XIV.
THE MURDER OF THE KING OF SCOTS.
The catastrophe of Henry Stewart, lord Darnley, the unfortunate husband of Mary Q. of Scots, is the subject of this ballad. It is here related in that partial, imperfect manner in which such an event would naturally strike the subjects of another kingdom, of which he was a native. Henry appears to have been a vain, capricious, worthless young man, of weak understanding, and dissolute morals. But the beauty of his person, and the inexperience of his youth, would dispose mankind to treat him with an indulgence, which the cruelty of his murder would afterwards convert into the most tender pity and regret: and then imagination would not fail to adorn his memory with all those virtues he ought to have possessed. This will account for the extravagant elogium bestowed upon him in the first stanza, &c.
Henry lord Darnley was eldest son of the earl of Lennox, by the lady Margaret Douglas, niece of Henry VIII. and daughter of Margaret queen of Scotland by the earl of Angus, whom that princess married after the death of James IV.--Darnley, who had been born and educated in England, was but in his 21st year, when he was murdered, Feb. 9, 1567-8. This crime was perpetrated by the E. of Bothwell, not out of respect to the memory of Riccio, but in order to pave the way for his own marriage with the queen.
This ballad (printed, with a few corrections, from the Editor's folio MS.) seems to have been written soon after Mary's escape into England in 1568, see v. 65.--It will be remembered at v. 5, that this princess was Q. dowager of France, having been first married to Francis II. who died Dec. 4, 1560.
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[In the above note Percy takes the ordinary unfavourable view of Darnley's character, which is not entirely borne out by contemporary evidence. Darnley was unfortunate both in having all Mary's friends as his enemies and in having no supporters among her opponents because he was a Roman Catholic. It is not fair to dispose of such a ballad as the present with the inference that the writer could know nothing of Darnley's character. It does not stand alone, and it appears from the broadsides that circulated through the country after his murder that the people had a real liking for him although he had been amongst them only a couple of years. Robert Lekprevik, the most celebrated Edinburgh printer of his time, printed in 1567, _The Testament and Tragedie of umquhile King Henrie Stewart of gude memorie_, a powerful poem, which discovers clearly the popular feeling against Mary. Mr. Froude also found one of these ballads among the Scottish State Papers, in which curses are heaped upon Mary, who is called Dalila, Clytemnestra and Semiramis for her murder of "ane bonny boy." One of the verses is as follows:--
"At ten houris on Sunday late at een, When Dalila and Bothwell bade good night, Off her finger false she threw ane ring, And said, My Lord ane token you I plight."
If the circumstances of the English ballad are related in a partial and imperfect manner, what shall we say of the much more severe tone of those written in Scotland. Mr. Maidment[607] has gathered together a few facts that show how much may be said in favour of the unfortunate prince. It appears from Colville's _Historie and Life of King James the sext_, that Secretary Maitland inflamed Darnley's mind with the insinuation that Rizzio was too intimate with the queen. The criminal familiarity of her majesty with Rizzio appears to have been generally suspected, so that Darnley's conduct was that of a jealous husband who was fascinated with his wife. Colville gives the following portrait of him:--"He was a cumlie Prince, of a fayre and large stature of bodie, pleasant in countenance and affable to all men and devote, weill excercesit in martiall pastymis uponn horsback as ony prince of that age, bot was sa facile as he could concele no secreit although it myght tend to his awin weill."[608]
He was certainly accomplished and had been carefully educated. He wrote a little tale called _Utopia Nova_ when he was between eight and nine years of age, which he presented to his cousin, Mary Tudor. The queen in return presented him with a gold chain, which he acknowledged in a letter remarkable for the extreme beauty of its caligraphy. He also completed a translation into English of Valerius Maximus. Mr. Froude severely condemns the character of Darnley in the following terms: "He was at once meddlesome and incapable, weak and cowardly, yet insolent and unmanageable," and adds that Randolph described him as "a conceited, arrogant, intolerant fool." Nevertheless "the death of the husband of the Queen of Scots belongs to that rare class of incidents which, like the murder of Cæsar, have touched the interests of the entire educated world. Perhaps there is no single recorded act, arising merely out of private or personal passions, of which the public consequences have been so considerable."[609]
Darnley was the second son of the Earl and Countess of Lennox, and not, as stated above, by Percy, the eldest. Their first-born died on the 28th of November, 1545, nine months after his birth.
The following ballad is entitled _Earle Bodwell_ in the Folio MS. (ed. Hales and Furnivall, vol. ii. p. 260). In the first three editions of the _Reliques_ there were more alterations from the MS. than in the fourth, for in the latter Percy restored several of the old readings. The retained alterations are judicious, and no more than the Editor might well feel himself justified in making.]
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Woe worth, woe worth thee, false Scotlànde![610] For thou hast ever wrought by sleight;[611] The worthyest prince that ever was borne,[612] You hanged under a cloud by night.
The queene of France a letter wrote, 5 And sealed itt with harte and ringe; And bade him come Scotland within, And shee wold marry and crowne him kinge.[613]
To be a king is a pleasant thing,[614] To bee a prince unto a peere: 10 But you have heard, and soe have I too, A man may well buy gold too deare.
There was an Italyan in that place, Was as well beloved as ever was hee, Lord David was his name,[615] 15 Chamberlaine to the queene was hee.[616]
If the king had risen forth of his place,[617] He wold have sate him downe in the cheare,[618] And tho itt beseemed him not so well, Altho the kinge had beene present there. 20
Some lords in Scotlande waxed wroth,[619] And quarrelled with him for the nonce; I shall you tell how it befell, Twelve daggers were in him att once.[620]
When the queene saw her chamberlaine was slaine,[621] 25 For him her faire cheeks shee did weete,[622] And made a vowe for a yeare and a day[623] The king and shee wold not come in one sheete.
Then some of the lords they waxed wrothe,[624] And made their vow all vehementlye; 30 For the death of the queenes chamberlaine, The king himselfe, how he shall dye.[625]
With gun-powder they strewed his roome,[626] And layd greene rushes in his way; For the traitors thought that very night[627] 35 This worthye king for to betray.[628]
To bedd the king he made him bowne;[629][630] To take his rest was his desire;[631] He was noe sooner cast on sleepe, But his chamber was on a biasing fire. 40
Up he lope,[632] and the window brake;[633] And hee had thirtye foote to fall:[634] Lord Bodwell kept a privy watch, Underneath his castle wall.
Who have wee here? lord Bodwell sayd:[635] 45 Now answer me, that I may know.[636] "King Henry the eighth my uncle was; For his sweete sake some pitty show."[637]
Who have we here? lord Bodwell sayd,[638] Now answer me when I doe speake.[638] 50 "Ah, lord Bodwell, I know thee well; Some pitty on me I pray thee take."
Ile pitty thee as much, he sayd, And as much favor show to thee,[639] As thou didst to the queenes chamberlaine,[640] 55 That day thou deemedst[641] him to die.[642]
Through halls and towers the king they ledd,[643] Through towers and castles that were nye,[644] Through an arbor into an orchàrd, There on a peare-tree hanged him hye.[645] 60
When the governor of Scotland heard[646] How that the worthye king was slaine;[647] He persued the queen so bitterlye, That in Scotland shee dare not remaine.[648]
But she is fledd into merry England, 65 And here her residence hath taine;[649] And through the queene of Englands grace,[650] In England now shee doth remaine.[651]
FOOTNOTES:
[607] James Maidment's _Scottish Ballads and Songs_, 1868, vol. ii. p. 12.
[608] Quoted in Maidment's _Ballads_, 1868, vol. ii. p. 8.
[609] [Froude's _History of England_ (Elizabeth), vol. iii. pp. 1-2.]
[610] [Ver. 1. woe worth thee, woe worth thee, MS.]
[611] [V. 2. by a sleight.]
[612] [V. 3. for the worthyest.]
[613] [V. 8. wold marry him.]
[614] [Ver. 9. it is a pleasant.]
[615] V. 15. _sic_ MS.
[616] [V. 16. chamberlaine unto.]
[617] [V. 17. ffor if the king.]
[618] [V. 18. have sitt him.]
[619] [V. 21. wonderous wroth.]
[620] [V. 24. all att once.]
[621] [V. 25. when this queen see the chamberlaine.]
[622] [V. 26. her cheeks.]
[623] [V. 27. vow for a 12 month.]
[624] [V. 29. Lords of Scottland waxed.]
[625] [V. 32. the king himselfe he shall dye.]
[626] [V. 33. they strowed his chamber over with gun-powder.]
[627] [V. 35. that night.]
[628] [V. 36. the worthye.]
[629] [ready.]
[630] [Ver. 37. the worthy king made.]
[631] [V. 38. that was his desire.]
[632] [leapt.]
[633] [V. 41. and a glasse window broke.]
[634] [V. 42. he had 30 foote for to ffall.]
[635] [V. 45. sayd Lord Bodwell.]
[636] [V. 46. answer me, now I doe call.]
[637] [V. 48. some pitty show for his sweet sake.]
[638] [V. 49, 50. these two lines are not in the MS., but are here introduced to equalize the stanzas.]
[639] [V. 54. Ile show to thee.]
[640] [V. 55. As thou had on the.]
[641] [doomedst.]
[642] Pronounced after the northern manner dee.
[643] [V. 57. this king.]
[644] [V. 58. through castles and towers that were hye.]
[645] [V. 60. and there hanged him in a peare tree.]
[646] [Ver. 61. Scottland he heard tell.]
[647] [V. 62. that the worthye king he was slaine.]
[648] [V. 64. he hath banished the queene.]
[649] [V. 66. and Scottland to aside hath laine.]
[650] [V. 67. good grace.]
[651] [V. 68. now in England, MS.]