his; but on the ninth of February,
she told him that she would pass that night in the palace, because
the marriage of one of her servants was there to be celebrated in her
presence. About two o'clock in the morning, the whole town was much
alarmed at hearing a great noise; and was still more astonished, when
it was discovered that the noise came from the king's house, which was
blown up by gunpowder; that his dead body was found at some distance in
a neighboring field; and that no marks, either of fire, contusion, or
violence appeared upon it.[*]

No doubt could be entertained but Henry was murdered; and general
conjecture soon pointed towards the earl of Bothwell as the author of
the crime.[**] But as his favor with Mary was visible, and his power
great, no one ventured to declare openly his sentiments; and all men
remained in silence and mute astonishment. Voices, however, were heard
in the streets, during the darkness of the night, proclaiming Bothwell,
and even Mary herself, to be murderers of the king; bills were secretly
affixed on the walls to the same purpose; offers were made, that, upon
giving proper securities, his guilt should be openly proved; but after
one proclamation from the court, offering a reward and indemnity to any
one that would discover the author of that villany, greater vigilance
was employed in searching out the spreaders of the libels and reports
against Bothwell and the queen, than in tracing the contrivers of the
king's assassination, or detecting the regicides.[***]

The earl of Lenox, who lived at a distance from court in poverty and
contempt, was roused by the report of his son's murder, and wrote to
the queen, imploring speedy justice against the assassins; among whom he
named the earl of Bothwell, Sir James Balfour, and Gilbert Balfour his
brother, David Chalmers, and four others of the queen's household; all
of them persons who had been mentioned in the bills affixed to the walls
at Edinburgh.[****]

* It was imagined that Henry had been strangled before the
house was blown up. But this supposition is contradicted by
the confession of the criminals; and there is no necessity
to admit it in order to account for the condition of his
body. There are many instances that men's lives have been
saved who had been blown up in ships. Had Henry fallen on
water, he had not probably been killed.

** Melvil, p. 78. Cabbala, p. 136.

*** Anderson'