Mary queen of Scots in captivity: a narrative of events from January 1569, to December, 1584, whilst George, earl of Shrewsbury, was the guardian of the Scottish Queen

Preface

HE author who ventures to approach that wellworn subject, the life of Mary, Queen of Scots, needs some hardihood and assurance. Yet I am emboldened in this adventure by the reflection, that the portion of the life of this remarkable woman dealt with in the following pages, is that which has least occupied the attention of historians and biographers. The stirring events of Mary's brief and troubled reign have been narrated in minutest detail ; and we have many volumes dealing with the crisis of her fate from the discovery of the Babington conspiracy to the memorable scene in the castle hall at Fotheringhay. Controversy has raged, through three centuries, around her connection with the murder of Darnley, and nearly as long about her complicity with Babington in compassing the death of Queen Elizabeth. Both these events occur outside the range I have prescribed for myself. But Mary Stuart's was not a life marked by an occasional conspiracy. It was from first to last one long conspiracy of vast intricacy and varying interest.

vi

PREFACE.

The captivity of the Queen of Scots appears to divide itself into two periods ; the first, from her landing in Cumberland to the discovery of the Ridolfi conspiracy ; and the second, from the death of the Duke of Norfolk to her own execution. Between 1568 and 1571, Elizabeth had not fully abandoned the • idea of restoring her sister and cousin to her crown. The plots of Mary and of the Duke of Norfolk to bring about a Spanish invasion, raise a rebellion, assassinate Elizabeth, and place themselves on the throne, opened the Queen of England's eyes to the danger she would run if the Queen of Scots regained her liberty. Norfolk suffered the just recompense of his treason, but Elizabeth could not, at that time, bring herself to sanction the trial and sentence of an anointed Queen, whose right divine it was her policy and interest to uphold. But she did recognise the necessity of keeping Mary a close prisoner; and during the dreary years between 1572 and 1586, restoration was never seriously contemplated. As a prisoner, Mary might have lived on, could she have been content to await the course of nature. But her spirit was high, and her friends were impatient. Into the toils of the Jesuit plot, in which Babington was a leading instrument, she eagerly fell ; and when we remember that the chief feature and first aim of that conspiracy was the murder of EHzabeth, and

PREFACE.

vii that Mary had lent herself to an approval of all its details, we cannot wonder that the conviction was forced upon the minds of English ministers, that Mary or Elizabeth must fall. The life of Mary meant the death of Elizabeth ; and for the sake of herself and of her country, Elizabeth overcame her natural repugnance to arraign a sovereign at the bar of justice. Conviction having been obtained, the vacillation of the Queen seemed likely to avert execution of the sentence ; but her ministers, thoroughly alarmed, never ceased to urge energetic action. On the one hand was the danger of retaining in the kingdom so formidable a head of the Catholic party, and on the other the warm resentment of the Catholic powers, certain to follow her execution. It was a choice of evils, but the English ministers preferred to encounter all the rage of Spain and of France, rather than see the broken web of conspiracy repaired, and another attempt made to overturn the throne and the religion of England. The warrant once signed, the Privy Council ventured to act without consulting the Queen, and we can well believe that Elizabeth^s surprise and indignation at hearing of the execution were not entirely feigned.

In the following pages, I have endeavoured to bring together the scattered threads of information to be found among contemporary letters and published documents, and weave them into a narrative ;

viii

PREFACE.

but most of all, I am indebted to the archives of the Public Record Office, under the guidance of Thorpe's Calendar, and the able assistance of Mr. Charles Trice Martin, F.S.A., for much hitherto unpublished matter. My design throughout has been to fill up what seemed to be an unsupplied link in the chain of Queen Mary's life. The work has been done in brief, irregular, and often widely separated intervals of leisure, snatched from the ever growing and insatiable demands of the profession of journalism ; and some of the many defects with which I am conscious the book abounds will, I hope, be attributed, in charity, to this circumstance.

The period treated of embraces the year 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII. introduced the Reformed or New Calendar. The change was first made in Rome, Spain, and Portugal, in October, 1582, when the 5th became the 15th of that month. In France the change took place under letters patent from Henry III., and the loth became the 20th December, 1582. In England, the Calendar remained unreformed till 1752; and the Queen of Scots continued to the end of her life to date according to the old style. The dates, therefore, throughout this volume, save in the case of the French and Spanish despatches after 1582, are those of the old style. It is necessary, also, in order to avoid confusion,

PREFACE.

ix to bear in mind the English mode of computing the legal year from the 25th March. Thus all dates of letters and documents issuing between January ist and March 24th, are apparently one year behind the historical year. Where this happens, I have either used the historical year, or have indicated both years, thus 1569-70; the latter date being that of the historical year.

Since the volume has been in the press, I have been enabled to add three portraits, besides that of the Queen of Scots, with, which it was originally intended to illustrate the book. The frontispiece is reproduced, by the kind permission of his Grace the Duke of Devonshire and of the Marquis of Hartington, from the famous ^'Sheffield Portrait," preserved in Hardwick Hall. The original is painted on oak panel, and represents the Queen, in her thirty-sixth year, as anything but the beautiful woman traditionally described. She has, also, a very decided cast in the right eye, which the artist, with some skill, has rendered less obvious by representing her as looking towards the left. The upper portion of the picture, down to the hands, is reproduced in this volume with striking fidelity ; but the lower part of the dress, the table on the right, and the carpet on which the Queen stands, though approximately correct, are not entirely so, owing to the difficulty of expressing in photography

X

PREFACE.

SO dark an image as this old painting shows. The work has been skilfully executed by Messrs. Ad. Braun & Co., of Paris, from photographs prepared by Mr. J. Stringfellow, of Sheffield.

The portraits of the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury, and of the Duke, of Norfolk, copied in exact facsimile by the Woodburytype process, are from old engravings in the extensive and valuable collection of Stephen I. Tucker, Esq., Somerset Herald, and will, I trust, add interest to the volume.

To many friends I have been indebted for assistance and advice ; but cannot refrain from acknowledging great obligations to the Rev. Dr. Gatty, Vicar of Ecclesfield and Sub-dean of York, without whose kindly and encouraging counsel it is probable this volume would never have seen the light. Such as it is, I now lay it before an indulgent public, and if the result is to throw any light on an interesting and critical period in our country's history, my aspirations will be satisfied.

Sheffield^ August, 1880.

Chapter 1

Queen of Scots lands at Workington — Communicates with Elizabeth — Removed to Carlisle — Her apartments at the castle — Her scanty apparel — Earl of Murray sends coffers from Loch Leven — Lord Scroope and Sir Francis Knollys sent to attend on the Queen of Scots — Knollys's opinion of her — Mary's train of attendants — Elizabeth and Mary — Want of a plain resolution — Queen of Scots threatens to seek aid from France and Spain — Removed to Bolton Castle — The conference at York — Mary's position — Elizabeth's advantage ... - i.

CHAPTER IL

Resolution to- entrust Queen of Scots to the care of the Earl of Shrewsbury — Shrewsbury's two wives — His lineage — ^John Talbot, the Great Earl — Shrewsbury's portrait — His various mansions — Elizabeth Countess of Shrewsbury — Her marriages — Family unions of Talbots and Cavendishes— Tutbury to be Mary's place of residence — Knollys weary of his charge — Death of his wife — Tutbury Castle — Mary's description of it — The route from Bolton to Tutbury — Dealings of Norfolk and Murray — Horses lent by the Bishop of Durham — From Bolton to Ripon — Ripon to Weatherby — Weatherby to Pontefract — Pontefract to Rotherham— Rotherham town and college — Proposal to stay at ShefiQeld abandoned — Illness of Lady Livingstone — Rotherham to Chesterfield — Mr. Foljambe's house — Illness of the Queen of Scots — Arrival at Tutbury — Queen of Scots transferred to the care of Shrewsbury — Shrewsbury's allowance or diet money — Reduction of the number of Mary's attendants— Letter from Elizabeth — Mary writes to Cecil — Her attitude — The Bishop of Ross — Thomas Bishop — Communings with the Spanish Ambassador—The little Court at Tutbury— Visit of Nicholas White— His graphic letter — Mary and Lady Shrewsbury — Illness and trouble of the Queen of Scots — Shrewsbury's anxiety — He begins to weary of his charge — Mary's stormy letter to Elizabeth — Threatens to seek foreign aid — Queen of Scots strictly guarded — La Mothe Fenelon - 13- xii

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Chapter III

p/

Wingfield Manor — Its situation and structure — Queen of Scots removed from Tutbury to Wingfield — Enjoys greater liberty — Her indiscretion — Disasters to her cause in Scotland — Sends envoys to London — Hopes of release — Mary's illness — Symptons similar to those at Jedburgh — Sudden recovery — Project of marriage with the Duke of Norfolk — Physicians sent to Wingfield — Removal to Chatsworth and return to Wingfield — Shrewsbury's illness — Alarm at Court — Lady Shrewsbury assumes the command — Shrewsbury's danger and recovery — Sir John Zouche assists Shrewsbury — Shrewsbury visits Buxton without permission, and is reprimanded — Excuses himself - - - - 51.

t CHAPTER IV.

Mary's desire to leave Wingfield, for the benefit of her health — Shrewsbury obtains permission to take her to Sheffield — Troubled with gout — The Norfolk marriage — Action of certain of the nobility — Ross's negotiations result in agreement on "heads and articles" — The Queen of Scots' letter to "my Lords of the Nobility" — Favourable prospects — Mary hopeful, but suspicious — Her letter to Norfolk — The marriage scheme exploded — Stringent orders sent to Wingfield — Huntingdon and Hereford to assist Shrewsbury— Proposed journey to Shefiield abandoned — Mary returns to Tutbury — An epoch in her captivity — More stringent restraint — Huntingdon's instructions to supersede Shrewsbury — He is associated with Shrewsbury and Hereford — Mary's objection to Huntingdon — Shrewsbury's remonstrances — Norfolk committed to the Tower — Mary questioned by her keepers — Her miserable condition — Her room entered by men with pistolets — Complaints of Shrewsbury's treatment of Huntingdon— He defends himself — Suspicions against Lady Shrewsbury — Shrewsbury's letter to Cecil — Elizabeth's cautions — Mary's letter to La Mothe written without light — King of France intercedes on behalf of Queen of Scots — Departure of Huntingdon — Queen of Scots better treated — Supervision of her correspondence — Her sickness returns — Outbreak of the Northern rebellion — Alarm at Tutbury — Rebels at Tadcaster — Queen of Scots removed to Coventry — Lodged at an inn — Huntingdon rejoins Shrewsbury — Queen of Scots removed to a private house — Differences and contraries between Shrewsbury and Huntingdon — Huntingdon's reports — Collapse of the rebellion — Queen of Scots returns to Tutbury — Condition of the common people - - 73-:

Chapter V

1570 opens with gloom for Queen of Scots — Present of hawks for Shrewsbury—Mary professes affection for Norfolk— Her love letters— Assas-

TABLE OF CONTENTS. xiii

PAGE

sination of Murray — Lent sermons by the Bishop of Coventry — Imprisonment of the Bishop of Ross — Plans of escape made and unmade— An alarm at Tutbury — Secret communications — Mary's sickness — Proposed removal to Chatsworth — Mary stimulating Norfolk to action — Elizabeth's troops harry the Scotch border — Negotiations for a treaty between Mary and Elizabeth — Mary hesitates about terms — Her letter to Norfolk — Excommunication of Elizabeth — Chatsworth — Mary's removal thither — Bishop of Ross arrives — Mary's position and prospects — Ross returns to London — Renewed restraints — A French envoy visits Chatsworth — Mary eager for the treaty — Its stipulations — Maitland's advice — Plots for Mary's escape — Elizabeth's plain spoken letter — Cecil and Mildmay negotiate with Mary at Chatsworth — Ross's letter to Norfolk— Cecil reports Elizabeth's directions to Shrewsbury — Death of John Beaton — Interred at Edensor — Removal to Shefi&eld resolved on - 1 10-139

CHAPTER VL

Departure from Chatsworth — Ride over the Moors — First sight of Sheffield — Sheffield Castle — Harrison's survey of the Manor — Sheffield Park : its timber — Sheffield Lodge or Manor House — Inventory of the furniture — A small Lodge, perhaps the only building yet standing in which the Queen of Scots was detained — Shrewsbury's coat of arms — The view from the Lodge — Queen of Scots very sick — Physicians sent from London — The symptoms — Mary's anxiety for the treaty — She is partly convalescent, 140-162

Chapter VII

Severe weather — Departure of the Physicians — Appeals for the treaty — Queen of Scots' servants reduced in number — Shrewsbury cautioned to be circumspect — Mary's urgent request for the treaty — Sends Lord Seaton to negotiate with the Duke of Alva — Urges an invasion or preparation for invasion of Scotland — Parliament and the succession — Robert Ridolfi — Hopes of Spanish help — Mary and Norfolk instruct Ridolfi to deal with the Pope and the King of Spain for aid — Cecil created Baron Burghley — Mary prays Burghley to forward the treaty — Complains of the reduction of her servants — Submission to Elizabeth — Capture of Dumbarton Castle — Important papers found there — The plot with the Duke of Alva and Spain disclosed — Charles Bailly, a secret messenger, arrested — Ciphered letters — William Herlle, the spy — Bailly tortured — Important discoveries — Projects for getting Mary out of Sheffield — A plot at Easter — Hickford, Norfolk's secretary, examined — Shrewsbury cautioned — His new regulations for the household — Names of Mary's servants — Hawkins's sham treachery — George Fitzwilliam employed to deceive xiv

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Mary — Shrewsbury solicits the wardship of Babington — Anthony Babington and his family — Mary's kindness to George Douglas — His matrimonial projects 1G3-191

^ CHAPTER VHI.

Queen of Scots informed of the imprisonment of Ross and the discovery of her plots — Burghley's letter on the subject — Shrewsbury instructed to question his charge — Mary's answer — Her pen busy writing for foreign aid — She declares Elizabeth holds the crown against all right, divine and human — Her sickness and weakness — Ridolfi at Madrid — Elizabeth's marriage negotiations with Anjou — Arrest of Francis Rolleston, of Lea — Strict watch and ward — The precautions described — The Duke of Norfolk's practices discovered — His arrest — Proceedings of the old Countess of Northumberland — Her resort to Wortley's house, at Wortley — The Queen of Scots' servants reduced in number — A combination among them — A practiser imprisoned in Sheffield — Mary's letter to her banished servants — Matters fall out ill against the Queen of Scots — The Duke of Norfolk's submission — Ciphered letters seized at Sheffield — The growing difficulties of Norfolk — Imputations on Lady Shrewsbury — Her exculpation — The proceedings of Ridolfi abroad — The scope of the plot — Elizabeth and her rival — Further reduction of Mary's servants — She writes to Elizabeth from her "close prison at Sheffield" — Her letter to La Mothe — Permitted to take an airing on the leads of the house — Begs for a priest — Remonstrances of the French ambassador — Shrewsbury says, "They shall buy her dearly that shall get her forth of my hands" — Channels of secret correspondence — Removal from Sheffield in contemplation — Buchannan's " Detection" — Mary's indignation about it — Her letter to the Bishop of Ross — Stimulates her friends beyond the sea — Her health — The Bishop of Ross's cook . - - - 192-229

Chapter IX

Trial of the Duke of Norfolk— Shrewsbury leaves for London to preside as High Steward — Arrangements in Westminster Hall — Verdict and sentence—Sir Ralph Sadler in charge at Sheffield— His graphic letters- Shrewsbury's precautions — The order of watching and warding— Sadler's further precautions — His interview with the Queen of Scots — Lady Shrewsbury and the Queen walk in the courtyard— Mary's correspondence— Her reception of the news of Norfolk's condemnation — Her grief— Her fasting and praying — Sadler anxious to be relieved — Shrewsbury's return — He busies himself in tracing and intercepting the Queen of Scots' correspondence — Discovery of a nest of conspirators — Lord Hunsdon's warning— Mary's unquietness— A cunning device— Mary

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grieved with her old disease — Her alarm at the prospect of a Parliament — Her protests — Desires to go to Buxton — Sends a present to Elizabeth — Treaty concluded with France — Resolutions of Parliament and Convocation— Execution of Norfolk — Mary's grief for the Duke's death — Commissioners sent to Sheffield — Mary's answers to the articles of accusation— How Shrewsbury entertained a visitor - - - - 230-264

Chapter X

August 15th, 1572 — Money sent to the Queen of Scots — The visit to Buxton deferred — Burghley appointed Lord Treasurer — Removal to Sheffield Lodge contemplated, but abandoned — Strange news out of France — The Massacre of St Bartholomew — Straight keeping at Sheffield — General apprehension in England — Shrewsbury made Earl Marshal — His prisoner "in sure keeping" — Illness of Elizabeth — Her letter to Shrewsbury — Disgraceful negotiations with the Scots — The Scots not to be caught — Mary's grief and melancholy — Slanders against Shrewsbury— Elizabeth satisfied — Mary's position _ - . _ 265-283

CHAPTER XL

Shrewsbury hunts out conjurers and mass-mongers — Letters for the Queen of Scots— Money employed for her secret practices — Complaints of the plunder of her dowry — Devices for her escape — Shrewsbury's assurance to Elizabeth — Mary receives money from France, and asks for more — Removal to Sheffield Manor, otherwise called Sheffield Lodge — Gilbert Talbot reports if she were a flea or a mouse, she could not escape — Dutiful submission of Shrewsbury's sons — Shrewsbury's affection for his wife — Its contrast with their later relationships — The fall of Edinburgh Castle — Mary's French dowry — Shrewsbury's diet money- Proposal that Mary should defray her own charges — French dealings with the dowry — Proposed visit to Buxton — Mary removed to Chatsworth — New alarms and renewed precautions — Mary at length removed to Buxton — Dr. Jones' description of the Baths — Amusements of the place — Mary at the Baths — The benefit she derived from the waters — Her complaint of lack of servants and want of exercise — The return to Sheffield — Release of the Bishop of Ross - - - ' . - 284-307

CHAPTER XIL

Opening of 1574 — The prisoner safe— Letters still reach her — William Wharton and his doings— Forgery of letters suggested— Another contrivance—Mary's pleas for money— Her needle work— Her explanations and requests — Thomas Corker, Vicar of Rotherham and Rector of Handsworth, spreads slanders against Shrewsbury — Shrewsbury's xvi

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

anxiety to be relieved of his charge — Corker imprisoned — A revival of the slanders — Shrewsbury's indignation — Mary's fear of poison — Prayers in the vulgar tongue — A religious difficulty — Dealings in silk - 308-327

CHAPTER XIII.

Measles at Sheffield Castle — Mary's dowry plundered — Present of embroidery to Elizabeth — La Mothe anounces its acceptance — Mary sends presents to Leicester — She is making a head-dress for Elizabeth — Sends confections — Rollett's illness — Mary's mode of letter writing — Desires Unicorn's horn — Desires to visit Buxton — Spends a month there — Alexander Hamilton's practices — His fortunate escape — Henry Cockyn a practiser — Mary grants him a pension — Examinations and confessions of Cockyn and his accomplices — Mary's prison amusements — Rollett's dangerous illness — Mary desires patterns of dresses — Leicester a suitor for the hand of the Queen of Scots — How Mary received his advances — Rollett's illness and death — Shrewsbury searches his coffers — Rollett buried at Sheffield — Mary removed to Sheffield Lodge — Her love of little animals — The Lennox-Cavendish marriage — How it was brought about — Its consequences — Elizabeth's anger — Shrewsbury's excuses — Suspicions against the Queen of Scots — Lady Lennox in confinement — Mary falls back upon presents and fair speeches — Shrewsbury suspects a greater matter — Death of Charles IX. and accession of Henry III., in France — Death of the Cardinal of Lorraine — Effect of these changes on the position of the Queen of Scots — The portraiture of Mary Stuart 328-353

CHAPTER XIV.

French court urging Queen of Scots to grant title of King to her son — Her complaints to the Duchess of Nemours — Practisers arrested and examined— Elizabeth's mislike of strangers resorting to Sheffield — An Earthquake shakes the Castle — Mary's kindness to her servants — Presents night dresses to Elizabeth — Secretary Nau enters Mary's service —

•J Renewed vigilance in searching out the channels of Mary's correspondence— La Mothe' s conversation with Elizabeth — Proposal that Mary should bear her owm charges — La Mothe glad to see the two Queens on better terms — As France cool*, Mary looks more to Spain — The Spanish Ambassador's opinion of the Archbishop of Glasgow and of the Bishop of Ross — Philip speaks fair, but does nothing — Mary's indisposition — Burghley visits Buxton-^Mary's expressed intention to restore the Catholic religion— Reduction of Shrewsbury's diet money— French dealings with Mary's dowry — Consequences of the Lennox-Cavendish m.arriage — New interests for Lady Shrewsbury---Beginning of family differences—La Mothe Fenelon 354-3(^8

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xvii

CHAPTER XV.

PAGE

French King and his brother referring their differences to Elizabeth — Queen of Scots' heaUh — Burghley's caution — Walsingham appropriates certain hoods — A curious watch sent to Mary — She procures dogs for the King of France — The Enghsh Parhament — Ehzabeth's heir — Queen of Scots removed to Sheffield Lodge — Death of Bothwell — His alleged dying declaration — Projected interview between Mary and Elizabeth — Mary visits Buxton — Returns to Sheffield — Death of Charles Earl of Lennox — Marriage negotiations between Andrew Beaton and Mary Seaton — Death of Beaton — Mary removes to Sheffield Lodge — The wild schemes of Don John — Mary's liberty abridged — She makes a Will — Visit of Du Verger — curious letter from Lady Shrewsbury to her husband — Mary visits Chatsworth — Leicester at Buxton — Sounds the nobility with reference to his marriage with Elizabeth — Negotiations between Mary and Leicester — Extraordinary letter from Elizabeth to Shrewsbury — Nau visits Buxton — Shrewsbury's reply to Elizabeth — Burghley again at Buxton — Shrewsbur>' sends him a plan of a Lodge — Mary writes to Dr. William Allen — Her double dealing — Quarrels in the Shrewsbury family — Gilbert Talbot's letter to Lady Shrewsbury — Death of Gilbert's only son — Portraits of the Queen of Scots — Type of the genuine portraits— Chalmers' composition portrait — Nau's self seeking — Intrigues of the Archbishop of Glasgow — Rumours of Mary's escape — Shrewsbury cautioned — Burghley returns to London — He calms the alarm of the Council — Queen of Scots again in Sheffield — She stimulates the Pope to activity — Her ciphered letters fall into the liands of Walsingham— A comet appears over Windsor — Fears of coming change — Conflicting influences 369-403

CHAPTER XVL

Elizabeth encourages the rebels in the Low Countries— Mary pleads with her French relatives for friendly interposition — Instructions prepared for Mary's removal to Ashby — Shrewsbury protests the faithfulness of his service — The removal not carried out — Death of Margaret, Countess of Lennox — James VI. and Arabella Stuart claimants for the honours of the house of Lennox — Mary's friends abroad fancy an accommodation may be effected — Vain dreams — M. de Gondy badly received by Elizabeth— Mary complains of hard treatment and want of exercise — Her letters to the King of Spain and others fall into the hands of Elizabeth — French and Spanish diplomacy — Du Verger visits the Queen of Scots — She spends August and September at Chatsworth— The English succession the dream of Mary's life — Mary's cook troubles her — The impudence of these low people — Queen of Scots removed to Sheffield Manor — Her religious meditations — Her fair professions to Elizabeth — xviii

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Her intrigues with France, Spain, and Germany— The Bishop of Ross at Rome — Negotiations at Paris — Philip urged to send a special envoy into Scotland — Elizabeth's marriage negotiations — Philip's caution and perplexity—Gilbert Talbot reports court gossip— Presents from Shrewsbury to the Lord Treasurer and others — Gilbert thinks some gift to the Lord Chancellor would be well bestowed — Prosperous state of the French marriage negotiations — Odds laid against the marriage — Mary permitted to send Nau into Scotland — Failure of his mission — Queen of Scots reported to be more content and at ease — Complaints against Shrewsbury for absenting himself from Sheffield — Queen of Scots removed to Chatsworth — Mary and her son — Mauvissiere instructed to assist the Queen of Scots with prudent consideration — Her great hope in Spain — She urges Philip with enticing reports — Mary returns to Sheffield Manor — Esme Stuart, Earl of Lennox — Arrival of the Duke of Alen9on in England — Mary's opinion of the French marriage - - 404-425

CHAPTER XVn.

Mary's high resolve — Her dealings with England, France and Spain— Her representations to the Duke of Guise — To Philip — Philip still cautious — France and Spain striving for ascendancy— Mary seeks to stand well with the expectant bridegroom — She seeks to be ready for any contingency— Shrewsbury's indisposition — Intrigues to get the Queen of Queen of Scots out of his hands — Mary offers suggestions to the King of France — Her dealings with Spain become known to the English Council — She appeals to Elizabeth— Her hope of gaining Burghley — State of her health — Burgoing, the physician's, report — Secret messengers arrested — Mary's dowry mismanaged — Her anxiety for liberty — Papal intrigues in England and Scotland — The Jesuit mission — TheD'Aubigny and Morton parties in Scotland — A delicate negotiation with France and Spain — Balancing advantages — Shrewsbury's grievance — The diet money — His cark and care — Mary and the Shrewsbury family — Elizabeth objects to the resort of Shrewsbury's children where the Queen of Scots might be — Mary taken to Buxton — Accident in mounting her horse — Strictness of her seclusion at Buxton — Favourable effect of the baths on her health — The new sickness — Mary returns to Sheffield well and hearty — Present to the Duke of Guise — Penal laws enforced against the Catholics — Mary remonstrates against the mismanagement of her dowry — Her religious reflections on adversity — The diet money — Love making in Shrewsbury's household — The lovers discharged — The fall of Morton — Mary's satisfaction thereat — Morton's execution — The association of Mary and James in the crown of Scotland — Mary appoints the Duke of Guise her agent in Scotland — Shrewsbury and the diet mone> — His shabby treatment by Elizabeth — His remonstrances — He is said

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xix to be buying estates — Complaints about Mary's diet — The health of the Queen of Scots — Sad description of her enfeebled body — Dealings with Spain — De Tassis, the new Spanish Envoy — The far reaching plot — De Tassis regards the scheme as absurd — Elizabeth's marriage negotiations — Queen of Scots inconvenienced about her secret correspondence — Gives formal instructions about her dowry — Desires a fixed income, guaranteed by solvent merchants — Her letter to the Pope — France urges Queen of Scots to grant title of King to her son — Her c^uble dealings — New restrictions on her liberty — Jesuit intrigues in Scotland — Robert Beale, clerk of the Council, sent to Shefi&eld — His interview with the Queen of Scots' secretary — Nau's professions— Beale negotiates with Mary — Shrewsbury's grievances — Mary's sickness — Her professions of devotion to Elizabeth — Beale thinks the opportunity favourable for securing substantial concessions — A curious piece of acting— Shrewsbury's bluntness — Beale thinks physicians might properly be sent — Beale urged to draw specific proposals from the Queen of Scots — His small success — His report to Walsingham — Beale returns to London — Mary's memorial of requests — The rebatement of Shrewsbury's allowance 426-487