Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/207

Rh all the kindnesses and honours which his wife had heaped upon him, became an active partizan in a plot devised against her interest, her dignity, and her hap- piness. There was, however, one person whose fidelity to the queen made him sufficiently dangerous to render it necessary, for the safety of all, that he should be removed out of the way. This was David Rizzio, Mary's secretary. Sincerely interested in the safety and honour of his royal mistress, he was known to have exerted his influence with her, against those who had aimed at depriving her of her authority; and he was also known to have exerted that influence to prevent her yielding up too much of that authority to Darnley. Being thus equally detested by both, and generally unpopular on account of his religion and his country, and for the high estimation in which he was held by the queen, his destruction was determined upon.

On the evening of the 9th of March, 1565, the conspirators, headed by lord Ruthven, entered the queen's chamber, whilst she was at supper with several of her household, including Rizzio. On their entering, the queen indignantly demanded the meaning of this intrusion. This they soon explained; and immediately proceeded to attack their victim with their drawn weapons. Rizzio, by taking shelter behind the queen, for some time escaped the blows of the assassins, but was at length stabbed in the side over the queen's shoulder, and immediately after dragged into an adjoining apartment, and despatched with no fewer than fifty-six wounds. Immediately after the assassination, Darnley and Morton placed the queen in ward; and, on the following morning, issued a proclamation, in the king's name, proroguing the parliament, which was then sitting, and which had discovered such a disposition in favour of the queen, as rendered it highly dangerous. In the evening of the same day, Murray, with the other banished lords, returned from England.

At this critical period, the vacillating Darnley, unable to pursue any course, whether for good or evil, steadily, began to repent of the part he was acting, and allowed himself to be persuaded by Mary, not only to desert his accom- plices, but to assist and accompany her in making her escape from Holyrood. Attended only by the captain of the guard and two other persons, Mary and her husband left the palace at midnight for Dunbar, to which they rode without stopping. Here the queen found herself, in the course of a few days, surrounded by the half of her nobility, and at the head of a powerful army. With these she returned, after an absence of only five days, in triumph to Edinburgh, where she was again reinstated in full and uncontrolled authority. The conspirators, unable to offer the slightest resistance, fled in all directions; while their leaders, Morton, Maitland, Ruthven, and Lindsay, sought safety in Newcastle. Mary had, a few days before, with not an unwise policy, lessened, the number of her enemies, and increased that of her friends, by receiving Murray, and several others of those who had been associated with him, into favour; and, therefore, now again enjoyed the benefit of the judicious counsel of her able, but ambitious brother.

Soon after the occurrence of the events just related, Mary became aware of the near approach of the hour which was to make her a mother. In the anticipation of this event, slie took up her abode, by the advice of her privy council, in the castle of Edinburgh, where, on the 19th of June, 1566, between the hours of nine and ten in the morning, she was delivered of a son, afterwards James VI. of Scotland, and I. of England.

The intelligence of Mary's accouchement was received with the utmost joy throughout the whole kingdom. In Edinburgh, it amounted to enthusiasm All the nobles in the city, accompanied by the greater part of the citizens, went in solemn procession to the high church, and returned thanks to the Al-