History of the Fife Pitcairns

LORD ROBERT PITCAIRN. 103
to do. And ye know thair hes not bene gretar necessitie of thair
service nor now quhilk we dout not bot zour pairt ye will regaird
with als greit cair as the mater twechis us all indeid. The gretar
expeditioun in this behalf be vsit the mair acceptabill will the thing
be that cumes. And sa leifhng forther writting to new occasioun
we commit you in the protectioun of Almychtie God at Edinburgh
the xxij of Januar 1570.
As the Earl of Lennox's letter to Robert Pitcairn was
written in January of 1570, Pitcairn must then have again
been sent Ambassador to Elizabeth's Court, for repressing
the common enemy, and in order to show the regard of
the Scots for her, they also proposed to elect a Regent
according to her wish.
Sir James Melville writes 1 : —
Returning back from Berwick, I met the Abbot of Dunfarmling,
sent by the King's Lords to England, to meet with the Earl of
Lennox in his passing by. His chief Commission was (so far as
I could afterward inform myself) to desire the Queen of England
to deliver the Queen of Scotland to be kept by the King's Lords
here at home, seeing that she would not proceed otherwise, accord-
ing to the accusation given in against her the time my Lord Murray
was there. Wherefore the Queen of England made answer, " If
they would find her sufficient pledges for the security of the Queen's
life, she would deliver her to be kept by them." The Abbot
alleged, "That would be hard to do, for what in case the Queen
dye in the meantime ? "
She answered, " My Lord, I believed you had been a wise
man, and that you would not press me to speak what is no ways
necessary. You may know, that I cannot but for my honour
require Pledges for that end, I think you may judge also of your
self what might be best for me."
Her meaning in this might be easily judged and understood.
In the Calendar of State Papers, May 20, 1570, are the
following entries : —
1570, May 20, Kingston. Robert, Commendator of Dunfermline,
to Cecil. . . . Reminds him of the anxiety of the Lords for some
certain resolution in the matters committed to him, and of the
necessity of paying the ^2000 owing to the 200 harquebussiers
who served the late Regent.
1 Sir James Melville's Memoirs.