hand; whereas the copies
given in to the parliament, a few days after, were only written, not
subscribed. See Goodall, vol. ii. p. 64, 67. But it is not considered,
that this circumstance is of no manner of force. There were certainly
letters, true or false, laid before the council; and whether the letters
were true or false, this mistake proceeds equally from the inaccuracy or
blunder of the clerk. The mistake may be accounted for; the letters
were only written by her; the second contract with Bothwell was only
subscribed. A proper accurate distinction was not made; and they are
all said to be written and subscribed. A late writer, Mr. Goodall, has
endeavored to prove that these letters clash with chronology, and that
the queen was not in the places mentioned in the letters on the days
there assigned. To confirm this, he produces charters and other deeds
signed by the queen, where the date and place do not agree with the
letters. But it is well known, that the date of charters, and such like
grants, is no proof of the real day on which they were signed by the
sovereign. Papers of that kind commonly pass through different offices.
The date is affixed by the first office, and may precede very long the
day of the signature.

The account given by Morton of the manner in which the papers came
into his hands, is very natural. When he gave it to the English
commissioners, he had reason to think it would be canvassed with all the
severity of able adversaries, interested in the highest degree to
refute it. It is probable, that he could have confirmed it by many
circumstances and testimonies; since they declined the contest.

The sonnets are inelegant; insomuch that both Brantome and Bonsard, who
knew Queen Mary's style, were assured, when they saw them, that they
could not be of her composition. Jebb, voL ii p. 478. But no person is
equal in his productions, especially one whose style is so little formed
as Mary's must be supposed to be. Not to mention, that such dangerous
and criminal enterprises leave little tranquillity of mind for elegant
poetical compositions.

In a word, Queen Mary might easily have conducted the whole conspiracy
against her husband, without opening her mind to any one person except
Bothwell, and without writing a scrap of paper about it; but it was very
difficult to have conducted it so that her conduct should not betray her
to men of discernment. In the present case, her conduct was so gross as
to b