ELIZABETH.
{1562.} After the commencement of the religious wars in France, which
rendered that flourishing kingdom, during the course of near forty
years, a scene of horror and devastation, the great rival powers in
Europe were Spain and England; and it was not long before an animosity,
first political, then personal, broke out between the sovereigns of
these countries.
Philip II. of Spain, though he reached not any enlarged views of policy,
was endowed with great industry and sagacity, a remarkable caution in
his enterprises, an unusual foresight in all his measures; and as he
was ever cool, and seemingly unmoved by passion, and possessed neither
talents nor inclination for war, both his subjects and his neighbors
had reason to expect justice, happiness, and tranquillity from his
administration. But prejudices had on him as pernicious effects as ever
passion had on any other monarch; and the spirit of bigotry and tyranny
by which he was actuated, with the fraudulent maxims which governed
his counsels, excited the most violent agitation among his own people,
engaged him in acts of the most enormous cruelty, and threw all Europe
into combustion.
After Philip had concluded peace at Chateau-Cambresis and had remained
some time in the Netherlands, in order to settle the affairs of that
country, he embarked for Spain; and as the gravity of that nation, with
their respectful obedience to their prince, had appeared more agreeable
to his humor than the homely, familiar manners and the pertinacious
liberty of the Flemings, it was expected that he would for the future
reside altogether at Madrid, and would govern all his extensive
dominions by Spanish ministers and Spanish counsels. Having met with a
violent tempest on his voyage, he no sooner arrived in harbor than he
fell on his knees; and after giving thanks for his deliverance, he vowed
that his life, which was thus providentially saved, should thenceforth
be entirely devoted to the extirpation of heresy.[*] His subsequent
conduct corresponded to these professions. Finding that the new
doctrines had penetrated into Spain, he let loose the rage of
persecution against all who professed them, or were suspected of
adhering to them; and by his violence he gave new edge even to the usual
cruelty of priests and inquisitors. He threw into prison Constantine
Ponce, who had been confessor to his father, the emperor Charles;
who had attended him during his retreat; and in whose arms that great
monarch had terminated his life: and after this ecclesiastic died in
confinement, he still ordered him to be tried and condemned for heresy,
and his statue to be committed to the flames. He even deliberated
whether he should not exercise like severity against the memory of his
father, who was suspected, during his later years, to have indulged a
propensity towards the Lutheran principles: in his unrelenting zeal for
orthodoxy, he spared neither age, sex, nor condition: he was present,
with an inflexible countenance, at the most barbarous executions: he
issued rigorous orders for the prosecution of heretics in Spain, Italy,
the Indies, and the Low Countries: and having founded his determined
tyranny on maxims of civil policy, as well as on principles of religion,
he made it apparent to all his subjects, that there was no method,
except the most entire compliance or most obstinate resistance, to
escape or elude the severity of his vengeance.
* Thuanns, lib. xxiii. cap. 14.
During that extreme animosity which prevailed between the adherents of
the opposite religions, the civil magistrate, who found it difficult,
if not impossible, for the same laws to govern such enraged adversaries,
was naturally led, by specious rules of prudence, in embracing one
party, to declare war against the other, and to exterminate by fire and
sword those bigots who, from abhorrence of his religion, had proceeded
to an opposition of his power and to a hatred of his person. If any
prince possessed such enlarged views as to foresee, that a mutual
toleration would in time abate the fury of religious prejudices, he yet
met with difficulties in reducing this principle to practice; and might
deem the malady too violent to await a remedy, which, though certain,
must necessarily be slow in its operation. But Philip, though a profound
hypocrite, and extremely governed by self-interest seems also to have
been himself actuated by an imperious bigotry; and as he employed
great reflection in all his conduct, he could easily palliate the
gratification of his natural temper under the color of wisdom, and
find in this system no less advantage to his foreign than his domestic
politics. By placing himself at the head of the Catholic party, he
converted the zealots of the ancient faith into partisans of Spanish
greatness; and by employing the powerful allurement of religion, he
seduced every where the subjects from that allegiance which they owed to
their native sovereign.
The course of events, guiding and concurring with choice, had placed
Elizabeth in a situation diametrically opposite; and had raised her to
be the glory, the bulwark, and the support of the numerous, though still
persecuted Protestants, throughout Europe. More moderate in her temper
than Philip, she found, with pleasure, that the principles of her sect
required not such extreme severity in her domestic government as was
exercised by that monarch; and having no object but self-preservation,
she united her interests in all foreign negotiations with those who were
every where struggling under oppression, and guarding themselves against
ruin and extermination. The more virtuous sovereign was thus happily
thrown into the more favorable cause; and fortune, in this instance,
concurred with policy and nature.
During the lifetime of Henry II. of France, and of his successor, the
force of these principles was somewhat restrained, though not altogether
overcome, by motives of a superior interest; and the dread of uniting
England with the French monarchy engaged Philip to maintain a good
correspondence with Elizabeth. Yet even during this period he rejected
the garter which she sent him; he refused to ratify the ancient league
between the house of Burgundy and England;[*] he furnished ships to
transport French forces into Scotland; he endeavored to intercept
the earl of Arran, who was hastening to join the malecontents in that
country; and the queen’s wisest ministers still regarded his friendship
as hollow and precarious.[**]
* Digges’s Complete Ambassador, p. 369. Haynes, p. 585.
Strype vol. iv. No. 246.
** Haynes, vol. i. p. 280, 281, 283, 284.
But no sooner did the death of Francis II. put an end to Philip’s
apprehensions with regard to Mary’s succession, than his animosity
against Elizabeth began more openly to appear; and the interests of
Spain and those of England were found opposite in every negotiation and
transaction.
The two great monarchies of the continent, France and Spain, being
possessed of nearly equal force, were naturally antagonists; and
England, from its power and situation, was entitled to support its own
dignity, as well as tranquillity, by holding the balance between them.
Whatever incident, therefore, tended too much to depress one of these
rival powers, as it left the other without control, might be deemed
contrary to the interests of England; yet so much were these great
maxims of policy overruled, during that age, by the disputes of
theology, that Philip found an advantage in supporting the established
government and religion of France, and Elizabeth in protecting faction
and innovation.
The queen regent of France, when reinstated in authority by the death
of her son Francis, had formed a plan of administration more subtle than
judicious; and balancing the Catholics with the Hugonots, the duke
of Guise with the prince of Condé, she endeavored to render herself
necessary to both, and to establish her own dominion on their
constrained obedience.[*] But the equal counterpoise of power, which,
among foreign nations, is the source of tranquillity, proves always the
ground of quarrel between domestic factions; and if the animosity of
religion concur with the frequent occasions which present themselves
of mutual injury, it is impossible during any time, to preserve a firm
concord in so delicate a situation. The constable Montmorency, moved
by zeal for the ancient faith, joined himself to the duke of Guise: the
king of Navarre, from his inconstant temper, and his jealousy of the
superior genius of his brother, embraced the same party: and Catharine,
finding herself depressed by this combination, had recourse to Condé
and the Hugonots, who gladly embraced the opportunity of fortifying
themselves by her countenance and protection.[**]
* Davila, lib. ii.
** Davila, lib. iii
An edict had been published, granting a toleration to the Protestants;
but the interested violence of the duke of Guise, covered with the
pretence of religious zeal, broke through this agreement; and the two
parties, after the fallacious tranquillity of a moment, renewed their
mutual insults and injuries. Condé, Coligny, Andelot assembled their
friends and flew to arms: Guise and Montmorency got possession of the
king’s person, and constrained the queen regent to embrace their party:
fourteen armies were levied and put in motion in different parts of
France;[*] each province, each city, each family, was agitated with
intestine rage and animosity. The father was divided against the
son; brother against brother; and women themselves, sacrificing their
humanity as well as their timidity to the religious fury, distinguished
themselves by acts of ferocity and valor.[**] Wherever the Hugonots
prevailed, the images were broken, the altars pillaged, the churches
demolished, the monasteries consumed with fire: where success attended
the Catholics, they burned the Bibles, rebaptized the infants,
constrained married persons to pass anew through the nuptial ceremony:
and plunder, desolation, and bloodshed attended equally the triumph
of both parties. The parliament of Paris itself, the seat of law and
justice, instead of employing its authority to compose these fatal
quarrels, published an edict by which it put the sword into the hands
of the enraged multitude, and empowered the Catholics every where to
massacre the Hugonots:[***] and it was during this period, when men
began to be somewhat enlightened, and in this nation, renowned for
polished manners, that the theological rage, which had long been boiling
in men’s veins, seems to have attained its last stage of virulence and
ferocity.
* Father Paul, lib. vii.
** Father Paul, lib. vii.
*** Father Paul, lib. vii. Haynes, p. 391.
Philip, jealous of the progress which the Hugonots made in France, and
dreading that the contagion would spread into the Low Country provinces,
had formed a secret alliance with the princes of Guise, and had entered
into a mutual concert for the protection of the ancient faith and the
suppression of heresy. He now sent six thousand men, with some supply of
money, to reënforce the Catholic party; and the prince of Condé, finding
himself unequal to so great a combination, countenanced by the royal
authority, was obliged to despatch the Vidame of Chartres and Briguemaut
to London, in order to crave the assistance and protection of Elizabeth.
Most of the province of Normandy was possessed by the Hugonots: and
Condé offered to put Havre de Grace into the hands of the English; on
condition that, together with three thousand man for the garrison of
that place, the queen should likewise send over three thousand to defend
Dieppe and Rouen, and should furnish the prince with a supply of a
hundred thousand crowns.[*]
Elizabeth, besides the general and essential interest of supporting the
Protestants, and opposing the rapid progress of her enemy the duke of
Guise, had other motives which engaged her to accept of this proposal.
When she concluded the peace at Chateau-Cambresis, she had good reason
to foresee that France never would voluntarily fulfil the article which
regarded the restitution of Calais; and many subsequent incidents had
tended to confirm this suspicion. Considerable sums of money had been
expended on the fortifications; long leases had been granted of the
lands; and many inhabitants had been encouraged to build and settle
there, by assurances that Calais should never be restored to the
English.[**] The queen therefore wisely concluded, that, could she get
possession of Havre, a place which commanded the mouth of the Seine, and
was of greater importance than Calais, she should easily constrain the
French to execute the treaty, and should have the glory of restoring to
the crown that ancient possession, so much the favorite of the nation.
No measure could be more generally odious in France than the conclusion
of this treaty with Elizabeth. Men were naturally led to compare the
conduct of Guise, who had finally expelled the English, and had debarred
these dangerous and destructive enemies from all access into France,
with the treasonable politics of Condé, who had again granted them an
entrance into the heart of the kingdom. The prince had the more reason
to repent of this measure, as he reaped not from it all the advantage
which he expected. Three thousand English immediately took possession
of Havre and Dieppe, under the command of Sir Edward Poinings; but
the latter place was found so little capable of defence, that it was
immediately abandoned.[***] The siege of Rouen was already formed by the
Catholics, under the command of the king of Navarre and Montmorency; and
it was with difficulty that Poinings could throw a small
reënforcement into the place. Though these English troops behaved with
gallantry,[****] and though the king of Navarre was mortally wounded
during the siege, the Catholics still continued the attack of the place,
and carrying it at last by assault, put the whole garrison to the sword.
* Forbes, vol. ii. p. 48.
** Forbes, vol. ii. p. 54, 257.
*** Forbes, vol. ii. p. 199.
**** Forbes, vol. ii. p. 161.
The earl of Warwick, eldest son of the late duke of Northumberland,
arrived soon after at Havre with another body of three thousand English,
and took on him the command of the place.
It was expected that the French Catholics, flushed with their success at
Rouen, would immediately have formed the siege of Havre, which was not
as yet in any condition of defence; but the intestine disorders of the
kingdom soon diverted their attention to another enterprise. Andelot,
seconded by the negotiations of Elizabeth, had levied a considerable
body of Protestants in Germany; and having arrived at Orleans, the seat
of the Hugonots’ power, he enabled the prince of Condé and the admiral
to take the field, and oppose the progress of their enemies. After
threatening Paris during some time, they took their march towards
Normandy, with a view of engaging the English to act in conjunction with
them, and of fortifying themselves by the further assistance which
they expected from the zeal and vigor of Elizabeth.[*] The Catholics,
commanded by the constable, and under him by the duke of Guise, followed
on their rear; and overtaking them at Dreux, obliged them to give
battle. The field was fought with great obstinacy on both sides; and
the action was distinguished by this singular event, that Condé and
Montmorency, the commanders of the opposite armies, fell both of them
prisoners into the hands of their enemies. The appearances of victory
remained with Guise, but the admiral, whose fate it ever was to be
defeated, and still to rise more terrible after his misfortunes,
collected the remains of the army; and inspiring his own unconquerable
courage and constancy into every breast, kept them in a body, and
subdued some considerable places in Normandy. Elizabeth, the better to
support his cause, sent him a new supply of a hundred thousand crowns;
and offered, if he could find merchants to lend him the money, to give
her bond for another sum of equal amount.[**]
* Forbes, vol. ii. p. 320. Davila, lib. iii.
** Forbes, vol. ii. p. 322, 347.
{1563.} The expenses incurred by assisting the French Hugonots had
emptied the queen’s exchequer; and in order to obtain supply, she found
herself under a necessity of summoning a parliament: an expedient to
which she never willingly had recourse. A little before the meeting of
this assembly, she had fallen into a dangerous illness, the small-pox;
and as her life, during some time, was despaired of, the people
became the more sensible of their perilous situation, derived from the
uncertainty, which, in case of her demise, attended the succession of
the crown. The partisans of the queen of Scots, and those of the house
of Suffolk, already divided the nation into factions; and every one
foresaw, that, though it might be possible at present to determine the
controversy by law, yet, if the throne were vacant, nothing but the
sword would be able to fix a successor. The commons, therefore, on the
opening of the session, voted an address to the queen; in which, after
enumerating the dangers attending a broken and doubtful succession,
and mentioning the evils which their fathers had experienced from the
contending titles of York and Lancaster, they entreated the queen to
put an end to their apprehensions, by choosing some husband, whom they
promised, whoever he were, gratefully to receive, and faithfully to
serve, honor, and obey: or if she had entertained any reluctance to the
married state, they desired that the lawful successor might be named,
at least appointed by act of parliament. They remarked, that, during
all the reigns which had passed since the conquest, the nation had never
before been so unhappy as not to know the person who, in case of the
sovereign’s death, was legally entitled to fill the vacant throne. And
they observed, that the fixed order which took place in inheriting the
French monarchy, was one chief source of the usual tranquillity, as well
as of the happiness, of that kingdom.[*]
* Sir Simon d’Ewes’s Journ. p. 81.
This subject, though extremely interesting to the nation, was very
little agreeable to the queen; and she was sensible that great
difficulties would attend every decision. A declaration in favor of the
queen of Scots would form a settlement perfectly legal; because that
princess was commonly allowed to possess the right of blood; and the
exclusion given by Henry’s will, deriving its weight chiefly from an
act of parliament, would lose all authority whenever the queen and
parliament had made a new settlement, and restored the Scottish line to
its place in the succession. But she dreaded giving encouragement to
the Catholics, her secret enemies, by this declaration. She was sensible
that every heir was, in some degree, a rival; much more one who enjoyed
a claim for the present possession of the crown, and who had already
advanced, in a very open manner, these dangerous pretensions. The great
power of Mary, both from the favor of the Catholic princes, and her
connections with the house of Guise, not to mention the force and
situation of Scotland, was well known to her; and she saw no security,
that this princess, if fortified by a sure prospect of succession, would
not revive claims which she could never yet be prevailed on formally
to relinquish. On the other hand, the title of the house of Suffolk was
supported by the more zealous Protestants only; and it was very doubtful
whether even a parliamentary declaration in its favor would bestow on it
such validity as to give satisfaction to the people. The republican
part of the constitution had not yet acquired such an ascendant as
to control, in any degree, the ideas of hereditary right, and as the
legality of Henry’s will was still disputed, though founded on the
utmost authority which a parliament could confer, who could be assured
that a more recent act would be acknowledged to have greater validity?
In the frequent revolutions which had of late taken place, the right of
blood had still prevailed over religious prejudices; and the nation had
ever shown itself disposed rather to change its faith than the order of
succession. Even many Protestants declared themselves in favor of
Mary’s claim of inheritance;[*] and nothing would occasion more general
disgust, than to see the queen, openly and without reserve, take part
against it.
* Keith, p. 322.
The Scottish princess also, finding herself injured in so sensible a
point, would thenceforth act as a declared enemy; and uniting together
her foreign and domestic friends, the partisans of her present title
and of her eventual succession, would soon bring matters to extremities
against the present establishment. The queen, weighing all these
inconveniences, which were great and urgent, was determined to keep
both parties in awe, by maintaining still an ambiguous conduct; and she
rather chose that the people should run the hazard of contingent events,
than that she herself should visibly endanger her throne, by employing
expedients, which, at best, would not bestow entire security on the
nation. She gave, therefore, an evasive answer to the applications of
the commons; and when the house, at the end of the session, desired, by
the mouth of their speaker, further satisfaction on that head, she could
not be prevailed on to make her reply more explicit. She only told them,
contrary to her declarations in the beginning of her reign, that she had
fixed no absolute resolution against marriage; and she added, that the
difficulties attending the question of the succession were so great that
she would be contented, for the sake of her people, to remain some
time longer in this vale of misery; and never should depart life with
satisfaction, till she had laid some solid foundation for their future
security.[*]
The most remarkable law passed this session, was that which bore the
title of “Assurance of the queen’s royal power over all states and
subjects within her dominions.”[**] By this act, the asserting twice,
by writing, word, or deed, the pope’s authority, was subjected to the
penalties of treason. All persons in holy orders were bound to take the
oath of supremacy; as also all who were advanced to any degree, either
in the universities or in common law; all schoolmasters, officers in
court, or members of parliament: and the penalty of their second
refusal was treason. The first offence, in both cases, was punished by
banishment and forfeiture. This rigorous statute was not extended to
any of the degree of a baron; because it was not supposed that the
queen could entertain any doubt with regard to the fidelity of persons
possessed of such high dignity. Lord Montacute made opposition to the
bill; and asserted, in favor of the Catholics, that they disputed not,
they preached not, they disobeyed not the queen, they caused no trouble,
no tumults among the people.[***] It is, however, probable, that
some suspicions of their secret conspiracies had made the queen and
parliament increase their rigor against them; though it is also more
than probable, that they were mistaken in the remedy.
There was likewise another point, in which the parliament, this session,
showed more the goodness of their intention than the soundness of their
judgment. They passed a law against fond and fantastical prophecies,
which had been observed to seduce the people into rebellion and
disorder:[****] but at the same time they enacted a statute, which
was most likely to increase these and such like superstitions: it was
levelled against conjurations, enchantments, and witchcraft.[v]
* Sir Simon D’Ewes’s Journal, p. 75.
** 5 Eliz. c. 1.
*** Strype, vol. i. p 260.
**** 5 Eliz. c. I
v 5 Eliz. c. 16.
Witchcraft and heresy are two crimes which commonly increase by
punishment, and never are so effectually suppressed as by being totally
neglected. After the parliament had granted the queen a supply of one
subsidy and two fifteenths, the session was finished by a prorogation.
The convocation likewise voted the queen a subsidy of six shillings in
the pound, payable in three years.
While the English parties exerted these calm efforts against each other
in parliamentary votes and debates, the French factions, inflamed to
the highest degree of animosity, continued that cruel war which their
intemperate zeal, actuated by the ambition of their leaders, had kindled
in the kingdom. The admiral was successful in reducing the towns of
Normandy which held for the king; but he frequently complained that
the numerous garrison of Havre remained totally inactive, and was not
employed in any military operation against the common enemy. The queen,
in taking possession of that place, had published a manifesto,[*] in
which she pretended that her concern for the interests of the French
king had engaged her in that measure, and that her sole intention was
to oppose her enemies of the house of Guise, who held their prince in
captivity, and employed his power to the destruction of his best
and most faithful subjects. It was chiefly her desire to preserve
appearances, joined to the great frugality of her temper, which made her
at this critical juncture keep her soldiers in garrison, and restrain
them from committing further hostilities upon the enemy.[**]
* Forbes, vol. ii.
** Forbes, vol. ii. p. 276, 277.
The duke of Guise, meanwhile, was aiming a mortal blow at the power of
the Hugonots; and had commenced the siege of Orleans, of which Andelot
was governor, and where the constable was detained prisoner. He had the
prospect of speedy success in this undertaking; when he was assassinated
by Poltrot, a young gentleman whose zeal, instigated (as is pretended,
though without any certain foundation) by the admiral, and Beza, a
famous preacher, led him to attempt that criminal enterprise. The death
of this gallant prince was a sensible loss to the Catholic party;
and though the cardinal of Lorraine, his brother, still supported the
interests of the family, the danger of their progress appeared not so
imminent either to Elizabeth or to the French Protestants. The union,
therefore, between these allies, which had been cemented by their common
fears, began thenceforth to be less intimate; and the leaders of the
Hugonots were persuaded to hearken to terms of a separate accommodation.
Condé and Montmorency held conferences for settling the peace; and as
they were both of them impatient to relieve themselves from captivity,
they soon came to an agreement with regard to the conditions. The
character of the queen regent, whose ends were always violent, but who
endeavored by subtlety and policy, rather than force, to attain
them, led her to embrace any plausible terms; and in spite of the
protestations of the admiral, whose sagacity could easily discover the
treachery of the court, the articles of agreement were finally settled
between the parties. A toleration under some restrictions was anew
granted to the Protestants; a general amnesty was published; Condé was
reinstated in his offices and governments; and after money was advanced
for the payment of arrears due to the German troops, they were dismissed
the kingdom.
By the agreement between Elizabeth and the prince of Condé, it had been
stipulated,[*] that neither party should conclude peace without the
consent of the other; but this article was at present but little
regarded by the leaders of the French Protestants. They only
comprehended her so far in the treaty, as to obtain a promise that,
on her relinquishing Havre, her charges, and the money which she had
advanced them, should be repaid her by the king of France, and that
Calais, on the expiration of the term, should be restored to her. But
she disdained to accept of these conditions; and thinking the possession
of Havre a much better pledge for effecting her purpose, she sent
Warwick orders to prepare himself against an attack from the now united
power of the French monarchy.
The earl of Warwick, who commanded a garrison of six thousand men,
besides seven hundred pioneers, had no sooner got possession of Havre,
than he employed every means for putting it in a posture of defence;[**]
and after expelling the French from the town, he encouraged his soldiers
to make the most desperate defence against the enemy. The constable
commanded the French army; the queen regent herself and the king were
present in the camp; even the prince of Condé joined the king’s forces,
and gave countenance to this enterprise; the admiral and Andelot
alone, anxious still to preserve the friendship of Elizabeth, kept at
a distance, and prudently refused to join their ancient enemies in an
attack upon their allies.
* Forbes, vol. ii. p. 79.
** Forbes, vol. ii. p. 158.
From the force, and dispositions, and situation of both sides it was
expected that the siege would be attended with some memorable event; yet
did France make a much easier acquisition of this important place
than was at first apprehended. The plague crept in among the English
soldiers; and being increased by their fatigue and bad diet, (for they
were but ill supplied with provisions,[*]) it made such ravages, that
sometimes a hundred men a day died of it; and there remained not, at
last, fifteen hundred in a condition to do duty.[**] The French, meeting
with such feeble resistance, carried on their attacks successfully; and
having made two breaches, each of them sixty feet wide, they prepared
for a general assault, which must have terminated in the slaughter of
the whole garrison.[***] Warwick, who had frequently warned the English
council of the danger, and who had loudly demanded a supply of men and
provisions, found himself obliged to capitulate, and to content himself
with the liberty of withdrawing his garrison. The articles were no
sooner signed, than Lord Clinton, the admiral, who had been detained by
contrary winds, appeared off the harbor with a reënforcement of three
thousand men; and found the place surrendered to the enemy. To increase
the misfortune, the infected army brought the plague with them into
England, where it swept off great multitudes, particularly in the
city of London. Above twenty thousand persons there died of it in one
year.[****] [6]
* Forbes, vol. ii. p. 377, 498.
** Forbes, vol. ii. p. 450, 458.
*** Forbes, vol. ii. p. 498.
**** See note F, at the end of the volume.
Elizabeth, whose usual vigor and foresight had not appeared in this
transaction, was now glad to compound matters; and as the queen
regent desired to obtain leisure, in order to prepare measures for the
extermination of the Hugonots, she readily hearkened to any reasonable
terms of accommodation with England.[*]
* Davila, lib. iii.
{1564.} It was agreed, that the hostages which the French had given for
the restitution of Calais, should be restored for two hundred and twenty
thousand crowns; and that both sides should retain all their claims and
pretensions.
The peace still continued with Scotland and even a cordial friendship
seemed to have been cemented between Elizabeth and Mary. These
princesses made profession of the most entire affection; wrote amicable
letters every week to each other; and had adopted, in all appearance,
the sentiments as well as style of sisters. Elizabeth punished one
Hales, who had published a book against Mary’s title;[*] and as the lord
keeper Bacon was thought to have encouraged Hales in this undertaking,
he fell under her displeasure, and it was with some difficulty he was
able to give her satisfaction, and recover her favor.[**] The two queens
had agreed in the foregoing summer to an interview at York,[***] in
order to remove all difficulties with regard to Mary’s ratification
of the treaty of Edinburgh, and to consider of the proper method for
settling the succession of England; but as Elizabeth carefully avoided
touching on this delicate subject, she employed a pretence of the wars
in France, which, she said, would detain her in London; and she delayed
till next year the intended interview. It is also probable, that being
well acquainted with the beauty, and address, and accomplishments of
Mary, she did not choose to stand the comparison with regard to those
exterior qualities, in which she was eclipsed by her rival; and was
unwilling that a princess, who had already made great progress in the
esteem and affections of the English, should have a further opportunity
of increasing the number of her partisans.
* Keith, p. 252.
** Keith, p. 253.
*** Haynes, p. 388.
Mary’s close connections with the house of Guise, and her devoted
attachment to her uncles, by whom she had been early educated and
constantly protected, was the ground of just and insurmountable jealousy
to Elizabeth, who regarded them as her mortal and declared enemies,
and was well acquainted with their dangerous character and ambitious
projects. They had made offer of their niece to Don Carlos, Philip’s
son; to the king of Sweden, the king of Navarre, the archduke Charles,
the duke of Ferrara, the cardinal of Bourbon, who had only taken
deacon’s orders, from which he might easily be freed by a dispensation;
and they were ready to marry her to any one who could strengthen their
interests, or give inquietude and disturbance to Elizabeth.[*]
* Forbes, vol. ii. p. 287. Strype, vol. i. p. 400.
Elizabeth, on her part, was equally vigilant to prevent the execution
of their schemes, and was particularly anxious lest Mary should form
any powerful foreign alliance, which might tempt her to revive her
pretensions to the crown, and to invade the kingdom on the side where it
was weakest and lay most exposed.[*] As she believed that the marriage
with the archduke Charles was the one most likely to have place, she
used every expedient to prevent it; and besides remonstrating against
it to Mary herself, she endeavored to draw off the archduke from that
pursuit, by giving him some hopes of success in his pretensions to
herself, and by inviting him to a renewal of the former treaty of
marriage.[**] She always told the queen of Scots, that nothing would
satisfy her but her espousing some English nobleman, who would remove
all grounds of jealousy, and cement the union between the kingdoms; and
she offered on this condition to have her title examined, and to declare
her successor to the crown.[***] After keeping the matter in these
general terms during a twelvemonth, she at last named Lord Robert
Dudley, now created earl of Leicester, as the person on whom she desired
that Mary’s choice should fall.
[Illustration: 1-453-mary_stuart.jpg MARY STUART]
The earl of Leicester, the great and powerful favorite of Elizabeth,
possessed all those exterior qualities which are naturally alluring
to the fair sex; a handsome person, a polite address, an insinuating
behavior; and by means of these accomplishments he had been able to
blind even the penetration of Elizabeth, and conceal from her the great
defects, or rather odious vices, which attended his character. He
was proud, insolent, interested, ambitious; without honor, without
generosity, without humanity; and atoned not for these bad qualities
by such abilities or courage as could fit him for that high trust and
confidence with which she always honored him. Her constant and declared
attachment to him had naturally emboldened him to aspire to her bed; and
in order to make way for these nuptials, he was universally believed
to have murdered, in a barbarous manner, his wife, the heiress of one
Robesart. The proposal of espousing Mary was by no means agreeable to
him; and he always ascribed it to the contrivance of Cecil, his
enemy; who, he thought, intended by that artifice to make him lose the
friendship of Mary from the temerity of his pretensions, and that of
Elizabeth from jealousy of his attachments to another woman.[****]
* Keith, p 247, 284.
** Melvil, p. 41.
*** Keith, p. 213, 249, 259. 265.
**** Camden, p. 396
The queen herself had not any serious intention of effecting this
marriage, but as she was desirous that the queen of Scots should never
have any husband, she named a man who, she believed, was not likely to
be accepted of; and she hoped by that means to gain time, and elude the
project of any other alliance. The earl of Leicester was too great a
favorite to be parted with; and when Mary, allured by the prospect of
being declared successor to the crown, seemed at last to hearken
to Elizabeth’s proposal, this princess receded from her offers, and
withdrew the bait which she had thrown out to her rival.[*] This
duplicity of conduct, joined to some appearance of an imperious
superiority assumed by her, had drawn a peevish letter from Mary; and
the seemingly amicable correspondence between the two queens was, during
some time, interrupted. In order to make up the breach, the queen of
Scots despatched Sir James Melvil to London; who has given us in his
memoirs a particular account of his negotiation.
Melvil was an agreeable courtier, a man of address and conversation;
and it was recommended to him by his mistress, that, besides grave
reasonings concerning politics and state affairs, he should introduce
more entertaining topics of conversation, suitable to the sprightly
character of Elizabeth, and should endeavor by that means to insinuate
himself into her confidence. He succeeded so well, that he threw that
artful princess entirely off her guard,[**] and made her discover the
bottom of her heart, full of all those levities, and follies, and ideas
of rivalship which possess the youngest and most frivolous of her sex.
* Keith, p. 269, 270. Appendix, p, 158. Strype, vol. i. p.
414.
** Haynes, p. 447.
He talked to her of his travels, and forgot not to mention the different
dresses of the ladies in different countries, and the particular
advantages of each in setting off the beauties of the shape and person.
The queen said, that she had dresses of all countries; and she took care
thenceforth to meet the ambassador every day apparelled in a different
habit: sometimes she was dressed in the English garb, sometimes in the
French, sometimes in the Italian; and she asked him which of them
became her most. He answered, the Italian; a reply that he knew would
be agreeable to her, because that mode showed to advantage her flowing
locks, which, he remarked, though they were more red than yellow, she
fancied to be the finest in the world. She desired to know of him what
was reputed the best color of hair: she asked whether his queen or she
had the finest hair: she even inquired which of them he esteemed the
fairest person; a very delicate question, and which he prudently eluded,
by saying that her majesty was the fairest person in England and his
mistress in Scotland. She next demanded which of them was tallest:
he replied, his queen. “Then is she too tall,” said Elizabeth; “for I
myself am of a just stature.” Having learned from him that his mistress
sometimes recreated herself by playing on the harpsichord, an instrument
on which she herself excelled, she gave orders to Lord Hunsdon, that he
should lead the ambassador, as it were casually, into an apartment where
he might hear her perform; and when Melvil, as if ravished with
the harmony, broke into the queen’s apartment, she pretended to be
displeased with his intrusion; but still took care to ask him whether he
thought Mary or her the best performer on that instrument.[*] From the
whole of her behavior, Melvil thought he might, on his return, assure
his mistress, that she had no reason ever to expect any cordial
friendship from Elizabeth, and that all her professions of amity were
full of falsehood and dissimulation.
* Melvil, p, 49, 50., Keith, p 264.
After two years had been spent in evasions and artifices, Mary’s
subjects and counsellors, and probably herself, began to think it full
time that some marriage were concluded; and Lord Darnley, son of the
earl of Lenox, was the person in whom most men’s opinions and wishes
centred. He was Mary’s cousin-german, by the lady Margaret Douglas,
niece to Henry VIII., and daughter of the earl of Angus, by Margaret,
queen of Scotland. He had been born and educated in England, where the
earl of Lenox had constantly resided, since he had been banished by the
prevailing power of the house of Hamilton; and as Darnley was now in
his twentieth year, and was a very comely person, tall and delicately
shaped, it was hoped that he might soon render himself agreeable to the
queen of Scots. He was also by his father a branch of the same family
with herself; and would, in espousing her, preserve the royal dignity
in the house of Stuart: he was, after her, next heir to the crown of
England; and those who pretended to exclude her on account of her being
a foreigner, had endeavored to recommend his title, and give it the
preference. It seemed no inconsiderable advantage, that she could,
by marrying him, unite both their claims; and as he was by birth an
Englishman, and could not by his power or alliances give any ground of
suspicion to Elizabeth, it was hoped that the proposal of this marriage
would not be unacceptable to that jealous princess.
Elizabeth was well informed of these intentions;[*] and was secretly not
displeased with the projected marriage between Darnley and the queen of
Scots.[**] She would rather have wished that Mary had continued forever
in a single life; but finding little probability of rendering this
scheme effectual, she was satisfied with a choice which freed her at
once from the dread of a foreign alliance, and from the necessity
of parting with Leicester, her favorite. In order to pave the way to
Darnley’s marriage, she secretly desired Mary to invite Lenox into
Scotland, to reverse his attainder, and to restore him to his honors and
fortune.[***] And when her request was complied with, she took care,
in order to preserve the friendship of the Hamiltons and her other
partisans in Scotland, to blame openly this conduct of Mary.[****]
* Keith, p. 261.
** Keith, p. 280, 282. Jebb, vol. ii. p. 46.
*** Keith, p. 255, 259, 272.
**** Melvil, p. 42.
{1565.} Hearing that the negotiation for Darnley’s marriage advanced
apace, she gave that nobleman permission, on his first application, to
follow his father into Scotland: but no sooner did she learn that
the queen of Scots was taken with his figure and person, and that all
measures were fixed for espousing him, than she exclaimed against
the marriage; sent Throgmorton to order Darnley immediately, upon his
allegiance, to return to England; threw the countess of Lenox and her
second son into the Tower, where they suffered a rigorous confinement;
seized all Lenox’s English estate; and, though it was impossible for her
to assign one single reason for her displeasure,[*] she menaced, and,
protested, and complained, as if she had suffered the most grievous
injury in the world.
* Keith, p. 274, 275.
The politics of Elizabeth, though judicious, were usually full of
duplicity and artifice; but never more so than in her transactions with
the queen of Scots, where there entered so many little passions and
narrow jealousies, that she durst not avow to the world the reasons of
her conduct, scarcely to her ministers, and scarcely even to herself.
But besides a womanish rivalship and envy against the marriage of this
princess, she had some motives of interest for feigning a displeasure
on the present occasion. It served her as a pretence for refusing to
acknowledge Mary’s title to the succession of England; a point to which,
for good reasons, she was determined never to consent. And it was
useful to her for a purpose still more unfriendly and dangerous, for
encouraging the discontents and rebellion of the Scottish nobility and
ecclesiastics.[*]
Nothing can be more unhappy for a people than to be governed by a
sovereign attached to a religion different from the established; and
it is scarcely possible that mutual confidence can ever, in such a
situation, have place between the prince and his subjects. Mary’s
conduct had been hitherto in every respect unexceptionable, and even
laudable; yet had she not made such progress in acquiring popularity,
as might have been expected from her gracious deportment and agreeable
accomplishments. Suspicions every moment prevailed on account of her
attachment to the Catholic faith, and especially to her uncles, the open
and avowed promoters of the scheme for exterminating the professors of
the reformed religion throughout all Europe. She still refused to ratify
the acts of parliament which had established the reformation; she made
attempts for restoring to the Catholic bishops some part of their civil
jurisdiction;[**] and she wrote a letter to the council of Trent, in
which, besides professing her attachment to the Catholic faith, she took
notice of her title to succeed to the crown of England, and expressed
her hopes of being able, in some period, to bring back all her dominions
to the bosom of the church.[***] The zealots among the Protestants were
not wanting, in their turn, to exercise their insolence against her,
which tended still more to alienate her from their faith. A law was
enacted, making it capital, on the very first offence, to say mass any
where, except in the queen’s chapel;[****] and it was with difficulty
that even this small indulgence was granted her: the general assembly
importuned her anew to change her religion; to renounce the blasphemous
idolatry of the mass, with the tyranny of the Roman Antichrist; and to
embrace the true religion of Christ Jesus.[v]
* Keith, p. 290.
** Spotswood, p. 198.
*** Father Paul, lib. vii.
**** Keith, p. 268.
v Keith, p, 545. Knox. p. 374.
As she answered in temper, that she was not yet convinced of the falsity
of her religion or the impiety of the mass, and that her apostasy would
lose her the friendship of her allies on the continent, they replied
by assuring her, that their religion was undoubtedly the same which had
been revealed by Jesus Christ, which had been preached by the apostles,
and which had been embraced by the faithful in the primitive ages; that
neither the religion of Turks, Jews, nor Papists was built on so solid
a foundation as theirs; that they alone, of all the various species of
religionists spread over the face of the earth, were so happy as to be
possessed of the truth; that those who hear, or rather who gaze on the
mass, allow sacrilege, pronounce blasphemy, and commit most abominable
idolatry; and that the friendship of the King of kings was preferable to
all the alliances in the world.[*]
The marriage of the queen of Scots had kindled afresh the zeal of the
reformers, because the family of Lenox was believed to adhere to the
Catholic faith; and though Darnley, who now bore the name of King Henry,
went often to the established church, he could not, by this exterior
compliance, gain the confidence and regard of the ecclesiastics. They
rather laid hold of the opportunity to insult him to his face; and Knox
scrupled not to tell him from the pulpit, that God, for punishment of
the offences and ingratitude of the people, was wont to commit the rule
over them to boys and women.[**] The populace of Edinburgh, instigated
by such doctrines, began to meet and to associate themselves against
the government.[***] But what threatened more immediate danger to
Mary’s authority, were the discontents which prevailed among some of the
principal nobility.
* Keith, p. 550, 551.
** Keith, p. 546. Knox, p. 381.
*** Knox, p. 377.
The duke of Chatelrault was displeased with the restoration, and still
more with the aggrandizement of the family of Lenox, his hereditary
enemies; and entertained fears lest his own eventual succession to the
crown of Scotland should be excluded by his rival, who had formerly
advanced some pretensions to it. The earl of Murray found his credit at
court much diminished by the interest of Lenox and his son; and began
to apprehend the revocation of some considerable grants which he
had obtained from Mary’s bounty. The earls of Argyle, Rothes, and
Glencairne, the lords Boyde and Ochiltry, Kirkaldy of Grange, Pittarow,
were instigated by like motives; and as these were the persons who had
most zealously promoted the reformation, they were disgusted to find
that the queen’s favor was entirely engrossed by a new cabal, the earls
of Bothwell, Athole, Sutherland, and Huntley; men who were esteemed
either lukewarm in religious controversy, or inclined to the Catholic
party. The same ground of discontent which in other courts is the source
of intrigue, faction, and opposition, commonly produced in Scotland
either projects of assassination or of rebellion; and besides mutual
accusations of the former kind, which it is difficult to clear up,[*]
[7] the malecontent lords, as soon as they saw the queen’s marriage
entirely resolved on, entered into a confederacy for taking arms against
their sovereign. They met at Stirling; pretended an anxious concern for
the security of religion; framed engagements for mutual defence; and
made applications to Elizabeth for assistance and protection.[**] That
princess, after publishing the expressions of her displeasure against
the marriage, had secretly ordered her ambassadors, Randolf and
Throgmorton, to give in her name some promises of support to the
malecontents; and had even sent them a supply of ten thousand pounds, to
enable them to begin an insurrection.[***]
Mary was no sooner informed of the meeting at Stirling, and the
movements of the lords, than she summoned them to appear at court, in
order to answer for their conduct; and having levied some forces to
execute the laws, she obliged the rebels to leave the low countries,
and take shelter in Argyleshire. That she might more effectually cut off
their resources, she proceeded with the king to Glasgow, and forced them
from their retreat. They appeared at Paisley, in the neighborhood,
with about a thousand horse, and passing the queen’s army, proceeded to
Hamilton, thence to Edinburgh, which they entered without resistance.
They expected great reënforcements in this place, from the efforts of
Knox and the seditious preachers; and they beat their drums, desiring
all men to enlist, and receive wages for the defence of God’s
glory.[****]
* See note G, at the end of the volume.
** Keith, p. 293, 294, 300, 301.
*** Knox, p. 380. Keith, Append, p. 164. Anderson, vol. iii.
p. 194.
**** Knox, p. 381.
But the nation was in no disposition for rebellion: Mary was esteemed
and beloved: her marriage was not generally disagreeable to the people:
and the interested views of the malecontent lords were so well known,
that their pretence of zeal for religion had little influence even on
the ignorant populace.[*] The king and queen advanced to Edinburgh
at the head of their army: the rebels were obliged to retire into the
south; and being pursued by a force which now amounted to eighteen
thousand men,[**] they found themselves under a necessity of abandoning
their country, and of taking shelter in England.
Elizabeth, when she found the event so much to disappoint her
expectations, thought proper to disavow all connections with the
Scottish malecontents, and to declare every where, that she had
never given them any encouragement, nor any promise of countenance or
assistance. She even carried further her dissimulation and hypocrisy.
Murray had come to London, with the abbot of Kilwinning, agent for
Chatelrault; and she seduced them, by secret assurances of protection,
to declare before the ambassadors of France and Spain that she had
nowise contributed to their insurrection. No sooner had she extorted
this confession from them, than she chased them from her presence,
called them unworthy traitors, declared that their detestable rebellion
was of bad example to all princes; and assured them, that as she had
hitherto given them no encouragement, so should they never thenceforth
receive from her any assistance or protection.[***] Throgmorton alone,
whose honor was equal to his abilities, could not be prevailed on to
conceal the part which he had acted in the enterprise of the Scottish
rebels; and being well apprised of the usual character and conduct of
Elizabeth, he had had the precaution to obtain an order of council
to authorize the engagements which he had been obliged to make with
them.[****]
* Knox, p. 380, 385.
** Knox, p. 388.
*** Melvil, p. 57. Knox, p. 388. Keith, p. 319. Crawford, p,
62, 63.
**** Melvil, p. 60.
The banished lords, finding themselves so harshly treated by Elizabeth,
had recourse to the clemency of their own sovereign; and after some
solicitation and some professions of sincere repentance, the duke of
Chatelrault obtained his pardon, on condition that he should retire into
France. Mary was more implacable against the ungrateful earl of Murray
and the other confederates, on whom she threw the chief blame of the
enterprise; but as she was continually plied with applications from
their friends, and as some of her most judicious partisans in England
thought, that nothing would more promote her interests in that kingdom,
than the gentle treatment of men so celebrated for their zeal against
the Catholic religion, she agreed to give way to her natural temper,
which inclined not to severity, and she seemed determined to restore
them to favor.[*] In this interval, Rambouillet arrived as ambassador
from France, and brought her advice from her uncle, the cardinal of
Lorraine, to whose opinion she always paid an extreme deference, by
no means to pardon these Protestant leaders, who had been engaged in a
rebellion against her.[**]
The two religions, in France, as well as in other parts of Europe, were
rather irritated than tired with their acts of mutual violence; and
the peace granted to the Hugonots, as had been foreseen by Coligny, was
intended only to lull them asleep and prepare the way for their final
and absolute destruction. The queen regent made a pretence of travelling
through the kingdom, in order to visit the provinces, and correct all
the abuses arising from the late civil war; and after having held some
conferences on the frontiers with the duke of Lorraine and the duke of
Savoy, she came to Bayonne, where she was met by her daughter, the queen
of Spain, and the duke of Alva. Nothing appeared in the congress of
these two splendid courts, but gayety, festivity, love, and joy; but
amidst these smiling appearances were secretly fabricated schemes the
most bloody, and the most destructive to the repose of mankind, that
had ever been thought of in any age or nation. No less than a total
and universal extermination of the Protestants by fire and sword was
concerted by Philip and Catharine of Medicis; and Alva, agreeably to his
fierce and sanguinary disposition, advised the queen regent to commence
the execution of this project, by the immediate massacre of all the
leaders of the Hugonots.[***]
* Melvil, p. 59, 60, 61, 62, 63. Keith, p. 322.
** Keith p. 325. Melvil, p. 63.
*** Davila, lib iii.
But that princess, though equally hardened against every humane
sentiment, would not forego this opportunity of displaying her wit
and refined politics; and she purposed rather by treachery and
dissimulation, which she called address, to lead the Protestants into
the snare, and never to draw the sword till they were totally disabled
from resistance. The cardinal of Lorraine, whose character bore a
greater affinity to that of Alva, was a chief author of this barbarous
association against the reformers; and having connected his hopes of
success with the aggrandizement of his niece, the queen of Scots, he
took care that her measures should correspond to those violent counsels
which were embraced by the other Catholic princes. In consequence of
this scheme, he turned her from the road of clemency, which she intended
to have followed, and made her resolve on the total ruin of the banished
lords.[*]
{1565.} A parliament was summoned at Edinburgh for attainting them; and
as their guilt was palpable and avowed, no doubt was entertained but
sentence would be pronounced against them. It was by a sudden and
violent incident, which, in the issue, brought on the ruin of Mary
herself, that they were saved from the rigor of the law.
The marriage of the queen of Scots with Lord Darnley was so natural,
and so inviting in all its circumstances, that it had been precipitately
agreed to by that princess and her council; and while she was allured
by his youth, and beauty, and exterior accomplishments, she had at first
overlooked the qualities of his mind, which nowise corresponded to
the excellence of his outward figure. Violent, yet variable in his
resolutions; insolent, yet credulous and easily governed by flatterers;
he was destitute of all gratitude, because he thought no favors equal to
his merit; and being addicted to low pleasures, he was equally incapable
of all true sentiments of love and tenderness.[*] The queen of Scots,
in the first effusions of her fondness, had taken a pleasure in exalting
him beyond measure; she had granted him the title of king; she had
joined his name with her own in all public acts; she intended to have
procured him from the parliament a matrimonial crown; but having leisure
afterwards to remark his weakness and vices, she began to see the danger
of her profuse liberality, and was resolved thenceforth to proceed
with more reserve in the trust which she should confer upon him. His
resentment against this prudent conduct served but the more to increase
her disgust: and the young prince, enraged at her imagined neglects,
pointed his vengeance against every one whom he deemed the cause of this
change in her measures and behavior.
* Melvil, p. 63. Keith’s Append. p. 176.
There was in the court one David Rizzio, who had of late obtained a very
extraordinary degree of confidence and favor with the queen of Scots. He
was a Piedmontese, of mean birth, son of a teacher of music, himself
a musician; and finding it difficult to subsist by his art in his own
country, he had followed into Scotland an ambassador, whom the duke of
Savoy sent thither to pay his compliments to Mary, some time after her
first arrival. He possessed a good ear, and a tolerable voice; and
as that princess found him useful to complete her band of music, she
retained him in her service after the departure of his master. Her
secretary for French despatches having some time after incurred her
displeasure, she promoted Rizzio to that office, which gave him frequent
opportunities of approaching her person, and insinuating himself into
her favor. He was shrewd and sensible, as well as aspiring, much beyond
his rank and education; and he made so good use of the access which
fortune had procured him, that he was soon regarded as the chief
confidant, and even minister of the queen. He was consulted on all
occasions; no favors could be obtained but by his intercession; all
suitors were obliged to gain him by presents and flattery; and the
man, insolent from his new exaltation, as well as rapacious in his
acquisitions, soon drew on himself the hatred of the nobility and of
the whole kingdom.[*] He had at first employed his credit to promote
Darnley’s marriage; and a firm friendship seemed to be established
between them; but on the subsequent change of the queen’s sentiments,
it was easy for Henry’s friends to persuade him that Rizzio was the real
author of her indifference, and even to rouse in his mind jealousies of
a more dangerous nature. The favorite was of a disagreeable figure, but
was not past his youth;[**] [8] and though the opinion of his criminal
correspondence with Mary might seem of itself unreasonable, if not
absurd, a suspicious husband could find no other means of accounting for
that lavish and imprudent kindness with which she honored him.
* Keith, p. 282, 302, Crawford’s Memoirs, p. 5. Spotswood,
p. 193.
** See note H, at the end of the volume.
The rigid austerity of the ecclesiastics, who could admit of no
freedoms, contributed to spread this opinion among the people; and as
Rizzio was universally believed to be a pensionary of the pope’s, and to
be deeply engaged in all schemes against the Protestants, any story to
his and Mary’s disadvantage received an easy credit among the zealots of
that communion. Rizzio, who had connected his interests with the
Roman Catholics, was the declared enemy of the banished lords; and by
promoting the violent prosecutions against them, he had exposed himself
to the animosity of their numerous friends and retainers. A scheme
was also thought to be formed for revoking some exorbitant grants made
during the queen’s minority, and even the nobility, who had seized the
ecclesiastical benefices, began to think themselves less secure in the
possession of them.[*] The earl of Morton, chancellor, was affected by
all these considerations, and still more by a rumor spread abroad, that
Mary intended to appoint Rizzio chancellor in his place, and to bestow
that dignity on a mean and upstart foreigner, ignorant of the laws and
language of the country.[**] So indiscreet had this princess been in her
kindness to Rizzio, that even that strange report met with credit, and
proved a great means of accelerating the ruin of the favorite. Morton,
insinuating himself into Henry’s confidence, employed all his art to
inflame the discontent and jealousy of that prince; and he persuaded
him, that the only means of freeing himself from the indignities under
which he labored, was to bring the base stranger to the fate which he
had so well merited, and which was so passionately desired by the
whole nation. George Douglas, natural brother to the countess of Lenox,
concurred in the same advice; and the Lords Ruthven and Lindesey, being
consulted, offered their assistance in the enterprise; nor was even
the earl of Lenox, the king’s father, averse to the design.[***] But
as these conspirators were well acquainted with Henry’s levity, they
engaged him to sign a paper, in which he avowed the undertaking, as
tending to the glory of God and advancement of religion, and promised
to protect them against every consequence which might ensue upon the
assassination of Rizzio.[****] All these measures being concerted, a
messenger was despatched to the banished lords, who were hovering near
the borders; and they were invited by the king to return to their native
country.
* Keith, p. 326. Melvil, p. 64.
** Buchanan, lib. xvii. c. 60. Crawford, p. 6. Spotswood, p.
194. Knox, p. 393. Jebb, vol. i. p. 456.
*** Crawford, p. 7.
**** Goodall, vol. i. p. 266. Crawford, p. 7.
This design, so atrocious in itself, was rendered still more so by the
circumstances which attended its execution. Mary, who was in the sixth
month of her pregnancy, was supping in private, and had at table the
countess of Argyle, her natural sister, with Rizzio, and others of her
servants. The king entered the room by a private passage, and stood
at the back of Mary’s chair: Lord Ruthven, George Douglas, and other
conspirators, being all armed, rushed in after him; and the queen of
Scots, terrified with the appearance, demanded of them the reason of
this rude intrusion. They told her, that they intended no violence
against her person; but meant only to bring that villain, pointing to
Rizzio, to his deserved punishment. Rizzio, aware of the danger, ran
behind his mistress, and seizing her by the waist, called aloud to her
for protection; while she interposed in his behalf, with cries, and
menaces, and entreaties. The impatient assassins, regardless of her
efforts, rushed upon their prey, and by overturning every thing which
stood in their way, increased the horror and confusion of the scene.
Douglas, seizing Henry’s dagger, stuck it in the body of Rizzio,
who, screaming with fear and agony, was torn from Mary by the other
conspirators, and pushed into the ante-chamber, where he was despatched
with fifty-six wounds.[*]
* Melvil, p. 64. Keith, p. 330, 331. Crawford, p. 9.
The unhappy princess, informed of his fate, immediately dried her tears,
and said, she would weep no more; she would now think of revenge. The
insult, indeed, upon her person; the stain attempted to be fixed on
her honor; the danger to which her life was exposed, on account of her
pregnancy; were injuries so atrocious and so complicated, that they
scarcely left room for pardon, even from the greatest lenity and mercy.
The assassins, apprehensive of Mary’s resentment, detained her prisoner
in the palace; and the king dismissed all who seemed willing to attempt
her rescue, by telling them, that nothing was done without his orders,
and that he would be careful of the queen’s safety. Murray and the
banished lords appeared two days after; and Mary, whose anger was now
engrossed by injuries more recent and violent, was willingly reconciled
to them; and she even received her brother with tenderness and
affection. They obtained an acquittal from parliament, and were
reinstated in their honors and fortunes. The accomplices also in
Rizzio’s murder applied to her for a pardon; but she artfully delayed
compliance, and persuaded them, that so long as she was detained in
custody, and was surrounded by guards, any deed which she should sign
would have no validity. Meanwhile she had gained the confidence of her
husband by her persuasion and caresses and no sooner were the guards
withdrawn, than she engaged him to escape with her in the night-time,
and take shelter in Dunbar. Many of her subjects here offered her their
services; and Mary, having collected an army, which the conspirators had
no power to resist, advanced to Edinburgh, and obliged them to fly
into England, where they lived in great poverty and distress. They
made applications, however, to the earl of Bothwell, a new favorite of
Mary’s; and that nobleman, desirous of strengthening his party by the
accession of their interest, was able to pacify her resentment; and he
soon after procured them liberty to return into their own country.[*]
The vengeance of the queen of Scots was implacable against her husband
alone, whose person was before disagreeable to her, and who, by his
violation of every tie of gratitude and duty, had now drawn on him her
highest resentment. She engaged him to disown all connections with the
assassins, to deny any concurrence in their crime, even to publish a
proclamation containing a falsehood so notorious to the whole world;[**]
and having thus made him expose himself to universal contempt, and
rendered it impracticable for him ever to acquire the confidence of any
party, she threw him off with disdain and indignation.[***]
* Melvil, p. 75, 76. Keith, p. 334. Knox, p, 398.
** Goodall, vol. i. p. 280. Keith, Append. p. 167.
*** Melvil, p. 66, 67.
As if she had been making an escape from him, she suddenly withdrew
to Allca, a seat of the earl of Marre’s; and when Henry followed her
thither, she suddenly returned to Edinburgh and give him every where the
strongest proofs of displeasure, and even of antipathy. She encouraged
her courtiers in their neglect of him; and she was pleased that his mean
equipage and small train of attendants should draw on him the contempt
of the very populace. He was permitted, however, to have apartments
in the Castle of Edinburgh, which Mary had chosen for the place of her
delivery. She there brought forth a son; and as this was very important
news to England, as well as to Scotland, she immediately despatched
Sir James Melvil to carry intelligence of the happy event to Elizabeth.
Melvil tells us, that this princess, the evening of his arrival in
London, had given a ball to her court at Greenwich, and was displaying
all that spirit and alacrity which usually attended her on these
occasions: but when news arrived of the prince of Scotland’s birth, all
her joy was damped: she sunk into melancholy; she reclined her head upon
her arm; and complained to some of her attendants, that the queen of
Scots was mother of a fair son, while she herself was but a barren
stock. Next day, however, at the reception of the ambassador, she
resumed her former dissimulation, put on a joyful countenance, gave
Melvil thanks for the haste he had made in conveying to her the
agreeable intelligence, and expressed the utmost cordiality and
friendship to her sister.[*] Some time after, she despatched the earl of
Bedford, with her kinsman George Gary, son of Lord Hunsdon, in order to
officiate at the baptism of the young prince; and she sent by them some
magnificent presents to the queen of Scots.
The birth of a son gave additional zeal to Mary’s partisans in
England;[**] and even men of the most opposite parties began to cry
aloud for some settlement of the succession. These humors broke out
with great vehemence in a new session of parliament, held after six
prorogations. The house of peers, which had hitherto forborne to touch
on this delicate point, here took the lead; and the house of commons
soon after imitated the zeal of the lords. Molineux opened the matter in
the lower house, and proposed, that the question of the succession
and that of supply should go hand in hand; as if it were intended
to constrain the queen to a compliance with the request of her
parliament.[***] The courtiers endeavored to elude the debate: Sir Ralph
Sadler told the house, that he had heard the queen positively affirm,
that for the good of her people she was determined to marry. Secretary
Cecil and Sir Francis Knollys gave their testimony to the same purpose;
as did also Sir Ambrose Cave, chancellor of the duchy, and Sir Edward
Rogers, comptroller of the household.[****]
* Melvil, p. 69, 70.
** Camden, p. 397.
*** D’Ewes, p. 129.
**** D’Ewes, p. 124.
Elizabeth’s ambitious and masculine character was so well known, that
few members gave any credit to this intelligence; and it was considered
merely as an artifice, by which she endeavored to retract that positive
declaration which she had made in the beginning of her reign, that she
meant to live and die a virgin. The ministers, therefore, gained nothing
further by this piece of policy, than only to engage the house, for the
sake of decency, to join the question of the queen’s marriage with that
of a settlement of the crown; and the commons were proceeding with great
earnestness in the debate, and had even appointed a committee to confer
with the lords, when express orders were brought them from Elizabeth not
to proceed further in the matter. Cecil told them, that she pledged to
the house the word of a queen for her sincerity in her intentions to
marry; that the appointment of a successor would be attended with great
danger to her person; that she herself had had experience, during the
reign of her sister, how much court was usually paid to the next heir,
and what dangerous sacrifices men were commonly disposed to make of
their present duty to their future prospects; and that she was therefore
determined to delay, till a more proper opportunity, the decision of
that important question.[*] The house was not satisfied with these
reasons, and still less with the command prohibiting them all debate
on the subject. Paul Wentworth, a spirited member, went so far as to
question whether such a prohibition were not an infringement of the
liberties and privileges of the house.[**] Some even ventured to violate
that profound respect which had hitherto been preserved to the queen;
and they affirmed, that she was bound in duty, not only to provide
for the happiness of her subjects during her own life, but also to
pay regard to their future security, by fixing a successor; that by an
opposite conduct she showed herself the step-mother, not the natural
parent of her people, and would seem desirous that England should no
longer subsist than she should enjoy the glory and satisfaction
of governing it; that none but timorous princes, or tyrants, or
faint-hearted women, ever stood in fear of their successors; and that
the affections of the people were a firm and impregnable rampart to
every sovereign, who, laying aside all artifice or by-ends, had courage
and magnanimity to put his sole trust in that honorable and sure
defence.[***] The queen, hearing of these debates, sent for the speaker;
and after reiterating her former prohibition, she bade him inform the
house, that if any member remained still unsatisfied, he might appear
before the privy council, and there give his reasons.[****]
* D’Ewes, p. 127, 128.
** D’Ewes, p. 128.
*** Camden, p. 400.
**** D’Ewes, p. 128.
As the members showed a disposition, notwithstanding these peremptory
orders, still to proceed upon the question, Elizabeth thought proper, by
a message, to revoke them, and to allow the house liberty of debate.[*]
They were so mollified by this gracious condescension, that they
thenceforth conducted the matter with more calmness and temper, and they
even voted her a supply, to be levied at three payments, of a subsidy
and a fifteenth, without annexing any condition to it.
{1567.} The queen soon after dissolved the parliament, and told them,
with some sharpness in the conclusion, that their proceedings had
contained much dissimulation and artifice; that, under the plausible
pretences of marriage and succession, many of them covered very
malevolent intentions towards her; but that, however, she reaped this
advantage from the attempts of these men, that she could now distinguish
her friends from her enemies. “But do you think,” added she, “that I am
unmindful of your future security, or will be negligent in settling the
succession? That is the chief object of my concern; as I know myself to
be liable to mortality. Or do you apprehend that I meant to encroach on
your liberties? No: it was never my meaning; I only intended to stop
you before you approached the precipice. All things have their time; and
though you maybe blessed with a sovereign more wise or more learned than
I, yet I assure you that no one will ever rule over you who shall be
more careful of your safety. And therefore, henceforward, whether I
live to see the like assembly or no, or whoever holds the reins of
government, let me warn you to beware of provoking your sovereign’s
patience, so far as you have done mine. But I shall now conclude, that,
notwithstanding the disgusts I have received, (for I mean not to part
with you in anger), the greater part of you may assure themselves that
they go home in their prince’s good graces.”[**]
Elizabeth carried further her dignity on this occasion. She had received
the subsidy without any condition; but as it was believed that the
commons had given her that gratuity with a view of engaging her to yield
to their requests, she thought proper, on her refusal, voluntarily
to remit the third payment; and she said, that money in her subjects’
purses was as good to her as in her own exchequer.[***]
* D’Ewes, p. 130.
** D’Ewes, p. 116, 117.
*** J Camden, p. 400.
But though the queen was able to elude, for the present, the
applications of parliament, the friends of the queen of Scots multiplied
every day in England; and besides the Catholics, many of whom kept
a treasonable correspondence with her, and were ready to rise at
her command,[*] the court itself of Elizabeth was full of her avowed
partisans. The duke of Norfolk, the earls of Leicester, Pembroke,
Bedford, Northumberland, Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, and most of the
considerable men in England, except Cecil, seemed convinced of the
necessity of declaring her the successor. None but the more zealous
Protestants adhered either to the countess of Hertford, or to her aunt,
Eleanor, countess of Cumberland; and as the marriage of the former
seemed liable to some objections, and had been declared invalid, men
were alarmed, even on that side, with the prospect of new disputes
concerning the succession. Mary’s behavior, also, so moderate towards
the Protestants, and so gracious towards all men, had procured her
universal respect;[**] and the public was willing to ascribe any
imprudences into which she had fallen to her youth and inexperience. But
all these flattering prospects were blasted by the subsequent incidents;
where her egregious indiscretions, shall I say, or atrocious crimes,
threw her from the height of her prosperity and involved her in infamy
and in ruin.
The earl of Bothwell was of a considerable family and power in Scotland;
and though not distinguished by any talents either of a civil or
military nature, he had made a figure in that party which opposed the
greatness of the earl of Murray and the more rigid reformers. He was
a man of profligate manners; had involved his opulent fortune in great
debts, and even reduced himself to beggary by his profuse expenses;[***]
and seemed to have no resource but in desperate counsels and
enterprises.
* Haynes, p. 446, 448.
** Melvil, p. 53, 61, 74.
*** Keith, p. 240.
He had been accused more than once of an attempt to assassinate Murray;
and though the frequency of these accusations on all sides diminish
somewhat the credit due to any particular imputation, they prove
sufficiently the prevalence of that detestable practice in Scotland, and
may in that view serve to render such rumors the more credible. This man
had of late acquired the favor and entire confidence of Mary; and all
her measures were directed by his advice and authority. Reports were
spread of more particular intimacies between them; and these reports
gained ground from the continuance, or rather increase, of her hatred
towards her husband.[*] That young prince was reduced to such a state
of desperation by the neglects which he underwent from his queen and
the courtiers, that he had once resolved to fly secretly into France or
Spain, and had even provided a vessel for that purpose.[**] Some of
the most considerable nobility, on the other hand, observing her rooted
aversion to him, had proposed some expedients for a divorce, and though
Mary is said to have spoken honorably on the occasion, and to have
embraced the proposal no further than it should be found consistent
with her own honor and her son’s legitimacy,[***] men were inclined to
believe, that the difficulty of finding proper means for effecting that
purpose, was the real cause of laying aside all further thoughts of
it. So far were the suspicions against her carried, that when Henry,
discouraged with the continual proofs of her hatred, left the court and
retired to Glasgow, an illness of an extraordinary nature, with which
he was seized immediately on his arrival in that place, was universally
ascribed by her enemies to a dose of poison, which, it was pretended,
she had administered to him.
* Melvil, p. 66, 77.
** Keith, p. 345-348.
*** Camden, p. 404. Goodall’s Queen Mary, vol. ii. p. 317.