1565 April Ill usage of a priest in Edinburgh. CHAP VIII 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 ever he was taken down. The Provost who had gone contentedly 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 into the Tolbooth, and there made fast in irons with two of his congregation at his side.' 2 The Queen of Scots, who was at Stirling when she heard of this cowardly outrage, sent for the Provost ordered him to release his prisoner; not however,' wrote an unknown correspondent in relating the story to Randolph, 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 further justice at the magistrates' 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 1 Randolph to Cecil, April 1565.Rolls House MS. 2 One of a number of letters to Randolph, in the Rolls House, written in the same hand, and signed "You know who.' To this person, whoever he was, Randolph was indebted for much of his secret information. The hand partially resembles that of Kirkaldy of Grange; partly, though not to the same degree, that of Knox. 1565 April loyalty of the Catholic party in her own country, in CHAP VIII England, and abroad; to marry Darnley, and dare the worst which Elizabeth could do. Whether she had received 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 known at last, were decisively favourable. After a consultation 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 sovereign; and Maitland, who to the last moment had believed 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. sent to the Darnley With but faint hopes of success-for he knew too much Maitland is to share the illusions of his countrymen-Maitland left London to Edinburgh on the 15th of April, taking Randolph with announce him as far as Berwick. Three days later he reached Lon- marriage. don. Mary Stuart still trusted Maitland with her secrets, in the belief that although he might disapprove of what 1565 CHAP VIII she was doing, he would remain true to her. He carried with him private messages to de Silva and Lady Lennox, April and was thoroughly aware of all that she intended. It is certain however from Maitland's subsequent conduct, that although ready to go with his mistress to the edge of a rupture with Elizabeth, 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 Maitland had accepted the commission. Yet either Maitland 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;' 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 irrevocably, whether Elizabeth consented or refused. Letters from Randolph followed close behind Maitland, to say that the marriage was openly declared. Lady Lennox even told de Silva that she believed it had secretly taken place; and amidst 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." Nor were their hopes without sound foundation. Mary Stuart as soon as her resolution was taken, de Á lo que he podido entender esta Reyna se ha mucho alterado de este negocio.'-De Silva to Philip, April 25. MS. Simancas. 2 Ibid. 1565 April spatched a messenger post haste to Spain to acquaint CHAP VIII 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. Alva ap prove the 'I replied,' wrote Alva in a despatch to Philip, that Philip and I had your Majesty's instructions to inform the Queen of Scots of your Majesty's interest in her welfare; I said marriage. that your Majesty earnestly desired to see her in the great position to which she aspired; and you were assured 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 towards the Queen of England, and for the present especially 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 support her that when she least expected it she would find herself in possession of all that she desired.'1 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 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 1 Alva to Philip, June.-TEULET, vol. v. ápril CHAP VIII foregone conclusion which Elizabeth too surely antici1565 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 ThrogElizabeth morton on the spot to Scotland, to say that if the Queen pressing the of Scots would accept Leicester she should be accounted persists in Earl of 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." 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 Council. The result was a unanimous conclusion that the marriage with the Lord Darnley, being attended with such circumstances as did appear, was unmeet, unprofitable, 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 force upon her the scoundrel object The Council of Elizabeth's own affections, that Cecil and his friends urged the necessity of meeting freely and cordially her demand for recognition; 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. For 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 extend the cfier. 'First draft of instructions to Sir N. Throgmorton, April 24.-Scotch MSS. Rolls House. |