The History of England, Volume IV Elizabeth The queen’s affected sorrow
by David Hume
When the queen was informed of Mary’s execution, she affected the utmost surprize and indignation. Her countenance changed; her speech faltered and failed her; for a long time, her sorrow was so deep that she could not express it, but stood fixed, like a statue, in silence and mute astonishment. After her grief was able to find vent, it burst out in loud wailings and lamentations; she put herself in deep mourning for this deplorable event; and she was seen perpetually bathed in tears, and surrounded only by her maids and women. None of her ministers or counsellors dared to approach her; or if any had such temerity, she chased them from her, with the most violent expressions of rage and resentment: They had all of them been guilty of an unpardonable crime, in putting to death her dear sister and kinswoman, contrary to her fixed purpose,c of which they were sufficiently apprized and acquainted.
No sooner was her sorrow so much abated as to leave room for reflection, than she wrote a letter of apology to the king of Scots, and sent it by Sir Robert Cary, son of lord Hunsdon. She there told him, that she wished he knew, but not felt, the unutterable grief which she experienced, on account of that lamentable accident, which, without her knowledge, much less concurrence, had happened in England: That as her pen trembled, when she attempted to write it, she found herself obliged to commit the relation of it to the messenger, her kinsman; who would likewise inform his majesty of every circumstance, attending this dismal and unlooked for misfortune: That she appealed to the supreme Judge of heaven and earth for her innocence; and was also so happy, amidst her other afflictions, as to find, that many persons in her court could bear witness to her veracity in this protestation: That she abhorred dissimulation; deemed nothing more worthy of a prince than a sincere and open conduct; and could never surely be esteemed so base and poor-spirited, as that, if she had really given orders for this fatal execution, she could, on any consideration, be induced to deny them: That, though sensible of the justice of the sentence pronounced against the unhappy prisoner, she determined from clemency never to carry it into execution; and could not but resent the temerity of those, who on this occasion had disappointed her intention: And that as no one loved him more dearly than herself, or bore a more anxious concern for his welfare; she hoped, that he would consider every one as his enemy, who endeavoured, on account of the present incident, to excite any animosity between them.d
In order the better to appease James, she committed Davison to prison, and ordered him to be tried in the Star-Chamber for his misdemeanour. The secretary was confounded; and being sensible of the danger, which must attend his entering into a contest with the queen, he expressed penitence for his error, and submitted very patiently to be railed at by those very counsellors, whose persuasion had induced him to incur the guilt, and who had promised to countenance and protect him. He was condemned to imprisonment during the queen’s pleasure, and to pay a fine of ten thousand pounds. He remained a long time in custody; and the fine, though it reduced him to beggary, was rigorously levied upon him. All the favour, which he could obtain from the queen, was sending him small supplies from time to time, to keep him from perishing in necessity.e He privately wrote an apology to his friend Walsingham, which contains many curious particulars. The French and Scotch ambassadors, he said, had been remonstrating with the queen in Mary’s behalf; and immediately after their departure, she commanded him, of her own accord, to deliver her the warrant for the execution of that princess. She signed it readily, and ordered it to be sealed with the great seal of England. She appeared in such good humour on the occasion, that she said to him in a jocular manner, "Go tell all this to Walsingham, who is now sick: Though I fear he will die of sorrow, when he hears of it." She added, that, though she had so long delayed the execution, lest she should seem to be actuated by malice or cruelty, she was all along sensible of the necessity of it. In the same conversation, she blamed Drury and Paulet, that they had not before eased her of this trouble; and she expressed her desire, that Walsingham would bring them to compliance in that particular. She was so bent on this purpose, that, some time after, she asked Davison, Whether any letter had come from Paulet with regard to the service expected of him? Davison showed her Paulet’s letter; in which that gentleman positively refused to act any thing inconsistent with the principles of honour and justice. The queen fell into a passion; and accused Paulet, as well as Drury, of perjury; because, having taken the oath of association, in which they had bound themselves to avenge her wrongs, they had yet refused to lend their hand on this occasion. "But others," she said, "will be found less scrupulous." Davison adds, that nothing but the consent and exhortations of the whole council could have engaged him to send off the warrant: He was well aware of his danger; and remembered, that the queen, after having ordered the execution of the duke of Norfolk, had endeavoured, in a like manner, to throw the whole blame and odium of that action upon lord Burleigh.f
Elizabeth’s dissimulation was so gross, that it could deceive no body, who was not previously resolved to be blinded; but as James’s concern for his mother was certainly more sincere and cordial, he discovered the highest resentment, and refused to admit Cary into his presence. He recalled his ambassadors from England; and seemed to breathe nothing but war and vengeance. The States of Scotland, being assembled, took part in his anger; and professed, that they were ready to spend their lives and fortunes in revenge of his mother’s death, and in defence of his title to the crown of England. Many of his nobility instigated him to take arms: Lord Sinclair, when the courtiers appeared in deep mourning, presented himself to the king arrayed in complete armour, and said, that this was the proper mourning for the queen. The catholics took the opportunity of exhorting James to make an alliance with the king of Spain, to lay immediate claim to the crown of England, and to prevent the ruin, which, from his mother’s example, he might conclude, would certainly, if Elizabeth’s power prevailed, overwhelm his person and his kingdom. The queen was sensible of the danger attending these counsels; and after allowing James some decent interval to vent his grief and anger, she employed her emissaries to pacify him, and to set before him every motive of hope or fear, which might induce him to live in amity with her.
[4th March.] Walsingham wrote to lord Thirlstone, James’s secretary, a judicious letter to the same purpose. He said, that he was much surprized to hear of the violent resolutions taken in Scotland, and of the passion discovered by a prince of so much judgment and temper as James: That a war, founded merely on the principle of revenge, and that too on account of an act of justice which necessity had extorted, would for ever be exposed to censure, and could not be excused by any principles of equity or reason: That if these views were deemed less momentous among princes, policy and interest ought certainly to be attended to; and these motives did still more evidently oppose all thoughts of a rupture with Elizabeth, and all revival of exploded claims to the English throne: That the inequality between the two kingdoms deprived James of any hopes of success, if he trusted merely to the force of his own state, and had no recourse to foreign powers for assistance: That the objections, attending the introduction of succours from a more potent monarch, appeared so evident from all the transactions of history, that they could not escape a person of the King’s extensive knowledge; but there were, in the present case, several peculiar circumstances, which ought for ever to deter him from having recourse to so dangerous an expedient: That the French monarch, the ancient ally of Scotland, might willingly use the assistance of that kingdom against England; but would be displeased to see the union of these two kingdoms in the person of James; a union, which would ever after exclude him from practising that policy, formerly so useful to the French, and so pernicious to the Scottish, nation: That Henry besides, infested with faction and domestic war, was not in a condition of supporting distant allies; much less would he expose himself to any hazard or expence, in order to aggrandize a near kinsman of the house of Guise, the most determined enemies of his repose and authority: That the extensive power and exorbitant ambition of the Spanish monarch rendered him a still more dangerous ally to Scotland; and as he evidently aspired to an universal monarchy in the west, and had in particular advanced some claims to England, as if he were descended from the house of Lancaster, he was at the same time the common enemy of all princes, who wished to maintain their independence; and the immediate rival and competitor of the king of Scots: That the queen, by her own naval power, and her alliance with the Hollanders, would probably intercept all succours which might be sent to James from abroad, and be enabled to decide the controversy in this island with the superior forces of her own kingdom, opposed to those of Scotland: That if the king revived his mother’s pretensions to the crown of England, he must also embrace her religion, by which alone they could be justified; and must thereby undergo the infamy of abandoning those principles, in which he had been strictly educated, and to which he had hitherto religiously adhered: That as he would, by such an apostacy, totally alienate all the protestants in Scotland and England, he could never gain the confidence of the catholics, who would still entertain reasonable doubts of his sincerity: That by advancing a present claim to the crown, he forfeited the certain prospect of his succession; and revived that national animosity, which the late peace and alliance between the kingdoms had happily extinguished: That the whole gentry and nobility of England had openly declared themselves for the execution of the queen of Scots; and if James showed such violent resentment against that act of justice, they would be obliged, for their own security, to prevent for ever so implacable a prince from ruling over them: And that, however some persons might represent his honour as engaged to seek vengeance for the present affront and injury, the true honour of a prince consisted in wisdom and moderation and justice, not in following the dictates of blind passion, or in pursuing revenge at the expence of every motive and every interest.g These considerations, joined to the peaceable, unambitious temper of the young prince, prevailed over his resentment; and he fell gradually into a good correspondence with the court of England. It is probable, that the queen’s chief object in her dissimulation with regard to the execution of Mary, was, that she might thereby afford James a decent pretence for renewing his amity with her, on which their mutual interests so much depended.
[c] Camden, p. 536. Strype, vol. iii. Appendix, p. 145. Jebb, vol. ii. p. 608.
[d] Camden, p. 536. Spotswood, p. 358.
[e] Camden, p. 538.
[f] Camden, p. 538. Strype, vol. iii. p. 375, 376. MS. in the Advocates’ Library, A. 3. 28. p. 17. from the Cott. Lib. Calig. c. 9. Biogr. Brit. p. 1625, 1627.
