SCOTLAND. 



606 



History, force the re-monstrance, and to accompany their argu- 

 *"~V"' im-nts with menaces. 



In order to alarm the English, rumours w-i< 

 culated that tin- Spani-h licet was arrival at Milford- 

 haven, tli.it Mary had escaped from prison, that a 

 Conspiracy WHS formed to assassinate Elizabeth and 

 burn London. Eli/ibeth ordered her secretary to 

 draw out privately the warrant for Mary's execution. 

 She signed it, and then commanded him to carry it 

 to the clunoellor, in order to have the great seal ap- 

 pended to it. Next day she countermanded that or- 

 der ; and when informed that the warrant had already 

 passed the great seal, she appeared to he moved, and 

 blamed her secretary's precipitation. The privy coun- 

 cil, being informed of the whole transaction, persuaded 

 Davidson to send the warrant to the earls of Shrews- 

 bury and Kent, who were commanded to see it 

 executed. 



The earls went to Fotheringay castle, informed 

 Mary of their commission, and desired her to prepare 

 for death by eight o'clock next morning. She replied, 

 that she did not expect that the queen her sister would 

 have consented to her death, or have executed the 

 sentence against a person not subject to the laws and 

 jurisdiction of England. " But as such is her will," 

 said she, " death, which puts an end to all my miseries, 

 shall be to me most welcome ; nor can I esteem that 

 soul worthy the felicities of heaven, which cannot 

 support the body under the terrors of the last passage 

 to the blissful mansions. 



tion Mary was executed on the 8th of February 1587, 

 7- in the forty-fifth year of her age, and the nineteenth 

 of her captivity in England. 



When queen Elizabeth was informed of Mary's exe- 

 cution, she affected the greatest surprise and concern. 

 She asserted that Mary had been put to death without 

 her knowledge, and against her inclination. Under 

 the pretence that he had exceeded his commission, 

 Davidson, her secretary, was fined ten thousand pounds 

 and imprisoned. 



These appearances were assumed, to appease the 

 young king of Scotland, who publicly avowed his de- 

 termination to employ the whole force of his kingdom 

 in order to avenge his mother's death. He recalled 

 his ambassador, and refused an audience to an envoy 

 who had been sent with a letter of condolence and 

 apology from Elizabeth. Many of his nobles advised 

 him to take up arms without delay ; and the catholics 

 recommended an union with Spain. After allowing 

 James to vent his grief and anger, Elizabeth employed 

 emissaries to induce him to forbear hostilities ; and 

 he fell into a good understanding with the court of 

 England. Such was James; such was the Scottish 

 nation. Which was most spiritless and most base, 

 posterity may attempt to settle. 



The safety of Britain, and the preservation of the 

 reformed religion, required the steady co-operation of 

 the Scots and English. Philip of Spain projected, not 

 only the invasion, but the conquest of England. Both 

 Elizabeth and Philip endeavoured to secure the alli- 

 ance of the king of Scots ; and, in a convention of the 

 nobles, he avowed his resolution of acting in concert 

 with Elizabeth against the common enemy, and offered 

 to send an army to her assistance. 



James's zeal was nobly seconded by the devotion of 

 his subjects ; and a bond was framed and subscribed 

 by the nobles, the clergy, and the people. The Span- 

 ish armada at last sailed, but continual disasters attend- 

 ed its course. Tremendous storms and successive baU 



ties combined to frustrate in object ; and not one half 

 of the fleet returned to Spain. 



Disappointed in his expectation! of conquering Eng- A-l> - 

 land by a naval armament, Philip proposed to trans- 

 port a body of troop* to Scotland, whence he hoped 

 to make a successful attack upon England. In order 

 to accelerate his design, he remitted a sum of money 

 to be distributed among the Scottish nobles moat zea- 

 lous f.r popery. In consequence, the earls of Huntly, 

 Crawford, Errol, and Both well, offered six thousand 

 men to make him master of the kingdom. These trea- 

 sonable designs were detected by Elizabeth's minuter*. 

 James was inclined to soothe rather than to irritate the 

 catholics; and a short imprisonment waa the only 

 punishment inflicted upon Bothwell and his associates. 



The royal clemency was ungratefully requited by 

 the delinquents, who soon after attempted to seize the 

 king's person. But Maitland disconcerted their ma- 

 chinations, and they retired to the northern part* of 

 the kingdom ; where, being closely pursued by a fore* 

 under the king in person, they surrendered, and threw 

 themselves on his mercy. They were tried and con- 

 victed of treason ; but James, agreeably to his usual 

 policy, confined them a few months and then set them 

 at liberty. 



The king's marriage was an event which the Scots 

 desired, and he had made overtures for that purpose 

 to the eldest daughter of the king of Denmark. Bat 

 Elizabeth, desirous to prevent every mcident that 

 might render the accession of the king of Scots more 

 acceptable to the English nation, artfully corrupted 

 his ministers, and the Danish monarch wedded his 

 daughter to the duke of Brunswick. James then paid 

 his addresses to her younger sister, the princess Ann ; 

 and an embassy was immediately sent by the Scottish 

 court to Denmark. The articles of marriage were set- 

 tled ; the ceremony was performed by proxy ; and the 

 princess embarked for Scotland. But her fleet was 

 driven by a storm on the coast of Norway. James 

 encountered the perils of a voyage across the North of Ja 

 Sea, in order to conduct his bride home ; and, after *d Ami of 

 spending the winter in Copenhagen, he returned home 

 and was joyfully received by his subjects. 



The policy of the kingdom was at that trme in a mi- 

 serable condition. The fierce and untractable spirit of 

 the nobles occasioned numerous and mortal quarrels. 

 Assassination and murder were perpetrated with im- 

 punity. The ignorance of the times is exhibited m 

 the general belief in sorcery and witchcraft. Many 

 ignorant persons, accused of using incantations, were 

 punished without mercy. Bothwell was committed to- 

 prison, but he soon made his escape. Imputing the 

 king's severity to the personal enmity of the chancel- 

 lor, he assembled his followers, to be revenged. He 

 had nearly accomplished his purpose, when an alarm 

 was given to the citizens of Edinburgh. Bothwell fled. 

 A royal commission was issued, impowering the earl 

 of Huntly to pursue and punish the fugitive; but 

 Huntly, intent on gratifying his private revenge, slew 

 the earl of Murray, and burned hi* house to the 

 ground. The murder of the regent Murray's son, ex- 

 cited general indignation. The citizens of Edinburgh 

 rose in a tumultuous manner; and, to escape the po- 

 pular fury, James retired with his court to Gla ? 

 where Huntly surrendered himself, but escaped with 

 impunity. Such a dereliction of public duty rendered 

 the king's administration very unpopular. To conci- 

 liate" tlie favour of the people, James lent an ear to the 

 complaints of the presbyterian clergy, and courted 



1391. 



