304 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.44. them would have been nothing less than a studied in- sult. The English ambassador was ordered a second time, and more imperiously, to command Lennox and Darnley to go back to England ; while avowedly by the direct instructions of his mistress he laid her thanks and wishes before the lords in a formal and written address. 1 RANDOLPH TO THE LORDS OF SCOTLAND. 2 July, 1565. ' Right Honourable and my very good Lords, It is not out of your remembrance that Sir Nicholas Throgmorton being at Stirling ambassador for the Queen's Majesty my mistress to the Queen's Majesty your sovereign, it was declared at good length both to her Grace's self and also to you of her honourable council, what mi silking the Queen my mistress hath that the Lord t)amley should join marriage with the Queen you!' sovereign, for divers and weighty reasons ; of which some were there presently rehearsed, others for great and weighty respects left unspoken until occa- sion better serve to utter her Majesty's griefs for the strange manner of dealing that hath been used towards her divers ways and by divers persons contrary to that expectation she had. The Queen your sovereign hav- ing answered that she would in no wise alter her deter- mination, the Queen my mistress commanded this 1 It is necessary, at the risk of being tedious, to dwell on these particulars of Elizabeth's conduct. Each separate promise was as a nail which left a rent in her reputation when she endeavoured to free her- self. 2 Lansdvivne JlfSS. 8.
