X-i*. Dr. Gleig's.'Iieph/ to,Mr. Lain§, relative to [Sqit. 1, 



rofleouOy-.fivid, Note, page 33, vol. i. " be 

 ha(J e^rjitd Ijis tevvard" of -^ plac§ and 



. Tliis Itory, tli^refore, of Dtirlmm's 

 tiC'iichcry and rcwnid I (iilj believe to be 

 atalfelioi.d, vviiljout even the iIkkjow of 

 f'oiiiidation ; but 1 do not believe it to 

 have been del bor;itily_/f(6rt( «/(■</ by tbc 

 antlipr.; It is iueh ;i tidl'eliood, iis, I tim 

 i(ji,Ty to fuy, oei'urs too frocjucutly in the 

 vtritiiiiiji ot i(iei) vlio enter \\ith <;ieut 

 \^i'mth int(> ajiy inijioitant contmveviy, 

 vdietlier tbcolofjical, political, or pliilo- 

 fi)[,hical, llunjinuiiug on the faii'is, and 

 tbe inferences v/liidi they draw from 

 them, till they become heated with ihtur 

 fkilijett; and vic^vil)g every tiling throngh 

 the medium of party prejudice, they conic 

 at laft to confound their infeiences with 

 the fatts, from which they are fuppofed 

 to flow; and deceive thcuitel^es, before 

 th.ey attempt to rieceire othera. Of this 

 frailty incident to hmnan natuie, there 

 ai-e numbcrlefs inftances in Mr. l^aing's 

 Hiftory and Diliertation, of which, in mj 

 i-<>.ii»»v, I hc-v-s t'jhcn no nftice. 



In pa!>e 633, \n\. 2o, of the " Britifli 

 Critic, 1 have I'aitL, " that it is in the 

 highell degree incredible that Letliingtou's 

 ■wife was io ready a wiiter, that (he coi//d 

 copy all the Jettei-s in one nis;hl; and 

 that Mr. Laing's cfinnifed a|»iieal to Mur- 

 din and the State Trials, for the truth of 

 this extraoirlinary faci, will not have 

 much weight with thole who have attend- 

 erl to bis mode of qimtalion ;" and thefe 

 aflertions I now repeat. " But this ano- 

 nymous vvriter (lay.s Mr. Laiosr) did net 

 ronj'ult, and /tad never feen, ciihcr Mur- 

 din or the .State Trials." 



Is Mr. Laing quite certain of tliefe 

 TACTS ? 'J'he .Slate Trials indeed I had 

 not confultcd ; and finding no mention, 

 in Murdin, of the time in which Lcthing- 

 Uori's wife is faiil to have copied tho let- 

 ters, I tJiougbt it not inipollible that Mr. 

 Laiiig, throuch inadvei teiicy or too great 

 eagernefs in iJic caul'e of his clients, 

 might have iniroduced that circumftance, 

 ■which renders ih^' tale, utterli/ incredible. 

 I d:d not, how ever, advance my conjec- 

 ture to the dignity of /&<??; and as a be- 

 liever in the innocence of the unfortu- 

 nate Queen, I am now glad lo find, on 

 confulting the State Trials, thiit my con- 

 jecture was ill-founded. liunani, the 

 Queen of Enuland's Seijeant, does fay*, 

 " that Ledin>^ton accompanied the Earl 

 of Moray only to uiidcrftand his feciets, 

 iind to betray him ; and that Ledington 



• Stale Trials, vol. i. ,9ii. 



fiole away the letters, and kept thom 

 om: night, and caufed his wife to write 

 them out. Howbcitthe lame were but 

 copies trimjlulcdout of French int4) ScotcJi, 

 which, wlien Lcdington's wife had writ- 

 ten out, he caufod tiiein to be feni to th* 

 Scottilh Queen." 



Whether Mr. Laing's appeal to this- 

 ftory be confulod or not, tiie reader will 

 judirefor himlclf ; but I am tinder no ap- 

 )>reiieniion of beina contradided by any 

 reader of impartiality, when I repeat 

 whiit I faid licfore, that the llory itfelf 

 fcrvc.i to (trencUion the evidence pro- 

 duced by Whitaker, that, in 1571, nei- 

 ther the Queen of Scots nor the I^lhop 

 of Rots had feen even copien of the let- 

 ters. The teltiinony of Queen 'Eliza- 

 beth's fvrjenni cannot give ci'cdibility to 

 wliiit, from the nature of ihiiips, is ii* 

 the hit'lieil degree incredible; and when 

 it ftates fnch things as notorious /</<?«, it 

 trives no inmil fupport to the plaufible 

 conjecture of Whitaker, that the confef^ 

 lion of Lcllie, as we htu o it in Murdin 

 ai.cl the .State Tr.als, has hcew " altered 

 by the i«tcr:;iM^iiiii; hand of Cecil." 



The third and laft paliace of the re- 

 A'icw to which Mr. Lain;; objects, he hai 

 quoted fairly in the 517th page of your 

 MasiaTine ; but in replying to it in the 

 next page, he has thoitr^ht ht to interpo- 

 late mv words. I have no where laid 

 that initead of Murdni I conhilted Lof- 

 lie's Defence of Marj/'a Honour in order to 

 find that particular alVertion, which, in 

 the paflase objetted to, I have called 

 very estraordmaiy. I call it extraordi- 

 nary full ; ind<?od one of the moll extrii- 

 ordinacv afl'ertions tliat I have anywhere 

 met with, except that, of which fome 

 notice is taken in the o.Seth pjiae of the 

 lame review; and tliat 1 do not fpoak at 

 random, your readers will be convhiced 

 by the followiMi; extract from tlie paper 

 to which Mr. Lain;; refere : — 



" I talked ifays Eellie) with the Duke 

 (of Nortolk) nllane in a gallery, whair he 

 uttered to me be liare god-will to the 

 Qt'.ene mv mii'irrflc; and that he had 

 talked with Thede of Murri/ and Lith- 

 ius/on at Leifli, and had fene the lettres 

 which they hat! to produce aganes the 

 Queue my miftrefli'^and other defences, 

 wherby there wold fuch mater be proven 

 aganes her, that wold difhonor her for 

 ever; and vf it wcr anes pubhft the 

 Queue's Majefty of Jutland wold get 

 coiinfell be ifiich as luffed not my nuf- 

 trcffe, to puhlilhc the fame to the worldo, 

 and to fend amhaffadoris to all other 

 Chrijiaine- l'\\ncfii, to mak^-the faiHe 

 know'«n 



