Although Mr. Cosh, at p. 248. of his admirable work on _The Method of
Divine Government_, observes on the rapidity with which females descend
to the depths of sin, the old apothegm, "Nemo repenti turpissimus fuit,"
recurs when thinking of Mary Queen of Scots, and leads me to ask the
following question. Permit me to preface it with a remark. Mary is
represented by all contemporary and subsequent writers to have been,
from her earliest years to the death of Darnley, worthily beloved for
her amiable qualities of heart and her superiority of intellect, and
then to have fallen suddenly into an abyss of sin and wickedness,
comprising domestic treason, murder, perjury, the subornation of
perjurers, adultery, the conniving at divorce without adequate grounds,
and all the other crimes connected with such proceedings; and then,
after fifteen months of such a desperate course, to have risen to her
former elevation, and have passed the remainder of her life with
dignity, calmness, resignation, and in the habitual exercise of sincere
piety, and to have met her death with a degree of heroism which has
secured the admiration of posterity, and strengthened the doubts of her
being guilty of the crimes imputed to her. The whole controversy, from
Buchanan to Bell, is, I take for granted, known to your readers. Your
publication is not the place suited to an examination of such mental
operations, which are without a historical prototype, and without a
known parallel. If any light can be thrown on any part of this subject,
it becomes an act of historical justice, a work of Christian charity to
Mary, and an illustration of the workings of the mind in a great
emergency.
The late Chevalier Bronsted, of whose learning and accuracy his
archæological works bear record, and whose straightforward simplicity of
mind was highly estimated by all who knew him, had read in manuscript
the second part of the confession of Bothwell, made previous to his
death. I think the manuscript was in the private cabinet of the King of
Denmark. In that confession he owned to have _violated_ the person of
Mary, and that she became enceinte; that she miscarried, and immediately
took measures to rid herself of him. Concluding that event to have
transpired, there seems to be some clue to her forwarding the discussion
of her council, and acquiescing in their request to marry Bothwell. A
young queen, surrounded by ruffians, barbarians, and selfish and
unprincipled leaders of factions, placed in a situation in which every
feeling of the woman was outraged, every sentiment lacerated, her
honour, her station, her life in jeopardy, her memory liable to
degradation and disgrace, in terror, having in such extremity no friend
to whom she could apply for advice and succour, she may have been
induced to adopt means for her safety which, if injudicious, were
excusable. My request is, to learn if any of your correspondents have
seen or are cognisant of this very curious and important document.