Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

FIFESUIRE.
551
to leave the court ; and immediately afterwards sue
left Edinburgh for Dunfermline, where she remained
all night. On the 14th she went to Bruntisland,
where she slept. Chatelard, notwithstanding the
commands of the Queen, followed her to Fife, and
arrived in Bruntisland the same day. On her retir-
ing to her chamber for the night, Chatelard forced his
way in immediately after her, and presented himself
before her, for the purpose, as he said, of clearing
himself from the imputation made against him for
his previous conduct. The Queen instantly called
out for help, and the Earl of Murray entered.
Mary, in her agitation, desired Murray to put his
dagger into him, but he ordered him into confine-
ment, reserving him to be punished in due course
of law. The chancellor, the justice-clerk, and other
counsellors, were sent for from Edinburgh, and a few
days afterwards the wretched man was tried and con-
demned at St. Andrews. On the 22d of February
he was executed there, " reading over on the scaf-
fold," says Brantome, " Ronsard's Hymn on Death,
as the only preparation for the. fatal stroke." Dur-
ing the time of this trial and execution, Mary resided
at St. Andrews. She had left Bruntisland tor Falk-
land the day after the occurrence with Chatelard.
On the 16th she dined at Cupar, and the same even-
ing proceeded to St. Andrews, where she remained
till the 18th of March. While there she was much
grieved at hearing of the assassination of her uncle,
the Duke of Guise; and to relieve her melancholy
she went to Falkland, where she enjoyed the sports
of the field for some days, after which she returned
to St. Andrews, dining at Cupar both in going and
returning. Leaving St. Andrews she returned to
Falkland on the 3d of April, where, as well as at
Loclileven, she spent some time in hunting and
hawking. On the loth of April, 1563, she left
Lochleven, and dining at Strathhenry, rode to Falk-
land. Next day she dined at Newark, and in the
evening she proceeded to Cupar, where she remained
all night. In the afternoon of the 17th, she left
Cupar for St. Andrews, where she continued to re-
side till the 16th of May. A great part of her train
then left her, and proceeded to Edinburgh, by King-
horn. She left St. Andrews the same day, and slept
at Cupar, from whence she proceeded next day to
the neighbourhood of Markinch, where she dined.
She passed the night at Bruntisland, and in the
morning crosed to Leitb, and from thence came to
Edinburgh, after an absence of nearly four months.
In January, 1564-5, Mary passed "over to Fife,
where she amused herself with her usual sports,
sometimes at Falkland, and sometimes at St. An-
drews. In the month of February she was followed
by Randolph to St. Andrews, who again attempted
to renew the proposal of the marriage with Leicester.
Ot her manner of life at this time a very particular
account has been preserved in a letter from Ran-
dolph to his mistress. " Her Grace lodged," he says,
"in a merchant's house; her train were very few;
and there was small repair from any part." She in-
vited Randolph to dine and sup at her table while
he remained, so that his opportunities of observation
were very particular. After he had continued to at-
tend her for some days, he at length broached the
subject he had in charge from his mistress ; but Mary
appears, with much skill 'and tact, to have evaded
the subject. " I sent for you to be merry," said she
to the wily diplomatist, " and to see how like a
Bourgeois- wife 1 live, with my little troop ; and you
will interrupt our pastime with your great and grave
matters. 1 pray you, Sir, if you be weary here, re-
turn home to Edinburgh, and keep your gravity and
great embassade until the Queen come thither ; for,
1 assure you, you shall not get her here, nor I know
not myself where she is become ; you see neither
cloth of estate, nor such appearance, that you may
think that there is a Queen here; nor, I would not
that you should think, that I am she at St. Andrews,
that I was at Edinburgh." He farther describes her
as passing her time in agreeable and lively conversa-
tion; and in riding out after dinner. Finding no-
thing could be made of his residence at St. Andrews,
Randolph returned to Edinburgh, and about this time
the young Lord Darnley also arrived there. Mary
also left St. Andrews on the 11th of February, and
next day came to Lundy, on the south coast of Fife.
On the 13th she rode to Wemyss, then the residence
of the Earl of Murray ; and three days after, Lord
Darnley learning where she was, crossed the Forth,
and for the first time visited her there. He seems
to have been well received by her, and was lodged
in the castle. '* Her majesty," says Sir James Mel-
ville, [Memoirs, p. Ill,] " took very well with him,
and said, that he was the properest and best-propor-
tioned long man that ever she had seen." Darnley
remained some days at Wemyss castle.
After Mary's surrender at Carberry she was sent
a prisoner to Lochleven castle, the residence of
William Douglas, the brother uterine of Murray,
and the presumptive heir of Morton. She was con-
veyed to her place of confinement by the Lords
Ruth ven and Lindsay of the Byres, under an armed
escort, and placed under the surveillance of the bro-
ther of Murray, whence she effected her escape on
the 2d of May, 156S: see article Loch Leven.
James VI. seems to have been suspicious of the at-
tention paid to his Queen by the Earl of Murray, the
heir of the late Regent, a young nobleman of great
promise, and who was popularly styled " the Bonny
Earl of Murray." Under the pretence that he was
suspected of having aided Bothwell in his attempt
upon the palace, Huntly, who was the enemy of Mur-
ray, surrounded his house of Donnibristle in the
month of February, 1592, and set it on fire. Some
of the followers of Murray were put to death, and
others yielded. The unfortunate Earl himself tied
toward the shore, intending to cross the Forth in a
boat; but he was overtaken by a determined assas-
sin, Gordon of Buckie, who wounded him desperate-
ly in the face. The Earl had just strength left to
say with a last effort of expiring vanity, " Ye have
spoiled a better face than your own !" when he died.
Whilst James was employed in diplomatic endea-
vours to strengthen his right to succeed Elizabeth,
and at a time when all parties concurred in promot-
ing his interest, when the church had ceased to inter-
fere with the exercise of his authority, and when the
feuds among the nobility were gradually subsiding,
an incident occurred, which has never prcperly been
explained, and which had nearly deprived the king
of his life, and involved the whole island in civil war.
This was what has been called the Cowrie conspira-
cy, the principal actors in which, were the Earl of
Gowrie, and his brother Alexander Ruthven, sous of
that Earl of Gowrie who was put to death in 1584
for treason. It has been very generally disputed
whether any plot existed against the king. The
clergy at the time expressed more than doubts upon
the subject ; and did not hesitate to charge James
with a plot against the Ruthvens. V\ hat motive the
young men could have to destroy the king, has been
a question often asked ; and it has been equally often
saui, that if a plot indeed existed on their part, it was
one of the worst constructed upon record. James him-
self published a narrative of the circumstances which
occurred, and the following account is the substance
of his statements. On the 5th of August, 1600, he
was at his palace of Falkland, enjoying his favourite
amusement of hunting. At an earlv hour in the