by the clearest and directest testimony. In a letter which Bedford wrote to Cecil on the 30th of December, we meet with the following passage: "The Queen here hath now granted to the Earl of Morton, to the Lords Ruthven and Lindsay, their relaxation and pardon. * The Earl of Murray hath done very friendly towards the Queen for them, so have I, according to your advice; the Earls Bothwell and Athol, and all other Lords helped therein, or else such pardons could not so soon have been gotten." † It is no doubt true, that Bothwell was glad of this opportunity to ingratiate himself with Morton, and that, in the words of Melville, he "packed up a quiet friendship with him;"-but it is strange that Robertson should have been so ignorant of the real influence which secured a remission of their offences from Mary.

Darnley was of course greatly offended that any of his former accomplices, whom he had betrayed and abandoned, should be received again into favour. They would return only to force him a few steps farther down the ladder, to the top of which he had so eagerly desired to climb. They were recalled, too, at the very time when he had it in contemplation, according to common report, to seize the person of the young Prince, and, after crowning him, to take upon himself the government, as his father. Whether this report were true or not, (and perhaps it was a belief in it which induced the Queen to remove shortly afterwards, for greater security, • The Ruthven here spoken of is the son of the Lord Ruthven, who took so active a part in the murder. + CHALMERS, vol. ii. p. 175, and 342.

from Stirling to Edinburgh,) it is certain that Darnley declared he "could not bear with some of the noblemen that were attending in the Court, and that either he or they behoved to leave the same.' "'* He accordingly retired from Stirling on the 24th of December, the very day on which Morton's pardon was signed, and went to visit his father at Glasgow. But it was not with Mary he had quarreled, with whom he had been living for the last ten days, and whom he intended rejoining in Edinburgh, whither she was about to go, as soon as she had paid some Christmas visits in the neighbourhood of Stirling. †

* KEITH, Preface, p. viii.

+ Ibid. p. 364.

CHAPTER II.

OCCURRENCES IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING DARNLEY'S:

DEATH.

We are now about to enter upon a part of Mary's history, more important in its results, and more interesting in its details, than any that has gone before. A deed had been determined on, which, for audacity and villany, has but few parallels in either ancient or modern story. The manner of its perpetration, and the consequences which ensued, not only threw Scotland into a ferment, but astonished the whole of Europe; and, even to this day, the amazement and horror it excited continue to be felt, whenever that page of our national history is perused which records the event. Ambition has led to the commission of many crimes; but, fortunately for the great interests of society, it is only in a few instances, of which the present is one of the most conspicuous, that it has been able to involve, in suspicion and misery, the innocent as well as the guilty. And, even in the case before us, time rescues the virtuous from unmerited disgrace, and, causing the mantle of mystery to moulder away, enables us to point out, on the one hand,

those who have been unjustly accused, and, on the other, those who were both the passive conspirators and the active murderers. A plain narrative of facts, told without violence or party spirit, is that upon which most reliance will be placed, as being the most likely to advance the cause of truth, by correcting the mistakes of the careless, and exposing the falsehoods of the calumnious.

The Earl of Bothwell was now irrevocably resolved to push his fortunes to the utmost. He acted, for the time, in conjunction with the Earl of Murray, though independently of him, using the name and authority of the latter to strengthen his own influence, but communicating to the scarcely less ambitious Murray only as much of his plans as he thought he might disclose with safety. Bothwell was probably the only Scottish baron of the age over whom Murray does not appear ever to have had any control. His character, indeed, was not one which would have brooked control. On Mary's return home, so soon as he perceived the ascendency which her brother possessed over her, he entered into a conspiracy, with Huntly and others, to remove him. The conspiracy failed, and Bothwell left the kingdom. Ĥe was not recalled till Murray had fallen into disgrace; and, though her brother was subsequently pardoned, he never regained that superiority in Mary's councils he had once enjoyed. But Bothwell hoped to secure the distinction for himself; and, that he might not lose it as Murray had done, after it was once gained, he daringly aimed at becoming not merely a prime minister, but a king. The historians,

therefore, (among whom are to be included many of Mary's most zealous defenders,) who speak of Bothwell as only a 66 cat's-paw" in the hands of Murray and his party, evidently mistake both the character of the men, and the positions they relatively held. Murray and Bothwell had both considerable influence at Court; but there was no yielding on the part of either to the higher authority of the other, and the Queen herself endeavoured, upon all occasions, to act impartially between them. We have found her frequently granting the requests of Murray, in opposition to the advice of Bothwell; and, on the other hand, there is no reason to suppose, that, when she saw cause, she may not have followed the advice of her Lord High Admiral, in preference to that of her brother. A circumstance which occurred only a few days after the baptism of James VI, strikingly illustrates the justice of these observations. It is the more deserving of attention, as the spirit of partiality, which has been unfortunately so busy in giving an erroneous colouring even to Mary's most trifling transactions, has not forgotten to misrepresent that to which we now refer.

Darnley's death being resolved, Bothwell began to consider how he was to act after it had taken place. He probably made arrangements for various contingencies, and trusted to the chapter of accidents, or his own ingenuity, to assist him in others. But there was one thing certain, that he could never become the legal husband of Mary, so long as he continued united to his own wife, the Lady Jane Gordon. Anticipating, therefore, the necessity of a divorce,