their Neece the Queen of Scots that he openly own'd the claim thereof so that thenceforwards his Son and Daughter in Law used the stile in all their Acts of State Francis and Mary of Scotland England and Ireland King and Queen and caused the Arms of England to be Engraven and Painted on their Palaces Housholdstuff and Heralds-Coats And the said King Henry dying shortly after this Francis who succeeded him by the name of Francis the Second and Mary Queen of Scots by the Council of the said Guises who bore great sway in France publickly assumed to themselves the Soveraignty of England and Scotland as well as that of France and Scotland pretending to Queen Elizabeths Ambassador who complained thereof sometime that the Queen of Scots bore the Arms of England only to shew the nearness of her Blood to that Royal Line and sometimes that she did it only to cause the Queen of England to forbear bearing those of France Much dispute there was about this matter which Queen Elizabeth as she had reason resented very grievously But at last in the Year 1560. upon a Treaty at Edenborough It was amongst other matters agreed that the French King and his Wife Queen Mary should henceforwards relinquish the Title and Arms of England and Ireland But when the same came to be confirm'd in France they sought Evasions and delay'd so long that in the interim King Francis the Second not being Eighteen years old dyed and left the Queen of Scots a Widow of Nineteen who thereupon resolv'd to leave France and to return to her own Kingdom of Scotland But Throgmorton Queen Elizabeths Ambassador before she went earnestly press'd her to confirm the said Treaty of Edenborough which she refused alledging she must first consult with the Nobility of Scotland This refusal so nettled Queen Elizabeth that she refused to grant her a safe Conduct for her passage However taking the opportunity of a Fog she set Sail from Callice and passing the Channel arrived safely in Scotland From thence she sent Letters to Queen Elizabeth promising all care to make and conserve Amity with her and requesting that a lasting Peace might be made between the two Crowns And in order thereunto desired that Queen Elizabeth would in Parliament declare her her next Heir if she her self should have no issue This proposition startled Queen Elizabeth who rather look't for the confirmation of the Treaty of Edenborough which she had so often promised and therefore return'd Answer in these words That as concerning the Succssion she hoped the Queen of Scotland would not by violence take away her Crown from her and her Children if she had any She promised not to derogate any thing of her right unto the Crown of England although she had claimed the Title and Arms of England thorough the too much hasty ambition of other men for which injury it was meet that she made satisfaction By setting down her Successor she feared lest their friendship should be rather dissevered than consolidated for that unto men established in Government their Successors are alwaies suspected and hated the people such is their inconstancy upon a dislike of present things do look after the rising Sun and forsake the Sun setting and the Successors designed cannot keepwithin the bounds of Justice and Truth their own hopes and other mens lewd desires Moreover if she should confirm the Succession unto her she should thereby cut off the hope of her own security and being alive hang her Winding-sheet before her own eyes yea make her own Funeral-feast alive and see the same But this Remonstrance took but little effect and therefore sometime afterwards an Interview was projected to be had between the two Queens but after a long Treaty relinquisht the Scottish Queen refusing it unless Queen Elizabeth would adopt her her Daughter or declare her her Heir apparent by Authority of Parliament This Queen Elizabeth would not consent to but advised her to a Marriage with Robert Dudely who thereupon was made Earl of Leicester which Alliance the French rail'd upon as dishonourable and as for her matching with any Forrein Prince the Earl of Murray natural Brother to the Scots Queen diverted her from it and proposed to her Henry Lord Darnly Son to the Earl of Lenox whereunto both Love and Policy seem'd to give their suffrages for as he was one of the most proper and goodly young Gentlemen in the world so likewise was he next Heir after her to the Imperial Crown of England so that she might at once gratifie her Fancy and sortifie her Title This Noble-man was born and at this time resided in England the Earl his Father having upon the troubles in Scotland retreated thither in King Henry the Eighth's time And upon the first return of Queen Mary into Scotland Queen Elizabeth had confin'd both Father and Son for holding correspondence with her But after some time first the Father and afterwards the Son on several specious pretences got leave to go into Scotland promising to return within such a Term. Being there a Marriage was quickly concluded and solemnized between the Queen and this young Lord at which Queen Elizabeth appear'd much dissatisfied nor did their Nuptial Joys remain long un-eclips'd but discontents which as easily climb to the glorious beds of Princes as to the homely pallets of Peasants arose between them whether it were that he thought he had not enough or took upon him too much share in the Government or on some more private disgust I determine not being unwilling to follow the reports of those prejudic'd Authors who have sullied this great Princesses Fame when the respect due to the Honour of Ladies especially the Majesty of a Crowned Head ought to have taught them more modesty From what ever ground these animosities sprung they soon grew to such an unhappy height that one Evening the King attended with several others rush't into the Queens Apartment as she was at Supper and seizing upon one David Rizius a Native of Piemont by profession a Musitian but for his Wit and Dexterity receiv'd into great favour with the Queen and made a kind of Secretary they assaulted him with their naked Swords and dragging him to the door gave him several mortal wounds whereof he instantly died The Queen was then great with Child of him who was afterwards James the 1st Monarch of Great Brittain And though Providence was pleased to prevent her Miscarriage yet the sight of so dismal a Tragedy could not but surprize her with wonderful astonishment insomuch that some Philosophers will needs have it that King James retain'd an aversion to the sight of naked Weapons and attribute the same to the impressions of this unparellel'd violence Of which the King 't is said soon repented and craved the Queens pardon charging Murray and Morton as the persons that instigated him thereunto But the King himself did not long survive this Assassination for within a month or two after he himself in a tempestuous night
procure the Estates of Scotland to confirm them by publick Authority 7. The King himself also should ratifie them by Oath and by writing 8. And that Hostages should be given But these Consultations proved Abortive the Scots rejecting them and besides Queen Elizabeth had notice that Holt an English Jesuit was sesecretly sent into Scotland not without the Scottish Queens privity as was suggested to use means there for an Invasion of England And indeed the Queen of Scots was too much addicted to and influenced by the Jesuites and their Councils who as they made use of her name to colour their traiterous designs against Queen Elizabeth and therefore gave out as if they had acted out of pure zeal to the Family of the Stuarts as many of them will boast to this very day yet 't is plain that in all these stirs they really minded nothing but their own Interest for when they met with so many disappointments in their Plots to bring the said Scottish Queen before her time to the English Crown and withal despaired of turning her Son King James to their Religion they presently began to start variety of new Titles witness Parsons alias Doleman's Book of Succession and other Pamphlets by them flung abroad about those times Nay 't is more than suspected that as they egg'd on the Scottish Queen to ill practises against Queen Elizabeth so when they had done imitating their Father the Devil who first tempts and then accuses they betray'd her too by making a secret discovery of those very Conspiracies in which they themselves had engag'd her and so were treacherously instrumental to hasten her death hoping to take off Queen Elizabeth and put by King James and play a new Game more for their advantage with some other Pretender as will more fully appear by and by But to return in the mean time to our History King James being as you heard in little better Condition than that of a Prisoner to Earl Gowry and his Confederates or at least esteeming himself as such on a sudden with a small Company conveyed himself to the Castle of St. Andrews being then about 18 years of Age to whom several of the Nobility with armed Troops repaired and then he began to exercise his Royal Authority of himself and declared in a great Assembly of the States the Force before upon him to have been traiterously imposed yet thought it most safe not to proceed with Rigour against his Surprizers only advising them to depart the Court and promised them pardon if they would ask it within a time limited which they declining fled some into England and others into other parts only Gowry attempting a new Conspiracy soon after lost his life It was now the year 1584. And in England divers lewd Books were spread by the Jesuits and other Popish Factors asserting that Princes Excommunicated as Queen Elizabeth for sometime before had been by the Pope were not to have any Allegiance paid unto them but ought to be deposed c. These Seeds soon ripen'd into rank fruits of Treason and Rebellion and had so far intoxicated one Sommervile a Popish Gentleman that coming privately to Court and full of rage against all Protestants he with his drawn Sword assaulted several persons and being apprehended declared like a stout Roman Champion that he would murder the Queen with his own hands whereupon he and one Arden an ancient Warwick-shire Gentleman his Father in Law were executed but Hall a Priest that excited them to this madness got a Reprieve Likewise one Throgmorton eldest Son of John Throgmorton Chief Justice of Chester was discovered by intercepted Letters directed to the Queen of Scots to have entertain'd Treasonable correspondencies with Popish Princes beyond the Seas and chiefly with the Guises who had resolv'd to invade England and free the Queen of Scots And for raising of money to carry on the work here one Paget under the counterfeit name of Mope was sent into Sussex where the Forreiners were first to Land and to facilitate their purposes he had prepar'd two Catalogues found in his Chests one of the names and descriptions of all the Ports of England the other of the Nobilitry and Gentry that favoured the Romish Religion and that he had communicated all this to Mendoza the Spanish Ambassador then in England whereupon he was condemned and though he had twice confess'd the fact yet like our Modern Popish Traitors at the Gallows he stoutly deny'd all and would needs be thought to dye as innocent as the child unborn However Mendoza having thus violated and forfeited the Priviledg of an Ambassador was commanded forthwith to depart with shame at which the Spanish Court being dissatisfied the Queen sent over Sir William Wade to justify the Action But the King of Spain not admitting him into his presence but slightingly putting him off to his Ministers he in disdain refus'd to communicate it at all and so returned home unheard whereby a greater animosity arose between the two Crowns Nor were the Popish party less busy in fomenting disturbances in Ireland where Dr. Saunders that had wrote several Pestilent Books having drawn in the Earl of Desmond to Rebellion and finding him defeated and his Head sent into England died miserably of famine as he roamed up and down the Mountains guilty and desperate as Cain fearing each man he met would deservedly slay him Likewise about the same time Providence was pleas'd in a wonderful manner to make a discovery of some other practises in agitation against Queen Elizabeth for one Creighton a Scottish Jesuit sailing in a small Vessel from the Low-Countries to Scotland certain Sea-rovers of Holland which then was revolted and at enmity with the rest of the Subjects of the Spanish King happening to come up with them took the said Ship and though the Jesuit to conceal his Instructions and mischievous errand tore several of his Papers to pieces and flung them over-board yet the wind miraculously as he himself confest afterwards drove them back again and cast them upon the Deck which the Hollanders perceiving and imagining that they might be of consequence gather'd them up carefully and sent them to England where by the great skill and industry of Sir William Wade they were so join'd together again that the Contents were legible and the Conspiracies on foot detected The good Subjects of England finding their Country in this danger from abroad and the life of their Queen whereon the safety of their Religion and Liberties did seem at that juncture wholly under God to depend daily attempted by various Plots and Machinations at home all carried on by Papists out of a prospect of a Popish Successor did think fit of their own accord solemnly to oblige themselves each to other for her safety and to revenge her death on any that should occasion it which agreement they call'd an Association and was entred into by abundance of persons of all ranks and conditions throughout the Nation The Tenor whereof was
of her Letters do write thus Per le expresse Secretaries Nave Curle Comaundement de la Royen ma Matresse By the special Commandment of the Queen my Mistress Nave and Curle being asked whether it were their Hands she confessed that she knew it to be their Hands and that Curle Queen of Scots Confession was an honest Man but she would not be judged by him and that Nave was the King's Secretary of France and that he had been Secretary to the Cardinal of Guyse But when she said she knew not Babington nor Ballard my Lord Treasurer Lord Treasurer said Madam I will tell you whom you know You know Morgain who hired Parry to kill the Queen and after you knew it you gave him a Pension Madam you give Pensions to Murtherers Then she said He hath lost all for my sake but you give Pentions in Scotland against me to my Son Queen of Scots The Lord Treasurer said The Queen because the Revenues of the Lord Treasurer Crown are diminished giveth the King a Benevolence being her Kinsman The Second Day at her first coming she renewed her Protestation Second Day Queen of Scots saying I am A Sacred and Anointed Queen and ought not to be judged by the Law I am A Free Prince and owe no more to any Prince than they owe to me I come hither for the Justification of my Honour and that which is laid to my charge that I should do against my Sister Her Oration was very long and of many things I like not said she to take this Course though I desire the Catholicks should be delivered out of their Persecution I had rather play the part of Hester than of Judith to pray for my people than to take any other way to deliver my People God forbid that I should deserve to be denied of Jesus Christ before his Father They gave it out that I was of no Religion for there was a time when I tender'd my self but they cared not for my Soul But my Lords when you have done all that you can and put me from that I should have yet you shall not obtain your Cause of Mary Steward And here she wept and blubbered that they could not conceive her speech I desire said she that another Assembly may be called where She wept I may have my Council I appeal to God first who is the Just Judge and She desireth another Assembly to Princes my Allies Here my Lord Treasurer said Madam We have set down your Protestations under a Notaries Hand and we have protested that your Protestation Lord Treasurer be not prejudicial to the Crown of England The Queen said Indeed My Lord you take no Commission but that Queen of Scots may serve your own turn you have done the worst you can I have often offered if I might be at liberty that I would do all duty and labour to quench the Troubles that are made but I could not be heard I was made believe that I should be at liberty and I promised Hostages for my Security my own Son and my Cousin Guise his Son The Lord Treasurer answered it is true the Queen was contented and so was the Council you offered Hostages as you say But it is as true that Lord Treasurer the Lords of Scotland would not consent that the King should come The Queen said But I told you that if I might be at liberty I would Queen of Scots effect it Madam said the Lord Treasurer the Queen shall set you at liberty and you shall seek her destruction for all this practice of your Enlargement Lord Treasurer was nothing else but a Plot against the Queen for even then when it was adoing your Man Morgan hired Parry to kill the Queen Morgan a Traitor hired Parry to kill the Queen Qu. of Scots Ld. Treasurer Qu. of Scots My Lord quoth she you are my Enemy No said my Lord Treasurer I am Enemy to the Queen's Enemies Was it not reported said the Queen of Scots that the Queen of England should never be free from Practices until I were set at liberty and I therefore desired that the occasion might be taken away Then was read a Letter to Mendoza the Spanish Ambassador wherein Mendoza she promised to give the King of Spain the Kingdoms of England and Scotland if her Son would not be reclaimed from that Heresie wherein she said he was misled There was also sent a Letter to Doctor Allin wherein she calleth him Dr. Allin Reverend Father in God and dealeth with him about the Invasion and his Letter to her also There was read her Letters to the Lord Paget Charles Paget and Lord Paget Charles Paget Sir Francis Englefield Sir Francis Englefield In every of which Letters she saith she hath given direction to the Catholicks on this side for a Dispatch Here she being pressed with Truths of the Conspiracy and because her own Man had sworn it she said she thought he made no Conscience of an Qu. of Scots Oath given him Hereat the whole House murmured concerning the giving away the Murmuring of the Lords Kingdom of England to the King of Spain Writing to Mendoza she adviseth him thus Let not this be known for if it should it would be in France the Loss of my Dowry in Scotland the Breach with my Son and in England my total Destruction Here Mr. Sollicitor remembred the Lords that if a Forein Prince had Mr. Sollicitor the Kingdom as she would assign it what should become of their Dignities and Estates Madam said my Lord Treasurer The Succession of the Crown who soever hath it cannot give it to a Forein Prince it must go by the Laws Lo. Treasurer of the Realm to a natural English Man born Your Enemies in Scotland threatned to kill you and Her Majesty said she would then revenge it and so your Life was assured At her first rising up she talked long with the Lord Treasurer coming to She talketh with the Lord Treasurer Mr. Vice-Chamberlain Mr. Secretary and the Earl of Warwick him to his Seat after to Mr. Vice-chamberlain and Mr. Secretary excusing her self to them and used great Insinuations to persuade them She said to the Earl of Warwick that she had heard that he was an Honourable Gentleman desiring him not to believe all things he heard of her and also she desired him to commend her to my Lord of Leicester saying that she wished him good Success in his Affairs To the Judges and Lawyers she To the Judges and Lawyers said I pray God bless me from you you have sore Hands over them that be under you And to Mr. Phillips Thou never readest any good for me and so Mr. Phillips the Lords brake up their sitting on Saturday October 15. 1586. at One of Lds. break up the Clock in the Afternoon and adjourned the Commission to the Star-Chamber The
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF Mary Queen of Scots AND The Occasions that brought Her and Thomas Duke of Norfolk to their Tragical Ends. Shewing the hopes the Papists then had of a Popish Successor in England and their Plots to accomplish them With a full ACCOUNT of the TRYALS Of that QUEEN and of the said DUKE As also the TRIAL of PHILIP HOWARD Earl of Arundel From the Papers of a Secretary of Sir Francis Walsingham Now Published by a Person of Quality LONDON Printed for Tho. Cockerill at the Sign of the Three Legs in the Poultrey over-against the Stocks-Market 1681. A Preface to the following Tryals giving a brief Hystorical Account of the Life of Mary Queen of Scots and the occasions that brought both Her and the Duke of Norfolk to their Tragical Ends and the Earl of Arundel to his Trial c. IT may seem strange or unseasonable while the Press labours daily with the present Popish Plot to trouble the world with that which concerns only Those that so long ago are past and gone But as there are too many amongst us that question the Reality of the present Conspiracy so there are not a few that deny the Truth of those heretofore Or if they acknowledge any thing either of the Powder-Treason or Babingtons Conspiracy they extenuate the same almost to nothing by alledging that they were attempted by a few Private High-Spirited Gentlemen extreamly provoked with great Injuries and bitter usage which were the only causes of their desperate Resolutions for which they themselves sufficiently suffered and that therefore their Treasons are no more to be filed to the Account of their Church c. But by the following papers I conceive these Evasions will be silenced for thereby it will appear 1. That there was during a great part of Queen Elizabeths Reign a continued Series of Popish Treasons successively though God be blessed unsuccessfully carried on and that not by a few Desperado's but by a great number of persons of the most considerable Fortunes and Abilities of the Roman Catholick Religion 2ly That the main intentive and scope of the said Conspirators as every where they declare was to root out Protestantism and set up Popery unto which Attempts they were chiefly animated by the prospect of an immediate Popish Successor viz. the said Mary Queen of Scots 3ly That the Papists then were to make use of the same Vmbrage as now they do viz. to raise Lyes and Slanders of the Puritans and prerend that they designed Rebellion only to colour their own real Treasons as appears by the Queen of Scots Letter to Babington 4ly That these fatal Councils of the Guises and Popish Priests brought that great Princess who had the misfortune to be led by them to Ruine so that by endeavouring to anticipate the Succession she not only lost it but also her Life These and several other Remarkables which no doubt the Judicious Reader will observe in the perusal occasioned the publication of the ensuing papers at this time 'T is confessed the same are not so exactly taken as the Tryals of the present Age The Ingenious Skill of Speedy and short writing being much improved since those times yet it is evident by the Manuscript that there was no little care and diligence used therein so that nothing material seems to have escaped nor do any Historians give so punctual an Account of the Transactions as these papers which before never saw the Light concerning the Authentickness and Truth of which the Antientness of the hand-writing of the Original might be a sufficient Testimony had we not another more probable Argument which is That they were lately found amongst some Ancient papers that heretofore belonged to a Secretary of Sir Francis Walsingham an eminent Minister of State at that juncture For whose use 't is very credible the same were so curiously collected Besides If any shall be be at the pains to examine them they will find them to agree in the main with the Histories of those times not only with the Learned Cambden and the rest of our own Writers but with the Great Thaunus nay with the Jesuit Strada too But for the satisfaction of those Readers that are not so conversant in History that they may the better understand what they meet with in these Tryals we conceive it will not be unwelcome to prefix a brief Account of the Life and unhappy Fortunes of the Illustrious Mary of Scotland on whose Adventures all these prosecutions did depend wherein we shall impartially state matter of Fact without the Reflections of Buchanan or intollerable flatteries of Causin the Jesuit Mary Queen of Scots was the daughter and sole Legitimate Issue of James the fifth King of Scotland and of Mary his Queen a daughter of the house of Lorrain born in December 1541. she was scarce eight dayes old when the King her Father dyed and the Scottish Nobility being divided into Factions whereof the Family of the Hamiltons and the Earl of Lenox were the respective Heads The one side supported by King Henry the eighth of England and the other by the French King Henry the second she was by her Mother who being a French-woman inclined unto that Kings Interest sent into France about five or six years of Age to learn the Accomplishments of that Court. There she was educated under the French King and the house of Guise her Uncles who being desperate Enemies to the Reformation seasoned her with violent principles against the Protestant Religion she was a Lady very proper and beautiful of a great Wit and Courage beyond her Sex These Advantages and much more several important Reasons of State induced the French King to conclude her a fit Match for his Son the Dauphin For hereby they thought themselves not only sure to unite the Kingdoms of France and Scotland she being Sovereign Queen of the latter as he was Heir apparent to the former but also had a prospect of the Crown of England looking upon this Mary of Scotland as Great Grand-child to King Henry the seventh to be the next Heiress thereunto after Mary who had by this time mounted the English Throne For as for her sister Elizabeth they not only knew her to be one they called an Heretick but also gave out she was Illegitimate and so on both Accounts represented her as uncapable to succeed Hereupon a Marriage was solemnized between the Dauphin and this Princess Apr. 24th 1588. in Nostredam Church at Paris On the 27th of November following Queen Mary of England after a short Reign rendred infamous to all Posterity by the Butcheries committed on Protestants departed this Life And though Elizabeth according to her undoubted Right was with the general consent and applause of the Lords Commons and all the people proclaimed Queen and most happily succeeded her in the Throne yet had the Guises inveigled the French-King into such strong hopes of adjoyning England to the Crown of France by the aforesaid Title of
was strangled in his bed and then his body cast forth into a Garden Who were the Contrivers and Actors of his murther must perhaps remain a secret till the Vniversal Assizes shall disclose all the wicked Policies of the world in their naked undisguised reality Common Fame laid it upon the Earl of Murray base Brother to the Queen a man subtil and ambitious and Morton a great stickler in those times and other their Confederates But they on the contrary charg'd it upon the Queen though without convincing proofs Thuanus L. 40. Ad finem anni 1566 speaks as if the Popes fingers were not altogether free from the fiains of this Princes Blood for says he Ad haec Pontificis ut passim jactabatur Caroli Lotaringi Cardinalis Literis Incitabantur nam cum per eum à Pontifice petiissent pecuniam ad Instaurandam majorum Religionem Respor sum fuerat frustra ipsos Conari nisi sublatis iis per quos stabat ne res exitum jortiretur They were hereunto exited as was commonly reported by the Letters of the Pope and the Cardinal of Lorain for when by him they desired money of the Pope to re-establish the old Roman Religion 't was answered that their endeavours were vain unless those were taken off through whose default it was that the thing was not already accomplish't perhaps his Holiness did not esteem the Lord Darnly then King to be fierce and active enough for the business for he is noted to be a man of a soft temper Gay and Amarous not addicted to War nor Master of any extraordinary Politicks This is certain that soon after her Majesty was advised again to Marry and James Hepburn Earl of Bothwell being then much in her favour and eminent for his Valour was recommended 't is said designedly by Murray and his party as a person most fit for her acceptance and though he were more than suspected to be concern'd in the murder yet being thereof in a pretended Legal manner acquitted and having obtain'd for that purpose a Divorce from his former Wife the Queen was prevail'd with to accept him for her Husband not without the consent of many of the Nobility This caused a suspition in many that she was conscious to the murder which most Historians represent as the chief design of the Conspirators in promoting of that unhappy Match and these suspitions were so far improv'd that quickly after Arms were raised on that pretence and Bothwell forc'd to fly and the Queen her self seized and made Prisoner in Lechlevyn under the custody of Murray's Mother formerly a Mistress to James the 5th where threatning to prosecute her for Incontinency and for the Kings murder and for Tyranny c. they at last wrought so far upon her as to compel her to resign her Kingdom to her Son then scarce Thirteen months old and to appoint Murray Regent during his Minority But after Eleven months Consinement she made her escape and declaring that these Concessions were extorted by Duress and just fear raised an Army of 7000 men which were defeated by Murray and the Queen forced to save her self by a flight of 60 Miles in one day to the house of the Lord Heris where dispairing of safety and promising her self better entertainment from Queen Elizabeth than from her own Subjects she from thence in a small Bark and with few friends put to Sea and Landed at Wickington in Cumberland May the 17th 1568. and immediately dispatch't Letters to the Queen of England desiring to be conducted to her presence who in Answer promised her assistance according to the Equity of her Cause but denied her Access for that she was held guilty of many Crimes and ordered her to be conveyed to Carlisle as a place of safety withal writing to the Regent of Scotland that he should come in Person or by sufficient Deputies to answer the Queen of Scots complaint against him and his accomplices and render sufficient reasons for deposing her or otherwise she would espouse her cause and with all the force she could make endeavour to resettle her in her Kingdom Whereupon Murray with seven more met at York several Noblemen commissionated by Queen Flizabeth to hear and treat of the matter amongst whom Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk was the chief and likewise the Bishop of Rosse and others impower'd by the Scottish Queen did there attend but after a long Treaty they broke up and nothing was concluded At this Treaty a proposal was secretly made some say by Murray others by the Bishop of Rosse to the Duke of Norfolk to marry the Queen of Scots which proved fatal to him as you will find by the following papers containing his Tryal and Condemnation for the same And also it was given out that he had passed away her Right to the Crown of England to a Foreigner and that the same was ratified at Rome and Letters shewn wherein she accused Q. Eliz. for not performing her promises to her and boasted of Succors she expected from others which was confirmed by a discovery made That one Ridolph a Florentine Merchant was employed by Pius the fifth the then Pope to make a secret Commotion of Papists in England in her favour Whereupon she was removed to a place of greater security In the mean time Queen Eliz. had notice of the Intrigue between her and Norfolk upon which He was question'd but promising to desist and seeming to slight that Alliance was dismissed But presently a Rebellion was raised in the North by the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland instigated by one Nicholas Morton a Popish Priest sent over by the Pope to pronounce Q. Eliz. an Heretick and to have lost on that account all right and soveraignty And these Popish Rebels proceeded to that outrage that at Durham they tore in pieces all the Bibles they could meet with But finding themselves too weak to withstand the Forces raised against them fled without fighting the first being betray'd in Scotland sent into England and Beheaded at York and the other died abroad miserably About the same time Murray Regent of Scotland upon a private Grudge was shot as he Rid along the street by one Hamilton and the Regency was conferr'd upon Matthew Earl of Lenox the young Kings Granfather he being Father to the late murder'd King before his Marriage with the Queen stiled the Lord Darnly Both the French and Spanish Kings were now urgent with Queen Elizabeth for the Queen of Scots liberty who made answer That as she would omit nothing that might serve for the reconciling the said Queen and her subjects so she must have leave to provide for her own and her peoples safety as Nature Reason and her own Honour required Whereupon finding those Forreign applications ineffectual Domestick Plots were set on foot to effect it by force and amongst the rest some eminent persons undertook it but being discovered were soon apprehended and some of the Conspirators executed Nor was it long but the
well concerning the disallowing excluding or disabling any person that may or shall pretend any Title to come to the Crown of this Realm as also for the pursuing and taking revenge of any such wicked act or attempt as is mentioned in the same Association shall and ought to be in all things expounded and adjudged according to the true intent and meaning of this Act and not otherwise nor against any other person or persons The Scottish Queen was too quick sighted not to perceive that this Association was an Arrow level'd principally against her yet whether push't on by the greatness of her spirit or the blindness of her Fate or rather seduc'd by affording an ear as well to the treacherous counsel of her enemies as unto the pernicious devices of her friends she was still busy in Intrigues for procuring her Liberty and particularly Queen Elizabeth had private informations from one Hart a Romish Priest that Dr. Allen a Popish Fugitive advanc'd by the Pope to the Cardinalate for the Popish Ecclesiasticks of England and Sir Francis Inglefeild for the Laity and the Bishop of Rosse for the Queen of Scotland had unanimously undertaken and with the authority of the Pope and consent of the King of Spain decreed that Q. Elizabeth should be deposed and the King of Scotland disinherited of the Kingdom of England as being both manifest and notorious Hereticks and the Queen of Scots to be married to some Catholick Nobleman who should be chosen King of England by the English Catholicks and the Election ratified by the Pope and the lawful issue of this man by the Queen of Scotland to be declared Successors to the Crown c. But these were only remote and vnfledg'd projects there was another dangerous Conspiracy somewhat of the same complexion nearer hand and almost ripen'd for execution which in the year 1586. happily for Queen Elizabeth but as to the Queen of Scots fatally discovered which in short was thus One Gifford a Dr. of Popish Divinity had perswaded one John Savage a man of great courage and blind zeal that it was a meritorious work to take away the lives of Princes excommunicated who thereupon made a solemn Vow to kill Queen Elizabeth To render his attempt more feasible and to rock the Queen and her Council into security that the danger might so much the more certainly overwhelm them by how much it was less apprehended the Jesuits and Seminary Priests publish't a Book exhorting the Roman Catholicks in England to attempt nothing against their Prince and to use only the Christian weapons prayers and tears c. In the mean time Savage waiting his opportunity one Ballard a Priest that had been contriving in France with Mendoza Paget and others about invading of England came over as a Soldier by the name of Captain Foscu and being not unacquainted with Savage's design communicated the same to Mr. Anthony Babington a Derby-shire Gentleman of an ancient Family Rich very handsom of an excellent Wit Learned above his years and a zealous Papist who having lately been abroad the Archbishop of Glasgow the Scottish Queens Ambassador had engag'd him with continual applauses of that Queens Vertue and Beauty and of promises of honours and preferments from her obscurely intimating no less than hopes of Marriage whereby the ambitious young man resolv'd to run all adventures to render himself capable of her good Graces nor was that Queen wanting to give encouragement by holding a correspondence with him by Letters in Cipher which though for some time interrupted by her removal from the Charge of the Earl of Shrewsbury to the Custody of Amias Paulet and Sir Drew Drury was yet renewed again some time after as by the Letters in the following Sheets appears Babington being thus inform'd of Savage's Vow resolving to have the murder of Queen Elizabeth effectually perform'd would needs associate Five more with him for that attempt and also drew in divers other Popish Gentlemen no less fiery zealous than himself into the Conspiracy as Edward Windsor Brother to the Lord Windsor Thomas Salisbury of a good Family in Denbyshire Charles Tilney of an ancient worshipful House the only hope of his Family and one of the Gentlemen-Pensioners to Queen Elizabeth the last Two being lately reconciled to the Church of Rome by the said Ballard Chidiock Tichburn of Hampshire Edward Abington whose Father had been Cofferer to the Queen Robert Gage of Surry John Travers and John Charnock of Lancashire John Jones whose Father had been Tailor to Queen Mary one Barnwell of an honourable Family in Ireland Henry Dun a Clerk in the First-Fruits-Office and several others but those that were to assassinate Queen Elizabeth were the before-named Savage Abington Barnwell Tilney and Tichburn the Conspirators were all Sworn to Secrecy and had several Consults as in Pauls-Church St. Giles in the Fields and in divers Taverns and proceeded to that vanity that they had also their Pictures drawn to the Life all in one Table with Babington in the midst thus Circumscrib'd Hi mihi sunt Comites quos ipsa pericula jungunt But that Verse being thought too plain they removed it and instead thereof inserted this Motto Quorsum haec alió properantibus The Plot being thus laid to murder Queen Elizabeth and at the same instant to free the Queen of Scots Forrein Forces to land Rebels at home ready to joyn with them and all things in so forward a posture it will be convenient to observe how this desperate Contrivance was brought to nought The before-mentioned Gifford the Priest born in Stafford-shire not far from Chartley where the Queen of Scotland was kept was sent over about this time by the Fugitives into England under the counterfeit name of Luson to remember Savage of his Oath and secrerly to convey Letters to and fro between the Queen and her Correspondents which for some time he performed for by corrupting a Brewer belonging to Amias Paulet at a hole in a Wall into which a stone was put so that it might be taken out he secretly sent in and receiv'd back Letters but the said Gifford whether troubled in conscience or corrupted with bribes or terrified through fear or which I esteem more probable appointed so to do that he might precipitate the Queen to destruction disclosed the whole Intrigue to Secretary Walsingham and communicated to him all the Letters that either way he receiv'd who unseal'd and Copied them and then by the rare skill of one Phillips found out a Key to the Ciphers and by the dexterity of one Gregory sealed them up again so that they could not be perceiv'd to have been open'd and then dispatch't them away as directed Queen Elizabeth by this means having notice of the storm that hung over her head thought fit to prevent it in time and when Walsingham would have suffered them to have proceeded further the Queen refused lest as she said in not taking heed of danger when she might she should seem more to
tempt God than to hope in him Hereupon Babington and the rest were sought after and having in vain endeavour'd to abscond were apprehended and upon a fair Tryal and their own Confessions condemned and executed Hereupon Queen Elizabeth being much exasperated against the Queen of Scots caused her Cabinets and Papers to be seized wherein many Letters were found and Copies of Letters both to and from Strangers and also from divers Noblemen of England which Queen Elizabeth prudently dissembled and buried in silence As for Gifford who made the discovery he was soon after sent into France under the notion of Banishment Now that this Gifford might be set on work by the Jesuits is very suspitious for 't is very unlikely that he who first labour'd to perswade Savage of the lawfulness and merit of murdering of Queen Elizabeth and came over on purpose to remind him of that Vow should all on a sudden have so tender a Conscience or so much love forsooth to his Prince and Country as of his own accord to discover the Intrigue had he not a secret design to manage thereby which is more probable because 't is plain they were now grown out of hope of restoring their Religion either by the Queen of Scots or her Son and therefore began to set up a feigned Title for the King of Spain and imploy'd one of their Society into England as is affirmed by Pasquier a French Author to draw off the Gentry from her to the Spaniard and to thrust her headlong into these dangerous counsels which brought her to her end and at the same time lest the Guises her kindred should give her any assistance stirred them up to new enterprises against the King of Navarr and the Prince of Conde Nay the Queen of Scots her self was not unacquainted with their designs to set up the Spaniard for amongst other things we find she one time used these words When I being in Prison and languished with care without hope of Liberty and there was not any more hope left for ever bringing to pass these things which very many expected of me in my sickness and declining age many thought it fit that the Succession of the Realm of England should be established in the Spaniard or in a Catholick English man and a Book was brought to prove the Right of the Spaniard which being not admitted by me I offended many History of the Life and Death of Mary Steuart Queen of Scotland dedicated to her Son King James p. 400. But leaving this Conjecture to the Judicious Reader however it was design'd the event proved Funerous to the Scottish Queen for her Secretaries being examined about the Papers found in her Closet of their own accord acknowledged that these in her Name were of their hand-writings but Indited by her in French that she receiv'd Letters from Babington and that they wrote back by her commandment the Answers there found Hereupon the English Queen after some debate resolved to proceed against her upon the before recited Act of 26th of Eliz. But when it was said That according to the Formalities of Law she ought to be Tried at the Assizes by a Country Jury and to hold up her hand at the Bar Queen Elizabeth would by no means hear thereof judging it very unbecoming her Royal Quality and therefore chose rather to issue forth a Commission to divers Noblemen and chief Personages of the Realm together with the Judges c. who met at Fodringhay-Castle in Northamptonshire where she was then kept on the 11th of October 1586. and proceeded as in the subsequent Papers is related And afterwards viz. the 25th of the same Month in the Star-Chamber at Westminster to which time and place the Commissioners had adjourn'd themselves the sentence against her was pronounc'd and confirm'd with the Seals and Subscriptions of the Commissioners Whereupon both the King of Scots and the French King speedily sent their Ambassadors to intercede on her behalf with Queen Elizabeth using all perswasive Arguments that natural affection in the one and likeness of Condition and ancient friendship in the other could suggest But when the loud voice of necessity of State seem'd to drown all their Reasons the French Ambassador l' Aubespine resolves to prevent Blood with Blood and to save the Queen of Scots life contrives to take away Queen Elizabeths and deals with one Mr. Stafford whose Mother was of the Bed-Chamber to Queen Elizabeth about it who having not an heart to act such a Villany himself recommended one Moody a desperate Russian taken out of the Common Goal who for money undertook it But then they could not agree in the manner Moody propounded Poyson or to lay a Bag of Gunpowder under the Queens Bed and suddenly fire it so that the Treason of that kind against King James was not altogether a new invention but the Devil had long before inspired some bloody Papists with the notion but Trap the French Ambassadors Secretary liked neither of there Expedients but would have her kill'd as the Prince of Orange was late before who was shot into the Body with three Bullets by one Balthazar Gerard a Burgundian instigated thereunto by the Jesuits But whilst they were thâ—â— consulting Stafford discovers all whereupon Moody and Trap were apprehended and confest the whole Contrivance This fresh and dangerous Plot much startled Queen Elizabeth who perceiv'd that her own Life could not be safe if she did not proceed to execute the Sentence upon the Scottish Queen For from the prospect of her succeeding to the Crown the Popish Conspirators laid the foundation of all their Trayterous practises Yet never did Clemency and good nature more bravely resist the charms of Interest and dread of danger than in the noble breast of our Queen for how extreamly loth she was to consent to the death of the Queen of Scots appears by the several Applications made by the Parliament to move her thereunto As first at Richmond on the 12th of Nov. Serjeant Puckering Speaker of the House of Commons did in the name of that House represent unto her Majesty the divers apparent and imminent dangers that might grow to her Royal person and to her Realm from the Scottish Queen and her Adherents if remedy were not provided which he delivered as follows First touching the danger of her Majesties Person Both this Scotish Queen and her Favourers do think her to have Right not only to succeed but to enjoy your Crown in possession and therefore as she is a most Impatient Competitor so will she not spare any means whatsoever that may bereave us of your Majesty the only impediment that she enjoyeth not her desire 2. She is obdurate in malice against your Royal Person notwithstanding you have shewed her all favour and mercy as well in preserving her Kingdom as saving her life and salving her honour And therefore there is no place for mercy since there is no hope she will desist from most wicked attempts the rather
the Duke was one of the Commissioners for the hearing of the Cause betwixt the late Scottish Queen and the Lords of Scotland at which time the Duke took an Oath to deal directly therein and to weigh uprightly both the occasions and answers wherein notwitstanding he dealt indirectly and partially thereby committing Perjury and disclosing the Queens Secrets if he will deny it then we will prove it Then said the Duke The Case hath divers parts cleane out of the Compass of Treason Then said Mr. Barnham I require Duke Barnham Duke knowledge if he knew the Claiming of the Crown The Duke did here digress and answered not directly Wherefore the Lord Steward said Lord Steward Your Lordship must answer directly And after upon the urging of Barnham and the Queens Attorney The Duke confessed the Claim but not the Continuance Then Barnham shewed the continuance by her Refusal Barnham hitherto to acknowledge the Queens Majesty to be Lawful Queen and that she hath not yet Renounced her Claim and yet you have so far dealt with her as being the Queens Commissioner to hear the matters you opened to her the occasions you gave her instructions how she might deal that the matters might not come to light and you conferred with the Bishop of Rosse about the same for proof whereof was shewed the Examination of Rosse taken the Sixth day of November 1571 declaring that the Duke uttered Bishop of Rosse unto him all that he understood of the matter and promised what help he could but he spoke nothing of the Marriage but referred all to Liddington who caused the Duke to stay the Conference and shewed her good will And how he was sent to accompany the Earl of Murrey and to convey the Scottish Queens Letters away and to counterfeit others and this was proved by a Letter of the Bishop of Rosses to the Scottish Queen where he shewed that the Duke did Advertise him that he went about to discredit the Scottish Queen with the people of England that he might be the less able to attempt any thing against the Queen of England To this matter the Duke answered at large That Liddington onely moved the Marriage unto him which he at that time refused and that he Duke told the Bishop of Rosse that he could not deal to take up the matter and therefore to what end should he utter any thing to him he only shewed it would only turn to his dishonour and that he should never be able to win it out And then he prayed that Rosse might be brought presently before him Then was shewed a Letter of the Bishop of Rosses wherein it was contained that whereas it was appointed that the Earl of Murrey should have been murthered in the North going from Hampton Court to Scotland Now because the Duke had communed with the Earl of Murrey at Hampton Court touching the same matter and had his Assent thereunto the murther should be stayed There was also a Letter of the Dukes shewed moving the marriage at that time and that it should be for the benefit of the whole Island And yet the Duke when the Rumour was spread that he went about to marry the Scottish Queen as one seeming to be much offended therewith came to the Queen and shewed her thereof and found much fault with the said Rumour and said he misliked her for her former Life And that the whole Revenue of the Crown of Scotland the Charges Deducted was not so good as his living in England and that he thought himself as good a Prince in his bowling Alley at Norwich as if he were King of Scotland All this was affirmed by Mr. Barnham That he heard the Queens Majesty her self speak it and by the Dukes Examination taken the Sixth Affirmations of Barnham day of November 1571. It is evident Also he said it was further shewed that at Tichfield he had special Commandment not to proceed in that Marriage any further and that contrary to that Commandment he had proceeded and yet the Duke himself had conceived an evil Opinion of her and had declared unto Banister that Banister he thought verily the Scotish Queen was privy to the murther of her Husband All these things were affirmed by Barnham to prove that the proceeding in this Marriage could be for no other cause but to Aspire to the Crown Then said the Duke This Year is very far fetched to prove the deprivation Duke of the Queen and the destruction of her Person Then said Mr. Barnham to come somewhat near it is not unknown that you have gone about to procure it by force and to have conspired to Barnham take the Tower this being true you must needs go about the distruction of the Queens person For the Jealousie of a Kingdom is such as will not suffer them to live that would hinder the same And at the same time the Duke departed into Norfolk to levy a Force Also there was Read a Letter written by the Duke to the Scotish Queen that proved the Negotiating the said marriage And there was as also Read many ill Letters of the Scotish Queens sent to Bothwell whereby it could not be that he pretended the Marriage for love of the Queen of Scots but for the Crown of England As touching the taking of the Tower the Duke said that Owen Hopton Duke Owen Hopton Servant to a Noble man of the Realm Earl of Penbrook came to him and advised him to take the Tower which he disliked Then said Barnham why did you then afterwards Consult with the Earl of Penbrook touching the same matter Who discomforted you therein Then said the Duke what do you gather thereof Barnham said they use not to Cut Vines while they be green that would have Duke them grow again Barnham There was also shewed further That whereas the Queens Majesty desired to have the Scotish Queen and certain Castles in her Possession and the Rebels delivered unto her The Duke gave advise to the Scotish Queen to the contrary and against the Queen of England Also he was charged That he went about to procure the Scotish Queen to be stolen away and that after his Submission wherein he promis'd under his Hand and Seal never to deal in that matter of the Marriage again There was also shewed a Provision which he shewed to one Robert Hickford Hickford which was proved by the Examination of Hickford to whom he shewed the same terming it a foolish Gawd. Then said the Duke you may perceive I did not esteem of it when I Duke termed it a foolish Gawd. Then was brought forth one Candish who was Sworn in this manner The Evidence that you shall give to the Peers and Nobles here assembled Candish his Evidence shall be the Troth and the whole Troth so help you God and the Holy Contents of this Book The effect of his Evidence was That being at South-Hampton with the Duke and
Duke being found by intercepted Letters notwithstanding his aforesaid promises still to continue his affection to and correspondence with the Scottish Queen was brought to his Trial here printed and for the Crimes therein specified condemned and beheaded Some few days after his Execution William Lord de la Ware and others were sent to the Queen of Scots who was then full of grief and sorrow for his death owning that a contract of Marriage had passed between him and her to expostulate with her and charge her with divers matters as that she had usurp'd the Title and Arms of the Realm of England and had not renounced the same as she ought to have done by the Treaty of Edenbourgh that she had sought to Marry with the Duke of Norfolk a Subject of England without the Queens privity and to effect the same Marriage had tried all means by her Agents and Ministers to rescue the said Duke out of Prison by force that she had raised the Rebellion in the North and relieved the Rebles after they were put to flight in Scotland and the Low-Countries that she had by Ridolph the Italian importun'd both the Pope and the King of Spain and others for Forrein Forces to invade England that she had conspired with several English Subjects to take her out of Prison by force and proclaim her Queen of England that she had received Letters from the Pope wherein to use his own words he promised to cherish her as the Hen doth her Chickins and to account those that stood for her the true Children of the Church Lastly that she had procured the Popes Bull against the Queen and had suffered her self publickly to be stiled Queen of England by her Ministers in Forrein Courts Whereunto protesting First That she was a free absolute Queen and subject to none she with a settled countenance and courage answered 1. That she had not usurped the Title and Arms of England but that the King of France and her Husband had imposed them upon her being very young and under the direction of her Husband and therefore not to be laid upon her for a fault and that as she did not after her Husband's death so neither would she claim them as long as Queen Elizabeth or any Children she might have should live 2. That she never imagined any detriment or hurt to the Queen by her Marriage with the Duke of Norfolk being perswaded it would be for the good of the Common-wealth and that she did not renounce it because she had given her Faith and Troth unto him 3. That she willed the Duke by some means to get out of danger and Prison which she did out of the duty she owed to him as her Husband 4. That she had not raised rebellion nor was privy to the same but was always ready to reveal all attempts against the Queens life 5. That she never relieved the English Rebels only that in her Letters she recommended the Countess of Northumberland to the Duke of Alva 6. That she used Ridolph whom she knew to be highly in the Popes favour in many matters yet receiv'd no Letters from him 7. That she never moved any to attempt her deliverance yet that she willingly gave ear unto them that offered their labour therein and for that purpose that she communicated to Rolston and Hall a private Character 8. That she had receiv'd sometimes Letters from the Pope very pious and consolatory wherein were no such Expressions or Phrases 9. That she procured not the Bull that she only saw the Printed Copy thereof and when she had read it she threw it into the fire 10. That if any in Forrein parts writ or nam'd her otherwise than they ought they and not she were to answer it 11. That she never by Letters required aid of the Pope or the King of Spain to invade England but only to be restored into her Kingdom by their means and not without the Queens privity 12 But if any question or doubt be made of those Letters of effecting the Marriage by force of Arms she requested since she was born of the Royal Blood of England that she might answer Personally in the next Parliament How far these specious Allegations were credited by Queen Elizabeth we find not 't is certain they produc'd little effect towards her delivery But on the contrary it being about the same time discovered that she held Correspondence with Spain and that the Lord Seton who landed in Essex disguised like a Mariner had brought a promise of Aid to her from the Duke of Alva she was confined more strictly and with greater Guard Likewise in Scotland to prevent the Duke of Guises design which was to make use of the Duke of Lenox's favour with the King to withdraw his affection from the English the Earl of Gowry and others resolve by all means to remove Lenox and the Earl of Arran from the King To accomplish which while Lenox was gone from Perth where the King then lay to Edenburgh and Arran also was absent the said Earl of Gowry with the Earls of Mar and Lindsey and others take an opportunity to invite the King to the Castle of Rewthen and there detained him not permitting him to walk abroad and removing all his trusty Servants cast Arran into Prison enforc'd the King to call home the Earl of Angus and send away Lenox into France As also by his Letters to Queen Elizabeth to own and approve of all these proceedings Which were much regretted by the Queen his Mother who on this occasion wrote a long Letter to Queen Elizabeth lamenting her own and her Sons deplorable fortune and did it so Pathetically that Queen Elizabeth was much affected with it and a serious debate was moved in her Council thereupon and most of them inclin'd to set her at liberty on these Terms and Conditions 1. That she and her Son should promise to practise nothing hurtful to Q. Elizabeth and the Realm of England 2. That she would voluntarily confess that whatsoever was done by Francis the Second the French King her Husband against Q. Elizabeth was done against her will and that she should utterly disallow the same as unjust by confirming the Treaty of Edenburgh 3. That she should condemn all the practises ever since that time and ingenuously renounce them 4. She should bind her self not to practise any thing directly or indirectly against the Government of the Realm of England in Ecclesiastical or Civil affairs but by all manner of means oppose her self and resist such practisers as publick enemies 5. That she shall challenge or claim no right unto her self in the Kingdom of England during the Life of Queen Elizabeth and that afterward she will submit her right of Succession unto the Estates of England 6. And to the end that she may not hereafter use any cavil and say That she condescended to these Conditions being a Prisoner and by coaction she her self should not only swear unto them but also
for that her malice appeareth such that she maketh as it were her Testament of the same to be executed after her death and appointeth her Executors to perform it 3. She openly and boldly professed it lawful for her to move Invasion upon you and therefore as of Invasion victory may ensue and of victory the death of the vanquished so did she thereby not obscurely bewray that she thought it lawful for her to destroy your Sacred Person 4. She thinks it not only lawful but honourable also and meritorious to take your life from you as being already deprived of your Crown by the Excommunication of the Holy Father and therefore it is like she will as hitherto she hath done continually seek it by whatsoever means 5. That she is greedy of your Majesties death and preferred it before her own life and safety For in her direction to one of her late Complices she advised under covert terms that whatsoever should become of her that Tragical Execution should be perform'd on you Secondly Touching the danger of the overthrow of the true Religion 1. It is most perilous to spare her that continually hath sought the overthrow and suppression of true Religion infected with Popery from her tender youth and being after confederate in that Holy League when she came to age and ever since a professed enemy against the Truth 2. She resteth wholly upon Popish hopes to deliver and advance her and is thereby so devoted to that profession that as well for satisfaction of others as for feeding of her own humour she will supplant the Gospel where and whensoever she may which evil is so much the greater and the more to be avoided as that it slayeth the very soul and will spread it self not only over England and Scotland but also in those parts beyond Sea where the Gospel of God is maintained the which cannot but be exceedingly weakned by the defection of this Noble Island Thirdly Touching the peril of the state of the Realm 1. As the Lydians said Unum Regem agnoscunt Lydi duos autem tolerare non possunt so we say Unicam Reginam Elizabethem agnoscunt Angli duas autem tolerare non possunt 2. As she hath already by her allurements brought to destruction more Noblemen and their houses together with a greater multitude of the Commons of this Realm during her being here than she should have been able to do if she had been in possession of her own Crown and armed in the Field against us so will she be the continual cause of the like spoils to the greater loss and peril of this Estate and therefore this Realm neither can nor may endure her 3. Again She is the only hope of all discontented Subjects she is the foundation whereon all the evil-disposed do build she is the Root from whence all Rebellions and Treacheries do spring and therefore whilst this hope lasteth this foundation standeth and this Root liveth they will retain heart and set on foot all their devises against the Realm which otherwise will fall away die and come to nothing 4. Mercy now in this case towards her would in the end prove Cruelty against us all Nam est quaedam Crudelis Misericordia and therefore to spare her is to spill us 5. Besides It will exceedingly grieve and in a manner deadly wound the hearts of all good Subjects of your Land if they shall see a Conspiracy so horrible not condignly punished 6. Thousands of your Majesties most Leige and Loving Subjects of all sorts and degrees that in a tender zeal of your Majesties safety have most willingly both by open Subscription and solemn Vow entered into a firm and loyal Association and have thereby protested to pursue unto the death by all forcible and possible means such as she is by just Sentence found to be can neither discharge their love nor well save their Oaths if your Majesty shall keep her alive of which burden your Majesties Subjects are most desirous to be relieved as the same may be if Justice be done 7. Lastly Your Majesties most loving and dutiful Commons doubt not but as your Majesty is duly exercised in reading the Book of God so it will please you to call to your Princely remembrance how fearful the examples of Gods vengeance be that are to be found against King Saul for sparing King Agag and against King Ahab for saving the life of Benhadad both which were by the just Judgment of God deprived of their Kingdoms for sparing those wicked Princes whom God had delivered into their hands of purpose to be slain by them as by the Ministers of his Eternal and Divine Justice wherein full wisely Solomon proceeded to punishment when he took the life of his own natural elder Brother Adonias for the only intention of a Marriage that gave suspition of Treason against him Herein We your Majesties most loving and dutiful Subjects earnestly depend upon your Princely resolution which we assure our selves shall be to God most acceptable and to us no other than the state of your Regal Authority may afford us and the approved Arguments of your tender care for our safety under your Charge doth promise to our expectation To this Address the Queen returned Answer in a large Speech soon after Printed and too long here to recite but amongst other things she used these expressions Albeit I find my life hath been dangerously sought and my death contrived without desert yet I am therein so clear from malice as I protest it is and hath been to me the greatest grief that one not different in Sex of like Estate and near of kin should fall into so great a crime yea I had so little purpose to pursue her with malice that as it is not unknown to some of my Lords here I secretly wrote her a Better upon the discovery of several Treasons that if she would privately acknowledg them by her Letters to my self she should never be called so publickly in question for them neither did I that to circumvent her for I knew then as much as she could confess and so did I write And if even yet now that the matter is made but too apparent I thought she truly would repent as perhaps she would easily appear in outward shew to do and that for her none other would take the matter upon them or that but mine own life only were in danger and not the whole estate of your Religion and well doings I protest I would most willingly pardon and remit this offence Or if by my death other Nations and Kingdoms might say that this Realm had attained an ever prosperous and flourishing Estate I would I assure you not desire to live but gladly give my life to the end it might procure you a better Prince I am not unmindful of your Oath made in the Association manifesting your great good wills and affections taken and entred into upon good Conscience and true knowledg of the guilt for safety of my