[90] "I plainly refused," says Craig, in his account of this matter, which still remains among the records of the General Assembly, "because he (Hepburn) had not her handwriting; and also the constant bruit that my Lord had both ravished her and kept her in captivity."--Anderson, vol. ii. p. 299. [91] Anderson, vol. ii. p. 280. [92] Anderson, vol. i. p. 111.--Keith, p. 384. [93] Anderson, vol. i. p. 87. [94] History of James VI. p. 10.--Keith, p. 386.--Melville, p. 78.--Whittaker, vol. iii. p. 127. et seq. Upon this subject, Lord Hailes has judiciously remarked:--"After Mary had remained a fortnight under the power of a daring profligate adventurer, few foreign princes would have solicited her hand. Some of her subjects might still have sought that honour, but her compliance would have been humiliating beyond measure. It would have left her at the mercy of a capricious husband,--it would have exposed her to the disgrace of being reproached in some sullen hour, for the adventure at Dunbar. Mary was so situated, at this critical period, that she was reduced to this horrid alternative, either to remain in a friendless and most hazardous celibacy, or to yield her hand to Bothwell."--_Remarks on the History of Scotland_, _p._ 204. [95] Melville, p. 178. [96] Letter from the Lords of Scotland to Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, in Keith, p. 417. [97] Melville, p. 180. [98] Melville, p. 199. [99] Keith, p. 394.--Melville, p. 179.--Knox, p. 406. [100] Anderson, vol. i. p. 131. [101] Anderson, vol. i. p. 128. [102] Knox, p. 409. [103] Laing, Appendix, p. 115. [104] Laing, Appendix, vol. ii. p. 116. Knox says that it was Bothwell who drew back; but the authority to which we have referred is more to be depended on. [105] Melville, p. 182. [106] Laing, Appendix, vol. ii. p. 116. [107] Keith, p. 402. [108] Keith, p. 403.--Melville, p. 184.--Knox, p. 409.--Laing, Appendix, vol. ii. p. 117. [109] Laing, Appendix, vol. ii. p. 119.--Anderson, vol. i. p. 128.--Keith, p. 418. [110] Anderson, vol. i. p. 134. [111] Keith, p. 408. [112] Buchanan's History, Book XVIII. [113] Keith, p. 406, et seq. [114] Anderson, vol. i. p. 139.