the thread of his Life in a Fit of a burning Feaver which notwithstanding cutteth not off the current of their Malice which unhappily found a more advantageous passage by the imprudent Deportment of William the young Earl his Son a Youth not exceeding fourteen Years of Age who living in a Princely garb creating Knights Counsellors and other Officers and always guarded with a Guard of Two Thousand Horse is suspected and feared of all and as an addition to his Envy as well as Greatness he sendeth to France and craveth the Title of his Grand-father which was forthwith granted to him and is immediately declared Duke of Tyron and which added more to all Mens fear and jealousie the Queen and the Lord James Stuart her Husband and his Brother William are suspected to be Engaged in Dowglas his Faction The Vice-Roy glad to snatch any opportunity against the Queen whom now he Suspected to be none of his Friend secureth her Person and not contented to secure her Husband and his Brother in a strong Prison he layeth them both fast in Iron Fetters where they remained until they found sufficient Sureties for the Peace engaging withal that they should not bear any publick Office without consent of the Vice-Roy The Vice-Roy now not a little puft up ruleth all things at pleasure contemning the Chancellor and all other Officers of State the Chancellor not able to bear this Insolence withdraweth from Court then at Sterlin and retireth himself to the Castle of Edenburgh the Government whereof he had Confirmed to him at their last Agreement who meditating with himself what might be done to give Check to the Vice-Roy resolveth to surprize the Person of the King who he knew used to follow his sport in Hunting with a small Retinue to which end he marcheth out in the Night and lodgeth himself and a Band of his most trusty Friends amongst Thickets in a Wood whither the King came next day morning in course the Chancellor forthwith Surprizeth him beseeching his Majesty to be of good Chear and to rest assured that no other thing save his Highness Service and Safety was intended by him telling him that it was now high time for him to take the Government upon himself in order whereunto he came to Rescue him out of the hands of the Vice-Roy in which he lived not much on this side Slavery and withal with great shews of Respect and Duty he tendereth to his Highness a Guard of Four Thousand Horse The King seemeth not much displeased putteth on a chearful Counrenance and guarded with those Four Thousand Horse he cometh along with the Chancellor to the City of Edenburgh where he was received with extraordinary Acclamations of Joy The Vice-Roy no less confounded at this Surprisal than was the Chancellor at the Queen 's lately mentioned is extremely perplexed In Council after many Self-debates he resolveth at last not daring to trust himself to the Earl Dowglas upon all hazards to hast to Edenburgh with a small Retinue to try whether by stooping so low the Storm might pass over him to Edenburgh he repaireth and by mediation of the Bishops of Aberdeen and Murray Men Learned Pious and Prudent a Personal Conference is obtained with the Chancellor The Vice-Roy with a sad Countenance deploreth their unhappy Divisions declaimeth against them as Dangerous to the Publick and Destructive to their own private Interests he imploreth an happy Union between them without which they must both Perish promising on his part an Oblivion of all things past and all fair Respect in time to come The Chancellor well knowing that Destruction to both must needs be the Issue of the Divisions between them chearfully hearkneth to the proposition of Peace they presently accord and an Union is now the second time concluded between them and notwithstanding Distress enough to the People and Danger more than enough to the young King flowing from their divided Government these two cunning Catchers accord to continue still in their respective Trusts and places in Government upon this agreement a Parliament is called at Edenburgh for the better setling of the miserable distracted Conditon of the Kingdom To this Parliament Dowglas is Invited and by the advice of the Vice-Roy and Chancellor his inveterate Enemies now contriving his Ruine publick Letters are sent him Sealed by the King and divers of the prime Nobility inviting him with many Arguments of Love and Respect to assist in Parliament and in the publick Administration assuring him not only of Safety but tendering to him what Place he should desire in the management of publick Affairs The Earl moved by the publick Faith thus ingaged and by the specious Promises so Solemnly made repaireth to Edenburgh without Fear or Jealousie The Chancellor meeteth him before he came within ten Miles of the City and inviteth him to his Castle at Chrichton where he Entertaineth him magnificently in all his Discourse so highly commending the Noble Family of the Dowglasses their worthy Acts and high Deserts both of King and Country and so fully declaring the great hopes himself conceived of the young Earl himself that the Wiser of Dowglas his Retainers began to suspect some Mischief to lurk under the covert of those specious Words which they knew were no less unusual in him than unbeseeming his Place and Authority They dissuade their Lord with all Earnestness from his Journey towards the City intreating his return to his own House as he loved himself and if he must needs go they adjure him by all the love he bear to his Family and by all that reverence and obedience he owed to the Commands of his Wise Father who charged him on his Death-bed never to trust his whole Family under the hazard of one Blow that he would not carry along with him his dear and only Brother but all in vain his Destiny drives him no faster than he is willing to run to his own Ruine he entereth the City and is by the Chancellor attended to the Castle whither the Vice-Roy likewise repaireth and entertaineth him with all Civility yea and to Honour him the more he is admitted to the King 's own Table and feasted with no small Solemnity But behold amidst all their Chear and great Mirth a Band of Armed Men enters the Dining Chamber and a Bull 's Head is clap'd on the Table a certain Token in those days of an appointed and approaching Death the Earl is too late stricken with Fear and endeavouring to rise the Armed Men lay hold on him drag him down Stairs and without Doors immediately cut off his Head his Brother David and Malcombe Fleming his dearest Friend are at the same time and in the same manner Cut off The young King no less amazed than abused and stricken with immediate Sorrow weepeth as a Child though now grown well upward towards the years of a Man the Chancellor perceiving him Chides him very sharply for his unseasonable Tears as he was pleased to call them for the Death
was too late and being ready to breath out his last when they found him some of his dearest Friends Ask him how he did to whom he Answered with marvellous good chear I am well and in a good condition I now Dye as almost all my Ancestors have done in the Bed of Honour some things only I Crave of you my Noble and Dear Friends which I desire to be performed as you Love and Honour me First That my Death be no Discouragement to you Secondly That you Conceal my Death during the time of the Battel both from Friends and Foes Thirdly That you suffer not my Standard to be overthrown And Lastly That you would Avenge my Death These things if you perform I have my desire and in hope thereof I bear all other things and my present Fate with a good heart With these words wherein he shewed himself a Souldier he takes leave of them and they of him and having covered his Body from the sight of the Souldiers they advance his Standard and Charge with the greater Fury crying out A Dowglass A Dowglass the English are forthwith put into great disorder the Earl Percy is taken Prisoner and in the same Charge his Valiant Son too being dangerously wounded some Nineteen hundred English are slain some Fourteen hundred are Prisoners whereof most wounded and to the Scots it was not a dry Victory The next day the Bishop of Durham coming up with some Auxiliaries the English Rally again and resolve to give Battel the Army being again made up Ten Thousand Men the Scots making vertue of necessity there being no possible safety for them to endeavour an Escape resolve to stand to it under the Command of the Earl of Murray The Bishop advancing Murray having first taken an Oath of all the Prisoners that they should remain true Prisoners though their friends should rescue them by strength of Arms is ready to receive him and commandeth the Soldiers to wind their Horns each Soldier having about his Neck an Horn larger than our ordinary Harvest Horns the Noise whereof was so great and the View of the dead Corps slain over Night so terrible that the Hearts of the raw and new raised Soldiers began to fail the Bishop is forced as his Safest course to retreat into their Quarters from whence they came without attempting any thing the Scots are no less glad being sufficiently wasted and weary to look homeward Murray dismisseth Percy the Younger upon his Parole above One Thousand Common Soldiers are set at Liberty the Earl himself and about Four Hundred of the Chief are carried Prisoners into Scotland The Joy the Scots had in this Victory which happen'd July 19. 1390. was wholly swallow'd up in the Death of the dougheir Dowglass a very noble Cavalier indeed whose Body was Interred at Melross with the greatest Evidences of Sorrow that could be Soon after Dyed in Peace the Good and Peaceable King Robert a general Peace being concluded in France England and Scotland for certain Years the Seventy Fourth Year of his Age and Nineteenth of his Reign a good Man and a good King a great Justiciary an Encourager of Vertue a Suppressor of Vice especially of Theft and Robery stedfast in his Word fortunate in his Wars tho' by reason of his Age and Natural Averseness to War he seldom or never Engaged in Person He had two Wives the one Elizabeth Daughter to Sir Adam More by whom he had three Sons John Earl of Carist Robert Earl of Say Alexander Earl of Buchan and Badgenoch the other Enfence Daughter to Hugh Earl of Ross by whom he had two Sons Walter Earl of Straherne and David Earl of Athol and one Daughter Enfence given in Marriage to James Lord Dowglass Son to William Earl of Dowglass THE LIFE OF ROBERT III. JOHN son to King Robert Succeeded his Father and began his Reign Anno 1390. who immediately changed his Name choosing to be called by the Name Robert as an Auspicious Name the former two Roberts Kings of that Nation being men eminent in Vertue and prosperous in Atchievements He came to his Crown in a time free of Wars from abroad but full of Jars at home by the unquiet and ravenous disposition of his Nephew Duncan Son to Alexander Earl of Buchan who having Abased himself to be Captain of a Rebellious Rout of Robers spoyling and plundering divers Places especially in Angus was at last not without some Blood shed Suppressed by the industry of the Earl of Craford Soon after a dangerous fend fell out between two Great and Populous Families in the North for Reducing of whom were sent Thomas Dunbar Earl of Murray and James Earl of Craford who perceiving the great mischief likely to attend their Endeavours of a forcible Reducement contrived a more subtle way to quiet them after a representation made to the Heads of those Clans a part of the danger of their mutual Fewds and of the Kings Wrath against both they Advise them to conclude their Fewds as the Horatii and Cariatii did at Rome by the Choice not of three but of three hundred on each side to Fight Armed with Swords only in the sight of the King and his Nobles whereby the Victor should gain Honour the Vanquished safety from further Punishment and both regain his Majesties Favour whereof they gave them full assurance the Proposition is embraced on both sides of St. John's Town Mounts raised and Galleries made for the accommodation of the Spectators the Combatants are chosen and on the day appointed together with a multitude of beholders all of them appear on the place only one through fear privately withdrew himself this putteth some delay to the Encounter the one party looking upon it as a dishonour to Fight with the other wanting one of their Number the other Party not finding one who would Engage himself to make up their Number desire one of the Three Hundred to be put aside but of all that Number not one could be induced to withdraw accounting it an indelible disgrace to be shuffled out of such a choice Company of Valorous men at last an ordinary Tradesman tendereth his Service desiring no greater Reward than one single piece of Gold in hand as an honourable badge of his Valour and an Annuity of a small Sum for Life should he survive the Conflict his Demands are soon granted and immediately beginneth the Conflict with as much Fury as the height of Wrath the insatiable desire of honour and the fear of shame more than death could produce to the horrour and amazement of the Spectators whose hearts trembled within them to see as indeed it was an horrid Sight to behold such a rueful Sight of Furious men butchering one another and observed it was by all that of all the Combatants none shewed more shall I call it Valour than the Tradesman did who had the good Fate to survive that dismal day and on the Conquering side too whereof only ten besides himself out-lived that hour to
Family of the Guise Widdow of the late Duke of Longoville in Marriage to King James the Marriage is agreed to the Year following she arriveth in Scotland and the Marriage solemnized at St. Andrews 1538. This Year exemplary Justice was done upon divers Persons of Quality conspiring the Death of the King some the Year following were Burnt some Banished for embracing the Protestant Doctrine Preached in Germany by Luther and others James Hammilton the Bastard accused of High-Treason is sentenced to Death his Head and Quarters affixed to publick places in Edenburgh the King soon after thought in his Dream that Hammilton cut off first his right and then his left Arm threatning withal to appear again to take his own Life the King awaking is very much troubled with thoughts of this Dream and revolving with himself what might be the meaning of it a Messenger comes to him with the sad News of the Death of both his Sons at the same time the one at Sterlin the other at St. Andrews King Henry of England sendeth the second time to invite King James to a Conference at York the Scotch Clergy still oppose it and the Conference again refused King Henry in great Indignation against his Nephew for refusal of Conference with him resolveth to talk with him in harder Terms and to that end he raiseth an Army and sendeth it into Scotland and under the Command of the Duke of Norfolk The Scottish Ambassadors in vain intreating a Cessation King James prepares a considerable Army for defence the English enter into Scotland and after some mischief done at the approach of the Scotch Army they retreat the Lord Gordon marcheth before the main body with Ten thousand Men doing much hurt and annoyance to the Rear of the English Army King James with all earnestness presseth an Engagement with the English the Nobility peremptorily oppose him in it the King enraged upbraideth them with Cowardise unworthy to be owned as Sons of their Noble Ancestors vowing that though they should all desert him himself and his own Family alone should give the Enemy Battel The Lord Maxwell to pacify the King tendereth his Service to lead into Cumberland Ten thousand Men thereby to divert the Enemy The King accepteth his Service but being enraged against the whole Nobility he resolves that none of them should have the Honour of any thing done in that Expedition and for the cause giveth a Dormant Commission to Oliver Sinclare Brother to the Lord Roslin Having entred Cumberland and now in view of Five hundred English Horse Sinclare produceth his Commission it is read at the head of the Army Maxwell is thereby inraged the whole Army falleth in Mutiny and in such a confusion that they become a Prey to the Five hundred English Horse divers of the Nobility and the new General Sinclare are sent Prisoners to the Tower of London this dishonourable Disaster which hapned at Solway strikes the Valorous King with such grief and sorrow that he never after joyed but soon after departed this Life having first made Peace with King Henry at whose request he recalled Archibald Earl of Angus Thus dyed King James the Fifth a Prince of singular Endowments most patient of Cold Hunger and Travel sometimes setting on Horseback Twenty Four hours when the necessity of his affairs required it a great Justitiary and a person of singular Foresight and Wisdom THE LIFE OF QUEEN MARY QUeen Mary was the only Child James the Fifth her Father left to Inherit the Crown born to him not above eight days before his death James Hammilton Earl of Aran is therefore chosen Vice-Roy to whom King Henry of England sent his Ambassador Sir Radolph Sadler to procure Peace between the two Kingdoms and to demand Mary in Marriage to his Son by the influence of the late Prisoners in England especially the Exiled Dowglasses whom King Henry had wrought much to his Service by his Royal Favours whose Counsels were now very prevalent in the management of publick affairs both were assented the Contract of Marriage Signed and Pledges promised for better performance of all Conditions agreed upon notwithstanding of the Opposition of the Queen and Cardinal who fearing the Subversion of Popery still established in that Kingdom by this agreement endeavour what they can to cross all Tumults are stirred against the English Ambassador and daily Affronts put upon his Attendants in the Streets the Ambassador complaineth and demandeth the Pledges promised for confirmation of the Agreement lately made exemplary Justice is executed upon the chief movers in the Tumults in answer to this Complaint but the Cardinal by the influence of his power had so obstructed the matter of his demand that not one of the Nobility would yield up himself voluntarily a Pledge to the English and to such a business none could be compelled King Henry hereby provoked seiseth all the Scottish Ships in the English Havens and Harbours and proclaimeth War against the Scots in the mean while the Queen Mother sendeth to France to entreat the French King to send home Matthew Earl of Lennox to strengthen her against the English Faction otherwise Religion and the French League were like to come to nothing Lennox is sent home and forthwith levieth Four Thousand men and with this strong guard cometh to the Queen the Vice-Roy inferior in Power sends Commissions to treat for Peace by agreement the young Queen is committed to the Education of Four Indifferent Noble Men ingaged in neither Faction viz. the Lords Graham Areskin Lindsay and Leviston and accordingly they take charge of her at Sterlin where all the Nobility do Homage to her The Vice-Roy joyneth himself wholly to the Cardinal which Conjunction so inrageth Lennox that immediately he flyeth to Arms raiseth an Army marcheth to Leith and provoketh the Cardinal to Fight the Cardinal keeps himself close in Edenburgh Castle Lennox through want of Provisions is forced to withdraw and to put himself in a posture of Defence in and about Glascow King Henry hearing of these Stirs sends into Scotland to demand the custody of the young Queen until she came to years fit for Marriage The French Faction now prevailing his Demands are refused An Army is therefore forthwith sent into Scotland under the Conduct of the Earl of Hereford and a great Navy of Two hundred Sail under the Command of Viscount Lisle as Admiral The English enter the City of Edenburgh without resistance first they Pillage and then they Fire it and divers other Towns and Villages about it the like fate befel the Town of Leith and forthwith they return to England laden with Spoil The Queen Mother writeth to the French King and layeth all these mischiefs at Lennox his door as the only enemy of their Peace and Union by reason of his private Feud against the Vice-Roy for the death of his Father At her Request Lennox is recalled to France but finding the French King provoked against him he still keeps to his posture of Defence
The Vice-Roy marcheth against him and after some small bickerings Lennox retireth into England and is honourably entertained by King Henry to whom he tenders his Service in opposition to the French Faction then prevailing in Scotland of which his Majesty so well accepted that he gave to him in Marriage his Neice the Lady Margaret Dowglas Daughter to Margaret his own Sister and Wife to James the Fourth by her second Husband the Earl of Angus Lennox and his Friends most of them have their Estates confiscate The English re-enter Scotland Fire Jeeburgh and Kelso waste most of the Countrey thereabout and leaving a Garrison at Coldingham they return home with their Booty The Vice-Roy in the depth of Winter layeth Siege to Coldingham and all on the sudden retireth to Dunbar leaving his Army in which he durst not confide at the Siege by this unexpected desertion the Army falls into Confusion by the wisdom and valour of the Earl of Angus the Cannon and all other things belonging to the Army are safely brought off and carried to Dunbar Next Spring Thomas Duke of Norfolk is sent down with an Army to joyn with that on the Borders with a design to reduce all on this side forth to the Obedience of the English The Vice-Roy by the incouragement of Angus marcheth toward the Borders and at Ancram obtaineth a Victory over the English which Disaster much inraging the English King the Vice-Roy sends to France to crave assistance Three thousand Foot and Five hundred Horse are granted and sent under the Command of Sir James Montgomery by whose assistance the Vice-Roy marcheth in a Plundering Expedition within the English Borders and soon after Disbandeth his Army next Winter Montgommery returneth to France And now some Stirs begin by such as endeavoured some Mutations and Reformation of Religion George Wisheart having fallen away from Popery and embracing the Reformation begun in Germany is apprehended and at a Council of Bishops and some others held at St. Andrews is Condemned as guilty of Heresie The Cardinal sendeth to the Vice-Roy to desire the Law to be executed against him who wisheth the Cardinal not to be too hasty but to forbear a little which distasted the Cardinal not a little at whose command forthwith Execution is done upon him at Saint Andrews the Cardinal beholding the Tragedy from his Windows not without some Pomp which Wisheart perceiving said to the Governour of the Castle standing by him He who now insulteth over me shall in few days be tumbled over the same Window with more disgrace than now he setteth with state At the uttering of which words he is strangled to death and his Body burnt to ashes This fact of the Cardinal and the manner of his proceeding without the Authority of the Vice-Roy gave distast to many at last his Death is contrived and perpetrated by Norman Lisle Son to the Earl of Rothuse whose discontent arose from the refusal of a private grant which the Cardinal conceived not fit to be yielded to him Lisle calls some sixteen Consorts together to whom he discovered his intent craving their concurrence all was agreed unto the time and manner is appointed for execution over Night they come privately to St. Andrews and lodge severally in divers Inns to render themselves the less suspected next Day morning by break of day two of the Conspirators come to the Castle and being known Men the Porter openeth to them they enter and the rest follow streight the Porter is laid fast and all the Cardinal's Servants secured threatning them with Death if once they whispered which done they repair to the Cardinal his Chamber they knock the Cardinal admiring what this should mean that Strangers and none of his Servants should at such a season come to his Chamber-door refuseth to open Norman Lisle well known to him and a man much favoured by him protested they minded him no hurt at all but that they had a matter of great Importance to Communicate to him the dispatch of which required that their unseasonable coming to his Chamber the Cardinal trusting their Protestations openeth his Door they enter fall forthwith upon him and barbarously Murther him By this time News are carried into the City of the Surprisal of the Castle The Cardinal his Friends and Retainers immediately Arm beset the Castle threatning the death of all within if the Cardinal were not preserved alive the Murtherers told them it was too late and therewith cast his dead Body barbarously cut over the same Window from whence he beheld the Tragedy of the late mentioned Martyr George Wisheart which added not a little to the high Opinion the People had of Wisheart remembring the last words he spake concerning the Cardinal This Impious Murther highly provok'd the Court the Vice-Roy Summoneth the Murtherers to appear before him they refuse and are declared Traitors but they having seised the Cardinal his Treasure and having in their power the Vice-Roy his Son who then remained with the Cardinal and confiding in the strength of the Castle stand upon their guard The Vice-Roy layeth Siege to the Castle and after some four Months Siege in vain he withdraws his Force and returneth to Edenburgh to be present at Parliament then ready to Assemble and now behold the Judgment of God upon those Barbarous Murtherers they being formerly Men in all outward deportment not only Civil but Religious and reputed Men of tender Consciences give themselves now over to all manner of wickedness Murthers profane Swearing drinking to Excess and Whoring were things of course with them their wickedness came to this height The Vice-Roy too slow in avenging so much Wickedness layeth again Siege to the Castle assisted with some French Forces after much Battery they are content to deliver themselves to the French Admiral Monsieur Strozius upon Quarter for Life they are set on the French Shoar and disperse themselves all of them living ever after in great Misery are in their several turns pursued by the wrath of God to violent and untimely Ends. About this time the Duke of Sommerset now after the Death of King Henry the Lord Protector of England Invadeth Scotland with a powerful Army the Vice-Roy all on the sudden rolleth together Thirty thousand Horse and Foot to whom the English Protector sendeth a very fair Letter requiring their young Queen may be assured in Marriage to the young King of England according to former Agreement and for their better Security he demands the said Princess may be Educated not in any Foreign Country but at home until she come to such years as might inable her to make her own Choice Further desiring that in the interim there might be Peace between the two Nations and no treaty of Marriage admitted with any other Prince All which being granted the Protector promiseth not only to withdraw his Army but likewise to make reasonable satisfaction for all the hurt he had done to all which Proposals the Scottish Vice-Roy returns no Answer
Cassils Rothus and Cumberland three of the Clergy the Arch-Bishop of Glascow the Bishop of Orkney the Pryor of St. Andrews two of the Commons the Provost of Edenburgh and the Provost of Montross are sent they safely arrive and are honourably entertained at the French Court the Marriage solemnized April 24. 1558. in great State in the Church of Nostra Dama in Paris the Scotch Commissioners the chief days of the Solemnity being past prepare to return to their own Countrey abundantly satisfied not so much by beholding the incredible Magnificence of the French Entertainment as by observing the admired deportment of their most Gracious and Illustrious Queen Before their departure an unhappy dash of Discontent was given the Chancellor of France is sent to them to move That the Crown of Scotland may be sent over into France for Coronation of the Dauphine after the custom and manner of the Kings of Scotland The Commissioners refuse the motion and soon after take their Leave of the Court and return home In their return the Earl of Cassils the Earl of Rothus the Bishop of Orkney and the Lord Cumberland depart this Life And now began the great Stirs touching Reformation of Religion which we shall briefly touch Certain Lords assisted by some Knights and Gentlemen who afterwards were termed the Lords of the Congregation knowing the Heart-burnings of the People occasioned by the Death of George Wisheart and Walter Mill both lately Burnt for Religion send privately their Scrolls all the Kingdom over to receive the Subscriptions of all who favoured the Reformation of Religion which being done Propositions are sent to the Queen Regent by the hands of Sir James Sandelands Lord Caulder viz. That all Popish Priests be forthwith removed and Godly Ministers chosen by the People established in their places and that all publick Prayers may be said in the Vulgar Tongue The Popish Bishops though much inraged yet make a motion and a fair offer to refer all to publick Dispute the Lords of the Congregation refuse all Dispute whilst the Popish Bishops are their Judges The Bishops make a second Tender That if the Mass Invocation of Saints Prayers for the Dead were continued in due esteem together with the belief of Purgatory that then it should de lawful for them to use the Scottish Tongue in their publick Prayers and Ministration of Baptism and the Lord's Supper This is likewise rejected by the Lords of the Congregation who peremptorily adhere to their first Proposals requiring the Queen Regent to hearken thereunto Her Majesty yields to them That it shall be lawful for them to use their Vulgar Tongue in their publick Prayers provided all other Rights be duly observed and none of their Preachers appear in the Pulpits of Edenburgh They of the Congregation finding themselves discountenanced and unsatisfied send John Ariskin of Dunne a well learned Man to Solicit the Parliament in their behalf but with no success In May following another Parliament is called at Sterlin thither Commissioners are sent viz. Alexander Cuningham Earl of Glencarne and Sir Hugh Camphell Provost of Aire to pacific the Queen Regent provok'd by some Popular Tumults and to pray that nothing might be denied through the occasion of the said Tumults which was formerly granted to them The Queen Regent in much wrath threameth the Banishment of their Ministers as main Incendiaries The Commissioners urge the remembrance and performance of her Promises which she resusing they peremptory threaten and protest to renounce all Obedience to her beseeching her in time to consider what Mischiefs were like to ensue thereupon In the interim the Ministers of the Congregation get into the Pulpits at St. John's Town A Messenger is dispatched to Patrick Ruthuen Provost of the place to Suppress them and the Stirs made by them the Provost refuseth the Service A Messenger is likewise sent to Dundee to demand the Person of Paul Messan a Popular Preacher who privately withdraweth and escapeth A General Proclamation is likewise made requiring the Celebration of Easter after the accustomed manner The whole Ministers of the Congregation disobey who are therefore cited to Sterlin May the 10th to answer their Contempt for countenancing of whom a great Confluence rush thither from all parts of the Kingdom The Queen Regent calls to her Areskin of Dunne a Popular Man and Requests him to persuade the Multitude to return peaceably to their several homes assuring him that nothing should be done against any of their Sect by his means some return more stay whereby the Queen is highly provoked such of the Ministers as were Summoned and appeared not are Banished to no purpose John Knox Preacheth at St. Johnston and inflameth all the Multitude forthwith brake down the Altar and all the Images in the Church do violence to the Person of the Priest then attending to say Mass into immediately after they rush into the Monasteries of the Franciscans and Dominioans and by assistance of the Souldiery then and there in Arms they spoil and plunder and in two days lay all those stately Buildings level to to the ground at Cowper of Fyfe they do the very like The Queen Regent being informed of all these detestable Outrages sendeth to the Earls of Arguile Hammilton and Athol to attend her with all their Retainers which they forthwith did and advance to St. Johnston May the 18. the Queen perceiving their Forces both greater and more resolute to Fight than her own dispatcheth Commissioners viz. the Earl of Arguile and James Stuart Bastard Son to the late King who remained with the Regent on purpose to discover all her Counsels and Resolutions to that Adverse Faction to the Lords of the Congregation to treat with them for Accommodation Alexander Cunningham and John Areskin above-named are appointed by the Lords to treat with them Articles are agreed upon that the Forces on both sides should be Disbanded The Queen and the Nobility with her enter the Town for their refreshment during their pleasure without Damage to be done by any the French not to approach within Three Miles of the Town all other matters of Difference referr'd to the next Parliament The Armies accordingly dismissed the Queen Regent and those of the Nobility with her are received into the Towns Arguile with James Stuart abovenamed withdraw to St. Andrews The Queen Regent jealous of them and seeing no hopes of a lasting Peace setleth new Magistrates and having restored the Mass leaves a Garrison at St. Johnston's and returns to Sterlin from thence sends threatning Letters to Arguile and James Stuart to return to her but all in vain they now both publiquely joyn with whom they were before in private ingaged to the Lords of the Congregation New Forces are levied on both sides those of the Congregation assemble in great numbers Vowing the Destruction of the Adverse Party enter St. Andrews having Defaced the Church at Carell plunder spoil and level to the ground the two Monasteries of the Dominicans and Franciscans the
being one Wood a Domestick of the Regents He returning in a disgust another is sent Pitcarne Abbot of Dunsterling no sooner was he entred the English Court but the Duke of Norfolk was sent to the Tower and all the Intrigue of Marriage with the Queen of Scotland discovered Pitcarne is respectfully Treated and freely heard in behalf of the Regent and at last is sent home with Thanks for many Offices done and Assurance of all Favour and Assistance to the Vice-Roy Which Success of their Message so puffed up the Faction and so animated Murray that the Government became intolerable and so uneasie to some that Exasperated with Fear Rage and Revenge resolved upon the Ruin of the Regent whatever were the result of the Attempt and accordingly as the Vice-Roy road through Linlithquo in his Expedition to the Borders with some few Troops of Horse one James Hamilton discharges a Pistol upon him and lodging a Bullet in his Bowels in some few Hours it put a period to his Life Hamilton safely Escaping by a Postern Dore. The Vice-Roy thus surprised with Death put all things into a new Confusion the Queens Party begin to stir but to little purpose they being Awed and Checked and the Adverse Party Encouraged and Strengthened by the Assistance of the Earl of Sussex and Sir William Drury Commanders in Chief for Queen Elizabeth upon the Borders of England So that the Queens Friends dare not put her Affairs to the Issue of a Battel in the mean time the French and Spanish Embassadors press Queen Elizabeth to be more Kind and Favourable to her Cousin the Queen of Scotland whom now she had made a Close Prisoner The Imprisoned Queen no less incessantly and importunately prayeth for her Self by her Letters in Writing wherein she had a most Excellent Faculty as those Copies do make undeniably evident the grand matter of her Request was for a fair hearing before her own Person Queen Elizabeth sendeth to Scotland giving the Adverse Faction Notice that she had promised a Conference for Composing if possible all Differences upon condition that the Queens Party should not stir nor endeavour a forceable restitution withal wishing them not to choose a Vice-roy or Regent until her pleasure was further made known unto them They not daring to displease Queen Elizabeth on whose favour and relief they depended and finding the necessity of their Affairs to require a Man in Supream Power and Authority by a knack of their own invention they choose an Inter-Roy Matthew Earl of Lennox the same in Power though not in Name with Vice-Roy Queen Elizabeth soon after adviseth them to constitute him Vice-Roy accordingly as they had formerly done to Murray Which being effected the New Vice-Roy sendeth the Earl of Morton Pitcarne and Mack gill to the Conference appointed by Queen Elizabeth with the French and Spanish Ambassadors In this Conference Queen Elizabeth had the parience to the astonishment of all wise and honest men to hear the rights of the Crown of Scotland pretended by Morton to be Elective and her nighest Kinswoman infinitely defamed and callumniated that tender priviledge of all Princes or Supream Magistrates viz. the immunity of their Sacred Persons from Capital Censures by Courts of their own Subjects not only disputed but enveighed against and condemned a Topick doubtless very ungrateful to her as being equally concerned in it had her English Subjects been then of the same Rebellions temper that the Scots were at the conclusion of this Conference the Queen declared that she had received no satisfaction either in the general Argument or in the particular Case of their Queen and therefore desired that they would hearken to an accommodation of all differences between them and their Queen This was peremptorily refused by them as not being impowred by their Commission and the matter it self being a Subject proper for the General Council of the Kingdom after much debate and some overtures made by the Queen for a Reconciliation the Commissioners returned home nothing at all being effected for the distressed Queen whom in truth Queen Elizabeth thought it not safe to enlarge This nullity of proceedings left all things in confusion the English Embassador Sir William Drury labouring for a Cessation of Arms between both parties who had had many bikerings and skirmishes to the effusion of much blood until at last the Regent is killed in a surprize at Sterlin by a Party of the Lord Hamiltons and in his stead the Earl of Marre is chosen Vice-roy who by his single Valour defended the Castle of Sterlin Repulsed the Enemy and Rescued the Prisoners that Hamilton was carrying away in which Rescue Morton was Killed by a Bullet that had pierced his Bowels in the midst of this general Combustion which filled all places with fears and dangers Gods Providence preserved the Young King now lodged in the Castle at Sterlin the Scene of the present Warlike transaction About this time the Duke of Norfolk that had been quitted the Tower upon his Confession and Submission and charging Leicester with unfaithfulness in the matter relapsing into the same misdemeanors was remanded to the Tower Arraigned before his Peers proved guilty of Treason and Executed who upon his death bewailed his breach of promise to the Queen that had before graciously Pardoned him and contrary to his word had again without the privity or leave of his Soveraign dealt with Queen Mary about Marriage and such weighty fairs but disowned all kindness for the Romish Religion and declared himself to die a Son of the Church of England The death of the Duke when the distressed Queen in all her Letters to Queen Elizabeth had endeavoured to excuse was no small aggravation of her sorrow and for his sake or his Affection to her she fears the worse and is now more closely imprisoned than before and by her confinement her Health is daily more impaired of which she sends many sad accounts to the Queen but to no purpose But to consummate her misery after all this one Ballard an English Priest with divers Gentlemen Conspire the death of Queen Elizabeth and the enlargement of Queen Mary Babington a Gentleman of exceeding good Parts writes to Queen Mary a full account of the design they had the Letter came safe to the hands of her two Secretaries Man and Curle who knowing the averseness of their Lady the Queen to such wicked and detestable designs dare do no otherwise than conceal the Letter from her and themselves return an Answer to it wherein they give all the life and encouragement to the project imaginable and to this they counterfeit the Queens Majesties Name Babington presuming it was the Queens Hand sheweth the Letter to divers whom he supposed he might trust and at last he commits that and all other their Papers to the trust of one Gifford who immediately carried them all to Walsingham Queen Elizabeths Secretary who upon the perusal of them discovers the whole Plot the Letter supposed to be
Scepter neither would it have been denyed her by any Christian Prince That the Crime committed was done by her Secretaries and not by her and therefore Injustice not to be Charged upon her but them That if this Sentence were Executed all Christian Kings would believe all their Honours and Rights wounded in that blow and would accordingly resent it and Avenge it That her only Son King James could never in Honour or Duty set down quiet under such an Affront And in fine That Heaven it self must needs Arm against so Bloody a Design and therefore they adjure her by all the Love she bears unto her self by all the Respects she bears to her own People the Nation of England that she forbear the Execution And if she feared any Evil by her Life to preserve her under the Power of strong Guards of which she could not want plenty in England if she would not accept of their Security for her Peaceable behaviour But as an over-pressing Argument to all these the Enemies of Queen Mary that were continually present with Queen Elizabeth beat it into her Ears that the Lives of Elizabeth and Mary were things incompatible and for the Safety of one it was necessary to take away the other which otherwise would be a perpetual Sting to her Sed mortua non mordet the Grave was the securest Prison she could be committed unto Queen Elizabeth at last Signs the Warrant for Execution which being past the Broad-Seal She next day sends Killigrew to Davison to forbid the Command of Execution telling him she would go another way to work but the Lords of the Council being Acquainted with it they without the Consent of the Queen wrested it from Davison and sent Beale their Clark with the Mandate and Letters to the Earls of Shrewsbury Kent Derby and Cumberland to see the same performed which was the only thing that Queen Elizabeth had to offer in her own Excuse to King James Protesting that it was done without her Knowledge and quite contrary to her Intent having as she said told Davison her Secretary her Resolution of taking New Measures and that the Warrant was to have remained in his hand without Execution unless a Foreign Invasion or Domestick broyls which Queen Mary's Enemies always suggested were daily designed should render it necessary Davison for his Disobedience was Committed and cast out of Favour * Vpon the News of Signing the Warrant for Execution King James Commanded the Ministers to remember the Queen Mother in their Prayers which they generally refused to do tho' the Form prescribed them was Pious and Christian being after this manner That it may please God to illuminate Her with the Light of his Truth and to Save her from the apparent danger wherein she was cast No sooner came the Order to the hands of the Noblemen than they repaired to Fotheringham Castle the Prison where the Queen lay and raising her out of her Bed in the Morning they read their Commission to her Advertising her That next day Morning she was to Dye which Order she receiv'd without any discomposure of Mind or change of Countenance saying She did not think that her Sister Queen Elizabeth would have brought her to that Extremity but seeing it was her pleasure she was willing to submit Appealing to Heaven and Earth to witness her Innocence adding that it was her Comfort that she dyed for and in the Religion of her Fore-fathers beseeching God to increase her Constancy and Courage to the Measure of her Afflictions After these words she besought the Commissioners that she might be permitted to Confer with her Confessor which was denied her tendring unto her in his stead the Bishop or Dean of Peterborough whom she refused saying God shall be my Comforter One of the Commissioners the Earl of Kent told her your life will be the death and your death the life of our Religion I thank you said she that I am thought worthy to dye for my Religion After that the Commissioners were rerired she commanded her servants that Supper should be dispatched and according to her usual custom she Supped soberly and discoursed to such as were about her with a marvellous calmness and tranquillity of mind at the end of Supper she drank to all her servants with a grave and modest chearfulness at which they all fell upon their knees mingling floods of Tears with their Wine so soon as they were able to speak having a little digested their sorrow they craved her pardon for their remissness in those duties and services her Majesty had deserved at their hands and she desired them likewise to forget all her defects and failings towards them comforting them with an invincible courage and commanded them to wipe away their Tears and to rejoyce with her for that she was now to be delivered from an abyss of misery After Supper she wrote three Letters one to the King of France another to the Duke of Guise and a third to her Confessor this done she took a review of her Last Will which she had before committed to writing and caused an Inventory of her Goods to be Read and wrote down the names of those to whom she had bestowed her Wardrobe she also distributed mony to some with her own hand afterwards she retired herself and being refreshed with a little sleep she spent the rest of the night in Watching and Prayer The next morning being the eighth of February she drest and adorned herself with such of Apparel and Ornaments as she usually wore on Festival days and having again assembled her servants she caused her Will again to be Read to them desiring them to take in good part those poor Legacies she had bequeathed to them the condition of her Estate not permitting her to give them any greater She took her last farewel of them to fear God to love one another and to be stedfast in the Faith and to Pray for her Soul she kissed the women and permitted the men to kiss her hand and then returned to her Oratory where she continued to Prayer until Thomas Andrews the Lieutenant of the County signified unto her that her hour was come and it was time to come forth which she soon obeyed and in a posture full of Majesty and a Countenance very joyful the Commissioners received her in a Gallery where they did attend her there likewise Melvin her Steward did present himself before her and weeping fell on his knees to receive her last commands Melvin said she weep not but rather rejoyce for this day you shall see Mary Stuart delivered from all her sorrows and I adjure you to tell my Son that I have always lived and now I dye a Catholick and that I exhort him to preserve the Faith of his Ancestors to love Justice and to maintain his people in Peace and to Enterprize nothing against the Queen of England I have committed nothing against the Kingdom of Scotland and I always loved France God forgive
them who have thirsted after my blood then turning to the Lords she requested that her servants after her death might be civily used suffered to attend her person in the time of her death and then to enjoy peaceably those poor Legacies she had bequeathed them the Earl of Kent opposed her servants Attendance yet the passionate desires of the poor Queen prevailed with the rest of the Lords to permit six of them to wait on her to the Scaffold with this train came she into the Hall hung with black and ascended the Scaffold covered with black also and sat her down in a Chair prepared for her Beal read the Warrant for Execution which she heard very Patiently the Dean of Peterborough endeavoured to persuade her at last to relinquish the Roman and embrace the Reformed Religion for the Eternal good of her Soul She besought him to forbear being Resolved to Dye in the Faith of the Roman Church Then turning to the People she Protested before God that she had not Attempted any thing against the Life of Queen Elizabeth nor any other thing deserving Death after some sew words more touching Religion her Eyes gushed full of Tears which were sympathetically Answer'd with Tears by all that beheld the Tragedy Three or Four only in all that Concourse that could be Excepted The Executioner desired her Pardon I Pardon thee said she and all my Persecutors after she had kneeled down and Prayed with extream fervency concluding her Devotions in these words As thy Arms Lord Jesus were stretched out upon the Gross so receive me O Jesus into the stretched forth Arms of thy Mercy And after this she disposed her self for the Block her Maids having undressed her she laid open the most Beautiful Neck that ever received so merciless a Blow then she signed her Attendants with the Sign of the Cross and having kissed them all she smilingly bids them farewell at which they poor Souls weep most bitterly with Sighs and Tears inexpressible for which she meekly reproved them saying Nay what do you mean do you suffer your selves to be Transported with Grief notwithstanding you know I am going to Exchange a Temporal Kingdom full of Misery for an Everlasting Empire filled with all Felicity After this she covered her Face and laid her Neck on the Block saying in te Domine speravi and having repeated once and again in manus tuas Domine The Executioner gave a Blow and with it made a dreadful wound in the hinder part of her head and at two more the Inhuman Butcher severed her head from her Shoulders saying Long Live Queen Elizabeth and so let the Enemies of the Gospel perish Her poor Heart-broken Servants drew nigh to do their last Office for her in divesting her Body and disposing of it for Burial But the Earl of Kent commanded them to be gone and ordered her Body to be conveyed to a Chamber in the Castle where it was locked up After Nineteen Years Imprisonment thus Unfortunately Dyed the most Beautiful the most Magnanimous the most Wise and most Religious Queen Mary Her Body was first Buried in the Cathedral Church in Peterborough and after many Years in the Reign of her Son taken up and buried amongst her Ancestors in Westminster and by an unknown Author had this Inscription set upon her Tomb in Peterborough MARIA Scotorum Regina regis Filia regis Gallorum vidua reginae Angliae agnata heres proxima vertutibus regiis animo regio ornata Jure regio frustra saepius Implorato barbara tyrannica crudelitate ornamentum nostri seculi lumen vere regium extinguitur eodemque nefario Judicio Maria Scotorum Regina morte naturali omnes superstites reges plebeii facti morte mulctantur hic extat Cum Sacris enim vive Mariae cineribus omnium Regum atque principium violatam atque prostratam Majestatem hic jacere scito quia tacitum regale satis super que reges sui officii monet plura non addo viater Translated thus Mary Queen of Scotland the Daughter of a King the Widow of the King of France the near Kinswoman and next Heir to the Queen of England endued with Princely Vertues and a Royal Mind having often but in vain implor'd her Regal Right at length the great Ornament of our Age and the most Sovereign Light of the World is Extinguish'd by a most Barbarous and Tyrannical Cruelty and by the same pernicious Sentence Mary the Queen of Scotland is punish'd with a Natural Death and all surviving Monarchs made common Persons and render'd lyable to the punishment of a Civil Death a very strange and unaccountable kind of Grave in which the Living lye Interr'd with the Dead for with the Ashes of this Blessed Mary know thou that the Majesty of all Crowned Heads lies here depressed and basely violated But because the Reasons of State do admonish all Kings what is best to do O Traveller I say no more FINIS
which they performed with such care and diligence that within less than Forty days all of them are Apprehended Arraigned Condemned and Hanged only the Earl himself his Grand-child Robert and his Cousin Graham are more severely proceeded against to the terror of all Traitors the Executioners were to spend some part of three days in the Execution of Athol himself being the Contriver of the whole Villany The first day he was drawn in a Cart to the place of Execution a Crane was set up and his Body hailed up by a Pully to a great height is suddenly let fall almost to the Ground most of his Members at once miserably disjoynted then is he set on a Pillar in the view of the People a Crown of burning Iron set on his Head with this Inscription Here stands the King of all Traitors whereby came to pass the Delusion of a Sooth-sayer who told him which withal was a spur to his Ambition that in a publick place he should be Crowned King The second day he is tied on an Hurdle and dragged by Horse through the Great Street in Edenburgh The thrid day he was brought again to the place of Execution and laid along a Plank his Bowels are pulled out and cast into Fire prepared for them his Traiterous Heart is likewise pulled out and cast into the same Fire his Head cut off and set upon a Pole in a publick place of the City as a Spectacle to all Men his Body divided into four Quarters is sent out to four other chief Cities in the Kingdom and in publick places hanged up to the terror of all Traitors His Grand-child Robert being a Youth only and Seduced by the wicked Counsel of his Grand-father is more mildly dealt withall being first Strangled to death and then Quartered his Quarters are set as Spectacles in certain publick places of the Kingdom Grahan is more roughly used being though not the chief Contriver the grand Executioner of that dreadful Murther he was first dragged through the City in a Cart backward then his Hands being fastned in Iron Hooks fixed in the same Cart his Flesh all his Body over is Seared with hot Irons even to the very Bones this done his Body is cut in Quarters and disposed on as were the former A severe piece of Justice and well deserved What could recompence the loss of that Good King worthy to be reckoned amongst the best of Kings a Man of a low Stature but of a marvellous strength of Body far exceeding all his Contemporaries of such a vigorous Wit that he was eminently learned in all the liberal Sciences in Poetry and Musick he far exceeded the decorum of a King a prudent Lawgiver a singular Justiciary a Merciful Prince an incomparable Maecenas to all Learning in all his Relations and their respective duties no King no Man ever better and yet for all these it pleased God to suffer him to fall under the Cruel hands of wicked and bloody Men for what cause whether his own or his Peoples Sins is best known to him from whom no Secret thing is hid His Murther hapened to the inexpressible Grief of all good Men the 20th day of February 1437. the 18th Year of his Reign and the 44th of his Age. THE LIFE OF JAMES II. JAMES the Second only Son to James the First was Crowned at Halyrude-House in the 7th Year of his Age at the same time Sir Alexander Leviston is chosen Vice-Roy and Sir William Chrichton continued Chancellor The Nobility are no sooner returned home to the places of their ordinary Residence when behold all things fall into a most Pernicious Confusion Archibald Earl of Dowglas conceiving himself neglected in the publick Administration refuseth notwithstanding the Letters both of the Vice-Roy and Chancellor directed to him to that effect to Restrain the Insolent Robberies committed by his own Vassals all Anandale over commanding them withal to deny Obedience to the Edicts and Proclamations of the Chancellor or Vice-Roy pretending a Regal Power Legally invested in himself over all those who lived within the Confines of his peculiar Jurisdiction The same Divel of Division playeth his Prancks between the Vice-Roy and Chancellor the Vice-Roy dischargeth by publick Proclamation all Obedience to the Chancellor and the Chancellor by the like Proclamation all Obedience to the Vice-Roy The People thus perplexed between contrary Commands are reduced by their Opposite Powers in cases of necessary Disobedience to the one or other into a most woful Plight The Vice-Roy and the Queen stay at Sterlin The King the Tuition of the Chancellor abideth at Edenburgh Castle the Queen with a design to rescue the King out of the hands of the Chancellor repaireth to Edenburgh pretending a desire only to see her Royal Son the young King The Chancellor Entertaineth her Majesty civily and Princely which civil Entertainment the Queen very Graciously accepteth and by her fair and plausible Discourses concerning the State of publick Affairs the happy Education of the young King her Son and the earnest desire she had of an happy Union between the two grand Ministers of State She so far Insinuateth her self into the good opinion of the Chancellor that at all times she hath free access to the King's Person Her Retinue being such too as it was so small and of such mean Persons that no matter or Jealousie could arise from them In the mean while she secretly persuadeth the Child to suffer himself to be conveyed away by her and finding her opportunity overnight she very civilly and in a Courteous fashion taketh her leave of the Chancellor pretending a Journey early next day morning to Whit-Kirk to perform some Vows and Religious-Offices by break of Day she taketh her Journey and with her the young King her Son locked up in the Trunk in which her own Linnen lay both take Shipping at Leith and safely Arrive that Afternoon at Sterlin where they were received with much Joy The Chancellor amazed and ashamed to see himself so handsomly cheated perplexeth himself to little purpose The Vice-Roy forthwith advanceth with an Army to Besiege the Castle of Edenburgh where the Chancellor lay who immediately dispatcheth a Messenger to Earl Dowglas to crave Aid and Relief who returneth Answer with as little Wit as Fear saying That he knew they were both Knaves contending not for Publick Good but their own private Interests so that wherever the Blow fell it was not lost and should they both Perish it were the more happy for the whole Kingdom as to himself he should not be sorry to see the Ruine of them both This Indiscreet Answer proveth as so much Soder to Cement the two grand Contenders either by perceiving the Earl his common Enmity against both resolve to make Peace one with another which after a private and personal Conference was accordingly done both remaining in their respective places of Government Being thus Reconciled they bear a keen Edge towards Dowglas but Death struck more sharp than their Sword cutteth