l. ii. p. 231, from the Journal of the Commissioners.

... They {Murray and others} would show unto her Majesty's Commissioners a collection made in writing of the presumptions and circumstances, by the which it should evidently appear that as the Earl Bothwell was the chief murtherer of the King, so was the Queen a deviser and maintainer thereof; the which writing followeth thus. Articles containing certain conjectures, &c. {the Book of Articles. See supra, p. 144}.

After the reading hereof they also said that according to the truth contained in the same, the three estates of Parliament, called by the King, now present, their whole actions and proceedings from the murther of the late King were ratified and approved to be lawful....

Hosack I., App. C., from State Papers (Mary, Queen of Scots), 1568, vol. ii. p. 61, December 7, 1568.

... The Queen's Majesty's Commissioners having heard the foresaid Book of Articles read unto them ... entered into a new hearing of the Book of Articles, whereof having heard three of the chapters or heads, the Earl of Murray and his colleagues, according to the appointment, came to the said Commissioners and said: 'They trusted that, after the reading of the Book of Articles, and specially upon the sight of the Act of Parliament, wherein the whole cause wherewith their adversaries did charge them, were found, declared, and concluded to be lawful; their Lordships would be satisfied to think them clear and void of such crime as her Majesty did charge them withal.... They required to know whether their Lordships were not now satisfied with such things as they had seen, and if they were not, and that it would please them to show if in any part of these Articles exhibited they conceived any doubt, or would have any other proof, which they trusted, needed not.... {The Commissioners declined to give any opinion on this point.}

And so they produced a small gilded coffer of not fully one foot long, being garnished in many places with the Roman letter F set under a Royal Crown, wherein were certain letters and writings, and as they said and affirmed to have been written with the Queen of Scots' own hand, to the Earl Bothwell, which coffer, as they said, being left in the Castle of Edinburgh by the said Earl Bothwell before his flying away, was sent for by one George Dalgleish, his servant, who was taken by the Earl of Morton, who also thereto sitting presently as one of the Commissioners avowed upon his oath the same to be true, and the writings to be the very same without any manner of change, and before they would exhibit the sight of these letters they exhibited {the two marriage contracts}.... After this the said Earl and his colleagues offered to show certain proofs, not only of the Queen's hate towards the King, her husband, but also of unordinate love towards Bothwell, for which purpose they produced a letter written in French and in Roman hand, which they averred to be a letter of the said Queen's own hand to Bothwell when she was at Glasgow with her husband, at the time she went to bring him to Edinburgh, the tenour of which letter hereafter followeth: Il semble que avecques ure absence, &c. {Letter i. p. 165.}

After this they produced for the same purpose one other long letter written also with the like hand, and in French, ... the tenour of all which letter followeth hereafter: Estant party du lieu, &c. {Letter ii. p. 167.}

Goodall, vol. ii. p. 235, from the Journal of the Commissioners, December 8.

They produced seven several writings written in French in the like Roman hand, as others her letters which were shewed yesternight and avowed by them to be written by the said Queen, which seven writings, being copied, were read in French, and a due collation made thereof as near as could be by reading and inspection, and made to accord with the originals, which the said Earl of Murray required to be redelivered, and did thereupon deliver the copies being collationed, the tenour of all which seven writings hereafter follow in order, the first being in manner of a sonnet,

"O Dieux, ayez de moy," &c.

[This is the first line of the first of the collection of sonnets, which will be found on pp. 195-201. The other six "writings" are Letters iii.-viii., on pp. 162-195.]

After this they did produce and show three several writings in English, subscribed and signed by Sir John Bellenden, Knight, Justice-Clerk in Scotland, whereof the first contained two several examinations, the first of John Hay, the younger of Talla, the 13th of September, anno 1567, the second of John Hepburn, called John of Bolton, being examined upon the murder of the King, the 8th of December 1567. The third writing containeth the examination of one George Dalgleish, the 26th of June in the same year, 1567. All which writings ... were delivered to the said Commissioners, the true tenour whereof hereafter followeth, Apud Edinburgh, 13 die mensis Septembris.

After this they produced and showed forth in writing, subscribed likewise by the said Justice-Clerk, a copy of the process, verdict, and judgment against the foresaid John Hepburn, John Hay, William Powrie, and George Dalgleish, as culpable of the murder of the said King, which being read, was also delivered, and the tenours thereof hereafter followeth, Curia justiciariae S. D. N. regis, &c. After this they produced and shewed forth a writing in a long paper, being, as they said, the judgment and condemnation by Parliament of the Earl Bothwell, James Ormiston, Robert Ormiston, Patrick Wilson, and Paris, a Frenchman, Sym, Armstrong, and William Murray, as guilty sundry ways of treason for the murder of the King. The tenour whereof thus followeth: In the Parliament holden at Edinburgh, the 20th day of December.

After this they produced and showed a writing signed by Mr. James Macgill, Clerk of the register, containing a request, by way of protestation, by the Earls of Huntly and Argyle, and the Lord Herries, by the which they require to have no fault imputed unto them for not doing their duty since the 10th of June 1567, until the 29th of December then following, for the which, by order of Parliament, they were acquitted....

Goodall, vol. ii. p. 239, from Journal of the Commissioners, Cott. Lib. Calig., c. i. p. 252, Dec. 9, 1568.

The Queen's Majesty's Commissioners being occupied in perusing and reading certain letters and sonnets written in French, being duly translated into English, and other writings also exhibited yesterday to them by the Earl of Murray and his colleagues.... After this the Earl of Murray and his colleagues came ... and first the Earl Morton said, that where heretofore he had declared by speech, the manner how he came to the little gilt coffer with the letters, sonnets, and contracts of marriage therein found, and heretofore exhibited: he had caused the same to be put in writing, which also he produced subscribed with his hand, and desired to have it read: which being done, he avowed upon his honour, and the oath which he already took, the same to be true, the tenor whereof followeth, The true declaration and report, &c. (see p. 203).

After this the Earl of Murray required that one Thomas Nelson, late servitor to the King that was murdered ... might be heard upon his oath to report his knowledge therein, who, being produced, did present a writing in form of answer of himself to an examination, which being read unto him, he did by a corporal oath affirm the same to be true ... (see p. 207) ...

The like request was made that one Thomas Crawford, a gentleman of the Earl of Lennox, might be also heard upon his oath, who was, as they said, the same party of whom mention is made in a long letter written in French, and exhibited the 7th of this month.... Whereupon the said Thomas Crawford ... did present a writing, which he said he caused to be made according to the truth of his knowledge, which being read he affirmed upon his corporal oath there taken to be true, the tenour whereof hereafter followeth. The words betwixt the Queen, &c.... The said Crawford said ... that he ... was secretly informed by the King of all things which had passed betwixt the said Queen and the King, to the intent he should report the same to the Earl of Lennox his master ... and that he did, immediately at the same time, write the same word by word as near as he possibly could carry the same away ... (see p. 208).

Journal of the Privy Council of Hampton Court, December 14, 1568. Goodall, ii. 254.

There were produced sundry letters written in French, supposed to be written by the Queen of Scots' own hand, were then also presently produced and perused; and being read were duly conferred and compared, for the manner of writing and fashion of orthography, with sundry other letters long since heretofore written, and sent by the Queen of Scots to the Queen's Majesty. {The attestation of Morton and the depositions were then read.} ... And forasmuch as the night approached, it was thought good to defer the further declaration of the rest until the next day following.

Ibid., December 15.

[The Book of Articles, depositions, and contracts were produced, along with Acts of the Scottish Parliament.]

And it is to be noted, that, at the time of the producing, shewing, and reading of all these foresaid writings, there was no special choice nor regard had to the order of the producing thereof, but the whole writings lying all together upon the Council table, the same were one after another showed rather by hap, as the same did lie upon the table, than with any choice made, as by the natures thereof, if time had so served, might have been.