Arran to Elizabeth, in which case they would 'cause the French queen to renounce for ever her title to Scotland' (Throckmorton to the queen, 4 May, Cal. State Papers, For. Ser. 1560-1, entry 27). The conclusion of the treaty with France did not in the least modify their intentions. Apparently to prepare Elizabeth for the proposal, Arran on 18 July wrote her a rather tardy letter of thanks and personal admiration (ib. entry 341). By a resolution of the parliament held in August (Acta Parl Scot. ii. 605-6) the Earls of Morton and Glencairn and Maitland of Lethington started for England on 11 Oct. to press Arran's suit (Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 62). Maitland, and probably Morton, were reluctant ; the nobles generally disliked the proposal ; and Arran was lukewarm, though on 28 Sept. he wrote to Cecil affirming that his life depended on the success of the mission (Cal. State Papers, For. Ser. entry 566). The Scottish estates had intimated their intentions to the court of France (letter in TETJLET, ii. 150-2). Mary and her husband had little fear of the success of the mission, but hoped to turn its failure to account, and were even prepared to offer Arran an alliance with one of their own house, and to make him the delegate of Queen Mary in Scotland. Elizabeth was complimentary, but 'indisposed to marry at present' (queen of England to the Scottish ambassadors, Cal. State Papers, For. Ser. 1560, entry 786). With this disappointing news the ambassadors arrived in Edinburgh on 3 Jan. 1561 (Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 63).
The king of France had died on 6 Dec. 1560, and, as Maitland saw, the Queen of Scots now became the inevitable object of the nation's attachment (letter to Cecil, January 1560-1). By the Hamiltons the marriage with Mary had also always been regarded as the preferable match, and there is reason to believe that Arran himself had formed a strong attachment to Mary. His interest in the mission of the ambassadors to England instantly ceased. He made a confidant of Knox, who deemed it of the highest importance that Mary should marry a protestant, and advised Arran at once to renew his suit. The king of Navarre and the Constable Montmorency were supposed to favour the suit of Arran, while the Guises were for a marriage with the king of Spain (Throckmorton to the privy council, 10 Jan. Cal. State Papers, For. Ser. 1560-1, entry 871). Mary, though she made use of kind words, was understood to bear Arran little affection, and before her arrival in Scotland the suit had been practically refused. Arran was however, one of the first to meet her on her disembarkation at Leith, and he was named a member of her privy council. Nevertheless, he strongly opposed the celebration of ;he mass in the queen's chapel, and when lie privy council made a proclamation for the protection of the servants brought by the queen from France from molestation or derision on account of their religion, protested in the presence of the herald (Knox, ii. 274). He absented himself when the queen made her public entry into Edinburgh (Randolph to Cecil, 1 Sept. 1561, in Keith, ii. 82), and afterwards announced his purpose 'not to be at court so long as the mass remained' (Randolph to Cecil, 24 Oct., ib. p. 99). Later events prove that the peculiarities of Arran's conduct were due to mental aberration. As early as April 1560 he had to leave the camp at Leith on account of an illness which was stated to be mental rather than physical. In February 1561-2, during the festivities at the marriage of Lord James Stuart, he fell sick, 'some said as much for misliking as any other cause' (Randolph to Cecil, 12 Feb., Cal. State Papers, For. Ser.1561-2, entry 883) ; and on the 20th Randolph informs Cecil that he is so 'drowned in dreams or beset with fantasies' as to give cause for anxiety (ib. entry 911).
Arran was still at feud with Bothwell. A drunken frolic, in which Bothwell committed outrages in pursuit of a woman supposed to be the mistress of Arran, did not improve matters (Knox, ii. 315). Shortly afterwards Bothwell asked Knox to mediate between him and Arran (ib. ii. 323). They had a friendly meeting in the presence of Knox and others, when their differences were adjusted to their mutual satisfaction, and the next day Bothwell, 'with some of his honest friends, came to the sermoun with the Erie foirsaid' (ib. p. 326). On the Thursday following (26 March) they dined together, and on the Friday Arran, accompanied by two friends, sought an interview with Knox to whom he stated that Bothwell had advised him to carry off the queen to his stronghold in Dumbarton, to compel her to marry him and to murder Lord James Stuart, Maitland of Lethington, and others that 'now misguide her.' Arran professed to be greatly shocked, and proposed to lay the matter before the queen and her brother. This he persisted in doing, although Knox, who discerned in his manner evident signs of insanity, strongly advised him against it. Possibly the story of Arran would have been at once dismissed as an insane delusion had not the queen been already suspicious of him. There had been rumours in the previous November of an attempt of a similar kind by Arran (Randolph to Cecil, 7 Dec., in Keith, ii. 115, also
