This paper is in Hatton's own hand. It contains a brief summary of the whole case against Mary Stuart, based not only upon her supposed complicity in the Babington plot but also upon her supposed complicity in the earlier plots of Norfolk, of Throgmorton and of Parry. It is apparent that Hatton drew most of his material for this brief from Documents XII, XIV and XV printed above. Indeed, it seems highly probable that he collected many of the foregoing papers for that express purpose. The question remains as to the use to which this brief was put. Hatton can hardly have prepared it for the actual trial of Mary Stuart because he had very little to do with the conduct of that affair, Burghley acting then as spokesman for the government. Most likely Hatton drew it up for the purposes of a speech against Mary which he delivered in the House of Commons on the 3rd of November, 1586 (D'Ewes p. 393). In support of this theory, it is to be observed in the first place that the paper begins, “First, her Majesty's instructions uttered by the Chancellor,” which accords with the order of proceeding in the House as set forth in D'Ewes (p. 391); and in the second place, that the second part of this paper, written across the back of the first part, is a briefer summary of the case against Mary, larded with appropriate Latin quotations and headed, “To acquaint the Parliament with the brief sum of the causes.”
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Mar 30, 1935
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