Mary Queen of Scots 1542-1587 Part 26

Letter from Mr. Archibald Douglas to the Queen of Scots.

_Robertson's History of Scotland_, App. XIV., from Harl. Lib.

x.x.xvii. bk. ix. fol. 126.

... It may please your Majesty to remember in the year of G.o.d 1566, the said Earl of Morton, with divers other n.o.bility and gentry, were declared rebels to your Majesty.... True it is that I was one of that number, that heavily offended against your Majesty, and pa.s.sed into France the time of our banishment, at the desire of the rest, to humbly pray your brother the most Christian King, to intercede that our offences might be pardoned.--Your Majesty's mind so inclined to mercy, that, within short s.p.a.ce thereafter, I was permitted to repair into Scotland, to deal with Earls Murray, Atholl, Bothwell, Argyll, and Secretary Lethington, in the name and behalf of the said Earl Morton, Lords Ruthven, Lindsay, and remanent accomplices.... At my coming to them ... they declared that the marriage betwix you and your husband had been the occasion already of great evil in that realm ... they had thought it convenient to join themselves in league and band with some other n.o.blemen resolved to obey your Majesty as their natural sovereign, and have nothing to do with your husband's command whatsoever; if the said earl would for himself enter into that band, they could be content to humbly request and travel by all means with your Majesty for his pardon.... They desired that I should return sufficiently instructed in this matter to Stirling, before the baptism of your son, whom G.o.d might preserve. This message was faithfully delivered by me at Newcastle in England, where the said earl then remained, in presence of his friends and company, where they all condescended to have no further dealing with your husband, and to enter into the said band. With this deliberation, I returned to Stirling, where ... your Majesty's gracious pardon was granted unto them all.... Immediately after, the said Earl of Morton repaired to Whittinghame, where the Earl Bothwell and Secretary Lethington came to him; what speech pa.s.sed there amongst them, as G.o.d shall be my judge, I knew nothing at that time; but at their departure I was requested by the said Earl Morton to accompany the Earl Bothwell and Secretary to Edinburgh, and to return with such answer as they should obtain of your Majesty, which being given to me by the said persons, as G.o.d shall be my judge, was no other than these words, "Show to the Earl Morton that the Queen will hear no speech of that matter appointed unto him." When I craved that the answer might be made more sensible, Secretary Lethington said, that the earl would sufficiently understand it, albeit few or none at that time understand what pa.s.sed amongst them.

It is known to all men, as well by the railing letters pa.s.sed betwixt the said earl and Lethington, when they became in divers factions, as also a book set forth by the ministers, wherein they affirm that the earl has confessed to them, before his death, that the Earl Bothwell came to Whittinghame to propose the calling away of the King your husband, to the which proposition the said Earl of Morton affirms that he could give no answer unto such time he might know your Majesty's mind, which he never received....

SECTION VIII

THE END

_CONTENTS_

1. Connecting Note.

2. Contemporary Verses on the Babington Conspiracy.

3. Queen Mary's Letter to Queen Elizabeth on hearing the announcement of her sentence.

4. Clauses from Queen Mary's Will.

5. Appeal for Spiritual Faculties.

6. "O Domine Deus, speravi in te."

7. Contemporary Official Report of the Execution.

_CONNECTING NOTE_

Queen Mary's life, after the conclusion of the conference at Westminster, was occupied with plots and negotiations for her escape from captivity. The proposal for her marriage with the Duke of Norfolk was opposed both in Scotland and in England; and an insurrection was raised by the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, which was speedily suppressed (November, 1569). In January of the following year the Earl of Moray was a.s.sa.s.sinated at Linlithgow, and the Earl of Lennox, Darnley's father, succeeded him as Regent. Maitland of Lethington finally seceded from the "King's party," and allied himself with Kirkaldy of Grange, who held Edinburgh Castle for Mary. The Norfolk conspiracy continued to raise the expectations of the Marians till the capture, in the spring of 1571, of Charles Baillie, who was carrying letters from the papal agent, Rudolfi, for Queen Mary, Norfolk, the Spanish amba.s.sador, and the Bishop of Ross. On the strength of Baillie's disclosures, Norfolk was put to death in June 1572. Elizabeth declined to gratify the English Parliament by executing her prisoner, but attempted to arrange for her delivery to the Earl of Morton, now Regent of Scotland, with a view to his accepting the responsibility for Mary's death. Morton broke off the negotiations as Elizabeth refused to give her open sanction to the deed.

Edinburgh Castle surrendered in June 1573, and its fall, and the loss of Lethington and Grange, gave the death-blow to the hopes of the Queen of Scots. She maintained, however, a constant correspondence with Elizabeth and with Spain and Rome, clutching eagerly at any hope of release, however vague. In 1586 she became involved, to what extent is disputed, in what is known as the Babington Conspiracy, which had for its object the a.s.sa.s.sination of Elizabeth and her ministers, and the restoration of Catholicism throughout Great Britain. Walsingham received information as to the plot, and obtained possession of letters alleged to be written by Mary to Babington. The conspirators were put to death, and Mary was tried by a Commission of Peers in the end of 1586. The following verses, addressed to the conspirators, indicate the common feeling in England at the time. They are quoted from a poem by William Kempe, published in 1587, and ent.i.tled "A Dutiful Invective against the moste haynous Treasons of Ballard and Babington ... together with the horrible attempts and actions of the Queen of Scottes....

For a New Yeares gift to all loyall English subjects." The author of the verses is not Kemp the player, but a writer of some treatises on Education. _Cf._ "Dict. Nat. Biog."

_A DUTIFUL INVECTIVE_

The Scottish Queen, with mischief fraught, for to perform the will Of him whose pupil she hath been hath used all her skill; By words most fair, and loving terms, and gifts of value great: For to persuade your hollow hearts, your duties to forget, And for to be a.s.sistant still, her treacheries to further, Wherein she reckons it no sinne though you commit great murther.

Such is her heinous hateful mind, who long hath lived in hope, By such her subtle lawless means (and help of cursed Pope) Both to deprive our sovereign Queen of her imperial crown, And true religion to repel, G.o.d's Gospel to put down.

Wherein you fully did conclude that it could never be, Except you first conspired her death, by secret treachery.

And thereupon consulted oft, and sundry ways did seek For to perform this devilish act, which you so well did like.

Next unto this your promise was to lend your help and aid, With all the force and power you could, to foes that should invade.

And thereby for to set at large that Queen whom I did name, Who always in her treacherous mind, doth nought but mischief frame.

_THE CAUSE OF ALL OUR TROUBLES_

For plainly hath it fallen out, by sundry proofs most true, She was the only maintainer of all this treacherous crew: For trial whereof we may see, how that our gracious Queen, Both having care the very truth most plainly might be seen, And she with honour might be tried, in that she was a Prince, Did cause the chiefest peers her faults by justice to convince: Who did a.s.semble at her place, by name called Fotheringay, There to examine out the truth, and hear what she could say; And to that end did then direct to them a large commission For to examine every one in whom they found suspicion.

Who meeting at that place, it plainly did appear, How that she was the chiefest cause of all our troubles here.

And that she by persuasions did seek for to withdraw The subjects' hearts from this our Queen, who erst had lived in awe; And that the treasons named before were all by her consent, And that she author was thereof, and did the same invent, Whereto her answer was so light, and to so small effect, As that the weakness of the same her treasons did detect.

And thereupon these peers of State, having a due regard To what she could object thereto, and likewise nothing spared By circ.u.mstance to search out truth, did forthwith then p.r.o.nounce That she was guilty of these crimes, and could not them renounce.

Which sentence so by them declared, was by our Queen's consent, Plainly revealed to all estates in court of Parliament; And was by them considered of, who then did all agree To join in suit unto her Grace, the same to ratify.

Queen Mary's Letter to Queen Elizabeth.

_Strickland's Letters of Mary Queen of Scots_, vol. ii. p. 200.

FOTHERINGAY, December 19, 1586.

MADAME,--Having with difficulty obtained leave from those to whom you have committed me to open to you all I have on my heart, as much for exonerating myself from any ill-will, or desire of committing cruelty, or any act of enmity against those with whom I am connected in blood; as also, kindly, to communicate to you what I thought would serve you, as much for your weal and preservation as for the maintenance of the peace and repose of this isle, which can only be injured if you reject my advice. You will credit or disbelieve my discourse, as it seems best to you.

I am resolved to strengthen myself in Christ Jesus alone, who, to those invoking Him with a true heart, never fails in His justice and consolation, especially to those who are bereft of all human aid; such are under His holy protection: to Him be the glory! He has equalled my expectation, having given me heart and strength, _in spe contra spem_, to endure the unjust calumnies, accusations, and condemnations (of those who have no such jurisdiction over me) with a constant resolution to suffer death for upholding the obedience and authority of the Apostolical Roman Catholic Church.

Now, since I have been on your part informed of the sentence of your last meeting of Parliament, Lord Buckhurst and Beale having admonished me to prepare for the end of my long and weary pilgrimage, I beg to return you thanks on my part for these happy tidings, and to entreat you to vouchsafe to me certain points for the discharge of my conscience.

But since Sir A. Paulet has informed me (though falsely) that you had indulged me by having restored to me my almoner, and the money that they had taken from me, and that the remainder would follow; for all this I would willingly return you thanks, and supplicate still further as a last request, which I have thought for many reasons I ought to ask of you alone, that you will accord this ultimate grace, for which I should not like to be indebted to any other, since I have no hope of finding aught but cruelty from the Puritans, who are at this time, G.o.d knows wherefore! the first in authority, and the most bitter against me.

I will accuse no one: nay, I pardon with a sincere heart every one, even as I desire every one may grant forgiveness to me, G.o.d the first. But I know that you, more than any one, ought to feel at heart the honour or dishonour of your own blood, and that, moreover, of a queen and the daughter of a king.

_A LAST REQUEST_

Then, Madame, for the sake of that Jesus to whose name all powers bow, I require you to ordain that when my enemies have slaked their black thirst for my innocent blood, you will permit my poor desolated servants altogether to carry away my corpse, to bury it in holy ground with the other queens of France, my predecessors, especially near the late queen, my mother; having this in recollection, that in Scotland the bodies of the kings, my predecessors, have been outraged, and the churches profaned and abolished; and that as I shall suffer in this country, I shall not be given place near the kings, your predecessors, who are mine as well as yours: for according to our religion, we think much of being interred in holy earth. As they tell me that you will in nothing force my conscience nor my religion, and have even conceded me a priest, refuse me not this my last request, that you will permit free sepulchre to this body when the soul is separated, which, when united, could never obtain liberty to live in repose, such as you would procure for yourself; against which repose--before G.o.d I speak--I never aimed a blow: but G.o.d will let you see the truth of all after my death.

And because I dread the tyranny of those to whose power you have abandoned me, I entreat you not to permit that execution be done on me without your own knowledge, not for fear of the torment, which I am most ready to suffer, but on account of the reports which will be raised concerning my death unsuspected, and without other witnesses than those who would inflict it, who, I am persuaded, would be of very different qualities from these parties whom I require (being my servants) to stay spectators, and with witnesses of my end in the faith of our sacrament, of my Saviour, and in obedience to His Church. And after all is over, that they together may carry away my poor corpse (as secretly as you please), and speedily withdraw, without taking with them any of my goods except those which in dying I may leave to them, which are little enough for their long and good services.

_ELIZABETH'S JEWEL_

One jewel that I received of you I shall return to you with my last words, or sooner if you please.

Once more I supplicate you to permit me to send a jewel and a last adieu to my son, with my dying benediction, for of my blessing he has been deprived since you sent me his refusal to enter into the treaty whence I was excluded by his wicked council; this last point I refer to your favourable consideration and conscience as the others, but I ask them in the name of Jesus Christ, and in respect of your consanguinity, and for the sake of King Henry VII., your grandfather and mine, and by the honour of the dignity we both hold, and of our s.e.x in common, do I implore you to grant these requests.

_MARY'S TREATMENT_

As to the rest, I think you know that in your name they have taken down my dais, but afterwards they owned to me that it was not by your commandment, but by the intimation of some of your privy council. I thank G.o.d that this wickedness came not from you, and that it serves rather to vent their malice than to afflict me, having made up my mind to die. It is on account of this, and some other things, that they debarred me from writing to you, and after they had done all in their power to degrade me from my rank, they told me "that I was but a mere dead woman, incapable of dignity." G.o.d be praised for all!

I could wish that all my papers were brought to you without reserve, that at last it may be manifest to you that the sole care of your safety was not confined to those who are so prompt to persecute me. If you will accord this my last request, I would wish that you would write for them, otherwise they do with them as they choose. And, moreover, I wish that to this, my last request, you will let me know your last reply.

To conclude, I pray G.o.d, the just Judge, of His mercy that He will enlighten you with His Holy Spirit, and that He will give you His grace to die in the perfect charity I am disposed to do, and to pardon all those who have caused, or who have co-operated in, my death. Such will be my last prayer to my end, which I esteem myself happy will precede the persecution which I foresee menaces this isle, where G.o.d is no longer seriously feared and revered, but vanity and worldly policy rule and govern all. Yet will I accuse no one, nor give way to presumption.

Yet while abandoning this world, and preparing myself for a better, I must remind you that one day you will have to answer for your charge, and for all those whom you doom, and that I desire that my blood and my country may be remembered in that time. For why? From the first days of our capacity to comprehend our duties, we ought to bend our minds to make the things of this world yield to those of eternity!

From Fotheringay, this 19th December, 1586.

Your sister and cousin, Prisoner wrongfully, MARIE ROYNE.