prudence in providing for their own security and of being tender of shedding Christian Blood which could not be avoided if any faction should arise to Challenge the Kingdom but what such party can there be or where should they have Force But to let these considerations pass suppose I were inclinable to assent to their demands do you think I would do it rather at the Request of the Nobles than of the Queen her self But there are many other things that avert me from such a Transaction First I am not ignorant how dangerous a thing it is to venture upon the dispute the disceptation concerning the right of the Kingdom I always mightily avoided for the controversy has been already so much canvassed in the months of many concerning a Just and Lawfull Marriage and what Children were Bastards and what Legitimate according as every one is addicted to this or that that party that by reason of these disputes I have been hitherto more backward in Marrying Once when I took the Crown publickly upon me I Married my self to the Kingdom and I wear the Ring I then put on my Finger as a Badge thereof however my Resolution stands I will be Queen of England as long as I live and when I am dead let that Person Succeed in my place which hath most right to it and if that chance to be your Queen I will put no obstacle to it But if another hath a better Title 't were an unjust Request to me to make a publick edict to his prejudice If there be any Law against your Queen 't is unknown to me and I have no great delight to sift into it but if there should be any such Law I was sworn at my Coronation that I would not change my Subjects Laws As for the Second Allegation that the Declaration of my Successor will knit a stricter bond of Amity betwixt us I am afraid rather it will be a seminary of hatred and discontent What do you think I am willing to have some of my Grave Cloaths always before my Eyes Kings have this peculiarity that they have some kind of sentiments against their own Children who are born Lawfull Heirs to Succeed them Thus Charles VII of France somewhat disgusted Lewis XI and Lewis XII Charles VIII and of late Francis ill resented Henry and how it is likely I should stand affected towards my Kinswoman If she be once Declared my Heir just as Charles VII was towards Lewiss XI besides and that which weighs most with me I know the inconstancy of this people I know how they loath the present State of things I know how intent their Eyes are upon a Successor 'T is natural for all men as the Proverb is To worship rather the rising than setting Sun I have learned that from my own times to omit other Examples when my Sister Mary was sat at the Helm how eager did some Men desire to see me placed on the Throne How sollicitous were they in advancing me thereto I am not ignorant what danger they would have undergone to bring their design to an issue if my Will had concurred with their Designs Now perhaps the same Men are otherwise minded just like Children when they dream of Apples in their sleep they are very Joyfull but waking in the morning and finding themselves frustrate of their hopes their mirth is turned into mourning Thus I am dealt with by those who whilst I was yet a private Woman wished me so well If I looked upon any of them a little more pleasant than ordinary they thought presently with themselves that as soon as ever I came to the Throne they should be rewarded rather at the rate of their own desires than of the Service they performed for me But now seeing the event hath not answered expectation some of them do gape after a new change of things in hopes of a better Fortune for the wealth of a Prince tho never so great cannot satisfy the unsatiable desires of all Men But if the good will of my Subjects do flag towards me or if their minds are changed because I am not profuse enough in my Largesses or for some other cause what will be the event when the malevolent shall have a Successor named to whom they may make their grievances known and in their anger and pet betake themselves What danger shall I then be in when so powerfull a Neighbour Prince is my Successor the more strength I add to her in assertaining her Succession the more I detract from my own security This danger cannot be avoided by any precautions or by any bands of Law yet those Princes who have hope of a Kingdom offer'd them will hardly contain themselves within the bounds either of Law or Equity for my part if my Successor were publickly declared to the World I should think my affairs to be far from being settled and secured A few days after the Ambassador asked the Queen Whether she would return any Answer to the Letter of the Scottish Nobility I have nothing said she at present to answer only I commend their Diligence and Love to their Prince but the matter is of such great weight that I cannot so soon give a plain and express answer thereunto but when the Queen shall have done her Duty in Confirming the League she obliged her self to Ratifie then 't will be seasonable to try my Affection towards her in the mean time I cannot gratifie her in her Request without Diminution to my own Dignity The Ambassador reply'd He had no Command about that Affair nor ever had any Discourse with his Mistress concerning the same neither did he then propound the Queen's Judgment concerning the Right of Succession but his own and had brought Reasons to enforce it but as as for the Confirmation of the League by her Husband 't was inforced from the Queen of Scots without the Consent of those to whom the Ratifying or Disannulling thereof did much concern neither was the thing of such consequence as therefore to exclude her and her Posterity from the Inheritance of England I do not enquire said he by whom how when by what Authority and for what Reason that League was made seeing I had no command to speak about any such matter but this I dare affirm that though it were confirmed by her in Compliance with her Husbands Desire yet so great a stress depending on it his Queen in time would find out some reason or other why it should and ought to be dissolved I speak not this said he in the name of the Queen but my intent is to shew that our Nobility have cause for what they do that so all Controversies being plucked up by the Roots a firm and sure Peace may be established amongst us As this aggravated the Spirits of Queen Elizabeth so it was no doubt a great Mortification to Queen Mary but truckle she must and so she confirmed the League resigning any Pretensions to wear the Arms of England and Ireland during the others Life and some time after an interview between both Queens was appointed to be at York but some accidents fell out that prevented it and though the Queen of Scots was
the Queen to Dispose of her self in Marriage till at length came an English Ambassador who declared That his Mistress did much admire that seeing both of them were equally Allied to her they should precipitate so great an Affair without acquainting her with it and therefore she earnestly desired that they would stay a while and weigh the thing somewhat more seriously to the great Benefit probably of both Kingdoms But this Embassy effected nothing so that Queen Elizabeth dispatched Sir Nicholas Throgmorton to tell the Earl of Lennox and his Son that they had a Convoy from her to return at a set day into England and that day was now past and therefore she commanded them to return which if they refused they were to be Banished and their Goods Confiscated But this Commination would not do neither but they persisted in their purpose and because the Queen of Scots would not be thought to Marry a private man she Creates Darnley Duke of Rothsay and Earl of Ross moreover the Predictions of Wizzardly Women in both Kingdoms did contribute much to hasten the Marriage who Prophesied That if it were Consummate before the end of July it foretold much future advantage to them both if not much Reproach and Ignominy which Predictions how true will appear by and by Besides there were Rumours spread abroad of the Death of the Queen of England and the day mentioned before which she should Die. This Marriage was no sooner Consummate and Proclaimed by an Herauld at Arms in Edenburg and elsewhere but the People began to murmur grievously and especially the absent Nobility stormed mightily at it and did not only rest there but take up Arms but having no good Correspondence one with another they were soon dissipated and supprest and in some time after a Convention of the Estates of the Kingdom was Indicted to be held that so the Goods of those who were Banished might be Confiscate their Names struck out of the Nobility and their Armorial Ensigns torn to pieces And the Queen was continually solicited by David Rizzio to cut off some of the Chief of the Faction and to have a Guard of Foreigners about her Person a project that is wont to be the beginning of all Tyranny and because they should be the more at David's Devotion they must consist of Italians his own Country-men but because this must not be done bare-faced they were to come in from Flanders by piece-meal one by one and at several times too which way of procedure was another step towards this Queen's Ruin But as David's Power and Authority with the Queen daily increased so the King grew into greater Contempt with her every day for as she had rashly precipitate in Consummating the Marriage so did she as soon repent of it and gave manifest Indications of her alienated Mind For as she had presently after the Celebration of the Marriage publickly proclaimed him King by an Herauld without the Consent of the States and that afterwards in all her Mandates till that time the King and Queens Names were exprest now she changed the Order keeping both Names in but setting her own down first At length the Queen to deprive her Husband of any opportunity to do Courtesies to any began to find fault with him that whilst he was busie in Hawking and Hunting many slight matters were acted unseasonably or else were wholly neglected and therefore it would do better that she should subcribe her Name for them both and by this means he might enjoy his Pleasure and yet no publick Business be retarded The poor King was willing to gratifie her in every thing and yielded to be dismist upon such frivolous Grounds that so being remote from tha Council and Privacy of publick Affairs the obligation for all Boons might redound to the Queen her self For these were her Thoughts that if her Husbands Favour could do no good Offices to any and his Displeasure were formidable to none he would by Degrees come to be contemned of all And further to increase the Indignity David was substituted with an Iron Seal to impress the Kings Name on Proclamations Being thus fraudulently Cosened out of Publick Business least he might also prove an interrupter of their private Pleasures he was dispatch'd away in a very sharp Winter to a place called Debly with a very small Retinue far beneath the Dignity of some private Persons for a Prey rather then for any Recreation At the same time fell such a quantity of Snow that the place which was not very plentiful at best and besides troubled with Thieves was enough to starve him who was bred always at Court and used to a Liberal Diet And he would have been in great hazards of wanting Necessaries had not the Bishop of Orkney casually came thither for he knowing the scarcity of the place brought with him some Wine and other Provisions for his use The Queen not Content to advance David and as 't were to shew him to the People from such an obscure Original on the account before-mentioned but she took Counsel another way how to Cloath him with Domestick Honour for whereas the Queen had for some Months past permitted more Company than usual to sit with her at Table that so David's place in the crowd might be less envyed She thought by this shew of Popularity to gain the point that the unaccustomedness of the â—ight might by the multitudes of guest and daily usage be somewhat alleviated and so mens high Spirits by degrees be innured to bear any thing But at last it went so far that none but he and one or two more fate at Meat with her and that the narrowness of the Room might detract something from the Envy of the thing she would sometimes Eat her Junkets in a little Parlour and sometimes also at David's Lodgings but the Methods she thus used to lessen did but increase the Reflections for this maintained Suspicions and administred occasions to add Discourses Now were Men's Thoughts let loose and they were influenced the more that David in Houshold-stuff Apparrel and number of brave and stately Horses exceeded even the King himself and it made the matter look the worse that all this Ornament did not credit his Face but that rather his Face spoiled all this Ornament But the Queen not being able to amend the fault of Nature endeavoured by heaping Riches and Honour upon him to raise him up to the Degree of the Nobles that so she might hide the meanness of his Birth and the imperfections of his Body too with the vail of his lofty Promotions but care must be had that he should be advanced by Degrees least he might seem to be but a poor mercenary Senator The first attempt was made upon the account of a piece of Land near the City of Edenburg called by the Scots Malvil The Owner of the Land together with his Father-in-Law and others that were best able to perswade him were sent for and the Queen dealt with
the frankest Fellow among them all none of them will make thy leap good meaning his former leaping out of the Lord Grang's Ship to save himself but Lidingtown seeing the Regents unconstancy rounds him in the Ear that he had disgraced himself and put his Life in danger by the loss of so good a Friend as the Duke of Norfolk and that he had lost his Reputation for ever The Regent soon repents his Folly and desires to have the Accusation again alledging he had some more to add thereto but was answered That they would keep what they had and were ready to receive any addition he should please to give in The Duke of Norfolk had much ado to keep his Countenance Wood tip'd the wink upon Cecil who smiled upon him again the Regents company were Laughing only Lidingtown had a sorrowful Heart and the Regent himself left the Council with Tears in his Eyes and retired to his Lodgings at Kingstown and continued there for a long time in great displeasure and fear without Money to spend or hopes to get any from the Queen In the mean time the Agreement between the Duke and Regent was told the Queen for Morton caused one John Willock to declare what had past between them to the Earl of Huntingdon who caused the Lord Leicester to acquaint the Queen therewith The Duke finding how all things stood thought to out-brave it and stuck not to tell the Queen her self While he lived he would ne'er Offend her but Serve and Honour her and after her the Queen of Scots as in his Opinion truest Heir and the only means for saving of Civil Wars and much Bloodshed that might fall out which Words were as a Dagger to the Queen's Heart though for the time she dissembled her Displeasure but to further this great Man's Fall though Sir Nicholas Throgmorton seemed to mean honestly he got the Duke and Regent reconciled again and then the Duke declared to him that he was resolved to marry the Queen of Scots his Mistress and that he would never permit her to come into Scotland nor yet that she should ever Rebel against the Queen of England during her time and also that he had a Daughter who would be a fitter Match for King James than any other for many Reasons and so procured the Sum of Two Thousand Pounds from the Queen for the Regent for which himself became security and was forced afterward to pay the same When the Regent had got the Money he was easily induced by some about him to acquaint the Queen with all that had past between the Duke and himself and withall engaged to transmit back unto her all the Letters which the Duke should write to him when he came into Scotland which was done accordingly The Duke was then the greatest Subject in Europe he Ruled the Queen and all those that were familiar with her and was Courted by all Factions both Protestants and Papists both paying him a very great Deference and at that time commanded all the North of England and it was in his Power to have set the Queen of Scots at liberty if he had pleased but when the Queen had had his Letters from Scotland she sent for the Duke to come to Court whereupon he first posted in haste to Secretary Cecil on whose Advice and Friendship he much relied who told him there was no danger he might come and go at his Pleasure no man would or durst offend him and so the Duke only with his own Train came to Court Cecil in the mean time informed the Queen that the necessity of the time obliged her not to omit this occasion but to take the matter stoutly upon her self and forthwith command her Guards to lay hands upon the Duke or else no other durst do it which if she did not at this time she would endanger the safety of her Crown The Queen embraced the Advice and so orders the Duke to be secured when he thought all England was at his Devotion who after a long Imprisonment was Executed ending his Life as Sir James Melvill says devoutly in the Reformed Religion From Carlisle this forlorne Queen was removed to Bolton under the custody of Sir Francis Knowles and from thence to Tutbury under the Care of the Earl of Shrewsbury and in whose custody she remained for the space of Fifteen years but the many Attempts made for her Liberty and other more dangerous suspicions increasing against her caused her to be committed to the keeping of Sir Anias Pawlet and Sir Drue Druery where she sollicited with more greater importunity than ever the Bishop of Rome and the Spaniard by Sir Francis Inglefield to hasten what they had in hand with all speed against the Queen of England whatever became of her and at length holding correspondence with Babington and the rest of the Conspirators against Queen Elisabeth's Life which you may read in Cambden's Elizabeth at large this drew on the fatal Day whereon she was to be called to an account for what she had done and to this end it was agreed to have her Tryed upon the late Statute made against such as should attempt any violence against the Queen's Person c. and 24 Lords and others of inferior Degree were Commissionated by the Queen's Patent for her Tryal who met Octob. 11. 1586. in Fothringham Castle in the County of Northampton where the Queen of Scots was then in custody and next day sent Sir Walter Mildmay and others to her with the Queen's Letter about her Crimes and Tryal which when she had read she complained of her ill usage excused her carriage and seemed to question the Commissioners Authority but they justify their Authority and advise her to appear to her Tryal but she excepted against the new Law and required to have her Protestation admitted which was denied at length she is brought on the 14 th Day to appear to whom Bromley the Chancellor made a Speech how Queen Elizabeth their Sovereign being informed of her Conspiracies against her Life she was now called upon to Answer for the same and to clear her self if she could and make her Innocency appear to the World here she would have urged her Protestation again of being no Subject of England but a Crowned Head but that being again rejected she submitted her self to a Trial and after a long Hearing and several proofs made of her being privy to the Design against the Queen's Life and of her intention to convey her Title and Claim to the Kingdom of England to the Spaniard c. The Court Adjourned till the 25 th of October to the Star-Chamber at Westminster at what time Wacee and Curle her Secretaries did viva voce voluntarily and without hope of Reward avow all and every the Letters and Copâ—es of Letters produced at the Trial to be True and Real upon which Sentence was pronounced against her and Ratified by the Seals and Subscriptions of the Commissioners in these words By their unanimous
and taking occasion to send her other Companions about frivolous Errands was secretly by him conveyed out of the Lough where she was kept Her escape being told those who were then at Dinner in the Castle they made a great stir but to little purpose for all the Boats were haled ashore and their loop holes to put out their Oars were all stopped up that so no speedy pursuit might be made She was no sooner got out of the Lough but that there were Horsemen ready on the other side to receive her who carried her to the several Houses of the Partisans in the Design and the day after to Hamilton a Town 8 miles distant from Glasgow and and at the noise thereof many resorted to her and in a short time she gathered an Army of about 6500 men In the mean time the Regent was not idle but got together what force he could at Glasgow yet not enough to equal their number however understanding that the Enemy designed to march by Glasgow and to leave the Queen in Dunbarton Castle and so either to fight or lengthen out the War as they pleased or if they found him to be so bold as to stop their passage which they believed he durst not do they resolved then to Fight and were confident they should beat him and the Regent I say understanding this resolved to be before hand with them and to urge them to Fight as soon as ever he could and to that end drew out his Men into the open Field before the Town the way that he thought the Enemy would march and there for some hours waited for them in Battle Array but when he saw their Troops pass by on the other side of the River he presently understood their design and commanded his Foot to pass over the Bridge and his Horse to Ford over the River which they might do it being low Water and so to march to Langside which was a Village by the River Carth where the Enemy were to pass situated at the foot of a Hill to the South-West the passage on the East and North was steep but on the other side there was a gentle descent into a plain thither the Regent and his Army hasted with such speeed that they had near possest the Hill before the Enemy who aimed at the same place understood their design tho' they marched thither by a nearer cut but there were two things that did very much contribute to the advantage of the Regent and his Party as they were no less a disadvantage to the Queen and her Followers for the Earl of Argyle who on the Queen's part commanded in chief fell suddenly down from his Horse sick and by his fall much retarded the march of his Party the other was that their Forces being placed here and there in little Vallies could never see all their Enemies at once whose paucity as indeed they were not many made the other despise them and the disadvantage of the place to At last when the Queen's Forces drew nigh and saw the Ground they aimed at taken up by the Enemy they advanced to another little Hill over against them and there divided their Party into two Bodies so did the other Party into two Wings placing their Musketeers in the Village and Gardens below near the Highway Both Armies being thus Marshalled in Battle Array the Queen 's Cannoneers and Foot were driven from their Posts by the Regents Forces on the other hand the Regents Horse being fewer in number were beat back by the Enemy and when they had performed that Service they endeavoured also to break the Battalions of Foot in order whereunto they charged directly up the Hill but were beat back by the Archers placed there and by some of those who after their rout had rallied again and joyned with the rest of their Body In the mean time the Left Wing of the Enemy marched by the Highway where there was a rising Ground lower down into the Valley where tho' they were gall'd by the Regents Musketeers yet passing by those straits they opened and rang'd their Body There it was the two Battalions held out a thick stand of Pikes as a Breast-work before them and fought desperately for half an hour without giving ground on either side insomuch that they whose long Pikes were broke threw Daggers Stands pieces of Pikes or Launces yea whatever they could come at into their Enemies Faces but some of the hindermost Ranks of the Regents Forces beginning to fly away whither for fear or treachery is uncertain no doubt their flight had much disordered those who stood to it unless the Ranks had been so thick that the foremost did not well know what the hindmost did then they which were in the second Battalion taking notice of the danger and perceiving no Enemy coming to Charge them sent some whole Troops to wheel to the Right and to joyn with the first whereupon the adverse Party could not bear their Charge but were wholly routed and put to flight but the Regent upon the pursuit forbid the Execution The Queen stood about a mile from the place to behold the Battle and after the discomfiture fled with some Horsemen of her Party who had escaped out of the Battle towards England from whence she shall never return to see her Native Country more being arrived at a place called Workinton in the County of Cumberland she dispatched away a Letter to Queen Elizabeth full of Complaints of hard usage in Scotland and craving her Assistance and Protection and leave to come to her but the Queen denied her access and ordered her to be conveyed to Carlisle from whence she wrote again to the Queen which brought her case under the Deliberation of the English Council who at last resolved to detain her in England till such time as she should give satisfaction for Usurping the English Arms and answered for the Death of the Lord Darnley her Husband for Darnley's Mother the Countess of Lennox had of late grievously complained to Queen Elizabeth about it and earnestly besought her to call her to a Tryal for the Murder of her Son as Mr. Cambdâ—n in his History of Queen Elizabeth has it But because her Detention in England might appear to be just in all Foreign Courts Secretary Cecil and others of the Council prevailed with Murray the Scots Regent to come into England to accuse her before such Commissioners as Queen Elizabeth should appoint and the place of meeting was to be York and to that end the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Sussex with several other Councellors went to York to hear the Regents accusation It was observed the Duke delay'd to receive the Accusation but at last speaks to Secretary Lidington that before that time he had ever esteemed him a Wise Man until that time he came before Strangers to accuse the Queen his Mistress as if England were Judge over the Princes of Scotland but continued the Duke how could you find in our
Consent they do Pronounce and Declare this judicial Verdict and say that after the end of the said Parliament specified in the Commission viz. After the first of June in the Seven and twentieth year of the Queen divers Matters were compassed and imagined in England by Anthony Babington and others with the Privity of Mary Queen of Scots pretending Title to the Crown of England tending to the hurt death and destruction of the Royal Person of our Sovereign Lady the Queen and furthermore that after the said Day and Year and before the Date of our Commission the said Mary hath compassed and imagined in this Kingdom of England divers Matters tending to the hurt death and destruction of the Royal Person of our said Sovereign against the Form of the Statute specified in the said Commission Soon after a Parliament was called wherein the House of Peers by the Chancellor petitioned the Queen that the Sentence might be promulgated and withal besought Her Majesty for the Safety of Her Person and Kingdoms to execute Justice on the Queen of Scots the Queen in her Answer shewed a great reluctancy to cut her off but concluded with Her Thanks for their Care and Advice but in a case of so great consequence said She would not be rash but consider and some Twelve days after desir'd the Parliament to consult some other way of Safety and to spare the Queen of Scots but they persisted in their former Advice so that some time after the Sentence was proclaimed throughout London and all the Kingdom King James upon the news sends one Kieth to Queen Elisabeth to intercede on his Mothers behalf and after him came the Master of Gray and Sir Robert Melvill to whom She said She was sorry no way could be found out to Save their King's Mother and secure her own Life they offer Pledges of the Scots Nobility for Her Security and wondred what should move any Man to attempt any thing against Her Majesty for Queen Mary's sake because said Queen Elisabeth they think She shall succeed me and She a Papist they to salve this Proposed that the Right of Succession might be made over in King James's Person and this would cut off the hopes of the Papists and they were sure Queen Mary would readily resign all her Right to Her Son but Queen Elisabeth urged She had no Right being Declar'd uncapable of Succession tho' the Papists would not allow her Declaration and this brought them again to press the Resignation but the Earl of Liecester who stood by objected that Queen Mary being a prisoner she could not deny 't the Scots Answer That it being made to her Son with the Advice of all her Friends in Europe in case Queen Elisabeth should miscarry none will partake with the Mother against her Son c. Here the Queen misunderstanding the Ambassador's meaning was told that the King would be in his Mother's Place Say you so said she 'Sdeath that were to cut my own Throat he shall ne'r come to that place and be Party with me and added Well tell your King what I have done for him to keep the Crown on his Head since he was Born and for my part I shall keep the League betwixt us and if he break it it shall be a double Fault and in passion got away Melvill followed her praying respite of Execution not an Hour said she and so they parted Some time after she Signed a Warrant for a Mandate fitted for the Great Seal for her Execution and entrusted the same with Davidson one of her Secretaries to be in a readiness in case of danger but he too hastily got it to pass the Seal which some said she would afterwards have recalled but was prevented by the earnest prosecution of Beal Clerk of the Council who was sent by them to the Earls of Shrewsbury Kent Derby and Cumberland to take care of her Execution unknown to the Queen for it was said that she should tell Davidson at that instant that she was resolved of another way then by death the Earls arriving at Fotheringham Castle in Northamptonshire where she was detained gave her notice on Monday Feb. 6. 1586. to prepare for Death the Wednesday next following but one when the fatal day came she was cloathed in Black had an Agnus Dei about her Neck a pair of Beads at her Girdle with a Golden Cross at the end of them and so passed through the Hall and mounted the Scaffold raised Two Foot high and Twelve broad Railed about with a low Stool a Cushion and a Block all covered with Black being set down the Lords and the Sheriffs of the County stood on her Right Hand Sir Annias Paulet and Drewry on her Left the two Executioners one the Common Hangman of London and the other of the County standing before her and the Knights and Gentlemen placed round about without the Rail Silence being made the Clerk of the Council having read the Commission for her Execution the People shouted and cryed God Save our Queen then Dr. Fletcher Dean of Peterborough standing before her gave her several Godly Exhortations as preparatory for her Death but she little regarded him and at last interrupted him saying he needed not trouble himself that she was a Roman Catholick and so forth then the Earls offered to join in Prayer with her that she might be enlightned in the true Faith but that she refused to do saying she would use her own Devotions then they required the Dean to Pray who did it with an audible Voice the Queen all the while sitting on her Stool with a Latin Prayer Book in her Hand a Crucifix and a pair of Beads and not minding what he said when the Dean had done the Queen with her own People all in Tears Prayed aloud in Latin and concluded her self with an English Prayer professing to be Saved by Christ's Blood and thereupon kissed the Crucifix then her Women begun to undress her and one of the Executioners taking from her Neck the Agnus Dei tyed behind the Queen laid hold on it gave it to her Women saying he should have Money but she suffered them and her Women to take off her Chain and Apparrel in some haste always smiling and put off her strait Sleeves with her own Hands hindring the Fellow who rudely offer'd at it to do it and now being in her Petticoat and Kirtle prepared for Death she crossed and kissed her Women who were lamentably skreeking and crying and crossed also her Men-Servants who stood without the Rails and then kneeled upon her Cushion saying in Latin the whole Psalm In te Domine confido ne eoufundas in aeternum and groping for the Block laid down her Head putting her Chin over the Block with both her Hands and held them there which might have been cut off with her Head had they not been timely espyed being thus fixed while one of the Executioners gently held her down the other with two stroaks with the Axe
to the abrogating of which by the enormous power of the Sword because he could by no means be induced he was brought thither to undergo a Martyrdom for his People Then he prayed and being minded by the Bishop to satisfie the Spectators as to his Religion he said that he had deposited the Testimony of his Faith with that holy Man meaning the Bishop That his Life and Profession had been well known and that now he died in the Christian Faith according to the Profession of the Church of England as the same was left him by his Father of Blessed Memory And then turning about to the Officers and professing the hopes he had of his Salvation he began to prepare for the Circumstances of Death The Bishop put on his Night-cap and uncloathed him to his Sky-coloured Sattin Wastcoat he delivered his George to the Bishop's hands and charged him to remember to give the same to the Prince and having prayed again he stooped down to the Block and had his Head severed from his Body at one Blow about Two of the Clock in the Afternoon the day aforesaid in the year 1648. dying the same death as to kind as his Grandmother Mary Queen of Scots had done sixty two years and eight days before at Fothringham Castle in Northamptonshire and I think was no whit inferior to her in the misfortunes of his Life And to note a few his three Favourites to wit Buckingham Laud and Strafford undergoing a violent death and the two latter falling by the Axe as forerunners of his own destiny And as to his own Personal errors when Bristol was cowardly surrendred by Fines had he then marched to London as he might have done very well all had been his own but loytering to no purpose at Gloucester he was soon after well banged by the Earl of Essex When he had worsted Essex in Cornwall he neglected the like opportunity of getting to London Guilty he was of the same oversight in not commanding the Duke of Newcastle to march Southwards toward the Metropolis of England before the Scots entred the English Borders and in not doing the like himself after he had taken Leicester for there was nothing then that could have hindred him to become Master of the City The same ill success he had as to his Treaties about being restored And in short he was generally unfortunate in the World in the esteem not only of his Enemies but in some sort of his Friends too for as the later were n'er pleased with his breach of Faith so the former would say he could never be fast enough bound and the Blood that some years before dropt upon his Statue at Greenwich and the falling off of the Silver Head of his Cane at his Trial were interpreted as dismal presages of his disastrous fate His Head and Trunk after the Execution were immediately put into a Coffin and conveyed to the Lodgings in Whitehall and there Embowelled and from thence conveyed to St. James House and Coffined in Lead About some fortnight after the Duke of Lennox Marquess of Hartford Earl of Southampton and Bishop of London got leave to bury the Body which they conducted to the Chappel at Windsor and Interred it there in the Vault of Henry the Eight with this Inscription only upon his Coffin Charles King of England And herein he was more unhappy than his Grandmother Mary for whereas her Corpse were some years after her death taken up by her Son King James and Reposited with all the Funeral Pomp that could be in the Chappel of King Henry the Seventh her Great Grand Father This King's Remains notwithstanding the Commons had Voted in 1669 the Sum of 50000 l. for the Charge of taking it up a Solemn Funeral had of it and a Monument for it yet lay neglected as if it had been blasted by fate King Charles the Second his Son they said forbidding of it A Physician that made inspection into the dissection of the Body related that nature had designed him above the most of mortal men for a long life but Providence ordered it otherwise for he was cut off in the Forty ninth year of his Age being his Climacterical and twenty fourth of his Reign leaving six Children behind him three Sons Charles Prince of Wales James Duke of York and Henry Duke of Gloucester whereof the two Elder were Exiles and three Daughters Mary Princess of Orange Elizabeth a Virgin who not long survived him and Henrietta Maria born at Exeter Charles his Eldest Son who was then at the Hague when he heard of his Father's disastrous fate assumed the Title of King of England c. tho an Exile and without any Kingdom to command He was born at St. James's May 30. 1630. it was said a Star appeared over the place where he had been born in broad day which in those times was interpreted to prognosticate his happiness but the Ecclipse of the Sun which happened presently after was no less a presage of his future Calamities There was little remarkable in him or concerning him till the year 1639 when the unhappy disaster of breaking his Arm befell him and that not long after he was afflicted with a violent Feaver accompanied with a little of the Jaundice but having at length recovered his perfect health and the fatal differences begun long before but now daily increasing between the King his Father and the People he accompanied him into the North of England where he was a Spectator of that dismall Cloud which tho small at its first gathering yet was pregnant with that dreadful storm which in a short time spread it self over him his Father and three Nations For going to take possession of Hull as they thought they were by Sir John Hotham denied Entrance and forced to wait several hours at the Gate all in vain From this time forward the War increasing between the King and Parliament he was first spectator of that successless Battle to his Father's Arms at Edgehill staid some time after at Oxford From thence returning to the Field and the King's forces in the West under the command of the Lord Hopton of which the Prince was nominally General being routed by General Fairfax he was necessitated to retire to the Isle of Scilly and from thence betook himself into France To whom his Father now depriv'd of Command himself sent a Commission of Generalissimo of those few Royalists that survived the late unhappy overthrows and this brought him to the Isle of Guernsey where he possest himself of some Vessels that lay there and having joyned them to those he had brought with him out of France he sailed from thence into the Downs where he seized several rich Merchant-Ships and expected some Land-forces from Holland raised by the Prince of Orange for his Service But alas he was as unfortunate now in his Warlike attempts as his Father had been before and was still in his Treaties of Peace for Poyer and Langhorn who made a
an entire disappointment of his hopes that way and they to be so beaten as they were never before nor after by the English Fleet. Oliver Cromwel sometime after assuming the Supream Power by the Title of Protector he and Mazarine grew so gracious one with another that France began now to be too hot to hold King Charles so as he was necessitated to retire thence to the Elector of Cologn and afterwards into the Spanish Netherlands where he ordered the English Scots and Irish in those parts which amounted to between four and five thousand Men to joyn the Spaniards to attempt the relief of Dunkirk then besieged by the French and English But herein he was as fatal in his Arms as he had been all along before for the Spanish Army were utterly routed and this defeat broke his whole design so that he never after made use of Arms to recover his Inheritance but retired to Bruges where he stay'd to see the event of things The death of Oliver Cromwell together with the many changes of Government that happened thereupon in England gave new life to his hope and made him go in person to the Pyrenaean Treaty to promote his Interest from whence he returned through France to Bruxells But coming to understand that Sir George Booth and the Cheshire Men were supprest by Lambert it did not a little damp his hopes and made him return again to Bruxells from about St. Maio's where he privately lay in readiness to take Shipping for England upon the first good event of Sir George and others undertakings for him But his Crown was not to be recovered by War how then came he to be restored A grand step towards it was the Rump Parliament's Jealousie of Monk and his Jealousie of them again But what contributed most to it was the unsetled state of the Nation under the many Vicissitudes of Government that had been introduced since the death of the King his Father which made the People very uneasie and long for a Settlement upon any terms and therefore the Convention when they met in order to it on April 25. 1660. did hand overhead without any Preliminaries of asserting the Rights and Liberties of the English so manifestly violated by his Father and Grandfather restore him without any contradiction which did not a little contribute to the succeeding uneasiness of his Reign as well as the Nations trouble But restored he was as aforesaid and on May 25. following Landed at Dover and was received every where with utmost Demonstrations of Joy About October following came over the Queen-Mother seemingly to Treat about a Marriage between Mounsieur of France and her fair Daughter Henrietta Maria But it 's like the Marriage between the King and the Infanta of Portugal was no less designed which was after Consummated and wherein he was as unhappy in respect to Procreation by her as he was fruitful in what ground soever else he sowed his seed which he was Prodigal enough of But there was yet somewhat else of far more dangerous consequence to poor England and more dishonourable to the King that brought the Queen-Mother over and that was the Sale of Dunkirk to the French whose Agent she was in that fine spot of work If the King's Arms whilst an Exile in conjunction with the Spaniards were so unsuccessful in the relief of Dunkirk then Besieged by the joint force of English and French he was much more unhappy in the Sale of it afterward for 400000 l. whereof one moiety was detained for the Portion of Henrietta Maria his Sister and not to the Spaniards who were kind to him in his adverse Fortunes and had most right to it but to the French who had done all they could by their Embassador Bourdeux to hinder his Restoration and on whose side the Ballance then lay which it had been his business to have kept even as his Predecessors the Kings of England were wont to do and particularly Henry 8. and Queen Elizabeth This action I think was us unparallel'd as any can be found in our English Annals It was indeed a Charge against Mary Queen of Scots that she would have transferred her Right of Succession to the English Crown to the then King of Spain Philip 2. but that if true was giving away what was not in her power to dispose of and much such another Donation as that of the Pope's to the Emperor Charles of the Kingdom of Mexico tho with a different fate to both Nations but here was neither Donation force nor any visible necessity but a voluntary act in King Charles to the inestimable damage of England as has been but too sensibly felt to this very day You must note that the gazing World stood a little while amazed at the strange Revolution in England by the King 's easie and pacifick Restoration and with what transports of Joy he was received by the Nation then in a most Warlike posture and as much dreaded by our Neighbours and particularly by the French who had formed designs for an Universal Monarchy But now they were put to a stand to see what such a mighty power and apparently lasting Settlement in England would produce yet finding at length that here all thoughts of Military glory and extention of Dominion seemed wholly to be laid aside and all the severity of the preceding times daily degenerate to the Luxuries of an Effeminate Reign they began to reassume their former design and to prosecute the foundation Cardinal Richlieu had laid for them But that they might make sure work on 't and see that they made a true judgment of the English affairs they resolved to try such an Experiment as would throughly decide the matter and what must that be but overtures for the buying of Dunkirk which succeeding as aforesaid according to their wishes raised their hopes higher than ever of attaining their ends And because they knew well enough that the English were a powerful People by Sea and that while they retained the Soveraignty of it it would be a hard rub in their way they joyn their strength with the Dutch to dispute the Dominion of it with us but the Dutch were as unfortunate in their Allyance in the first Dutch War as the English were in the second when they joyned with them against the Dutch for excepting the time that the English Fleet was divided in the first War and that base business of burning the Ships at Chatham so much to the King and Nations dishonour the Dutch came by the worst of it in all the rest of the Engagements and it was much the same luck the English had by their Conjunction in the second War the French both times standing aloof as looking on and no doubt laughing in their sleeves to see the two most Potent Nations in the World by Sea weaken and destroy one anothe whilst they in the mean time not only saved their own stake but learned how to fight and doubted not but in time
that our History may appear to be all of a piece and void of Breaks as much as may be Walter therefore had a Son named Alane who as they say follow'd Godfrey of Bullogn into the Holy Land in the Year 1099. Alexander was his Son who begat Walter Stuart he had Issue Alexander whose Son was John the Father of Walter Stuart that marry'd the Daughter of King Robert Bruce and begat on her Robert Stuart call'd in the Scotch Chronology Robert the second King of Scotland but he was the first Stuart that was advanced to the Throne of that Kingdom But before we can fairly come to give you an exact Account hereof it will be necessary to premise a short Scheme of the Contests between the said Baliol and Bruce because somewhat interwoven with the Affair of this Family Upon the disastrous death of Alexander the Third who broke his Neck as he was gallopping his Horse at Kingcorn over the West-clift of the place near the Sea-side and left no Issue but had only a Grand-child by his Daughter in Norway very young and who died soon after Scotland fell under an Interregnum for the space of six Years and nine Months as Buchanan computes it for so long it was between the Death of Alexander and the declaring of John Baliol King of Scotland and in the mean time you may be sure there wanted not Pretensions to the Crown and the case briefly was thus William King of Scotland had a Brother named David Earl of Huntington and great Uncle to this Alexander the III. which David had three Daughters Margaret marry'd to Allan Lord of Gallaway Isabel to Robert Bruce Lord Annadale and Cleveland and Adda to Henry Hastings Earl of Huntington now Allane begat on his Wife Margaret a Daughter named Dornadilla marry'd in process of time to John Baliol after King of Scotland and two other Daughters Bruce by his Wife Isabel had Robert Bruce Earl of Carrick as having married the Inheritrix thereof but as for Huntington he laid no manner of Claim Now the question was whether Baliol in right of the eldest Daughter or Robert Bruce being descended of the second but a Male should have the Crown he being in the same Degree and of the more worthy Sex The Controversie was tossed up and down by the Governors and Nobles of the Kingdom for a long time but at last upon serious deliberation it was agreed to refer the whole matter to the decision of Edward the I. King of England which he was not a little glad of For resolving to fish in these troubled Waters he stirs up eight Competitors more that he might further puzzle the Cause and at length with twenty four Councellors half Scots half English and a great many Lawyers so handled the Business that after a great many cunning delays he secretly tampers with Bruce who was then conceiv'd to have the better Right of the Business that if he would acknowledge to hold the Crown of him he would adjudge it in favour of him But he generously answering That he valued a Crown at a less rate than for the wearing of the same to put his Country under a Foreign Yoke Edward turns about and makes the same motion to Baliol who did not stick to accept of it Baliol having thus gotten a Crown as unhappily kept it for he was no sooner invested with it and done Homage to King Edward according to Agreement but the Aberthenys having slain Mackduff Earl of Fife he not only pardon'd them the Fact but gave them a piece of Land that was in Controversie between them Whereupon Mucduff's Brother being enraged makes a Complaint of him to King Edward who sent for him used him so that he made him rise from his Seat at Parliament and go to the Bar and answer for himself He hereupon was so enraged at this manner of Usage that when King Edward sent to him for Assistance against the French he absolutely refused it and proceeded so far as to renounce his Homage to him This incensed King Edward to the quick and so with an armed Power he hastens to Berwick where he routed the Scots took and kill'd to the number of Seven Thousand of them among them most of the Nobility of Fife and Lowthian and some time after gave them also a great Overthrow at Dunbar which occasion'd the immediate surrender of the Castle of the said place into his Hands After this he marches to Montross where Baliol was brought to resign up both himself and his Crown to King Edward all the Scotch Nobility at the same time doing him Homage The Consequence whereof was that Baliol was sent Prisoner to London and from thence after a Years detention into France But while Edward was possess'd of all Scotland one William Wallace arose who tho' but a private Man bestirred himself in the publick Calamity of his Country and gave the English several notable Foyls This brought King Edward into Scotland again with an Army and falling upon Wallace routs him who was overcome with Emulation and Envy from his Countrymen as well as power from the Enemy upon which he laid by his Command and never acted after but by slight Incursions but the English Army after this being beaten at Roslin Edward comes in again and takes Sterling and makes them all render him Homage Robert Bruce Son to the foresaid Bruce that contested with Baliol for the Crown was in King Edward's Court and him the King had often promised to put in possession of the Crown But Bruce finding at last that all his promises were illusory and nothing but smoak he enters into a Confederacy with John Cummin sirnamed the Red how he might get the Kingdom but being basely betray'd by him to King Edward he had much ado to make his escape and when he was got into Scotland the first thing he did was to stab Cummin at Drumâ—reis and then got himself Crown'd King at Scone Never did any Man come with greater disadvantage to the possession of a Crown or underwent greater Hardships for the sake of it He was beaten over and over by King Edward's Troops forced to flee to the Highlands with one Companion or two and to lurk in the Mountains in great misery as if he had been rather a Beast of prey than a rational Creature And while he was in this miserable State it is storied of him by Fourdon That being in a Morning lying down on his Bed in a little Cottage whither he was glad to retire and make the same his Pallace he espies a Spider striving to climb up into her Web which she had spun to the roof of the House but failing of her purpose the first time she attempts it the second and third time and so on to the sixth and last wherein she accomplishes it and gets in the King who as well as his Companion had all the while view'd the Action said Now let 's get up and hasten to the Lowlands to try our Fortunes
every part of it Some time elapsed before this dreadful news of the Prince's death came to the Ears of the King none adventuring to be the sad Messenger unto him of that which almost all knew off but when he was advertised of it and had also some secret intimations given him his Brother had had a deep if not the sole hand in it for none durst accuse so great a Man openly he grew very sad and melancholy thereupon and the rather in that he had not power to take Vengeance upon him for the perpetrating of so barbarous a deed and for doing him so unretrievable an injury However to make some semblance of Kingly Authority he sends for the Duke his Brother to come to him at leastwise to expostulate with him about the fact The Duke who knew the purport of the message as well as himself frames a fair and specious story to excuse himself as tho he were as innocent of the fact as the Child Unborn And for a farther proof of it urges his care to seek out the Perpetrators of that horrid deed and that he had now at length made so far a progress in the matter that he did not doubt but if the King would be pleased to come to Edenburgh he should be able to bring in all the Offenders The King who was then at a place called Bute where for the most part he ever resided tho he was very unfit to travel upon many accounts and especially by reason of a tedious fit of sickness he had laboured under yet so great and eager a desire he had to see his Son's death punished that he made a hard shift to get in a Chariot into Edenburgh When he was come thither the Governour convenes the Council and orders the parties accused to be brought before them the King himself being also present The Accusers as the Duke who was rather the guilty person had before contrived it stoutly charge them with the fact The King after he had imprecated Vengeance from Heaven and the most dreadful Curses upon them and their Posterity who had perpetrated so horrid an act being over-prest with sorrow and infirfirmity of Body returns to Bute from whence he came The Duke that he might colour the matter as much as might be brings the supposed Criminals to their Tryals and by corrupt Judges such as the Duke had provided for that purpose were Condemned as guilty of his Murder whom in all their life time they had never seen Tho this matter waâ— managed on the part of the Governor with all the Fineness and Address imaginable yet the King was not so satisfied in his Mind but that he retain'd still a great suspition of the Duke's having an Hand in his Sonâ—s Death But forasmuch as he well knew that the Duke had all the Kingdom of Scotland under his Obeisance partly by Policy and partly by virtue of his Office of Governour he durst not shew his resentment nor attempt to call him to an account for it but was rather afraid on the other hand lest having ambitious Desires to possess himself of the Crown he would also make it his Business to procure the death of his second Son James and by that means take off the only Rub in his way The King I say being thus sollicitous in Mind about securing that to his Posterity which his unnatural Brother was intent to deprive them of consults with Walter Wardlaw Arch-bishop of St. Andrews about his Son's Security After serious deliberation they at last conclude it was no ways safe for Prince James to remain in Scotland and therefore he resolved to send him over into France to Charles the VI. an old Allie and real Friend to the Scotish Nation knowing he could no where be more safely and liberally educated than there But considering the uncertain vicissitude of Humane things and that no Precautions for his future Security might be wanting the King delivers his Son a Letter written to the King of England in his Behalf if it should be his hard Fortune to fall into the Hands of the English The King in pursuance to the said Resolution orders all things to be got in a readiness for his Passage and appointed Henry Sinclear Earl of Orkney to take care for the safe Conveyance of him They took Shipping at the Bass and so shear'd their Course for the French Shoar but when they were got as far as Flamborough-Head they were as some say taken by the English who had heard of their sailing and laid in wait to intercept them But others write that the Prince finding himself extreamly Sea-sick and not able to endure it desired he might be put on Shoar there and so was taken into Custody and carry'd up to the English Court but however it happened taken he was in the ninth Year of his Age Anno 1406. Henry IV. was then King of England to whose Presence when the Prince was come he deliver'd him his Father's Letter which because of the rarity of it as being written in the Scotish Dialect of those times we have thought fit to insert and is as followeth Robert King of Scots to Henry King of England Greeting THY great Magnificence Humility and Justice are right patent to us by thy Governance of thy last Army in Scotland howbeit sike things had been uncertein to us afore for tho' thou seemed as Enemie with most awful Incursions in our Realme Èœit we found mair Humanities and Plaisures than Damage by thy cumming to our Subdities speciallie to yame that receivit thy noble Fader the Duke of Longcastle the time of his Exile in Scotland we may not câ—is your fare while we are on life but I yl layf and loif thee us maist noble and woarthy Prince to joys thy Realme for yocht Realmes and Nations contend among themself for Conâ—uests of Glory and Launds Èœit na accasioun is amang us to invade other Realmes or Lieges with Injuries but erar to contend amang our self â—uhay shall perseue other with maist humanitee and kindness As to us we will meis all occasion of battell quare any occurres at thy pleasure Farther bycause we have no lesse sollicitude in preserving our Children fra certein deidley Enemies than had some time thy noble Fader we are constreined 〈◊〉 seek Support at uncowth Princes Handâ— Howbeit the invasioun of Enemies is sa great that small defense oâ—urres against yame â—ithaut they be preserved by Amitie of nobill Men. For the World is sa full of perversit malice that na crueltie nor offence may be devisit in erd bot the samme may be wroucht be motion of gold or silver Heirfore because we knaw thy Hyness full of Monie nobill Vertueâ— with sike Puissance and Riches that na Prince in our daies may be compared thairto we desire thy Humanity and Support at this time We traist it is not unknowen to thy Majesty how our eldest Son David is slain miserablie in Prisoun by our Brother the Duke of Albanie quhome we
was so put to it that he was forced to flee out of Edenburg to save his own life whereupon he enters into a Confederacy with his Friends for his own security which together with some Depredations made in the Lord Ferres Lands by some of the Earls Tenants without redress from him upon Complaint made thereof enraged the King to an high degree against him But sore disorders still increasing through the Earls not punishing of the offenders at last Ferres makes an inroad by way of reprisal into his Lands was taken and by the Earls command was put to Death tho' the King by an Herault commanded the contrary so that upon serious Deliberation the King finding his power unsufficient for curbing him had no other way left than to send to him in a most Courteous manner to come to him who was then in Sterling Castle The Earl apprehensive of some design upon his Person refused without he had an assurance of safe Conduct under the Kings great Seal which being Granted he came and was received with a great semblance of good Will by the King who toâ—k him into a Room by themselves and there after some other Admonitions expostulated with him about the Confederâ—cy he had entred into with the Earl of Crawford and others and would have urged him to forsake the same Alledging it was no ways Honourable for him but hurtfull and tho' he took it very ill at his hands yet he allowed him the Liberty to disâ—null it tho' himself had full power to command it Dowglass was very obsequious in all things 'till this business of the League came in Question whereunto he did not Answer distinctly but would have put it off 'till he had discoursed with his Confederates thereupon neither could he well see at present what could be in that League which could be offensive to the King that he should insist so much upon his breaking of it whereupon the King who it's likely had already determined to commit the perjur'd Fact tho' his flattering Courtiers would have his displeasure only to arise from the Earls present stubborness said if you will not I will break it and without any more ado struck him with his Dagger in his breast those that stood at the Door hearing the bustle rushed in and dispatched him by many wounds His Brethren and Kindred being at first surprized and then exasperated at the horridness of the Fact and the faithless proceedings of the King towards the Earl flew to their Arms and made no less than a Civil War of it which was waged between the King and them with various Fortunes at last the King prevailed which brought great Destruction and Calamity upon that Noble Family of the Dowglasses And then it was that King James began to Reign as the Historian says their greatness having been hitherto a Check upon him But his Civil broils were scarce ended when he was brought to engage in the fatal controversy which happened in England between the Houses of York and Lancaster He at first sided with King Henry VI against Richard Duke of York but afterward faced about Upon the Duke's promise that Cumberland and other Lands should be restored unto him that had been in the possession of his Ancestors if the Duke prevailed and so assisted the Yorkians having therefore raised an Army as he was entering into England he was for a time diverted cunningly by an English Gentleman who took upon him to be the Pope's Nuncio His Speech Habit and Retinue were perfectly Italian and to make the matter more plausible with the Cloak of Religion he had a Monk along with him and so with the Popes Counterfeit Letters they approached to the King and charged him to proceed on no farther and threatned him if he did to curse him For that the Pope to the end the War might be carried on against the Common Enemy of Christianity with greater vigor having now Composed all differences in Europe was set upon Accommodating this matter in Britain That they indeed were sent before to preadmonish him but that another Legate would quickly follow with an Ample power to Compose the Civils Discords in England and to procure satisfaction for the injuries sustained by the Scots This bait took him and so he Disbanded his Army But alas nothing could divert this Prince's now impending Fate for being soon after advertised of the trick put upon him by the foresaid Counterfeit Nuncio he re-assembles his Army and because he could not directly Joyn with York's Forces He marches to the Siege of Roxborough and having quickly master'd the Town lays close Seige to the Castle which made a brave defence The Duke and his Companions having in the mean time prevailed sent to give King James thanks for his Assistance desire him now things were amicably terminated to return home least the English being incensed they should be forced to march against the Scotch Army The King having received the Message asked those that brought it whether the Duke of York and his Friends said any thing in relation to the promises they had made when he came into their Assistance but finding no satisfaction in that point he proceeds with great Fury to assault the Castle and Batters the Walls with Cannon which began then to be much used as they were much dreaded and being very forward and intent upon his work one of his Guns being over-charged burst and a slice thereof struck the King dead to the ground and hurt no other besides himself a strang fatality that brought him to his end when he had lived twenty nine Years and of them Reigned twenty four Anno. 146â— He left three Sons behind him James that Succeeded him Alexander Duke of Albany and John Earl of Mar who were a plague to one another while alive and not one of them died a natural death as we shall shew in its proper place James III. a Minor of seven Years old as his Father before him came to the Crown and at first fell under the Care and Regency of his Mother as did the whole Kingdom a Woman after the decease of her Husband James II. that lead a Scandalous life keeping one Adam Hepborn who was himself a Married Man for her Gallant but death put an end to her Lewdness and Government together about three Years after Then he came into the hands of the Boyds who Ruled the roast for a long time but at last made a fatal Catastrophe he took to Wife Margaret Daughter to the King of Denmark and Norway Anno. 1469. And about this time began to Exercise the Royal power himself He involved himself at first with the Affairs of the Church and not long after became miserably enslaved with the predictions of Astrologers and Witches to which he was strangely addicted and which brought not only destruction upon his kindred but also at last upon himself which we shall now prosecute as they fell out in order He was on a time it seems informed by some
before the Army which so distasted all of them and especially the Lord Maxwell that all things were presently in a Confusion and the Army ready to disband The opportunity of an adjoining Hill gave the English a full prospect into their Army and invited them to make advantage thereof and so they fell upon the Scots with a furious charge quickly routed them slew a great number of them and took abundance of prisoners among whom Sinclair their General made one The News of this defeat was no sooner brought to the King who was not far off but he fell into a great rage and fury which terminated in sadness and heavy grief of heart as Robert II. his great Ancestor did upon the taking of his Son James by the English and this brought him to watch and be abstemious disdaining to eat his Victuals And coming to understand that the Country was full of murmurings that the Kingdom should be thus endangered for the Prelates pleasure and knowing withal that such Complaints were Just and True this made him burst out with some threatning and revengeful language against such as had given him such bad advice and so hastned his untimely Death For those evil Councellors had no sooner understood what he said but they considered the danger they might be in if he should survive and fearing the Effects of his displeasure they poisoned him having learnt the Art in Italy called an Italian Posit in the Three and Thirtieth year of his Age and two and Thirtieth of his Reign See Melvill's Memoirs Cardinal Beaton who t is supposed had a great hand in his Death counterfeited his will wherein himself and three more were appointed Governors of the Kingdom He left one only Daughter Mary that Succeeded him in his Kingdom and Misfortunes and was at her Fathers Death but eight Days old He never saw her and 't was said when he was informed of her Birth it did rather aggravate his sorrow then exhilarate his mind as foreseeing Scotland would one way or other fall under the Government of the English Nation The King cut thus off in the flower of his Age the tumults of the former times were rather hushed up then composed so that Wise men foresaw such a tempest impending over Scotland as they had neither ever heard before in the ancient records of time nor had themselves seen the like For what from private animosities and dissension upon the score of Religion and from a War from aboard with a puissant King now enraged with the Scots prevaricating with him there was reasonably to be hoped for little less then an utter desolation However something must be done and the Cardinal according to his Develish subornation takes the Administration into his hands but James Hamilton Earl of Arran being presumptive Heir to the Crown and his friends as well as many others disdaining to be under the bondage of a Mercenary Priest they encouraged him to assume the Regency which the return of the Prisoners taken in the last Battle by the English who were released by the King of England with the hopes and upon promise of procuring their young Queen to be married to Prince Edward and thereby to have the two Crowns United did not a little promote so that the Cardinals forgery being in a little time detected he was casheered and his Kinsman Arran substituted in his room Not long after came Sir Ralph Sadler Ambassador from King Henry into Scotland to treat about the foresaid Match but the Cardinal and his faction raise forty colourable pretences to affront him and elude his Message and to fortify themselves as much as might be sent for Mathew Stuart Earl of Lennox out of France by whose Interest they thought to ballance that of the Hamiltons But soon after his arrival finding the Regent and Cardinal had joined Interests and that himself was eluded in respect to the promise made him of Marrying the Queen Dowager and having the chief management of affairs and withal mis-representing his proceeding to the French King he has recourse to Arms But not finding himself to have Force sufficient to cope with the Regent with the additional Interest of the Queen and Cardinal he makes some sort of Accommodation with them But at last experimenting there was but little sincerity in all their Actions and that himself was opprest and in danger of his life every moment he made some faint resistance and in the end withdrew into England where he was Honourably received by the King who besides his other respects gave him Margaret Dowglass in Marriage who was Sister by the Mother side to James V. last King of Scotland begot by the Earl of Angus upon Margaret Sister to Henry VIII from which Marriage sprâ—ng Henry Stuart Lord Darnley Husband to Mary Queen of Scots and Father to James VI. of Scotland and I. of England of whom more here after The King of England in the mean time being highly affronted with the Scots violating of their faith with him in respect to the Marriage resolves to call them to a severe account for their perfidity and to that End invades their Country with a puissant Army commits great ravages and even Pillaged and Burnt Edenburg it self and then retreated The Scots with the assistance of the French whose Alliance they had preferred before that of the King of England endeavoured to retrieve the loss by the Invasion of the English Bordirs but made little of the matter So â—hat things for a time seemed to hang in â—uspence between both Nations and the Cardinal with his cut-throat Ecclesiasticks had leasure to prosecute those that espouesd the Reformation and because the Civil power would not meddle with the matter they take the whole into their own hands And among others put to Death one George Wiseheart burning him for an Heretick and who when the Governor who stood by exhorted him to be of good cheer and ask Pardon of God for his offences He replied This flame occasions trouble in deed to my body but it hath in no wise broken my spirit but he who now proudly looks down upon me from yonder lofty place pointing to the Cardinal shall e're long be as ignominiously thrown down as now he proudly â—ies at his ease Which strangely came to pass and which because of the Tragicalness of the Story we think will not be impertinent to insert in this place The Cardinal being on a time at St. Andrew's and having appointed a day for the Nobility and especially those whose Estates lay nearest the Sea to Meet and Consult what was fit to be done for the common safety for their Coasts were severely threatned by the great Naval preparations of the English made against them He determined for the more effectual Execution of his Design to take a strict view of all the Sea-Coasts to Fortify all Convenient Places and to put Garrisons into them Among the rest of the Noble Men Sons who came into the Cardinal Norman Lesley Son to the
Earl of Rothes was one This same Person had done great and eminent Services for the Cardinal but on a time there fell out a dispute concerning a private business which enstranged them a while one from another but Norman upon great promises made to him quitted his right in the matter contested for But coming after some months to demand the performance of what was promised him They fell from plain discourse to hot words and afterwards to down-right railing uttering such reproachfull words to one another as became neither of them and so they parted in great rage from one another The Cardinal fancying that he was not treated with that deference due to his Eminency and Norman full of Wrath and Fury as being Circumvented by fraud so that he returned home with thoughts bent upon revenge and openly among his Friends inveyed against the intollerable Pride of the Cardinal insomuch that they agreed to take away his Life And that the matter might pass with the least suspicion Norman with five only in his Company came to St. Andrew's and took up his usual Inn that his intentious might be concealed by reason of the paucity of his followers But there were ten more in the Town Privy to the Conspiracy who all in several places expected the Signal to fall on The Days were then very long as being in the Month of May and the Cardinal was Fortifying the Castle for his Defence for fear of any surprize in such great haste that the workmen continued at work almost Night and Day So that when the Porter early in the morning opened the Gates to let in the workmen Norman had placed two of his Men in ambush in an adjacent House with orders to seize the Porter And when they had by so doing made themselves Masters of the Gate They were to give the Signal to the rest By this means they all entered the Castle without any noise and dispatched four of their number to watch the Cardinal's Door that no Tydings might be carried in to him others were appointed to go to the Chambers of the rest of the household to call them up for they knew well enough both the Men and the Place them they roused up half awake and calling them by their Names threatned them severely to kill them without any more ado if they made but the least Out-cry so that they lead them all out of the Castle in great silence without doing them the least harm And now all the rest being put out they alone remained Mastâ—rs of the Castle Whereupon those that were posted at the Cardinal's Door knock'd at it and being asked by those within what their Names were they told them and then were admitted Having as have some written given their words that they would hurt no body But when they once got in they dispatched the Cardinal with many wounds In the mean time the Rumor run about the Town That the Castle was taken insomuch that the Cardinals Friends half drunk and half asleep started out of their Beds and cryed out Arms And thus they run to the Castle and called with Menaces and Reproaches for Ladders and other things necessary for a Storm They within seeing this that they might blunt the present impetuosity of their minds and put some check upon their fury Cryed out to them and demanded why they made such a bustle for the Man was dead whom they thought to rescue and with that threw out the Cardinals dead body in the sight of them all even out of that very place where before he rejoicingly beheld the Execution of George Wiseheart The English in the mean time pursue their expedition and make terrible havock in the Country at last the Regent with the assistance of the French gave them some repulse which was followed with a perswasive Letter from the English to a Peace But the Regent with his Regiment of Popish Priests about him and with whom he consulted alone about it rejected the proposals and gives them Battle but receives a most terrible defeat and the Priests and Monks paid the shot For the English who well knew it was by their Advice their Generous Offers had been refused took terrible Vengeance upon them and gave them no Quarter that bloody day But this and other Succesfull expeditions that followed could not prevent the Priestly faction to send their young Queen over into France which was the thing the English mostly dreaded as having a desire to have her Married to Edward VI. which would have United both Kingdoms But now the French had gained that point they grew very imperious and almost intollerable to the Scots themselves and at last came to an Agreement with the English to quit Scotland which was done in May 1550. The Regents Proceedings had disgusted many and he began to decline in his Authority so that he was brought at last by the French Artifice to resign his Office which by the same Interest was conferred upon the Queen â—owager But this was out of the Frying-Pan into the Fire and almost all the time of her Regency was spent with furious contests between her and the Reformed who at last with the Assistance of the English carried the Day tho' the young Queen was in the mean time Married to the Dauphine of France and the Q. Regent at last was forced to resign her Office by Death worn out with sickness and with grief that she could not Accomplish her Design After the Queen Regents Death Peace was concluded between both Parties and the French were to leave Scotland a point the Regent would never yeild to in her life time tho' often prest unto it and the Death of Francis the Queen of Scots Husband now become King of France occasioned her return into her own Country and the rather because she found her Mother-in-Law who managed matters of State now somewhat alienated from her and she could not endure to truckle to her Soon after her arrival she dispatched William Maitland Embassador to Q. Elizabeth to Confirm the Peace lately made but the Chief of his Errand appear'd to be to press Elizabeth to declare her to be the next Heir to the Crown of England which motion because Queen Elizabeth did not a little stomach and and I do verily believe had some influence upon Queen Mary's Future Calamity we shall a little more particularly insist upon together with the Queens reply to the Ambassador upon it He began first to acquaint her how highly the Queen his Mistress was affected toward her and how much she desired to maintain Peace and Amity with her he also carried to her Letters from the Nobility in which was mentioned a Friendly Commemoration of former obligations and Courtesies But one thing they earnestly desired of her that both publickly and privately she would shew her self Friendly and Courteous towards their Queen and being incited by good Offices she would not only preserve them in her ancient Friendship but superadd daily stronger obligations if possible