yis
and begylit ws.' And four honest-like wemene wer very ernist and
instant to haif itt. And the said Barbara and Effie McCalyane gatt
than ane promeis of the Dewill, that his hienes pictour sould be
gottin to thame twa, and that rycht sone: And this mater of his hienes
pictour was the caus of that assemblie.

This ends the evidence of the witches; the point to be proved now is the
identity of the man whom they believed in and obeyed as God incarnate.

In all cases of murder or attempted murder it is necessary to find the
person who would benefit, for murder is differentiated from manslaughter by
the fact that it is deliberately planned and that it is done for a motive.
In the case of the witches of North Berwick, the man who instigated the
meetings, and to whom consequently suspicion points, was Francis Stewart
Earl of Bothwell. His position as regards both the King and the witches
must therefore be investigated.

Francis, afterwards Earl of Bothwell, was the eldest son of John Stewart
and Jane Hepburn, sister of that Earl of Bothwell whom Mary Queen of Scots
married. Francis succeeded his maternal uncle in title and estates. His
father, Lord John Stewart, was an illegitimate son of James V. The Pope,
however, legitimized all the natural children of James V; and Mary, after
her accession, granted letters of legitimation[150] to her two
half-brothers, John Stewart, and James, afterwards the Regent Moray. John
was slightly the elder of the two, and had he been legitimate would have
been the heir to the exclusion of Mary. The Regent Moray left only
daughters, whereas John Stewart had several sons, of whom Francis was the
eldest. Francis might therefore claim to be the next heir male to the
throne of Scotland, and possibly of England, had James VI died without
children. James's own opinion of the matter is shown in his speech to his
Parliament in 1592, when he denounced Bothwell as an aspirant to the
throne, although he was 'but a bastard, and could claim no title to the
crown'. Bothwell, however, was himself no bastard, though his father was.
But the significance of the witches' attempt, as well as the identity of
the chief personage at their meeting, is given in Barbara Napier's evidence
as to the reason for the attempted murder of the King, 'that another might
have ruled in his Majesty's place, and the government might have gone to
the Devil'. By changing the title 'the Devil' by which he was