by Writing were assembled to judge of the Pictures and Books that had been set out And if any Painter had not of his own Accord confessed that it was he of whose Work they enquired another that was not guilty thereof but touched a little with a slight Suspicion had suffered for it There was published a Proclamation agreeable with the manner of the Inquisition wherein it was made Death not only to set out any such Matter but also to read it being set out by another But these Persons that with threatning of Death practised to stop the Speech of the People yet not satisfied with the most cruel Murder of the King ceased not their Hatred against him when he was dead All his Goods Armour Horses Apparel and other Furniture of his House the Queen divided some to them that slew him and some to his Father's ancient deadly Foes as if they had upon Attainder come to her by Forfeiture and his Father's Tenants as though they had been also Part of her conquered Booty she so scraped till she brought them in a manner to extream Beggary But this was a strange Example of Cruelty and such as never was heard of before that as she had satisfied her Heart with his Slaughter so she would needs feed her Eyes with the Sight of his Body slain For she long beheld not only without Grief but also with greedy Eyes his dead Corps the goodliest Corps of any Gentleman that ever lived in this Age And then suddenly without any Funeral Honour in the Night time by common Carriers of dead Bodies upon a vile Bier she caused him to be buried hard by David Rizo When these doings were known abroad and that the Indignation of the People had overcome the Threatnings of Penalties and the Frankness of Sorrow surmounted Fear by little and little she began to set her Face and with counterfeiting of Mourning she laboured to appease the Hearts of the grudging People For where the ancient manner hath been for Queens after the Death of their Husbands by the space of forty Days not only to forbear the Company of Men but also from looking on the open Light she attempted a disguised manner of Mourning But the Mirth of Heart far passing the feigned Sorrow she shut the Doors indeed but she set open the Windows and within four days she threw away her wailing Weed and began to behold both Sun and open Sky again But this one thing fell very overthwartly For when Henry Killegree was come from the Queen of England to comfort her as the manner is this Gentleman Strangers hap was to marr the Play and unvizor all the disguising For when he was by the Queen's Commandment come to the Court though he being an old Courtier and a good discreet Gentleman did nothing hastily yet he came in so unseasonably e'er the Stage was prepared and furnished that he found the Windows open the Candles not yet lighted and all the Provision for the Play out of Order When of the forty Days that are appointed for the Mourning scarce twelve were yet fully past and the counterfeiting would not frame half handsomly and to disclose her true Affections so soon she was somewhat ashamed at length taking Heart of Grace unto her and neglecting such Trifles she cometh to her own Biass and openly sheweth her own natural Conditions She posteth to Seton's House with a very few and those not all of the saddest Company There Bothwel though it seemed that for the great Favour he then had in Court and for the Nobility of his Birth and other respects of Honour he should have been next after the Queen most honourably received yet was lodged in a Chamber hard by the Kitchin. Howbeit the same was a Place not altogether unfit to asswage their Sorrows for it was directly under the Queen's Chamber And if any sudden qualm of Grief should have happened to come over her Heart there was a pair of Stairs though somewhat narrow yet wide enough for Bothwel to get up to comfort her In the mean time after the Rumour hereof was spread into France Mounsieur de Croc who had often before been Ambassador in Scotland came in suddenly upon them God wot full unseasonably By his Advice she returned to Edinburgh out of that Den which even as far as France was infamous But in Seton's House were so many commodious Opportunities for her Purpose that howsoever her good Name were thereby impaired needs she must go thither again There were Counsels holden of the great Affairs of the Realm The end of the Consultation was that Bothwel should be arraigned of the Murder and acquitted by Judges thereto chosen for the Purpose and constrained It was concluded That the meaner sort of the Judges might with Favour and fair Promises be led and the rest of the greater and graver sort whom for Fashions Sake they were driven to call to the Matter might be drawn with Fear to acquit him For beside Libels thereof commonly thrown abroad the King's Father the Earl of Lenox did openly accuse Author of the Murder The Assembly of the States in Parliament was at hand which was to be holden the thirteenth of April before which Day they would needs have the Arraignment dispatched That great haste was the Cause why in that Proceeding and Trial nothing has been done according to the Form of Law nothing in Order nothing after the ancient Usage There ought to have been publick Summons of the Accusers the next of the Kin the Wife the Father and the Son either to be present themselves or to send their Proctors The Law also gave them time of forty Days But here the Father was commanded to come within thirteen Days and that without any Assembly of his Friends with his own Houshold Retinue only which by Reason of his great Poverty was now brought to a few While in the mean time Bothwel with great Bands of Men daily mustered about the Town And because he verily believed that in so assured Peril no Man would take upon him to be his Accuser he grew to such a Negligence and such Contempt of Law and judicial Proceedings that the Indictment was framed of a Murder supposed to be done the ninth Day of February when indeed the King was slain the tenth Day In chusing and refusing of the Judges the like Severity was used for the Murderers themselves made the Choice of the Judges when there was no Man to take Exception against them The Earl of Cassiles willing rather to pay his Amercement as the manner is than to be a Judge in the Matter when he had stood in it a while and would not appear at the Queen's Request and Menacing yea though she sent her Ring for Credit both of her earnest Prayer and Threatning at length constrained with Fear of Exile and Punishment he yielded There sate the Judges not chosen to judge but picked out to acquit The Cause proceeded without any Adversary A Trial in a Matter of
of England's Ambassadour to St. Andrews he should require Bothwel also to bear him Company who indeed freely promised so to do howbeit both he and the Queen the Deviser of that Dissimulation thought nothing less as the success shewed For so soon as the King was gone to Glascow and the rest towards St. Andrews she with her Bothwel got her to Drumen and from thence to Tylebarn In which Houses they so passed the time about eight days in every corner and in familiar haunting together as all saving themselves alone that had thrown away all shame were highly offended with their contempt and vile regard of publick Fame seeing them now not once to seek to cover their filthy Wickedness When about the beginning of Ianuary they were returned to Sterline she began to find fault with the House wherein her Son was nursed as incommodious because it stood in a cold and moist place dangerous for bringing the Child to a Rheum But it shall easily appear that this was done for other purpose forasmuch as all these Faults that she pretended were not in that House but were indeed in the other House to which the Child was removed being set in a low place being a very Marsh. The Child being scarcely above six Months old in the deep of a sharp Winter was conveyed to Edinburgh There because the first Attempt prevailed not and the force of the Poison was overcome by strength of Nature yet that at length she might bring forth that wherewith she had so long travailed she entreth into new Devices for the Murther of the King. Her self goeth to Glascow she pretendeth the Cause of her Journey to be to see the King alive whose Death she had continually gaped for the whole Month before But what was indeed the true Cause of that Journey each Man may plainly perceive by her Letters to Bothwel Being now out of Care of her Son whom she had in her own Ward bending her self to the Slaughter of her Husband to Glascow she goeth accompanied with the Hamiltons and other the King 's natural Enemies Bothwel as it was agreed on between them before provideth all things ready that were needful to accomplish that heinous Act First of all an House not commodious for a sick Man nor comely for a King for it was both torn and ruinous and had stood empty without any Dweller for divers Years before in a place of small Resort between the old fallen Walls of two Churches near a few Alms-houses for poor Beggars And that no commodious Means for committing that Mischief might be wanting there was a Postern-door in the Town-wall hard by the House whereby they easily might pass away into the Fields In chusing of the place she would needs have it thought that they had respect to the wholsomness thereof And to avoid Suspicion that this was a feigned Pretence her self the two Nights next before the Day of the Murther lay there in a lower Room under the King's Chamber And as she did curiously put off the Shews of Suspicion from her self so the Execution of the Slaughter she was content to have committed to others About three Days before the King was slain she practised to set her Brother Robert and him at deadly Enmity making account that it should be Gain to her which soever of them both had perished For Matter to ground their Dissention she made Rehearsal of the Speech that the King had had with her concerning her Brother And when they both so grew in Talk as the one seemed to charge the other with the Lye at last they were in a manner come from Words to Blows But while they were both laying their Hands on their Weapons the Queen feigning as though she had been marvellously afraid of that which she so earnestly desired calleth the Earl of Murray her other Brother to the parting to this intent that she might either presently bring him in danger to be slain himself or in time to come to bear the Blame of such Mischief as then might have happened When this Way the Success fell not out as she desired she devised a new Way to transferr the Suspicion from her self While the Earl of Murray did willingly keep himself from the Court and had reasonable Excuse for his Absence for that his Wife being near her Time was besides that always very sick at the same time there was an Ambassador come from the Duke of Savoy This the Queen took for a convenient Colour to send for her Brother But the true Cause of her sending for him was that she had a desire to throw the Suspicion of the King's Murther upon him and upon the Earl Moreton and therewithal also at once to procure the Destruction of those two being Men acceptable to the Peril and likewise Adversaries to her Practice who intended to set up a Tyrannical Government But God's good Clemency that had oft before delivered the Earl of Murray from many Treasons of his Enemies did then also manifestly succour him for upon the Sunday which was the 9th Day of February when he was going to Church to hear a Sermon a Letter was brought him that his Wife was delivered before her Time and in very small hope of Life When he being dismayed at this suddain News desired leave of the Queen to depart she answered That if the Cause were so it were a superfluous Journey for him to go to her being not able to do her any Good in her Sickness But he being still the more importunate she prayed him That he would yet tarry but that one Night and take his Journey the next Day to his Wife But the Mercy of God now as at many other times did deliver that innocent Gentleman from the present Peril and also took away the Occasion of Slander against him for the time to come Howbeit for all this though there were no Cause of Suspicion yet he escaped not free from Slander for Huntley and Bothwel though they could not justly charge him yet laboured by infamous Libels which they spread abroad to distain him with the most foul Spot of that shameful Act. And whereas the Murther was committed after Mid-Night they had before Day light caused by special fore-appointed Messengers Rumours to be spread in England that the Earls of Murray and Moreton were Actors of that Slaughter But that Rumour so soon as the Light of the Truth once brake forth suddainly vanished away as other Falshoods are commonly wont to do When all things were ready prepared for performing this cruel Fact and yet all Occasions cut off to divert the Blame thereof the Partners of the Conspiracy fearing lest long Delay should either bring some Impement to their Purpose or disclose their Counsels determined to dispatch it in all haste The Queen therefore for Manners sake after Supper goeth up to the King's Lodging There being determined to shew him all the Tokens of reconciled Good Will she spent certain Hours in his Company with Countenance and
had never seen with her Eyes heard with her Ears nor considered in her Heart the form of a Kingdom governed by Law and thereto was furnished with the untemperate Counsels of her Kinsmen who themselves practised to set up a Tyrannous Rule in France endeavoured to draw Right Equity Laws and Customs of Ancestors to her only beck and pleasure Of this immoderate desire there burst out from her many times many words disclosing it this she studied day and night But against this Desire there withstood the Custom of the Country the Laws and Statutes and principally the Consent of the Nobility who remaining safe she could never attain it To the end therefore that she might be able violently to atchieve it she determined by force to remove all that stood in her way but she wist not well by what means or by whose help to attempt it Fraud was the way to work it for otherwise it was not possible to be obtained For this purpose therefore Bothwel only seemed the fittest Man a Man in extream poverty doubtful whether he were more vile or wicked and who between factions of sundry Religions despising both sides counterfeited a love of them both He when he had once before offered the Hamilton's his service to murder the Earl Murray gave thereby a likelihood that upon hope of greater gain he would not stick to adventure some greater Enterprize being one whom the Ruine of his own decayed Family prick'd forward headlong to mischief and whom no respect of Godliness or Honesty restrained from ungracious Actions As for excessive and immoderate use of Lechery be therein no less sought to be famous than other Men do shun Dishonour and Infamy She therefore a Woman greedily coveting untempered Authority who esteemed the Laws her Prison and the Bridle of Justice her Bondage when she saw in her Husband not mettle enough to trouble the State she pick'd out a Man for her purpose who neither had Wealth to lose nor Fame to be stained even such an one as she might easily overthrow again if she should once grow weary of him such a one as she might easily snare his Incontinence with wanton Allurements satisfie his need with Money and bind his Assuredness to her with a guilty Conscience and Confederate in Mischiefs These be the Fountains of that same not unmeasurable but mad Love in famous Adultery and vile Parricide wherewith as with a Pledge that bloody Marriage was plighted These therefore were the causes of enterprizing that heinous Act to wit unappeasable Hatred of her Husband and intemperate Love of her Adulterer There was moreover a hope that the Crime might be diverted from them to other and the execution for it might be laid upon the poor Lives of their Enemies and that Men most guiltless of the fault might be thrust in their place as Sacrifices to appease the Peoples displeasure if not to what end then served that Battel which was almost begun to be fought between the King and the Lord Robert her Brother To what end tended those Seeds of Discord that were scattered between the King and the Nobility Wherefore did she so curiously intreat the Earl Murray to stay with her the day before the Murther was committed or what cause was there to send for him There was an Ambassadour come out of Savoy For what cause surely it must needs be a great Cause and such as could not be ended without the assembly of the Nobility no god wot the Ambassadour of Savoy being bidden too late to the Christening came when all was ended not for Ambassadour to the Christening but as one sent to excuse the neglecting of doing that Kindness when both he liked not to send so far for so small a matter and he was somewhat ashamed to have failed in presence when the French-men and English-men had already done it For the more honourable dismissing of him the Earl Murray was sent for and that with sundry Messengers to come from his Wife that lay a dying What need was there then of his presence To draw him to be a party in Conspiracy of the Slaughter Why was it never attempted before Thought they it best at the last point at the very instant when the Murder should be committed to join him to their Fellowship as a light Man inconstant and shifting his Purposes at every moment of time infamous in his former Life and not well assured in his present Estate No there is none of these things that they yet dare say of him Seeing then they cannot imagine a false Cause to stay him what was the true cause indeed every Man may easily gather even the same that caused first the Earl of Athole and afterwards him to depart from the Court the same that so brought him in danger of Death the same that had slandered him with false Rumours scattered in England the same that persecuted him with infamous Libels of the Murderers themselves the same that made him to chuse rather to go into Banishment than to remain in Court among Ruffians Weapons with great peril of his Life But what availeth this Equity of the Cause before Hearers either utterly ignorant of the matter how it was done or of themselves disfavouring this part are envious or apt to be carried away with feigned Rumours which esteem the Slanders of most lewd light Persons for true Testimonies and give credit to these Men who boasting at home that they are able to do what they list yet neither dare commit their Cause to the Sentence of the Judges nor were able to defend themselves in Battel And as by a guilty Conscience of Offences they feared Judgment so by Rage grown of their Guiltiness they run headlong to Battel and from Battel run cowardly away And now again when standing upon the Advantage that they have both in number and wealth they scorn the Wisdom of their Adversaries and despise their Power in comparison of their own yet distrusting to prevail by true Manhood they fall to Robbery and turn their ungracious Minds to Slandering Cavelling and Lying whom but yet for the good will that I bear to my Country-men I would advise to cease from this folly or fury or disease of evil speaking lest in time to come when Truth shall shine out they shut up and stop with hatred of them those Persons Ears to their Petitions whom now they fill and load with false Rumours for there will not always be place for forgiveness but as Darkness at the Sun shining so Lyes at the Light of Truth must vanish away As for the commodious means for committing that vile fact and the hope of hiding it I need not to pursue the declaring of them in many words sith both the easiness to do it the opportunities of places and all advancements of occasions and seasons were in their own power And to hide the Fact what needed they when they feared no punishment although it were published For what Punishment could they fear in so strong
things avail in other persons to raise hatred to bring punishment and to make examples to posterity But in this case let us bear much with her youth much with her Nobility much with the name of a Princess As for mine own part I am not one that thinks it alwaies good to use extream strictness of law no not in private mean and common persons But in a most heinous misdeed to dissolve all force of law and where is no measure of ill doing there to descend beneath all measure in punishing were the way to the undoing of all laws and the overthrow of all humane society But in this one horrible Act is such a hotchpotch of all abominable doings such an eagerness of all outragious cruelties such a forgetfulness of all natural affection as nothing more can be feigned or imagined I omit all former matters I will not curiously enquire upon Princes doings I will not weigh them by the common beam I will not restrain them to common degrees of duties If there be any thing that without great offence may be passed over I will gladly leave it unspoken of If there be any thing that may receive excuse either by respect of age or of woman-kind yea or of unadvisedness I will not urge it And to pass over all the rest two heinous offences there be that neither according to their greatness be fully expressed nor according to their outrage be sufficiently punished I mean the violating of Matrimony and of Royal Majesty For Matrimony as the Apostle saith doth truely contain a great mystery For as being observed it compriseth within it all inferiour kinds of duties so being broken it overthroweth them all Whoso hath misused his father seemeth to have cast out of his heart all natural reverence but for the husbands sake one shall leave both Father and Mother Of all other duties the degrees or like observances either are not at all in brute creatures or not so plain to be discerned but of matrimonial love there is almost no living creature that hath not some feeling This mystery therefore whoso not only violateth but also despiseth he doth not onely overthrow all the foundations of humane fellowship but as much as in him lyeth dissolveth and confoundeth all order of nature Whosoever I do not say hurteth the KING that is the true Image of God in earth but slayeth him with strange and unwonted sort of cruelty so as the untemperate and uncredible outragiousness is not contented with simple torment seemeth he not as much as in him lyeth to have a desire to pull God out of Heaven What refuge have they then left themselves to mercy that in satisfying their lust of unjust hatred have exceeded not onely all measure of cruelty but also all likelihood that it can be credible But they will say we ought to bear with and spare her Nobility Dignity and age Be it so if she have spared him in whom all these respects were greater or at least equal let the majesty of Royal name avail her How much it ought to avail to her preserving her self hath shewed the example May we commit our safety to her who a Sister hath butcherly slaughtered her Brother a Wife her Husband a Queen her King May we commit our safety to her whom never shame restrained from unchastity woman-kind from cruelty nor religion from impiety Shall we bear with her age sex and unadvisedness that without all just causes of hatred despised all these things in her Kinsman her King her Husband She that hath sought such execution of her wrongful wrath what shall we think she will do being provoked by reproaches to men not knit to her by kindred subject to her pleasure not matched with her in equal fellowship of life but yeilded to her governance and enthralled to her tormenting cruelty when rage for interrupting her pleasure and out-rage of nature strengthened with armour of licentious Power shall ragingly triumph upon the Goods and Bloud of poor Subjects What is then the fault wherof we are accused What cruelty have we shewed That a woman raging without measure and modesty and abusing to all her Subjects destruction the force of her Power that she had received for their safety we have kept under governance of her kinsmen and well-willing friends and whom by right we might for her heinous deeds have executed her we have touched with no other punishment but onely restrained her from doing more mischief For we deprived her not of Liberty but of unbridled licentiousness of evil doing Wherein we more fear among all good men the blame of too much lenity than among evil men the slander of cruelty These were the causes that moved the Queen to this matter Bothwel also had his reasons which not a little troubled his mind For when that same infamous acquital rather encreased than abated the suspition and the matter could not be alway kept close he fleeth to his last refuge to obtain of the Queen a pardon of all his offences But when by the law of the land in such Charters of pardon the greatest offence must be expreslly mentioned and the rest it sufficed to include in general words and expresly to confess the murder of the King seemed to stand neither with his honour nor with his safety he was driven of necessity either to invent or commit some other crime either more grievous or at the least as heinous under which the slaughter of the King might lurk in shadow of general words unexpressed They could devise none other but the same counterfeit ravishment of the Queen whereby both the Queen provided for enjoying her pleasure and Bothwel for his safety MEmorandum that in the Castle of Edenburgh there was left by the Earl Bothwel before his fleeing away and was sent for by one George Daglish his servant who was taken by the Earl Moreton one small gilt Coffer not fully a foot long being garnished in sundry places with the Roman letter F. under a Kings Crown wherein where certain Letters and writings well known and by oaths to be affirmed to have been written with the Queen of Scots own hand to the Earl Bothwel Beside those Writings there was also extant a Writing written in Roman hand in French to be avowed to be written by the said Queen of Scots her self being a promise of Marriage to the said Bothwel which writing being without date and though some words therein seem to the contrary yet is upon credible grounds supposed to have been made and written by her before the death of her Husband The tenor whereof thus beginneth Nous Marie par le grace de Dieu c. We Mary by the Grace of God c. There is also another writing in Scotish avowed to be wholly written by the Earl Huntley dated the fifth of April 1567. containing a form of Contract of Marriage betwixt the said Queen and Earl Bothwel subscribed Mary which is to be avowed to be the proper hand of the said
thereof he hasted in Post to Iedworth to visit the Queen to comfort her in her Weakness and by all the gentle Services that he possibly could to declare his Affection and hearty Desire to do her Pleasure So far was it off that his Lodging and things necessary were provided for him against his coming as were wont to be for mean Persons that he found not any one Token towards him of a Friendly Mind But this was a Point of most barbarous Inhumanity used against him that the Nobility and all the Officers of the Court that were present were specially forbidden to do him any Reverence at all at his coming nor to yield him their Lodging nor to harbour him so much as for one Night And whereas the Queen suspected that the Earl of Murray which afterward was Regent would shew him Courtesie she practised with his Wife to go home in haste and feign her self sick and keep her Bed that at least by this Colour under Pretence of her Sickness the King might be shut out of Doors Being thus denied all Duties of civil Kindness the next Day with great Grief of Heart he returned to his old solitary Corner In the mean time while the King in that want of all things and forsaken of all Friends scarce with begging findeth Room in a Cottage Bothwel out of the House where he was lodged before as it were in Triumph over the King was gloriously removed in sight of the People into the Queen's own Lodging and there laid in a lower Parlour directly under the Chamber where the Queen her self lay sick There while they both were yet feeble and unhealed she of her Disease and he of his Wound the Queen being very weak of her Body yet visited him daily And when they were both a little recovered and their Strengths not yet fully setled they returned to their old Pastime again and that so openly as they seemed to fear nothing more than lest their Wickedness should be unknown About the fifth day of November being removed from Iedworth to a Town called Calco there she received Letters from the King which when she had read in presence of the Regent the Earl of Huntley and the Secretary she cast a pitious look and miserably tormented her self as if she would have immediately fallen down again into her former sickness and she plainly and expressly protested That unless she might by some means or other be dispatched of the King she should never have one good day And if by no other way she could attain it rather than she would abide to live in such sorrow she would slay her self Within few days after while in her return through Marchland she lay at Coldingham Dame Rerese passed through the Watch and was known and let go What Company she had and whither she went at that time of the night it was not unknown to the Queen From thence about the end of November she came to Cragmillar a Castle about two miles from Edinburgh there in presence of the Earl of Murray who afterwards was Regent and now is himself also slain and of the Earls of Huntley and Argyle and the Secretary she fell into her said former Discourse and also added the most commodious way as she thought how it might be brought to pass that is to sue a Divorce against the King And she doubted not but that it might be easily obtained forasmuch as they were the one to the other in such degree of Consanguinity as by the Popes Law might not marry together especially which was easie for her to do the Bull being conveyed away whereby the same Law was dispensed with Here when one had cast a doubt That if she should go that way to work their Son should be made a Bastard being born out of lawful Wedlock especialy sith neither of his Parents were ignorant of the causes whereby the Marriage should be void When she had tossed this Answer a while in her mind and knew that he said truth and that she durst not as yet disclose her purpose to make away her Son she gave over that device of Divorce and yet from that day forward she never ceased to pursue her intention of murdering the King as may easily be perceived by that which followed The King being returned from Sterline to Cragmillar when he hoped to have found her more gentle toward him and her displeasure by process of time somewhat appeased he so found no token of change of her affection that he was not allowed any thing for his daily sustenance unless he kept him still at Sterline which thing exceedingly encreased the Peoples suspicion otherwise of it self already enough inclined to that Judgment of the unchaste Company of the Queen with Bothwel About the beginning of December when there were Ambassadours come out of France and England to the Christening of the King that now is that Bothwel might be seen gorgeously arrayed among the Nobility she her self laid out the Money to buy him Apparel and some she bought her self of the Merchants for him and she so applied her self with such diligence in overseeing the making thereof as if she had been I will not say his Wife but even his Servant In the mean time her lawful Husband at the Christning of his own Child not only wanted all her Maintenance for his necessary Expences but also was commanded not once to come in the Ambassadour's sight his ordinary Servants were removed from him the Nobility were enjoined not once to attend on him nor to do him Honour nor in a manner to know him the foreign Ambassadours were warned not to talk with him whenas the most part of the day they were in the Castle where he was The young Gentleman thus contemptuously and unkindly used fell in such despair that he departed from Sterline and went to Glascow to his Father At his departure the Queen still pursued him with her wonted hatred all his Silver Plate wherewith he was served from his Marriage till that day she took it away every whit and appointed Pewter in the stead thereof But let this serve only to prove her contempt of him the rest that followed are evident Arguments of outrageous Cruelty and unappeasable Hatred Before he had passed a mile from Sterline all the parts of his Body were taken with such a sore ach as it might easily appear that the same proceeded not of the force of any sickness but by plain treachery The tokens of which treachery certain black pimples so soon as he was come to Glascow brake out over his whole Body with so great ach and such pain throughout all his Limbs that he linger'd out his life with very small hope of escape and yet all this while the Queen would not suffer so much as a Physician once to come at him After the Ceremonies of the Christening were ended she practised with her Brother the Earl of Murray that when he should go to conduct the Earl of Bedford the Queen
seek to make an end of my Tale I have omitted and many things for haste I have but lightly touched and nothing have I according to the heinousness of the Offence fully expressed An Oration with a Declaration of the Evidence against MARY the Scottish Queen wherein is by necessary Arguments plainly proved That she was guilty and privy of the said Murder SEeing these things are by Writings and Witnesses so probable and stick so fast imprinted in the knowledge of all the People that such as would have them most hidden cannot deny them What place is here left for cunning or what need can be of diligence to prove or reprove a thing so plain and evident For all things are so clear so manifest and so mutually knit together each part to strengthen other that there is named of foreign Probations and all things so fully witnessed that there is no necessity of other Arguments For if any will ask me as in other matters is used to be asked the Causes of so foul a fact I might also likewise ask of him sith the Time the Place the Deed and the Author is sufficiently known to what purpose is it to stand upon searching the Causes or to enquire by what Means it was atchieved Again when there be extent so many Causes of Hatred and so many Tokens thereof which do offer themselves to knowledge as may well be able to bring even things uncertain to be believed surely so far-fetch'd an explication of the Act committed may right well seem superfluous Nevertheless forasmuch as so great is the Impudence of the vile Offenders in denying and so confident the Boldness of impudent Persons in lying let us assay to see with what Weapons Truth is able to defend Innocency against those wicked Monsters If then they demand the cause of so heinous a Deed I answer It was unappeasable Hatred I demand of them again If they can deny that such Hatred was or that the same Hatred was so great as without Blood could not be satisfied If they deny that such Hatred was then let them answer me Why she a young Woman Rich Noble and finally a Queen thrust away from her in a manner the young Gentleman into exile he being beautiful near of her kin of the Blood Royal and that which is greatest entirely loving her in the deep of sharp Winter into places neither fruitful of things necessary nor replenished with Inhabitants and commonly perillous being haunted with Thieves Why sent she him away into desart and craggy Mountains without provision into open perils and in a manner without any Company What could she more have done if she had most deadly hated him and covenanted to have him dispatched But I trow she feared no such thing but that voidness of Fear I construe to be a note of most obstinate Hatred especially sith she both knew the places and was not ignorant of the dangers That Husband therefore to whom she was but lately married against the Liking of her Subjects against the Will of their Friends on both sides without whom she could not endure whom she scarcely durst suffer out of her sight him I say she thrusteth forth to uncertain death and most certain perils Will ye ask of me the Causes of the change of her Affection What if I say I knew them not It sufficeth for my purpose to prove that she hated him What if I ask again why she so extreamly loved the young Man whom she never saw before why she so hastily married him and so unmeasurable honoured him Such are the natures of some Women especially such as cannot brook the Greatness of their own good Fortune They have vehement Affections both ways they love with excess and hate without measure and to what side soever they bend they are not governed by advised Reason but carried by violent Motion I could out of the Monuments of Antiquity rehearse innumerable Examples but of her self I had rather believe her self Call to mind that part of her Letters to Bothwel wherein she maketh her self Medea that is a Woman that neither in love nor hatred can keep any mean. I could also alledge other Causes of her hatred although indeed not reasonable Causes yet such as are able to shove forward and to push headlong an outrageous Heart which is not able to govern it self But herein I will forbear And if her self will suffer me howsover she hath deserved of her Subjects yet so much as the common Cause will permit I will spare her Honour yea I will spare it more than the Cause will allow me Therefore I omit her other Causes of Hatred and return to this that she hated and not meanly hated him Will you see also another Proof of her Hatred The tender Wife forsooth so loving and fond of him when she could not do him the Duty of a Wife offereth to do him the Service of a Bawd She made choice of her own Brother's Wife to put to him in her place What shall we think to be the Cause of this so suddain Change She that of late gapingly sought for every small Breath of Suspicion against her Husband and where true Causes were not to be found she invented such as were manifestly false And this she curiously did not when she loved him but when she had begun to hate him And while she was fishing for Occasions to be divorced from him even she I say of her own accord offereth him a Lover declareth her own Contentation therewith and promiseth her Furtherance What can we imagine to be the Cause hereof Was it to please her Husband No for she hated him And although she loved him yet such manner of doing in a Woman is uncredible Was it that he knowing himself likewise guilty of Adultery on his part might the more willingly bear with a Partner in use of his Wife No for he bare with all per-force against his Will. Was it to find Cause of Divorce and so to drive him to leave his Bed empty for Bothwel Yea that was it indeed that she sought for but yet not that alone for in this Woman you must imagine no single Mischief She hated the Earl Murray's Wife even with such Hatred as all unhonest Persons hate the honest The differences of their two Fames much vexed her and therewithal also she coveted to set the good Lady's Husband and the King together by the Ears and so rid her self of two Troubles at once Thus you see how many and how great things she practised to dispatch with one Labour Her Paramour's Enemy the Bridler of her Licentiousness and her own hated Husband she hopeth to rid all at once while by such sundry sorts of wicked Doings she maketh haste to her most wicked Wedding To what end tended that fearful hasty Calling for the Earl Murray at Mid-night Could she not tarry till Day-light What was the Occasion of so suddain Fear The good Woman God wot careful for the Concord of the Nobility dearly loving
her Brother and most dearly loving her Husband was afraid forsooth lest her Brother should in the Night have been assaulted by the King whom she her self had disarmed Disarmed said I Yea she had disfurnished him of all convenient Company for his Estate and made him to be shaken up with a Woman's Scolding and that by one of her own Train one who was past all Shame and of prostitute Unchastity She feared much lest the young Man destitute of Friends beset with all sorts of Miseries should make Assault in the Night-time Upon what Person The Queen's Brother a Man of great Reputation and Power and in highest Favour with all Estates And where should he have assaulted him In a most strong Castle whereupon the Deed being done neither was Way for him to slee nor Means of Refuge to the Queen's Mercy For what Cause should he assail him There was no Enmity between them but such as she had sowed What say you if she coveted that thing most which she most feigned her self to fear For to what purpose else sent she for her Brother to come to her in the Night-time unarmed Why did she not advise him of this one thing at least that because he was to pass by and hard by the King's Door he should in any wise put on his Armour Why did she not either fore-warn him of the Danger or deferr the Calling of him till the next Morning No no she had a more subtile Purpose in hand She had but newly sent the King inflamed as she hoped with Hatred of the Earl Murray So thought she it not unlikely but that the King kindled with fresh Displeasure rash by Fervour of Youth lightly believing her by Excess of Love would have adventured to slay his supposed Enemy naked unaccompanied and unarmed So sent she the King raging in Anger to commit the Slaughter and practised to draw the Earl Murray naked unaccompanied unwarned to be suddainly trapp'd in Treason This was her Meaning this was her Desire but wicked Counsels how subtile soever they be are not always prosperous What meant this that after her Deliverance of Child at which time other Women do chiefly comfort themselves in the Lovingness of their Husbands and confess that they find some Ease of Pain by sight of them she at the same time driveth her Husband away What else shall we say she meant thereby but as the Poet saith for pure Love God wot she shut him out of Doors But this tender Creature that either shutteth out her Husband or as soon as he is come chaseth him away again whose Stomach turned at the sight of him who is suddainly taken with Pangs at his presence when she was in the Pinnace amongst Pirates and Thieves she could abide at the Poop and be content to handle the boisterous Cables Now ask I whom she loved and whom she hated For that at Aloe she drove away the cumbersome Interrupter of her Pastime that again when he came to her at Edinburgh she rejected him I blame her not I am content to believe she did it not for Hate to her Husband but for her Fancy's sake That again at Iedworth she suffered him not to come at her let it be born withal for not without Cause she feared lest the force of her Sickness would increase at sight of him whose Death she so earnestly desired That she gave special Commandment that no Man should lodge him no Man should relieve him with Meat or Drink that she in a manner forbad him the use of Fire and Water This is undoubtedly a Token of outrageous Hatred But it seemeth she feared the very Infection of her Husband if he were in any place near her That she sent him back from Cragmillar to Sterline I complain not but that she bereaved him of all his Necessaries that she took him from his Servants that she abated the Allowance of his Expences that she alienated the Nobility from him that she forbad Strangers the Sight of him and as much as in her lay took from him even while he lived the Use of Heaven Earth and Air this I say I know not what to call it Unnaturalness Hatred barbarous Fierceness or outrageous Cruelty That when he went from Sterline she took away all his Plate let it be pardoned for what need had he of Silver that carried with him present Death in his Bosom But this I beseech you to consider what great Indignation of all Men it hath kindled that when the King poor Soul made hard shift to live in Desolation Sorrow and Beggary whilst that Bothwel like an Ape in Purple was triumphantly shewed to the Ambassadors of Foreign Nations even that same Partner of her Husband's Bed not so much for the Love of himself as for Despight of her Husband was carried abroad set out with all kind of Ornaments even that adulterous Partner I say that neither in Birth nor in Beauty nor in any honest Quality was in any wise comparable with her disdained Husband Now let them deny that here were Tokens of Hatred But how great and how unappeasable this Hatred was even by this ye may gather Her Husband so oft shut out so oft sent away with Despight driven to extream Poverty banished into a desolate Corner far from the Court far from the Presence of Men spoiled of his Servants and Houshold-furniture bereaved in a manner of his daily necessary Sustenance yet by no Injuries can be shaken from her by no fear of Death can be withdrawn but with Serviceableness and Patience he assayeth if not to overcome yet at least somewhat to asswage the violent Cruelty of her unkind Courage In the mean time what doth this good gentle Wife this merciful Queen that is at the beholding of Men's Miseries so kind and pitiful Neither is she once moved with the loving Doings nor with the wretched Plight nor with the miserable Wofulness of her Husband nor appeased by Time nor satisfied with Torments but rather with his Serviceableness she is irritated with his humble Prayers she is more inflamed and at every time of his Coming she deviseth some new Increase of spightful Dishonour wherein when she had spent the uttermost of all her Force Wit and Bitterness of Nature when she saw the poor young Gentleman neither to give over by fainting being oppressed with Poverty and though he were despised of all Men and so often thrown into open Perils neither to despair nor otherwise more cruelly to make away himself at length as it were glutted with the sight of his Miseries and Torments she determined presently to rid him of his Calamities her self of Irksomness and her Adulterer from Fear and so by certain special Persons thereto appointed she caused him to be poisoned that being absent from her he might so die with less Suspicion But of the Poison I will say more in another Place When this Practice fram'd not fully to her Desire she goeth her self to Glascow that whom being absent she could
Minstrel and vile Jester that she sate by her Husband who had not yet fully recovered his Health that at the Banquet of her Domestical Parasite she had not played the dancing Skit A matter surely worthy of Excuse But what should she else do She must needs go as soon as she saw Paris for so it was agreed and somewhat must needs be pretended How happened it that the other Nights before when she went away earlier she made no Excuse at all and now her Departure about Midnight must needs have an Excuse alledged But be it so Could she remember no better Excuse than Sebastians Wedding No no I say to the contrary that if she had left the Wedding of her own natural Body or her Sister to visit her Husband though but a little crazed she had had a just Excuse before all Men so to do What if she had done the same Kindness for the King being not her Husband or for any other of the Nobility Is Sebastian's Wedding of such a Value that a Masking Dance thereat is to be preferred before a Wife's Duty and Love But surely in this curious excusing and pretended Sorrow of neglected Duty somewhat lieth hidden and yet not so hidden but that it appeareth through the Closure This over-much Preciseness of Diligence excusing where no need is hath some Suspicion of some secret Mischief that you are loath to have disclosed and the Slightness of the Excuse encreaseth the Suspicion especially when there were other Matters enough that she might better have alleged I but let us admit the Excuse since the Queen her self hath thought it reasonable Whither then goeth she Straight into her Chamber What doth she next Wearied with the Days Travel and the Nights watching goeth she to Bed No but she falleth to talking with Bothwel first almost alone and afterward alone altogether What Talk the had the Matter it self declareth For Bothwel after that he had put off his Cloths as if he would have gone to Bed by and by putteth on other Apparel going to do the Deed he would not be known I like well the Man's Policy But his Way was to go through the Watch. Here I marvel at his Madness But Men's Wits beset with Guiltiness of Mischiefs do commonly bewray themselves by their own Inconstancy and blind to all other things do see only that which they have bent their Mind unto What he did the King's Death his own running away the Confession of the guilty Persons and other things that followed the Murder do declare After the great Uproar in the Town about it he as one utterly ignorant of all returneth through the same Watch to Bed. When Noise of the Ruine had filled all Men's Ears and the Crack of it had shaken all the Houses only the Queen intentive to Expectation of the Chance and broad awake heareth nothing at all and Bothwel heareth nothing O marvellous Deafness All other throughout the Town as many as were awake were afraid and as many as slep'd were awaked At the last Bothwel riseth again and in the self same Enterlude by suddenly shifting from the Poet becometh a Messenger he runneth to the Queen and thither resorteth many others also that lodged in the Palace To some the Matter seemed true to some feigned to some marvellous What doth the Queen the whilst What should she do She temperately brooded good Luck she resteth sweetly till the next Day at Noon Yet the Day following to observe Decorum and comely Convenience in her Part without marring the Play she counterfeiteth a Mourning which yet neither her Joyfulness dwelling withall in Heart suffereth long to be feigned nor Shame permitteth to be wholly neglected These things thus lying open before your Eyes thus palpable with Hands thus fast imprinted in Men's Ears and Knowledge stand we yet enquiring for the Author of the Murder as though it were doubtful But ye say the Queen denieth it What denieth she Forsooth that she did the Murder As though there were so great a difference if one should be the Author or the Executioner yet he commands it and commits it She gave her Council her Furtherance her Power and Authority to the doing of it Neither is the Cause unknown why she did it even that the same filthy Marriage with Bothwel might be accomplished Though all with Arguments and so many Witnesses of them that were privy to it failed yet by her own Testimony by her own Letters it must needs be confessed And though all other things wanted these things that followed the Murder do plainly declare the Doer namely that at the slaughter of her Husband she sorrowed not but quietly rested as after a gay Enterprize well atchieved that she mourned not but in manner openly joyed that she could abide not only to look upon his dead Body but also greedily beheld it that she secretly in the night buried him without funeral Pomp or rather hid him like a Thief for that same so inconstant Counterfeiting or Mourning did plainly bewray it self For what meant that removing to Seton's Why shunned she the Towns Resort and Peoples Eyes Was it because she was ashamed to Mourn openly or because she could not well cloak her Joy or secretly to give her self all to Sorrow No for at Seton's she threw away all her disguised personage of Mourning she went daily into the Fields amongst Russians and not only resorted to her former Customs but also affected to exercise manly pastimes and that among Men and openly So lightly she despised the Opinion and Speech of her Country But I beshrew that same Killegree and that same Monsieur de Croc that came upon her so unseasonably and shewed to others her counterfeited Person unvizor'd for had not they been many things that were done might have been denied many things might have been handsomely feigned and much the matter might have been helped by forged Rumours But they will say There was a solemn Enquiry for the Murder forsooth by Bothwel himself principally and by some other that then laboured and yet at this day do labour to deliver the Persons guilty thereof from punishment of Law and do now plainly shew what they then secretly meant But with what diligence with what security was that Enquiry handled A few poor Souls the next dwelling-Neighbours to the King's Lodging being call'd neither durst tell what they had seen and heard and if they touched any thing near the matter either they were with fear put to silence or despised as of no Credit The wiser sort of them durst not offend Bothwel that sate among the Judges One or two of the King's Servants that escaped the mischance were examined which way the Murderers came in Forsooth say they we had not the Keys Who then had them It was answered that the Queen had them So began the Secrets of the Court to break out then was that Enquiry adjourned and never recontinued What can be more severe and upright than this Enquiry And yet they prevailed
your Majesty may by advice of your Nobility and Council relieve and set at liberty the Persons named in the Ticket aforesaid So shall your Majesty do an honorable and godly Act in bringing the matter to such a narrow paint as either the matter shall appear plainly before your Majesty to the punishment of those who have been the Authors of this cruel Deed or else the said Tickets found vain in their selves and the Persons which are slandered to be exonerated and set at liberty at your Majesties pleasure So I commit your Majesty to the Pretection of Almighty God to preserve you in Health and most happy Reign Of Howstoun the 26th Day of February MAy it please your Majesty where your Highness in your last Letter writes to me that if there be any Names in the Tickets that were affixt upon the Tolbooth Door of Edinburgh that I think worthy to suffer a Tryal for the Murther of the King your Majesties Husband upon my Advertisement your Majesty shoud proceed to the Cognition taken as may stand with the Laws of this Realm and being found culpable shall see the punishment as rigorously executed as the weight of the Crime deserves May it please your Majesty since the receipt of your Highnesses Letter I have still lookt that some of the bloody Murtherers should have been openly known ere now And seeing they are not yet I cannot find in my heart to conceal the matter any longer but let your Majesty understand the names of them whom I greatly suspect that is to say the Earl Bothwel Mr. James Balfor and Gilbert Balfor his Brother Mr. David Chamer Blackmaster John Spens Senior Francis Bastian John the Burdeavix and Joseph David's Brother Which Persons I most intirely and humbly beseech your Majesty that according to my former Petition unto your Highness it will please not only to apprehend and put in sure keeping but as with diligence to assemble your Majesties whole Nobility and Council and then to take such perfect order of the afore-named Persons that they may be justly tryed as I doubt not but in so doing the Spirit of God shall work in the said matter that the truth shall be known So shall your Majesty do a most godly and honorable Act for your self being the Party as you are a great Satisfaction it shall be to all that belongs unto him that is gone who was so dear unto your Highness And now not doubting but your Majesty will take order in the matter according to the weight of the Cause which I most humbly beseech I commit your Majesty to the Protection of the Almighty God who preserve you in Health long Life and most happy Reign Of Howstoun this Seventeenth of March. Assizes Andro Earl of Rothes George Earl of Caithnes Gilbert Earl of Cassillis Lord Iohn Hamilton Commander of Arbroycht Son to the Lord Duke Iames Lord Rosse Robert Lord Sunple Iohn Maxwell Lord Hereif Laurence Lord Oliphant Iohn Master of Forvess Iohn Gordon of Lothinware Robert Lord Boyd Iames Cokbourn of Launton Iohn Somervile of Cambusnethan Mowbray of Bern Buxal Ogilby of Boyn THe fore-named Persons of Assize being chosen admitted and sworn in Judgment as the use is And therefore the said Earl Bothwell being accused by the said Dictate of the Crime aforesaid and the same being denied by him and referred to the deliverance of the said Assize they removed out of the said Court and all together convened and after long reasoning had by them upon the same Dictate and Points thereof they and eke one of them for themsâ—â—ves voted delivered and acquit the said Iames Earl Bothwell of act and â—â—rt of the said slaughter of the King and Points of the said Dictate And since the said George Earl of Caithnes Chancellor of the said Assizes in his and their Names asked Instruments that neither the said Advocates nor the said Robert Cunningham as have had Commission of my Lord of Lenox nor no other brought into them any Writing Token or Verification whereby the Dictate above written might be forfeit nor the said Assize perswaded to deliver any otherwise than is above written Nor yet was the said Dictate sworn nor no Party except the said Advocates competent to pursue the same and therefore in respect that they delivered according to their knowledge protests that they should incur no wilful Error in any wise hereafter Which Instrument and Protestation immediately after the re-entry of the said Earl of Caithnes Chancellor and one part of the named of the said Persons of Assize in the said Court of Justiciary before the Pronunciation of their Deliverance aforesaid at the desire of the said Earl of Caithnes was openly read in Judgment And thereupon he of new asked Acts and Instruments and protesteth in manner above expressed EXtractum de libro Actorum Adjournalis S. D. N. Regina Per me Ioannem Bellencen de Auchnoule militem clericum justiciariae ejusdem generalem Sub meis signo subscriptione mannalibus Joannes Bellenden Clericus Iusticiariae Note That at the same time Protestation was made by George Earl of Caithnes Chancellor of the said Assize that the said Dictate or Indictment was not in this point true viz. in alledging the Murther to be committed the 9th day of February for that indeed the Murther was committed the next day being the 10th Day in the Morning at two hours after Mid-night which in Law was and ought to be truly accounted the 10th Day and so the Acquittal that way but cavillingly defended The Writings and Letters found in the said Casket which are avowed to be written with the Scottish Queens own hand Certain French Sonnets written by the Queen of Scots to Bothwell before her marriage with him and as it is said while her Husband lived but certainly before his Divorce from his Wife as the words themselves shew before whom she here preferreth her self in deserving to be beloved of Bothwell O Dieux ayez de moy compassion Et m' enseignez quelle preuve certain Ie puis donner qui ne luy semble vain De mon amour ferme affection Las n' est il pas ja en possession Du corps du coeur qui ne refuse pain Ny dishonneur en la vie incertain Offense de parents ne pire affliction Pour luy tous mes ames j ' estimemoins que rien Et de mes ennemis je veux esperer bien I' ay hazardé pour luy nom conscience Ie veux pour luy au monde renoncer Ie veux mourir pour luy auancer Eue reste il plus pour prouver ma constance Entre ses mains en son plein pouveir Ie metz mon filz mon honneur may vie Mon pais mes subjectz mon ame assubjectie Est tout à luy n'ay autoe vaulloir Pour mon object que sans le decovoir Suiure je veux malgré toute l' envie Qu' issir en peult Car je n'
some troublesome and new Accident O God turn back all unhappy Augure Not seeing you as you had promised I put my Hand to the Paper to write Of one difference that I have will it copie I cannot tell what shall be your Iudgment But I know well who can best love You can tell who shall win most A Letter written by her from Glascoe to Bothwell proving her Hate to her Husband and some suspicions of practising his Death which Letter was written in French and here ensueth translated word for word IL semble qu' avecques vostre absence soit joynt l' oubly veu qu' au partir vous me promistes de vos novelles Et toutes foys je n' en puis apprendre c. IT appears that with your absence there is also joyned forgetfulness seeing that at your departing you promised to make me Advertisement of your News from time to time The waiting upon them yesterday caused me to be almost in such Joy as I will be at your returning which you have delayed longer than your promise was As to me howbeit I have no further News from you according to my Commission I bring the Man with me to Cragmiller upon Monday where he will be all Wednesday and I will go to Edenburgh to draw Blood of me if in the mean time I get no News to the contrary from you He is more Gay than ever you saw him he puts me in remembrance of all things that may make me believe he loves me Perhaps you will say that he makes love to me Of the which I take so great pleasure that I enter never where he is but incontinent I take the sickness of my sore Side I am so troubled with it If Pareis brings me that which I send him for I trust it shall amend me I pray you advertise me of your News at length and what I shall do in case you be not returned when I am come there for in case you work not wisely I see that the whole burden of this will fall upon my Shoulders Provide for all things and Discourse upon it first with your self I send this by Betoun who goes to one day of Law of the Lord of Belsours I will say no further saving I pray you to send me good News of your Voyage From Glascoe this Saturday in the Morning Another Letter to Bothwell concerning the Hate of her Husband and Practice of his Murther EStant party du lieu ou j ' avois laissé mon coeur il se peult aysémente juger quelle estoit ma contenance veu ce qui peult un corps sans coeur qui à este cause que jusques à la disnée je n' ay pas tenu grand propos aussi personne ne s' est voulu advancer jugeant bien qu' il n' y faisoit bon c. BEing departed from the place where I left my heart it is easie to be judged what was my countenance seeing that I was even as much as one body without a heart which was the occasion that while dinner time I held purpose to no body nor yet durst any present themselves unto me judging that it was not good so to do Four miles ere I came to the Town one Gentleman of the Earl of Lenox came and made his Commendations unto me and excused him that he came not to meet me by reason that he durst not enterprise the same because of the rude words that I had spoken to Cunningham and he desired that he should come to the Inquisition of the matter that I suspected him of This last speaking was of his own head without any Commission I answered to him that there was no receit could serve against fear and that he would not be afraid in case he were not culpable and that I answered but rudely to the doubts that were in his Letters So that I made him hold his Tongue The rest were too long to write Sir Iames Hamilton met me who shewed that the other time when he heard of my coming he departed away and sent Houston to shew him that he would never have believed that he would have pursued him nor yet accompanied him with the Hamiltons He answered that he was only come but to see me and that he would neither accompany Stewart nor Hamilton but by my Commandment He desired that he would come and speak with him he refused it The Lord of Luse Hounston and Cauldwellis his Son with forty Horse or thereabout came and met me The Lord of Luse said that he was charged to one day of Law by the King's Father which should be this day against his own hand writing which he has And yet notwithstanding knowing of my coming it is delayed he was inquired to come to him which he refused and swears that he will endure nothing of him Never one of that Town came to speak to me which causes me to think that they are his and nevertheless he speaks good at the least his Son. I see no other Gentleman but they of my company The King sent for Ioachim yesternight and asked of him why I lodged not beside him and that he would rise the sooner if that were and wherefore I come if it was for good Appointment and if you were there in particular and if I had made my Estate if I had taken Pareis and Gilbert to write to me and that I would send Ioseph away I am abashed who hath shewn him so far yea he spake even of the Marriage of Bastian I inquired him of his Letters whereunto he complained of the Cruelty of some answered that he was astonished and that he was so glad to see me that he believed to die for gladness he found great fault that I was pensive I departed to Supper this Bearer will tell you of my arriving he prayed me to return the which I did he declared unto me his sickness and that he would make no Testament but only leave all things to me and that I was the cause of his Malady because of the regret that he had that I was so strange unto him And thus he said you ask me what I mean by the Cruelty contained in my Letter it is of you alone that will not accept of my offers and repentance I confess that I have failed but not into that which I ever denied and such like has fallen to sundry of your Subjects which you have forgiven I am young You will say that you have forgiven me oftentimes and yet that I return to my faults May not any Man of my Age for lack of Counsel fall twice or thrice or in lack of his Promise and at last repent himself and be chastised by experience If I may obtain pardon I protest I shall never make fault again And I crave no other thing but that we may be at Bed and Board together as Husband and Wife and if you will not consent hereunto I will never rise out of this