^{page 194 note a} Hist. Ho. of Douglas, p. 387, ed. 1644.

^{page 194 note b} Bannatyne Miscellany, i. 106.

^{page 196 note a} Secret Corresp. of Cecil, ed. Hailes, p. 161.

^{page 196 note b} Ibid. p. 164.

^{page 197 note a} Appendix, No. III.

^{page 198 note a} It occurs in Addit. MSS. Brit. Mus. 1775,. art. 7, and 4108, art. 69.

Mr. Ruthen to the Earl of Northumberland.

My Lord,

It may be interpreted discretion sometimes to wink at private wrongs, especially for such a one as myself, that have a long time wrastled with a hard fortune, and whose actions, words, and behaviour are continually subject to the censure of a whole state; yet not to be sensible of public and national disgrace, were stupidity and baseness of mind: for no place, nor time, nor state, can excuse a man from performing that duty and obligation wherein nature hath tied him to his country and to himself. This I speak in regard of certain infamous verses, lately by your lordship's means dispersed abroad, to disgrace my country and myself, and to wrong and stain by me the honour of a worthy and vertuous gentlewoman, whose unspotted and immaculate vertue yourself is so much more bound to admire and uphold, in that, having dishonourably assaulted it, you could not prevail. But belike, my lord, you dare do anything but that which is good and just.

Think not to bear down these things either by greatness or denial; for the circumstances that prove them are so evident, and the veil wherewith you would shadow them is too transparent. Neither would I have you flatter yourself, as though like another Giges you could pass in your courses invisible. If you owe a spite to any of my countrymen it is a poor revenge to rail upon me in verse: or if the repulse of your lewed desire at the gentlewoman's hands hath inflamed and exasperated your choler against her, it was never known that to refuse Northumberland's unlawful lust was a crime for a gentlewoman deserving to have her honor called in question.

For her part, I doubt not but her own unspotted vertue will easily wipe out any blot which your malice would cast upon it: and for me and my countrymen, know (my good lord) that such blows as come in rime are too weak to reach or harm us.

I am ashamed in your lordship's behalf for these proceedings, and sorry that the world must now see how long it hath been mistaken in Northumberland's spirit; and yet who will not commend your wisdom in causing such a safe course, to wrong a woman and a prisoner ? The one of which cannot, and the other by nature and quality of the place may not, right his own wrongs. Wherefore (setting aside the most honorable order of the garter, and protesting that whatsoever is here said is no way intended to the nobility and gentry of England in general, which I doubt not but will condemn this your dishonorable dealing, and for which both myself, and I dare truly say, all my countrymen, shall be even as ready to sacrifice our bloods as for our own mother Scotland,) I do not only in regard of our own persons affirm, that whatsoever in those infamous verses is contained is utterly false and untrue, and that yourself hath dealt most dishonorably, unworthily, and basely; but this I'll ever maintain. If these words sound harshly in your lordship's ear, blame yourself, since yourself forgetting yourself hath taught others how to dishonor you; and remember, that though nobility makes a difference of persons, yet injury acknowledged none.

^{page 199 note a} Wood's Athenæ, ed. Bliss, ii. 300.

^{page 200 note a} Appendix, No. IV.

^{page 201 note a} Appendix, No. V.

^{page 202 note a} Archæologia, XXXII. 142.

^{page 202 note b} Ibid. p. 146.

^{page 203 note a} Appendix, No. VI.

^{page 203 note b} Alexander Sinclair, Esquire, of Edinburgh. The information was conveyed through Mark Napier, Esquire, whose interest respecting the history of Patrick Ruthven is increased by the circumstance that he was a fellow student in chemistry and astrology with the celebrated Napier of Merchistoun, the inventor of logarithms.

^{page 203 note c} Harl. MS. 1423, fo. 56. Birch MS. 4173, fo. 588.

^{page 203 note d} Vincent MS. in Colleg. Arm. She is said in some MSS. to have had six children, but that does not seem very probable if she died in 1624.

^{page 205 note a} Colonel Cowell has in his possession a portrait of Vandyke, painted by himself. It is the one which is distinguished by the inverted hand—the same which was partly engraved for Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting.

^{page 205 note b} Appendix, No. VII.

^{page 205 note c} Lords' Journals, VII. 286 a. 25th March, 1645, 20 Car. I.

^{page 205 note b} Appendix, No. VIII.

^{page 206 note a} Appendix, Nos. IX., X., XL, and XII. I am indebted to the kindness of W. J. Thorns, Esq., F.S.A. and to the permission of John George Shaw Lefevre, Esq., the Clerk of the House of Lords, for great facilities in the discovery and inspection of these important documents.

^{page 206 note b} Appendix, No. XIII.

^{page 207 note a} Since this was written, a very interesting proof of Patrick Ruthven's devotion to alchemical science has been laid before the Society by Thomas Wright, Esq. F.S.A. It is a MS. folio volume of collections, belonging to James O. Halliwell, Esq. F.S.A. consisting principally of extracts from chemical and alchemical works, selected and copied by the hand of Patrick Ruthven himself. Besides the evidence of handwriting, the authorship of the volume is proved, as Mr. Wright has pointed out, bv the following heading to one of the articles: " The coppie of D. M. letter writen to the Earle of ARG: contayninge the holl worke œnigmaticallie as he concerned it firste out of the former wheels and syplier of Trithemius, and then made it with his owne handes: copied by me from the originall letter under D. M. owne hande. Copied, I saye, an. 1629, Octob. 2, per me, Patricium Ruthuenum.” In another part of the same volume is a copy of a paper recording a conversation upon alchemical subjects, between Dr. Muller, the D. M. before mentioned, and the celebrated Napier of Merchistoun, in November 1607. This copy is stated to have been copied from a memorandum written by Napier himself, which was found after his death amongst his papers. In this conversation Muller treats Napier as a person “occupied in alchymie.”

^{page 208 note a} This fact was pointed out to me by the Rev. Joseph Hunter, ever ready to communicate out of his rich stores of information to every earnest inquirer. An extract from the register was procured for me by another equally kind and zealous friend, George R. Corner, Esq. F.S.A.

^{page 208 note b} See Appendix, No. XIV.

^{page 214 note a} The deed as originally prepared was intended to be directed to several persons. A blank left for the insertion of their names was ultimately filled up by the one name printed in italic. The grammatical alterations thus rendered necessary in the deed were not attended to.

^{page 215 note a} A memorandum is indorsed of livery of seisin on the sixth of March, 1583. This memorandum is much defaced by time, and, in many places, illegible.

^{page 224 note a} The words within brackets have been erased.