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The Tudors and the Stuarts: English
About a twelvemonth afterwards, another parcel seems to have been sold to a secret agent of Queen Elizabeth for pound 2,500. Other parcels were, it is said, at different times given in pledge to Edinburgh merchants, goldsmiths, and others, for money advanced by them, to supply the needs of the garrison. When, at length, the English cannon without, and want and mutiny within, forbade all hope of further resistance, and terms of capitulation began to be debated, one of the articles was that Grange should account for all the queen's jewels and other moveables. But the implacable Morton, who had now succeeded to the regency, would agree to nothing but unconditional surrender, and rather than suffer what remained of the jewels to fall into his hands, the garrison seem to have hidden a part of them in a crevice of the castle rock, and to have delivered others to Sir William Drury, the commander of the English troops. It was whispered that Grange carried some away concealed on his person, but this he indignantly denied. (James Mossman, the faithful old jeweller of Mary Queen of Scots, who was taken on the surrender of Edinburgh Castle (May 29th, 1573), had endeavoured to preserve some of the most valuable royal jewels from the greedy clutches of the Regent Moray, by delivering them in pledge for Queen Mary to Lady Home, Lady Lethington, and others. Sir Robert Melville took possession of some, and Sir William Kirkaldy, of Grange, whose besetting sin was covetousness, before he surrendered his sword to Sir William Drury, secreted a most choice collection of precious jewels in his hose, or nether garments. Mossman was compelled to confess, either by the torture of the boot, or the terror of it, and ladies and gentlemen were forced to relinquish whatever they had taken, either for their royal mistress or themselves.
The jewels hidden in the castle were discovered without much difficulty, and among them were the "Honours," as the crown, sceptre, and sword of state were fondly called among a people to whom they were dear as the visible signs of a hardly-won national independence. It was not, however, so easy to recover the spoil which had passed into the hands of the English commander. But Morton addressed himself to the English court, and, although he had to contend against the claim of the Queen of Scots, he succeeded, except the detention of some diamonds on which monies had been advanced, and of one jewel which had found its way into Queen Elizabeth's possession.