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The Earl, foreseeing all such domestic complications, had asked the Council for directions as to the treatment of his prisoner. “Remembrances for my L. of Shrewsbury” stands at the head of notes, in his handwriting, all duly numbered. Of these No. 5 reads, “For my wife’s access unto her, if she send for her.”

To this the reply in Cecil’s handwriting is, “The Queen of Scots may see the Countess, if she is sick, or for any other necessary cause, but rarely. No other gentlewoman must be allowed access to her.” The remainder of the rules are strict enough, and the pleasant country-house picture drawn by the French Ambassador, De la Forest, in the letter quoted, is rudely effaced by these details. Shrewsbury is to be well fortified by an array of facts against the Scottish Queen, lest her pleading should win his sympathies and her captive condition arouse his indignation too deeply. How the regulations at every turn reveal Elizabeth of England—at once autocratic and apprehensive of her own importance, at once trustful and suspicious! The document is so vital a part of the household appanage of the Shrewsburys from this moment until the close of their wardership that it is worth quoting in the concise form in which, partly in the original and partly as abstract, it is given in Leader’s admirable Mary Queen of Scots in Captivity.