"opened and declared unto her Highness her own estate and condition, and the miserable estate of this realm, with the danger that her dearest son the Prince stood in, requiring that she would suffer and command the murder and authors thereof to be punished, they found in her Majesty such untowardness and repugnance thereto, that rather she appeared to fortify and maintain the said Earl Bothwell, and his accomplices, in the said wicked crimes." The truth of this statement is directly contradicted by the transactions of the 15th of June, when Mary, though at the head of an army, had agreed to do every thing the Lords desired, and when, with a degree of facility only to be accounted for on the supposition that she was anxious to escape from Bothwell's company, she had separated herself finally from him, in the face of the whole world. So far from charging her with "fortifying" and "maintaining" him in his crimes, these Lords themselves declared, on the 11th, that they had assembled "to deliver their sovereign's most noble person out of bondage and captivity ;" and, a month afterwards, they told the English ambassador they "firmly believed the Queen would not have lived with Bothwell half a year to an end."*

In addition to this act of Privy Council, which was no doubt the production of Morton, and is signed by him and Athol, and six other noblemen of less note, a bond of association was drawn up the same day, in which an explanation was given at greater length, of the system on which the

LAING, Appendix, vol. ii. p. 119; ANDERSON, vol. i. p. 128; KEITH, p. 418.

Lords were about to proceed. It is a remarkable feature of this bond, that, in so far as Mary is concerned, it very materially contradicts the act of Council. Instead of containing any accusation against her, it represents her throughout, as having been the victim of force and fraud. It commences by stating the conviction of the subscribers, that Bothwell was the murderer of Darnley, and that, had he himself not taken means to prevent a fair trial, he would have been convicted of the crime. It goes on to assert, that, adding wickedness to wickedness, the Earl had treasonably, and without any reverence for his native Prince, carried her prisoner to his castle at Dunbar, and had afterwards pretended unlawfully to marry her; which being accomplished, his cruel and ambitious nature immediately shewed itself, "no nobleman daring to resort to her Majesty to speak with her without suspicion, unless in his presence and hearing, and her chamber doors being continually watched by armed men." It is therefore maintained, that their interference was necessary, both on account of the "shameful thraldom" in which the Queen was kept, and the great danger of the young Prince, her only son. They had taken up arms, they say, against Bothwell, and to deliver their sovereign; and though they had already chased him from his unlawful authority, they considered themselves obliged to continue in arms till "the authors of the murder and ravishing were condignly punished, the pretended marriage dissolved, their sovereign relieved of the thraldom, bondage, and ignominy, which she had sustained, and still underlies by the said Earl's fault, the

person of the innocent Prince placed in safety, and, finally, justice restored, and uprightly administered to all the subjects of the realm."*

This, then, was all the length to which Morton and the other Lords as yet ventured. They had sent Mary to Loch-Leven, merely to keep her at a safe distance from Bothwell; and as soon as they had seized his person, or driven him from the kingdom, it was, of course, implied that they would restore their sovereign to her throne. They did not hint, in the most distant manner that she was in the least implicated in the guilt of her husband's death; and they expressly declared, that, for every thing which had taken place since, Bothwell alone was to blame. Judging by their own words, they entertained as much respect for the Queen as ever; and the impression they gave to the country was, that they intended she should remain at Loch-Leven only for a short time, and that, so far from meaning to punish one whom they accused of no crime, by forcing from her an abdication of her crown, and condemning her to perpetual imprisonment, they would soon be found rallying round her, and conducting her back to her capital in triumph. These may have been the hopes entertained by some; but they forgot that Morton, who was at the head of the new faction, had assassinated Rizzio, and countenanced the murder of Darnley; and that Murray, though at present in France, had left the country only till new disturbances should afford new prospects for his inordinate ambition.

VOL. II.

* ANDERSON, vol. i. p. 134.

H

CHAPTER VII.

MARY AT LOCHLEVEN, HER ABDICATION, AND
MURRAY'S REGENCY.

SCOTLAND was now in the most unfortunate condition in which a country could possibly be. Like a ship without a pilot, it was left at the mercy of a hundred contrary opinions. It was not long before there sprung out of these, two distinct parties, known by the name of the Queen's and the Prince's. Morton and his friends, calling themselves the Prince's Lords, continued at Edinburgh; whilst the Queen's nobles assembled at Hamilton Palace in very considerable force, having among them, besides the Hamiltons, Huntly, (who had been allowed by Sir James Balfour to escape from the Castle of Edinburgh, in which he had taken shelter some time before ;) Argyle, (who, though he had at first joined with Morton and Mar at Stirling, when they announced their determination to keep the Prince out of Bothwell's hands, never intended taking up arms against the Queen ;) Rothes, Caithness, Crawfurd, Boyd, Herries, Livingston, Seaton, Ogilvie, and others.* Morton laboured to effect a coali

* KEITH, p. 408.

tion with these Lords; but, though he employed the mediation of the General Assembly, they would not consent to any of his proposals. Buchanan himself is forced to allow, that affairs took a very different turn from what was expected. "For, popular envy being abated, partly by time, and partly by the consideration of the uncertainty of human affairs, commiseration succeeded; nay, some of the nobility did then no less bewail the Queen's calamity than they had before execrated her ""* cruelty." The truth is, that Mary's friends were at this time much more numerous than her enemies; but unfortunately they were not sufficiently unanimous in their councils, to be able to take any decisive steps in her behalf.

Morton earnestly laboured to increase the popularity of his faction by every means in his power. To please the multitude, he apprehended several persons, whom he accused of being inplicated in the murder of Darnley; and though he probably knew them to be innocent, they were all condemned and executed, with the exception of Sebastian, the Queen's servant, who was seized with the view of casting suspicion on Mary herself, but who contrived to escape.+ Thus, they who blamed Mary for being too remiss in seeking out and punishing the murderers, were able to console themselves with the reflection, that, under the new order of things, persons were iniquitously executed for the sake of appearances, by those who had themselves been Bothwell's

* BUCHANAN'S History, book xviii.

+ KEITH, p. 406, et seq.