Memoirs of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland

Front matter

MEMOIRS OF MARY STUART. VOL. 1. LONDON : PRINTED BY Et. CLAY, BREAD STREET HILL. ■ . . . . . MEMOIRS OF MARY STUART, QUEEN OF SCOTLAND. by L. STANHOPE F. BUCKINGHAM. Tis slander; Whose breath is sharper than the sword ; "whose tongue Outvenoras all the worms of Nile ; whose breath Rides on the posting winds. Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET IBublisfirr in ©rtinan? to jh.er jWajcstp. 184+. TO SIR CHARLES FORBES, BART. A DESCENDANT OF ONE OF THE BRAVE DEFENDERS OJ- MARY STUART, AND A TRUE AND UNFLINCHING FRIEND TO THE INNOCENT AND OPPRESSED, Œf)ts Sfia.rfe is 3Jnscrik&, WITH GRATEFUL AND AFFECTIONATE RESPECT, BY HIS SINCERE AND FAITHFUL FRIEND, THE AUTHOR. London, December, 18-13.

Preface

. The selection of a subject — confessedly one of the most deeply intricate in the whole range of historical study — and the discussion of dark and doubtful questions which have already engaged the attention, and, in some cases, baffled the penetration, of the most learned writers our nation has ever produced, seem to bear so very distinctly the stamp of vanity and presumption, that I fear I shall be thought to have called down upon myself the severest lashes of the critic, by the apparent self-sufficiency of the attempt. But a few words of explanation will, perhaps, be sufficient to show that vanity has not been the motive which has induced me to come forward as a vindicator of Mary Stuart. It is now not quite two years ago since my attention was first particularly drawn to the

PREFACE.

. minute investigation of the history of the Scot tish Queen. Her name, — deep and romantic as must be the interest attached to it in the mind of every one, from the miseries and sufferings of her latter days, — was yet veiled in my mind beneath a gloomy cloud ; for the perusal of the popular histories of the last century, remote from any means of ascertaining the accuracy of their details, had impressed me with a strong conviction of her participation in those enormous crimes with which her name has been connected, and time and inclination had both been wanting to enter into the details of the controversy respecting her fame. But, about that period, a casual discussion, on a very unimportant point connected with a por tion of her career, led me to consult the reference of Hume, and to endeavour to verify the narrative of that historian by the production of the authority upon which he appeared to rest the accuracy of his assertion ; and the astonishment was truly great which followed the discovery that the pretended reference in no degree substantiated the statement of the text. My confidence once shaken, I was induced, with that insensible progression

PREFACE.

. IX which often leads the mind on in a train of enquiry far beyond its first intent, to follow up my discovery by subsequent investigations ; and a few elucidated errors served so greatly as an incentive to further study, that I soon found myself immersed in the most minute portions of the Marian controversy. The possession at that period of ample leisure alone enabled me to pursue, with success and pleasure, a course of research which involved the perusal of a very extensive range of controversial writings ; and the thought often flashed across my mind, that a personal Memoir of the Scottish Queen, embracing, what none had done before, the essence of that long and vehement controversy, which has been carried on with so much ardour almost ever since the days in which she lived, (and the correct understanding of the merits of which is indispensable to the formation of a true estimate of her character,) would not fail to be valuable and attractive. The interest which the history of Mary Stuart possesses, is so universal in its nature, that few are without a desire to become acquainted with X

PREFACE.

. the data upon which their estimate of her charac ter may be founded. With the view of placing such within the reach of those who are not inclined to wade through ponderous volumes, and attempting to combine together, it is believed, for the first time, the personal incidents of Mary's remarkable and romantic career, and the important points of the controversy with regard to the murder of her husband, this work has been undertaken. I am prepared to hear it urged, as it has been often urged before, that the attempt, at so remote a period, to vindicate the fair fame of a woman and a Queen, whose guilt or innocence affects so little the present generation, is worthy to be stigmatised as quixotic ; but I am free to confess that it will be to me an ample reward to have rescued, in the minds of some, an innocent and persecuted woman, from calumny and slander.

A few words are necessary with regard to the portraits which embellish the present Memoir. For the one, representing the Queen of Scots in the gay and happy days of her early sojourn at the French Court, I am indebted to the kind-

PREFACE.

. XI ness of Miss Louisa Stuart Costello, (whose graceful productions in illustration of some of the most romantic portions of a neighbouring kingdom, " The Bocages and the Vines," and " A Pilgrimage to Auvergne," are so well known,) who very oblig ingly allowed the use of a copy made by herself, — with the permission of the Duke of Devonshire. His Grace's ready patronage of literature and art is so universally acknowledged, as to make it almost a work of supererogation to express gratitude for his prompt liberality and generous condescension. The original is at Hardwicke Hall. The other, portraying Mary at a later period of her life, when her many and unequalled sorrows had in some measure dimmed the lustre of her early beauty, is taken from a picture, possessing a very high historical interest, and having, at the same time, claims to authenticity beyond any other that has been yet produced ; being copied, by per mission, from a miniature in oil by Zucchero, at present in the Medal Room of the British Museum ; in which place it was deposited by the Dowager Countess of Warwick, accompanied by the following attestation, in her own hand : —

PREFACE.

. " An original Portrait of Mary Queen of Scots, painted by Zucchero, in oil and on metal, (shape round, 2 in. § diameter.) Memd™. That this Por trait was given, on the 21st day of May, 1792, by the C,s Dowr Brooke and Cts Dowr of Warwick to the Trustees of the British Musæiun, (Montague House, Bloomsburv,) in order and for purpose that this said Portrait shall be kept and safely preserved in the same Musæum, as likewise to have it on record to have been her gift ; having desire to leave testimony from this instance of her sentiments, by the value she attaches to the Portrait above specified ; and the more especially as it was bestowed by her Majesty on one of the ancestors of the present Donor of it to the Trustees of the British Musæum. Elizabeth Douglas Hamilton Cts Dowr Brooke and C'6 Dowr of Warwick."

These portraits, one of which has never been before engraved, while the prints of the other are of extreme rarity, will, it is presumed, enhance in some measure the value of the work. PAGE CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

Chapter I

Preliminary View of Scottish History — Early Relations of the Monarch and the Nobles — Change effected by James V. — Death of James — Regencies of Arran and the Queen Dowager — The Scotch Reformation — The Earl of Murray — Rebellion of the Reformers — Death of the Queen Dowager — Subversion of the Catholic Church — Condition of Parties in Scotland at the Accession of Mary 1

Chapter II

Mary's Reception in France — Her Beauty and Accomplishments — Marriage of the Princess with the Dauphin — Pretended Deeds — Assumption by Francis aud Mary of the English Arms — Illegitimacy of Elizabeth — Will of Henry VIIJ. — Death of Francis II.— His Character — Treaty of Edinburgh — Application of Mary for a Passage through England — Refusal of Elizabeth to grant this Request — Indignation of Mary — Her Preparations for leaving France — Voyage from France to Scotland — Narrow Escape from the English Fleet CONTENTS. 91

Chapter III. Page

Reception of Mary in Scotland — Insults offered to her by the Reformers — Demand for the Confirmation of the Treaty of Edinburgh — The English Succession — Chastellart — Suitors for Mary's Hand — Desire of Elizabeth to prevent her Marriage — The Archduke Charles— The Earl of Leicester — Character of Leicester — Introduction of Darnley to the Scotch Court — The Earl and Countess of Lennox — ■ Arrival of Darnley — His Character — David Riccio — Opposition of Elizabeth to the Marriage of Mary with Darnley — Rebellion and Conspiracy of Murray — Marriage of Mary 54

Chapter IV

History and Character of the Earl of Bothwell — Remains of Murray's Party at the Court of Mary — Their Influence over Darnley — The Murder of David Riccio — Conduct of the Reformed Clergy — Sentiments of Knox — Escape of Mary through the Intervention of Bothwell — Remorse of Darnley — Flight of the Murderers — Birth of Prince James — Changed Demeanor of Darnley — His Vindication of his Queen — Causes of the singular Behaviour of Darnley . .

Chapter V

Conduct of Morton in England — Insurrection on the Border — Visit of Mary to the Hermitage — Real Motives of this Journey — Severe IUness of Mary — Absence of Darnley — Visit of Mary to Berwick — Proposal by Murray and his Party of a Divorce — Mary's rejection of the Offer — Baptism of James — Recal of Morton, through the intervention of Elizabeth and Charles IX. — Departure of Darnley His Illness at Glasgow — Visit of the Queen to him — His Removal to Edinburgh — Murder of Darnley— Evidence of the Innocence of Mary, drawn from the Circumstances of the Event ]2] CONTENTS. XV PAGE

Chapter VI

Early Opinions regarding the Murder — Grief of Mary — Submission of Bothwell to Trial — Request of the Earl of Lennox that the Trial might be expedited — Suddeu Suspension of the Investigation in the Council — Reason of this — The Laird of Tullibardine — Sir James Balfour — Trial and Acquittal of Bothwell — Ratification of the Sentence by Parliament — Restoration of revoked Grants of the Crown —Ambitious Schemes of Bothwell — Bond of the Nobles — Rejection of Bothwell by Mary— Capture of the Queen — Persuasions of Bothwell — Firmness of Mary — Violation of her Person — Marriage of Mary and Bothwell . . .151

Chapter VII

Anguish and Despair of Mary — Tyranny of Bothwell — Rebellion of the Nobles — Carbery Hill— Flight of Bothwell — His subsequent Career, Death, and Character — Treachery of the Lords — Imprisonment of Mary in Edinburgh and Loch-Leven — Plans for the Disposal of the Queen — Remonstrance of Elizabeth — Its insincerity— Forced Abdication of Mary — Return of Murray — Vindictive Ravages of the Rebels — Escape of the Queen from Loch-Leven — Enthusiastic Reception by her Subjects — Defeat at Langside — Flight of Mary into England 205

Chapter VIII

Reception of Mary by Elizabeth — Refusal of the English Queen to admit her to her Court — Remonstrances of Mary — Mary agrees to submit her Charges against her Subjects to Elizabeth — True Object of the Conferences — Hidden Design of Elizabeth — Commissioners of Mary — Indecision and strange Demands of Murray — Commissioners in concert with the Scottish Regent CONTENTS. IAGE 205

Chapter IX

Instructions from Mary to her Commissioners — Instructions of the Scottish Nobles to the Commissioners of Mary . .

Chapter X

Opening of the Conferences — Charge against Murray — His Reply — Private Exhibition of the Letters to Bothwell— Opinion of Elizabeth's Commissioners respecting them — Rejoinder of Mary's Commissioners — Removal of the Conferences to London — The Charge brought forward against Mary — Answer of her Commissioners — Demand for the Admission of their Sovereign — Its Refusal — Termination of the Conferences — Production of the Letters — Opening of a new Conference — Answer of Mary to the Charge — Proposal of a Compromise by Elizabeth — Its indignant Rejection by Mary — Termination of the Conferences — Judgment of Elizabeth 303 Appendix HISTORICAL MEMOIR EE! MARY STUART.

Chapter I. Preliminary View Of Scottish History

— EARLY RELATIONS OF THE MONARCH AND THE NOBLES CHANGE EFFECTED BY JAMES V. DEATH OF JAMES REGENCIES OF ARRAN AND THE QUEEN DOWAGER — THE SCOTCH REFORMATION — THE EARL OF MURRAY — REBELLION OF THE REFORMERS DEATH OF THE QUEEN DOWAGER — SUBVERSION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH — CONDITION OF PARTIES IN SCOTLAND AT THE ACCESSION OF MARY. Amid the many and varied subjects for investigation which the wide and fertile field of historical controversy presents to our notice, there are many which must be regarded as rather curious from thenintricacy and difficulty, than useful from their actual importance ; and it may appear to some, that the examination, at so late a period, of the charac ter of Mary of Scotland, and the attempt, after so long a lapse of time, to attain to a correct view of the real actions of her life, must be classed among VOL. i. b ■■> MARY STl'ART. these unprofitable employments of hmnan labour.

And yet there are many circumstances which irresistibly induce the belief that such a conclusion is scarcely based on truth. ' Were we to select for discussion such a question as that which has arisen concerning the identity of Perkin Warbeck with Richard, Duke of York, whose name and claims he assumed, or any other equally dark and intricate point of history of a similar character, it might with great propriety be objected, that such topics, however interesting and delightful to the student of history, can possess but little attraction for the general reader, since their decision will but little influence his general view of contemporaneous events. But the case is far different with regard to the character of Mary Stuart. Upon our opinion of her guilt or innocence with relation to some of the dark and melancholy transactions of her reign, must depend almost entirely our view of the characters of the men by whom she was surrounded, since, if we find her innocent, the conclusion is irresistible that they were guilty ; and thus, upon the determination of this one point, must rest the whole historical system which we frame with regard to the events of the age in which she lived.

A theme, then, of such paramount importance can scarcely be looked upon as unworthy of our most serious consi deration. PRELIMINARY HISTORY. Before, however, we enter upon the more imme diate investigation of the events of Mary's long and troubled career, it may not be altogether amiss to cast a hasty glance at the previous history of Scotland ; without which it woidd be difficult, if not wholly impossible, to attain to a correct under standing of many of the transactions which we shall be called upon hereafter to discuss, and the seeds of which had been sown during a long course of preceding years. From the neglect of such a course have sprung many of the fallacies which have been proniulged with regard to the Scottish Queen ; and it wall therefore be well that we should take warning from the errors of others, and endeavour to supply a deficiency which has been frequently, though not always, permitted to occur.

The early government of Scotland resembled that of England in its more prominent features, being monarchical and hereditary, and the feudal system prevailing very generally throughout the nation. But this last, though the same in name and form, Avas very different in character from that which predominated in the sister country. The vassals of England were a conquered people, while their lords were their victorious invaders, and the subjugation of the one to the other was therefore purely the result of physical force, unassisted by the slightest mutual interest or reciprocal affection ; and the b English nobles of the early ages, though wild and turbulent, were cautious in their opposition to the monarch, since they were never certain of the hearty alliance of those who were the instruments of their warfare.

But in Scotland the serf was the clansman of his lord ; though lower in the grade of society, his interests were identical with his, and the ties of blood and natural affection strengthened and rendered almost indissoluble the mutual attach ment. Fortified by this, the Scottish nobles became far more unruly and insolent than those of England, and, from the earliest ages up to the death of James IV., they exercised a power generally equal, and in some cases even superior to that of the king himself. On the accession of James V. to the Scottish throne, they found that they were at length ruled by a prince, whose estimate of the sovereign dignity would not sanction such innovations upon his power, as had been suffered by his unresisting predecessor. From the moment of his assuming the sceptre, this monarch, whose character was adorned by distinguished virtues, and who seemed to possess in a very high degree the affections of his people, entertained the design of crushing the hitherto ungovernable nobility, and reducing the power of the aristocracy to its proper level, in subjugation to the kingly power.

To have endea voured to effect this object with his own unassisted SUBJUGATION OF THE NOBLES. 5 power, would have been almost sufficient to secure a signal and ignominious failure ; and he therefore secured in the first place, the alliance of the eccle siastics, who formed at that period one of the three estates of the kingdom, and whose attachment to the throne had been increased by the liberality which most of the Scottish monarchs had exhibited towards the Church. Having secured the aid and support in his measures of this powerful body, James began gradually to put into operation the plans which he had devised. The Earl of Angus was attainted for high treason, and others shared a similar fate ; while some, under a milder sentence, were banished from the country. Such a course as this, contrasted with the secure and unquestioned power which they had for so long a time enjoyed, seems at first to have stunned and amazed the nobles in so great a degree as to render them incapable of active resistance ; but it was not long ere they awoke to the conviction that their sway was rapidly on the decline, and that prompt and violent means must be taken to save it from utter extinction.

And an opportunity for revenge soon presented itself, which they were not deterred from seizing, even by the stain which it necessarily cast upon the honour of their nation. Henry VIII. of England had declared war against the Scottish king, upon the avowed pretext that he had protected some English rebels, and detained some territory which belonged to England ; but really, because James had slighted some advances which he had made, and had declined a meeting which it was proposed shoidd take place between the two monarchs. The Scottish king called his nobles to arms, and they instantly flocked around his standard with every appearance of readiness and alacrity, and marched under his guidance against the English army, which had already entered the Scottish territory ; but, though they chased them to the borders, they refused to pass beyond, and allowed to the vanquished foe an easy and safe retreat.

Some time after this, James designed to chastise the insolence of the English, who had thus invaded him on his own land, with scarcely the shadow of a pretext ; and assembled an army over which he placed Oliver Sinclair as his general ; but the nobles and their vassals at first refused to follow him, and ultimately surrendered to the enemy without striking a single blow. These circumstances are of the utmost moment, because they give us no little insight into the real character of the Scottish nobles who figured so largely in the events of the succeeding reign. Instead of the bold and sturdy patriots, ready to resist and to overthrow that which might mflitate against the interests and liberties of their common DEATH OF JAMES V. country, whether it appeared in the shape of foreign invasion or of internal treason, we recognise a restless, ambitious, and turbulent body, jealous of restraint, even from those whose authority was legally paramount to their own, easily excited to revenge a fancied wrong, and so reckless, so un principled, so little animated by the spirit of true patriotism, that, in order to gratify their own vengeance, they did not scruple to subvert the liberties, and to stain the honour of their nation, by an ignominious submission to a foreign foe.

The effect which these events, passing in some what rapid succession, produced upon the spirits and health of the monarch, was great and un favourable ; — and while he was yet suffering under the depression which they naturally occasioned, his two sons, princes of whom we know but little, died, and these accumulated griefs, pressing with almost irresistible force upon his mind, caused his premature death, at the early age of thirty-three years, leaving a name not altogether spotless, but far brighter and more glorious than that of many of the monarchs who have swayed the Scottish sceptre. The opposition which he manifested to the innovations of the reformed preachers has induced them to endeavour to cast obloquy upon his character ; but, though lavish in assertion, they are there content to rest, while his great improvements in the courts of justice, his endeavours to ameliorate the condition and laws of the country, and his noble exertions to subdue the aristocracy, and resist the unconstitutional exercise of their power, must induce us to regard him with admi ration and respect, He died on the 14th of December, 1542, and left behind him but one clnld, Mary, who was born but a few days before his death.

The dignity of Regent was one to which all the most prominent of the nobility might look with desire, and the breath had scarcely left the body of James before two candidates for the honour appeared, though it must be confessed that neither of them seem to have possessed the slightest quali fication for the office. One of these, Cardinal Beaton, was a man of high and distinguished powers, but he was ambitious and grasping, and added to this a large share of insolence and cunning, two qualities, which, in those ages, would tend much to facditate the attainment of his ends. All his talents were devoted to his own advancement, and to promote the elevation of the body to which he belonged, and to which his attachment was un bounded — the Church of Rome; though, in this respect, he seems to have laboured less for the Church than for himself, as one of its members, — desiring her aggrandizement chiefly because so ARRAN CHOSEN REGENT. intimately connected with his own.

The other aspirant, the Earl of Arran, who afterwards appeared as the Duke of Chatelheraidt, was also able and talented ; but the powers with which he was gifted were obscured and rendered nugatory by a timidity and irresolution which entirely unfitted him for the turmofl of public life, especially in a nation so turbulent and unruly as Scotland then was. Upon the ground of merit, the decision between the claims of these contending parties might have been an arduous task ; but the Earl of Arran, being the next heir to the crown, was appointed, by general consent, to the Regency during the minority of the infant Queen. In addition to the actual territory of the king dom, the Scottish monarchs had, for a long period of time, held in possession some of the northern portions of England, including part of Cumberland and Northumberland ; but they held these only as fiefs, and did homage for them to the English crown ; which, however, jealous of the existence upon the same island of a separate and independent nation not subject to itself, made use of this partial homage, as a pretext for claiming a superiority over the entire kingdom.

From the earliest ages this claim had been put forward, and many attempts had been made to enforce the homage which the King of Scotland was required to pay to him of England as his superior lord j and even so late as the reign of Hemy VIII. this ancient claim had been made use of as a pretence for the war which that monarch waged against James V. But after the death of James, Henry seems to have perceived that which had become evident during the whole of this contest, that the independent spirit of the Scots woidd never suffer thencountry to be reduced to the condition of a fief, while a drop of Scottish blood remained to be shed in defence of her ancient rights ; and as his desire to annex the fan kingdom of Scotland to Iris own dominions was still as ardent as before, he began to seek for some more pacific means of attaining the object he had in view.

None seemed less objectionable than a marriage, and he accordingly proposed an alliance between the infant Princess Mary and his own son Edward, who afterwards ascended the English throne. Such an union was far from disagreeable to those to whom it was proposed, whfle it was peculiarly acceptable to such as favoured the views of the reformed Church, whose champion Henry was most undeservedly esteemed. At first, therefore, the proposal was well received ; but when, in the course of the negotiations, the real object of the English king was betrayed, and when he annexed as conditions the demands, RESIGNATION OF ARRAN. that the person of the Princess shoidd be given into his hands, and the government of the king dom placed under his control during her minority, the proud spirit of the nation was aroused, and Henry was compelled to be content with a treaty, which, though it sanctioned the alliance, denied to him all the conditions which he had imposed.

A very short time, however, sufficed to show how hollow and unsafe was the friendship of Henry, and some of his subsequent actions entirely destroyed the slight attachment which existed towards him among the Scotch, and made them look to France for succour and support. The weakness and incompetency of the Earl of Arran soon became so evident, and he himself seemed to be so convinced of his inability to sus tain the cares of so arduous an office as that of regent, that he voluntarily resigned it to the Queen Dowager, Mary of Lorraine, the widow of James V. To endeavour to seek, amid the conflicting testi monies of contemporaneous historians, for an im partial view of the character of this Princess, would be indeed a hopeless and an unprofitable task ; for, occupying as she did an elevated position in the nation, when it was greatly divided by internal dissensions, and living at a period when the religious struggle in Scotland was at its height, — a struggle in which she took a very prominent part, as the defender of the ancient faith ; it might naturally be expected that the writers of the age would be pecu liarly prejudiced with regard to her.

And such is, in truth, the case ; the one party lauding her as the most accomplished and amiable of her sex, while the others denounce her as the vflest and most infamous of women. Avoiding, however, these extremes of party feeling, and endeavouring to judge of her character by her actions, the true test of the dispo sition of a ruler, we shall be led to conclude that she was a princess highly gifted, amiable, pious, and mercifid, humane and impartial in the admini stration of justice ; while her only fault, if fault it can be called, since it is, in fact, but an exaggerated virtue, was a too ardent love for her native country, and a desire, somewhat too strong and too freely indulged, to make all things subserve to the interests of France. Under her regency the conflict between the two classes of religious belief, the Catholics, and those 01 the reformed faith, began to assume a more definite and imposing shape.

Of the general character of the movement of the Reformation it is not our object to speak here, nor would the discussion of its merits have any material bearing upon the topic before us ; but a few moments may be not unprofitably de voted to the consideration of the circumstances which peculiarly influenced the Reformation in Scotland, REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND. and which tended to give to the movement a character very different from that which it presented in other portions of the world. We have already noticed the conflicts which took place between the monarch and the nobles, in the reign of James V. ; and we have also adverted to the fact, that that Prince availed himself of the alliance of the clergy, in order to strengthen himself for the encounter with the nobles. Being thus placed in a prominent position in the contest, as the supporters of the King, the dignitaries of the Romish Church became the objects of the utmost hatred of the temporal peers, who had long looked with a covetous eye at the rich benefices of the clergy, and who, alike incited by the promptings of avarice and revenge, and restrained by no con siderations of honour or justice, waited but for an opportunity to wreak the fullest vengeance on those who had had the temerity to oppose what they were pleased to consider, or at least to call, their ancient and indefeasible rights.