Stuart dynasty

MARY SWART'S CAPTIVITY AND DEATH. 193
Paris, told under the threat of torture, and never con-
firmed by word of mouth — inasmuch as, like Dagleish,
he was promptly hanged — was absolutely incredible.
Who, for instance, believes Mary Stuart foolish
enough to adopt funereal black curtains for her bed a
few hours after Darnley 's violent death, when the
terrified youth was brought to declare be had seen her
leisurely eating an egg ? * No! she stands or falls with
the incredibility or genuineness of the Casket Letters.
Into the internal evidence which has been adduced
regarding the assumed credibility or incredibility of
the Casket Letters we shall not be expected to enter
exhaustively here, because to do so with effect, and
not present a mere ex parte statement, would involve
a treatise nearly as long as this whole volume ; but,
allowing for the discovery of Morton's deposition, it
must be allowed that later scientific opinion regards
these mysterious productions with increased suspicion,
while Mr. Hosack's before-mentioned theory gains
credence steadily now that it has become known
that Darnley knew sufficient French to read the
letters (admitted to have been written in that lan-
guage), which Mary's able and most successful advo-
cate believed were addressed to Darnley, and not
to Bothwell. Darnley's early proficiency in Latin
and French is attested in a letter of the Rev. John
Elder to Lord Robert Stuart, Bishop of Caithness,
January 1555 : — " I have sent also unto your Lord-
ship certain verses and adages written by Henry
* Froude's ' History of England,' edition 1866, vol. ix. p. 5.
t Casket Letters, see Appendix III.