master of the artillery (Lesley, History, in the Scottish Text Society, ii. 206). Subsequently he received other grants of lands, including those of Cockburnspath, Berwickshire, on 20 Sept. 1528 (Reg. Mag. Sig. 1513–1546, No. 840); the lands of Ardety, Perthshire, on 5 Jan. 1530–1 (ib. No. 982); and the lands of Galashiels and Mossilie, Selkirkshire, on 6 Jan. 1535–6 (ib. No. 1535).
In 1537 the queen endeavoured to obtain a divorce from Methven, but the king refused to grant consent (Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, xii. No. 929). Methven continued to retain the favour of the king, from whom he obtained, on 25 July 1541, the lands of Gilgerston in Methven (Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1513–46, No. 2413). Queen Margaret died on 18 Oct. of the same year; and on 5 June 1545 Methven and his new wife, Janet Stewart, had a grant of a third part of the lands of Nether Gorthy (ib. No. 3118), and on 18 Feb. 1547–8 a confirmation of the lands of Methven (ib. 1546–80, No. 184). He died some time after 10 Oct. 1551, when the lands and castle of Methven were given to him anew (ib. No. 639). He is stated to have had by a first wife, one Lady Leslie, a son, the master of Methven who was killed at Pinkie; but the statement lacks corroboration, as also does another, that by the dowager-queen Margaret he had a daughter who died in infancy. By Lady Janet Stewart, eldest daughter of John, second earl of Atholl, and widow of Alexander, master of Sutherland, he had a son, Henry [see below], and three daughters: Johanna, married to Colin, sixth earl of Argyll; Dorothea, to William, first earl of Gowrie; and Margaret, first to Andrew, master of Ochiltree, and secondly to Uchtred Macdougall of Garthland.
The son, Henry, second lord Methven, was born before his father's marriage, but was legitimated in 1551. He was killed by a cannon-shot from Edinburgh Castle on 3 March 1571–2. By his wife Jean, daughter of his stepfather, Patrick Ruthven, he had one son, Henry, who died without issue about 1595, when the title became extinct. On 24 March 1585–6 the lordship of Methven was granted to Ludovick Stuart, second duke of Lennox and duke of Richmond [q. v.] (ib. 1580–93, p. 311).
[Letters and State Papers of Henry VIII; Hamilton State Papers; Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1513–46, and 1546–80; Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood), ii. 229–30.]
STEWART or STUART, HENRY, Lord Darnley (1545–1567), second but eldest surviving son of Matthew Stewart, fourth or twelfth earl of Lennox [q. v.], and Lady Margaret Douglas [q. v.], was born on 7 Dec. 1545 at Temple Newsam, Yorkshire. He was educated privately under the direction of John Elder, a Scottish priest, a member of the collegiate church of Dumbarton. From his master he learned to be an accomplished penman, as is attested by a letter of his sent in 1554 to Queen Mary of England (facsimile published in the National MSS. of Scotland, pt. iii. No. xvi.), in which he asked her to accept ‘a little plote of my simple penning which I termed Vtopia Noua.’ It is further affirmed that he translated Valerius Maximus into English (Montague's Preface to King James's Works, 1619); and there is even ascribed to him a ballad, ‘The Complaint: an Epistle to his Mistress on the Force of Love,’ which Allan Ramsay published in the ‘Evergreen;’ but these instances of literary accomplishment must be regarded with more than suspicion, since it is clear that Darnley's intellectual gifts were quite below the average. On the other hand, his physical endowments were exceptional; like his father, he was an adept in all the manly accomplishments of the time; and he attained no small skill with the lute. But while it is evident that his mother did her utmost to train him worthily to fill the great position which she never ceased to anticipate for him, it is no less certain that, owing it may be to fatal natural defects, he did comparatively little credit to her methods.
Shortly after the coronation of Francis II of France and Mary Stewart in 1559, Darnley was sent by his mother to the French court with letters to the French king, which it can scarce be doubted concerned the restoration of Lennox to the family estates in Scotland. After the death of Francis he again visited France (Cal. State Papers, For. 1560–61, No. 88), but on a more important errand. The Spanish ambassador, De Quadra, who was in constant communication with the Lady Margaret, reported to his master in 1560 that it was understood that, should any disaster happen to Elizabeth's life or estate, the catholics would raise Darnley to the throne of England (ib. Spanish, 1558–67, p. 135). The hope would therefore be held out to Mary that by marrying Darnley the throne of England as well as Scotland might be hers; and to bring further influence to bear on Mary, the Lady Margaret entered about the same time into communications with the Scottish catholic nobles in view of the marriage (ib. For. 1562, No. 26). But Darnley was then a mere boy, and Mary's regards were directed towards Don Carlos of Spain. Negotiations with Spain having come
