36 Craigmillar and its Environs. 



French Ambassador at the court of .Holyrood, Le 

 Croc, writing to the Archbishop of Glasgow in Decem- 

 ber of that year in the following terms: " The Queen 

 is for the present at Craigmillar, about a league distant 

 from the city. She is in the hands of the physicians, 

 and I do assure you is not at all well ; and I do 

 believe the principal part of her disease to consist 

 of a deep grief and sorrow — ^nor does it seem possible 

 to make her forget the same. Still she repeats these 

 words, ' I could wish to be dead.' We know very well 

 that the injury she received is exceeding great, and her 

 Majesty will never forget it. . . . To speak my mind 

 freely to you — but I beg you not to disclose what I say 

 in any place that may turn to my prejudice — I do 

 not expect upon several accounts any good understand- 

 ing between them, unless God effectually put to His 

 hand." In the same year Craigmillar was the scene 

 of a conference between Queen Mary and her nobles 

 regarding a proposed divorce from Darnley, but this 

 proposal for the time was overruled by her. The 

 conference was attended by Lethington, Argyll, and 

 Bothwell. The hrst-named was the spokesman on 



