Mary, Queen of Scots, 1542-1587; Queens -- Scotland -- Biography; Scotland -- History -- Mary Stuart, 1542-1567
The sceptic, however, will doubtless argue, ‘We do not know the date of
this discourse, in which Lennox describes a letter to very much the same
effect as Moray does. May not Lennox have met Moray, in or near London,
when Moray was there in July, 1567? May not Moray have told Lennox what he
told de Silva, and even more copiously? What he told was (by his account)
mere third-hand gossip, but perhaps Lennox received it from him as gospel,
and sat down at once, and elaborated a long “discourse,” in which he
recorded as fact Moray’s tattle. By this means de Silva and Lennox would
offer practically identical accounts of the long letter; accounts which,
indeed, correspond to no known Casket Letter, but err merely because
Moray’s information was hearsay, casual, and unevidential.’ ‘Why,’ my
inquirer goes on, ‘do you speak of Lennox and Moray giving their
descriptions of the Letter _at two different times_?’
The answer to the last question may partly be put in the form of another
question. Why should Lennox be making a long indictment, of seven folio
pages, against Mary, in July, 1567, when Moray was passing through town on
his way from France to Scotland? Mary was then a prisoner in Loch Leven.
Lennox, though in poverty, was, on July 16, 1567, accepted as a
Joint-Regent by Mary, if Moray did not become Regent, alone.[242] On July
29, 1567, James VI. was crowned, a yearling King, and it was decided that
if Moray, who had not yet arrived in Scotland, refused to be Regent alone,
Lennox should be joined with him and others on a Commission of
Regency.[243] Moray, of course, did not refuse power, nor did Lennox go to
Scotland. But, even if Lennox had really been made a co-Regent when Moray
held his conversation about the Letter with de Silva, he would have had,
at that moment, no need to draw up his ‘discourse’ against Mary. The Lords
had subdued her, had extorted her abdication, and did not proceed to
accuse their prisoner. Again, even if they had meant to try her at this
time, that would not explain Lennox’s supposed conduct in then drawing up
against her an indictment, including the gossip about her Letter, which
(on the hypothesis) he had, at that hour, obtained from Moray, in London.
This can easily be proved: thus. The document in which Lennox describes
the Letter was never meant for a _Scottish_ court of justice. It is
carefully made out _in English_, by an English scribe, and is elaborately
corrected in Lennox’s hand, as a man corrects a proof-sheet. Consequently,
this early ‘discourse’ of Lennox’s, with its description of the murderous
letter, never produced, was meant, not for a Scottish, but for an English
Court, or meeting of Commissioners. None such could be held while Mary was
a prisoner in Scotland: and no English indictment could then be made by
Lennox. He must have expected the letter he quoted to be produced: which
never was done.
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