r 566. ] THE DARNLE Y MARRIA GE. 3 75 husband flung all parties back into their natural places ; Lennox, who twenty years before had been brought in from France in the interest of Henry the Eighth as a check on Cardinal Beton, drifted again into his old position in the front of tho Protestant league ; and Darnley's demand for the matrimonial crown, though in himself the mere clamour of dis- appointed vanity, was maintained by powerful noble- men, who though they neither possessed nor deserved the confidence of the Reformers, yet were recognizing too late that they had mistaken their interest in leav- ing them. But the matrimonial crown it became every day more clear that Darnley was not to have ; Rizzio above all others was held responsible for the Queen's resolution to refuse it, and for this, as for a thousand other reasons, he was gathering hatred on his devoted head. A foreigner, who had come to Scotland two years before as a wandering musician, was thrusting himself into the administration of the country, and pushing from their places the fierce lords who had been accustomed to dic- tate to their sovereign. As a last stroke of insolence he was now aiming at the chancellorship, of which the Queen was about to deprive in his favour the great chief of the House of Douglas. ( %^k***^ While their blood was set on fire with these real and fancied indignities Lord Darnley, if his word was to be believed, went one night between twelve and one to the Queen's room. Finding the door locked he knocked, but could get no answer. At length after he had called
