by John Galt
CHAPTER XXX
Before the occurrence of the things spoken of in the foregoing chapter,the great Earl of Glencairn, my grandfather's first and constant patron,had been dead some time; but his son and successor, who knew theestimation in which he had been held by his father, being then inEdinburgh, allowed him, in consideration thereof, the privilege of hishall. It suited not, however, with my grandfather's quiet and sanctifiednature to mingle much with the brawlers that used to hover there;nevertheless, out of a respect to the Earl's hospitality, he didoccasionally go thither, and where, if he heard little to edify theChristian heart, he learnt divers things anent the Queen and court thatmade his fears and anxieties wax stronger and stronger.
It seemed to him, as he often was heard to say, that there was a betterknowledge of Queen Mary's true character and secret partialities amongthose loose varlets than among their masters; and her marriage beingthen in the parlance of the people, and much dread and fear rife withthe protestants that she would choose a papist for her husband, he wassurprised to hear many of the lewd knaves in Glencairn's hall speaklightly of the respect she would have to the faith or spirituality ofthe man she might prefer.
Among those wuddy worthies he fell in with his ancient adversaryWinterton, who, instead of harbouring any resentment for the trick heplayed him in the Lord Boyd's castle, was rejoiced to see him again: hehimself was then in the service of David Rizzio, the fiddler, whom theQueen some short time before had taken into her particular service.
This Rizzio was by birth an Italian of very low degree; a man ofcrouched stature, and of an uncomely physiognomy, being yellow-skinnedand black-haired, with a beak-nose, and little quick eyes of a free andfamiliar glance, but shrewd withal, and possessed of a pleasant way ofwinning facetiously on the ladies, to the which his singular skill inall manner of melodious music helped not a little; so that he had greatsway with them, and was then winning himself fast into the Queen'sfavour, in which ambition, besides the natural instigations of his ownvanity, he was spirited on by certain powerful personages of thepapistical faction, who soon saw the great efficacy it would be of totheir cause, to have one who owed his rise to them constantly about theQueen, and in the depths of all her personal correspondence with hergreat friends abroad. But the subtle Italian, though still true to hispapal breeding, built upon the Queen's partiality more than on thefavour of those proud nobles, and, about the time of which I am nowspeaking, he carried his head at court as bravely as the boldest baronamongst them. Still in this he had as yet done nothing greatly tooffend. The protestant Lords, however, independent of their aversion tohim on account his religion, felt, in common with all the nobility, avehement prejudice against an alien, one too of base blood, and theyopenly manifested their displeasure at seeing him so gorgeous andpresuming even in the public presence of the Queen, but he regarded nottheir anger.
In this fey man's service Winterton then was, and my grandfather neverdoubted that it was for no good he came so often to the Earl ofGlencairn's, who, though not a man of the same weight in the realm asthe old Earl his father, was yet held in much esteem, as a sincereprotestant and true nobleman, by all the friends of the Gospel cause;and, in the sequel, what my grandfather jealoused was soon very plainlyseen. For Rizzio learning, through Winterton's espionage and that ofother emissaries, how little the people of Scotland would relish aforeign prince to be set over them, had a hand in dissuading the Queenfrom accepting any of the matches then proposed for her; and the betterto make his own power the more sicker, he afterwards laid snares in thewater to bring about a marriage with that weak young prince, the LordHenry Darnley. But it falls not within the scope of my narrative toenter into any more particulars here concerning that Italian, and thetragical doom which, with the Queen's imprudence, he brought uponhimself; for, after spending some weeks in Edinburgh, and in visitingtheir friends at Crail, my grandfather returned with his wife and AgnesKilspinnie to Quharist, where he continued to reside several years, butnot in tranquillity.
Hardly had they reached their home, when word came of quarrels among thenobility; and though the same sprung out of secular debates, they hadmuch of the leaven of religious faction in their causes, the whichgreatly exasperated the enmity wherewith they were carried on. But evenin the good Earl of Murray's raid, there was nothing which called on mygrandfather to bear a part. Nevertheless, those quarrels disquieted hissoul, and he heard the sough of discontents rising afar off, like theroar of the bars of Ayr when they betoken a coming tempest.
After the departure of the Earl of Murray to France, there was a syncopein the land, and men's minds were filled with wonder and withapprehensions to which they could give no name; neighbours distrustedone another: the papists looked out from their secret places, and weresaluted with a fear that wore the semblance of reverence. The Queenmarried Darnley, and discreet men marvelled at the rashness with whichthe match was concluded, there being seemingly no cause for suchuncomely haste, nor for the lavish favours that she heaped upon him. Itwas viewed with awe, as a thing done under the impulses of fraud, orfainness, or fatality. Nor was their wedding-cheer cold when her eagerlove changed into aversion. Then the spirit of the times, which had longhovered in willingness to be pleased with her intentions, began to alterits breathings, and to whisper darkly against her. At last the murder ofRizzio, a deed which, though in the main satisfactory to the nation, wasyet so foul and cruel in the perpetration, that the tidings of it camelike a thunder-clap over all the kingdom.
The birth of Prince James, which soon after followed, gave no joy; forabout the same time a low and terrible whispering began to be heard ofsome hideous and universal conspiracy against all the protestantsthroughout Europe. None ventured to say that Queen Mary was joined withthe conspirators; but many preachers openly prayed that she might bepreserved from their leagues in a way that showed what they feared;besides this suspicion, mournful things were told of her behaviour, andthe immoralities of her courtiers and their trains rose to such a pitch,compared with the chastity and plain manners of her mother's court, thatthe whole land was vexed with angry thoughts, and echoed to the rumourswith stern menaces.
No one was more disturbed by these things than my pious grandfather; andthe apprehensions which they caused in him came to such a head at last,that his wife, becoming fearful of his health, advised him to take ajourney to Edinburgh, in order that he might hear and see with his ownears and eyes; which he accordingly did, and on his arrival wentstraight to the Earl of Glencairn, and begged permission to take onagain his livery, chiefly that he might pass unnoticed, and not beremarked as having neither calling nor vocation. That nobleman wassurprised with his request; but, without asking any questions, gave himleave, and again invited him to use the freedom of his hall; so hecontinued as one of his retainers till the Earl of Murray's return fromFrance. But, before speaking of what then ensued, there are some thingsconcerning the murder of the the Queen's protestant husband--theblackest of the sins of that age--of which, in so far as my grandfatherparticipated, it is meet and proper I should previously speak.