True or false, and it is probably true, the list of persons present adds nothing to the credibility of Morton’s account. The Commissioners of Mary had withdrawn; there could not be, and there was not, any cross-examination of the men named in Morton’s list, as witnesses of the opening of the Casket. Lethington alone, of these, was now present, if indeed he appeared at this sitting, and _his_ emotions may be imagined! The rest might learn, later, that they had been named, from Lethington, after he joined Mary’s cause, but it is highly improbable that Lethington wanted to stir this matter again, or gave any information to Home (who was with him in the long siege of the Castle). Sanquhar and Tullibardine, cited by Morton, signed the band for delivering Mary from Loch Leven; so much effect had the ‘sichting’ of the Casket Letters on _them_. The story of Morton is probably true, so far: certainly the Lords, about June 21, got the Casket, whatever its contents then were. But that the contents remained unadded to and unimpaired, and unaltered, is only attested by Morton’s oath, and by the necessary silence of Lethington, who, of all those at Westminster, alone was present at the ‘sichting,’ on June 21, 1567. But Lethington dared not speak, even if he dared to be present. If any minute was made of the meeting of June 21, if any inventory of the documents in the Casket was then compiled, Morton produced neither of these indispensable corroborations at Westminster. His peril was perhaps as great as Lethington’s, but he was of a different temperament. The case of the Prosecution is full of examples of such unscientific handling by the cautious Scots, as the omission of minutes of June 21. Next, on December 9, a written statement by Darnley’s servant, Nelson, who survived the explosion, was sworn to by the man himself. His evidence chiefly bore on the possession of the Keys of Kirk o’ Field by Mary’s servants, and her economy in using a door for a cover of the ‘bath-vat,’ and in removing a black velvet bed. We have dealt with it already (p. 133). Next was put in Crawford’s deposition as to his conversations with Darnley at Glasgow. This was intended to corroborate Letter II., but, as shall later be shown, it produces the opposite effect.[314] At an unknown date, Cecil received the Itinerary of Mary during the period under examination, which is called ‘Cecil’s Journal,’ and is so drawn up as to destroy Moray’s case, if we accept its chronology. We know not on what authority it was compiled, but Lennox, on June 11, had asked his retainers to ascertain some of the dates contained in this ‘Journal.’