James Melville of Halhill

[7] After the murder of Darnley in February 1567, Melville joined Lord Herries in boldly warning Mary of the danger and disgrace of her projected marriage with Bothwell, and was only saved from the latter's vengeance in consequence by the courageous resolution of the queen.

[8] During the troubled times following Mary's imprisonment and abdication Melville conducted several diplomatic missions of importance, and won the confidence of James VI when the king took the government into his own hands.

In his memoir he records how he was appointed to the position by James VI at Falkland Palace and had to overcome the Queen's initial suspicions of him as her keeper and a potential informant.

[13] On 24 July, Melville went to reassure two Danish ambassadors, Steen Bille and Niels Krag who were lodged at John Kinloch's house in the Canongate after the Raid of Holyrood.

[14] He attended Anne of Denmark at the baptism of Prince Henry at Stirling Castle in August 1594, standing behind her and making speeches for her in French to the ambassadors who brought gifts.

[15] Having been adopted as his heir by the reformer Henry Balnaves, he inherited from him, at his death in 1579, the estate of Halhill in Fife; and he retired there in 1603, refusing the request of James to accompany him to London on his accession to the English throne.

[18] Their children included: At Halhill, Melville wrote the Memoirs of my own Life, a valuable authority for the history of the period, first published by his grandson, George Scott of Pitlochie, in 1683,[1] from a manuscript discovered at Edinburgh Castle in 1660.

Gordon Donaldson notes in Scott (1683) some editing errors and suppression of the more sinister dealings of English government before Mary's condemnation.