Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/79

1569.] ENGLISH PARTIES. 65 to have her formally divorced from the Earl of Both- well. 1 How Murray might have been influenced by Nor- folk's arguments had they been left to work upon him alone, it is hard to say ; but two fresh incidents oc- curred to confirm his uncertainty. One was the capture of French Paris, who was kidnapped in Denmark, brought first to Leith, and then to Aberdeen. There he had been exaihined by Buchanan during the northern expedition. His depositions had revived the recollection of the more atrocious features of the murder of Darnley. He mentioned circumstances which would have aggra- vated, had aggravation been possible, the hatefulness of Mary Stuart's treachery, and made the thought of her return more vividly intolerable. The other was a com- mission, which Mary Stuart herself had issued, for the furtherance of her suit of divorce. She had described herself in the preamble as Queen of Scotland, with all her styles and titles ; and while to the English council she was undertaking to maintain the Reformed religion, while Norfolk was innocently writing to Murray of the advantages to be expected from her restoration ' to the service of God/ she had the imprudence to style the Catholic Archbishop of St Andrews the supreme ruler of the Church of Scotland. Mary Stuart lacked the skill to subdue herself in her moments of elation, and wear her modest veil till it was time to throw it off. Maitland was seriously 1 Norfolk to Murray, July 31 : Burghkij Papers, vol i. VOL. IX. 5