€50 
ENGLAND. 
fnion; and her affairs too foon gave them fufficient op¬ 
portunity. 
After two years fpent in altercation and reproach be¬ 
tween Mary and her fubjeCts, it was refolved by her 
council, A. D. 1564, that (he fliould look out for fome 
alliance, by which (lie might be protected againft: the in- 
folence and infatuation of her fpiritual inftruCtors. After 
fome deliberation, lord Darnley, fon to the earl of Le- 
jiox, was the perfon in whom their wifhes centred. He 
had been born and educated in England; was grandfon 
to Henry VII. by his daughter Margaret of Scotland, 
and therefore divided with Mary the claim to the crown 
of England ; he was now in his twentieth year, and was 
pofiefl'ed of a fine manly exterior. When Sir James 
Melvill was font to communicate this treaty of marriage 
to the court of L.ondon, and to have recognized their next 
right of fuccefiion to the crown, Elizabeth affected to 
approve of the nuptials. The Englifh princefs, as jea¬ 
lous of Mary’s charms as of her title, fifted the ambalfa- 
dor even as to the colour of her hair. At laft, fhe afked 
him plainly, which of the two he thought the faired ? 
To this the cautious Melvill anfwered, that her majeffy 
was the faireft perfon in England, and his miftrefs in 
Scotland. During their interviews, Elizabeth fliewed 
herfelf to him in tire drefles of various countries, and con¬ 
trived to let him hear her perform on the virginals, an 
inftrument which fire underftood to perfection; all the 
time endeavouring, with incredible dexterity, to allure 
the envoy into comparifons difadvantageous to his mif¬ 
trefs.—Yet Elizabeth, when afterwards informed of the 
aCtual confummation of thefe nuptials, pretended to 
teftify the utmoft difpleafure ; feized the earl of Lenox’s 
Engdifh efhite, and threw the countefs and her fecond fon 
into the Tower. Duplicity of conduct, was a ffrong fea¬ 
ture in Elizabeth’s character ; and, on the prefent occa- 
lion, it ferved as a pretext for publicly denying Mary’s 
title to the future fuccefiion of England, which that 
princefs urged. In this fame year 1564, under the per- 
iecuting hand of Elizabeth towards all her relations of 
the blood royal, Frances duchefs of Suffolk, daughter to 
Mary of France, youngeft filler to Henry VIII. ended in 
prilon a life, which, for variety of wretchednefs, had but 
few parallels fince that of the Trojan Hecuba. She had 
feen her daughter, lady JaneGrey, beheaded. Herownand 
her daughter’s hufbands had fliared the fame fate. Her 
daughter Catharine, after having been repudiated by the 
earl of Pembroke, was now confined in the Tower; and 
her youngeft daughter, Mary, mod unequally matched 
to an inferior officer of the houfehold. 
The queen of Scots, in the mean time, had been too 
much dazzled by the pleating exterior of her new r huf- 
band, to allow herfelf to look to the accomplifhments of 
his mind. Darnley was but a weak and ignorant man; 
violent, yet variable in his gratifications; infolent, yet 
credulous, and eafily governed by flatterers; devoid of 
all gratitude, becaule he thought no favours equal to his 
merit; and being addicted to low pleafures, he was 
equally incapable of the delicate fenfations of love 
and tendernefs. Mary, at firft had taken a pleafure in 
exalting him beyond meal'ure ; but having leifure to re¬ 
mark his follies and his vices, (lie converted her regard 
into difguft ; and Darnley, enraged at her coldnefs, direct¬ 
ed his vengeance againft every perfon he fufpeCted to be 
tlie caufe of this change in her behaviour. 
There was then in her court one David Rizzio, the 
fon of a muiician at Turin, himfelf a mufician, who, find¬ 
ing it difficult to fublift by his art in his own country, 
had followed the ambafiador from that court into Scot¬ 
land. As he underftood mufic to perfection, he was in¬ 
troduced into the queen’s concert, who was fo taken with 
him, that fhe defired the ambafiador, upon his departure, 
to leave Rizzio behind. The queen teemed to place pe¬ 
culiar confidence in him ; and her fecretary for French 
affairs having fallen under her difpleafure, (lie promoted 
Rizzio to that office. It was eafy to prevail upon a man 
of Darnley’s jealous temper, that Rizzio was the perfotr 
whp had eftranged the queen’s affections; and a furmife* 
once conceived, became to him a certainty. He there¬ 
fore confulted with fome lords of his party, ftong as he 
was with envy, rage, and refentment; and they not only 
fanned the conflagration, but offered their afiiftance to 
difpatcli Rizzio. The earl of Murray, brother to the 
queen, the earl of Morton, lord Douglas, natural brother 
to the countefs of Lennox, the lords Ruthven and Lind- 
fey, are faid to have fettled the circuniftances of this poor 
creature’s afiafiination ; and determined that, as a punifh- 
ment for the queen’s indiferetions, the murder fliould he 
committed in her prefence. Mary was at this time in 
the fixth month of her pregnancy, and was then flipping 
in private, attended by the countefs of Argyle, her natu¬ 
ral lifter, fome other fervants, and her fecretary Rizzio. 
Lord Darnley led the way into the apartment by a pri¬ 
vate ftaircafe, and flood for fome time leaning on the back 
of Mary’s chair. His angry looks and unexpected intnu 
fion, greatly alarmed the queen, who neverthelefs remain¬ 
ed filent. A little after, Ruthven, Douglas, and the 
other confpirators, rulhed in, all armed, and (flowing in 
their looks fome brutal intentions. The queen could no 
longer reftrain her fears, but demanded the reufon of this 
bold intrufion. Ruthven made her no anfwer; hut order¬ 
ed Rizzio to quit a place of which he was unworthy. 
Rizzio now Taw that he was the objeCt of their ven¬ 
geance; and, trembling with apprehenlion, put himfelf 
under the queen’s protection, who, on her part, (trove to 
interpofe in his behalf. Douglas, in the mean time, had 
reached the unfortunate Rizzio ; and fnatching a dagger 
from the king’s fide, plunged it into Rizzio’s bofom, 
who, fereaming with fear and agony, was dragged into 
the ante-chamber, where he was inhumanly butchered 
with fifty-fix wounds. The affrighted princefs, being 
informed of his fate, inftantly difeontinued her lamenta¬ 
tions, and menaced revenge. The infult indeed upon 
her perfon and honour, and the danger to which her life 
was expofed on account of her pregnancy, were injuries 
fo atrocious and fo complicated, that they left but little 
room for pardon. Yet this aCt of violence feemed only 
to be punifhed by temporifing; (he pretended to forgive 
fo great a crime ; and exerted the force of her natural 
allurements fo powerfully, that her hulband fubmitted 
implicitly to ltcr will. He gave up his accomplices to 
her refentment, and retired with her to Dunbar, while 
fhe, having collected an army which the confpirators had 
no power to refift, advanced to Edinburgh, and obliged 
them to fly into England, where they led a fugitive life,, 
in poverty and diftrefs. They made* application, how¬ 
ever, to the earl of Bothwell ; and that nobleman, de- 
firous to ftrengthen his party by the acceffion of their 
intereft, found means to pacify her refentment, and he at 
length procured them liberty to return home. 
The earl of Bothwell was of a confiderable family iu 
Scotland ; and though not diftinguifhed by any talents,, 
civil or military, yet he made fome noife in the diffenfions 
of the ftate, and was an oppofer of the reformation. He 
was a man of profligate manners, had involved his for¬ 
tune in great'debts, and reduced his income by his pro- 
fufions. This nobleman, however, is faid to have ingra¬ 
tiated himfelf fo far with the queen, that all her meafures 
were eventually directed by his advice and authority. 
Reports were even fpread of more unpardonable intima¬ 
cies ; and thefe gave Inch nneafinefs to Darnley, that he 
left the court, and retired to Glafgow, where he was fud- 
denly taken ill. Thofe who wilhed well to Mary’s cha¬ 
racter, were extremely pleafed to hear that her tender¬ 
nefs for her hufband was revived, and that (lie had taken 
a journey to Glafgow to vifit him in his licknefs. Darn- 
ley was (o delighted with her aftedtionate behaviour, that 
he refolved to part with her no more; he put himfelf 
under her direction, and returned with her to Edinburgh. 
She lived in the palace of Holyrood-houfe; but as the 
fituation of that manfion was low, and the concour.fe of 
*' perfons 
