II. 1558. BOOK gan now to unfold their intentions without any disguise. In the treaty of marriage, the deputies had agreed that the Dauphin should assume the name of King of Scotland. This they considered only as an honorary title; but the French laboured to annex to it some solid privileges and power. They insisted that the Dauphin's title should be publicly recognised; that the Crown Matrimonial should be conferred upon him; and that all the rights pertaining to the husband of a Queen should be vested in his person. By the laws of Scotland, a person who married an heiress, kept possession of her estate during his own life, if he happened to survive her and the children born of the marriage. This was called the courtesy of Scotland. The French aimed at applying this rule, which takes place in private inheritances, to the succession of the kingdom; and that seems to be implied in their demand of the Crown Matrimonial, a phrase peculiar to the Scottish historians, and which they have neglected to explain9. As the French had reason to expect difficulties in carrying through this measure, they began with sounding the deputies who were then at Paris. The English, in the marriage-articles between their P Reg. Mag. lib. ii. 58. 9 As far as I can judge, the husband of the Queen, by the grant of the Crown Matrimonial, acquired a right to assume the title of King, to have his name stamped upon the current coin, and to sign all public instruments together with the Queen. In consequence of this, the subjects took an oath of fidelity to him. Keith, Append. 20. His authority became, in some measure, co-ordinate with that of the Queen; and without his concurrence, manifested by signing his name, no public deed seems to have been considered as valid. By the oath of fidelity of the Scottish II. 1558. Queen and Philip of Spain, had set an example to BOOK the age, of that prudent jealousy and reserve with which a foreigner should be admitted so near the throne. Full of the same ideas, the Scottish deputies had, in their oath of allegiance to the Dauphin, expressed themselves with remarkable caution". Their answer was in the same spirit, respectful, but firm; and discovered a fixed resolution of consenting to nothing that tended to introduce any alteration in the order of succession to the crown. S Four of the deputies happening to die before they returned into Scotland, this accident was universally imputed to the effects of poison, which was supposed to have been given them by the emissaries of the House of Guise. The historians of all nations discover an amazing credulity with respect to rumours of this kind, which are so well calculated to please the malignity of some men, and to gratify the love of the marvellous which is natural to all, that in every age they have been swallowed without examination, and believed contrary to reason. No wonder the Scots should easily give credit to a suspicion, which received such strong colours of probability, both from their own resentment, and commissioners to the Dauphin, it is evident that, in their opinion, the rights belonging to the Crown Matrimonial subsisted only during the continuance of the marriage. Keith, Append. 20. But the conspirators against Rizio bound themselves to procure a grant of the Crown Matrimonial to Darnly, during all the days of his life. Keith, Append. 120. Good. i. 227. Keith, Append. 20. The Bishop of Orkney, the Earl of Rothes, the Earl of Cassils, and Lord Fleming. II. 1558. BOOK from the known character of the Princes of Lorrain, so little scrupulous about the justice of the ends which they pursued, or of the means which they employed. For the honour of human nature, however, it must be observed, that as we can discover no motive which could induce any man to perpetrate such a crime, so there appears no evidence to prove that it was committed. But the Scots of that age, influenced by national animosities and prejudices, were incapable of examining the circumstances of the case with calmness, or of judging concerning them with candour. All parties agreed in believing the French to have been guilty of this detestable action; and it is obvious how much this tended to increase the aversion for them, which was growing among all ranks of men. The Re vails on ment to grant it. Notwithstanding the cold reception which their gent pre- proposal concerning the Crown Matrimonial met the Parlia- with from the Scottish deputies, the French ventured to move it in parliament. The partisans of Nov. 29. the house of Hamilton, suspicious of their designs upon the succession, opposed it with great zeal. But a party, which the feeble and unsteady conduct of their leader had brought under much disreputation, was little able to withstand the influence of France, and the address of the Queen Regent, seconded, on this occasion, by all the numerous adherents of the Reformation. Besides, that artful Princess dressed out the French demands in a less offensive garb, and threw in so many limitations as seemed to render them of small consequence. These either deceived the Scots, or removed their scruples; and in compliance to the Queen they passed an act, II. conferring the Crown Matrimonial on the Dauphin; BOOK and with the fondest credulity trusted to the frail security of words and statutes, against the dan- 1558. gerous encroachments of powert. to court The concurrence of the Protestants with the Continues Queen Regent, in promoting a measure so accepta- the Proble to France, while the Popish clergy, under the testants. influence of the Archbishop of St. Andrew's, opposed it with so much violence", is one of those singular circumstances in the conduct of parties, for which this period is so remarkable. It may be ascribed, in some degree, to the dexterous management of the Queen, but chiefly to the moderation of those who favoured the Reformation. The Protestants were by this time almost equal to the Catholics, both in power and in number; and, conscious of their own strength, they submitted with impatience to that tyrannical authority with which the ancient laws armed the ecclesiastics against them. They longed to be exempted from this oppressive jurisdiction, and publicly to enjoy the liberty of professing those opinions, and of exercising that worship, which so great a part of the nation deemed to be founded in truth and to be acceptable to the Deity. This indulgence, to which the whole weight of The act of parliament is worded with the utmost care, with a view to guard against any breach of the order of succession. But the Duke, not relying on this alone, entered a solemn protestation to secure his own right. Keith, 76. It is plain that he suspected the French of having some intention to set aside his right of succession; and, indeed, if they had no design of that kind, the eagerness with which they urged their demand was childish. " Melv. 47. BOOK priestly authority was opposed, there were only two II. ways of obtaining. Either violence must extort it 1558. from the reluctant hand of their sovereign, or by pru dent compliances they might expect it from her favour or her gratitude. The former is an expedient for the redress of grievances, to which no nation has recourse suddenly; and subjects seldom venture upon resistance, which is their last remedy, but in cases of extreme necessity. On this occasion the Reformers wisely held the opposite course, and by their zeal in forwarding the Queen's designs they hoped to merit her protection, This disposition the Queen encouraged to the utmost, and amused them so artfully with many promises, and some concessions, that, by their assistance, she surmounted in parliament the force of a national and laudable jealousy, which would otherwise have swayed with the greater number. Another circumstance contributed somewhat to acquire the Regent such considerable influence in this parliament. In Scotland, all the bishoprics, and those abbeys which conferred a title to a seat in parliament, were in the gift of the crown. From the time of her accession to the regency, the Queen had kept in her own hands almost all those which became vacant, except such as were, to the great disgust of the nation, bestowed upon foreigners. Among these, her brother the Cardinal of Lorrain had obtained the abbeys of Kelso and Melross, two of the most wealthy foundations in the kingdom". By this conduct, she thinned the ecclesiastical * See Book I. y Lesly, 202. |