1566 March to take shelter with Bedford at Berwick. Murray too CHAP IX left Edinburgh with them, and intended to share their fortunes; but Ruthven and Morton, generous as himself, wrote to beg him as the rest had fallen off, not to endanger himself on their account, but to make his peace if he was able;" and Murray feeling 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 services by all that had belonged to Lidington.' The unfortunate King, 'contemned and disesteemed of all,' was compelled to drain the cup of dishonour. He declared before the Council that he had never counselled, commanded, consented to, assisted, or approved' the murder of Ritzio. His words were taken down in writing and published at the market-cross of every town in Scotland. The conspirators retorted with sending 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 27. 'The very truth is this:-the King having conceived a deadly hatred against David Ritzio 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 1 Randolph to Cecil, March 21.-Scotch MSS. Rolls House. 2 Scotch MSS. Rolls House. CHAP IX endure the misbehaviour and offence of the foresaid 1566 David, and that he might be fortified by him and some March others of the nobility to see the said David executed according to his demerits; and after due deliberation 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 Ritzio, tending so manifestly to the great danger of the King's and Queen's Majesties and the whole estate of that realm and commonweal-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 considerations aforesaid found good to follow the King's determination anent the foresaid execution; and for divers considerations we were moved to haste the same considering the approaching Parliament, wherein determination 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.' THE CHAPTER X. England. HE murder of Ritzio had deranged Mary Stuart's CHAP X projects in Scotland, and had obliged her to postpone 1566 her intended restoration of Catholicism; but her hold on Increasing popularity parties in England was rather increased than injured by of Mary the interruption of a policy which would have alarmed Stuart in 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 diminishing 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 statesmen, and the marriage of Mary Stuart with Darnley had removed the prejudice which had attached before to her alien birth. The difficulty which had hitherto prevented her recognition 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 CHAP X their national independence; they had done once for all 1566 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 something which would leave them in communion with Christendom, and preserve to them the form of superstition without the power of it. Had Elizabeth allowed herself to be swayed by the ultra-Protestants, Mary Stuart would have appealed to arms, and would have found the weightiest portion of the nation on her side. Had the Queen of Scots' pretensions 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 disaffection. A prudent and reasonable settlement would have been 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 cepted 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 assumed in connexion 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 1566 character beth's mands of Knox that the Queen of Scots should abjure CHAP X her own religion, and afterwards to retreat from her position with ignominious and dishonourable evasions. Yet the perplexity of a sovereign whose chief duty at such a time was to prevent a civil war, deserves or demands 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 provoked a bloody insurrection; while it would have become 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 General been alike unprincipled and unwise, the broader bearings of Elizaof her policy were intelligible and commendable; her policy. 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 never betrayed a friend. The greater simplicity of conduct however was not wholly a virtue it had been produced by the absence of all high and generous consideration. Ambition for herself and zeal for a creed which suited her habits, were motives of action which involved and required no inconsistencies. From the day on which 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 selfindulgence: 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 lessons of the pleasantness of pleasure, for |