Chapter VIII: Section VII: The Documents

_CONTENTS_

1. The Contents of the Casket.
(_a_) The Letters.
(_b_) The Sonnets.
(_c_) The Contracts of Marriage.

2. The Deposition of Thomas Nelson.

3. The Deposition of Thomas Crawford.

4. Murray's Journal.

5. The Depositions of Paris.

6. The Confession of Ormiston.

7. The Confession of the Earl of Morton.

8. Letter from Mr. Archibald Douglas to the Queen of Scots.

THE CASKET LETTERS.

[The following eight letters are the principal contents of the
famous Silver Casket (_cf._ pp. 125 and 132-161). A long and bitter
controversy has been waged in connection with the question of their
authenticity. Every recorded production of them has been the
subject of debate. Their discovery is related on pp. 203-207. Their
appearance at York is described in the letter to Queen Elizabeth on
pp. 138-143. It is evident that, at York, they were produced in
Scots, and there has been considerable controversy as to whether
they were there stated to be originals or translations. At
Westminster, they were shown to the Commissioners in French. Within
a few years after the Westminster Conference, we lose all trace of
the original documents. Translations of them into Scots, English,
and Latin and French versions, which we now know (at least in the
case of some of the Letters) not to have been those produced at
Westminster, were published soon after the Conference closed. In
1571, Latin translations of Nos. I., II., and IV. were printed in
the Latin edition of Buchanan's "Detectio," and, in the same year,
a Scots translation was published in London, containing the sonnets
in French and Scots (reprinted in Anderson's "Collections," Vol.
II.). Prefixed to each of the Scots versions was the first sentence
of each letter, in French (_see_ pp. 194-5). In 1572 another Scots
version was published at St. Andrews, and, in 1573, a French
translation of the "Detectio" appeared, with the imprimatur
"Edinburgh." To it, French versions of all the letters, except No.
III., were appended, with a version of the sonnets, varying
considerably from that in the Scots "Detection." Research has
revealed the existence of English translations of Nos. I. and II.
and French versions of Nos. III. and V. in the Record Office; and
of English translations and French versions of Nos. IV. and VI. at
Hatfield. All these various versions will be found printed, in
careful and scholarly fashion, in Appendix C. of Mr. T. F.
Henderson's "Casket Letters and Mary Queen of Scots."

The method adopted in the present work has been to print the Scots
version of all the letters, with a glossary of unusual words. It is
the only complete version, and the published French and Latin
letters are probably derived from it. Variations both in these and
in such English and French versions of the letters as are at
Hatfield or the Record Office, are indicated in notes appended to
each letter. Care should be taken to distinguish between these
Hatfield or Record Office French versions and the "Published
French," _i.e._ the French of the edition of 1573.

References to the literature of the question will be found in an
Appendix. For the guidance of the reader, it may be added that one
section of the discussion turns upon the question whether French
originals of Nos. I., II., VII., and VIII. ever existed; and the
Scots and English have been carefully examined to discover if they
bear traces of derivation from a French source.

Of the other contents of the Casket, the Sonnets, and the important
clauses of the marriage contracts will be found immediately after
the letters.]

The following Scots words, which appear frequently in the text of
the letters, may be unknown to English readers:--

Abaschit = surprised.
Aganis = against.
Allanerly = only.
Awin = own.
Beseik = beseech.
Chereis = cherish.
Conqueis = conquest.
Cordounis = cords.
Dreddouris = fears.
Eir = ear.
Eis = ease.
Fane = anxious (wald verray fane, wished very much).
Fascherie, fascheous = trouble, troublesome.
Fenze, fenzeingly = feign, feigningly.
Fulische = foolish.
Gangand = going.
Gar = force, compel.
Gude = good.
Haillely = wholly.
Impesche = hinder, prevent.
Incontinent = immediately.
Inlack = fail.
Inragis = becomes angry.
Irkit = tired, wearied.
Irksome = troublesome, disagreeable.
Journey = day's work.
Luif, luifar = love, lover.
Mekle, meikle = much.
Playn, plenzeit = complain, complained.
Quha = who.
Quhair = where.
Quhen = when.
Quhilk = which.
Quhill = while, till.
Regiment = rule.
Schaw = show.
Schort = short.
Schuillis = schools.
Seik = sick.
Sic, siclyke = such, similarly.
Sone = son.
Speik = speak.
Suld = should.
Travell = take pains, try.
Thristit = nudged.
Tuichit = touched.
Tyne = lose.
Unsay = contradict.
Wald = would.
Waryit = cured.
Wod = mad, angry.
Ze, zow = ye, you.
Zisternicht = yesternight.
Zit = yet.