) a letter of hers, where
she throws out the same menace against him.

We find this scheme of seizing the king of Scots, and delivering him
into the hands of the pope or the king of Spain, proposed by Morgan
to Mary. See Murden, p. 525. A mother must be very violent to whom one
would dare to make such a proposal; but it seems she assented to it.
Was not such a woman very capable of murdering her husband, who had so
grievously offended her?]

[Footnote 25: NOTE Y, p. 227. The volume of state papers collected
by Murden, prove, beyond controversy, that Mary was long in close
correspondence with Babington, (p. 513, 516, 532, 533.) She entertained
a like correspondence with Ballard, Morgan, and Charles Paget, and laid
a scheme with them for an insurrection, and for the invasion of England
by Spain (p. 528,531.) The same papers show, that there had been a
discontinuance of Babington's correspondence, agreeably to Camden's
narration. See Slate Papers, (p. 513,) where Morgan recommends it
to Queen Mary to renew her correspondence with Babington. These
circumstances prove, that no weight can be laid on Mary's denial of
guilt, and that her correspondence with Babington contained particulars
which could not be avowed.]

[Footnote 26: NOTE Z, p. 227. There are three suppositions by which
the letter to Babington may be accounted for, without allowing Mary's
concurrence in the conspiracy for assassinating Elizabeth. The first is,
that which she seems herself to have embraced, that her secretaries had
received Babington's letter, and had, without any treacherous intention,
ventured of themselves to answer it, and had never communicated the
matter to her. But it is utterly improbable, if not impossible, that
a princess of so much sense and spirit should, in an affair of that
importance, be so treated by her servants who lived in the house with
her, and who had every moment an opportunity of communicating the
secret to her. If the conspiracy failed, they must expect to suffer
the severest punishment from the court of England; if it succeeded, the
lightest punishment which they could hope for from their own mistress,
must be disgrace, on account of their temerity. Not to mention, that
Mary's concurrence was in some degree requisite for effecting the
design of her escape. It was proposed to attack her guards while she was
employed in hunting; she must therefore concert the time and place with
the conspirators. The second suppositio