PARKER, divorced from her, and that the reformed religion should be Abp. Cant. firmly settled. Others suggested perpetual banishment, either into France or England; but with this proviso, that the French king, or queen Elizabeth, would engage to prevail with her to resign the crown, and transfer the government upon her son. A third party were still more extravagantly unjust and barbarous: they were for bringing the queen to a formal trial; and taking it for granted she would be cast, their sentence was for perpetual imprisonment, and that her son should be crowned immediately. The fourth division thought this punishment too little, and declared for her execution. And Cambden, this doom was thundered out of the pulpits by John Knox, and some others of his brethren. Eliz. from the Ambassador Throg morton's Letters, p. 118. Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, on the other side, interposed for the queen with a great deal of vehemence and argument. He Rom. xiii. insisted on the apostle's commanding "every soul to be subject to the higher powers: that the powers were ordained of God, that they ought to be subject, not only for wrath but for conscience sake." That the queen was accountable to none but God Almighty for her administration: that no court upon earth had any warrantable pretence to bring her before them: that all the power of the Scottish magistracy was derived from the queen, and revocable at pleasure. To this the confederate revolters replied, that by the Scottish constitution the subjects had a particular provision, and that in extraordinary cases, they were to apply to extraordinary expedients. They were furnished with a colour for their disloyalty by George Buchanan who, at the instance of the earl of Murray, had lately written his damnable dialogue, as Cambden calls it, "De jure regni apud Scotos." In this tract, continues Cambden, he affirms a right in the Scots for making and deposing their princes, which is no less than a downright contradiction to the Cambden, history and records of that kingdom. Eliz. p. 118. to resign the to her son, But the queen's enemies were too numerous, and had gone The queen of Scots forced too far, to alter their resolves: and therefore, upon the recess government of the assembly, the lords Ruthven and Lindsay were sent to and declare persuade her to resign to the prince: and that she would comply so far as to appoint a regent during his minority. The queen, as she had reason, was extremely shocked at the proposal, and replied with an air of majesty and resentment, that she would rather part with her life, than her crown. But the earl of Murray regent. BETH. being menaced, and roughly treated by the lord Lindsay, and ELIZAadvised by the earl of Athol and Lethington, of the danger of standing her ground, she subscribed the resignation instrument. She was farther disposed to yield this length, by a letter delivered to her by Robert Melvil, from Sir Nicholas Throgmorton. In this letter the ambassador assured her, that a resignation made under such duresse was void, and of no force either in justice or law. crowned. The queen being thus constrained to resign her sovereignty, The prince the prince was immediately crowned, and anointed in the July 29, church at Stirling; the bishop of Orkney, assisted by two 1567. superintendents, officiating at the solemnity. John Knox preached the sermon. The earl of Morton and the lord Home swore for the king, that he would maintain the reformed religion, and do justice impartially to his subjects. The English ambassador, though in town, refused to appear at the ceremony: he thought his presence might be interpreted an approbation of the proceedings against the queen. When the news of this revolution was brought to France, the earl of Murray made haste to embark, and arrived at Edinburgh the eleventh of August following. As to Bothwell, and the fate attending him, a word or two may not be amiss. After his retreat from Carberry, and a short stay in the fort of Dunbar, he went on board, and set sail for Orkney with two or three ships: and being denied entrance into the castle of Kirkwall, he was obliged to put to sea again, and lived upon piracy: but not long after being chased by a greater force manned out by the regent, he was seized upon the coast of Norway, and conveyed to Denmark: where, being discovered by some Scotch merchants, he was confined in a very offensive prison. This misfortune threw him into a frenzy, as Spotswood reports. However, he lived ten years, but without his liberty. ment convened at Edinburgh. The regent, now established, convened a parliament, which The parliamet in December following. The first act sets forth the queen's resignation of the crown, with the consent and approbation of the earls, lords, prelates, barons, &c. And here the form of the resignation is inserted: I shall give the reader part of it, to show the hypocrisy of the instrument, and that the queen was forced to declare she was willing. It begins thus: "Marie be the grace of God queen of Scots, to all and The form of the queen's sindrie our judges, and ministers of our lawes, liegis and sub- resignation. PARKER, jects, quhom it effeiris, to quhais knaledge, thir our letters sall Abp. Cant. cum, greeting: forasmeikle, as after lange greate and intollerable paines, and labours taken bee us, sen our arrival within our realme, for government thereof, and keeping of the leigis of the samin quietness, we have not only beene vexed in our spirite, body, and senses thereby, bot als at length are altogidder sa wearyed thereof, that our habilitie and strength of body is not abil langer to indure the samin. James 6. parl. 1. cap. 1. 515. tions of ministers. "Therefoir, and because nathing earthlie can be more comfortabil and happy to us in this earth, than to see our deare son the native prince of this our realme, placed in the kingdom thereof, and the crown royal set on his head, wee of our awin free will, and special motive, have dimitted and renounced the government, guyding and governing of this our realme of Scotland, lieges and subjects thereof, in favours of our said sonne, &c." By another act, the pope's authority is discharged, and the act made by the parliament held at Edinburgh, August 24, 1560, for renouncing the pretended jurisdiction of the court of Rome, is confirmed, and all acts passed in former reigns for the maintenance of idolatry and superstition, are annulled and extinguished, so far as any of the foresaid acts are repugnant and contrary to the confession of faith and word of God, ratified and approved by the estates in this present parliament. Then their confession of faith and doctrine follows; of which I have given some account already. The general Saying or hearing mass is made death upon the third offence assembly the last judge of by this parliament. The Protestant ministers, and those of the qualifica- their communion, are by another act declared to be the only true and holy Kirk within this realm. It is farther enacted, that "the examination and admission of ministers shall be only in the power and disposition of the Church." And then follows a saving clause for the right of lay patrons: "And in case of any dispute between the patron and superintendent concerning the qualifications of the person presented, it is lawful for the patron to appeal to the superintendent and ministers of the province where the benefice lies; and if the person presented is refused by them, the patron may appeal to the general assembly, where the cause is to be finally decided." James 6. parl. 1. сар. 7. By another act made this parliament, the kings at their coro BETH. punishing and incest. nation were to take an oath to maintain the reformed religion ELIZAthen professed. The next act I shall mention provides for the punishment of fornication. For the first offence, upon convic- An act for tion, the parties were to pay forty pounds Scotch, or be impri- fornication soned eight days with no better diet than bread and small beer; after this they were to stand bare-headed at the marketplace. For the second offence they were to forfeit a hundred marks, their imprisonment was to be doubled, and both of them to stand in the market-place with their heads shaven. For the third fault, a hundred pounds, or else their imprisonment was to be tripled, with discipline in diet above-mentioned; after this they were to be ducked thrice in foul water, and for ever banished the town where they lived. These corporal punishments of imprisonment, banishment, and the rest, were to be executed upon all those who either refused, or were unable to pay the forfeiture in money. As to the fines, they were to be disposed of to pious uses in the place where the crime was committed. Incest, that is, as the act explains itself, cohabitation within the degrees prohibited in the eighteenth chapter of Leviticus, is made death. But all other approaches of consanguinity, unforbidden in the Old Testament, are no bar James 6. against marriage. parl. 1. There is another remarkable provision relating to the terms 16. of communion; it is intituled, "Anent the True and Holy Kirk, and of them that are declared not to be of the same." "Item. Forasmeikle as the ministers of the blessed evangel of Jesus Christ, whome God of his mercy hes now raised up amongst us, or heirafter sall rayse, agreeing with them that now livis, in doctrine and administratioun of the sacraments, and the peopil of this realme, that professis Christ, as he now is offered in his evangel, and do communicat with the holy sacraments (as in the reformed Kirkes of this reaime they are publiklie administrat), according to the confessioun of the faith: our sovereigne lord, with the advice of my lord regent, and three estaitis of this present parliament, hes declared, and declaris the foresaid persons to be the only true and halie Kirk of Jesus Christ within this realme; and decernis and declaris that all and sindrie, quha outher gaynsayis the word of the evangel, received and approved, as the heads of the confessioun of faith professed in parliament of before, in the year of God 1560 yeares, as also specified in the actes of PARKER, this parliament mair particuliarlie dois expresse, and now ratiAbp. Cant.' fied and approoved in this present parliament, or that refuses the participatioun of the halie sacramentes as they are now ministrate, to be na members of the said Kirke within this realme now presently professed, sa lang as they keep themselves sa divided fra the society of Christ's body." James 6. parl. 1. cap. 6. By the last act of this parliament, which I shall mention, none but those who profess the religion established are allowed to be judges, proctors, or public notaries, or to practise under any qualification in the courts of justice. But this act has a proviso for saving the rights of offices, either hereditary or for Ibid. cap. 8. life. The bishop of Orkney brought to penance by the assembly: Knox's Hist. p. 127. p. 496. The queen having any About this time the bishop of Orkney was convented before the assembly for marrying the queen to Bothwell. And here these men, who, as far as it appears, were most of them selforiginated, and had not so much as the character of canonical. priesthood, took the freedom to depose a bishop. They likewise cited the countess of Argyle for assisting at the king's christening, performed with the ceremonies of the Church of Rome. This lady, though no farther concerned than by representing queen Elizabeth, submitted to their discipline. She was ordered to make such public satisfaction in the chapel at Stirling, as the superintendent should appoint. In January following, one John Hepburn, and three servants of Bothwell's, were tried for the king's murder. Spotswood reports, they confessed the crime; but their speech at the place of execution was more than the regent expected. Here they declared before God, that Bothwell informed them the murder of the king was suggested and carried on by the earls of Murray and Morton: and as for the queen, they cleared from cleared her from all suspicion of any such practice. Bothwell, knowledge of likewise, did her the same justice, though a prisoner in Denmark; and to his last hour solemnly averred she was wholly unacquainted with what happened to the king. And fourteen years after, when Morton was beheaded for misprision of treason, and concealing the design of murdering the king, he confessed that Bothwell had tampered with him to come into the plot; and that he refused to engage, unless he had an order to secure him under the queen's hand. Upon which Bothwell replied, his demand was impracticable; for the queen was by Eliz. p. 121. no means to be acquainted with the enterprise. I grant Spots the king's murder. Cambden, |