Tell him also that there is nothing which I desire more earnestly than the total uprooting of heresy, and the restitution of the catholic faith in the whole of Britain. But I must leave the entire execution of this great project to those who are moved thereto by the love of God, and the desire of promoting virtue.

Take good heed that the Holy Father shall publicly announce that the pretended marriage contracted between me and Bothwell, without any legality but by a pretended procedure, is of no [force]. For although there are many reasons which, as you know, make it clearly invalid in itself, yet the matter will be much clearer if his holiness, acting as the most certain lawyer of the Church, will come forward to annul it.1 And in order that nothing may appear to be wanting in this matter, I ask you, my father, to act for me in every proceeding which is required for the valid prosecution of the entire cause in the court, and through the whole process, as well in its introduction as its prosecution. Let this caution, however, be carefully observed; let the entire proceeding be conducted as secretly as possible, for if it gets abroad, it may occasion me much trouble and annoyance.

But this I will not

And yet the grave

Let the Holy Father know that the English, who favour my cause in England, have acquainted me privately, that it would conduce much to my advantage if foreign princes would write to Elizabeth asking for my liberation, or at least for a mitigation of the severity of my imprisonment. do without the approval of his holiness. insults which have been offered to a catholic princess, if they remain unpunished, seem to reflect disgrace upon all catholic princes. You may urge the Holy Father, therefore, by his letters, to incite other princes to aid my cause. These letters may conveniently be given to their ambassadors resident in the English court. I have no doubt that if they be written in a friendly spirit they will do much good by producing, if not my liberty, at least some favour and benevolence.

1 "Ad illud dirimendum." The use of this phrase seems to point to the fact that the marriage was null in consequence of an "impedimentum dirimens," namely, "raptus."

NOTE THE FOURTH. (See p. clvii.)

LETTER from the Nobility and Subjects of Aberdeen to the Queen, Aberdeen, 27th April 1567.1

Please Your Majesty,—It is bruited and spoken in the country that your Majesty should be ravished by the Earl Bothwell against your will. When we your Majesty's nobility and subjects think ourselves most highly offended if so be, and therefore desire to know your Highness's pleasure and will, what we shall do toward the reparation of that matter, and in what manner we shall use ourselves. Which being known, there shall nothing be left undone that becomes faithful and loving subjects to do to the advancement and forthfilling of their prince's honour and affairs. We will look to be certified of your Grace's mind by the bearer hereof. And so after our humble commendations we commit your Majesty to God.

From Aberdeen, the xxvij of April 1567.

NOTE THE FIFTH. (See p. clix.)

PLUNDER of the Royal Property at Holyrood.

They encamped in the royal palace (writes Mary's anonymous historian), where all the night they occupied themselves in ransacking of it, seizing upon her apparel, moveables, and jewels, which could not but be many and rich, she having been the wife of a king of France, and daughter and heir of a king of Scotland, and she nor her son, as the bruit is, never recovering but a small portion of them, some being reserved for the bastard Moray, others presented to the queen of England and her councillors." MS. Cott. Cal., B. iv., fol. 161.

The more precious of the jewels were sent by Moray, through Throckmorton, to London, where they were inspected 1 From the privately printed volume of Mr W. Stevenson Fitch.

by Elizabeth on 1st May 1568, in company with the earls of Pembroke and Leicester. They were considered to be "of unparalleled beauty" (Lab. vii. 129). The feeling excited by this act of spoliation was very general, and "acolded so many of their stomachs," that Moray thought it well to obtain the authority of Parliament. (See R. O. Eliz. xiv. 78 B., and Scot. Mary i. 46.) As late as 3rd Aug. 1570 a memorial was presented to Cecil, which recites that “certain apparel, costly hangings, and jewels, pertaining to the queen of Scotland, transported and carried forth of her realm by some of her disobedient subjects to be sold and disponed without her majesty's knowledge or consent, whereof one part is arrived at Hull and other ports of this realm." (See B. M. Cal., C. ii., fol. 2, and R. O. Scot. Mary v. 59.)

CHAPTER THE SIXTH.

QUEEN MARY'S IMPRISONMENT IN THE CASTLE OF

LOCHLEVEN.

WHEN the gates of Lochleven Castle closed upon Mary Stuart, the conspirators felt that they had nearly attained the great object of their ambition. The Queen of Scotland was in their power, and they could deal with her according to their pleasure. They had but to propose their own terms, and of necessity she must accept them. So far they had done their work with consummate skill and unscrupulous daring, and it had prospered in their hands, or at least had seemed to prosper. Having advanced so far on the road, they were not the men to pause, and hesitate, and retrace their steps. One bold effort would place within their grasp the prize for which they had striven so boldly. Two lives only stood between Moray and the crown, and both were insecure even to a proverb-the life of a little child and the life of a deposed sovereign. And the mother and the baby were both in Moray's keeping.

At the time when Lochleven became Mary's prison, its nominal mistress was Margaret Erskine, daughter of John, Lord Erskine, one of the many mistresses of James the Fifth, by whom she had become the mother of James Earl of Moray. She had afterwards married Sir Robert Douglas, and their son, William Douglas, was at this time the proprietor of the castle and its keeper. A

brother, as did also a young foundling, to whom had been given the family name of William Douglas. A confidential servant, James Drysdale,1 and several men servants, or soldiers, completed the garrison. William Douglas, the laird of Lochleven, as he was styled, was a married man, and his wife resided with him on the island, together with several female servants. Two young girls, relatives of the family (one being the laird's daughter and the other his niece), acted as spies upon the queen, and slept in her chamber. The castle was

well fortified and amply provided with artillery, and at the same time its natural position made it almost impregnable. Mary's retinue, when at its fullest number, seems to have consisted of the two female servants who had accompanied her from Edinburgh, three of her ladies who had afterwards joined her, a cook, and her physician.

On her arrival at Lochleven, the queen found that no preparation had been made for her reception. She was placed in a room on the ground floor, provided with nothing better than the scanty furniture of the ordinary household. Nothing in it corresponded with the state and etiquette to which she had been accustomed from her infancy, and the absence of which was regarded as a token of degradation. When she arrived she was nearly unprovided with the common necessaries of daily life, for her departure from Holyrood had been so abrupt that she could carry with her only a single nightdress. In the midst of such desolation as this, the Queen of

1 The queen tells us that this worthy, being evil content with the good service which little Willie Douglas had done for her, said that if ever he met with him "he should put his hands in his heart blood, whatever might follow thereupon."-See Lab. ii., 264; Goodall, ii. 299.