before any step was taken, when a reward of £2,000 was offered for the discovery of the assassins. In the night a paper was affixed to the door of the Tolbooth denouncing Bothwell, James Balfour, and David Chambers, as the perpetrators of the king's murder. Voices at the dead of night also were heard in the streets accusing the same persons, and calling for their punishment. But to the astonishment of the public, the queen, who had hitherto acted with so much spirit and energy, now remained perfectly quiescent. She was surrounded by the conspirators; Bothwell, whom all judged to be the leader of the assassins, was in the highest favour; and after remaining several days in her chamber, Mary removed to the house of Lord Seaton, at a little distance from the castle, accompanied by Bothwell, Huntley, Argyll, Maitland, and others of the well-known conspirators. Darnley was privately buried in the Royal Chapel of Holyrood, none of the nobility attending.
The demands of the indignant public for inquiry continued. The city was placarded with the names of Bothwell, James Balfour, David Chambers, black John Spens, Signors Francisco, Joseph Rizzio—the brother of David—Bartiani, and John de Bourdeaux, as the leading murderers. The Earl of Lennox, the father of Darnley, called on the queen to bring them to trial; but he demanded in vain. Bothwell, the man whom the whole public denounced, continued the first in favour with the queen. At this time Lutyni, an Italian, and companion of Joseph Rizzio, who had been on his way to the Continent, and had been recalled by the queen's warrant, on a charge of theft, and was believed to be concerned in the plot, was examined by Bothwell and dismissed, the queen presenting him with thirty crowns to assist him on his journey. Nine days after the explosion, Sir William Drury wrote to Cecil from Berwick, informing him that Dolu, the queen's treasurer, had arrived in the town with Bartiani, who was denounced in the placards and eight others. Francisco, another of the denounced, was expected to pass that way in a day or two; and other foreigners had left Scotland by sea.
Morton and Murray kept still away from Court, and Lennox, when demanded by Mary to repair thither, dismissed her messenger without reply. The people, astonished at this state of things, talked loudly, and hinted a variety of means of coming at the truth, if it were desired. The smith, said a placard affixed to the Iron, who furnished the false keys to the Kirk-of-Field house, was ready to name his employers; and the person who furnished James Balfour with the powder was well known. Other placards and drawings pointed broadly at the queen and Bothwell. The only effect of all this was, that whilst there was no attempt to inquire after the authors of the murder, there was a sharp search after the authors of the placards. Bothwell himself rode into the city in great fury, surrounded by fifty guards, declaring, with furious oaths and gestures, that if he knew who were the authors of the placards, he would wash his hands in their heart's blood. At the same time the queen was attended, as guard, by Captain Cullen, a notorious creature of Bothwell's, and his company; and Mary, it was repeated, so far from being overwhelmed by grief, was leading a gay life at Seaton with the conspirator lords. She and Bothwell amused themselves with shooting at the butts against Huntley and Seaton; and so incongruous was this conduct of the queen with the recent terrible death of her husband, and the rumours busy all over the country, that public feeling was shocked; and the very evening after Bothwell's furious appearance in the city, there were displayed two placards, one with the initials M.R. and a hand holding a sword, the other with the initials of Bothwell, and above them a mallet, alluding to the only wound discovered on the king as if perpetrated by such an implement.
Everything demonstrated the necessity of the queen exerting herself to discover the murderers of her husband. Sir Harry Killigrew arrived from Elizabeth, bearing a message of condolence, but at the same time urging the absolute necessity of the trial of Bothwell. Killigrew found the capital in a most excited state, clamorous for inquiry, and loud in its censures of the queen. At the same time a letter arrived from Bishop Beaton, her ambassador in France, stating in plainest terms that she was publicly accused there of being herself the chief mover of the whole dark business, and telling her that if she did not exert herself to take a rigorous vengeance she had better have lost life and all. Mary promised Killigrew that Bothwell should be brought to strict trial; but so soon as he was gone means were taken to secure Bothwell more completely from any effectual inquiry. The Earl of Mar was induced to give up the possession of the castle of Edinburgh to Bothwell, Morton had his lands and his castle of Tantallan restored to him, and, in return, supported Bothwell with all his influence. The castle of Blackness, the Inch, and the superiority of Leith were conferred on Bothwell; and Murray, who neither liked to play the second to the aspiring favourite, nor to run any risk of exposure in those inquiries which must sooner or later ensue, requested permission to visit France.
Mary could not possibly be happy in such circumstances. Whatever might be the state of her conscience, her character was fearfully implicated, and on all sides came calls for inquiry, which she did not seem to have the power or the will to make. She was observed to be no longer the same woman. She was oppressed with melancholy, often surprised in tears, and the ravages of her internal feelings were marked in a deep change from her former health and beauty. The climax to her trouble was put by the queen-mother of France and her uncle, the cardinal, sending her the most cutting message of reproach; calling on her without delay to avenge the death of the king, and to clear her own reputation, or regard them as no longer her friends, but the proclaimers of her utter disgrace. There was no possibility of putting off a show of inquiry any longer, but every means was adopted to make it a mere mockery. Bothwell was now so completely lord of the Court, and had so many offices and means of injury in his hands, that no one was to be found hardy enough to oppose him. The Earl of Lennox, who had hitherto demanded inquiry in vain, was now suddenly summoned to appear and make his charge against Bothwell on the 12th of April; but Lennox, appalled at the prospect of meeting his antagonist backed by all the power of the State, without the utmost preparation, prayed for more time, that he might collect his friends and his evidence. It was refused, and he
