272 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43. scarcely speak to any common nobleman. ' My young lord lying sick in his bed boasted the Duke that he would knock his pate when he was whole ; ' while ' the preachers looked daily to have their lives taken from them/ and ' the country was so far broken that there was daily slaughter without redress, stealing on all hands, and justice almost nowhere/ 1 Although the report of the completion of the mar- riage was premature, yet the arrangements for it had been pushed forward with eager precipitancy. Mary Stuart's friends in England had informed her of the resolution of the council ; she despatched one of the Betons to delay Throgmorton at Berwick; and the leading lords were sent for one by one to Stirling, where the Court was staying, and were requested to sign a paper recommending Darnley as a fitting person to be the Queen's husband. Murray's signature could be ill dispensed with. He was invited among the rest, and overwhelmed with courtesies Mary, Lennox, and Darnley contending with each other in their professions of regard. Murray however was the first to refuse. 'He had no liking thereof/ The Earl of Morton had been gained over by a release from Lady Lennox of her claims on Angus ; and if Murray would have complied he might have had the lands of three counties for his reward; but in vain Mary pleaded, in vain Mary threatened. She took her brother into a room apart ; she placed the paper in his hand, and required him to Randolph to Cecil, May 3 : Scotch MSS. Rolls House.
