76 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
those of the Queen, and communicating with them by a private staircase. Darnley himself
first ascended the stair, and, throwing back the tapestry that concealed the doorway,
entered the small closet, still pointed out in the north-west turret, where the Queen and
her guests were seated at supper. He threw his arm round her waist, and seated himself
beside her at the table; when Lord Ruthven, a man of tall stature, clad in complete
armour, and pale and ghastly from the effects of disease, burst like a frightful apparition
into the room.
The Queen, now far advanced in pre,pancy, sprung up in terror, and commanded him
instantly to depart ; hut the torchea of hia accomplices already glared in the outer chamber,
and Darnley, though he affected ignorance of the whole proceedings, sat scowling with
looks of hate on their intended victim. The other conspirators crowded into the little
room; and Ruthven, drawing his dagger, attempted to lay hold of Rizzio, who sprang
behind the Queen, and wildly besought her to save his life,
Ker of Fawdonside, one of the conspirators, held his pistol to the Queen’s breast,
threatening her life if she gave any alarm. Darnley at length interfered, and grasped her
in his arms; and George Douglas, snatching Darnley’s own dagger from him, struck at the
wretched Italian over the Queen’s shoulder, and plunging it in his side, left it there. He
was then dragged through the adjoining chamber to the outer entrance, where the Earl of
Morton and his associates rushed in andstruck their daggers into his body, leaving a pool
of blood, the marks of which, according to popular tradition, still remain on the floor, and
are pointed out by the keepers to the credulous visitor.
I
The Queen was kept a close prisoner in
her apartment, while her imbecile husband
assumed the regal power, dissolved the Parliament,
and commanded the Estates immediately
to depart from Edinburgh on paiq of treason.
The Earl of Morton, who had kept guard,
with one hundred and sixty followers, in the
outer court of the Palace while the assassins
entered to complete their murderous purpose,
was now commanded to keep the gates of
the Palace, and let none escape ; but the chief
actors in the deed contrived to elude the
guards, and, leaping over a window on the
north side of the Palace, they fled across the
garden, and escaped by a small outhouse or
lodge, still existing, and known by the name
of Queen Mary’s Bath.
We have been told by the proprietor of this
house, that in making some repairs on the roof,
which required the removal of the slates, a rusty
dagger was discovered sticking in one of the
. planks, and with a portion of. it more deeply corroded than the rest, as- though from the
VIGHETTE--&Ueell Marq’d Bath.
