patience. He should also consider that if the
Queen of England, my good sister, allows herself to
be persuaded by the counsels of those who wish that
she should stain herself with Queen Mary’s blood,
it will be a matter which will bring him to great
dishonour, inasmuch as one will judge that he will
have refused his mother the good offices that he should
render her with the said Queen of England, and which
would have perhaps been sufficient to move her, if
he would have employed them, as warmly, and as soon
as his natural duty commanded him. Moreover,
it is to be feared for him, that, his mother dead,
his own turn may come, and that one may think of doing
as much for him, by some violent means, to make the
English succession easier to seize for those who are
likely to have it after the said Queen Elizabeth,
and not only to defraud the said King of Scotland of
the claim he can put forward, but to render doubtful
even that which he has to his own crown. I do
not know in what condition the affairs of my said sister-in-law
will be when you receive this letter; but I will tell
you that in every case I wish you to rouse strongly
the said King of Scotland, with remonstrances, and
everything else which may bear on this subject, to
embrace the defence and protection of his said mother,
and to express to him, on my part, that as this will
be a matter for which he will be greatly praised by
all the other kings and sovereign princes, he must
be assured that if he fails in it there will be great
censure for him, and perhaps notable injury to himself
in particular. Furthermore, as to the state of
my own affairs, you know that the queen, madam and
mother, is about to see very soon the King of Navarre,
and to confer with him on the matter of the pacification
of the troubles of this kingdom, to which, if he bear
as much good affection as I do for my part, I hope
that things may come to a good conclusion, and that
my subjects will have some respite from the great
evils and calamities that the war occasions them:
supplicating the Creator, Courcelles, that He may
have you in His holy keeping.
“Written at St. Germain-en-Laye, the 21st day
of November 1586.(Signed) Henri,
“And below, BRULART.”
This letter finally decided James VI to make a kind
of demonstration in his mother’s favour:
he sent Gray, Robert Melville, and Keith to Queen
Elizabeth. But although London was nearer Edinburgh
than was Paris, the French envoys reached it before
the Scotch.
It is true that on reaching Calais, the 27th of November,
M. de Bellievre had found a special messenger there
to tell him not to lose an instant, from M. de Chateauneuf,
who, to provide for every difficulty, had chartered
a vessel ready in the harbour. But however great
the speed these noble lords wished to make, they were
obliged to await the wind’s good-will, which
did not allow them to put to sea till Friday 28th at
midnight; next day also, on reaching Dover at nine