treate the L. of Grange who had good credyt with all the borderers, and namelye with the L. of Farnehest his sonne in lawe, to goe to the frontyeres and set all things in good staye, which donne the sayd L. of Graunge should report to the L. of Bedforde to Berwyche to use hys advyce and concurrencye in the

matter.

And yt may please your Majestie, synce the wrytinge of my laste, I doe understande the Quene of Scotlande is in greate feare of hyr lyffe, and therefore hathe uttred to some of the LL. aboute her that she can be verye well contented eyther to lyve in a close nunrye in Fraunce or wthe the oulde Dougier of Guyse her Grauntmother.

The Earle Bodwell hathe been of late with the Earle of Huntelye at Strawboggye in the north of Scotlande, where he hathe attempted to levye force and to make some styrre, But thoughe the Earle of Huntleye weere holden suspected to thayse men, he fynding Bodwell so lytle favored in all quarters, wyll not adventure muche for hym. And now I heare saye the sayde Earle can be contented that Bodwell shoulde myscarye, to ryd the Quene and hys sister of so wycked a husbande: whereupon I understand that Bodwell dyd hastielye retyre himself awaye from the Earl of Huntleys house in the night, into Spynaye the Busshope of Murreys house, where also yt is thought he wyll not make anye longe taryinge, but retyre himself to the Isles of Orkeneye wch bee in nomber 32, whereof the Q. dyd create hym Duke. But I heare saye theyse lords have geven good order to impeache hys entrye into thoose Islands, and namelye bye the Brother of Sir James Baufor who is Captayne of the strongest place there; the Bisshop also beinge at theys LL. devocyon.

The Hamyltons and the Earle of Argelle do begyn to enter into trafyke with theys Lordes.

I doe heare saye the Hamyltons can be pleased with the Quenes detencyon or a worse fate, and concurre with the LL. in all thynges, so as the crowning of the prynce nor none other act may defeat them of thyre possy bylytie to the crowne, wche theye feare by the settynge up of the house of Stuardes.

Theyse Lordes have sent Robert Melayn over the water to Loughe Leven to talk with the Q. and the Lordes wche have her in garde. At whose return as I can learne onye thynge worthye yor Maties knowledge, I wyll not fayll to advertyze the same bye my nexte.

The lord Roberte of Holyroodhouse, halfe brother to the Earle of Murraye, came yesternight to thys toune well accompanyed, and repayred to the Earle of Atholls Lodgynge where all the Lordes sat in Counsell. The said L. Roberte synce the begynninge of these last troubles hathe had no intelligence with theys Lordes untyll thys tyme, but hathe rather concurred with the Hamyltons.

As yet theys Lordes wyll not suffer Mr. Nycholas Elveston, sent from the L. of Murrey to have access to the Quene, nor to send my L. of Murreys letter unto her. Thus havyng non other occurraunts worthye yor maties advertyzement, I praye Almighty God send yor Matie Longe lyffe encrease of honor, and muche felycytye. At Edinborougbhe thys 16th of Julye 1567. Your Maties moost humble faythfull

obedyent servaunte and subjecte N. THROKMORTON.

(Signed)

No. XIV. Vol. I. Page 130.

THE original act of council is lost or missing, and an inaccurate English copy, found in the Cecil papers, is perhaps the only one extant. It is obvious that the mistake of and, for or, might have been committed either by the transcriber of the original record, by Haynes, or by the printer, in transcribing or publishing the Cecil copy. From collating that copy with the act of parliament, in which the act of council is resumed, or engrossed verbatim, Robertson proved its inaccuracy in other words; bludy, for blindly affectionat, her proceeding in a priveit, for her proceeding to an pretendit marriage with Bothwell, and all men abhorring their traine and companie for their tyrannie and companie. Whitaker considers these as merely Macgill's the Clerk Register's improvements in parliament, upon the language of Hay the clerk of council. But the clerk of council was invariably one of the deputy clerks of the Lord Register, under whose inspection its records were framed; (First Report of the Committee of the House of Commons on the Public Records, p. 39.) and an act in-tended to be converted into a law, when attested by Macgill himself, and the whole council, was undoubtedly framed by the same hand with the act of parliament in which it was engrossed. Such mistakes as bludy for blindlie, priveit for pretendit, traine for tyrannie, may be easily traced to those contractions so frequent in old MSS. which rendered the Scotch words unintelligible to an English transcriber. The confederates in their order for the queen's imprisonment in Lochlevin,

(Appendix, No. XI.) in their first bond, (Keith, 405.) and in their answer to Throckmorton, uniformly term Bothwell a tyrant, and the marriage a pretended, not a private marriage: and the context, that she was " sa thrall and swa blindly affectionat to the private appetyte of that tyrane, and that bayth he and scho had conspyrit togidder sic horrible cruelties, being thairwithall garnissit with ane companie of ungodlie and vitious personis," &c. indicates sufficiently that all virtuous men abhorred, not their traine, but their tyrannie and companie. The orthography and inaccuracies peculiar to an English transcriber, may be traced in the act of council in Haynes, when compared with the act of parliament in Anderson or Goodall: others for utheris, fields for feildis, &c. in which the Scottish plural is uniformly omitted: "And generally all other things, &c. towe ching the said Queene hir person, that cause and all depending thereon;" for "all uther thingis, tuiching the said Queen and detening hir person that the cause and all thingis dependent thairon :" "The intromission with disponing upon her propertie" for "the intromission or disponing upon her propertye :" "hir dishonourable proceadinge in a priveit," for "her dishonourable proceeding to ane pretendet marriage;" in which priveit for private, is evidently a mistake or conjecture of Haynes or the transcriber, for the contraction of pretendit: "holding and deteininge the same," for "halding and detening the samin," "soddenlie" for "suddandlie;" (6 persavinge the Queene so thrall and bludy affectionat," for " persauing alswa the quene sa thrall and swa blindlie affectionat;"" and that a part of the three Estates gif their selis heirupon," for "ane part of the three Estates gaif their seillis thairupon," "to be usit

for the security of the noblemen and others having entrit in the cause," for "having enteres (interest) in the said cause." These are evidently the inaccuracies of an English transcriber perplexed with the orthography and contractions of the Scottish act; and after such errors, the mistake of and for or is nothing. Robertson, ii. 368. Whitaker, i. 293. 330.