to Dunbar Castle. He then procured the signatures of a large number of
the most distinguished of the nobles and ecclesiastics to a bond
recommending him to the queen as a most fit and proper husband, and
binding themselves to consider as a common enemy whoever should oppose
the marriage. Armed with this document, strengthened by a vote of the
council, Bothwell brought the queen to Edinburgh, and there the
marriage was solemnized.

The month which Mary passed with Bothwell after the marriage, was the
most miserable of her miserable life. He treated her with such
indignity, that a day did not pass in which "he did not cause her to
shed abundance of salt tears." Those very lords, who had recommended
the marriage, now made it a pretext for rebellion. Both parties took
up arms, and met at Carberry Hill. Mary here adopted an unexpected and
decisive step. She offered to the rebels to dismiss Bothwell, and
place herself in their hands, if they would be answerable for her
safety, and return to their allegiance. Her terms were accepted;
Bothwell was persuaded by her to leave the field. They never met
again; and thus in less than a month this union was virtually ended.

Mary was soon committed as a prisoner to Lochleven Castle, a fortress
in the midst of a lake, to the immediate custody of Lady Margaret
Douglas, a woman of harsh and unfeeling temper, and who had
personal motives for irritation against her. Cut off from all
intercourse with those in whom she had confidence, and harassed by
daily ill usage, her enemies trusted that her spirit would at
length be broken, and that she would submit to any terms which
should promise relief. Accordingly, after some weeks, she was visited
by a deputation of the rebels, who demanded her signature to a paper
declaring her own incapacity to govern, and abdicating the throne
in favor of her son. Upon her refusal to make this humiliating
declaration, Lindsay, the fiercest of the confederates, rudely
seized her hand with his own gauntleted palm, and, with threats of
instant death in case of non-compliance, compelled her to set her
signature to the deed; she, in a paroxysm of tears, calling on all
present to witness that she did so through her fear for her life, and
therefore that the act was not valid.

Bothwell, meanwhile, after wandering from place to place, now lurking
among his vassals, now seeking refuge with his friends, at length
fled, with a single ship, towards Norway. Falling in wi