The King's body was blown into the garden by the violence of the explosion, and a poor English valet of his, who slept in his room, was there killed.... Earl Bothwell was much suspected of this villainous and detestable murder.... If we may judge by the plots, deeds, and contrivances of his associates, it would seem that after having used him to rid themselves of the King, they designed to make Bothwell their instrument to ruin the Queen, their true and lawful sovereign. Their plan was this, to persuade her to marry the Earl of Bothwell, so that they might charge her with being in the plot against her late husband, and a consenting party to his death. This they did shortly after, appealing to the fact that she had married the murderer. _ANOTHER ACCOUNT BY BUCHANAN_ Buchanan (_Translated from History_, xx. 35). The Archbishop of St. Andrews, who lived nearest, willingly undertook the task of killing the King, when it was offered to him, both on account of old enmities, and in the hope of bringing the succession nearer his own family. He chose, accordingly, six or eight of the most abandoned of his retainers, and entrusted the matter to them, giving them the keys of the King's lodging. They entered very quietly into his chamber, strangled him as he lay sleeping, and carried his body through the postern into a garden beside the walls. Then, at a given signal, fire was applied to the house. [The question as to the manner of Darnley's death has given rise to considerable discussion. The depositions of Hay, Hepburn, and Paris (vide pp. 144, 215-218) agree in representing that the King was killed by the explosion. On the other hand, Drury, who wrote to Cecil on 24th April {Foreign Calendar}, and Count Moretta, the agent of the Duke of Savoy, who was in Edinburgh {Labanoff, vii. 108}, state that he was strangled. The facts that the bodies of Darnley and his servant, Taylor, were found together, in the garden, at some little distance from the house, without violent injury; that Darnley's pelisse and slippers were found beside him; and that the other bodies were found among the ruins, must be taken into account in forming a judgment on the question.] SECTION V FROM THE MURDER OF DARNLEY TO THE FLIGHT INTO ENGLAND _CONTENTS_ 1. Introductory Note. 2. Mary's seizure by Bothwell. (_a_) The Ainslie Bond. (_b_) Mary's description. (_c_) Description in the Diurnal of Occurrents. (_d_) Guzman de Silva to Philip II. 3. The Bothwell Marriage. (_a_) The Divorce. (_b_) The Dukedom of Orkney. (_c_) The Marriage. (_d_) Mary's demeanour, as described by Du Croc and Drury. 4. Carberry Hill. 5. Mary in Lochleven. (_a_) Guzman de Silva on the nature of the Rebellion. (_b_) Elizabeth's intervention. (_c_) De Silva's conversation with Murray--the first suggestion of the Casket Letters. 6. The escape from Lochleven. _LENNOX AND THE QUEEN_