punishment: instead of arresting those who were designated as murderers, she gave to one of them, named Francis, on the 20th of February, an annuity of 4007. a year for life, and allowed the effects of the murdered Darnley to be divided among the accused persons; on which account the tailor, who altered a royal suit for Bothwell, is reputed to have said, "that the executioners received as their right the effects of the person executed."

Only the Earl of Lennox, Darnley's father, demanded a serious investigation; and when Mary proposed to defer it to the meeting of the next Parliament, he shewed, in another letter, the impropriety of such delay. "I conjure your Majesty," he says in his letters, "in the name of God and for the sake of your own happiness, for the welfare and peace of the kingdom, to arrest the persons designated in public notices as murderers, and to call upon their accusers to come forward; should none appear, you always have it in your power to release the prisoners." Mary answered, on the 1st of March, "That the notices pointed out so many persons, and contradicted each other in such a manner, that she did not know against whom to proceed; that as soon as anything more positive appeared, and more proofs were obtained, she would act according to the laws. She desired her father-in-law to say, what persons he considered to be guilty, and she would have them arrested."

Lennox was with reason astonished at such remissness, and at such absurd conduct. The matter, he wrote again, concerned the Queen as much as himself; and pointed out the persons named in the notices, among whom was Bothwell, as under great suspicion. When new excuses and assurances of Mary did not produce any result, Lennox formally accused Bothwell and other accomplices, on the 17th of March. Far from proceeding according to the regular course of justice, Bothwell was permitted to remain a member of the Privy Council; and, on the 21st of March, Mary delivered into his hands the castle of Edinburgh, the principal fortress of the kingdom.

Bothwell, being thus master of the Queen, and in possession of preponderating power, now hastened the enquiry as much as he had before endeavoured to defeat it: by his influence in the council, at which he was present, the 12th of April was fixed as the day for opening the trial. On receiving all these accounts, Lennox again conjured the Queen, "that having regard to her honour, and to the justice of the case, she would no longer permit the accused about her person, but have them arrested, and delay the trial till he could collect proofs, and call his friends together, for that as long as those persons were free, powerful at court, and in favour with the Queen, no impartial and thorough investigation could be expected."

Archbishop Beton, Mary's ambassador at Paris, had before written to her, "that the general opinion was, that nothing had been done without her consent. He, therefore, begged her to execute strict justice, and prove her innocence, otherwise it might, perhaps, have been better for her if she had lost her crown and life, together with her husband." Murray, Mary's half-brother, and so long her adviser, disapproved of the course that things took, and went to France. On the 8th of April, one day before his departure, Elizabeth wrote to the Queen,

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For God's sake, Madam, act in this case, which so nearly concerns you, with such sincerity and prudence, that all the world may have reason to acquit you of so enormous a crime; for if this were not done, you would justly be erased from the rank of Princes, and be covered with infamy by all the world: and rather than this should happen to you, rather than a life so disgraced, I might wish you an honorable grave." (70)

Without regard to warnings and objections, the opening of the Court remained fixed for the 12th of April. Bothwell appeared, attended by a numerous suite of men in arms; and Lennox, though father of the King, and father-in-law of the Queen, was summoned as an ordinary plaintiff. He sent an excuse for not appearing, because he was ill, and could not expose himself alone and without support to so powerful an adversary; he required that the

trial should be delayed. But without attending to these natural and just declarations, without considering that an inquiry in due form ought to be instituted, the fifteen members of the Court, all of them partisans of Mary and of Bothwell, hereupon wholly acquitted the Earl, on the ground that Lennox had produced no proofs; that the King's counsel had not insisted on the continuation of proceedings, &c. Bothwell," says Melvil, an eyewitness, "had the fate of all in his hands, and distributed good and evil at his pleasure, therefore nobody ventured to vote otherwise than as he pleased. To do something more to justify himself, Bothwell challenged any one who would accuse him of the murder of the King, but did not appear, when, on the 15th, a nobleman of equal rank accepted the challenge. The whole proceeding, as Stuart himself, the most zealous advocate of Mary, confesses, was the most solemn and deliberate mockery of law and justice."

Thus the investigation and punishment of the King's murder appeared to be for ever put an end to, as the acquittal of Bothwell was in the following terms: "That the production of further proofs could not be allowed, and that it was a sufficient reason for rejecting the application of Lennox, because he had said, in his accusation, that the murder had been committed on the 9th in the evening, whereas the deed was perpetrated on the 10th, two hours

after midnight." Far from taking up this matter more seriously, the Parliament, which had now met, confirmed royal grants to Bothwell, and to some members of the Court; and Mary, at the instance of her favorite, granted greater privileges to the Protestants, in order that he might have more credit with those rigid moralists.

Bothwell had not ventured to demand a formal acquittal by the Parliament, notwithstanding its weakness and pliability, but hoped to obtain the same, nay, even more, by another way. On the 19th of April, after the session was closed, he gave a splendid supper to many of the members; when they were all in high spirits, he laid a paper before them for their signature, in which not only was his innocence solemnly recognised, but he, though already married, was recommended to the Queen as a husband: and men, of the most different parties, Roman Catholics and Protestants, signed this paper. Some, not ignorant of the King's murder, found their own safety in this declaration; others blindly followed those, who, having concerted with Bothwell, made a beginning. Some were gained by promises, others induced by threats: to some Bothwell held out hopes of the complete triumph of Protestantism; to others, of the restoration of Popery. Lastly, some declared in the sequel, that they had been induced by the handwriting, and commands of the Queen. Whether the latter was strictly true, and