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thay signify my lord Prince, fra quhas mowth thayr is wryttin in gryt letters (Juge and revenge my cause O lord). Thay sufferit na man to speik till hir yesterday, or to cum quhair sche was, yea noucht hir awin maiddenis. Yet being yesternecht little afoir hir departure, havand to do in her cabinet, sche callit upon ane of hir maiddenis, and commandit, or rather prayit her, to ether wryt or send some sewer messager to the captain of the castell, and desyre him to keip a gud hart to hir, and quhairever sche was convoyit or past, that he renderit noucht the castell to the Lordis. Bot I think, and sa does sundrie oderis, that sche sall get na support fra him; for it appeirs weill that he hes intelligence wyth the saids Lordis, and thay wyth him, or else thay hed noucht cum to the town. Atour hir majestie prayit the said maidden to speik to the Laird of Lidington of hir part, and pray him affectuslie to haive piety and compassion of hir, and noucht to schaw himself sa extreme in hir contrair as he doit. I haif hard lytill or nathing of thair proceedings this day, as quha hes noucht passit furth of my chalmer, yet it is rapportit to me that thay haive comprehendit Bastien Pages the French man that cam laitlie haim heir be sea, and haif put him in the Tolbewth as ane of thaim as will be fund partackers and giltie of the kings slaughter. Thay tewk Captain Culain that neicht thay enterit the town quba has bein ay sensyn in the Irns. Thus fare ye well. At Edinbrugh the 17th of Juen 1567. Be your assurit Brother. J. B.

My Lord of Sant androus my Lord of Huntlie wyth the rest of the Lordis that was in the castell partit furth of it the 15th day quhan the Lordis was all upon the felds, at 9 hours afoirnone; and passit towarts Leichcow quhair thay beleivit to find my Lord of Aberbrothok and all his companie.

3

No. XI. Vol. I. Page 104.

Coppy of the Order by the Councill for Queen Mary her Imprisonment in Lochleven.

Apud Edinburgh Decimo sexto die mensis
Junij Anno Dmi millesimo quingesimo Sex-

agesimo septimo.

MSS.

FORSAMEIKLE as efter ye schamfull and horrible Goodall's murther of umq the King, the Quens Majesties lait husband, hir Majestie being revist with the erll Bothvile principall, and chief authors of ye said murther, and yrefter joyint with him in maist ungodlie and dishonorable maner under the name of ain ptendit marriage, continweing in that state to the eminent danger of the innocent psson of our native princes life, and owerthraw and destruction of the nobilitie and haill state of this common-well, quhill on just necessitie it bebuyet the nobilitie and utheris faithfull subjects to take armes for punishment and revenge of the said murther, aganis quhome come the said Erll Bothyile leidand the queins Majestie in his company, and schawand his murther and utheris wickit enormities fra punishment with the clak of hir authoritie, and refusand singular combatt, fled and eschapit himself; and hir Majestie in the mein tyme willinglie riding in the company of hir said nobilitie and faithfull subjects fra Carbary hill to Edinburgh, quhair efter thai had oppeint and declarit unto hir heines hir awn estait and coudition, and the miserable estait of this realm, with the

danger that hir deirest son the prince stude in, requirand that she wald suffer and command the said murther and authors yrof to be punist, fand in her majestie sic untowardnes and repugnante thairto, that rather she appeirit to fortefie and mentein the said erll Bothvile and his complices in the saids wickeit crymes, nor to suffer justice pas forward, quhairthrow, gif hir heines suld be left in that state, to follow her awn inordinat passion, it wald not faill to succeid to the finall confusion and exterminatione of the haill realme. Sua that efter mature consultation, be common advyse, it is thocht convenient, concludit and decernit, that hir majesties person be sequestrat fra all societie of the said Erll Bothvile, and fra all having of intelligence with him or ony utheris, quhairby he may have ony comfort to eschaip dew punisment for his demeritis. And finding na place mair meitt nor commodious for hir majestie to remain into, nor the house and place of Lochlevin, ordenis commandis and chargeis Patrick Lord Lindsay of the Byris, William Lord Ruthven, and William Duglas of Lochlevin, to pas and convoy hir majestie to the said place of Lochlevin, and the said Lord to ressave hir thairin, and thair they and every ane off thame to keep hir majestie surlie, within the said place, and on na wiss to suffer hir pass furth of the same, or to have intelligence fra ony manner of persons, or yit to send advertisments or directions for intelligence with ony levand persons, except in thair own presence and audience, or be the commandments and directions of the Lordis under subscriband, or ane part of them representing the Counsall at Edinburgh, or utherwyss quhair they sall resort for the tyme; as thai will answer to God and upoun thair dewtie to the common-weill of this country, kepand thir presents for thair warand.

Attour the saids Lordis and utheris undersubscriband oblige thame and thair airis fathfully, and promitts to the said Pat Lord Lindsay, William Lord Ruthven, William Duglas of Lochlevin and thair airis, to releve and keip thame skaithless of the ressaving keping and detenying of the Queinis majesties person in manner forsaid, and to fortifie manteine and defend thame fra all levend creatures, that in the law, or by the law, wald presume to pursew or invade thame for the

Sic subscribetur

ATHOLL

samyn.

MORTOUNE

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No. XII. Vol. I. Page 110.

THE only remaining objection to this conclusion is the answer of some of the lords to Throckmorton, in absence of the rest: "How horribly the king her husband was murdered? What form of justice had been kept for punishing thereof, or rather how scornfully a disguised mask was set up instead of justice; how shamefully the queen our sovereign was led captive, and by fear, force, and (as by many conjectures may well be suspected) other extraordinary and more unlawful means compelled to become bedfellow to another wife's husband, and to him who not three months before had in his bed most cruelly murdered her husband, and found such hap in an unhappy enterprise that by the murder of the babe's father, he purchased a pretended marriage of the mother." Keith, 417. "Other extraordinary and more unlawful means," refer, says Stuart, to amatorious potions (i. 376.) says Whitaker, (iii. 117.) to stupifying draughts, which "Lovelace actually uses" in Richardson's "Clarissa." But the fear, force, and the conjecture of other more unlawful means, refer to the marriage, not to the supposed rape, as they 66 compelled her to become bedfellow to another wife's husband;" a homely expression, by which the lords, unwilling to acknowledge that she was Bothwell's wife, intimate the pretended marriage to which she was compelled. And the other extraordinary and more unlawful means, refer neither to amatorious potions nor to stupifying draughts, but, according to the opinions of the age, to witchcraft; means more unlawful and extraordinary than force or fear, to which her extreme passion for Bothwell was ascribed by her enemies, as

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