the natural light of her judgment, when she reasoned of matters of equity and justice, she ofttimes had the advantage of the ablest lawyers. Her other discourses and actions were suitable to her great judgment. No word ever dropped from her mouth that was not exactly weighed and pondered. As for her liberality and other virtues, they were well known." 1 Was this a woman to have committed herself by writing the farragoes of sinful folly to a married man that were produced by that notorious accomplice in her husband's murder, the Earl of Morton, as evidences of her participation in that crime?

Among other apocryphal statements connected with Darnley's last hour of life, it was pretended by those who desired to throw the reproach of Judas on the Queen, that after her departure he sang the 55th Psalm with his servant Taylor. Our eloquent contemporary, Monsieur Dargaud, without reflecting that there were no surviving witnesses but the assassins themselves to report what passed between the murdered victims and their God, actually describes "the sweet monotone of Darnley's chant, and the plaintive cadence of Taylor's responses, and how the mournful melody rose and fell till it gradually died away in silence, the young eyelids closed, and the King and page slumbered on their couches."2 But this is sheer romance. Taylor was no boy, but an old and faithful English servant who had attended on Darnley from infancy; and as for their psalmody that night, it was a poetic strain, like the notes of the dying swan, unheard by human ear. Darnley's devotional exercises in the house of Kirk-of-Field were those prescribed by his spiritual directors of the Church of Rome, according to the testimony of an ecclesiastic of no less importance than the Principal of the Jesuits, who had no erroneous intelligence on that subject, being in Edin

1 Craig's Answer to Doleman, cap. 10, p. 84. Cited by Freebairn in his translation of the Life of Mary Stuart by Pierre le Pesant, Sieur du Bois Guilbert, Lieutenant-General of Police at Rouen, and at the time of his death Advocate-General of Rouen-offices which prove the author to have been well versed in the investigation of evidence.

? Histoire de Marie Stuart, by M. Dargaud, vol. ii. p. 44.

burgh at the very time. "Father Edmonds," writes the Papal Nuncio from Paris, "affirms to me, that the King had in the morning, according to his retreat, heard mass, and that he had always been brought up a Catholic, but out of desire of reigning had at times dissembled his ancient faith. If it be so, may the Divine Majesty have mercy on his poor soul."1

The distance between the Provost's house at Kirk-ofField, where Darnley was lodged, and the palace of Holyrood being not less than three-quarters of a mile, proves that Bothwell, however guilty as a conspirator and procurer of the murder, was not a personal actor in the tragedy; for even if he had flown back to his own bed with the speed of a flash of lightning, he could not have been found there when the crack rose. Consequently all the details of his proceedings on that occasion, deposed by his tortured servants and French Paris, are fabrications. Spotiswood contradicts his own assertion that Bothwell murdered the King, by declaring, par parenthesis, that he had returned to Holyrood House before the house blew up, and was immediately sent by the Queen to inquire the cause of the explosioncircumstances which naturally rendered her incredulous of the subsequent accusation that the deed was perpetrated by Bothwell, and which also enabled him to prove an alibi, when arraigned on the 12th of April for the crime, before the Justiciary Court in the Tolbooth.

As the biographer of Mary Stuart, I have considered it necessary to enter more fully into the evidences of the mysterious tragedy of her husband's murder than has hitherto been done, by collating the information derivable from the Correspondence in the State Paper Office, the declarations of Morton and Binning, and the letter of Archibald Douglas, with the depositions wrung from Bothwell's servants by torture, and palpably garbled to suit the purposes of the more cautious members of the conspiracy who profited by the crime. Such is the undying interest attached to the

1 Letter of the Bishop of Mondivi to the Grand-Duke of Tuscany-in Labanoff.

subject, such the sacred thirst for truth and contempt for hypocrisy in all true British hearts, that I trust my humble endeavours to deal with the charges against this oppressed and calumniated Queen, according to the righteous laws of evidence, will be appreciated by the generous and the just, irrespective of creed or party.

I have used few arguments on the subject, for argument is as much superseded by the substantial evidence of facts as faith is by sight.

MARY STUART

CHAPTER XXXI.

SUMMARY

Queen Mary receives the intelligence of her husband's death-She is overwhelmed with grief and horror-Secludes herself in her darkened chamber-Convenes her surgeons to examine his body-Orders it to be brought to Holyrood Abbey—Inquiry into the cause of his death—She proclaims a reward for discovery of his murderers-She takes a last farewell of his remains-Orders his body to be embalmed, and laid in the Chapel-Royal-She removes to Edinburgh Castle-Her dule chamber there-Her widow's weeds-Darnley's funeral-Her kindness to his servants-Placards in answer to her proclamation-Bothwell and others denounced as the murderers-She is accused of having been party to the deed-Her second proclamation—Answer to it—Her perplexity— Her health injured by her seclusion-Her Council persuade her to change the air-She goes to Seton-Her cares and difficulties-Pecuniary distress-Calumnies of her circulated-Seditious placards and other stratagems of the conspirators - Change in Mary's Cabinet— Bothwell succeeds Moray as principal Minister of State-His great power-Queen's defenceless position-Correspondence between her and the Earl of Lennox-Coalition between Lennox, Moray, and the other conspirators-Queen returns to Edinburgh Castle to receive English ambassador-Gives audience to Killigrew in her dule chamber - His report of the interview.

THE Queen, having been told that the explosion was caused by an accidental fire in the Provost's house at Kirk-of-Field, remained for several hours in suspense as to her husband's fate. After daybreak Bothwell returned to the Abbey, and put an end to any lingering hope she might have entertained by announcing that the lifeless body of the murdered

1 Bell's Life of Mary Stuart.

Prince had been discovered. Bothwell either felt or feigned great agitation, and appeared to have some difficulty in communicating the dreadful tidings to the Queen. At last he told her "that some powder which had been deposited in the King's lodgings had unfortunately taken fire, blown up the house, and killed his Majesty and all the gentlemen of the bedchamber there in waiting, and that their bodies had been found at some distance from the ruins, in an orchard under the town wall."1 Overpowered with grief and horror, and weeping bitterly, the Queen withdrew instantly to her own chamber, and having been up the chief part of the night, was, of course, induced by her ladies to go to bed.2 Buchanan invidiously asserts "that she slept profoundly till the day was far spent;" while, according to Hubert's Second Confession, "Bothwell came into the ruelle of her bedchamber alcove, between nine and ten in the morning, and spoke to her secretly under the curtain.” 3 As the latter statement has been often adduced as an evidence of impropriety on Mary's part, it is necessary to observe that the like circumstance must have occurred not only at Bothwell's audience, but at that of every other person, whether male or female, who was admitted to a conference with her while etiquette or sickness confined her to her bed. It is affirmed, moreover, in the same document, that "Madame de Briante," Queen Mary's French governess, an elderly matron of the highest rank and most approved discretion, "was present, with other attendants, giving her Majesty her breakfast, during Bothwell's audience."

The fact that this conference between Mary and her minister took place, is confirmed by Sir James Melville, who was waiting in the antechamber to make inquiries after her Majesty's health, and says "that Bothwell, when he came forth, told him that her Majesty was sorrowful and quiet." Such, indeed, like "the stillness of the streams that flow deepest," is the character of intense grief. It would have been easy enough for Mary to have 2 Tytler, Hist. Scot. Laing's Appendix.

1 Mackenzie's Lives.