advice, but most earnest suit) to make me and all other princes in Europe eternally beholden unto you, in granting this my so reasonable request, and not (pardon, I pray you, my free speaking) to put princes to straits of honour; where through your general reputation and the universal (almost) misliking of you, may dangerously peril, both in honour and utility, your person and

estate.

1

You know, madam, well enough how small difference Cicero concludes to be betwixt Utile and Honestum in his discourse thereof, and which of them ought to be framed to the other. And now, madam, to conclude,-I pray you so to weigh these few arguments, that as I ever presumed of your nature, so the whole world may praise your subjects for their dutiful care of your preservation, and yourself for your princely pity; the doing whereof only belongs unto you, the performing whereof only appertains unto you, and the praise thereof only will ever be yours. Respect then, good sister, this my first so long continued and so earnest request, despatching my ambassador with such a comfortable answer, as may become your person to give, and as my loving and honest heart unto you merits to receive. But in case any do vaunt themselves to know further of my mind in this matter than my ambassadors do, who indeed are fully acquainted therewith, I pray you not to take me to be a camelion; but, by the contrary, them to be malicious impostors, as surely they are.

1 Nihil utile quod non sit honestum,—Nothing is really to our interest that is not honest and honourable.-Cicero's Offices.

And thus, praying you heartily to excuse my tedious and longsome letter, I commit you, madam and dearest sister, to the blessed protection of the Almighty, who might give you grace so to resolve on this matter, as may be most honourable for you and most acceptable to Him. From my Palace of Holyrood, the 26th day of January, 1586.

Your most loving brother and cousin,

JAMES R.

James VI. to his Ambassador in England.

1

I perceive by your last letters, the queen my mother still continueth in that miserable strait, that the pretended condemnation of that parliament has put her in. A strange example indeed! and so very rare! As for my part, I never heard nor read of the like practice in any case. I am sorry that by my expectation, the queen hath suffered this to proceed so far to her dishonour, and so contrary to her good fame, as, by subjects' mouth to condemn a sovereign, descended, of all hands, of the best blood of Europe. King Henry VIII.'s reputation was never prejudged in any thing but in the beheading of his bedfellow; 2 but yet that tragedy was far inferior to this, if it should proceed as it seemeth to be intended. But this I can never believe, since I know it to be the nature of noble princes at that time chiefly to spare, when it is most concluded in men's minds that they will strike.

1 MSS. Cotton. Calig. D. i. art. 18.

2 A common term in old works for wife, or intimate friend.

Alway, I am presently upon the directing of a very honourable ambassade thither for the same purpose; in which commission shall be one man that the queen will like well of, and who both hath and deserveth great credit at her hand; and therefore fail not to insist with the queen, that all farther proceedings may be stayed till their arrival, which shall be as soon as possible they may post thither. This far I promise to myself will be granted, since I no way merit at that queen's hands such hard using, as to disdain to hear my overture and reasons, which, when she hath heard, she may weigh as best pleaseth her. Fail not to let her see all this letter; and would God she might see the inward parts of my heart, where she should see a great jewel of honesty towards her locked up in a coffer of perplexity: she only having the key which, by her good behaviour in this case, may open the same.

Guess you in what strait my honour will be in, this unhappy thing being perfected; since, before God, I already dare skathe1 go abroad for crying out of the whole people. And, what is spoken by them of the queen of England it grieves me to hear, and yet dare not find fault with it, except I would dethrone myself: so is whole Scotland incensed with this matter. As you love your master's honour, omit no diligence in this request. And let this letter serve for excuse to the queen, my dearest sister, of my not writing to her at this time, in respect of this bearer's sudden departure. Farewell!

JAMES R.

1 Scarcely.

James VI. to the King of Denmark.1

James, by the grace of God, King of Scotland, greeting and perpetual increase of happiness, to the most serene and powerful prince Lord Frederick the Second, by the same grace, King of Denmark, Norway, of the Goths and Vandals, Duke of Sleswick, Holstein, &c. Count of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst, our very dear brother, kinsman, and ally: Peter Junius, our familiar and beloved councillor and grand almoner, has returned and delivered to us your letter very affectionately written and to us therefore very acceptable and pleasant; as well as the narrative he has given us more at large concerning the health and welfare of your serene highness and your consort the queen, our very beloved kinswoman, and the virtuous disposition, the chaste and pious morals, the surpassing beauty, and truly royal education of your very sweet children. Also, what he hath related touching the peaceful and tranquil condition of the whole of your renowned kingdom, was truly most grateful and delightful to hear; and by which we were as much affected as if it were our own, on account of the manifold and ancient connection by blood, neighbourhood, and treaties: and we pray God that this it may be his will should be firm and perpetual. And no less welcome and desirable were those tidings, that he brought of your serene highness' extraordinary affection

1 Rawlinson MSS. in the Bodleian Library. Translated from the Latin. There are preserved in the same library several complimentary letters of the same character.

and brotherly or rather fatherly feeling towards ourself and all ours. And this, even if he had been silent, from your answer to each point of our inquiries, might have been fully evident to any one. On this account, we give to your serene highness exceeding thanks, and will requite your goodness abundantly, with God's favour, when we find opportunity; and also, because you have treated so honourably and kindly our ambassador and councillor.

But what great pleasure we have derived from all these things, and how much our heart is incited, in consequence, to cultivate and embrace more sacredly this old and ancestral connection and to draw more closely the bonds of friendship and alliance, your serene highness will understand from the commands which we have given to the same Junius (as well your as our friend, who, next to ourself, is most devoted to your highness as we wish him to be), and to the well-born and noble baron, his colleague, Patrick Vaux, of Barnbarrach, knight.

Therefore, we more earnestly beg of your highness, by the bonds of our common friendship and consanguinity, that you will deign to receive these our ambassadors and councillors with courtesy and kindness, according to your wonted and natural generosity, to hear them favourably while expounding our commands, and to dismiss them quickly with a written answer suitable to my expectation and our friendship, and to give credence to them in all things, as much as to ourself, if we were present: which I hope and wish, by God's blessing, at some time or other may happen.