Consents, however, to do so. § XXXIV. The accusation against her. XXXV. Her defence. § XXXVI. Sentence against her. § XXXVII. Irregularities in the trial. XXXVIII. The parliament confirm the sentence, and demand the execution of it. XXXIX. Elizabeth's dissimulation. § XL. France interposes feebly in behalf of Mary. § XLI. James endeavours to save his mother's life. § XLII. The sentence against Mary published. § XLIII. She is treated with the utmost rigour. § XLIV. James renews his solicitations in her behalf. § XLV. Elizabeth's anxiety and dissimulation. § XLVI. Warrant for Mary's execution signed. XLVII. Mary's behaviour at her death. XLVIII. § Sentiments of historians concerning her. § XLIX. Her character. § L. Elizabeth affects to lament Mary's death. § LI. Elizabeth endeavours to sooth James. § LII. Disgrace of the master of Gray. LIII. The king attempts to unite the nobles. § LIV. General annexation of church lands. LV. Lesser barons admitted into parliament by their representatives. LVI. The approach of the Spanish Armado. LVII. Conduct of James on that occasion. LVIII. A national covenant in defence of religion. LIX. The Armado defeated. § LX. Philip's intrigues in Scotland.-Popish nobles conspire against the king. LXI. The king's maxims with regard to popery. § LXII. His excessive lenity to the conspirators. LXIII. The king's marriage with Anne of Denmark. § I. WHILE Scotland was torn by intestine factions, Elizabeth was alarmed with the rumour of a project in agitation for setting Mary at liberty. Francis Throkmorton, a Cheshire gentleman, was suspected of being deeply concerned in the design, and on that suspicion he was taken into custody. Among his papers were found two lists, one of the principal harbours in the kingdom, with an account of their situation, and of the depth of water in each; the other, of all the eminent Roman catholics in England. This circumstance confirmed the suspicion against him, and some dark and desperate conspiracy was supposed just ready to break out. At first he boldly avowed his innocence, and declared that the two papers were forged by the queen's ministers, in order to intimidate or ensnare him; and he even endured the rack with the utmost fortitude. But being brought a second time to the place of torture, his resolution failed him, and he not only acknowledged that he had held a secret correspondence with the queen of Scots, but discovered a design that was formed to invade England. The duke of Guise, he said, undertook to furnish troops, and to conduct the enterprise. The pope and king of Spain were to supply the money necessary for carrying it on; all the English exiles were ready to take arms; many of the catholics at home would be ready to join them at their landing; Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador, who was the life of the conspiracy, spared no pains in fomenting the spirit of disaffection among the English, or in hastening the preparations on the continent; and by his command he made the two lists, the copies whereof had been found in his possession. This confession he retracted at his trial; returned to it again after sentence was passed upon him; and retracted it once more at the place of execution.* § II. To us in the present age, who are assisted in forming our opinion of this matter by the light which time and history have thrown upon the designs and characters of the princes of Guise, many circumstances of Throkmorton's confession appear to be extremely remote from truth, or even from probability. The duke of Guise was, at that juncture, far from being in a situation to undertake foreign conquests. Without either power or office at court; hated by the king, and persecuted by the favourites; he had no leisure for any thoughts of disturbing the quiet of neighbouring states; his vast and ambitious mind was wholly occupied in laying the foundation of that famous league which shook the throne of France. But at the time when Elizabeth detected this conspiracy, the close union between the house of Guise and Philip was remarkable to all Europe; and as their great enterprise against Henry III. was not yet disclosed, as they endeavoured to conceal that under their threatenings to invade England, Throkmorton's discovery appeared to be extremely probable; and Elizabeth, who knew how ardently *Hollingshed, 1370. all the parties mentioned by him wished her downfal, thought that she could not guard her kingdom with too much care. The indiscreet zeal of the English exiles increased her fears. Not satisfied with incessant outcries against her severity towards the Scottish queen, and her cruel persecution of her catholic subjects, not thinking it enough that one pope had threatened her with the sentence of excommunication, and another had actually pronounced it, they now began to disperse books and writings, in which they endeavoured to persuade their disciples, that it would be a. meritorious action to take away her life; they openly exhorted the maids' of honour to treat her as Judith did Holofernes, and, by such an illustrious deed, to render their own names honourable and sacred in the church throughout all future ages.* For all these reasons, Elizabeth not only inflicted the punishment of a traitor on Throkmorton, but commanded the Spanish ambassador instantly to leave England; and that she might be in no danger of being attacked within the island, she determined to use her utmost efforts, in order to recover that influence over the Scottish councils, which she had for some time entirely lost. III. There were three different methods by which Elizabeth might hope to accomplish this; either by furnishing such effectual aid to the banished nobles, as would enable them to resume the chief direction of affairs; or by entering into such a treaty with Mary, as might intimidate her son, who being now accustomed to govern, would not be averse from agreeing to any terms rather than resign the sceptre, or admit an associate in the throne; or by gaining the earl of Arran, to secure the direction of the king his masThe last was not only the easiest and speediest, but most likely to be successful. This Elizabeth resolved to pursue; but without laying the other two altogether aside. With this view she sent Davidson, one of her principal secretaries, a man of abilities and address, into Scotland. minister so venal as Arran, hated by his own countrymen, and holding his power by the most precarious of all tenures, the favour of a young prince, accepted Elizabeth's offers ter. * Camd. 497. A without hesitation, and deemed the acquisition of her protection to be the most solid foundation of his own greatness. Soon after he consented to an interview with lord Hunsdon, the governor of Berwick, and being honoured with the pompous title of lieutenant-general for the king, he appeared at the place appointed with a splendid train.* In Hunsdon's presence he renewed his promises of an inviolable and faithful attachment to the English interest, and assured him that James should enter into no negotiation which might tend to interrupt the peace between the two kingdoms; and as Elizabeth began to entertain the same fears and jealousies concerning the king's marriage, which had formerly disquieted her with regard to his mother's, he undertook to prevent James from listening to any overture of that kind, until he had previously obtained the queen of England's consent.† § IV. The banished lords and their adherents soon felt the effects of Arran's friendship with England. As Elizabeth had permitted them to take refuge in her dominions, and several of her ministers were of opinion that she ought to employ her arms in defence of their cause, the fear of this was the only thing which restrained James and his favourite from proceeding to such extremities against them, as might have excited the pity or indignation of the English, and have prompted them to exert themselves with vigour in their behalf. But every apprehension of this kind being now removed, they ventured to call a parliament, in which an act was passed, attainting Angus, Mar, Glamis, and a great number of their followers. Their estates devolved to the crown, and according to the practice of the Scottish monarchs, who were obliged to reward the faction which adhered to them, by dividing with it the spoils of the vanquished, James dealt out the greater part of these to Arran and his associates. Nor was the treatment of the clergy less rigourous. All ministers, readers, and professors in colleges, were enjoined * August 13. Cald. iii. 491. Melv. 315. Sec Append. No. X. to subscribe, within forty days, a paper testifying their approbation of the laws concerning the church enacted in last parliament. Many, overawed or corrupted by the court, yielded obedience; others stood out. The stipends of the latter were sequestered, some of the more active committed to prison, and numbers compelled to fly the kingdom. Such as complied, fell under the suspicion of acting from mercenary or ambitious motives. Such as adhered to their principles, and suffered in consequence of it, acquired high reputation, by giving this convincing evidence of their firmness and sincerity. The judicatories of the church were almost entirely suppressed. In some places scarce as many ministers remained, as to perform the duties of religious worship; they soon sunk in reputation among the people, and being prohibited not only from discoursing of public affairs, but obliged, by the jealousy of the administration, to frame every sentiment and expression in such a manner as to give the court no offence, their sermons were deemed languid, insipid, and contemptible; and it became the general opinion, that together with the most virtuous of the nobles and the most faithful of the clergy, the power and vigour of religion were now banished out of the kingdom.* Meanwhile, Elizabeth was carrying on one of those fruitless negotiations with the queen of Scots, which it had become almost matter of form to renew every year. They served not only to amuse that unhappy princess with some prospect of liberty; but furnished an apology for eluding the solicitations of foreign powers in her behalf; and were of use to overawe James, by shewing him that she could at any time set free a dangerous rival to dispute his authority. These treaties she sufferd to proceed to what length she pleased, and never wanted a pretence for breaking them off, when they became no longer necessary. The treaty now on foot was not, perhaps, more sincere than many which preceded it; the reasons, however, which rendered it ineffectual were far from being frivolous. V. As Crichton, a jesuit, was sailing from Flanders towards Scotland, the ship on board of which he was a passenger Cald. iii. 589, |