Sir James Melville (1535–1617) was a Scottish diplomat and memoir writer, and father of the poet Elizabeth Melville. Life Melville was the third son of Sir John Melville, laird of Raith, in the county of Fife, who was executed for treason in 1548. One of his brothers was Robert, 1st Baron Melville of Monimail (1527–1621). James Melville in 1549 went to France to become page to Mary, Queen of Scots. Serving on the French side at the Battle of St. Quentin in 1557 Melville was wounded and taken prisoner. He subsequently carried out a number of diplomatic missions for Henry II of France. On Mary's return to Scotland in 1561 she gave Melville a pension and an appointment in her household, and she employed him as special emissary to reconcile Queen Elizabeth to her marriage with Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. He met the English agent Christopher Rokeby in Edinburgh in May 1566. In June 1566 he attended Mary in Edinburgh Castle, and when Mary Beaton told him of the birth of Prince James, he rode to London with the news. Melville was sent to Elizabeth with messages from Mary and her half-brother, the Earl of Moray. Melville was back in Edinburgh on 3 July. 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. 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. Richard Douglas met him at Falkland Palace in 1588 and mentioned that his uncle Archibald Douglas was sending him a pair of virginals from London, for the education of his daughter, Elizabeth Melville. Melville was knighted at the coronation of Anne of Denmark on 17 May 1590. Melville was delegated to entertain the English ambassador, Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester, who travelled to Edinburgh to congratulate James VI on his safe return from Denmark and marriage to Anne of Denmark. James VI gave the Earl a present of a ring set with seven diamonds. Melville entered the service of the queen as a Gentleman of her Chamber. In his memoir he records how he was appointed to the