Volume 8

A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen / edited by Robert Chambers.

Date:
1854-1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen / edited by Robert Chambers. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of his servants, went through the gate of the Nether Bow, giving to tlie sentinert- question of “ Who goes there?” the answer of “Friends of Lord Bothwell.” Between the hours of two and three, a terrible explosion shook the houses nearest the Kirk of Field, and roused the townsmen from their slumbers, while the assassins ran back to the city, and re-entered Holyrood as stealthily as they had left it. A crowd of citizens, whom the din had alarmed, repaired to the spot, and found the house a heap of ruin, and the bodies of the king and the page of his chamber lying dead in a neighbouring orchard. But it was remarked that neither the corpses nor their night clothes were scorched with powder, and that they were too far from the house to have been thrown there by the explo- sion ; it was evident that other and surer agencies had been at work, and that gunpowder had been resorted to, merely to mislead inquiry, or make the deed appear the work of accident. The full particulars that afterwards came out on trial justified these surmises. Darnley had been strangled, and, as it was asserted, by the hands of Bothwell himself; the page had undergone the same fate; and the bodies being afterwards removed into the orchard, the match had been lighted that communicated with the gunpowder. While the crowd were still gazing upon the ruins, and bewildering themselves in speculation, Bothwell himself arrived among them at the head of a party of soldiers. On returning to Holyrood, he had gone to bed, that he might receive the expected tidings like an innocent man; and when, half-au-hour afterwards, a hasty messenger knocked at his door, and told him what had happened, he shouted, “ Treason!” repaired with the Earl of Huntly to the queen to advertise her of the misfortune, and afterwards passed on to the spot, as if anxious to hold inquest upon the fact, and discover the authors of the deed. But he only dispersed the crowd, whose sharp curiosity he must have felt unpleasant, and caused the bodies to be removed to a neighbouring house, where no one was permitted to see them. That of Darnley was soon after carried to the palace; and, instead of an honour- able funeral, such as was befitting a king-consort, it was carried at night by pioneers, and interred without solemnity beside the grave of David Rizzio. As soon as tidings of the murder had reached her, Mary shut herself up in her apartment, where she would admit no one to see her but Bothwell, or hold intercourse with any of her servants but through himself. According to tlie custom of the country, forty days should have been spent in seclusion and mourning, with closed doors and windows ; but on the fourth day the windons were unshaded, and before the twelfth she repaired with Bothwell to Seton Castle, where they mingled in the gay amusements of the plaee, shot at the butts, in tri.als of archery with Huntly and Seton, and crowned their victory W'ith the forfeit of the losers, which was a dinner at Tranent. In the mean- time, was any diligence, or even show of diligenee, given to apprehend the mur- derers'? Strange to tell, it was not until three days after the deed that sucli a step w’as taken ; and on Wednesday, the 12th of February, a proclamation was made, offering a reward of two thousand pounds (Scotch?) for the detection of the criminals. No sooner was this done than every tongue was ready to name the name of Bothwell. But the bold bad man was too powerful to be accused, as well as too unscruplous to bo provoked, and no one was found so hardv as to step forth to criminate him. Still it was impossible for the general suspicion to remain wholly silent, and while voices were heard in the darkness of midnight thi'ough the streets proclaiming Bothwell to be the kings muiderei, placards and pictures were affixed on the public places to the same effect. It