Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/209

Rh was waylaid by Bothwell, accompanied by a troop of a thousand men, all well mounted, at a bridge which crosses the river Almond, within a mile of Linlithgow. Mary, when she encountered Bothwell, was attended by but a slight retinue, and by only three persons of note; these were the earl of Huntly, secretary Maitland, and Sir James Melville. Bothwell having dismissed all her attendants, with the exception of the three last, seized the bridle of Mary's horse, and immediately after the whole cavalcade proceeded with their utmost speed to Dunbar, one of Both well's castles. Here Mary was detained for ten days, during which time Bothwell had succeeded in obtaining her consent to espouse him. At the end of this period, the queen and her future husband returned to Edinburgh, and in a few weeks afterwards were married, Bothwell having previously obtained a divorce from his wife, the lady Jane Gordon, and a formal pardon, before the lords of session, from Mary herself, for his having seized upon her person. With regard to these transactions, thus briefly narrated, much has been said of the determined, unprincipled, and ferocious character of Bothwell, and much of the helplessness of the condition to which Mary was reduced; but it cannot be denied that they present still a startling appearance, even after all that has been said to explain away what part of them affects the character of Mary.

Bothwell, however, did not long enjoy the success of his villany: his own ruin, and that of his unfortunate partner, speedily followed their unhappy connexion.

Disgusted with the insolence of his manner, and not improbably disappointed in the hopes which they had entertained from his elevation, a number of those very lords who had assisted him to attain it, together with many others, took up arms to displace him.

On learning the designs of his enemies, Boihwell hastily collected at Dunbar a force of 2000 men, and with these marched towards Edinburgh on the 14th of June, 1567. The hostile lords, with an army somewhat less in number, marched from the latter city to meet him, and on the 15th, the two armies came in sight of each other, Both well's troops occupying Carberry hill, a rising ground to the east of Musselburgh. Neither army evincing much inclination to come to blows, negotiations were entered into, and the final result of these was, that Mary, who had accompanied Bothwell to the field, offered to deliver herself up to the opposite party, on condition, that they would conduct her safely to Edinburgh, and thereafter yield obedience to her authority. This being agreed to, she prevailed upon her husband to quit the field, and, conducted by Kirkaldy of Grange, presented herself before the hostile lords, and claimed their protection. Mary was now conducted into Edinburgh, but with little respect either to her rank, her sex, or her feelings. Insulted by the rabble as she passed along, and dissolved in tears, she was taken to the house of the provost, instead of the palace, a circumstance which added greatly to her distress. Dreading a re-action of the popular feeling towards the queen, which, indeed, shortly afterwards took place, Mary's captors, for they now stood in that position, conveyed her on the evening of the following day, to Holyrood, and at midnight, hurried her away on horseback to the castle of Lochleven, situated on a small island in a lake of that name in Fifesliire, and placed her in charge of lady Douglas, mother of the earl of Murray by James V., a woman of haughty and austere manners and disposition.

This extreme proceeding towards the unhappy queen was in little more than a month afterwards followed by another still more decisive and humiliating.

On the 24th of July, 1567, lord Lindsay and Sir Robert Lindsay, deputed by the lords of Secret Council, proceeded to Lochleven, and hy threats of per-