Series 3 > Scottish correspondence of Mary of Lorraine

MARY OF LORRAINE
407
be ane medicinar in helpin of thair faltis, and to gif regi¬
ment therfor efter your gracis awis. As to my syster,1 I
beleif scho sail get ane schort regiment fra hir husband 2
or her departing furth of Edinburght. As to your gracis
passage at this tyme throw mos and myr, throw the
quhilk your grace is abill to trawell herefter throw the
boundis of Ergyle,3 your grace sail cum na sonare thar
bot your grace salbe welcum; prayand God it be sone.
As to your haste returnyng to Stirling I reffer that to
your gracis awn discretione, becaus I schow your grace
my mynd therintill at my departing fra your grace. And
what service your grace plesis command me salbe redy
to your grace, as knawis God, quha haif your grace in
eternall keping. At Campbell,4 the xi day of Februar
instant5
be your gracis humile servitour
Arc. Erl of Ergyle.5
1 This is apparently Agnes Campbell. Elizabeth, Countess of Moray and Suther¬
land, the only other sister known to the Scots Peerage, was dead before this date.
2 Agnes Campbell was the wife of James M‘Connell of Dunniveg. He was
in Edinburgh on 12th May 1556. {Register of Deeds, i. f. 347.) His
immediate movements after this date are not known, but he is next found in
Ireland. According to one account, in 1556 he was defeated by the English and
forced to retreat to Scotland, while in 1557 he and his brothers, at the head
of a Scoto-French force, are said to have defeated the English in Ireland.
(Clan Donald, ii. 533 ; cf. S.H.R. xxii. 52, Plantation of Ulster.)
3 This may refer to a projected judicial circuit in Argyle. It is noteworthy,
however, that the Queen of England was suspicious of the Regent’s ulterior
motives in making continual progresses through her kingdom. She feared,
in particular, that the Scots were stirring up trouble in Ireland. A letter
written by D’Oysel from Banff, on 5th September 1556 to the French
ambassador in London, is weighted with significance in this connection. He
writes, ‘ Et qui voudroit favoriser les enterprinses dTrlande, dont m’escripvez,
il se fauldroit approcher des isles d’West ... si bien, Monsieur, qu’apres
avoir entendu ce que vous escripvez par vostre memoire du xi® aoust touchant le
milord Fouastre, je fis escrire par ceste dicte Royne a Mr le comte d’Arguilz,
qui estoit party d’avec elle pour s’en aller au West, de s’enquerir des nouvelles
dudict pays dTrland.’ (Teulet, i. 275.)
4 Castle Campbell is near Dollar, in Clackmannanshire. Here, Knox visited
Argyle and ‘tawght certane dayis,’ some time between May and July 1556.
{History, i. 251-4.)
5 The year is probably 1555-6. Owing to a strange lack of documentary
sources, it is impossible to trace the details of the Queen’s movements at this