Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/522

502 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. ICH. 45. The Queen then, after writing the letter of complaint against her husband to the Archbishop of Glasgow, sud- denly determined to visit his sick bed. On Thursday the 23rd of January she set out for Glasgow attended by her lover. They spent the night at Callendar toge- ther. 1 In the morning they parted ; the Earl returned to Edinburgh ; Mary Stuart pursued her journey at- tended by Bothwell's French servant Paris, through whom they had arranged to communicate. The news that she was on her way to Glasgow anti- cipated her appearance there. Darnley was confined to his bed ; Lennox, who suspected mischief, when he heard that she was coming, sent a gentleman, named Craw- ford, a noble, fearless kind of person, to apologize for his inability to meet her. It seems that after hearing of the bond at Craigmillar Darnley had written some letter to her, the inconvenient truths of which had been irritating ; and she had used certain bitter expressions about him which had been carried to his ears. Both Queen that the most accomplished expert could detect no difference. One of the letters could have been invented only by a genius equal to that of Shakspeare ; and that one once accomplished, would have been so overpoweringly sufficient for its purpose that no forger would have multiplied the chances of detection by adding the rest. The inquiry at the time appears to me to supersede authoritatively all later conjectures. The English council, among whom were many friends of Mary Stuart, had the French originals before them, while we have only transla- tions, or translations of translations. 1 ' When Bothwell was conduct- ing the Queen to Glasgow, where she was going to the King, at Cal- lendar after supper, late, Lady Reres came to Bothwell's room, and seeing me there, said, 'What does M. Paris here ? ' ' It is all the same,' said he, ' Paris will say nothing.' And there- upon she took him to the Queen's room.' Examination of French Paris: ANDERSON'S Collection. Paris was Bothwell's servant.