Even some of her own subjects, though they did not openly declare their pretensions, entertained hopes of success. Among the latter, the person most likely to succeed was a younger son of the late duke of Northumberland, lord Robert Dudley, who, by the graces of his person, joined to address and flattery, had become in a manner her declared favourite, and had great influence in all her councils. But the queen gave all these suitors a gentle refusal, which still encouraged their pursuit; and she thought that she should the better attach them to her interests if they were still allowed to entertain hopes of succeeding in their pretensions.

§ 5. The progress of the Reformation in France threatened not only to involve that country in a civil war, but also to embroil other nations in the quarrel. The change produced in the political parties of that country by the death of Francis II. has been already mentioned. The queen-regent had formed the project of governing both parties by playing one against the other; for, though religion was the pretence, ambition and the love of power were the real motives of the leaders. But faction, further stimulated by religious zeal and hatred, soon grew too violent to be controlled. The constable, Montmorency, joined himself to the duke of Guise: the king of Navarre embraced the same party: and Catherine, finding herself depressed by this combination, had recourse to Condé and the Huguenots,* as the French protestants were called, who gladly embraced the opportunity of strengthening themselves by her countenance and protection. Condé, Coligny, and the other protestant leaders, assembled their friends, and flew to arms: Guise and Montmorency got possession of the king's person, and constrained the queen-regent to embrace their party: armies were levied and put in motion in different parts of France: and each province, each city, each family, was agitated with intestine rage and animosity. The prince of Condé applied to Elizabeth for assistance, and offered to put Havre into the hands of the English (1562). This offer was accepted by Elizabeth. An English army took possession of the town, and rendered important service to the Huguenots. But the captivity of Condé and Montmorency, who were soon afterwards taken prisoners in battle, and the assassination of the duke of Guise, made both parties anxious for peace; and the Huguenots accordingly concluded a treaty with the queen-mother without consulting Elizabeth (March 19). The English queen, however, refused to surrender Havre, and she sent orders to the earl of Warwick, the commander of the town, to prepare himself against an attack from the now united power of the French monarchy. The plague, however, crept in among the Eng

* This word is a corruption of the German Eidgenossen, i.e. "bound together by oath."

lish soldiers; and, being increased by their fatigue and bad diet, it made such ravages that Warwick found himself obliged to capitulate, and to content himself with the liberty of withdrawing his garrison (July 28). To increase the misfortune, the infected army brought the plague with them into England, where it swept off great multitudes, particularly in the city of London. About 20,000 persons there died of it in one year. Elizabeth was glad to accommodate matters; and, as the queen-regent desired to obtain leisure, in order to prepare measures for the extermination of the Huguenots, a treaty of peace was concluded between the two countries (April 1, 1564).

§ 6. In the convocation which assembled in 1563 the last hand was put to the Reformation in England, by the establishment of the Thirty-nine Articles in the form in which they now exist. But it was not until 1571 that the clergy were required to subscribe them, by act of parliament. The peace still continued with Scotland; and even a cordial friendship seemed to have been cemented between Elizabeth and Mary. These princesses made profession of the most entire affection, wrote amicable letters to each other, and adopted, in all appearance, the sentiments as well as style of sisters. But Mary's close connection with the house of Guise, and her refusal to ratify the treaty of Edinburgh, occasioned just and insurmountable jealousy to Elizabeth. She recommended Mary to espouse some English nobleman; and named lord Robert Dudley, now created earl of Leicester, as the person on whom she desired Mary's choice should fall. The earl of Leicester, the great and powerful favourite of Elizabeth, possessed all those qualities which are naturally alluring to the fair sex: a handsome person, a polite address, and insinuating behaviour. But he was insolent and ambitious, without honour or generosity; and atoned not for these bad qualities by such abilities or courage as could fit him for that high trust and confidence with which the queen honoured him. Her partiality had naturally emboldened him to aspire to her hand; and, in order to make way for these nuptials, he was thought to have murdered his wife, the heiress of sir John Robsart.* The proposal of espousing Mary was by no means agreeable to him; and he always ascribed it to the contrivance of Cecil, his enemy. After two years had been spent in evasions and artifices, Mary began to think it full time some marriage were concluded; and lord Darnley, son of the earl of Lenox, was the person she selected for her consort. He was Mary's cousin-german, by the lady Margaret

Dudley's marriage with Amy Robsart took place in 1550, and, so far from being secret, it is mentioned in Edward VI.'s diary. Dudley kept his wife in retirement at Cumnor Place, near Oxford, where

she was found dead at the foot of a staircase in 1560, three years before he was made earl of Leicester, and fifteen years before he entertained Elizabeth at Kenilworth.

Douglas, niece to Henry VIII., and was, after Mary, next heir to the crown of England.* He had been born and educated in England, where the earl of Lenox had constantly resided, since he had been banished by the prevailing power of the house of Hamilton. Alarmed at a union between the two, each of whom was thought by some to have a better claim to the throne than herself, Elizabeth used all her efforts to prevent this marriage. She ordered Darnley and Lenox immediately, upon their allegiance, to return to England. The countess of Lenox was rigorously confined in the Tower. But these measures proved fruitless. The marriage was celebrated on July 29, 1565. It gave great offence to the Scotch reformers, because the family of Lenox was believed to adhere to the catholic faith; and, though Darnley went often to the protestant church, he could not, by this ostensible compliance, gain the confidence and regard of the ecclesiastics. The earl of Murray, the half-brother of Mary, being an illegitimate son of James V, and other Scottish lords, being secretly encouraged by Elizabeth, had recourse to arms. But the nation was in no disposition for rebellion. As the king and queen advanced to Edinburgh at the head of their army, the rebels found themselves under a necessity of abandoning their country, and of taking shelter in England. When Elizabeth found the event so contrary to her expectations, she thought proper to disavow all connection with the Scottish malcontents; and it was only by a sudden and violent incident, which, in the issue, brought on the ruin of Mary herself, that they were enabled to return to Scotland.

§ 7. The marriage of the queen of Scots with Darnley was so natural and so inviting in all its circumstances, that it had been precipitately agreed to by that princess and her council. While Mary was allured by his youth and beauty, she had overlooked the qualities of his mind, which nowise corresponded to the excellence of his person. She had loaded him with benefits and honours; but, having leisure afterwards to remark his weakness and vices, she began to see the danger of her profuse liberality, and was resolved thenceforth to proceed with more reserve in the trust which she should confer upon him, and withheld from him the crown matrimonial. His resentment against this conduct served but the more to increase her disgust; and the young prince, enraged at her imagined slights, pointed his vengeance against one whom he deemed to be the cause of this change in her measures and behaviour. There was in the court one David Rizzio, a Piedmontese, who had come into Scotland in the train of the Piedmontese ambassador, and had entered Mary's service as a musician. Being skilled in languages, he had become her secretary, and this office gave him

* See the Genealogical Table of the House of Tudor at the end of the volume.

frequent opportunities of approaching her person and insinuating himself into her good graces.

Rizzio thus drew upon himself the jealousy of Darnley; and, as his interests were connected with the Roman catholics, he was the declared enemy of the banished lords. By promoting the violent persecutions against them, he had exposed himself to the animosity of their numerous friends and retainers. Morton, the chancellor, insinuating himself into Darnley's confidence, employed every art to inflame his discontent and jealousy; and he persuaded Darnley that the only means of freeing himself from the indignities under which he laboured was to bring the base stranger to the fate he had so well merited. George Douglas, natural brother to the countess of Lenox, with the lords Ruthven and Lindesey, concurred in this advice. A messenger was despatched to the banished lords, who were hovering near the borders; and they were invited by the king to return to their native country. The design, so atrocious in itself, was rendered still more so by the circumstances which attended its execution. Mary, who was in the sixth month of her pregnancy, was supping in private (March 9, 1566) with Rizzio and others of her servants. The king entered the room by a private passage, and sat down on the sofa occupied by Mary. Ruthven followed in complete armour. The queen, terrified by their appearance, demanded the reason of this rude intrusion. Darnley told her that they intended no violence against her person, but meant only to bring that villain, pointing to Rizzio, to his deserved punishment. Rizzio, aware of the danger, clung to Mary's robes, calling aloud to her for protection; while she interposed in his behalf, with cries, menaces, and entreaties. Then Douglas and the other assassins, regardless of her efforts, rushed upon their prey. Seizing Henry's dagger, Douglas stuck it in the body of Rizzio, who, screaming with fear and agony, had been torn from Mary by the other conspirators, and pushed into the ante-chamber, where he was despatched with fifty-six wounds. The unhappy princess, informed of his fate, immediately dried her tears, and said she would weep no more, but would now think of revenge. The insult to her person, the stain attempted to be fixed on her honour, the danger to which her life was exposed on account of her pregnancy, were injuries so atrocious and so complicated, that they scarcely left room for pardon, even from the greatest lenity and mercy.

Mary shortly afterwards brought forth a son, afterwards James I. of England, in the castle of Edinburgh (June 19). This event caused the English parliament again to press Elizabeth for her marriage and settlement of the succession, at which she expressed her high displeasure, and eluded the application. It also gave addi

tional zcal to the English party which favoured Mary's claims The friends of the queen of Scots multiplied every day; and most of the considerable men in England, except Cecil, seemed con. vinced of the necessity of declaring her the successor. But all these flattering prospects were blasted by subsequent events, when Mary's egregious indiscretions threw her from the height of her prosperity, and involved her in infamy and in ruin.

James Hepburn, earl of Bothwell, a man of considerable family and power in Scotland, but of profligate manners, had of late acquired the favour and confidence of Mary. All her measures were directed by his advice and authority. Reports were spread of more particular intimacies between them; and these reports gained ground from the continuance, or rather increase, of her hatred towards her husband. Darnley was reduced to such a state of desperation by the neglects which he underwent from his queen and the courtiers, that he had once resolved to fly secretly into France or Spain, and had even provided a vessel for that purpose. Suddenly, however, Mary seemed to be reconciled to him, on occasion of his dangerous illness (January, 1567). She lived in the palace of Holyrood House, but for the sake of purer air an apartment was assigned him in a solitary house at some distance, called the Kirk of Field. Mary here gave him many marks of kindness and attachment; she conversed cordially with him, and she lay some nights in a room below his; but on the 9th of February she told him that she would pass that night in the palace, because the marriage of one of her servants was to be celebrated there in her presence. About two o'clock in the morning the whole town was much alarmed at hearing a great noise, and was still more astonished when it was discovered that the noise came from the king's house, which was blown up by gunpowder. Darnley's dead body was found at some distance in a neighbouring field. No marks, either of fire, contusion, or violence, appeared upon it.

No doubt could be entertained that Darnley had been murdered; and general conjecture soon pointed towards the earl of Bothwell as the author of the crime. But as his favour with Mary was visible, and his power great, no one ventured to declare openly his sentiments. Mary's subsequent conduct justified these suspicions. The earl of Lenox demanded speedy justice on his son's assassins. Mary took his demand very literally, assigned only 15 days for the examination of the matter, and cited Lenox to appear and prove his charge. But that nobleman was afraid to trust himself in Edinburgh; and, as neither accuser nor witness appeared at the trial, Bothwell was acquitted (April 12). In the parliament which met two days after, he was the p rson chosen to carry the royal