would be gone for ever. Randolph told her she was 'abused.' She threatened that if the English Parliament meddled with the rights either of herself or of Darnley, she would seek friends elsewhere,' and would not fail to find them. Randolph knew Mary well and knew her manner. He saw that she was hesitating, and he once more attempted expostulation. The Queen of England,' he truly said, had been her kindest friend. She might have compelled her to ratify the Treaty of Edinburgh; but she had passed it over; she had defended her claims when the Scotch succession had not another supporter; unless she had taken the crown from off her own head and given it to her, she could have done no more than she had done.' Mary appeared to be moved. She asked if nothing could induce Elizabeth to allow her marriage with Lord Darnley. Randolph replied that after the attitude which she had assumed, the conditions would be stringent. A declaration would have to be made by herself and the Scotch Parliament that she made no pretensions to the English crown during the life of Elizabeth or her children; she must restore to her council the Protestant noblemen with whom she had quarrelled; and she must conform to the religion established by law in Scotland.2 1 It is interesting to observe how | qui est aujourdhuy au Royaulme, et the current of the Reformation had en ce faysant recoyve, en sa bonne swept Elizabeth forward in spite of grace, et en leur premier estat ceulx herself. qu'elle a aliené d'elle; et qu'elle luy 2 Qu'elle entretienne la religion | face declaration, autorisée par son It was to ask Mary Stuart to sacrifice ambition, pride, revenge—every object for which she was mating herself with the paltry boy who was the cause of the disturbance. She said she would make no merchandise of her conscience.' Randolph requested in Elizabeth's name that she would do no injury to the Protestant lords who were her 'good subjects.' She replied that Elizabeth might call them 'good subjects;' she had found them bad subjects, and as such she meant to treat them. The turn of Lennox and Darnley came next. The ambassador communicated Elizabeth's commands to them, and demanded a distinct answer whether they would obey or not. Lennox, to whom age had taught some lessons of moderation, replied that he was sorry to offend; but that he might not and durst not go. He with some justice might plead a right to remain; for he was a born Scot and was living under his first allegiance. Darnley, like a child who has drifted from the shore in a tiny pleasure boat, his sails puffed out with vanity, and little dreaming how soon he would be gazing back on England with passionate and despairing eyes, replied 'that he acknowledged no duty or obedience save to the Queen of Scots,' whom he served and honoured; and seeing,' he continued, that the other your mistress is so envious of my good fortune, I doubt not but she may also have need of me, as you shall know within few days; Parlement qu'elle ne pretend rien au Foix au Roy, August 12: TEULET, Royaulme d'elle, ne de sa posterité.' | vol. ii. -Analyse d'une depêche de M. de wherefore to return I intend not; I find myself very well where I am, and so I purpose to keep me; and this shall be for your answer.' 'You have much forgotten your duty, sir, in such despiteful words,' Randolph answered; it is neither discreetly spoken of you nor otherwise to be answered by me than that I trust to see the wreck and overthrow of as many as are of the same mind.’ So saying, the stout servant of Elizabeth turned on his heel without reverence or farewell.'1 Elizabeth's attitude and Randolph's language were as menacing as possible. But experience had taught Mary Stuart that between the threats and the actions of the Queen of England there was always a period of irresolution; and that with prompt celerity she might crush the disaffection of Scotland while her more dangerous enemy was making up her mind. She filled Edinburgh with the retainers of Lennox and Huntly; she summoned Murray to appear and prove his accusations against Darnley under pain of being declared a traitor; she sent a message through de Silva to Philip that her subjects had risen in insurrection against her with the support of the Queen of England to force her to change her religion; and interpreting the promise of three months' delay, which she had made to Throgmorton as meaning a delay into the third month, she resolved to close one element of the controversy and place the marriage itself beyond debate. On the evening of the 28th of July Edinburgh 1 Randolph to Cecil, July 21: Cotton. MSS. CALIG. B. 10. was informed by trumpet and proclamation that the Queen of Scots having determined to take to herself as her husband Henry Earl of Ross and Albany, the said Henry was thenceforth to be designated King of Scotland, and in all acts and deeds his name would be associated with her own.1 The crowd listened in silence. A single voice cried 'God save his Grace!' but the speaker was Lennox. The next day, July the 29th, being Sunday, while the drowsy citizens of Edinburgh were still in their morning sleep, Mary Stuart became the wife of Darnley. The ceremony took place in the royal chapel just after sunrise. It was performed by a Catholic priest, and with the usual Catholic rites; the Queen for some strange reason appearing at the altar in a mourning dress of black velvet, such as she wore the doleful day of the burial of her husband.' Whether it was an accidentwhether the doom of the House of Stuart haunted her at that hour with its fatal foreshadowings-or whether simply for a great political purpose she was doing an act which in itself she loathed, it is impossible to tell; but that black drapery struck the spectators with a cold uneasy awe. But such dreamy vanities were soon forgotten. The deed was done which Elizabeth had forbidden. It re 1 The title was a mere sound. | knew. But Darnley was impatient The crown matrimonial could be for the name of king; "He would conferred only by Act of Parliament; in no case have it deferred a day,' nor would Mary Stuart share the and the Queen was contented to reality of her power with a raw boy humour him. whose character she imperfectly mained to be seen to what extremity Elizabeth in her resentment would be provoked. The lords had been long waiting at Stirling for a sign from Berwick; but no sign came, and when the moment of extremity arrived Bedford had no definite orders. They remembered 1559, when they had been encouraged by similar promises to rebel, and when Elizabeth had trifled with her engagements so long and so dangerously. Elizabeth had given her word; but it was an imperfect security; and the uncertainty produced its inevitable effect in disheartening and dividing them. Though your intent be never so good to us,' Randolph wrote to Leicester on the 31st of July, yet we fear your delay that our ruin shall prevent your support; when council is once taken nothing is so needful as speedy execution: upon this we wholly depend; in her Majesty's hands it standeth to save our lives or suffer us to perish; greater honour her Majesty cannot have than that which lieth in her power to do for us.' "1 While the Congregation were thus held in suspense, Mary Stuart was all fire, energy, and resolution. She understood at once that Elizabeth was hesitating; she knew that she had little to fear from Argyle and Murray until they were supported in force from England; and leaving no time for faction to disintegrate her own supporters or for the Queen of England to make up her mind, she sent letters to the noblemen on whom she could rely, desiring them to meet her in arms at Edinburgh on the 9th of August. August. 1 WRIGHT'S Elizabeth, vol. i. |