[69] Knox, p. 320.--Buchanan's History, Book xvii.--Chalmers, vol. i. p. 95, and vol. ii. p. 309, whose authority is a letter of Randolph, preserved in the Paper Office, and written the evening of the very day on which the battle took place. Randolph, though not on the field himself, had two servants there, and saw the dead body of the Earl, when it was brought into Aberdeen. Robertson and others have said, that Huntly, who was very corpulent, was slain on the field, or trodden to death in the pursuit. Chalmers, however, has truth on his side, when he remarks, that "Doctor Robertson, who never saw those instructive letters (of Randolph), grossly misrepresents the whole circumstances of that affair at Corrachie; he says, 'Huntly advanced with a considerable force towards Aberdeen, and filled the Queen's _small court_ with the _utmost consternation_; and that Murray had only a handful of men in whom he could confide; but, by his steady courage and prudent conduct, gained a miraculous victory.' For the assertion of Murray's having only a _handful of men_, he quotes Keith, p. 230, in which there is not one word of the _force_ at Corrachie on either side. The force there spoken of is what the Queen had about her _two months before_ on her first progress into the North, not on her return to Aberdeen, after new troops had been raised, and old ones summoned to that premeditated and barbarous scene." Knox is also a better authority upon this subject than Robertson. He gives the following curious account of the Earl's death and subsequent fate:--"The Earl, immediately after his taking, departed this life, without any wound, or yet appearance of any stroke, whereof death might have ensued; and so, because it was late, he was cast over athwart a pair of creels, and so was carried to Aberdeen, and was laid in the tolbooth thereof, that the response which his wife's witches had given might be fulfilled, who all affirmed (as the most part say), that that same night he should be in the tolbooth of Aberdeen, without any wound upon his body. When his lady got knowledge thereof, she blamed her principal witch, called Janet; but she stoutly defended herself (as the Devil can ever do), and affirmed that she gave a true answer, albeit she spoke not all the truth; for she knew that he should be there dead." Knox, p. 328. "It is a memorable fact," Chalmers elsewhere remarks, "that Huntly and Sutherland" (who was forfeited soon afterwards, as implicated in this pretended rebellion) "were two of those nobles who had sent Bishop Lesley to France, with offers of duty and services to the Queen, while Murray, Maitland, and other considerable men offered their duties and services to Elizabeth." [70] Randolph in Keith, p. 230. [71] Little did Mary then dream of Fotheringay.