I. The Earl and the Queen
II. The Weaponshaw
III. The Handkerchief
IV. The Leith Wynd Porte
V. The Red Lion
VI. The Earl of Morton
VII. Morton turns Philanthropist
VIII. John of Park
IX. The Conflict in Hermitage Glen
X. The Pit of Hermitage
XI. Bothwell revives an Early Dream
XII. Alison Craig
XIII. Four Choice Spirits
XIV. The Gleewomen
XV. A Moment Long Wished For
XVI. Anna and the Queen
XVII. The Bouquet
XVIII. Jealousy without Love
XIX. Mariette and Darnley
XX. The Plot Thickens--Conference of Craigmillar
XXI. Father Tarbet
XXII. The Whisper
XXIII. The Mother and her Child
XXIV. The King's Page
XXV. In Three Hours it will be Time!
XXVI. The Old Tower of Holyrood
*BOTHWELL;*
*OR,*
*THE DAYS OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.*
*CHAPTER I.*
*THE EARL AND THE QUEEN.*
For since the time when Adam first
Embraced his Eve in happy hour!
And every bird of Eden burst
In carol, every bird and flower;
What eyes like thine have waken'd _hopes_?
What lips like thine so sweetly join'd?
Where on the double rosebud droops
The fulness of the pensive mind.
_Tennyson._
Bothwell stooped and entered; the arras closed behind him, and his rich
attire gleamed in the full flush of the noonday sun, that streamed
through a mullioned casement opposite.
He wore a coat-of-mail, the links of which were so flexible that they
incommoded him less than the velvet doublet below it. His trunks were
of black velvet, slashed with red, and trimmed with silver cord. He
wore long boots reaching to the knee. His bonnet was of blue velvet,
adorned by his crest--a silver horse's head--which sustained one tall
and aspiring ostrich feather. He wore a scarf and dagger; but French
Paris, his page, bore a handsome sword and embossed helmet a few paces
behind.
The Earl advanced to the throne, and, uncovering his round head of thick
curly hair, slightly touched the Queen's hand with his lip. Moray and
Morton exchanged another of their deep glances; for the confusion with
which he did so was evident to all save Darnley.
"A good-morning, my lord!" said the Queen in French, while bowing with a
most enchanting smile. "You are welcome among us as flowers in spring."
"Lord Earl, a fair good-day!" said Darnley and the other lords.
"I thank your grace and lordships," replied the Earl, taking his seat,
"and I crave pardon for my tardy attention to a summons that reached me
only yesterday at dawn; but I have come from Glasgow on the spur."
"'Tis well, my lord," said Mary, "for never did I stand more in need of
suit and service."
"Had I a thousand hearts, they would be at the disposal of your
Majesty!" replied the Earl with enthusiasm.
"_Prenez garde, monseigneur!_" said Mary archly; "one heart is always
enough if it is true."
The handsome noble laughed, as in duty bound; showed all his white
teeth, under a jetty mustache; and his jaunty gaiety and smiling
gallantry were quite a relief to Mary, they contrasted so forcibly with
the austere visages that every where met her eye.
"Your bride, the Lady Jane, has come to court with you, of course?"
asked the Queen.
"No, madam," replied Bothwell, with a reddening cheek; "the verity
is--she still--the reason--your majesty will excuse, but I am bidden to
bear her dutiful commendations to your grace. I left her at my house of
Bothwell."
"Ah!--in your hurry to attend our summons?"
"Exactly so--please your grace."
"My grace is much indebted to the loyalty that could so far master love
as to leave the bride of a few months. Men say she is very beautiful."
"And women deny it," added the flippant Darnley; "the best proof that
the men are right."
Bothwell, who seemed wholly intent in gazing on Mary, when she did not
perceive him, looked as if he cared very little about it.
"And men say, too," added the gay King, "that, natheless his marriage,
the Lord Bothwell is not likely to become a Carthusian"----
"Any more than King Henry," retorted the Earl, with a haughty smile.
"Oh, no!--I have still a dash of the gallant left in me."
"And a wish to assist honest burghers in their conjugal duties"----
"Being, like your majesty, somewhat neglectful of my own," added the
Earl, in a low voice.
The king, though he delighted in ribald jesting, answered only by one of
his darkest scowls; but old Lord Lindesay burst into a hoarse laugh, and
whispered to Morton--
"By my faith! but I love to see two such cocks o' the game yoked
together. Bothwell's gibe hath bitten."
"My lords," said the chancellor Morton, "with the queen's permission we
will again resume the matter in debate. Surely, among the bold peers of
Scotland, we cannot look long for one to lead the vassals of her crown
against a cock-laird of Teviotdale--a petty border-outlaw!"
"If neither the Great Constable nor the Earl Marshal will assume their
batons, then I, as Lord High Admiral of Scotland, claim the leadership!"
exclaimed Bothwell, starting up. "My kinsman, John of Bolton, will
unfurl the royal banner in the field, if the Constable of Glastre, Sir
James Scrimegeour of Dudhope, its hereditary bearer, like an obdurate
heretic or craven knight, shrinks at his sovereign's mandate. Nay,
never frown on me my Lords of Lindesay and Glencairn, for I value no
man's frown or favour a sword thrust! The vassals of the house of
Hailes are ever at the service of her majesty. My kinsmen, John of
Bolton and Hob of Ormiston, lead each a hundred lances and a hundred
arquebussiers on horseback; and I warrant their followers all stout men,
and true as Rippon rowels. I will lead three thousand of my own people
to the border, and, if need be, will hold a justice-aire that will long
be remembered through Tweedside and Teviotdale."
"_O, je vous rend mille graces!_" exclaimed Mary, who, in her sudden
bursts of enthusiasm, always preferred her darling French. "A thousand
thanks, brave Hepburn! Thou shalt be my knight, and bear my favour to
the south. But we need not thy brave vassals of Hailes, for we number
enow of the crown in their helmets, and to-morrow our sheriff and
arrayers shall show thee their various bands."
Again Bothwell knelt and kissed the hand of the queen, who glanced
furtively at her husband; and in the contrast between his inertness and
Bothwell's energy felt a glow of scorn within her which she struggled in
vain to repress. He was still coquetting with Mariette Hubert, the same
fair girl, and the Earl, whose quick eyes had followed those of Mary,
said in a low voice--
"As might be expected in the consort of one so fair, his majesty is ever
speaking of love."
"And, like the French, deems that in doing so he is making it."
"A biting jest, Marquis," said Bothwell to his friend d'Elboeuff, who
merely shrugged his shoulders, smiled gaily, and made use of his little
gold pouncet-box.
"And now, my lords, this matter, thank Heaven! is arranged," said the
Queen, rising; "and gladly will I leave this desperate game of
state-craft and policy for my ghittern and music, or a quiet ramble by
the margin of the lake. Good morning, my Lord Glencairn!--good
Lindesay, I kiss your hand! Athole, and _ma bonne soeur_, Jane of
Argyle, come, we will retire; and as the king, my husband, seems so much
better occupied, we will leave him to his reflections. My Lord of
Bothwell, favour me with your hand!"
The queen's brother, James Stuart, Earl of Moray, on seeing Darnley's
inattention, had approached and drawn off his leather glove; but on
hearing Bothwell summoned thus, he drew back with a smile on his lip,
and a shade on his open brow. He bore a deadly enmity to Bothwell, whom
he had more than once accused of designs against his life, and one deep
glance of tiger-like import was exchanged between them, as the favoured
courtier took Mary's snow-white hand in his, and led her to the hall
door, where, between the marshalled ranks of a band of archers, and
surrounded by the ladies of her court, with all their jewellery and
embroidery glittering in the sunlight, she swept gracefully from that
lofty chamber, and the heavy arras, which fair Queen Margaret had worked
in the hours of her widowhood, closed like a curtain over the pageant as
it passed away.
Mary, accompanied by her sister, the Countess of Argyle, Bothwell's
sister-in-law, Elizabeth, Countess of Athole, and other ladies of rank,
and attended by the handsome Earl, with his gay friend the Marquis
d'Elboeuff, and Monsieur le Crocq, whom, as Frenchmen, he preferred to
the morose and turbulent nobles of the court, promenaded among the
terraces, the blooming parterres, and green hedgerows of the palace
garden, through the leafy openings of which bright glimpses were
obtained of the blue loch, with its shining bosom, dotted by white swans
and dusky flocks of the water-ouzel.
The singing of birds filled the air with music, as the parterres did
with perfume. All the flowers of summer were in their glory, and the
white and purple lilac, with the golden blossoms of the laburnum,
drooped over them. The sky was clear, and all of a deep cerulean blue,
and in its sunshine the tints of the distant hills were mellowed to hues
of the sapphire and the amethyst.
The spirits of the queen (freed from the cares of her troublesome state,
and the thrall of her capricious husband) became buoyant with that
delight so natural to her; and then her Parisian gaiety, the splendour
of her wit, and the winning vivacity of her manner, came forth in all
their power.
Her eyes alternately swam and sparkled with joy; her cheek flushed; and
her merry laugh rang like music in the ear of Bothwell, who walked by
her side.
A spell had fallen upon him!
With every wish to excel in her eyes, and to surpass himself in the art
of conversation and gallantry, he found every attempt at either almost
futile. An incubus weighed upon him; he was sad, irresolute, and
anxious. Sad, because this interview with the beautiful Mary, had called
up all the first hopes of his heart from the oblivion to which he had
committed them; for many a year ago, when, in the first flush of her
girlhood, he had dared to love the betrothed bride of Francis II. with
the same deep and passionate fondness that drove Chatelard to
destruction, and young Arran to madness: irresolute, because he dared
not now to nourish such sentiments, yet found the impossibility of
repressing them: and anxious, because the memory of his double
matrimonial engagement pressed hardly and uneasily on his mind.
He strove to crush his rash thoughts and bitter regrets; but they would
come--again and again.
He endeavoured to converse with the ladies of new coifs and Florence
kirtles--to the French ambassador of the policy of Charles IX.--to the
Marquis d'Elboeuf of the intrigues of Catherine de Medicis and Margaret
of Valois--to Huntly of Moray's wiles and Morton's villanies; but he
invariably found himself where he was before--by the side of Mary,
listening to her musical voice, and gazing, with his old feeling of
adoration, on her bright and sunny eyes, and her braided hazel hair,
that gleamed in the noonday's sunshine.
And now, incited by the lingering love of other days, the demons of a
more dangerous ambition than he before had ever dared to dream of, began
for the first time to pour their insidious whispers in his ear, and
Bothwell found that he was----lost.
*CHAPTER II.*
*THE WEAPONSHAW.*
_Charmion_------I found him
Encompass'd round, I think with iron statues;
So mute, so motionless his soldiers stood;
While awfully he cast his eyes about,
And every leader's hopes and fears survey'd.
_All for Love._
Next day the great quadrangle of the palace of Linlithgow, and the lawn
before its gates, presented a scene of unusual bustle.
Few edifices of that age, in Scotland, surpass this building in
architectural beauty. Its richly-carved archway was surmounted on the
inside by a cluster of gothic niches, containing statues, of which the
defaced image of the Virgin now alone remains. Three tiers of mullioned
windows, all of beautiful workmanship, rich with cusping and stained
glass, overlooked this side of the quadrangle, the summit of which was
crowned by a beautiful battlement; on the other, were the
deeply-recessed and heavily-arched windows of the ancient Parliament
hall. One half of this noble court was involved in cold shadow; the
pointed casements and fretted stone-work of the other were shining in
warm light, as the morning sun poured down its rays aslant over the
varied parapets, the carved chimneys, and loftier towers, that flanked
the angles of this great edifice, which, in its aspect, had much more of
the cheerful summer palace than any other residence of the Scottish
kings. The royal standard was waving on the highest tower; the Archer
Guard, in all their bravery, were drawn up beside the gate of James IV.,
where there were heralds and pursuivants in their gorgeous tabards and
plumed caps, pages bearing swords and helmets, and clad in all the
colours of the rainbow; swashbucklers and other retainers of the feudal
nobles, variously armed, and still more variously attired, wearing in
their blue bonnets or steel caps the badges of their lords--the ivy of
the house of Huntly, the myrtle of Argyle, or the holly of Tullybardine.
These loitered about in groups, together with peddies and horse-boys,
holding the champed bridles of steeds caparisoned for war, in massive
trappings of steel and brocade.
The gaiety of this scene made Linlithgow seem so merry, as its old walls
and countless casements gleamed in the sunshine, that the lookers-on
forgot the gloomier adjuncts of that magnificent pile, where, deep down
at the base of narrow stairs, are chambers, vaulted, dark, and damp.
Never a ray of light penetrated to the wretch whom fate imprisoned
there, though the water fell unceasingly from the stalactites of the
roof, and from the slimy walls. Yet, further down beneath all these,
lay the oubliette, the only entrance to which is by a narrow orifice,
through which the doomed captive was lowered, feet foremost, into that
pit from which he was never to be exhumed. In the centre of one of
these terrible vaults, were found some years ago, a number of human
bones, and a mass of hideous unctuous matter; but of the fate of those
poor beings whose last remains these were, history and tradition are
alike silent, and leave the imagination to brood over episodes of
visionary horror!
But to return.
The old walls shone joyously in the summer sunshine, and many a fair and
many a happy face appeared at the open casements; the beautiful stone
fountain in the centre (a miracle of carving) was flowing with wine and
ale, and a coronal of flowers wreathed the imperial crown that
surmounted it.
The gravelled court was crowded with the vassals of the crown.
The Sheriff of Linlithgow and the Earl Marischal, both completely armed,
save their heads, with certain captains of the queen's bands, were
arraying them under arms--_i.e._, in modern parlance "calling the roll,"
and seeing that each proprietor, as summoned by his tenure, had brought
his proper quota of men-at-arms on foot and horseback, all properly
accoutred according to the acts of Parliament. Every lord, knight, and
baron, possessing a hundred pounds of yearly rent, was clad in bright
armour, "and weaponed effeirand to his honour;" each gentleman,
unlanded, and yeoman, had a jack of plate with a halkrike, splints,
helmet, and pesane. Their spears, "stark and long, six elnes of
length," with Leith axes, halberds, crossbows, culverins, and two-handed
swords, completed their equipment.
The various weapons were all flashing in the sunshine, while the
standards rustled as the henchman of each baron, with a bull-dog aspect
of surly defiance and pride, unfurled to the wind his embroidered
banner, which displayed armorial bearings won in many a well-fought
field and desperate foray. But the most important feature in this
display was made by John Chisholm, comptroller of Her Majesty's
Ordnance, who had under his orders a band of cannoniers, armed with
swords and daggers, and clad in salades and pesanes of steel, with plate
sleeves, scarlet hose, and rough buskins. These managed two great
culverins, "with their calmes, bullettes, and pellokis of lead or irone,
and powder convenient thereto," and all prepared for the especial behoof
of those strong and masterful thieves, the lairds of Park, Buccleuch,
and Cessford.
Mounted on a beautiful roan steed, which was armed with a spiked
frontlet of polished steel, and had a plume of feathers dancing on its
proud head, from a tube between the ears, a jointed criniere to defend
the mane, and an embossed poitronal or breastplate, Bothwell dashed into
the quadrangle, at full gallop, with his visor up, and, kissing the tip
of his gauntlet to the Earl Marischal, reined in beside him, checking
the fire of his horse by one touch of the bridle.
His armour was a suit of Italian plate, profusely gilt in that gorgeous
fashion which was then becoming common, as knights were perceiving that
the ponderous armour of the middle ages was unsuited for modern warfare;
and consequently they adopted light and magnificent suits, descending
only to the thighs, which were defended by large trunk hose, well puffed
out with buckram and bombast. He wore white funnel boots furnished with
large Rippon spurs, having rowels that would pierce a shilling.
In these ages, the spurs denoted the wearer's rank; those of the knight
were of gold; those of the squire were of silver; the yeoman's were of
iron; and it was the fashion to make them clink and jingle when walking.
The Earl of Bothwell wore a pair of plain steel, for Rippon spurs were
the most famous of all. A pair ordered for James VI., cost five pounds
sterling of his coinage.
"How many tall fellows hast thou under harness, my Lord Marischal?"
asked Bothwell.
"About three thousand and fourscore," replied the Earl, consulting a
roll; "but none of the Lennox-men are present."
"Wherefore so?" asked the Earl, whose cheek reddened with anger.
"Tush!" replied the Marischal of Scotland; "dost thou imagine they would
follow other banner than that of Earl Mathew, or the King, his son?"
"The laird of Hartshaw--a Stuart--is here, I perceive."
"With thirteen good men, well horsed, and armed with steel bonnets,
swords, and pistolettes."
"And Stuart of Darnholm?"
"Nay, he hath sent only his bailie with twelve men-at-arms on foot, and
as many on horseback, all weaponed conform to the harness act. Dost
think a Stuart will follow a Hepburn?"
"A Stuart may follow many worse, but few better. Dost thou gibe me,
Earl Marischal?"
"Nay, Heaven forbid!" said the old noble hastily; "but in this thou
seest the morbid jealousy of the house of Lennox. Darnley declines to
lead his vassals to the field; but thinkest thou he will permit their
being led by another? Thy friends, the knights of Ormiston and Bolton,
have not as yet come in with their lances."
"Ha--my own people, sayest thou!" exclaimed Bothwell, as, shading his
eyes with his hand, he gazed keenly along the glittering files, which
were arrayed on the sunny side of the quadrangle. "_They_ are not wont
to lag when blows are expected; and, by St. Bothan! yonder they come! I
see steel glittering among the copsewood."
Under two knights' pennons, a band of horsemen, with their steel caps
and corselets, and the bright points of their long spears flashing in
the sun, came at a hand-gallop up the ascent which led to the palace
gate; appearing and disappearing as the road wound between thickets of
the summer foliage.
"I know not whose the blue pennon is," said the Earl Marischal; "but the
other pertaineth to Sir James of Drumlanrig. I surely discern his
winged-heart and horses argent."
"Thou art mistaken!" replied the Earl; "these are my kinsmen, John of
Bolton, and Ormiston of Ormiston; seest thou not his great banner
argent, with three red pelicans feeding their young? Gallant Hob! the
spiders will never spin their webs on thy pennon. Well met, fair sirs!"
he added, as the train lowered their long lances, and passed under the
low-browed archway into the palace yard. "In what case art thou this
morning, Hob?"
"A steel one, as thou seest. Mass! but I am thirsty as a dry ditch with
my morning ride. But, lo! yonder cometh the queen's grace and her
ladies," said Ormiston, as all the lances were lowered, and there was a
ruffling on the kettle drums.
Mary and the ladies of her court appeared at one of the large windows
overlooking the quadrangle, where they waved their handkerchiefs, and
bowed and smiled gaily, to those whom they recognised among the crowd
below.
"That beautiful being!" said Bothwell, gazing on her with admiration;
"shines like a sun among lesser stars."
"By cock and pie! her ladies are like a parterre of roses in the glory
and sunshine of summer."
"His lordship's poetry is infectious," said young Bolton, with a laugh;
"is not yonder dame in scarlet the Lady Herries of Terreagles?"
"Ah! the old Roman! she looks like a kettle-drum with a standard round
it. Dost thou not see she is counting her beads under her fardingale?"
"My lord--if Master Knox were to see her"----
"Or the old Prior of Blantyre, Hob. See, he is still wearing his cap
and cassock, as if the act of 1560 had never passed. 'Tis said he
carries the kiss of Judas in a box."
"Enough of this irreverence, sirs; for such discourse beseemeth neither
the place nor the persons," said the old Earl Marischal gravely, with
that severe aspect which he had assumed since (by the retired life he
was wont to lead at his Keep of Dunnotar) the commonalty had named him
William-in-the-Tower.
"His Majesty the King!" muttered a number of voices, as Darnley,
sheathed completely in a suit of the richest Florentine armour, so
profusely gilded and studded with nails and bosses, that little of the
polished steel was visible, rode into the courtyard. He was attended by
the Marquis d'Elboeuf, who was similarly accoutred; Monsieur le Crocq,
the ambassadors of Spain and Savoy; and several gentlemen of the Lennox.
Again there was a ruffling of kettle-drums, a lowering of lances and
pennons, and then the hum died away.
The housings of his horse, which had been magnificently embroidered by
the queen and her ladies, bore the royal arms of Scotland, quartered
with the saltire engrailed, and the four roses of Lennox.
"Excuse me, my lord," said the Marischal, riding off; "I must confer
with his Majesty."
"He means the Lord Darnley," said Bothwell, with a bitter smile. "Shame
on the hour that Scottish men made yonder gilded doll their king!"
"Humph!" said Ormiston, suspiciously; "art thou jealous?"
"If it should so happen," observed the Earl, in a low voice, "that he
were to die, what wouldst thou think of me as a husband for the queen?"
"Burn my beard! what--thou?"
"By the blessed Jupiter!" continued the other, half in earnest and half
in jest; "she might find a worse spouse than James Hepburn of Bothwell."
"_Where?_" asked Ormiston, pithily.