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attended the Estates, and the clergy and lay members of the Assembly. It is its foundation on popular feeling that gives the Detection its tone of vehemence and confidence. The declaimer will not be at the trouble of going into the evidence; the thing is notorious, the public voice is filled with it.

The fallaciousness of such a test is proverbial. The atmosphere of public rumour that surrounds any marvel is sure to exaggerate and distort it. But the existence of that atmosphere is in itself an important psychological phenomenon; and of such a phenomenon we have a vivid picture in the Detection. It is a truer echo of public opinion than we can find in Knox, because it is the echo of reaction. To Knox she was a Popish Jezebel from the beginning. But Buchanan, though a zealous Protestant, had a good deal of the catholic and sceptical spirit of Erasmus, and an admiring eye for everything that was great and beautiful. Like the rest of his countrymen, he bowed himself in presence of the lustre that surrounded the early career of his mistress. More than once he

expressed his pride and reverence in the inspiration of a genius deemed by his learned contemporaries to be worthy of the theme. There is not, perhaps, to be found elsewhere in literature so solemn a memorial of shipwrecked hopes, of a sunny opening and a stormy end, as one finds in turning the leaves of the volume which contains the beautiful epigram 'Nympha Caledoniæ' in one part, the 'Detectio Mariæ Reginæ ' in another; and this contrast is no doubt a faithful parallel of the reaction in the popular mind. This reaction seems to have been general, and not limited to the Protestant party; for the conditions under which it became almost a part of the creed of the Church of Rome to believe in her innocence had not arisen.

To come back to the contents of the casket, which were first made public along with the Detection. The question of their genuineness is surrounded by doubts and disputes; but about another matter there can be no doubt -namely, that the party in power resolved to treat them as genuine, and steer their policy accordingly. She was

to be dealt with as a murderess. Whatever demands might be made on her were to be backed by the prospect of a public trial and the block. It was a tacit foreshadow of strong measures that both the English ambassador and a special envoy from the Court of France were refused access to the queen. If she was still queen, this was a deadly affront to two great powers, and there could be no way out of the difficulty but a dethronement.

The secret counsels of the confederates were not long of coming out in action. On the 23d of July the Lord Lindsay and Robert Melville set off on a memorable mission to Lochleven. They presented to the queen two documents, which she must sign: the one a renunciation of her crown in favour of her son; the other, an appointment of Murray to the office of regent during the child's minority. Several stories got afloat about what passed at this interview. It was said that Melville, who had a preliminary private interview with her, carried, concealed in the sheath of his sword, a letter from a friend, recommending her to consent to everything, as all she did while under restraint might be revoked. Another account says that Lindsay, provoked by her obstinacy, lost his temper and used violence. But Mary's was not the spirit to be broken by brute force. The influence that made her sign the deeds must have been crushing indeed. There is no doubt that the tenor of the casket letters was brought before her; indeed the first rumour of their existence was in a letter written two days afterwards by Throckmorton, stating that the confederates boasted of possessing sure evidence of her guilt. At all events the deeds were signed. Of course documents of so much moment were drawn up in the perfection of formality. They do not contain a hint of guilt or a reference to Bothwell. Any one alighting on them as they are recorded in the statutebook, without any explanation from the events of the age, might take them for the voluntary utterance of one weary of the cares of a throne, going like the Emperor Charles V. to seek consolation in the calm of monastic life. She declares the act to be done of her own free will; and of her motive to it, that, "after long, great, and in

tolerable pains and labours taken by us since our arrival within our realm for government thereof, and keeping of the lieges of the same in quietness, we have not only been vexed in our spirit, body, and senses thereby, but also at length are altogether so wearied thereof that our ability and strength of body is not able to endure the same." The deed of demission appointed, as a commission of regency in Murray's absence, the head of the house of Hamilton, Lennox, Argyle, Athole, Morton, Glencairn, and Mar. The affixing of the privy seal was wanted for these documents, but the keeper refused so to use it. This little difficulty was got over by Lindsay, who took it from him by force. The documents were ratified in Parliament, with a declaration that the prince's title was as effectual as if his mother, at the time of his coronation, "had been departed out of this mortal life."

From the date of these documents Mary Stewart ceases to appear as sovereign in the public proceedings of the realm, and the reign of King James VI. begins.

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CHAPTER XLVIII.

INTERREGNUM.

POLITICAL CONDITIONS FOLLOWING ON THE ABDICATION OF QUEEN MARY-THE CLAIMS OF THE HAMILTONS-THE CORONATION OF THE INFANT PRINCE-THE ORGANISATION OF THE REGENCYMURRAY RECALLED FROM FRANCE-HIS VISIT TO HIS SISTER-INAUGURATED AS REGENT-TAKES EDINBURGH CASTLE OUT OF BALFOUR'S HANDS-A PARLIAMENT-POSITION OF SCOTLAND TOWARDS FRANCE AND ENGLAND QUEEN ELIZABETH'S HIGH DEMANDS-THROCKMORTON SENT TO ASSERT THEM-HOW HE FARED IN HIS MISSION-CONFERENCES WITH MURRAY AND LETHINGTON -ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE HAMILTONS POPULAR FEELING ABOUT QUEEN MARY-EFFECT OF QUEEN ELIZABETH'S INTERFERENCE.

THE Confederates having disposed of their troublesome and dangerous mistress somewhat to their satisfaction, the more active spirits among them set to the task of organising a working government. There had been a great revolution in the state of Scotland. Those who have noticed in history the influence on the popular mind of such convulsive changes cannot look into the conditions attending Queen Mary's abdication without feeling them to be exceptional in the remarkable calmness of the people, and the precision of action in those who took the lead. All the arrangements were well adapted to baffle any bold ambitious man who might attempt to break in on the plans of the leaders and establish a separate interest. The abdication of the queen was carefully worded, so as to be nothing unless it transferred the crown to her

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son. It was not called an abdication, but a transfer, merely bearing that "we have demitted and renounced the office of government of this our realm and lieges thereof, in favours of our only most dear son, native prince of this our realm." The infant, fourteen months old, could neither reject nor modify this adjustment, nor could others do so in his name. The "letter of demission," as it was termed, makes provision for a regency during the minority of the king. The regent is to be our dearest brother, James, Earl of Murray." As he is furth of the kingdom, however, a provisional regency is established to act in his absence. It is to consist of Hamilton and his heir, Lennox, and several other magnates. This nomination is followed by a provision of more importance. In case Murray, on his return to Scotland, "refuse to accept the said office of regentrie upon his singular person," then he is to be one of a collective regency, consisting otherwise of the temporary_regents. This document, and the character of the transactions connected with it, give the impression that Murray had done nothing to entitle his friends to count on his acceptance of the chief power.

When those concerned in the new arrangements estimated the difficulties in their way, they thought the most formidable of these likely to arise in the claims of the house of Hamilton. That family could not forget that now only an infant stood between them and the throne. The selection of Murray as the chief ruler of the country was ominous to them. The distance between legitimacy and illegitimacy had widened since the days when the legitimacy of Robert III. was questioned and left unsettled; but statesmanship had not, like the civil law, established that a bastard was counted the child of no father.

In most of the Courts of Europe the illegitimate family took rank immediately after the legitimate, and at almost every great Court there was a prince called the Bastard. Not long time had elapsed since one of this class nearly made himself King of Spain. More astounding things than the seizure of royal power had been accomplished by

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