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inform him, that he was of late become a cypher at court, defpifed by his wife, and neglected by the people; and all this by the artifices and treachery of Rizio, who first procured the banishment, of his friends, and now profecuted them. That the only way to retrieve and fecure his honour, was to remove that encroaching vil lain, without which nothing was to be done." Pp. 5, 6, 7, 8.

3. "There was nothing wanting to complete the univerfal joy, but the presence of the King, who, though he was

pearing in public upon this folemn occafion having perhaps ftomach'd his late reception from the Queen at Jedburgh) that he went off privately to Glafgow, where he was fud.

3. "Nather did King Henrie cum there (to the baptifm of the prince,) albeit he was in Strivling all that quhyle, nather was he permittit or re-in Stirling, was fo far from apquyrit to cum oppinly: And theirfore he addreft himfelff to Glafgow, quhair he became extreme feik, and his heill bodye brak out in evil favourit puftullis, be the force of young age that potentlye expellit the poy-denly feized with a dangerous fon quhilk was given him to illness, which was generally re.. heift the end of his dayes. Sa ported the effect of poyfon. that the Queene, whither it was The Queen was no fooner infor pittie or bypocrifie (I will not formed of his danger, than fhe difpute) tuike jorney toward hafted after him, and notwith. him to Glafgow, and remainit ftanding her refentment of the by him by the space of ten paft injury, was extremely moved dayes, and caufit him to be tranf- to find him in fo bad a condition, portit to Edinburgh, quhair he and waited very carefully upon was placit in a defert ludging him for the fpace of ten days, neer the weft end faulxburg of till the ftrength of his nature the town, callit the Kirk of overcoming the venom of his Field, prepairit for a wicked disease, he was able to abandon intent, as the malicious actors that place, and travel (though performit with their peftilent flowly to Edinburgh, the mehedis, perceiving that the poy-tropolis of the kingdom, where fon quhilk they hade givin him he might be better attended, did take na effect, devy fit this and have the convenience of beuther purpose. To lay trains ing ferved by the beft phyof gron powder about and with- ficians. in the wallis of the hous in greet quantity. Bot firft they come in be flight of falfe keyes quietlie to the King's chaimer, quhair he was repofing in bed,

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"When he came thither (being not perfectly recovered) he was lodged in the Kirk of Field, in the fuburbs, where the air was good, either to thun the E 4

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First they stranglit the King, and nixt his fervend. They heift their deed bodies out in a defert zaird by a bak dore, quhilk they had prepared before, fitt for the purpofe, and then handlit their traine of gron powder quhilk inflamit the timber of the heill houfe in fic fort, and troublit fa the wallis theirof, that gret ftones, of the lenth of ten fute, and of breid five fute, were fund diftant from that hous be the fpace of a quarter of a myil. This was devyfit to deceive the people, to make them believe that the hous and bodies was expellit and demolishit by the chance of fuddene fire, and na utherwayes: Bot Bothwell and his men were fein neare hard by, to the end the wicked purpofe fhould not faill to tak effect, as by progrefs of this hiftorie fhail the better be knowin. This tragical murther was committed the 9 of Februer; and upoun the fyft day theirafter his body was buriet in the tombe of the Kings at Halieruidt-hous quyetlie in the night, without any kind of folemnitie or murning herd among all the perfons at court." Pp. 8, 9, 10.

countenance thofe who had used him as the tool of their ambition and revenge in the murder of the Secretary; or perhaps by the cunning contrivance of those who defigned his death, which foon after followed: for upon the ninth of February, the houfe in which he lay, was blown up by gun-powder, and his body found at a confiderable distance from the ruins. The whole city was ftartled with the crack, which was in the night time, but more with the news of the King's death, whilst the manner of it was no lefs variously cenfured than reported. Some thought it merely accidental, others (and of the first rank in the nation) firmly believed Murray and Mortone the authors; many accufed Bothwell, as one who had of late shown more than the common affection of a fubject for the Queen's intereft, and who, by removing Henry, made way for himfelf: But the most prevailing opinion was, that the Queen herself (refenting too deeply the murder of her fervant, and her injured reputation) had an hand in the matter; and that by her contrivance, or at leaft connivance, the King and his fervant had been first ftrang. led as they lay afleep and a-bed, and their bodies carry'd to that place where they were found after the house was blown up." Pp. 12, 13.

4. "In the moneth of Marche 4. "Bothwell having for of the nixt zeere, 1567, James, fome time flighted the common Earle of Bothwell, finding him. opinion of the populace concern felff havilye fclanderit for the ing him, in hopes it would die murther of King Herie, and away, or be worn out by length divers preacheris fpeeking op-of time, found himself at laft pinly in that mater, to the pre-under a neceffity of taking par

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day of March,

judice of his honor and honefty | ticular notice of what at once in that matter and action, thoght ftruck thus at his life and haexpedient, be advyce of the nour. It had been hitherto Queene (as the end declarit) to only whispered about as a fecret put himfelff to the cognition of that every body knew, but it a Jure oppinlie, as thought na was now openly thunder'd from perfoun durft confpeir to avow the pulpit by fome of the facit; and it was prociamit to the tious Clergy, that he was un28th day of that moneth. Bot doubtedly the regicide, and the quhen he was compeirit, my matter fo plain and clear, that Lord Juftice proroget the day it was impoffible for him to to the 12 of Aprile enfeving. juftify himself, even before the Bot before that day, james, moft partial judge. To reEarle of Muray, demandit li- move, therefore, fo powerful an cence from the Queene to return handle from his enemies, and to furth of Scotland for fyve obviate all objections against zeeres, quhilk was grantit; him, upon the and he depairted imediately to- 1567, he willingly furrenderward England: So as the 12ed himself a prisoner, and deday drew neire, the Earle of fired he might be brought to Lennox addreft himself to the a public tryal. The 28th of town of Edinburgh, to accufe the fame month was appointed the Earle of Bothwell for the for that effect; but then thinkmurther of his fone; and the ing that too fudden, and wifely Queene perceaving that, fent ad- foreseeing that it might be ob vertisement to him to enter the jected by his enemies, that in fo town in a private manner, ac- fhort a time they could not company it with his houshold fer-mufter all their evidences, he vandis only; quhilk he refuifit easily prevailed with the Lord to doe: Sa that the partiall Juftice General to prorogue the jure proceedit, to Bothwell's court to the 12th of April folgreat contentment, bot in na lowing. fecuritie from felander, and acquytit him of all fufpitioun of actioun of murther of the King: Becaus nayther was it provit be witneffes, nayther notified be probabili accufation. And their fore, to the end that na thing in this maner fal be obfervit, bot all parties may be knarwin in their awin cullors, it is requifite that the names of this honorabill Jure be plainely notified." Pp.

II, 12.

"When that came, the Earl of Lenox made what hafte he could to Edinburgh, in order to accufe him, and approached the city with a numerous attendance, completely arm'd. The Queen fent him word either to difmifs or difarm fome part of his followers; but he thought fit to obey neither. The trial nevertheless went on, and Bothwell was unanimously acquitted by a very honourable Jury, of all fufpicion, as well as action, of murder, not fo much as one probable circumftance being adduc'd against him." Pp. 16, 17. Thefe

Thefe inftances of interpolation, &c. and we might have produced many more of equal importance, prove with the force of demonftration, that Crawfurd, under pretence of correcting the language, and reforming the method of his author, has luxuriated (as Whitaker obferves *) in alterations, fuppreffed notices, inferted circumftances, and unwittingly encroached upon the very confines of impofition and forgery." Mr. Laing, the editor of the Hiftorie, indeed fays, that the difcovery of the manufcript, from which Crawfurd profeffes to have tranfcribed his memoirs, "affords a complete detection of the earlieft, if not the moft impudent literary forgery ever practifed in Scotland; and that every circumftance in the manufcript, unfavourable either to Mary or to Bothwell, or favourable to their adverfaries, is, in the Memoirs, carefully fuppreffed." In the correctness of this accufation, we cannot acquiefce. The fecond extract, which we have given from the hiftorie, feems to be at least as unfavourable to the adverfaries of the Queen, as that which Crawfurd has fubftituted in its ftead; whilft the third and fourth are obviously much more fo.

If it was Crawfurd's determination to white-wash the Queen at the expence of truth, he would not furely have fuppreffed any circumftance calculated to blacken her enemies, and to apologize for her coolness towards her husband during the last fix months of his life. Yet he makes no mention of the tale told by Lethington to the King of the criminal connection between the Queen and Rizio, or of the injury, which, according to the hiftorie (p. 7) he did to hir with words as fhee fat at fupper," when he had introduced into her chamber the murderers of Rizio! To the adverfaries of the Queen no circumftances could be more unfavourable than thefe; and yet they are carefully fuppreffed by Crawfurd.

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In the third extract the Hiftoriographer fays, that "the moft prevailing opinion was, that the Queen herfelf had a hand in the murder of her husband;" but the original author fays no fuch thing, though he directly accufes the Earl of Bothwell.

In the fourth extract Crawfurd, without any authority from the ancient manufcript which he profeffes to have fo faithfully tranflated, fays, that Bothwell eafily prevailed with the Lord Juftice General to prorogue the court from the 28th of March to the 12th of April, while he fuppreffes the

* Vol. III. p.

very important circumftance that, between thefe two days, "James Earl of Murray obtained licence from the Queen to retire out of Scotland for five years, and departed immediately towards England." The interpolation does not appear to us favourable either to the Queen or to Bothwell; while there is not on record one circumftance more unfavourable to the adverfaries of Mary, than this departure of Murray from the kingdom, which Crawfurd has fo unaccountably fuppreffed.

But though the publication before us will undoubtedly prevent Crawfurd's Memoirs from being again quoted as authority, it seems not entitled to be quoted as authority itfelf. It is anonymous; and of its author no probable conjecture has yet been formed. Whitaker naturally enough fuppofed, from Crawfurd's view of the work, that it was compiled by Sir John Gordon of Lochinwer, who was appointed by Queen Mary Jufticiary to the Stewarty of Galloway, was brother-in-law to the gallant Lord Harris, and one of the jury at the trial of Bothwell: but this fuppofition must now be abandoned. Sir John Gordon might indeed have fpoken of that honourable Jury as Crawfurd fpeaks; but it is not conceivable that, in order to make the pairties knawin in their awin cullors, he would have made use of the terms employed by the ancient author.

Mr. Laing fuppofes the author to have been "fecretly a Roman Catholic, and of the Hamiltog faction;" but this fuppofition must likewise be abandoned. Of the Hamilton faction he may have been; but no Roman Catholic, capable of writing any kind of hiftory, would have represented the Queen as, during her fickness at Jedburgh," fending advertifement to all the adjacent kirks to pray for her!" Every Roman Catholic knows that, by the decrees of Councils and the refcripts of Popes, the members of his church are prohibited, under the penalty of excommunication, from participating with heretics in any kind of religious worship. A refcript to that purpofe had been, a fhort time before, iffued by Paul the fourth to the English Catholics; and it is not conceivable that either Mary, who was ftrongly attached to her religion, or the bifhops of Galloway and Rofs, who attended her at Jedburgh, would have treated with contempt fuch high authority. Like other Catholic princes the doubtlefs commanded her Proteftant fubjects to give that teft of their allegiance, which was implied in praying for her

* Vol. III. p. 451,

as

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