1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 481 pulating for embarrassing conditions. Substantially conceding all the points which were in dispute between them, she proposed that they should mutually bind themselves by a contract in which Mary Stuart should undertake to do nothing against Elizabeth during the lifetime of herself or her children ; while Elizabeth would ' engage never to do or suffer anything to be done to the prejudice of the Queen of Scots' title and interest as her next cousin/ l The Queen of Scots declared herself, in I5 6 7 . reply, assured of Elizabeth's ' good mind and Januar y- entire affection ' towards her ; ' she did not doubt that in time her sister would proceed to the perfecting and consideration of that which she had begun to utter, as well to her own people as to other nations the opinion which her sister had of the equity of her cause ; ' and she promised to send a commission to London to settle the terms in which the contract ' might pass orderly to both their contentments.' 2 Thus the struggle was over ; though unrecognized by a formal Act of Parliament Mary Stuart had won the day and was virtually regarded as the heir-presumptive to the English throne. Elizabeth's own wishes had pointed throughout to this conclusion, if the Queen of Scots would consent to seek her object in any other capacity than as the representative of a revolution. The reconciliation of the two factions in Scotland and the 1 Elizabeth to the Queen of Scots, December, 1566: MS. Eolls Home. 2 The Queen of Scots to Eliza- beth, Jan. 3. 1567: Scotch M8S. Rolls Home, VOL. VII. 31
