estates. The Earl of
Angus and Queen Margaret were divorced, yet the Eng-
lish council had tried in vain to fix a stigma on the birth
of Lady Lennox. Archbishop Parker more recently had
divorced Hertford and Lady Catherine Grey, yet their
son was still the favourite for the succession, of the
English Protestants. Both well was ready with an in-
stance from his own experience. The marriage between
his own father and mother had been declared invalid,
yet he had inherited the earldom without challenge.
The interests^which^depended^jon the _young^ Prince
of Scotland however were too vast to be lightlyjmt in
hazard pthere was another and a shorter road out of the
difficulty^
* Madam/ said Maitland^ * we are here the chief of
your Grace's council and nobility; we shall find the
means that your Majesty shall be quit of your husband
without prejudice of your son, and albeit that my Lord
of Murray here present be little less scrupulous for a
Protestant than your Grace is for a Papist, I am as-
sured he will look through his fingers thereto, and will
behold our doings, saying nothing to the same/
The words were scarcely ambiguous, yet Murray said
nothing. Such subjects are not usually discussed in too
loud a tone, and he may not have heard them distinctly.
He himself swore afterwards * that if any man said he
1566.]
THE MURDER OF DARNLEY.
495
was present when purposes were held in his audience
tending to any unlawful or dishonourable end, he spoke
wickedly and untruly.' 1
But Mary herself — how did she receive the dark sug-
gestion ? This part of the story rests on the evidence of
her own friends, and was drawn up in her excuse and
defence. According to Argyle and Huntly she said she
' would do nothing to touch her honour and conscience ; '
* they had better leave it alone ; ' ' meaning to do her
good it might turn to her hurt and displeasure/2
She may be credited with having refused her consent
to the proposals then made to her ; and yet that such
a conversation should have passed in her presence (of
the truth of the main features of it there is no room for
doubt) was serious and significant. The secret was ill
kept : it reached the ears of the Spanish ambassador,
who, though he could not believe it true, wrote an ac-
count of it to Philip.3 The Queen was perhaps serious
in her reluctance ; perhaps she desired not to know what
was intended till the deed was done.
' This they should have done,
And not have spoken of it. In her 'twas villany ;
In them it had been good service.'
Those among the lords, at all events, who were most
1 Reply of Murray to the declar-
ations of the Earls of Huntly and
Argyle : KEITH.
2 Declarations of Huntly and
Argyle: KEITH.
3 'Habia entendido que viendo
algunos el desgusto que habia entre
estos Reyes, habian ofrecido a la
Reyna de hacer algo contra su
marido, y que ella no habia venido
en ello. Aunque tuve este aviso de
buena parte, pareciome cosa que no
se debia creer que se hubiese tratado
con la Reyna semejante platica.' —
De Silva to Philip, January iS-
MS. Sfmancas.
496
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[en. 45.
in Mary Stuart's confidence concluded that if they went
their own way they had nothing to fear from her resent-
ment. Four of the party present — Argyle, Huntly,
Maitland, and Both well, with a cousin of Bothwell, Sir
James Balfour — signed a bond immediately afterwards,
while the Court was still at Craigmillar, to the following
purpose : —
1 That for sae meikle as it was thought expedient and
profitable for the commonweal, by the nobility and lords
underwritten, that sic an young fool and proud tyran (as
the King) should not bear rule of them — for divers
causes therefore they all had concluded that he should
be put forth by one way or other — and whosoever should
take the deed in hand or do it, they should defend and
fortify it, for it should be by every one of them reckoned
and holden done by themselves.'1
The curtain which was thus for a moment drawn aside
again closes. The Queen went in the first week of De-
cember to Stirling, where Darnley was allowed to join
her ; and the English Catholics, who had been alarmed
at the rumours which had gone abroad, flattered them-
selves into a hope that all would again go well. The
King would make amends for the past by aifection and
submission ; Mary Stuart would in time obliterate the
painful feelings which her neglect of him had aroused.2
1 Ormeston's confession: PIT-
CAIRN'S Criminal Trials of Scotland.
2 ' El Key de Escocia ha ya viente
dias que esta con la Reyna, y comen
juntos; y aunque parece que no
perdera tan presto del todo el des-
gusto del Eey por las cosas pasadas,
todavia piensa que el tiempo, y estar
juntos, y el Key determinado de cora-
placerle, hara mucho en la buena
reconciliacion.' — De Silva to Philip,
December 18; MS. Simancas.
1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 497
A few days after, the Earl of Bedford arrived from
England ; the Parliament was then approaching its con-
clusion ; the storm had subsided, and Elizabeth, free to
act for herself, had commissioned Bedford to tell the
Queen of Scots that her claims should be investigated as
soon as possible, and ' should receive as much favour as
she could desire to her contentation.'1 The ambassador
had brought with him a magnificent font of gold weigh-
ing 330 ozs., as a splendid present to the heir of the
English throne. The Prince, who was to have been
dipped in it at his baptism, had grown too large by the
delay of the ceremony ; but Elizabeth suggested that it
might be used for 'the next child/2
The time had been when these things would have
satisfied Mary Stuart's utmost hopes, and have filled her
with exultation. Her thoughts, interests, and anxieties
were now otherwise occupied. On the I5th, at five in
the evening, the Prince was baptized by torch-light in
Stirling Chapel; the service was that of the Catholic
Church; the Archbishop of St Andrew's, the most
abandoned of all Episcopal scoundrels, officiated, sup-
ported by three of his brethren. The French ambas-
sador carried the child into the aisle ; the Countess of
Argyle, the same who had been present at Rizzio's
murder, held him at the font as Elizabeth's representa-
tive ; and three of the Scottish noblemen — Eglinton,
Athol, and Ross — were present at the ceremony. The
rest, with the English ambassador, stood outside the
1 Instructions to the Earl of Bedford going to Scotland : KEITH.
2 Ibid.
VOL, vii. 32
498 RETGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 45.
door. It boded ill for the supposed reconciliation that
the Prince's father, though in the castle at the time,
remained in his own room, either still brooding over
his wrongs and afraid that some insult should be passed
upon him, or else forbidden by the Queen to appear.
As soon as the baptism was over the suit for the re-
storation of Morton was continued : Bedford added his
intercession to that of Murray ; Both well, Athol, and
all the other noblemen joined in the entreaty ; and on
the 24th the Queen with some affectation of reluctance
gave way. George Douglas, who had been the first to
strike Rizzio, and Faldonside, who had held a pistol to
her breast, were alone excepted from a general and final
pardon.1
Under any circumstances it could only have been
with terror that Darnley could have encountered Morton
and young Ruthven ; but the conversation at Craig-
millar, which had stolen into England, had been carried
equally to his own ear. He knew that the pardon of
Rizzio's murderers had been connected with his own
destruction ; and a whisper had reached him also of the
bond which, though unsigned by the Queen, had been
' drawn by her own device/ 2 Snlgngr as ]\jorton re-
mained in exile he could hope_that_ jfche conspiracy
against him was incomplete. The proclamation of the
pardon was his death-knell, and the same night, swiftly,
' without word spoken or leave taken, he stole away from
Stirling and fled to his father.'
1 Bedford to Cecil, December 30 : Scotch MSS. Molls House.
2 Deposition of Thomas Crawford : MS. Ibid.
1567.] THE MURDER OF DARN LEY. 499
That at such a crisis he should have been attacked
by a sudden and dangerous illness was, to say the least
of it, a singular coincidence. A few miles from the
castle blue spots broke out over his body, and he was
carried into Glasgow languid and drooping, with a
disease which the Court and the friends of the Court
were pleased to call small -pox.
There for a time he lay, his father absent, himself
hanging between life and death, attended only by a few
faithful servants, while the Queen with recovered health
and spirits spent her Christmas with Bothwell at Drum-
mond Castle and Tullibardine, waiting the issue of the
disease.
Unfortunately for all parties concerned,
the King after a few days was reported to be
slowly recovering. Either the natural disorder was too
weak to kill him, or the poison had failed of its work.
The Queen returned to Stirling : the favourite rode
south to receive the exiles on their way back from Eng-
land. ' In the yard of the hostelry of Whittingham/
Bothwell and Morton met ; and Morton, long after — on
the eve of his own execution, when to speak the truth
might do him service where he was going, and could do
him no hurt in this world — thus described what passed
between them : —
' The Earl of Bothwell/ said Morton, ' proposed to
me the purpose of the King's murder, seeing that it
was the Queen's mind that he should be taken away,
because she blamed the King of Davie's slaughter more
than me/
500 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 45.
Morton ' but newly come from one trouble, said that
he was in no haste to enter into a new/ and required to
be assured that the Queen indeed desired it.
Both well said ' he knew what was in the Queen's
mind, and she would have it done/
' Bring me the Queen's hand for a warrant/ Morton
said that he replied, ' and then I will answer you/ 1
Rash and careless as Mary Stuart's passion made
her, she was not so blind to prudence as to commit her
signature as her husband had done. Bothwell promised
that he would produce an order from her, but it never
came, and Morton was saved from further share in the
conspiracy.
On the 1 4th of January the Queen brought the
Prince to Edinburgh ; on the 2oth she wrote a letter to
the Archbishop of Glasgow at Paris complaining of her
husband's behaviour to her, while the poor wretch was
still lying on his sick bed ; 2 and about the same time
she was rejoined by Bothwell on his return from the
Border. So far the story can be traced with confidence.
At this point her conduct passes into the debateable
Iqnd^jyhere herjriends meet those who condemn her
with charges of falsehood and forgery. The evidence is
neither conflicting nor insufficient : the dying deposi-
tions of the instruments of the crime taken on the steps
of the scaffold, the ' undesigned coincidences ' between
the stories of many separate witnesses, with letters which,
after the keenest inquiry, were declared to be in her
The Earl of Morton's confession : Illustrations of Scottish History, p. 494.
2 The Queen of Scots to the Archbishop of Glasgow, January 20 : KEITH.
1567.]
THE MURDER OF DARNLEY,
501
own handwriting, shed a light upon her proceedings as
full as it is startling ; but the later sufferings of Mary
Stuart have surrounded her name with an atmosphere
of tenderness, and half the world has preferred to be-
lieve that she was the innocent victim of a hideous con-
spiracy.
The so-called certainties of history are but proba-
bilities in varying degrees ; and when witnesses no
longer survive to be cross- questioned, those readers and
writers who judge of truth by their emotions can believe
what they please. To assert that documents were forged,
or that witnesses were tampered with, costs them no
effort ; they are spared the trouble of reflection by the
ready-made assurance of their feelings.
The historian, who is without confidence in these
easy criteria of certainty, can but try his evidence by
such means as remain. He examines what is doubtful
by the light of what is established, and offers at last the
conclusions at which his own mind has arrived, not as
the demonstrated facts either of logic or passion, but as
something which after a survey of the whole case ap-
pears to him to be nearest to the truth.1
1 The story in the text is taken
from the depositions in ANDERSON
and PITCAIBN ; from the deposition
of Crawford, in the Rolls House ;
and from the celebrated casket letters
of Mary Stuart to Bothwell. The
authenticity of these letters will be
discussed in a future volume in con-
nection with their discovery, and
with the examination of them which
then took place. Meantime I shall
assume the genuineness of docu-
ments, which, without turning his-
tQryjmto .a. _niere_creation pf_imagin-
ative ^svjnjjathies^ I do not feel at
liberty to doubt. They come to us
after having passed the keenest
scrutiny both in England and Scot-
land. The handwriting was found
to resemble so exactly that of the
502
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
ICH. 45.
The Queen then, after writing the letter of complaint
against her husband to the Archbishop of Glasgow, sud-
denly determined to visit his sick bed. On Thursday
the 23rd of January she set out for Glasgow attended
by her lover. They spent the night at Callendar toge-
ther.1 In the morning they parted ; the Earl returned
to Edinburgh ; Mary Stuart pursued her journey at-
tended by Bothwell's French servant Paris, through
whom they had arranged to communicate.
The news that she was on her way to Glasgow anti-
cipated her appearance there. Darnley was confined to
his bed ; Lennox, who suspected mischief, when he heard
that she was coming, sent a gentleman, named Craw-
ford, a noble, fearless kind of person, to apologize for
his inability to meet her. It seems that after hearing
of the bond at Craigmillar Darnley had written some
letter to her, the inconvenient truths of which had been
irritating ; and she had used certain bitter expressions
about him which had been carried to his ears. Both
Queen that the most accomplished
expert could detect no difference.
One of the letters could have been
invented only by a genius equal to
that of Shakspeare ; and that one
once accomplished, would have been
so overpoweringly sufficient for its
purpose that no forger would have
multiplied the chances of detection
by adding the rest. The inquiry at
the time appears to me to supersede
authoritatively all later conjectures.
The English council, among whom
were many friends of Mary Stuart,
had the French originals before
them, while we have only transla-
tions, or translations of translations.
1 ' When Bothwell was conduct-
ing the Queen to Glasgow, where
she was going to the King, at Cal-
lendar after supper, late, Lady Reres
came to Bothwell's room, and seeing
me there, said, 'What does M. Paris
here ? ' ' It is all the same,' said he,
' Paris will say nothing.' And there-
upon she took him to the Queen's
room.' — Examination of French
Paris: ANDERSON'S Collection. Paris
was Bothwell's servant.
1567-] THE MURDER OF DARNLEV. 503
father and son believed that she intended to be revene-ed:
o '
and Crawford when he gave his message did not con-
ceal that his master was afraid of her.
' There is no remedy against fear/ the Queen said
shortly.
' Madam/ Crawford answered, * I know so far of my
master that he desires nothing more, than that the se-
crets of every creature's heart were writ in their faces.' *
Crawford's suspicions were too evident to be con-
cealed. The Queen did not like them; she asked
sharply if he had more to say ; and when he said he
had discharged his commission, she bade him ' hold his
peace/
Lord Darnley had made some use of his illness ; as
he lay between life and death he had come to under-
stand that he had been a fool, and for the first time in
his life had been thinking seriously. When the Queen
entered his room she found him lying on his couch,
weak and unable to move. Her first question was about
his letter ; it was not her cue to irritate him, and she
seemed to expostulate on the credulity with which he
had listened to calumnies against her. He excused
himself faintly. She allowed her manner to relax, and
she inquired about the cause of his illness.
A soft word unlocked at once the sluices of Darnley's
heart ; his passion gushed out uncontrolled, and with a
wild appeal he threw himself on his wife's forgiveness.
' You are the cause of it/ he said ; ' it comes only
1 Crawford's deposition : MS. Rolls House.
504
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[cu. 45.
from you who will not pardon my faults when I am
sorry for them. I have done wrong, I confess it ; but
others besides me have done wrong, and you have for-
given them, and I am but young. You have forgiven
me often, you may say ; but may not a man of my age,
for want of counsel, of which I am very destitute, fall
twice or thrice and yet repent and learn from experi-
ence ? Whatever I have done wrong forgive me ; I
will do so 110 more. Take me back to you ; let me be
your husband again or may I never rise from this bed.
Say that it shall be so/ he went on with wild eager-
ness ; ' God knows I am punished for making my God
of you — for having no thought but of you/ l
He was flinging himself into her arms as readily as
she could hope or desire ; but she was afraid of exciting
his suspicions by being too complaisant. She answered
kindly that she was sorry to see him so unwell ; and
she asked him again why he had thought of leaving the
country.
He said that ' he had never really meant to leave it ;
yet had it been so there was reason enough; she knew
how he had been used.'
She went back to the bond of Craigmillar. It was
necessary for her to learn, who had betrayed the secret
and how much of it was known.
Weak and facile as usual, Darnley gave up the name
of his informant ; it was the Laird of Minto ; and then
1 Crawford's deposition. The conversation as related by Darnley to
Crawford, tallies exactly with that given by Mary herself to Bothwell in
the casket letters.
1567.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 505
he said that ' he could not believe that she who was his
own proper flesh would do him harm ; ' ' if any other
would do it/ he added with something of his old brava-
do, ' they should buy him dear unless they took him
sleeping.'
Her part was difficult to act. As she seemed so kind
he begged that she would give him his food ; he even
wished to kiss her, and his breath after his illness was
not pleasant. ' It almost killed me/ she wrote to Both-
well, ' though I sat as far from him as the bed would
allow : he is more gay than ever you saw him ; in fact
he makes love to me, of the which I take so great plea-
sure that I enter never where he is but incontinent I
take the sickness of my sore side which I am so troubled
with/1
When she attempted to leave the room he implored
her to stay with him. He had been told, he said, that
she had brought a litter with her ; did she mean to take
him away ?
She said she thought the air of Craigmillar would
do him good ; and as he could not sit on horseback she
had contrived a means by which he could be carried.
The name of Craigmillar had an ominous sound.
The words were kind, but there was perhaps some odd
glitter of the eyes not wholly satisfactory.
He answered that if she would promise him on her
honour to live with him as his wife and not to leave
him any more, he would go with her to the world's end,
Mary Stuart to Bothwell : ANDERSON'S Collection
$06 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [cli. 4$.
and care for nothing ; if not he would stay where he
was.
It was for that purpose, she said tenderly, that she
had come to Glasgow ; the separation had injured both
of them, and it was time that it should end ; ' and so
she granted his desire and promised it should be as he
had spoken, and thereupon gave him her hand and faith
of her body that she would love him and use him as her
husband ; ' she would wait only till his health was re-
stored ; he should use cold baths at Craigmillar, and
then all should be well.
Again she returned to his letter ; she was still un-
easy about his knowledge of the bond, and she asked
whether he had any particular fear of either of the
noblemen. He had injured Maitland most, and he
shivered when she named him. He felt but too surely
with what indifference Maitland would set his heel on
such a worm as he was.
She spoke of Lady Reres, BothwelFs evil friend.
Darnley knew what that woman had been and suspected
what she might be. He said he liked her not, and
wished to God she might serve the Queen to her
honour ; but he would believe her promise, he would do
all that she would have him do, and would love all that
she loved.
She had gained her point ; he would go with her,
and that was all she wanted. A slight cloud rose be-
tween them before she left the room. He was impatient
at her going, and complained that she would not stay
with him : she on her part said that he must keep her
1567.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 50?
promise secret ; the lords would be suspicious of their
agreement, and must not know of it.
He did not like the mention of the lords ; the lords,
he said, had no right to interfere ; he would never ex-
cite the lords against her, and she he trusted would not
again make a party against him.
She said that their past disagreements had been no
fault of hers. He and he alone was to blame for all
that had gone wrong.
"With these words she left him. Mary Stuart was
an admirable actress ; rarely perhaps on the world's
stage has there been a more skilful player. But the
game was a difficult one ; she had still some natural
compunction, and the performance was not quite per-/
feet.
Darnley, perplexed between hope and fear, affec-
tion and misgiving, sent for Crawford. He related
the conversation which had passed, so far as he could
recollect it, word for word, and asked him what he
thought.
Crawford, unblinded by passion, answered at once
' that he liked it not ; ' if the Queen wished to have
him living with her, why did she not take him to
Holyrood ? Craigmillar — a remote and lonely country
house — was no proper place for him ; if he went
with her he would go rather as her prisoner than her
husband.
Darnley answered that he thought little less himself;
he had but her promise to trust to, and he feared what
she might mean ; he had resolved to go however ; ' he
508 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.45.
would trust himself in her hands though she should cut
his throat/ l
And Mary, what was her occupation after parting
thus from her husband ? Late into the night she sat
writing an account of that day's business to her lover,
1 with whom/ as she said, ' she had left her heart.'
She told him of her meeting with Crawford, and of
her coming to the King ; she related, with but slight
verbal variations, Darnley's passionate appeal to her, as
Darnley himself had told it to his friend.
'I pretend/ she wrote, 'that I believe what he
says ; you never saw him better or heard him speak
more humbly. If I did not know his heart was wax,
and mine a diamond whereinto no shot can enter but
that which comes from your hand, I could almost have
had pity on him ; but fear not, the plan shall hold to
the death/
If Mary Stuart was troubled with a husband, Both-
well was inconvenienced equally with a wife.
' Hemember in return/ she continued, ' that you
suffer not yourself to be won by that false mistress of
yours, who will travel no less with you for the same ; I
believe they learnt their lesson together. He has ever
a tear in his eye. He desires I should feed him with
my own hands. I am doing what I hate. Would you
not laugh to see me lie so well and dissemble so well:
and tell truth betwixt my hands ? We are coupled
with two bad companions. The devil sunder us, and
Crawford's deposition : Scotch MSS. Eolls House.
1567-] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 509
God knit us together to be the most faithful couple that
ever he united. This is my faith — I will die in it. I
am writing to you while the rest are sleeping, since I
cannot sleep as they do, and as I would desire — that is,
in your arms, my dear love ; whom I pray God pre-
serve from all evil and send you repose/
Without much moral scrupulousness about her,
Mary Stuart had still feelings which answer to a loose
man's ' sense of honour.'
'I must go forward/ she said, 'with my odious
purpose. You make me dissemble so far that I abhor
it, and you cause me to do the office of a traitress. If
it were not to obey you I had rather die than do it ; my
heart bleeds at it. He will not come with me except I
promise him that I shall be with him as before, and
doing this he will do all I please and come with me.
To make him trust me I had to fence in some things
with him ; so when he asked that when he was well we
should both have but one bed, I said that if he changed
not purpose between now and then it should be so ; but
in the mean time I bade him take care that he let no-
body know of it, because the lords would fear if we
agreed together, he would make them feel the small ac-
count they made of him. In fine, he will go anywhere
that I ask him. Alas ! I never deceived anybody ; but
I remit me altogether to your pleasure. Send me word
what to do and I will do it. Consider whether you
can contrive anything more secret by medicine. He is
to take medicine and baths at Craigmillar. He suspects
greatly, and yet he trusts me. I am sorry to hurt any
«;io REIGN" OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 45.
one that depends on me ; yet you may command me in
all things. About Lady Reres, he said, I pray God she
may serve you to your honour. He suspects the thing
you know, and of his life ; but as to the last, when I
speak two or three kind words he is happy and out of
doubt. Burn this letter, for it is dangerous and nothing
well said in it.'
Then following the ebb and flow of her emotions to
that strange point where the criminal passion of a
woman becomes almost virtue in its utter self-abandon-
ment, she appealed to Bothwell not to despise her for
the treachery to which for his sake she was con-
descending.
' Have no evil opinion of me for this/ she con-
cluded ; ' you yourself are the cause of it ; for my own
private revenge I would not do it to him. Seeing, then,
that to obey you, my dear love, I spare neither honour,
conscience, hazard, nor greatness, take it I pray you in
good part. Look not at that woman whose false tears
should not be so much regarded as the true and faithful
labour which I am bearing to deserve her place ; to ob-
tain which — against my nature — I betray those that may
hinder me. God forgive me, and God give you, my
only love, the happiness and prosperity which your
humble and faithful friend desires for you. She hopes
soon to be another thing to you. It is late. I could
write to you for ever ; yet now I will kiss your hand
and end/1
Mary Stuart to Bothwell : ANDERSON'S Collection.
1567.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEV. 51!
With these thoughts in her mind Mary Stuart,
Queen of Scotland, lay down upon her bed — to sleep,
doubtless — sleep with the soft tranquillity of an innocent
child. Remorse may disturb the slumbers of the man
who is dabbling with his first experiences of wrong.
When the pleasure has been tasted and is gone, and
nothing is left of the crime but the ruin which it has
wrought, then too the Furies take their seats upon the
midnight pillow. But the meridian of evil is for the
most part left unvexed ; and when human creatures have
chosen their road they are let alone to follow it to the end.
The next morning the Queen added a few closing
words :
* If in the mean time I hear nothing to the contrary,
according to my commission I will bring the man to
Craigmillar on Monday — where he will be all Wednes-
day— and I will go to Edinburgh to draw blood of me.
Provide for all things and discourse upon it first with
yourself/
This letter and another to Maitland she gave in
charge to Paris to take to Edinburgh. In delivering
them she bade him tell Bothwell that she had prevented
the King from kissing her, as Lady Reres could wit-
ness ; and she told him to ask Maitland whether Craig-
millar was to be the place, or whether they had changed
their plan. They would give him answers with which
he would come back to her immediately. She would
herself wait at Glasgow with the King till his return.
Paris, after being a day upon the road, reached Edin-
burgh with his despatches on the night of Saturday the
512 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 45.
25th. On going to Bothwell's room the next morning
he found the Earl absent, and a servant directed him
to a house belonging to Sir Robert Balfour, brother of
James Balfour who signed the Craigmillar bond.
St Mary's-in-the-Fields, called commonly Kirk-a-
Field, was a roofless and ruined church, standing just
inside the old town walls of Edinburgh, at the north-
western corner of the present College. Adjoining it
there stood a quadrangular building which had at one
time belonged to the Dominican monks. The north
front was built along the edge of the slope which descends
to the Cowgate ; the south side contained a low range
of unoccupied rooms which had been ' priests' chambers;'
the east consisted of offices and servants' rooms; the
principal apartments in the dwelling into which, the
place had been converted were in the western wing,
which completed the square. Under the windows there
was a narrow strip of grass-plat dividing the house from
the town wall ; and outside the wall were gardens into
which there was an opening through the cellars by an
underground passage. The principal gateway faced
north and led direct into the quadrangle.
Here it was that Paris found Both well with Sir
James Balfour. He delivered his letter and gave his
message. The Earl wrote a few words in reply. ' Com-
mend me to the Queen/ he said as he gave the note, ' and
tell her that all will go well. Say that Balfour and I
have not slept all night, that everything is arranged,
and that the King's lodgings are ready for him. I have
sent her a diamond. You may say I would send my
1567.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY 513
heart too were it in my power — but she has it already.'
A few more words passed, and from Bothwell Paris
went to Maitland, who also wrote a brief answer. To the
verbal question he answered, ' Tell her Majesty to take
the King to Kirk-a-Field ; ' and with these replies the
messenger rode back through the night to his mistress.
She was not up when he arrived ; her impatience
could not rest till she was dressed, and she received
him in bed. He gave his letters and his message. She
asked if there was anything further. He answered that
Bothwell bade him say ' he would have no rest till he
had accomplished their enterprise, and that for love of her
he would train a pike all his life.' The Queen laughed.
' Please God/ she said, ' it shall not come to that.' l
A few hours later she was on the road with her
victim. He could be moved but slowly. She was
obliged to rest with him two days at Linlithgow; and it
was not till the 3oth that she was able to bring him to
Edinburgh. As yet he knew nothing of the change of
his destination, and supposed that he was going on to
Craigmillar. Bothwell however met the cavalcade out-
side the gates and took charge of it. No attention was
paid either to the exclamation or remonstrance; Darn-
ley was informed that the Kirk-a-Field house was
most convenient for him, and to Kirk-a-Field he was
conducted.
* The lodgings ' prepared for him were in the west
wing, which was divided from the rest of the house by a
1 Examination of Paris : PITCAIRN'S Criminal Trials, vol. i.
VOL. vn. 33
5 1 4 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 45.
large door at the foot of the staircase. A passage ran
along the ground floor from which a room opened which
had been fitted up for the Queen. At the head of the
stairs a similar passage led first to the King's room — •
which was immediately over that of the Queen — and
further on to closets and rooms for the servants.
Here it was that Darnley was established during the
last hours which he was to know on earth. The keys of
the doors were given ostentatiously to his groom of the
chamber, Thomas Nelson ; the Earl of Bothwell being
already in possession of duplicates. The door from the
cellar into the garden had no lock, but the servants were
told that it could be secured with bolts from within.
The rooms themselves had been comfortably furnished,,
and a handsome bed had been set up for the King with
new hangings of black velvet. The Queen however
seemed to think that they would be injured by the
splashing from Darnley's bath, and desired that they
might be taken down and changed. Being a person of
ready expedients too she suggested that the door at i\i&
bottom of the staircase was not required for protection.
She had it taken down and turned into a cover for the
bath- vat ; ' so that there was nothing left to stop the-
passage into the said chamber but only the portal door.'1
After this little attention she left her husband in
possession ; she intended herself to sleep from time to-
time there, but her own room was not yet ready.
The further plan was still unsettled. Bothwell's first
1 Examination of Thomas Nelso ' : PITCAIRN.
'567-J
THE MURDER OF DARNLEY.
515
notion was to tempt Darnley out into the country some
sunny day for exercise and then to kill him. But ' this
purpose was changed because it would be known ; ' l and
was perhaps abandoned with the alteration of the place
from Craigmillar.
The Queen meanwhile spent her days at her hus-
band's side, watching over his convalescence with seem-
ingly anxious affection, and returning only to sleep at
Holy rood. In the starry evenings, though it was mid-
winter, she would go out into the garden with Lady
Reres, and ' there sing and use pastime/ 2 After a few
days her apartment at Kirk-a-Field was made habitable ;
a bed was set up there in which she could sleep, and
particular directions were given as to the part of the
room where it was to stand. Paris through some mis-
take misplaced it. ' Fool that you are/ the Queen
said to him when she saw it, * the bed is not to stand
there ; move it yonder to the other side.' 3 She perhaps
meant nothing, but the words afterwards seemed omin-
ously significant. A powder barrel was to be lighted
in that room to blow the house and every one in it into
the air. They had placed the bed on the spot where the
powder was to stand, immediately below the bed of the
King.
Whatever she meant, she contrived when it was
moved to pass two nights there. The object was to
1 Hepburn's confession : AN-
DERSON.
2 Depositions of Thomas Nel-
son : PITCAIRN.
3 ' Sot que tu es, je ne veulx pas
que mon lit soyt en cest endroyt la,
et dn fait le feist oster.'-- Examina-
tion of Paris : PITCAIRN,
5i6
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[«•»• 45-
February.
make it appear as if in what was to follow her own life
had been aimed at as well as her husband's. Wednes-
day, the 5th, she slept there, and Friday, the
7th, and then her penance was almost over,
for on Saturday the thing was to have been done.
Among the wild youths who followed Both well's
fortunes three were found who consented to be the in-
struments— young Hay the Laird of Tallo, Hepburn of
Bolton, and the Laird of Ormeston — gentlemen retainers
of Bothwell's house, and ready for any desperate ad-
venture.1 Delay only created a risk of discovery, and
the Earl on Friday arranged his plans for the night
ensuing.2
It seems however that at the last moment there
was an impression either that the powder might fail or
that Darnley could be more conveniently killed in a
scuffle with an appearance of accident. Lord Robert
Stuart, Abbot of St Cross, one of James the Fifth's wild
brood of children whom the church had provided with
land and title, had shared in past times in the King's
riots, and retaining some regard for :dm had warned
the poor creature to be on his guard. Darnley, making
love to destruction, told the Queen ; and Stuart, know-
1 Hepburn on his trial said tbat
when Bothwell first proposed the
murder to him, ' he answered it was
an evil purpose, but because he was
servant to his Lordship he would do
as the rest.' So also said Hay and
Ormeston. Paris, according to his
own story, was alike afraid to refuse
>and to consent. Bothwell told him
the lords were all agreed. He asked
what Murray said. ' Murray, Mur-
ray ! ' said the Earl, ' il ne se veult
n'ayder ni nuyre, mais c'est tout
ung.' ' Monsieur,' Paris replied, ' il
est sage.' — Examination of Paris :
PiTCAIRN.
2 Examination of Hay of Tallo :
ANDERSON.
1567.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY.' 517
ing that his own life might pay the forfeit of his in-
terference, either received a hint that he might buy his
pardon by doing the work himself, or else denied his
words and offered to make the King maintain them at
the sword's point. A duel, could it be managed, would
remove all difficulty; and Bothwell would take care
how it should end.
Something of this kind was in contemplation on the
Saturday night, and the explosion was deferred in con-
eequence. The Queen that evening at Holyrood bade
Paris tell Bothwell ' that the Abbot of St Cross should
go to the King's room and do what the Earl knew of.'
Paris carried the message, and Bothwell answered,
' Tell the Queen that I will speak to St Cross and then
I will see her/ 1
But this too came to nothing. Lord Robert went,
and angry words, according to some accounts, were ex-
changed between him and Darnley ; but a sick man un-
able to leave his couch was in no condition to cross swords;
and for one more night he was permitted to survive.
So at last came Sunday, eleven months exactly from
the day of Rizzio's murder ; and Mary Stuart's words,
that she would never rest till that dark business was
revenged, were about to be fulfilled. The Earl of
Murray, knowing perhaps what was coming, yet unable
to interfere, had been long waiting for an opportunity
to leave Edinburgh. Early that morning he
wrote to his sister to say that Lady Murray
Examination of Paris : ANDERSON.
5i8 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 45.
was ill at St Andrew's, and that she wished him to join
her; the Queen with some reluctance gave him leave to
go.
It was a high day at the Court : Sebastian, one of
the musicians, was married in the afternoon to Mar-
garet Cawood, Mary Stuart's favourite waiting-woman.
When the service was over, the Queen took an early
supper with the Bishop of Argyle, and afterwards, ac-
companied by Cassilis, Huntly, and the Earl of Argyle,
she went as usual to spend the evening with her hus-
band, and professed to intend to stay the night with him.
The hours passed on. She was more than commonly
tender ; and Darnley, absorbed in her caresses, paid no
attention to sounds in the room below him, which had
lie heard them might have disturbed his enjoyment.
At ten o'clock that night two servants of Bothwell,
Powrie and Patrick Wilson, came by order to the Earl's
apartments in Holyrood. Hepburn, who was waiting
there, pointed to a heap of leather bags and trunks
upon the floor, which he bade them carry to the gate of
the gardens at the back of Kirk-a-Field. They threw the
load on a pair of pack-horses and led the way in the dark
as they were told; Hepburn himself went with them, and
at the gate they found Bothwell, with Hay, Ormeston,
and another person, muffled in their cloaks. The
horses were left standing in the lane. The six men
silently took the bags on their shoulders and carried
them to the postern door which led through the town
wall. Bothwell then went in to join the Queen, and
told the rest to make haste with their work and finish
1567.] ThE MURDER OF DARNLE Y. 519
it before the Queen should go. Powrie and Wilson
were dismissed ; Hepburn and the three others dragged
the bags through the cellar into Mary Stuart's room.
They had intended to put the powder into a cask, but
the door was too narrow, so they carried it as it was and
poured it out in a heap upon the floor.
They blundered in the darkness. Bothwell, who
was listening in the room above, heard them stumbling
at their work, and stole down to warn them to be silent ;
but by that time all was in its place. The dark mass
in which the fire-spirit lay imprisoned rose dimly from
the ground ; the match was in its place, and the Earl
glided back to the Queen's side.
It was now past midnight. Hay and Hepburn
were to remain with the powder alone. 'You know
what you have to do/ Ormeston whispered ; ' when all
is quiet above, you fire the end of the lint and come
away/
With these words Ormeston passed stealthily into
the garden. Paris, who had been assisting in the ar-
rangement, went upstairs to the King's room, and his
appearance was the signal concerted beforehand for the
party to break up. Bothwell whispered a few words in
Ar gyle's ear ; Argyle touched Paris on the back signi-
ficantly : there was a pause — the length of a Paternos-
ter 1 — when the Queen suddenly recollected that there
was a masque and a dance at the Palace on the occasion
of the marriage, and that she had promised to be present.
1 Examination of Paris : PITCAIRN.
520
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 45.
She rose, and with, many regrets that she could not
stay as she intended, kissed her husband, put a ring on
his finger, wished him good night, and went. The
lords followed her. As she left the room, she said as if
by accident, 'It was just this time last year that Riz-
zio was slain/ l
In a few moments the gay train was gone. The
Queen walked back to the glittering halls in Holyrood ;
Darnley was left alone with his page, Taylor, who slept
in his room, and his two servants, Nelson and Edward
Seymour. Below in the darkness, Bothwell's two fol-
lowers shivered beside the powder heap, and listened
with hushed breath till all was still.
The King, though it was late, was in no mood for
sleep, and Mary's last words sounded awfully in hia
ears. As soon as she was gone he went over ' her many
speeches/ he spoke of her soft words and her caresses
which had seemed sincere, ' but the mention of Davie's.
slaughter marred all his pleasure/ "
' What will she do ? ' said he, ' it is very lonely/
The snadow of death was creeping over him ; he was no
)onger the random boy who two years before had come
to Scotland filled with idle dreams of vain ambition.
Sorrow, suffering, disease, and fear had done their work.
That night, before or after the Queen's visit, he was said
to have opened the Prayer-book, and to have read over
the 55th Psalm,3 which by a strange coincidence was
1 [BUCHANAN: History of Scot-
land.]
2 [CALDEUWOOD, vol. ii. p. 344.]
5 [Sir William Drury, the au-
thority for this statement, says that
' he went over the 55th Psalm a few
I56/.] THE MURDER OF DARNLE.Y. 521
iii tlie English service for the day that was dawning.
True or false, such was the tale at the time ; and the
words have a terrible appropriateness.
' Hear my prayer, 0 Lord, and hide not thyself
from my petition.
' My heart is disquieted within me, and the fear of
death is fallen upon me.
' Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and
an horrible dread hath overwhelmed me.
'It is not an open enemy that hath done me this
dishonour, for then I could have borne it.
' It was even thou, my companion, my guide, and
my own familiar friend/
Forlorn victim of a cruel age ! Twenty-one years
old — no more. At the end of an hour he went to bed,
with his page at his side. An hour later they two were
lying dead in the garden beyond the wall.
The exact facts of the murder were never known —
only at two o'clock that Monday morning, a ' crack *
was heard which made the drowsy citizens of Edinburgh
turn in their sleep, and brought down all that side of
Balfour's house of Kirk-a-Field in a confused heap of
dust and ruin. Nelson, the sole survivor, went to bed
and slept when he left his master, and ' knew nothing
till he found the house falling about him ; ' Edward
Seymour was blown in pieces; but Darnley and his
page were found forty yards away under a tree, with
hours before his death.' — Drury to Cecil, March 1567 : Border MSS.
Rdls House.']
522
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 45-
1 no sign of fire on them/ and with their clothes scat-
tered at their side.
Some said that they were smothered in their sleep ;
some that they were taken down into a stable and
' wirried ; ' some that t hearing the keys grate in the
doors below them, they started from their beds and
were flying down the stairs, when they were caught
and strangled.' Hay and Hepburn told one consistent
story to the foot of the scaffold: — When the voices
were silent overhead they lit the match and fled, lock-
ing the doors behind them. In the garden they found
Both well watching with his friends, and they waited
there till the house blew up, when they made off and
saw no more. It was thought however that in dread of
torture they left the whole dark truth untold ; and over
the events of that night a horrible mist still hangs un-
penetrated and unpenetrable for ever.
This only was certain, that with her husband Mary
Stuart's chances of the English throne perished also,
andjwith them all_serious prospect of a Catholic revolu-
tion. With a deadly instinct the world divined the
author of the murder ; and more than one nobleman, on
the night on which the news reached London, hastened
to transfer his allegiance to Lady Catherine Grey.1
The faithful Melville hurried up to defend his mis-
tress— but to the anxious questions of de Silva, though
he called her innocent, he gave confused answers.2
1 DC Silva to Philip, February
1 7 '. MS. Simancas.
2 « Aunque este salv6 a la Reyna,
veo le algo confuso.'— DC Silva to
Philip, February 22 : MS. Ibid.
1567-1
THE MURDER OF DARNLEY.
523
Match.
' Lady Lennox demands vengeance upon the Queen of
Scots/ de Silva said ; * nor is Lady Lennox alone in the
belief of her guilt ; they say it is revenge for the
Italian secretary. The heretics denounce her with one
voice ; the Catholics are divided ; her own friends ac-
quit her; the connections of the King cry out upon
her without exception/ 1
On the ist of March, Moret, the Duke of
Savoy's ambassador at the Scotch Court,
passed through London on his way to the Continent.
He had been in Edinburgh at the time of the murder ;
and de Silva turned to him for comfort. But Moret
had no comfort to give. * I pressed him/ said de Silva,
* to tell me whether he thought the Queen was inno-
cent ; he did not condemn her in words, but he said
nothing in her favour ; ' 2 ' the spirits of the Catholics
are broken ; 3 should it turn out that she is guilty, her
party in England is gone, and by her means there is no
more chance of a restoration of religion/ 4
1 De Silva to Philip, February
22: MS. Ibid.
5 ' Apretandole que me dixese lo
quo le parccia conforme a lo que el
habia visto y colegido si la Eeyna
tenia culpa dello, aunque no la le
•«ondeno de palabra, no le salbo
nada.' — De Silva to Philip, March i :
MS. Ibid.
3 ' Mucho ha este caso enflaque-
cido los nnimos de los Catolicos.' —
Ibid.
4 Ibid.
524
CHAPTER XLVL
DEATH OF O'NEIL.
THE Earl of Sussex having failed alike to
beat Shan O'Neil in the field or to get
him satisfactorily murdered, had at last been recalled,
leaving the government of Ireland in the hands of Sir
Nicholas Arnold. An unsuccessful public servant ne-
ver failed to find a friend in Elizabeth, whose disposition
to quarrel with her ministers was usually in proportion
to their ability. She had shared the confidence of the
late Deputy in what to modern eyes appears unpardon-
able treachery ; she received him on his return to Eng-
land with undiminished confidence, and she allowed
him to confirm her in her resolution to spend no more
money in the hopeless enterprise of bringing the Irish
into order ; while she left Arnold to set the bears and
bandogs to tear each other, and watched contentedly
the struggle in Ulster between O'Neil and the Scots of
the Isles.
The breathing-time would have been used to better
advantage had the reform been carried to completeness
1564.] DEATH OF Cf NEIL. 525
which had been commenced with the mutinous mis-
creants miscalled the English army. But the bands
could not be discharged with decency till they had re-
ceived their wages ; without money they could only
continue to maintain themselves on the plunder of the
farmers of the Pale ; and the Queen, provoked with the
past expenses to which she had so reluctantly assented,
knotted her purse-strings, and seemed determined that
Ireland should in future bear the cost of its own misgo-
vernment. The worst peculations of the principal officers
were inquired into and punished : Sir Henry Ratcliff,
Sussex's brother, was deprived of his command and
sent to the castle ; but Arnold's vigour was limited by
his powers. The paymasters continued to cheat the
Government in the returns of the number of their
troops ; the Government defended themselves by letting
the pay run into arrear ; the soldiers revenged their ill-
usage on the people ; and so it came to pass that in
^O'Neil's country alone in Ireland — defended as it was
from attacks from without, and enriched with the plun-
der of the Pale — were the peasantry prosperous, or life
•or property secure.
Munster was distracted by the feuds between Ormond
and Desmond ; while the deep bays and creeks of Cork
and Kerry were the nests and hiding-places of English
pirates, whose numbers had just received a distinguished
addition in the person of Sir Thomas Stukeley, with a
barque of four hundred tons and ' a hundred tall soldiers,
besides mariners.'
Stukely had been on his way to Florida with a license
526
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 46.
from the Crown to make discoveries and to settle there ;
but he had found a convenient halting-place in an Irish
harbour, from which he could issue out and plunder the
Spanish galleons. : He had taken up his quarters at
Kinsale, ' to make the sea his Florida ; ' 2 and in antici-
pation of the terms on which he was likely to find him-
self with Elizabeth, he contrived to renew an acquaint-
ance which he had commenced in England with Shan
O'JN^eil. The friendship of a buccaneer who was growing
rich on Spanish plunder might have seemed inconvenient
to a chief who had offered Ireland as a fief to Philip ;
but Shan was not particular : Philip had as yet shown
but a cold interest in Irish rebellion, and Stukely filled
his cellars with sherry from Cadiz, amused him with his
magniloquence, and was useful to him by his real dex-
terity and courage. So fond Shan became of him that
he had the impertinence to write to Elizabeth in favour
' of that his so dearly loved friend, and her Majesty's
worthy subject/ with whom he was grieved to hear
that her Majesty was displeased. He could not but
believe that she had been misinformed ; but if indeed so
good and gallant a gentleman had given her cause of
offence, Shan entreated that her Majesty, for his sake and
in the name of the services which he had himself ren-
dered to England, would graciously pardon him ; and lie,
1 * Stukely's piracies are much
railed at here in all parts. I hang
down my head with shame. Alas !
though it cost the Queen roundly,
let him for honour's sake be fetched
in. These pardons to such as be hostes
humani generis I like not.' — Chaloner
to Cecil, Madrid, December 14,1564 ;
Spanish MSS. Rolls House.
- Sir Thomas Wroth to Cecil,
November 1 7 ; Irish MSS. Ibid.
564-]
DEA TH OF a NEIL.
527
with Stukely for a friend and confidant, would make
Ireland such as Ireland never was since the world
began.1
Among so many mischiefs ' religion' was naturally
in a bad way. * The lords and gentlemen of the Pale went
habitually to mass/ 2 The Protestant bishops were chiefly
agitated by the vestment controversy. Adam Loftus,
the titular Primate, to whom sacked villages, ravished
women, and famine- stricken skeletons crawling about
the fields were matters of every-day indifference, shook
with terror at the mention of a surplice.3 Robert Daly
wrote in anguish to Cecil, in dismay at the countenance
to * Papistry/ and at his own inability to prolong a
persecution which he had happily commenced.4
1 Shan O'Neil to Elizabeth,
June 1 8, 1565 : Irish MSS. Rolls
House.
- Adam Loftus to Elizabeth,
May 17 : MS. Ibid.
3 Adam Loftus to Cecil, July
16; MS. Ibid.
' The bruit of the alteration in
religion is so talked of here among
the Papists, and they so triumph
upon the same, it would grieve any
good Christian heart to hear of their
rejoicing; yea, in so much that my
Lord Primate, my Lord of Meath,
and I, being the Queen's commis-
sioners in ecclesiastical causes, dare
not be so bold now in executing our
commissions in ecclesiastical causes
as we have been to this time. To
what end this talk will grow I am not
able to say. I fear it will grow to
the great contempt of the Gospel
and of the ministers of the same,
except that spark be extinguished
before it grow to flame. The occa-
sion is that certain learned men of
our religion are put from their
livings in England ; upon what oc-
casion is not known here as yet.
The poor Protestants, amazed at the
talk, do often resort to me to learn
what the matter means ; whom I
comfort with the most faithful texts
of Scripture that I can find. . . .
But 1 beseech you send me some
comfortable words concerning the
stablishing of ourreligion, wherewith
I may both confirm the wavering
hearts of the doubtful, and suppress
the stout brags of the sturdy and
proud Papists.' — Robert Daly to
Cecil, July 2: Irish MSS. Rolls
House.
528 REIGN OF ELIZABh 777. [en. 46.
Some kind of shame was felt by statesmen in
1565.
England at the condition in which Ireland con-
tinued. Unable to do anything real towards amending
it, they sketched out among them about this time a
scheme for a more effective government. The idea of the
division of the country into separate presidencies lay at
the bottom of whatever hopes they felt for an improved
order of things. So long as the authority of the sove-
reign was represented only by a Deputy residing at
Dublin, with a few hundred ragged marauders called by
courtesy ' the army/ the Irish chiefs would continue, like
O'Neil, to be virtually independent ; while, by recogniz-
ing the reality of a power which could not be taken from
them, the English Government could deprive them of
their principal motive for repudiating their allegiance.
The aim of the Tudor sovereigns had been from the
first to introduce into Ireland the feudal administration
of the English counties ; they had laboured to persuade
the chiefs to hold their lands under the Crown, with the
obligations which landed tenures in England were sup-
posed always to carry with them. The large owner of
the soil, to the extent that his lordship extended, was in
the English theory the ruler of its inhabitants, magis-
trate from the nature of his position, and representative
of the majesty of the Crown. Again and again they
had endeavoured to convince the Irish that order was
better than anarchy ; that their faction fights, their
murders, their petty wars and robberies, were a scandal to
them ; that till they could amend their ways they were
no better than savages. Fair measures and foul had
1565.] DEATH OF a NEIL. 5-29
alike failed so far. Once more a project was imagined
of some possible reformation, which might succeed at
least on paper.
In the system which was at last to bring a golden age <
to Ireland, the four provinces were to be governed each
by a separate president and council. Every county was
to have its sheriff; and the Irish noblemen and gentle-
men were to become the guardians of the law which they
had so long defied. The poor should no longer be op-
pressed by the great ; and the wrongs which they had
groaned under so long should be put an end to for ever
by their own Parliament. ' No poor persons should be
compelled any more to work or labour by the day or
otherwise without meat, drink, wages, or some other
allowance during the time of their labour ; ' no < earth-
tillers, nor any others inhabiting a dwelling under any
lord, should be distrained or punished in body or goods
for the faults of their landlord ; J nor any honest man lose
life or lands without fair trial, by parliamentary attain-
der, ' according to the antient laws of England and Ire-
land.' Noble provisions were pictured out for the re-
building of the ruined churches at the Queen's expense,
with ' twelve free grammar schools,' where the Irish
youth should grow into civility, and /twelve hospitals
for aged and impotent folk.' A University should be
founded in Elizabeth's name, and endowed with lands
at Elizabeth's cost ; and the devisers of all these things,
warming with their project, conceived the Irish nation
accepting willingly a reformed religion, in which there
should be no more pluralities, no more abuse of patroii-
84
<3o REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 46.
age, 110 more neglect, or idleness, or profligacy. The
bishops of the Church of Ireland were to be chosen among
those who had risen from, the Irish schools through the
Irish University. The masters of the grammar schools
should teach the boys 'the New Testament, Paul's
Epistles, and David's Psalms, in Latin, that they being
infants might savour of the same in age, as an old cask
doth of its first liquor/ In every parish from Cape Clear
to the Giant's Causeway, there should be a true servant
of God for a pastor, who would bring up the children
born in the same in the knowledge of the Creeds, the
Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Cate-
chism ; * the children to be brought to the Bishop for
confirmation at seven years of age, if they could repeat
them, or else to be rejected by the Bishop for the time,
with reproach to their parents.'1
Here was an ideal Ireland, painted on the retina of
some worthy English minister ; but the real Ireland was
still the old place : as it was in the days of Brian
Boroihme and the Danes, so it was in the days of Shan
O'j^eil and Sir Nicholas Arnold ; and the Queen who
was to found all these fine institutions cared chiefly to
burden her exchequer no further in the vain effort to
drain the black Irish morass — fed as it was from the
perennial fountains of Irish nature.
The Pope might have been better contented with the
condition of his children : yet he too had his grounds
of disquiet, and was not wholly satisfied with Shan, or
1 Device for the better government of Ireland : Irish MSS. Rolls Hctise.
1565.] DEATH OF a NEIL. 531
with. Shan's rough -riding Primate. A nuncio had re-
sided secretly for four years. at Limerick, who from time
to time sent information of the state of the people to
Rome ; and at last an aged priest named Creagh, who in
past days had known Charles the Fifth, and had been
employed by him in relieving English Catholic exiles,
went over with letters from the nuncio, recommending
the Pope to refuse to recognize the appointment of
Terence Daniel to the Primacy, and to substitute Creagh
in his place. The old man, according to his own story,
was unambitious of dignity, and would have preferred
* to enter religion ' and end his days in a monastery.
The Pope however decided otherwise. Creagh was con-
secrated Archbishop of Armagh in the Sistine Chapel,
and was sent back ' to serve among those barbarous,
wild, uncivil folk/ taking with him a letter from Pius to
Shan O'Neil, ' whom he did not know whether to repute
for his foe or his friend/
Thus Ireland had three competing Primates : Adam
Loftus, the nominee of Elizabeth ; Shan's Archbishop,
Terence Daniel ; and Creagh, sent by the Pope. The
latter however had the misfortune to pass through Lon-
don on his way home, where Cecil heard of him. He
was seized and sent to the Tower, where 'he lay in great
misery, cold, and hunger/ ' without a penny/ ' without
the means of getting his single shirt washed, and with-
out gown or hose/
The poor old man petitioned ' to be let go to teach
youth.' ' He would do it for nothing/ he said, ' as h,3
had done all the days of his life, never asking a penny
5J2 REIGN OF ELIZABETH [en. 46.
<of the Church or any benefice of any man ; ' 1 and so
modest a wish might have been granted with no great
difficulty, considering that half the preferments in Eng-
land were held by men who scarcely affected to conceal
that they were still Catholics. Either Creagh however
was less simple than he pretended, or Cecil had reason
to believe that his presence in Ireland would lead to
mischief; he was kept fast in his cage, and would have
remained there till he died, had he not contrived one
night to glide over the walls upon the Thames.
' His imprisonment was perhaps intended as a gratifi-
cation to Shan O'Neil. ]S"o sooner had he escaped than
Elizabeth considered that of the two Catholic Arch-
bishops Terence Daniel might be the least dangerous,
and that to set Shan against the Pope might be worth a
sacrifice of dignity. It was intimated that if Shan
would be a good subject he should have his own Primate,
and Adam Loftus should be removed to Dublin.2 Shan
on his part gave the Queen to understand that when
Terence was installed at Armagh, and he himself was
created Earl of Tyrone, she should have no more trouble ;
and the events of the spring of 1565 made the English
Government more than ever anxious to come to terms
with a chieftain whom they were powerless to crush.
Since the defeat of the Earl of Sussex, Shan's in-
fluence and strength had been steadily growing. His
return unscathed from London, and the fierce attitude
1 Questions for Creagh, with Creagh's answers, February 22, 1565 ;
Further answers of Creagh, March 1 7 : Irish 3ISS. Rolls House.
2 Private instructions to Sir Henry Sidney. Cecil's hand, 1565 • MS.
Ibid.
1565.] DEA TH OF a NEIL. 533,
which lie assumed on the instant of his reappearance in
Ulster, convinced the petty leaders that to resist him
longer would only ensure their ruin. O'Donnell was-
an exile in England, and there remained unsubdued in
the north only the Scottish colonies of Antrim, which
were soon to follow with the rest. O'Neil lay quiet
through the winter. With the spring and the fine
weather, when the rivers fell and the ground dried, he
roused himself out of his lair, and with his galloglasse
and kern, and a few hundred ' harquebussmen,' he
dashed suddenly down upon the ' Redshanks,' and broke
them utterly to pieces. Six or seven hundred were killed
in the field ; James M'Connell and his brother Sorleboy l
were taken prisoners ; and for the moment the whole
colony was swept away. James M'Connell himself,
badly wounded in the action, died a few months later,
and Shan was left undisputed sovereign of Ulster.
The facile pen of Terence Daniel was employed to
communicate to the Queen this ' glorious victory/ for
which ' Shan thanked God first, and next the Queen's
Majesty ; affirming the same to come of her good for-
tune.' 2 The English Government, weary of the ill suc-
cess which had attended their own dealings with the,
Scots, were disposed to regard them as a * malicious and
dangerous people, who were gradually fastening on the
country ; ' 3 and with some misgivings, they were inclined
to accept Shan's account of himself ; while Shan, finding
1 Spelt variously Sorleboy, Sarlebos, Surlebois, and Surlyboy. The
word means ' yellow-haired Charley.'
- Terence Daniel to Cecil, June 24 : Irish MSS. Rolls House.
3 Opinion of Sir II. Sidney, May 20 : MS. Ibid.
534 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 46.
Elizabeth disinclined to quarrel with, him, sent Terence
over to her to explain more fully the excellence of his in-
tentions. Sir Thomas Cusack added his own commend-
ations both of Terence and his master, and urged that
now was the time to make O'Neil a friend for ever. Sir
Nicholas Arnold, with more discrimination, insisted
that it was necessary to do one thing or the other, but
he too seemed to recommend the Queen, as the least of
two evils, to be contented with Slian's nominal allegi-
ance, and to leave him undisturbed.
* If/ he said, ' you use the opportunity to make
O'JS"eil a good subject, he will hardly swerve hereafter.
The Pale is poor and unable to defend itself. If he do
fall out before the beginning of next summer there is
neither outlaw, rebel, murderer, thief, nor any lewd or
evil-disposed person — of whom God knoweth there is
plenty swarming in every corner amongst the wild Irish,
yea, and in our own border too — which would not join
to do what mischief they might/ 1
Alas ! while Arnold wrote there came news that
Shan's ambition was still unsatisfied. He had followed
up his successes against the Scotch by seizing the Queen's
castles of Newry and Dundrum. Turning west he had
marched into Connaught ' to require the tribute due of
owld time to them that were kings in that realm/ He
had exacted pledges of obedience from the western
chiefs, frightened Clanrickard into submission, ' spoiled
O'Hourke's country/ and returned to Tyrone driving
1 Sir T. Cusack to Cecil, August 23; O'Neil to Elizabeth, Au^nsr 25 ;
Sir N. Arnold. to the English. Council, August 31 : Irish MSS. Rolls lloune.
1565.] DEATH OF a NEIL. . 535
before him four thousand head of cattle. Instead of the '
intended four presidencies in Ireland, there would soon
be only one ; and Shan O'Neil did not mean to rest till
he had revived the throne of his ancestors, and reigned
once more in ' Tara's halls.'
' Excuse me for writing; plainly what I
/ . October.
think/ said Lord Clanrickard to Sir William
Fitzwilliam. ' I assure you it is an ill likelihood to-
ward— that the realm if it be not speedily looked unto
will be at a hazard to come as far out of her Majesty's
hands as ever it was out of the hands of any of her pre-
decessors. Look betimes to these things, or they will
grow to a worse end.' l
The evil news reached England at the crisis of the
convulsion which had followed the Darnley marriage.
The Protestants in Scotland had risen in rebellion, rely-
ing on Elizabeth's promises ; and Argyle, exasperated
at her desertion of Murray, was swearing that he would
leave his kinsmen unrevenged, and would become Shan's
ally and friend. Mary Stuart was shaking her sword
upon the Border at the head of 20,000 men ; and Eli-
zabeth, distracted between the shame of leaving her en-
gagements unredeemed or bringing the Irish and Span-
iards upon her head, was in no humour -to encounter
fresh troubles. Shan's words were as smooth as ever;
his expedition to Connaught was represented as having
been undertaken in the English interest. On his return
he sent ' a petition ' to have ' his title and rule ' deter-
Clanrickard to Fitzwilliam, Oct. 11 : Irish MSS. Rolls House.
53*
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[cir. 46.
mined without further delay ; while l in consideration of
his good services ' he begged ' to have some augnientar
tion of living granted him in the Pale,' and ' her Ma-
jesty to be pleased not to credit any stories which his
evil-willers might spread abroad against him.' l
Elizabeth allowed herself to believe what it was
most pleasant to her to hope. ' We must allow some-
thing/ she wrote to Sir Henry Sidney, ' for his wild
bringing up, and not expect from him what we should
expect from a perfect subject; if he mean well he shall
have all his reasonable requests granted.' 2
But it was impossible to leave Ireland any longer
without the presence of a deputy. Sir Nicholas Arnold
had gone over with singular and temporary powers;
the administration was out of joint, and the person most
fitted for the government by administrative and mili-
tary capacity was Leicester's brother-in-law Sir Henry
Sidney, President of Wales.
Sidney knew Ireland well from past experience. He
had held command there under Sussex himself; he had
seen deputy after deputy depart for Dublin with the
belief that he at last was the favoured knight who would
break the spell of the enchantment ; and one after an-
other he had -seen them return with draggled plumes
and broken armour. Gladly Avould he have declined the
offered honour. 'If the Queen would but grant him
leave to serve her in England, or in any place in the
world else saving Ireland, or to live private, it should
1 Shan O'Xeil to Elizabeth, October 27 : Irish MSS. Molls House.
* Eli/abeth to Sir II. Sidney, November n.—JUS Ibid.
1565.] DEATH OF a NEIL. 537
be more joyous to him than to enjoy all the rest and to
go thither/ It was idle to think that O'Neil could be
really ' reformed ' except by force ; and ( the Irishry
had taken courage through the feeble dealing with him.'
If he was to go, Sidney said, he woidd not go without
money. Ten or twelve thousand pounds must be sent
immediately to pay the outstanding debts. He must
have more and better troops ; two hundred horse and
five hundred foot at least, in addition to those which
were already at Dublin. He would keep his patent as
President of Wales ; he would have leave to return to
England at his discretion if he saw occasion ; and for his
personal expenses, as he could expect nothing from the
Queen, he demanded — strange resource to modern eyes
— permission to export six thousand kerseys and clothes
free of duty.1
His requests were made excessive perhaps to ensure
their refusal ; but the condition of Ireland could not be
trifled with any longer, and if he hoped to escape he was
disappointed.
1 In the matter of Ireland was found such an example
as was not to be found again in any place ; that a sove-
reign prince should be owner of such a kingdom, having
no cause to fear the invasion of any foreign prince,
neither having ever found the same invaded by any
foreign power, neither having any power born or resident
within that realm that denied or ever had directly or
indirectly denied the sovereignty of the Crown to belong
1 1'ctition of Sir H. Sidney going to Ireland : Irish MSS. Rolls House,
538 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 46.
to her Majesty ; and yet, contrary to all other realms,
the realm of Ireland had been and yet continued so
chargeable to the Crown of England, and the revenues
thereof so mean, and those which were, so decayed and
so diminished, that great yearly treasures were carried
out of the realm of England to satisfy the stipends of
the officers and soldiers required for the governance of
the same.' l
Sir Henry Sidney paid the penalty of his ability in
being selected to terminate in some form or other a state
of things which could no longer be endured. Again
before he would consent he repeated and even ex-
aggerated his conditions. He would not go as others
had gone, ' fed on the chameleon's dish/ to twine ropes
of sand and sea- slime to bind the Irish rebels with. He
would go with a force to back him, or he would not go
at all. He must have power, he said, to raise as many
men as the Queen's service required ; and she must trust
his honour to keep them no longer than they were abso-
lutely wanted. "No remedial measures could be attempted
till anarchy had been trampled down ; and then the
country would prosper of itself.
' To go to work by force,' he said, ' will be chargeable
it is true ; but if you will give the people justice and
minister law among them, and exercise the sword of the
sovereign, and put away the sword of the subject — omnia
haec adjicientur vobis — you shall drive the now man of
war to be an husbandman, and he that now liveth like a
1 Instructions to Sir H. Sidney, October 5 ; Irish MSS. Eolls Ho
1 565.] DEATH OF a NEIL. 539
lord to live like a servant ; and the money now spent in
buying armour and horses and waging of war should be
bestowed in building of towns and houses. By ending
these incessant wars ere they be aware, you shall bereave
them both of force and beggary, and make them weak
and wealthy. Then you can convert the military service
due from the lords into money ; then you can take up
the fisheries now left to the French and the Spaniards ;
then you can open and work your mines, and the people
will be able to grant you subsidies/1
The first step towards the change was to introduce a
better order of government : and relapsing upon the
scheme for the division into presidencies, Sidney urged
Elizabeth to commence with appointing a President of
Munster, where Ormond and Desmond were tearing at
each other's throats. The expense — the first consider-
ation with her — would be moderate. The President would
be satisfied with a mark (13$. 4^.) a day ; fifty men —
liorse and foot — would suffice for his retinue, with yd.
and 8tf?. a day respectively ; and he would require two
clerks of the signet, with salaries of a hundred pounds
.a year. The great Munster noblemen — Ormond, Des-
mond, Thomond, Clancarty, with the Archbishop of
Cashel and the Bishops of Cork, Waterford, and Limerick,
would form a standing council ; and a tribunal would be
established where disputes could be heard and justice
administered without the perpetual appeal to the
sword.2
1 Opinions of Sir H. Sidney : I 2 It is noticeable that we find in
Irish MSS. Rolls House. I an arrangement which was intro-
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 46
A clause was added to the first sketch in Cecil's hand :
1 The Lord President to be careful to observe Divine serv-
ice and to exhort others to observe it ; and also to keep
a preacher who shall be allowed his diet in the house-
hold, to whom the said President shall cause due rever-
ence to be given in respect of his office which he shall
ha\7e for the service of God/
With an understanding that this arrangement for
Minister should be immediately carried out, that the pre-
cedent, if successful in the south, should be followed out
in the other provinces, and that his other requests should
be complied with, Sidney left London for Ireland in
duced as a reform and as a means of
justice the following clause : —
'Also it shall be lawful for the
President and council or any three
of them, the President being one, in
luses necessary, upon vehement sus-
picion and presumption of any great
jffen^e in any party committed
Jgainsl 'Jie Queen's Majesty, to put
the same psw!y to torture as they shall
think convenient. — Presidency of
Minister, February I, 1566: Irish
MSS. Rolls House.
Even in England torture con-
tinued to be freely used. On De-
cember 28, 1566, a letter was ad-
dressed by the Privy Council to the
Attorney- General and others, that : —
' Where they were heretofore ap-
pointed to put Clement Fisher, now
prisoner in the Tower, in some fear
of torture whereby his lewdness and
such as he might detect might the
better come to light, they are re-
quested, for that the said Fisher is
not minded to be plain, as thereby
the faults of others might be known,
to cause the said Fisher according to
their discretion to feel some touch of
the rack, for the better boultiug out
and opening of that which is re-
quisite to be known.' — Council Re-
gister. Elizabeth, MSS.
And again, January 18, 1567.
A letter to the Lieutenant of the
Tower : —
4 One Eice, a buckler-maker,,
committed there, is discovered to
have been concerned in a robbery of
plate four years before ; the lieu-
tenant to examine the said Rice
about this robbery, and if they shall
perceive him not willing to confess
the same then to put him in fear of
the torture, and to let him feel some
smart of the same whereby he may-
be the better brought to confess the-
truth.'— Irish MSS. Rolls House.
1565.] DEATH OF a NEIL. 541
the beginning of December. E vrery hour's delay
i i • i x-u v p i • December.
had increased the necessity for his presence.
Alarmed at the approach of another deputy, and ex-
cited on the other hand by the Queen of Scots' successes,
Shan O'Neil had attached himself eagerly to her fortunes
In October he offered to assist her against Argyle, who
was then holding out against her in the Western High-
lands.1 His pleasure was as great as his surprise when
he found Argyle ready to allow the Western Islanders
to join with him to drive the English out of Ireland,
;and punish Elizabeth for her treachery to Murray. So
far Argyle carried his resentment, that he met Shan
somewThere in the middle of the winter, and to atone for
the disgrace of his half sister, he arranged marriages
between a son and daughter which she had borne to
Shan, and two children of James M'Connell, W7hom Shan
had killed; O'Neil undertook to settle on them the
•disputed lands of Antrim, and Argyle consented at last
to the close friendship in the interest of the Queen of
Scots for which the Irish chief had so long been vainly
suing.
No combination could be more ominous to England.
Foul weather detained Sidney for six weeks at Holy-
liead. In the middle of January, but not without ' the
loss of all his stuff and horses/ which were wrecked on
the coast of Down, he contrived to reach Dublin. The
.state of things which he discovered on his arrival was
worse than the wrorst which he had looked for. The
1 Adam Loftus to Leicester, November 20 : Irish MSS Rolls House.
542 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 46.
English Pale he found ' as it were overwhelmed with
vagabonds ; stealth and spoils daily carried out of it ;
the people miserable ; not two gentlemen in the whole
of it able to lend twenty pounds ; without horse,
armour, apparel, or victual.' ' The soldiers were worse
than the people : so beggarlike as it would abhor a
General to look on them.' ' Never a married wife
among them/ and therefore ' so allied with Irish
women/ that they betrayed secrets, and could not be
trusted on dangerous service ; ' so insolent as to be in-
tolerable ; so rooted in idleness as there was no hope by
correction to amend them.'
T So much for the four shires. ' In Minister/ as the
fruit of the Ormond and Desmond wars, ' a man might
ride twenty or thirty miles and find no houses stand-
ing/ in a county which Sidney had known ' as well
inhabited as many counties in England.' Connaught
was quiet so far, and Clanrickard was probably loyal ;
but he was weak and was in constant expectation of
being overrun.
I566 ' In Ulster/ Sidney wrote, ' there tyranniz-
March. efa ^he prince of pride ; Lucifer was never
more puffed up with pride and ambition than that
O'Neil is ; he is at present the only strong and rich
man in Ireland, and he is the dangerousest man and
most like to bring the whole estate of this land to sub-
version and subjugation either to him or to some foreign
prince, that ever was in Ireland.' l
\
1 Sidney to Leicester, March 5 : Irish MSS. Rolls Hottsf.
I566.J DEATH OF a NEIL. 543
The Deputy's first step after landing was to as-
certain the immediate terms on which the dreaded
chief of the North intended to stand towards him. He
wrote to desire Shan to come into the Pale to see him,
and Shan at first answered with an offer to meet him
at Dundalk; but a letter followed in which he sub-
scribed himself as Sidney's ' loving gossip to command,'
the contents of which were less promising. For him-
self, Shan said, he had so much affection and respect
for Sir Henry, that he would gladly go to him any-
where ; but certain things had happened in past years
which had not been wholly forgotten. The Earl of
Sussex had twice attempted to assassinate him. Had
not the Earl of Kildare interfered, the Earl of Sussex,
when he went to Dublin to embark for England,
' would have put a lock upon his hands, and hava
carried him over as a prisoner.' His ' timorous and
mistrustful people' after these experiences would not
trust him any more in English hands.1
All this was unpleasantly true, and did not diminish
Sidney's difficulties. It was none the less necessary
for him however to learn what he was to expect from
Shan. Straining a point at the risk of offending
Elizabeth, he accepted the services of StukeLy, which
gave the latter an opportunity of covering part of his
misdoings by an act of good service, and sent him with
another gentleman to Shan's castle, ' to discover if
possible what he was, and what he was like to attempt.'2
1 Shan 0^Teil to Sidney, February 18 : Irish MSS. Rolls House.
2 Sidney to Leicester, ij arch 5 : MS. Ibid.
544 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.46.
A better messenger, supposing him honest, could not
have been chosen. Shan was at his ease with a person
whose life was as lawless as his own. He had ceased to
care for concealment, and spoke out freely. At first
' he was very flexible but very timorous to come to the
Deputy, apprehending traitorous practices/ One after-
noon ' when the wine was in him/ he put his meaning
in plainer language. Stukely had perhaps hinted that
there would be no earldom for him unless his doings
were more satisfactory. The Irish heart and the Irish
tongue ran over.
' 1 care not/ he said, ' to be made an earl unless I
may be better and higher than an earl, for I am in
blood and power better than the best of them ; and I
will give place to none but my cousin of Kildare, for
that he is of my house. You have made a wis<e earl of
M'Carty More. I keep as good a man as he. For the
Queen I confess she is my Sovereign, but I never made
peace with her but by her own seeking. Whom am I
to trust ? When I caine to the Earl of Sussex on safe-
conduct he offered me the courtesy of a handlock.
When I was with the Queen, she said to me herself
that I had, it was true, safe-conduct to come and go,
but it was not said when I might go ; and they kept
me there till I had agreed to things so far against my
honour and profit, that I would never perform them
while I live. That made me make war, and if it were
to do again I would do it. My ancestors were kings of
UL ter ; and Ulster is mine, and shall be mine.
O'Donnell shall never come into his country, nor
1 566.] DEA TH OF a NEIL. 545
Bagenal into Newry, nor Kildare into Dundrum or
Lecale. They are now mine. With this sword I won
them ; with this sword I will keep them/
'My Lord/ Sidney wrote to Leicester, 'no Attila
nor Totila, no Yandal or Goth that ever was, was more
to be doubted for overrunning any part of Christendom
than this man is for overruning and spoiling of Ireland.
If it be an angel of heaven that will say that ever
O'Neil will be a good subject till he be thoroughly
chastised, believe him not, but think him a spirit of
error. Surely if the Queen do not chastise him in
Ulster, he will chase all hers out of Ireland. Her
Majesty must make up her mind to the expense, and
chastise this cannibal. She must send money in such
sort as I may pay the garrison throughout. The
present soldiers, who are idle, treacherous, and in-
corrigible, must be changed. Better have no soldiers
than those that are here now — and the wages must be
paid. It must be done at last, and to do it at once will
be a saving in the end. My dear Lord, press these
things on the Queen. If I have not money, and
O'Neil make war, I will not promise to encounter with
him till he come to Dublin. Give me money, and
though I have but five hundred to his four thousand, I
will chase him out of the Pale in forty-eight hours. If
I may not have it, for the love you bear me have me
home again. I have great confidence in Lord Kildare.
As to Sussex and Arnold, it is true that all things are
in disorder and decay ; but the fault was not with them
— impute it to the iniquity of the times. These
VOL. vii. 35
546 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 46.
malicious people so hated Sussex as to ruin him they
would have ruined all. Arnold has done well and
faithfully; and Kildare very well. Remember this.,
and if possible let him have the next garter that is
vacant.' l
To the long letter to his brother-in-law, Sidney
added a few words equally anxious and earnest to Cecil.
1 Ireland/ he said, ' would be no small loss to the
English Crown, and it was never so like to be lost as
now. O'Neil has already all Ulster, and if the French
were so eager about Calais, think what the Irish are to
recover their whole island. I love no wars ; but I had
rather die than Ireland should be lost in my govern-
ment/ 2
Evidently, notwithstanding all his urgency before
he left England, notwithstanding the promises which
he extracted from Elizabeth, the treasury doors were
still locked. Months had passed ; arrears had continued
to grow ; the troops had become more disorganized
than ever, and the summer was coming, which would
bring O'Neil and his galloglasse into the Pale, while
the one indispensable step was still un taken which
must precede all preparations to meet him. Nor did
these most pressing letters work any speedy change.
March went by and April came ; and the
smacks from Holy head sailed up the Liffey,
but they brought no money for Sidney and no de-
spatches. At length, unable to bear his suspense and
1 Sidney to Leicester, March 5 (condensed) : Irish MSS. Rolls House.
8 Sidney to Cecil, March, 1566: MS. Ibid.
1566.] DEATH OF a NEIL. 547
disappointment longer, he wrote again to Leicester : —
' My Lord, if I be not speedier advertised of her
Highness' s pleasure than hitherto I have been, all will
come to naught here, and before God and the world I
will lay the fault on England, for there is none here
By force or by fair means the Queen may have any-
thing that she will in this country if she will minister
means accordingly, and with no great charge. If she
will resolve of nothing, for her Majesty's advantage
and for the benefit of this miserable country, persuade
her Highness to withdraw me, and pay and discharge
this garrison. As I am, and as this garrison is paid, I
undo myself; the country is spoiled by the soldiers,
and in no point defended. Help it, my Lord, for the
honour of God one way or the other/ x
Two days later a London post came in, and with it
letters from the council. The help would have been sent
long since had it rested with them. On the receipt of
his first letter, they had agreed unanimously that every
wish should be complied with. Money, troops, discre-
tionary power — all should have been his — 'so much
was every man's mind inclined to the extirpation of
that proud rebel, Shan.' The Munster council, which
had hung fire also, should have been set on foot without
a day's delay ; and Sir Warham St Leger, according
to Sidney's recommendation, would have been appointed
the first President. Elizabeth only had fallen into one
of her periodic fits of ill-humour and irresolution, and
Sidney to Leicester, April 13 : Irish MSS. Rolls House.
548
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[en. 46.
would neither consent nor refuse. She had not ques-
tioned the justice of Sidney's report ; she was * heated
and provoked with the monster ' who was the cause of
so much difficulty. Yet to ask her for money was to
ask her for her heart's blood. ' Your lordship's experi-
ence of negotiation here in such affairs with her Ma-
jesty/ wrote Cecil, ' can move you to bear patiently
some storms in the expedition ; ' ' the charge was
the hindrance ; ' and while she could not deny that
it was necessary, she could not forgive the plain-
ness with which the necessity had been forced upon
her.
She quarrelled in detail with everything which
Sidney did ; she disapproved of the Munster council
because Ireland could not pay for it ; and it was use-
less to tell her that Ireland must be first brought into
obedience. She was irritated because Sidney, unable to
see with sufficient plainness the faults of Desmond and
the exclusive virtues of Ormond, had refused to adjudi-
cate without the help of English lawyers, in a quarrel
which he did not understand. She disapproved of Sir
Warham St Leger because his father Sir Anthony had
been on bad terms with the father of Ormond; she
insisted that Sidney should show favour to Ormond, ' in
memory of his education with that holy young Solomon
King Edward ; ' * and she complained bitterly of the
employment of Stukely.
It was not till April was far advanced that the
Cecil to Sidney, March 27 : Irish MSS. Rolls House.
1566.] DEATH OF G1 NEIL. 549
council forced her by repeated importunities to consent
that ' Shan should be extirpated ; ' and even then she
would send only half of what was wanted to pay the
arrears of the troops. 'Considering the great sums of
money demanded and required of her in Ireland and
elsewhere, she would be most glad that for reformation
of the rebel any other way might be devised/ and she-
affronted the Deputy by sending Sir Francis Knowles
to control his expenditure. If force could not be dis-
pensed with, Sir Francis might devise an economical
campaign. /The cost of levying troops in England
was four times as great as it used to be ; ' and it would
be enough, she thought, if five or six hundred men
were employed for a few weeks in the summer.
O'Donnell, O'Reilly, and M'Guyre might be restored
to their castles, and they could then be disbanded.1
Such, at least, was her own opinion ; should those how-
ever who had better means of knowing the truth con-
clude that the war so conducted would be barren of
result, she agreed with a sigh that they must have their
way. She desired only that the cost might be as small
as possible ; ' the fortification of Berwick and the
payment of our foreign debts falling very heavily
on her.' 2
Such was ever Elizabeth's character. She had receiv-
ed the crown encumbered with a debt which with self-
denying thrift she was laboriously reducing, and she
1 Instructions to Sir F. Knowles. By the Queen, April 18 : Irish MSS
Rolls House.
• Ibid.
REIGN OF E LIZ ABE TH.
[CH. 46.
had her own reasons for disliking over- frequent sessions
of Parliament. At the last extremity she would yield
usually to what the public service demanded, but she
gave with grudging hand and irritated temper ; and
while she admitted the truth, she quarrelled with those
who brought it home to her.
Shan meanwhile was preparing for war. He doubted
his ability to overreach Elizabeth any more by words
and promises, while the growth of the party of the
Queen of Scots, his own connection with her, and the
Catholic reaction in England and Scotland, encouraged
him to drop even the faint disguise behind which he
had affected to shield himself. He mounted brass ' ar-
tillery ' in Dundrum Castle, and in LifFord at the head
of Lough Foyle. The friendship with Argyle grew
closer, and another wonderful marriage scheme was in
progress for the alliance between the Houses of M'Cal-
lum-More and O'Neil. * The Countess ' was to be sent
away, and Shan was to marry the widow of James
M'Connell whom he had killed — who was another half-
sister of Argyle, and whose daughter he had married
already and divorced. This business ' was said to be
the Earl's practice/ 1 The Irish chiefs, it seemed, three
thousand years behind the world, retained the habits
and the moralities of the Greek princes in the tale of
Troy, when the bride of the slaughtered husband was
the willing prize of the conqueror ; and when only a
rare Andromache was found to envy the fate of a sister
Sidney to the English Council, April 1 5 : Irish MSS. Rolls House.
1566.] DEATH OF a NEIL. 551
' Who had escaped the bed of some victorious lord.'
Aware that Sidney's first effort would be the restora-
tion of O'Donnell, O'Neil commenced the campaign with
a fresh invasion of Tyrconnell, where O'Donnell's
brother still held out for England ; he swept round by
Lough Erne, swooped on the remaining cattle of
M'Guyre, and ' struck terror and admiration into the
Irishry.' 1 Then stretching out his hands for foreign s-
help, he wrote in the style of a king to Charles the
Ninth of France.
' Your Majesty's father, King Henry, in
times past required the Lords of Ireland to
join with him against the heretic Saxon, the enemies of
Almighty God, the enemies of the Holy Church of Rome,
your Majesty's enemies and mine.2 God would not per-
mit that alliance to be completed, notwithstanding the
hatred borne to England by all of Irish blood, until
your Majesty had become King in France, and I was
Lord of Ireland. The time is come however when we
all are confederates in a common bond to drive the in-
vader from our shores ; and we now beseech your Ma-
jesty to send us six thousand well-armed men. If you
will grant our request there will soon be no Englishman
left alive among us, and we will be your Majesty's sub*
jects evermore. Help us, we implore you, to expel the
heretics and schismatics, and to bring back our country
to the holy Roman See.' 3
1 The Bishop of Meath to Sussex, April 27, 1566 : WRIGHT, vol. i.
2 ' Vestra Majestatis et nostrae simul inimicos.'
3 O'Neil to Charles IX. 1566: Irish MSS. Rolls House.
5S2
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
[CH. 46.
The letter never reached its destination ; it fell into
English hands. Yet in the 'tickle' state of Europe
and with the progress made by Mary Stuart, French in-
terference was an alarming possibility. More anxious
and more disturbed than ever, Elizabeth made Sidney
her scapegoat. Lord Sussex, ill repaying Sir Henry's
generous palliation of his own shortcomings, envious of
the ability of Leicester's brother-in-law, and wishing to
escape the charge which he had so well deserved of being
the cause of Shan's ' greatness,' whispered in her ear
that in times past Sidney had been thought to favour
' that great rebel ; ' that he had addressed him long be-
fore in a letter by the disputed title of ' O'Neil,' and was
perhaps his secret ally.
Elizabeth did not seriously believe this preposterous
story ; but it suited her humour to listen to a suspicion
which she could catch at as an excuse for economy. The
preparations for war were suspended, and instead of re-
ceiving supplies, Sidney learnt only that the Queen had
spoken unworthy words of him.
Sidney's blood was hot ; he was made of bad mate-
rials for a courtier. He wrote at once to Elizabeth her-
self, ' declaring his special grief at hearing that he was
fallen from her favour,' and ' that she had given credit
to that improbable slander raised upon him by the Earl
of Sussex.' He wrote to the council, entreating them
not to allow these idle stories to relax their energies in
suppressing the rebellion ; but he begged them at the
same time to consider his own ' unaptness to reside any
longer in Ireland, or to be an actor in the war.' The words
.1566.] DEATH OF O1 NEIL. 553
which the Queen had used of him were gone abroad in
the world. ' He could find no obedience.' ' His credit
being gone, his power to be of service was gone also/
He therefore demanded his immediate recall ' that he '—
might preserve the small remnant of his patrimony al-
ready much diminished by his coming to Ireland/
As for the charge brought against him by the Earl of
Sussex, he would reply with his sword and body
' against an accusation concealed hitherto he knew not
with what duty, and uttered at last with impudency and
unshamefastness/ l
But Elizabeth meant nothing less than to recall ,
Sidney. She neither distrusted his loyalty nor ques-
tioned his talents ; she chose merely to find fault with
him while she made use of his services. It was her habit
towards those among her subjects whom she particularly
valued. Sir Francis Knowles when he arrived at Dublin
could report only that Sidney had gained the love and
the admiration of every one ; and that his plan for pro-
ceeding against O'Neil was the first which had ever
promised real success. Campaigns in Ireland had hither-
to been no more than summer forays — mere inroads of
devastation during the few dry weeks of August and
September. Sidney proposed to commence at the end of
the harvest, when the corn was gathered in, and could
either be seized or destroyed ; and to keep the field
through the winter and spring. It would be expensive ;
but money well laid out was the best economy in the
Sidney to the English Council, May 18 : Irish MSS. Rolls House.
554 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 46.
end, and Sidney undertook, if he was allowed as many
men as he thought requisite, and was not interfered
with, ' to subdue, kill, or expel Shan, and reduce Ulster
to as good order as any part of Ireland.' l
At first Elizabeth would not hear of it ; she would
not ruin herself for any such harebrained madness. The
Deputy must defend the Pale through the summer, and
the attack on O'Neil, if attempted at all, should be de-
layed till the spring ensuing. But Sir Francis, who
was sent to prevent expense, was the foremost to insist
on the necessity of it. He explained that in the cold
Irish springs the fields were bare, the cattle were lean,
and the weather was so uncertain, that neither man nor
horse could bear it ; whereas in August food everywhere
was abundant, and the soldiers would have time to be-
come hardened to their work. They could winter some-
where on the Bann, harry Tyrone night and day with-
out remission, and so break Shan to the ground and
ruin him. Two brigantines would accompany the army
with supplies, and control the passage between Antrim
and the Western Isles ; and beyond all, Knowles re-
echoed what Sidney had said before him on the neces-
sity of paying wages to the troops instead of leaving
them to pay themselves at the expense of the people.
Nothing was really saved, for the debts would have
eventually to be paid, and paid with interest — while
meanwhile the * inhabitants of the Pale were growing
hostile to the English rule.' 2
1 Sidney to Cecil, April 17; Irish MSS. Rolls House.
2 Sir F. Knowles to Cecil, May 19: Irish MSS. Soils House.
1566.] DEATH OF a NEIL. 555
The danger to the State could hardly be exaggerated.
M'Guyre had come into Dublin, with his last cottage in
ashes, and his last cow driven over the hills into Shan's
country ; Argyle, with the whole disposable force of the
Western Isles, was expected in person in Ulster in the
summer.
Elizabeth's irritation had been unable to wait till she
had received Knowles's letters. She made herself a judge
of Sidney's projects ; she listened to Sussex who told
her that they were wild and impossible. Whether
Sussex was right or Sidney was right, she was called
upon to spend money ; and while she knew that she -
would have to do it, she continued to delay and make
difficulties, and to vex Sidney with her letters.
His temper boiled over again.
* I testify to God, to her Highness, and to
you/ he wrote on the 3rd of June to Cecil,
1 that all the charge is lost that she is at with this man-
ner of proceeding. O'Neil will be tyrant of all Ireland
if he be not speedily withstood. He hath, as I hear, won
the rest of O'Donnell's castles; he hath confederated
with the Scots ; he is now in M'Guyre's country. All
this summer he will spend in Connaught ; next winter
in the English Pale. It may please the Queen to
appoint some order for Munster — for it will be a mad
Munster in haste else. I will give you all my land in
Rutlandshire to get me leave to go into Hungary, and
think myself bound to you while I live. I trust there
to do my country some honour : here I do neither good
to the Queen, to the country, nor myself. I take- my
556 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 46.
leave in haste, as a thrall forced to live in loathsome-
ness of life.' l
The council, finding Sidney's views accepted and
endorsed by Knowles, united to recommend them ; a
schedule was drawn out of the men, money, and stores
which would be required ; a thousand of the best troops
in Berwick, with eight hundred Irish, was the increase
estimated as necessary for the army ; and the wages of
eighteen hundred men for six months would amount to
ten thousand four hundred and eighty pounds. Sixteen
thousand pounds was already due to the Irish garrison.
• The provisions, arms, clothes, and ammunition would
cost four thousand five hundred pounds ; and four thou-
sand pounds in addition would be wanted for miscella-
neous services.2
Ihe reluctance of Elizabeth to engage in an Irish
campaign was not diminished by a demand for thirty-
four thousand nine hundred pounds. Sussex continued
malignant and mischievous, and there was many a
Catholic about the Court who secretly wished O'Neil to
succeed. ' The Court,' wrote Cecil to Sidney, 'is not free
from many troubles — amongst others none worse than
emulations, disdains, backbitings, and such like, whereof
I see small hope of diminution/
The Queen at the beginning refused to allow more
than six hundred men to be sent from England or more
than four hundred to be raised in Ireland. To no pur-
pose Cecil insisted ; in vain Leicester challenged Sussex
1 Sidney to Cecil, June 3. Irish MSS. Rolls House.
x Notes for the army in Ireland, May 30. In Cecil's hand : MS. Ibid.
I566.J DEATH OF a NEIL. 557
and implored his mistress to give way. ' Her Majesty
was absolutely determined.' The Ormond business had
created fresh exasperation. Sir Henry, though admiring
and valuing the Earl of Ormond's high qualities, had
persisted in declaring himself unable to decide the liti-
gated questions between the house of Butler and the
Desmonds. Archbishop Kirwan, the Irish Chancellor,
was old and incapable ; the Deputy had begged for the
assistance of some English lawyers ; * but such evil
report had Ireland that no English lawyer would go
there.' 1 The Queen flew off from the campaign to the less
expensive question. Lawyer or no lawyer, she insisted
that judgment should be given in Ormond's favour.
She complained that the Deputy was partial to Desmond,
and — especially wounding Sidney, whose chief success
had been in the equity of his administration, and whose
first object had been to check the tyrannical exactions
of the Irish noblemen — she required him to make an
exception in Ormond's favour, and permit 'coyn and
livery/ the most mischievous of all the Irish imposts, to
be continued in Kilkenny.
' I am extremely sorry,' Sidney replied to Cecil, when
the order reached him; 'I am extremely sorry to receive
her Majesty's command to permit the Earl of Ormond to
exercise coyn and livery, which have been the curse of
this country, and which I hoped to have ended wholly.
I would write more, if I did not hope to have my recall
by the next east wind. Only weigh what I have said.
1 Cecil to Sidney, June 16: Irish MSS. Soils House.
558 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 46.
Whatever becomes of me you will have as woeful a busi-
ness here as. you had in Calais if you do not look to it in
time/ 1
Elizabeth was not contented till she had written out
her passion to Sidney with her own hand. She told him
that she disapproved of all that he was doing. If he
chose to persist, she would give him half the men that
he required, and with those he might do what he could
on his own responsibility.2 It seemed however that she
had relieved her feelings as soon as she had expressed
them. A week later she yielded to all that was required
of her. Cecil soothed Sidney's anger with a gracious
message ; 3 Sidney, since she was pleased to have it so,
consented to remain and do his duty; and thus, after
two months had been consumed in quarrels, the prepara-
tions for the war began in earnest.
The troops from England were to go direct to Lough
Foyle ; to land at the head of the lake and to move up
to Liiford, where they were to entrench themselves and
wait for the Deputy, who would advance from the Pale
to join them. The command was given to Colonel
Edward Randolph, an extremely able officer who had
served at Havre ; and the men were marched as fast as
they could be raised to Bristol, the port from which the
expedition was to sail, while Sidney was setting a rare
example in Dublin, and spending the time till he could
take the field ' in hearing the people's causes/
1 Sidney to Cecil, June 24 : Irish MSS. Rolls House
2 Elizabeth to Sidney, June 15 : MS. Ibid.
3 Cecil to Sidney, June 24 : MS. Ibid
1566.] DEATH OF a NEIL. 559
Shau O'Neil finding that no help was to
July.
be looked for from France, and that mischief
was seriously intended against him, tried a stroke of
treachery. He wrote to Sidney to say that he wished
to meet him, and a spot near Dundalk being chosen for
a conference, he filled the woods in the neighbourhood
with his people and intended to carry off the Deputy as
a prize. Sir Henry was too wary to be caught. He
came to the Border on the 25th of July ; but he came
in sufficient strength to defend himself; Shan did not
appear, and waiting till Sidney had returned to Dublin,
made a sudden attempt on the 2Qth to seize Dundalk.
Young Fitzwilliam, who was in command of the Eng-
lish garrison there, was on the alert. The surprise
failed. The Irish tried an assault but were beaten back,
and eighteen heads were left behind to grin hideously
over the gates. Shan himself drew back into Tyrone :
to prevent a second occupation of Armagh Cathedral by
an English garrison, he burnt it to the ground; and
sent a swift messenger to Desmond to urge him to rise
in Munster. * Now was the time or never to set upon
the enemies of Ireland. If Desmond failed or turned
against his country, God would avenge it on him/1
Had Sidney allowed himself to be forced
September.
into the precipitate decision which Elizabeth
had urged upon him, the Geraldines would have made
common cause with O'Neil. But so long as the Eng-
lish Government was just, Desmond did not care to carve
1 Commendation from O'Neil to John of Desmond, September 9 : Irish
MSS. Rolls House.
560 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [cir. 46.
a throne for a Celtic chief ; he replied with sending an
offer to the Deputy ' to go against the rehel with all his
power.' Still more opportunely the Earl of Murray at
the last moment detached Argyle from the pernicious
and monstrous alliance into which he had been led by
his vindictiveness against Elizabeth. The Scots of the
Isles, freed from the commands of their feudal sovereign,
resumed their old attitude of fear and hatred. Shan
offered them all Antrim to join him, all the cattle in
the country and the release of Surlyboy from captivity ;
but Antrim and its cattle they believed that they could
recover for themselves, and James M'Connell had left a
brother Allaster who was watching with eager eyes for
an opportunity to revenge the death of his kinsman
and the dishonour with which Shan had stained his
race.
The Scots, though still few in number, hung as a cloud
over the north-east. Dropping boat-loads of Highland-
ers from the Isles were guided to the coast by the beacon-
fires which blazed nightly over the giant columns of
Fairhead. Allaster M'Connell offered his services to
Sidney as soon as the game should begin ; and Shan,
after all, instead of conquering Ireland might have
enough to do to hold his own. The weather was un-
favourable and the summer was wet and wild with
westerly gales. Sir Edward Horsey, who was sent with
money from London, was detained half August at Holy-
head; Colonel Randolph and his thousand men were
chafing for thirty days at Bristol, ' fearing that their
enemies the winds would let them that they should not
:
1566.] £>£A Ttf OP 0s NEIL. 56*
help Shan to gather his harvest ; ' 1 and Sidney as from
time to time some fresh ungracious letter came from
Elizabeth would break into a rage again and press Cecil
' for his recall from that accursed country/ 2 Otherwise
however the prospects grew brighter with tLe autumn.
In the second week in September the Bristol transports
were seen passing into the North Channel with a lead
ing breeze. Horsey came over with the money ; the
troops of the Pale with the long due arrears paid up '
were ordered to Drogheda ; and on the 1 7th, assured
that by that time Randolph was in Lough Foyle, the
Deputy, accompanied by Kildare, the old O'Donnell.
Shan M'Gruyre, and another dispossessed chief O'Dog-
herty, took the field.
Passing Armagh, which they found a mere heap of
blackened stones, they reached the Blackwater on the
23rd. On an island in a lake near the river there stood
one of those many robber castles which lend in their
ruin such romantic beauty to the inland waters of Ire-
land. Report said that within its walls Shan had stored
much of his treasure, and the troops were eager to take
it. Sidney selected from among the many volunteers
such only as were able to swim, and a bridge was ex-
temporized with brushwood floated upon barrels. The
army was without artillery ; it had been found imprac-
ticable to carry a single cannon over roadless bog and
mountain, and the storming party started with hand-
1 Edward Randolph to Cecil from Bristol, September 3 : Irish
Rolls House.
- Sidney to Cecil, September 10 : MS. Ibid.
VOL. vn. 36
562 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 46,
grenades to throw over the walls. The bridge proved
too slight for its work ; slipping and splashing through
the water the men. got over, but their ' fireworks ' were
wetted in the passage and they found themselves at the
foot of thirty feet of solid masonry without ladders and
with no weapons but their bows and battle-axes. ' The
place was better defended and more strongly fortified '
than Sidney had supposed. Several of the English were
killed and many more were wounded ; and the Deputy
had the prudence to waste no more valuable lives or
equally valuable days upon an enterprise which when
accomplished would be barren of result. On the 24th
the army crossed the river into Shan's own country.
The Irish hung on their skirts but did not venture to
molest them, and they marched without obstruction to
Benbrook, one of O'Neil's best and largest houses, which
they found * utterly burnt and razed to the ground.'
From Benbrook they went on towards Clogher, through
pleasant fields and villages ' so well inhabited as no Irish
county in the realm was like it : ' it was the very park
if preserve into which the plunder of Ulster had been
gathered ; where the people enjoyed the profits of un-
limited pillage from which till then they had been them-
selves exempt. The Bishop of Clogher was a 'rebel/
and was out with Shan in the field ; his well-fattened
flock were devoured by Sidney's men as by a flight of
Egyptian locusts. ' There we stayed/ said Sidney, 'to
destroy the corn ; we burned the country for twenty-
four miles' compass, and we found by experience that
now was the time of the year to do the rebel most hurt.'
1566.] DEATH OF a NEIL. 563
Here died M'Guyre at the monastery of Omagh within
sight of the home to which he was returning by the
pleasant shores of Lough Erne. Here too the Earl of
Kildare nearly escaped being taken prisoner: he was
surprised with a small party in a wood, attacked with
' harquebusses and Scottish arrows/ and hardly cut his
way through.
Detained longer than he intended by foul
October,
weather, Sidney broke up from Omagh on the
2nd of October, crossed ' the dangerous and swift river
there,' 'and rested that night on a neck of land near a
broken castle of Tirlogh Lenogh, called the Salmon
Castle/ On the 3rd he was over the Deny, and by the
evening he had reached Lifford, where he expected to
find Randolph and the English army.
At Lifford however no English were to be discovered,
but only news of them.
Randolph, to whose discretion the ultimate choice
of his quarters had been committed, had been struck as
he came up Lough Foyle with the situation of Deny.
Nothing then stood on the site of the present city save
a decrepit and deserted monastery of Augustine monks,
which was said to have been built in the time of St
Columba ; but the eye of the English commander saw
in the form of the ground, in the magnificent lake, and
the splendid tide river, a site for the foundation of a
powerful colony suited alike for a military station and
a commercial and agricultural town. There therefore
Colonel Randolph had landed his men, and there Sid-
ney joined him, and after a careful survey entirely
564 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [cri. 46.
approved his judgment. The monastery with a few
sheds attached to it provided shelter. The English
troops had not been idle, and had already entrenched
themselves 'in a very warlike manner/ O'Donnell,
O'Dogherty, and the other friends of England ' agreed
all of them that it was the very best spot in the north-
ern counties to build a city.'
At all events for present purposes the northern force
was to remain there during the winter. Sidney stayed
a few days at Derry, and then leaving Randolph with
650 men, 350 pioneers, and provisions for two months,
continued his own march. His object was to replace
O'Donnell in possession of his own country and castles,
restore O'Dogherty and the other chiefs and commit
them to the protection of Randolph, while he himself
would sweep through the whole northern province, en-
courage the loyal clans to return to their allegiance, and
show the people generally that there was no part of
Ireland to which the arm of the Deputy could not
reach to reward the faithful and punish the rebellious.
Donegal was his next point after leaving Lough
Foyle — once a thriving town inhabited by English colo-
nists— at the time of Sidney's arrival a pile of ruins, in
the midst of which, like a wild beast's den strewed
round with mangled bones, rose ' the largest and
strongest castle which he had seen in Ireland.' It was
held by one of O'DonnelPs kinsmen, to whom Shan —
to attach him to his cause — had given his sister for a
wife. At the appearance of the old chief with the
English army it was immediately surrendered. O'Don-
1 560.] DEATH OF a NEIL. 565
nell was at last rewarded for liis fidelity and sufferings,
and the whole tribe with eager protestations of allegi-
ance gave sureties for their future loyalty.
Leaving O'Donnell in possession, and scarcely paus-
ing to rest his troops, Sidney again went forward. On
the 1 9th he was at Bally shannon ; on the 2 2nd at
Sligo ; on the 24th he passed over the bogs and moun-
tains of Mayo into Roscommon ; and then, 'leaving
behind them as fruitful a country as was in England
or Ireland all utterly waste/ the army turned their
faces homewards, waded the Shannon at Athlone for
lack of a bridge on the 26th, and so back to the Pale.
Twenty castles had been taken as they went along, and
left in hands that could be trusted. ' In all that long
and painful journey/ Sidney was able to say that
' there had not died of sickness but three persons ; ' men
and horses were brought back in full health and
strength, while ' her Majesty's honour was re-established
among the Irishry and grown to no small veneration ' i
—an expedition 'comparable only to Alexander's journey
into Bactria/ wrote an admirer of Sidney to Cecil — re-
vealing what to Irish eyes appeared the magnitude of
the difficulty, and forming a measure of the effect which it
produced. The English Deputy had bearded Shan in
his stronghold, burnt his houses, pillaged his people,
and had fastened a body of police in the midst of them
to keep them waking in the winter nights. He had
penetrated the hitherto impregnable fortresses of moun-
1 Sir H. Sidney and the Earl of Kildare to Elizabeth, November 12:
Irish MSS. Rolls House.
566 REIGN OF ELIZABEl^lI. [011.46
tain and morass. The Irish, who had been faithful to
England, were again in safe possession of their lands
and homes. The weakest, maddest, and wildest Celts
were made aware that when the English were once
roused to effort, they could crush them as the lion
crushes the jackal.
Meantime Lord Ormond had carried his complaints
to London, and the letter which Sidney found waiting
his return was not what a successful commander might
have expected from his sovereign. Before he started
he had repeated his refusal to determine a cause which
he did not understand without the help of lawyers.
There was no one in Ireland of whom he thought more
highly than of Lord Ormond ; there was none that he
would more gladly help ; but disputed and complicated
titles to estates were questions which he was unable to
enter into. He could do nothing till the cause had been
properly heard; and in the existing humour of the
country it would have been mere madness to have led
Desmond to doubt the equity of the English Govern-
ment. But Sidney 's modest and firm defence found no
favour with Elizabeth. While he was absent in the
North, she wrote to Sir Edward Horsey desiring him
to tell the Deputy that she was ill satisfied with his
proceedings ; he had allowed himself to be guided by
Irish advisers ; he had been partial to Desmond ; ' he
that had least deserved favour had been most borne
-withal/ While, in fact, he had done more for Ireland
in the eight months of his government than any Eng-
lish ruler since Sir Edward Bellingham, the Queen in-
sisted that he had attended to none of her wishes and
1566.] DEATH OF a NEIL. 567
had occupied himself wholly with matters of no import-
ance.
Most likely she did not believe what she said ; but
Sidney was costing her money and she relieved herself
by finding fault.
' My good Lord/ Cecil was obliged to write to him
to prevent an explosion, 'next to my most hearty
commendations I do with all my heart condole and take
part of sorrow to see your burden of government so
great, and your comfort from hence so uncertain. I
feel by myself— being also here wrapped in miseries,
and tossed, with my small vessel of wit and means,
in a sea swelling with storms of envy, malice, disdain,
and suspicion — what discomfort they commonly have
that mean to deserve best of their country. And
though I confess myself unable to give you advice,
and being almost desperate myself of well-doing, yet
for the present I think it best for you to run still an
even course in government, with indiffereiicy in case
of justice to all persons, and in case of favour, to
let them which do well find their comfort by you ;
and in other causes in your choice to prefer them
whom you find the Prince most disposed to have
favoured. My Lord of Ormond doth take this com-
modity by being here to declare his own griefs ; I seo
the Queen's Majesty so much misliking of the Earl ol
Desmond as surely I think it needful for you to be very
circumspect in ordering of the complaints exhibited
against him/ 1
1 Cecil to Sidney, October 20 : Irish MSti. Rolls House.
568 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 46.
It must be admitted that Eli/abeth's letter to Hor-
sey was written at the crisis of tlie succession quarrel
in Parliament, and that her not unprovoked ill-humour
was merely venting itself upon the first object which
came across her : nor had she at that time heard of
Sidney's successes in Ulster, and probably she despaired
of ever hearing of successes. Yet when she did hear,
the tone of her letters was scarcely altered ; she
alluded to his services only to reiterate her complaints ;
and she would not have gone through the form of
thanking him, had not Cecil inserted a few words of
acknowledgment in the draft of her despatch.1 Sid-
ney's patience was exhausted. Copies of the Queen's
disparaging letters were circulated privately in Dublin,
obtained he knew not how, but with fatal effect upon
his influence. He had borne Elizabeth's 'caprices long
enough. 'For God's sake,' he wrote angrily on the
1 5th of November in answer to Cecil's letter,
' for God's sake get my recall ; the people
here know what the Queen thinks of me, and I .can do
no good.' 2
From these unprofitable bickerings the story must
return to Colonel Randolph and the garrison of Deny.
For some weeks after Sidney's departure all had gone on
prosperously. The country people, though well paid for
everything, were slow to bring in provisions ; the bread
ran short ; and the men had been sent out poorly pro-
1 The words ' for which we are bound to thank you ' are inserted in
Cecil's hand.— The Queen to Sidney, November, 1566.
2 Irish MSS. Rolls House.
1566.] DEATH OF a NEIL. 569
vided with shoes or tools or clothes. But foraging
parties drove in sufficient beef to keep them in fresh
meat. Randolph, who seems to have been a man of fine
foresight, had sent to the English Pale for a supply of
forage before the winter set in ; he had written to Eng-
land ' for shirts, kerseys, canvas, and leather ; ' he kept
Cecil constantly informed of the welfare and wants of
the troops ; 1 and for some time they were healthy and in
high spirits, and either worked steadily at the fortress or
were doing good service in the field.
While Sidney was in Connaught, Shan, who had fol-
lowed him to Lifford, turned back upon the Pale, expect-
ing to find it undefended. He was encountered by Sir
Warham St Leger, lost two hundred men, and was at
first hunted back over the Border. He again returned
however with 'a main army/ burnt several villages, and
in a second fight with St Leger was more successful ; the
English were obliged to retire ' for lack of more aid; ' but
they held together in good order, and Shan with the
Derry. garrison in his rear durst not follow far from
home in pursuit. Before he could revenge himself on
Sidney, before he could stir against the Scots, before he
could strike a blow at O'Donnell, he must pluck out the
barbed dart which was fastened in his unguarded side.
Knowing that he would find it no easy task, he was
hovering cautiously in the neighbourhood of Lough
Foyle, when Randolph fell upon him by surprise on the
1 2th of November. The O'Neils fled after a short, sharp
Edward Randolph to Cecil, October 27 : Irish MSS. Molls House.
570 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 46.
action. O'Dogherty with his Irish horse chased the
flying crowd, killing every man he caught, and Shan
recovered himself to find he had lost four hundred men
of the bravest of his followers. More fatal overthrow
neither he nor any other Irish chief had yet received at
English hands. But* the success was dearly bought ;
Colonel Randolph himself leading the pursuit was struck
by a random shot and fell dead from his horse. The
Irish had fortunately suffered too severely to profit by
his loss. Shan's motley army, held together as it was
by the hope of easily-bought plunder, scattered when the
service became dangerous. Sidney, allowing him no rest,
struck in again beyond Dundalk, burning his farms and
capturing his castles.1 The Scots came in over the Bann,
wasting the country all along the river side. Allaster
M'Connell, like some chief of Sioux Indians, sent to the
Captain of Knockfergus an account of the cattle that he
had driven, and * the wives and bairns ' that he had
slain.2 Like swarms of angry hornets these avenging
savages drove their stings into the now maddened and
desperate Shan, on every point where they could fasten ;
while in December the old O'Donnell came out
December.
over the mountains from Donegal, and paid
back O'Neil with interest for his stolen wife, his pillaged
country, and his own long imprisonment and exile. The
tide of fortune had turned too late for his own revenge :
1 Sidney to the Lords of the Council, December 12 : Irish MSS. Roll*
House.
~ Allaster M'Connell to the Captain of Knockfergus ; enclosed in u
letter of R. Piers to Sir H. Sidney, December 15 : MS. Ibid.
1566.] DEATH OF O1 NEIL. 571
worn out with his long sufferings he fell from his horse
at the head of his people with the stroke of death upon
him ; but before he died he called his kinsmen about
him and prayed them to be true to England and their
Queen, and Hugh O'Donnell, who succeeded to his father's
command, went straight to Derry and swore allegiance
to the English Crown.
Tyrone was now smitten in all its borders. Magennis
was the last powerful chief who still adhered to Shan's
fortunes ; the last week in the year Sidney carried fire
and sword through his country and left him not a hoof
remaining. It was to no purpose that Shan, bewildered
by the rapidity with which disasters were piling them-
selves upon him, cried out now for pardon and peace,
the Deputy would not answer his letter, and ' nothing
was talked of but his extirpation by war only.' 1
A singular tragedy interrupted for a time the tide of
English success, although the first blows had been struck
by so strong a hand that Shan could not rally from
them. The death of Randolph had left the garrison at
Derry as — in the words of one of them — a headless
people.2 Food and clothing fell short, and there was no
longer foresight to anticipate or authority to remedy
the common wants of troops on active service. Sickness
set in. By the middle of November ' the flux was reign-
ing among them wonderfully.' 3 Strong men soon after
were struck suddenly dead by a mysterious disorder
1 Sidney to the English Council, January 18: Irish MSS. Rolls Home.
2 Geoffrey Vaughan to Admiral Winter, December 18: MS. Ibid.
3 Wilfred to Cecil, November 15 : MS. Ibid.
572 RAIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 46.
which 110 medicine would cure and 110 precaution would
prevent. It appeared at last that either in ignorance or
carelessness they had built their sleeping quarters over
the burial-ground of the Abbey, and the clammy vapour
had stolen into their lungs and poisoned them. As .soon
as their distress was known, supplies in abundance were
sent from England ; but the vices of modern administra-
tion had already infected the public service, and a cargo
of meal destined for the garrison of Derry went astray
to Florida. No subordinate officer ventured to take the
vacant command. 'Many of our best men/ Captain
Vaughan wrote a few days before Christmas, ' go away
because there is none to stay them ; many have died ;
God comfort us ! ' 1
1567. Colonel St Loo came at last in the beginning
February. of fae new vear> ^he pestilence for a time
abated, and the spirits of the men revived. St Loo, to
quicken their blood, let them at once into the enemy's
country; they returned after a foray of a few days
driving before them seven hundred horses and a thou-
sand cattle ; 2 and the Colonel wrote to Sidney to say
that with three hundred additional men ' he could so
hunt the rebel that ere May was past he should not show
his face in Ulster/
Harder pressed than ever, Shan O'Neil, about the
time when the Queen of Scots was bringing her matri-
1 Vaughan to Winter, December 18 : Irish MSS. Rolls House.
- St Loo in his despatch says 10,000. He must have added one cipher
at least.— St Loo to Sidney, February 8 : 7mA MSB. Rolls House.
3 Ibid.
1567.] DEATH OF a NEIL. 573
monial difficulties to their last settlement, made one
more effort to gain allies in France. This time he wrote,
not to the King, but to the Cardinals of Lorraine and
Guise, imploring them, in the name of their great bro-
ther the Duke, who had raised the cross out of the dust
where the unbelieving Huguenots were trampling it, to
bring the fleur-de-lys to the rescue of Ireland from the
grasp of the ungodly English. * Help us ! ' he cried,
blending — Irish like — flattery with entreaty. * When I
was in England I saw your noble brother the Marquis
d'Elbreuf transfix two stags with a single arrow. If the
Most Christian King will not help us, move the Pope to
help us. I alone in this land sustain his cause/1
As the ship laboured in the gale the unprofitable
cargo was thrown overboard. Terence Daniel, relieved
of his crozier, went back to his place among the troopers ;
Creagh was accepted in his place, and taken into confid-
ence and into Shan's household ; all was done to de-
serve favour in earth and heaven, but all was useless.
The Pope sat silent, or muttering his anathemas with
bated breath ; the Guises had too much work on hand
at home to heed the Irish wolf, whom the English having
in vain attempted to trap or poison, were driving to bay
with more lawful weapons.
Success or failure however was alike to
the doomed garrison of Derry. The black
death came back among them after a brief respite, and
to the reeking vapour of the charnel-house it was indif-
1 Shan O'Neil to the Cardinals of Lorraine and Guise, 1567 : MS. Ibid
574 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 46
ferent whether its victims returned in triumph from a
stricken field, or were cooped within their walls by
hordes of savage enemies. By the middle of March
there were left out of eleven hundred men but three
hundred available to fight. Reinforcements had been
raised at Liverpool, but they were countermanded when
on the point of sailing : it was thought idle to send them
to inevitable death. The English council was discuss-
ing the propriety of removing the colony to the Bann,
when accident finished the work which the plague had
begun, and spared them the trouble of deliberation.
The huts and sheds round the monastery had been
huddled together for the convenience of fortification.
At the end of April, probably after a drying east wind,
a fire broke out in a blacksmith's forge, which spread irre-
sistibly through the entire range of buildings. The flames
at last reached the powder magazine ; thirty men were
blown in pieces by the explosion ; and the rest, paralyzed
by this last addition to their misfortunes, made no more
effort to extinguish the conflagration. St Loo, with all
that remained of that ill-fated party, watched from their
provision boats in the river the utter destruction of the
settlement which had begun so happily, and then sailed
drearily away to find a refuge in Knockfergus.
Such was the fate of the first effort for the building
of Londonderry ; and below its later glories, as so often
happens in this world, lay the bones of many a hundred
gallant men who lost their lives in laying its founda-
tions. Elizabeth, who in the immediate pressure of
calamity resumed at once her nobler nature, ' perceiv-
1567 ] DEA TH OF VNEIL. 575
ing the misfortune not to come of treason but of God's
ordinance, bore it well ; ' ' she was willing to do that
which should be wanting to repair the loss ; ' 1 and Cecil
was able to write cheerfully to Sidney, telling him to
make the best of the accident, and let it stimulate him
to fresh exertions.2
Happily the essential work had been done already,
and the ruin of Derry came too late to profit Shan. His
own people, divided and dispirited, were mutinying
against a leader who no longer commanded success. In
May a joint movement was concerted between
Sidney and the O'Donnells, and while the
Deputy with the light horse of the Pale overran Tyrone
and carried off three thousand cattle, Hugh O'Donnell
came down on Shan on the river which runs into Lough
Foyle. The spot where the supremacy of Ulster was
snatched decisively from the ambition of the O'Neils, is
called in the despatches Gaviston. The situation is now
difficult to identify. It was somewhere perhaps between
Lifford and Londonderry, on the west side of the river
Conscious that he was playing his last card, Shan had
gathered together the whole of his remaining force, and
had still nearly three thousand men with him. The
O'Donnells were fewer in number ; but victory, as gener-
ally happens, followed the tide in which events were
setting. After a brief fight the O'Neils broke and fled ;
the enemy was behind them, the river was in front ; and
when the Irish battle-cries had died away over moor and
1 Cecil to Leicester, May, 1567 : Irish MSS. Rolls House.
- ' Et contra audentior ito.'— Cecil to Sidney, May 13 : MS. Ibid.
576 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 46.
mountain, but two hundred survived of those fierce
troopers who were to have cleared Ireland for ever from
the presence of the Saxons. For the rest, the wolves
were snarling over their bodies, and the sea-gulls wheel-
ing over them with scream and cry as they floated down
to their last resting-place beneath the quiet waters of
Lough Foyle. Shan's ' foster-brethren/ faithful to the
last, were all killed ; he himself, with half a dozen com-
rades, rode for his life, pursued by the avenging furies ;
his first desperate intention was to throw himself at
Sidney's feet, with a slave's collar upon his neck ; but
his secretary, Neil M 'Kevin, persuaded him that his
cause was not yet absolutely without hope.
Surlyboy was still a prisoner in the castle at Lough
Neagh ; ' the Countess of Argyle ' had remained with
her ravisher through his shifting fortunes, had continued
to bear him children, and notwithstanding his many in-
fidelities, was still attached to him. M'Kevin told him
that for their sakes, or at their intercession, he might
find shelter and perhaps help among the kindred of the
M'Connells.1
In the far extremity of Antrim, beside the falls of
Isnaleara, where the black valley of GlenariiF opens out
into Red Bay, sheltered among the hills and close upon
the sea, lay the camp of Allaster M'Connell and his
nephew Gillespie. Here on Saturday, the last of May,
appeared Shan O'Neil, with M'Kevin and some fifty
men. He had brought the Countess and his prisoner as
Attainder of Shun O'Neil : Irish Statute Book, u Elizabt-tlt.
1567-] DEATH OF Cf NEIL. 577
peace offerings : he alighted at Allaster's tent, and threw
himself on his hospitality ; and though the blood of the
M'Connells was fresh on his hands he was received ' with
dissembled gratulatory words/ The feud seemed to be
buried in the restoration of Surly boy ; an alliance was
again talked of, and for two days all went well. But
the death of their leaders in the field was not the only
wrong which Shan had offered to the Western Island-
ers : he had divorced James M'ConnelPs daughter ; he
had kept a high-born Scottish lady with him as his
mistress ; and last of all, after killing M'Connell, he had
asked Argyle to give him M'Connell's widow for a wife.
The lady herself, to escape the dishonour, had remained
in concealment in Edinburgh ; but the mention of it had
been taken as a mortal insult by her family.
The third evening, Monday the 2nd of
June, after supper, when the wine and the
whisky had gone freely round, and the blood in Shan's
veins had warmed again, Grillespie M'Connell, who had
watched him from the first with an ill-boding eye,
turned round upon M 'Kevin and asked scornfully
c whether it was he who had bruited abroad that the
lady his aunt did offer to come from Scotland to Ireland
to marry with his master ? '
M 'Kevin, meeting scorn with scorn, said ' that if his
aunt was Queen of Scotland she might be proud to match
the O'Neil/
' It is false ! ' the fierce Scot shouted ; ' my aunt is
too honest a woman to match with her husband's mil?--
derer.'
VOT,. VTT. 37
578 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 46
Shan, who was perhaps drunk, heard the words
and forgetting where he was, flung back the lie in Gil-
lespie's throat. Gillespie sprung to his feet, ran out of
the tent, and raised the slogan of the Isles. A hundred
dirks flashed into the moonlight, and the Irish wher-
ever they could be found were struck down and stabbed.
Some two or three found their horses and escaped ; all
the rest were murdered ; and Shan himself, gashed with
fifty wounds, was ' wrapped in a kern's old shirt ' and
flung into a pit dug hastily among the ruined arches of
Glenarm.
Even there what was left of him was not allowed to
rest ; four days later Piers, the captain of Knockfergus,
hacked the head from the body, and carried it on a
spear's point through Drogheda to Dublin, where staked
upon a spike it bleached on the battlements of the
castle, a symbol to the Irish world of the fate of Celtic
heroes.1
So died Shan O'Neil, one of those champions of Irish
nationality, who under varying features have repeated
themselves in the history of that country with periodic
regularity. At once a drunken ruffian and a keen and
fiery patriot, the representative in his birth of the line
of the ancient kings, the ideal in his character of all
which Irishmen most admired, regardless in his actions
of the laws of God and man, yet the devoted subject in
his creed of the Holy Catholic Church ; with an eye
1 Sir William Fitzwilliam to Cecil, June 10 : Irish MSS. Soils House.
1567-] DEATH OF a NEIL. 579
which could see far beyond the limits of his own island,
and a tongue which could touch the most passionate
chords of the Irish heart ; the like of him has been seen
many times in that island, and the like of him may be
seen many times again, ' till the Ethiopian has changed
his skin and the leopard his spots.'
Many of his letters remain, to the Queen, to Sussex,
to Sidney, to Cecil, and to foreign princes ; far-reaching,
full of pleasant flattery and promises which cost him
nothing; but showing true ability and insight. Sinner
though he was, he too in his turn was sinned against ;
in the stained page of Irish misrule there is no second
instance in which an English ruler stooped to treachery
or to the infamy of attempted assassination ; and it is L
not to be forgotten that Lord Sussex, who has left under
his own hand the evidence of his own baseness, con-
tinued a trusted and favoured councillor of Eliza-
beth, while Sidney, who fought Shan and conquered
him in the open field, found only suspicion and hard
words.
How just Sidney's calculations had been, how ably r"v
his plans were conceived, how bravely they were carried
out, was proved by their entire success, notwithstanding
the unforeseen and unlikely calamity at Londonderry.
In one season Ireland was reduced for the first time to <
universal peace and submission. While the world was
full of Sidney's praises Elizabeth persevered in writing
letters to him which Cecil in his own name and the
name of the council was obliged to disclaim. But
58o REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 46.
at last the Queen too became gradually gracious ; she
condescended to acknowledge that he had recover-
ed Ireland for her crown, and thanked him for his
services.
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