IN BYWAYS OF SCOTTISH HISTORY ru IN BYWAYS OF SCOTTISH HISTORY -B, LOUIS A. BARBE B.A. Officier d'Acadtmie Author qf'"T/ie Tragedy of Cowrie House" "discount Dundee "Kirkcaldy of Grange" etc. BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED LONDON GLASGOW BOMBAY 1912 Preface WHEN the author of the following papers came to Scot- land, many years ago, he knew nothing of the country that was to become his home, and was hardly less igno- rant of its history. To acquire some acquaintance with both he followed the same plan : he began with the high- ways, as indicated, in the one case, by the advertisements of the railway and steamboat companies, and, in the other, by the works of Tytler and Hill Burton. Before long, however, he learned that the knowledge thus ob- tained might be pleasantly supplemented by independent excursions off the beaten track. Topographically the result was the discovery of charming bits of scenery, of which he still recalls the picturesque beauty with delight. His- torically, too, he found his way into interesting nooks and corners which his early guides had either ignored entirely or contented themselves . with referring to in the briefest words. The outcome of some of his explorations if it be not presumptuous to apply such a term to them is set forth in the present volume. In venturing to publish it, he is not without a hope that the interest which he has felt in his rambles through some of the byways of Scottish history may, to some extent, be shared by others. If he should be disappointed in this, he will have to admit that he has done less than justice to subjects that had it in them to be made pleasant and attractive. Those subjects are varied, but, as regards most of them, not wholly unconnected. Dealing, as they mainly do, with the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, they have, at least, a certain chronological unity, and may, in 292587 VI Preface some slight degree, help to supplement the general know- ledge of one of the most picturesque periods in the history of Scotland. What has so far been said does not, it must be allowed, apply very directly to one of the papers contained in the present collection. It cannot be claimed for the " Long- tail" myth, of which the story is here given, that it is essentially Scottish. It may, however, be urged in support of its right to appear here, that it was French at a time when, as regards antipathy against England, the agreement between France and Scotland was a very close one. And, if further justification be needed, it may be found in the fact that some of the Scottish chroniclers are amongst those who supply the most valuable informa- tion concerning both the prevalence and the alleged origin of the quaint medieval belief that Englishmen had tails inflicted on them in punishment of the impiety of some of their pagan forefathers. In connection with this paper the author has the pleasant duty of expressing his thanks to Dr. George Neilson, to whom he is indebted for several illustra- tive passages; and also to Mr. Barwick, of the British Museum, without whose ready help a number of others would have remained inaccessible. Some of the papers have appeared, mostly in a con- densed form, in the Glasgow Herald and the Evening Times, and thankful acknowledgment is made of the per- mission readily granted to make further use of them. Responsibility is admitted, at the same time that indul- gence is craved, for the translations of old French poetry and medieval Latin verse which occur in some of the sketches. In the case of the latter, more particularly, it has not always proved an easy task to supply English versions of the monkish doggerel. It is hoped, however, that if the letter has been freely dealt with, the spirit has been preserved. Contents Page MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS i THE FOUR MARYS 25 MARY FLEMING 35 MARY LIVINGSTON 49 MARY BETON 6>i MARY SETON 69 THE SONG OF MARY STUART 79 MAISTER RANDOLPHE'S FANTASIE 91 THE FIRST "STUART" TRAGEDY AND ITS AUTHOR - 129 LORETTO 141 THE ISLE OF MAY 153 EDINBURGH AND HER PATRON SAINT 191 THE ROCK OF DUMBARTON 199 JAMES VI AS STATESMAN AND POET - - - 209 THE INVASION OF AILSA CRAIG 225 THE STORY OF A BALLAD "KINMONT WILLIE" - - 237 A RAID ON THE WEE CUMBRAE 247 RIOTOUS GLASGOW 253 THE OLD SCOTTISH ARMY 267 THE STORY OF THE "LONG-TAIL" MYTH 291 INDEX ....... 361 vii IN BYWAYS OF SCOTTISH HISTORY MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS A Brilliant Personality MORE than three hundred years have elapsed since Mary Stuart was sent to the scaffold by Elizabeth, and met death with that noble fortitude which awed her enemies and which has half redeemed her fame in the eyes even of those who regard the tragedy of Fotheringay as an act no less of justice than of ex- pediency. But even at the present time interest in her memory has not died away; nor can the question of her innocence or of her guilt be yet said to have been definitely settled by all that has been written about her in the interval. It hardly seems probable that it ever will be, for it is still a question of politics with some and of religion with many. And even in the rare instances where judgment is not blinded by the prejudice or the partiality of party or of creed, it is affected by an influence, nobler and more excus- (0474) 1 2 2 In Byways of Scottish History able indeed, but not less powerful nor less mislead- ing by unreasoning sentiment, by the sympathy which the romance of the unfortunate Queen's chequered career, her legendary beauty, her long captivity, and her heroic death awaken. In the controversy which has now raged for three centuries, and in the course of which every incident of Mary's life has repeatedly been submitted to the closest scrutiny, anxiety to get at facts, to add to the weight of evidence, to discover fresh witnesses, to un- earth new documents bearing on the points at issue, has led to a disregard of her personality more com- plete, perhaps, than in the case of any of her con- temporaries, and contrasting strangely with the abundance of intimate details which go to make up our knowledge of her great rival. To most of us Elizabeth is as distinctly, almost tangibly, present as though she had reigned in our day. She moves through the pages of history surrounded by a train of courtiers scarcely less familiar to us than those of our own generation. The Queen of Scots, on the con- trary, seems to be but little more than an historical ab- straction. It is scarcely too much to say that many for whom it would be an easy task to follow her, step by step, from Linlithgow to Fotheringay, to recall all the events of which she was the central figure, to discuss all the problems which her name suggests, would be at a loss to furnish such details as could bring before us the features of the woman whose beauty doubtless finds frequent mention in their dis- courses, or bring together such particulars as would Mary, Queen of Scots 3 justify all that they are ready to admit, and perhaps even to assert, concerning her talents and her accom- plishments. It may, therefore, be neither inoppor- tune nor uninteresting if, forgetting for a while the history of the Queen, we give our attention to the individuality of the woman ; if, turning to the The voice of a goddess (for it could not be Dei) and not of a woman! God save the sweet face! Was thair ever oratour spack so properlie and so sweitlie!" 3 When, to this description, we have added that Mary Stuart was of a full figure 4 and became actually stout in later life; that she is described in the report of her execution and represented in several portraits as having a double chin, we shall have given a picture of her which, though wanting in some details, is as complete as it is possible to sketch at this length of time. Mary Stuart is not infrequently mentioned as one of the precocious children of history. But the legend of her scholarly acquirements originates with Brant6me, an authority not always above suspicion when the glorification of princes is his theme, and it is not unnecessary to look more closely into the matter before we accept his glowing panegyric of the youthful prodigy. He informs us that Mary was "very learned in Latin", 6 and that, when only 1 T. v, p. 86. 2 (Euvrcs, 1. c. 3 History of the Reformation^ vol. ii, p. 381. 4 Teulet, Papiers d'Atat, t. ii, p. 883. *T. v, pp. 83-4. Mary , Queen of Scots 9 thirteen or fourteen years of age, she publicly de- livered at the Louvre, in the presence of King Henry II, Catherine de' Medici, his Queen, and the whole French Court, a Latin discourse which she had composed in justification of her own course of studies, and in support of the view that it is be- fitting in women to devote themselves to letters and to the liberal arts. This speech is also referred to by Antoine Fouquelin in the dedication of a text- book of Rhetoric which he composed for the young Princess. 1 He records the admiration with which Mary had been listened to by the noble company, and the high hopes which the elegant oration had awakened. That she herself set some value on this production may be assumed from the fact that she was at the pains of translating it into French; and the mention of it in the inventory of books de- livered by the Earl of Morton to James VI in 1578, where it appears as "ane Oratioun to the King of Franche of the Quenis awin hand write", would seem to imply that she looked back with pride upon her youthful triumph. This interest- ing manuscript has now disappeared; nevertheless, it is not impossible to obtain from another source a fairly accurate idea of the speech which called forth such high praise from the French courtiers. It happens that the National Library in Paris possesses the Latin themes written by Mary Stuart in 1554, the year before the oratorical performance at the Louvre. Amongst the exercises contained in the iRhetoriqut Franfoise, Paris, 1555. io In Byways of Scottish History morocco -bound volume, fifteen refer to the same subject as the speech, and, it is fair to suppose, were intended as a preparation for the princely pupil's "speech-day". 1 Disappointing as it may be to ardent admirers of the Queen of Scots, it must be admitted that her themes do not bear out the praises bestowed on her Latinity, but contain such solecisms as would probably have been fraught with unpleasant consequences to a less noble and less fair scholar. Neither need the substance of Mary's apo- logy for learned women excite our enthusiasm. To string together, with a few commonplace remarks, lists of names evidently supplied by her tutor and taken by him from Politian's Epistles, was no very remarkable achievement on the part of a child who, if she began her classical studies as early as her fellow pupil and sister-in-law Elizabeth did, had already de- voted fully five years to Latin at the date of her famous speech. But, though the Queen's early proficiency may have been overrated, there can be no doubt that, in later life, she possessed considerable familiarity with the language of Virgil and of Cicero. We know from contemporary letters that, after her return to Scotland, she continued her studies under Buchanan 2 and that, faithful to the habit which she had acquired in France, of devoting two hours a day to her books, 3 she regularly read " somewhat of Livy" with him "after her dinner". 1 Latin Themes of Mary Stuart, published bf Anatole de Montaiglon. a Letter from Randolph to Cecil, 7 April, i$6z. * Branttme, t. v, p. 84. Mary, Queen of Scots u The catalogue of the books 1 contained in the royal library affords further information as to the nature and extent of her acquaintance with Latin literature. In it we find mention, amongst others of lesser note, of Horace, Virgil and Cicero, of ^Emilius Probus and Columella, of Vegetius and Boethius. Neither did she neglect the Latinity of the Middle Ages. In prose it is represented by such forgotten names as those of Bertram of Corvey, of Ludolph of Saxony, of Joannes de Sacrobosco, and of Nicolaus de Clam- angiis, the authors of ponderous treatises on science and on theology; the latter subject being one which her interest in the great ecclesiastical revolution of the age rendered particularly attractive to her. Amongst contemporary Latin poets her favourites seem to have been Petrus Bargaeus, Louis Leroy, Sir Thomas Craig of Riccarton, and George Buchanan, whose dedication to her of his translation of the Psalms has not unjustly been pronounced to stand "unsurpassed by all the verses that have been lavished upon her during three hundred years by poets of almost every nation and language of Europe". 2 Whether the Queen of Scots was acquainted with Greek cannot be determined with certainty. Neither Brant6me nor Con nor Blackwood has given infor- mation on this head. If, on the one hand, her numerous Latin and French translations of Greek authors do not point to a great familiarity with it, 1 Inventories of Mary Queen of Scots. Bannatpne Club, p. 179 ft seq. 2 InvtntorieSf p. cv. 12 In Byways of Scottish History on the other, the knowledge that she used such versions for the purpose of linguistic study, and the presence on her shelves of Homer and Hero- dotus, of Sophocles and Euripides, of Socrates and Plato, of Demosthenes and Lucian in the original tongue, justify the supposition that, even though she may not have rivalled the fair pupils of Ascham and of Aylmer, the productions of Athenian genius were not sealed books to her. Amongst modern languages Spanish was that with which Mary had the slightest acquaintance, and so far as may be judged from the works which she possessed, her reading in it was limited to a book of chronicles and a collection of ballads. 1 As might be expected from her early surroundings, she was more familiar with Italian. She could both speak and write it. Indeed, among the verses attributed to her there is an Italian sonnet addressed to Elizabeth. It is scarcely credible that she had not read Dante; never- theless, it is worthy of notice that his "Divine Comedy" does not appear in the catalogue of her library 2 where, however, Petrarch, Boccaccio, and Ariosto figure by the side of the less-known Bembo. Though born in Scotland, Mary Stuart never possessed great fluency in the language of the country over which she was called to rule. Her knowledge of it was acquired chiefly, if not wholly, after her return from France. Her father, from 1 " Concionero de Romanses ", Inventories, p. cxlvi. 2 Unless it be he that is meant in the entry: " Danies Vgieri in Italian", Inventories, p. cxliv. Mary, Queen of Scots 13 whom she might have learnt it in childhood, she never knew. For her mother the northern Doric remained through life a foreign tongue. The atten- dants with whom she was surrounded in her earliest infancy were either French or had been educated in France. It is therefore questionable whether she could express herself in what was nominally her native tongue, even when she sailed from Dum- barton on her journey to the court of the Valois. That she forgot whatever she may then have known of it is beyond doubt. Seven years after she had left France she was still making efforts to learn English, using translations amongst others an English version of the Psalms for the purpose, but not meeting with signal success. Conversing with Nicholas White, in 1569, she began with ex- cuses for " her ill English, declaring herself more willing than apt to learn the language". 1 It was on the i st of September of the preceding year that she wrote what she herself describes as her first letter in English. This circumstance may warrant its re- production, though as an historical document merely, it possesses no importance. It is addressed to Sir Francis Knollys: " M ester Knollis, y heuu har sum neus from Scotland ; y send zou the double off them y vreit to the quin my gud sister, and pres zou to du the lyk, conforme to that y spak zesternicht vnto zou, and sut hesti ansur y refer all to zour discretion, and wil lipne beter in zour gud delin for mi, nor y kan persuad zou, nemli in this langasg; excus my iuel 1 Haynes's Collection of State Papers, p. 509. 14 In Byways of Scottish History vreitin for y neuuer vsed it afor, and am hestet. . . . Excus my iuel vreitin thes furst tym." 1 The testimony of Mary's library, 2 to which we have already appealed, and which is the more valu- able and the more trustworthy that the books which it contained were undoubtedly collected by herself and for her own use, bears out what has been so often stated with regard to her love of French litera- ture. In history it shows her to have been ac- quainted not only with the foremost chroniclers; not only with Froissart, in whose picturesque narra- tive her native Scotland is mentioned with such grateful remembrance of the hospitality shown him; not only with Monstrelet, from whose ungenerous treatment of the heroic Joan of Arc she may have learnt, even before her own experience taught her the hard lesson, how the animosity of party can blunt all better feeling; but also with the lesser writers, with those whose works never reached celeb- rity even in their own day and whose names have long ceased to interest posterity, with Aubert and Bouchet, Sauvage and Paradin. It may be regarded as a proof of her good taste that she set but little store on the dreary romances of the time, written either in imitation or in con- tinuation of " Amadis de Gaul", whilst to Rabelais, 3 on the contrary, she accorded the place of honour which he deserved. 1 Sir H. Ellis's Ouginal Letters Illustrative of English History, First Series, vol. ii, p. 252. -Inventories, p. 179. 3 " Pantagrucll in Frcnche ", Inventories^ p. cxlvi. Mary, Queen of Scots 15 As regards the poets of France, all that Brant6me has told us of her partiality for them finds its justi- fication in the almost complete collection of their works which she brought to Scotland with her. Amongst all others, however, Du Bellay, Maison- Fleur, and Ronsard were her special favourites. For the last, in particular, her enthusiasm was un- bounded. It was to the verses in which he embodies the love of a whole nation that she turned for solace when the fresh sorrow of her departure from France was her heaviest burthen; it was over his pages that her tears flowed in the bitterness which knew no comfort as she sat a lonely captive in the castles of Elizabeth. As a token of her admiration she sent him from her prison a costly service of plate with the flattering inscription: "A Ronsard, 1'Apollon des Franc, ais 'V It has been asserted by Brant6me, and repeated ever since on his authority, that Mary Stuart herself excelled in French verse. The elegiac stanzas quoted by him have been admired in all good faith by suc- ceeding generations " for the tender pathos of the sentiments and the original beauty of the meta- phors ". It is painful to throw discredit on the time-honoured tradition, but the late discovery of a manuscript once in Brant6me's possession has proved, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that the u Elegy on the Death of Francis II " was not com- posed by his wife. This was at once established by Dr. Galy of Perigueux, the possessor of the manu- 1 CEuvres de Ronsard, vol. ii, p. 1171. 16 In Byways of Scottish History script. Having since then been favoured by him with a copy of other poems contained in it and acknowledged by Brantome as his own produc- tions, and having compared them carefully with the " pathetic sentiments " and " original metaphors ", as well as with the expressions and even the rhymes of the Elegy, we have no hesitation in going a step further, and pronouncing that the latter is from the pen of the unscrupulous Lord Abbot himself. 1 Apart from this, there still remain a few poems attributed to Mary, and authenticated, not indeed by her sig- nature, but by what is almost as authoritative, her anagrams: " Sa vertu m'atire ", or "Va, tu meri- teras". 2 However interesting these poetical effusions may be as relics, their literary merit is of no high order, and they are assuredly not such as to deserve for the author a place amongst the poets of her century. Before closing our remarks on Mary Stuart's scholarship and literary acquirements we would dwell for a moment on the subject of her handwriting, for that too has been made the subject of admiring comment by some of her biographers. Con has recorded that " she formed her letters elegantly and, what is rare in a woman, wrote swiftly ". 3 Some 1 For a full account of this literary forgery, see below, pp. 79-90. * The following scheme shows how these anagrams were formed : 12345 6789 10 ii 12 13 MARIE STVVARTE 62 85379 i 1012 4 ii 13 S A V E R T V M'A TIRE 82 79 i 5 3 4 12 13 ii 106 VA, TV MERITERAS '**G. Conaei vita Mariae Stuartae, 1624", in Jebb y vol. ii, p. 15. Mary, Queen of Scots 17 reason for his admiration may be found in the fact that Mary had adopted what Shakespeare styles "the sweet Roman hand", which at that time was only beginning to take the place of the old Gothic, and, in Scotland particularly, had all the charm of a fashionable novelty. The specimen now before us shows a bold, rather masculine hand, of such size that five short words "mon linge entre mes fammes" fill a line six inches long. The letters are seldom joined together, and the words are scat- tered over the page with untutored irregularity and disregard for straight lines. On the whole we can- not but allow the force of Pepys' exclamation oh being shown some of the Queen's letters: "Lord! How poorly methinks they wrote in those days, and on what plain uncut paper!" 1 Our sketch of Mary Stuart would not be com- plete if we limited ourselves to the more serious side of her character merely. If she did not deserve the reputation for utter thbughtlessness and frivolity which some of her puritanical contemporaries have given her, she was undoubtedly fond of amusements. The memoirs and correspondence of the time often show her seeking recreation in popular sports and pastimes; indeed, Randolph describes life at the Scottish Court for the first two years after her re- turn from France as one continual round of " feasts, banquetting, masking, and running at the ring, and such like ". 2 It was to Mary, as Knox testifies, that 1 Diary, 24 Nov., 1665. 2 Letter from Randolph to Cecil, 15 May, 1563. (0474) 3 i8 In Byways of Scottish History the introduction into Scotland of those primitive dra- matic performances known as Masques or Triumphs was due. They soon became so popular that they formed the chief entertainment at every festival. The Queen herself and her attendants, particularly the four Marys, often took part in them, either acting in mere dumb show or reciting the verses which the elegant pen of Buchanan supplied, and singing the songs which Rizzio composed, and of which the melodies may very possibly be those which, wedded to more modern verse, are still po- pular amongst the Scottish peasantry. Not only were these masques performed in the large halls of the feudal castles, but in the open air also, near the little lake at the foot of Arthur's Seat. It may cause some astonishment at the present day to find not only the maids of honour, but even the Queen her- self, assuming the dress of the other sex in these masquerades. Yet the Diurnal of Occurrents 1 records, without expressing either indignation or even as- tonishment at the fact, that " the Queen's Grace and all her Maries and ladies were all clad in men's apparel " at the " Maskery or mumschance " given one Sunday evening in honour of the French Am- bassador. Like her cousin of England, Mary was fond of dancing, and, as her Latin biography informs us, showed to great advantage in it. 2 From a passage quaintly noted as " full of diversion " in Sir James Melville's Memoirs, we learn that the knight being 1 P. 87. 2 Con, in Jebb, vol. ii, p. 15. Mary, Queen of Scots 19 pressed by Queen Elizabeth to declare whether she or his own sovereign danced best, answered her with courtly ambiguity that "the Queen dancit not so hich and so disposedly as she did". 1 In reply to the same royal enquirer he also stated that Mary "sometimes recreated herself in playing upon the lute and virginals", and that she played "reason- ably for a queen ", not so well, however, as Eliza- beth herself. 2 We gather from Con 8 and Brant6me that her voice was well trained, and that she sang well. The indoor amusements in favour at Holyrood were chess, which James VI condemned as " over wise and philosophic a folly ", 4 tables, a game prob- ably resembling backgammon, and cards. That these last were not played for " love " merely, is shown by an entry in the Lord Treasurer's accounts of " fyftie pundis " for Her Majesty " to play at the cartis ". 5 Puppets or marionettes were also in great vogue. A set of thirty-eight, together with a com- plete outfit of "vardingaills", "gownis", "kirtillis", " sairkis slevis ", and " hois ", is mentioned in an inventory of the time, where we see these "pippenis" an old Scottish corruption of the French "pou- pine" dressed in such costly stuffs as damask brocaded with gold, cloth of silver, and white silk. 6 Quieter employment for the leisure hours of the Queen and her ladies was supplied by various kinds 'P. 125- *U>id. 8 In7^, 1. c. 4 Basilikon Doron, p. 125, edit. 1603. 6 Compotum TAesaurarii Rtgitxe Scotorum, 30 Nov., 1565. 6 Thomson's Collection of Inventories^ pp. 238-40. 20 In Byways of Scottish History of fancy-work, amongst which knitting and tapestry are particularly mentioned. To the latter she de- voted much of her time, both at Lochleven, where she requested to be allowed " an imbroiderer, to draw forth such work as she would be occupied about ",* and in England. Whilst she was at Tut- bury, Nicholas White once asked her how she passed her time within doors when the weather cut off all exercises abroad. She replied " that all that day she wrought with her needle, and that the diversity of the colours made the work seem less tedious, and continued so long at it till very pain made her to give over. . . . Upon this occasion she entered into a pretty disputable comparison between carving, painting, and working with the needle, affirming painting, in her own opinion, for the most commendable quality." ' At his interview with Elizabeth, Sir James Mel- ville was asked what kind of exercises his Queen used. He answered, that when he received his dispatch, the Queen was lately come from the Highland hunting. Her undaunted behaviour on this occasion is recorded by an eyewitness, Dr. William Barclay of Gartley, who tells us that she herself gave the signal for letting the hounds loose upon a wolf, and that in one day's hunting three hundred and sixty deer, five wolves, and some wild goats were slain. 3 1 Inventories^ p. cxxt. 2 Letter to Cecil, in Haynes's State Papers, pp. 509-10. 3 De Regno et Regali Potestate, edit. 1612, pp. 279-80. Mary, Queen of Scots 21 In common with her father, who took great pains to introduce " ratches " or greyhounds and blood- hounds into Scotland, and with her great-grandson, Charles II, who gave his name to a breed of spaniels, Mary Stuart shared a great fondness for dogs. In her happier days she always possessed several, which she entrusted to the keeping of one Anthone Guedio and a boy. These canine pets were provided with a daily ration of two loaves, and wore blue velvet collars as a distinguishing badge. 1 During her captivity, her dogs were amongst her most faithful companions. Writing from Sheffield to Beton, Archbishop of Glas- gow, she said : " If my uncle, the Cardinal of Guise, has gone to Lyons, I am sure he will send me a couple of pretty little dogs, and you will buy me as many more; for, except reading and working, my only pleasure is in all the little animals that I can get. They must be sent in baskets well-packed, so as to keep them warm." 2 The fidelity of one of these dumb friends adds to the pathos of the last scene of her sad history. "One of the executioners," says a contemporary report, " pulling off her clothes, espied her little dog which was crept under her clothes, which would not be gotten forth but by force, and afterwards would not depart from the dead body, but came and lay betwixt her head and shoulders, a thing diligently noted." 3 In recording one of his interviews with Queen 1 Inventories, pp. xc, 141, 148. 2 Prince Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, t. iv, pp. 228-9. 3 Cf. " Le Vray Rapport de 1'execution faicte sur la personne de la Roynt d'Escosse ", published by Teulet, Papiers J'Etat, &c., p. 884. 22 In Byways of Scottish History Mary, Knox gives us information concerning another of the sports with which she beguiled her time, for he tells us that it was at the hawking near Kinross that she appointed him to meet her. 1 Archery, too, seems to have been a favourite amusement. She had butts both at Holyrood and St. Andrews. Writing to Cecil in 1562, and again in 1567, Ran- dolph informs him that the Queen and the Master of Lindsay shot against Mary Livingston and the Earl of Murray; and that, in another match, the Queen and Bothwell won a dinner at Tranent from the Earl of Huntley and Lord Seton. 2 Neither did she neglect the "royal game", for one of the charges brought against her and embodied in the articles given in by the Earl of Murray to Queen Eliza- beth's commissioners at Westminster, stated that a few days after Darnley's murder " she past to Seytoun, exercing hir one day richt oppinlie at the feildis with the pallmall and goif ". To sketch Mary's character further would be trenching on debatable ground and overstepping the limits which we have imposed upon ourselves. There is one trait, however, which may be recorded on the authority even of her enemies her personal courage. Randolph represents her as riding at the head of her troops "with a steel bonnet on her head, and a pistol at her saddle-bow; regretting that she was not a man to know what life it was to lie all night in the fields, or to walk upon the causeway with a jack and a knapscull, a Glasgow buckler, 1 History of the Reformation, vol. ii, p. 373. * Inventories, p. bcix. Mary, Queen of Scots 23 and a broadsword ". The author of the poem preserved in the Record Office, to which we have already made reference, allows that "no enemy could appal her, no travail daunt her intent", that she "dreaded no danger of death", that "no stormy blasts could make her retire ", and he likens her to Tomiris: Tomiris hir selflfe Who dreaded (awed] great hosts with her tyrannye Cold not showe hir selffe more valiant. But never, surely, was her fortitude shown more clearly to the world than when, three hundred years ago, " she laid herself upon the block most quietly, trying her chin over it, stretching out her hands, and crying out: c In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum ' ". THE FOUR MARYS REFERENCE is seldom made to the Queen's Marys, the four Maids of Honour whose romantic attach- ment to their royal mistress and namesake, the ill- fated Queen of Scots, has thrown such a halo of popularity and sympathy about their memory, with- out calling forth the well-known lines: Yestreen the Queen had four Maries, The night she'll hae but three; There was Marie Seton, and Marie Beton, And Marie Carmichael and me. To those who are acquainted with the whole of the ballad, which records the sad fate of the guilty Mary Hamilton, it must have occurred that there is a striking incongruity between the traditional loyalty of the Queen's Marys and the alleged execution of one of their number, on the denunciation of the offended Queen herself, for the murder of an ille- gitimate child, the reputed offspring of a criminal intrigue with Darnley. Yet a closer investigation of the facts assumed in the ballad leads to a dis- covery more unexpected than even this. It estab- lishes, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that, of the four family-names given in the stanza as those of 26 In Byways of Scottish History the four Marys, two only are authentic. Mary Carmichael and Mary Hamilton herself are mere poetical myths. Not only does no mention of them occur in any of the lists still extant of the Queen's personal attendants, but there also exist documents of all kinds, from serious historical narrative and authoritative charter to gossiping correspondence and polished epigram, to prove that the colleagues of Mary Beton and Mary Seton were Mary Fleming and Mary Livingston. How the apocryphal names have found their way into the ballad, or how the ballad itself has come to be connected with the Maids of Honour, cannot be determined. There is, however, in Knox's History of the Reformation, a passage which has been looked upon as furnish- ing a possible foundation of truth to the whole fiction. It is that in which he records the com- mission and the punishment of a crime similar to that for which Mary Hamilton is represented as about to die on the gallows. "In the very time of the General Assembly there comes to public know- ledge a haynous murther, committed in the Court; yea, not far from the queen's lap: for a French woman, that served in the queen's chamber, had played the whore with the queen's own apothecary. The woman conceived and bare a child, whom with common consent, the father and mother murthered; yet were the cries of a new-borne childe hearde, searche was made, the childe and the mother were both apprehended, and so was the man and the woman condemned to be hanged in the publicke The Four Marys 27 street of Edinburgh. The punishment was suitable, because the crime was haynous." 1 Between this his- torical fact for the authenticity of which we have also the testimony of Randolph 2 and the ballad, which substitutes Darnley and one of the Maids of Honour for the queen's apothecary and a nameless waiting-woman, the connection is not very close. Indeed, there is but one point on which both accounts are in agreement, though that, it is true, is an important one. The unnatural mother whose crime, with its condign punishment, is mentioned by the historian, was, he says, a French woman. The Mary Hamilton of the ballad, in spite of a name which certainly does not point to a foreign origin, is also made to come from over the seas: I charge ye all, ye mariners, When ye sail ower the faem; Let neither my father nor my mother get wit But that I 'm coming hame. O, little did my mother ken, The day she cradled me, The lands I was to travel in, Or the death I was to dee. It does not, however, come within the scope of the present paper to examine more closely into the ballad of Mary Hamilton. It suffices to have made 1 Knox's History of the Reformation^ pp. 373, 374- 2 Writing to Cecil on the 3ist of December, 1563, Randolph reports : "The frenche potticarie and the woman he gotte with chylde were bothe hanged thys present Fridaye ". 28 In Byways of Scottish History it clear that, whatever be their origin, the well-known verses have no historical worth or significance, and no real claim to the title of " The Queen's Marie " prefixed to them in the ^Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. 1 Except for the purpose of correcting the erroneous, but general belief, which has been pro- pagated by the singular and altogether unwarranted mention of the "Four Marys", and the introduc- tion of the names of two of them in the oft-quoted stanza, there would, in reality, be no necessity for any allusion to the popular poem in a sketch of the career of the fair Maids of Honour, whose touching fidelity through good and evil fortune has won for them a greater share of interest than is enjoyed by any of the subordinate characters in the great his- torical drama of which their royal mistress is the central figure. The first historical and authoritative mention of the four Marys is from the pen of one who was personally and intimately acquainted with them John Leslie, Bishop of Ross. It occurs in his de- scription of the departure of the infant Mary Stuart from the small harbour at the foot of the beetling, castle-crowned rock of Dumbarton, on that memor- able voyage which so nearly resembled a flight. "All things being reddy for the jornay," writes the chroni- cler, in his quaint northern idiom, "the Quene being as than betuix fyve and sax yearis of aige, wes de- 1 In Mr. Andrew Lang's book, The Valet* Tragedy and other Studies, pp. 291- 311, there is an exhaustive discussion of the various points that arise in con- nection with the ballad of " The Queen's Marie ". The Four Marys 29 livered to the queue dowarier hir moder, and wes embarqued in the Kingis awin gallay, and with her the Lord Erskyn and Lord Levingstoun quha had bene hir keparis, and the Lady Fleming her fadir sister, with sindre gentilwemen and nobill mennis sonnes and dochteres, almoist of hir awin age; of the quhilkes thair wes four in speciall, of whom everie one of thame buir the samin name of Marie, being of four syndre honorable houses, to wyt, Fleming, Levingstoun, Seton and Betoun of Creich; quho remainit all foure with the Quene in France,, during her residens thair, and returned agane in Scotland with her Majestic in the yeir of our Lord I m V c lxi yeris." 1 Of the education and early training of the four Marys, as companions and playmates of the youthful queen, we have no special record. The deficiency is one which our knowledge of the wild doings of the gayest court of the age makes it easy to supply. For the Scottish maidens, as for their mistress, intercourse with the frivolous company that gathered about Catherine de' Medici was but indif- ferent preparation for the serious business of life. Looking back on " those French years ", doubtless they too, like her, "only seemed to see A light of swords and singing, only hear Laughter of love and lovely stress of lutes, And in between the passion of them borne Sound of swords crossing ever, as of feet Dancing, and life and death still equally Blithe and bright-eyed from battle." 1 Bishop Lesley's History of Scotland, p. 209. 30 In Byways of Scottish History Brantdme, to whom we are indebted for so much personal description of Mary Stuart, and so many intimate details concerning her character, tastes, and acquirements, is less communicative with respect to her four fair attendants. He merely mentions them amongst the court beauties as " Mesdamoiselles de Flammin, de Ceton, Beton, Leviston, escoissaises ".* He makes no allusion to them in the pathetic de- scription of the young queen's departure from her " sweet France " on the fateful 24th of August, a date which subsequent events were destined to mark with a fearful stain of blood, in the family to which she was allied. Yet, doubtless they, too, were gazing with tearful eyes at the receding shore, blessing the calm which retarded their course, trembling with vague fears as their voyage began amidst the cries of drowning men, and half wishing that the English ships of the jealous Elizabeth might prevent them from reaching their dreary destination. That they were with their royal namesake, we know. Leslie, who, with Brant6me and the unfortunate Chastelard, accompanied the idol of France to her unsympathetic northern home, again makes special note of " the four maidis of honour quha passit with hir Hienes in France, of her awin aige, bering the name everie ane of Marie, as is befoir mencioned". During the first years of Mary Stuart's stay in her capital, the four maids of honour played con- spicuous parts in all the amusements and festivities of the court, and were amongst those who incurred 1 Brantome, t. v, p. 74. The Four Marys 31 the censure of the austere Reformers for introducing into Holyrood the " balling, and dancing, and ban- quetting "* of Amboise and Fontainbleau. Were our information about the masques acted at the Scottish Court less scanty, we should, doubtless, often find the names of the four Marys amongst the performers. Who more fit than they to figure in the first masque represented at Holyrood, in October, 1561, at the Queen's farewell banquet to her uncle, the Grand Prior of the Knights of St. John, and to take their places amongst the Muses who marched in procession before the throne, reciting Buchanan's flattering verses in praise of the lettered court of the Queen of Scots? Banished by War, to thee we take our flight, Who still dost worship at the Muses' shrine, And, solaced by thy presence, day and night, Nor murmur at our exile, nor repine. Had Marioreybanks given us the names of those who took part in the festivities which he describes as having taken place on the occasion of Lord Flem- ing's marriage, can we doubt that the Marys would have been found actively engaged in the open-air performance " in the Parke of Holyroudhous, under Arthur's Seatt, at the end of the loche"? 2 Indeed, it is not matter of mere conjecture, but of authentic historical record, that on more than one occasion Buchanan did actually introduce the Queen's name- sakes amongst the dramatis personae of the masques 1 Knox's History of the Reformation^ book v, vol. ii, p. 495. 2 Annals of Scotland^ p. 14. 32 In Byways of Scottish History which, as virtual laureate of the Scottish Court, he was called upon to supply. The Diurnal of Oc- currents mentions that "upoun the ellevint day of the said moneth (February) the King and Quene in lyik manner bankettit the samin (French) Ambas- satour; and at evin our Soveranis maid the maskrie and mumschance, in the quhilk the Queenis Grace and all hir Maries and ladies were all cled in men's apperell; and everie ane of thame presentit ane quhingar, bravelie and maist artificiallie made and embroiderit with gold, to the said Ambassatour and his gentilmen, everie ane of thame according to his estate". 1 That this, moreover, was not the first appearance of the fair performers we also know, for it was they who bore the chief parts in the third masque acted during the festivities which attended the Queen's marriage with Darnley; and it was one of them, perhaps Mary Beton, the scholar of the court, who recited the verses which Buchanan had introduced in allusion to their royal mistress's re- covery from some illness otherwise unrecorded in history : Kind Goddess, Health, four Nymphs their voices raise To welcome thy return and sing thy praise, To beg as suppliants that thou wouldst deign To smile benignly on their Queen again, And make her royal breast thy hallowed shrine, Where best and worthiest worship shall be thine. That the four Nymphs mentioned in this, the only fragment of the masque which has been preserved, 1 Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 87. The Four Marys 33 were the four Marys, is explained by Buchanan's commentator, Ruddiman : " Nymphas hie vocat quatuor Mariae Scotae corporis ministras, quae etiam omnes Mariae nominabantur ". It is more than prob- able, too, that the Marys were not merely spectators of the masque which formed a part of the first day's amusements, and of which they themselves were the subject-matter. It may still be read under the title of " Pompa Deorum in Nuptiis Mariae ", in Buchanan's Latin poems. Diana opens the masque, which is but a short mythological dialogue, with a complaint to the ruler of Olympus that one of her five Marys the Queen herself is here included has been taken from her by the envious arts of Venus and of Juno: Five Marys erst my boast and glory were, Each one in youthful beauty passing fair; Whilst these enhanced the splendour of my state To all the gods I seemed too fortunate, Till Venus, urged by Juno in her ire, Stole one away and marred my comely quire, Whereof the other four now grieve that they Must, like the Pleiads, shine with lessened ray. In the dialogue which follows, and in which five goddesses and five gods take part, Apollo chimes in with a prophecy which was only partially accom- plished: Fear not, Diana, cast away thy care, And hear the tidings which I prescient bear; Juno decrees thy Marys shall be wed, And in all state to Hymen's altar led, But each to fill its lessened ranks again, Will add her offspring to thy beauteous train. (C474) 4 34 In Byways of Scottish History Iri his summing up, which, as may be imagined, is not very favourable to the complainant, the Olympian judge also introduces a prettily turned compliment to the Marys: Five Marys erst were thine and each one meet With goddesses in beauty to compete; Each worthy of a god, if iron fate Allowed the gods to choose a mortal mate. The whole pageant closes with an epilogue spoken by the herajd Talthybius, who also foretells further defections from Diana's maidens: Another marriage! Hear the joyful cry: Another Mary joined in nuptial tie! As was but natural, the Queen's favourite attend- ants possessed considerable influence with their royal lady, and the sequel will show, in the case of each of them, how eagerly their good offices were sought after by courtiers and ambassadors anxious for the success of their several suits and missions. In a letter which Randolph wrote to Cecil on the 24th of October, 1564, and which, as applying to the Marys collectively, may be quoted here, we are shown the haughty Lennox himself condescending to make pretty presents to the maids with a view to in- gratiating himself with the mistress. " He pre- sented also each of the Marys with such pretty things as he thought fittest for them, such good means he hath to win their hearts, and to make his way to further effect." 1 1 Calendar of State Papers^ Eliz., vol. ix. MARY FLEMING IT is scarcely the result of mere chance that, in the chronicles which make mention of the four Marys, Mary Fleming's name usually takes precedence of those of her three colleagues. She seems to have been tacitly recognized as "prima inter pares". This was, doubtless, less in consequence of her be- longing to one of the first houses in Scotland, for the Livingstons, the Betons, and the Setons might well claim equality with the Flemings, than of her being closely related to Mary Stuart herself, though the relationship, it is true, was only on the side of the distaff, and though there was, moreover, a bar sinister on the royal quarterings which it added to the escutcheon of the Flemings. Mary Fleming Marie Flemyng, as she signed herself, or Flamy, as she was called in the Queen's broken English was the fourth daughter of Malcolm, third Lord Fleming. Her mother, Janet Stuart, was a natural daughter of King James IV. Mary Fleming and her royal mis- tress were consequently first cousins. This may sufficiently account for the greater intimacy which existed between them. Thus, after Chastelard's outrage, it was Mary Fleming whom the Queen, dreading the loneliness which had rendered the wild 36 In Byways of Scottish History attempt possible, called in to sleep with her, for protection. Amongst the various festivities and celebrations which were revived in Holyrood by Mary and the suite which she had brought with her from the gay court of France, that of Twelfth Night seems to have been in high favour, as, indeed, it still is in some provinces of France at the present day. In the "gateau des Rois ", or Twelfth Night Cake, it was customary to hide a bean, and when the cake was cut up and distributed, the person to whom chance or not infrequently design brought the piece containing the bean, was recognized sole monarch of the revels until the stroke of midnight. On the 6th of January, 1563, Mary Fleming was elected queen by favour of the bean. Her mistress, entering into the spirit of the festivities, with her characteristic considerateness for even the amuse- ment of those about her, abdicated her state in favour of the mimic monarch of the night. A letter written by Randolph to Lord Dudley, and bearing the date of the 1 5th of January, gives an interesting and vivid picture of the fair maid of honour decked out in her royal mistress's jewels: "You should have seen here upon Tuesday the great solemnity and royall estate of the Queen of the Beene. Fortune was so favourable to faire Flemyng, that, if shee could have seen to have judged of her vertue and beauty, as blindly she went to work and chose her at adventure, shee would sooner have made her Queen for ever, then for one night only, to exalt her so Mary Fleming 37 high and the nixt to leave her in the state she found her. . . . That day yt was to be seen, by her princely pomp, how fite a match she would be, wer she to contend ether with Venus in beauty, Minerva in witt, or Juno in worldly wealth, haveing the twc former by nature, and of the third so much as is contained in this realme at her command and free disposition. The treasure of Solomon, I trowe, was not to be compared unto that which hanged upon her back. . . . The Queen of the Beene was in a gowne of cloath of silver; her head, her neck, her shoulders, the rest of her whole body, so besett with stones, that more in our whole Jewell house wer not to be found. The Queen herself was apparelled in collours whyt and black, no other Jewell or gold about her bot the ring that I brought her from the Queen's Majestic hanging at her breast, with a lace of whyt and black about her neck." In another part of the same letter the writer becomes even more enthusiastic: "Happy was it unto this realm," he says, "that her reign endured no longer. Two such nights in one state, in so good accord, I believe was never seen, as to behold two worthy queens possess, without envy, one kingdom, both upon a day. I 4 leave the rest to your lordship to be judged of. My pen staggereth, my hand faileth, further to write. . . . The cheer was great. I never found myself so happy, nor so well treated, until that it came to the point that the old queen herself, to show her mighty power, contrary unto the assur- ance granted me by the younger queen, drew me 38 In Byways of Scottish History into the dance, which part of the play I could with good will have spared to your lordship, as much fitter for the purpose." 1 The queen of this Twelfth-Tide pageant was also celebrated by the court poet Buchanan. Amongst his epigrams there is one bearing the title: "Ad Mariam Flaminiam sorte Reginam": Could worth or high descent a crown bestow, Thou hadst been Queen, fair Fleming, long ago; Were grace and beauty titles to the throne, No grace or beauty had outshone thine own; Did vows of mortal men avail with Fate, Our vows had raised thee to the royal state. The fickle Deity that rules mankind, Though blind and deaf and foolish in her mind, Seemed neither foolish, deaf, nor blind to be When regal honours she accorded thee; Or, if she were, then *t was by Virtue led She placed the diadem upon thy head. 2 The "Faire Flemyng" found an admirer amongst the English gentlemen whom political business had brought to the Scotch Court. This was Sir Henry Sidney, of whom Naunton reports that he was a statesman " of great parts ". As Sir Henry was born in 1519, and consequently over twenty years older than the youthful maid of honour, his choice cannot be considered to have been a very judicious one, nor can the ill-success of his suit appear greatly astonishing. And yet, as the sequel was to show, 1 Miscellany of the Maitland Club, vol. ii, pp. 390-3. 2 Epigrammatum, lib. iii. Mary Fleming 39 Mary Fleming had no insuperable objection to an advantageous match on the score of disparity of age. In the year following that in which she figured as Queen of the Bean at Holyrood, the gossiping correspondence of the time expatiates irreverently enough on Secretary Maitland's wooing of the maid of honour. He was about forty at the time, and it was not very long since his first wife, Janet Mon- teith, had died. Mary Fleming was about two-and- twenty. There was, consequently, some show of reason for the remark made by Kirkcaldy of Grange, in communicating to Randolph the new matrimonial project in which Maitland was embarked: "The Secretary's wife is dead, and he is a suitor to Mary Fleming, who is as meet for him as 1 am to be a page". 1 Cecil appears to have been taken into the Laird of Lethington's confidence, and doubtless found amusement in the enamoured statesman's extrava- gance. "The common affairs do never so much trouble me but that at least I have one merry hour of the four-and-twenty. . . . Those that be in love are ever set upon a merry pin; yet I take this to be a most singular remedy for all diseases in all persons." 2 Two of the keenest politicians of their age laying aside their diplomatic gravity and forgetting the jealousies and the rivalry of their respective courts to discuss the charms of the Queen's youthful maid of honour: it is a charming historical vignette not without interest and humour even at this length of 1 Calendar of State Papers, Eliz.^ vol. ix, No. 47 B. 2 Calendar of State Papers, Eli it was ane woman. All the place saw hir weyr it. . . . Cursall show me the Secretaris wiff send it, and the vreting of it was ane fable of I sop betuix the Mouss and the Lioune, hou the Mouss for ane plesour done to hir be the Lioune, efter that, the Lioune being bound with ane corde, the Mouss schuyr the corde and let the Lioune louss.'" 1 During her long captivity in England, the un- fortunate Queen was not unmindful of the love and devotion of her faithful attendant. Long 1 MS. Fragment in the Register House; cf. Inventories, p. 1. 44 In Byways of Scottish History years after she had been separated from her, whilst in prison at Sheffield, she gives expression to her longing for the presence of Mary Fleming, and in a letter written "du manoir de Sheffield", on the ist of May, 1581, to Monsieur de Mauvissiere, the French ambassador, she begs him to renew her re- quest to Elizabeth that the Lady of Lethington should be allowed to tend her in " the valetudinary state into which she has fallen, of late years, owing to the bad treatment to which she has been sub- jected". 1 But the Secretary's wife had had her own trials and her own sorrows. On the 9th of June, 1573, her husband died at Leith, " not without suspicion of poison", according to Killigrew. Whether he died by his own hand, or by the act of his enemies, is a question which we are not called upon to dis- cuss. The evidence of contemporaries is conflicting, " some supponyng he tak a drink and died as the auld Romans wer wont to do", as Sir James Melville reports; 2 others, and amongst these Queen Mary herself, that he had been foully dealt with. Writing to Elizabeth, she openly gives expression to this be- lief: " the principal (of the rebel lords) were besieged by your forces in the Castle of Edinburgh, and one of the first among them poisoned". Maitland was to have been tried " for art and part of the treason, conspiracy, consultation, and treating of the King's murder". According to the law of 1 Prince Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, t. v, p. 222. ' 2 Memoirs, p. 256. Mary Fleming 45 Scotland, a traitor's guilt was not cancelled by death. The corpse might be arraigned and submitted to all the indignities which the barbarous code of the age recognized as the punishment of treason. It was intended to inflict the fullest penalty upon Maitland's corpse, and it remained unburied "till the vermin came from his corpse, creeping out under the door of the room in which he was lying". 1 In her dis- tress the widow applied to Burleigh, in a touching letter which is still preserved. It bears the date of the 2ist of June, 1573. My very good Lord, After my humble commendations, it may please your Lordship that the causes of the sorrowful widow, and orphants, by Almighty God recommended to the superior powers, together with the firm confidence my late husband, the Laird of Ledington, put in your Lordship's only help is the occasion, that I his desolat wife (though un- known to your Lordship), takes the boldness by these few lines, to humblie request your Lordship, that as my said hus- band being alive expected no small benefit at your hands, so now I may find such comfort, that the Queen's Majestic, your Sovereign, may by your travell and means be moved to write to my Lord Regent of Scotland, that the body of my husband, which when alive has not been spared in her hie- ness' service, may now, after his death, receive no shame, or ignominy, and that his heritage taken from him during his life- time, now belonging to me and his children, that have not offended, by a disposition made a long time ago, may be re- stored, which is aggreeable both to equity and the laws of this realme; and also your Lordship will not forget my husband's brother, the Lord of Coldingham, ane innocent gentleman, who was never engaged in these quarrels, but for his love 1 Calderwood, History of the Kirk of Scotland, vol. in, p. 285. 46 In Byways of Scottish History to his brother, accompanied him, and is now a prisoner with the rest, that by your good means, and procurement, he may be restored to his own, by doing whereof, beside the blessing of God, your lordship will also win the goodwill of many noblemen and gentlemen. 1 Burleigh lost no time in laying the widow's petition before Elizabeth, and on the I9th of July a letter written at Croydon was dispatched to the Regent Morton: "For the bodie of Liddington, who died before he was convict in judgment, and before any answer by him made to the crymes objected to him, it is not our maner in this contrey to show crueltey upon the dead bodies so unconvicted, but to suffer them streight to be buried, and put in the earth. And so suerly we think it mete to be done in this case, for (as we take it) it was God's pleasure he should be taken away from the execucion of judg- ment, so we think consequently that it was His divine pleasure that the bodie now dead should not be lacer- ated, nor pullid in pieces, but be buried like to one who died in his bed, and by sicknes, as he did." : Such a petitioner as the Queen of England was not to be denied, and Maitland's body was allowed the rites of burial. The other penalties which he had incurred by his treason real or supposed were not remitted. An Act of Parliament was passed " for rendering the children, both lawful and natural, of Sir William Maitland of Lethington, the younger, and of several others, who had been convicted of the 1 G. Chalmers, Life of Mary Queen of Scots, vol. iii, p. 615. - Calendar of State Papery vol. iv, p. 599. Mary Fleming 47 murder of the King's father, incapable of enjoying, or claiming, any heritages, lands, or possessions in Scotland ". The widow herself was also subjected to petty annoyances at the instigation of Morton. She was called upon to restore the jewels which her royal mistress had given her as a free gift, and in particu- lar, " one chayn of rubeis with twelf markes of dya- montis and rubeis, and ane mark with twa rubeis". 1 Even her own relatives seemed to have turned against her in her distress. In a letter written in French to her sister-in-law, Isabel, wife of James Heriot of Trabroun, she refers to some accusation brought against her by her husband's brother, Coldingham the same for whom she had inter- ceded in her letter to Burleigh and begs to be informed as to the nature of the charge made to the Regent, "car ace que jantans il me charge de quelque chose, je ne say que cest". 2 The letter bears no date, but seems to have been penned when the writer's misery was at its sorest, for it concludes with an earnest prayer that patience may be given her to bear the weight of her misfor- tunes. Better days, however, were yet in store for the much-tried Mary Fleming, for in February, 1584, the "relict of umquhill William Maitland, younger of Lethington, Secretare to our Soverane Lord", 1 Thomson's Collection of Inventories, p. 193; cf. Calendar of State Papers, voL iv, Oct. 19, 1573; and Inventories of Mary, p. civil. 2 Printed in Letters from Lady Margaret Burnet to John, Duke of Lauderdale, p. 83. Bannatyne Club. 48 In Byways of Scottish History succeeded in obtaining a reversion of her husband's forfeiture. In May of the same year, 1 the Parlia- ment allowed " Marie Flemyng and hir bairns to have bruik and inioy the same and like fauour, grace and priuilege and conditioun as is contenit in the pacificatioun maid and accordit at Perthe, the xxiii day of Februar, the yeir of God I m V c Ixxxij yeiris ". With this document one of the four Marys dis- appears from the scene. Of her later life we have no record. That it was thoroughly happy we can scarcely assume, for we know that her only son James died in poverty and exile. 1 Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, vol. iii, p. 313. MARY LIVINGSTON MARY LIVINGSTON, or, as she signed herself, Marie Leuiston, was the daughter of Alexander, fifth Lord Livingston. She was a cousin of Mary Fleming's, and, like her, related, though more distantly, to the sovereign. When she sailed from Scotland in 1548, as one of the playmates of the infant Mary Stuart, she was accompanied by both her father and her mother. Within a few years, however, she was left to the sole care of the latter, Lord Livingston having died in France in 1553. Of her life at the French Court we have no record. Her first appear- ance in the pages of contemporary chroniclers is on the 22nd of April, 1562, the year after her return to Scotland. On that date, the young Queen, who delighted in the sport of archery, shot off a match in her private gardens at St. Andrews. Her own partner was the Master of Lindsay. 1 Their op- ponents were the Earl of Moray, then only Earl of Mar, and Mary Livingston, whose skill is re- ported to have been when courtesy allowed it quite equal to that of her royal mistress. The next item of information is to be found in the matter-of-fact columns of an account book, in 1 G. Chalmers* Life of Queen Mary, vol. i, p. 109. ( C 474 ) 49 5 50 In Byways of Scottish History which we find it entered that the Queen gave Mary Livingston some grey damask for a gown, in Sep- tember, 1563,* and some black velvet for the same purpose in the following February. 2 Shortly after this, however, there occurred an event of greater importance, which supplied the letter-writers of the day with material for their correspondence. On the 5th of March, 1564, Mary Livingston was married to James Sempill, of Beltreis. It was the first mar- riage amongst the Marys, and consequently attracted considerable attention for months before the celebra- tion. As early as January, Paul de Foix, the French Ambassador, makes allusion to the approaching event: "Elle a commence a marier ses quatre Maries", he writes to Catharine de' Medici, " et diet qu'elle veult estre de la bande". 3 In a letter, dated the 9th of the same month, Randolph, faithful to his habit of com- municating all the gossip of the Court in his reports to England, informs Bedford of the intended marriage: " I learned yesterday that there is a conspiracy here framed against you. The matter is this: the Lord Sempill's son, being an Englishman born, shall be married between this and Shrovetide to the Lord Livingston's sister. The Queen, willing him well, both maketh the marriage and indoweth the parties with land. To do them honour she will have them marry in the Court. The thing intended against your lordship is this, that Sempill himself shall come to Berwicke within these fourteen days, and desire 1 Inventories, p. 139. ~ Ibid., p. 145. 3 Tculct, Papiers d'Etat relatifs a FHhtoire de fEcos;;, t. ii, p. 32. Mary Livingston 51 you to be at the bridal." 1 Writing to Leicester, he repeats his information: "It will not be above 6 or 7 days before the Queen (returning from her progress into Fifeshire) will be in this town. Im- mediately after that ensueth the great marriage of this happy Englishman that shall marry lovely Livingston." 2 Finally, on the 4th of March, he again writes : " Divers of the noblemen have come to this great marriage, which to-morrow shall be celebrated". 3 Randolph's epistolary garrulity has, in this instance, served one good purpose, of which he probably little dreamt when he filled his corres- pondence with the small talk of the Court circle. It enables us to refute a calumnious assertion made by John Knox with reference to the marriage of the Queen's maid of honour. " It was weill knawin that schame haistit mariage betwix John Sempill, callit the Danser, and Marie Levingstoune, surnameit the Lustie."* Randolph's first letter, showing, as it does, that preparations for the wedding were in progress as early as the beginning of January, sum- marily dismisses the charge of "haste" in its cele- bration, whilst, for those who are familiar with the style of the English envoy's correspondence, his very silence will appear the strongest proof that Mary's fair fame was tarnished by no breath of scandal. The birth of her first child in 1566, a fact to which the family records of the house of 1 Miss Strickland's Lives of the Queens of Scotland, vol. iv, p. 95. 2 Calendar of State Papers relating to Scotland, vol. i, p. 204. 3 Ibid., p. 207. 4 History of the Reformation, vol. ii, p. 415. 52 In Byways of Scottish History Sempill bear witness, establishes more irrefutably than any argument the utter falsity of Knox's un- scrupulous assertion. John Sempill, whose grace in dancing had acquired for him the surname which seems to have lain so heavily on Knox's conscience, and whose good for- tune in finding favour with lovely Mary Livingston called forth Randolph's congratulations, was the eldest son of the third lord, by his second wife Elizabeth Carlyle of Torthorwold. At Court, as may have been gathered from Randolph's letters, he was known as the "Englishman", owing to the fact of his having been born in Newcastle. Although of good family himself, and in high favour at Court, being but a younger son he does not seem to have been con- sidered on all hands as a fitting match for Mary Livingston. This the Queen, of whose making the marriage was, herself confesses in a letter to the Archbishop of Glasgow, reminding him that, "in a country where these formalities were looked to", exception had been taken to the marriage both of Mary and Magdalene Livingston on the score that they had taken as husbands " the younger sons of their peers les puines de leurs semblables" } Mary Stuart seems to have been above such prejudices, and showed how heartily she approved of the alliance between the two families by her liberality to the bride. Shortly before the marriage she gave her a band covered with pearls, a basquina of grey satin, a mantle of black taffety made in the Spanish fashion * Prince Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, t. iv, p. 341. Mary Livingston 53 with silver buttons, and also a gown of black taffety. It was she, too, who furnished the bridal dress, which cost 30, as entered in the accounts under date of the loth of March: Item: Ane pund xiii unce of silver to ane gown of Marie Levingstoune's to her mariage, the unce xxv s. Summa xxx li. The " Inuentair of the Quenis movables quhilkis ar in the handes of Seruais de Condy vallett of chalmer to hir Grace", records, further, that there was "deliueret in Merche 1564, to Johnne Semples wiff, ane bed of scarlett veluot bordit with broderie of black veluot, furnisit with ruif heidpece, thre pandis, twa vnderpandis, thre curtenis of taffetie of the same cullour without freingis. The bed is furnisit with freingis of the same cullour." To make her gift complete, the Queen, as another household document, her wardrobe book, testifies, added the following items: Item: Be the said precept to Marie Levingstoun xxxi elnis ii quarters of quhite fustiane to be ane marterass, the eln viii s. Summa xii li xii s. Item: xvi elnis of cammes to be palzeass, the eln vi s. Summa iiij li xvj s. Item: For nappes and fedders; v li. Item: Ane elne of lane; xxx s. Item: ij unce of silk; xx s. The wedding for which such elaborate prepara- tion had been made, and for which the Queen her- self named the day, took place, in the presence of 54 In Byways of Scottish History the whole Court and all the foreign ambassadors, on Shrove Tuesday, which, as has already been mentioned, was on the 5th of March. In the evening the wedding guests were entertained at a masque, which was supplied by the Queen, but of which we know nothing further than may be gathered from the following entry: Item: To the painter for the mask on Fastionis evin to Marie Levingstoun's marriage; xij li. 1 The marriage contract, which was signed at Edin- burgh on the Sunday preceding the wedding, bears the names of the Queen, of John Lord Erskine, Patrick Lord Ruthven, and of Secretary Maitland of Lethington. The bride's dowry consisted of $oo a year in land, the gift of the Queen, to which Lord Livingston added 100 merks a year in land, or 1000 merks in money. As a jointure she received the Barony of Beltreis near Castle Semple, in Ren- frewshire, the lands of Auchimanes and Calderhaugh, with the rights of fisheries in the Calder, taxed to the Crown at 18, i6s. %d. a year. 2 A few days after the marriage, on the 9th of March, a grant from the Queen to Mary Living- ston and John Sempill passed the great seal. In this official document she styles the bride "her familiar servatrice", and the bridegroom "her daily and familiar serviter, during all the youthheid and minority of the said serviters". In recognition of their services both to herself and the Queen Regent, 1 Inventories, pp. xlvii, 31, 65, 68, 70. 2 //V., p. xlvii. Mary Livingston 55 she infeofs them in her town and lands of Auchter- muchty, part of her royal demesne in Fifeshire, the lands and lordships of Stewarton in Ayr, and the isle of Little Cumbrae in the Firth of Clyde. After her marriage " Madamoiselle de Semple " was appointed lady of the bedchamber, an office for which she received 200 a year. Her husband also seems to have retained some office which required his personal attendance on the Queen, for we know that both husband and wife were in waiting at Holy- rood on the memorable evening of David Rizzio's murder. The shock which this tragic event pro- duced on Mary was very great, and filled her with the darkest forebodings. She more than once ex- pressed her fear that she would not survive her approaching confinement. About the end of May or the beginning of June, shortly before the solemn ceremony of " taking her chamber ", she caused an inventory of her personal effects to be drawn up by Mary Livingston and Margaret Carwod, the bed- chamber woman in charge of her cabinet, and with her own hand wrote, on the margin opposite to each of the several articles, the name of the person for whom it was intended, in the event of her death and of that of her infant. Mary Livingston's name appears by the side of the following objects in the original document, which was discovered among some unassorted law papers in the Register House, in August, 1854: Quatre vingtz deux esguillettes xliiij petittes de mesme facon esmaillez de blancq. 56 In Byways of Scottish History Une brodure du toure contenante xxv pieces esmaille de blanc et noir facon de godrons. Vne brodeure doreillette de pareille facon contenante xxvij pieces esmaillees de blanc et noir. Vne cottouere de semblable facon contenante Ix pieces de pareille facon esmaillee de blanc et noir. Vng carcan esmaille de blanc et noir contenant dixsept pieces et a chacune piece y a vng petit pandant. Vne chesne a saindre de semblable facon contenante liiij pieces esmaillees de blanc et noir et vng vaze au bout. Vne corde de coural contenante Ixiij pieces faictes en vaze. Vne aultre corde de coural contenante treize grosses pieces aussy en vaze. Vne aultre corde de coural contenante xxxviij pieches plus petittes aussy en vaze. Vng reste de patenostres ou il a neuf meures de perles et des grains dargent entredeux. Vne saincture et cottouere de perles garnie bleu et grains noir faict a roisteau. Item: haill acoustrement of gold of couter carcan and chesne of 66 pyecis. Only on one occasion after this do we find men- tion of Mary Livingston in connection with her royal mistress. It is on the day following the Queen's surrender at Carberry, when she was brought back a prisoner to Edinburgh. The scene is described by Du Croc, the French Ambassador. "On the evening of the next day," he writes in the official report forwarded to his court, " at eight o'clock, the Queen was brought back to the castle of Holyrood, escorted by three hundred arquebusiers, the Earl of Morton on the one side, and the Earl of Athole on the other; she was on foot, though two hacks Mary Livingston 57 were led in front of her; she was accompanied at the time by Mademoiselle de Sempel and Seton, with others of her chamber, and was dressed in a night-gown of various colours." 1 After the Queen's removal from Edinburgh the Sempills also left it to reside sometimes at Beltreis, and sometimes at Auchtermuchty, but chiefly in Paisley, where they built a house which was still to be seen but a few years ago, near what is now the Cross. Their retirement from the capital did not, however, secure for them the quietness which they expected to enjoy. They had stood too high in favour with the captive Queen to be overlooked by her enemies. The Regent Lennox, remembering that Mary Livingston had been entrusted with the care of the royal jewels and wardrobe, accused her of having some of the Queen's effects in her pos- session. Notwithstanding her denial, her husband was arrested and cast into prison, and she herself brought before the Lords of the Privy Council. Their cross-questioning and brow-beating failed to elicit any information from her, and it was only when Lennox threatened to " put her to the horn ", and to inflict the torture of the " boot " on her husband, that she confessed to the possession of " three lang-tailit gowns garnished with fur of mar- trix and fur of sables ". She protested, however, that, as was indeed highly probable, these had been given to her, and were but cast-off garments, of little value or use to anyone. In spite of this, she was 1 Teulet, op. cit., p. 167. 58 In Byways of Scottish History not allowed to depart until she had given surety " that she would compear in the council-chamber on the morrow and surrender the gear ". Lennox's death, which occurred shortly after this, did not put an end to the persecution to which the Sempills were subjected. Morton was as little friendly to them as his predecessor had been. He soon gave proof of this by calling upon John Sempill to leave his family and to proceed to England, as one of the hostages demanded as security for the return of the army and implements of war, sent, under Sir William Drury, to lay siege to Edinburgh Castle. On his return home, Sempill found new and worse troubles awaiting him. It happened that of the lands conferred upon Mary Livingston on her mar- riage some portion lay near one of Morton's estates. Not only had the Queen's gift been made by a special grant under the Great and Privy Seals, but the charter of infeofment had also been ratified by a further Act of Parliament in 1567, when it was found that the proposal to annul the forfeiture of George Earl of Huntly would affect it. It seemed difficult, therefore, to find even a legal flaw that would avail to deprive the Sempills of their lands and afford the Regent an opportunity of appropri- ating them to himself. He was probably too power- ful, however, to care greatly for the justice of his plea. He brought the matter before the Court of Session, urging that the gift made by the Queen to Mary Livingston and her husband was null and Mary Livingston 59 void, on the ground that it was illegal to alienate the lands of the Crown. It was in vain that Sempill brought forward the deed of gift under the Great and Privy Seals, the judges would not allow his plea. Thereupon Sempill burst into a violent pas- sion, declaring that if he lost his suit, it would cost him his life as well. Whiteford of Milntoune, a near relative of Sempill's, who was with him at the time, likewise allowed his temper to get the better of his discretion, and exclaimed " that Nero was but a dwarf compared to Morton ". This remark, all the more stinging that it was looked upon as a sneer at the Regent's low stature, was never for- given. Not long after the conclusion of the law- suit, both Sempill and Whiteford were thrown into prison on a charge " of having conspired against the Regent's life, and of having laid in wait by the Kirk,, within the Kirkland of Paisley, to have shot him, in the month of January, 1575, at the instigation of the Lords Claud and John Hamilton ". After having been detained in prison till 1577, John Sempill was brought up for trial on this capital charge. His alleged crime being of such a nature that it was probably found impossible to prove it by the testi- mony of witnesses, he was put to the torture of the boot, with which he had been threatened on a former occasion. By this means sufficient was extorted from him to give at least a semblance of justice to the sentence of death which was passed on him. In consideration of this confession, however, the sen- tence was not carried out. Ultimately he was set 60 In Byways of Scottish History at liberty and restored to his family. His health had completely broken down under the terrible ordeal through which he had gone, and he only lingered on till the 25th of April, 1579. Of Mary Livingston's life after the death of her husband but little is known. From an Act of Par- liament passed in November, 1581, it appears that tardy justice was done her by James VI, who caused the grants formerly made to "umquhile John Semple, of Butress, and his spouse, to be ratified ". Her eldest son, James, was brought up with James VI, and in later life was sent as ambassador to England. He was knighted in 1601. There were three other children two boys, Arthur and John, and one girl, Dorothie. The exact date of Mary Livingston's death is not known, but she appears to have been living in 1592. MARY BETON THE family to which Mary Beton, or, as she herself signed her name, Marie Bethune, belonged, seems to have been peculiarly devoted to the service of the house of Stuart. Her father, Robert Beton, of Creich, is mentioned amongst the noblemen and gentlemen who sailed from Dumbarton with the infant Queen, in 1548, and who accompanied her in 1561, when she returned to take possession of the Scottish throne. His office was that of one of the Masters of the Household, and, as such, he was in attendance at Holyrood when the murderers of Rizzio burst into the Queen's chamber and stabbed him before her eyes. He also appears under the style of Keeper of the Royal Palace of Falkland, and Steward of the Queen's Rents in Fife. At his death, which occurred in 1567, he recommends his wife and children to the care of the Queen, "that scho be haill mantenare of my hous as my houpe is in hir Maiestie under God ". His grandfather, the founder of the house, was comp- troller and treasurer to King James IV. His aunt was one of the ladies of the court of King James V, by whom she was the mother of the Countess of Argyll. One of his sisters, the wife of Arthur Forbes of Reres, stood high in favour with Queen 61 62 In Byways of Scottish History Mary, and was wet-nurse to James VI. His French wife, Jehanne de la Runuelle, and two of his daughters, were ladies of honour. Of the four Marys, Mary Beton has left least trace in the history of the time. It seems to have been her good fortune to be wholly unconnected with the political events which, in one way or another, dragged her fair colleagues into their vor- tex, and it may be looked upon as a proof of the happiness of her life, as compared with their event- ful careers, that she has but little history. Though but few materials remain to enable us to reconstruct the story of Mary Beton's life, a fortu- nate chance gives us the means of judging of the truth of the high-flown compliments paid to her beauty by both Randolph and Buchanan. A por- trait of her is still shown at Balfour House, in Fife. It represents, we are told, " a very fair beauty, with dark eyes and yellow hair", and is said to justify all that has been written in praise of her personal charms. 1 The first to fall a victim to these was the English envoy, Randolph. A letter of his to the Earl of Bedford, written in April, 1565, mentions, as an important fact, that Mistress Beton and he had lately played a game at biles against the Queen and Darnley, that they had been successful against their royal opponents, and that Darnley had paid the stakes. 2 In another letter, written to Leicester, he thinks it worthy of special record that for four 1 Inventories, xlviii. 2 Calendar of State Papers relating to Scotland^ vol. i, p. 208. Mary Beton 63 days he had sat next her at the Queen's table, at St. Andrews. " I was willed to be at my ordinary table, and being placed the next person, saving worthy Beton, to the Queen herself. " Writing to the same nobleman he makes a comparison between her and Mary Fleming, of whom, as we have seen, he had drawn so glowing a description, and declares that, " if Beton had lyked so short a time, so worthie a rowme, Flemyng to her by good right should have given place 'V Knowing, as we do, from the testi- mony of other letters, how prone Randolph was to overrate his personal influence, and with what amus- ing self-conceit he claimed for himself the special favours of the ladies of the Scottish Court, there is every reason to suspect the veracity of the statement contained in the following extract from a letter to Sir Henry Sidney: "I doubt myself whether I be the self-same man that now will be content with the name of your countryman, that have the whole guiding, the giving, and bestowing, not only of the Queen, and her kingdom, but of the most worthy Beton, to be ordered and ruled at mine own will". Like her colleague, Mary Fleming, "the most worthy Beton " had her hour of mock royalty, as we learn from three sets of verses in which Buchanan extols her beauty, worth, and accomplishments, and which are inscribed: "Ad Mariam Betonam pridie Regalium Reginam sorte ductam". In the first of these, which bears some resemblance to that ad- dressed to Mary Fleming on a similar occasion, he 1 Inventories^ p. xlviii. 64 In Byways of Scottish History asserts, with poetical enthusiasm, the mimic sove- reign's real claims to the high dignity which Fortune has tardily conferred upon hen- Princely in mind and virtue, and so fair, You've long seemed fit a diadem to wear; And Fortune, blushing to have stood aloof, Now lavishes her gifts to your behoof; Deeming atonement for her tardiness Demands in justice she should do no less, She brings the Queen whom all the rest obey A willing subject to your sovereign sway. In his next effusion the poet rises to a more pas- sionate height in his admiration. It is such as we might imagine Randolph to have penned in his enthusiasm, could we, by any flight of fancy, sup- pose him capable of such scholarly verses as those of Buchanan: Should I rejoice, or should my heart despair, That Beton's yoke the Fates have made me bear ? O, Comeliness, what need have I of thee, When hope of mutual love is dead for me ? For favours such as these, in life's young day, E'en life had seemed no heavy price to pay; And though my earthly bliss had been but brief, Its fulness would have soothed my dying grief; Now, ling'ring fires consume; I lack life's joy, And death would bring me comfort, not annoy; In life, in death, be this my comfort still, That life and death are at my Lady's will. The third epigram is more particularly interest- Mary Beton 65 ing, as bearing reference, we think, to Mary Beton' s literary tastes: Beneath cold Winter's blast the fields are bare, Nor yield a posy for my Lady fair; E'en so my Muse, luxuriant in her prime, Has felt the chill and numbing grip of time; Could lovely Beton's spirit but inspire, J T were Spring again, with all its life and fire. The will drawn up by Mary Stuart, in 1556, which, it is true, never took effect, seems to point to Mary Beton as the most scholarly amongst the maids of honour. It is to her that the French, English, and Italian books in the royal collection are bequeathed; the classical authors being reserved for the University of St. Andrews, where they were intended to form the nucleus of a library: cc je laysse mes liuures qui y sont en Grec ou Latin a 1'universite de Sintandre, pour y commencer une bible. Les aultres ie les laysse a Beton." 1 This is further borne out by the fact that, many years later, William Fowler, secretary to Queen Anne of Denmark, wife of James VI, dedi- cated his " Lamentatioun of the desolat Olympia, furth of the tenth cantt of Ariosto " " to the right honourable ladye Marye Betoun, Ladye Boine". Of the literary accomplishments which may fairly be inferred from these circumstances, we have, how- ever, no further proof. Nothing of Mary Beton's has come down to us, except a letter, addressed by 1 Inventories p. 124. (C474) 6 66 In Byways of Scottish History her in June, 1563, to the wife of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, whose acquaintance she may have made either in France or in Scotland, Sir Nicholas having been English Ambassador in both countries. In this short document the writer acknowledges the receipt of a ring, assures the giver that she will endeavour to return her love by making her com- mendations to the Queen, and begs her acceptance in return, and as a token of their good love and amity, of a little ring which she has been accus- tomed to wear daily. 1 In the month of May, 1566, Mary Beton married Alexander Ogilvie, of Boyne. But little is known of this marriage beyond the fact that the Queen named the day, and beyond such circumstances of a purely legal and technical nature as may be gathered from the marriage contract, which is still extant, and has been published in the Miscellany of the Maitland Club. It sets forth that the bride was to have a dowry from her father of 3000 merks, and a jointure from her husband of lands yielding 150 merks and 30 chalders of grain yearly. This legal document derives its chief interest from bring- ing together in a friendly transaction persons who played important and hostile parts in the most in- teresting period of Scottish history. It bears the signatures of the Queen and Henry Darnley, to- gether with those of the Earls of Huntly, Argyll, Bothwell, Murray, and Atholl, as cautioners for the bridegroom, that of Alexander Ogilvie himself, who 1 Calendar of State Papers relating to Scotland, vol. ii, p. 825. Mary Beton 67 subscribes his territorial style of " Boyne " and that of " Marie Bethune ". The signature of the bride's father, and that of Michael Balfour, of Burleigh, his cautioner for payment of his daughter's tocher, are wanting. It would appear that Mary Beton, or, as she was usually called after her marriage, "the Lady Boyn ", or " Madame de Boyn ", did not imme- diately retire from the Court. In what capacity, however, she kept up her connection with it, cannot be ascertained. All that we have been able to dis- cover is that after her marriage she received several gifts of ornaments and robes from the Queen. Amongst the latter we notice a dress which was scarcely calculated to suit the fair beauty: "Une robbe de satin jeaulne dore toute goffiree faicte a manches longues toute chamaree de bisette d'argent bordee dung passement geaulne goffre dargent!" 1 Both Mary Beton and Alexander Ogilvie are said to have been living as late as 1606. All that is known as to the date of her death is that it occurred before that of her husband, who, in his old age, married the divorced wife of Bothwell, the Countess Dowager of Sutherland. It is interesting to note the contrast between the comparatively uneventful reality of Mary Beton's life and the romantic career assigned to her in one of the best-known works of fiction that introduces her in connection with her royal and ill-fated mistress. In Mr. Swinburne's ^Mary Stuart y the catastrophe is 1 Inventories^ p. 63. 68 In Byways of Scottish History brought about by Mary Beton. For some score of years, from that day forth when she beheld the execution of him on whom she is supposed to have bestowed her unrequited love, of the chivalrous > impetuous Chastelard, when her eyes "beheld fall the most faithful head in all the world ", Mary Beton, " dumb as death ", has been waiting for the expiation, waiting Even with long suffering eagerness of heart And a most hungry patience. It is by her action in forwarding to Elizabeth the letter in which Mary Stuart summed up all the charges brought against her rival, that the royal captive's doom is hastened, that Chastelard's death is avenged. It would be the height of hypercritical absurdity to find fault with the poet for the use which he has made of a character which can scarcely be called historical. Nevertheless, as it is often from fiction alone that we gather our knowledge of the minor characters of history of those upon which more serious records, engrossed with the jealousies of crowned heads, with the intrigues of diplomatists and the wrangles of theologians, have no attention to bestow it does not seem altogether useless at least to point out how little resemblance there is between the Mary Beton of real life and the Nemesis of the drama. MARY SETON " THE secund wyf of the said Lord George (Marie Pieris, ane Frenche woman, quha come in Scotland with Quene Marie, dochter to the Duik of Gweis) bair to him tua sonnis and ane dochter . . . the dochter Marie." This extract from Sir Richard Maitland's History of the House of Seton gives us the parentage of the fourth of the Maries. 1 She was the daughter of a house in which loyalty and devotion to the Stuarts was traditional. In the darkest pages of their history the name of the Setons is always found amongst those of the few faithful friends whom danger could not frighten nor promises tempt from their allegiance. In this respect Mary Seton's French mother was worthy of the family into which she was received. At the death of Marie de Guise, Dame Pieris transferred not only her services, but her love also, to the infant Queen, and stood by her with blind devotion under some of the most trying circumstances of her short career as reigning sovereign. The deposition of French Paris gives us a glimpse of her, attending on Mary and conferring secretly with Bothwell on the morning after the King's murder. At a later IP. 42. 69 70 In Byways of Scottish History date we find her conspiring with the Queen's friends at what was known as the council "of the witches of Atholl", and subsequently imprisoned, with her son, for having too freely expressed her loyalty to her mistress. 1 We may, therefore, almost look upon it as the natural result of Mary Seton's training, and of her family associations, that she is pre- eminently the Queen's companion in adversity. It seems characteristic of this that no individual mention occurs of her as bearing any part in the festivities of the Court, or sharing her mistress's amusements. Her first appearance coincides with the last appearance of Mary Livingston in con- nection with Mary Stuart. When the Queen, after her surrender at Carberry, was ignominiously dragged in her nightdress through the streets of her capital, her faltering steps were supported by Mary Living- ston and Mary Seton. At Lochleven, Mary Seton, still in attendance on her mistress, bore an important part in her memorable flight, a part more dangerous, perhaps, than Jane Kennedy's traditional leap from the window, for it consisted in personating the Queen within the castle, whilst the flight was taking place, and left her at the mercy of the disappointed jailers when faithful Willie Douglas had brought it to a successful issue. 2 How she fared at this critical moment, or how she herself contrived to regain her liberty, is not recorded ; but it is certain that before long she had resumed her honourable but 1 Inventories, p. Hi. 2 Miss Strickland's Lives of the Queens of Scotland, vol. vii, pp. 266, 271, 441. Mary Seton 71 perilous place by the side of her royal mistress. It is scarcely open to doubt that the one maid of honour who stood with the Queen on the eminence whence she beheld the fatal battle of Langside was the faithful Mary Seton. Although, so far as we have been able to ascer- tain, Mary Seton's name does not occur amongst those of the faithful few who fled with the Queen from the field of Langside to Sanquhar and Dun- drennan, and although the latter actually states in the letter which she wrote to the Cardinal de Lor- raine, on the 2 1 st of June, that for three nights after the battle she had fled across country, without being accompanied by any female attendant, we need have no hesitation in stating that Mary Seton must have been amongst the eighteen who, when the infatuated Mary resolved on trusting herself to the protection of Elizabeth, embarked with her in a fishing smack at Dundrennan, and landed at Workington. A letter written by Sir Francis Knollys to Cecil, on the 28th of June, makes particular mention of Mary Seton as one of the waiting-women in attendance on the Queen, adding further particulars which clearly point to the fact that she had been so for at least several days : Now here are six waiting-women, although none of repu- tation, but Mistress Mary Seton, who is praised by this Queen to be the finest busker, that is to say, the finest dresser of a woman's head of hair, that is to be seen in any country whereof we have seen divers experiences, since her coming hither. And, among other pretty devices, yesterday 72 In Byways of Scottish History and this day, she did set such a curled hair upon the Queen, that was said to be a perewyke, that showed very delicately. And every other day she hath a new device of head-dressing, without any cost, and yet setteth forth a woman gaylie well. 1 For the next nine years Mary Seton disappears almost entirely in the monotony of her self-imposed exile and captivity. A casual reference to her, from time to time, in the Queen's correspondence, is the only sign we have of her existence. Thus, in a letter written from Chats worth, in 1570, to the Archbishop of Glasgow, to inform him of the death of his brother, John Beton, laird of Creich, and to request him to send over Andrew Beton to act as Master of the Household, Mary Stuart incidentally mentions her maid of honour in terms which, however, convey but little information concerning her, beyond that of her continued devotion to her mistress and her affection for her mistress's friends. " Vous avez une amye en Seton," so the Queen writes, "qui sera aussi satis- fayte, en votre absence, de vous servir de bonne amye que parente ou aultre que puissiez avoir aupres de moy, pour I'affection qu'elle porte a tous ceulx qu'elle connait m'avoyr este fideles serviteurs." The royal prisoner's correspondence for the year 1574 gives us another glimpse of her faithful atten- dant, "qui tous les jours me fayct service tres agreable," and for whom the Archbishop is requested to send over from Paris a watch and alarum. " La monstre que je demande est pour Seton. Si n'en 1 G. Chalmers' Life of Queen Mary, vol. i, pp. 443-4. Mary Seton 73 pouvez trouver une faite, faites la faire, simple et juste, suyvant mon premier memoyre, avec le reveil- matin a part." 1 Three years must again elapse before Mary Seton's next appearance. On this occasion, however, in 1577, she assumes special importance, and figures as the chief character in a romantic little drama which Mary Stuart herself has sketched for us in two letters written from her prison in Sheffield to Archbishop Beton. It will be remembered that when, in 1570, death deprived Queen Mary of the services of John Beton, her Master of the Household, she requested that his younger brother should be sent over from Paris to supply his place. In due time Andrew Beton ap- peared at Sheffield and entered upon his honourable but profitless duties. He was necessarily brought into daily contact with Mary Seton, for whom he soon formed a strong affection, and whom he sought in marriage. The maid of honour, a daughter of the proud house of Winton, does not appear to have felt flattered by the attentions of Beton, who, though, " de fort bonne maison ", according to Brant6me, 2 was but the younger son of a younger son. Despairing of success on his own merits, Andrew Beton at last wrote to his brother, the Archbishop, requesting him to engage their royal mistress's influence in further- ance of his suit. The Queen, with whom, as we know, match-making was an amiable weakness, ac- 1 Labanoff, op. cit., t. vii, p. 123; t. iii, p. 116; t. iv, p. 215. 2 T.v,p. 9 8. 74 In Byways of Scottish History cepted the part offered her, and the result of her negotiations is best explained by her own letter to the Archbishop: According to the promise conveyed to you in my last letter, I have, on three several occasions, spoken to my maid. After raising several objections based on the respect due to the honour of her house according to the custom of my country but more particularly on the vow which she alleges, and which she maintains, can neither licitly nor honourably be broken, she has at last yielded to my remonstrances and earnest persuasions, and dutifully sub- mitted to my commands, as being those of a good mistress and of one who stands to her in the place of a mother, trusting that I shall have due consideration both for her reputation and for the confidence which she has placed in me. Therefore, being anxious to gratify you in so good an object, I have taken it upon myself to obtain for her a dis- pensation from her alleged vow, which I hold to be null. If the opinion of theologians should prove to coincide with mine in this matter, it shall be my care to see to the rest. In doing so, however, I shall change characters, for, as she has confidently placed herself in my hands, I shall have to represent not your interests, but hers. Now, as regards the first point, our man, whom I called into our presence, volun- teered a little rashly, considering the difficulties which will arise, to undertake the journey himself, to bring back the dispensation, after having consulted with you as to the proper steps to be taken, and to be with us again within three months, bringing you with him. I shall request a passport for him; do you, on your part, use your best endeavours for him; they will be needed, considering the circumstances under which I am placed. Furthermore, it will be necessary to write to the damsel's brother, to know how far he thinks I may go without appearing to Mary Seton 75 give too little weight to the difference of degree and title. 1 After having penned this interesting and well- meaning epistle, the Queen communicated it to Mary Seton, to whom, however, it did not appear a fair statement of the case, and for whose satis- faction a postscript was added: I have shown the above to the maiden, and she accuses me of over-partiality in this, that for shortness' sake, I have omitted some of the circumstances of her dutiful submission to me, in making which she still entertained a hope that some regard should be had for her vow, even though it prove to be null, and that her inclination should also be consulted, which has long been, and more especially since our captivity, rather in favour of remaining in her present state than of entering that of marriage. I have promised her to set this before you, and to give it, myself, that con- sideration which is due to her confidence in me. Further- more, I have assured her that, should I be led to persuade her to enter into that state which is least agreeable to her > it would only be because my conscience told me that it was the better for her, and that there was no danger of the least blame being attached to her. She makes a great point of the disparity of rank and titles, and mentions in support of this that she heard fault found with the marriage of the sisters Livingston, merely for having wedded the younger sons of their peers, and she fears that, in a country where such formalities are observed, her own friends may have a similar opinion of her. But, as the Queen of both of them, I have undertaken to assume the whole responsibility, and to do all that my present circumstances will allow, to make matters smooth. You need, therefore, take no further 1 The original is written in French. 76 In Byways of Scottish History trouble about this, beyond getting her brother to let us know his candid opinion. With his mistress's good wishes, and with in- numerable commissions from her ladies, Andrew Beton set out on his mission. Whether the dis- pensation was less easy to obtain than he at first fancied, or whether other circumstances, perhaps of a political nature, arose to delay him, twice the three months within which he had undertaken to return to Sheffield had elapsed before information of his homeward journey was received. He had been suc- cessful in obtaining a theological opinion favourable to his suit, but it appeared that Mary Seton's objections to matrimony were not to be removed with her vow. This seems to be the meaning of a letter written to Beton by Mary Stuart, in which, after telling him that she will postpone the discussion of his affairs till his return, she pointedly adds that Mary Seton's letters to him must have sufficiently informed him as to her decision, and that she herself, though will- ing to help him by showing her hearty approval of the match, could give no actual commands in the matter. A similar letter to the Archbishop seems to point to a belief on Mary's part that, in spite of the dispensation, the match would never be concluded, and that Beton would meet with a bitter disappoint- ment on his return to Sheffield. It was destined, however, that he should never again behold either his royal lady or her for whom he had undertaken the journey. He died on his way homewards; but Mary Seton 77 we have no knowledge where or under what circum- stances. The first intimation of the event is con- tained, as are, indeed, most of the details belonging to this period, in the Queen's correspondence. In a letter bearing the date of the 5th of November she expresses to the Archbishop her regret at the failure of her project to unite the Betons and the Setons, as well as at the personal loss she had sustained by the death of a faithful subject and servant. 1 With this episode our knowledge of Mary Seton' s history is nearly exhausted. There is no further reference to her in the correspondence of the next six years, during which she continued to share her Queen's captivity. About the year 1583, when her own health had broken down under the hardships to which she was subjected in the various prisons to which she followed Mary Stuart, she begged and obtained permission to retire to France. The re- mainder of her life was spent in the seclusion of the abbey of St. Peter's, at Rheims, over which Renee de Lorraine, the Queen's maternal aunt, presided. The last memorial which we have of Mary Seton is a touching proof of the affection which she still bore her hapless Queen, and of the interest with which, from her convent cell, she still followed the course of events. It is a letter, written in Octobe^ 1586, to Courcelles, the new French Ambassador at Holyrood; it refers to her long absence from Scot- land, and concludes with an expression of regret at ^abanoff, op. cit., t. iv, pp. 341-4, 377-81, 389, 390, 401, 4OZ. 78 In Byways of Scottish History the fresh troubles which had befallen the captive Queen. I cannot conclude without telling you the extreme pain and anxiety I feel at the distressing news which has been reported here, that some new trouble has befallen the Queen, my mistress. Time will not permit me to tell you more. 1 It may be supposed that what the faithful maid of honour had heard was connected with Babington's conspiracy and its fateful failure. 1 Calendar of State Papers relating to Scotland, yol. ii, p. 1014. THE SONG OF MARY STUART An Undetected Forgery THOSE who are acquainted with Brant6me's delight- ful collection of biographical sketches of Illustrious Ladies, will remember that one of the most note- worthy of them is devoted to Marie Stuart. In it ? amongst many other interesting details, he states that the Queen used to compose verses, and that he had seen some "that were fine and well done, and in no wise similar to those which have been laid to her account, on the subject of her love for the Earl of Bothwell, and which are too coarse and ill- polished to have been of her making ". In another passage he says that Mary "made a song herself upon her sorrows"; and he quotes it. 1 For close on two centuries and a half the " Chanson de ^Marie Stuart", as given by him, has been reproduced in biographies of the Queen of Scots, and has found its way into numberless albums and anthologies. That it should have been accepted without hesita- tion on Brant6me's authority is hardly surprising. Of those who have written from personal acquaint- ance with Mary, few were in a better position than was the French chronicler to know the truth about IT. v, pp. 84,85, 88-90, 123. 79 8o In Byways of Scottish History her. He remembered her from her very childhood. He was familiar with all the circumstances of her training and education at Saint-Germain. He had witnessed the precocious development of the talents which excited the admiration of the courtiers that gathered about Henry II and Catharine de' Medici. He did not lose sight of her when, at a later date, her marriage with the heir to the crown of France gave her a household of her own in the stately residence of Villers - C6terets. He witnessed the enthusiasm which greeted her as Queen - Consort, as well as the deep and universal sympathy which her early bereavement called forth ; and when the "White Queen", the dowager of seventeen, left the country of her affection to undertake the heavy task of governing her northern kingdom, he was amongst those who accompanied her on her fateful journey. In the circumstances, it did not occur, even to those who, knowing Brant6me's character, might feel that much allowance was to be made for the conventional enthusiasm of the courtier, to suspect that any of his statements concerning Mary Stuart was to be rejected as wholly devoid of foundation. And yet, we are in a position to prove that, in one instance, he asserted what he knew to be false; and we shall follow that up by producing the strongest evidence in support of the further charge that he was guilty of a literary forgery. In his sketch of Mary Stuart, Brant6me does not place her " Song " where it would most naturally be looked for, that is, immediately after the passage The Song of Mary Stuart 81 in which he refers to her poetical talent. He intro- duces it clumsily, and in a way which, though perhaps not sufficient of itself to justify suspicion, is, at least, calculated to strengthen it when once it has been aroused. He begins by giving a descrip- tion of the Queen, as she appeared in her white widow's weeds. "It was", he says, "a beautiful sight to see her, for the whiteness of her face vied for pre-eminence with the whiteness of her veil. But, in the end, it was the artificial whiteness of her veil that had to yield, and the snow of her fair com- plexion effaced the other. And so there was written at Court a song about her in her mourning gar- ments. It was thus : " and here the anonymous poem is quoted. It consists of two stanzas, each containing six short lines. They depict the Goddess of Beauty, attired in white, wandering about, with the shaft of her inhuman son in her hand, whilst Cupid himself is fluttering over her, with the band- age, which he has removed from his eyes, doing duty as a funereal veil on which are inscribed the words: " Mourir ou estre pris ". These verses, in which it is difficult to discover any special applica- tion to the widowed Queen, are followed, though not immediately, by a reference to her bereavement: " Hers was a happiness of short duration, and one which evil fortune might well have respected on this occasion; but, spiteful as she is, she would not be deterred from thus cruelly treating the Princess, who herself composed the following song on her loss and affliction". The poem thus attributed to Mary is (0474) 7 82 In Byways of Scottish History then brought in. It consists of the eleven well- known stanzas, and begins with the line " En mon triste et doux chant " - " In my sad and sweet strains". Nobody ever thought of questioning its genuineness. The obviously fragmentary nature of the first poem, and the similarity of rhythm and metre in both did not suggest the possibility of a connection between them. Nor did it appear to be incongruous and in bad taste that, if the Queen undertook to write her own elegy, she should begin by praising its sweetness. A comparatively recent discovery, however, has placed it beyond doubt that Brant6me wittingly foisted on his readers verses which he very well knew had not been written by Mary Stuart. Some years ago, whilst hunting through the dusty shelves of an old bookshop at Prigueux, Dr. E. Galy chanced upon a manuscript collection of poems of the sixteenth century. The gilt-edged and leather- bound folio was found to consist of two distinct parts. The first contained, together with a few anonymous poems, extracts from the works of Clement Marot, Pierre de Ronsard, and other writers of the period. The second, and, from the literary point of view, more interesting section was made up of a number of poems, chiefly sonnets, composed by Brant6me, and bearing the general title : ^Recueil tTaulcunes rymes de mes Jeunes Amours que j'ay d'aultres fois composees telles quelles, that is, "Collection of Certain Rhymes of my early loves, which I formerly composed, such as they are". The Song of Mary Stuart 83 This portion of the manuscript was published for private circulation, by the fortunate finder, to whose kindness we were indebted for a copy of the first edition of the hitherto unsuspected poetical works of Pierre de Bourdeille, Lord Abbot of Brant6me, Baron of Richemont. 1 In the first division of the collection a very inter- esting discovery was made. It was found to contain both the anonymous "Song" composed "at Court", in honour of Mary Stuart, and the " Song " attri- buted to the Queen herself. The two poems, it was now seen, were not originally distinct, the anonymous verses being merely an introduction to the longer " Song ", and joined to it by three stanzas, which are neither quoted nor alluded to in Brant6me's sketch of Mary. In its new form, and as it was published in a very limited edition of one hundred copies by Dr. Galy, the Chanson pour la Royne d'Ecosse portant le duett? is by no means a masterpiece. It has, however, the merit of composing an harmonious whole. The " Complaint " is preceded by an introduction which, both as regards its length and the train of thought running through it, is not out of keeping with the subject. It is followed by a concluding stanza, which, though not absolutely necessary, gives fullness and completeness to the picture called up by the elegy. One advantage which the new version of the longer song possesses over the old is the modification of the first jarring line. " En mon triste et doux chant," becomes 1 Perigueux, Cassard fibres. 2 Ibid. 84 In Byways of Scottish History " J'oy son triste et doux chant," that is, " I hear her sad and sweet strains'*. This reading adapts itself to the context, and connects the descriptive stanzas with those of the lament in a simple and natural manner. As Dr. Galy pointed out, the new version of the "Song", to which, it should be stated, no author's name is attached, established, on the authority of Brant6me himself, that he had attributed to Mary Stuart verses which he knew were not hers. It did not, however, afford any clue to the real authorship, and the possibility that the whole poem was of Brant6me's own composition does not seem to have occurred to Dr. Galy. That such is the case is our firm belief. A careful comparison of the anonymous "Chanson" with the various poems avowedly by Brant6me has revealed such similarity, not only of thought and imagery, but even of expression, as con- vinces us that nobody but himself can be the author of The Song of Mary Stuart. The iO2nd sonnet in Brantome's collection is one which he addressed to Mile de Limeuil. Not only is the whole tone of it strikingly similar to that of the " Song ", but it contains passages which cannot be explained away on the assumption of mere chance resemblance. Thus, in the thirteenth stanza of the "Song", Mary is represented as seeing her husband if she happens to look into the water: " Soudain le voy en 1'eau". In the sonnet, Brant6me says; "Soudain il m'advise quV# Veau je voy Limeuil". In the first part of the same stanza, the mourning The Song of Mary Stuart 85 Queen is supposed to behold in the clouds the features of her lost husband. The same idea, ex- pressed in similar language, and with precisely the same rhymes, occurs in some stanzas which Bran- tome addressed to a lady " Sur un ennuy qui luy survint". The main idea of the "Song" that of the sorrowing lady followed by the image of her lost love, wherever she may wander recurs re- peatedly in the sonnets, of which, indeed, several may, without exaggeration, be described as mere expansions of some of the lines in the "Song". Altogether, we have noted distinct parallelisms to five of the stanzas in the alleged "Chanson". When it is remembered that, as Brantdme gives it, it consists of no more than eleven stanzas, the proportion must appear striking. In addition to this, it must also be noted that, in the eleven stanzas of the lament itself, there are a number of variants we have counted nine altogether which, not being attributable to inaccurate copying, or neces- sary for mere adaptation, testify to a deliberate re- vision, hardly likely to have been the work of any- one but the original author. In the face of such evidence it seems to us that no alternative is left, and that we must place Brant6me on the same level as Meunier de Querlon, who published the once popular song, "Adieu, plaisant pays de France," and attributed it to Mary Stuart, though he was himself the author of it. Indeed, of the two, Brant6me is the less excusable; for, in his case, it cannot be pleaded as an extenuating circumstance, as it can 86 In Byways of Scottish History in that of de Querlon, that he subsequently ac- knowledged his "mystification''. In any case, there seems to be no reasonable doubt that we must diminish by one the number of poems hitherto believed to have been written by Mary Stuart. Though the " Song " can no longer claim the authorship of Mary Stuart, it still retains some interest by reason of its strange story. To the best of our knowledge, the original and complete poem, of which, as we have stated, only 100 copies were published in France, for private circulation, has never been reproduced in this country. We there- fore append it. CHANSON POUR LA ROYNE D'ECOSSE PORTANT LE DUEIL. Je voy, sous blanc atour, En grand dueil et tristesse, Se pourmener maint tour De beaut6 la D6esse; Tenant le traict en main De son filz inhumain. ii Et Amour, sans fronteau. Vollette a 1'entour d'elle, Desguisant son bandeau En un fimebre voelle OCi sont ces mots escrits: " Mourir ou estre pris". The Song of Mary Stuart 87 in Deux arcs victorieux Je voy sous blanche toyle, Et sous chacun d'iceux Une plus claire estoille Qu'au plus net et pur ae'r Du ciel 1'astre plus clair. IV Et du haut d'un rocher, Je voy singlant maint voile D'un fanal s'approcher, Dont la clarte est telle Que sans elle tous lieux Me semblent ten6breux. Je voy, d'ordre marchant, Une troupe dolente Peu a peu s'approchant D'une Dame excellente, Qui de piteuse voix Fait retentir un bois. VI J'oy son triste et doux chant, Qui, d'un ton lamentable, Jette un regret trenchant De perte incomparable, Et, en souspirs cuisants Passe ses meilleurs ans. 88 In Byways of Scottish History VII " Fut-il de tel malheur De dure destin6e, Ne si juste douleur De Dame fortune, Qui mon coeur et mon ceil Voy en biere et cercueil ! VIII " Qui, en mon doux printemps Et fleur de ma jeunesse, Toutes les peines sens D'une extreme tristesse, Et en rien n'ay plaisir Qu'en regret et desir. IX " Ce qui m'estoit plaisant Ores m'est peine dure, Le jour le plus luisant M'est nuit noire et obscure, Et n'est rien si exquis. Qui de moi soit requis. " J'ay au coeur et en 1'ceil Un portraict et image Qui figure mon dueil En mon pasle visage De violettes teint, Qui est Tamoureux teint. The Song of Mary Stuart 89 XI " Pour mon mal estranger Je ne m'arreste en place, Mais j'ai beau lieu changer Si ma douleur j'efface, Car mon pis et mon mieux Sont les plus deserts lieux. XII " Si en quelque sejour Suis, en bois ou en pre Soit sur Taube du jour Ou soit sur la vespr^e, Sans cesse mon cceur sent Le regret d'un absent. XIII " Si parfois vers les cieux Viens a dresser ma veiie, Le doux traict de ses yeux Je voy en une nue; Soudain le voy en Teau Comme dans une tombeau. XIV " Si je suis en repos, Sommeillant sur ma couche, J'oy qu'il me tient propos, Je le sens qui me touche; En labeur ou requoy Toujours est pres de moi. 90 In Byways of Scottish History XV "Je ne voy autre object Pour beau qu'il se prsente; A qui que soit subject Oncques mon cceur consente, Exempt de perfection A ceste affection. XVI " Mets, chanson, icy frain A si triste complainte, Dont sera le refrain: 4 Amour vraye et non faincte Pour separation N'a diminution '." XVII Tel estoit le doux chant De Dame souveraine, Qui, mon coeur arrachant D'une fuite soudaine, Me donna en ce lieu Coup mortel d'un Adieu. We recall that the stanzas which we have num- bered I and II constitute the Song which, according to Brantdme, was composed "at Court"; and that those from VI to XVI, inclusively, are, with an alteration of the first line, and some slight variations elsewhere, what he called the Song of Mary Stuart herself. The title, the three connecting stanzas III -V, and also the last, XVII, were discovered in the P6rigueux manuscript. MAISTER RANDOLPHE'S FANTASIE A Suppressed Satire ABOUT the middle of May, 1566, Robert Melvill was dispatched by Mary, Queen of Scots, as a special envoy to the English Court. The ostensible pur- pose of his mission was to request Queen Elizabeth to stand godmother to the royal infant whose birth was shortly expected. 1 And it was, indeed, with this object that his journey had, in the first instance, been resolved upon. But, three or four days before the time originally fixed for his departure, 2 he had been hastily summoned to Holyrood and ordered to set out at once, and with all speed, on an errand of a very different kind. According to the tenor of his later instructions, he was the bearer not of a friendly message from Mary Stuart to her loving cousin, but of a bitter complaint from the Queen of Scotland to the English sovereign. Mary had been informed by one of her agents at Berwick that " there was a booke wrytten agaynst her, of her lyf and govermente ". 3 Though possessing no actual 1 Earl of Morton to the Earl of Bedford, 24 May, 1566. 2 Thomas Randolph to Sir William Cecil, 26 May, 1566. * Ibid. 91 92 In Byways of Scottish History knowledge of the contents of the obnoxious libel and acquainted with its general tone and purport only, she had "taken it so grevouslye as nothyge of longe time had come so near her hearte ".* Not only did she resent the insult as a sovereign, but she also felt the outrage as a woman, and expressed her fear lest, having come to her so suddenly and at so critical a time, the unwelcome intelligence * c sholde breed daynger to her byrthe or hurte to her selfe ". 2 And Melvill had been hurried off to London to inform Elizabeth of the crime committed by one of her subjects, "that in tyme this worke mighte be suppressed and ", 3 more important still, ""condign punishment taken upon the wryter"; for by this means alone, the indignant Queen declared, could it be made apparent that he was not " mayn- tayned against her, not only by advise and counsell to move her subiects agaynste her, but also by de- famations and fake reports mayke her odious to the werlde ".* The work at which such grievous offence had been taken was entitled ZMaister Randolphes Fantasie, and the informant who had given Mary notice of its publication had also assured her that it was in reality what it purported to be, the production of the agent who, till within a short time previously, had represented England at the Scottish Court. She accepted the charge without question and without doubt. In her mind Thomas Randolph was asso- 1 Thomas Randolph to Sir William Cecil, 26 May, 1566. -Ibid. z lbid. *Ibid. Maister Randolphe's Fantasie 9^ elated with all the intrigues which had culminated in the open defection and organized opposition of the most powerful of her nobles, and she felt con- scious of having treated him with a harshness cal- culated to add an ardent desire for revenge to the malevolent intentions by which she believed him to be actuated. During the last six months of his residence in Edinburgh he had been subjected to a series of petty vexations, of personal attacks and of open accusations, which even his avowed partisan- ship could not justify, and which were not less dis- creditable to the instigators of them than insulting to the sovereign whom he represented. On the formation of the league to which Mary's marriage with Darnley had given rise he had been threatened with punishment " for practising with the Queen's rebels ". 1 Mary herself had shown her displeasure in so marked a manner that Randolph had sent to England a formal complaint of the difficulties thrown into his way by her refusal to give him access to her presence, even on official business. 2 When at last she did grant him an audience, it was not for pur- poses of political negotiation, but solely to upbraid him " for his many evil offices " towards her. 3 The dread of immediate imprisonment, 4 and the personal violence to which he was actually subjected, 5 had rendered his position so intolerable that he peti- 1 Thomas Randolph to Sir William Cecil, 20 Aug., 1565. -Ibid. 9 Sept., 1565. *lbid. 15 Dec., 1565. 4 Thomas Randolph to the Earl of Bedford, 30 Sept., 1565. 5 "Instructions for certain persons to be sent into Scotland to commune re- ipecting . . . assaults upon Thomas Randolph." State Papers. 94 In Byways of Scottish History tioned for permission to retire to Berwick. 1 His request was denied him; but the consequences of the refusal soon showed how ill-advised had been the action of those who had insisted upon his con- tinuance in functions for which he now lacked the essential conditions of favour and security. In the beginning of the following year he was summoned before the Queen in Council, and publicly accused of abetting the Earl of Murray in his treasonable designs, and supplying him with funds to carry them out. 2 In spite of his direct and explicit denial of a charge which was in reality without foundation, he was ignominiously ordered to leave the country. 3 Anxious as he had been to be relieved from duties which had become as dangerous as they were diffi- cult, Randolph nevertheless refused to obey. He appealed from Mary and her Lords to Elizabeth, to the sovereign to whom he owed his allegiance, and was answerable for his conduct, by whose favour he had been appointed to a position of confidence and honour, and at whose command alone he would consent to surrender his trust. On hearing the slight which had been put upon her accredited re- presentative, the Queen of England took up his cause with characteristic promptitude and energy. She at once dispatched a letter to the Queen of Scots complaining " of her strange and uncourteous treatment of Mr. Randolph ", 4 and informing her 1 Thomas Randolph to the Earl of Leicester, 18 Oct., 1565. 2 Thomas Randolph to Sir W. Cecil, 19 Feb., 1566; the Queen of Scots to Queen Elizabeth, 20 Feb., 1566. 3 Ibid. 4 Queen Elizabeth to the Queen of Scots, 3 March, 1566. Maister Randolphe's Fantasie 95 that his departure from Edinburgh would be the signal for the dismissal of the Scottish agent from the English Court. In spite of Elizabeth's remon- strances, and in the face of a threat which was so far from being idly meant that it was peremptorily carried out less than a fortnight later, 1 Randolph's expulsion was insisted upon. After having twice again received orders from the Lords, 2 he at length yielded to necessity and retired across the Border to Berwick. That Randolph, smarting under such treatment, should have made use of his enforced leisure and of the knowledge which he had had special oppor- tunities for acquiring to write a book by which he hoped to injure her cause and tarnish her reputa- tion, doubtless seemed to Mary to be so natural that she deemed it unnecessary to institute further enquiries into the truth of the charge brought against him. His guilt was assumed as soon as the accusation was made, and, by a singular coinci- dence, if, indeed, it was not of set purpose, the same Minister whose dismissal had followed his own dis- grace was sent back to Elizabeth to demand his punishment. Randolph's reply was not delayed. He was at Berwick when Melvill passed through it on his way to London, and learnt directly from his own lips all the particulars of the alleged libel, of the Queen's anger, and of her determination to bring down ex- 1 Queen Elizabeth to the Queen of Scots, 15 March, 1566. 2 Thomas Randolph to Sir W. Cecil, 6 March, 1566. 96 In Byways of Scottish History emplary chastisement upon the offender's head. At once availing himself of the advantage which this early information afforded him, he drew up an em- phatic and indignant denial of the whole indictment and a firm vindication of his conduct at the Scottish Court. He wrote with a manly frankness and dig- nity which are not always characteristic of his cor- respondence, adding considerable weight to his solemn protestations of innocence by the candid avowal of the suspicion with which he viewed the Queen's policy, and to which he had more than once given expression in his official communications to the home Government. " I coulde hardelye have beleved," 1 he said, "that anye suche reporte coulde have come owte of this towne to that Q: or that her g. wolde upon so slender information so sud- daynlie agayne gyve credit to anye such report, in specaill that she wolde so hastelye w th owte farther assurance thus grevouslye accuse me to my Sove- raign. The remebrance hereof hathe some what greved me, but beinge so well hable to purge my selfe of anye suche crime, and knowinge before whom I shal be accused and hearde, with suche in- differencie as I neade not to dowte of any partialitie, and pardoned to stond stiflye in defence of my honestie, I condene my selfe that I sholde tayke anye such care as almoste to pass what is sayde of me by suche, as throughe blamynge of me wolde culler suche Iniuries as I have knowne and daylye see done to my mestres, to my Soveraign and Coun- 1 Thomas Randolph to Sir William Cecil, 26 May, 1566. Maister Randolphe's Fantasie 97 trie, to w ch I am borne, w * 1 I will serve w th boddie and lyf trewlye, and carles what becomethe of me, more desierus to leave behynde me the name of a trewe servante then to possesse greate wealthe. I, therfore, in the presence of God and by my allegens to my Soveraign, affirme trewlye and advisedlye, that I never wrote booke agaynste her, or gave my consent or advise to anye that ever was wrytten, nor at this hower do knowe of anye that ever was set forthe to her defamation or dyshonour, or yet ever lyked of anye suche that ever dyd the lyke. And that this is trewe, yt shalbe mayntayned and defended as becomethe one that oughte to have greater regarde of his honestie and trothe then he doth regarde what becomethe of his lyf. I knowe that vnto your h : I have wrytten divers times maynie thynges stray nge to be hearde of in a princesse that boore so greate a brute and fame of honour and vertu, as longe tyme she dyd. I confesse a mis- lykinge of her doings towards my mestres. I feared ever that w ch still I stonde in dowte of, les over myche credit sholde be given whear lyttle is mente that is spoken. I wolde not that anye waye my mestres sholde be abused, w ch made me wryte in greater vehemencie and more ernestlye then in matters of les consequence ; but yf yt be ever provyd that I ever falcelye imagined anye thinge agaynste her, or untrewlye reported y t w ch I have hearde willinglye, or dyd reveele that w ch I do knowe to anye man, savinge to suche as I am bounde ether for deuties sake, or by comandemente, (C474) 8 98 In Byways of Scottish History I am contente to tayke this crime upon me, and to be defamed for a villayne, never to be better thought of then as mover of sedition and breeder of dyscorde betwene princes, as her g: hathe termed me. Of that w ch I have wrytten to yo r , h: I am sure ther is nothynge come to her eares; w ch was so farre from my mynde to put in a booke, that I have byne maynie tymes sorrie to wryte yt vnto yo r h: from whome I knowe that I ought to keape nothynge whearby the Q. Ma tie myght vnderstonde this Q: state, or be assured what is her mynde towards her. Yf in this accusation I be founde giltles bothe in deade and thoughte (thoughe more be to be de- syered of a gentleman that livethe onlye by the princes credit, and seekethe no other estimation then is wone by faythefull and trewe service) yet I will fynde my selfe satisfied, myche honered by the Q. Ma tie and bounde vnto y r h: that such triall maye be had of this matter that yt maye be knowne w ch way and by whome in this towne anye suche reporte sholde come to her g: eares; w ch I require more for the daynger that maye growe vnto this place to have suche persones in it, then 1 desyer my selfe anye revenge, or, in so fake matters do mayke greate accompte what anye man saythe or howe theis reporte of me, for that I am assured that more shame and dyshono r shalbe theirs in their fake accusations, then ther cane be blamed towards me in my well doynge." In the face of this unqualified disclaimer, it would have required not merely suspicion founded on the Maister Randolphe's Fantasie 99 unsupported assertion of a nameless informer, but the most direct and irrefutable evidence, to sub- stantiate the charge brought against Randolph. His letter bore its own confirmation on the face of it. It was not meant for the public, who might perhaps have been put off by high-sounding phrases and protestations; neither was it intended for the Scot- tish Queen, who, though better informed, had no special facilities for testing the statements which it contained. It was addressed to Cecil, to the Minister with whom Randolph had been in constant corre- spondence for years, to whom he had communicated the trifling events of each day incidents of Court life and scraps of Court gossip who knew the ex- tent of his experience of Scottish affairs, and was as familiar with his views as with his peculiarities of style and diction in expressing them; to the last man, in short, whom it would have been possible to hoodwink as to the authorship of a work bearing traces of either the hand or the inspiration of his subordinate. But, if Randolph had been the author of the poem bearing his name, besides being deterred from any attempt at deception by the almost certainty of failure, he would doubtless have remembered that Cecil was one of the bitterest enemies of the Queen of Scots, and that, at the pitch which party animosity had reached, even though, for the sake of appear- ances, some indignation might be simulated, no serious offence was likely to be taken at a work tending to vilify the rival with whom, in spite of ioo In Byways of Scottish History the hollow show of friendship still maintained, an open rupture was imminent, whose difficulties, far from calling forth sympathy, were the subject of thinly -veiled exultation, whose indiscretions were distorted into faults, and whose errors were mag- nified into crimes. Had he been concerned in the production of the Fantasie, he possessed sufficient shrewdness to know that his wisest and safest course did not lie in a denial of which the falsehood could not escape exposure, but in a confession which, whilst attended with no real danger, might actually tend to his credit. Cecil accepted Randolph's disclaimer without de- mur, and in a manner which left no doubt that he was thoroughly convinced of its absolute truth. It was deemed of sufficient importance to be answered with no further delay than was rendered necessary by the slow means of communication of the time. To his letter of the 26th of May Randolph received a reply as early as the 6th of the following month. It has, unfortunately, not been preserved ; but, though it is impossible to reproduce the language in which it was couched, it is easy to judge of its purport and of the tone which pervaded it. These may be gathered from the grateful acknowledgment which it called forth from Randolph. " Yt may please yo r H:," he wrote in a letter dated from Berwick on the 7th of June, "that yesterdaye I receaved yo r letter of the thyrde of this instant for w ch I do most humblye thanke you and have therby receaved maynie thyngs to my cotentation. In speciall for Maister Randolphe's Fantasie 101 the wrytinge of that fantasie or dreame called by my name, that I am thought fawltles, as in deade I am, but still greeved that I am so charged, but that waye seeke no farther to please then with my deutie maye stonde. Yf M r Melvill remayne so well satysfied that he thinke me cleare, I truste that he will performe no les then he promised, that the reporter bycawse he is in this towne shalbe knowne, at the leaste yf not to me, I wolde y r h : were warned of such." 1 A few days after the receipt by Randolph of Cecil's letter, Elizabeth dispatched from Greenwich an answer to the complaints of which Melvill had been the bearer. It was a singular document in which words were skilfully used to veil the writer's meaning, and irony was disguised beneath the fairest show of sympathy. While seeming to promise com- plete satisfaction, it contained no expression but might be explained away, and it carefully refrained from putting forth any opinion with regard to Ran- dolph's guilt or innocence. It began by assuring the Queen of Scots that she was not the only one who had been moved to anger on hearing of Ran- dolphes Fantasie, and by asserting, with feigned indig- nation, that even to dream treason was held to be a crime worthy of banishment from England, where subjects were required to be loyal not in their words merely, but in their very thoughts also; it bade her rest satisfied that, for the investigation of the subject complained of, such means should be used as would 1 Thomas Randolph to Sir William Cecil, Berwick, 7 June, 1566. 102 In Byways of Scottish History let the whole world know in what esteem her repu- tation was held; and it concluded by hinting at no less a punishment than death when the truth was found out: "Mais quant je lisois la fascherye en quoy vous estiez pour avoir ouy du songe de Ran- dolphe " so ran the letter "je vous prometz que nestiez seule en cholere. Sy est ce que Topinion que les songes de la nuit sont les denonciations des pensees iournelles fussent verefyez en luy, s'il n'en eust que songe et non point escript, je ne le pen- serois digne de Logis en mon Royaulme. Car non seulement veul je que mes subiectz ne disent mal des princes, mais que moins est, de n'en penser sinon honorablement. Et sois asseuree que pense tene- ment traicter ceste cause, que tout le monde verra en quel estyme je tiens vre renomee, et useray de telz moyens pour en cognoistre la verite, qu'il ne tiendra a moy sy je ne la scache. Et la trouvant, je la laisseray a vre jugement si la pugnition ne soyt digne pour telle faulte, combien que je croy que la vye d'aulcun n'en pourra bonnement equivaller la cryme." 1 Whatever may have been Mary's opinion as to the true spirit of this reply, she saw that its lan- guage left no ground for further remonstrance. Perhaps, too, doubts may have entered her own mind as to the authenticity of the obnoxious poem. At any rate she seems to have thought it wise to urge the matter no further. It dropped and died away; no reference to it again occurs in the corre- spondence of the period. 1 Queen Elizabeth to the Queen of Scots, Greenwich, 13 June, 1566. Maister Randolphe's Fantasie 103 It would be vain to search the literature of the sixteenth century for any trace of Maister Randolphes Fantasie. No mention of it is to be found even in the most minute and detailed of contemporary chroniclers. In modern histories its very name is unknown. No copy of it is preserved in our great libraries, and if a stray one should have escaped the summary suppression which the angry Queen de- manded of Elizabeth, 1 it must be lying hidden amongst pamphlets and broadsides on the shelves of some private collection. But, by some strange chance, though the printed work has disappeared, the manuscript has survived; and we are still able to satisfy our curiosity with regard to the contents of the obnoxious satire which gave such grave offence to the Queen of Scots. 2 In the manuscript copy preserved amongst the documents of the Record Office, 3 Maister Ran- dolphe's Fantasie the sub-title of which conveys the information that it is "a breffe calgulacion of the procedinge in Scotlande from the first of Julie to the last of December" is prefaced by an "Epistle dedicatorie " addressed " to the right worship full M r Thomas Randolphe esquyre Resident for the Quenes Ma tie * affaires in Scotlande". The author begins this quaint, diffuse, and at times obscure production by 1 Randolph to Cecil, 26 May, 1566. 2 Several years after this was written, the Fantasie was published in one of the volumes of the "Scottish Texts Society". It has not, however, been thought necessary to alter the present, or any other, reference to the poem, or the documents bearing on it, as inedited. 8 State Papers. Scotland Elizabeth, vol xi., 31 Dec., 1565. 104 In Byways of Scottish History setting forth the reasons which have led him to look for "some ripe and grave patronage" for his "small travell". He pleads the precedent of "eloquent wryters ", who, "albeit there excellent works learnedlie compiled, needed no patronage, not onelie appeled to others learned, but sought th'awctorytie of the gravest men, to sheld them from th'arrogant cury- ous and impewdent reprehendors". With much rhetorical amplification he then proceeds to enumer- ate the qualifications which seem more particularly to designate Randolph as a fitting patron and pro- tector. "Well may I, knowing yo r zelous nature and inclynacion to letters attempt to royst under the protexion of yo r name. Who can better judge of theis whole proceedings than you ? Who can so well wyttnes it as yo r dailie attendaunce ? Who may better defende it then yo r learned experience ? Who so well deserves the memorye hereof then yo r long and wearye service, especiallie sithence the troble- some broiles and monstrouous eschange in this trans- formed and blundered comon-weale? Who may so well auctoryshe the vnlearned aucto r as yo r w: to whom justlie awaytinge yo r succor, simplie I retyre." From this apostrophe he passes on to a justification of his poem, in which he claims to have " delt franklie" and, "as God shall bee his judge, not pertiallie", and which he has produced solely in compliance with the earnest and repeated solicita- tions of influential friends. " I had not compiled this tragidye, as iustlie I may terme it", he writes, "yf some my contremen, resolved of muche better then Maister Randolphe's Fantasie 105 I can or ought conceyve of my selffe, by there sundrye letters and meanes entreated me to wryte what I sawe, w ch chefflie by there procurement I have doen, who, havinge care of my well doinge, per- swaded me howe profy table and necessarye it was to vse my terme and travell, and imploy that talent that might tend to my great comodytie and avale. Theis indenyable requestes and frrendlie reasons did so charme me, albeit long deaffe at there enchant- ments, that I cold not refuse to susteane this charge, that nowe enforcethe my well meanynge to run post (I knowe) to some vnwelcome gwides, that w th twyned mynde will intercept my meanynge. Thus tranede and, as it were, bewytched w th this vnweldye charge of request, I pushe forthe this vnpolished phantasey, a breffe calgulacion of theis procedinges." Though confessedly anxious to reap any reward which his poetical venture may be thought to deserve, the author does not appear to be equally willing to monopolize the "blame and infayme, yf any there bee". On the contrary, he is careful to point out " to make his blames more excusable for there im- portunytie" that they who have urged him to write are " accessaryes yf not principalls in his unwillinge cryme", and that it would be a cruel hardship, in- deed, were he doomed "to thole ignomynye" and "live a condempned byarde", for the sake of "cle- ringe others". It is with the evident intention of giving force to this plea that, whilst seeming to prefer a humble request that Randolph "will not refuse to surname" the offspring of his "restless io6 In Byways of Scottish History Mewse", he takes the opportunity of pointing him out "as the cheffe parent thereof". With what success this questionable device was attended Mary's complaint to Elizabeth has already set forth. After having fenced himself round, in his dedica- tion, with all these rhetorical safeguards, the author turns to the reader with a poetical appeal to " arrest his judgement", and then addresses himself to the task of recording the " proceedings " of the eventful six months which followed Mary's ill-advised marriage with Darnley. The first part of the Fantasie opens with a poetical sketch, in which the author represents himself as sunk in melancholy meditation, and en- deavouring to find relief from the heavy burthen which the intrigues and disappointments of Court life have cast upon him: fforweried 1 with cares and sorrowes source supprest, and worldlie woos of sharpe repulse that bredes vnquyet rest, confus'd with courtlie cares, a seate of slipper 2 stay, that yeldes the draught of bitter swete to such as drawes that way, in silent sort I sought unwist of any wight to attempt some meane howe well I cold my heavy burden light. Whilst he is thus revolving " what fyttest were for feble myndes", his conflicting thoughts, personified as "Desire", "Tyme", "Fansye", and "Reason", appear before him and volunteer, in turn, such 1 Jforiverild, wearied out. 2 dipper , slippery. Maister Randolphe's Fantasic 107 advice as seems best suited to the situation. " De- sire", whose opinion is naturally the first to find expression, suggests that he should seek "such rest as may revive his pensive thought, with sorrow so opprest". "Tyme", however, interposes with a reminder that "feldishe sports be now exempt", and that the season is not "mete" for the amuse- ments that might delight his spirits. This affords " Fansye " an opportunity of making herself heard. assay yf that thie Mevses trades may ought dissolve thie care, pervse 1 some pleasunte stile that may delight the brayne and prove by practyse of the pen to file thie wyttes agayne. But this advice does not meet with the approval of "Reason". She points out to the poet that Devyne Camenes never cold with Mavors' rage agree, Ne yet Minerva mewse with skill was depelie scande 2 When as 3 Bellona did decree* with bloody sworde in hande;. and that, if he should allow himself to be hurried by his sympathies into championing every cause and "wrastling in eche wrong", the result must be as useless as though "he shold stope the streame, or sporne against the sone". Bidding him be ruled by her, she counsels him to "mesure by myrthe some meane that may his grieves disgest", to "solace the rage of hevmayne cares within a gladsome brest",. and to follow the safer course of " sojourning with silence", unless, indeed, he should be able to find 1 pervse, employ, have recourse to. 2 scande, attended to. *Wken as t whilst. * decree, hold sway. io8 In Byways of Scottish History "a frend on whom he may repose the secretes of his mynde". But "rareness of suche one" suggests moral reflections on the dangers of flattery, with its " sewgred speech ", and on the fickleness of friend- ship, "a flyinge birde with wings of often change". These, and a further recommendation to prudent silence, which, though it " do allay no rage of stormy thoughte", is at least preferable to the "bankroote gest" distrust, bring Reason's harangue to a close. In a passage of some merit, but so singularly out of place that it suggests an error of transcription, the poet proceeds to describe the dreary season to which Fancy has already made reference: It was when Awtum had fild full the barnes with corne, And he that eats and emtyes all away had Awtum worne, And wynter windes approcht that doth ibayre the trene, And Saturne's frosts, that steanes the earth had perst the tender grene, And dampishe mystes discendes when tempests work much harme, And force of stormes do make all cold that somer had made warme, whose lustie hewe dispelled cold not possess the place, ne yet abide Boreas' blasts that althings dothe deface. After this digression Reason's advice is taken into consideration. Recognizing its wisdom, the poet at first " seeks by solitarye meanes to recreate his minde". The attempt is not, however, crowned with success. He experiences that, "as the sowth- fast sayen", " solytarynes " is but "hewe of dispaire, ffoo to his weale, and frendlie to ech payne", and Maister Randolphe's Fantasie 109 that slender indeed "are the greves that silence do unlade". In his solitude the evils of his own posi- tion crowd up before him, he " beats his branes with bitter bale and woos of worldlie force", he recalls the "painful years" which he has "lingered forth" in Scotland, with the sole reward of seeing " his credyt crak the string with those with whome in faythfull league he long before had bene", and himself " rolled out of Fortune's lappe". By a natural transition he passes from his own grievances to a consideration of the political events which have produced them; his " bewsye heade " calls up the " sowre change ", the " sodaine fall" of the realme "from weale to woo, from welthe to wast, and worce if ought might be". The cue for it being thus given, there follows a recapitulation of the "proceedings" which are the real subject of the Fantasie. "I saw", the poet says: I saw the Quene whose will occurant with her yeres was wone 1 to worke oft that she wold by counsaile of her peres. It was the winged boy had perst 2 her tender thought, and Venus' joyes so tickled her that force avaled nought ; on Darlie did she dote who equall in this mase 3 sought to assalt the forte of fame defenst with yeas and nayes, which for a while repulst and had no passage in: but still porsewt did rase the seige 4 that might the fortresse wyne, who, stronglie thus beseiged with battry rounde aboute, at last was forst to yeld the keis, she cold not holde hym owte, 1 wow, wont. ^persty pierced. 3 mase, wild fancy. *rase the seige, carry on the siege with increased vigour. no In Byways of Scottish History but rendered sacke and spoile unto the victor's grace, so ritch a pray did not the Greks by Helen's meanes possesse. To regall charge of rule she did advaunce his state, and gave the sworde into his hand that bred civill debate. This was affection force that blewe this gale of winde; this regestreth the found pretence 1 within a woman's mynde this calls us to reporte 2 and proves the proverbe trewe, that wemens wills are sonest wone in that they after rewe. This brede a brutyshe broile and caused cankred spight to move the myndes of such as did envy a stranger's might; vnder w ch shade was shrowde an other fyrme intente, and so, by color of that change to doe what he was bente, w * 1 made much myserye and wrought this realme to wracke, and sturde 3 a stiveling sture 4 amongst the muffled contre- packe 6 that mustred eche where 6 in forme and force of warre, and clapt on armor for the feld as the comannded warre. Here the poet, who seems anxious to lose no opportunity of pointing a moral, interrupts for a while his sombre description of the state of Scot- land under this "reckles rule", to introduce his own reflections upon " the slipper state of worldlie wealth that heare on earth we finde". Resuming his lamentation, he records the undeserved disgrace of " those whose grave advice in judgement semed vpright", and the unwise promotion to offices of trust of those "which grated 7 but for gayne and gropt for private pray", who presumptuously at- 1 regestreth the found pretence, shows the infatuation. 2 reporte, quote. 3 sturdy stirred up. 4 stiveling sture, stifling passion. 5 mufflltd contre-packe, secret opposition party. 6 eche where, everywhere. 7 grated, sought with importunity. Maister Randolphe's Fantasie m tempted to " gwide a shipe against the storme ", though they "had not the skill in calm to stire a barge". Lest the application of the general statement should remain doubtful, it is illustrated by reference to the leading men of the Queen's party. To each of them a couplet is dedicated, the symmetry being broken in favour of Maxwell alone, who is thought worthy of a double share of satire. Unfortunately, however, the allusions are so vague and the language in many cases so obscure, that it is difficult to catch more than the drift of what is intended to characterize the con- duct and unveil the motives of each individual: I sawe Adthole abridge with craft to conquere cost, and forge that fact by forraigne foos that his discent might host; I sawe what Merton ment by shufHinge for his share, imbrasinge those that shrowdes the shame of his possessed care; I sawe howe Cassells crowcht affirmynge yea and na, as redyest when chaunce brings chang to drive and drawe that way; I sawe Crawforde encroche on slipperie renowne, that curre favell l in the court might retche to higher rowme ; 2 I sawe howe Lyddington did powder it 3 with pen, and fyled so his sewgred speche as wone the wills of men; I sawe howe Lyndsey lurkt vnconstant of his trade* alludinge 5 by his duble meanes that might his lust unlade ;' I sawe howe Hume in hope did hoist the sale aloft, 1 curre fa-vell, curried favour. " rowme, position. 3 powder it y create bustle or pother. *trade t course. * alludinge, deceiving. ' "vnlade^ give free scope to. H2 In Byways of Scottish History and howe he anker weighed with those that most for credyt sought; I sawe howe Ruthven reigned as one of Gnator's kinde, and howe he first preffer'd his pie respondent to his mynde. I sawe what Maxwell mente in kindlinge the flame, and after howe he sought new meanes to choke the smoke agayne; whose dowble dealinge did argewe vnconstant fayth, and shamefull wayes blowes forthe the brute 1 that may re- cord his death; with feble force I sawe howe Leonox did entende, as thriftie of a princelie rewle to regestre his ende; I sawe the weake advise that Darlie did aforde, as yonge in wytt as fewe of yeres to weld the regall sworde; and sodainelie I saw howe Bulforde credyt sought, and howe from nought he start aloft to bear the freey in court. 2 The political correspondence and historical records of the period allow us to remove, in some slight degree, the obscurity which veils this passage, and supply concerning the conduct of some of the char- acters alluded to in it such particulars as may help us to understand, if not the special point of the poet's satire, at least the general reasons which aroused his indignation and drew forth his censure. It would have been difficult for the most bitter opponent of the royal cause to find in Athole's con- duct during the period here referred to anything to justify an attack on his personal character. There 1 brute, report. 2 /o bear the freey in court this expression, which is evidently intended to convey the idea of influence or exalted position, may be connected with the French faire lesfrais. Maister Randolphe's Fantasie 113 is consequently no matter for astonishment in the fact that the satirist if our interpretation of the couplet be the correct one has no more heinous offence to reproach him with than fidelity to his trust and loyalty to his Queen. These, it is true, he manifested on more than one critical occasion. It was to Athole's house in Dunkeld that Mary, knowing herself to be surrounded with spies in Perth, determined to retire after the memorable convention at which the intended marriage with Darnley was made known. When, a few days later, intelligence was brought by Lindsay of Dow- hill of a plot formed by the confederate Lords to seize the Queen's person at Parenwfcll, to tear her intended husband and his father from her side, and to slay all who offered resistance to the deed of violence, it was with Athole that Mary concerted measures to frustrate the lawless attempt, and it was by his exertions that a body of two hundred gentlemen was raised to serve as an escort for her. At the public solemnization of the Queen's marriage it was Athole who, in recognition of his faithful service, led both bride and bridegroom to the altar, and who, at the banquet which followed, acted as her carver. That these marks of favour were not the only rewards bestowed upon his loyal attach- ment is shown by Randolph in a letter which he wrote to Cecil a few months later, 1 and in which he states the Earl of Athole's influence to be para- mount, greater even than Bothwell's. If we be right 1 Randolph to Cecil, 31 Oct., 1565. (C474) 9 ii4 In Byways of Scottish History in interpreting the charge of " abridging with craft to conquer cost" to mean that Athole endeavoured to husband the resources of the kingdom, it was a course which the state of the Queen's finances more than justified. The pecuniary difficulties in which she was involved are repeatedly alluded to in Ran- dolph's despatches. On the 4th of July we find him informing Cecil of the arrival of a chest supposed to contain supplies of money, and significantly add- ing that " if that way the Queen and Darnley have either means or credit, it is so much the worse". 1 A fortnight later 2 he refers more plainly still to the desperate condition of the royal exchequer, and states that Mary " is so poor at present that ready money she hath very little and credit none at all". In August 8 he announces that "she hath borrowed money of divers, and yet hath not wherewith to pay so many soldiers as are levied for two months". If, under these circumstances, Athole set himself the arduous and thankless task of narrowly watching over the expenditure of funds which it was so diffi- cult to raise, and even if the allusion contained in the enigmatical accusation of " forging that fact by forrayne foos" should point to any part taken by him in obtaining "about fifteen hundred francs which had been sent out of France", no impartial judge can behold in this a proof of anything but loyalty to his kinswoman and Queen. The charge of "shufflinge for his share", the only intelligible count in the indictment contained in the 1 Randolph to Cecil, 4 July, 1565. 2 //., 19 July, 1565. 3 Cecil's Journal. Maister Randolphe's Fantasie 115 couplet devoted to Morton, is fully justified by the able but unscrupulous statesman's conduct during the period of civil strife to which the Fantasie refers. On the formation of the league for which Mary's intentions towards her cousin had afforded a pretence, Morton had joined the ranks of the con- federate Lords. Before long, however, his opposi- tion to the marriage was overcome and his services secured for the royal cause by the sacrifice on the part of Lennox and Darnley of their claims to the honours and estates of Angus. Though his motives were very far from being disinterested, his conduct was for a while in strict conformity with the pledge which had been bought from him, and he success- fully exerted his influence to conciliate some of the bitterest opponents to the royal marriage. Such as it was, however, his loyalty was but shortlived. He took umbrage at the part assigned to Lennox in the command of the army which marched out to encounter the confederates. In the month of October his treasonable designs were so far from being a secret that Randolph described him as " only making fair weather with the Queen till he could espy his time". 1 But by her prompt and energetic action in compelling him to surrender the Castle of Tantallon to the Earl of Athole, 2 the Queen obliged him to declare himself sooner than he had intended, and before his treachery could do any material injury to her cause. Like his kinsman Morton, Ruthven, though 1 Randolph to Cecil, 12 Oct., 1565. 2 Diurnal of Occurrents. n6 In Byways of Scottish History serving in the royal army, was in league with the rebels. Between him and Mary there had never existed any great sympathy, though, out of considera- tion for Lennox, whose intimate associate he was, she admitted him for a while to her favour and con- fidence. As early as the beginning of July, however, it was reported that "the Lord of Ruthven had entered into suspicion", 1 and three months later he was also mentioned amongst those who were "only making fair weather with the Queen". 2 His final defection took place at the same time and for the same cause as Morton's, the "plee" which he "pref- fered" that is, the claim which he also laid to a part of the Angus estates, in right of Janet Douglas, his wife having been set aside by the royal order which made over Tantallon to Athole. The lines directed against Lennox and Darnley require neither explanation nor comment. The am- bition of the one and the boyish weakness and vanity of the other are well known. In selecting these as the objects of his satirical allusions, the poet has not treated them with greater severity than they de- served, nor, indeed, than they have met with at the hands of both contemporary and subsequent historians. As regards Maxwell, it is not difficult to account for the prominence given to him, nor for the " un- constant fayth and shamefull ways " with which he is reproached. At the outbreak of hostilities he held the office of Warden of the Western Border. The 1 Randolph to Cecil, 2 July, 1565. * Diurnal of Occurrents. Maister Randolphe's Fantasie 117 confidence placed in him, however, he betrayed, not only by allowing the insurgents to remain unmo- lested within the district under his keeping, and actually giving them entertainment, but also by subscribing with them 1 and devoting a thousand pounds, which he had received from England, to the equipment of a troop of horse for service against his sovereign. Mary took his treason so greatly to heart that, in a letter to Beton, Archbishop of Glasgow, she inveighed in terms seldom to be met with in her correspondence against "the traitor Maxwell, who, to his great disgrace, had basely violated his faith to her, and sent his son as his pledge to England, undeterred by the remembrance of the treatment to which his other boy was exposed, of which he had told her himself". 2 After the Queen's bloodless victory over her rebellious nobles, and the retreat of Moray and his associates from their last city of refuge in Scotland, Maxwell, fear- ful of the consequences of his own treasonable con- duct, begged to be allowed to return to his allegiance. Three days after Mary's arrival at Dumfries, he was brought before her by Bothwell and some of the loyal lords who offered to become sureties for his fidelity. He was received with generous kindness by his sovereign, who not only granted him a free pardon, but carried her magnanimity so far as to accept the hospitality of his castle of Lochmaben, where she remained until her return to Edinburgh. 1 Knox's History of the Reformation. 2 Queen Mary to Archbishop Beton, i Oct., 1565. n8 In Byways of Scottish History The couplet in which the satirist tells us how Ledington "did powder it with pen, and fyled so his sewgred speech as wone the wills of men ", pithily characterizes the secretary's conduct, not merely on the special occasion to which allusion is here made, but throughout the whole of his event- ful career. The other names introduced into the passage are known to be those of noblemen who embraced the Queen's cause, but the records of the period make no reference to any acts of theirs of sufficient importance to call for either praise or censure, though the subsequent defection of some of their number seems to justify the doubt cast on the sincerity of their motives. With regard to the last of these names, that of Bulford is probably a corrupted form of some more familiar appellation. It may possibly be intended to designate James Balfour, Parson of Fisk, who "at this time", accord- ing to John Knox, " had gottin all the guiding in the Court" and "was preferred before all others, save only the Erie of Athole 'V With this black list of those who "prowld for private pray", the poet contrasts the confederate Lords by whom " right was erect and wilfull wronge supprest ", whose "judgements ever vncontrolde did floryshe with the best", who "sought by civill meanes for to advaunce the realme ", but who were " chast away " because " the Quene wold not abide there grave advise that counsaled her to watch a better tide ". The names held up for special rever- 1 History of the Reformation, p. 383. Maister Randolphe's Fantasie 119 ence are those of Murray, Hamilton, Argyle, Rothose, Glencairn, Boyd, Ochiltree, and Grange, and it is open to question whether their action, in revolting from their sovereign and entering into negotiations with Elizabeth and her agents, warrants the praise bestowed upon them in the following lines: ffor Murray's constant fayth and ardent zeale to truthe had not the grace to fordge and feane that worldlie wytts purse wthe; nor Hamilton cold have no hope to hold his seate; nor yet Argile to abide the court the pirrye 1 was to greate; Rothose might not resyst that stedfastnes profest; nor Glencarne cold averde with wrong that rigor had incest; 2 nor Boide wold not attempt the trades 3 of no mystrust; nor Ogletree concure with such as rewled but for lust; Grange wold not grate for grace, no burden he wold beare whose horye head expert in warrs did bred the courtyers feare. Having thus recorded the relative strength and merits of the contending parties, the poet completes his picture of the lamentable state to which the king- dom has been reduced by civil discord; then, with his natural inclination to give prominence to his own troubles, bewails the "unrest" which embitters his life and is "powdering the heires upon his head". For solace he "retyres unto his booke a space", there to contemplate, "with rufull eye, what bale is incident in everie estate where tirants do prevale ", 1 pirrye^ peril. 2 incest, given rise to. 3 trades, course of action. 120 In Byways of Scottish History and to gather "examples that bloodye feicts dothe aske vengiance and thrists for bloode againe ". Cyrus, Tomiris, Cambyses, Brutus, Cassius, Bessus, Alexander, and Dionysius are called up "to repre- sent the fine of tirants' force ", and to show " howe the gwiltless bloode that is vniustlie shede dothe crave revenge ". Sheer weariness, however, puts an end to the dismal meditation, and as the poet sinks into " swete slepe " it seems to him that a messenger is " thrust in at the doore " to inform him that the Queen herself is at hand. Hereupon Mary enters, and without further preface begins " her tale ", to which the second part of the Fantasie is devoted. The opening words of the Queen's confession, for such is the form into which her " complante " is thrown, assume that she is acquainted with Randolph's purpose of recording the events of which he has been a witness, and are a request that he will "inwrape her woos within his carefull clewe, that when the recorde is spread everywhere, the state of her comber first may appear ". Her grief, how- ever, as she at once explains, is not for herself there is no cause why she should repine, for all things have succeeded according to her will it is for the miserable state to which her headstrong re- sistance to the advice of those who counselled wise and moderate government has reduced her realm. But, before entering fully into her subject, by a clever paralepsy she digresses into an account of her birth and accomplishments. Written as it is by a professed enemy of Mary Stuart's the passage is Maister Randolphe's Fantasia 121 of considerable interest, and may help to settle the disputed question of her personal gifts: I hold it nedles to bragg of my birthe, by loyall dascent endowed a quene; my ffather doth wytness it even to his death, who in this weale most noblie did reigne; and that halflFe a Gwyssian 1 by birth I bene, and howe the Frenshe Kinge in marag did endowe me with royall right, a madlie 2 widowe. But I cold bost of bewtie with the best, in skilfull poincts of princelie attire, and of the golden gwiftes of nature's behest who filed my face of favor freshe and fayre; my bewtie shynes like Phebus in the ayre, and nature formed my feater beside in such proport 3 as advanseth my pride. Thus fame affatethe 4 my state to the stares, enfeoft with the gwyftes of nature's devise, that soundes the retreat to others princes eares whollie to resigne to me the chefest price; but what doth it avale to vant in this wyse ? for as the sowre sent the swete tast do spill so are the good gwyftes corrupted with ill. Foremost amongst the defects that mar the high gifts of nature she mentions the " Gwyssian " temper which she has received from her mother, and by which she has been led to take the first false step "to wedd as she wold, suche a one as she demed wold serve her lust rather then might her weale well 1 Gwyssian, belonging to the Guise family. *madlie t maidenly. 8 />ro/>orr, proportion. * affatethe, proclaims. 122 In Byways of Scottish History upholde ". The fatal marriage being thus intro- duced, she naturally refers to its results, to the oppo- sition of those who, having " ever tendered her state, cold not abyde to see this myscheffe ", and whom, in her ungovernable temper, in her "rigour and hate ", she " sought to subject to the sword ". This is followed by the names of her chief opponents, the list being augmented by a few names which do not appear in the first part. Here a passage of singular significance even at the present day is unexpectedly brought in, in connection with the Duke of Argyle. It is a description of the Irish. They are stigmatized " a bloody crewe that whoso they take they helples downe he we ", and their bar- barous manner of carrying on war and inhuman treatment of the enemy is thus set forth: This savage kinde, they knowe no lawe of armes, they make not warrs as other do assay, they deale not deathe by [without] dredfull harmes, yeld or not yeld whoso they take they slay, they save no prysonners for ransome nor for pay, they hold it hopeles of the bodye dead except they see hym cut shorter by the heade. From this point the Queen's " complante " be- comes a narrative interspersed with moral reflec- tions on the dangers of despotic government and the horrors of civil wars of the victorious though blood- less expedition against the confederate Lords. It is noteworthy that, however depreciatory the judg- ment which she is made to pass upon her own con- duct, her energy and courage are repeatedly insisted Maister Randolphe's Fantasie 123 upon in terms of unqualified praise: "The dread of no enemy cold me appaile, nor yett no travell endaunte my entent; ... I dreaded no daunger of death to ensewe, no stormy blasts cold make me retyre ". Indeed, in one stanza she actually likens herself to Tomiris, and though, from the fact that it appears to be made by herself, the comparison at first strikes us as unnatural and exaggerated, looked at in its proper light, as the testimony of an avowed enemy, it is undoubtedly a high tribute of admiration to her indomitable spirit: Amidde w ch rowte, yf thou thie selffe had bene, and seen howe I my matters did contryve, thou woldest have reckened me the lustyest Quene that ever Europe fostred heare to live; yea, if Tomiris her selffe had bene alive, who dreaded great hosts with her tyrannye, cold not she we herself more valiant then I. The first episode referred to by the Queen is the pitching of her camp near Glasgow, for the purpose of intercepting the rebels who had taken up their position near Paisley, but who, dismayed at the rapid march of the royal army, hastily retired to- wards Edinburgh. This was on August 31. The poetical narrative is as follows: In Glasco towne I entrenched my bandes, and they in Paselee, nor far distant from thence, where erelie on the morrowe, west by the sande,* 1 Probably Sandyford, close to the river Cart, between Paisley and Renfrew. A tradition, still current in the neighbourhood, asserts that Mary once slept at Crookston Castle then belonging to the Lennox family. It may have been on 124 In Byways of Scottish History they gave me larum with warlicke pretence; we were in armes but they were gone thence, to the fFeldes we marcht in battell array, expectinge our foos, but they were awaye. when fame had brought that the Llords were gone to Edenbrough towne to wage * men of warre, to supplie there force, and make them more stronge of expert trayns 2 to joyne in this Jarre, I hasted forwarde to interrupt them there, but by the way I harde they were gone from Edenbrough, and had clene left the towne. In a stanza following immediately upon this, and descriptive of the course adopted by Mary on her arrival in Edinburgh, we find the confirmation of a statement made by Captain Cockburn, 8 but indig- nantly denied as a shameless fabrication by those historians whose aim it has been to clear the Queen from every imputation. He asserts, not only that she imposed a fine of 20,000 on certain of the burgesses of Edinburgh after the termination of the expedition, but also that previously to this she had extorted 14,000 marks from them for the support of her army. It is the latter part of this statement which has been challenged, but which undoubtedly receives strong support from the following verses : And some that had incurred my blame, by worde or wronge or other like meane, for redye coigne I compounded with them, this occasion, documentary evidence of any other opportunity for a visit to the Castle not being extant. 1 tv wage, to raise. 2 trayns, bands. 3 Capt. Cokbourn to Cecil. Maister Randolphe's Fantasie 125 that I might better my soulgiers maynteyne, th'unwonted charge that I did susteane was thus considered in everie dome * to surpasse the yerelie revenue of my crowne. Passing over the Queen's expedition into Fife- shire and the capture of Castle Campbell, " the castle of gloom ", a formidable stronghold belonging to her rebel brother-in-law, the Duke of Argyle, the historical part of the narrative hastens on to the final act, the march to Dumfries and the Lords 1 retreat across the Border. The inglorious termination of the rebellion has been pithily summed up by Sir James Melville in his Memoirs : " Her Majesty again convened forces to pursue the rebels, till at length they were compelled to flee into England for refuge, to her who promised by her ambassadors to wear her crown in their defence, in case they were driven to any strait for their opposition unto the marriage ", 2 The poet is scarcely less concise in his record of an event which he could neither hide nor gloss over, but upon which he evidently had ne- wish to dwell : We came to Domfreis to attempt our might, but all was in vane, our foos were awaie ; there was none there that wold us resiste, nor yett affirme that I did gainesaye. They unable to abide or resist my might entred perforce into th'inglishe pale. 1 dome, judgment, opinion. 2 P. 135. 126 In Byways of Scottish History In Carlile they all were constrayned to light, where the Lord Scrowpe entreated them all ; and th'Erle of Bedforde leivetenante generall of th'inglish northe, whose fervent affection I ever dreaded to deale in this action, whose noble hart enflamed with ruthe to see theis Llords driven to dystresse, sought the meanes he could to advance the truthe. What racke, Randolphe ? Thou thie selffe knowes I retorned a victore without any blows. Though this seemed to indicate a point where the Fantasie might come to a fitting close, it is drawn out for fully a hundred lines in order that the moral of the whole narrative may be duly brought home to the reader. So far as Mary herself is concerned, the gist of her long homily may be given in her concluding words : 'Tis fittest for a prince, and such as have the regyments of realmes, there subjects hartes with myldnes to convince, and justice mixt, avoydinge all extremes ; ffor like as Phebus with his cherefull beames do freshlie force the fragrant flowers to floryshe, so rulers' mildness subjects love do noryshe. The poet's own moralizing, with which, as with an epilogue, the whole poem is brought to an end, is wider in its application. The dangers which beset greatness and the advantages which accompany " golden mediocrity" are its leading theme, and are :set forth in a passage which brings together a num- Maister Randolphe's Fantasie 127 ber of familiar illustrations drawn from inanimate nature : I then said to myself methinkes this may assure all those that clyme to honor's seate there state may not endure ; che hills of highest hight are sonest perskt with sone, the silver streames with somer's drowght are letten oft to rone, the loftiest trees and groves are ryfest rent with winde, the brushe and breres that thickest grow the flame will sonest finde, che loftie rerynge towers there fall the ffeller bee, most ferse dothe fulgent lyghtnyng lyght where furthest we may see, the gorgyous pallace deckt and reared vp to the skye are sonner shokt with wynter stormes then meaner build- ings bee, vpon the highest mounts the stormy wynds do blowe, the sewer seate and quyet lief is in the vale belowe ; by reason I regawrde the mean estate most sure, that wayteth on the golden meane & harmles may endure ; the man that wyselie works in welthe doth feare no tide, when fortune failes dispeareth not but stedfastlie abide, for He that sendeth stormes with windes and wynter blasts, and steanes with hale the wynter face & fils ech soile with frosts He slaks the force of cold he sends the somer hote, he causethe bayle to stormy harts of joy the spring & rote. Reader regawrde this well as I of force nowe must, appoinct thie mewse to merke my verse thus ruffled up in rust, and lerne this last of me : Imbrace thie porpose prest, and lett no storme to blowe the blasts to lose the port of rest; 128 In Byways of Scottish History and tho the gale be great & frowarde fortune fayle, againe when wynde do serve at will hoist not to hye the saile ffor pro wife may toche the stone to prove this fir me and plaine, that no estate may countervale the gyld or golden meane. Both the poem and the Epistle Dedicatory bear the signature of Thomas Jenye. It is the name of an unscrupulous adventurer who held some sub- ordinate position in the service of Thomas Ran- dolph, whilst he was in Scotland, and afterwards of Sir Henry Norris, in the Netherlands. From the literary point of view, the most noteworthy feature of his Fantasie is the barefacedness with which he pilfered, not only the ideas, but the actual words of others. Indeed, in its introduction and conclu- sion, which consist, for the most part, of moral reflections, Jenye's satire is little better than a patch- work, rather cleverly made up, it is true, of lines purloined from Surrey, Grimsald, Sackville, and the other writers who figure with them in TottelVs Mis- cellany. But besides being a curiosity in plagiarism, the Fantasie is a valuable historical document, by reason of the accuracy with which it describes the various incidents of Murray's revolt, of which Jenye was practically an eyewitness. THE FIRST "STUART TRAGEDY AND ITS AUTHOR MARY, Queen of Scots, was beheaded in 1587. Fourteen years later there was published in Rouen a play which bore the title of Trag&die de la Reine d f Esc oss e, and which had for its subject the con- demnation and death of Elizabeth's unfortunate prisoner. The author styled himself Anthoine de Montchrestien sieur de Vasteville ; but it was alleged by his enemies that he was nothing more aristocratic than the son of an apothecary of Falaise called Mau- chrestien. He had, however, the good fortune to be brought up, though in what connection is un- certain, with two lads belonging to a family of authentic nobility ; and by the time he reached his twentieth year, he had the training and education of a gentleman of the period. With the sword which he assumed as the emblem of the class to which he claimed to belong, he adopted the fashion- able readiness to draw it on the slightest provocation. His first recorded encounter, however, very nearly proved his last. With the odds of three to one against him, he was grievously wounded and left for dead on the highway. But he recovered, and, in the true spirit of a Norman, consoled himself for his defeat and his injuries by suing the chief of his (0474) 129 10 130 In Byways of Scottish History adversaries, the Baron de Gouville. That he ob- tained damages to the amount of 12,000 livres may be taken as a proof that all the blame was not on his side. The success of this legal action encouraged him to take proceedings against one of his trustees, who had failed to do his duty by him. A further indemnity of 1000 livres was the result. About this time, too, he married a rich widow whose good graces he had previously secured by helping her to win a lawsuit in which her husband had been the defender. As early as 1596, Montchrestien had published the tragedy of Sophonisbe. Five years later there appeared a volume bearing his name, and containing a miscellaneous collection of prose and verse, in- cluding five tragedies, of which one was the Mary Stuart play, with the running title of /'Escossoise. } n the midst of a literary success to which numerous sets of complimentary verses testify, a real tragedy changed the whole course of the Norman adven- turer's career. In a duel with a young nobleman, he killed his adversary. Whether he did so in fair fight or, as his detractors alleged, by means of a disloyal stratagem, he was equally amenable to the severe law against single combat which Henry IV had lately promulgated. To no purpose did the poet appeal to the king in some eloquent verses in which he begged to be allowed to expiate his offence by dying for his sovereign on the field of honour : " Arm sur un cheval, en tenant une pique, Non sur un chafaud en vergogne publique." 1 1 Let Tragedies de Montckrestien, Paris, 1891, p. xxij. The First "Stuart" Tragedy 131 He was obliged to seek safety in exile, and retired to England. There his " Stuart " tragedy was of service to him. He presented it to James, who showed his appreciation of the work by interceding with the King of France on behalf of the author. The result was favourable, but not immediate ; and several years had to elapse before the outlawry was reversed. Montchrestien had gone to England in the char- acter of a poet and a gentleman. He returned to France to become an economist and manufacturer. In 1615 he published a volume entitled, Traicte de I* (Economic Politiqiie. Never before had the term been used ; and the subject dealt with was as novel as its name. Shortly after this, the founder of the science for which such great destinies were in store, established a cutlery on the banks of the Loire. That his venture was successful seems hardly pro- bable, for less than four years later he was engaged in the shipping trade. The story that he endea- voured to better his financial position by the des- perate expedient of counterfeiting the coin of the realm rests on no trustworthy authority, and may be dismissed as one of the many calumnies by which his enemies sought to blacken his memory after his tragic death. That event took place in 1621 ; and the various incidents that led up to it might well be shaped into a novel of adventure, though they must here be summarized in a few brief sentences. When religious troubles again broke out in France, after the Assembly of La Rochelle, Montchrestien threw 132 In Byways of Scottish History in his lot with the Protestant party. He went about for some months in his native province of Nor- mandy, endeavouring to organize an insurrection. On the yth of October he, together with his servant and six Huguenot captains, was taken by surprise in an inn. In the scuffle that followed, a pistol shot through the head put an end to his adventurous career. According to the barbarous custom which then prevailed in France, as it did in Scotland also, sentence was pronounced over his dead body. It was burnt and the ashes were scattered to the winds. When Montchrestien wrote FEscossoue, six years before the birth of Corneille, tragedy made no attempt to depict the conflict of antagonistic passions, but contented itself with the exposition of a pathetic situation, considered from various points of view. When this had been set forth with sufficient detail, the denouement) instead of being enacted before the spectators, was indicated in a concluding narrative. All Montchrestien's tragedies are drawn up on this plan ; and he is so faithful to the old classic form that he retains even the chorus. It is worthy of notice, however, that what has been called " dialogue cornlien ", that quick alternation of antithetical couplets and even single lines, suggestive of the sharp clashing of swords in the hands of two well- matched opponents, is one of the characteristics of his manner, and is handled by him with considerable skill and vigour. In the Stuart tragedy the " entreparleurs " are the Queen of Scots, the Queen of England, an anony- The First " Stuart 9! Tragedy 133 mous Councillor, Davison, a Master of the House- hold, a Messenger, a Page, and two Choruses, one composed of Mary's female attendants, and another consisting of the " Estates " of England. The first act is opened by Elizabeth, who, in a long speech which she addresses to her Councillor, bewails her hard fate and her precarious tenure of both crown and life. She is particularly hurt at the ingratitude of the Queen of Scots, whom she has deprived of her liberty, it is true, but otherwise treated right royally. And apostrophizing the rival whose fair face hides so much disloyalty, envy, and spite, so much fury and so much daring, she asks her whether her heart is not touched at the thought of the countless ills to which England must become a prey if it should lose its lawful Sovereign. " Une Reine exilee, errante, fugitive, Se degageant des siens qui la tenoient captive, Vint surgir a nos bords centre sa volont6: Car son cours malheureux tendoit d'autre coste". Je 1'ay bien voirement des ce temps arrestee, Mais, hors la libert, Royalement traitee; Et voulant mille fois sa chaine relascher, Je ne scay quel destin est venu m'empescher. O coeur trop inhumain pour si douce beaut, Puis que tu peux couver tant de desloyaut, D'envie et de despit, de fureur et d'audace, Pourquoy tant de douceur fais-tu lire en ta face ? Tes yeux qui tous les coeurs prennent a leurs appas, Sans en estre troublez, verront-ils mon trespas ? Ces beaux Astres luisans au ciel de ton visage, De ma funeste mort seront-ils le presage ? 134 In Byways of Scottish History N'auras-tu point le coeur touch6 d'affliction, Voyant ceste belle Isle en desolation, En proye a la discorde en guerres allumee, Au meurtre de ses fils par ses fils anime ? Verras-tu sans douleur les soldats enragez, Massacrer a leurs pieds les vieillards outragez, Egorger les enfants presence de leurs peres Les pucelles forcer au giron de leurs meres, Et les fleuves encor regorger sur leurs bords Par les pleurs des vivans et par le sang des mortsr" Enlarging on this idea, the Councillor urges the Queen to put her prisoner to death: It is a pious deed to kill a murderess; it cannot be displeasing to a just God that punishment should be inflicted on the wicked; and, moreover, has not the impunity of vice often brought ruin and death on kingdoms and on kings? To such arguments as these, Elizabeth replies that kings and queens are answerable to God alone ; that Sovereigns who put their enemies to death increase instead of diminishing their number; and that severity only engenders hatred. And her last words contain the half-expressed resolve to try what clemency will do to disarm her rival. This the Councillor meets with the significant question " d'un ingrat oblig<5 Que peut-on espeYer que d'en tre outraged" To close the act the Chorus then appears and sings the delights of the golden age and the simple life, as compared with the troubles and anxieties that embitter the existence of princes. 1 Op. cit., pp. 72-3. 2 Op. cit., p. 80. The First "Stuart" Tragedy 135 When the short second act opens, sentence of death has been passed on Mary Stuart, and the Estates of England appear before their Queen to demand that, for their safety, the sentence shall be carried out. Elizabeth accedes so far as to promise that she will leave the matter in their hands. But that is only a device to gain time. As soon as she is by herself, she calls up a vivid picture of what foreign nations and posterity will think of her if she allows the blood of a Sovereign to stain the scaffold, and is so horrified at it that she determines to interfere. She leaves the stage and disappears from the tragedy with the words: " Je rompray cependant le coup de 1'entreprise 'V In spite of the hopes inspired by Elizabeth, the next act introduces Davison, who has been dispatched to notify her sentence to the royal prisoner, and who, in an effective monologue, expresses his sense of the responsibility which he is incurring and of the odium which he will be made to bear: " La charge qu'on m'impose est certes bien fascheuse, Mais je crains qu'elle soit encor plus perilleuse: Je vay fraper un coup, mais soudain je le voy, Je le voy, malheureux, retomber dessus moy. Justement poursuivi de rancune et d'envie, Pour m'estre a ce forfait ainsi tost resolu, De tous egalement je seray mal voulu. Sur moy seul tout de mesme on voudra desormais Prendre vengeance d'elle, et je n'en pourray mais: I 0p. cit^p. 87. 136 In Byways of Scottish History Oil ceux qui sont auteurs du mal de ceste Reine, Au milieu de mes pleurs se riront de ma peine. Le sort est bien cruel qui me donne la loy! Je ne le veux point faire et faire je le doy: II faut bien le vouloir; car c'est force forcee; Tremblant je m'y resous." 1 Davison is followed by Mary, whom her attendants accompany. In a touching speech she tells the sad story of her life her unhappy childhood, her brief reign in France, her return to her Scottish kingdom, of which the distracted state is described in a few vigorous lines: " Ayant laissd glisser dedans la fantaisie La folle opinion d'une ranee heresie, Ayant pour un erreur fard de nouveaute Abreuv son esprit de la dloyaut, II esmeut furieux des querelles civiles, II revoke les champs, il mutine les villes, II conjure ma honte et me recherche a tort Croyant qu'a mon espoux j'eusse brasse la mort." 2 To this accusation of having plotted the death of her husband she replies with an impassioned apos- trophe to him, calling upon him to rise from the dead and bear witness to her innocence. Then she recalls her flight from Scotland, and, forgetful of historical fact, attributes it to adverse fate and a furious storm that she was obliged to land on the inhospitable shores of the barbarous English: " Peuple double et cruel, dont les supremes loix Sont les loix de la force et de la tyrannic, 1 Op. cit., pp. 88, 89. 2 Op. cit., p. 92. The First "Stuart" Tragedy 137 Dont le coeur est couv de rage et felonie Dont Pceil se paist de meutre et n'a rien de plus cher Que voir le sang humain sur la terre espancher." 1 And now that no hope of liberty remains, the royal captive longs for the death which she believes to have already been prepared for her. At this point there is a really dramatic situation. The sorrowing Queen has scarcely been assured by the Chorus that her enemies will not dare proceed to such extremes, when a page announces the approach of a royal messenger. It is Davison. He has come to make her death sentence known to the prisoner, who welcomes it as the news of her speedy deliverance. The fourth act is a lofty elegy Mary's farewell to the world. The tender and touching lines with which it opens indicate the spirit with which it is animated throughout. " Voici Pheure derniere en mes vceux de"sire"e Ou je suis de longtemps constamment pre'pare'e; Je quitte sans regret ce limon vitieux Pour luire pure et nette en la clarte" des Cieux, Ou 1'esprit se radopte a sa tige eternelle, Arm d'y refleurir d'une vie immortelle. Ouvre-toi, Paradis! . . . Et vous anges tuteurs des bienheureux fideles, D6ployez dans le vent les cerceaux de vos ailes, Pour recevoir mon dme entre vos bras, alors Qu'elle et ce chef royal voleront de mon corps . . . Humble et deVotieuse, a Dieu je me pr6sente Au nom de son cher fils, qui sur la croix fich 1 Op. cit., P . 93. 138 In Byways of Scottish History Dompta pour moi PEnfer, la mort et le pe'che' . . . Tous ont failli, Seigneur, devant ta sainte face; Si par la nous e*tions exiles de ta grice, A qui serait enfin ton salut reserve'? Qu'aurait servi le bois de tant de sang lave"?" 1 In the fifth act, devoted to the usual narrative of the catastrophe, a messenger tells the Master of the Household how nobly and bravely his mistress met her death: " Comme elle est parvenue au milieu de la salle, Sa face paroist belle encor qu'elle soit palle, Non de la mort hast^e en sa jeune saison, Mais de 1'ennuy souffert en si longue prison. Comme tous demeuroient attachez a sa veue De mille traits d'amour mesme en la mort pourveue, D'un aussi libre pied que son coeur estoit haut, Elle monte au coupeau du funebre eschaffaut, Puis sousriant un peu de 1'osil et de la bouche: Je ne pensois mourir en cette belle couche; Mais puis qu'il plaist a Dieu user ainsi de moi, Je mourray pour sa gloire en deffendant ma foy. Je conqueste une Palme en ce honteux supplice, Ou je fay de ma vie a son nom sacrifice, Qui sera celebre"e en langages divers; Une seule couronne en la terre je pers, Pour en posseder deux en 1'eternel Empire, La Couronne de vie, et celle du Martyre. Ce dit sur PeschafFaut ployant les deux genoux, Se confesse elie mesme, et refrappe trois coups J Op. cit., pp. 101, 102. The First "Stuart" Tragedy 139 Sa poitrine dolente et baigne ses lumieres De pleurs devotieux qui suivent ses prieres. Puis tournant au Bourreau sa face glorieuse: Arme quand tu voudras ta main injurieuse, Frappe le coup mortel, et d'un bras furieux Fay tomber le chef bas et voler l'4me aux cieux. II court oyant ces mots se saisir de la hache; Un, deux, trois, quatre coups sur son col il delasche; Car le fer acere" moins cruel que son bras Vouloit d'un si beau corps differer le trespas. Le tronc tombe a la fin, et sa mourante face Par trois ou quatre fois bondit dessus la place." 1 The lamentations of the Chorus close the pathetic scene. This is not yet tragedy; but it is not far from being splendid in parts. It is the work, if not of a dramatist, at least of an eloquent rhetorician combined with a lyric poet of high gifts. And when it is remembered that the play was written before his twenty-fifth year, by the man who afterwards showed his keen power of analysis and his psychological insight in his treatise on political economy, it is justifiable to regret that the circumstances of his adventurous life induced him to abandon the literary career which had opened so auspiciously for him. l Op. cit., pp. 109, no. LORETTO THE original Loretto or, as it should more correctly be spelt, Loreto is an Italian town situated in the province of Ancona, and only a few miles from the shores of the Adriatic. Its four to five thousand inhabitants consist mainly of dealers in objects of piety and in beggars, and its only importance lies in the fame of its shrine, to which many thousands of pilgrims resort yearly. The cult of Our Lady of Loreto is based on one of the most marvellous, not to say the most daring, of medieval legends. According to the traditional account, St. Helena, the mother of Constantine, had caused a church to be built at Nazareth, over the cottage which the Blessed Virgin had once inhabited. That church the Saracens overthrew. They were preparing to destroy the Santa Casa itself when, on the night of May 12, 1291, angels, anticipating and surpassing the feats of modern engineering, trans- ported it into Dalmatia. For various reasons it was again removed three successive times from one locality to another, until it finally took its stand on the high road between Recanati and the sea. There is a divergence of opinions as to the origin of the name by which the magnificent shrine which shelters 141 142 In Byways of Scottish History the Santa Casa has become known through the whole world. Some authorities attribute it to the fact that the Holy House was deposited in a field belonging to a widow called Lauretta, whilst others connect it with the existence of a laurel grove on the site chosen by the carrier angels. In addition to the cottage, and within it, there is a statue of the Madonna. It is attributed to St. Luke, whom medieval legends commonly regarded as portraitist- in-ordinary to the Virgin Mary. Another relic consists of the dish out of which the Virgin ate. The popularity which the shrine of Loreto acquired through the ages may be estimated from the fact that towards the end of the eighteenth century its wealth was valued at more than a million sterling. In 1797 Pius VI was obliged to draw on its treasury in order to fulfil the conditions imposed on him by the Treaty of Tolentino. War having again broken out, the French occupied Loreto and took possession of the miraculous statue, which was relegated to a shelf beneath that occupied by a mummy in the Cabinet des Mdailles of the Biblioth&que Nationale. Napoleon restored it to the Pope in 1802. The fame acquired by the Italian Loreto led to the establishment, in other countries, of similar shrines branch establishments for the granting of indulgences and the performance of miracles. Of such Scotland possessed at least two. One of them, which does not seem to have acquired more than a local reputation, was in Perth. The other stood " beyond the eastern gate of Musselburgh and on Loretto 143 the margin of the links". The date and circum- stances of its foundation are set forth by the Diurnal of Remarkable Occurrents y which, amongst the entries for 1533, has the following: "In this mene tyme thair came ane heremeit, callit Thomas Douchtie, in Scotland, quha haid bein lang capitane ( ? captive) before the Turk, as was allegit, and brocht ane ymage of our Lady with him, and foundit the Chappel of Laureit, besyid Musselburgh ". In addi- tion to this evidence there is a charter of James V, dated July 29, 1534, and confirming the grant by the Bailies, of a "petra" of land in the territory of Musselburgh, to Thomas Duthy, of the Order of St. Paul, first hermit of Mount Sinai, for the erec- tion of a chapel in honour of Almighty God and of Blessed Mary of Laureto. 1 Beside sanctioning the foundation of the shrine, James gave it a tangible proof of his patronage. In August, 1534, as is shown by the Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer, he spent 22, 135. id. in purchasing the materials and paying for the making and ornamenting of albs, amices, stoles, chasubles, and altar towels. 2 We learn from John 1 History of the Regality of Afusselbttrgk, p. 95. 2 Item, for xxxvj einis and ane quarter blechit bertane canwes to be thrc albis, thre ametis, and thre altar towellis to oure Lady Chapell of Laureit, price of the elne iijj. iiij Charter Z4. The Isle of May 163 sisting of a carucate and a bovate, were made over to the prior and monks of May by William of Beaueyr, in perpetual alms, for the salvation of Countess Ada, of Malcolm the King, her son, and of William, the reigning sovereign. The island community was also to have the reversion of two bovates which William had given in dowry to his wife, and of one bovate which he had granted in life tenure to his sergeant, Ralph. 1 From Eggou Rufrus the monks received some land adjoining his own property of Lingoch; whilst Alexander Cumyn, Earl of Buchan, made a yearly donation of a stone of wax, or forty shillings, to be received at Rossy, at the fair of St. Andrew. Finally, a part of the Moor of Bare we, extending westwards from the foot of the hill of Whitelawe, was gifted to the priory by Gilbert of Saint Martin. 2 But, besides the records which thus testify to the esteem in which the Monks of May were held, and to the substantial marks of favour granted them by munificent patrons, there also exist documents which tell of less friendly relations between them and other landowners on the mainland, and of protracted liti- gation with rival claimants. Thus, an agreement arrived at in the year 1260, between the community on the one side and Sir John de Dundemore on the other, with regard to the ownership of the lands of Turbrech, in Fife, refers to the "many altercations" to which the question had given rise, and sets forth the terms of settlement arrived at by the contending 1 Carte Prioratus, Charter 25. 2 Charters 26, 27, 33. 164 In Byways of Scottish History parties. Sir John was to make over to the monks the contested property, in " free and perpetual alms, for the weal of his soul and the souls of his pre- decessors and of his successors ". In return for this substantial concession, the Prior and Brethren under- took to grant him and his heirs in perpetuity a monk to perform divine service for them in the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In addition to this, they bound themselves to pay him, at their own option, either half a mark of silver yearly, or sixty "mulwelli" probably haddock. If they chose to make payment in kind, the fish were to be sup- plied in two instalments thirty at Whitsuntide and thirty at Martinmas. They further granted him and his heirs a glass lamp in the church of Ceres, with two gallons of oil, or twelve pence, yearly, for feeding it. The Lairds of Dundemore do not ap- pear to have been altogether satisfied with the terms of a compromise which, so far as material interests were concerned, was obviously one-sided. As a protest against the total alienation of the lands of Turbrech, Henry de Dundemore demanded that the Prior of the May should swear fealty to him on account of them. The claim, which nothing in the charter formerly granted by Sir John seems to have justified, was resisted, whereupon Henry, com- pensating himself in a high -handed and tangible manner, distrained a horse belonging to the monks. The matter was referred to William, Bishop of St. Andrews. His decision is contained in a document dated in Cupar, on the first Monday after the Puri- The Isle of May 165 fication of the Blessed Virgin, in the year of the Lord 1285. It is wholly adverse to the layman, whom it orders to restore the horse, within eight days, to its rightful owners. 1 II In the year 1242 we find the House of May appealing to the Court of the Archdeaconry of Lothian against the encroachment of an ecclesiastic. The case for the monks was that Adam Black, of D unbar, had bequeathed to them a house and croft, together with two " perticates " of arable land, but that, at his death, the property in question had been occupied and unjustly detained by Patrick, Chaplain of Dunbar. When the matter came before the authorities, Patrick could not deny the justice of the claim put forward. That he himself was not without some justification for the course he had taken is suggested by the decision of the Court. It was that he should remain in possession of the house and grounds, but should make to the Priory a payment of three shillings a year for them. This settlement was made by William Mortimer as repre- senting the Bishop of St. Andrews, and by Baldred, Dean of Lothian, within the parish church of Had- dington, in presence of the incumbent and of the vicar of North Berwick. 2 When David I conveyed the Priory of May to the Monks of Reading, he also granted them the 1 Carte Prioratus, Charters 29, 30. 2 Charter 35. 166 In Byways of Scottish History lands of Rindalgros, in Perthshire, where another cell for monks was erected, subject to the House of May. Here, too, questions of property and pri- vilege brought the monks into conflict with their neighbours. Thus, between them and Duncan of Inchesiryth a dispute arose with regard to their re- spective fishing rights. The matter was so adjusted that both parties should be entitled to cast their nets in the contested waters, as it might suit them, and with no further restriction than the common use of the country. 1 The records of the Priory also furnish details of disputes that arose between the Monks of May and other religious houses. Thus, in 1231, a case in which they were the pursuers came before a com- mission appointed by the Pope, and consisting of the Prior and of the Archdeacon of St. Andrews, together with the Dean of Fife. They complained that, although the church of Rind, with the teinds of the whole parish, belonged in property to them, the Brethren of Scone detained from them the tithes of four fishings namely, of Sleples, Elpenslau, Chingil, and Inchesiryth all situated within the bounds of the parish. After hearing the pleadings, allegations, and exceptions of both parties, the judges and their legal assessors decided that, for the sake of peace, the Monks of Scone should pay two merks of silver yearly to the House of May, and should, in return, be held free from all claims for the tithes. 2 A few years before this, in 1225, the Prior and 1 Carte Prioratus, Charter 38. 2 Charter 39. The Isle of May 167 Brethren of the May were themselves the defendants in an action raised by the House of Dryburgh. From the official statement of the case it appears that the Parish Church of Anstruther belonged to the former and that of Kilrenny to the latter, and that the two parishes were separated from each other by a stream. In view of the fact that the boats which fished in this stream were moored on the Kilrenny side and that their anchors were fixed within the bounds of the parish, where they re- mained for the night, the Canons of Dryburgh maintained that they were entitled to one-half of the tithes arising from such boats, whilst the Monks of May levied the whole. The Abbot and the Prior of Melrose and the Dean of Teviotdale, acting as Papal Commissioners, decided that, "for the sake of peace, the Monks of May should pay yearly one merk of silver within the Parish Church of Kilrenny to the Canons of Dryburgh, for which payment the monks were to be free of all claim on the part of the canons, providing the latter should receive full tithes from their proper parishioners that is, from the parishioners receiving spiritual benefits in the church of Kilrenny and using the said part of the shore ; and that the monks should receive full tithes from all coming from other quarters, and using the said part of the shore". 1 Amongst the documents relating to the May there is one which records an agreement arrived at be- tween the Prior and Convent on the one hand and 1 Records of the Priory of the hie of May, p. xx and Charter 40. 168 In Byways of Scottish History Malcolm, the King's Cupbearer, on the other, with regard to the Chapel of Ricardestone. The monks authorized the celebration of mass in the chapel by a chaplain from the House of Rindalgros, or some other in his stead, on every Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday, as well as on the principal feast days, such being Christmas and the three days after it, the Purification, Easter, the Ascension, Pentecost, the Assumption, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, and All Saints. They also permitted that the holy bread that is to say, the loaf offered by the people, blessed by the priest before the beginning of the mass, and distributed amongst the congregation should be given there, but only by the men of the vill. There, too, the women of the vill but they alone might be churched, and also be heard in confession ; but they were to pay the offering for wax to the Mother Church of Rindalgros, and there, too, were to receive communion at Easter. The Cupbearer himself and all his successors were to be at liberty to communicate either in the chapel or in the Mother Church. Malcolm might also have a priest attached to his chapel, provided such priest acknowledged submission to the Church of Rindal- gros. In return for these concessions and privileges, the Cupbearer not only confirmed the gifts of land made by his father to the chapel, but also added a grant of other four acres in pure and perpetual alms. 1 Apart from such incidents as the Records of the 1 Records of the Priory of the hie of May, p. xxi and Charter 41. The Isle of May 169 Priory of May indicate, there seems to have been only one event of importance in connection with it for more than a century from the time when King David conveyed it to the Monks of Reading, on condition that they should maintain in it nine priests of their brethren, to offer up the Mass for the benefit of his soul and of the souls of his pre- decessors and successors, Kings of Scotland. It is briefly referred to by the chronicler Torfseus in his account of one of Swein Asleif 's expeditions. Steer- ing southwards, he says, Swein and his followers arrived at the Isle of May. In that island there was a monastery, the abbot of which was named Baldwin. Being detained there for seven days, they professed to be ambassadors from Earl Ronald to the King of Scotland. The monks, suspecting them to be robbers, sent to the mainland for help. On this, Swein plundered the monastery, and took much booty. As a strangely inconsistent sequel to this story, Torfaeus adds that Swein then sailed up the Firth of Forth, and found King David in Edinburgh ; that the King received Swein with much honour, and entreated him to remain; and that Swein told David all that had occurred between him and Earl Ronald, and how he had plundered the Isle of May. The same historian also states that on another occasion Swein anchored at the Isle of May, from which he dispatched messengers to the King at Edinburgh. 1 Spottswood states, in his List of Religious Houses 1 Records of the Priory of the Isle of May, p. ix. 170 In Byways of Scottish History in Scotland, that the Priory of the May, originally put under the patronage of All Saints, was subse- quently consecrated to the memory of St. Adrian. He does not, however, mention on what occasion. He adds that William Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews, purchased it from the Abbot of Reading, and notwithstanding the complaints made thereupon by Edward Longshanks, King of England, bestowed it upon the canons regular of his cathedral. Fordun and Pry nne both give details of the transaction ; but from documents discovered at a later date and pub- lished in the Records of the "Priory of the Isle of however, adopted. The old lighthouse tower on the Isle of May was reduced in height to about 20 feet, and by direction of the Board was converted into a guardroom for the convenience of pilots and fishermen. The square, battlemented, white build- ing is still standing at the present day. Above the door there is a tablet with a figure of the rising sun over the date 1636. It is surmounted by a lion holding an escutcheon, on which the armorial bearings probably those of the builder are no longer decipherable. In the vaulted room within the tower there is an old iron grate with the initials A. C., which suit Alexander Cunningham, and are doubtless his. The ruins mentioned by Sir Walter are also visible at the present day, though in an even more dilapidated state than when he saw them. They are situated in a hollow, towards the south-east end of the island, probably near the spot where the monas- tery stood. They are doubtless the remains of 1 Lockhart, Life of Sir Walter Scott, chap, xxviii. The Isle of May 187 St. Adrian's Chapel, which continued to be visited by pilgrims long after the destruction of the monas- tery itself. The space within the walls measures about 32 feet in length and 15 feet in breadth. In the west wall are two windows, of which the semi- circular interior openings seem to indicate Norman work, and suggest the thirteenth century as the date of the building. There are also remnants of win- dows both in the south and in the north wall. A shapeless gap near the southern extremity shows the position of the door. Just within it there may still be seen what is perhaps a fragment of the holy- water stoup. From the fact that the ruins lie north and south, it has been thought that the chapel occu- pied only a part of the building, and duly lay east and west within it. If such were the case, it must have been of exceptionally small dimensions, and have contained a very diminutive altar. At the present time no attempt seems to be made to pre- vent the venerable relic from falling further into decay; and the rough enclosure within which it stands is used as a sheep-pen. The lighthouse now on the May is situated close to the old tower. It is a massive quadrangular stone building surmounted by a square tower which at a distance gives it the appearance of a church. It first came into use on the ist of December, 1886. For fifteen years previously the Commissioners of the Northern Lights had been anxious to establish an electric light on the Scottish coast ; but it was not till 1883 that the Board of Trade was able to 1 88 In Byways of Scottish History sanction the expenditure, and suggested its intro- duction at the Isle of May, on the ground that <{ there was no more important station on the Scottish shores, whether considered as a landfall, as a light for the guidance of the extensive or im- portant trade of the neighbouring coast, or as a light to lead into the refuge of the Forth ". The new buildings, engines, electric machines and lamps cost 15,835; but, including old material which it was found possible to utilize, the total installation was estimated at 22,435. As to technical details, it may suffice to mention that the generators are two of De Meritens's alternate-current magneto-electric machines, weighing about four and a half tons each. The engines are a pair of horizontal surface-con- densing steam engines, each with two cylinders 9 inches in diameter and 18 inches stroke, making 140 revolutions per minute. There are two steam boilers, of which only one is in use at a time. Each of them is 20 feet long and 5 feet 6 inches in dia- meter. Only one of the three electric lamps is used at a time, and is changed once an hour to allow it to cool. The light is about 25,000 candle-power, but when seen from the water gives a flash equal to 3,000,000 candles, which can be increased to 6,000,000. The May apparatus is so designed as to give a group of four flashes in quick succession, followed by an interval of darkness lasting thirty seconds. The highest recorded distance at which the reflection of the light has been observed is 61 nautical miles. The May is also provided with The Isle of May 189 a powerful horn, of which the sound serves as a guide during the frequent " haars " or sea-fogs that rise from the North Sea. In addition to this, it has a smaller fixed light which serves as a leading light for ships coming down from Fifeness. It is visible on one side of the island only. Owing to the increased cost of maintenance of the May light it is estimated at more than 1000 a year an Order in Council was issued in 1886, authorizing the collection of two-sixteenths of a penny per ton, as light dues, from vessels carrying cargo or passengers, which may pass or derive benefit from the light when on a coasting or home-trade voyage, and of one penny per ton when on an over- sea voyage, subject to the usual deductions. The May light is served by seven keepers, the chief of whom does not, however, share the watches. Their quarters, which are neat and commodious, and sufficiently large for the accommodation of such of them as have families, are situated at some distance from the lighthouse, between two hills that afford protection from the prevalent gales. Close to them is the engine-house, with its tall chimney-stalk. The necessary supply of water for it is drawn from the little lake, of which early descriptions of the island make mention, and which has now been turned into a reservoir. EDINBURGH AND HER PATRON SAINT ALTHOUGH Edinburgh does not appear to manifest any consciousness of the fact, the ist of September is the feast of her patron saint. There was a time when solemn celebrations marked the event. But centuries have passed since then; and it would not be very rash to assume that, at the present day, for every thousand of its Presbyterian population, at any rate, the city does not contain one man, woman, or child who knows of any connection between St. Giles and any special day in the year. In this respect, it is true, Edinburgh is not more indifferent than Glasgow. Every year the I3th of January passes by without the slightest official re- cognition on the part of the commercial metropolis. In spite of that, however, St. Mungo and St. Giles stand on a very different footing in their respective cities. All Glaswegians know something of their saint. Indeed, their municipal coat of arms makes it impossible for them to be wholly ignorant of his story. The very children amongst them are familiar with the incidents which the bird, the tree, and the ring commemorate ; and reference to the capital of the West as the city of St. Mungo is by no 191 192 In Byways of Scottish History means uncommon. But whoever heard Edinburgh call herself the city of St. Giles? Nor is this differ- ence in the esteem in which the two patrons are held unnatural or unaccountable. For, whilst Glasgow's tutelar saint was a true Scot, he under whose special protection the capital chose to put itself was simply an alien. Not but what he was a well-born and eminently venerable person. We are told that St. Giles, or, to give him his Latin name, Egidius, was born in Greece in the seventh century. According to the Roman Breviary, he was of royal lineage. The same authority states that from his youth he showed a great love for sacred learning and for works of charity, and that, at the death of his parents, he bestowed his whole inheritance on the poor. The miracles which he was reported to have wrought brought him a fame which was distasteful to him. To escape from it he retired to Aries, in France. He remained there but a short time, how- ever, having determined to lead the life of a hermit. For this purpose he betook himself to a forest near Gards, in the diocese of Ntmes. There he lived for a long time upon the roots and herbs and the milk of a hind which came to him at regular hours an act of kindness for which the charitable and faithful animal was not to go unrewarded, and to which, indeed, she owes the honour of figuring in the arms of the city of Edinburgh, of which she is the sinister supporter. One day the hind was chased by the King's hounds, and took refuge in Giles's cave. " Thereby," says the Breviary, " the King of Edinburgh and her Patron Saint 193 France was moved earnestly to entreat that Giles would allow a monastery to be built in the place where the cave was. Yielding to the pressing soli- citations of the King, he took the rule of this monastery, although himself unwilling, and dis- charged this duty in a wise and godly manner for some years, until he passed away to heaven." 1 The biographical sketch supplied by the Breviary suggests no connection between Giles and any part of Britain north or south ; neither does there seem to be anything extant to account for his being chosen as the tutelar saint of Edinburgh. There are, how- ever, documents which prove that, as far back as the thirteenth century, the parish church was dedicated to him. Arnot states, on the authority of a charter in the Advocates' Library, that, in the reign of James II, Preston of Gortoun, having got posses- sion of a relic which was alleged to be an arm-bone of St. Giles, bequeathed it to the mother kirk. 2 In gratitude for this gift, the magistrates of the city granted a charter in favour of the heirs of Preston, entitling the nearest heir of the donor, being of the name of Preston, to carry this sacred relic in all pro- cessions. The magistrates, at the same time, obliged themselves to found in this church an altar, and to appoint a chaplain, for celebrating an annual mass of requiem for the soul of the donor. They also ordered that a tablet, displaying his arms and de- scribing his pious donation, should be put in the chapel. The relic, enshrined in silver, was kept 1 Pars Estiva^ Folio xcvi. 2 History of Edinburgh^ pp. 267-8. (C474) 14 194 In Byways of Scottish History amongst the treasures of the church till the Refor- mation. 1 The outburst of iconoclasm which is chronicled by John Knox as one of the marks of progress of the Reformation in Scotland proved fatal to St. Giles. "The images were stolen away in all parts of the country," says the historian, " and in Edin- burgh was that great idol called St. Giles first drowned in the North Loch, and after burned, which raised no small trouble in the town." This was in 1557. But twelve months later there occurred what may be looked upon as the public and formal denial by Edinburgh of her patron saint, and his violent and shameful deposition by his whilom de- votees. This " tragedy of St. Giles " is recorded by Knox with that grim humour which is characteristic of him. He relates that, on the approach of St. Giles's day, the bishops gave charge to the Provost, Bailies, and Council of Edinburgh, either to get the old St. Giles again, or else to provide a new image at their expense. To this the Council answered, in words that breathe the very spirit of the reformer himself, "That to them the charge appeared very unjust. They understood that God, in some places, had commanded idols and images to be destroyed, but where He had commanded images to be set up, they had not read; and they desired the Archbishop of St. Andrews to find a warrant for his commandment." In spite of this refusal, the priests and friars determined to have " that great solemnity and 1 History of Edinburgh^ pp. 267-8. Edinburgh and her Patron Saint 195 manifest abomination which they accustomably had upon St. Giles's day ", or, in other words, to hold the annual procession. To replace the statue that had come to grief the year before, "a marmoset idol" was borrowed from the Grey Friars; who, as security for its safe return, required the deposit of " a silver piece ". It was made fast with iron nails to a feretory, or portable shrine. " There assembled priests, friars, canons, and rotten Papists, with tabours and trumpets, banners and bagpipes. And who was there to lead the ring but the Queen Regent herself, with all her shavelings, for honour of that feast?" For all her unpopularity, Mary exercised a restrain- ing influence on the mob. But that day she was to dine "in Sandie Carpetyne's house, betwixt the Bows " that is to say, between the West Bow and the Nether Bow; and so when, after going down the High Street and as far as the foot of the Canon- gate, "the idol returned back again, she left it and passed in to her dinner". The Regent's withdrawal from the procession was the signal for the outbreak of the riot which Knox dignifies with the title of " the enterprise ". They that were of it at once approached to the statue, and pretended they were anxious to help in bearing it. Having got the feretory upon their shoulders, they began to shake it roughly, thinking that this would bring down the " idol ". But the iron nails resisted such slight efforts, and, casting aside all pretence, they pulled it down violently to the cry of " Down with the idol! down with it!" "Some brag made 196 In Byways of Scottish History the priests' patrons at the first/* records Knox; "but they soon saw the feebleness of their god, for one took him by the heels, and dadding his head to the causeway, left Dagon without head or hands, and said, c Fie upon thee, thou young St. Giles, thy father would have tarried for such!' This con- sidered, the priests and friars fled faster than they did at Pinkie Cleuch! Down go the crosses, off go the surplices, and the round caps corner with the crowns. The Grey Friars gaped, the Black Friars blew, the priests panted and fled, and happy was he that first go into the house; for such a sudden fray came never among the generation of Antichrist within this realm before." 1 These riotous proceedings chanced to be witnessed by a " merry Englishman ", who, seeing that there was more noise and confusion than hurt or injury, and that the discomfiture was bloodless, thought he would add some merriment to the matter. And the gibes in which he indulged so tickled Knox's sense of humour that he duly records them : " Fie upon you, why have ye broken order? Down the street ye passed in great array and with great mirth. Why fly ye, villains, now without order? Turn and strike every man a stroke, for the honour of his god! Fie, cowards, fie, ye shall never be judged worthy of your wages again!" "But," adds the chronicler, "exhor- tations were then unprofitable ; for after Baal had broken his neck there was no comfort to his con- fused army." 1 History of the Reformation, pp. 95-6. Edinburgh and her Patron Saint 197 From that memorable fall of his, on September i, 1558, St. Giles has never recovered. His name, indeed, is not wholly forgotten, and cannot be, so long as Edinburgh's venerable cathedral bears it; but if he be in honour anywhere, it is not in the city which once chose him for its patron, even in preference to any in the respectable company of home-bred saints that lay ready at hand in the calendar. THE ROCK OF DUMBARTON Some Incidents in its History THE Castle of Dumbarton is one of the Scottish fortresses for the maintenance of which special pro- vision was made in the Treaty of Union. In its case, however, little more than the mere letter of the law has been observed. For years past its sole garrison has consisted of a caretaker; and, in so far as any practical purpose is concerned, it has ceased to be a stronghold at all. But, though no longer possessing any military importance, the old " Fort of the Britons " is still interesting and noteworthy for the part that it played, through so many cen- turies, in the national history. There is no evidence to prove that the wall built across the country by the Roman invaders extended quite as far as Dumbarton. It cannot be supposed, however, that they ignored the strategic importance of the Rock, and failed to occupy a position which was practically the key to the West of Scotland. As to the existence of a fort during the period that followed the evacuation of Britain by the Romans, there can be no doubt. The Welsh chronicles refer to it under the name of Alclud, or Alcluid, that is, 199 200 In Byways of Scottish History " the Rock of the Clyde ". Further, it is recorded in the Historia Britonum "that, as the result of a battle fought between the Britons and the sons of Ida, in 573, the greater part of the North Country fell into the hands of a king called Ryderchen, who chose as his seat the stronghold known to the Gaels by the name of Dunbraton," or the fort of the Britons the original form of the modern Dum- barton. In confirmation of this sixth-century occu- pation of the Rock, there is a passage in the life of Columba where Adamnan states that the saint was consulted by King Rodorcus, son of Totail, who reigned on the Rock of the Clyde. 1 Under the date of 870, the tAnnals of Ulster and other Irish chronicles record that the Norse leaders Amlaiph and Imhar laid siege to Strathclyde, in Britain. Besides cutting off all provisions, they were able to draw off, " in a wonderful manner ", the water of the well within the fortress. By reducing the defenders to such a state of weakness that they could not repulse their assailants, hunger and thirst gave the Norsemen possession of the fortress. 2 At the time of the dispute between Bruce and Baliol, the Castle of Dumbarton was in the keeping of Nicholas de Segrave. By virtue of the right that he claimed as feudal superior, Edward I commanded the fortress to be handed over to the competitor in whose favour he had pronounced. It was not till 1296, however, that the English King was able to 1 Sir W. Fraser, The Lennox, vol. i, p. 43. 3 Ware, Irish Antiquities, p. 108. The Rock of Dumbarton 201 enforce his order, and to appoint a Governor of his own choosing. This was Alexander de Ledes, whom he also made Sheriff of the County. De Ledes was succeeded by Sir John Menteith, who earned an unenviable notoriety by the betrayal and capture of Wallace, and to whose keeping the illustrious prisoner was entrusted prior to his being removed to London. The Scottish hero's sword was long preserved as axi historical relic in the Castle. An entry in the Accounts of the Lord Treasurer shows that it was there at the time of James IV's visit, in 1505, and that the King paid for "binding of Wallass sword with cordis of silk, and new hilt, and plomet, new skabbard, and new belt to the said sword". 1 It was not till 1888 that this interest- ing memorial of the patriot was transferred to Stirling. On the doubtful authority of a passage to be found in some of the manuscript versions of Bower's continuation of Fordun, Dumbarton is made the scene of one of Bruce's many narrow escapes from falling into the hands of his enemies. The account given is to the effect that the Scottish King, wishing to obtain possession of the Castle, entered into nego- tiations with Menteith, by whom it was still held for the English, and that the treacherous Governor, on the understanding that he should receive the Earldom of Lennox as his reward, consented to deliver the fortress. As Bruce, with a number of followers, was on his way to enter into possession, 1 Sir W. Fraser, op. cit., p. 76. 202 In Byways of Scottish History in accordance with the agreement, he was met by a carpenter whom Bower calls Roland, who warned him that Menteith meant to capture or kill him. Being thus forewarned, the King was able to turn the tables on his intending captor, who was himself confined in the Castle till shortly before Bannock- burn, when he was released on condition that he should fight against the English. 1 Another romantic episode, to which no date can be assigned, is related by Sir William Fraser, on the authority of " tradition ". The sovereign that occu- pied the throne of Scotland at the time, he says, had lost Dumbarton Castle, and was anxious to recover it. Having applied to one of the Colquhouns for assistance, the answer he got from the Laird of Luss was, " If I can ". " Colquhoun let a stag loose on the level ground within sight of the Castle, and got up a mock hunt after it, with great blowing of horns, and other noises, to attract the attention of the garrison, hoping that they might be induced to join in the sport and leave the fortress undefended. Everything happened as Colquhoun had wished. Nearly the whole of the garrison went forth to take part in the pastime. During their absence, Colquhoun and the men that he had selected has- tened into the Castle, overpowered the feeble re- mainder of its defenders, and made themselves its masters.'* 2 This incident of "early times" may pos- sibly be authentic; but it looks rather suspiciously like an ingenious attempt to find a plausible and 1 Sir W. Fraser, op. cit., pp. 78 and 236. 2 Ibid., p. 77. The Rock of Dumbarton 20; picturesque origin for the Colquhoun motto, " Si je puis". At the beginning of the fifteenth century, the Castle of Dumbarton was made to serve a very singular purpose. In circumstances of which no explanation is given, an individual whom Wyntoun describes as " Mastere Waltere off Danyelstoune, Off Kyncardyn in Nele Persowne ",* took possession of the fortress, and, as Fordun adds, held it "with a large military force, to the great annoyance of the King and the kingdom". The Government being unable to drive him out, was obliged to accept the condition on which he offered to surrender his capture. It was nothing less than his appointment to the See of St. Andrews; and he had his way, being elected Bishop in 1402. He did not, however, long enjoy the dignity with which he had got himself clothed, " Agane conscience of mony men," for " Sone efftyre, at the Yule deit he ; Swa litill mare than a halff yere Lestyt he in his powere." 2 The latter years of the same century witnessed one of the most important events in the history of Dumbarton Castle. In 1488, it was entrusted to the keeping of the Earl of Lennox and his eldest son, Matthew Stuart, who, in the course of the 1 Wyntoun's Orygynale Cronykil, vol. ii, p. 397. a Ibid. y p. 398. 204 In Byways of Scottish History following year, engaged, with Lord Lyle and others, in a conspiracy for the overthrow of the Govern- ment, and fortified the stronghold accordingly. Repeated summons to surrender having been dis- regarded, messengers were dispatched through the whole county to convoke the militia ; and it was arranged that, whilst James proceeded in person to Crookston and Duchal, Colin, first Earl of Argyle, should lay siege to Dumbarton Castle; and elaborate preparation was made for the transport of the most powerful artillery of the day, including the famous Mons Meg, into the rebellious West. The smaller strongholds were soon reduced, but the Rock held out, and the defenders, making a vigorous sally, dislodged their assailants by burning the town, and so raised the siege. The Royal forces, on being thus driven off, fell back upon Dunglas, where new materials were quickly collected, another great gun, " callit Duchal ", being brought from Arkil, near Paisley, the boats conveyed overland from Daldres the present Grangemouth and from Blackness. With all this, it was not till the second week in December, fully seven months after the commence- ment of operations, that the stronghold was obliged to surrender. A formal sentence of forfeiture and death was passed on Lennox and his son, but an- nulled on their appeal by reason of some technical flaw. Passing over the lesser siege of '15 13- 14, the occupation of 1543 in the interest of Henry VIII, the departure of the child-queen Mary, in 1548, The Rock of Dumbarton 205 and other events of slighter importance, we come to the most sensational episode of all. It was after Langside. Lord Fleming had returned from accom- panying Queen Mary to England, and had resumed his governorship of the fortress which he held for her. The Regent Murray was desirous of obtaining possession of so important a position, and, negotia- tions having failed, went down in person to open the siege. So strict was the blockade that Fleming was on the point of surrendering when the assassina- tion of Murray brought him some respite. Lennox, who succeeded as Regent, was equally bent on the capture of the Castle, and endeavoured to obtain help from England. But Elizabeth was opposed to hostile measures, and sent Drury to reopen negotiations with Lord Fleming and John Hamilton, Bishop of St. Andrews, who was with him. The mission nearly proved fatal to the English am- bassador. He was enticed within gunshot and de- liberately, though unsuccessfully, fired upon. 1 This dastardly attempt is the subject of a contemporary poem entitled The Tressoun of Dunbartane. The siege continued to drag on slowly, when about the end of March, 1571, a man named Robertson, who had formerly belonged to the garri- son, but who wished to be revenged for some punishment inflicted on his wife, suggested a plan for taking the Castle by surprise. It was adopted, and Captain Thomas Crawfurd of Jordanhill was entrusted with the desperate enterprise. On the 1 State Papers, Scotland: Elizabeth^ vol. xviii, No. 45. 206 In Byways of Scottish History evening of the 3ist, Crawfurd sent forward some horsemen to intercept all communication with Dum- barton, he himself following about midnight with a body of resolute men. After a short halt at Dumbuck, the party, provided with ropes and ladders, proceeded to the foot of the Rock, which was to be scaled at the "Beik", for although this was the highest point, it offered the advantage of being unguarded, by reason of its supposed inaccessibility. At the first attempt the ladder slipped back with the weight of the climbers. On the second it was found that it did not reach within twenty feet of a tree to which it was intended to make it fast. The difficulty was overcome by Crawfurd, who, crawling up to the tree, threw a rope around it, and thus enabled his party to reach this first stage. The operation was being repeated for a further ascent when an accident nearly brought disaster on the whole undertaking. One of the men fell into a kind of fit whilst on the ladder, and remained clinging desperately to the rungs and blocking the way. But, even for this, Crawfurd's readiness devised a remedy. Lashing the man to the ladder, he turned it round, so that the remainder of the party could mount over their comrade's up- turned body. Owing to the delay caused by these untoward occurrences, it was nearly daylight when the first of the assailants reached the top. They were seen by the sentries through the fog, which had so far favoured them, and the alarm was given. The resistance offered was, however, but feeble. The Rock of Dumbarton 207 Three men of the garrison were killed. Many of the others, including Fleming himself, succeeded in escaping. Amongst those that were taken prisoners was the Bishop of St. Andrews. He was subse- quently hanged for complicity in the murders of Darnley and of Murray. 1 Another noteworthy capture of Dumbarton Castle occurred in 1639. At that time the fortress was held for the king by Sir William Stewart. On the last Sunday in March, having gone to the Com- munion service in Dumbarton, he was invited to dinner by Provost Sempill, a zealous Covenanter. To his refusal Sempill replied, "I require you to go with me." Thereupon the Governor and his party were surrounded by forty armed men and hurried off to the Provost's house, where, under threats of death, Stewart was obliged to send for the keys and to hand them over to his captor. The sequel is told by Spalding. " Stewart," he says, but he adopted it for another poem of a very different kind, "A Dreame on his Mistris my Ladie Glammes ", in which he displays some ingenuity and inventive skill. Interpreting one of the tokens that have been left him an amethyst he says: The secret vertues that are hidd Into this pretious stone Indues me with meete qualities For serving such a one; For as this stone by secret force Can soveraignlie remeade These daizeled braines whome Bacchus' strength Ou'rcomes as they were deade, And can preserve us from the harme Of the envenomed sting, Of poysoned cuppes, that to our tombe Untymelie does us bring, So shall my hart be still preserved By vertue from above, From staggering like a drunken man Or wavering into love: Bot by this soveraigne antidote Of her whom still I serve, In spite of all the poysoned lookes, Of Dames I shall not swerve. 2 There are 268 lines altogether, and the discovery 1 Op. cit., p. Ixix. 2 Ibid., p. 15-16. 222 In Byways of Scottish History of them ought to contribute in some degree to the poetical rehabilitation of the author. As a knowledge of James's character would sug- gest, his interest in the art of poetry was mainly directed to the details of verse making and diction, and it seems natural in such a stickler for metrical propriety that in his shorter poems his favourite form should have been the sonnet. His highest achievement in this department has always been considered to be the sonnet to his son Henry, at the beginning of the Basilicon T)oron: God gives not Kings the stile of Gods in vaine, For on his Throne his Scepter doe they swey: And as their subjects ought them to obey, So Kings should feare and serve their God againe: If then ye would enjoy a happie raigne, Observe the Statutes of your heavenly King, And from his Law make all your Lawes to spring: Since his Lieutenant here ye should remaine, Reward the just, be stedfast, true and plaine, Represse the proud, maintayning aye the right, Walk alwayes so, as ever in his sight, Who guardes the godly, plaguing the prophane; And so ye shall in Princely virtues shine, Resembling right your mightie King Divine. Of this poem Bishop Percy said that it would not dishonour any writer of that time, and a later critic has pronounced that it is by far James's best per- formance, " which just misses being really fine ". By the side of it there may now be placed, by reason of their " sustained music, conformity to the James VI as Statesman and Poet 223 technique of the sonnet, and prettiness of fancy, if not elevation ", at least three others which figure amongst the twenty-six hitherto unpublished poems included in the manuscript which Mr. Westcott has discovered. One of them refers to a lady, probably the daughter of Sir John Wemyss, whose name was Cicely: Faire famous Isle, where Agathocles rang; Where sometymes, statly Siracusa stood; Whos fertill feelds were bathed in bangster's blood When Rome and ryvall Carthage strave so lang: Great Ladie Mistriss, all the Isles amang, Which standes in Neptune's, circle mouving, flood; No, nather for thy frutefull ground nor good; I chuse the, for the subject of my sang: Nor for the ould report, of scarce trew fame; Nor heeretofore, for farelies in the found; But, for the sweet resemblance of that Name, To whom thou seemest, so sibb, at least, in sound; If then, for seeming so, thy prays bee such, Sweet She herselfe, dothe merit more than much. 1 On the strength of this, or of anything we have quoted from James's poems, it would be supremely unreasonable to claim for him a place on the same level as that of the authors either of " The King's Quhair " or of " The Gaberlunzie Man ". But it may be less unjustifiable to suggest that he is not absolutely undeserving of a corner in anthologies of the Scottish poems of the sixteenth and of the early seventeenth century. That he is altogether con- 1 OP- ci t., P . 39. 224 In Byways of Scottish History temptible is an opinion that might be maintained if we had nothing better of his than the string of punning rhymes quoted in the notes to Walpole's Royal and Noble Author s^ for the purpose of making him appear ridiculous. 1 1 "In the Muses' Welcome to King James, printed at Edinburgh in 1618, folio, the royal visitor greeted his Scottish subjects with a string of punning rhymes on the names of certain learned professors, which some of them were sagacious enough to turn into Latin. As a sample of the literary taste which prevailed at this academic visitation, these quibbling verses on the name of the college disputants are here subjoined : As Adam was the first of men, whence all beginning tak So Adam-son was president, and first man in this act. The theses Fair-lie did defend, which though they lies contain, Yet were fair-lies and he the same rijo-ht fairlie did maintain. The field first entred master Sands, and there he made me see That not all Sands are barren sands, but that some fertile bee. Then master Toung most subtilie the theses did impugne, And kythed old in Aristotle, although his name bee Young. To him succeeded master Reid, who though reid be his name Neids neither for his disput blush, nor of his speach think shame. Last entred master King the lists, and dispute like a King How reason reigning as a queene should anger underbring. To their deserved praise have I thus played upon their names; And wills their colledge hence be called the Colledge of KING JAMES." Horace Walpole, Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors, Edit. 1806, vol. i, p. 125. THE INVASION OF AILSA CRAIG ALTHOUGH in the possession of the historic family of Kennedy, to the head of which it gives his title, Ailsa Craig, the imposing "ocean pyramid" that rises in solitary grandeur to a height of over noo feet above the waters of the Firth of Clyde, does not figure prominently in the annals of the country, nor in the special records of the district to which it belongs. Its whole story consists of a single episode, which, though hardly noticed by modern historians, created some excitement, both in Scot- land and in England, at the time of its occurrence, and may be read with interest at the present day. That incident, the invasion of Ailsa Craig, which it is here intended to relate on the authority of contemporary documents, takes us back to the year 1597. The chief actors in it were Hugh Barclay, Laird of Ladylands, an Ayrshire gentleman of good family, whose estate was situated in the neighbour- hood of Irvine, and Andrew Knox, " minister of God's worde at Paselye ". Though originally a member of the Presbyterian Church, Ladylands had made " defectioun and apos- tacie fra the said trewe religioun ". In the corre- (0474) 225 16 226 In Byways of Scottish History spondence of the time he is usually to be found figuring in the lists of those whom it was customary to describe as " practising Papists ", a designation not undeserved in his case, for amongst the religious enthusiasts who devoted themselves to the restora- tion of the old religion none displayed a greater fixity of purpose, a more unscrupulous contempt for the law, or a more reckless disregard of personal danger. Andrew Knox, on the other hand, in spite of his peaceful calling, gave proof of equal deter- mination and equal audacity in the fulfilment of the self-imposed mission of hunting down " Jesuitis, seminarie preistis, and suspect trafficquaris with the King of Spain, and utheris foreynaris ". The plot- ting of the laird and the counter-plotting of the minister had more than once brought the two men into personal conflict. Indeed, so far as extant documents go, the career of the one is practically identified with the career of the other. In 1592, which seems to be the year in which he abandoned Presbyterianism, Ladylands was " excom- municated for Papistrye ", but granted " a licence to departe out of the realme ". Before his departure, however, it was discovered that he and " twoe Ing- lishmen of the worst sorte haunted togither" at Irvine and other places in the west. 1 In conse- quence of this, it was at once resolved to take him and his accomplices " quietlie ", and to bring them back to Edinburgh. The difficult task of appre- 1 State Paper*, Scotland: Elizabeth, vol. xlix, No. 51. Robert Bowes to Lord Burghley. The Invasion of Ailsa Craig 227 hending him was undertaken by Andrew Knox, and successfully carried out, though at " no little paines and perill". He pursued the conspirators through Glasgow and towards Irvine, and pressed them so closely that Ladylands was driven to the necessity of giving himself up to James Hamilton, the eldest son of Lord Claude, though not till, by some means which are unfortunately not recorded, he had pro- vided for the safety of his confederates. Under the charge of Andrew Knox and Captain Hamilton he was led back to Edinburgh, and handed over to the Provost's keeping. On being examined he "con- fessed himselfe excommunicated and to be of the Catholique Romaine Church and not of the Church established in Scotlande, and he agreed to answer to any interrogatorye charginge him in cryme of treason wherein he pleaded his inocencye, but he derectlie refused to answere to anye question touchinge matter of religion, or as micht accuse or charge anye person other than himselfe onlye ". The object of the conspiracy in which Ladylands had been engaged soon became apparent. Towards the end of December, George Ker, brother to Mark Lord Newbottle, came down to Fairlie, intending to set sail from the " West Sea Bank ". His presence in the neighbourhood and his frequent visits to the Island of Cumbrae having aroused suspicion, he was narrowly watched, and "his speeches taken heed to ", with the result that, as Calderwood states it, " he was perceaved to be a Papist passing to Spaine, to traffique betwixt the King of Spaine and some 228 In Byways of Scottish History Scottish noblemen ". Andrew Knox, to whom the information was brought, lost no time in setting himself upon the track of the suspected conspirator. Accompanied by a number of Glasgow students, he proceeded to Fairlie, where he found, however, that Ker had already crossed over to the Cum brae. Fol- lowing him to the island, he succeeded in appre- hending him just as he was ready to embark. On being searched, his coffers were found to contain cc diverse letters and blankes directed from George Erie of Huntlie, Francis Erie of Erroll, and William Erie of Angus, the Lairds of Auchindoun and Fin- trie, and other practisers, some in Latine, some in Frenche, together with their caschets and signets". 1 There could be no reasonable doubt that Lady- lands was connected with the plot, which, though treasonable as to the means to be employed, aimed at nothing more criminal, even on the showing of Calderwood, than the "procuring libertie of con- science". Fortunately for him, however, nothing was found in the intercepted letters or extorted from those of the conspirators who had been ar- rested that could be turned into legal evidence against him. Two months after his apprehension it was reported by the English agent in Edinburgh that " the arraignement of the Larde of Ladilands was differed in regarde that the cause and evidence against him were not rype and sufficient to proove him gilty of treason". 2 On Sunday, the 25th of 1 Calderwood, Historic of the Kirk of Scotland, vol. v, pp. 192, 193. 2 State Papers, Scotland: Elizabeth, vol. 1, No. 30. Bowes to Burghley. The Invasion of Ailsa Craig 229 March, 1593, he was "lett free out of the Tolbuith of Edinburgh, at the King's command, foure sureties being taikin for his re-entering in ward at Glasgow at the King's pleasure". It was at first intended that he should be kept in " straite warde ", but, by the influence of the Duke of Athole, from whom he brought letters with him, he obtained the privileges of " free warde within the Castle ". During his con- finement he was visited by his captor, Andrew Knox, and it was reported that he had been " wonne, and was contented bothe to subscribe to the articles of religion, and also to discover manye practizes and practisers not yet revealed ". The Paisley minister, however, had but little cause to congratulate himself on his theological triumph. As soon as Ladylands had succeeded, by his pretended conversion, in allay- ing his jailers' suspicions, and inducing them to relax their vigilance, he escaped out of the Castle and fled to the Isle of Bute, whence he subsequently made his way to the Continent. 1 For the next four years both Ladylands and Andrew Knox disappear from contemporary records. But in the month of February, 1596, Robert Bowes, writing to England, informs Lord B.urghley that the plotting Laird had returned to Scotland, and "was lurking about his own house and in parts near Glasgow". He was said to have offered " uppon twoe or three lynes of the King's hand to come and reveale to him great secrets ". Though urged to give these u lynes ", James refused to comply, but appeared 1 State Papers, Scotland: Elizabeth, vol. i, No. 62. 230 In Byways of Scottish History willing " ether to send one of his owne servants to attache him or else to derect the Provost of Glasgow to inclose his house and take him ". To those who knew how little the King sympathized with the co- ercive measures enforced by the Presbyterians against their Catholic fellow subjects, his sincerity was the subject of considerable doubt. The suspicion ex- pressed by Bowes that the apprehension of Lady- lands was not likely to be effected by his means appears to have been justified, for three months later, in May, 1597 it is well to remember that at this time the year began in March the " buissy negociator with the King of Spayne and the Pope " was still at large, and "banded with some of the Montgomeries, Stewarts, Murrays, and others, beinge Papists ".! On this occasion the object of the conspirators was " to take and surpryse the island and house of Aylsaie, in the mouth of the Clyde, a place of good strength which mycht much annoye the west parts of Scotland, and to keipe the same for the benifyt of ther Catholique freinds, domesticall and forraigne ". 2 To accomplish their purpose they were reported "to have prepared and rigged a shipp, furnished with armour, weapons, powder, lead, and other requesyts for warr". Still the King seemed disinclined to adopt stringent measures. But whilst he was hesi- tating Andrew Knox solved the difficulty by taking 1 State Papers, Scotland: Elizabeth, vol. Ix. Nos. 34, 80. 2 Ibid^ vol. Ixi, Nos. 12, ij 175 Register of the Privy Council, vol. v, PP- 393 394- The Invasion of Ailsa Craig 231 possession of Ailsa Craig, at the head of a small body of nineteen men, with whom he stationed him- self on the solitary rock to await the course of events. Before long, Ladylands, ignorant of Knox's movements and wholly unconscious of the ambush laid for him, sailed to Ailsa with thirteen of his fellow conspirators, intending " to have fortefeit and victuallit the same for the ressett and comforte of the Spanishe armey, luiked for be him to have cum and arryvit". On reaching the spit of shingle on the east side, which affords the only landing-place, he found himself suddenly opposed by a band of determined men, who at once "forgadderit with him and his compliceis, tuke some of his associates and desireit himselfe to rander and be takin with thame, quha wer his awne freindis, meaning nawayis his hurte nor drawinge of his blude ". Though taken at a disadvantage, the Laird was not of a temper to yield without a struggle ; " withdrawing himself within the sey cant", he resolutely defended himself against his opponents till, having been forced to retreat step by step to the very edge of the cliff, he was thrust "backwart in the deip, drownit and perisheit in his awne wilfull and disperat resolution". In the heat of the struggle no attention had been given to the mooring of the boat in which Ladylands and his accomplices had come across. Not till the skirmish had ceased was it discovered that it had drifted out to sea, bearing with it the Laird's " coffers " and the important documents that they were believed to contain. This untoward accident, 232 In Byways of Scottish History however, delayed the clearing up of the plot for but a short time. A few days later the masterless craft was picked up off South Annan. In Ladylands' coffers were found, as had been expected, letters which revealed the whole extent and importance of the treasonable scheme in which he had been engaged. It appeared "that the conspiracye to have been accomplished by the takinge and forcinge of Ailsa Was devysed by the larde of Ladylands, Corronall (Colonel) Hakerson, and the Spanish Ambassador". On the previous October the three conspirators had met at the town of Nantes, in France, for the purpose of considering the details of their bold undertaking of enlisting the men, and raising the funds necessary for carrying it out. In order to secure the co-operation of those who, had they known the size and position of Ailsa Craig, might have felt considerable doubt as to the advantages to be derived by obtaining possession of it, the rock " was termed the island of Guyanna, and given out as very fertile and commodious for fishinge, but inhabited by barbarous people, and ance possessed, not recoverable be noe enemy out of the hands of men of warr". To meet the expenses of the enterprise " ther was contribution promised by sondry noblemen of Fraunce, and of Englande, and of Scotland ". The agents to whom the task of levying the " contribu- tion " was entrusted were Hakerson in France, Richard Skeldon in England, and in Scotland Lady- The Invasion of Ailsa Craig 233 lands himself. It was arranged that Ladylands should, in the first place, get possession of the island, and then send William Liddell to Spain "with message of their interpryse, and to crave mony and furnishing ". The papers also gave further details of the special objects which the conspirators had in view. In the first place, it was intended to "sett upp and man- teyne ane publique masse in this Islande, quhilk should be patent (open) to all distressed papists, where fra so ever they should come ". Next to this, there was to be "ane place of releife and re- freshment to the Spanyart, or rather a porte to them, at ther arryvaU in Ireland". Finally, it was a part of the plan to establish "ane storehouse to keip furnishing and all things profytable to the use of the Erie of Tyrone, with the quhilk Erie, Lady- lands, by his commissioners, had been buissy sen his last coming to Scotland ". It may be incidentally mentioned that amongst those who lent their support to Barclay's wild scheme, there was one who possesses another and a better claim to be remembered. It was the author of The Cherrie and the Slae. In the Acts of the Privy Council 1 it is recorded that Alexander Montgomerie, brother of the Laird of Heslott (Hasilhead), having failed to appear to answer for being art and part with the late Hew Barclay of Ladylands in the treasonable enterprise for the taking of Hisha for the use of the Spanish army, 1 Vol. v, p. 402. 234 In Byways of Scottish History was denounced as a rebel, on the I4th of July, 1597- Even after the failure of the first part of the plot and the death of Ladylands, it was deemed advis- able to provide against the possibility of further surprise on the part of " some practysers for Ireland whose eyes were espyed to be sett uppon the place ". But, singular as it must appear, the Scottish Govern- ment, or rather the Scottish King, still remained inactive. It was through English influence that the necessary measures of safety were adopted. Bowes, the English agent, " spoke with and moved the Erie of Cassilis ", obtaining from him a vague promise "to gyve regarde to yt". As this, however, only resulted in entrusting the custody of Ailsa to Thomas Hamilton, whom Bowes considered "not very fytt for the charge ", recourse was again had to the indefatigable Andrew Knox. He readily undertook " both to awayte uppon the further progress of the surpryse, and also to prevent the interpryse in dewe tyme and sorte as before had been performed ". It does not appear, however, that the Paisley minister had further occasion to sally forth hurriedly from his residence, at No. 25 in the High Street, and to dis- play his energy for the protection of Ailsa. The whole plot had really collapsed with the death of the prime mover, the bold and unscrupulous Laird of Ladylands. Not the least singular part of the whole episode is the treatment of Andrew Knox. Far from securing for him the favour of the Court, his " action against The Invasion of Ailsa Craig 235 the papists and practysers for Spayne " brought upon him the ill will of some of the most influential nobles in the realm. It was officially reported by Bowes, who acknowledged that he himself had been "alwayes privye with him in these affkyres ", that he had "entred into dangerous feuds by his commendable behaviour ", and that " his lyfe was gredely sought by many and strong persons ". The agent's recom- mendation that he " should be tymelye and favorablie comforted " was doubtless acted upon, and it may be looked upon as the result of the interference of the English Government that the Privy Council, " by direction given by His Majesty in his letter from Striveling upon the 6th of June ", issued a proclamation which recognized Knox's conduct " to have been loyal and good service done to His Majesty and the country ", and warned all persons, under pain of treason, against "troubling" any of those concerned in the expedition which had resulted in the death of the Laird of Ladylands. 1 With this one episode the history of Ailsa Craig seems to have begun and ended. There is no trace of its connection with the political events of any previous or subsequent period. 1 Register of the Privy Council, vol. v, p. 394. THE STORY OF A BALLAD "KINMONT WILLIE" THE ballad of " Kinmont Willie ", as to the genuine- ness of which we are not among those who entertain doubts that reflect on the good faith of Sir Walter Scott, is not only one of the most spirited to be found in all the Border minstrelsy, it is also note- worthy as being in the number of the comparatively few popular poems that have a real historical event as their foundation. And a further interest attaches to it from the circumstance that the incident which it sets forth was of sufficient importance to give rise to a diplomatic correspondence between the Ministers of James VI and those of Elizabeth, and, indeed, to be the subject of an indignant letter from the Queen herself. The actual facts of the capture and rescue of William Armstrong, commonly known as Kin- mont Willie, are in the main such as they are related in the ballad. In 1596, on one of those customary "days of truce " agreed upon by the officials on both sides of the Border for the purpose of discussing and, if it were possible, of settling in a friendly manner any quarrels that might have arisen between the turbu- lent inhabitants of the respective marches, Thomas 238 In Byways of Scottish History Salkeld, the " fause Sakelde" of the ballad, as deputy for the English Warden, Lord Scroope, had met Robert Scott of Haning, the representative of Sir Walter Scott, "the Bauld Buccleuch", Keeper of Liddisdale. The conference had taken place at a spot where the Kershope, a small tributary of the Liddel, formed the boundary line between the two countries. Nothing untoward had happened. The two officials had parted on friendly terms, and the Scots Borderers, of whom Robert Scott's escort con- sisted, had set out for their respective homes. One of these happened to be William Armstrong of Kin- mont. He was well known to the Englishmen as a " bauld reiver ", against whom they had many a complaint of long standing. It was well understood that the " days of truce " lasted until sunrise on the morning after the break- ing up of the meeting, so that all who had been present at it might have ample time to perform the return journey homewards without being exposed to molestation. Trusting to this, Armstrong, whose way lay in the same direction as that of the English Borderers, rode on unconcernedly on his own side of the Liddel and in full sight of them. Their sense of honour was not proof against the temptation of availing themselves of so favourable an oppor- tunity. Making it an excuse for their violation of Border law that at one point Armstrong was obliged to pass out of the territory included in Buccleuch jurisdiction, they crossed the stream, thus commit- ting an act of invasion, fell upon him at such odds "Kinmont Willie" 239 as made resistance vain, took him prisoner and carried him off to Carlisle, where he was lodged in the Castle. The indignation aroused by this unwarrant- able breach of faith was all the greater from the fact that Willie was popular amongst his kinsmen and neighbours for the daring and resourcefulness which had often ensured the success of the raids on which they had sallied out together. Buccleuch protested against the violation of the truce and demanded Kinmont's liberation; but his remonstrances pro- duced no result. Neither was the Scottish Govern- ment itself more successful with Scroope when the general outcry obliged it to interfere. Buccleuch then resolved to take the law into his own hands. As a first step towards the execution of the bold plan which he had conceived, he got his signet ring conveyed to the prisoner. This he con- trived to do through the agency of one of the Grames, who, though English Borderers themselves, appear, from Scroope's repeated complaints against them, to have been in league with the Scottish Warden. A horse race promoted by him afforded him an opportunity of communicating with Kinmont's kinsmen and friends without exciting suspicion. He had no difficulty in enlisting recruits, mainly from amongst the Scotts, the Elliots, the Bells, and, as a matter of course, the Armstrongs, including Willie's sons. Before Kinmont, whose capture had been effected on March 17, had been a month in Carlisle Castle, where, after promising that he would make no attempt at escape, he appears to have been 240 In Byways of Scottish History treated with some consideration, everything was ready for a dash into England. On the evening of April 13, a troop of horsemen numbering five hundred, according to Scroope's esti- mate of them, crossed the Border in a storm of wind and rain. They were led by Buccleuch, who, before passing into English territory, left one detachment under the Laird of Johnston, and another with the Goodman of Bonshawe, to lie in ambush close to the frontier line in order to check pursuit if, as might well happen, the raiders should return with the English at their heels. Those that rode on towards Carlisle were provided with gavelocks, crowbars, pickaxes, axes, and scaling ladders. They reached the Castle at dead of night, and, making for the postern, set about undermining it. The guards had either fallen asleep or got under cover to protect themselves from the violence of the weather; moreover, the howling of the storm covered the noise unavoidably made by the sappers, quietly as they tried to work, and nothing happened to give either Scroope or Salkeld, both of whom were within the walls, the least warn- ing of what was going on. In a short time the Scots had penetrated into the courtyard. Buccleuch was the fifth to pass through the trench. When he had the rescuing party about him he encouraged them to " Stand to it ", as he had vowed to God and his Prince to fetch Kinmont out of England dead or alive; and assured them that, when it was done, he would maintain his action " with fire and sword against all resisters". With this he led them to the room "Kinmont Willie" 241 where Will Armstrong was confined. Here one of Scroope's servants, who had been stationed as a guard, had to be overpowered, and sustained some slight injuries. The door was broken open and Armstrong was carried off. As the rescuers were retiring they encountered two men of the outer watch. These were promptly prevented from giving the alarm, but escaped with their lives, Buccleuch having given strict orders that no unnecessary vio- lence should be used and no wanton damage done, lest their enterprise should appear to have had other objects in view than the rescue for which it was solely planned. Then the whole party galloped back to Scotland with their prize. Even in those days news of so startling an occur- rence spread fast. Within a few weeks the daring exploit had aroused the keenest excitement in both North and South Britain. In Scotland Buccleuch's action "was greatly commended by the great people". In England there was a feeling of intense indigna- tion at the "outrageous fact". Robert Bowes, the Ambassador at the Court of King James, gave expres- sion to it at a Convention of the Estates. He had been commissioned to "aggravate the heinousness " of the aggression, and did so in a long oration, " concluding that peace could no longer continue betwixt the two realms unless Buccleuch was de- livered into England, to be punished at the Queen's pleasure ".* The Keeper of Liddisdale was present, and spoke in his own defence. He maintained that, 1 Spottsivood, p. 415. (C474) 17 242 In Byways of Scottish History in rescuing a Scottish subject who had been wrong- fully captured, he had done nothing but what honour dictated and duty required. He declared, however, that he was willing to submit the case to Commis- sioners appointed by the English Queen on the one hand, and by the Scottish King on the other, and to abide by their decision. This suggestion met with the approval of the Estates, who accordingly proposed that, " conform to the ancient treaties of peace, and custom observed between the two realms, Scottish and English Commissoners should meet on the Borders to decide upon the said complaint ". The Estates had come to this decision on the 25th of May. A few days later, on the 4th of June, James himself wrote to Elizabeth in regard to the " late attempt of Buccleuch ". He begged her to bear in mind that all the information she had so far received proceeded from her own officer who, as a direct party in the matter, might reason- ably be suspected of partiality. And he urged this as a reason for her consenting to the appointment of a Commission, in accordance with the proposal made by Buccleuch and adopted by the Convention. Be- fore the end of the same month, both the Privy Council of England and Queen Elizabeth had dis- patched replies to Edinburgh. The former, after communicating her Majesty's dissatisfaction at what had taken place and at the turn which matters were taking, confined itself to the expression of a hope that the King, in his own princely judgment, would reverse the Act of his Council, and not show favour "Kinmont Willie" 243 to a person so notoriously reported to be factious, seditious, and a favourer of the King's rebels. The Queen's letter was far more uncompromising in its tone. It contained an emphatic refusal to entertain any thought of a Commission, and it pre- faced this vigorously-worded decision with a rebuke such as might have been administered to a naughty child. She told James that she looked upon him as a rare example of a king seduced by evil informa- tion. Was it ever sten that a prince, from his cradle preserved from slaughter, upheld in Royal dignity, preserved from many treasons, maintained in all sorts of kindness, should remunerate with so hard measure such dear deservings, and hesitate to yield a just reply to a friend's lawful demand? Ought there to be any question as to whether a King should act rightfully by his equal, and should his Councillors be asked their pleasure as to what he might do? Had this occurred in the nonage of the Prince, it might have some colour ; but in a " fatherage " it seemed strange, and, she dared say, was without example. However little regard her " dear Brother " might have for herself, yet she would grieve much to see him neglectful of his own dignity, as the English, whose good opinion she doubted not but he had in some esteem, would measure his love by his deeds, and not by his words on paper. In so far as she was concerned, she told him plainly that she considered herself as ill treated by her professed friend as she could be- by her declared foe. Was any castle of hers to be assailed 244 In Byways of Scottish History by a night-prowler and her ally not send the offender to his due punisher ? Should a friend stick at a demand that he ought rather to anticipate? For other doubtful and litigious Border cases she was willing to appoint Commissioners, if she found it needful, but never in a matter of such villainous usage as this. 1 Nor was this the worst. James was further informed, and that not in a private letter, but through Bowes, that Elizabeth had resolved to stop his yearly gratuity if he did not satisfy her in the redress demanded against Buccleuch. The correspondence of the time shows that of all who were variously affected by Buccleuch's raid, it was James who, all along, found himself in the most difficult and delicate position. Whilst willing to conciliate Elizabeth, he hesitated to condemn an action of which his subjects were proud as of a triumph over England. He now began to under- stand that he would have to yield to the imperious Queen. But he was still anxious to delay the inevitable surrender, knowing that amongst the people generally the feeling of opposition to the delivery of Buccleuch was as keen as ever. As a means of gaining time, he raised a new issue, by writing a strong letter of indignation at the Queen of England's threat to stay the payment of his annuity, and at her treatment of him as if he were her pensioner, whereas the money that he received was in return for concessions he had made. This, he thought, was a greater breach of the alliance 1 Register of the Privy Council^ vol. v, p. 761-2. "Kinmont Willie" 245 between them than his not giving up Buccleuch; and to prove that he, for his part, had always been faithful to it, he recapitulated the various acts by which he had always shown his attachment to England. This led to a prolongation of the correspondence and negotiations between the two countries; and matters dragged on in this way till the month of August, when Bowes was at length able to inform Lord Burghley that Buccleuch had been commanded to ward by the King, and that the place of his de- tention was St. Andrews. Recognizing this as a step in the right direction, Elizabeth wrote to James to express her satisfaction at his having done what beseemed him. At the same time she gave him to understand that she would not consider herself fairly dealt with until Buccleuch was delivered up to herself. This was again followed by a long exchange of communications, of which the tone, however, marked a gradual approach towards a settlement of the dispute. Before that was reached, James found an opportunity of retaliating in a characteristically petty manner. As Elizabeth in- sisted that Buccleuch should be delivered over to her for punishment because of his attack on Carlisle Castle, so he demanded that Edmund Spenser should be called to account for his reflections on the charac- ter of Mary Stuart. What we know about this new and singular development is contained in a dispatch from Bowes to Burghley. "The King," writes the English agent in Edinburgh, " has con- 246 In Byways of Scottish History ceived great offence against Edmund Spenser, for publishing in print, in the second part of the Faerie Queen, chapter IX, some dishonourable effects, as the King deemeth, against himself and his mother deceased. I have satisfied the King about the privilege under which the book is published, yet he still desireth that Edmund Spenser, for this fault, may be duly tried and punished." It does not appear from anything to be found in the State Papers that this frivolous matter received serious attention on the part of Elizabeth, or was further insisted upon by James himself. 1 As for the Border incident, after all these negotia- tions, enquiries, and recriminations, it was brought to a close by Buccleuch's surrendering himself into English custody at Berwick. His captivity lasted from October 6th, 1597, till March 2ist following. On his release his ten-year-old child took his place as a hostage. It is noteworthy that the redoubtable Borderer not only ceased to give trouble, but even co-operated with the English Wardens in maintain- ing peace in the marches. There is said to be a tradition in the Buccleuch family that he was presented to Elizabeth, who admired him for his daring, in spite of the annoyance which it had caused her. 1 Register of the Privy Council, pp. 323, 324. A RAID ON THE WEE CUMBRAE JUST off the east side of that southern part of the Little Cumbrae which is included in the parish of West Kilbride, and on a low-lying turf and weed- covered rock, which, according to the ebb and the flood of the tide, is itself alternately a peninsula or an islet, there stands the ruin of an ancient castle. It is still a massive pile of masonry, the ground plan of which nearly forms a square, the difference between length and breadth being less than ten feet. Its distance from the Ayrshire coast and from Mill- port, on the Great Cumbrae, is about the same; and owing to the comparative inaccessibility which the two or three miles of sea give it, its interior is some- what less dilapidated than is usually the case with similar relics of the past to be met with on the mainland. The partition walls of the several rooms have, it is true, almost disappeared, so that, for instance, the storey immediately above the vaults on the ground floor would appear to have consisted of one hall, if it were not for the fact that it con- tains two large chimneys. The ceilings are arched throughout, and it is doubtless due to this archi- tectural peculiarity that each of them is still intact 247 248 In Byways of Scottish History and supplies a solid floor for the storey immediately above. The narrow stone staircase is still practicable in its first flight, but fragmentary and rather unsafe beyond that. In its general appearance the Cumbrae castle is very similar to that of Portencross, over the water. It is probable that they both date from the same period, and are the work of the same builder. Both belonged to the Boyd family. At the present day the Wee Cumbrae, as it is popularly called, is practically uninhabited. At its westermost point it has a lighthouse with the usual stafF, and opposite the castle itself there are two houses serving, the one as a shooting-box, the other as a dwelling for the present tenant's gamekeeper. Closer examination of the island, particularly in winter, when the ground is free from bracken, re- veals the remains of a dozen or more cottages, which tell of the existence in former days of a small colony on the less exposed half of it. In the last year of the sixteenth century several of the families that composed the small population were of the name of Montgomery. The castle itself was inhabited by Robert Boyd of Badinhaith. He was a man of some initiative, and had formed a plan for the building of a harbour for " the com- mone welle and benefite of the haill liegeis of this realme haveing ony trade and handling in the west seyis". In the year 1599, as a first step towards the accomplishment of this praiseworthy scheme, he had purchased " eleven score of joists of oak of twenty-four foot long and a foot and a half of the A Raid on the Wee Cumbrae 249 square ". The cost of each joist was 8, and the whole outlay amounted to ^1760. Although this, being in Scots currency, represented less than 150 sterling, the sum in view of the value of money in those days was not inconsiderable. Whatever may have been the relation in which Robert Boyd stood to the other inhabitants of the Little Cumbrae, their attitude towards him was dis- tinctly hostile. There is good reason to believe that these immediate neighbours of his were not all respectable, peace-abiding folk, but that the island served as a convenient refuge for " rebels, fugitives, and ex-communicates ". And it is quite intelligible that these outlaws did not approve of the laird's enterprise, one of the results of which would be to bring their sea-girt asylum into closer touch with the outer world and its justice. Whether for this reason or for the mere sake of plunder, it happened that one day, in 1599, some thirty men, with half a dozen of the Montgomery s as their leaders, came to the fortalice with hagbuts, pistols, culverins, swords, and other weapons, and violently, " with engyne of smythis ", broke up the doors and gates, and, after having destroyed the glass windows, boards, and ironwork, " spuilzied " the furniture, together with the materials intended for the construction of the harbour. The perpetra- tion of this outrage was followed by the forcible occupation of the castle by four of the Mont- gomerys, who fortified it "with men, ammunition, and armour ", and " resetted within it not only the 250 In Byways of Scottish History disorderit thevis and lymmaris of the His, but also such other malefactors as, for eschewing punishment, resorted towards them ". The document 1 which contains the narrative of the " spulzie " on the Little Cumbrae is interesting, not only because of the glimpse which it affords of the state of the country three hundred years ago, but also, and even more, because of the minute inventory which it includes of the articles either " spulzied " or destroyed in the various parts and chambers of Boyd's castle, together with the value put upon each article or set of articles. In the first place the list indicates the internal structural ar- rangement of such a dwelling. It consisted of a hall, a kitchen, a chamber, a lower wester chamber and a high wester chamber, a low caster chamber, a wardrobe, a brew-house, and vaults. The con- tents of the several apartments do not point to luxurious appointment, even in what may be taken as a fair specimen of an ancient Scottish house of the larger and better sort. The distinction between public rooms and bed- rooms does not appear to have existed. There were two or three " stand beds ", that is to say, beds with posts, as distinguished from beds that might be folded up, in each of the " chambers ". Most of them were of " fir ", or plain deal, and valued at ;8 Scots, or 135. 4^. sterling, each. The oak bed- steads, of which there were only two, were set down at 20 marks, or about 235. sterling apiece. Accord- 1 Register of the Privy Council, vol. vi, pp. Z79-z8l. A Raid on the Wee Cumbrae 251 ing to the same difference of wood, the " chalmer buirds ", as distinct from the " fauldand buird ", or dining-table of the kitchen, were worth 4 or 5 respectively. Three beds and a table constituted the sole furniture of the " low caster chalmer " and of the "high wester chalmer". The "lower wester chalmer " was the room which yielded most loot to the raiders. In a cupboard within it they found a "silver piece" of 17 oz. in weight and a cup with a silver foot weighing 7 oz., at ^3, that is to say, 5*. an ounce, besides "contracts, obligations, evi- dents, and books, worth 2000." The same room contained a lockfast chest, which served as a reposi- tory for " a doublet and breiks of dun fustian cut out on tawny taffety, a pair of tawny worsted stock- ings, two linen shirts, two pairs of linen sheets > four pillowslips, two pairs of tablecloths, two broad cloths of linen of five ells in length, two broad towels,, and two dozen serviettes ". In the kitchen the utensils were on a scale as. moderate as that of the furniture through the whole house. The items which it supplies in the inven- tory are : Two brass pots, two pans, two spits, a pair of andirons, an iron ladle, a dozen and a half of plates, knives, forks, and spoons for six people, a dozen trenchers, and a folding table. The only engines of war contained in Boyd's fortalice con- sisted of two "cut -throat guns of iron". They were located in the hall. The whole damage done by the plunder of all the movables and the destruc- tion of such fixtures as doors and windows is esti- 252 In Byways of Scottish History mated at 4776, IQS. 6d. Scots, that is, well under 400 sterling. By no stretch of the imagination can the raid of the Little Cumbrae be considered an event of historical importance. It is rescued from insignificance, however, by virtue of the valuable data which it has been the indirect means of pre- serving for the information of posterity. RIOTOUS GLASGOW IN 1605 Glasgow could lay no claim to the position of second city of the kingdom that had virtually, though not yet legally, become United by reason of the accession of James VI of Scotland to the Eng- lish throne. It was not in the first rank, even on its own side of the Tweed, and in a gracious and flattering reference to its condition and estate His Majesty could not go beyond the qualified statement that, "in quantitie and number of trafficquers and others inhabitants ", it was inferior to few of the cities and burghs in his northern dominions. 1 There was, indeed, one matter with regard to which it stood on a lower municipal level than either Edinburgh or Perth, Stirling or Dundee. In the choice of its Provost and Magistrates it did not enjoy the full freedom that was the privilege of those more im- portant centres of population. Prior to the Reformation, and as late after it as the closing year of the sixteenth century, the nomi- nation of the Provost and the selection of the Bailies lay with the Archbishops as temporal, no less than spiritual, superiors of Glasgow. In 1600, how- ever, the King, by a charter dated November 1 Register of the Privy Council^ vol. vii, p. 141. 253 4254 In Byways of Scottish History granted to Ludovic, Duke of Lennox, the castle of Glasgow and the heritable right of appointing the civic rulers. On September 3 many prisoners were taken; and before the English- men returned to Carlisle with their booty, the de- struction of ten villages had given the scoffers good reason to think less contemptuously of the "tailards". 2 1 Venit exercitus multus a rege Scotorum missus, mille quingenti equitantium et XL millia peditum, per clivum mentis descendens ex opposito de Dunbar, praeparatus ad bellum per turmas suas. Quod cum vidissent novi castrenses,. et ex visione tali jam laeti effecti, mox eorum vexilla in propugnasculis castri erexerunt, clamantes ad nostras et eos probrose vocantes canes caudatos et talia quaeque, insuper comminantes in mortem et caudarum abscisionem. Hemingburgh, II, 103. 2 Cumque venissent in mora juxta Anandiam, ecce incolae ejusdem provinciae In Byways of Scottish History At least once again the ill-omened cry was heard. It was on the eve of the battle of Dupplin, which was fought on the I2th of August, 1332, between Edward Baliol, with his English supporters, and the army of David II, under the Earl of Mar. Trust- ing to their superior numbers and to their advan- tageous position, the Scots were confident of success. They spent a part of the night in drinking and in singing songs that contained insulting reference to " The English < tailards ', jeered at for their tails ", and they bragged that they would turn those same tails to practical use, by binding their wearers, and dragging them to the gallows with them. 1 But the boastful Scots were beaten, and one of the chroniclers who record their defeat, reminds them of Seneca's saying, that never did proud joy stand on a sure footing. " Now," he adds, by way of moral, " you who, but the day before, declared you would make ropes of the Englishmen's tails to bind them with, are yourselves bound in real fetters." 5 In Wright's collection of medieval political songs, adunati venientes improperabant eis, vocantes eos canes caudatos, et prae pauci- tate eos contemnentes, eo quod pedestres sui longe fuerant ab eis separati. -Id., II, 146-7. 1 (Scoti) quasi securi, non posuerunt de nocte vigiles, sed cum jocunditate vinum bibentes, propter paucitatem partis adversae cam parvipendio habuerunt, depromentes cantus et dicentes quod Anglici caudati pro caudis vituperati. De caudis eorum, ut dixerunt, funes sibi facerent ad seipsos Anglos in crastino vinciendos. Bower, II, 304-5. The Book of Pluscarden represents the Scots as saying " quod Anglicos caudatos per eorum caudas ad suspendium traherent ". Lib. ix. cxxvii. 2 Bower, loc. cit. The "Long-tail* Myth 319 there are some doggerel verses, which are ascribed to this same half of the fourteenth century, and which probably refer to the driving out of the Eng- lish from some of the strongholds which they had occupied. In his crabbed Latin, the writer, doubt- less some monkish patriot, bids Scotland rejoice at the happy deliverance: " The ' tails ' appeared, a while they held their sway, But now, at last, they 've all been lopped away; The ' tails ' have gone, and fearlessly we may Proclaim 1 Butler, in his Hudibras^ has a couplet which declares that : tails by nature sure were meant As well as beards, for ornament. According to an annotator, " Mr. Butler here alludes to Dr. Bulwer's Artificial Changeling'\ where, besides the story of the Kentish men, near Rochester, who had tails clapped to their breeches by Thomas a Becket, he gives an account, on the authority of " an honest young man of Captain Morris's com- pany in Lieutenant-General Ireton's company", of how " at Cashell in the County of Tipperary, in the province of Munster, in Carrick Patrick church, seated on a hill or rock, stormed by the Lord Inchequine, and where were neare 700 put to the sword and none saved but the Mayor's wife and his son, there were found among the slain of the Irish, when they were strip t, divers with tailes near a quarter of a yard long. The relator being very diffident of the truth of this story, after enquiry was ensured of the certainty thereof by forty souldiers, that testified upon their oaths that they were eyewitnesses, being present at the action." With such testimony in support of his assertion that " the rump bone among brutish and strong-docht nations doth often spread out with such an excrescence or beastly emanation ", Dr. 1 Song 23. (C474) 24* 354 In Byways of Scottish History Bulwer is not disinclined to believe in the possession of tails by the inhabitants of Stroud. In the Church History of Britain by Dr. Bulwer's contemporary, Thomas Fuller, modern scepticism again asserts itself. Quoting from Hierome Porter, in the Flowers of the Lives of the Saints, to the effect that when the villagers in Dorsetshire beat Augustine and his fellows, and in mockery fastened fish tails at their backs, in punishment hereof, " all that generation had that given them by nature, which so contemptibly they fastened on the backs of these holy men ", Fuller adduces this to show that " most of the miracles assigned unto Augustine, intended with their strangeness to raise and heighten, with their levity and absurdity do depress and offend, true devotion ". In equal contempt of those who relate such a story as that of the Dorsetshire folk and of those who accept it, the author exclaims, " Fie for shame ! He needs an hard plate on his face that reports it, and a soft place in his head that believes it ". l In his Worthies of England, the same writer dis- cusses at some length the origin of the nickname applied to the Kentish men. " Let me premise,'* he says, "that those are much mistaken, who first found the proverb on a miracle of Austin the Monk, for the scene of this lying wonder was not laied in any part of Kent, but pretended many miles off, nigh Cerne in Dorsetshire." His own opinion is that the saying is " first of outlandish 1 Church History, p. 67. The "Long-tail" Myth 355 extraction and cast by Forrainers as a note of disgrace on all the English, though it chanceth to stick only on the Kentish men at this day". In support of this view, Fuller relates the incident of the quarrel "betwixt Robert, Brother of Saint Louis, King of France and our William Longspee, Earle of Salisbury". Continuing his disquisition he says : " Some will have the English so-called from wear- ing a pouch or poake (a bag to carry their baggage in) behind their backs, whilst probably the proud Monsieurs had their lacquies for that purpose; in proof whereof, they produce ancient Pictures of the English Drapery and Armory, wherein such con- veyances doe appear. If so, it was neither sin nor shame for the common sorte of people to carry their own necessaries; and it matters not much whether the pocket be made on either side, or wholly behind. If any demand how this nick-name (cut off from the rest of England) continues still entailed on Kent. The best conjecture is, because that County lieth nearest to France, and the French are beheld as the first founders of this aspersion. But if any will have the Kentish men so-called from drawing and dragging boughs of trees behind them, which after- wards they advanced above their heads, and so partly cozened, partly threatened, King William the Conqueror to continue their ancient customes; I say, if any will impute it to this original, I will not oppose." 1 1 P. 63. (C474) 24& 356 In Byways of Scottish History The incident upon which Fuller bases the expla- nation which he considers most plausible, without, however, expressing himself dogmatically with re- gard to it, is related by the chronicler Willam Thorne, and also forms the subject of an old ballad quoted by Thierry. So modern an historian as Lappenberg thinks that "perhaps the tradition is not unfounded, that the Kentish army, advancing under the covering of branches from the trees, might have appeared to the enemy as a wood, until, standing in face of them and casting down their leafy screen, they at once appeared threatening with sword and spear". Freeman rejects the story alto- gether. But even its truth, which Fuller may be excused for accepting, would hardly support his theory. The only credit which it deserves is per- haps the negative one of being a little less fanciful than that put forward by Fynes Moryson, who states that " the Kentish men of old were said to have tayles, because trafficking in the Low Countries, they never paid full payments of what they did owe, but still left some part unpaid". 1 The author of the early sixteenth -century Mad Pranks and Merry Jests of Robin Goodfellow, con- tributes no less than three other explanations, of which one bears considerable resemblance to that favoured by Fuller. After relating how he dropped into an alehouse, whilst travelling in " that noble county of Kent", he continues: "The ale being good, and 1 in good company, 1 Itinerary, vol. iii, p. 53. The " Long-tail ' : Myth 357 1 lapt in so much of this nappy liquor, that it begot in mee a boldnesse to talk and desire of them to know what was the reason that the people of that country were called Long-tayles. The hoast said, all the reason that ever he could heare was, because the people of that country did use to goe in side- skirted coates. There is (sayd an old man that sat by) another reason that I have heard: that is this, In the time of the Saxons' conquest of England there were divers of our countrymen slaine by- treachery, which made those that survived more carefull in dealing with their enemies, as you shall heare. After many overthrowes that our country- men had received by the Saxons, they dispersed themselves into divers companies into the woods, and so did much damage by their suddaine assaults to the Saxons, that Hengist, their king, hearing the damage that they did (and not knowing how to subdue them by force) used this policy. Hee sent to a company of them and gave them his word for their liberty and safe returne, if they would come unarmed and speake with him. This they seemed to grant unto, but for their more security (knowing how little hee esteemed oaths or promises) they went every one of them armed with a shorte sword, hang- ing just behind under their garments, so that the Saxons thought not of any weapons they had: but it proved otherwise, for when Hengist his men (that were placed to cut them off) fell all upon them, they found such unlocked a resistance that most of the Saxons were slain, and they that escaped, 358 In Byways of Scottish History wond'ring how they could do that hurt, having no weapons (as they saw), reported that they strucke downe men like lyons with their tayles; and so they, ever after, were called Kentish Long-tayles. I told them this was strange, if true, and that their countries honor bound them more to believe in this, than it did me. Truly, Sir, said my hoastesse, I thinke we are called Long-tayles, by reason our tales are long, that we use to passe the time withall, and make ourselves merry." Du Cange considered the problem more seriously, without, however, being able to find a satisfactory solution. He suggests that the epithet "tailed" may have been applied to Englishmen because of the excess to which they carried the fashion of wear- ing toes of extravagant length to their shoes, but admits that the explanation does not greatly appeal to him. With still more diffidence he hints at the possibility of considering the Latin "caudatus" as equivalent to either "foppish" or "cowardly". But whilst none of the cited instances of its use justifies the former of these interpretations, there are only a very few of them that can be strained into imparting even slight plausibility to the latter. Neither does there appear to be anything to support Professor Wattenbach's suggestion that Englishmen may have been called "tailed" because of the way in which they wore their hair. Finally, a work entitled England under the S^ormans has a chapter on the measurement of land, in which the author states that " there was a mile peculiar to Kent, as well as The "Long-tail" Myth 359 a customary field admeasurement", and that "these 'long tales' are possibly the 'long tails' of which the county used to be so proud". The history of the medieval myth does not lead to the belief that either Englishmen generally, or, as here stated, Kentishmen in particular, ever looked upon the nickname otherwise than as an insult. The attempts that have been made to fix upon some actual fact as originating the attribution of tails to Englishmen seem as uncalled for as most of them are fanciful and absurd. 1 They are all based on the hypothesis that the epithet "caudatus", "coue", and "tailard" was first applied for some reason other than the belief in the existence of a tail, and that only subsequently, if, indeed, ever, was it taken literally. But our investigation has proved that there is nothing to warrant this assump- tion. It has been shown that, on the contrary, the actual monstrosity was accepted as a fact from the outset. Nor does it seem impossible to explain how this came about. Given the insult offered to St. Augustine, about which there is no room for scepticism, it only requires a knowledge of the 1 As bearing out this opinion, the following passage from Tylor's Primitive Culture may be quoted : " But these apparently silly myths have often a real ethnological significance. When an ethnologist meets, in any district, with the story of tailed men, he ought to look for a despised tribe of aborigines, outcasts, or heretics, living near or among a dominant population who look upon them as beasts, and furnish them with tails accordingly. . . . The outcast race of Cagots, about the Pyrenees, were said to be born with tails; and in Spain the medieval superstition still survives, that the Jews have tails, like the devil, as they say. In England the notion was turned to theological profit by being claimed as a judgment on wretches who insulted St. Augustine and St. Thomas of Canterbury." Vol. 5, pp. 3467. 360 In Byways of Scottish History medieval spirit to account for the sequel. Impressed by the sanctity of the apostle of England and by the greatness, or, indeed, the divinity of his mission, the early biographer looked upon it as inevitable that the sacrilege of those who dishonoured him should draw down upon them the wrath of Heaven. Was not the disrespect of the children who called the Prophet "bald head" visited upon them? The conviction that this should be the case easily led to the assumption that it was. And a very slight effort of imagination sufficed to devise a punish- ment suited to the offence. It was suggested by the very nature of the impious deed. And what, to the chronicler, seemed the application of an obvious principle that the transgression should fall back upon the transgressor was accepted by the credulity of the age. Then there was the animosity of other nations, of France in particular, and of Scotland, her ally. If, at home, the mani- festation of divine anger and of saintly power was thought to be limited to the kith and kin of the offenders, such nicety of distinction was ignored abroad. It suited the enemies of England that all Englishmen should be "tailards", and "tailards" they were universally and indiscriminately called. INDEX Act for Staying of Unlawful Con- ventions within Burgh, first ap- plied in Glasgow, 262. Adrian, St., Martyr of the May, 156-8. Ailsa Craig, invasion of, 225-35. Alexander II, imposes fines for ab- stention from military service, 268. Amlaiph and Imhar, lay siege to Strathclyde, 200. Archbishops of Glasgow, temporal superiors, 253. Army, the old Scottish, 267-89. earliest enactment for organiza- tion of, 267. statute fixing fines for remaining away from King's host, 268. Robert Brace's statute concern- ing military service, 268-9. James I encourages archery, 269. his enactments concerning mili- tary equipment, 270-1. military training organized, 273. hand-guns introduced, 274-5. Act concerning, 276. army of Scotland to be unhorsed, 277-8. military drill organized, 278. arms and accoutrement at close of i6th century, 279-80. main object of Scottish army, 282. expenses of campaign, how de- frayed, 283. Army, transport service, 283-4. foreign service, 284-5. military service on the Border, 285. Commissariat, 286. military service under Charles I, 287. Act dealing with desertion, 289. Act establishing pensions, 289. Artois, Count Robert of, and Eng- lish "tailards", 299-300. Augustine, St. ,and "Longtail " myth, 325-38, 341, 342, 343- Balfour, Andrew, proprietor of May Island, 178. Balfour, Sir Michael, obtains mono- poly for supply of arms, 281-2. Barclay, Hugh, Laird of Ladylands, 225-31. abandons Presbyterianism, 225. excommunicated, 226. apprehended by Andrew Knox, 226-7. taken to Edinburgh, 227. no evidence against him, 228. transferred to Glasgow, 229. escapes to the Continent, 229. reported to be lurking in Glas- gow, 229. banded with Papists, 230. his plot to capture Ailsa Craig, 230. 361 362 In Byways of Scottish History Barclay, lands on the Craig, 231-2. his death, 231. Beaueyr, William of, his gift to Monks of May, 163. Beaugue, Jean de, his description of May Island, 154. Becket, his connection with " Long- tail " myth, 339, 348. insulted by Robert Broc, 340. Beton, Andrew, romance of his courtship of Mary Seton, 73-7. Beton, Mary, 61-8. parentage, 61. her portrait, 62. Thomas Randolph in love with her, 62-3. as Queen of the Bean, 63. Buchanan's verses in praise of her, 64-5. most scholarly of four Marys, 65. Mary Stuart's intended bequest of books to her, 65. married to Ogilvie, of Boyne, 66. marriage contract, 66-7. gifts to her from Queen, 67. Black, David, and James VI, 212. Boece, Hector, his description of May Island, 156. Borders, pacified by James VI, 213- 14. Boyd, Robert, of Badinhaith, in- habits Castle on Little Cumbrae, 248. projects a harbour, 248. inhabitants of Little Cumbrae hostile to him, 249. Bruce, Robert, at Dumbarton Castle, 201-2. enactment of, concerning military service, 268-9. "testament" of, 277 n. Buccleuch meets Salkeld on a day of truce, 238. Buccleuch protests against violation of truce, 239. gets his signet ring conveyed to Will Armstrong, 239. communicates with Armstrong's friends at a horse-race, 239. organizes and heads an attack on Carlisle Castle, 240-1. his action popular in Scotland, 241. Robert Bowes demands that he should be delivered over to Eng- land, 241. defends himself at Convention of Estates, 241. offers to submit his case to Com- missioners, 242. commanded to ward by James VI, 245. surrenders into English custody, 246. presented to Elizabeth, 246. Buchan, Earl of, his donation to Monks of May, 163. Buchanan, reads Livy with Mary Stuart, 10. verses in praise of Mary's lettered Court, 31. his verses on the Four Marys, 31, 32, 33> 34- to Mary Fleming, 38. to Mary Beton, 64, 65. tutor to James VI, 211. [211. his De Jure Regni afnid Scotos, Carlyle, "Jupiter", his account of destruction of Chapel of Loretto, 152. Carstairs and Covenanters impri- soned in Dumbarton Castle, 208. Christening of James VI, practical joke at, 290. Clifford, Lord Robert, devastates Annandale, 317. Index 363 Colquhoun, stratagem of Laird of, to recover Dumbarton Castle, 2O2. origin of family motto, 202. Colville, Robert, exposes sham miracle at Loretto, 148-9. Commissariat of Scottish Army, 286. Crawfurd, Thomas, of Jordanhill, captures Dumbarton Castle, 205- 7- Cumbrae, raid on the Smaller, 247- 52. Castle built by the Boyds, 248. inhabited by Robert Boyd of Badinhaith, 248. looted by the Montgomerys, 249. inventory of articles in several rooms of Castle, 250-1. gifted by Mary Stuart to Mary Livingston, 55. Cunningham, proprietor of May Island, sets up first lighthouse, 178. David, King, founds monastery on May Island, 160. said to have granted monastery to monks of Reading, 160. Days of truce on the Border, 238. Desertion, Act dealing with, 289. Douchtie (Duthie) founds the Chapel of Laureit, 143. charter confirming grant of land to him, 143. Dryburgh, House of, and Monks of May, 167. Dues for upkeep of May light, 179- 82. Dumbarton, rock of, 199-208. and Treaty of Union, 199. early fort on, 199-200. besieged by Norsemen, 200. and Edward I, 200-1. Wallace's sword kept in Castle, 201. Dumbarton recaptured with the help of Laird of Colquhoun, 202. held by the Parson of Kincar- dine, 203. held by Earl of Lennox, 204. besieged and taken by Royal forces, 204. besieged by Regent Murray, 205. captured by Thomas Crawfurd of Jordanhill, 205-7. captured for Covenanters by Pro- vost Sempill, 207. used as a prison, 208. Dunbar, Castle taken by English, 316-7. Dundemore, Sir John de, and Monks of the May, 164. Dupplin, Battle of, 318. Edinburgh and St. Giles, 190-7. Eggou Ruffus, gives land to Monks of May Island, 163. Elizabeth, Queen, and Mary Stuart, I, 6, 7, 20. writes to Morton concerning burial of Secretary Maitland, 46-7. replies to Queen of Scots con- cerning Maister Randolph's Fantasie, IOI-2. writes to James VI demanding the delivery of Buccleuch, 241. Elphinstone, Sir George, nominated Provost of Glasgow by Lennox, 254. appeals to the King, 256. elected Provost by colleagues, 256. attacked by Stewarts of Minto, 260-2. warded in Glasgow Castle, 262. suit brought against him by Stewarts of Minto, 265. Enactments concerning archery, 269, 273. 274- 364 In Byways of Scottish History Englishmen as "tailards" (long- tails, coues, caudati), references to, at christening of James VI, 290. in anonymous medieval poem descriptive of national character- istics, 293. in Jacques de Vitry, 293. in Etienne de Bourbon, 294. in Richard of Devizes, 295. in romance of Richard Coer de Leon, 296-7. in Monument. Germ., 297 and n. in Chronicle of Lanercost, 288-9, 302. in Matthew of Paris, 299-300. in Rishanger, 302. in Henry Knighton, 302. in John of Bridlington, 302-3. in connection with invasion of France by Henry V, 304. in Olivier Basselin, 304-5, 312. in Ballade on Jeanne d'Arc, 305- in Monstrelet, 305. in Dipucellage de la ville de Tour-nay, 306. in Courroux de la Mort contre les Anglais, 306, 307. in Eustache Deschamps's works, 307-12. in Jean Molinet's poems, 313. in Cretin, 313. in Larivey's Les Tromperies, 313. in Saint- Amant's Rome Ridicule, 3I4- in Conrart, 314. in Bower, 315-16. in Hemingburgh, 316-17, 318. in Bower, 318. in anonymous political song, 319. in Flyting of Dunbar and Ken- nedy, 319-20, 344. in Skelton, 320-1. Englishmen as "tailards" in John Oxenedes, 322. in Annales Gandenses, 323. Feuds, measures against them taken by James VI, 214. Fitz-Michael, John, his liberality to Monks of May, 162. Fleming, Lord, besieged in Dum- barton Castle, 205. Fleming, Mary, 35-48. related to Mary Stuart, 35. as Queen of the Bean, 36-8. courted by Sir Henry Sidney, 38. courtship of, by Secretary Mait- land, 39-41- marries Maitland, 42. with Mary Stuart on morning of Bothwell's trial, 43. sends ring to Mary at Lochleven, 43- is asked for by Mary at Sheffield, 44. death of her husband, 44. appeals to Elizabeth for burial of husband's body, 45-6. subjected to petty annoyances by Morton, 47. obtains reversion of husband's for- feiture, 48. Football and golf cried down to en- courage archery, 273. Forret, John, proprietor of May Island, 178. Ghent, looted by English, 323. Gilbert of St. Martin, his gift of land to Monastery on May Island, 163. Giles, St., feast of, 190. history of, 192-3. parish church of Edinburgh dedi- cated to, 193. relic of, 193-4. statue of, destroyed, 194-6. Index 365 Glasgow, Riotous, 253-266. position of, amongst Scottish burghs at beginning of I7th century, 253. nomination of its Provost and selection of Bailies, 253-4. Sir George Elphinstone of Blyths- wood appointed Provost of, 254. Ludovic, Duke of Lennox, and Town Council of, 254-5. appeal of Town Council to Privy Council, 256. full liberty in election of Magis- trates secured, 256. Sir George Elphinstone elected Provost by Town Council, 256. Stewarts of Minto oppose new system of election, 257-8. riotous proceedings of partisans of Stewarts of Minto, 259. Sir George Elphinstone attacked, 260-2. Act for Staying of Unlawful Conventions within Burgh first applied, 263. decision of Privy Council in the matter of issue between Sir George Elphinstone and the Stewarts, 264-5. Golf and football "cried down" to encourage archery, 273. Gospatric, Earl, his liberality to Monks of May, 161. Grames, the, act as Buccleuch's agents, 239. Guernsey, medieval cry of "la Coue" still heard in, 315. Guinegate, Battle of, 307. Hand-guns (hagbuts and culverins) introduced in Scottish army, 274-6. Helena, St., builds church at Naza- reth, 141. Henry V, invasion of France by, 304- Hind, as sinister supporter in Edin- burgh coat of arms, origin of, 192. "Homers", measures against them taken by James VI, 213. James I and archery, 269. and military equipment, 270-1. James IV, visits May Island, 174-6. James V, sanctions foundation of shrine of Loretto, 143. his pilgrimages and gifts to the shrine, 143-4. introduces "small artillery "j. 274. James VI, as statesman, 209-16. Macaulay's estimate of, 209. Professor Masson's, 209-10. and Maitland of Thirlstane, 210. his idea of kingship, 210-11. and Buchanan, 211. dexterous management of cir- cumstances and inflexibility of purpose, 212. checks lawlessness and rebellion, 213- enforces the law against "homers' \ 213. puts down hereditary feuds, 213. establishes flying police, 213. pacifies the Border, 213. as absentee King, 215. and the Union of England and Scotland, 215. Bacon's estimate of, 215. as poet, 216-24. Barnfield on, 216. Harvey on his Lepanto, 2if. Vaughan on, 217. quoted in Allott's England's Par- nassus ; 217. in Bodenham's Garden of the Muses, 217. 366 In Byways of Scottish History James VI, Jonson's epigram on, 217. Sir John Beaumont's estimate of, 218. his Reulis and Cautelis to be Observit and Eschewit in Scottis Poesie, 218. his first verses, 219-20. his Lepanto quoted, 220-1. his Dreame on his Mistris my Ladie Glammes quoted, 221. his sonnet to his son Henry, 222. his sonnet on Sicily, 223. his punning rhymes, 224 n. his objection to chess, 19. writes to Elizabeth complaining of Will Armstrong's capture, 242. complains to Elizabeth of Spenser's reflections on his mother, 245. Jenye, Thomas, author of Maister Randolphe's Fantasie, 128. Ker, George, apprehended by Andrew Knox, 228. Kinmont Willie, story of Ballad of, 237-46. taken prisoner by Thomas Sal- keld, 238-9. rescued by Buccleuch, 240. Knox, Andrew, hunts down "prac- tising Papists", 226. apprehends Ladylands, 226-7. apprehends George Ker, 228. occupies Ailsa Craig, 231. incurs ill-will by his action, 235. proclamation on his behalf, 235. Knox, John, his reference to Mary Stuart's voice, 8. records introduction of Masques at Court, 17. his account of Court scandal, 26- 27. his calumnious charge against Mary Livingston, 51. Knox, John, his account of destruc- tion of statue of St. Giles, 194-6. Lamberton, William, purchases priory of May from Abbot of Reading, 170. Lament, Allan, proprietor of May Island, 178. Learmonth, Patrick, first lay pro- prietor of May Island, 177-8. Ledes, Alexander de, Governor of Dumbarton Castle, 200. Lepanto ', poem by James VI, 216, 217, 220-1. Lewes, Battle of, 322. Life at Scottish Court, 17-18. Lighthouse on Isle of May, 187-9. Lincoln, epigram on Battle of, 298-9. Livingston, Mary, 49-60. parentage, 49. Mary Stuart's gifts to her, 50, 53- married to James Sempill of Bel- treis, 50. Knox's calumnious assertion con- cerning her, 51. wedding, 53-5. Queen's wedding gifts to her, 55. at Holyrood on night of Rizzio's murder, 55. Queen's intended bequests to her, 55-6. enters Edinburgh with Mary, after Carberry, 56-7. accused by Lennox of having royal jewels in her possession, 57-8. Longsword, William, and " tailard" gibe, 299-300. "Longtail Myth", Story of the, 290-360. origin of, as given by Goscelin, 325-6. Index 367 "Longtail Myth", in William of Malmesbury's Gesta Pontificum, 327. in Robert Wace's Brut, 328-9. in Layamon, 329-331. in English prose version of Brut, 331-2. in Robert Manning's Story of Ing- lande, 332-3. in Latin satire against inhabi- tants of Rochester, 333-4. in Fazio degli Uberti's Ditto, Mondo, 335. in Boccaccio, 335. in Alexander of Essebye (Ashby), 336- in English version of Golden Legende, 336. in Walter Bower, 337-9. in John Major, 341-2. in Nicole Gilles, 342. in Bellenden, 343. in Dunbar, 344. in Genebrard, 344. in Wilwolt of Schaumburg, 344. in Polydore Vergil's Anglica Historia, 346-7. in Guillaume Paradin, 347-8. denounced as ridiculous by John Bale, 349. by William Lambarde, 349-352. by Thomas Fuller, 354. explanation of, suggested by Fuller, 355. by Fynes Moryson, 356. by the author of Mad Pranks and Merry Jests of Robin Goodfellow, 356-7. by Du Cange, 358. by Professor Wattenbach, 358. by the author of England under the Normans, 358. further suggestion as to origin of, 359-60. Loreto in Italy, 141. Legend and Cult of our Lady of, 141-2. origin of name, 142. wealth of, 142. statue of Our Lady of, carried off by the French, 142. Loretto (Laureto, Laureit), chapel of, founded by Thomas Douchtie, 143- patronized by James V, 143-4. healing power attributed to, 145. alleged imposture at, 148-52. destruction of, 147, 152. Ludovic, Duke of Lennox, heritable right of appointing Provost and Bailies of Glasgow granted to, 254. nominates Sir George Elphin- stone Provost, 254. delegates his authority to Sheriff, 254. grants "exercise of the offices" of Glasgow to Stewarts of Minto, 255- Lyndsay, Sir David, his lines on shrine and hermit of Loretto, 144-5- Maister Randolphs Fantasie, 91- 128. analysis of poem, 103-128. authorship of, 128. Maitland, Secretary, courts and marries Mary Fleming, 39-42. death of, 44. Maitland of Thirlstane and James VI, 210-11. Malcolm, the King's Cupbearer, and Monks of May, 167-8. Marie, Ballad of the Queen's, ques- tion of its authenticity, 26-7. Mary, Queen of Scots, 1-23. her beauty, 3-4. 368 In Byways of Scottish History Mary, Queen of Scots, her portraits, 4-5- her complexion, 5. her eyes, 6. her hair, 6-7. wears wigs, 7. her hands, 7. her voice, 7-8, 19. her stature, 7. her figure, 8. a precocious child, 8. her Latin discourse, 9. her books, n, 14. her knowledge of Greek, 1 1. of Spanish and Italian, 12. of English, 12-13. her love of French poetry, 15. as a writer of French poetry, 15-16. anagrams on her name, 16. handwriting, 16-17. fond of amusements, 17-18. dancing, 18. plays the lute and virginals, 19. plays chess, tables, and cards, 19. her puppets, 19. fond of fancy-work, 19-20. as a sportswoman, 20. fond of dogs, 20-21. hawking, archery, pallmall, and golf amongst her pastimes, 21-2. her courage, 22-3. sails from Dumbarton, 28-9. makes her will, 41, 55. bequests to her Marys, 41-2. enters Edinburgh after Carberry, 56-7, 70. favours Andrew Beton's court- ship of Mary Seton, 73-6. complains to Queen Elizabeth of a book written against her, 91-2. Marys, the four, 25-34. their popularity, 25. their family names, 25-6. Marys, the four, sail from Dumbar- ton with Mary Stuart, 28-9. Leslie's mention of them, 28, 30. figure in masques, 31-2. Buchanan's verses to them, 32-4. courted for their influence with Mary Stuart, 34. May, the Isle of, 153-89. description of, 153-6. and St. Adrian, 156-9. monastery on, 160. grants and donations to monks, 160-3. litigations of monks with rival claimants, 163-7. plundered by Swein, 169. monastery sold to Bishop of St. Andrews, 170-2. severance of connection between Scottish "cell" of, and English monastery of Reading, 172. Mary of Gueldres at, 174. royal visits to, 174-6. pirates about, 176. used for quarantine, 177. lay proprietors of, 177-8. first lighthouse on Scottish sea- board, 178-80. new lighthouse built in 1816, 184-5. visited by Sir Walter Scott, 185-6. modern lighthouse, 187-9. Menteith, Sir John, Governor of Dumbarton Castle, 201. Military training organized in Scot- land, 273. Montchrestien, Anthoine de, of doubtful nobility, 129. his education, 129. encounter with Baron de Gou- ville, 130. marries a rich widow, 130. publishes tragedy of Sophonisbe t 130. Index 369 Montcbrestien, Anthoine de, pub- lishes his "Stuart" tragedy, I'Es- cossoise, 130. kills his adversary in a duel, 130. retires to England, 131. [131. presents his tragedy to James VI, returns to France, 131. writes the first treatise on poli- tical economy, 131. joins Protestant party, 131-2. is shot in encounter with Catho- lics, 132. Mungo, St., and Glasgow, 191. "Ochtyern", meaning of, 268. fine imposed on, for neglect of military service, 268. CEconomie Politique, Traictt de F, published by Montchrestien, 131. Ogilvie, Alexander, of Boyne, mar- ries Mary Beton, 66-7. the Jesuit, imprisoned in Dum- barton Castle, 208. Oman, Mr., his estimate of Bruce's "Testament", 277 n. Origin, traditional, of "Longtail" myth, 325-6, 327, 328-9, 329-31, 331-2, 332-3, 333-4, 335* 336, 337-9, 341-2, 343, 344, 345, 346-7, 348-9, 349-352, 354- suggested, 355, 356, 356-7, 358, 359-60. Paris, evacuated by English, in 1436, 305- Patrick, chaplain of Dunbar, action raised against, by Monks of May, 165- Pensions established in Scottish army, 289. Poitiers, Battle of, 303. Preston of Gortoun gives relic of St. Giles to Edinburgh Parish Church, 193-4. Priory of Pittenweem or May, 173- Randolph, Thomas, his description of life at Scottish Court, 17. account of Court scandal, 27 n. account of Maitland's courtship of Mary Fleming, 39-41. reports intended marriage of Mary Livingston, 50-51. in love with Mary Beton, 62-3. at Scottish Court, 92-5. accused of writing a satire against Queen Mary, 95. his denial, 95-8. Reading, monks of, and May Is- land, 1 60, 1 66, 170-2. Richard I, his followers jeered at as "tailards", 295, 296-7. Rochelle, la, epigram against "tail- ards " on taking of, 298. Rodorcus, King, reigns on the Rock of Clyde, 200. Roland, a carpenter, warns Bruce of Menteith's intended treachery, 202. Ronsard, Mary Stuart's admiration of, 15. Row, reference to shrine of Loretto in his history, 145. his account of alleged sham miracle at Loretto, 148-9. Ryderchen, obtains possession of stronghold of Dumbarton, 200. Salkeld, Thomas, takes Willie Arm- strong of Kin mont prisoner, 238-9. Santa Casa removed by angels from Nazareth into Dalmatia, 141. Scone, Brethren of Scone and Monks of May, 166. Scott, John, the Fasting Man, 146-7. Scott, Miss, of Scotstarvit, improves May light, 182. 370 In Byways of Scottish History Scott, Sir Walter, visits May Island, 185-6. Segrave, Nicholas de, Governor of Dumbarton Castle, 200. Sempill, James, of Beltreis, marries Mary Livingston, 50. his parentage, 52. imprisoned by Lennox, 57. sent to England as hostage, 58. incurs enmity of Morton, 59. put to the boot, 59. death, 60. Sempill, Provost of Dumbarton, gets possession of Castle for Covenan- ters, 207. Seton, Mary, 69-78. finest busker of hair, 7, 71. parentage, 69. enters Edinburgh with Mary Stuart after Carberry, 70. at Lochleven, 70. with Mary Stuart during capti- vity, 71-2. romance of Andrew Beton's court- ship of her, 73-7. retires to Abbey of St. Peter's, Rheims, 77. last memorial of her, 77-8. Sheep, on May Island, 154. Sibbald, his account of May Island, 154. Song of Mary Stuart, 79-90. attributed to Mary by Brant6me, 79-81. discovery of manuscript copy by Dr. Galy, 82. "Song" composed at Court in honour of Mary Stuart, part of the original poem, 83. additional stanzas, 83. internal evidence of Brant6me's authorship, 84-6. the whole poem restored, 86- 90. Stevenson, Robert, suggests im- provement of May light, 183. Stewarts of Minto and Town Council of Glasgow, 257. organize opposition to extension of municipal liberty, 257-8. head a tumultuous demonstra- tion, 259. attack Sir George Elphinstone, 260-2. charged to enter ward in Dum- barton, 262. ward changed to Perth and Dun- dee, 262. suit brought against them by Sir George Elphinstone, 264. "Stuart" tragedy, the first, 129- 140. published in 1601, 130. presented to James VI, 131. analysis of tragedy, 132-40. Students, English, at Paris univer- sity jeered at as " tailards ", 293. Swave, Peder, his account of John Scott, the Fasting Man, 147 n. Swein, Asleif, plunders Monastery of May, 169. Thenaw, St., legend of, 159. Tournay, besieged by English in 1513, 306. Transport service in old Scottish army, 283-4. Treason of Dumbarton, 205. Tullibardine, Marquis of, and Jaco- bites imprisoned in Dumbarton Castle, 208. Twelfth-night or Feast of the Bean at Scottish Court, 36. Ulster, Annals of, record siege of Dumbarton, 200. Union of England and Scotland projected by James VI, 215. Index 371 University of Paris, students of in 1 3th century, 255. University of St. Andrews, Mary's intended bequest of books to, 6 5 . Value of furniture in Castle on Little Cumbrae, 250-2. "Victual", meaning of, 280. Vuillequot (" Billy"), name applied by French to Englishmen gene- rally, 272. Walker, Gavin, Chaplain of Loretto, restores ground granted for shrine, 152. Wapenshaws, established, 267. James I's enactment concerning, 270. Wapenshaws during I5th and i6th centuries, 272. evidence of their unpopularity, 272, 279. Wells on May Island, 155. William, King, confirms grants to Monks of May Island, 160. and military service. 268. Wreck of frigates Nymphen and Pallas, 183. Wyntoun, Andrew, his account of martyrdom of St. Adrian, 158-9. his lines referring to the Parson of Kincardine's seizure of Dum- barton Castle, 203. Yeomen, equipment of in old Scot- tish army, 274. divided into three classes, 271. THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. OCT 9 1933 J938 JLJL 8340 JUN 2 2007 LD 21-50m-l, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY