Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/285

I56S-1 THE EMBASSY OF DE S1LVA. 265 into the Tolbodth and there made fast in irons with two of his congregation at his side. 1 The Queen of Scots, who was at Stirling when she heard of this cowardly outrage, sent for the Provost, and ordered him to release his prisoner ; ' not however/ wrote an unknown correspondent in relating the story to Randolph, 2 ' without great offence of the whole people ; ' ' whereby/ he said, ' I trust whenever the like occurs again, and there be knowledge gotten, execution will be made in another manner of sort without seeking of fur- ther justice at the magistrate's hands ; I assure you there is greater rage now amongst the faithful nor ever I saw since her Grace came to Scotland/ Meantime Mary Stuart, weary of the mask which she had so long worn, and unable to endure any longer these wild insults to her creed and herself, determined to run the chance of dividing Scotland, to throw herself on the loyalty of the Catholic party in her own country, in England, and abroad, to marry Darnley and dare the worst which Elizabeth could do. Whether she had re- ceived any encouraging answer from Philip before she made up her mind does not appear. It is most likely however that she had learnt from the Government in the Netherlands what the answer would be when it arrived ; and the opinions of the Spanish ministers, when made 1 Randolph to Cecil, April, 1565 : Rolls House MS. 3 One of a number of letters to Randolph, in the Rolls House, writ- ten in the same hand, and signed ' You know who.' To this person, whoever he was, Randolph was in- debted for much of his secret in- formation. The hand partly resem- bles that of Kirkaldy of Grange ; partly, though not to the same de gree, that of Knox.