457
both those queens (a); and about the beginning of March 1564-5, he
returned to Scotland and found it difficult, within the southern shires of which
he was sheriff, to obtain a safe retreat (b). He was equally pursued by the
Scottish and the English ministers (c). Bothwell still remained in Hermitage
castle at the end of March 1565, where he had a great following of Liddesdale
men. By the queen's directions, however, he was obliged to enter into a recog-
nizance to appear before the justice court on the 4th of May then ensuing.
The Earl of Argyll, the justiciary, and the Earl of Murray, the minister, came
into Edinburgh about the 1st of May 1565, at the head of five thousand men,
to hold the justice ayre. Bothwell being called did not appear, and there-
(a) On the 4th of March 1564-5, Randolph wrote to Cecil that Murray of Tullibardine had come
from Bothwell out of France to sue for some favour, either liberty to return or means to live there.
They think him worthy of no favour that conspired to kill the Queen and those in credit about her.
Keith, 269. This allusion is obviously to the frantic Arran's conspiracy. Randolph again wrote to
Cecil on the 15th of the same month : " The Queen [Mary] misliketh Bothwell's coming home, and
" hath summoned him to undergo the law or be proclaimed a rebell. He is charged to have spoken
" dishonourably of the Queen, and to have threatened to kill Murray and Lethington ; David Pringle,
" one of Bothwell's servants, will verifie it." Keith, 270.
(b) On the 10th of March 1564-5, the Earl of Bedford wrote to Cecil that, "the Earl of Murray
doth sue very earnestly to put Bothwell to the horn," to an outlawry. MS. Correspondence in the
Paper Office. On the same day Bedford again wrote to Cecil: "Bothwell hath been in divers places,
" at Hadington, with his mother, and elsewhere, and findeth no safety anywhere. Murray followeth
" Bothwell so earnestly as he hath said Scotland shall not hold them loth. The matter groweth upon
" great and injurious words spoken against the Earl of Murray by Bothwell in France, in the hearing of
" a gentleman who hath reported the same to Murray." Id.
(c) On the 23rd of March 1564-5, Bedford said to Cecil, "he would be glad to know the Queen's
pleasure touching Bothwell if he should come within his charge, for except I be otherwise com-
manded 1 mean to stay him, for so I am required to do from the court of Scotland.''' Id. On the
24th of the same month Bedford pressed Cecil for orders in respect to Bothwell who, he feared, was
secretly comforted by the Scottish Queen. Id. And yet on the 30th of the same month Randolph
wrote to Cecil that "Bothwell hath grievously offended the Queen of Scots, by words spoken against
the English Queen, and also against herself, calling her the Cardinal?s hoore; she hath sicorne unto me
upon her honour that he shull never receive farour at her hands." Id. Cecil must have been
distracted between the contradictory reports of Bedford and of Randolph, as to Bothwell and the
Scottish Queen during March 1565. The fact probably was as Randolph had stated above. Scarcely
any woman but must have hated the man who had called her the Cardinal's hoore; I am unable to
explain the meaning of that scandal. Bedford at the same time informed Cecil that Bothwell, when
in France, had threatened to kill him [Cecil]. Many of those stories from France must have been
calumnies, as they seem too violent for common life. Pringle, a servant of Bothwell, was quoted as
the author of those tales.
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