Samuel Cowan

“ We look for nothing but to hear of her execution. The greatest part of the nobility lie out and is almost careless, looking for comfort where there is none. We are all in a miserable state; if there be any hope of help, haste in time, for he is not a Scotsman, though farthest in his relations with England, who would not hazard his life to relieve the Queen and desire the King to give them licence to that effect. The King believes that they dare do nothing to her. This is folly; if her release be not effected with great haste, she will take some sudden sickness, as ye will hear. ”

“ If some Catholic princes resolve to attack your kingdom, it will not be to save the Queen of Scots, but to uphold religion. Though the Queen of Scots be taken away from this world, the cause of war is not removed, but rather the occasion for it increased and the pretext for war made more specious than before, to avenge an act so strange and so extraordinary committed against all worldly laws, against a sovereign princess, a Queen anointed and held sacred in the Church of God. ”

“ To this arrogant speech the Queen replied that she was no subject of the realm of England, and would rather die than become one. She was prepared to affirm on oath that she never did evil to the Queen or the State of England, and was not to be proceeded against, as she was no criminal; therefore she adhered to her former answer and protestation. She might answer before a free Parliament, but she knew not what obligation or promises some of the commissioners had come under before seeing her. ”

“ May God give help to the king my good brother, preserve his children, and give him all the honour, contentment, and prosperity that his piety and care for the good of Christianity merit; in respect of which he will have my daily prayers, since I cannot serve him otherwise. I thank you for your diligence in having imparted to him what I committed to you in my letter of May as much for what concerns myself as for those poor English gentlemen whom I cannot abstain from recommending to you, especially the liberty of Morgan, and some pension, if by any means you can help him. ”

“ Queen Mary to Mendoza, the Spanish Ambassador, Chartley, 27th July 1586:—
“Since yours of the 29th May I have been pleased to see that my good brother the King of Spain begins to retaliate the injuries and practices of this queen (Elizabeth) ; against him not only for the good of this island, but principally for the maintenance of the greatness and reputation of Christendom. You cannot conceive how the exploit of Leicester and Drake has raised the hearts of the enemies of the king, and how his long patience with this queen has tried the confidence the Catholics have always had in him. ”

“ I have carefully sifted the conspiracies against Elizabeth, and had Ballard tendered me his services I should have accepted them.”
Queen Mary: “Give no more heed to the words of those who slander me than I do to [Pg 71] the statements of those who betray you. No value is to be attached to the testimony of those spies or agents whose words always give the lie to their hearts. Do not believe that I have been vain enough to wish that harm should be done to Elizabeth. No; I shall never seek her ruin at the cost of my honour, my conscience, or my salvation. ”

“ Petit's version of the Walsingham incident varies from this. She said, addressing him haughtily, “Do you think, Master Secretary, that I am not aware of the artifices you use against me with such knavish cruelty? Your spies beset me on all sides; but you perhaps do not know that many of those spies have made false depositions, and have warned me of what you are about. And if he has so acted, my lords, how shall I be assured that he has not forged my cyphers to put me to death, when I know he has conspired against my child's life and mine?” ”

“ He ought also to think that if the Queen of England should follow the advice of those who desire her to imbrue her hands in the blood of his mother, it will be a great stain on his reputation, inasmuch as it will be thought that he has withheld the good offices which he ought to render her with the Queen of England, which might be sufficient to move her if he had employed them as early and as warmly as natural affection commanded. ”

“ As they tell me that you will in nothing force my conscience nor my religion, and have even conceded me a priest, refuse me not this, my last request, that you will permit free sepulture to this body when the soul is separated, which when united could never obtain liberty to live in repose such as you would procure for yourself—against which repose, before God I speak, I never aimed a blow: but God will let you see the truth of all after my death. ”

“ When the paper was read Mary swore on the Bible that she had never sought, nor attempted to seek, the life of Elizabeth. In place of receiving this in solemn silence, seeing they had no authority to discuss anything with her, they with incredible insolence informed her that her Bible was the Pope's version and not binding. They offered her the Dean of Peterborough for consolation, “from whom she would learn what was the true religion, that she might no longer remain in the follies of Papistry and abomination.” ”

“ During the captivity of Mary many plots were formulated for her release, principally by the Catholic party or individual members of that party, all of which are not recorded. It is natural to suppose that the patience of the Catholics was exhausted at the conduct of Elizabeth. Who could blame them if they got up a rebellion or an invasion of England by the aid of France and Spain to compel Queen Mary's release? And who could blame Savage and Ballard, two noted Catholics, if they said they would themselves assassinate Elizabeth, in order to release Mary? ”

“ Let your wicked murderess know how with hearty sorrow her vile deserts compel these orders, and bid her from me ask God's forgiveness for her treacherous dealings towards the saver of her life, many a year, to the intolerable peril of her own; and yet not contented with so many forgivenesses, must fall again so horrible, far passing a woman's thought much less a Princess. ”

“ After having deliberated with Parliament, Elizabeth had given sentence of death against her, and he had left his mistress irresolute, but in order that she might not be taken by surprise, there being such a ferment in Parliament, and she was so importuned by her Estates, that it was almost impossible for her not to consent. For since the Queen of Scots had been in this country there had been continual trouble in the kingdom, so that neither the Queen's person, nor the State, nor religion were secure. ”

“ You, who for the maintaining of Almighty God's true worship, have not hesitated to undergo such toils, and to encounter so many dangers: you, in fine, who out of your rare zeal for the Catholic Faith, have feared neither bands nor prisons, a fugitive from your own kingdom: all of which things, although to our human spirit seemingly hard and painful and grievous to be endured, can nevertheless be sweetened by the love of the divine goodness that is sweeter than all things. ”

“ If you put the Queen of Scots to death, as some advise you, her death will arm your enemies with despair and with an honest excuse for attempting against you all that may lie in their power to avenge the outrage.” [Pg 124] After showing Elizabeth that she ran a great risk in using rigorous measures, he asked her to ensure Mary's safety, in the name of the Queen-mother, the King of France, and the reigning Queen, in extremely tender and touching terms. ”

“ After the communication of the death-sentence Queen Mary employed her time in arranging her worldly affairs and in preparation for her removal. That was a task that was difficult of accomplishment, as she had estates in Scotland and in France, the actual extent of which we have no means of knowing, but we have reason to believe that they were in each case large and not easily handled. On account of the arrogant and obstreperous conduct of the English Queen, we have no assurance that any of Mary's final directions were attended to. ”

“ She desired to be judged by her peers or by twelve subjects not kings or primates, by whom England [Pg 258] had no right to make laws. It was no great honour to praise such a wicked man as Morton, who was known for a tyrant and usurper, who pillaged and ravaged all the wealth of the poor subjects of Scotland, took her son prisoner, and extorted money tyrannically from everyone. He was a false man and a traitor, his life debauched and vicious, coming to a climax in luxury and adultery. Melville said he could corroborate this statement. ”

“ He denied that Mary was under the jurisdiction of Elizabeth, and reflected on the unseemly way in which she had been treated. This noble princess “is so humbled and trodden underfoot that her greatest enemies ought to pity her, and therefore I plead for some clemency and kindness towards her at your Majesty's hands. What now remains for the Queen of Scots but a wretched life of a few short days! If she is innocent, she ought to be discharged. ”

“ God permits us to be abandoned by all men when for our greater good He desires that we may have all our succour from Him. 'When we know not what to do,' says St. Bernard, 'to whom should we turn if it is not to thee, O our God!' He is not willing that we should be lost, and is able to give us in the future more consolation in one hour than the afflictions we have experienced during our whole [Pg 131] life. If you think the Queen of England has not loved you, who knows that from this time it may please God to soften her heart towards you? ”

“ Having passed a little in front, the Queen warned Nau that Paulet was behind. Wishing to pay him a compliment for the delightful pastime, she said she had gone in front, without remarking it, and that she feared that he, being ailing and infirm in body, could not follow the company so quickly. He answered courteously, pretending that he had been hindered by too great a number of valets and servants on foot, who had come in greater numbers than he wished. ”

“ It is evident that the utmost exertions and the strictest search on the part of Mary's enemies, directed by all the skill and vigour of Walsingham and carried into effect by the unscrupulous artifices and ingenuity of Phillips, had not been able to find the smallest scrap of evidence under Mary's hand which could connect her with the plot against Elizabeth's life. ”

“ She had several times suggested suitable conditions; she had many times asked to speak with Elizabeth, was ever willing to serve and do her pleasure, but she had been always influenced by enemies; that she, as a free Queen, could not accept commands, nor respond to laws, without hurting herself, the King her son, and all other sovereign princes. That she was of the same estate, majesty, and dignity, and would not submit, neither she, her heirs, or her country, as a valet had done (referring to Moray) ; she would rather die. She challenged her judges as being contrary to her religion ”

“ It is difficult to read this Journal without emotion, more particularly when we think that the Royal victim had committed no crime and was absolutely innocent of any plot affecting the life of the Queen of England. After the kidnapping outrage her execution was clearly decided upon in the mind of Elizabeth, and it would have been better to have had the execution then than to have tormented Mary for another six months. ”

“ The princes ever chose their counsel of such as they thought most fit. When we ourselves were of less age, and on our first arrival in the realm, we had free choice of counsel at our pleasure. Now, when we are at our full majority, shall we be brought back to the state of pupilage and minority, or be put under tutelage? ”

“ Now it remaineth only in your Majesty's wisdom that it be reduced into method that your happy deliverance be first, for on that dependeth the only good, and that the other circumstances concur—that the untimely end of the one do not overthrow the rest, all which your Majesty's wonderful experience and wisdom will dispose in so good manner as I doubt not, through God's good assistance, shall take deserved effect; for the obtaining of which every one of us shall think his life most happily spent. ”

“ Her disregard of truth, her duplicity, her indifference to cruelty and murder, and her strong resemblance in that respect to her father, Henry VIII., constituted her a notable member of the house of Tudor. Her treatment of the Queen of Scots is probably without a parallel in history; and it is a curious fact that during Mary's captivity neither her ministers nor her nobility, notwithstanding her unlawful conduct, could induce her to release, or modify the treatment of, the Scottish Queen. ”