Bothwell's stay in the north was short. Having learned ‘by secret advertisement of certain counties’ that the king was ‘at quietness at Falkland’ (Hist. of James Sext, p. 250), he surrounded the palace between one and two of the morning of 20 June 1592, but the king being warned by the watch, retired with his attendants to the tower, where he resisted till seven o'clock, when the country people in the neighbourhood flocked to his assistance, and put Bothwell to flight. On 2 July proclamation was made for the raising of a levy for his pursuit (Reg. P. C. Scotl. iv. 762), but nothing was accomplished. On 1 Aug. the lairds of Logie and Burley brought Bothwell secretly to the palace at Dalkeith, in order that he might be suddenly introduced into the king's presence to crave pardon, but the king was forewarned of their intention, and Bothwell was safely conveyed away (Calderwood, v. 173). The Master of Gray also promised to get him ‘into the king's favour,’ but Bothwell feared treachery (ib. p. 190). On 9 Oct. the king headed another fruitless expedition to the borders to apprehend him. Probably Bothwell, when the king retired, followed closely in his wake, for on 3 Nov. the citizens of Edinburgh were summoned suddenly while at dinner by the common bell to search for him. The only result of the quest was the committal of one or two women to the common gaol for receiving him. The king, now at his wits' end, weakly issued a proclamation against introducing Bothwell into his presence. On 20 Nov. the Countess of Bothwell, who on the 17th had intercepted the king at the castle gate of Edinburgh ‘crying for Christ's sake that died on the cross for mercy to her and her spouse,’ was forbidden to enter the king's presence (Reg. P. C. Scotl. v. 23). As she and many of Bothwell's adherents still continued at large about Edinburgh, an order was given on 8 Dec. to the provost and magistrates of Edinburgh to apprehend them (ib. v. 26–7). On 1 Jan. 1592–3 Bothwell caused a placard to be affixed to the cross of Edinburgh and other places, informing the ministers of Edinburgh that his constancy to religion gave them no just cause to abhor him, although a declared rebel (Calderwood, v. 232). This appeal produced no result, and finding no prospect of help he resolved to take refuge on the English side of the border. On learning this the king instructed Sir Robert Melville, who had gone on an embassy to England on 1 June, to persuade Elizabeth to deliver him up. Elizabeth assented. On 21 July sentence of forfeiture was passed against him by parliament, all his property being confiscated, and his arms riven at the cross of Edinburgh. His friends thereupon determined to make a special effort on his behalf. The Duke of Lennox and other noblemen secretly sympathised with him, on account of their jealousy of Maitland. On the evening of the 24th, after assembling their retainers in the neighbourhood of the palace, Bothwell in disguise was introduced into the king's chamber during his temporary absence. On returning the king found Bothwell on his knees, with his drawn sword laid before him, crying with a loud voice for pardon and mercy. The king called out ‘Treason!’ the citizens of Edinburgh hurried in battle array into the inner court; but the king, pacified by the assurances of those in attendance on him, commanded them to retire. Bothwell persisted that he did not come in ‘any manner of hostility, but in plain simplicity.’ To remove the king's manifest terror, he offered to depart immediately and remain in banishment, or in any other part of the country, till his day of trial. The king permitted him to leave, and an act of condonation and remission was passed in his favour (Reg. P. C. Scotl. v. 92–3), but, according to the author of the ‘History of James Sext’ (pp. 272–3), the king remained in ‘perpetual grief of mind,’ affirming that he was virtually the captive of Bothwell and the other noblemen who had abetted him. His suspicions were partly allayed by the intervention of Robert Bowes, the English ambassador, and others, but as his fears subsided he was less inclined to deal leniently with Bothwell. On 14 Aug. he signed an agreement, binding himself to pardon Bothwell and his adherents, and to restore them to their estates and honours, the agreement to be ratified by a parliament to be held in the following November (Calderwood, v. 257–258); but at a convention held at Stirling on 8 Sept. an attempt was made to modify the bargain, it being set forth as a condition of Bothwell's restoration that he should remain beyond seas during the king's pleasure. Matters soon drifted into the old unsatisfactory condition. On the 22nd Bothwell and his supporters were forbidden to come within ten miles of the king, unless sent for, on pain of high treason. He, Atholl, and other nobles assembled notwithstanding in the beginning of October 1593 in arms near Linlithgow, where the king was staying, and on the 22nd he was summoned to appear before the council to answer the charge of high treason (Reg. P. C. Scotl. v. 100), and not appearing, was denounced.
The change in the king's policy is partly explained by the recall of Maitland, on whom alone the king could depend for
