after which this division of the letter concludes with the following gross and unblushing postscript :

I had forgotten of the L. of Livingstoun, that he at supper said softly to the Lady Reres, that he drank to the persons I knew of, if I would pledge them. And after supper he said softly to me, when I was leaning upon him and warming myself, "You may well go and see sick folk, yet can you not be so welcome unto them as you have this day left somebody in pain, who shall ne'er be merry till he hath seen you again." I asked him who it was; he took me about the body, and said, "One of his folk that hath left you this day." Guess you the rest.

The Lady Reres here alluded to was notoriously the mistress of Bothwell. Yet the letter makes Mary represent Lord Livingston as talking undisguisedly with this lady of the Queen's own doubly adulterous love for the earl. Further, it makes her represent him as taunting herself upon her visit to her sick husband with coarse and indecent familiarity, banteringly reminding her that "she had that day left somebody in pain who shall never be merry till he hath seen her again." And all this Mary is made to take in the best part, relates with evident satisfaction, and even takes merit upon with her paramour and correspondent!

The latter portion of this long letter was plainly written after an interval. The writer says she had spent her day, "till two of the clock," in working at a bracelet, which she sends to her lover; with a caution, however, against wearing it in public, lest it should be recognized by those who had seen her at work upon it. And then, as if her conscience had been stirred by the interval of reflection, she bursts into a paroxysm of remorse. In the midst of this fitful outburst, nevertheless, she resumes her detail of the wily and treacherous devices by which she proposes to deceive him to his destruction; and, even while she promises blind and unhesitating obedience to the master to whom she yields soul and body, she darkly suggests whether it might not be possible to "find some secret invention by physick," better than that on which her master had resolved to rely. This is doubtless the passage which Mr. Froude had in his mind when he wrote that of the letters could have been invented only by a genius equal to Shakespeare." It is too important to be abridged :—

one

You make me dissemble so much that I am afraid thereof with horrour, and you make me almost to play the part of a traitor. Remember that if it were not for obeying you, I had rather be dead. My heart bleedeth for it. To be short, he will not come but with condition that I shall promise to be with him as heretofore at bed and board, and that I shall forsake him no more; and upon my word he would do whatsoever I will, and

the

will come, but he hath prayed me to tarry till after to-morrow. He hath spoken at the first more pleasantly, as this bearer shall tell you, upon matter of the Inglishman and of his departure; but in the end he cometh to his gentleness again. He hath told me, among other talk, that he knew well that my brother had told me at Stirling that which he had said there, whereof he had denied the half, and specially that he was in his chamber. But now to make him trust me I must feign something unto him; and therefore, when he desired me to promise that when he should be well we should make but one bed, I told him (feigning to believe his fair promises) that if he did not change his mind between this time and that, I was contented, so as he would say nothing thereof; for (to tell it between us two) the lords wished no ill to him, but did fear lest, considering the threatening which he made in case we did agree together, he would make them feel the small account they have made of him, and that he would persuade me to pursue some of them, and for this respect by-and-by

should be in jealousy if {at one instant}

without their knowledge I did break the game made to the contrary in their presence. And he said unto me very pleasant and merry, "Think you that they do the more esteem you therefore? But I am glad that you have talked to me of the lords. I hope that you desire now that we shall live a happy life; for if it were otherwise, it could not be but greater inconvenience should happen to us both than you think. But I will do now whatsoever you will have me do. I will love all those that you shall love, and so as you make them to love me also. For so as they seek not my life I love them all equally." Thereupon I have willed this bearer to tell you many pretty things; for I have too much to write, and it is late, and I trust him upon your word. To be short, he will go any where upon my word. Alas! I never deceived anybody; but I remit myself wholly to your will, and send me word what I shall do, and whatsoever happen to me, I will obey you. Think also if you will not find some invention more secret by physick, for he is to take physick at Craigmillar, and the bath also, and shall not come forth of long time. To be short, for that I can learn he hath great suspicion, and yet, nevertheless, trusteth upon my word, but not tell me as yet anything: howbeit, if you will that I shall avow him, I will know all of him; but I shall never be willing to beguile one who putteth his trust in me. Nevertheless, you may do all, and do not esteem me the less therefore, for you are the cause thereof. For, for my own revenge, I would not do it. He giveth me certain charges (and these strong) of that that I fear even to say that his faults be published; but there be that commit some secret faults, and fear not to have them spoken of so lowdely, and that there is speech of greate and small, and even touching the Lady Reres, he said, "God grant that she serve you to your honour;" and that any may not think, nor he either, that mine own power was not in myself, seeing I did refuse his offers. To conclude, for assurety he mistrusteth her of that ye know, and for his life. But in the end, after I had spoken two or three good words to him, he was very merry and glad. I have not seen him this night for ending your bracelet,

but I can find no clasps for it; it is ready thereunto, and yet I fear lest it should bring you ill hap, or that it should be known if you were hurt. Send me word whether you will have it, and more money, and when I shall return, and how far I may speak. Now, as far as I perceive, J'ay bien la vogue avec vous.

}Guess you whither I shall not be suspected. I may do much without you. As for the rest, he is mad when he hears of Ledinton, and of you, and my brother. Of your brother he sayeth nothing, but of the Earl of Argyle he doth; I am afraid of him to hear him talk, at the least he assureth himself that he hath no ill opinion of him. He speaketh nothing of these abroad, neither good nor ill, but avoideth speaking of them. His father keeping his chamber, I have not seen him. All the Hamiltons be here, who accompany me very honestly. All the friends of the others do come always when I go to visit him. He hath sent to me, and prayeth me to see him rise tomorrow in the morning early. To be short, this bearer shall disclose unto you the rest; and if I learn anything, I will make every night a memorial thereof. He shall tell you the cause of my stay. Burn this letter, for it is too dangerous; neither is there anything well said in it, for I think upon nothing but upon grief if you be at Edinburgh.

Now if to please you, my dear life, I spare neither honour, conscience, nor hazard, nor greatness, take it in good part, and not according to the interpretation of your false brother-in-law, to whom, I pray you, give no credit against the most faithfull lover that ever you had or shall have. See not also her whose feigned tears you ought not more to regard than the true travails which I endure to deserve her place, for obtaining of which, against my own nature, I do betray those that could lett me. God forgive me, and give you, my only friend, the good luck and prosperity that your humble and faithfull lover doth wish unto you, who hopeth shortly to be another thing unto you, for the reward of my pains. I have not made one word, and it is very late, although I should never be weary in writing to you, yet will I end, after kissing of your hands. Excuse my evil writing, and read it over twice. Excuse also that I scribbled, for I had yesternight no paper, when I took the paper of a memorial. Pray remember your friend, and write unto her, and often. Love me always as I shall love you.

One of the most important circumstances connected with this letter is the time at which it was written; or we should rather say, the times, for it bears evidence of having been composed at intervals. It is, as we have said, without date, but it supplies materials from which the chronology of its composition may be determined with tolerable accuracy. The Queen certainly did not arrive in Glasgow on Thursday, January 23rd. Now the letter was not begun till, at the earliest, the following day, since the writer speaks in the very beginning of the King's having sent "yesterday" for Joachim, to inquire about her arrival; nor was this portion of it completed till late at night, "when other folke be asleep,' the sequel being deferred "till to-morrow in the morning,'

when the writer promises "to end her bylle" (letter). Hence the second division of the letter was not written till, at the earliest, Saturday, January 24th; and indeed this is indicated in the letter itself, where the writer says that the King has prayed her to defer her return journey (which is known to have been on Monday, the 27th) "till the day after to-morrow." Further, the letter cannot have been finished until a late hour on Saturday, 25th. The writer had been engaged up to "two of the clock" on that day in making the bracelet, and the writing of the letter was carried on far into the night. She "had not seen the King this night, for ending the bracelet ; and she closes with the declaration that "it is very late, although she would never be weary in writing to him." We pray the reader, therefore, to bear in mind that, from these clear and unquestionable indications contained in the letter itself, it is made plain that the letter could not have been finished until late in the night of Saturday, January 25th. We merely note the circumstance here, to be used later in the inquiry; inasmuch as one of the most important elements in that inquiry is the comparison of the incidents and dates derived from this letter with those of a confession made by the person who is represented as the bearer of it to Bothwell, namely, a French servant of the Queen, Nicholas Hubert, commonly known from his birthplace by the name of French Paris.

The letters are arranged by Mr. Hosack in an order different from that of Whitaker and the older editors; and there can be no doubt of the judiciousness of his arrangement. The correspondence clearly divides itself into three distinct sets of letters: the letters professing to be written from Glasgow, two in number; those written from Stirling, three in number; and a third set of three, without the smallest indication either of the time or the place of writing, and without a single word or allusion from which it could necessarily be inferred, even though the writer were certainly Mary Stuart, that the person addressed was the Earl of Bothwell. In Mr. Hosack's arrangement the last-named letters follow immediately the two Glasgow letters already given. It is to be observed that a comparison of the various extant early versions clearly shows that the original of these letters must have been the French; while that of the three letters from Stirling (as we already said of those from Glasgow) must necessarily have been the Scotch.

The third letter* had (with the exception of a couple of sentences in French) hitherto been known only in the Scotch

The eighth in Whitaker's arrangement.

version of Buchanan's "Detection." Mr. Hosack has for the first time published the entire of the French text from a contemporary copy in the Public Record Office. It is, in the fullest sense of the word, a love-letter; but, with all its passionate earnestness, there is not a trace in it of guilty love. The writer sends with it, as a present, a trinket decorated with devices and emblems; and a great part of the letter is devoted to a mystic explanation of these emblems as illustrating and symbolizing the writer's affection. We must be content with the concluding paragraph, which we think it well to transcribe, as we shall have to refer to it hereafter.

My only wealth receive therefore in as good part the same, as I have received your marriage with extreme joy, that which shall not part forth of my bosome while that marriage of our bodies be made in publick, as sign of all that I either hope or desire of bliss in this world. Yet my heart, fearing to displease you, as much in the reading hereof, as it delights me in the writing, I will make an end, after that I have kissed your hand, with as great affection as I pray God (O the only supporter of my life) to give you long and blessed life, and to me your good favour, as the only good that I desire, and to the which I pretend. I have shewn unto this bearer that which I have learned, to whom I remit me, knowing the credit that you give him, as she doth, that will be for ever unto you an humble and obedient lawful wife, that for ever dedicates unto you her heart, her body, without any change as unto him that I have made possessor of my heart, of which you may hold you assured, that unto the death shall no ways be changed, for evil nor good shall never make me go from it.

The fourth letter is of the same general character. There is not a word in the original French of this letter which would show that it was addressed by Mary Stuart to Bothwell. On the contrary, there are passages in the original French which could not apply literally to her supposed guilty relations with Bothwell; and these have actually been altered in the Scotch version so as to be converted into evidences of the guilty designs of the Queen and her paramour. We shall make this clear in our detailed examination of the evidence.

The fifth letter is so short that we shall insert the English translation of it.

My heart, alas! must the folly of a woman, whose unthankfulness towards me you do sufficiently know, be occasion of displeasure unto you? considering that I could not have remedied thereunto without knowing it? And since that I perceive it, I could not tell it you, for that I knew not

*Of this, as well as of the first and second, there is, in addition to the Scotch and French, a Latin version. The other letters are found only in Scotch and French.