Series 1 > Papal negotiations with Mary Queen of Scots during her reign in Scotland, 1561-1567

cxxiv PAPAL NEGOTIATIONS WITH MARY
The chief difficulty in rendering this passage lies in supply¬
ing the proper names, the pronouns being used very carelessly
in the original. In line five in particular the question arises,
Who invited Laureo to Scotland? The Spanish gives no
distinct specification, and the Spanish Calendar introduces
(without square brackets!) the name of Moretta. But with
Laureo’s correspondence before us we can see that it was
not Moretta who wrote to ask him to come over, but Mary
herself who did so, ‘ in a French letter all in her own hand1
(p. 322, § 2; and p. 324, iii.), and this again agrees with the
phrase 4 de su mano 1 given in the Spanish (but unfortunately
omitted in the Calendar). If the hand were the queen’s, that
would be a circumstance which de Silva might have thought
well to mention to King Philip, though we cannot imagine him
taking the trouble to do so, if Moretta had been the writer.
It is Mary’s name, then, which must be inserted in this place.
Having thus revised our text, de Silva’s report may be
reduced to the following three chief statements, ‘ Moretta told
me that Laureo will be well received.’ 4 She will govern her¬
self entirely by him.’ 4 He could go there with security.’
Laureo’s letters agree (more or less) with the first and third of
these clauses, so that eventually the discrepancy is reduced to
the wording of two phrases. In the one case Moretta is made
to say, that Mary 4 would govern herself entirely by the
nuncio,’1 in the other that the nuncio ‘will be able to do
nothing for God’s service (p. 371, § 4).’ There is no recon¬
ciling these statements. Either Moretta changed his mind
during his journey from London to Paris, or else he was mis¬
understood by Laureo or de Silva. .
If he was misunderstood, the mistake, it seems, was not
Laureo’s. We have an independent account of Moretta’s
opinion about the state of Scotland at this time, and we can
1 One cannot but suspect that Moretta’s real words to de Silva were ‘ Mary
said’ she would be governed by the nuncio.