Series 3 > Scottish correspondence of Mary of Lorraine

xxii CORRESPONDENCE OF MARY OF LORRAINE
it should incriminate the sender. [No. CXXXIL] In
such circumstances the kernel of the nut was often con¬
tained in verbal credence. Thus, in the crisis of October
1559, we should like to know what were the high and secret
matters which the Master of Semple had ‘ schawin to this
berar wyt my mynd at lynth.' [No. CCLXXXIV.] The
impolicy, quite as much as the labour, of writing, pre¬
vented him from compromising himself on paper. We
cannot, therefore, judge the standard of education solely
from the results as seen in this Correspondence.
Merchants, like Meldrum, and archers of the Scots
Guards, like Barclay, act as their own scribes, while
Patrick, Earl Bothwell, in all his vicissitudes never does
more than sign his name. Marion, Lady Home, could
express herself with more vigour than legibility. If the
holograph letters of Lady Huntly and the Countess of
Errol were actually penned by themselves, then they
were not only fairer scribes than their husbands, but the
former acted on occasion as the secretary of the Earl.
[No. XVL]
Lady Huntly, indeed, seems to have been the faithful
helpmeet of her husband in foul weather as in fair. The
Correspondence indicates that she laboured strenuously
to effect his escape from his English captivity, and it is
hinted that she was his accomplice in darker crimes.
[Nos. CLXII, CXCII1, CCLIV.] She thus provides an
illustration of the family solidarity that counted for so
much, both for good and ill, in Scottish history. Only
by reason of fortuitous circumstances does the case of
the Gordons stand out most conspicuously in the Corre¬
spondence. All men, in their degree, were loyal to family
interests. Instances might be multiplied of the times
when Mary of Lorraine ‘ hes knawyng the cowmon weill
perreche . . . consederane the partecularaty and effec-
tion ’ bred by the clan spirit through the length and