Makers of History

 Mary Queen of Scots

 BY

 JACOB ABBOTT

 WITH ENGRAVINGS

 NEW YORK AND LONDON

 HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS

 1904

 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1848, by

 HARPER & BROTHERS, In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New York. 

 Copyright, 1876, by JACOB ABBOTT. 

[Illustration: DUMBARTON CASTLE, on the Clyde. ]

[Illustration: MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. ]

PREFACE. 

The history of the life of every individual who has, for any reason, attracted extensively the attention of mankind, has been written in agreat variety of ways by a multitude of authors, and personssometimes wonder why we should have so many different accounts of thesame thing. The reason is, that each one of these accounts isintended for a different set of readers, who read with ideas andpurposes widely dissimilar from each other. Among the twenty millionsof people in the United States, there are perhaps two millions, between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five, who wish to becomeacquainted, in general, with the leading events in the history of theOld World, and of ancient times, but who, coming upon the stage inthis land and at this period, have ideas and conceptions so widelydifferent from those of other nations and of other times, that amere republication of existing accounts is not what they require. The story must be told expressly for them. The things that are to beexplained, the points that are to be brought out, the comparativedegree of prominence to be given to the various particulars, will allbe different, on account of the difference in the situation, theideas, and the objects of these new readers, compared with those ofthe various other classes of readers which former authors have had inview. It is for this reason, and with this view, that the presentseries of historical narratives is presented to the public. Theauthor, having had some opportunity to become acquainted with theposition, the ideas, and the intellectual wants of those whom headdresses, presents the result of his labors to them, with the hopethat it may be found successful in accomplishing its design. 

CONTENTS. 

 Chapter Page

 I. MARY'S CHILDHOOD 13

 II. HER EDUCATION IN FRANCE 37

 III. THE GREAT WEDDING 56

 IV. MISFORTUNES 76

 V. RETURN TO SCOTLAND 99

 VI. MARY AND LORD DARNLEY 124

 VII. RIZZIO 147

 VIII. BOTHWELL 168

 IX. THE FALL OF BOTHWELL 198

 X. LOCH LEVEN CASTLE 218

 XI. THE LONG CAPTIVITY 244

 XII. THE END 260

ENGRAVINGS. 

 Page

 DUMBARTON CASTLE, ON THE CLYDE _Frontispiece. _

 MAP OF THE CENTRAL PART OF SCOTLAND. 

 PLAN OF THE PALACE OF LINLITHGOW 22

 VIEW OF THE PALACE OF LINLITHGOW 25

 PORTRAIT OF QUEEN ELIZABETH 91

 MARY'S EMBARKATION AT CALAIS 105

 VIEW OF THE PALACE OF HOLYROOD HOUSE 114

 VIEW OF WEMYS CASTLE 137

 PLAN OF HOLYROOD HOUSE 160

 PRINCE JAMES'S CRADLE 174

 VIEW OF EDINBURGH 179

 PLAN OF THE HOUSE AT THE KIRK O' FIELD 182

 VIEW OF DUNBAR CASTLE 193

 PLAN OF LOCH LEVEN CASTLE 221

 VIEW OF LOCH LEVEN CASTLE 236

 RUINS OF LOCH LEVEN CASTLE 241

 VIEW OF FOTHERINGAY 271

 MARY'S TOMB IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY 285

[Illustration: CENTRAL PARTS OF SCOTLAND. ]

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS

CHAPTER I. 

MARY'S CHILDHOOD. 

1542-1548

Palace where Mary was born. --Its situation. --Ruins. --Theroom. --Visitors. --Mary's father in the wars. --Hisdeath. --Regency. --Catholic religion. --The Protestants. --Englandand France. --The Earl of Arran. --The regency. --Arranregent. --New plan. --End of the war. --King Henry VIII. --JanetSinclair. --King Henry's demands. --Objections to them. --Plans forMary. --Linlithgow. --Plan of the palace. --Fountain. --The lion'sden. --Explanation of the engraving. --The coronation. --StirlingCastle. --Its situation. --Rocky hill. --The coronation scene. --Linlithgowand Stirling. --The Highlands and the Highlanders. --Religiousdisturbances. --Lake Menteith. --Mary's companions. --The fourMaries. --Angry disputes. --Change of plan. --Henry's anger. --Henry'ssickness and death. --War renewed. --Danger in Edinburgh. --Aid fromFrance. --New plan. --Going to France. --Dumbarton Castle. --Rock ofDumbarton. --Journey to Dumbarton. --The four Maries. --Departure fromScotland. 

Travelers who go into Scotland take a great interest in visiting, among other places, a certain room in the ruins of an old palace, where Queen Mary was born. Queen Mary was very beautiful, but she wasvery unfortunate and unhappy. Every body takes a strong interest inher story, and this interest attaches, in some degree, to the roomwhere her sad and sorrowful life was begun. 

The palace is near a little village called Linlithgow. The villagehas but one long street, which consists of ancient stone houses. North of it is a little lake, or rather pond: they call it, inScotland, a _loch_. The palace is between the village and the loch;it is upon a beautiful swell of land which projects out into thewater. There is a very small island in the middle of the loch and theshores are bordered with fertile fields. The palace, when entire, was square, with an open space or court in the center. There was abeautiful stone fountain in the center of this court, and an archedgateway through which horsemen and carriages could ride in. The doorsof entrance into the palace were on the inside of the court. 

The palace is now in ruins. A troop of soldiers came to it one day intime of war, after Mary and her mother had left it, and spent thenight there: they spread straw over the floors to sleep upon. In themorning, when they went away, they wantonly set the straw on fire, and left it burning, and thus the palace was destroyed. Some of thelower floors were of stone; but all the upper floors and the roofwere burned, and all the wood-work of the rooms, and the doors andwindow-frames. Since then the palace has never been repaired, butremains a melancholy pile of ruins. 

The room where Mary was born had a stone floor. The rubbish which hasfallen from above has covered it with a sort of soil, and grass andweeds grow up all over it. It is a very melancholy sight to see. Thevisitors who go into the room walk mournfully about, trying toimagine how Queen Mary looked, as an infant in her mother's arms, and reflecting on the recklessness of the soldiers in wantonlydestroying so beautiful a palace. Then they go to the window, or, rather, to the crumbling opening in the wall where the window oncewas, and look out upon the loch, now so deserted and lonely; overtheir heads it is all open to the sky. 

Mary's father was King of Scotland. At the time that Mary was born, he was away from home engaged in war with the King of England, whohad invaded Scotland. In the battles Mary's father was defeated, andhe thought that the generals and nobles who commanded his armyallowed the English to conquer them on purpose to betray him. Thisthought overwhelmed him with vexation and anguish. He pined awayunder the acuteness of his sufferings, and just after the news cameto him that his daughter Mary was born, he died. Thus Mary became anorphan, and her troubles commenced, at the very beginning of herdays. She never saw her father, and her father never saw her. Hermother was a French lady; her name was Mary of Guise. Her own namewas Mary Stuart, but she is commonly called Mary Queen of Scots. 

As Mary was her father's only child, of course, when he died, shebecame Queen of Scotland, although she was only a few days old. Itis customary, in such a case, to appoint some distinguished person togovern the kingdom, in the name of the young queen, until she growsup: such a person is called a _regent_. Mary's mother wished to bethe regent until Mary became of age. 

It happened that in those days, as now, the government and people ofFrance were of the Catholic religion. England, on the other hand, wasProtestant. There is a great difference between the Catholic and theProtestant systems. The Catholic Church, though it extends nearly allover the world, is banded together, as the reader is aware, under oneman--the pope--who is the great head of the Church, and who lives instate at Rome. The Catholics have, in all countries, many large andsplendid churches, which are ornamented with paintings and images ofthe Virgin Mary and of Christ. They perform great ceremonies in thesechurches, the priests being dressed in magnificent costumes, andwalking in processions, with censers of incense burning as they go. The Protestants, on the other hand, do not like these ceremonies;they regard such outward acts of worship as mere useless parade, andthe images as idols. They themselves have smaller and plainerchurches, and call the people together in them to hear sermons, andto offer up simple prayers. 

In the time of Mary, England was Protestant and France was Catholic, while Scotland was divided, though most of the people wereProtestants. The two parties were very much excited against eachother, and often persecuted each other with extreme cruelty. Sometimes the Protestants would break into the Catholic churches, andtear down and destroy the paintings and the images, and the othersymbols of worship, all which the Catholics regarded with extremeveneration; this exasperated the Catholics, and when they becamepowerful in their turn, they would seize the Protestants and imprisonthem, and sometimes burn them to death, by tying them to a stake andpiling fagots of wood about them, and then setting the heap on fire. 

Queen Mary's mother was a Catholic, and for that reason the people ofScotland were not willing that she should be regent. There were oneor two other persons, moreover, who claimed the office. One was acertain nobleman called the Earl of Arran. He was a Protestant. TheEarl of Arran was the next heir to the crown, so that if Mary haddied in her infancy, he would have been king. He thought that thiswas a reason why _he_ should be regent, and govern the kingdom untilMary became old enough to govern it herself. Many other persons, however, considered this rather a reason why he should not be regent;for they thought he would be naturally interested in wishing thatMary should not live, since if she died he would himself become king, and that therefore he would not be a safe protector for her. However, as the Earl of Arran was a Protestant, and as Mary's mother was aCatholic, and as the Protestant interest was the strongest, it was atlength decided that Arran should be the regent, and govern thecountry until Mary should be of age. 

It is a curious circumstance that Mary's birth put an end to the warbetween England and Scotland, and that in a very singular way. TheKing of England had been fighting against Mary's father, James, for along time, in order to conquer the country and annex it to England;and now that James was dead, and Mary had become queen, with Arranfor the regent, it devolved on Arran to carry on the war. But theKing of England and his government, now that the young queen wasborn, conceived of a new plan. The king had a little son, namedEdward, about four years old, who, of course, would become King ofEngland in his place when he should himself die. Now he thought itwould be best for him to conclude a peace with Scotland, and agreewith the Scottish government that, as soon as Mary was old enough, she should become Edward's wife, and the two kingdoms be united inthat way. 

The name of this King of England was Henry the Eighth. He was a veryheadstrong and determined man. This, his plan, might have been a verygood one; it was certainly much better than an attempt to getpossession of Scotland by fighting for it; but he was very far frombeing as moderate and just as he should have been in the execution ofhis design. The first thing was to ascertain whether Mary was astrong and healthy child; for if he should make a treaty of peace, and give up all his plans of conquest, and then if Mary, after livingfeebly a few years, should die, all his plans would fail. To satisfyhim on this point, they actually had some of the infant's clothesremoved in the presence of his embassador, in order that theembassador might see that her form was perfect, and her limbsvigorous and strong. The nurse did this with great pride andpleasure, Mary's mother standing by. The nurse's name was JanetSinclair. The embassador wrote back to Henry, the King of England, that little Mary was "as goodly a child as he ever saw. " So KingHenry VIII. Was confirmed in his design of having her for the wife ofhis son. 

King Henry VIII. Accordingly changed all his plans. He made a peacewith the Earl of Arran. He dismissed the prisoners that he had taken, and sent them home kindly. If he had been contented with kind andgentle measures like these, he might have succeeded in them, althoughthere was, of course, a strong party in Scotland opposed to them. Mary's mother was opposed to them, for she was a Catholic and aFrench lady, and she wished to have her daughter become a Catholic asshe grew up, and marry a French prince. All the Catholics in Scotlandtook her side. Still Henry's plans might have been accomplished, perhaps, if he had been moderate and conciliating in the effortswhich he made to carry them into effect. 

But Henry VIII. Was headstrong and obstinate. He demanded that Mary, since she was to be his son's wife, should be given up to him to betaken into England, and educated there, under the care of personswhom he should appoint. He also demanded that the Parliament ofScotland should let him have a large share in the government ofScotland, because he was going to be the father-in-law of the youngqueen. The Parliament would not agree to either of these plans; theywere entirely unwilling to allow their little queen to be carried offto another country, and put under the charge of so rough and rude aman. Then they were unwilling, too, to give him any share of thegovernment during Mary's minority. Both these measures were entirelyinadmissible; they would, if adopted, have put both the infant Queenof Scotland and the kingdom itself completely in the power of one whohad always been their greatest enemy. 

Henry, finding that he could not induce the Scotch government toaccede to these plans, gave them up at last, and made a treaty ofmarriage between his son and Mary, with the agreement that she mightremain in Scotland until she was ten years old, and that _then_ sheshould come to England and be under his care. 

All this time, while these grand negotiations were pending betweentwo mighty nations about her marriage, little Mary was unconsciousof it all, sometimes reposing quietly in Janet Sinclair's arms, sometimes looking out of the windows of the Castle of Linlithgow tosee the swans swim upon the lake, and sometimes, perhaps, creepingabout upon the palace floor, where the earls and barons who came tovisit her mother, clad in armor of steel, looked upon her with prideand pleasure. The palace where she lived was beautifully situated, ashas been before remarked, on the borders of a lake. It was arrangedsomewhat in the following manner:

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE PALACE OF LINLITHGOW. 

_a. _ Room where Mary was born. _b. _ Entrance through great gates. _c. _ Bow-window projecting toward the water. _d. _ Den where they kepta lion. _t. T. _ Trees. ]

There was a beautiful fountain in the center of the court-yard, wherewater spouted out from the mouths of carved images, and fell intomarble basins below. The ruins of this fountain and of the imagesremain there still. The den at _d_ was a round pit, like a well, which you could look down into from above: it was about ten feetdeep. They used to keep lions in such dens near the palaces andcastles in those days. A lion in a den was a sort of plaything informer times, as a parrot or a pet lamb is now: this was in keepingwith the fierce and warlike spirit of the age. If they had a lionthere in Mary's time, Janet often, doubtless, took her little chargeout to see it, and let her throw down food to it from above. The denis there now. You approach it upon the top of a broad embankment, which is as high as the depth of the den, so that the bottom of theden is level with the surface of the ground, which makes it alwaysdry. There is a hole, too, at the bottom, through the wall, wherethey used to put the lion in. 

The foregoing plan of the buildings and grounds of Linlithgow isdrawn as maps and plans usually are, the upper part toward the north. Of course the room _a_, where Mary was born, is on the western side. The adjoining engraving represents a view of the palace on thiswestern side. The church is seen at the right; and the lawn, whereJanet used to take Mary out to breathe the air, is in thefore-ground. The shore of the lake is very near, and windsbeautifully around the margin of the promontory on which the palacestands. Of course the lion's den, and the ancient avenue of approachto the palace, are round upon the other side, and out of sight inthis view. The approach to the palace, at the present day, is on thesouthern side, between the church and the trees on the right of thepicture. 

[Illustration: PALACE OF LINLITHGOW--Queen Mary's Birth-place. ]

Mary remained here at Linlithgow for a year or two; but when she wasabout nine months old, they concluded to have the great ceremony ofthe coronation performed, as she was by that time old enough to bearthe journey to Stirling Castle, where the Scottish kings and queenswere generally crowned. The coronation of a queen is an event whichalways excites a very deep and universal interest among all persons inthe realm; and there is a peculiar interest felt when, as was the casein this instance, the queen to be crowned is an infant just old enoughto bear the journey. There was a very great interest felt in Mary'scoronation. The different courts and monarchs of Europe sentembassadors to be present at the ceremony, and to pay their respectsto the infant queen; and Stirling became, for the time being, thecenter of universal attraction. 

Stirling is in the very heart of Scotland. It is a castle, built upona rock, or, rather, upon a rocky hill, which rises like an island outof the midst of a vast region of beautiful and fertile country, richand verdant beyond description. Beyond the confines of this region ofbeauty, dark mountains rise on all sides; and wherever you are, whether riding along the roads in the plain, or climbing thedeclivities of the mountains, you see Stirling Castle, from everypoint, capping its rocky hill, the center and ornament of the broadexpanse of beauty which surrounds it. 

Stirling Castle is north of Linlithgow, and is distant about fifteenor twenty miles from it. The road to it lies not far from the shoresof the Frith of Forth, a broad and beautiful sheet of water. Thecastle, as has been before remarked, was on the summit of a rockyhill. There are precipitous crags on three sides of the hill, and agradual approach by a long ascent on the fourth side. At the top ofthis ascent you enter the great gates of the castle, crossing abroad and deep ditch by means of a draw-bridge. You enter then aseries of paved courts, with towers and walls around them, andfinally come to the more interior edifices, where the privateapartments are situated, and where the little queen was crowned. 

It was an occasion of great pomp and ceremony, though Mary, ofcourse, was unconscious of the meaning of it all. She was surroundedby barons and earls, by embassadors and princes from foreign courts, and by the principal lords and ladies of the Scottish nobility, alldressed in magnificent costumes. They held little Mary up, and acardinal, that is, a great dignitary of the Roman Catholic Church, placed the crown upon her head. Half pleased with the glitteringshow, and half frightened at the strange faces which she saw everywhere around her, she gazed unconsciously upon the scene, while hermother, who could better understand its import, was elated with prideand joy. 

Linlithgow and Stirling are in the open and cultivated part ofScotland. All the northern and western part of the country consistsof vast masses of mountains, with dark and somber glens among them, which are occupied solely by shepherds and herdsmen with theirflocks and herds. This mountainous region was called the Highlands, and the inhabitants of it were the Highlanders. They were a wild andwarlike class of men, and their country was seldom visited by eitherfriend or foe. At the present time there are beautiful roads allthrough the Highlands, and stage-coaches and private carriages rollover them every summer, to take tourists to see and admire thepicturesque and beautiful scenery; but in the days of Mary the wholeregion was gloomy and desolate, and almost inaccessible. 

Mary remained in Linlithgow and Stirling for about two years, andthen, as the country was becoming more and more disturbed by thestruggles of the great contending parties--those who were in favor ofthe Catholic religion and alliance with France on the one hand, andof those in favor of the Protestant religion and alliance withEngland on the other hand--they concluded to send her into theHighlands for safety. 

It was not far into the country of the Highlands that they concludedto send her, but only into the _borders_ of it. There was a smalllake on the southern margin of the wild and mountainous country, called the Lake of Menteith. In this lake was an island namedInchmahome, the word _inch_ being the name for island in the languagespoken by the Highlanders. This island, which was situated in a verysecluded and solitary region, was selected as Mary's place ofresidence. She was about four years old when they sent her to thisplace. Several persons went with her to take care of her, and toteach her. In fact, every thing was provided for her which couldsecure her improvement and happiness. Her mother did not forget thatshe would need playmates, and so she selected four little girls ofabout the same age with the little queen herself, and invited them toaccompany her. They were daughters of the noblemen and high officersabout the court. It is very singular that these girls were all namedMary. Their names in full were as follows:

 Mary Beaton, Mary Fleming, Mary Livingstone, Mary Seaton. 

These, with Mary Stuart, which was Queen Mary's name, made five girlsof four or five years of age, all named Mary. 

Mary lived two years in this solitary island. She had, however, allthe comforts and conveniences of life, and enjoyed herself with herfour Maries very much. Of course she knew nothing, and thoughtnothing of the schemes and plans of the great governments for havingher married, when she grew up, to the young English prince, who wasthen a little boy of about her own age, nor of the angry disputes inScotland to which this subject gave rise. It did give rise to veryserious disputes. Mary's mother did not like the plan at all. As shewas herself a French lady and a Catholic, she did not wish to haveher daughter marry a prince who was of the English royal family, anda Protestant. All the Catholics in Scotland took her side. At lengththe Earl of Arran, who was the regent, changed to that side; andfinally the government, being thus brought over, gave notice to KingHenry VIII. That the plan must be given up, as they had concluded, onthe whole, that Mary should not marry his son. 

King Henry was very much incensed. He declared that Mary _should_marry his son, and he raised an army and sent it into Scotland tomake war upon the Scotch again, and compel them to consent to theexecution of the plan. He was at this time beginning to be sick, buthis sickness, instead of softening his temper, only made him the moreferocious and cruel. He turned against his best friends. He grewworse, and was evidently about to die; but he was so irritable andangry that for a long time no one dared to tell him of hisapproaching dissolution, and he lay restless, and wretched, andagitated with political animosities upon his dying bed. At lengthsome one ventured to tell him that his end was near. When he foundthat he must die, he resigned himself to his fate. He sent for anarchbishop to come and see him, but he was speechless when theprelate came, and soon afterward expired. 

The English government, however, after his death, adhered to his planof compelling the Scotch to make Mary the wife of his son. They sentan army into Scotland. A great battle was fought, and the Scotch weredefeated. The battle was fought at a place not far from Edinburgh, and near the sea. It was so near the sea that the English fired uponthe Scotch army from their ships, and thus assisted their troops uponthe shore. The armies had remained several days near each otherbefore coming to battle, and during all this time the city ofEdinburgh was in a state of great anxiety and suspense, as theyexpected that their city would be attacked by the English if theyshould conquer in the battle. The English army did, in fact, advancetoward Edinburgh after the battle was over, and would have gotpossession of it had it not been for the castle. There is a verystrong castle in the very heart of Edinburgh, upon the summit of arocky hill. [A]

[Footnote A: See the view of Edinburgh, page 179. ]

These attempts of the English to force the Scotch government toconsent to Mary's marriage only made them the more determined toprevent it. A great many who were not opposed to it before, becameopposed to it now when they saw foreign armies in the countrydestroying the towns and murdering the people. They said they had nogreat objection to the match, but that they did not like the mode ofwooing. They sent to France to ask the French king to send over anarmy to aid them, and promised him that if he would do so they wouldagree that Mary should marry _his_ son. His son's name was Francis. 

The French king was very much pleased with this plan. He sent an armyof six thousand men into Scotland to assist the Scotch against theirEnglish enemies. It was arranged, also, as little Mary was now hardlysafe among all these commotions, even in her retreat in the island ofInchmahome, to send her to France to be educated there, and to livethere until she was old enough to be married. The same ships whichbrought the army from France to Scotland, were to carry Mary and herretinue from Scotland to France. The four Maries went with her. 

They bade their lonely island farewell, and traveled south till theycame to a strong castle on a high, rocky hill, on the banks of theRiver Clyde. The name of this fortress is Dumbarton Castle. Almostall the castles of those times were built upon precipitous hills, toincrease the difficulties of the enemies in approaching them. TheRock of Dumbarton is a very remarkable one. It stands close to thebank of the river. There are a great many ships and steam-boatscontinually passing up and down the Clyde, to and from the great cityof Glasgow, and all the passengers on board gaze with great interest, as they sail by, on the Rock of Dumbarton, with the castle walls onthe sides, and the towers and battlements crowning the summit. InMary's time there was comparatively very little shipping on theriver, but the French fleet was there, waiting opposite the castle toreceive Mary and the numerous persons who were to go in her train. [B]

[Footnote B: Travelers who visit Scotland from this country at thepresent day, usually land first, at the close of the voyage acrossthe Atlantic, at Liverpool, and there take a Glasgow steamer. Glasgow, which is the great commercial city of Scotland, is on theRiver Clyde. This river flows northward to the sea. The steamer, inascending the river, makes its way with difficulty along the narrowchannel, which, besides being narrow and tortuous, is obstructed byboats, ships, steamers, and every other variety of water-craft, suchas are always going to and fro in the neighborhood of any greatcommercial emporium. 

The tourists, who stand upon the deck gazing at this exciting sceneof life and motion, have their attention strongly attracted, abouthalf way up the river, by this Castle of Dumbarton, which crowns arocky hill, rising abruptly from the water's edge, on the north sideof the stream. It attracts sometimes the more attention from Americantravelers, on account of its being the first ancient castle they see. This it likely to be the case if they proceed to Scotland immediatelyon landing at Liverpool. ]

Mary was escorted from the island where she had been living, acrossthe country to Dumbarton Castle, with a strong retinue. She was nowbetween five and six years of age. She was, of course, too young toknow any thing about the contentions and wars which had distractedher country on her account, or to feel much interest in the subjectof her approaching departure from her native land. She enjoyed thenovelty of the scenes through which she passed on her journey. Shewas pleased with the dresses and the arms of the soldiers whoaccompanied her, and with the ships which were floating in the river, beneath the walls of the Castle of Dumbarton, when she arrived there. She was pleased, too, to think that, wherever she was to go, her fourMaries were to go with her. She bade her mother farewell, embarked onboard the ship which was to receive her, and sailed away from hernative land, not to return to it again for many years. 

CHAPTER II. 

HER EDUCATION IN FRANCE. 

1548-1556

Departure. --Stormy voyage. --Journey to Paris. --Release ofprisoners. --Barabbas. --St. Germain. --Celebrations. --Theconvent. --Character of the nuns. --Interest in Mary. --Leavingthe convent. --Amusements. --Visit of Mary's mother. --Queendowager. --Rouen. --A happy meeting. --Rejoicings. --A lastfarewell. --Visit to a mourner. --The queen dowager's return. --Theregency. --A page of honor. --Sir James Melville. --Mary'scharacter. --Her diligence. --Devices and mottoes. --Festivities. --Waterparties. --Hunting. --An accident. --Restraint. --Queen Catharine. --Hercharacter. --Embroidery. --Mary's admiration of Queen Catharine. --Thelatter suspicious. --Unguarded remark. --Catharine's mortification. --Thedauphin. --Origin of the title. --Character of Francis. --Mary'sbeauty. --Torch-light procession. --An angel. --Mary a Catholic. --Herconscientiousness and fidelity. 

The departure of Mary from Scotland, little as she was, was a greatevent both for Scotland and for France. In those days kings andqueens were even of greater relative importance than they are now, and all Scotland was interested in the young queen's going away fromthem, and all France in expecting her arrival. She sailed down theClyde, and then passed along the seas and channels which lie betweenEngland and Ireland. These seas, though they look small upon the map, are really spacious and wide, and are often greatly agitated by windsand storms. This was the case at the time Mary made her voyage. Thedays and nights were tempestuous and wild, and the ships haddifficulty in keeping in each other's company. There was danger ofbeing blown upon the coasts, or upon the rocks or islands which liein the way. Mary was too young to give much heed to these dangers, but the lords and commissioners, and the great ladies who went toattend her, were heartily glad when the voyage was over. It endedsafely at last, after several days of tossing upon the stormybillows, by their arrival upon the northern coast of France. Theylanded at a town called Brest. 

The King of France had made great preparations for receiving theyoung queen immediately upon her landing. Carriages and horses hadbeen provided to convey herself and the company of her attendants, byeasy journeys, to Paris. They received her with great pomp andceremony at every town which she passed through. One mark of respectwhich they showed her was very singular. The king ordered that everyprison which she passed in her route should be thrown open, and theprisoners set free. This fact is a striking illustration of thedifferent ideas which prevailed in those days, compared with thosewhich are entertained now, in respect to crime and punishment. Crimeis now considered as an offense against the _community_, and it wouldbe considered no favor to the community, but the reverse, to letimprisoned criminals go free. In those days, on the other hand, crimes were considered rather as injuries committed _by_ thecommunity, and against the king; so that, if the monarch wished toshow the community a favor, he would do it by releasing such of themas had been imprisoned by his officers for their crimes. It was justso in the time of our Savior, when the Jews had a custom of havingsome criminal released to them once a year, at the Passover, by theRoman government, as an act of _favor_. That is, the government wasaccustomed to furnish, by way of contributing its share toward thegeneral festivities of the occasion, the setting of a robber and amurderer at liberty!

The King of France has several palaces in the neighborhood of Paris. Mary was taken to one of them, named St. Germain. This palace, whichstill stands, is about twelve miles from Paris, toward the northwest. It is a very magnificent residence, and has been for many centuries afavorite resort of the French kings. Many of them were born in it. There are extensive parks and gardens connected with it, and a greatartificial forest, in which the trees were all planted and cultivatedlike the trees of an orchard. Mary was received at this palace withgreat pomp and parade; and many spectacles and festivities werearranged to amuse her and the four Maries who accompanied her, andto impress her strongly with an idea of the wealth, and power, andsplendor of the great country to which she had come. 

She remained here but a short time, and then it was arranged for herto go to a _convent_ to be educated. Convents were in those days, asin fact they are now, quite famous as places of education. They weresituated sometimes in large towns, and sometimes in secluded placesin the country; but, whether in town or country, the inmates of themwere shut up very strictly from all intercourse with the world. Theywere under the care of nuns who had devoted themselves for life tothe service. These nuns were some of them unhappy persons, who wereweary of the sorrows and sufferings of the world, and who were gladto retire from it to such a retreat as they fancied the convent wouldbe. Others became nuns from conscientious principles of duty, thinking that they should commend themselves to the favor of God bydevoting their lives to works of benevolence and to the exercises ofreligion. Of course there were all varieties of character among thenuns; some of them were selfish and disagreeable, others werebenevolent and kind. 

At the convent where Mary was sent there were some nuns of veryexcellent and amiable character, and they took a great interest inMary, both because she was a queen, and because she was beautiful, and of a kind and affectionate disposition. Mary became very stronglyattached to these nuns, and began to entertain the idea of becoming anun herself, and spending her life with them in the convent. Itseemed pleasant to her to live there in such a peaceful seclusion, incompany with those who loved her, and whom she herself loved, but theKing of France, and the Scottish nobles who had come with her fromScotland, would, of course, be opposed to any such plan. Theyintended her to be married to the young prince, and to become one ofthe great ladies of the court, and to lead a life of magnificence andsplendor. They became alarmed, therefore, when they found that shewas imbibing a taste for the life of seclusion and solitude which isled by a nun. They decided to take her immediately away. 

Mary bade farewell to the convent and its inmates with much regretand many tears; but, notwithstanding her reluctance, she was obligedto submit. If she had not been a queen, she might, perhaps, have hadher own way. As it was, however, she was obliged to leave theconvent and the nuns whom she loved, and to go back to the palaces ofthe king, in which she afterward continued to live, sometimes in oneand sometimes in another, for many years. Wherever she went, she wassurrounded with scenes of great gayety and splendor. They wished toobliterate from her mind all recollections of the convent, and alllove of solitude and seclusion. They did not neglect her studies, butthey filled up the intervals of study with all possible schemes ofenjoyment and pleasure, to amuse and occupy her mind and the minds ofher companions. Her companions were her own four Maries, and the twodaughters of the French king. 

When Mary was about seven years of age, that is, after she had beentwo years in France, her mother formed a plan to come from Scotlandto see her. Her mother had remained behind when Mary left Scotland, as she had an important part to perform in public affairs, and in theadministration of the government of Scotland while Mary was away. Shewanted, however, to come and see her. France, too, was her own nativeland, and all her relations and friends resided there. She wished tosee them as well as Mary, and to revisit once more the palaces andcities where her own early life had been spent. In speaking of Mary'smother we shall call her sometimes the queen dowager. The expression_queen dowager_ is the one usually applied to the widow of a king, as_queen consort_ is used to denote the _wife_ of a king. 

This visit of the queen dowager of Scotland to her little daughter inFrance was an event of great consequence, and all the arrangementsfor carrying it into effect were conducted with great pomp andceremony. A large company attended her, with many of the Scottishlords and ladies among them. The King of France, too, went from Paristoward the French coast, to meet the party of visitors, taking littleMary and a large company of attendants with him. They went to Rouen, a large city not far from the coast, where they awaited the arrivalof Mary's mother, and where they received her with great ceremoniesof parade and rejoicing. The queen regent was very much delighted tosee her little daughter again. She had grown two years older, and hadimproved greatly in every respect, and tears of joy came into hermother's eyes as she clasped her in her arms. The two partiesjourneyed in company to Paris and entered the city with greatrejoicings. The two queens, mother and daughter, were the objects ofuniversal interest and attention. Feasts and celebrations without endwere arranged for them, and every possible means of amusement andrejoicing were contrived in the palaces of Paris, of St. Germain's, and of Fontainebleau. Mary's mother remained in France about a year. She then bade Mary farewell, leaving her at Fontainebleau. Thisproved to be a final farewell, for she never saw her again. 

After taking leave of her daughter, the queen dowager went, beforeleaving France, to see her own mother, who was a widow, and who wasliving at a considerable distance from Paris in seclusion, and in astate of austere and melancholy grief, on account of the loss of herhusband. Instead of forgetting her sorrows, as she ought to havedone, and returning calmly and peacefully to the duties andenjoyments of life, she had given herself up to inconsolable grief, and was doing all she could to perpetuate the mournful influence ofher sorrows. She lived in an ancient and gloomy mansion, of vastsize, and she had hung all the apartments in black, to make it stillmore desolate and gloomy, and to continue the influence of grief uponher mind. Here the queen dowager found her, spending her time inprayers and austerities of every kind, making herself and all herfamily perfectly miserable. Many persons, at the present day, act, under such circumstances, on the same principle and with the samespirit, though they do not do it perhaps in precisely the same way. 

One would suppose that Mary's mother would have preferred to remainin France with her daughter and her mother and all her familyfriends, instead of going back to Scotland, where she was, as itwere, a foreigner and a stranger. The reason why she desired to goback was that she wished to be made _queen regent_, and thus have thegovernment of Scotland in her own hands. She would rather be queenregent in Scotland than a simple queen _mother_ in France. While shewas in France, she urged the king to use all his influence to haveArran resign his regency into her hands, and finally obtainedwritings from him and from Queen Mary to this effect. She then leftFrance and went to Scotland, going through England on the way. Theyoung King of England, to whom Mary had been engaged by thegovernment when she was an infant in Janet Sinclair's arms, renewedhis proposals to the queen dowager to let her daughter become hiswife; but she told him that it was all settled that she was to bemarried to the French prince, and that it was now too late to changethe plan. 

There was a young gentleman, about nineteen or twenty years of age, who came from Scotland also, not far from this time, to wait uponMary as her page of honor. A page is an attendant above the rank ofan ordinary servant, whose business it is to wait upon his mistress, to read to her, sometimes to convey her letters and notes, and tocarry her commands to the other attendants who are beneath him inrank and whose business it is actually to perform the services whichthe lady requires. A page _of honor_ is a young gentleman whosustains this office in a nominal and temporary manner for a princessor a queen. 

The name of Mary's page of honor, who came to her now from Scotland, was Sir James Melville. The only reason for mentioning him thusparticularly, rather than the many other officers and attendants bywhom Mary was surrounded was, that the service which he thuscommenced was continued in various ways through the whole period ofMary's life. We shall often hear of him in the subsequent parts ofthis narrative. He followed Mary to Scotland when she returned tothat country, and became afterward her secretary, and also herembassador on many occasions. He was now quite young, and when helanded at Brest he traveled slowly to Paris in the care of twoScotchmen, to whose charge he had been intrusted. He was a young manof uncommon talents and of great accomplishments, and it was a markof high distinction for him to be appointed page of honor to thequeen, although he was about nineteen years of age and she was butseven. 

After the queen regent's return to Scotland, Mary went on improvingin every respect more and more. She was diligent, industrious, andtractable. She took a great interest in her studies. She was not onlybeautiful in person, and amiable and affectionate in heart, but shepossessed a very intelligent and active mind, and she entered with asort of quiet but earnest enthusiasm into all the studies to whichher attention was called. She paid a great deal of attention tomusic, to poetry, and to drawing. She used to invent little devicesfor seals, with French and Latin mottoes, and, after drawing themagain and again with great care, until she was satisfied with thedesign, she would give them to the gem-engravers to be cut uponstone seals, so that she could seal her letters with them. Thesemottoes and devices can not well be represented in English, as theforce and beauty of them depended generally upon a double meaning insome word of French or Latin, which can not be preserved in thetranslation. We shall, however, give one of these seals, which shemade just before she left France, to return to Scotland, when we cometo that period of her history. 

The King of France, and the lords and ladies who came with Mary fromScotland, contrived a great many festivals and celebrations in theparks, and forests, and palaces, to amuse the queen and the fourMaries who were with her. The daughters of the French king joined, also, in these pleasures. They would have little balls, and parties, and pic-nics, sometimes in the open air, sometimes in the littlesummer-houses built upon the grounds attached to the palaces. Thescenes of these festivities were in many cases made unusually joyousand gay by bon-fires and illuminations. They had water parties on thelittle lakes, and hunting parties through the parks and forests. Marywas a very graceful and beautiful rider, and full of courage. Sometimes she met with accidents which were attended with somedanger. Once, while hunting the stag, and riding at full speed with agreat company of ladies and gentlemen behind her and before her, herdress got caught by the bough of a tree, and she was pulled to theground. The horse went on. Several other riders drove by her withoutseeing her, as she had too much composure and fortitude to attracttheir attention by outcries and lamentations. They saw her, however, at last, and came to her assistance. They brought back her horse, and, smoothing down her hair, which had fallen into confusion, shemounted again, and rode on after the stag as before. 

Notwithstanding all these means of enjoyment and diversion, Mary wassubjected to a great deal of restraint. The rules of etiquette arevery precise and very strictly enforced in royal households, and theywere still more strict in those days than they are now. The king wasvery ceremonious in all his arrangements, and was surrounded by amultitude of officers who performed every thing by rule. As Mary grewolder, she was subjected to greater and greater restraint. She usedto spend a considerable portion of every day in the apartments ofQueen Catharine, the wife of the King of France and the mother of thelittle Francis to whom she was to be married. Mary and QueenCatharine did not, however, like each other very well. Catharine wasa woman of strong mind and of an imperious disposition; and it issupposed by some that she was jealous of Mary because she was morebeautiful and accomplished and more generally beloved than her owndaughters, the princesses of France. At any rate, she treated Mary inrather a stern and haughty manner, and it was thought that she wouldfinally oppose her marriage to Francis her son. 

And yet Mary was at first very much pleased with Queen Catharine, andwas accustomed to look up to her with great admiration, and to feelfor her a very sincere regard. She often went into the queen'sapartments, where they sat together and talked, or worked upon theirembroidery, which was a famous amusement for ladies of exalted rankin those days. Mary herself at one time worked a large piece, whichshe sent as a present to the nuns in the convent where she hadresided; and afterward, in Scotland, she worked a great many things, some of which still remain, and may be seen in her ancient rooms inthe palace of Holyrood House. She learned this art by working withQueen Catharine in her apartments. When she first became acquaintedwith Catharine on these occasions, she used to love her society. Sheadmired her talents and her conversational powers, and she liked verymuch to be in her room. She listened to all she said, watched hermovements, and endeavored in all things to follow her example. 

Catharine, however, thought that this was all a pretense, and thatMary did not really like her, but only wished to make her believethat she did so in order to get favor, or to accomplish some otherselfish end. One day she asked her why she seemed to prefer hersociety to that of her youthful and more suitable companions. Maryreplied, in substance, "The reason was, that though with them shemight enjoy much, she could learn nothing; while she always learnedfrom Queen Catharine's conversation something which would be of useto her as a guide in future life. " One would have thought that thisanswer would have pleased the queen, but it did not. She did notbelieve that it was sincere. 

On one occasion Mary seriously offended the queen by a remark whichshe made, and which was, at least, incautious. Kings and queens, and, in fact, all great people in Europe, pride themselves very much uponthe antiquity of the line from which they have descended. Now thefamily of Queen Catharine had risen to rank and distinction within amoderate period; and though she was, as Queen of France, on the verypinnacle of human greatness, she would naturally be vexed at anyremark which would remind her of the recentness of her elevation. NowMary at one time said, in conversation in the presence of QueenCatharine, that she herself was the descendant of a hundred kings. This was perhaps true, but it brought her into direct comparison withCatharine in a point in which the latter was greatly her inferior, and it vexed and mortified Catharine very much to have such a thingsaid to her by such a child. 

Mary associated thus during all this time, not only with the queenand the princesses, but also with the little prince whom she wasdestined to marry. His name was Francis, but he was commonly calledthe _dauphin_, which was the name by which the oldest son of the Kingof France was then, and has been since designated. The origin of thiscustom was this. About a hundred years before the time of which weare speaking, a certain nobleman of high rank, who possessed estatesin an ancient province of France called Dauphiny, lost his son andheir. He was overwhelmed with affliction at the loss, and finallybequeathed all his estates to the king and his successors, oncondition that the oldest son should bear the title of Dauphin. Thegrant was accepted, and the oldest son was accordingly so styled fromthat time forward, from generation to generation. 

The dauphin, Francis, was a weak and feeble child, but he was amiableand gentle in his manners, and Mary liked him. She met him often intheir walks and rides, and she danced with him at the balls andparties given for her amusement. She knew that he was to be herhusband as soon as she was old enough to be married, and he knew thatshe was to be his wife. It was all decided, and nothing which eitherof them could say or do would have any influence on the result. Neither of them, however, seem to have had any desire to change theresult. Mary pitied Francis on account of his feeble health, andliked his amiable and gentle disposition; and Francis could not helploving Mary, both on account of the traits of her character and herpersonal charms. 

As Mary advanced in years, she grew very beautiful. In some of thegreat processions and ceremonies, the ladies were accustomed to walk, magnificently dressed and carrying torches in their hands. In one ofthese processions Mary was moving along with the rest, through acrowd of spectators, and the light from her torch fell upon herfeatures and upon her hair in such a manner as to make her appearmore beautiful than usual. A woman, standing there, pressed up nearerto her to view her more closely, and, seeing how beautiful she was, asked her if she was not an _angel_. In those days, however, peoplebelieved in what is miraculous and supernatural more easily than now, so that it was not very surprising that one should think, in such acase, that an angel from Heaven had come down to join in theprocession. 

Mary grew up a Catholic, of course: all were Catholics around her. The king and all the royal family were devoted to Catholicobservances. The convent, the ceremonies, the daily religiousobservances enjoined upon her, the splendid churches which shefrequented, all tended in their influence to lead her mind away fromthe Protestant religion which prevailed in her native land, and tomake her a Catholic: she remained so throughout her life. There is nodoubt that she was conscientious in her attachment to the forms andto the spirit of the Roman Church. At any rate, she was faithful tothe ties which her early education imposed upon her, and thisfidelity became afterward the source of some of her heaviestcalamities and woes. 

CHAPTER III

THE GREAT WEDDING

1558

Hastening the wedding. --Reasons for it. --Attempt to poisonMary. --The Guises. --Catharine's jealousy. --Commissioners fromScotland. --Preliminaries. --Stipulations. --Plan of Henry toevade them. --Marriage settlement. --Secret papers. --Theircontents. --Ceremonies. --The betrothal. --The Louvre. --NotreDame. --View of the interior. --Amphitheater. --Covered gallery. --Theprocession. --Mary's dress. --Appearance of Mary. --Weddingring. --Movement of the procession. --Largess. --Confusion. --Thechoir. --Mass. --Return of the procession. --Collation. --Ball. --Evening'sentertainments. --A tournament. --Rank of the combatants. --Lances. --Rapidevolutions. --_Tourner. _--Francis's feebleness. --Mary's love forhim. --He retires to the country. --Rejoicings in Scotland. --MonsMeg. --Large ball. --Celebration of Mary's marriage. 

When Mary was about fifteen years of age, the King of France began tothink that it was time for her to be married. It is true that she wasstill very young, but there were strong reasons for having themarriage take place at the earliest possible period, for fear thatsomething might occur to prevent its consummation at all. In fact, there were very strong parties opposed to it altogether. The wholeProtestant interest in Scotland were opposed to it, and werecontinually contriving plans to defeat it. They thought that if Marymarried a French prince, who was, of course, a Catholic, she wouldbecome wedded to the Catholic interest hopelessly and forever. Thismade them feel a most bitter and determined opposition to the plan. 

In fact, so bitter and relentless were the animosities that grew outof this question, that an attempt was actually made to poison Mary. The man who committed this crime was an archer in the king's guard:he was a Scotch man, and his name was Stewart. His attempt wasdiscovered in time to prevent the accomplishment of his purpose. Hewas tried and condemned. They made every effort to induce him toexplain the reason which led him to such an act, or, if he wasemployed by others, to reveal their names; but he would revealnothing. He was executed for his crime, leaving mankind to conjecturethat his motive, or that of the persons who instigated him to thedeed, was a desperate determination to save Scotland, at all hazards, from falling under the influence of papal power. 

Mary's mother, the queen dowager of Scotland, was of a celebratedFrench family, called the family of Guise. She is often, herself, called in history, Mary of Guise. There were other great families inFrance who were very jealous of the Guises, and envious of theirinfluence and power. They opposed Queen Mary's marriage to thedauphin, and were ready to do all in their power to thwart and defeatit. Queen Catharine, too, who seemed to feel a greater and greaterdegree of envy and jealousy against Mary as she saw her increasing ingrace, beauty, and influence with her advancing years, was supposedto be averse to the marriage. Mary was, in some sense, her rival, and she could not bear to have her become the wife of her son. 

King Henry, finding all these opposing influences at work, thoughtthat the safest plan would be to have the marriage carried intoeffect at the earliest possible period. When, therefore, Mary wasabout fifteen years of age, which was in 1557, he sent to Scotland, asking the government there to appoint some commissioners to come toFrance to assent to the marriage contracts, and to witness theceremonies of the betrothment and the wedding. The marriagecontracts, in the case of the union of a queen of one country with aprince of another, are documents of very high importance. It isconsidered necessary not only to make very formal provision for thepersonal welfare and comfort of the wife during her married life, andduring her widowhood in case of the death of her husband, but also tosettle beforehand the questions of succession which might arise outof the marriage, and to define precisely the rights and powers bothof the husband and the wife, in the two countries to which theyrespectively belong. 

The Parliament of Scotland appointed a number of commissioners, ofthe highest rank and station, to proceed to France, and to act thereas the representatives of Scotland in every thing which pertained tothe marriage. They charged them to guard well the rights and powersof Mary, to see that these rights and all the interests of Scotlandwere well protected in the marriage contracts, and to secure properprovision for the personal comfort and happiness of the queen. Thenumber of these commissioners was eight. Their departure fromScotland was an event of great public importance. They wereaccompanied by a large number of attendants and followers, who wereeager to be present in Paris at the marriage festivities. The wholecompany arrived safely at Paris, and were received with everypossible mark of distinction and honor. 

The marriage contracts were drawn up, and executed with greatformality. King Henry made no objection to any of the stipulationsand provisions which the commissioners required, for he had a secretplan for evading them all. Very ample provision was made for Maryherself. She was to have a very large income. In case the dauphindied while he was dauphin, leaving Mary a widow, she was still tohave a large income paid to her by the French government as long asshe lived, whether she remained in France or went back to Scotland. If her husband outlived his father, so as to become King of France, and then died, leaving Mary his widow, her income for the rest of herlife was to be double what it would have been if he had died whiledauphin. Francis was, in the mean time, to share with her thegovernment of Scotland. If they had a son, he was to be, after theirdeaths, King of France and of Scotland too. Thus the two crowns wouldhave been united. If, on the other hand, they had only daughters, theoldest one was to be Queen of Scotland only, as the laws of Francedid not allow a female to inherit the throne. In case they had nochildren, the crown of Scotland was not to come into the Frenchfamily at all, but to descend regularly to the next Scotch heir. 

Henry was not satisfied with this entirely, for he wanted to securethe union of the Scotch and French crowns at all events, whether Maryhad children or not; and he persuaded Mary to sign some papers withhim privately, which he thought would secure his purposes, chargingher not to let the commissioners know that she had signed them. Hethought it possible that he should never have occasion to producethem. One of these papers conveyed the crown of Scotland to the Kingof France absolutely and forever, in case Mary should die withoutchildren. Another provided that the Scotch government should repayhim for the enormous sums he had expended upon Mary during herresidence in France, for her education, her attendants, thecelebrations and galas which he had provided for her, and all thesplendid journeys, processions, and parades. His motive in all thisexpense had been to unite the crown of Scotland to that of France, and he wished to provide that if any thing should occur to preventthe execution of his plan, he could have all this money reimbursed tohim again. He estimated the amount at a million of pieces of gold. This was an enormous sum: it shows on how magnificent a scale Mary'sreception and entertainment in France were managed. 

These preliminary proceedings being settled, all Paris, and, in fact, all France, began to prepare for the marriage celebrations. Therewere to be two great ceremonies connected with the occasion. Thefirst was the betrothment, the second was the marriage. At thebetrothment Francis and Mary were to meet in a great public hall, and there, in the presence of a small and select assemblage of thelords and ladies of the court, and persons of distinction connectedwith the royal family, they were formally and solemnly to engagethemselves to each other. Then, in about a week afterward, they wereto be married, in the most public manner, in the great CathedralChurch of Notre Dame. 

The ceremony of the betrothal was celebrated in the palace. Thepalace then occupied by the royal family was the Louvre. It stillstands, but is no longer a royal dwelling. Another palace, moremodern in its structure, and called the Tuilleries, has since beenbuilt, a little farther from the heart of the city, and in a morepleasant situation. The Louvre is square, with an open court in thecenter. This open court or area is very large, and is paved like thestreets. In fact, two great carriage ways pass through it, crossingeach other at right angles in the center, and passing out under greatarch-ways in the four sides of the building. There is a large hallwithin the palace, and in this hall the ceremony of the betrothaltook place. Francis and Mary pledged their faith to each other withappropriate ceremonies. Only a select circle of relations andintimate friends were present on this occasion. The ceremony wasconcluded in the evening with a ball. 

In the mean time, all Paris was busy with preparations for themarriage. The Louvre is upon one side of the River Seine, itsprincipal front being toward the river, with a broad street between. There are no buildings, but only a parapet wall on the river side ofthe street, so that there is a fine view of the river and of thebridges which cross it, from the palace windows. Nearly opposite theLouvre is an island, covered with edifices, and connected, by meansof bridges, with either shore. The great church of Notre Dame, wherethe marriage ceremony was to be performed, is upon this island. Ithas two enormous square towers in front, which may be seen, risingabove all the roofs of the city, at a great distance in everydirection. Before the church is a large open area, where vast crowdsassemble on any great occasion. The interior of the church impressesthe mind with the sublimest emotions. Two rows of enormous columnsrise to a great height on either hand, supporting the lofty arches ofthe roof. The floor is paved with great flat stones, and resoundscontinually with the footsteps of visitors, who walk to and fro, upand down the aisles, looking at the chapels, the monuments, thesculptures, the paintings, and the antique and grotesque images andcarvings. Colored light streams through the stained glass of theenormous windows, and the tones of the organ, and the voices of thepriests, chanting the service of the mass, are almost alwaysresounding and echoing from the vaulted roof above. 

The words _Notre Dame_ mean Our Lady, an expression by which theRoman Catholics denote Mary, the mother of Jesus. The church of NotreDame had been for many centuries the vast cathedral church of Paris, where all great ceremonies of state were performed. On this occasionthey erected a great amphitheater in the area before the church, which would accommodate many thousands of the spectators who were toassemble, and enable them to see the procession. The bride andbridegroom, and their friends, were to assemble in the bishop'spalace, which was near the Cathedral, and a covered gallery waserected, leading from this palace to the church, through which thebridal party were to enter. They lined this gallery throughout withpurple velvet, and ornamented it in other ways, so as to make theapproach to the church through it inconceivably splendid. 

Crowds began to collect in the great amphitheater early in themorning. The streets leading to Notre Dame were thronged. Everywindow in all the lofty buildings around, and every balcony, wasfull. From ten to twelve the military bands began to arrive, and thelong procession was formed, the different parties being dressed invarious picturesque costumes. The embassadors of various foreignpotentates were present, each bearing their appropriate insignia. Thelegate of the pope, magnificently dressed, had an attendant bearingbefore him a cross of massive gold. The bridegroom, Francis thedauphin, followed this legate, and soon afterward came Mary, accompanied by the king. She was dressed in white. Her robe wasembroidered with the figure of the lily, and it glittered withdiamonds and ornaments of silver. As was the custom in those days, her dress formed a long train, which was borne by two young girls whowalked behind her. She wore a diamond necklace, with a ring ofimmense value suspended from it, and upon her head was a goldencoronet, enriched with diamonds and gems of inestimable value. 

But the dress and the diamonds which Mary wore were not the chiefpoints of attraction to the spectators. All who were present on theoccasion agree in saying that she looked inexpressibly beautiful, andthat there was an indescribable grace and charm in all her movementsand manner, which filled all who saw her with an intoxication ofdelight. She was artless and unaffected in her manners, and hercountenance, the expression of which was generally placid and calm, was lighted up with the animation and interest of the occasion, so asto make every body envy the dauphin the possession of so beautiful abride. Queen Catharine, and a long train of the ladies of the court, followed in the procession after Mary. Every body thought that _she_felt envious and ill at ease. 

The essential thing in the marriage ceremony was to be the putting ofthe wedding ring upon Mary's finger, and the pronouncing of thenuptial benediction which was immediately to follow it. This ceremonywas to be performed by the Archbishop of Rouen, who was at that timethe greatest ecclesiastical dignitary in France. In order that asmany persons as possible might witness this, it was arranged that itshould be performed at the great door of the church, so as to be inview of the immense throng which had assembled in the amphitheatererected in the area, and of the multitudes which had taken theirpositions at the windows and balconies, and on the house-tops around. The procession, accordingly, having entered the church through thecovered gallery, moved along the aisles and came to the great door. Here a royal pavilion had been erected, where the bridal party couldstand in view of the whole assembled multitude. King Henry had thering. He gave it to the archbishop. The archbishop placed it uponMary's finger, and pronounced the benediction in a loud voice. Theusual congratulations followed, and Mary greeted her husband underthe name of his majesty the King of Scotland. Then the whole mightycrowd rent the air with shouts and acclamations. 

It was the custom in those days, on such great public occasions asthis, to scatter money among the crowd, that they might scramble forit. This was called the king's _largess_; and the largess waspompously proclaimed by heralds before the money was thrown. Thethrowing of the money among this immense throng produced a scene ofindescribable confusion. The people precipitated themselves upon eachother in their eagerness to seize the silver and the gold. Some weretrampled under foot. Some were stripped of their hats and cloaks, orhad their clothes torn from them. Some fainted, and were borne out ofthe scene with infinite difficulty and danger. At last the peopleclamorously begged the officers to desist from throwing any moremoney, for fear that the most serious and fatal consequences mightensue. 

In the mean time, the bridal procession returned into the church, and, advancing up the center between the lofty columns, they came toa place called the choir, which is in the heart of the church, and isinclosed by screens of carved and sculptured work. It is in the choirthat congregations assemble to be present at mass and other religiousceremonies. Movable seats are placed here on ordinary occasions, butat the time of this wedding the place was fitted up with greatsplendor. Here mass was performed in the presence of the bridalparty. Mass is a solemn ceremony conducted by the priests, in whichthey renew, or think they renew, the sacrifice of Christ, accompaniedwith offerings of incense, and other acts of adoration, and thechanting of solemn hymns of praise. 

At the close of these services the procession moved again down thechurch, and, issuing forth at the great entrance, it passed aroundupon a spacious platform, where it could be seen to advantage by allthe spectators. Mary was the center to which all eyes were turned. She moved along, the very picture of grace and beauty, the two younggirls who followed her bearing her train. The procession, aftercompleting its circuit, returned to the church, and thence, throughthe covered gallery, it moved back to the bishop's palace. Here thecompany partook of a grand collation. After the collation there was aball, but the ladies were too much embarrassed with their magnificentdresses to be able to dance, and at five o'clock the royal familyreturned to their home. Mary and Queen Catharine went together in asort of palanquin, borne by men, high officers of state walking oneach side. The king and the dauphin followed on horseback, with alarge company in their train; but the streets were every where socrowded with eager spectators that it was with extreme difficultythat they were able to make their way. 

The palace to which the party went to spend the evening was fitted upand illuminated in the most splendid manner, and a variety of mostcurious entertainments had been contrived for the amusement of thecompany. There were twelve artificial horses, made to move byinternal mechanism, and splendidly caparisoned. The children of thecompany, the little princes and dukes, mounted these horses and rodearound the arena. Then came in a company of men dressed likepilgrims, each of whom recited a poem written in honor of theoccasion. After this was an exhibition of galleys, or boats, upon alittle sea. These boats were large enough to bear up two persons. There were two seats in each, one of which was occupied by a younggentleman. As the boats advanced, one by one, each gentleman leapedto the shore, or to what represented the shore, and, going among thecompany, selected a lady and bore her off to his boat, and then, seating her in the vacant chair, took his place by her side, andcontinued his voyage. Francis was in one of the boats, and he, oncoming to the shore, took _Mary_ for his companion. 

The celebrations and festivities of this famous wedding continued forfifteen days. They closed with a grand tournament. A tournament was avery magnificent spectacle in those days. A field was inclosed, inwhich kings, and princes, and knights, fully armed, and mounted onwar-horses, tilted against each other with lances and blunted swords. Ladies of high rank were present as spectators and judges, and onewas appointed at each tournament to preside, and to distribute thehonors and rewards to those who were most successful in the contests. The greatest possible degree of deference and honor was paid to theladies by all the knights on these occasions. Once, at a tournamentin London, arranged by a king of England, the knights and noblemenrode in a long procession to the field, each led by a lady by meansof a silver chain. It was a great honor to be admitted to a share inthese contests, as none but persons of the highest rank were allowedto take a part in them. Whenever one was to be held, invitations weresent to all the courts of Europe, and kings, queens, and sovereignprinces came to witness the spectacle. 

The horsemen who contended on these occasions carried long lances, blunt, indeed, at the end, so that they could not penetrate the armorof the antagonist at which they were aimed, but yet of such weightthat the momentum of the blow was sometimes sufficient to unhorsehim. The great object of every combatant was, accordingly, toprotect himself from this danger. He must turn his horse suddenly, and avoid the lance of his antagonist; or he must strike it with hisown, and thus parry the blow; or if he must encounter it, he was tobrace himself firmly in his saddle, and resist its impulse with allthe strength that he could command. It required, therefore, greatstrength and great dexterity to excel in a tournament. In fact, therapidity of the evolutions which it required gave origin to the name, the word tournament being formed from a French word[C] whichsignifies to turn. 

[Footnote C: Tourner. ]

The princes and noblemen who were present at the wedding all joinedin the tournament except the poor bridegroom, who was too weak andfeeble in body, and too timid in mind, for any such rough and warlikeexercises. Francis was very plain and unprepossessing in countenance, and shy and awkward in his manners. His health had always been veryinfirm, and though his rank was very high, as he was the heirapparent to what was then the greatest throne in Europe, every bodythought that in all other respects he was unfit to be the husband ofsuch a beautiful and accomplished princess as Mary. He was timid, shy, and anxious and unhappy in disposition. He knew that the gay andwarlike spirits around him could not look upon him with respect, andhe felt a painful sense of his inferiority. 

Mary, however, loved him. It was a love, perhaps, mingled with pity. She did not assume an air of superiority over him, but endeavored toencourage him, to lead him forward, to inspire him with confidenceand hope, and to make him feel his own strength and value. She washerself of a sedate and thoughtful character, and with all herintellectual superiority, she was characterized by that femininegentleness of spirit, that disposition to follow and to yield ratherthan to govern, that desire to be led and to be loved rather than tolead and be admired, which constitute the highest charm of woman. 

Francis was glad when the celebrations, tournament and all, were wellover. He set off from Paris with his young bride to one of hiscountry residences, where he could live, for a while, in peace andquietness. Mary was released, in some degree, from the restraints, and formalities, and rules of etiquette of King Henry's court, andwas, to some extent, her own mistress, though still surrounded withmany attendants, and much parade and splendor. The young couple thuscommenced the short period of their married life. They were certainlya very _young_ couple, being both of them under sixteen. 

The rejoicings on account of the marriage were not confined to Paris. All Scotland celebrated the event with much parade. The Catholicparty there were pleased with the final consummation of the event, and all the people, in fact, joined, more or less, in commemoratingthe marriage of their queen. There is in the Castle of Edinburgh, ona lofty platform which overlooks a broad valley, a monstrous gun, several centuries old, which was formed of bars of iron secured bygreat iron hoops. The balls which this gun carried are more than afoot in diameter. The name of this enormous piece of ordnance is_Mons Meg_. It is now disabled, having been burst, many years ago, and injured beyond the possibility of repair. There were greatrejoicings in Edinburgh at the time of Mary's marriage, and from someold accounts which still remain at the castle, it appears that tenshillings were paid to some men for moving up Mons Meg to theembrasure of the battery, and for finding and bringing back her shotafter she was discharged; by which it appears that firing Mons Megwas a part of the celebration by which the people of Edinburghhonored the marriage of their queen. 

CHAPTER IV. 

MISFORTUNES. 

1559-1561

Mary's love for Francis. --How to cherish the passion. --Grandtournament. --Henry's pride. --An encounter. --The helmet. --Thevizor. --King Henry wounded. --His death. --The mournfulmarriage. --The dauphin becomes king. --Catharine superseded. --Mary'sgentleness. --Coronation of Francis. --Francis's healthdeclines. --Superstition of the people. --Commotions inScotland. --Sickness of the queen regent. --Death of Mary'smother. --Illness of Francis. --His last moments and death. --Mary ayoung widow. --Embassadors from Scotland. --Mary's unwillingness toleave France. --Mary in mourning. --She is called the White Queen. --Adevice. --Mary's employments. --Her beautiful hands. --Melancholyvisit. --Mary returns to Paris. --Jealousy. --Queen Elizabeth. --Hercharacter. --Henry VIII. --Elizabeth's claim to the throne. --Mary'sclaim. --The coat of arms. --Elizabeth offended and alarmed. --TheCatholic party. --A device. --Treaty of Edinburgh. --Thesafe-conduct. --Elizabeth refuses the safe-conduct. --Mary'sspeech. --Mary's true nobility of soul. --Sympathy with her. --Mary'sreligious faith. --Her frankness and candor. 

It was said in the last chapter that Mary loved her husband, infirmand feeble as he was both in body and in mind. This love was probablythe effect, quite as much as it was the cause, of the kindness whichshe showed him. As we are very apt to hate those whom we haveinjured, so we almost instinctively love those who have in any waybecome the objects of our kindness and care. If any wife, therefore, wishes for the pleasure of loving her husband, or which is, perhaps, a better supposition, if any husband desires the happiness of lovinghis wife, conscious that it is a pleasure which he does not nowenjoy, let him commence by making her the object of his kindattentions and care, and love will spring up in the heart as aconsequence of the kind of action of which it is more commonly thecause. 

About a year passed away, when at length another great celebrationtook place in Paris, to honor the marriages of some other members ofKing Henry's family. One of them was Francis's oldest sister. Agrand tournament was arranged on this occasion too. The place forthis tournament was where the great street of St. Antoine now lies, and which may be found on any map of Paris. A very large concourse ofkings and nobles from all the courts of Europe were present. KingHenry, magnificently dressed, and mounted on a superb war-horse, wasa very prominent figure in all the parades of the occasion, thoughthe actual contests and trials of skill which took place were betweenyounger princes and knights, King Henry and the ladies beinggenerally only spectators and judges. He, however, took a parthimself on one or two occasions, and received great applause. 

At last, at the end of the third day, just as the tournament was tobe closed, King Henry was riding around the field, greatly excitedwith the pride and pleasure which so magnificent a spectacle wascalculated to awaken, when he saw two lances still remaining whichhad not been broken. The idea immediately seized him of making onemore exhibition of his own power and dexterity in such contests. Hetook one of the lances, and, directing a high officer who was ridingnear him to take the other, he challenged him to a trial of skill. The name of this officer was Montgomery. Montgomery at firstdeclined, being unwilling to contend with his king. The kinginsisted. Queen Catharine begged that he would not contend again. Accidents sometimes happened, she knew, in these rough encounters;and, at any rate, it terrified her to see her husband exposed to suchdangers. The other lords and ladies, and Francis and Queen Maryparticularly, joined in these expostulations. But Henry wasinflexible. There was no danger, and, smiling at their fears, hecommanded Montgomery to arm himself with his lance and take hisposition. 

The spectators looked on in breathless silence. The two horsemen rodetoward each other, each pressing his horse forward to his utmostspeed, and as they passed, each aimed his lance at the head andbreast of the other. It was customary on such occasions to wear ahelmet, with a part called a vizor in front, which could be raised onordinary occasions, or let down in moments of danger like this, tocover and protect the eyes. Of course this part of the armor wasweaker than the rest, and it happened that Montgomery's lance struckhere--was shivered--and a splinter of it penetrated the vizor andinflicted a wound upon Henry, on the head, just over the eye. Henry'shorse went on. The spectators observed that the rider reeled andtrembled in his seat. The whole assembly were in consternation. Theexcitement of pride and pleasure was every where turned into extremeanxiety and alarm. 

They flocked about Henry's horse, and helped the king to dismount. Hesaid it was nothing. They took off his helmet, and found large dropsof blood issuing from the wound. They bore him to his palace. He hadthe magnanimity to say that Montgomery must not be blamed for thisresult, as he was himself responsible for it entirely. He lingeredeleven days, and then died. This was in July, 1559. 

One of the marriages which this unfortunate tournament had beenintended to celebrate, that of Elizabeth, the king's daughter, hadalready taken place, having been performed a day or two before theking was wounded; and it was decided, after Henry was wounded, thatthe other must proceed, as there were great reasons of state againstany postponement of it. This second marriage was that of Margaret, his sister. The ceremony in her case was performed in a silent andprivate manner, at night, by torch-light, in the chapel of thepalace, while her brother was dying. The services were interrupted byher sobs and tears. 

Notwithstanding the mental and bodily feebleness which seemed tocharacterize the dauphin, Mary's husband, who now, by the death ofhis father, became King of France, the event of his accession to thethrone seemed to awaken his energies, and arouse him to animation andeffort. He was sick himself, and in his bed, in a palace called theTournelles, when some officers of state were ushered into hisapartment, and, kneeling before him, saluted him as king. This wasthe first announcement of his father's death. He sprang from his bed, exclaiming at once that he was well. It is one of the sadconsequences of hereditary greatness and power that a son mustsometimes rejoice at the death of his father. 

It was Francis's duty to repair at once to the royal palace of theLouvre, with Mary, who was now Queen of France as well as ofScotland, to receive the homage of the various estates of the realm. Catharine was, of course, now queen dowager. Mary, the child whom shehad so long looked upon with feelings of jealousy and envy was, fromthis time, to take her place as queen. It was very humiliating toCatharine to assume the position of a second and an inferior in thepresence of one whom she had so long been accustomed to direct and tocommand. She yielded, however, with a good grace, though she seemeddejected and sad. As they were leaving the Tournelles, she stopped tolet Mary go before her, saying, "Pass on, madame; it is your turn totake precedence now. " Mary went before her, but she stopped in herturn, with a sweetness of disposition so characteristic of her, tolet Queen Catharine enter first into the carriage which awaited themat the door. 

Francis, though only sixteen, was entitled to assume the governmenthimself. He went to Rheims, a town northeast of Paris, where is anabbey, which is the ancient place of coronation for the kings ofFrance. Here he was crowned. He appointed his ministers, and evinced, in his management and in his measures, more energy and decision thanit was supposed he possessed. He himself and Mary were now, together, on the summit of earthly grandeur. They had many political troublesand cares which can not be related here, but Mary's life wascomparatively peaceful and happy, the pleasures which she enjoyedbeing greatly enhanced by the mutual affection which existed betweenherself and her husband. 

Though he was small in stature, and very unprepossessing inappearance and manners, Francis still evinced in his government aconsiderable degree of good judgment and of energy. His health, however, gradually declined. He spent much of his time in traveling, and was often dejected and depressed. One circumstance made him feelvery unhappy. The people of many of the villages through which hepassed, being in those days very ignorant and superstitious, got arumor into circulation that the king's malady was such that he couldonly be cured by being bathed in the blood of young children. Theyimagined that he was traveling to obtain such a bath; and, whereverhe came, the people fled, mothers eagerly carrying off their childrenfrom this impending danger. The king did not understand the _cause_of his being thus shunned. They concealed it from him, knowing thatit would give him pain. He knew only the _fact_, and it made him verysad to find himself the object of this mysterious and unaccountableaversion. 

In the mean time, while these occurrences had been taking place inFrance, Mary's mother, the queen dowager of Scotland, had been madequeen regent of Scotland after her return from France; but sheexperienced infinite trouble and difficulty in managing the affairsof the country. The Protestant party became very strong, and took uparms against her government. The English sent them aid. She, on theother hand, with the Catholic interest to support her, defended herpower as well as she could, and called for help from France tosustain her. And thus the country which she was so ambitious togovern, was involved by her management in the calamities and sorrowsof civil war. 

In the midst of this contest she died. During her last sickness shesent for some of the leaders of the Protestant party, and did allthat she could to soothe and conciliate their minds. She mourned thecalamities and sufferings which the civil war had brought upon thecountry, and urged the Protestants to do all in their power, afterher death, to heal these dissensions and restore peace. She alsoexhorted them to remember their obligations of loyalty and obedienceto their absent queen, and to sustain and strengthen her governmentby every means in their power. She died, and after her death the warwas brought to a close by a treaty of peace, in which the French andEnglish governments joined with the government of Scotland to settlethe points in dispute, and immediately afterward the troops of boththese nations were withdrawn. The death of the queen regent wassupposed to have been caused by the pressure of anxiety which thecares of her government imposed. Her body was carried home to France, and interred in the royal abbey at Rheims. 

The death of Mary's mother took place in the summer of 1560. The nextDecember Mary was destined to meet with a much heavier affliction. Her husband, King Francis, in addition to other complaints, had beensuffering for some time from pain and disease in the ear. One day, when he was preparing to go out hunting, he was suddenly seized witha fainting fit, and was soon found to be in great danger. Hecontinued some days very ill. He was convinced himself that he couldnot recover, and began to make arrangements for his approaching end. As he drew near to the close of his life, he was more and more deeplyimpressed with a sense of Mary's kindness and love. He mourned verymuch his approaching separation from her. He sent for his mother, Queen Catharine, to come to his bedside, and begged that she wouldtreat Mary kindly, for his sake, after he was gone. 

Mary was overwhelmed with grief at the approaching death of herhusband. She knew at once what a great change it would make in hercondition. She would lose immediately her rank and station. QueenCatharine would again come into power, as queen regent, during theminority of the next heir. All her friends of the family of Guise, would be removed from office, and she herself would become a mereguest and stranger in the land of which she had been the queen. Butnothing could arrest the progress of the disease under which herhusband was sinking. He died, leaving Mary a disconsolate widow ofseventeen. 

The historians of those days say that Queen Catharine was muchpleased at the death of Francis her son. It restored her to rank andpower. Mary was again beneath her, and in some degree subject to herwill. All Mary's friends were removed from their high stations, andothers, hostile to her family, were put into their places. Mary soonfound herself unhappy at court, and she accordingly removed to acastle at a considerable distance from Paris to the west, near thecity of Orleans. The people of Scotland wished her to return to hernative land. Both the great parties sent embassadors to her to askher to return, each of them urging her to adopt such measures on herarrival in Scotland as should favor their cause. Queen Catharine, too, who was still jealous of Mary's influence, and of the admirationand love which her beauty and the loveliness of her characterinspired, intimated to her that perhaps it would be better for hernow to leave France and return to her own land. 

Mary was very unwilling to go. She loved France. She knew very littleof Scotland. She was very young when she left it, and the fewrecollections which she had of the country were confined to thelonely island of Inchmahome and the Castle of Stirling. Scotland wasin a cold and inhospitable climate, accessible only through stormyand dangerous seas, and it seemed to her that going there was goinginto exile. Besides, she dreaded to undertake personally toadminister a government whose cares and anxieties had been so greatas to carry her mother to the grave. 

Mary, however, found that it was in vain for her to resist theinfluences which pressed upon her the necessity of returning to hernative land. She wandered about during the spring and summer afterher husband's death, spending her time in various palaces and abbeys, and at length she began to prepare for her return to Scotland. Thesame gentleness and loveliness of character which she had exhibitedin her prosperous fortunes, shone still more conspicuously now in herhours of sorrow. Sometimes she appeared in public, in certainceremonies of state. She was then dressed in mourning--inwhite--according to the custom in royal families in those days, herdark hair covered by a delicate crape veil. Her beauty, softened andchastened by her sorrows, made a strong impression upon all who sawher. 

She appeared so frequently, and attracted so much attention in herwhite mourning, that she began to be known among the people as theWhite Queen. Every body wanted to see her. They admired her beauty;they were impressed with the romantic interest of her history; theypitied her sorrows. She mourned her husband's death with deep andunaffected grief. She invented a device and motto for a seal, appropriate to the occasion: it was a figure of the liquorice-tree, every part of which is useless except the root, which, of course, lies beneath the surface of the earth. Underneath was theinscription, in Latin, _My treasure is in the ground_. The expressionis much more beautiful in the Latin than can be expressed in anyEnglish words. [D]

[Footnote D: Dulce meum terra tegit. ]

Mary did not, however, give herself up to sullen and idle grief, butemployed herself in various studies and pursuits, in order to sootheand solace her grief by useful occupation. She read Latin authors;she studied poetry; she composed. She paid much attention to music, and charmed those who were in her company by the sweet tones of hervoice and her skillful performance upon an instrument. The historianseven record a description of the fascinating effect produced by thegraceful movements of her beautiful hand. Whatever she did or saidseemed to carry with it an inexpressible charm. 

Before she set out on her return to Scotland she went to pay a visitto her grandmother, the same lady whom her mother had gone to see inher castle, ten years before, on her return to Scotland after hervisit to Mary. During this ten years the unhappy mourner had made nochange in respect to her symbols of grief. The apartments of herpalace were still hung with black. Her countenance wore the sameexpression of austerity and woe. Her attendants were trained to payto her every mark of the most profound deference in all theirapproaches to her. No sounds of gayety or pleasure were to be heard, but a profound stillness and solemnity reigned continually throughoutthe gloomy mansion. 

Not long before the arrangements were completed for Mary's return toScotland, she revisited Paris, where she was received with greatmarks of attention and honor. She was now eighteen or nineteen yearsof age, in the bloom of her beauty, and the monarch of a powerfulkingdom, to which she was about to return, and many of the youngprinces of Europe began to aspire to the honor of her hand. Throughthese and other influences, she was the object of much attention;while, on the other hand, Queen Catharine, and the party in power atthe French court, were envious and jealous of her popularity, and dida great deal to mortify and vex her. 

The enemy, however, whom Mary had most to fear, was her cousin, Queen Elizabeth of England. Queen Elizabeth was a maiden lady, nownearly thirty years of age. She was in all respects extremelydifferent from Mary. She was a zealous Protestant, and verysuspicious and watchful in respect to Mary, on account of herCatholic connections and faith. She was very plain in person, andunprepossessing in manners. She was, however, intelligent and shrewd, and was governed by calculations and policy in all that she did. Thepeople by whom she was surrounded admired her talents and feared herpower, but nobody loved her. She had many good qualities as amonarch, but none considered as a woman. 

[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. ]

Elizabeth was somewhat envious of her cousin Mary's beauty, and of herbeing such an object of interest and affection to all who knew her. But she had a far more serious and permanent cause of alienation fromher than personal envy. It was this: Elizabeth's father, King HenryVIII. , had, in succession, several wives, and there had been aquestion raised about the legality of his marriage with Elizabeth'smother. Parliament decided at one time that this marriage was notvalid; at another time, subsequently, they decided that it was. This difference in the two decisions was not owing so much to achange of sentiment in the persons who voted, as to a change in theascendency of the parties by which the decision was controlled. If themarriage were valid, then Elizabeth was entitled to the English crown. If it were not valid, then she was not entitled to it: it belonged tothe next heir. Now it happened that Mary Queen of Scots was the nextheir. Her grandmother on the father's side was an English princess, and through her Mary had a just title to the crown, if QueenElizabeth's title was annulled. 

Now, while Mary was in France, during the lifetime of King Henry, Francis's father, he and the members of the family of Guise advancedMary's claim to the British crown, and denied that of Elizabeth. Theymade a coat of arms, in which the arms of France, and Scotland, andEngland were combined, and had it engraved on Mary's silver plate. Onone great occasion, they had this symbol displayed conspicuously overthe gateway of a town where Mary was making a public entry. TheEnglish embassador, who was present, made this, and the other acts ofthe same kind, known to Elizabeth, and she was greatly incensed atthem. She considered Mary as plotting treasonably against her power, and began to contrive plans to circumvent and thwart her. 

Nor was Elizabeth wholly unreasonable in this. Mary, thoughpersonally a gentle and peaceful woman, yet in her teens, was veryformidable to Elizabeth as an opposing claimant of the crown. All theCatholics in France and in Scotland would naturally take Mary's side. Then, besides this, there was a large Catholic party in England, whowould be strongly disposed to favor any plan which should give them aCatholic monarch. Elizabeth was, therefore, very justly alarmed atsuch a claim on the part of her cousin. It threatened not only toexpose her to the aggressions of foreign foes, but also to internalcommotions and dangers, in her own dominions. 

The chief responsibility for bringing forward this claim must restundoubtedly, not on Mary herself, but on King Henry of France and theother French princes, who first put it forward. Mary, however, herself, was not entirely passive in the affair. She liked toconsider herself as entitled to the English crown. She had a devicefor a seal, a very favorite one with her, which expressed this claim. It contained two crowns, with a motto in Latin below which meant, "_A third awaits me_. " Elizabeth knew all these things, and she heldMary accountable for all the anxiety and alarm which this dangerousclaim occasioned her. 

At the peace which was made in Scotland between the French andEnglish forces and the Scotch, by the great treaty of Edinburgh whichhas been already described, it was agreed that Mary should relinquishall claim to the crown of England. This treaty was brought to Francefor Mary to ratify it, but she declined. Whatever rights she mighthave to the English crown, she refused to surrender them. Thingsremained in this state until the time arrived for her return to hernative land, and then, fearing that perhaps Elizabeth might dosomething to intercept her passage, she applied to her for asafe-conduct; that is, a writing authorizing her to pass safely andwithout hinderance through the English dominions, whether land orsea. Queen Elizabeth returned word through her embassador in Paris, whose name was Throckmorton, that she could not give her any suchsafe-conduct, because she had refused to ratify the treaty ofEdinburgh. 

When this answer was communicated to Mary, she felt deeply woundedby it. She sent all the attendants away, that she might expressherself to Throckmorton without reserve. She told him that it seemedto her very hard that her cousin was disposed to prevent her returnto her native land. As to her claim upon the English crown, she saidthat advancing it was not her plan, but that of her husband and hisfather; and that now she could not properly renounce it, whatever itsvalidity might be, till she could have opportunity to return toScotland and consult with her government there, since it affected nother personally alone, but the public interests of Scotland. "Andnow, " she continued, in substance, "I am sorry that I asked such afavor of her. I have no need to ask it, for I am sure I have a rightto return from France to my own country without asking permission ofany one. You have often told me that the queen wished to be onfriendly terms with me, and that it was your opinion that to befriends would be best for us both. But now I see that she is not ofyour mind, but is disposed to treat me in an unkind and unfriendlymanner, while she knows that I am her equal in rank, though I do notpretend to be her equal in abilities and experience. Well she may doas she pleases. If my preparations were not so far advanced, perhapsI should give up the voyage. But I am resolved to go. I hope thewinds will prove favorable, and carry me away from her shores. Ifthey carry me upon them, and I fall into her hands, she may make whatdisposal of me she will. If I lose my life, I shall esteem it nogreat loss, for it is now little else than a burden. "

How strongly this speech expresses "that mixture of melancholy anddignity, of womanly softness and noble decision, which pervaded hercharacter. " There is a sort of gentleness even in her anger, and acertain indescribable womanly charm in the workings of her mind, which cause all who read her story, while they can not but think thatElizabeth was right, to sympathize wholly with Mary. 

Throckmorton, at one of his conversations with Mary, took occasion toask her respecting her religious views, as Elizabeth wished to knowhow far she was fixed and committed in her attachment to the Catholicfaith. Mary said that she was born and had been brought up aCatholic, and that she should remain so as long as she lived. Shewould not interfere, she said, with her subjects adopting such formof religion as they might prefer, but for herself she should notchange. If she should change, she said, she should justly lose theconfidence of her people; for, if they saw that she was light andfickle on that subject, they could not rely upon her in respect toany other. She did not profess to be able to argue, herself, thequestions of difference, but she was not wholly uninformed in respectto them, as she had often heard the points discussed by learned men, and had found nothing to lead her to change her ground. 

It is impossible for any reader, whether Protestant or Catholic, notto admire the frankness and candor, the honest conscientiousness, thecourage, and, at the same time, womanly modesty and propriety whichcharacterize this reply. 

CHAPTER V. 

RETURN TO SCOTLAND. 

1561

Calais. --Artificial piers and breakwaters. --Throckmorton. --Elizabeth'splans. --Throckmorton baffled. --Throckmorton's advice. --Queen Catharine'sfarewell. --Escort. --Embarkation. --Spectators. --Unfortunateaccident. --Mary's farewell to France. --Her deep emotion. --Mary's firstnight on board. --Her reluctance to leave France. --Fog. --One vesselcaptured. --Narrow escape. --Mary's Adieu to France. --Attempts totranslate it. --Translations of Mary's Adieu to France. --Arrival atLeith. --Palace of Holyrood. --Mary's arrival unexpected. --Mary'sreception. --Contrasts. --The cavalcade. --Serenade. --Solitaryhome. --Favorable impression. --The Lord James. --Mary makes him one ofher ministers. --The mass. --Transubstantiation. --Adoration of thehost. --Protestant and Catholic worship. --Violence and persecution. --Themass in Mary's chapel. --Scene of excitement. --Lord James. --The reformer, John Knox. --His uncompromising character. --Knox's interview withMary. --His sternness subdued. --The four Maries. --Queen Elizabeth'sinsincerity. 

Mary was to sail from the port of Calais. Calais is on the northerncoast of France, opposite to Dover in England, these towns being onopposite sides of the Straits of Dover, where the channel betweenEngland and France is very narrow. Still, the distance is so greatthat the land on either side is ordinarily not visible on the other. There is no good natural harbor at Calais, nor, in fact, at any otherpoint on the French coast. The French have had to supply thedeficiency by artificial piers and breakwaters. There are severalvery capacious and excellent harbors on the English side. This mayhave been one cause, among others, of the great naval superioritywhich England has attained. 

When Queen Elizabeth found that Mary was going to persevere in herintention of returning to her native land, she feared that she might, after her arrival in Scotland, and after getting established in powerthere, form a scheme for making war upon _her_ dominions, andattempt to carry into effect her claim upon the English crown. Shewished to prevent this. Would it be prudent to intercept Mary uponher passage? She reflected on this subject with the cautiouscalculation which formed so striking a part of her character, andfelt in doubt. Her taking Mary a prisoner, and confining her acaptive in her own land, might incense Queen Catharine, who was nowregent of France, and also awaken a general resentment in Scotland, so as to bring upon her the hostility of those two countries, andthus, perhaps, make more mischief than the securing of Mary's personwould prevent. 

She accordingly, as a previous step, sent to Throckmorton, herembassador in France, directing him to have an interview with QueenCatharine, and ascertain how far she would feel disposed to takeMary's part. Throckmorton did this. Queen Catharine gave no directreply. She said that both herself and the young king wished well toElizabeth, and to Mary too, that it was her desire that the twoqueens might be on good terms with each other; that she was a friendto them both, and should not take a part against either of them. 

This was all that Queen Elizabeth could expect, and she formed herplans for intercepting Mary on her passage. She sent to Throckmorton, asking him to find out, if he could, what port Queen Mary was to sailfrom, and to send her word. She then gave orders to her navalcommanders to assemble as many ships as they could, and hold them inreadiness to sail into the seas between England and France, for thepurpose of _exterminating the pirates_, which she said had latelybecome very numerous there. 

Throckmorton took occasion, in a conversation which he had with Marysoon after this, to inquire from what port she intended to sail; butshe did not give him the information. She suspected his motive, andmerely said, in reply to his question, that she hoped the wind wouldprove favorable for carrying her away as far as possible from theEnglish coast, whatever might be the point from which she should takeher departure. Throckmorton then endeavored to find out thearrangements of the voyage by other means, but without much success. He wrote to Elizabeth that he thought Mary would sail either fromHavre or Calais; that she would go eastward, along the shore of theContinent, by Flanders and Holland, till she had gained aconsiderable distance from the English coast, and then would sailnorth along the eastern shores of the German Ocean. He advised thatElizabeth should send spies to Calais and to Havre, and perhaps toother French ports, to watch there, and to let her know whenever theyobserved any appearances of preparations for Mary's departure. 

In the mean time, as the hour for Mary's farewell to Paris and allits scenes of luxury and splendor, drew near, those who had loved herwere drawn more closely to her in heart than ever, and those who hadbeen envious and jealous began to relent, and to look upon her withfeelings of compassion and of kind regard. Queen Catharine treatedher with extreme kindness during the last few days of her stay, andshe accompanied her for some distance on her journey, with everymanifestation of sincere affection and good will. She stopped, atlength, at St. Germain, and there, with many tears, she bade hergentle daughter-in-law a long and last farewell. 

Many princes and nobles, especially of the family of Guise, Mary'srelatives, accompanied her through the whole journey. They formedquite a long cavalcade, and attracted great attention in all thetowns and districts through which they passed. They traveled slowly, but at length arrived at Calais, where they waited nearly a week tocomplete the arrangements for Mary's embarkation. At length the dayarrived for her to set sail. A large concourse of spectatorsassembled to witness the scene. Four ships had been provided for thetransportation of the party and their effects. Two of these weregalleys. They were provided with banks of oars, and large crews ofrowers, by means of which the vessels could be propelled when thewind failed. The two other vessels were merely vessels of burden, tocarry the furniture and other effects of the passengers. 

Many of the queen's friends were to accompany her to Scotland. Thefour Maries were among them. She bade those that were to remainbehind farewell, and prepared to embark on board the royal galley. Her heart was very sad. Just at this time, a vessel which was comingin struck against the pier, in consequence of a heavy sea which wasrolling in, and of the distraction of the seamen occasioned by Mary'sembarkation. The vessel which struck was so injured by the concussionthat it filled immediately and sank. Most of the seamen on boardwere drowned. This accident produced great excitement and confusion. Mary looked upon the scene from the deck of her vessel, which was nowslowly moving from the shore. It alarmed her, and impressed her mindwith a sad and mournful sense of the dangers of the elements to whosemercy she was now to be committed for many days. "What an unhappyomen is this!" she exclaimed. She then went to the stern of the ship, looked back at the shore, then knelt down, and, covering her facewith her hands, sobbed aloud. "Farewell, France!" she exclaimed: "Ishall never, never see thee more. " Presently, when her emotions for amoment subsided, she would raise her eyes, and take another view ofthe slowly-receding shore, and then exclaim again, "Farewell, mybeloved France! farewell! farewell!"

[Illustration: MARY'S EMBARKATION AT CALAIS. ]

She remained in this position, suffering this anguish, for five hours, when it began to grow dark, and she could no longer see the shore. Shethen rose, saying that her beloved country was gone from her sightforever. "The darkness, like a thick veil, hides thee from my sight, and I shall see thee no more. So farewell, beloved land! farewellforever!" She left her place at the stern, but she would not leavethe deck. She made them bring up a bed, and place it for her there, near the stern. They tried to induce her to go into the cabin, or atleast to take some supper; but she would not. She lay down upon herbed. She charged the helmsman to awaken her at the dawn, if the landwas in sight when the dawn should appear. She then wept herself tosleep. 

During the night the air was calm, and the vessels in which Mary andher company had embarked made such small progress, being worked onlyby the oars, that the land came into view again with the gray lightof the morning. The helmsman awoke Mary, and the sight of the shorerenewed her anguish and tears. She said that she _could not_ go. Shewished that Elizabeth's ships would come in sight, so as to compelher squadron to return. But no English fleet appeared. On thecontrary, the breeze freshened. The sailors unfurled the sails, theoars were taken in, and the great crew of oarsmen rested from theirtoil. The ships began to make their way rapidly through the ripplingwater. The land soon became a faint, low cloud in the horizon, and inan hour all traces of it entirely disappeared. 

The voyage continued for ten days. They saw nothing of Elizabeth'scruisers. It was afterward ascertained, however, that these shipswere at one time very near to them, and were only prevented fromseeing and taking them by a dense fog, which at that time happened tocover the sea. One of the vessels of burden was seen and taken, andcarried to England. It contained, however, only some of Mary'sfurniture and effects. She herself escaped the danger. 

The fog, which was thus Mary's protection at one time, was a sourceof great difficulty and danger at another; for, when they weredrawing near to the place of their landing in Scotland, they wereenveloped in a fog so dense that they could scarcely see from one endof the vessel to the other. They stopped the progress of theirvessels, and kept continually sounding; and when at length the fogcleared away, they found themselves involved in a labyrinth of rocksand shoals of the most dangerous character. They made their escape atlast, and went on safely toward the land. Mary said, however, thatshe felt, at the time, entirely indifferent as to the result. She wasso disconsolate and wretched at having parted forever from all thatwas dear to her, that it seemed to her that she was equally willingto live or to die. 

Mary, who, among her other accomplishments, had a great deal ofpoetic talent, wrote some lines, called her Farewell to France, whichhave been celebrated from that day to this. They are as follows:

 ADIEU. 

 Adieu, plaisant pays de France! O ma patrie, La plus cherie; Qui a nourri ma jeune enfance. Adieu, France! adieu, mes beaux jours! La nef qui déjoint mes amours, N'a cy de moi que la moitié; Une parte te reste; elle est tienne; Je la fie à ton amitié, Pour que de l'autre il te souvienne. 

Many persons have attempted to translate these lines into Englishverse; but it is always extremely difficult to translate poetry fromone language to another. We give here two of the best of thesetranslations. The reader can judge, by observing how different theyare from each other, how different they must both be from theircommon original. 

 ADIEU. 

 Farewell to thee, thou pleasant shore, The loved, the cherished home to me Of infant joy, a dream that's o'er, Farewell, dear France! farewell to thee. 

 The sail that wafts me bears away From thee but half my soul alone; Its fellow half will fondly stay, And back to thee has faithful flown. 

 I trust it to thy gentle care; For all that here remains with me Lives but to think of all that's there, To love and to remember thee. 

The other translation is as follows:

 ADIEU. 

 Adieu, thou pleasant land of France! The dearest of all lands to me, Where life was like a joyful dance, The joyful dance of infancy. 

 Farewell my childhood's laughing wiles, Farewell the joys of youth's bright day, The bark that takes me from thy smiles, Bears but my meaner half away. 

 The best is thine; my changeless heart Is given, beloved France, to thee; And let it sometimes, though we part, Remind thee, with a sigh, of me. 

It was on the 19th of August, 1561, that the two galleys arrived atLeith. Leith is a small port on the shore of the Frith of Forth, about two miles from Edinburgh, which is situated somewhat inland. The royal palace, where Mary was to reside, was called the Palace ofHolyrood. It was, and is still, a large square building, with an opencourt in the center, into which there is access for carriages througha large arched passage-way in the center of the principal front ofthe building. In the rear, but connected with the palace, there was achapel in Mary's day, though it is now in ruins. The walls stillremain, but the roof is gone. The people of Scotland were notexpecting Mary so soon. Information was communicated from country tocountry, in those days, slowly and with great difficulty. Perhaps thetime of Mary's departure from France was purposely concealed evenfrom the Scotch, to avoid all possibility that the knowledge of itshould get into Elizabeth's possession. 

At any rate, the first intelligence which the inhabitants ofEdinburgh and the vicinity had of the arrival of their queen, was theapproach of the galleys to the shore, and the firing of a royalsalute from their guns. The Palace of Holyrood was not ready forMary's reception, and she had to remain a day at Leith, awaiting thenecessary preparations. In the mean time, the whole population beganto assemble to welcome her arrival. Military bands were turned out;banners were prepared; civil and military officers in full costumeassembled, and bon-fires and illuminations were provided for theevening and night. In a word, Mary's subjects in Scotland did all intheir power to do honor to the occasion; but the preparations were sofar beneath the pomp and pageantry which she had been accustomed toin France, that she felt the contrast very keenly, and realized, moreforcibly than ever, how great was the change which the circumstancesof her life were undergoing. 

[Illustration: PALACE OF HOLYROOD. With Salisbury Crags and Arthur'sSeat in the Distance. ]

Horses were prepared for Mary and her large company of attendants, toride from Leith to Edinburgh. The long cavalcade moved toward evening. The various professions and trades of Edinburgh were drawn up in lineson each side of the road, and thousands upon thousands of otherspectators assembled to witness the scene. When she reached the Palaceof Holyrood House, a band of music played for a time under herwindows, and then the great throng quietly dispersed, leaving Mary toher repose. The adjoining engraving represents the Palace of Holyroodas it now appears. In Mary's day, the northern part only had beenbuilt--that is, the part on the left, in the view, where the ivyclimbs about the windows--and the range extending back to the royalchapel, the ruins of which are seen in the rear. [E] Mary took up herabode in this dwelling, and was glad to rest from the fatigues andprivations of her long voyage; but she found her new home a solitaryand gloomy dwelling, compared with the magnificent palaces of the landshe had left. 

[Footnote E: For the situation of this palace in respect to Edinburghsee the view of Edinburgh, page 179. ]

Mary made an extremely favorable impression upon her subjects inScotland. To please them, she exchanged the white mourning of France, from which she had taken the name of the White Queen, for a blackdress, more accordant with the ideas and customs of her native land. This gave her a more sedate and matronly character, and though theexpression of her countenance and figure was somewhat changed by it, it was only a change to a new form of extreme and fascinating beauty. Her manners, too, so graceful and easy, and yet so simple andunaffected, charmed all who saw her. 

Mary had a half brother in Scotland, whose title was at this time theLord James. He was afterward named the Earl of Murray, and iscommonly known in history under this latter designation. The motherof Lord James was not legally married to Mary's father, andconsequently he could not inherit any of his father's rights to theScottish crown. The Lord James was, however, a man of very high rankand influence, and Mary immediately received him into her service, and made him one of her highest ministers of state. He was now aboutthirty years of age, prudent, cautious, and wise, of good person andmanners, but somewhat reserved and austere. 

Lord James had the general direction of affairs on Mary's arrival, and things went on very smoothly for a week; but then, on the firstSunday after the landing, a very serious difficulty threatened tooccur. The Catholics have a certain celebration, called the mass, towhich they attach a very serious and solemn importance. When ourSavior gave the bread and the wine to his disciples at the LastSupper he said of it, "This is my body, broken for you, " and "This ismy blood, shed for you. " The Catholics understand that these wordsdenote that the bread and wine did at that time, and that they donow, whenever the communion service is celebrated by a priest dulyauthorized, become, by a sort of miraculous transformation, the truebody and blood of Christ, and that the priest, in breaking the oneand pouring out the other, is really and truly renewing the greatsacrifice for sin made by Jesus Christ at his crucifixion. The mass, therefore, in which the bread and the wine are so broken and pouredout, becomes, in their view, not a mere service of prayer and praiseto God, but a solemn _act_ of sacrifice. The spectators, orassistants, as they call them, meaning all who are present on theoccasion, stand by, not merely to hear words of adoration, in whichthey mentally join, as is the case in most Protestant forms ofworship, but to witness the _enactment of a deed_, and one of greatbinding force and validity: a real and true sacrifice of Christ, madeanew, as an atonement for their sins. The bread, when consecrated, and as they suppose, transmuted to the body of Christ, is held up toview, or carried in a procession around the church, that all presentmay bow before it and adore it as really being, though in the form ofbread, the wounded and broken body of the Lord. 

Of course the celebration of the mass is invested, in the minds ofall conscientious Catholics, with the utmost solemnity andimportance. They stand silently by, with the deepest feelings ofreverence and awe, while the priest offers up for them, anew, thegreat sacrifice for sin. They regard all Protestant worship, whichconsists of mere exhortations to duty, hymns and prayers, as lifelessand void. That which is to them the soul, the essence, and substanceof the whole, is wanting. On the other hand, the Protestants abhorthe sacrifice of the mass as gross superstition. They think that thebread remains simply bread after the benediction as much as before;that for the priests to pretend that in breaking it they renew thesacrifice of Christ, is imposture; and that to bow before it inadoration and homage is the worst idolatry. 

Now it happened that during Mary's absence in France, the contestbetween the Catholics and the Protestants had been going fiercelyon, and the result had been the almost complete defeat of theCatholic party, and the establishment of the Protestant interestthroughout the realm. A great many deeds of violence accompanied thischange. Churches and abbeys were sometimes sacked and destroyed. Theimages of saints, which the Catholics had put up, were pulled downand broken; and the people were sometimes worked up to phrensyagainst the principles of the Catholic faith and Catholicobservances. They abhorred the mass, and were determined that itshould not be introduced again into Scotland. 

Queen Mary, knowing this state of things determined, on her arrivalin Scotland, not to interfere with her people in the exercise oftheir religion; but she resolved to remain a Catholic herself, and tocontinue, for the use of her own household, in the royal chapel atHolyrood, the same Catholic observances to which she had beenaccustomed in France. She accordingly gave orders that mass should becelebrated in her chapel on the first Sunday after her arrival. Shewas very willing to abstain from interfering with the religioususages of her subjects, but she was not willing to give up her own. 

The friends of the Reformation had a meeting, and resolved that massshould _not_ be celebrated. There was, however, no way of preventingit but by intimidation or violence. When Sunday came, crowds began toassemble about the palace and the chapel, [F] and to fill all theavenues leading to them. The Catholic families who were going toattend the service were treated rudely as they passed. The prieststhey threatened with death. One, who carried a candle which was to beused in the ceremonies, was extremely terrified at their threats andimprecations. The excitement was very great, and would probably haveproceeded to violent extremities, had it not been for Lord James'senergy and courage. He was a Protestant, but he took his station atthe door of the chapel, and, without saying or doing any thing toirritate the crowd without, he kept them at bay, while the serviceproceeded. It went on to the close, though greatly interrupted by theconfusion and uproar. Many of the French people who came with Marywere so terrified by this scene, that they declared they would notstay in such a country, and took the first opportunity of returningto France. 

[Footnote F: The ruins of the royal chapel are to be seen in the rearof the palace in the view on page 114. ]

One of the most powerful and influential of the leaders of theProtestant party at this time was the celebrated John Knox. He was aman of great powers of mind and of commanding eloquence; and he hadexerted a vast influence in arousing the people of Scotland to afeeling of strong abhorrence of what they considered the abominationsof popery. When Queen Mary of England was upon the throne, Knox hadwritten a book against her, and against queens in general, womenhaving, according to his views, no right to govern. Knox was a man ofthe most stern and uncompromising character, who feared nothing, respected nothing, and submitted to no restraints in the blunt andplain discharge of what he considered his duty. Mary dreaded hisinfluence and power. 

Knox had an interview with Mary not long after her arrival, and it isone of the most striking instances of the strange ascendency whichMary's extraordinary beauty and grace, and the pensive charm of herdemeanor, exercised over all that came within her influence, thateven John Knox, whom nothing else could soften or subdue, found hisrough and indomitable energy half forsaking him in the presence ofhis gentle queen. She expostulated with him. He half apologized. Nothing had ever drawn the least semblance of an apology from himbefore. He told her that his book was aimed solely against Queen Maryof England, and not against her; that she had no cause to fear itsinfluence; that, in respect to the freedom with which he had advancedhis opinions and theories on the subjects of government and religion, she need not be alarmed, for philosophers had always done this inevery age, and yet had lived good citizens of the state, whoseinstitutions they had, nevertheless, in some sense theoreticallycondemned. He told her, moreover, that he had no intention oftroubling her reign; that she might be sure of this, since, if he hadsuch a desire, he should have commenced his measures during herabsence, and not have postponed them until her position on the thronewas strengthened by her return. Thus he tried to soothe her fears, and to justify himself from the suspicion of having designed anyinjury to such a gentle and helpless queen. The interview was a veryextraordinary spectacle. It was that of a lion laying aside hismajestic sternness and strength to dispel the fears and quiet theapprehensions of a dove. The interview was, however, after all, painful and distressing to Mary. Some things which the stern reformerfelt it his duty to say to her, brought tears into her eyes. 

Mary soon became settled in her new home, though many circumstancesin her situation were well calculated to disquiet and disturb her. She lived in the palace at Holyrood. The four Maries continued withher for a time, and then two of them were married to nobles of highrank. Queen Elizabeth sent Mary a kind message, congratulating her onher safe arrival in Scotland, and assuring her that the story of herhaving attempted to intercept her was false. Mary, who had no meansof proving Elizabeth's insincerity, sent her back a polite reply. 

CHAPTER VI. 

MARY AND LORD DARNLEY. 

1562-1566

Stormy scenes. --Lord James. --Acts of cruelty. --Mary's energy anddecision. --Her popularity. --Story of Chatelard. --His love andinfatuation. --Trial of Chatelard. --His execution and lastwords. --Mary and Elizabeth. --The English succession. --Claim ofLady Lennox. --Lord Darnley. --Offers of marriage. --Duplicity ofElizabeth. --Melville sent as embassador to Elizabeth. --Hisreception. --Conversation of Melville and Elizabeth. --Dudley, earlof Leicester. --The "long" lad. --Lord Darnley. --Elizabeth'smanagement. --Darnley's visit to Scotland. --Mary's message toElizabeth. --Elizabeth's duplicity. --Wemys Castle. --Mary's opinionof Darnley. --His interview with her. --The courtship. --Elizabeth ina rage. --Murray's opposition. --Mary hastens the marriage. --Adangerous plot. --Mary's narrow escape. --The marriage. --The mournerand the bride. --Darnley's contemptible character. --Darnley'simperiousness and pride. --Mary's cares. --Rebellion. --Elizabeth'streatment of the rebels. --Mary's generous conduct to Darnley. --Thedouble throne. --Darnley's cruel ingratitude. 

During the three or four years which elapsed after Queen Mary'sarrival in Scotland, she had to pass through many stormy scenes ofanxiety and trouble. The great nobles of the land were continuallyquarreling, and all parties were earnest and eager in their effortsto get Mary's influence and power on their side. She had a great dealof trouble with the affairs of her brother, the Lord James. He wishedto have the earldom of Murray conferred upon him. The castle andestates pertaining to this title were in the north of Scotland, inthe neighborhood of Inverness. They were in possession of anotherfamily, who refused to give them up. Mary accompanied Lord James tothe north with an army, to put him in possession. They took thecastle, and hung the governor, who had refused to surrender at theirsummons. This, and some other acts of this expedition, have sincebeen considered unjust and cruel; but posterity have been divided inopinion on the question how far Mary herself was personallyresponsible for them. 

Mary, at any rate, displayed a great degree of decision and energy inher management of public affairs, and in the personal exploits whichshe performed. She made excursions from castle to castle, and fromtown to town, all over Scotland. On these expeditions she traveled onhorseback, sometimes with a royal escort, and sometimes at the headof an army of eighteen or twenty thousand men. These royal progresseswere made sometimes among the great towns and cities on the easterncoast of Scotland, and also, at other times, among the gloomy anddangerous defiles of the Highlands. Occasionally she would pay visitsto the nobles at their castles, to hunt in their parks, to reviewtheir Highland retainers, or to join them in celebrations and fêtes, and military parades. 

During all this time, her personal influence and ascendency over allwho knew her was constantly increasing; and the people of Scotland, notwithstanding the disagreement on the subject of religion, becamemore and more devoted to their queen. The attachment which those whowere in immediate attendance upon her felt to her person andcharacter, was in many cases extreme. In one instance, thisattachment led to a very sad result. There was a young Frenchman, named Chatelard, who came in Mary's train from France. He was ascholar and a poet. He began by writing verses in Mary's praise, which Mary read, and seemed to be pleased with. This increased hisinterest in her, and led him to imagine that he was himself theobject of her kind regard. Finally, the love which he felt for hercame to be a perfect infatuation. He concealed himself one night inMary's bed-chamber, armed, as if to resist any attack which theattendants might make upon him. He was discovered by the femaleattendants, and taken away, and they, for fear of alarming Mary, didnot tell her of the circumstance till the next morning. 

Mary was very much displeased, or, at least, professed to be so. JohnKnox thought that this displeasure was only a pretense. She, however, forbid Chatelard to come any more into her sight. A day or two afterthis, Mary set out on a journey to the north. Chatelard followed. Heeither believed that Mary really loved him, or else he was led on bythat strange and incontrollable infatuation which so often, in suchcases, renders even the wisest men utterly reckless and blind to theconsequences of what they say or do. He watched his opportunity, andone night, when Mary retired to her bed-room, he followed herdirectly in. Mary called for help. The attendants came in, andimmediately sent for the Earl of Murray, who was in the palace. Chatelard protested that all he wanted was to explain and apologizefor his coming into Mary's room before, and to ask her to forgivehim. Mary, however, would not listen. She was very much incensed. When Murray came in, she directed him to run his dagger through theman. Murray, however, instead of doing this, had the offender seizedand sent to prison. In a few days he was tried, and condemned to bebeheaded. The excitement and enthusiasm of his love continued to thelast. He stood firm and undaunted on the scaffold, and, just beforehe laid his head on the block, he turned toward the place where Marywas then lodging, and said, "Farewell! loveliest and most cruelprincess that the world contains!"

In the mean time, Mary and Queen Elizabeth continued ostensibly ongood terms. They sent embassadors to each other's courts. Theycommunicated letters and messages to each other, and entered intovarious negotiations respecting the affairs of their respectivekingdoms. The truth was, each was afraid of the other, and neitherdared to come to an open rupture. Elizabeth was uneasy on account ofMary's claim to her crown, and was very anxious to avoid driving herto extremities, since she knew that, in that case, there would begreat danger of her attempting openly to enforce it. Mary, on theother hand, thought that there was more probability of her obtainingthe succession to the English crown by keeping peace with Elizabeththan by a quarrel. Elizabeth was not married, and was likely to liveand die single. Mary would then be the next heir, without muchquestion. She wished Elizabeth to acknowledge this, and to have theEnglish Parliament enact it. If Elizabeth would take this course, Mary was willing to waive her claims during Elizabeth's life. Elizabeth, however, was not willing to do this decidedly. She wishedto reserve the right to herself of marrying if she chose. She alsowished to keep Mary dependent upon her as long as she could. Hence, while she would not absolutely refuse to comply with Mary'sproposition, she would not really accede to it, but kept the wholematter in suspense by endless procrastination, difficulties, anddelays. 

I have said that, after Elizabeth, Mary's claim to the British crownwas almost unquestioned. There was another lady about as nearlyrelated to the English royal line as Mary. Her name was MargaretStuart. Her title was Lady Lennox. She had a son named Henry Stuart, whose title was Lord Darnley. It was a question whether Mary orMargaret were best entitled to consider herself the heir to theBritish crown after Elizabeth. Mary, therefore, had two obstacles inthe way of the accomplishment of her wishes to be Queen of England:one was the claim of Elizabeth, who was already in possession of thethrone, and the other the claims of Lady Lennox, and, after her, ofher son Darnley. There was a plan of disposing of this lastdifficulty in a very simple manner. It was, to have Mary marry LordDarnley, and thus unite these two claims. This plan had beenproposed, but there had been no decision in respect to it. There wasone objection: that Darnley being Mary's cousin, their marriage wasforbidden by the laws of the Catholic Church. There was no way ofobviating this difficulty but by applying to the pope to grant them aspecial dispensation. 

In the mean time, a great many other plans were formed for Mary'smarriage. Several of the princes and potentates of Europe applied forher hand. They were allured somewhat, no doubt, by her youth andbeauty, and still more, very probably, by the desire to annex herkingdom to their dominions. Mary, wishing to please Elizabeth, communicated often with her, to ask her advice and counsel in regardto her marriage. Elizabeth's policy was to embarrass and perplex thewhole subject by making difficulties in respect to every planproposed. Finally, she recommended a gentleman of her own court toMary--Robert Dudley, whom she afterward made Earl of Leicester--oneof her special favorites. The position of Dudley, and thecircumstances of the case, were such that mankind have generallysupposed that Elizabeth did not seriously imagine that such a plancould be adopted, but that she proposed it, as perverse andintriguing people often do, as a means of increasing the difficulty. Such minds often attempt to prevent doing what _can_ be done byproposing and urging what they know is impossible. 

In the course of these negotiations, Queen Mary once sent Melville, her former page of honor in France, as a special embassador to QueenElizabeth, to ascertain more perfectly her views. Melville hadfollowed Mary to Scotland, and had entered her service there as aconfidential secretary; and as she had great confidence in hisprudence and in his fidelity, she thought him the most suitableperson to undertake this mission. Melville afterward lived to anadvanced age, and in the latter part of his life he wrote a narrativeof his various adventures, and recorded, in quaint and ancientlanguage, many of his conversations and interviews with the twoqueens. His mission to England was of course a very important eventin his life, and one of the most curious and entertaining passages inhis memoirs is his narrative of his interviews with the Englishqueen. He was, at the time, about thirty-four years of age. Mary wasabout twenty-two. 

Sir James Melville was received with many marks of attention andhonor by Queen Elizabeth. His first interview with her was in agarden near the palace. She first asked him about a letter which Maryhad recently written to her, and which, she said, had greatlydispleased her; and she took out a reply from her pocket, written invery sharp and severe language, though she said she had not sent itbecause it was not severe enough, and she was going to write another. Melville asked to see the letter from Mary which had given Elizabethso much offense; and on reading it, he explained it, and disavowed, on Mary's part, any intention to give offense, and thus finallysucceeded in appeasing Elizabeth's displeasure, and at length inducedher to tear up her angry reply. 

Elizabeth then wanted to know what Mary thought of her proposal ofDudley for her husband. Melville told her that she had not given thesubject much reflection, but that she was going to appoint twocommissioners, and she wished Elizabeth to appoint two others, andthen that the four should meet on the borders of the two countries, and consider the whole subject of the marriage. Elizabeth said thatshe perceived that Mary did not think much of this proposed match. She said, however, that Dudley stood extremely high in _her_ regard, that she was going to make him an earl, and that she should marry himherself were it not that she was fully resolved to live and die asingle woman. She said she wished very much to have Dudley becomeMary's husband both on account of her attachment to him, and also onaccount of his attachment to her, which she was sure would preventhis allowing her, that is, Elizabeth, to have any trouble out ofMary's claim to her crown as long as she lived. 

Elizabeth also asked Melville to wait in Westminster until the dayappointed for making Dudley an earl. This was done, a short timeafterward, with great ceremony. Lord Darnley, then a very tall andslender youth of about nineteen, was present on the occasion. Hisfather and mother had been banished from Scotland, on account of somepolitical offenses, twenty years before, and he had thus himself beenbrought up in England. As he was a near relative of the queen, and asort of heir-presumptive to the crown, he had a high position at thecourt, and his office was, on this occasion, to bear the sword ofhonor before the queen. Dudley kneeled before Elizabeth while she putupon him the badges of his new dignity. Afterward she asked Melvillewhat he thought of him. Melville was polite enough to speak warmly inhis favor. "And yet, " said the queen, "I suppose you prefer yonder_long_ lad, " pointing to Darnley. She knew something of Mary'shalf-formed design of making Darnley her husband. Melville, who didnot wish her to suppose that Mary had any serious intention ofchoosing Darnley, said that "no woman of spirit would choose such aperson as he was, for he was handsome, beardless, and lady-faced; infact, he looked more like a woman than a man. "

Melville was not very honest in this, for he had secret instructionsat this very time to apply to Lady Lennox, Darnley's mother, to sendher son into Scotland, in order that Mary might see him, and beassisted to decide the question of becoming his wife, by ascertaininghow she was going to like him personally. Queen Elizabeth, in themean time, pressed upon Melville the importance of Mary's decidingsoon in favor of the marriage with Leicester. As to declaring infavor of Mary's right to inherit the crown after her, she said thequestion was in the hands of the great lawyers and commissioners towhom she had referred it, and that she heartily wished that theymight come to a conclusion in favor of Mary's claim. She should urgethe business forward as fast as she could; but the result woulddepend very much upon the disposition which Mary showed to complywith her wishes in respect to the marriage. She said she shouldnever marry herself unless she was compelled to it on account ofMary's giving her trouble by her claims upon the crown, and forcingher to desire that it should go to her direct descendants. If Marywould act wisely, and as she ought, and follow _her_ counsel, shewould, in due time, have all her desire. 

Some time more elapsed in negotiations and delays. There was a gooddeal of trouble in getting leave for Darnley to go to Scotland. Fromhis position, and from the state of the laws and customs of the tworealms, he could not go without Elizabeth's permission. Finally, Marysent word to Elizabeth that she would marry Leicester according toher wish, if she would have her claim to the English crown, _after_Elizabeth, acknowledged and established by the English government, soas to have that question definitely and finally settled. Elizabethsent back for answer to this proposal, that if Mary marriedLeicester, she would advance him to great honors and dignities, butthat she could not do any thing at present about the succession. Shealso, at the same time, gave permission to Darnley to go to Scotland. 

It is thought that Elizabeth never seriously intended that Maryshould marry Leicester, and that she did not suppose Mary herselfwould consent to it on any terms. Accordingly, when she found Marywas acceding to the plan, she wanted to retreat from it herself, andhoped that Darnley's going to Scotland, and appearing there as a newcompetitor in the field, would tend to complicate and embarrass thequestion in Mary's mind, and help to prevent the Leicesternegotiation from going any further. At any rate, Lord Darnley--then avery tall and handsome young man of nineteen--obtained suddenlypermission to go to Scotland. Mary went to Wemys Castle, and madearrangements to have Darnley come and visit her there. 

[Illustration: WEMY'S CASTLE--The Scene of Mary's first Interviewwith Darnley. ]

Wemys Castle is situated in a most romantic and beautiful spot on thesea-shore, on the northern side of the Frith of Forth. Edinburgh isupon the southern side of the Frith, and is in full view from thewindows of the castle, with Salisbury Crags and Arthur's Seat on theleft of the city. Wemys Castle was, at this time, the residence ofMurray, Mary's brother. Mary's visit to it was an event whichattracted a great deal of attention. The people flocked into theneighborhood and provisions and accommodations of every kind roseenormously in price. Every one was eager to get a glimpse of thebeautiful queen. Besides, they knew that Lord Darnley was expected, and the rumor that he was seriously thought of as her future husbandhad been widely circulated, and had awakened, of course, a universaldesire to see him. 

Mary was very much pleased with Darnley. She told Melville, aftertheir first interview, that he was the handsomest and bestproportioned "long man" she had ever seen. Darnley was, in fact, verytall, and as he was straight and slender, he appeared even tallerthan he really was. He was, however, though young, very easy andgraceful in his manners, and highly accomplished. Mary was very muchpleased with him. She had almost decided to make him her husbandbefore she saw him, merely from political considerations, on accountof her wish to combine his claim with hers in respect to the Englishcrown. Elizabeth's final answer, refusing the terms on which Mary hadconsented to marry Leicester, which came about this time, vexed her, and determined her to abandon that plan. And now, just in such acrisis, to find Darnley possessed of such strong personalattractions, seemed to decide the question. In a few days herimagination was full of pictures of joy and pleasure, inanticipations of union with such a husband. 

The thing took the usual course of such affairs. Darnley asked Maryto be his wife. She said no, and was offended with him for asking it. He offered her a present of a ring. She refused to accept it. But theno meant yes, and the rejection of the ring was only the prelude tothe acceptance of something far more important, of which a ring isthe symbol. Mary's first interview with Darnley was in February. InApril, Queen Elizabeth's embassador sent her word that he wassatisfied that Mary's marriage with Darnley was all arranged andsettled. 

Queen Elizabeth was, or pretended to be, in a great rage. She sentthe most urgent remonstrances to Mary against the execution of theplan. She forwarded, also, very decisive orders to Darnley, and tothe Earl of Lennox his father, to return immediately to England. Lennox replied that he could not return, for "he did not think theclimate would agree with him!" Darnley sent back word that he hadentered the service of the Queen of Scots, and henceforth shouldobey her orders alone. Elizabeth, however, was not the only one whoopposed this marriage. The Earl of Murray, Mary's brother, who hadbeen thus far the great manager of the government under Mary, took atonce a most decided stand against it. He enlisted a great number ofProtestant nobles with him, and they held deliberations, in whichthey formed plans for resisting it by force. But Mary, who, with allher gentleness and loveliness of spirit, had, like other women, somedecision and energy when an object in which the heart is concerned isat stake, had made up her mind. She sent to France to get the consentof her friends there. She dispatched a commissioner to Rome to obtainthe pope's dispensation; she obtained the sanction of her ownParliament; and, in fact, in every way hastened the preparations forthe marriage. 

Murray, on the other hand, and his confederate lords, were determinedto prevent it. They formed a plan to rise in rebellion against Mary, to waylay and seize her, to imprison her, and to send Darnley and hisfather to England, having made arrangements with Elizabeth'sministers to receive them at the borders. The plan was all wellmatured, and would probably have been carried into effect, had notMary, in some way or other, obtained information of the design. Shewas then at Stirling, and they were to waylay her on the usual routeto Edinburgh. She made a sudden journey, at an unexpected time, andby a new and unusual road, and thus evaded her enemies. The violenceof this opposition only stimulated her determination to carry themarriage into effect without delay. Her escape from her rebelliousnobles took place in June, and she was married in July. This was sixmonths after her first interview with Darnley. The ceremony wasperformed in the royal chapel at Holyrood. They show, to this day, the place where she is said to have stood, in the now rooflessinterior. 

Mary was conducted into the chapel by Lennox and another nobleman, inthe midst of a large company of lords and ladies of the court, and ofstrangers of distinction, who had come to Edinburgh to witness theceremony. A vast throng had collected also around the palace. Mary wasled to the altar, and then Lord Darnley was conducted in. The marriageceremony was performed according to the Catholic ritual. Three rings, one of them a diamond ring of great value, were put upon her finger. After the ceremony, largess was proclaimed, and money distributedamong the crowd, as had been done in Paris at Mary's former marriage, five years before. Mary then remained to attend the celebration ofmass, Darnley, who was not a Catholic, retiring. After the mass, Maryreturned to the palace, and changed the mourning dress which she hadcontinued to wear from the time of her first husband's death to thathour, for one more becoming a bride. The evening was spent infestivities of every kind. 

We have said that Darnley was personally attractive in respect bothto his countenance and his manners; and, unfortunately, this is allthat can be said in his favor. He was weak-minded, and yetself-conceited and vain. The sudden elevation which his marriage witha queen gave him, made him proud, and he soon began to treat allaround him in a very haughty and imperious manner. He seems to havebeen entirely unaccustomed to exercise any self-command, or to submitto any restraints in the gratification of his passions. Mary paid hima great many attentions, and took great pleasure in conferring uponhim, as her queenly power enabled her to do, distinctions and honors;but, instead of being grateful for them, he received them as mattersof course, and was continually demanding more. There was one titlewhich he wanted, and which, for some good reason, it was necessary topostpone conferring upon him. A nobleman came to him one day andinformed him of the necessity of this delay. He broke into a fit ofpassion, drew his dagger, rushed toward the nobleman, and attemptedto stab him. He commenced his imperious and haughty course ofprocedure even before his marriage, and continued it afterward, growing more and more violent as his ambition increased with anincrease of power. Mary felt these cruel acts of selfishness andpride very keenly, but, womanlike, she palliated and excused them, and loved him still. 

She had, however, other trials and cares pressing upon herimmediately. Murray and his confederates organized a formal and openrebellion. Mary raised an army and took the field against them. Thecountry generally took her side. A terrible and somewhat protractedcivil war ensued, but the rebels were finally defeated and driven outof the country. They went to England and claimed Elizabeth'sprotection, saying that she had incited them to the revolt, andpromised them her aid. Elizabeth told them that it would not do forher to be supposed to have abetted a rebellion in her cousin Mary'sdominions, and that, unless they would, in the presence of theforeign embassadors at her court, disavow her having done so, shecould not help them or countenance them in any way. The miserablemen, being reduced to a hard extremity, made this disavowal. Elizabeth then said to them, "Now you have told the truth. Neither I, nor any one else in my name, incited you against your queen; and yourabominable treason _may_ set an example to my own subjects to rebelagainst me. So get you gone out of my presence, miserable traitors asyou are. "

Thus Mary triumphed over all the obstacles to her marriage with theman she loved; but, alas! before the triumph was fully accomplished, the love was gone. Darnley was selfish, unfeeling, and incapable ofrequiting affection like Mary's. He treated her with the mostheartless indifference, though she had done every thing to awaken hisgratitude and win his love. She bestowed upon him every honor whichit was in her power to grant. She gave him the title of king. Sheadmitted him to share with her the powers and prerogatives of thecrown. There is to this day, in Mary's apartments at Holyrood House, a double throne which she had made for herself and her husband, withtheir initials worked together in the embroidered covering, and eachseat surmounted by a crown. Mankind have always felt a strongsentiment of indignation at the ingratitude which could requite suchlove with such selfishness and cruelty. 

CHAPTER VII. 

RIZZIO. 

1561-1566

David Rizzio. --Embassadors. --Rizzio's position. --Rizzio Frenchsecretary. --Displeasure of the Scotch nobles. --They treat Rizziowith scorn and contempt. --He consults Melville. --Melville'scounsel. --Melville and the queen. --Rizzio's religion. --His servicesto Mary. --Rizzio's power and influence. --His intimacy withMary. --Rizzio's exertion in favor of the marriage. --Rizzio andDarnley. --Darnley greatly disliked. --His unreasonable wishes. --Thecrown matrimonial. --Darnley's ambition. --Darnley'sbrutality. --Signatures. --Coins. --Rizzio sides with Mary. --Darnley andRuthven. --A combination. --The secretary and his queen. --Nature ofMary's attachment. --Plot to assassinate Rizzio. --Plan of HolyroodHouse. --Description. --Apartments. --Morton and Ruthven. --Mary atsupper. --Arrangement of the conspirators. --The little upperroom. --Murder of Rizzio. --Conversation. --Violence of theconspirators. --Mary a prisoner. --Darnley's usurpation. --Melville. --Maryappeals to the provost. --Mary defeats the conspirators. --Birth of herson. 

Mary had a secretary named David Rizzio. He was from Savoy, a countryamong the Alps. It was the custom then, as it is now, for the variousgovernments of Europe to have embassadors at the courts of othergovernments, to attend to any negotiations, or to the transaction ofany other business which might arise between their respectivesovereigns. These embassadors generally traveled with pomp andparade, taking sometimes many attendants with them. The embassadorfrom Savoy happened to bring with him to Scotland, in his train, thisyoung man, Rizzio, in 1561, that is, just about the time that Maryherself returned to Scotland. He was a handsome and agreeable youngman, but his rank and position were such that, for some years, heattracted no attention. 

He was, however, quite a singer, and they used to bring him insometimes to sing in Mary's presence with three other singers. Hisvoice, being a good bass, made up the quartette. Mary saw him in thisway, and as he was a good French and Italian scholar, and was amiableand intelligent, she gradually became somewhat interested in him. Mary had, at this time, among her other officers, a French secretary, who wrote for her, and transacted such other business as required aknowledge of the French language. This French secretary went home, and Mary appointed Rizzio to take his place. 

The native Scotchmen in Mary's court were naturally very jealous ofthe influence of these foreigners. They looked down with specialcontempt on Rizzio, considering him of mean rank and position, andwholly destitute of all claim to the office of confidential secretaryto the queen. Rizzio increased the difficulty by not acting with thereserve and prudence which his delicate situation required. Thenobles, proud of their own rank and importance, were very muchdispleased at the degree of intimacy and confidence to which Maryadmitted him. They called him an intruder and an upstart. When theycame in and found him in conversation with the queen, or whenever heaccosted her freely, as he was wont to do, in their presence, theywere irritated and vexed. They did not dare to remonstrate with Mary, but they took care to express their feelings of resentment and scornto the subject of them in every possible way. They scowled upon him. They directed to him looks of contempt. They turned their backs uponhim, and jostled him in a rude and insulting manner. All this was ayear or two before Mary's marriage. 

Rizzio consulted Melville, asking his judgment as to what he hadbetter do. He said that, being Mary's French secretary, he wasnecessarily a good deal in her company, and the nobles seemeddispleased with it; but he did not see what he could do to diminishor avoid the difficulty. Melville replied that the nobles had anopinion that he not only performed the duties of French secretary, but that he was fast acquiring a great ascendency in respect to allother affairs. Melville further advised him to be much more cautiousin his bearing than he had been, to give place to the nobles whenthey were with him in the presence of the queen, to speak lessfreely, and in a more unassuming manner, and to explain the wholecase to the queen herself, that she might co-operate with him inpursuing a course which would soothe and conciliate the irritated andangry feelings of the nobles. Melville said, moreover, that he hadhimself, at one time, at a court on the Continent, been placed in avery similar situation to Rizzio's, and had been involved in the samedifficulties, but had escaped the dangers which threatened him bypursuing himself the course which he now recommended. 

Rizzio seemed to approve of this counsel, and promised to follow it;but he afterward told Melville that he had spoken to the queen on thesubject, and that she would not consent to any change, but wishedevery thing to go on as it had done. Now the queen, having greatconfidence in Melville, had previously requested him, that if he sawany thing in her deportment, or management, or measures, which hethought was wrong, frankly to let her know it, that she might bewarned in season, and amend. He thought that this was an occasionwhich required this friendly interposition, and he took anopportunity to converse with her on the subject in a frank and plain, but still very respectful manner. He made but little impression. Marysaid that Rizzio was only her private French secretary; that he hadnothing to do with the affairs of the government; that, consequently, his appointment and his office were her own private concern alone, and she should continue to act according to her own pleasure inmanaging her own affairs, no matter who was displeased by it. 

It is probable that the real ground of offense which the nobles hadagainst Rizzio was jealousy of his superior influence with the queen. They, however, made his religion a great ground of complaint againsthim. He was a Catholic, and had come from a strong Catholic country, having been born in the northern part of Italy. The Italian languagewas his mother tongue. They professed to believe that he was a secretemissary of the pope, and was plotting with Mary to bring Scotlandback under the papal dominion. 

In the mean time, Rizzio devoted himself with untiring zeal andfidelity to the service of the queen. He was indefatigable in hisefforts to please her, and he made himself extremely useful to her ina thousand different ways. In fact, his being the object of so muchdislike and aversion on the part of others, made him more and moreexclusively devoted to the queen, who seemed to be almost his onlyfriend. She, too, was urged, by what she considered the unreasonableand bitter hostility of which her favorite was the object, to bestowupon him greater and greater favors. In process of time, one afteranother of those about the court, finding that Rizzio's influence andpower were great and were increasing, began to treat him withrespect, and to ask for his assistance in gaining their ends. ThusRizzio found his position becoming stronger, and the probabilitybegan to increase that he would at length triumph over the enemieswho had set their faces so strongly against him. 

Though he had been at first inclined to follow Melville's advice, yethe afterward fell in cordially with the policy of the queen, whichwas, to press boldly forward, and put down with a strong hand thehostility which had been excited against him. Instead, therefore, ofattempting to conceal the degree of favor which he enjoyed with thequeen, he boasted of and displayed it. He would converse often andfamiliarly with her in public. He dressed magnificently, like personsof the highest rank, and had many attendants. In a word, he assumedall the airs and manners of a person of high distinction andcommanding influence. The external signs of hostility to him werethus put down, but the fires of hatred burned none the less fiercelybelow, and only wanted an opportunity to burst into an explosion. 

Things were in this state at the time of the negotiations in respectto Darnley's marriage; for, in order to take up the story of Rizziofrom the beginning, we have been obliged to go back in our narrative. Rizzio exerted all his influence in favor of the marriage, and thusboth strengthened his influence with Mary and made Darnley hisfriend. He did all in his power to diminish the opposition to it, from whatever quarter it might come, and rendered essential servicein the correspondence with France, and in the negotiations with thepope for obtaining the necessary dispensation. In a word, he did agreat deal to promote the marriage, and to facilitate all thearrangements for carrying it into effect. 

Darnley relied, therefore, upon Rizzio's friendship and devotion tohis service, forgetting that, in all these past efforts, Rizzio wasacting out of regard to Mary's wishes, and not to his own. As long, therefore, as Mary and Darnley continued to pursue the same objectsand aims, Rizzio was the common friend and ally of both. The enemiesof the marriage, however, disliked Rizzio more than ever. 

As Darnley's character developed itself gradually after his marriage, every body began to dislike him also. He was unprincipled andvicious, as well as imperious and proud. His friendship for Rizziowas another ground of dislike to him. The ancient nobles, who hadbeen accustomed to exercise the whole control in the public affairsof Scotland, found themselves supplanted by this young Italiansinger, and an English boy not yet out of his teens. They wereexasperated beyond all bounds, but yet they contrived, for a while, to conceal and dissemble their anger. 

It was not very long after the marriage of Mary and Darnley beforethey began to become alienated from each other. Mary did every thingfor her husband which it was reasonable for him to expect her to do. She did, in fact, all that was in her power. But he was notsatisfied. She made him the sharer of her throne. He wanted her togive up _her_ place to him, and thus make him the sole possessor ofit. He wanted what was called the _crown matrimonial_. The _crownmatrimonial_ denoted power with which, according to the old Scottishlaw, the husband of a queen could be invested, enabling him toexercise the royal prerogative in his own name, both during the lifeof the queen and also after her death, during the continuance of hisown life. This made him, in fact, a king for life, exalting him abovehis wife, the real sovereign, through whom alone he derived hispowers. 

Now Darnley was very urgent to have the crown matrimonial conferredupon him. He insisted upon it. He would not submit to any delay. Marytold him that this was something entirely beyond her power to grant. The crown matrimonial could only be bestowed by a solemn enactment ofthe Scottish Parliament. But Darnley, impatient and reckless, like aboy as he was, would not listen to any excuse, but teased andtormented Mary about the crown matrimonial continually. 

Besides the legal difficulties in the way of Mary's conferring thesepowers upon Darnley by her own act, there were other difficulties, doubtless, in her mind, arising from the character of Darnley, andhis unfitness, which was every day becoming more manifest, to beintrusted with such power. Only four months after his marriage, hisrough and cruel treatment of Mary became intolerable. One day, at ahouse in Edinburgh, where the king and queen, and other persons ofdistinction had been invited to a banquet, Darnley, as was hiscustom, was beginning to drink very freely, and was trying to urgeother persons there to drink to excess. Mary expostulated with him, endeavoring to dissuade him from such a course. Darnley resentedthese kind cautions, and retorted upon her in so violent and brutal amanner as to cause her to leave the room and the company in tears. 

When they were first married, Mary had caused her husband to beproclaimed king, and had taken some other similar steps to invest himwith a share of her own power. But she soon found that in doing thisshe had gone to the extreme of propriety, and that, for the future, she must retreat rather than advance. Accordingly, although he wasassociated with her in the supreme power, she thought it best to keepprecedence for her own _name_ before his, in the exercise of power. On the coins which were struck, the inscription was, "In the name ofthe _Queen_ and _King_ of Scotland. " In signing public documents, sheinsisted on having her name recorded first. These things irritatedand provoked Darnley more and more. He was not contented to beadmitted to a share of the sovereign power which the queen possessedin her own right alone. He wished to supplant her in it entirely. 

Rizzio, of course, took Queen Mary's part in these questions. Heopposed the grant of the crown matrimonial. He opposed all otherplans for increasing or extending in any way Darnley's power. Darnleywas very much incensed against him, and earnestly desired to findsome way to effect his destruction. He communicated these feelings toa certain fierce and fearless nobleman named Ruthven, and asked hisassistance to contrive some way to take vengeance upon Rizzio. 

Ruthven was very much pleased to hear this. He belonged to a party ofthe lords of the court who also hated Rizzio, though they had hatedDarnley besides so much that they had not communicated to him theirhostility to the other. Ruthven and his friends had not joined Murrayand the other rebels in opposing the marriage of Darnley. They hadchosen to acquiesce in it, hoping to maintain an ascendency overDarnley, regarding him, as they did, as a mere boy, and thus retaintheir power. When they found, however, that he was so headstrong andunmanageable, and that they could do nothing with him, they exertedall their influence to have Murray and the other exiled lordspardoned and allowed to return, hoping to combine with them aftertheir return, and then together to make their power superior to thatof Darnley and Rizzio. They considered Darnley and Rizzio both astheir rivals and enemies. When they found, therefore, that Darnleywas plotting Rizzio's destruction, they felt a very strong as well asa very unexpected pleasure. 

Thus, among all the jealousies, and rivalries, and bitter animositiesof which the court was at this time the scene, the only true andhonest attachment of one heart to another seems to have been that ofMary to Rizzio. The secretary was faithful and devoted to the queen, and the queen was grateful and kind to the secretary. There has beensome question whether this attachment was an innocent or a guiltyone. A painting, still hanging in the private rooms which belonged toMary in the palace at Holyrood, represents Rizzio as young and veryhandsome; on the other hand, some of the historians of the day, todisprove the possibility of any guilty attachment, say that he wasrather old and ugly. We may ourselves, perhaps, safely infer, thatunless there were something specially repulsive in his appearance andmanner, such a heart as Mary's, repelled so roughly from the one whomit was her duty to love, could not well have resisted the temptationto seek a retreat and a refuge in the kind devotedness of such afriend as Rizzio proved himself to be to her. 

However this may be, Ruthven made such suggestions to Darnley asgoaded him to madness, and a scheme was soon formed for puttingRizzio to death. The plan, after being deliberately matured in allits arrangements, was carried into effect in the following manner. The event occurred early in the spring of 1566, less than a yearafter Mary's marriage. 

Morton, who was one of the accomplices, assembled a large force ofhis followers, consisting, it is said, of five hundred men, which heposted in the evening near the palace, and when it was dark he movedthem silently into the central court of the palace, through theentrance _E_, as marked upon the following plan. 

[Illustration: PLAN OF THAT PART OF HOLYROOD HOUSE WHICH WAS THESCENE OF RIZZIO'S MURDER. 

E. Principal entrance. Co. Court of the palace. PP. Piazza around it. AA. Various apartments built in modern times. H. Great hall, used nowas a gallery of portraits. T. Stair-case. O. Entrance to Mary'sapartments, second floor. R. Ante-room. B. Mary's bed-room. D. Dressing-room in one of the towers. C. Cabinet, or small room in theother tower. SS. Stair-cases in the wall. D. Small entrance under thetapestry. Ch. Royal chapel. M. Place where Mary and Darnley stood atthe marriage ceremony. Pa. Passage-way leading to the chapel. ]

Mary was, at the time of these occurrences in the little room marked_C_, which was built within one of the round towers which form a partof the front of the building, and which are very conspicuous in anyview of the palace of Holyrood. [G] This room was on the third floor, and it opened into Mary's bed-room, marked _B. _ Darnley had a room ofhis own immediately below Mary's. There was a little door, _d_, leading from Mary's bed-room to a private stair-case built in thewall. This stair-case led down into Darnley's room; and there wasalso a communication from this place down through the whole length ofthe castle to the royal chapel, marked _Ch_, the building which isnow in ruins. Behind Mary's bed-room was an ante-room, _R_, with adoor, _o_, leading to the public stair-case by which her apartmentswere approached. All these apartments still remain, and are exploredannually by thousands of visitors. 

[Footnote G: See view of Holyrood House, page 114 and compare it withthis plan. ]

It was about seven o'clock in the evening that the conspirators wereto execute their purpose. Morton remained below in the court with histroops, to prevent any interruption. He held a high office under thequeen, which authorized him to bring a force into the court of thepalace, and his doing so did not alarm the inmates. Ruthven was tohead the party which was to commit the crime. He was confined to hisbed with sickness at the time, but he was so eager to have a sharein the pleasure of destroying Rizzio, that he left his bed, put on asuit of armor, and came forth to the work. The armor is preserved inthe little apartment which was the scene of the tragedy to this day. 

Mary was at supper. Two near relatives and friends of hers--agentleman and a lady--and Rizzio, were with her. The room is scarcelylarge enough to contain a greater number. There were, however, two orthree servants in attendance at a side-table. Darnley came up, abouteight o'clock, to make observations. The other conspirators wereconcealed in his room below, and it was agreed that if Darnley foundany cause for not proceeding with the plan, he was to returnimmediately and give them notice. If, therefore, he should notreturn, after the lapse of a reasonable time, they were to follow himup the private stair-case, prepared to act at once and decidedly assoon as they should enter the room. They were to come up by thisprivate stair-case, in order to avoid being intercepted or delayed bythe domestics in attendance in the ante-room, _R_, of which therewould have been danger if they had ascended by the public stair-caseat _T_. 

Finding that Darnley did not return, Ruthven with his party ascendedthe stairs, entered the bed-chamber through the little door at _d_, and thence advanced to the door of the cabinet, his heavy iron armorclanking as he came. The queen, alarmed, demanded the meaning of thisintrusion. Ruthven, whose countenance was grim and ghastly from theconjoined influence of ferocious passion and disease, said that theymeant no harm to her, but they only wanted the villain who stood nearher. Rizzio perceived that his hour was come. The attendants flockedin to the assistance of the queen and Rizzio. Ruthven's confederatesadvanced to join in the attack, and there ensued one of those scenesof confusion and terror, of which those who witness it have nodistinct recollection on looking back upon it when it is over. Rizziocried out in an agony of fear, and sought refuge behind the queen;the queen herself fainted; the table was overturned; and Rizzio, having received one wound from a dagger, was seized and dragged outthrough the bed-chamber, _B_, and through the ante-room, _R_, to thedoor, _o_, where he fell down, and was stabbed by the murderers againand again, till he ceased to breathe. 

After this scene was over, Darnley and Ruthven came coolly back intoMary's chamber, and, as soon as Mary recovered her senses, began totalk of and to justify their act of violence, without, however, telling her that Rizzio had been killed. Mary was filled withemotions of resentment and grief. She bitterly reproached Darnley forsuch an act of cruelty as breaking into her apartment with armed men, and seizing and carrying off her friend. She told him that she hadraised him from his comparatively humble position to make him herhusband, and now this was his return. Darnley replied that Rizzio hadsupplanted him in her confidence, and thwarted all his plans, andthat Mary had shown herself utterly regardless of his wishes, underthe influence of Rizzio. He said that, since Mary had made herselfhis wife, she ought to have obeyed him, and not put herself in such away under the direction of another. Mary learned Rizzio's fate thenext day. 

The violence of the conspirators did not stop with the destruction ofRizzio. Some of Mary's high officers of government, who were in thepalace at the time, were obliged to make their escape from thewindows to avoid being seized by Morton and his soldiers in thecourt. Among them was the Earl Bothwell, who tried at first to driveMorton out, but in the end was obliged himself to flee. Some of thesemen let themselves down by ropes from the outer windows. When theuproar and confusion caused by this struggle was over, they foundthat Mary, overcome with agitation and terror, was showing symptomsof fainting again, and they concluded to leave her. They informed herthat she must consider herself a prisoner, and, setting a guard atthe door of her apartment, they went away, leaving her to spend thenight in an agony of resentment, anxiety, and fear. 

Lord Darnley took the government at once entirely into his own hands. He prorogued Parliament, which was then just commencing a session, inhis own name alone. He organized an administration, Mary's officershaving fled. In saying that _he_ did these things, we mean, ofcourse, that the conspirators did them in his name. He was still buta boy, scarcely out of his teens, and incapable of any other actionin such an emergency but a blind compliance with the wishes of thecrafty men who had got him into their power by gratifying hisfeelings of revenge. They took possession of the government in hisname, and kept Mary a close prisoner. 

The murder was committed on Saturday night. The next morning, ofcourse, was Sunday. Melville was going out of the palace about teno'clock. As he passed along under the window where Mary was confined, she called out to him for help. He asked her what he could do forher. She told him to go to the provost of Edinburgh, the officercorresponding to the mayor of a city in this country, and ask him tocall out the city guard, and come and release her from her captivity. "Go quick, " said she, "or the guards will see you and stop you. " Justthen the guards came up and challenged Melville. He told them he wasgoing to the city to attend church; so they let him pass on. He wentto the provost, and delivered Mary's message. The provost said hedared not, and could not interfere. 

So Mary remained a prisoner. Her captivity, however, was of shortduration. In two days Darnley came to see her. He persuaded her thathe himself had had nothing to do with the murder of Rizzio. Mary, onthe other hand, persuaded him that it was better for them to befriends to each other than to live thus in a perpetual quarrel. Sheconvinced him that Ruthven and his confederates were not, and couldnot be, his friends. They would only make him the instrument ofobtaining the objects of their ambition. Darnley saw this. He feltthat he as well as Mary were in the rebels' power. They formed a planto escape together. They succeeded. They fled to a distant castle, and collected a large army, the people every where flocking to theassistance of the queen. They returned to Edinburgh in a short timein triumph. The conspirators fled. Mary then decided to pardon andrecall the old rebels, and expend her anger henceforth on the new;and thus the Earl Murray, her brother, was brought back, and oncemore restored to favor. 

After settling all these troubles, Mary retired to Edinburgh Castle, where it was supposed she could be best protected, and in the monthof July following the murder of Rizzio, she gave birth to a son. Inthis son was afterward accomplished all her fondest wishes, for heinherited in the end both the English and Scottish crowns. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

BOTHWELL. 

1566-1567

Earl of Bothwell. --His desperate character. --Castle of Dunbar. --Theborder country. --Scenes of violence and blood. --Birth of James. --Itspolitical importance. --Darnley's conduct. --Darnley's hypocrisy. --Mary'sdejection. --A divorce proposed. --Mary's love for her child. --Baptismof the infant. --James's titles. --The prince's cradle. --Bothwell andMurray. --Mary's visit to Bothwell. --Its probable motive. --Plot forDarnley's destruction. --Bothwell's intrigues. --Desperate schemesattributed to Darnley. --His illness. --Mary's visit. --Returnto Edinburgh. --Situation of Darnley's residence. --Kirk ofField. --Description of Darnley's residence. --Plan of Darnley'shouse. --Its accommodations. --French Paris. --The gunpowder. --Awedding. --Details of the plot. --The powder placed in Mary's room. --Thebig cask. --Bothwell's effrontery. --Mary's leave of Darnley. --Was Maryprivy to the plot?--Anecdotes of Mary. --Return to Holyrood. --FrenchParis falters. --The convent gardens. --Laying the train. --Suspense. --Theexplosion. --Flight of the criminals. --Mary's indignation. --Bothwellarrested, tried, and acquitted. --Bothwell's challenge. --His plan tomarry Mary. --The abduction. --Mary's confinement at Dunbar. --Her accountof it. --Bothwell entreats Mary to marry him. --She consents. --Bothwell'spardon. --The marriage. --Doubts in respect to Mary. --Influence of beautyand misfortune. 

The Earl of Bothwell was a man of great energy of character, fearlessand decided in all that he undertook, and sometimes perfectlyreckless and uncontrollable. He was in Scotland at the time of Mary'sreturn from France, but he was so turbulent and unmanageable that hewas at one time sent into banishment. He was, however, afterwardrecalled, and again intrusted with power. He entered ardently intoMary's service in her contest with the murderers of Rizzio. Heassisted her in raising an army after her flight, and in conqueringMorton, Ruthven, and the rest, and driving them out of the country. Mary soon began to look upon him as, notwithstanding his roughness, her best and most efficient friend. As a reward for these services, she granted him a castle, situated in a romantic position on theeastern coast of Scotland. It was called the Castle of Dunbar. It wason a stormy promontory, overlooking the German Ocean: a veryappropriate retreat and fastness for such a man of iron as he. 

In those days, the border country between England and Scotland wasthe resort of robbers, freebooters, and outlaws from both lands. Ifpursued by one government, they could retreat across the line and besafe. Incursions, too, were continually made across this frontier bythe people of either side, to plunder or to destroy whatever propertywas within reach. Thus the country became a region of violence andbloodshed which all men of peace and quietness were glad to shun. They left it to the possession of men who could find pleasure in suchscenes of violence and blood. When Queen Mary had got quietly settledin her government, after the overthrow of the murderers of Rizzio, asshe thus no longer needed Bothwell's immediate aid, she sent him tothis border country to see if he could enforce some sort of orderamong its lawless population. 

The birth of Mary's son was an event of the greatest importance, notonly to her personally, but in respect to the political prospects ofthe two great kingdoms, for in this infant were combined the claimsof succession to both the Scotch and English crowns. The whole worldknew that if Elizabeth should die without leaving a direct heir, this child would become the monarch both of England and Scotland, and, as such, one of the greatest personages in Europe. His birth, therefore, was a great event, and it was celebrated in Scotland withuniversal rejoicings. The tidings of it spread, as news of greatpublic interest, all over Europe. Even Elizabeth pretended to bepleased, and sent messages of congratulation to Mary. But every onethought that they could see in her air and manner, when she receivedthe intelligence, obvious traces of mortification and chagrin. 

Mary's heart was filled, at first, with maternal pride and joy; buther happiness was soon sadly alloyed by Darnley's continuedunkindness. She traveled about during the autumn, from castle tocastle, anxious and ill at ease. Sometimes Darnley followed her, andsometimes he amused himself with hunting, and with various viciousindulgences, at different towns and castles at a distance from her. He wanted her to dismiss her ministry and put him into power, and hetook every possible means to importune or tease her into compliancewith this plan. At one time he said he had resolved to leaveScotland, and go and reside in France, and he pretended to make hispreparations, and to be about to take his leave. He seems to havethought that Mary, though he knew that she no longer loved him, wouldbe distressed at the idea of being abandoned by one who was, afterall, her husband. Mary was, in fact, distressed at this proposal, andurged him not to go. He seemed determined, and took his leave. Instead of going to France, however, he only went to Stirling Castle. 

Darnley, finding that he could not accomplish his aims by suchmethods as these, wrote, it is said, to the Catholic governments ofEurope, proposing that, if they would co-operate in putting him intopower in Scotland, he would adopt efficient measures for changing thereligion of the country from the Protestant to the Catholic faith. Hemade, too, every effort to organize a party in his favor in Scotland, and tried to defeat and counteract the influence of Mary's governmentby every means in his power. These things, and other trials anddifficulties connected with them, weighed very heavily upon Mary'smind. She sunk gradually into a state of great dejection anddespondency. She spent many hours in sighing and in tears, and oftenwished that she was in her grave. 

So deeply, in fact, was Mary plunged into distress and trouble by thestate of things existing between herself and Darnley, that some ofher officers of government began to conceive of a plan of having herdivorced from him. After looking at this subject in all its bearings, and consulting about it with each other, they ventured, at last, topropose it to Mary. She would not listen to any such plan. She didnot think a divorce could be legally accomplished. And then, if itwere to be done, it would, she feared, in some way or other, affectthe position and rights of the darling son who was now to her morethan all the world besides. She would rather endure to the end of herdays the tyranny and torment she experienced from her brutal husband, than hazard in the least degree the future greatness and glory of theinfant who was lying in his cradle before her, equally unconscious ofthe grandeur which awaited him in future years, and of the strengthof the maternal love which was smiling upon him from amid such sorrowand tears, and extending over him such gentle, but determined andeffectual protection. 

The sad and sorrowful feelings which Mary endured were interruptedfor a little time by the splendid pageant of the baptism of thechild. Embassadors came from all the important courts of theContinent to do honor to the occasion. Elizabeth sent the Earl ofBedford as her embassador, with a present of a baptismal font ofgold, which had cost a sum equal to five thousand dollars. Thebaptism took place at Stirling, in December, with every possibleaccompaniment of pomp and parade, and was followed by many days offestivities and rejoicing. The whole country were interested in theevent except Darnley, who declared sullenly, while the preparationswere making, that he should not remain to witness the ceremony, butshould go off a day or two before the appointed time. 

The ceremony was performed in the chapel. The child was baptizedunder the names of "Charles James, James Charles, Prince and Stewardof Scotland, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Lord of the Isles, and Baron of Renfrew. " His subsequent designation in history wasJames Sixth of Scotland and First of England. A great manyappointments of attendants and officers, to be attached to theservice of the young prince, were made immediately, most of them, ofcourse, mere matters of parade. Among the rest, five ladies ofdistinction were constituted "rockers of his cradle. " The form ofthe young prince's cradle has come down to us in an ancient drawing. 

[Illustration: PRINCE JAMES'S CRADLE. ]

In due time after the coronation, the various embassadors anddelegates returned to their respective courts, carrying back glowingaccounts of the ceremonies and festivities attendant upon thechristening, and of the grace, and beauty, and loveliness of thequeen. 

In the mean time, Bothwell and Murray were competitors for theconfidence and regard of the queen, and it began to seem probablethat Bothwell would win the day. Mary, in one of her excursions, wastraveling in the southern part of the country, when she heard that hehad been wounded in an encounter with a party of desperadoes near theborder. Moved partly, perhaps, by compassion, and partly bygratitude for his services, Mary made an expedition across thecountry to pay him a visit. Some say that she was animated by a morepowerful motive than either of these. In fact this, as well as almostall the other acts of Mary's life, are presented in very differentlights by her friends and her enemies. The former say that this visitto her lieutenant in his confinement from a wound received in herservice was perfectly proper, both in the design itself, and in allthe circumstances of its execution. The latter represent it as aninstance of highly indecorous eagerness on the part of a married ladyto express to another man a sympathy and kind regard which she hadceased to feel for her husband. 

Bothwell himself was married as well as Mary. He had been married buta few months to a beautiful lady a few years younger than the queen. The question, however, whether Mary did right or wrong in paying thisvisit to him, is not, after all, a very important one. There is nodoubt that she and Bothwell loved each other before they ought tohave done so, and it is of comparatively little consequence when theattachment began. The end of it is certain. Bothwell resolved tokill Darnley, to get divorced from his own wife, and to marry thequeen. The world has never yet settled the question whether she washerself his accomplice or not in the measures he adopted foreffecting these plans, or whether she only submitted to the resultwhen Bothwell, by his own unaided efforts, reached it. Each readermust judge of this question for himself from the facts about to benarrated. 

Bothwell first communicated with the nobles about the court, to gettheir consent and approbation to the destruction of the king. Theyall appeared to be very willing to have the thing done, but were alittle cautious about involving themselves in the responsibility ofdoing it. Darnley was thoroughly hated, despised, and shunned by themall. Still they were afraid of the consequences of taking his life. One of them, Morton, asked Bothwell what the queen would think of theplan. Bothwell said that the queen approved of it. Morton replied, that if Bothwell would show him an expression of the queen's approvalof the plot, in her own hand-writing, he would join it, otherwisenot. Bothwell failed to furnish this evidence, saying that the queenwas really privy to, and in favor of the plan, but that it was notto be expected that she would commit herself to it in writing. Wasthis all true, or was the pretense only a desperate measure ofBothwell's to induce Morton to join him?

Most of the leading men about the court, however, either joined theplot, or so far gave it their countenance and encouragement as toinduce Bothwell to proceed. There were many and strange rumors aboutDarnley. One was, that he was actually going to leave the country, and that a ship was ready for him in the Clyde. Another was, that hehad a plan for seizing the young prince, dethroning Mary, andreigning himself in her stead, in the prince's name. Other strangeand desperate schemes were attributed to him. In the midst of them, news came to Mary at Holyrood that he was taken suddenly anddangerously sick at Glasgow, where he was then residing, and sheimmediately went to see him. Was her motive a desire to make one moreattempt to win his confidence and love, and to divert him from thedesperate measures which she feared he was contemplating, or was sheacting as an accomplice with Bothwell, to draw him into the snare inwhich he was afterward taken and destroyed?

The result of Mary's visit to her husband, after some time spent withhim in Glasgow, was a proposal that he should return with her toEdinburgh, where she could watch over him during his convalescencewith greater care. This plan was adopted. He was conveyed on a sortof litter, by very slow and easy stages, toward Edinburgh. He was onsuch terms with the nobles and lords in attendance upon Mary that hewas not willing to go to Holyrood House. Besides, his disorder wascontagious: it is supposed to have been the small-pox; and though hewas nearly recovered, there was still some possibility that the royalbabe might take the infection if the patient came within the samewalls with him. So Mary sent forward to Edinburgh to have a houseprovided for him. 

[Illustration: VIEW OF EDINBURGH. ]

The situation of this house is seen near the city wall on the left, inthe accompanying view of Edinburgh. Holyrood House is the large squareedifice in the fore-ground, and the castle crowns the hill in thedistance. There is now, as there was in the days of Mary, a famousstreet extending from Holyrood House to the castle, called the CannonGate at the lower end, and the High Street above. This street, withthe castle at one extremity and Holyrood House at the other, werethe scenes of many of the most remarkable events described in thisnarrative. 

The residence selected was a house of four rooms, close upon the citywall. The place was called the Kirk of Field, from a _kirk_, orchurch, which formerly stood near there, in the fields. 

This house had two rooms upon the lower floor, with a passage-waybetween them. One of these rooms was a kitchen; the other wasappropriated to Mary's use, whenever she was able to be at the placein attendance upon her husband. Over the kitchen was a room used as awardrobe and for servants; and over Mary's room was the apartment forDarnley. There was an opening through the city wall in the rear ofthis dwelling, by which there was access to the kitchen. Thesepremises were fitted up for Darnley in the most thorough manner. Abath was arranged for him in his apartment, and every thing was donewhich could conduce to his comfort, according to the ideas which thenprevailed. Darnley was brought to Edinburgh, conveyed to this house, and quietly established there. 

The following is a plan of the house in which Darnley was lodged:

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE HOUSE AT THE KIRK O' FIELD. 

M. Mary's room, below Darnley's. K. Kitchen; servants'room above. O. Passage through the city wall into the kitchen. S. Stair-case leading to the second story. P. Passage-way. ]

The accommodations in this house do not seem to have been verysumptuous, after all, for a royal guest; but royal dwellings inScotland, in those days, were not what they are now in Westminsterand at St. Cloud. 

The day for the execution of the plan, which was to blow up the housewhere the sick Darnley was lying with gunpowder, approached. Bothwell selected a number of desperate characters to aid him in theactual work to be done. One of these was a Frenchman, who had beenfor a long time in his service, and who went commonly by the name ofFrench Paris. Bothwell contrived to get French Paris taken intoMary's service a few days before the murder of Darnley, and, throughhim, he got possession of some of the keys of the house which Darnleywas occupying, and thus had duplicates of them made, so that he hadaccess to every part of the house. The gunpowder was brought fromBothwell's castle at Dunbar, and all was ready. 

Mary spent much of her time at Darnley's house, and often slept inthe room beneath his, which had been allotted to her as herapartment. One Sunday there was to be a wedding at Holyrood. Thebride and bridegroom were favorite servants of Mary's, and she wasintending to be present at the celebration of the nuptials. She wasto leave Darnley's early in the evening for this purpose. Her enemiessay that this was all a concerted arrangement between her andBothwell to give him the opportunity to execute his plan. Herfriends, on the other hand, insist that she knew nothing about it, and that Bothwell had to watch and wait for such an opportunity ofblowing up the house without injuring Mary. Be this as it may, theSunday of this wedding was fixed upon for the consummation of thedeed. 

The gunpowder had been secreted in Bothwell's rooms at the palace. OnSunday evening, as soon as it was dark, Bothwell set the men at workto transport the gunpowder. They brought it out in bags from thepalace, and then employed a horse to transport it to the wall of somegardens which were in the rear of Darnley's house. They had to gotwice with the horse in order to convey all the gunpowder that theyhad provided. While this was going on, Bothwell, who kept out ofsight, was walking to and fro in an adjoining street, to receiveintelligence, from time to time, of the progress of the affair, andto issue orders. The gunpowder was conveyed across the gardens to therear of the house, taken in at a back door, and deposited in the roommarked _M_ in the plan, which was the room belonging to Mary. Marywas all this time directly over head, in Darnley's chamber. 

The plan of the conspirators was to put the bags of gunpowder into acask which they had provided for the occasion, to keep the masstogether, and increase the force of the explosion. The cask had beenprovided, and placed in the gardens behind the house; but, onattempting to take it into the house, they found it too big to passthrough the back door. This caused considerable delay; and Bothwell, growing impatient, came, with his characteristic impetuosity, toascertain the cause. By his presence and his energy, he soon remediedthe difficulty in some way or other, and completed the arrangements. The gunpowder was all deposited; the men were dismissed, except twowho were left to watch, and who were locked up with the gunpowder inMary's room; and then, all things being ready for the explosion assoon as Mary should be gone, Bothwell walked up to Darnley's roomabove, and joined the party who were supping there. The cooleffrontery of this proceeding has scarcely a parallel in the annalsof crime. 

At eleven o'clock Mary rose to go, saying she must return to thepalace to take part, as she had promised to do, in the celebration ofher servants' wedding. Mary took leave of her husband in a veryaffectionate manner, and went away in company with Bothwell and theother nobles. Her enemies maintain that she was privy to all thearrangements which had been made, and that she did not go into herown apartment below, knowing very well what was there. But even if weimagine that Mary was aware of the general plan of destroying herhusband, and was secretly pleased with it, as almost any royalpersonage that ever lived, under such circumstances, would be, weneed not admit that she was acquainted with the details of the modeby which the plan was to be put in execution. The most that we cansuppose such a man as Bothwell would have communicated to her, wouldbe some dark and obscure intimations of his design, made in order tosatisfy himself that she would not really oppose it. To ask her, woman as she was, to take any part in such a deed, or to communicateto her beforehand any of the details of the arrangement, would havebeen an act of littleness and meanness which such magnanimousmonsters as Bothwell are seldom guilty of. 

Besides, Mary remarked that evening, in Darnley's room, in the courseof conversation, that it was just about a year since Rizzio's death. On entering her palace, too, at Holyrood, that night, she met one ofBothwell's servants who had been carrying the bags, and, perceivingthe smell of gunpowder, she asked him what it meant. Now Mary wasnot the brazen-faced sort of woman to speak of such things at such atime if she was really in the councils of the conspirators. The onlyquestion seems to be, therefore, not whether she was a party to theactual deed of murder, but only whether she was aware of, andconsenting to, the general design. 

In the mean time, Mary and Bothwell went together into the hall wherethe servants were rejoicing and making merry at the wedding. FrenchParis was there, but his heart began to fail him in respect to thedeed in which he had been engaged. He stood apart, with a countenanceexpressive of anxiety and distress. Bothwell went to him, and toldhim that if he carried such a melancholy face as that any longer inthe presence of the queen, he would make him suffer for it. The poorconscience-stricken man begged Bothwell to release him from anyfurther part in the transaction. He was sick, really sick, he said, and he wanted to go home to his bed. Bothwell made no reply but toorder him to follow _him_. Bothwell went to his own rooms, changedthe silken court dress in which he had appeared in company for onesuitable to the night and to the deed, directed his men to followhim, and passed from the palace toward the gates of the city. Thegates were shut, for it was midnight. The sentinels challenged them. The party said they were friends to my Lord Bothwell, and wereallowed to pass on. 

They advanced to the convent gardens. Here they left a part of theirnumber, while Bothwell and French Paris passed over the wall, andcrept softly into the house. They unlocked the room where they hadleft the two watchmen with the gunpowder, and found all safe. Menlocked up under such circumstances, and on the eve of theperpetration of such a deed, were not likely to sleep at their posts. All things being now ready, they made a slow match of lint, longenough to burn for some little time, and inserting one end of it intothe gunpowder, they lighted the other end, and crept stealthily outof the apartment. They passed over the wall into the convent gardens, where they rejoined their companions and awaited the result. 

Men choose midnight often for the perpetration of crime, from thefacilities afforded by its silence and solitude. This advantage is, however, sometimes well-nigh balanced by the stimulus which itsmysterious solemnity brings to the stings of remorse and terror. Bothwell himself felt anxious and agitated. They waited and waited, but it seemed as if their dreadful suspense would never end. Bothwellbecame desperate. He wanted to get over the wall again and look in atthe window, to see if the slow match had not gone out. The restrestrained him. At length the explosion came like a clap of thunder. The flash brightened for an instant over the whole sky, and thereport roused the sleeping inhabitants of Edinburgh from theirslumbers, throwing the whole city into sudden consternation. 

The perpetrators of the deed, finding that their work was done, fledimmediately. They tried various plans to avoid the sentinels at thegates of the city, as well as the persons who were beginning to cometoward the scene of the explosion. When they reached the palace ofHolyrood, they were challenged by the sentinel on duty there. Theysaid that they were friends of Earl Bothwell, bringing dispatches tohim from the country. The sentinel asked them if they knew what wasthe cause of that loud explosion. They said they did not, and passedon. 

Bothwell went to his room, called for a drink, undressed himself, andwent to bed. Half an hour afterward, messengers came to awaken him, and inform him that the king's house had been blown up withgunpowder, and the king himself killed by the explosion. He rose withan appearance of great astonishment and indignation, and, afterconferring with some of the other nobles, concluded to go andcommunicate the event to the queen. The queen was overwhelmed withastonishment and indignation too. 

The destruction of Darnley in such a manner as this, of courseproduced a vast sensation all over Scotland. Every body was on thealert to discover the authors of the crime. Rewards were offered;proclamations were made. Rumors began to circulate that Bothwell wasthe criminal. He was accused by anonymous placards put up at night inEdinburgh. Lennox, Darnley's father, demanded his trial; and a trialwas ordered. The circumstances of the trial were such, however, andBothwell's power and desperate recklessness were so great, thatLennox, when the time came, did not appear. He said he had not _forceenough_ at his command to come safely into court. There being notestimony offered, Bothwell was acquitted; and he immediatelyafterward issued his proclamation, offering to fight any man whoshould intimate, in any way, that he was concerned in the murder ofthe king. Thus Bothwell established his innocence; at least, no mandared to gainsay it. 

Darnley was murdered in February. Bothwell was tried and acquitted inApril. Immediately afterward, he took measures for privately makingknown to the leading nobles that it was his design to marry thequeen, and for securing their concurrence in the plan. Theyconcurred; or at least, perhaps for fear of displeasing such adesperado, said what he understood to mean that they concurred. Thequeen heard the reports of such a design, and said, as ladies oftendo in similar cases, that she did not know what people meant by suchreports; there was no foundation for them whatever. 

Toward the end of April, Mary was about returning from the castle ofStirling to Edinburgh with a small escort of troops and attendants. Melville was in her train. Bothwell set out at the head of a force ofmore than five hundred men to intercept her. Mary lodged one night, on her way, at Linlithgow, the palace where she was born, and thenext morning was quietly pursuing her journey, when Bothwell came upat the head of his troops. Resistance was vain. Bothwell advanced toMary's horse, and, taking the bridle, led her away. A few of herprincipal followers were taken prisoners too, and the rest weredismissed. Bothwell took his captive across the country by a rapidflight to his castle of Dunbar. The attendants who were taken withher were released, and she remained in the Castle of Dunbar for tendays, entirely in Bothwell's power. 

[Illustration: DUNBAR CASTLE--The Residence of Earl Bothwell. ]

According to the account which Mary herself gives of what took placeduring this captivity, she at first reproached Bothwell bitterly forthe ungrateful and cruel return he was making for all her kindness tohim, by such a deed of violence and wrong, and begged and entreatedhim to let her go. Bothwell replied that he knew that it was wrong forhim to treat his sovereign so rudely, but that he was impelled to itby the circumstances of the case, and by love which he felt for her, which was too strong for him to control. He then entreated her tobecome his wife; he complained of the bitter hostility which he hadalways been subject to from his enemies, and that he could have nosafeguard from this hostility in time to come but in her favor; andhe could not depend upon any assurance of her favor less than hermaking him her husband. He protested that, if she would do so, hewould never ask to share her power, but would be content to be herfaithful and devoted servant, as he had always been. It was love, notambition, he said, that animated him, and he could not and would notbe refused. Mary says that she was distressed and agitated beyondmeasure by the appeals and threats with which Bothwell accompanied hisurgent entreaties. She tried every way to plan some mode of escape. Nobody came to her rescue. She was entirely alone, and in Bothwell'spower. Bothwell assured her that the leading nobles of her court werein favor of the marriage, and showed her a written agreement signed bythem to this effect. At length, wearied and exhausted, she was finallyovercome by his urgency, and yielding partly to his persuasions, andpartly, as she says, to force, gave herself up to his power. 

Mary remained at Dunbar about ten days, during which time Bothwellsued out and obtained a divorce from his wife. His wife, feeling, perhaps, resentment more than grief, sued, at the same time, for adivorce from him. Bothwell then sallied forth from his fastness atDunbar, and, taking Mary with him, went to Edinburgh, and took up hisabode in the castle there, as that fortress was then under his power. Mary soon after appeared in public and stated that she was nowentirely free, and that, although Bothwell had done wrong in carryingher away by violence, still he had treated her since in so respectfula manner, that she had pardoned him, and had received him into favoragain. A short time after this they were married. The ceremony wasperformed in a very private and unostentatious manner, and took placein May, about three months after the murder of Darnley. 

By some persons Mary's account of the transactions at Dunbar isbelieved. Others think that the whole affair was all a preconcertedplan, and that the appearance of resistance on her part was only forshow, to justify, in some degree, in the eyes of the world, soimprudent and inexcusable a marriage. A great many volumes have beenwritten on the question without making any progress toward asettlement of it. It is one of those cases where, the evidence beingcomplicated, conflicting, and incomplete, the mind is swayed by thefeelings, and the readers of the story decide more or less favorablyfor the unhappy queen, according to the warmth of the interestawakened in their hearts by beauty and misfortune. 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE FALL OF BOTHWELL. 

1567

Mary's infatuation. --Excuses for her. --Mary's deepdepression. --Interposition of the King of France. --Bothwell at EdinburghCastle. --He is hated by the people. --The opposing parties. --How farMary was responsible. --Melrose. --Ruins of the abbey. --Mary'sproclamation. --The prince's lords. --Bothwell alarmed. --BorthwickCastle. --Bothwell's retreat. --He is besieged. --Makes hisescape. --Bothwell at Dunbar. --Proclamation. --Approachingcontest. --Mary's appeal. --Approach of the prince's lords. --CarberryHill. --Efforts of Le Croc to effect an accommodation. --Bothwell'schallenge. --Morton. --Mary sends for Grange. --Proposition ofGrange. --Dismissal of Bothwell. --Question of Mary's guilt. --Thesupposition against her. --The supposition in herfavor. --Uncertainty. --The box of love letters. --Their genuinenesssuspected. --Disposal of Mary. --Return to Edinburgh. --Thebanner. --Rudeness of the populace. --Bothwell's retreat. --He ispursued. --Bothwell's narrow escape. --He turns pirate. --Bothwellin prison. --His miserable end. 

The course which Mary pursued after her liberation from Dunbar inyielding to Bothwell's wishes, pardoning his violence, receiving himagain into favor, and becoming his wife, is one of the mostextraordinary instances of the infatuation produced by love that hasever occurred. If the story had been fiction instead of truth, itwould have been pronounced extravagant and impossible. As it was, thewhole country was astonished and confounded at such a rapidsuccession of desperate and unaccountable crimes. Mary herself seemsto have been hurried through these terrible scenes in a sort ofdelirium of excitement, produced by the strange circumstances of thecase, and the wild and uncontrollable agitations to which they gaverise. 

Such was, however, at the time, and such continues to be still, thefeeling of interest in Mary's character and misfortunes, that but fewopen and direct censures of her conduct were then, or have beensince, expressed. People execrated Bothwell, but they were silent inrespect to Mary. It was soon plain, however, that she had greatlysunk in their regard, and that the more they reflected upon thecircumstances of the case, the deeper she was sinking. When theexcitement, too, began to pass away from her own mind, it left behindit a gnawing inquietude and sense of guilt, which grew gradually moreand more intense, until, at length, she sunk under the stings ofremorse and despair. 

Her sufferings were increased by the evidences which were continuallycoming to her mind of the strong degree of disapprobation with whichher conduct began soon every where to be regarded. Wherever Scotchmentraveled, they found themselves reproached with the deeds of violenceand crime of which their country had been the scene. Mary's relativesand friends in France wrote to her, expressing their surprise andgrief at such proceedings. The King of France had sent, a short timebefore, a special embassador for the purpose of doing something, ifpossible, to discover and punish the murderers of Darnley. His namewas Le Croc. He was an aged and venerable man, of great prudence anddiscretion, well qualified to discover and pursue the way of escapefrom the difficulties in which Mary had involved herself, if any suchway could be found. He arrived before the day of Mary's marriage, buthe refused to take any part, or even to be present, at the ceremony. 

In the mean time, Bothwell continued in Edinburgh Castle for a while, under the protection of a strong guard. People considered this guardas intended to prevent Mary's escape, and many thought that she wasdetained, after all, against her will, and that her admissions thatshe was free were only made at the instigation of Bothwell, and fromfear of his terrible power. The other nobles and the people ofScotland began to grow more and more uneasy. The fear of Bothwellbegan to be changed into hatred, and the more powerful noblescommenced forming plans for combining together, and rescuing, as theysaid, Mary out of his power. 

Bothwell made no attempts to conciliate them. He assumed an air andtone of defiance. He increased his forces. He conceived the plan ofgoing to Stirling Castle to seize the young prince, who was residingthere under the charge of persons to whom his education had beenintrusted. He said to his followers that James should never do anything to avenge his father's death, if he could once get him into hishands. The other nobles formed a league to counteract these designs. They began to assemble their forces, and every thing threatened anoutbreak of civil war. 

The marriage took place about the middle of May, and within afortnight from that time the lines began to be pretty definitelydrawn between the two great parties, the queen and Bothwell on oneside, and the insurgent nobles on the other, each party claiming tobe friends of the queen. Whatever was done on Bothwell's side was, ofcourse, in the queen's name, though it is very doubtful how far shewas responsible for what was done, or how far, on the other hand, shemerely aided, under the influence of a species of compulsion, incarrying into execution Bothwell's measures. We must say, innarrating the history, that the queen did this and that, and mustleave the reader to judge whether it was herself, or Bothwell actingthrough her, who was the real agent in the transactions described. 

Stirling Castle, where the young prince was residing, is northwest ofEdinburgh. The confederate lords were assembling in that vicinity. The border country between England and Scotland is of course south. In the midst of this border country is the ancient town of Melrose, where there was, in former days, a very rich and magnificent abbey, the ruins of which, to this day, form one of the most attractiveobjects of interest in the whole island of Great Britain. The regionis now the abode of peace, and quietness, and plenty, though inMary's day it was the scene of continual turmoil and war. It is nowthe favorite retreat of poets and philosophers, who seek theirresidences there on account of its stillness and peace. Sir WalterScott's Abbotsford is a few miles from Melrose. 

About a fortnight after Mary's marriage, she issued a proclamationordering the military chiefs in her kingdom to assemble at Melrose, with their followers, to accompany her on an expedition through theborder country, to suppress some disorders there. The noblesconsidered this as only a scheme of Bothwell's to draw them away fromthe neighborhood of Stirling, so that he might go and get possessionof the young prince. Rumors of this spread around the country, andthe forces, instead of proceeding to Melrose, began to assemble inthe neighborhood of Stirling, for the protection of the prince. Thelords under whose banners they gathered assumed the name of _theprince's_ lords, and they called upon the people to take up arms indefense of young James's person and rights. The prince's lords soonbegan to concentrate their forces about Edinburgh, and Bothwell wasalarmed for his safety. He had reason to fear that the governor ofEdinburgh Castle was on their side, and that he might suddenly sallyforth with a body of his forces down the High Street to Holyrood, andtake him prisoner. He accordingly began to think it necessary toretreat. 

Now Bothwell had, among his other possessions, a certain castlecalled Borthwick Castle, a few miles south of Edinburgh. It wassituated on a little swell of land in a beautiful valley. It wassurrounded with groves of trees, and from the windows and walls ofthe castle there was an extended view over the beautiful and fertilefields of the valley. This castle was extensive and strong. Itconsisted of one great square tower, surrounded and protected bywalls and bastions, and was approached by a draw-bridge. In thesudden emergency in which Bothwell found himself placed, thisfortress seemed to be the most convenient and the surest retreat. Onthe 6th of June, he accordingly left Edinburgh with as large a forceas he had at command, and rode rapidly across the country with thequeen, and established himself at Borthwick. 

The prince's lords, taking fresh courage from the evidence ofBothwell's weakness and fear, immediately marched from Stirling, passed by Edinburgh, and almost immediately after Bothwell and thequeen had got safely, as they imagined, established in the place oftheir retreat, they found their castle surrounded and hemmed in onall sides by hostile forces, which filled the whole valley. Thecastle was strong, but not strong enough to withstand a siege fromsuch an army. Bothwell accordingly determined to retreat to hiscastle of Dunbar, which, being on a rocky promontory, jutting intothe sea, and more remote from the heart of the country, was lessaccessible, and more safe than Borthwick. He contrived, though withgreat difficulty, to make his escape with the queen, through theranks of his enemies. It is said that the queen was disguised in maleattire. At any rate, they made their escape, they reached Dunbar, and Mary, or Bothwell in her name, immediately issued a proclamation, calling upon all her faithful subjects to assemble in arms, todeliver her from her dangers. At the same time, the prince's lordsissued _their_ proclamation, calling upon all faithful subjects toassemble with them, to aid them in delivering the queen from thetyrant who held her captive. 

The faithful subjects were at a loss which proclamation to obey. Byfar the greater number joined the insurgents. Some thousands, however, went to Dunbar. With this force the queen and Bothwellsallied forth, about the middle of June, to meet the prince's lords, or the insurgents, as they called them, to settle the question atissue by the kind of ballot with which such questions were generallysettled in those days. 

Mary had a proclamation read at the head of her army, now that shesupposed she was on the eve of battle, in which she explained thecauses of the quarrel. The proclamation stated that the marriage wasMary's free act, and that, although it was in some respects anextraordinary one, still the circumstances were such that she couldnot do otherwise than she had done. For ten days she had been inBothwell's power in his castle at Dunbar, and not an arm had beenraised for her deliverance. Her subjects ought to have interposedthen, if they were intending really to rescue her from Bothwell'spower. They had done nothing then, but now, when she had beencompelled, by the cruel circumstances of her condition, to marryBothwell--when the act was done, and could no longer be recalled, they had taken up arms against her, and compelled her to take thefield in her own defense. 

The army of the prince's lords, with Mary's most determined enemiesat their head, advanced to meet the queen's forces. The queen finallytook her post on an elevated piece of ground called Carberry Hill. Carberry is an old Scotch name for gooseberry. Carberry Hill is a fewmiles to the eastward of Edinburgh, near Dalkeith. Here the twoarmies were drawn up, opposite to each other, in hostile array. 

Le Croc, the aged and venerable French embassador, made a greateffort to effect an accommodation and prevent a battle. He first wentto the queen and obtained authority from her to offer terms of peace, and then went to the camp of the prince's lords and proposed thatthey should lay down their arms and submit to the queen's authority, and that she would forgive and forget what they had done. Theyreplied that they had done no wrong, and asked for no pardon; thatthey were not in arms against the queen's authority, but in favor ofit. They sought only to deliver her from the durance in which she washeld, and to bring to punishment the murderers of her husband, whoever they might be. Le Croc went back and forth several times, vainly endeavoring to effect an accommodation, and finally, giving upin despair, he returned to Edinburgh, leaving the contending partiesto settle the contest in their own way. 

Bothwell now sent a herald to the camp of his enemies, challengingany one of them to meet him, and settle the question of his guilt orinnocence by single combat. This proposition was not quite so absurdin those days as it would be now, for it was not an uncommon thing, in the Middle Ages, to try in this way questions of crime. Manynegotiations ensued on Bothwell's proposal. One or two personsexpressed themselves ready to accept the challenge. Bothwell objectedto them on account of their rank being inferior to his, but said hewould fight Morton, if Morton would accept his challenge. Morton hadbeen his accomplice in the murder of Darnley, but had afterwardjoined the party of Bothwell's foes. It would have been a singularspectacle to see one of these confederates in the commission of acrime contending desperately in single combat to settle the questionof the guilt or innocence of the other. 

The combat, however, did not take place. After many negotiations onthe subject, the plan was abandoned, each party charging the otherwith declining the contest. The queen and Bothwell, in the mean time, found such evidences of strength on the part of their enemies, andfelt probably, in their own hearts, so much of that faintness andmisgiving under which human energy almost always sinks when the tidebegins to turn against it, after the commission of wrong, that theybegan to feel disheartened and discouraged. The queen sent to theopposite camp with a request that a certain personage, the Laird ofGrange, in whom all parties had great confidence, should come to her, that she might make one more effort at reconciliation. Grange, afterconsulting with the prince's lords, made a proposition to Mary, whichshe finally concluded to accept. It was as follows:

They proposed that Mary should come over to their camp, not sayingvery distinctly whether she was to come as their captive or as theirqueen. The event showed that it was in the former capacity that theyintended to receive her, though they were probably willing that sheshould understand that it was in the latter. At all events, theproposition itself did not make it very clear what her position wouldbe; and the poor queen, distracted by the difficulties whichsurrounded her, and overwhelmed with agitation and fear, could notpress very strongly for precise stipulations. In respect to Bothwell, they compromised the question by agreeing that, as he was undersuspicion in respect to the murder of Darnley, he should notaccompany the queen, but should be dismissed upon the field; that is, allowed to depart, without molestation, wherever he should choose togo. This plan was finally adopted. The queen bade Bothwell farewell, and he went away reluctantly and in great apparent displeasure. Hehad, in fact, with his characteristic ferocity, attempted to shootGrange pending the negotiation. He mounted his horse, and, with a fewattendants, rode off and sought a retreat once more upon his rock atDunbar. 

From all the evidence which has come down to us, it seems impossibleto ascertain whether Mary desired to be released from Bothwell'spower, and was glad when the release came, or whether she still lovedhim, and was planning a reunion, so soon as a reunion should bepossible. One party at that time maintained, and a large class ofwriters and readers since have concurred in the opinion, that Marywas in love with Bothwell before Darnley's death; that she connivedwith him in the plan for Darnley's murder; that she was a consentingparty to the abduction, and the spending of the ten days at DunbarCastle, in his power; that the marriage was the end at which sheherself, as well as Bothwell, had been all the time aiming; and then, when at last she surrendered herself to the prince's lords atCarberry Hill, it was only yielding unwillingly to the necessity of atemporary separation from her lawless husband, with a view ofreinstating him in favor and power at the earliest opportunity. 

Another party, both among her people at the time and among thewriters and readers who have since paid attention to her story, thinkthat she never loved Bothwell, and that, though she valued hisservices as a bold and energetic soldier, she had no collusion withhim whatever in respect to Darnley's murder. They think that, thoughshe must have felt in some sense relieved of a burden by Darnley'sdeath, she did not in any degree aid in or justify the crime, andthat she had no reason for supposing that Bothwell had any share inthe commission of it. They think, also, that her consenting to marryBothwell is to be accounted for by her natural desire to seekshelter, under some wing or other, from the terrible storms whichwere raging around her; and being deserted, as she thought, by everybody else, and moved by his passionate love and devotion, sheimprudently gave herself to him; that she lamented the act as soon asit was done, but that it was then too late to retrieve the step; andthat, harassed and in despair, she knew not what to do, but that shehailed the rising of her nobles as affording the only promise ofdeliverance, and came forth from Dunbar to meet them with the secretpurpose of delivering herself into their hands. 

The question which of these two suppositions is the correct one hasbeen discussed a great deal, without the possibility of arriving atany satisfactory conclusion. A parcel of letters were produced byMary's enemies, some time after this, which they said were Mary'sletters to Bothwell before her husband Darnley's death. They say theytook the letters from a man named Dalgleish, one of Bothwell'sservants, who was carrying them from Holyrood to Dunbar Castle, justafter Mary and Bothwell fled to Borthwick. They were contained in asmall gilded box or coffer, with the letter F upon it, under a crown;which mark naturally suggests to our minds Mary's first husband, Francis, the king of France. Dalgleish said that Bothwell sent himfor this box, charging him to convey it with all care to DunbarCastle. The letters purport to be from Mary to Bothwell, and to havebeen written before Darnley's death. They evince a strong affectionfor the person to whom they are addressed, and seem conclusively toprove the unlawful attachment between the parties, provided thattheir genuineness is acknowledged. But this genuineness is denied. Mary's friends maintain that they are forgeries, prepared by herenemies to justify their own wrong. Many volumes have been written onthe question of the genuineness of these love letters, as they arecalled, and there is perhaps now no probability that the questionwill ever be settled. 

Whatever doubt there may be about these things, there is none aboutthe events which followed. After Mary had surrendered herself to hernobles they took her to the camp, she herself riding on horseback, and Grange walking by her side. As she advanced to meet the nobleswho had combined against her, she said to them that she had concludedto come over to them, not from fear, or from doubt what the issuewould have been if she had fought the battle, but only because shewanted to spare the effusion of Christian blood, especially the bloodof her own subjects. She had therefore decided to submit herself totheir counsels, trusting that they would treat her as their rightfulqueen. The nobles made little reply to this address, but prepared toreturn to Edinburgh with their prize. 

The people of Edinburgh, who had heard what turn the affair hadtaken, flocked out upon the roads to see the queen return. They linedthe waysides to gaze upon the great cavalcade as it passed. Thenobles who conducted Mary thus back toward her capital had a bannerprepared, or allowed one to be prepared, on which was a paintingrepresenting the dead body of Darnley, and the young prince Jameskneeling near him, and calling on God to avenge his cause. Mary cameon, in the procession, after this symbol. They might perhaps say thatit was not intended to wound her feelings, and was not of a nature todo it, unless she considered herself as taking sides with themurderers of her husband. She, however, knew very well that she wasso regarded by great numbers of the populace assembled, and that theeffect of such an effigy carried before her was to hold her up topublic obloquy. The populace did, in fact, taunt and reproach her asshe proceeded, and she rode into Edinburgh, evincing all the wayextreme mental suffering by her agitation and her tears. 

She expected that they were at least to take her to Holyrood; but no, they turned at the gate to enter the city. Mary protested earnestlyagainst this, and called, half frantic, on all who heard her to cometo her rescue. But no one interfered. They took her to the provost'shouse, and lodged her there for the night, and the crowd which hadassembled to observe these proceedings gradually dispersed. Thereseemed, however, in a day or two, to be some symptoms of a reactionin favor of the fallen queen; and, to guard against the possibilityof a rescue, the lords took Mary to Holyrood again, and beganimmediately to make arrangements for some more safe place ofconfinement still. 

In the mean time, Bothwell went from Carberry Hill to his castle atDunbar, revolving moodily in his mind his altered fortunes. Aftersome time he found himself not safe in this place of refuge, and sohe retreated to the north, to some estates he had there, in theremote Highlands. A detachment of forces was sent in pursuit of him. Now there are, north of Scotland, some groups of dismal islands, thesummits of submerged mountains and rocks, rising in dark and sublime, but gloomy grandeur, from the midst of cold and tempestuous seas. Bothwell, finding himself pursued, undertook to escape by ship tothese islands. His pursuers, headed by Grange, who had negotiated atCarberry for the surrender of the queen, embarked in other vessels, and pressed on after him. At one time they almost overtook him, andwould have captured him and all his company were it not that they gotentangled among some shoals. Grange's sailors said they must notproceed. Grange, eager to seize his prey, insisted on their makingsail and pressing forward. The consequence was, they ran the vesselsaground, and Bothwell escaped in a small boat. As it was, however, they seized some of his accomplices, and brought them back toEdinburgh. These men were afterward tried, and some of them wereexecuted; and it was at their trial, and through the confessions theymade, that the facts were brought to light which have been related inthis narrative. 

Bothwell, now a fugitive and an exile, but still retaining hisdesperate and lawless character, became a pirate, and attempted tolive by robbing the commerce of the German Ocean. Rumor is the onlyhistorian, in ordinary cases, to record the events in the life of apirate; and she, in this case, sent word, from time to time, toScotland, of the robberies and murders that the desperado committed;of an expedition fitted out against him by the King of Denmark, ofhis being taken and carried into a Danish port; of his being held inimprisonment for a long period there, in a gloomy dungeon; of hisrestless spirit chafing itself in useless struggles against hisfate, and sinking gradually, at last under the burdens of remorse forpast crimes, and despair of any earthly deliverance; of his insanity, and, finally, of his miserable end. 

CHAPTER X. 

LOCH LEVEN CASTLE. 

1567-1568

Grange of Kircaldy. --Mary's letter. --Removal of Mary. --A ride atnight. --Loch Leven Castle. --The square tower. --Plan of Loch LevenCastle. --Lady Douglas. --Lady Douglas Mary's enemy. --Parties for andagainst Mary. --The Hamilton lords. --Plans of Mary's enemies. --Mary'stower. --Ruins. --The scale turns against Mary. --Proposals made toMary. --The commissioners. --Melville unsuccessful. --Lindsaycalled in. --Lindsay's brutality. --Abdication. --Coronation ofJames. --Ceremonies. --Return of Murray. --Murray's interview withMary. --Affecting scene. --Murray assumes the government. --Hiswarnings. --The young Douglases. --Their interest in Mary. --Plan for Mary'sescape. --The laundress. --The disguise. --Escape. --Discovery. --Mary'sreturn. --Banishment of George Douglas. --Secret communications. --Newplan of escape. --The postern gate. --Liberation of Mary. --JaneKennedy. --The escape. --Mary's joy. --Popular feeling. --Mary'sproclamation. --Ruins of Loch Leven Castle. --The octagonaltower. --Visitors. 

Grange, or, as he is sometimes called, Kircaldy, his title in fullbeing Grange of Kircaldy, was a man of integrity and honor, and he, having been the negotiator through whose intervention Mary gaveherself up, felt himself bound to see that the stipulations on thepart of the nobles should be honorably fulfilled. He did all in hispower to protect Mary from insult on the journey, and he struck withhis sword and drove away some of the populace who were addressing herwith taunts and reproaches. When he found that the nobles wereconfining her, and treating her so much more like a captive than likea queen, he remonstrated with them. They silenced him by showing hima letter, which they said they had intercepted on its way from Maryto Bothwell. It was written, they said, on the night of Mary'sarrival at Edinburgh. It assured Bothwell that she retained anunaltered affection for him; that her consenting to be separatedfrom him at Carberry Hill was a matter of mere necessity, and thatshe should rejoin him as soon as it was in her power to do so. Thisletter showed, they said, that, after all, Mary was not, as they hadsupposed, Bothwell's captive and victim, but that she was hisaccomplice and friend; and that, now that they had discovered theirmistake, they must treat Mary, as well as Bothwell, as an enemy, andtake effectual means to protect themselves from the one as well asfrom the other. Mary's friends maintain that this letter was aforgery. 

They accordingly took Mary, as has been already stated, from theprovost's house in Edinburgh down to Holyrood House, which was justwithout the city. This, however, was only a temporary change. Thatnight they came into the palace, and directed Mary to rise and put ona traveling dress which they brought her. They did not tell her whereshe was to go, but simply ordered her to follow them. It wasmidnight. They took her forth from the palace, mounted her upon ahorse, and, with Ruthven and Lindsay, two of the murderers of Rizzio, for an escort, they rode away. They traveled all night, crossed theRiver Forth and arrived in the morning at the Castle of Loch Leven. 

The Castle of Loch Leven is on a small island in the middle of theloch. It is nearly north from Edinburgh. The castle buildings coveredat that time about one half of the island, the water coming up to thewalls on three sides. On the other side was a little land, which wascultivated as a garden. The buildings inclosed a considerable area. There was a great square tower, marked on the plan below, which wasthe residence of the family. It consisted of four or five rooms, oneover the other. The cellar, or, rather, what would be the cellar inother cases, was a dungeon for such prisoners as were to be kept inclose confinement. The only entrance to this building was through awindow in the second story, by means of a ladder which was raised andlet down by a chain. This was over the point marked _e_ on the plan. The chain was worked at a window in the story above. There werevarious other apartments and structures about the square, and amongthem there was a small octagonal tower in the corner at _m_ whichconsisted within of one room over another for three stories, and aflat roof with battlements above. In the second story there was awindow, _w_, looking upon the water. This was the only window havingan external aspect in the whole fortress, all the other openings inthe exterior walls being mere loop-holes and embrasures. 

The following is a general plan of Loch Leven Castle:[H]

[Illustration: PLAN OF LOCH LEVEN CASTLE. ]

[Footnote H: Compare this plan with the view of the castle, page236. ]

This castle was in possession of a certain personage styled the LadyDouglas. She was the mother of the Lord James, afterward the Earl ofMurray, who has figured so conspicuously in this history as Mary'shalf brother, and at first her friend and counselor, though afterwardher foe. Lady Douglas was commonly called the Lady of Loch Leven. Shemaintained that she had been lawfully married to James V. , Mary'sfather, and that consequently her son, and not Mary, was the rightfulheir to the crown. Of course she was Mary's natural enemy. Theyselected her castle as the place of Mary's confinement partly on thisaccount, and partly on account of its inaccessible position in themidst of the waters of the lake. They delivered the captive queen, accordingly, to the Lady Douglas and her husband, charging them tokeep her safely. The Lady Douglas received her, and locked her up inthe octagonal tower with the window looking out upon the water. 

In the mean time, all Scotland took sides for or against the queen. The strongest party were against her; and the Church was against her, on account of their hostility to the Catholic religion. A sort ofprovisional government was instituted, which assumed the managementof public affairs. Mary had, however, some friends, and they soonbegan to assemble in order to see what could be done for her cause. Their rendezvous was at the palace of Hamilton. This palace wassituated on a plain in the midst of a beautiful park, near the RiverClyde, a few miles from Glasgow. The Duke of Hamilton was prominentamong the supporters of the queen, and made his house theirhead-quarters. They were often called, from this circumstance, theHamilton lords. 

On the other hand, the party opposed to Mary made the castle ofStirling their head-quarters, because the young prince was there, inwhose name they were proposing soon to assume the government. Theirplan was to depose Mary, or induce her to abdicate the throne, andthen to make Murray regent, to govern the country in the name of theprince until the prince should become of age. During all this timeMurray had been absent in France, but they now sent urgent messagesto him to return. He obeyed the summons, and turned his face towardScotland. 

In the mean time, Mary continued in confinement in her little tower. She was not treated like a common prisoner, but had, in some degree, the attentions due to her rank. There were five or six female, andabout as many male attendants; though, if the rooms which areexhibited to visitors at the present day as the apartments which sheoccupied are really such, her quarters were very contracted. Theyconsist of small apartments of an octagonal form, one over the other, with tortuous and narrow stair-cases in the solid wall to ascend fromone to the other. The roof and the floors of the tower are now gone, but the stair-ways, the capacious fire-places, the loop-holes, andthe one window remain, enabling the visitor to reconstruct thedwelling in imagination, and even to fancy Mary herself there again, seated on the stone seat by the window, looking over the water at thedistant hills, and sighing to be free. 

The Hamilton lords were not strong enough to attempt her rescue. Theweight of influence and power throughout the country went graduallyand irresistibly into the other scale. There were great debates amongthe authorities of government as to what should be done. The Hamiltonlords made proposals in behalf of Mary which the government could notaccede to. Other proposals were made by different parties in thecouncils of the insurgent nobles, some more and some less hard forthe captive queen. The conclusion, however, finally was, to urgeMary to resign her crown in favor of her son, and to appoint Murray, when he should return, to act as regent till the prince should be ofage. 

They accordingly sent commissioners to Loch Leven to propose thesemeasures to the queen. There were three instruments of abdicationprepared for her to sign. By one she resigned the crown in favor ofher son. By the second she appointed Murray to be regent as soon ashe should return from France. By the third she appointedcommissioners to govern the country until Murray should return. Theyknew that Mary would be extremely unwilling to sign these papers, andyet that they must contrive, in some way, to obtain her signaturewithout any open violence; for the signature, to be of legal force, must be, in some sense, her voluntary act. 

The two commissioners whom they sent to her were Melville andLindsay. Melville was a thoughtful and a reasonable man, who had longbeen in Mary's service, and who possessed a great share of herconfidence and good will. Lindsay was, on the other hand, of anoverbearing and violent temper, of very rude speech and demeanor, andwas known to be unfriendly to the queen. They hoped that Mary wouldbe induced to sign the papers by Melville's gentle persuasions; ifnot, Lindsay was to see what he could do by denunciations andthreats. 

When the two commissioners arrived at the castle, Melville alone wentfirst into the presence of the queen. He opened the subject to her ina gentle and respectful manner. He laid before her the distractedstate of Scotland, the uncertain and vague suspicions floating in thepublic mind on the subject of Darnley's murder, and the irretrievableshade which had been thrown over her position by the unhappy marriagewith Bothwell; and he urged her to consent to the proposed measures, as the only way now left to restore peace to the land. Mary heard himpatiently, but replied that she could not consent to his proposal. Bydoing so she should not only sacrifice her own rights, and degradeherself from the position she was entitled to occupy, but she should, in some sense, acknowledge herself guilty of the charges broughtagainst her, and justify her enemies. 

Melville, finding that his efforts were vain, called Lindsay in. Heentered with a fierce and determined air. Mary was reminded of theterrible night when he and Ruthven broke into her little supper-roomat Holyrood in quest of Rizzio. She was agitated and alarmed. Lindsayassailed her with denunciations and threats of the most violentcharacter. There ensued a scene of the most rough and ferociouspassion on the one side, and of anguish, terror, and despair on theother, which is said to have made this day the most wretched of allthe wretched days of Mary's life. Sometimes she sat pale, motionless, and almost stupefied. At others, she was overwhelmed with sorrow andtears. She finally yielded; and, taking the pen, she signed thepapers. Lindsay and Melville took them, left the castle gate, enteredtheir boat, and were rowed away to the shore. 

This was on the 25th of July, 1567, and four days afterward the youngprince was crowned at Stirling. His title was James VI. Lindsay madeoath at the coronation that he was a witness of Mary's abdication ofthe crown in favor of her son, and that it was her own free andvoluntary act. James was about one year old. The coronation tookplace in the chapel where Mary had been crowned in her infancy, abouttwenty-five years before. Mary herself, though unconscious of her owncoronation, mourned bitterly over that of her son. Unhappy mother!how little was she aware, when her heart was filled with joy andgladness at his birth, that in one short year his mere existencewould furnish to her enemies the means of consummating and sealingher ruin. 

On returning from the chapel to the state apartments of the castle, after the coronation, the noblemen by whom the infant had beencrowned walked in solemn procession, bearing the badges and insigniaof the newly-invested royalty. One carried the crown. Morton, who wasto exercise the government until Murray should return, followed withthe scepter, and a third bore the infant king, who gazed aboutunconsciously upon the scene, regardless alike of his mother's lonelywretchedness and of his own new scepter and crown. 

In the mean time, Murray was drawing near toward the confines ofScotland. He was somewhat uncertain how to act. Having been absentfor some time in France and on the Continent, he was not certain howfar the people of Scotland were really and cordially in favor of therevolution which had been effected. Mary's friends might claim thather acts of abdication, having been obtained while she was underduress, were null and void, and if they were strong enough theymight attempt to reinstate her upon the throne. In this case, itwould be better for him not to have acted with the insurgentgovernment at all. To gain information on these points, Murray sentto Melville to come and meet him on the border. Melville came. Theresult of their conferences was, that Murray resolved to visit Maryin her tower before he adopted any decisive course. 

Murray accordingly journeyed northward to Loch Leven, and, embarkingin the boat which plied between the castle and the shore, he crossedthe sheet of water, and was admitted into the fortress. He had a longinterview with Mary alone. At the sight of her long-absent brother, who had been her friend and guide in her early days of prosperity andhappiness, and who had accompanied her through so many changingscenes, and who now returned, after his long separation from her, tofind her a lonely and wretched captive, involved in irretrievableruin, if not in acknowledged guilt, she was entirely overcome by heremotions. She burst into tears and could not speak. What furtherpassed at this interview was never precisely known. They partedtolerably good friends, however, and yet Murray immediately assumedthe government, by which it is supposed that he succeeded inpersuading Mary that such a step was now best for her sake as well asfor that of all others concerned. 

Murray, however, did not fail to warn her, as he himself states, in avery serious manner, against any attempt to change her situation. "Madam, " said he, "I will plainly declare to you what the sources ofdanger are from which I think you have most to apprehend. First, anyattempt, of whatever kind, that you may make to create disturbance inthe country, through friends that may still adhere to your cause, andto interfere with the government of your son; secondly, devising orattempting any plan of escape from this island; thirdly, taking anymeasures for inducing the Queen of England or the French king to cometo your aid; and, lastly, persisting in your attachment to EarlBothwell. " He warned Mary solemnly against any and all of these, andthen took his leave. He was soon after proclaimed regent. AParliament was assembled to sanction all the proceedings, and the newgovernment was established, apparently upon a firm foundation. 

Mary remained, during the winter, in captivity, earnestly desiring, however, notwithstanding Murray's warning, to find some way ofescape. She knew that there must be many who had remained friends toher cause. She thought that if she could once make her escape fromher prison, these friends would rally around her, and that she couldthus, perhaps, regain her throne again. But strictly watched as shewas, and in a prison which was surrounded by the waters of a lake, all hope of escape seemed to be taken away. 

Now there were, in the family of the Lord Douglas at the castle, twoyoung men, George and William Douglas. The oldest, George, was abouttwenty-five years of age, and the youngest was seventeen. George wasthe son of Lord and Lady Douglas who kept the castle. William was anorphan boy, a relative, who, having no home, had been received intothe family. These young men soon began to feel a strong interest inthe beautiful captive confined in their father's castle, and, beforemany months, this interest became so strong that they began to feelwilling to incur the dangers and responsibilities of aiding her ineffecting her escape. They had secret conferences with Mary on thesubject. They went to the shore on various pretexts, and contrivedto make their plans known to Mary's friends, that they might be readyto receive her in case they should succeed. 

The plan at length was ripe for execution. It was arranged thus. Thecastle not being large, there was not space within its walls for allthe accommodations required for its inmates; much was done on theshore, where there was quite a little village of attendants anddependents pertaining to the castle. This little village has sincegrown into a flourishing manufacturing town, where a great variety ofplaids, and tartans, and other Scotch fabrics are made. Its name isKinross. Communication with this part of the shore was then, as now, kept up by boats, which generally then belonged to the castle, thoughnow to the town. 

On the day when Mary was to attempt her escape, a servant woman wasbrought by one of the castle boats from the shore with a bundle ofclothes for Mary. Mary, whose health and strength had been impairedby her confinement and sufferings, was often in her bed. She was soat this time, though perhaps she was feigning now more feeblenessthan she really felt. The servant woman came into her apartment andundressed herself, while Mary rose, took the dress which she laidaside, and put it on as a disguise. The woman took Mary's place inbed. Mary covered her face with a muffler, and, taking another bundlein her hand to assist in her disguise, she passed across the court, issued from the castle gate, went to the landing stairs, and steppedinto the boat for the men to row her to the shore. 

The oarsmen, who belonged to the castle, supposing that all wasright, pushed off, and began to row toward the land. As they werecrossing the water, however, they observed that their passenger wasvery particular to keep her face covered, and attempted to pull awaythe muffler, saying, "Let us see what kind of a looking damsel thisis. " Mary, in alarm, put up her hands to her face to hold the mufflerthere. The smooth, white, and delicate fingers revealed to the men atonce that they were carrying away a lady in disguise. Mary, findingthat concealment was no longer possible, dropped her muffler, lookedupon the men with composure and dignity, told them that she was theirqueen, that they were bound by their allegiance to her to obey hercommands, and she commanded them to go on and row her to the shore. 

The men decided, however, that their allegiance was due to the lordof the castle rather than to the helpless captive trying to escapefrom it. They told her that they must return. Mary was not onlydisappointed at the failure of her plans, but she was now anxiouslest her friends, the young Douglases, should be implicated in theattempt, and should suffer in consequence of it. The men, however, solemnly promised her, that if she would quietly return, they wouldnot make the circumstances known. The secret, however, was too greata secret to be kept. In a few days it all came to light. Lord andLady Douglas were very angry with their son, and banished him, together with two of Mary's servants, from the castle. Whatever shareyoung William Douglas had in the scheme was not found out, and he wassuffered to remain. George Douglas went only to Kinross. He remainedthere watching for another opportunity to help Mary to her freedom. 

[Illustration: LOCH LEVEN CASTLE--The Place of Mary's Imprisonment. ]

In the mean time, the watch and ward held over Mary was more strictand rigorous than ever, her keepers being resolved to double theirvigilance, while George and William, on the other hand, resolved toredouble their exertions to find some means to circumvent it. William, who was only a boy of seventeen, and who remained withinthe castle, acted his part in a very sagacious and admirable manner. He was silent, and assumed a thoughtless and unconcerned manner in hisgeneral deportment, which put every one off their guard in respect tohim. George, who was at Kinross, held frequent communications with theHamilton lords, encouraging them to hope for Mary's escape, andleading them to continue in combination, and to be ready to act at amoment's warning. They communicated with each other, too, by secretmeans, across the lake, and with Mary in her solitary tower. It issaid that George, wishing to make Mary understand that their plans forrescuing her were not abandoned, and not having the opportunity to doso directly, sent her a picture of the mouse liberating the lion fromhis snares, hoping that she would draw from the picture the inferencewhich he intended. 

At length the time arrived for another attempt. It was about thefirst of May. By looking at the engraving of Loch Leven Castle, itwill be seen that there was a window in Mary's tower looking out overthe water. George Douglas's plan was to bring a boat up to thiswindow in the night, and take Mary down the wall into it. The placeof egress by which Mary escaped is called in some of the accounts apostern gate, and yet tradition at the castle says that it wasthrough this window. It is not improbable that this window might havebeen intended to be used sometimes as a postern gate, and that theiron grating with which it was guarded was made to open and shut, thekey being kept with the other keys of the castle. 

The time for the attempt was fixed upon for Sunday night, on the 2dof May. George Douglas was ready with the boat early in the evening. When it was dark, he rowed cautiously across the water, and took hisposition under Mary's window. William Douglas was in the mean time atsupper in the great square tower with his father and mother. The keyswere lying upon the table. He contrived to get them into hispossession, and then cautiously stole away. He locked the tower as hecame out, went across the court to Mary's room, liberated her throughthe postern window, and descended with her into the boat. One of hermaids, whose name was Jane Kennedy, was to have accompanied her, but, in their eagerness to make sure of Mary, they forgot or neglectedher, and she had to leap down after them, which feat sheaccomplished without any serious injury. The boat pushed offimmediately, and the Douglases began to pull hard for the shore. Theythrew the keys of the castle into the lake, as if the impossibilityof recovering them, in that case, made the imprisonment of the familymore secure. The whole party were, of course, in the highest state ofexcitement and agitation. Jane Kennedy helped to row, and it is saidthat even Mary applied her strength to one of the oars. 

They landed safely on the south side of the loch, far from Kinross. Several of the Hamilton lords were ready there to receive thefugitive. They mounted her on horseback, and galloped away. There wasa strong party to escort her. They rode hard all night, and the nextmorning they arrived safely at Hamilton. "Now, " said Mary, "I am oncemore a queen. "

It was true. She was again a queen. Popular feeling ebbs and flowswith prodigious force, and the change from one state to the otherdepends, sometimes, on very accidental causes. The news of Mary'sescape spread rapidly over the land. Her friends were encouraged andemboldened. Sympathies, long dormant and inert, were awakened in herfavor. She issued a proclamation, declaring that her abdication hadbeen forced upon her, and, as such, was null and void. She summonedMurray to surrender his powers as regent, and to come and receiveorders from her. She called upon all her faithful subjects to take uparms and gather around her standard. Murray refused to obey, butlarge masses of the people gave in their adhesion to their liberatedqueen, and flocked to Hamilton to enter into her service. In a weekMary found herself at the head of an army of six thousand men. 

 * * * * *

[Illustration: RUINS OF LOCH LEVEN CASTLE. ]

The Castle of Loch Leven is now a solitary ruin. The waters of theloch have been lowered by means of an excavation of the outlet, and aportion of land has been left bare around the walls, which theproprietor has planted with trees. Visitors are taken from Kinross ina boat to view the scene. The square tower, though roofless anddesolate, still stands. The window in the second story, which servedas the entrance, and the one above, where the chain was worked, withthe deep furrows in the sill cut by its friction, are shown by theguide. The court-yard is overgrown with weeds, and encumbered withfallen stones and old foundations. The chapel is gone, though itsoutline may be still traced in the ruins of its walls. The octagonaltower which Mary occupied remains, and the visitors, climbing up bythe narrow stone stairs in the wall, look out at the window over thewaters of the loch and the distant hills, and try to recreate inimagination the scene which the apartment presented when the unhappycaptive was there. 

CHAPTER XI. 

THE LONG CAPTIVITY. 

1568-1570

Dumbarton Castle. --The situation and aspect. --Attempt toretreat to Dumbarton. --Mary's forces defeated. --Mary'sflight. --Dundrennan. --Consultations. --Carlisle Castle. --Mary'smessage to the governor. --Lowther. --Mary's reception at thecastle. --Is Mary a guest or a prisoner?--Precautions forguarding her. --Elizabeth's hypocrisy. --Dishonorableproposal. --Removal. --Separation from friends. --Proposedtrial. --Opening of the court. --Adjourned to London. --Failureof the trial. --Mary's indignant pride. --Elizabeth's negotiationswith Murray. --Their failure. --Cruel treatment of LadyHamilton. --Hamilton resolves on revenge. --Hamilton's plans. --Deathof Murray. --Hamilton's flight. --Mary's grief. --Duke of Norfolkbeheaded. --Mary's unhappy situation. --Mary almost forgotten inher captivity. 

Hamilton, which had been thus far the queen's place of rendezvous, was a palace rather than a castle, and therefore not a place ofdefense. It was situated, as has been already stated, on the RiverClyde, _above_ Glasgow; that is, toward the southeast of it, theRiver Clyde flowing toward the northwest. The Castle of Dumbarton, which has already been mentioned as the place from which Maryembarked for France in her early childhood, was below Glasgow, on thenorthern shore of the river. It stands there still in good repair, and is well garrisoned; it crowns a rock which rises abruptly fromthe midst of a comparatively level country, smiling with villages andcultivated fields, and frowns sternly upon the peaceful steamers andmerchant ships which are continually gliding along under its guns, upand down the Clyde. 

Queen Mary concluded to move forward to Dumbarton, it being a placeof greater safety than Hamilton. Murray gathered his forces tointercept her march. The two armies met near Glasgow, as the queenwas moving westward, down the river. There was a piece of risingground between them, which each party was eager to ascend before theother should reach it. The leader of the forces on Murray's sideordered every horseman to take up a foot-soldier behind him, and ridewith all speed to the top of the hill. By this means the great bodyof Murray's troops were put in possession of the vantage ground. Thequeen's forces took post on another rising ground, less favorable, ata little distance. The place was called Langside. A cannonading wassoon commenced, and a general battle ensued. Mary watched theprogress of it with intense emotions. Her forces began soon to giveway, and before many hours they were retreating in all directions, the whole country being soon covered with the awful spectacles whichare afforded by one terrified and panic-stricken army flying beforethe furious and triumphant rage of another. Mary gazed on the scenein an agony of grief and despair. 

A few faithful friends kept near her side, and told her that she musthurry away. They turned to the southward, and rode away from theground. They pressed on as rapidly as possible toward the southerncoast, thinking that the only safety for Mary now was for her to makeher escape from the country altogether, and go either to England orto France, in hopes of obtaining foreign aid to enable her to recoverher throne. They at length reached the sea-coast. Mary was receivedinto an abbey called Dundrennan, not far from the English frontier. Here she remained, with a few nobles and a small body of attendants, for two days, spending the time in anxious consultations to determinewhat should be done. Mary herself was in favor of going to England, and appealing to Elizabeth for protection and help. Her friends andadvisers, knowing Elizabeth perhaps better than Mary did, recommendedthat she should sail for France, in hopes of awakening sympathythere. But Mary, as we might naturally have expected, considering thecircumstances under which she left that country, found herselfextremely unwilling to go there as a fugitive and a suppliant. It wasdecided, finally, to go to England. 

The nearest stronghold in England was Carlisle Castle, which was notvery far from the frontier. The boundary between the two kingdoms isformed here by the Solway Frith, a broad arm of the sea. DundrennanAbbey, to which Mary had retreated, was near the town ofKirkcudbright, which is, of course, on the northern side of theFrith; it is also near the sea. Carlisle is further up the Frith, near where the River Solway empties into it, and is twenty or thirtymiles from the shore. 

Mary sent a messenger to the governor of the castle at Carlisle toinquire whether he would receive and protect her. She could not, however, wait for an answer to this message, as the country was allin commotion, and she was exposed to an attack at any time fromMurray's forces, in which case, even if they should not succeed intaking her captive, they might effectually cut off her retreat fromScottish ground. She accordingly determined to proceed immediately, and receive the answer from the governor of the castle on the way. She set out on the 16th of May. Eighteen or twenty personsconstituted her train. This was all that remained to her of her armyof six thousand men. She proceeded to the shore. They provided afishing-boat for the voyage, furnishing it as comfortably for her ascircumstances would admit. She embarked, and sailed along the coast, eastward, up the Frith, for about eighteen miles, gazing mournfullyupon the receding shore of her native land--receding, in fact, nowfrom her view forever. They landed at the most convenient port forreaching Carlisle, intending to take the remainder of the journey byland. 

In the mean time, the messenger, on his arrival at Carlisle, foundthat the governor had gone to London. His second in rank, whom he hadleft in command, immediately sent off an express after him to informhim of the event. The name of this lieutenant-governor was Lowther. Lowther did all in Mary's favor that it was in his power to do. Hedirected the messenger to inform her that he had sent to London forinstructions from Elizabeth, but that, in the mean time, she would bea welcome guest in his castle, and that he would defend her therefrom all her enemies. He then sent around to all the nobles and menof distinction in the neighborhood, informing them of the arrival ofthe distinguished visitor, and having assembled them, they proceededtogether toward the coast to meet and receive the unhappy fugitivewith the honors becoming her rank, though such honors must haveseemed little else than a mockery in her present condition. 

Mary was received at the castle as an honored guest. It is, however, a curious circumstance, that, in respect to the reception of princesand queens in royal castles, there is little or no distinctionbetween the ceremonies which mark the honored guest and those whichattend the helpless captive. Mary had a great many friends at first, who came out of Scotland to visit her. The authorities orderedrepairs to be commenced upon the castle, to fit it more suitably forso distinguished an inmate, and, in consequence of the making ofthese repairs, they found it inconvenient to admit visitors. Ofcourse, Mary, being a mere guest, could not complain. She wanted totake a walk beyond the limits of the castle, upon a green to whichthere was access through a postern gate. Certainly: the governor madeno objection to such a walk, but sent twenty or thirty armed men toaccompany her. They might be considered either as an honorary escort, or as a guard to watch her movements, to prevent her escape, and tosecure her return. At one time she proposed to go a-hunting. Theyallowed her to go, _properly attended_. On her return, however, theofficer reported to his superior that she was so admirable in herhorsemanship, and could ride with so much fearlessness and speed, that he thought it might be possible for a body of her friends tocome and carry her off, on some such occasion, back across thefrontier. So they determined to tell Mary, when she wished to huntagain, that they thought it not safe for her to go out on suchexcursions, as her _enemies_ might make a sudden invasion and carryher away. The precautions would be just the same to protect Mary fromher enemies as to keep her from her friends. 

Elizabeth sent her captive cousin very kind and condoling messages, dispatching, however, by the same messenger stringent orders to thecommander of the castle to be sure and keep her safely. Mary askedfor an interview with Elizabeth. Elizabeth's officers replied thatshe could not properly admit Mary to a personal interview until shehad been, in some way or other, cleared of the suspicion whichattached to her in respect to the murder of Darnley. They proposed, moreover, that Mary should consent to have that question examinedbefore some sort of court which Elizabeth might constitute for thispurpose. Now it is a special point of honor among all sovereignkings and queens, throughout the civilized world, that they can, technically, do no wrong; that they can not in any way be brought totrial; and especially that they can not be, by any means or in anyway, amenable to each other. Mary refused to acknowledge any Englishjurisdiction whatever in respect to any charges brought against her, a sovereign queen of Scotland. 

Elizabeth removed her prisoner to another castle further from thefrontier than Carlisle, in order to place her in a situation whereshe would be more safe _from her enemies_. It was not convenient tolodge so many of her attendants at these new quarters as in the otherfortress, and several were dismissed. Additional obstructions werethrown in the way of her seeing friends and visitors from Scotland. Mary found her situation growing every day more and more helpless anddesolate. Elizabeth urged continually upon her the necessity ofhaving the points at issue between herself and Murray examined by acommissioner, artfully putting it on the ground, not of a trial ofMary, but a calling of Murray to account, by Mary, for hisusurpation. At last, harassed and worn down, and finding no ray ofhope coming to her from any quarter, she consented. Elizabethconstituted such a court, which was to meet at York, a large andancient city in the north of England. Murray was to appear there inperson, with other lords associated with him. Mary appointedcommissioners to appear for her; and the two parties went into court, each thinking that it was the other which was accused and on trial. 

The court assembled, and, after being opened with great parade andceremony, commenced the investigation of the questions at issue, which led, of course, to endless criminations and recriminations, theground covering the whole history of Mary's career in Scotland. Theywent on for some weeks in this hopeless labyrinth, until, at length, Murray produced the famous letters alleged to have been written byMary to Bothwell before Darnley's murder, as a part of the evidence, and charged Mary, on the strength of this evidence, with having beenan abettor in the murder. Elizabeth, finding that the affair wasbecoming, as in fact she wished it to become, more and more involved, and wishing to get Mary more and more entangled in it, and to drawher still further into her power, ordered the conference, as thecourt was called, to be adjourned to London. Here things took such aturn that Mary complained that she was herself treated in so unjust amanner, and Murray and his cause were allowed so many unfairadvantages, that she could not allow the discussion on her part tocontinue. The conference was accordingly broken up, each partycharging the other with being the cause of the interruption. 

Murray returned to Scotland to resume his government there. Mary washeld a closer captive than ever. She sent to Elizabeth asking her toremove these restraints, and allow her to depart either to her owncountry or to France. Elizabeth replied that she could not, considering all the circumstances of the case, allow her to leaveEngland; but that, if she would give up all claims to the governmentof Scotland to her son, the young prince, she might remain in peace_in_ England. Mary replied that she would suffer death a thousandtimes rather than dishonor herself in the eyes of the world byabandoning, in such a way, her rights as a sovereign. The last wordswhich she should speak, she said, should be those of the Queen ofScotland. 

Elizabeth therefore considered that she had no alternative left butto keep Mary a prisoner. She accordingly retained her for some timein confinement, but she soon found that such a charge was a seriousincumbrance to her, and one not unattended with danger. Thedisaffected in her own realm were beginning to form plots, and toconsider whether they could not, in some way or other, make use ofMary's claims to the English crown to aid them. Finally, Elizabethcame to the conclusion, when she had become a little satiated withthe feeling, at first so delightful, of having Mary in her power, that, after all, it would be quite as convenient to have herimprisoned in Scotland, and she opened a negotiation with Murray fordelivering Mary into his hands. He was, on his part, to agree to saveher life, and to keep her a close prisoner, and he was to deliverhostages to Elizabeth as security for the fulfillment of theseobligations. 

Various difficulties, however, occurred in the way of theaccomplishment of these plans, and before the arrangement was finallycompleted, it was cut suddenly short by Murray's miserable end. Oneof the Hamiltons, who had been with Mary at Langside, was takenprisoner after the battle. Murray, who, of course, as the legallyconstituted regent in the name of James, considered himself asrepresenting the royal authority of the kingdom, regarded theseprisoners as rebels taken in the act of insurrection against theirsovereign. They were condemned to death, but finally were pardoned atthe place of execution. Their estates were, however, confiscated, andgiven to the followers and favorites of Murray. 

One of these men, in taking possession of the house of Hamilton, witha cruel brutality characteristic of the times, turned Hamilton'sfamily out abruptly in a cold night--perhaps exasperated byresistance which he may have encountered. The wife of Hamilton, it issaid, was sent out naked; but the expression means, probably, veryinsufficiently clothed for such an exposure. At any rate, the unhappyoutcast wandered about, half frantic with anger and terror, until, before morning, she was wholly frantic and insane. To have such acalamity brought upon him in consequence merely of his fidelity tohis queen, was, as the bereaved and wretched husband thought, aninjury not to be borne. He considered Murray the responsible authorof these miseries, and silently and calmly resolved on a terriblerevenge. 

Murray was making a progress through the country, traveling in statewith a great retinue, and was to pass through Linlithgow. There is atown of that name close by the palace. Hamilton provided himself witha room in one of the houses on the principal street, through which heknew that Murray must pass. He had a fleet horse ready for him at theback door. The front door was barricaded. There was a sort of balconyor gallery projecting toward the street, with a window in it. Hestationed himself here, having carefully taken every precaution toprevent his being seen from the street, or overheard in hismovements. Murray lodged in the town during the night, and Hamiltonposted himself in his ambuscade the next morning, armed with a gun. 

The town was thronged, and Murray, on issuing from his lodging, escorted by his cavalcade, found the streets crowded with spectators. He made his way slowly, on account of the throng. When he arrived atthe proper point, Hamilton took his aim in a cool and deliberatemanner, screened from observation by black cloths with which he haddarkened his hiding-place. He fired. The ball passed through the bodyof the regent, and thence, descending as it went, killed a horse onthe other side of him. Murray fell. There was a universal outcry ofsurprise and fear. They made an onset upon the house from which theshot had been fired. The door was strongly barricaded. Before theycould get the means to force an entrance, Hamilton was on his horseand far away. The regent was carried to his lodgings, and died thatnight. 

Murray was Queen Mary's half brother, and the connection of hisfortunes with hers, considered in respect to its intimacy and thelength of its duration, was, on the whole, greater than that of anyother individual. He may be said to have governed Scotland, inreality, during the whole of Mary's nominal reign, first as herminister and friend, and afterward as her competitor and foe. He was, at any rate, during most of her life, her nearest relative and hermost constant companion, and Mary mourned his death with many tears. 

There was a great nobleman in England, named the Duke of Norfolk, whohad vast estates, and was regarded as the greatest subject in therealm. He was a Catholic. Among the other countless schemes and plotsto which Mary's presence in England gave rise, he formed a plan ofmarrying her, and, through her claim to the crown and by the help ofthe Catholics, to overturn the government of Elizabeth. He enteredinto negotiations with Mary, and she consented to become his wife, without, however, as she says, being a party to his politicalschemes. His plots were discovered; he was imprisoned, tried, andbeheaded. Mary was accused of sharing the guilt of his treason. Shedenied this. She was not very vigorously proceeded against, but shesuffered in the event of the affair another sad disappointment of herhopes of liberty, and her confinement became more strict and absolutethan ever. 

Still she had quite a numerous retinue of attendants. Many of herformer friends were allowed to continue with her. Jane Kennedy, whohad escaped with her from Loch Leven, remained in her service. Shewas removed from castle to castle, at Elizabeth's orders, to diminishthe probability of the forming and maturing of plans of escape. Sheamused herself sometimes in embroidery and similar pursuits, andsometimes she pined and languished under the pressure of her sorrowsand woes. Sixteen or eighteen years passed away in this manner. Shewas almost forgotten. Very exciting public events were taking placein England and in Scotland, and the name of the poor captive queenat length seemed to pass from men's minds, except so far as it waswhispered secretly in plots and intrigues. 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE END. 

1586-1587

Plots and intrigues. --How far Mary was involved. --Babington'sconspiracy. --Secret correspondence. --Seizure of Mary's papers. --Herson James. --Elizabeth resolves to bring Mary to trial. --FotheringayCastle. --Great interest in the trial. --Preparations for it. --Thethrone. --Mary refuses to plead. --The commission. --The greathall. --Mary pronounced guilty. --Elizabeth's pretended sorrow. --Signingthe warrant. --Shuffling of Elizabeth. --Mary's letter toElizabeth. --Interposition of Mary's friends. --Elizabeth signs thewarrant. --It is read to Mary. --Mary hears the sentence withcomposure. --Protests her innocence. --Mary refused a priest. --Maryalone with her friends. --Affecting scene. --Supper. --Mary's farewellto her attendants. --Mary's last letters. --Her directions as to thedisposal of her body. --Arrangements for the execution. --Thescaffold. --Proceeding to the hall. --Interview with Melville. --Mary'slast message. --She desires the presence of her attendants. --Mary'sdress and appearance. --Symbols of religion. --Mary's firmness in herfaith. --Her last prayer. --The execution. --Heart-rendingscene. --Disposition of the body. --Elizabeth's affected surprise. --Herconduct. --The end of Mary's ambition realized. --Accession of JamesI. --Tomb of Mary at Westminster Abbey. --Mary's love and ambition. --Shetriumphs in the end. 

Mary did not always discourage the plots and intrigues with which hername was connected. She, of course, longed for deliverance from thethraldom in which Elizabeth held her, and was ready to embrace anyopportunity which promised release. She thus seems to have listenedfrom time to time to the overtures which were made to her, andinvolved herself, in Elizabeth's opinion, more or less, in theresponsibility which attached to them. Elizabeth did not, however, insuch cases, do any thing more than to increase somewhat the rigors ofher imprisonment. She was afraid to proceed to extremities with her, partly, perhaps, for fear that she might, by doing so, awaken thehostility of France, whose king was Mary's cousin, or of Scotland, whose monarch was her son. 

At length, however, in the year 1586, about eighteen years from thecommencement of Mary's captivity, a plot was formed in which shebecame so seriously involved as to subject herself to the charge ofaiding and abetting in the high treason of which the leaders of theplot were proved to be guilty. This plot is known in history by thename of Babington's conspiracy. Babington was a young gentleman offortune, who lived in the heart of England. He was inspired with astrong degree of interest in Mary's fate, and wished to rescue herfrom her captivity. He joined himself with a large party ofinfluential individuals of the Catholic faith. The conspiratorsopened negotiations with the courts of France and Spain for aid. Theyplanned an insurrection, the assassination of Elizabeth, the rescueof Mary, and a general revolution. They maintained a correspondencewith Mary. This correspondence was managed very secretly, the lettersbeing placed by a confidential messenger in a certain hole in thecastle wall where Queen Mary was confined. 

One day, when Mary was going out to ride, just as she was enteringher carriage, officers suddenly arrived from London. They told herthat the plot in which she had been engaged had been discovered; thatfourteen of the principal conspirators had been hung, seven on eachof two successive days, and that they had come to arrest some of herattendants and to seize her papers. They accordingly went into herapartments, opened all her desks, trunks, and cabinets, seized herpapers, and took them to London. Mary sat down in the scene ofdesolation and disorder which they left, and wept bitterly. 

The papers which were seized were taken to London, and Elizabeth'sgovernment began seriously to agitate the question of bringing Maryherself to trial. One would have thought that, in her forlorn anddesolate condition, she would have looked to her son for sympathy andaid. But rival claimants to a crown can have little kind feeling toeach other, even if they are mother and son. James, as he graduallyapproached toward maturity, took sides against his mother. In fact, all Scotland was divided, and was for many years in a state of civilwar: those who advocated Mary's right to the crown on one side, andJames's adherents on the other. They were called king's men andqueen's men. James was, of course, brought up in hostility to hismother, and he wrote to her, about a year before Babington'sconspiracy, in terms so hostile and so devoid of filial love, thathis ingratitude stung her to the heart. "Was it for this, " she said, "that I made so many sacrifices, and endured so many trials on hisaccount in his early years? I have made it the whole business of mylife to protect and secure his rights, and to open before him aprospect of future power and glory: and this is the return. "

The English government, under Elizabeth's direction, concluded tobring Mary to a public trial. They removed her, accordingly, to theCastle of Fotheringay. Fotheringay is in Northamptonshire, which isin the very heart of England, Northampton, the shire town, beingabout sixty miles northwest of London. Fotheringay Castle was on thebanks of the River Nen, or Avon, which flows northeast fromNorthampton to the sea. A few miles below the castle is the ancienttown of Peterborough, where there was a monastery and a greatcathedral church. The monastery had been built a thousand yearsbefore. 

They removed Mary to Fotheringay Castle for her trial, and lawyers, counselors, commissioners, and officers of state began to assemblethere from all quarters. The castle was a spacious structure. It wassurrounded with two moats, and with double walls, and was stronglyfortified. It contained numerous and spacious apartments, and it hadespecially one large hall which was well adapted to the purposes ofthis great trial. The preparations for the solemn ordeal throughwhich Mary was now to pass, brought her forth from the obscurity inwhich she had so long been lost to the eyes of mankind, and made herthe universal object of interest and attention in England, Scotland, and France. The people of all these nations looked on with greatinterest at the spectacle of one queen tried solemnly on a charge ofhigh treason against another. The stories of her beauty, her graces, her misfortunes, which had slumbered for eighteen years, were all nowrevived, and every body felt a warm interest in the poor captive, worn down by long confinement, and trembling in the hands of whatthey feared would be a merciless and terrible power. 

Mary was removed to the Castle of Fotheringay toward the end ofSeptember, 1586. The preparations for the trial proceeded slowly. Every thing in which kings and queens, or affairs of state wereconcerned in those days, was conducted with great pomp and ceremony. The arrangements of the hall were minutely prescribed. At the headof it a sort of throne was placed, with a royal canopy over it, forthe Queen of England. This, though it was vacant, impressed the courtand the spectators as a symbol of royalty, and denoted that thesovereignty of Elizabeth was the power before which Mary wasarraigned. 

When the preparations were made, Mary refused to acknowledge thejurisdiction of the court. She denied that they had any right toarraign or to try her. "I am no subject of Elizabeth's, " said she. "Iam an independent and sovereign queen as well as she, and I will notconsent to any thing inconsistent with this my true position. I oweno allegiance to England, and I am not, in any sense, subject to herlaws. I came into the realm only to ask assistance from a sisterqueen, and I have been made a captive, and detained many years in anunjust and cruel imprisonment; and though now worn down both in bodyand mind by my protracted sufferings, I am not yet so enfeebled as toforget what is due to myself, my ancestors, and my country. "

This refusal of Mary's to plead, or to acknowledge the jurisdictionof the court, caused a new delay. They urged her to abandon herresolution. They told her that if she refused to plead, the trialwould proceed without her action, and, by pursuing such a course, shewould only deprive herself of the means of defense, without at allimpeding the course of her fate. At length Mary yielded. It wouldhave been better for her to have adhered to her first intention. 

The commission by which Mary was to be tried consisted of earls, barons, and other persons of rank, twenty or thirty in number. Theywere seated on each side of the room, the throne being at the head. In the center was a table, where the lawyers, by whom the trial wasto be conducted, were seated. Below this table was a chair for Mary. Behind Mary's chair was a rail, dividing off the lower end of thehall from the court; and this formed an outer space, to which somespectators were admitted. 

Mary took her place in the seat assigned her, and the trialproceeded. They adduced the evidence against her, and then asked forher defense. She said substantially that she had a right to make aneffort to recover her liberty; that, after being confined a captiveso long, and having lost forever her youth, her health, and herhappiness, it was not wonderful that she wished to be free; butthat, in endeavoring to obtain her freedom, she had formed no plansto injure Elizabeth, or to interfere in any way with her rights orprerogatives as queen. The commissioners, after devoting some days tohearing evidence, and listening to the defense, sent Mary back to herapartments, and went to London. There they had a final consultation, and unanimously agreed in the following decision: "That Mary, commonly called Queen of Scots and dowager of France, had been anaccessory to Babington's conspiracy, and had compassed the death ofElizabeth, queen of England. "

Elizabeth pretended to be very much concerned at this result. Shelaid the proceedings before Parliament. It was supposed then, and hasalways been supposed since, that she wished Mary to be beheaded, butdesired not to take the responsibility of it herself; and that shewanted to appear unwilling, and to be impelled, greatly against herown inclinations, by the urgency of others, to carry the sentenceinto execution. At any rate, Parliament, and all the members of thegovernment, approved and confirmed the verdict, and wished to have itcarried into effect. 

It has always been the custom, in modern times, to require thesolemn act of the supreme magistrate of any state to confirm adecision of a tribunal which condemns a person to death, by signingwhat is called a warrant for the execution. This is done by the kingor queen in England, and by the governor in one of the United States. This warrant is an order, very formally written, and sealed with thegreat seal, authorizing the executioner to proceed, and carry thesentence into effect. Of course, Queen Mary could not be executedunless Elizabeth should first sign the warrant. Elizabeth wouldherself, probably, have been better pleased to have been excused fromall direct agency in the affair. But this could not be. She, however, made much delay, and affected great unwillingness to proceed. Shesent messengers to Mary, telling her what the sentence had been, howsorry she was to hear it, and how much she desired to save her life, if it were possible. At the same time, she told her that she fearedit might not be in her power, and she advised Mary to prepare hermind for the execution of the sentence. 

Mary wrote a letter to Elizabeth in reply. She said in this letterthat she was glad to hear that they had pronounced sentence of deathagainst her, for she was weary of life, and had no hope of relief orrest from her miseries but in the grave. She wrote, therefore, not toask any change in the decision, but to make three requests. First, that, after her execution, her body might be removed to France, andbe deposited at Rheims, where the ashes of her mother were reposing. Secondly, that her execution should not be in secret, but that herpersonal friends might be present, to attest to the world that shemet her fate with resignation and fortitude; and, thirdly, that herattendants and friends, who had, through their faithful love for her, shared her captivity so long, might be permitted to retire whereverthey pleased, after her death, without any molestation. "I hope, "said she, in conclusion, "you will not refuse me these my dyingrequests, but that you will assure me by a letter under your own handthat you will comply with them, and then I shall die as I have lived, your affectionate sister and prisoner, Mary Queen of Scots. "

The King of France, and James, Mary's son in Scotland, made somewhatvigorous efforts to arrest the execution of the sentence which hadbeen pronounced against Mary. From these and other causes, thesigning of the warrant was delayed for some months, but at lengthElizabeth yielded to the solicitations of her ministers. She affixedher signature to the instrument. The chancellor put upon it the greatseal, and the commissioners who were appointed by it to superintendthe execution went to Fotheringay. They arrived there on the 7th ofFebruary, 1587. 

After resting, and refreshing themselves for a short time from theirjourney, the commissioners sent word to Mary that they wished for aninterview with her. Mary had retired. They said that their businesswas very important. She rose, and prepared to receive them. Sheassembled all her attendants, fourteen or fifteen in number, in orderto receive the commissioners in a manner comporting, so far ascircumstances allowed, with her rank and station. The commissionerswere at length ushered into the apartment. They stood respectfullybefore her, with their heads uncovered. The foremost then, inlanguage as forbearing and gentle as was consistent with the natureof his message, informed her that it had been decided to carry thesentence which had been pronounced against her into effect, and thenhe requested another of the number to read the warrant for herexecution. 

[Illustration: FOTHERINGAY, IN ITS PRESENT STATE. ]

Mary listened to it calmly and patiently. Her attendants, one afteranother, were overcome by the mournful and awful solemnity of thescene, and melted into tears. Mary, however, was calm. When thereading of the warrant was ended, she said that she was sorry thather cousin Elizabeth should set the example of taking the life of asovereign queen; but for herself, she was willing to die. Life hadlong ceased to afford her any peace or happiness, and she was readyto exchange it for the prospect of immortality. She then laid herhand upon the New Testament, which was near her, of course a Catholicversion, and called God to witness that she had never plottedherself, or joined in plots with others, for the death of Elizabeth. One of the commissioners remarked that her oath being upon a Catholicversion of the Bible, they should not consider it valid. She rejoinedthat it ought to be considered the more sacred and solemn on thataccount, as that was the version which she regarded as the only onewhich was authoritative and true. 

Mary then asked the commissioners several questions, as whether herson James had not expressed any interest in her fate, and whether noforeign princes had interposed to save her. The commissionersanswered these and other inquiries, and Mary learned from theiranswers that her fate was sealed. She then asked them what time wasappointed for the execution. They replied that it was to take placeat eight o'clock the following morning. 

Mary had not expected so early an hour to be named. She said it wassudden; and she seemed agitated and distressed. She, however, soonrecovered her composure, and asked to have a Catholic priest allowedto visit her. The commissioners replied that that could not bepermitted. They, however, proposed to send the Dean of Peterboroughto visit her. A dean is the ecclesiastical functionary presiding overa cathedral church; and, of course, the Dean of Peterborough was theclergyman of the highest rank in that vicinity. He was, however, aProtestant, and Mary did not wish to see him. 

The commissioners withdrew, and left Mary with her friends, whenthere ensued one of those scenes of anguish and suffering which thosewho witness them never forget, but carry the gloomy remembrance ofthem, like a dark shadow in the soul, to the end of their days. Marywas quiet, and appeared calm. It may however, have been the calm ofhopeless and absolute despair. Her attendants were overwhelmed withagitation and grief, the expression of which they could not evenattempt to control. At last they became more composed, and Mary askedthem to kneel with her in prayer; and she prayed for some timefervently and earnestly in the midst of them. 

She then directed supper to be prepared as usual, and, until it wasready, she spent her time in dividing the money which she had on handinto separate parcels for her attendants, marking each parcel withthe name. She sat down at the table when supper was served, andthough she ate but little, she conversed as usual, in a cheerfulmanner, and with smiles. Her friends were silent and sad, strugglingcontinually to keep back their tears. At the close of the supper Marycalled for a cup of wine, and drank to the health of each one ofthem, and then asked them to drink to her. They took the cup, and, kneeling before her, complied with her request, though, as they didit, the tears would come to their eyes. Mary then told them that shewillingly forgave them for all that they had ever done to displeaseher, and she thanked them for their long-continued fidelity andlove. She also asked that they would forgive her for any thing shemight ever have done in respect to them which was inconsistent withher duty. They answered the request only with a renewal of theirtears. 

Mary spent the evening in writing two letters to her nearestrelatives in France, and in making her will. The principal object ofthese letters was to recommend her servants to the attention and careof those to whom they were addressed, after she should be gone. Shewent to bed shortly after midnight, and it is said she slept. Thiswould be incredible, if any thing were incredible in respect to theworkings of the human soul in a time of awful trial like this, whichso transcends all the ordinary conditions of its existence. 

At any rate, whether Mary slept or not, the morning soon came. Herfriends were around her as soon as she rose. She gave them minutedirections about the disposition of her body. She wished to have ittaken to France to be interred, as she had requested of Elizabeth, either at Rheims, in the same tomb with the body of her mother, orelse at St. Denis, an ancient abbey a little north of Paris, wherethe ashes of a long line of French monarchs repose. She begged herservants, if possible, not to leave her body till it should reach itsfinal home in one of these places of sepulture. 

In the mean time, arrangements had been made for the last act in thisdreadful tragedy, in the same great hall where she had been tried. They raised a platform upon the stone floor of the hall large enoughto contain those who were to take part in the closing scene. On thisplatform was a block, a cushion, and a chair. All these things, aswell as the platform itself, were covered with black cloth, giving tothe whole scene a most solemn and funereal expression. The part ofthe hall containing this scaffold was railed off from the rest. Thegovernor of the castle, and a body of guards, came in and took theirstation at the sides of the room. Two executioners, one holding theaxe, stood upon the scaffold on one side of the block. Two of thecommissioners stood upon the other side. The remaining commissionersand several gentlemen of the neighborhood took their places asspectators without the rail. The number of persons thus assembled wasabout two hundred. Strange that any one should have come in, voluntarily, to witness such a scene!

When all was ready, the sheriff, carrying his white wand of office, and attended by some of the commissioners, went for Mary. She was ather devotions, and she asked a little delay that she might concludethem: perhaps the shrinking spirit clung at the last moment to life, and wished to linger a few minutes longer before taking the finalfarewell. The request was granted. In a short time Mary signifiedthat she was ready, and they began to move toward the hall ofexecution. Her attendants were going to accompany her. The sheriffsaid this could not be allowed. She accordingly bade them farewell, and they filled the castle with the sound of their shrieks andlamentations. 

Mary went on, descending the stair-case, at the foot of which she wasjoined by one of her attendants, from whom she had been separated forsome time. His name was Sir Andrew Melville, and he was the master ofher household. The name of her secretary Melville was James. SirAndrew kneeled before her, kissed her hand, and said that this wasthe saddest hour of his life. Mary began to give him some lastcommissions and requests. "Say, " said she, "that I died firm in thefaith; that I forgive my enemies; that I feel that I have neverdisgraced Scotland, my native country, and that I have been alwaystrue to France, the land of my happiest years. Tell my son--" Hereher voice faltered and ceased to be heard, and she burst into tears. 

She struggled to regain her composure. "Tell my son, " said she, "thatI thought of him in my last moments, and that I have never yielded, either by word or deed, to any thing whatever that might lead to hisprejudice. Tell him to cherish the memory of his mother, and say thatI sincerely hope his life may be happier than mine has been. "

Mary then turned to the commissioners who stood by, and renewed herrequest that her attendants, who had just been separated from her, might come down and see her die. The commissioners objected. Theysaid that if these attendants were admitted, their anguish andlamentations would only add to her own distress, and make the wholescene more painful. Mary, however, urged the request. She said theyhad been devotedly attached to her all her days; they had shared hercaptivity, and loved and served her faithfully to the end, and it wasenough if she herself, and they, desired that they should be present. The commissioners at last yielded, and allowed her to name six, whoshould be summoned to attend her. She did so, and the six came down. 

The sad procession then proceeded to the hall. Mary was in full courtdress, and walked into the apartment with the air and composure of areigning queen. She leaned on the arm of her physician. Sir AndrewMelville followed, bearing the train of her robe. Her dress isdescribed as a gown of black silk, bordered with crimson velvet, overwhich was a satin mantle. A long veil of white crape, edged with richlace, hung down almost to the ground. Around her neck was an ivorycrucifix--that is, an image of Christ upon the cross, which theCatholics use as a memorial of our Savior's sufferings--and a rosary, which is a string of beads of peculiar arrangement, often employed bythem as an aid in their devotions. Mary meant, doubtless, by thesesymbols, to show to her enemies and to the world, that though shesubmitted to her fate without resistance, yet, so far as the contestof her life had been one of religious faith, she had no intention ofyielding. 

Mary ascended the platform and took her seat in the chair providedfor her. With the exception of stifled sobs here and there to beheard, the room was still. An officer then advanced and read thewarrant of execution, which the executioners listened to as theirauthority for doing the dreadful work which they were about toperform. The Dean of Peterborough, the Protestant ecclesiastic whomMary had refused to see, then came forward to the foot of theplatform, and most absurdly commenced an address to her, with a viewto convert her to the Protestant faith. Mary interrupted him, sayingthat she had been born and had lived a Catholic, and she was resolvedso to die; and she asked him to spare her his useless reasonings. Thedean persisted in going on. Mary turned away from him, kneeled down, and began to offer a Latin prayer. The dean soon brought hisministrations to a close, and then Mary prayed for some time, in adistinct and fervent voice, in English, the large company listeningwith breathless attention. She prayed for her own soul, and that shemight have comfort from heaven in the agony of death. She imploredGod's blessing upon France; upon Scotland; upon England; upon QueenElizabeth; and, more than all, upon her son. During this time sheheld the ivory crucifix in her hand, clasping it and raising it fromtime to time toward heaven. 

When her prayer was ended, she rose, and, with the assistance of herattendants, took off her veil, and such other parts of her dress asit was necessary to remove in order to leave the neck bare, and thenshe kneeled forward and laid her head upon the block. The agitationof the assembly became extreme. Some turned away from the scene faintand sick at heart; some looked more eagerly and intensely at thegroup upon the scaffold; some wept and sobbed aloud. The assistantexecutioner put Mary's two hands together and held them; the otherraised his axe, and, after the horrid sound of two or threesuccessive blows, the assistant held up the dissevered head, saying, "So perish all Queen Elizabeth's enemies. "

The assembly dispersed. The body was taken into an adjoiningapartment, and prepared for interment. Mary's attendants wished tohave it delivered to them, that they might comply with her dyingrequest to convey it to France; but they were told that they couldnot be allowed to do so. The body was interred with great pomp andceremony in the Cathedral at Peterborough, where it remained inpeace for many years. 

 * * * * *

Now that the deed was done, the great problem with Elizabeth was, ofcourse, to avert the consequences of the terrible displeasure andthirst for revenge which she might naturally suppose it would awakenin Scotland and in France. She succeeded very well in accomplishingthis. As soon as she heard of the execution of Mary, she expressedthe utmost surprise, grief, and indignation. She said that she had, indeed, signed the death warrant, but it was not her intention at allto have it executed; and that, when she delivered it to the officer, she charged him not to let it go out of his possession. This theofficer denied. Elizabeth insisted, and punished the officer by along imprisonment, and perpetual disgrace, for his pretended offense. She sent a messenger to James, explaining the terrible accident, asshe termed it, which had occurred, and deprecating his displeasure. James, though at first filled with indignation, and determined toavenge his mother's death, allowed himself to be appeased. 

About twenty years after this, Elizabeth died, and the great objectof Mary's ambition throughout her whole life was attained by theunion of the Scotch and English crowns on the head of her son. Assoon as Elizabeth ceased to breathe, James the Sixth of Scotland wasproclaimed James the First of England. He was at that time nearlyforty years of age. He was married, and had several young children. The circumstances of King James's journey to London, when he went totake possession of his new kingdom, are related in the History ofCharles I. , belonging to this series. Though James thus becamemonarch of both England and Scotland, it must not be supposed thatthe two _kingdoms_ were combined. They remained separate for manyyears--two independent kingdoms governed by one king. 

When James succeeded to the English throne, his mother had been deadmany years, and whatever feelings of affection may have bound hisheart to her in early life, they were now well-nigh obliterated bythe lapse of time, and by the new ties by which he was connected withhis wife and his children. As soon as he was seated on his newthrone, however, he ordered the Castle of Fotheringay, which had beenthe scene of his mother's trial and death, to be leveled with theground, and he transferred her remains to Westminster Abbey, wherethey still repose. 

[Illustration: MARY'S TOMB AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY. ]

If the lifeless dust had retained its consciousness when it was thustransferred, with what intense emotions of pride and pleasure wouldthe mother's heart have been filled, in being thus brought to herfinal home in that ancient sepulcher of the English kings, by her son, now, at last, safely established, where she had so long toiled andsuffered to instate him, in his place in the line. Ambition was thegreat, paramount, ruling principle of Mary's life. Love was, with her, an occasional, though perfectly uncontrollable impulse, which camesuddenly to interrupt her plans and divert her from her course, leaving her to get back to it again, after devious wanderings, withgreat difficulty and through many tears. The love, with theconsequences which followed from it, destroyed _her_; while theambition, recovering itself after every contest with its rival, andholding out perseveringly to the last, saved _her son_; so that, inthe long contest in which her life was spent, though she suffered allthe way, and at last sacrificed herself, she triumphed in the end. 

 THE END. 

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:

1. Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors, and toensure consistent spelling and punctuation in this etext; otherwise, every effort has been made to remain true to the original book. 

2. The sidenotes used in this text were originally published asbanners in the page headers, and have been collected at the beginningof each chapter for the reader's convenience. 

3. The original Table of Engravings referenced an illuminated titlepage from the first edition of this book; this reference has beenremoved as that page does not occur in this e-text.