II. 1559. BOOK were distinguished by being vast and unbounded. Though strangers at the court of France, their eminent qualities had raised them, in a short time, to an height of power superior to that of all other subjects, and had placed them on a level even with the Princes of the blood themselves. The church, the army, the revenue, were under their direction. Nothing but the royal dignity remained unattained, and they were elevated to a near alliance with it, by the marriage of the Queen of Scots to the Dauphin. In order to gratify their own vanity, and to render their niece more worthy the heir of France, they set on foot her claim to the crown of England, which was founded on pretences not unplausible. The tragical amours and marriages of Henry VIII. are known to all the world. Moved by the caprices of his love, or of his resentment, that impatient and arbitrary monarch had divorced or beheaded four of the six Queens whom he married. In order to gratify him, both his daughters had been declared illegitimate by act of parliament; and yet, with that fantastic inconsistence which distinguishes his character, he, in his last will, whereby he was empowered to settle the order of succession, called both of them to the throne upon the death of their brother Edward; and, at the same time, passing by the posterity of his eldest sister Margaret Queen of Scotland, he appointed the line of succession to continue in the descendants of his younger sister, the Duchess of Suffolk. In consequence of this destination, the validity whereof was admitted by the English, but never II. 1559. recognised by foreigners, Mary had reigned in En- BOOK gland without the least complaint of neighbouring Princes. But the same causes which facilitated her accession to the throne, were obstacles to the elevation of her sister Elizabeth, and rendered her possession of it precarious and insecure. Rome trembled for the Catholic faith under a Protestant Queen of such eminent abilities. The same superstitious fears alarmed the court of Spain. France beheld with concern a throne, to which the Queen of Scots could form so many pretensions, occupied by a rival, whose birth, in the opinion of all good Catholics, excluded her from any legal right of succession. The impotent hatred of the Roman Pontiff, or the slow councils of Philip II., would have produced no sudden or formidable effect. The ardent and impetuous ambition of the Princes of Lorrain, who at that time governed the court of France, was more decisive, and more to be dreaded. Instigated by them, Henry, soon after the death of They perMary, persuaded his daughter-in-law and her hus- suade Maband to assume the title of King and Queen of sume the England. They affected to publish this to all Eu- Queen of rope. They used that style and appellation in pub- England. lic papers, some of which still remain". The arms of England were engraved on their coin and plate, and borne by them on all occasions. No preparations, however, were made to support this impolitic and premature claim. Elizabeth was already seated on her throne; she possessed all the intrepidity of spirit, and all the arts of policy, which VOL. I. d Anders. Diplom. Scot. Nos 68. and 164. 2 B ry to as title of II. invade BOOK were necessary for maintaining that station. England was growing into reputation for naval power. 1559. The marine of France had been utterly neglected; and Scotland remained the only avenue by which the territories of Elizabeth could be approached. Resolve to It was on that side, therefore, that the Princes of Lorrain determined to make their attack; and, by using the name and pretensions of the Scottish Queen, they hoped to rouse the English Catholics, formidable at that time by their zeal and numbers, and exasperated to the utmost against Elizabeth on account of the change which she had made in the national religion. England. In order to this, ne cessary to It was in vain to expect the assistance of the Scottish Protestants to dethrone a Queen, whom check the all Europe began to consider the most powerful guardian and defender of the reformed faith. To Scotland. break the power and reputation of that party in Reforma tion in Scotland became, for this reason, a necessary step towards the invasion of England. With this the Princes of Lorrain resolved to open their scheme. And as persecution was the only method for suppressing religious opinions known in that age, or dictated by the despotic and sanguinary spirit of the Romish superstition, this, in its utmost violence, they determined to employ. The Earl of Argyll, the Prior of St. Andrew's, and other leaders of the party, were marked out by them for immediate destruction; and they hoped, by punishing them, to intimidate their followers. Instructions for this purpose were sent from France to the e Forbes's Collect. i. 253. 269. 279. 404. f Ibid. i. 152. II. Queen Regent. That humane and sagacious Prin- B O O K cess condemned a measure which was equally violent and impolitic. By long residence in Scotland, 1559. she had become acquainted with the eager and impatient temper of the nation; she well knew the power, the number, and popularity of the Protestant leaders; and had been a witness to the intrepid and unconquerable resolution which religious fervour could inspire. What then could be gained by rousing this dangerous spirit, which hitherto all the arts of policy had scarcely been able to restrain? If it once broke loose; the authority of a Regent would be little capable to subdue, or even to moderate, its rage. If, in order to quell it, foreign forces were called in, this would give the alarm to the whole nation, irritated already at the excessive power which the French possessed in the kingdom, and suspicious of all their designs. Amidst the shock which this might occasion, far from hoping to exterminate the Protestant doctrine, it would be well if the whole fabric of the established church were not shaken, and perhaps overturned from the foundation. These prudent remonstrances made no impression on her brothers; precipitant, but inflexible in all their resolutions, they insisted on the full and rigorous execution of their plan. Mary, passionately devoted to the interest of France, and ready, on all occasions, to sacrifice her own opinions to the inclinations of her brothers, prepar ed to execute their commands with implicit submission; and, contrary to her own judgment, * Melv. 48. Mem. de Castelnau, ap. Jebb, vol, ii. 446, II. BOOK and to all the rules of sound policy, she became the instrument of exciting civil commotions in Scot1559. land, the fatal termination of which she foresaw and dreaded. The Regent alters her con duct with regard to the Pro testants. From the time of the Queen's competition for the regency with the Duke of Chatelherault, the Popish clergy, under the direction of the Archbishop of St. Andrew's, had set themselves in opposition to all her measures. Her first step towards the execution of her new scheme, was to regain their favour. Nor was this reconcilement a matter of difficulty. The Popish ecclesiastics, separated from the rest of mankind by the law of celibacy, one of the boldest and most successful efforts of human policy and combined among themselves in the closest and most sacred union, have been accustomed, in every age, to sacrifice all private and particular passions to the dignity and interest of their order. Delighted on this occasion with the prospect of triumphing over a faction, the encroachments of which they had long dreaded, and animated with the hopes of re-establishing their declining grandeur on a firmer basis, they at once cancelled the memory of past injuries, and engaged to second the Queen in all her attempts to check the progress of the Reformation. The Queen, being secure of their assistance, openly approved of the decrees of the convocation, by which the principles of the Reformers were condemned; and at the same time she issued a proclamation, enjoining all persons to observe the approaching festival of Easter according to the Romish ritual. As it was no longer possible to mistake the |