66

English; disfurnished, surceaseth nat; to her own only beck and pleasure ;"" that she had not played the dauncing skit," (from skittish,) are words unknown in the Scotch of that age. "Prometheus his liver daily gnawen and tyerit upon by an eagle:" to tir in Scotch is to strip naked, (Douglass, Glossary,) but to tire in old English is to pluck or feed upon, in the manner of birds of prey, (Tyrwhit,) "and like an empty eagle tire on the flesh of me and of my son." Shakspeare. To purse up his past injuries; purse the substantive is pose in Scotch; advouterer old English for adulterer, to which it is changed in the Scottish edition; "but I beshrew that same Killigrew;" by and by, in the Scottish edition, incontinent; Theifis Lane, for the Thiefraw, all demonstrate an English translation in imitation of Scotch. The orthography is as imperfectly imitated as the language; cauld for culd, nat for not, moucht for micht, weir for wer, and altho the qu is invariably used in quhase, quhilk, quhen, yet quhile invariably signifies while instead of untill, and quhilom and quhence are rejected in the Scottish edition as unknown words.

No. XXI. Vol. I. Page 274.

LETTERS.

MEMORANDUM. That in the castel of Edenburgh there was left by the Erle Bothwell befoire his fleing away, and was sent for by one George Daglish his servant, quho was taken by the Erle Moreton, one small gilt cofer nat fully ane foot lang, beyng garnishit in sondry places with the Romaine letter F under an kyngis crowne, quhairin were certain letters and writynges well knawin, and by othes to be affirmit, to have been written with the quene of Scottes awne hand to the Erle Bothwell.

BUCHANAN'S DETECTION.

LETTER I.

An (uther1) letter to Bothwell, concerning the hate of hir husband and practise of his murder.

Estant party du lieu ou i'auois laissé mon cœur, il se peult aysement iuger quelle estoit ma contenance, veu ce qui peult vn corps sans cœur, qui a esté cause que iusques à la disnee ie n'ay pas tenu grand propos, aussi personne ne s'est voulu aduancer, iugeant bien qu'il n'y faisoit ben. &c.

BEYNG departit from the place quhaire I left my hart, it is easie to be judgit quhat was my countenaunce, seing that I was even asmickle as ane body without ane hart, quhilke was the occasioun that quhile dinner time I held purpois to na body, nor yet durst any present thamselfis unto me, judging that it was not gude so to do2. Fower myle ere I came to the towne, ane gentleman of the Erle of Lennox came and made his commendations unto me3, and excusit hym that he came

1 Uther.] This is the second letter in the English edition, from which the letters and sonnets are printed, as the nearest to the original. But the Scottish orthography is imperfectly preserved, as the English printers relapsed perpetually into their accustomed mode of spelling, which was rejected, from the same cause, in the subsequent edition at St. Andrews. The Latin and French translations may be found in Buchanan, Jebb, and Goodall.

2 So to do.] Apparently inserted in both versions, by the English translators at Westminster, in order to render the sense explicit, as the same phrase, so to do, occurs in the next sentence of the English translation. Similar amend

The long Letter written from Glasgow from the Queen of Scots to the Earl Bothwell,

English.

(This in Burleigh's hand.)

BEING gon from the place where I had left my heart it may be easily judged what my countenance was, considering what the body may without heart, which was that till dinner I had used

cause

little talk, neither would any body adventure himself thereunto, thinking that it was not good so to do.

Four miles from thence a gentleman of the Earl of Lenox came and made his commendations and excuses unto me, that he came not to meet me, because he durst

ments, at Westminster or afterwards, will occur in the sequel.

3 Made his commendations unto me.] Quoted by Tytler, (i. 227.) as peculiarly Scotch. To make my compliments, is a Scotticism frequently used; to make my commendations, seldom or never. 66 After," and, "with my most hearty recommendations," are the common expressions in the letters of the age; and of sixty instances to which Whitaker appeals, (i. 13. n.) the French phrase, make my commendations, occurs but thrice; twice in Sadler's letters, and once in a letter from Baillie, a Fleming accustomed only to write in French. (Murdin, 17.) It would be strange indeed, if in all the State Papers, Scotch and English, which he and I have examined, the literal translation of, me fait ses recommenda tions, if a common Scottish phrase, should occur but twice; except in a letter from a foreigner full of French idioms, and in a single letter from Mary to Bothwell.

not to meete me, by reason he durst not enterprise the same, because of the rude wordes that I had spoken to Cunningham, and he desirit that he should come to the inquisition of the matter that I suspectit hym of. Thys last speaking was of hys owne head, without any commissioun. I aunswerit to hym that there wes no recepte could serve against feare, and that he would not be afrayed in case he were not culpabill, and that I aunswerit but rudely to the doubtis that were in his letters. Summa, I made hym holde hys toung, the rest were lang to write". Sir James Hammeltoun met me, quho schewed that the uther times quhen he heard of

4

Inquisition.] An obsolete French term, equivalent then to enquête, recherche, (Cotgrave, Dict. de l'Acad.) the judicial enquiry, or inquisition of Hiegate.

Of hys owne head.] Quoted as Scotch by Tytler, (ibid.) who forgets the French phrases, de sa tête, de son chef, sans commission. "Cet auteur ne dit rien de son chef." Dict. de

l'Acad.

6'

There was no recepte could serve againste feare.] Quoted also as proverbially Scotch, as if Mary's reply to Lennox, in a Scottish proverb, when repeated in a letter, could render that letter originally Scotch. The Scottish proverb is, "There is na remedie for fear but cut off the head;" (Kelly's Scotch Prov.) the French," On peut bien guérir du mal, mais on ne sauroit guérir de la peur;" (Dict. de l'Acad.) and these proverbial expressions in the letters, supposed to possess such curious felicity and spirit in Scotch, are either common to modern languages, or are peculiar to the French, from which the whole passage, as well as the phrase in question, is evidently derived. Je lui disois qu'il n' avoit aucun remede qui pouvoit servir contre la crainte (an expression equally proverbial in French and Scotch) et qu'il n'auroit point de peur s'il ne se trouvoit pas coupable, et que je ne repondois que vertement aux doutes qu'il fit dans ses lettres; in