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diff --git a/28283.txt b/28283.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1664aac --- /dev/null +++ b/28283.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5773 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Mary Queen of Scots, Makers of History, by Jacob Abbott + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Mary Queen of Scots, Makers of History + +Author: Jacob Abbott + +Release Date: March 9, 2009 [EBook #28283] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + 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 a +great variety of ways by a multitude of authors, and persons +sometimes wonder why we should have so many different accounts of the +same thing. The reason is, that each one of these accounts is +intended for a different set of readers, who read with ideas and +purposes widely dissimilar from each other. Among the twenty millions +of people in the United States, there are perhaps two millions, +between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five, who wish to become +acquainted, in general, with the leading events in the history of the +Old World, and of ancient times, but who, coming upon the stage in +this land and at this period, have ideas and conceptions so widely +different from those of other nations and of other times, that a +mere republication of existing accounts is not what they require. +The story must be told expressly for them. The things that are to be +explained, the points that are to be brought out, the comparative +degree of prominence to be given to the various particulars, will all +be different, on account of the difference in the situation, the +ideas, and the objects of these new readers, compared with those of +the various other classes of readers which former authors have had in +view. It is for this reason, and with this view, that the present +series of historical narratives is presented to the public. The +author, having had some opportunity to become acquainted with the +position, the ideas, and the intellectual wants of those whom he +addresses, presents the result of his labors to them, with the hope +that 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.--The +room.--Visitors.--Mary's father in the wars.--His +death.--Regency.--Catholic religion.--The Protestants.--England +and France.--The Earl of Arran.--The regency.--Arran +regent.--New plan.--End of the war.--King Henry VIII.--Janet +Sinclair.--King Henry's demands.--Objections to them.--Plans for +Mary.--Linlithgow.--Plan of the palace.--Fountain.--The lion's +den.--Explanation of the engraving.--The coronation.--Stirling +Castle.--Its situation.--Rocky hill.--The coronation scene.--Linlithgow +and Stirling.--The Highlands and the Highlanders.--Religious +disturbances.--Lake Menteith.--Mary's companions.--The four +Maries.--Angry disputes.--Change of plan.--Henry's anger.--Henry's +sickness and death.--War renewed.--Danger in Edinburgh.--Aid from +France.--New plan.--Going to France.--Dumbarton Castle.--Rock of +Dumbarton.--Journey to Dumbarton.--The four Maries.--Departure from +Scotland. + + +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 was +very unfortunate and unhappy. Every body takes a strong interest in +her story, and this interest attaches, in some degree, to the room +where her sad and sorrowful life was begun. + +The palace is near a little village called Linlithgow. The village +has but one long street, which consists of ancient stone houses. +North of it is a little lake, or rather pond: they call it, in +Scotland, a _loch_. The palace is between the village and the loch; +it is upon a beautiful swell of land which projects out into the +water. There is a very small island in the middle of the loch and the +shores are bordered with fertile fields. The palace, when entire, +was square, with an open space or court in the center. There was a +beautiful stone fountain in the center of this court, and an arched +gateway through which horsemen and carriages could ride in. The doors +of 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 in +time of war, after Mary and her mother had left it, and spent the +night there: they spread straw over the floors to sleep upon. In the +morning, when they went away, they wantonly set the straw on fire, +and left it burning, and thus the palace was destroyed. Some of the +lower floors were of stone; but all the upper floors and the roof +were burned, and all the wood-work of the rooms, and the doors and +window-frames. Since then the palace has never been repaired, but +remains a melancholy pile of ruins. + +The room where Mary was born had a stone floor. The rubbish which has +fallen from above has covered it with a sort of soil, and grass and +weeds grow up all over it. It is a very melancholy sight to see. The +visitors who go into the room walk mournfully about, trying to +imagine how Queen Mary looked, as an infant in her mother's arms, +and reflecting on the recklessness of the soldiers in wantonly +destroying so beautiful a palace. Then they go to the window, or, +rather, to the crumbling opening in the wall where the window once +was, and look out upon the loch, now so deserted and lonely; over +their 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, who +had invaded Scotland. In the battles Mary's father was defeated, and +he thought that the generals and nobles who commanded his army +allowed the English to conquer them on purpose to betray him. This +thought overwhelmed him with vexation and anguish. He pined away +under the acuteness of his sufferings, and just after the news came +to him that his daughter Mary was born, he died. Thus Mary became an +orphan, and her troubles commenced, at the very beginning of her +days. She never saw her father, and her father never saw her. Her +mother was a French lady; her name was Mary of Guise. Her own name +was Mary Stuart, but she is commonly called Mary Queen of Scots. + +As Mary was her father's only child, of course, when he died, she +became Queen of Scotland, although she was only a few days old. It +is customary, in such a case, to appoint some distinguished person to +govern the kingdom, in the name of the young queen, until she grows +up: such a person is called a _regent_. Mary's mother wished to be +the regent until Mary became of age. + +It happened that in those days, as now, the government and people of +France were of the Catholic religion. England, on the other hand, was +Protestant. There is a great difference between the Catholic and the +Protestant systems. The Catholic Church, though it extends nearly all +over the world, is banded together, as the reader is aware, under one +man--the pope--who is the great head of the Church, and who lives in +state at Rome. The Catholics have, in all countries, many large and +splendid churches, which are ornamented with paintings and images of +the Virgin Mary and of Christ. They perform great ceremonies in these +churches, the priests being dressed in magnificent costumes, and +walking 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, and +the images as idols. They themselves have smaller and plainer +churches, and call the people together in them to hear sermons, and +to 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 were +Protestants. The two parties were very much excited against each +other, and often persecuted each other with extreme cruelty. +Sometimes the Protestants would break into the Catholic churches, and +tear down and destroy the paintings and the images, and the other +symbols of worship, all which the Catholics regarded with extreme +veneration; this exasperated the Catholics, and when they became +powerful in their turn, they would seize the Protestants and imprison +them, and sometimes burn them to death, by tying them to a stake and +piling 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 of +Scotland were not willing that she should be regent. There were one +or two other persons, moreover, who claimed the office. One was a +certain nobleman called the Earl of Arran. He was a Protestant. The +Earl of Arran was the next heir to the crown, so that if Mary had +died in her infancy, he would have been king. He thought that this +was a reason why _he_ should be regent, and govern the kingdom until +Mary 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 that +Mary 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 a +Catholic, and as the Protestant interest was the strongest, it was at +length decided that Arran should be the regent, and govern the +country until Mary should be of age. + +It is a curious circumstance that Mary's birth put an end to the war +between England and Scotland, and that in a very singular way. The +King of England had been fighting against Mary's father, James, for a +long time, in order to conquer the country and annex it to England; +and now that James was dead, and Mary had become queen, with Arran +for the regent, it devolved on Arran to carry on the war. But the +King of England and his government, now that the young queen was +born, conceived of a new plan. The king had a little son, named +Edward, about four years old, who, of course, would become King of +England in his place when he should himself die. Now he thought it +would be best for him to conclude a peace with Scotland, and agree +with the Scottish government that, as soon as Mary was old enough, +she should become Edward's wife, and the two kingdoms be united in +that way. + +The name of this King of England was Henry the Eighth. He was a very +headstrong and determined man. This, his plan, might have been a very +good one; it was certainly much better than an attempt to get +possession of Scotland by fighting for it; but he was very far from +being as moderate and just as he should have been in the execution of +his design. The first thing was to ascertain whether Mary was a +strong 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 living +feebly a few years, should die, all his plans would fail. To satisfy +him on this point, they actually had some of the infant's clothes +removed in the presence of his embassador, in order that the +embassador might see that her form was perfect, and her limbs +vigorous and strong. The nurse did this with great pride and +pleasure, Mary's mother standing by. The nurse's name was Janet +Sinclair. The embassador wrote back to Henry, the King of England, +that little Mary was "as goodly a child as he ever saw." So King +Henry VIII. was confirmed in his design of having her for the wife of +his son. + +King Henry VIII. accordingly changed all his plans. He made a peace +with the Earl of Arran. He dismissed the prisoners that he had taken, +and sent them home kindly. If he had been contented with kind and +gentle measures like these, he might have succeeded in them, although +there was, of course, a strong party in Scotland opposed to them. +Mary's mother was opposed to them, for she was a Catholic and a +French lady, and she wished to have her daughter become a Catholic as +she grew up, and marry a French prince. All the Catholics in Scotland +took her side. Still Henry's plans might have been accomplished, +perhaps, if he had been moderate and conciliating in the efforts +which 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 be +taken into England, and educated there, under the care of persons +whom he should appoint. He also demanded that the Parliament of +Scotland should let him have a large share in the government of +Scotland, because he was going to be the father-in-law of the young +queen. The Parliament would not agree to either of these plans; they +were entirely unwilling to allow their little queen to be carried off +to another country, and put under the charge of so rough and rude a +man. Then they were unwilling, too, to give him any share of the +government during Mary's minority. Both these measures were entirely +inadmissible; they would, if adopted, have put both the infant Queen +of Scotland and the kingdom itself completely in the power of one who +had always been their greatest enemy. + +Henry, finding that he could not induce the Scotch government to +accede to these plans, gave them up at last, and made a treaty of +marriage between his son and Mary, with the agreement that she might +remain in Scotland until she was ten years old, and that _then_ she +should come to England and be under his care. + +All this time, while these grand negotiations were pending between +two mighty nations about her marriage, little Mary was unconscious +of it all, sometimes reposing quietly in Janet Sinclair's arms, +sometimes looking out of the windows of the Castle of Linlithgow to +see the swans swim upon the lake, and sometimes, perhaps, creeping +about upon the palace floor, where the earls and barons who came to +visit her mother, clad in armor of steel, looked upon her with pride +and pleasure. The palace where she lived was beautifully situated, as +has been before remarked, on the borders of a lake. It was arranged +somewhat 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 kept +a lion. _t.t._ Trees.] + +There was a beautiful fountain in the center of the court-yard, where +water spouted out from the mouths of carved images, and fell into +marble basins below. The ruins of this fountain and of the images +remain 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 feet +deep. They used to keep lions in such dens near the palaces and +castles in those days. A lion in a den was a sort of plaything in +former times, as a parrot or a pet lamb is now: this was in keeping +with the fierce and warlike spirit of the age. If they had a lion +there in Mary's time, Janet often, doubtless, took her little charge +out to see it, and let her throw down food to it from above. The den +is 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 the +den is level with the surface of the ground, which makes it always +dry. There is a hole, too, at the bottom, through the wall, where +they used to put the lion in. + +The foregoing plan of the buildings and grounds of Linlithgow is +drawn 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 this +western side. The church is seen at the right; and the lawn, where +Janet used to take Mary out to breathe the air, is in the +fore-ground. The shore of the lake is very near, and winds +beautifully around the margin of the promontory on which the palace +stands. Of course the lion's den, and the ancient avenue of approach +to the palace, are round upon the other side, and out of sight in +this view. The approach to the palace, at the present day, is on the +southern side, between the church and the trees on the right of the +picture. + +[Illustration: PALACE OF LINLITHGOW--Queen Mary's Birth-place.] + +Mary remained here at Linlithgow for a year or two; but when she was +about nine months old, they concluded to have the great ceremony of +the coronation performed, as she was by that time old enough to bear +the journey to Stirling Castle, where the Scottish kings and queens +were generally crowned. The coronation of a queen is an event which +always excites a very deep and universal interest among all persons in +the realm; and there is a peculiar interest felt when, as was the case +in this instance, the queen to be crowned is an infant just old enough +to bear the journey. There was a very great interest felt in Mary's +coronation. The different courts and monarchs of Europe sent +embassadors to be present at the ceremony, and to pay their respects +to the infant queen; and Stirling became, for the time being, the +center of universal attraction. + +Stirling is in the very heart of Scotland. It is a castle, built upon +a rock, or, rather, upon a rocky hill, which rises like an island out +of the midst of a vast region of beautiful and fertile country, rich +and verdant beyond description. Beyond the confines of this region of +beauty, dark mountains rise on all sides; and wherever you are, +whether riding along the roads in the plain, or climbing the +declivities of the mountains, you see Stirling Castle, from every +point, capping its rocky hill, the center and ornament of the broad +expanse of beauty which surrounds it. + +Stirling Castle is north of Linlithgow, and is distant about fifteen +or twenty miles from it. The road to it lies not far from the shores +of the Frith of Forth, a broad and beautiful sheet of water. The +castle, as has been before remarked, was on the summit of a rocky +hill. There are precipitous crags on three sides of the hill, and a +gradual approach by a long ascent on the fourth side. At the top of +this ascent you enter the great gates of the castle, crossing a +broad and deep ditch by means of a draw-bridge. You enter then a +series of paved courts, with towers and walls around them, and +finally come to the more interior edifices, where the private +apartments are situated, and where the little queen was crowned. + +It was an occasion of great pomp and ceremony, though Mary, of +course, was unconscious of the meaning of it all. She was surrounded +by barons and earls, by embassadors and princes from foreign courts, +and by the principal lords and ladies of the Scottish nobility, all +dressed in magnificent costumes. They held little Mary up, and a +cardinal, that is, a great dignitary of the Roman Catholic Church, +placed the crown upon her head. Half pleased with the glittering +show, and half frightened at the strange faces which she saw every +where around her, she gazed unconsciously upon the scene, while her +mother, who could better understand its import, was elated with pride +and joy. + +Linlithgow and Stirling are in the open and cultivated part of +Scotland. All the northern and western part of the country consists +of vast masses of mountains, with dark and somber glens among them, +which are occupied solely by shepherds and herdsmen with their +flocks and herds. This mountainous region was called the Highlands, +and the inhabitants of it were the Highlanders. They were a wild and +warlike class of men, and their country was seldom visited by either +friend or foe. At the present time there are beautiful roads all +through the Highlands, and stage-coaches and private carriages roll +over them every summer, to take tourists to see and admire the +picturesque and beautiful scenery; but in the days of Mary the whole +region was gloomy and desolate, and almost inaccessible. + +Mary remained in Linlithgow and Stirling for about two years, and +then, as the country was becoming more and more disturbed by the +struggles of the great contending parties--those who were in favor of +the Catholic religion and alliance with France on the one hand, and +of those in favor of the Protestant religion and alliance with +England on the other hand--they concluded to send her into the +Highlands for safety. + +It was not far into the country of the Highlands that they concluded +to send her, but only into the _borders_ of it. There was a small +lake on the southern margin of the wild and mountainous country, +called the Lake of Menteith. In this lake was an island named +Inchmahome, the word _inch_ being the name for island in the language +spoken by the Highlanders. This island, which was situated in a very +secluded and solitary region, was selected as Mary's place of +residence. She was about four years old when they sent her to this +place. Several persons went with her to take care of her, and to +teach her. In fact, every thing was provided for her which could +secure her improvement and happiness. Her mother did not forget that +she would need playmates, and so she selected four little girls of +about the same age with the little queen herself, and invited them to +accompany her. They were daughters of the noblemen and high officers +about the court. It is very singular that these girls were all named +Mary. 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 girls +of four or five years of age, all named Mary. + +Mary lived two years in this solitary island. She had, however, all +the comforts and conveniences of life, and enjoyed herself with her +four Maries very much. Of course she knew nothing, and thought +nothing of the schemes and plans of the great governments for having +her married, when she grew up, to the young English prince, who was +then a little boy of about her own age, nor of the angry disputes in +Scotland to which this subject gave rise. It did give rise to very +serious disputes. Mary's mother did not like the plan at all. As she +was herself a French lady and a Catholic, she did not wish to have +her daughter marry a prince who was of the English royal family, and +a Protestant. All the Catholics in Scotland took her side. At length +the Earl of Arran, who was the regent, changed to that side; and +finally the government, being thus brought over, gave notice to King +Henry VIII. that the plan must be given up, as they had concluded, on +the 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 to +make war upon the Scotch again, and compel them to consent to the +execution of the plan. He was at this time beginning to be sick, but +his sickness, instead of softening his temper, only made him the more +ferocious and cruel. He turned against his best friends. He grew +worse, and was evidently about to die; but he was so irritable and +angry that for a long time no one dared to tell him of his +approaching dissolution, and he lay restless, and wretched, and +agitated with political animosities upon his dying bed. At length +some one ventured to tell him that his end was near. When he found +that he must die, he resigned himself to his fate. He sent for an +archbishop to come and see him, but he was speechless when the +prelate came, and soon afterward expired. + +The English government, however, after his death, adhered to his plan +of compelling the Scotch to make Mary the wife of his son. They sent +an army into Scotland. A great battle was fought, and the Scotch were +defeated. 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 upon +the Scotch army from their ships, and thus assisted their troops upon +the shore. The armies had remained several days near each other +before coming to battle, and during all this time the city of +Edinburgh was in a state of great anxiety and suspense, as they +expected that their city would be attacked by the English if they +should conquer in the battle. The English army did, in fact, advance +toward Edinburgh after the battle was over, and would have got +possession of it had it not been for the castle. There is a very +strong castle in the very heart of Edinburgh, upon the summit of a +rocky hill.[A] + +[Footnote A: See the view of Edinburgh, page 179.] + +These attempts of the English to force the Scotch government to +consent to Mary's marriage only made them the more determined to +prevent it. A great many who were not opposed to it before, became +opposed to it now when they saw foreign armies in the country +destroying the towns and murdering the people. They said they had no +great objection to the match, but that they did not like the mode of +wooing. They sent to France to ask the French king to send over an +army to aid them, and promised him that if he would do so they would +agree 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 army +of six thousand men into Scotland to assist the Scotch against their +English enemies. It was arranged, also, as little Mary was now hardly +safe among all these commotions, even in her retreat in the island of +Inchmahome, to send her to France to be educated there, and to live +there until she was old enough to be married. The same ships which +brought the army from France to Scotland, were to carry Mary and her +retinue from Scotland to France. The four Maries went with her. + +They bade their lonely island farewell, and traveled south till they +came to a strong castle on a high, rocky hill, on the banks of the +River Clyde. The name of this fortress is Dumbarton Castle. Almost +all the castles of those times were built upon precipitous hills, to +increase the difficulties of the enemies in approaching them. The +Rock of Dumbarton is a very remarkable one. It stands close to the +bank of the river. There are a great many ships and steam-boats +continually passing up and down the Clyde, to and from the great city +of Glasgow, and all the passengers on board gaze with great interest, +as they sail by, on the Rock of Dumbarton, with the castle walls on +the sides, and the towers and battlements crowning the summit. In +Mary's time there was comparatively very little shipping on the +river, but the French fleet was there, waiting opposite the castle to +receive Mary and the numerous persons who were to go in her train.[B] + +[Footnote B: Travelers who visit Scotland from this country at the +present day, usually land first, at the close of the voyage across +the Atlantic, at Liverpool, and there take a Glasgow steamer. +Glasgow, which is the great commercial city of Scotland, is on the +River Clyde. This river flows northward to the sea. The steamer, in +ascending the river, makes its way with difficulty along the narrow +channel, which, besides being narrow and tortuous, is obstructed by +boats, ships, steamers, and every other variety of water-craft, such +as are always going to and fro in the neighborhood of any great +commercial emporium. + +The tourists, who stand upon the deck gazing at this exciting scene +of life and motion, have their attention strongly attracted, about +half way up the river, by this Castle of Dumbarton, which crowns a +rocky hill, rising abruptly from the water's edge, on the north side +of the stream. It attracts sometimes the more attention from American +travelers, on account of its being the first ancient castle they see. +This it likely to be the case if they proceed to Scotland immediately +on landing at Liverpool.] + +Mary was escorted from the island where she had been living, across +the country to Dumbarton Castle, with a strong retinue. She was now +between five and six years of age. She was, of course, too young to +know any thing about the contentions and wars which had distracted +her country on her account, or to feel much interest in the subject +of her approaching departure from her native land. She enjoyed the +novelty of the scenes through which she passed on her journey. She +was pleased with the dresses and the arms of the soldiers who +accompanied 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 four +Maries were to go with her. She bade her mother farewell, embarked on +board the ship which was to receive her, and sailed away from her +native 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 of +prisoners.--Barabbas.--St. Germain.--Celebrations.--The +convent.--Character of the nuns.--Interest in Mary.--Leaving +the convent.--Amusements.--Visit of Mary's mother.--Queen +dowager.--Rouen.--A happy meeting.--Rejoicings.--A last +farewell.--Visit to a mourner.--The queen dowager's return.--The +regency.--A page of honor.--Sir James Melville.--Mary's +character.--Her diligence.--Devices and mottoes.--Festivities.--Water +parties.--Hunting.--An accident.--Restraint.--Queen Catharine.--Her +character.--Embroidery.--Mary's admiration of Queen Catharine.--The +latter suspicious.--Unguarded remark.--Catharine's mortification.--The +dauphin.--Origin of the title.--Character of Francis.--Mary's +beauty.--Torch-light procession.--An angel.--Mary a Catholic.--Her +conscientiousness and fidelity. + + +The departure of Mary from Scotland, little as she was, was a great +event both for Scotland and for France. In those days kings and +queens were even of greater relative importance than they are now, +and all Scotland was interested in the young queen's going away from +them, and all France in expecting her arrival. She sailed down the +Clyde, and then passed along the seas and channels which lie between +England and Ireland. These seas, though they look small upon the map, +are really spacious and wide, and are often greatly agitated by winds +and storms. This was the case at the time Mary made her voyage. The +days and nights were tempestuous and wild, and the ships had +difficulty in keeping in each other's company. There was danger of +being blown upon the coasts, or upon the rocks or islands which lie +in the way. Mary was too young to give much heed to these dangers, +but the lords and commissioners, and the great ladies who went to +attend her, were heartily glad when the voyage was over. It ended +safely at last, after several days of tossing upon the stormy +billows, by their arrival upon the northern coast of France. They +landed at a town called Brest. + +The King of France had made great preparations for receiving the +young queen immediately upon her landing. Carriages and horses had +been provided to convey herself and the company of her attendants, by +easy journeys, to Paris. They received her with great pomp and +ceremony at every town which she passed through. One mark of respect +which they showed her was very singular. The king ordered that every +prison which she passed in her route should be thrown open, and the +prisoners set free. This fact is a striking illustration of the +different ideas which prevailed in those days, compared with those +which are entertained now, in respect to crime and punishment. Crime +is now considered as an offense against the _community_, and it would +be considered no favor to the community, but the reverse, to let +imprisoned criminals go free. In those days, on the other hand, +crimes were considered rather as injuries committed _by_ the +community, and against the king; so that, if the monarch wished to +show the community a favor, he would do it by releasing such of them +as had been imprisoned by his officers for their crimes. It was just +so in the time of our Savior, when the Jews had a custom of having +some criminal released to them once a year, at the Passover, by the +Roman government, as an act of _favor_. That is, the government was +accustomed to furnish, by way of contributing its share toward the +general festivities of the occasion, the setting of a robber and a +murderer 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, which +still stands, is about twelve miles from Paris, toward the northwest. +It is a very magnificent residence, and has been for many centuries a +favorite resort of the French kings. Many of them were born in it. +There are extensive parks and gardens connected with it, and a great +artificial forest, in which the trees were all planted and cultivated +like the trees of an orchard. Mary was received at this palace with +great pomp and parade; and many spectacles and festivities were +arranged to amuse her and the four Maries who accompanied her, and +to impress her strongly with an idea of the wealth, and power, and +splendor of the great country to which she had come. + +She remained here but a short time, and then it was arranged for her +to go to a _convent_ to be educated. Convents were in those days, as +in fact they are now, quite famous as places of education. They were +situated sometimes in large towns, and sometimes in secluded places +in the country; but, whether in town or country, the inmates of them +were shut up very strictly from all intercourse with the world. They +were under the care of nuns who had devoted themselves for life to +the service. These nuns were some of them unhappy persons, who were +weary of the sorrows and sufferings of the world, and who were glad +to retire from it to such a retreat as they fancied the convent would +be. Others became nuns from conscientious principles of duty, +thinking that they should commend themselves to the favor of God by +devoting their lives to works of benevolence and to the exercises of +religion. Of course there were all varieties of character among the +nuns; some of them were selfish and disagreeable, others were +benevolent and kind. + +At the convent where Mary was sent there were some nuns of very +excellent and amiable character, and they took a great interest in +Mary, both because she was a queen, and because she was beautiful, +and of a kind and affectionate disposition. Mary became very strongly +attached to these nuns, and began to entertain the idea of becoming a +nun herself, and spending her life with them in the convent. It +seemed pleasant to her to live there in such a peaceful seclusion, in +company with those who loved her, and whom she herself loved, but the +King of France, and the Scottish nobles who had come with her from +Scotland, would, of course, be opposed to any such plan. They +intended her to be married to the young prince, and to become one of +the great ladies of the court, and to lead a life of magnificence and +splendor. They became alarmed, therefore, when they found that she +was imbibing a taste for the life of seclusion and solitude which is +led by a nun. They decided to take her immediately away. + +Mary bade farewell to the convent and its inmates with much regret +and many tears; but, notwithstanding her reluctance, she was obliged +to submit. If she had not been a queen, she might, perhaps, have had +her own way. As it was, however, she was obliged to leave the +convent and the nuns whom she loved, and to go back to the palaces of +the king, in which she afterward continued to live, sometimes in one +and sometimes in another, for many years. Wherever she went, she was +surrounded with scenes of great gayety and splendor. They wished to +obliterate from her mind all recollections of the convent, and all +love of solitude and seclusion. They did not neglect her studies, but +they filled up the intervals of study with all possible schemes of +enjoyment and pleasure, to amuse and occupy her mind and the minds of +her companions. Her companions were her own four Maries, and the two +daughters of the French king. + +When Mary was about seven years of age, that is, after she had been +two years in France, her mother formed a plan to come from Scotland +to see her. Her mother had remained behind when Mary left Scotland, +as she had an important part to perform in public affairs, and in the +administration of the government of Scotland while Mary was away. She +wanted, however, to come and see her. France, too, was her own native +land, and all her relations and friends resided there. She wished to +see them as well as Mary, and to revisit once more the palaces and +cities where her own early life had been spent. In speaking of Mary's +mother 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 in +France was an event of great consequence, and all the arrangements +for carrying it into effect were conducted with great pomp and +ceremony. A large company attended her, with many of the Scottish +lords and ladies among them. The King of France, too, went from Paris +toward the French coast, to meet the party of visitors, taking little +Mary and a large company of attendants with him. They went to Rouen, +a large city not far from the coast, where they awaited the arrival +of Mary's mother, and where they received her with great ceremonies +of parade and rejoicing. The queen regent was very much delighted to +see her little daughter again. She had grown two years older, and had +improved greatly in every respect, and tears of joy came into her +mother's eyes as she clasped her in her arms. The two parties +journeyed in company to Paris and entered the city with great +rejoicings. The two queens, mother and daughter, were the objects of +universal interest and attention. Feasts and celebrations without end +were arranged for them, and every possible means of amusement and +rejoicing 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. This +proved to be a final farewell, for she never saw her again. + +After taking leave of her daughter, the queen dowager went, before +leaving France, to see her own mother, who was a widow, and who was +living at a considerable distance from Paris in seclusion, and in a +state of austere and melancholy grief, on account of the loss of her +husband. Instead of forgetting her sorrows, as she ought to have +done, and returning calmly and peacefully to the duties and +enjoyments of life, she had given herself up to inconsolable grief, +and was doing all she could to perpetuate the mournful influence of +her sorrows. She lived in an ancient and gloomy mansion, of vast +size, and she had hung all the apartments in black, to make it still +more desolate and gloomy, and to continue the influence of grief upon +her mind. Here the queen dowager found her, spending her time in +prayers and austerities of every kind, making herself and all her +family perfectly miserable. Many persons, at the present day, act, +under such circumstances, on the same principle and with the same +spirit, though they do not do it perhaps in precisely the same way. + +One would suppose that Mary's mother would have preferred to remain +in France with her daughter and her mother and all her family +friends, instead of going back to Scotland, where she was, as it +were, a foreigner and a stranger. The reason why she desired to go +back was that she wished to be made _queen regent_, and thus have the +government of Scotland in her own hands. She would rather be queen +regent in Scotland than a simple queen _mother_ in France. While she +was in France, she urged the king to use all his influence to have +Arran resign his regency into her hands, and finally obtained +writings from him and from Queen Mary to this effect. She then left +France and went to Scotland, going through England on the way. The +young King of England, to whom Mary had been engaged by the +government when she was an infant in Janet Sinclair's arms, renewed +his proposals to the queen dowager to let her daughter become his +wife; but she told him that it was all settled that she was to be +married to the French prince, and that it was now too late to change +the 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 upon +Mary as her page of honor. A page is an attendant above the rank of +an ordinary servant, whose business it is to wait upon his mistress, +to read to her, sometimes to convey her letters and notes, and to +carry her commands to the other attendants who are beneath him in +rank and whose business it is actually to perform the services which +the lady requires. A page _of honor_ is a young gentleman who +sustains this office in a nominal and temporary manner for a princess +or 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 thus +particularly, rather than the many other officers and attendants by +whom Mary was surrounded was, that the service which he thus +commenced was continued in various ways through the whole period of +Mary's life. We shall often hear of him in the subsequent parts of +this narrative. He followed Mary to Scotland when she returned to +that country, and became afterward her secretary, and also her +embassador on many occasions. He was now quite young, and when he +landed at Brest he traveled slowly to Paris in the care of two +Scotchmen, to whose charge he had been intrusted. He was a young man +of uncommon talents and of great accomplishments, and it was a mark +of high distinction for him to be appointed page of honor to the +queen, although he was about nineteen years of age and she was but +seven. + +After the queen regent's return to Scotland, Mary went on improving +in every respect more and more. She was diligent, industrious, and +tractable. She took a great interest in her studies. She was not only +beautiful in person, and amiable and affectionate in heart, but she +possessed a very intelligent and active mind, and she entered with a +sort of quiet but earnest enthusiasm into all the studies to which +her attention was called. She paid a great deal of attention to +music, to poetry, and to drawing. She used to invent little devices +for seals, with French and Latin mottoes, and, after drawing them +again and again with great care, until she was satisfied with the +design, she would give them to the gem-engravers to be cut upon +stone seals, so that she could seal her letters with them. These +mottoes and devices can not well be represented in English, as the +force and beauty of them depended generally upon a double meaning in +some word of French or Latin, which can not be preserved in the +translation. We shall, however, give one of these seals, which she +made just before she left France, to return to Scotland, when we come +to that period of her history. + +The King of France, and the lords and ladies who came with Mary from +Scotland, contrived a great many festivals and celebrations in the +parks, and forests, and palaces, to amuse the queen and the four +Maries 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 little +summer-houses built upon the grounds attached to the palaces. The +scenes of these festivities were in many cases made unusually joyous +and gay by bon-fires and illuminations. They had water parties on the +little lakes, and hunting parties through the parks and forests. Mary +was a very graceful and beautiful rider, and full of courage. +Sometimes she met with accidents which were attended with some +danger. Once, while hunting the stag, and riding at full speed with a +great company of ladies and gentlemen behind her and before her, her +dress got caught by the bough of a tree, and she was pulled to the +ground. The horse went on. Several other riders drove by her without +seeing her, as she had too much composure and fortitude to attract +their 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, she +mounted again, and rode on after the stag as before. + +Notwithstanding all these means of enjoyment and diversion, Mary was +subjected to a great deal of restraint. The rules of etiquette are +very precise and very strictly enforced in royal households, and they +were still more strict in those days than they are now. The king was +very ceremonious in all his arrangements, and was surrounded by a +multitude of officers who performed every thing by rule. As Mary grew +older, she was subjected to greater and greater restraint. She used +to spend a considerable portion of every day in the apartments of +Queen Catharine, the wife of the King of France and the mother of the +little Francis to whom she was to be married. Mary and Queen +Catharine did not, however, like each other very well. Catharine was +a woman of strong mind and of an imperious disposition; and it is +supposed by some that she was jealous of Mary because she was more +beautiful and accomplished and more generally beloved than her own +daughters, the princesses of France. At any rate, she treated Mary in +rather a stern and haughty manner, and it was thought that she would +finally oppose her marriage to Francis her son. + +And yet Mary was at first very much pleased with Queen Catharine, and +was accustomed to look up to her with great admiration, and to feel +for her a very sincere regard. She often went into the queen's +apartments, where they sat together and talked, or worked upon their +embroidery, which was a famous amusement for ladies of exalted rank +in those days. Mary herself at one time worked a large piece, which +she sent as a present to the nuns in the convent where she had +resided; and afterward, in Scotland, she worked a great many things, +some of which still remain, and may be seen in her ancient rooms in +the palace of Holyrood House. She learned this art by working with +Queen Catharine in her apartments. When she first became acquainted +with Catharine on these occasions, she used to love her society. She +admired her talents and her conversational powers, and she liked very +much to be in her room. She listened to all she said, watched her +movements, and endeavored in all things to follow her example. + +Catharine, however, thought that this was all a pretense, and that +Mary did not really like her, but only wished to make her believe +that she did so in order to get favor, or to accomplish some other +selfish end. One day she asked her why she seemed to prefer her +society to that of her youthful and more suitable companions. Mary +replied, in substance, "The reason was, that though with them she +might enjoy much, she could learn nothing; while she always learned +from Queen Catharine's conversation something which would be of use +to her as a guide in future life." One would have thought that this +answer would have pleased the queen, but it did not. She did not +believe that it was sincere. + +On one occasion Mary seriously offended the queen by a remark which +she made, and which was, at least, incautious. Kings and queens, and, +in fact, all great people in Europe, pride themselves very much upon +the antiquity of the line from which they have descended. Now the +family of Queen Catharine had risen to rank and distinction within a +moderate period; and though she was, as Queen of France, on the very +pinnacle of human greatness, she would naturally be vexed at any +remark which would remind her of the recentness of her elevation. Now +Mary at one time said, in conversation in the presence of Queen +Catharine, that she herself was the descendant of a hundred kings. +This was perhaps true, but it brought her into direct comparison with +Catharine in a point in which the latter was greatly her inferior, +and it vexed and mortified Catharine very much to have such a thing +said to her by such a child. + +Mary associated thus during all this time, not only with the queen +and the princesses, but also with the little prince whom she was +destined to marry. His name was Francis, but he was commonly called +the _dauphin_, which was the name by which the oldest son of the King +of France was then, and has been since designated. The origin of this +custom was this. About a hundred years before the time of which we +are speaking, a certain nobleman of high rank, who possessed estates +in an ancient province of France called Dauphiny, lost his son and +heir. He was overwhelmed with affliction at the loss, and finally +bequeathed all his estates to the king and his successors, on +condition that the oldest son should bear the title of Dauphin. The +grant was accepted, and the oldest son was accordingly so styled from +that time forward, from generation to generation. + +The dauphin, Francis, was a weak and feeble child, but he was amiable +and gentle in his manners, and Mary liked him. She met him often in +their walks and rides, and she danced with him at the balls and +parties given for her amusement. She knew that he was to be her +husband as soon as she was old enough to be married, and he knew that +she was to be his wife. It was all decided, and nothing which either +of them could say or do would have any influence on the result. +Neither of them, however, seem to have had any desire to change the +result. Mary pitied Francis on account of his feeble health, and +liked his amiable and gentle disposition; and Francis could not help +loving Mary, both on account of the traits of her character and her +personal charms. + +As Mary advanced in years, she grew very beautiful. In some of the +great processions and ceremonies, the ladies were accustomed to walk, +magnificently dressed and carrying torches in their hands. In one of +these processions Mary was moving along with the rest, through a +crowd of spectators, and the light from her torch fell upon her +features and upon her hair in such a manner as to make her appear +more beautiful than usual. A woman, standing there, pressed up nearer +to her to view her more closely, and, seeing how beautiful she was, +asked her if she was not an _angel_. In those days, however, people +believed in what is miraculous and supernatural more easily than now, +so that it was not very surprising that one should think, in such a +case, that an angel from Heaven had come down to join in the +procession. + +Mary grew up a Catholic, of course: all were Catholics around her. +The king and all the royal family were devoted to Catholic +observances. The convent, the ceremonies, the daily religious +observances enjoined upon her, the splendid churches which she +frequented, all tended in their influence to lead her mind away from +the Protestant religion which prevailed in her native land, and to +make her a Catholic: she remained so throughout her life. There is no +doubt that she was conscientious in her attachment to the forms and +to the spirit of the Roman Church. At any rate, she was faithful to +the ties which her early education imposed upon her, and this +fidelity became afterward the source of some of her heaviest +calamities and woes. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE GREAT WEDDING + +1558 + +Hastening the wedding.--Reasons for it.--Attempt to poison +Mary.--The Guises.--Catharine's jealousy.--Commissioners from +Scotland.--Preliminaries.--Stipulations.--Plan of Henry to +evade them.--Marriage settlement.--Secret papers.--Their +contents.--Ceremonies.--The betrothal.--The Louvre.--Notre +Dame.--View of the interior.--Amphitheater.--Covered gallery.--The +procession.--Mary's dress.--Appearance of Mary.--Wedding +ring.--Movement of the procession.--Largess.--Confusion.--The +choir.--Mass.--Return of the procession.--Collation.--Ball.--Evening's +entertainments.--A tournament.--Rank of the combatants.--Lances.--Rapid +evolutions.--_Tourner._--Francis's feebleness.--Mary's love for +him.--He retires to the country.--Rejoicings in Scotland.--Mons +Meg.--Large ball.--Celebration of Mary's marriage. + + +When Mary was about fifteen years of age, the King of France began to +think that it was time for her to be married. It is true that she was +still very young, but there were strong reasons for having the +marriage take place at the earliest possible period, for fear that +something might occur to prevent its consummation at all. In fact, +there were very strong parties opposed to it altogether. The whole +Protestant interest in Scotland were opposed to it, and were +continually contriving plans to defeat it. They thought that if Mary +married a French prince, who was, of course, a Catholic, she would +become wedded to the Catholic interest hopelessly and forever. This +made them feel a most bitter and determined opposition to the plan. + +In fact, so bitter and relentless were the animosities that grew out +of 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 was +discovered in time to prevent the accomplishment of his purpose. He +was tried and condemned. They made every effort to induce him to +explain the reason which led him to such an act, or, if he was +employed by others, to reveal their names; but he would reveal +nothing. He was executed for his crime, leaving mankind to conjecture +that his motive, or that of the persons who instigated him to the +deed, 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 celebrated +French family, called the family of Guise. She is often, herself, +called in history, Mary of Guise. There were other great families in +France who were very jealous of the Guises, and envious of their +influence and power. They opposed Queen Mary's marriage to the +dauphin, and were ready to do all in their power to thwart and defeat +it. Queen Catharine, too, who seemed to feel a greater and greater +degree of envy and jealousy against Mary as she saw her increasing in +grace, beauty, and influence with her advancing years, was supposed +to 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, thought +that the safest plan would be to have the marriage carried into +effect at the earliest possible period. When, therefore, Mary was +about fifteen years of age, which was in 1557, he sent to Scotland, +asking the government there to appoint some commissioners to come to +France to assent to the marriage contracts, and to witness the +ceremonies of the betrothment and the wedding. The marriage +contracts, in the case of the union of a queen of one country with a +prince of another, are documents of very high importance. It is +considered necessary not only to make very formal provision for the +personal welfare and comfort of the wife during her married life, and +during her widowhood in case of the death of her husband, but also to +settle beforehand the questions of succession which might arise out +of the marriage, and to define precisely the rights and powers both +of the husband and the wife, in the two countries to which they +respectively belong. + +The Parliament of Scotland appointed a number of commissioners, of +the highest rank and station, to proceed to France, and to act there +as the representatives of Scotland in every thing which pertained to +the marriage. They charged them to guard well the rights and powers +of Mary, to see that these rights and all the interests of Scotland +were well protected in the marriage contracts, and to secure proper +provision for the personal comfort and happiness of the queen. The +number of these commissioners was eight. Their departure from +Scotland was an event of great public importance. They were +accompanied by a large number of attendants and followers, who were +eager to be present in Paris at the marriage festivities. The whole +company arrived safely at Paris, and were received with every +possible mark of distinction and honor. + +The marriage contracts were drawn up, and executed with great +formality. King Henry made no objection to any of the stipulations +and provisions which the commissioners required, for he had a secret +plan for evading them all. Very ample provision was made for Mary +herself. She was to have a very large income. In case the dauphin +died while he was dauphin, leaving Mary a widow, she was still to +have a large income paid to her by the French government as long as +she 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 her +life was to be double what it would have been if he had died while +dauphin. Francis was, in the mean time, to share with her the +government of Scotland. If they had a son, he was to be, after their +deaths, King of France and of Scotland too. Thus the two crowns would +have been united. If, on the other hand, they had only daughters, the +oldest one was to be Queen of Scotland only, as the laws of France +did not allow a female to inherit the throne. In case they had no +children, the crown of Scotland was not to come into the French +family at all, but to descend regularly to the next Scotch heir. + +Henry was not satisfied with this entirely, for he wanted to secure +the union of the Scotch and French crowns at all events, whether Mary +had children or not; and he persuaded Mary to sign some papers with +him privately, which he thought would secure his purposes, charging +her not to let the commissioners know that she had signed them. He +thought it possible that he should never have occasion to produce +them. One of these papers conveyed the crown of Scotland to the King +of France absolutely and forever, in case Mary should die without +children. Another provided that the Scotch government should repay +him for the enormous sums he had expended upon Mary during her +residence in France, for her education, her attendants, the +celebrations and galas which he had provided for her, and all the +splendid journeys, processions, and parades. His motive in all this +expense had been to unite the crown of Scotland to that of France, +and he wished to provide that if any thing should occur to prevent +the execution of his plan, he could have all this money reimbursed to +him 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's +reception 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. There +were to be two great ceremonies connected with the occasion. The +first was the betrothment, the second was the marriage. At the +betrothment Francis and Mary were to meet in a great public hall, +and there, in the presence of a small and select assemblage of the +lords and ladies of the court, and persons of distinction connected +with the royal family, they were formally and solemnly to engage +themselves to each other. Then, in about a week afterward, they were +to be married, in the most public manner, in the great Cathedral +Church of Notre Dame. + +The ceremony of the betrothal was celebrated in the palace. The +palace then occupied by the royal family was the Louvre. It still +stands, but is no longer a royal dwelling. Another palace, more +modern in its structure, and called the Tuilleries, has since been +built, a little farther from the heart of the city, and in a more +pleasant situation. The Louvre is square, with an open court in the +center. This open court or area is very large, and is paved like the +streets. In fact, two great carriage ways pass through it, crossing +each other at right angles in the center, and passing out under great +arch-ways in the four sides of the building. There is a large hall +within the palace, and in this hall the ceremony of the betrothal +took place. Francis and Mary pledged their faith to each other with +appropriate ceremonies. Only a select circle of relations and +intimate friends were present on this occasion. The ceremony was +concluded in the evening with a ball. + +In the mean time, all Paris was busy with preparations for the +marriage. The Louvre is upon one side of the River Seine, its +principal front being toward the river, with a broad street between. +There are no buildings, but only a parapet wall on the river side of +the street, so that there is a fine view of the river and of the +bridges which cross it, from the palace windows. Nearly opposite the +Louvre is an island, covered with edifices, and connected, by means +of bridges, with either shore. The great church of Notre Dame, where +the marriage ceremony was to be performed, is upon this island. It +has two enormous square towers in front, which may be seen, rising +above all the roofs of the city, at a great distance in every +direction. Before the church is a large open area, where vast crowds +assemble on any great occasion. The interior of the church impresses +the mind with the sublimest emotions. Two rows of enormous columns +rise to a great height on either hand, supporting the lofty arches of +the roof. The floor is paved with great flat stones, and resounds +continually with the footsteps of visitors, who walk to and fro, up +and down the aisles, looking at the chapels, the monuments, the +sculptures, the paintings, and the antique and grotesque images and +carvings. Colored light streams through the stained glass of the +enormous windows, and the tones of the organ, and the voices of the +priests, chanting the service of the mass, are almost always +resounding and echoing from the vaulted roof above. + +The words _Notre Dame_ mean Our Lady, an expression by which the +Roman Catholics denote Mary, the mother of Jesus. The church of Notre +Dame had been for many centuries the vast cathedral church of Paris, +where all great ceremonies of state were performed. On this occasion +they erected a great amphitheater in the area before the church, +which would accommodate many thousands of the spectators who were to +assemble, and enable them to see the procession. The bride and +bridegroom, and their friends, were to assemble in the bishop's +palace, which was near the Cathedral, and a covered gallery was +erected, leading from this palace to the church, through which the +bridal party were to enter. They lined this gallery throughout with +purple velvet, and ornamented it in other ways, so as to make the +approach to the church through it inconceivably splendid. + +Crowds began to collect in the great amphitheater early in the +morning. The streets leading to Notre Dame were thronged. Every +window in all the lofty buildings around, and every balcony, was +full. From ten to twelve the military bands began to arrive, and the +long procession was formed, the different parties being dressed in +various picturesque costumes. The embassadors of various foreign +potentates were present, each bearing their appropriate insignia. The +legate of the pope, magnificently dressed, had an attendant bearing +before him a cross of massive gold. The bridegroom, Francis the +dauphin, followed this legate, and soon afterward came Mary, +accompanied by the king. She was dressed in white. Her robe was +embroidered with the figure of the lily, and it glittered with +diamonds and ornaments of silver. As was the custom in those days, +her dress formed a long train, which was borne by two young girls who +walked behind her. She wore a diamond necklace, with a ring of +immense value suspended from it, and upon her head was a golden +coronet, enriched with diamonds and gems of inestimable value. + +But the dress and the diamonds which Mary wore were not the chief +points of attraction to the spectators. All who were present on the +occasion agree in saying that she looked inexpressibly beautiful, and +that there was an indescribable grace and charm in all her movements +and manner, which filled all who saw her with an intoxication of +delight. She was artless and unaffected in her manners, and her +countenance, the expression of which was generally placid and calm, +was lighted up with the animation and interest of the occasion, so as +to make every body envy the dauphin the possession of so beautiful a +bride. 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 of +the wedding ring upon Mary's finger, and the pronouncing of the +nuptial benediction which was immediately to follow it. This ceremony +was to be performed by the Archbishop of Rouen, who was at that time +the greatest ecclesiastical dignitary in France. In order that as +many persons as possible might witness this, it was arranged that it +should be performed at the great door of the church, so as to be in +view of the immense throng which had assembled in the amphitheater +erected in the area, and of the multitudes which had taken their +positions at the windows and balconies, and on the house-tops around. +The procession, accordingly, having entered the church through the +covered gallery, moved along the aisles and came to the great door. +Here a royal pavilion had been erected, where the bridal party could +stand in view of the whole assembled multitude. King Henry had the +ring. He gave it to the archbishop. The archbishop placed it upon +Mary's finger, and pronounced the benediction in a loud voice. The +usual congratulations followed, and Mary greeted her husband under +the name of his majesty the King of Scotland. Then the whole mighty +crowd rent the air with shouts and acclamations. + +It was the custom in those days, on such great public occasions as +this, to scatter money among the crowd, that they might scramble for +it. This was called the king's _largess_; and the largess was +pompously proclaimed by heralds before the money was thrown. The +throwing of the money among this immense throng produced a scene of +indescribable confusion. The people precipitated themselves upon each +other in their eagerness to seize the silver and the gold. Some were +trampled under foot. Some were stripped of their hats and cloaks, or +had their clothes torn from them. Some fainted, and were borne out of +the scene with infinite difficulty and danger. At last the people +clamorously begged the officers to desist from throwing any more +money, for fear that the most serious and fatal consequences might +ensue. + +In the mean time, the bridal procession returned into the church, +and, advancing up the center between the lofty columns, they came to +a place called the choir, which is in the heart of the church, and is +inclosed by screens of carved and sculptured work. It is in the choir +that congregations assemble to be present at mass and other religious +ceremonies. Movable seats are placed here on ordinary occasions, but +at the time of this wedding the place was fitted up with great +splendor. Here mass was performed in the presence of the bridal +party. Mass is a solemn ceremony conducted by the priests, in which +they renew, or think they renew, the sacrifice of Christ, accompanied +with offerings of incense, and other acts of adoration, and the +chanting of solemn hymns of praise. + +At the close of these services the procession moved again down the +church, and, issuing forth at the great entrance, it passed around +upon a spacious platform, where it could be seen to advantage by all +the spectators. Mary was the center to which all eyes were turned. +She moved along, the very picture of grace and beauty, the two young +girls who followed her bearing her train. The procession, after +completing its circuit, returned to the church, and thence, through +the covered gallery, it moved back to the bishop's palace. Here the +company partook of a grand collation. After the collation there was a +ball, but the ladies were too much embarrassed with their magnificent +dresses to be able to dance, and at five o'clock the royal family +returned to their home. Mary and Queen Catharine went together in a +sort of palanquin, borne by men, high officers of state walking on +each side. The king and the dauphin followed on horseback, with a +large company in their train; but the streets were every where so +crowded with eager spectators that it was with extreme difficulty +that they were able to make their way. + +The palace to which the party went to spend the evening was fitted up +and illuminated in the most splendid manner, and a variety of most +curious entertainments had been contrived for the amusement of the +company. There were twelve artificial horses, made to move by +internal mechanism, and splendidly caparisoned. The children of the +company, the little princes and dukes, mounted these horses and rode +around the arena. Then came in a company of men dressed like +pilgrims, each of whom recited a poem written in honor of the +occasion. After this was an exhibition of galleys, or boats, upon a +little sea. These boats were large enough to bear up two persons. +There were two seats in each, one of which was occupied by a young +gentleman. As the boats advanced, one by one, each gentleman leaped +to the shore, or to what represented the shore, and, going among the +company, selected a lady and bore her off to his boat, and then, +seating her in the vacant chair, took his place by her side, and +continued his voyage. Francis was in one of the boats, and he, on +coming to the shore, took _Mary_ for his companion. + +The celebrations and festivities of this famous wedding continued for +fifteen days. They closed with a grand tournament. A tournament was a +very magnificent spectacle in those days. A field was inclosed, in +which kings, and princes, and knights, fully armed, and mounted on +war-horses, tilted against each other with lances and blunted swords. +Ladies of high rank were present as spectators and judges, and one +was appointed at each tournament to preside, and to distribute the +honors and rewards to those who were most successful in the contests. +The greatest possible degree of deference and honor was paid to the +ladies by all the knights on these occasions. Once, at a tournament +in London, arranged by a king of England, the knights and noblemen +rode in a long procession to the field, each led by a lady by means +of a silver chain. It was a great honor to be admitted to a share in +these contests, as none but persons of the highest rank were allowed +to take a part in them. Whenever one was to be held, invitations were +sent to all the courts of Europe, and kings, queens, and sovereign +princes 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 armor +of the antagonist at which they were aimed, but yet of such weight +that the momentum of the blow was sometimes sufficient to unhorse +him. The great object of every combatant was, accordingly, to +protect himself from this danger. He must turn his horse suddenly, +and avoid the lance of his antagonist; or he must strike it with his +own, and thus parry the blow; or if he must encounter it, he was to +brace himself firmly in his saddle, and resist its impulse with all +the strength that he could command. It required, therefore, great +strength and great dexterity to excel in a tournament. In fact, the +rapidity of the evolutions which it required gave origin to the name, +the word tournament being formed from a French word[C] which +signifies to turn. + +[Footnote C: Tourner.] + +The princes and noblemen who were present at the wedding all joined +in the tournament except the poor bridegroom, who was too weak and +feeble in body, and too timid in mind, for any such rough and warlike +exercises. Francis was very plain and unprepossessing in countenance, +and shy and awkward in his manners. His health had always been very +infirm, and though his rank was very high, as he was the heir +apparent to what was then the greatest throne in Europe, every body +thought that in all other respects he was unfit to be the husband of +such a beautiful and accomplished princess as Mary. He was timid, +shy, and anxious and unhappy in disposition. He knew that the gay and +warlike spirits around him could not look upon him with respect, and +he 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 to +encourage him, to lead him forward, to inspire him with confidence +and hope, and to make him feel his own strength and value. She was +herself of a sedate and thoughtful character, and with all her +intellectual superiority, she was characterized by that feminine +gentleness of spirit, that disposition to follow and to yield rather +than to govern, that desire to be led and to be loved rather than to +lead and be admired, which constitute the highest charm of woman. + +Francis was glad when the celebrations, tournament and all, were well +over. He set off from Paris with his young bride to one of his +country residences, where he could live, for a while, in peace and +quietness. Mary was released, in some degree, from the restraints, +and formalities, and rules of etiquette of King Henry's court, and +was, to some extent, her own mistress, though still surrounded with +many attendants, and much parade and splendor. The young couple thus +commenced the short period of their married life. They were certainly +a 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 Catholic +party there were pleased with the final consummation of the event, +and all the people, in fact, joined, more or less, in commemorating +the marriage of their queen. There is in the Castle of Edinburgh, on +a lofty platform which overlooks a broad valley, a monstrous gun, +several centuries old, which was formed of bars of iron secured by +great iron hoops. The balls which this gun carried are more than a +foot 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 great +rejoicings in Edinburgh at the time of Mary's marriage, and from some +old accounts which still remain at the castle, it appears that ten +shillings were paid to some men for moving up Mons Meg to the +embrasure of the battery, and for finding and bringing back her shot +after she was discharged; by which it appears that firing Mons Meg +was a part of the celebration by which the people of Edinburgh +honored the marriage of their queen. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +MISFORTUNES. + +1559-1561 + +Mary's love for Francis.--How to cherish the passion.--Grand +tournament.--Henry's pride.--An encounter.--The helmet.--The +vizor.--King Henry wounded.--His death.--The mournful +marriage.--The dauphin becomes king.--Catharine superseded.--Mary's +gentleness.--Coronation of Francis.--Francis's health +declines.--Superstition of the people.--Commotions in +Scotland.--Sickness of the queen regent.--Death of Mary's +mother.--Illness of Francis.--His last moments and death.--Mary a +young widow.--Embassadors from Scotland.--Mary's unwillingness to +leave France.--Mary in mourning.--She is called the White Queen.--A +device.--Mary's employments.--Her beautiful hands.--Melancholy +visit.--Mary returns to Paris.--Jealousy.--Queen Elizabeth.--Her +character.--Henry VIII.--Elizabeth's claim to the throne.--Mary's +claim.--The coat of arms.--Elizabeth offended and alarmed.--The +Catholic party.--A device.--Treaty of Edinburgh.--The +safe-conduct.--Elizabeth refuses the safe-conduct.--Mary's +speech.--Mary's true nobility of soul.--Sympathy with her.--Mary's +religious faith.--Her frankness and candor. + + +It was said in the last chapter that Mary loved her husband, infirm +and feeble as he was both in body and in mind. This love was probably +the effect, quite as much as it was the cause, of the kindness which +she showed him. As we are very apt to hate those whom we have +injured, so we almost instinctively love those who have in any way +become 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 loving +his wife, conscious that it is a pleasure which he does not now +enjoy, let him commence by making her the object of his kind +attentions and care, and love will spring up in the heart as a +consequence of the kind of action of which it is more commonly the +cause. + +About a year passed away, when at length another great celebration +took place in Paris, to honor the marriages of some other members of +King Henry's family. One of them was Francis's oldest sister. A +grand tournament was arranged on this occasion too. The place for +this 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 of +kings and nobles from all the courts of Europe were present. King +Henry, magnificently dressed, and mounted on a superb war-horse, was +a very prominent figure in all the parades of the occasion, though +the actual contests and trials of skill which took place were between +younger princes and knights, King Henry and the ladies being +generally only spectators and judges. He, however, took a part +himself on one or two occasions, and received great applause. + +At last, at the end of the third day, just as the tournament was to +be closed, King Henry was riding around the field, greatly excited +with the pride and pleasure which so magnificent a spectacle was +calculated to awaken, when he saw two lances still remaining which +had not been broken. The idea immediately seized him of making one +more exhibition of his own power and dexterity in such contests. He +took one of the lances, and, directing a high officer who was riding +near him to take the other, he challenged him to a trial of skill. +The name of this officer was Montgomery. Montgomery at first +declined, being unwilling to contend with his king. The king +insisted. 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 such +dangers. The other lords and ladies, and Francis and Queen Mary +particularly, joined in these expostulations. But Henry was +inflexible. There was no danger, and, smiling at their fears, he +commanded Montgomery to arm himself with his lance and take his +position. + +The spectators looked on in breathless silence. The two horsemen rode +toward each other, each pressing his horse forward to his utmost +speed, and as they passed, each aimed his lance at the head and +breast of the other. It was customary on such occasions to wear a +helmet, with a part called a vizor in front, which could be raised on +ordinary occasions, or let down in moments of danger like this, to +cover and protect the eyes. Of course this part of the armor was +weaker than the rest, and it happened that Montgomery's lance struck +here--was shivered--and a splinter of it penetrated the vizor and +inflicted a wound upon Henry, on the head, just over the eye. Henry's +horse went on. The spectators observed that the rider reeled and +trembled in his seat. The whole assembly were in consternation. The +excitement of pride and pleasure was every where turned into extreme +anxiety and alarm. + +They flocked about Henry's horse, and helped the king to dismount. He +said it was nothing. They took off his helmet, and found large drops +of blood issuing from the wound. They bore him to his palace. He had +the magnanimity to say that Montgomery must not be blamed for this +result, as he was himself responsible for it entirely. He lingered +eleven days, and then died. This was in July, 1559. + +One of the marriages which this unfortunate tournament had been +intended to celebrate, that of Elizabeth, the king's daughter, had +already taken place, having been performed a day or two before the +king was wounded; and it was decided, after Henry was wounded, that +the other must proceed, as there were great reasons of state against +any postponement of it. This second marriage was that of Margaret, +his sister. The ceremony in her case was performed in a silent and +private manner, at night, by torch-light, in the chapel of the +palace, while her brother was dying. The services were interrupted by +her sobs and tears. + +Notwithstanding the mental and bodily feebleness which seemed to +characterize the dauphin, Mary's husband, who now, by the death of +his father, became King of France, the event of his accession to the +throne seemed to awaken his energies, and arouse him to animation and +effort. He was sick himself, and in his bed, in a palace called the +Tournelles, when some officers of state were ushered into his +apartment, and, kneeling before him, saluted him as king. This was +the first announcement of his father's death. He sprang from his bed, +exclaiming at once that he was well. It is one of the sad +consequences of hereditary greatness and power that a son must +sometimes rejoice at the death of his father. + +It was Francis's duty to repair at once to the royal palace of the +Louvre, with Mary, who was now Queen of France as well as of +Scotland, to receive the homage of the various estates of the realm. +Catharine was, of course, now queen dowager. Mary, the child whom she +had so long looked upon with feelings of jealousy and envy was, from +this time, to take her place as queen. It was very humiliating to +Catharine to assume the position of a second and an inferior in the +presence of one whom she had so long been accustomed to direct and to +command. She yielded, however, with a good grace, though she seemed +dejected and sad. As they were leaving the Tournelles, she stopped to +let Mary go before her, saying, "Pass on, madame; it is your turn to +take precedence now." Mary went before her, but she stopped in her +turn, with a sweetness of disposition so characteristic of her, to +let Queen Catharine enter first into the carriage which awaited them +at the door. + +Francis, though only sixteen, was entitled to assume the government +himself. He went to Rheims, a town northeast of Paris, where is an +abbey, which is the ancient place of coronation for the kings of +France. Here he was crowned. He appointed his ministers, and evinced, +in his management and in his measures, more energy and decision than +it was supposed he possessed. He himself and Mary were now, together, +on the summit of earthly grandeur. They had many political troubles +and cares which can not be related here, but Mary's life was +comparatively peaceful and happy, the pleasures which she enjoyed +being greatly enhanced by the mutual affection which existed between +herself and her husband. + +Though he was small in stature, and very unprepossessing in +appearance and manners, Francis still evinced in his government a +considerable 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 feel +very unhappy. The people of many of the villages through which he +passed, being in those days very ignorant and superstitious, got a +rumor into circulation that the king's malady was such that he could +only be cured by being bathed in the blood of young children. They +imagined that he was traveling to obtain such a bath; and, wherever +he came, the people fled, mothers eagerly carrying off their children +from this impending danger. The king did not understand the _cause_ +of his being thus shunned. They concealed it from him, knowing that +it would give him pain. He knew only the _fact_, and it made him very +sad to find himself the object of this mysterious and unaccountable +aversion. + +In the mean time, while these occurrences had been taking place in +France, Mary's mother, the queen dowager of Scotland, had been made +queen regent of Scotland after her return from France; but she +experienced infinite trouble and difficulty in managing the affairs +of the country. The Protestant party became very strong, and took up +arms against her government. The English sent them aid. She, on the +other hand, with the Catholic interest to support her, defended her +power as well as she could, and called for help from France to +sustain her. And thus the country which she was so ambitious to +govern, was involved by her management in the calamities and sorrows +of civil war. + +In the midst of this contest she died. During her last sickness she +sent for some of the leaders of the Protestant party, and did all +that she could to soothe and conciliate their minds. She mourned the +calamities and sufferings which the civil war had brought upon the +country, and urged the Protestants to do all in their power, after +her death, to heal these dissensions and restore peace. She also +exhorted them to remember their obligations of loyalty and obedience +to their absent queen, and to sustain and strengthen her government +by every means in their power. She died, and after her death the war +was brought to a close by a treaty of peace, in which the French and +English governments joined with the government of Scotland to settle +the points in dispute, and immediately afterward the troops of both +these nations were withdrawn. The death of the queen regent was +supposed to have been caused by the pressure of anxiety which the +cares 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 next +December Mary was destined to meet with a much heavier affliction. +Her husband, King Francis, in addition to other complaints, had been +suffering for some time from pain and disease in the ear. One day, +when he was preparing to go out hunting, he was suddenly seized with +a fainting fit, and was soon found to be in great danger. He +continued some days very ill. He was convinced himself that he could +not 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 deeply +impressed with a sense of Mary's kindness and love. He mourned very +much his approaching separation from her. He sent for his mother, +Queen Catharine, to come to his bedside, and begged that she would +treat Mary kindly, for his sake, after he was gone. + +Mary was overwhelmed with grief at the approaching death of her +husband. She knew at once what a great change it would make in her +condition. She would lose immediately her rank and station. Queen +Catharine would again come into power, as queen regent, during the +minority of the next heir. All her friends of the family of Guise, +would be removed from office, and she herself would become a mere +guest and stranger in the land of which she had been the queen. But +nothing could arrest the progress of the disease under which her +husband was sinking. He died, leaving Mary a disconsolate widow of +seventeen. + +The historians of those days say that Queen Catharine was much +pleased at the death of Francis her son. It restored her to rank and +power. Mary was again beneath her, and in some degree subject to her +will. All Mary's friends were removed from their high stations, and +others, hostile to her family, were put into their places. Mary soon +found herself unhappy at court, and she accordingly removed to a +castle at a considerable distance from Paris to the west, near the +city of Orleans. The people of Scotland wished her to return to her +native land. Both the great parties sent embassadors to her to ask +her to return, each of them urging her to adopt such measures on her +arrival in Scotland as should favor their cause. Queen Catharine, +too, who was still jealous of Mary's influence, and of the admiration +and love which her beauty and the loveliness of her character +inspired, intimated to her that perhaps it would be better for her +now to leave France and return to her own land. + +Mary was very unwilling to go. She loved France. She knew very little +of Scotland. She was very young when she left it, and the few +recollections which she had of the country were confined to the +lonely island of Inchmahome and the Castle of Stirling. Scotland was +in a cold and inhospitable climate, accessible only through stormy +and dangerous seas, and it seemed to her that going there was going +into exile. Besides, she dreaded to undertake personally to +administer a government whose cares and anxieties had been so great +as to carry her mother to the grave. + +Mary, however, found that it was in vain for her to resist the +influences which pressed upon her the necessity of returning to her +native land. She wandered about during the spring and summer after +her husband's death, spending her time in various palaces and abbeys, +and at length she began to prepare for her return to Scotland. The +same gentleness and loveliness of character which she had exhibited +in her prosperous fortunes, shone still more conspicuously now in her +hours of sorrow. Sometimes she appeared in public, in certain +ceremonies of state. She was then dressed in mourning--in +white--according to the custom in royal families in those days, her +dark hair covered by a delicate crape veil. Her beauty, softened and +chastened by her sorrows, made a strong impression upon all who saw +her. + +She appeared so frequently, and attracted so much attention in her +white mourning, that she began to be known among the people as the +White Queen. Every body wanted to see her. They admired her beauty; +they were impressed with the romantic interest of her history; they +pitied her sorrows. She mourned her husband's death with deep and +unaffected 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 the +inscription, in Latin, _My treasure is in the ground_. The expression +is much more beautiful in the Latin than can be expressed in any +English words.[D] + +[Footnote D: Dulce meum terra tegit.] + +Mary did not, however, give herself up to sullen and idle grief, but +employed herself in various studies and pursuits, in order to soothe +and 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 her +voice and her skillful performance upon an instrument. The historians +even record a description of the fascinating effect produced by the +graceful movements of her beautiful hand. Whatever she did or said +seemed to carry with it an inexpressible charm. + +Before she set out on her return to Scotland she went to pay a visit +to her grandmother, the same lady whom her mother had gone to see in +her castle, ten years before, on her return to Scotland after her +visit to Mary. During this ten years the unhappy mourner had made no +change in respect to her symbols of grief. The apartments of her +palace were still hung with black. Her countenance wore the same +expression of austerity and woe. Her attendants were trained to pay +to her every mark of the most profound deference in all their +approaches to her. No sounds of gayety or pleasure were to be heard, +but a profound stillness and solemnity reigned continually throughout +the gloomy mansion. + +Not long before the arrangements were completed for Mary's return to +Scotland, she revisited Paris, where she was received with great +marks of attention and honor. She was now eighteen or nineteen years +of age, in the bloom of her beauty, and the monarch of a powerful +kingdom, to which she was about to return, and many of the young +princes of Europe began to aspire to the honor of her hand. Through +these and other influences, she was the object of much attention; +while, on the other hand, Queen Catharine, and the party in power at +the French court, were envious and jealous of her popularity, and did +a 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, now +nearly thirty years of age. She was in all respects extremely +different from Mary. She was a zealous Protestant, and very +suspicious and watchful in respect to Mary, on account of her +Catholic connections and faith. She was very plain in person, and +unprepossessing in manners. She was, however, intelligent and shrewd, +and was governed by calculations and policy in all that she did. The +people by whom she was surrounded admired her talents and feared her +power, but nobody loved her. She had many good qualities as a +monarch, but none considered as a woman. + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.] + +Elizabeth was somewhat envious of her cousin Mary's beauty, and of her +being such an object of interest and affection to all who knew her. +But she had a far more serious and permanent cause of alienation from +her than personal envy. It was this: Elizabeth's father, King Henry +VIII., had, in succession, several wives, and there had been a +question raised about the legality of his marriage with Elizabeth's +mother. Parliament decided at one time that this marriage was not +valid; at another time, subsequently, they decided that it was. +This difference in the two decisions was not owing so much to a +change of sentiment in the persons who voted, as to a change in the +ascendency of the parties by which the decision was controlled. If the +marriage were valid, then Elizabeth was entitled to the English crown. +If it were not valid, then she was not entitled to it: it belonged to +the next heir. Now it happened that Mary Queen of Scots was the next +heir. Her grandmother on the father's side was an English princess, +and through her Mary had a just title to the crown, if Queen +Elizabeth'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 advanced +Mary's claim to the British crown, and denied that of Elizabeth. They +made a coat of arms, in which the arms of France, and Scotland, and +England were combined, and had it engraved on Mary's silver plate. On +one great occasion, they had this symbol displayed conspicuously over +the gateway of a town where Mary was making a public entry. The +English embassador, who was present, made this, and the other acts of +the same kind, known to Elizabeth, and she was greatly incensed at +them. 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, though +personally a gentle and peaceful woman, yet in her teens, was very +formidable to Elizabeth as an opposing claimant of the crown. All the +Catholics in France and in Scotland would naturally take Mary's side. +Then, besides this, there was a large Catholic party in England, who +would be strongly disposed to favor any plan which should give them a +Catholic monarch. Elizabeth was, therefore, very justly alarmed at +such a claim on the part of her cousin. It threatened not only to +expose her to the aggressions of foreign foes, but also to internal +commotions and dangers, in her own dominions. + +The chief responsibility for bringing forward this claim must rest +undoubtedly, not on Mary herself, but on King Henry of France and the +other French princes, who first put it forward. Mary, however, +herself, was not entirely passive in the affair. She liked to +consider herself as entitled to the English crown. She had a device +for 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 held +Mary accountable for all the anxiety and alarm which this dangerous +claim occasioned her. + +At the peace which was made in Scotland between the French and +English forces and the Scotch, by the great treaty of Edinburgh which +has been already described, it was agreed that Mary should relinquish +all claim to the crown of England. This treaty was brought to France +for Mary to ratify it, but she declined. Whatever rights she might +have to the English crown, she refused to surrender them. Things +remained in this state until the time arrived for her return to her +native land, and then, fearing that perhaps Elizabeth might do +something to intercept her passage, she applied to her for a +safe-conduct; that is, a writing authorizing her to pass safely and +without hinderance through the English dominions, whether land or +sea. Queen Elizabeth returned word through her embassador in Paris, +whose name was Throckmorton, that she could not give her any such +safe-conduct, because she had refused to ratify the treaty of +Edinburgh. + +When this answer was communicated to Mary, she felt deeply wounded +by it. She sent all the attendants away, that she might express +herself to Throckmorton without reserve. She told him that it seemed +to her very hard that her cousin was disposed to prevent her return +to her native land. As to her claim upon the English crown, she said +that advancing it was not her plan, but that of her husband and his +father; and that now she could not properly renounce it, whatever its +validity might be, till she could have opportunity to return to +Scotland and consult with her government there, since it affected not +her personally alone, but the public interests of Scotland. "And +now," she continued, in substance, "I am sorry that I asked such a +favor of her. I have no need to ask it, for I am sure I have a right +to return from France to my own country without asking permission of +any one. You have often told me that the queen wished to be on +friendly terms with me, and that it was your opinion that to be +friends would be best for us both. But now I see that she is not of +your mind, but is disposed to treat me in an unkind and unfriendly +manner, while she knows that I am her equal in rank, though I do not +pretend to be her equal in abilities and experience. Well she may do +as she pleases. If my preparations were not so far advanced, perhaps +I should give up the voyage. But I am resolved to go. I hope the +winds will prove favorable, and carry me away from her shores. If +they carry me upon them, and I fall into her hands, she may make what +disposal of me she will. If I lose my life, I shall esteem it no +great loss, for it is now little else than a burden." + +How strongly this speech expresses "that mixture of melancholy and +dignity, of womanly softness and noble decision, which pervaded her +character." There is a sort of gentleness even in her anger, and a +certain indescribable womanly charm in the workings of her mind, +which cause all who read her story, while they can not but think that +Elizabeth was right, to sympathize wholly with Mary. + +Throckmorton, at one of his conversations with Mary, took occasion to +ask her respecting her religious views, as Elizabeth wished to know +how far she was fixed and committed in her attachment to the Catholic +faith. Mary said that she was born and had been brought up a +Catholic, and that she should remain so as long as she lived. She +would not interfere, she said, with her subjects adopting such form +of religion as they might prefer, but for herself she should not +change. If she should change, she said, she should justly lose the +confidence of her people; for, if they saw that she was light and +fickle on that subject, they could not rely upon her in respect to +any other. She did not profess to be able to argue, herself, the +questions of difference, but she was not wholly uninformed in respect +to 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, not +to admire the frankness and candor, the honest conscientiousness, the +courage, and, at the same time, womanly modesty and propriety which +characterize this reply. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +RETURN TO SCOTLAND. + +1561 + +Calais.--Artificial piers and breakwaters.--Throckmorton.--Elizabeth's +plans.--Throckmorton baffled.--Throckmorton's advice.--Queen Catharine's +farewell.--Escort.--Embarkation.--Spectators.--Unfortunate +accident.--Mary's farewell to France.--Her deep emotion.--Mary's first +night on board.--Her reluctance to leave France.--Fog.--One vessel +captured.--Narrow escape.--Mary's Adieu to France.--Attempts to +translate it.--Translations of Mary's Adieu to France.--Arrival at +Leith.--Palace of Holyrood.--Mary's arrival unexpected.--Mary's +reception.--Contrasts.--The cavalcade.--Serenade.--Solitary +home.--Favorable impression.--The Lord James.--Mary makes him one of +her ministers.--The mass.--Transubstantiation.--Adoration of the +host.--Protestant and Catholic worship.--Violence and persecution.--The +mass in Mary's chapel.--Scene of excitement.--Lord James.--The reformer, +John Knox.--His uncompromising character.--Knox's interview with +Mary.--His sternness subdued.--The four Maries.--Queen Elizabeth's +insincerity. + + +Mary was to sail from the port of Calais. Calais is on the northern +coast of France, opposite to Dover in England, these towns being on +opposite sides of the Straits of Dover, where the channel between +England and France is very narrow. Still, the distance is so great +that 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 other +point on the French coast. The French have had to supply the +deficiency by artificial piers and breakwaters. There are several +very capacious and excellent harbors on the English side. This may +have been one cause, among others, of the great naval superiority +which England has attained. + +When Queen Elizabeth found that Mary was going to persevere in her +intention of returning to her native land, she feared that she might, +after her arrival in Scotland, and after getting established in power +there, form a scheme for making war upon _her_ dominions, and +attempt to carry into effect her claim upon the English crown. She +wished to prevent this. Would it be prudent to intercept Mary upon +her passage? She reflected on this subject with the cautious +calculation which formed so striking a part of her character, and +felt in doubt. Her taking Mary a prisoner, and confining her a +captive in her own land, might incense Queen Catharine, who was now +regent of France, and also awaken a general resentment in Scotland, +so as to bring upon her the hostility of those two countries, and +thus, perhaps, make more mischief than the securing of Mary's person +would prevent. + +She accordingly, as a previous step, sent to Throckmorton, her +embassador in France, directing him to have an interview with Queen +Catharine, and ascertain how far she would feel disposed to take +Mary's part. Throckmorton did this. Queen Catharine gave no direct +reply. She said that both herself and the young king wished well to +Elizabeth, and to Mary too, that it was her desire that the two +queens might be on good terms with each other; that she was a friend +to them both, and should not take a part against either of them. + +This was all that Queen Elizabeth could expect, and she formed her +plans for intercepting Mary on her passage. She sent to Throckmorton, +asking him to find out, if he could, what port Queen Mary was to sail +from, and to send her word. She then gave orders to her naval +commanders to assemble as many ships as they could, and hold them in +readiness to sail into the seas between England and France, for the +purpose of _exterminating the pirates_, which she said had lately +become very numerous there. + +Throckmorton took occasion, in a conversation which he had with Mary +soon after this, to inquire from what port she intended to sail; but +she did not give him the information. She suspected his motive, and +merely said, in reply to his question, that she hoped the wind would +prove favorable for carrying her away as far as possible from the +English coast, whatever might be the point from which she should take +her departure. Throckmorton then endeavored to find out the +arrangements of the voyage by other means, but without much success. +He wrote to Elizabeth that he thought Mary would sail either from +Havre or Calais; that she would go eastward, along the shore of the +Continent, by Flanders and Holland, till she had gained a +considerable distance from the English coast, and then would sail +north along the eastern shores of the German Ocean. He advised that +Elizabeth should send spies to Calais and to Havre, and perhaps to +other French ports, to watch there, and to let her know whenever they +observed any appearances of preparations for Mary's departure. + +In the mean time, as the hour for Mary's farewell to Paris and all +its scenes of luxury and splendor, drew near, those who had loved her +were drawn more closely to her in heart than ever, and those who had +been envious and jealous began to relent, and to look upon her with +feelings of compassion and of kind regard. Queen Catharine treated +her with extreme kindness during the last few days of her stay, and +she accompanied her for some distance on her journey, with every +manifestation of sincere affection and good will. She stopped, at +length, at St. Germain, and there, with many tears, she bade her +gentle daughter-in-law a long and last farewell. + +Many princes and nobles, especially of the family of Guise, Mary's +relatives, accompanied her through the whole journey. They formed +quite a long cavalcade, and attracted great attention in all the +towns and districts through which they passed. They traveled slowly, +but at length arrived at Calais, where they waited nearly a week to +complete the arrangements for Mary's embarkation. At length the day +arrived for her to set sail. A large concourse of spectators +assembled to witness the scene. Four ships had been provided for the +transportation of the party and their effects. Two of these were +galleys. They were provided with banks of oars, and large crews of +rowers, by means of which the vessels could be propelled when the +wind failed. The two other vessels were merely vessels of burden, to +carry the furniture and other effects of the passengers. + +Many of the queen's friends were to accompany her to Scotland. The +four Maries were among them. She bade those that were to remain +behind farewell, and prepared to embark on board the royal galley. +Her heart was very sad. Just at this time, a vessel which was coming +in struck against the pier, in consequence of a heavy sea which was +rolling in, and of the distraction of the seamen occasioned by Mary's +embarkation. The vessel which struck was so injured by the concussion +that it filled immediately and sank. Most of the seamen on board +were drowned. This accident produced great excitement and confusion. +Mary looked upon the scene from the deck of her vessel, which was now +slowly moving from the shore. It alarmed her, and impressed her mind +with a sad and mournful sense of the dangers of the elements to whose +mercy she was now to be committed for many days. "What an unhappy +omen is this!" she exclaimed. She then went to the stern of the ship, +looked back at the shore, then knelt down, and, covering her face +with her hands, sobbed aloud. "Farewell, France!" she exclaimed: "I +shall never, never see thee more." Presently, when her emotions for a +moment subsided, she would raise her eyes, and take another view of +the slowly-receding shore, and then exclaim again, "Farewell, my +beloved 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. She +then rose, saying that her beloved country was gone from her sight +forever. "The darkness, like a thick veil, hides thee from my sight, +and I shall see thee no more. So farewell, beloved land! farewell +forever!" She left her place at the stern, but she would not leave +the 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 at +least to take some supper; but she would not. She lay down upon her +bed. She charged the helmsman to awaken her at the dawn, if the land +was in sight when the dawn should appear. She then wept herself to +sleep. + +During the night the air was calm, and the vessels in which Mary and +her company had embarked made such small progress, being worked only +by the oars, that the land came into view again with the gray light +of the morning. The helmsman awoke Mary, and the sight of the shore +renewed her anguish and tears. She said that she _could not_ go. She +wished that Elizabeth's ships would come in sight, so as to compel +her squadron to return. But no English fleet appeared. On the +contrary, the breeze freshened. The sailors unfurled the sails, the +oars were taken in, and the great crew of oarsmen rested from their +toil. The ships began to make their way rapidly through the rippling +water. The land soon became a faint, low cloud in the horizon, and in +an hour all traces of it entirely disappeared. + +The voyage continued for ten days. They saw nothing of Elizabeth's +cruisers. It was afterward ascertained, however, that these ships +were at one time very near to them, and were only prevented from +seeing and taking them by a dense fog, which at that time happened to +cover the sea. One of the vessels of burden was seen and taken, and +carried to England. It contained, however, only some of Mary's +furniture and effects. She herself escaped the danger. + +The fog, which was thus Mary's protection at one time, was a source +of great difficulty and danger at another; for, when they were +drawing near to the place of their landing in Scotland, they were +enveloped in a fog so dense that they could scarcely see from one end +of the vessel to the other. They stopped the progress of their +vessels, and kept continually sounding; and when at length the fog +cleared away, they found themselves involved in a labyrinth of rocks +and shoals of the most dangerous character. They made their escape at +last, and went on safely toward the land. Mary said, however, that +she felt, at the time, entirely indifferent as to the result. She was +so disconsolate and wretched at having parted forever from all that +was dear to her, that it seemed to her that she was equally willing +to live or to die. + +Mary, who, among her other accomplishments, had a great deal of +poetic talent, wrote some lines, called her Farewell to France, which +have 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 dejoint mes amours, + N'a cy de moi que la moitie; + Une parte te reste; elle est tienne; + Je la fie a ton amitie, + Pour que de l'autre il te souvienne. + +Many persons have attempted to translate these lines into English +verse; but it is always extremely difficult to translate poetry from +one language to another. We give here two of the best of these +translations. The reader can judge, by observing how different they +are from each other, how different they must both be from their +common 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 at +Leith. 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 of +Holyrood. It was, and is still, a large square building, with an open +court in the center, into which there is access for carriages through +a large arched passage-way in the center of the principal front of +the building. In the rear, but connected with the palace, there was a +chapel in Mary's day, though it is now in ruins. The walls still +remain, but the roof is gone. The people of Scotland were not +expecting Mary so soon. Information was communicated from country to +country, in those days, slowly and with great difficulty. Perhaps the +time of Mary's departure from France was purposely concealed even +from the Scotch, to avoid all possibility that the knowledge of it +should get into Elizabeth's possession. + +At any rate, the first intelligence which the inhabitants of +Edinburgh and the vicinity had of the arrival of their queen, was the +approach of the galleys to the shore, and the firing of a royal +salute from their guns. The Palace of Holyrood was not ready for +Mary's reception, and she had to remain a day at Leith, awaiting the +necessary preparations. In the mean time, the whole population began +to assemble to welcome her arrival. Military bands were turned out; +banners were prepared; civil and military officers in full costume +assembled, and bon-fires and illuminations were provided for the +evening and night. In a word, Mary's subjects in Scotland did all in +their power to do honor to the occasion; but the preparations were so +far beneath the pomp and pageantry which she had been accustomed to +in France, that she felt the contrast very keenly, and realized, more +forcibly than ever, how great was the change which the circumstances +of her life were undergoing. + +[Illustration: PALACE OF HOLYROOD. With Salisbury Crags and Arthur's +Seat in the Distance.] + +Horses were prepared for Mary and her large company of attendants, to +ride from Leith to Edinburgh. The long cavalcade moved toward evening. +The various professions and trades of Edinburgh were drawn up in lines +on each side of the road, and thousands upon thousands of other +spectators assembled to witness the scene. When she reached the Palace +of Holyrood House, a band of music played for a time under her +windows, and then the great throng quietly dispersed, leaving Mary to +her repose. The adjoining engraving represents the Palace of Holyrood +as it now appears. In Mary's day, the northern part only had been +built--that is, the part on the left, in the view, where the ivy +climbs about the windows--and the range extending back to the royal +chapel, the ruins of which are seen in the rear.[E] Mary took up her +abode in this dwelling, and was glad to rest from the fatigues and +privations of her long voyage; but she found her new home a solitary +and gloomy dwelling, compared with the magnificent palaces of the land +she had left. + +[Footnote E: For the situation of this palace in respect to Edinburgh +see the view of Edinburgh, page 179.] + +Mary made an extremely favorable impression upon her subjects in +Scotland. To please them, she exchanged the white mourning of France, +from which she had taken the name of the White Queen, for a black +dress, more accordant with the ideas and customs of her native land. +This gave her a more sedate and matronly character, and though the +expression 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 and +unaffected, charmed all who saw her. + +Mary had a half brother in Scotland, whose title was at this time the +Lord James. He was afterward named the Earl of Murray, and is +commonly known in history under this latter designation. The mother +of Lord James was not legally married to Mary's father, and +consequently he could not inherit any of his father's rights to the +Scottish crown. The Lord James was, however, a man of very high rank +and influence, and Mary immediately received him into her service, +and made him one of her highest ministers of state. He was now about +thirty years of age, prudent, cautious, and wise, of good person and +manners, 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 first +Sunday after the landing, a very serious difficulty threatened to +occur. The Catholics have a certain celebration, called the mass, to +which they attach a very serious and solemn importance. When our +Savior gave the bread and the wine to his disciples at the Last +Supper he said of it, "This is my body, broken for you," and "This is +my blood, shed for you." The Catholics understand that these words +denote that the bread and wine did at that time, and that they do +now, whenever the communion service is celebrated by a priest duly +authorized, become, by a sort of miraculous transformation, the true +body and blood of Christ, and that the priest, in breaking the one +and pouring out the other, is really and truly renewing the great +sacrifice for sin made by Jesus Christ at his crucifixion. The mass, +therefore, in which the bread and the wine are so broken and poured +out, becomes, in their view, not a mere service of prayer and praise +to God, but a solemn _act_ of sacrifice. The spectators, or +assistants, as they call them, meaning all who are present on the +occasion, stand by, not merely to hear words of adoration, in which +they mentally join, as is the case in most Protestant forms of +worship, but to witness the _enactment of a deed_, and one of great +binding force and validity: a real and true sacrifice of Christ, made +anew, as an atonement for their sins. The bread, when consecrated, +and as they suppose, transmuted to the body of Christ, is held up to +view, or carried in a procession around the church, that all present +may bow before it and adore it as really being, though in the form of +bread, the wounded and broken body of the Lord. + +Of course the celebration of the mass is invested, in the minds of +all conscientious Catholics, with the utmost solemnity and +importance. They stand silently by, with the deepest feelings of +reverence and awe, while the priest offers up for them, anew, the +great sacrifice for sin. They regard all Protestant worship, which +consists of mere exhortations to duty, hymns and prayers, as lifeless +and void. That which is to them the soul, the essence, and substance +of the whole, is wanting. On the other hand, the Protestants abhor +the sacrifice of the mass as gross superstition. They think that the +bread remains simply bread after the benediction as much as before; +that for the priests to pretend that in breaking it they renew the +sacrifice of Christ, is imposture; and that to bow before it in +adoration and homage is the worst idolatry. + +Now it happened that during Mary's absence in France, the contest +between the Catholics and the Protestants had been going fiercely +on, and the result had been the almost complete defeat of the +Catholic party, and the establishment of the Protestant interest +throughout the realm. A great many deeds of violence accompanied this +change. Churches and abbeys were sometimes sacked and destroyed. The +images of saints, which the Catholics had put up, were pulled down +and broken; and the people were sometimes worked up to phrensy +against the principles of the Catholic faith and Catholic +observances. They abhorred the mass, and were determined that it +should not be introduced again into Scotland. + +Queen Mary, knowing this state of things determined, on her arrival +in Scotland, not to interfere with her people in the exercise of +their religion; but she resolved to remain a Catholic herself, and to +continue, for the use of her own household, in the royal chapel at +Holyrood, the same Catholic observances to which she had been +accustomed in France. She accordingly gave orders that mass should be +celebrated in her chapel on the first Sunday after her arrival. She +was very willing to abstain from interfering with the religious +usages of her subjects, but she was not willing to give up her own. + +The friends of the Reformation had a meeting, and resolved that mass +should _not_ be celebrated. There was, however, no way of preventing +it but by intimidation or violence. When Sunday came, crowds began to +assemble about the palace and the chapel,[F] and to fill all the +avenues leading to them. The Catholic families who were going to +attend the service were treated rudely as they passed. The priests +they threatened with death. One, who carried a candle which was to be +used in the ceremonies, was extremely terrified at their threats and +imprecations. The excitement was very great, and would probably have +proceeded to violent extremities, had it not been for Lord James's +energy and courage. He was a Protestant, but he took his station at +the door of the chapel, and, without saying or doing any thing to +irritate the crowd without, he kept them at bay, while the service +proceeded. It went on to the close, though greatly interrupted by the +confusion and uproar. Many of the French people who came with Mary +were so terrified by this scene, that they declared they would not +stay in such a country, and took the first opportunity of returning +to France. + +[Footnote F: The ruins of the royal chapel are to be seen in the rear +of the palace in the view on page 114.] + +One of the most powerful and influential of the leaders of the +Protestant party at this time was the celebrated John Knox. He was a +man of great powers of mind and of commanding eloquence; and he had +exerted a vast influence in arousing the people of Scotland to a +feeling of strong abhorrence of what they considered the abominations +of popery. When Queen Mary of England was upon the throne, Knox had +written a book against her, and against queens in general, women +having, according to his views, no right to govern. Knox was a man of +the most stern and uncompromising character, who feared nothing, +respected nothing, and submitted to no restraints in the blunt and +plain discharge of what he considered his duty. Mary dreaded his +influence and power. + +Knox had an interview with Mary not long after her arrival, and it is +one of the most striking instances of the strange ascendency which +Mary's extraordinary beauty and grace, and the pensive charm of her +demeanor, exercised over all that came within her influence, that +even John Knox, whom nothing else could soften or subdue, found his +rough and indomitable energy half forsaking him in the presence of +his gentle queen. She expostulated with him. He half apologized. +Nothing had ever drawn the least semblance of an apology from him +before. He told her that his book was aimed solely against Queen Mary +of England, and not against her; that she had no cause to fear its +influence; that, in respect to the freedom with which he had advanced +his opinions and theories on the subjects of government and religion, +she need not be alarmed, for philosophers had always done this in +every age, and yet had lived good citizens of the state, whose +institutions they had, nevertheless, in some sense theoretically +condemned. He told her, moreover, that he had no intention of +troubling her reign; that she might be sure of this, since, if he had +such a desire, he should have commenced his measures during her +absence, and not have postponed them until her position on the throne +was strengthened by her return. Thus he tried to soothe her fears, +and to justify himself from the suspicion of having designed any +injury to such a gentle and helpless queen. The interview was a very +extraordinary spectacle. It was that of a lion laying aside his +majestic sternness and strength to dispel the fears and quiet the +apprehensions of a dove. The interview was, however, after all, +painful and distressing to Mary. Some things which the stern reformer +felt it his duty to say to her, brought tears into her eyes. + +Mary soon became settled in her new home, though many circumstances +in her situation were well calculated to disquiet and disturb her. +She lived in the palace at Holyrood. The four Maries continued with +her for a time, and then two of them were married to nobles of high +rank. Queen Elizabeth sent Mary a kind message, congratulating her on +her safe arrival in Scotland, and assuring her that the story of her +having attempted to intercept her was false. Mary, who had no means +of 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 and +decision.--Her popularity.--Story of Chatelard.--His love and +infatuation.--Trial of Chatelard.--His execution and last +words.--Mary and Elizabeth.--The English succession.--Claim of +Lady Lennox.--Lord Darnley.--Offers of marriage.--Duplicity of +Elizabeth.--Melville sent as embassador to Elizabeth.--His +reception.--Conversation of Melville and Elizabeth.--Dudley, earl +of Leicester.--The "long" lad.--Lord Darnley.--Elizabeth's +management.--Darnley's visit to Scotland.--Mary's message to +Elizabeth.--Elizabeth's duplicity.--Wemys Castle.--Mary's opinion +of Darnley.--His interview with her.--The courtship.--Elizabeth in +a rage.--Murray's opposition.--Mary hastens the marriage.--A +dangerous plot.--Mary's narrow escape.--The marriage.--The mourner +and the bride.--Darnley's contemptible character.--Darnley's +imperiousness and pride.--Mary's cares.--Rebellion.--Elizabeth's +treatment of the rebels.--Mary's generous conduct to Darnley.--The +double throne.--Darnley's cruel ingratitude. + + +During the three or four years which elapsed after Queen Mary's +arrival in Scotland, she had to pass through many stormy scenes of +anxiety and trouble. The great nobles of the land were continually +quarreling, and all parties were earnest and eager in their efforts +to get Mary's influence and power on their side. She had a great deal +of trouble with the affairs of her brother, the Lord James. He wished +to have the earldom of Murray conferred upon him. The castle and +estates pertaining to this title were in the north of Scotland, in +the neighborhood of Inverness. They were in possession of another +family, who refused to give them up. Mary accompanied Lord James to +the north with an army, to put him in possession. They took the +castle, and hung the governor, who had refused to surrender at their +summons. This, and some other acts of this expedition, have since +been considered unjust and cruel; but posterity have been divided in +opinion on the question how far Mary herself was personally +responsible for them. + +Mary, at any rate, displayed a great degree of decision and energy in +her management of public affairs, and in the personal exploits which +she performed. She made excursions from castle to castle, and from +town to town, all over Scotland. On these expeditions she traveled on +horseback, sometimes with a royal escort, and sometimes at the head +of an army of eighteen or twenty thousand men. These royal progresses +were made sometimes among the great towns and cities on the eastern +coast of Scotland, and also, at other times, among the gloomy and +dangerous defiles of the Highlands. Occasionally she would pay visits +to the nobles at their castles, to hunt in their parks, to review +their Highland retainers, or to join them in celebrations and fetes, +and military parades. + +During all this time, her personal influence and ascendency over all +who knew her was constantly increasing; and the people of Scotland, +notwithstanding the disagreement on the subject of religion, became +more and more devoted to their queen. The attachment which those who +were in immediate attendance upon her felt to her person and +character, was in many cases extreme. In one instance, this +attachment led to a very sad result. There was a young Frenchman, +named Chatelard, who came in Mary's train from France. He was a +scholar and a poet. He began by writing verses in Mary's praise, +which Mary read, and seemed to be pleased with. This increased his +interest in her, and led him to imagine that he was himself the +object of her kind regard. Finally, the love which he felt for her +came to be a perfect infatuation. He concealed himself one night in +Mary's bed-chamber, armed, as if to resist any attack which the +attendants might make upon him. He was discovered by the female +attendants, and taken away, and they, for fear of alarming Mary, did +not tell her of the circumstance till the next morning. + +Mary was very much displeased, or, at least, professed to be so. John +Knox thought that this displeasure was only a pretense. She, however, +forbid Chatelard to come any more into her sight. A day or two after +this, Mary set out on a journey to the north. Chatelard followed. He +either believed that Mary really loved him, or else he was led on by +that strange and incontrollable infatuation which so often, in such +cases, renders even the wisest men utterly reckless and blind to the +consequences of what they say or do. He watched his opportunity, and +one night, when Mary retired to her bed-room, he followed her +directly in. Mary called for help. The attendants came in, and +immediately sent for the Earl of Murray, who was in the palace. +Chatelard protested that all he wanted was to explain and apologize +for his coming into Mary's room before, and to ask her to forgive +him. Mary, however, would not listen. She was very much incensed. +When Murray came in, she directed him to run his dagger through the +man. Murray, however, instead of doing this, had the offender seized +and sent to prison. In a few days he was tried, and condemned to be +beheaded. The excitement and enthusiasm of his love continued to the +last. He stood firm and undaunted on the scaffold, and, just before +he laid his head on the block, he turned toward the place where Mary +was then lodging, and said, "Farewell! loveliest and most cruel +princess that the world contains!" + +In the mean time, Mary and Queen Elizabeth continued ostensibly on +good terms. They sent embassadors to each other's courts. They +communicated letters and messages to each other, and entered into +various negotiations respecting the affairs of their respective +kingdoms. The truth was, each was afraid of the other, and neither +dared to come to an open rupture. Elizabeth was uneasy on account of +Mary's claim to her crown, and was very anxious to avoid driving her +to extremities, since she knew that, in that case, there would be +great danger of her attempting openly to enforce it. Mary, on the +other hand, thought that there was more probability of her obtaining +the succession to the English crown by keeping peace with Elizabeth +than by a quarrel. Elizabeth was not married, and was likely to live +and die single. Mary would then be the next heir, without much +question. She wished Elizabeth to acknowledge this, and to have the +English 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 wished +to reserve the right to herself of marrying if she chose. She also +wished to keep Mary dependent upon her as long as she could. Hence, +while she would not absolutely refuse to comply with Mary's +proposition, she would not really accede to it, but kept the whole +matter in suspense by endless procrastination, difficulties, and +delays. + +I have said that, after Elizabeth, Mary's claim to the British crown +was almost unquestioned. There was another lady about as nearly +related to the English royal line as Mary. Her name was Margaret +Stuart. Her title was Lady Lennox. She had a son named Henry Stuart, +whose title was Lord Darnley. It was a question whether Mary or +Margaret were best entitled to consider herself the heir to the +British crown after Elizabeth. Mary, therefore, had two obstacles in +the way of the accomplishment of her wishes to be Queen of England: +one was the claim of Elizabeth, who was already in possession of the +throne, and the other the claims of Lady Lennox, and, after her, of +her son Darnley. There was a plan of disposing of this last +difficulty in a very simple manner. It was, to have Mary marry Lord +Darnley, and thus unite these two claims. This plan had been +proposed, but there had been no decision in respect to it. There was +one objection: that Darnley being Mary's cousin, their marriage was +forbidden by the laws of the Catholic Church. There was no way of +obviating this difficulty but by applying to the pope to grant them a +special dispensation. + +In the mean time, a great many other plans were formed for Mary's +marriage. Several of the princes and potentates of Europe applied for +her hand. They were allured somewhat, no doubt, by her youth and +beauty, and still more, very probably, by the desire to annex her +kingdom to their dominions. Mary, wishing to please Elizabeth, +communicated often with her, to ask her advice and counsel in regard +to her marriage. Elizabeth's policy was to embarrass and perplex the +whole subject by making difficulties in respect to every plan +proposed. Finally, she recommended a gentleman of her own court to +Mary--Robert Dudley, whom she afterward made Earl of Leicester--one +of her special favorites. The position of Dudley, and the +circumstances of the case, were such that mankind have generally +supposed that Elizabeth did not seriously imagine that such a plan +could be adopted, but that she proposed it, as perverse and +intriguing people often do, as a means of increasing the difficulty. +Such minds often attempt to prevent doing what _can_ be done by +proposing 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 Queen +Elizabeth, to ascertain more perfectly her views. Melville had +followed Mary to Scotland, and had entered her service there as a +confidential secretary; and as she had great confidence in his +prudence and in his fidelity, she thought him the most suitable +person to undertake this mission. Melville afterward lived to an +advanced age, and in the latter part of his life he wrote a narrative +of his various adventures, and recorded, in quaint and ancient +language, many of his conversations and interviews with the two +queens. His mission to England was of course a very important event +in his life, and one of the most curious and entertaining passages in +his memoirs is his narrative of his interviews with the English +queen. He was, at the time, about thirty-four years of age. Mary was +about twenty-two. + +Sir James Melville was received with many marks of attention and +honor by Queen Elizabeth. His first interview with her was in a +garden near the palace. She first asked him about a letter which Mary +had recently written to her, and which, she said, had greatly +displeased her; and she took out a reply from her pocket, written in +very sharp and severe language, though she said she had not sent it +because it was not severe enough, and she was going to write another. +Melville asked to see the letter from Mary which had given Elizabeth +so much offense; and on reading it, he explained it, and disavowed, +on Mary's part, any intention to give offense, and thus finally +succeeded in appeasing Elizabeth's displeasure, and at length induced +her to tear up her angry reply. + +Elizabeth then wanted to know what Mary thought of her proposal of +Dudley for her husband. Melville told her that she had not given the +subject much reflection, but that she was going to appoint two +commissioners, and she wished Elizabeth to appoint two others, and +then that the four should meet on the borders of the two countries, +and consider the whole subject of the marriage. Elizabeth said that +she 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 him +herself were it not that she was fully resolved to live and die a +single woman. She said she wished very much to have Dudley become +Mary's husband both on account of her attachment to him, and also on +account of his attachment to her, which she was sure would prevent +his allowing her, that is, Elizabeth, to have any trouble out of +Mary's claim to her crown as long as she lived. + +Elizabeth also asked Melville to wait in Westminster until the day +appointed for making Dudley an earl. This was done, a short time +afterward, with great ceremony. Lord Darnley, then a very tall and +slender youth of about nineteen, was present on the occasion. His +father and mother had been banished from Scotland, on account of some +political offenses, twenty years before, and he had thus himself been +brought up in England. As he was a near relative of the queen, and a +sort of heir-presumptive to the crown, he had a high position at the +court, and his office was, on this occasion, to bear the sword of +honor before the queen. Dudley kneeled before Elizabeth while she put +upon him the badges of his new dignity. Afterward she asked Melville +what he thought of him. Melville was polite enough to speak warmly in +his favor. "And yet," said the queen, "I suppose you prefer yonder +_long_ lad," pointing to Darnley. She knew something of Mary's +half-formed design of making Darnley her husband. Melville, who did +not wish her to suppose that Mary had any serious intention of +choosing Darnley, said that "no woman of spirit would choose such a +person as he was, for he was handsome, beardless, and lady-faced; in +fact, he looked more like a woman than a man." + +Melville was not very honest in this, for he had secret instructions +at this very time to apply to Lady Lennox, Darnley's mother, to send +her son into Scotland, in order that Mary might see him, and be +assisted to decide the question of becoming his wife, by ascertaining +how she was going to like him personally. Queen Elizabeth, in the +mean time, pressed upon Melville the importance of Mary's deciding +soon in favor of the marriage with Leicester. As to declaring in +favor of Mary's right to inherit the crown after her, she said the +question was in the hands of the great lawyers and commissioners to +whom she had referred it, and that she heartily wished that they +might come to a conclusion in favor of Mary's claim. She should urge +the business forward as fast as she could; but the result would +depend very much upon the disposition which Mary showed to comply +with her wishes in respect to the marriage. She said she should +never marry herself unless she was compelled to it on account of +Mary's giving her trouble by her claims upon the crown, and forcing +her to desire that it should go to her direct descendants. If Mary +would act wisely, and as she ought, and follow _her_ counsel, she +would, in due time, have all her desire. + +Some time more elapsed in negotiations and delays. There was a good +deal of trouble in getting leave for Darnley to go to Scotland. From +his position, and from the state of the laws and customs of the two +realms, he could not go without Elizabeth's permission. Finally, Mary +sent word to Elizabeth that she would marry Leicester according to +her wish, if she would have her claim to the English crown, _after_ +Elizabeth, acknowledged and established by the English government, so +as to have that question definitely and finally settled. Elizabeth +sent back for answer to this proposal, that if Mary married +Leicester, she would advance him to great honors and dignities, but +that she could not do any thing at present about the succession. She +also, at the same time, gave permission to Darnley to go to Scotland. + +It is thought that Elizabeth never seriously intended that Mary +should marry Leicester, and that she did not suppose Mary herself +would consent to it on any terms. Accordingly, when she found Mary +was acceding to the plan, she wanted to retreat from it herself, and +hoped that Darnley's going to Scotland, and appearing there as a new +competitor in the field, would tend to complicate and embarrass the +question in Mary's mind, and help to prevent the Leicester +negotiation from going any further. At any rate, Lord Darnley--then a +very tall and handsome young man of nineteen--obtained suddenly +permission to go to Scotland. Mary went to Wemys Castle, and made +arrangements to have Darnley come and visit her there. + +[Illustration: WEMY'S CASTLE--The Scene of Mary's first Interview +with Darnley.] + +Wemys Castle is situated in a most romantic and beautiful spot on the +sea-shore, on the northern side of the Frith of Forth. Edinburgh is +upon the southern side of the Frith, and is in full view from the +windows of the castle, with Salisbury Crags and Arthur's Seat on the +left of the city. Wemys Castle was, at this time, the residence of +Murray, Mary's brother. Mary's visit to it was an event which +attracted a great deal of attention. The people flocked into the +neighborhood and provisions and accommodations of every kind rose +enormously in price. Every one was eager to get a glimpse of the +beautiful queen. Besides, they knew that Lord Darnley was expected, +and the rumor that he was seriously thought of as her future husband +had been widely circulated, and had awakened, of course, a universal +desire to see him. + +Mary was very much pleased with Darnley. She told Melville, after +their first interview, that he was the handsomest and best +proportioned "long man" she had ever seen. Darnley was, in fact, very +tall, and as he was straight and slender, he appeared even taller +than he really was. He was, however, though young, very easy and +graceful in his manners, and highly accomplished. Mary was very much +pleased with him. She had almost decided to make him her husband +before she saw him, merely from political considerations, on account +of her wish to combine his claim with hers in respect to the English +crown. Elizabeth's final answer, refusing the terms on which Mary had +consented to marry Leicester, which came about this time, vexed her, +and determined her to abandon that plan. And now, just in such a +crisis, to find Darnley possessed of such strong personal +attractions, seemed to decide the question. In a few days her +imagination was full of pictures of joy and pleasure, in +anticipations of union with such a husband. + +The thing took the usual course of such affairs. Darnley asked Mary +to 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 the +no meant yes, and the rejection of the ring was only the prelude to +the acceptance of something far more important, of which a ring is +the symbol. Mary's first interview with Darnley was in February. In +April, Queen Elizabeth's embassador sent her word that he was +satisfied that Mary's marriage with Darnley was all arranged and +settled. + +Queen Elizabeth was, or pretended to be, in a great rage. She sent +the most urgent remonstrances to Mary against the execution of the +plan. She forwarded, also, very decisive orders to Darnley, and to +the Earl of Lennox his father, to return immediately to England. +Lennox replied that he could not return, for "he did not think the +climate would agree with him!" Darnley sent back word that he had +entered the service of the Queen of Scots, and henceforth should +obey her orders alone. Elizabeth, however, was not the only one who +opposed this marriage. The Earl of Murray, Mary's brother, who had +been thus far the great manager of the government under Mary, took at +once a most decided stand against it. He enlisted a great number of +Protestant nobles with him, and they held deliberations, in which +they formed plans for resisting it by force. But Mary, who, with all +her gentleness and loveliness of spirit, had, like other women, some +decision and energy when an object in which the heart is concerned is +at stake, had made up her mind. She sent to France to get the consent +of her friends there. She dispatched a commissioner to Rome to obtain +the pope's dispensation; she obtained the sanction of her own +Parliament; and, in fact, in every way hastened the preparations for +the marriage. + +Murray, on the other hand, and his confederate lords, were determined +to 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 his +father to England, having made arrangements with Elizabeth's +ministers to receive them at the borders. The plan was all well +matured, and would probably have been carried into effect, had not +Mary, in some way or other, obtained information of the design. She +was then at Stirling, and they were to waylay her on the usual route +to Edinburgh. She made a sudden journey, at an unexpected time, and +by a new and unusual road, and thus evaded her enemies. The violence +of this opposition only stimulated her determination to carry the +marriage into effect without delay. Her escape from her rebellious +nobles took place in June, and she was married in July. This was six +months after her first interview with Darnley. The ceremony was +performed in the royal chapel at Holyrood. They show, to this day, +the place where she is said to have stood, in the now roofless +interior. + +Mary was conducted into the chapel by Lennox and another nobleman, in +the midst of a large company of lords and ladies of the court, and of +strangers of distinction, who had come to Edinburgh to witness the +ceremony. A vast throng had collected also around the palace. Mary was +led to the altar, and then Lord Darnley was conducted in. The marriage +ceremony 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 distributed +among the crowd, as had been done in Paris at Mary's former marriage, +five years before. Mary then remained to attend the celebration of +mass, Darnley, who was not a Catholic, retiring. After the mass, Mary +returned to the palace, and changed the mourning dress which she had +continued to wear from the time of her first husband's death to that +hour, for one more becoming a bride. The evening was spent in +festivities of every kind. + +We have said that Darnley was personally attractive in respect both +to his countenance and his manners; and, unfortunately, this is all +that can be said in his favor. He was weak-minded, and yet +self-conceited and vain. The sudden elevation which his marriage with +a queen gave him, made him proud, and he soon began to treat all +around him in a very haughty and imperious manner. He seems to have +been entirely unaccustomed to exercise any self-command, or to submit +to any restraints in the gratification of his passions. Mary paid him +a great many attentions, and took great pleasure in conferring upon +him, as her queenly power enabled her to do, distinctions and honors; +but, instead of being grateful for them, he received them as matters +of course, and was continually demanding more. There was one title +which he wanted, and which, for some good reason, it was necessary to +postpone conferring upon him. A nobleman came to him one day and +informed him of the necessity of this delay. He broke into a fit of +passion, drew his dagger, rushed toward the nobleman, and attempted +to stab him. He commenced his imperious and haughty course of +procedure even before his marriage, and continued it afterward, +growing more and more violent as his ambition increased with an +increase of power. Mary felt these cruel acts of selfishness and +pride very keenly, but, womanlike, she palliated and excused them, +and loved him still. + +She had, however, other trials and cares pressing upon her +immediately. Murray and his confederates organized a formal and open +rebellion. Mary raised an army and took the field against them. The +country generally took her side. A terrible and somewhat protracted +civil war ensued, but the rebels were finally defeated and driven out +of the country. They went to England and claimed Elizabeth's +protection, saying that she had incited them to the revolt, and +promised them her aid. Elizabeth told them that it would not do for +her to be supposed to have abetted a rebellion in her cousin Mary's +dominions, and that, unless they would, in the presence of the +foreign embassadors at her court, disavow her having done so, she +could not help them or countenance them in any way. The miserable +men, 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 your +abominable treason _may_ set an example to my own subjects to rebel +against me. So get you gone out of my presence, miserable traitors as +you are." + +Thus Mary triumphed over all the obstacles to her marriage with the +man she loved; but, alas! before the triumph was fully accomplished, +the love was gone. Darnley was selfish, unfeeling, and incapable of +requiting affection like Mary's. He treated her with the most +heartless indifference, though she had done every thing to awaken his +gratitude and win his love. She bestowed upon him every honor which +it was in her power to grant. She gave him the title of king. She +admitted him to share with her the powers and prerogatives of the +crown. There is to this day, in Mary's apartments at Holyrood House, +a double throne which she had made for herself and her husband, with +their initials worked together in the embroidered covering, and each +seat surmounted by a crown. Mankind have always felt a strong +sentiment of indignation at the ingratitude which could requite such +love with such selfishness and cruelty. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +RIZZIO. + +1561-1566 + +David Rizzio.--Embassadors.--Rizzio's position.--Rizzio French +secretary.--Displeasure of the Scotch nobles.--They treat Rizzio +with scorn and contempt.--He consults Melville.--Melville's +counsel.--Melville and the queen.--Rizzio's religion.--His services +to Mary.--Rizzio's power and influence.--His intimacy with +Mary.--Rizzio's exertion in favor of the marriage.--Rizzio and +Darnley.--Darnley greatly disliked.--His unreasonable wishes.--The +crown matrimonial.--Darnley's ambition.--Darnley's +brutality.--Signatures.--Coins.--Rizzio sides with Mary.--Darnley and +Ruthven.--A combination.--The secretary and his queen.--Nature of +Mary's attachment.--Plot to assassinate Rizzio.--Plan of Holyrood +House.--Description.--Apartments.--Morton and Ruthven.--Mary at +supper.--Arrangement of the conspirators.--The little upper +room.--Murder of Rizzio.--Conversation.--Violence of the +conspirators.--Mary a prisoner.--Darnley's usurpation.--Melville.--Mary +appeals to the provost.--Mary defeats the conspirators.--Birth of her +son. + + +Mary had a secretary named David Rizzio. He was from Savoy, a country +among the Alps. It was the custom then, as it is now, for the various +governments of Europe to have embassadors at the courts of other +governments, to attend to any negotiations, or to the transaction of +any other business which might arise between their respective +sovereigns. These embassadors generally traveled with pomp and +parade, taking sometimes many attendants with them. The embassador +from Savoy happened to bring with him to Scotland, in his train, this +young man, Rizzio, in 1561, that is, just about the time that Mary +herself returned to Scotland. He was a handsome and agreeable young +man, but his rank and position were such that, for some years, he +attracted no attention. + +He was, however, quite a singer, and they used to bring him in +sometimes to sing in Mary's presence with three other singers. His +voice, being a good bass, made up the quartette. Mary saw him in this +way, and as he was a good French and Italian scholar, and was amiable +and 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 a +knowledge 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 of +the influence of these foreigners. They looked down with special +contempt on Rizzio, considering him of mean rank and position, and +wholly destitute of all claim to the office of confidential secretary +to the queen. Rizzio increased the difficulty by not acting with the +reserve and prudence which his delicate situation required. The +nobles, proud of their own rank and importance, were very much +displeased at the degree of intimacy and confidence to which Mary +admitted him. They called him an intruder and an upstart. When they +came in and found him in conversation with the queen, or whenever he +accosted her freely, as he was wont to do, in their presence, they +were irritated and vexed. They did not dare to remonstrate with Mary, +but they took care to express their feelings of resentment and scorn +to the subject of them in every possible way. They scowled upon him. +They directed to him looks of contempt. They turned their backs upon +him, and jostled him in a rude and insulting manner. All this was a +year or two before Mary's marriage. + +Rizzio consulted Melville, asking his judgment as to what he had +better do. He said that, being Mary's French secretary, he was +necessarily a good deal in her company, and the nobles seemed +displeased with it; but he did not see what he could do to diminish +or avoid the difficulty. Melville replied that the nobles had an +opinion that he not only performed the duties of French secretary, +but that he was fast acquiring a great ascendency in respect to all +other affairs. Melville further advised him to be much more cautious +in his bearing than he had been, to give place to the nobles when +they were with him in the presence of the queen, to speak less +freely, and in a more unassuming manner, and to explain the whole +case to the queen herself, that she might co-operate with him in +pursuing a course which would soothe and conciliate the irritated and +angry feelings of the nobles. Melville said, moreover, that he had +himself, at one time, at a court on the Continent, been placed in a +very similar situation to Rizzio's, and had been involved in the same +difficulties, but had escaped the dangers which threatened him by +pursuing 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 the +subject, and that she would not consent to any change, but wished +every thing to go on as it had done. Now the queen, having great +confidence in Melville, had previously requested him, that if he saw +any thing in her deportment, or management, or measures, which he +thought was wrong, frankly to let her know it, that she might be +warned in season, and amend. He thought that this was an occasion +which required this friendly interposition, and he took an +opportunity to converse with her on the subject in a frank and plain, +but still very respectful manner. He made but little impression. Mary +said that Rizzio was only her private French secretary; that he had +nothing 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 in +managing her own affairs, no matter who was displeased by it. + +It is probable that the real ground of offense which the nobles had +against Rizzio was jealousy of his superior influence with the queen. +They, however, made his religion a great ground of complaint against +him. He was a Catholic, and had come from a strong Catholic country, +having been born in the northern part of Italy. The Italian language +was his mother tongue. They professed to believe that he was a secret +emissary of the pope, and was plotting with Mary to bring Scotland +back under the papal dominion. + +In the mean time, Rizzio devoted himself with untiring zeal and +fidelity to the service of the queen. He was indefatigable in his +efforts to please her, and he made himself extremely useful to her in +a thousand different ways. In fact, his being the object of so much +dislike and aversion on the part of others, made him more and more +exclusively devoted to the queen, who seemed to be almost his only +friend. She, too, was urged, by what she considered the unreasonable +and bitter hostility of which her favorite was the object, to bestow +upon him greater and greater favors. In process of time, one after +another of those about the court, finding that Rizzio's influence and +power were great and were increasing, began to treat him with +respect, and to ask for his assistance in gaining their ends. Thus +Rizzio found his position becoming stronger, and the probability +began to increase that he would at length triumph over the enemies +who had set their faces so strongly against him. + +Though he had been at first inclined to follow Melville's advice, yet +he afterward fell in cordially with the policy of the queen, which +was, to press boldly forward, and put down with a strong hand the +hostility which had been excited against him. Instead, therefore, of +attempting to conceal the degree of favor which he enjoyed with the +queen, he boasted of and displayed it. He would converse often and +familiarly with her in public. He dressed magnificently, like persons +of the highest rank, and had many attendants. In a word, he assumed +all the airs and manners of a person of high distinction and +commanding influence. The external signs of hostility to him were +thus put down, but the fires of hatred burned none the less fiercely +below, and only wanted an opportunity to burst into an explosion. + +Things were in this state at the time of the negotiations in respect +to Darnley's marriage; for, in order to take up the story of Rizzio +from the beginning, we have been obliged to go back in our narrative. +Rizzio exerted all his influence in favor of the marriage, and thus +both strengthened his influence with Mary and made Darnley his +friend. He did all in his power to diminish the opposition to it, +from whatever quarter it might come, and rendered essential service +in the correspondence with France, and in the negotiations with the +pope for obtaining the necessary dispensation. In a word, he did a +great deal to promote the marriage, and to facilitate all the +arrangements for carrying it into effect. + +Darnley relied, therefore, upon Rizzio's friendship and devotion to +his service, forgetting that, in all these past efforts, Rizzio was +acting out of regard to Mary's wishes, and not to his own. As long, +therefore, as Mary and Darnley continued to pursue the same objects +and aims, Rizzio was the common friend and ally of both. The enemies +of 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 and +vicious, as well as imperious and proud. His friendship for Rizzio +was another ground of dislike to him. The ancient nobles, who had +been accustomed to exercise the whole control in the public affairs +of Scotland, found themselves supplanted by this young Italian +singer, and an English boy not yet out of his teens. They were +exasperated 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 before +they began to become alienated from each other. Mary did every thing +for 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 not +satisfied. She made him the sharer of her throne. He wanted her to +give up _her_ place to him, and thus make him the sole possessor of +it. He wanted what was called the _crown matrimonial_. The _crown +matrimonial_ denoted power with which, according to the old Scottish +law, the husband of a queen could be invested, enabling him to +exercise the royal prerogative in his own name, both during the life +of the queen and also after her death, during the continuance of his +own life. This made him, in fact, a king for life, exalting him above +his wife, the real sovereign, through whom alone he derived his +powers. + +Now Darnley was very urgent to have the crown matrimonial conferred +upon him. He insisted upon it. He would not submit to any delay. Mary +told him that this was something entirely beyond her power to grant. +The crown matrimonial could only be bestowed by a solemn enactment of +the Scottish Parliament. But Darnley, impatient and reckless, like a +boy as he was, would not listen to any excuse, but teased and +tormented Mary about the crown matrimonial continually. + +Besides the legal difficulties in the way of Mary's conferring these +powers upon Darnley by her own act, there were other difficulties, +doubtless, in her mind, arising from the character of Darnley, and +his unfitness, which was every day becoming more manifest, to be +intrusted with such power. Only four months after his marriage, his +rough and cruel treatment of Mary became intolerable. One day, at a +house in Edinburgh, where the king and queen, and other persons of +distinction had been invited to a banquet, Darnley, as was his +custom, was beginning to drink very freely, and was trying to urge +other persons there to drink to excess. Mary expostulated with him, +endeavoring to dissuade him from such a course. Darnley resented +these kind cautions, and retorted upon her in so violent and brutal a +manner as to cause her to leave the room and the company in tears. + +When they were first married, Mary had caused her husband to be +proclaimed king, and had taken some other similar steps to invest him +with a share of her own power. But she soon found that in doing this +she had gone to the extreme of propriety, and that, for the future, +she must retreat rather than advance. Accordingly, although he was +associated with her in the supreme power, she thought it best to keep +precedence for her own _name_ before his, in the exercise of power. +On the coins which were struck, the inscription was, "In the name of +the _Queen_ and _King_ of Scotland." In signing public documents, she +insisted on having her name recorded first. These things irritated +and provoked Darnley more and more. He was not contented to be +admitted to a share of the sovereign power which the queen possessed +in her own right alone. He wished to supplant her in it entirely. + +Rizzio, of course, took Queen Mary's part in these questions. He +opposed the grant of the crown matrimonial. He opposed all other +plans for increasing or extending in any way Darnley's power. Darnley +was very much incensed against him, and earnestly desired to find +some way to effect his destruction. He communicated these feelings to +a certain fierce and fearless nobleman named Ruthven, and asked his +assistance to contrive some way to take vengeance upon Rizzio. + +Ruthven was very much pleased to hear this. He belonged to a party of +the lords of the court who also hated Rizzio, though they had hated +Darnley besides so much that they had not communicated to him their +hostility to the other. Ruthven and his friends had not joined Murray +and the other rebels in opposing the marriage of Darnley. They had +chosen to acquiesce in it, hoping to maintain an ascendency over +Darnley, regarding him, as they did, as a mere boy, and thus retain +their power. When they found, however, that he was so headstrong and +unmanageable, and that they could do nothing with him, they exerted +all their influence to have Murray and the other exiled lords +pardoned and allowed to return, hoping to combine with them after +their return, and then together to make their power superior to that +of Darnley and Rizzio. They considered Darnley and Rizzio both as +their rivals and enemies. When they found, therefore, that Darnley +was plotting Rizzio's destruction, they felt a very strong as well as +a very unexpected pleasure. + +Thus, among all the jealousies, and rivalries, and bitter animosities +of which the court was at this time the scene, the only true and +honest attachment of one heart to another seems to have been that of +Mary to Rizzio. The secretary was faithful and devoted to the queen, +and the queen was grateful and kind to the secretary. There has been +some question whether this attachment was an innocent or a guilty +one. A painting, still hanging in the private rooms which belonged to +Mary in the palace at Holyrood, represents Rizzio as young and very +handsome; on the other hand, some of the historians of the day, to +disprove the possibility of any guilty attachment, say that he was +rather old and ugly. We may ourselves, perhaps, safely infer, that +unless there were something specially repulsive in his appearance and +manner, such a heart as Mary's, repelled so roughly from the one whom +it was her duty to love, could not well have resisted the temptation +to seek a retreat and a refuge in the kind devotedness of such a +friend as Rizzio proved himself to be to her. + +However this may be, Ruthven made such suggestions to Darnley as +goaded him to madness, and a scheme was soon formed for putting +Rizzio to death. The plan, after being deliberately matured in all +its arrangements, was carried into effect in the following manner. +The event occurred early in the spring of 1566, less than a year +after Mary's marriage. + +Morton, who was one of the accomplices, assembled a large force of +his followers, consisting, it is said, of five hundred men, which he +posted in the evening near the palace, and when it was dark he moved +them silently into the central court of the palace, through the +entrance _E_, as marked upon the following plan. + +[Illustration: PLAN OF THAT PART OF HOLYROOD HOUSE WHICH WAS THE +SCENE 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 now +as a gallery of portraits. T. Stair-case. o. Entrance to Mary's +apartments, second floor. R. Ante-room. B. Mary's bed-room. D. +Dressing-room in one of the towers. C. Cabinet, or small room in the +other tower. SS. Stair-cases in the wall. d. Small entrance under the +tapestry. Ch. Royal chapel. m. Place where Mary and Darnley stood at +the 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 part +of the front of the building, and which are very conspicuous in any +view 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 of +his own immediately below Mary's. There was a little door, _d_, +leading from Mary's bed-room to a private stair-case built in the +wall. This stair-case led down into Darnley's room; and there was +also a communication from this place down through the whole length of +the castle to the royal chapel, marked _Ch_, the building which is +now in ruins. Behind Mary's bed-room was an ante-room, _R_, with a +door, _o_, leading to the public stair-case by which her apartments +were approached. All these apartments still remain, and are explored +annually by thousands of visitors. + +[Footnote G: See view of Holyrood House, page 114 and compare it with +this plan.] + +It was about seven o'clock in the evening that the conspirators were +to execute their purpose. Morton remained below in the court with his +troops, to prevent any interruption. He held a high office under the +queen, which authorized him to bring a force into the court of the +palace, and his doing so did not alarm the inmates. Ruthven was to +head the party which was to commit the crime. He was confined to his +bed with sickness at the time, but he was so eager to have a share +in the pleasure of destroying Rizzio, that he left his bed, put on a +suit of armor, and came forth to the work. The armor is preserved in +the little apartment which was the scene of the tragedy to this day. + +Mary was at supper. Two near relatives and friends of hers--a +gentleman and a lady--and Rizzio, were with her. The room is scarcely +large enough to contain a greater number. There were, however, two or +three servants in attendance at a side-table. Darnley came up, about +eight o'clock, to make observations. The other conspirators were +concealed in his room below, and it was agreed that if Darnley found +any cause for not proceeding with the plan, he was to return +immediately and give them notice. If, therefore, he should not +return, after the lapse of a reasonable time, they were to follow him +up the private stair-case, prepared to act at once and decidedly as +soon as they should enter the room. They were to come up by this +private stair-case, in order to avoid being intercepted or delayed by +the domestics in attendance in the ante-room, _R_, of which there +would have been danger if they had ascended by the public stair-case +at _T_. + +Finding that Darnley did not return, Ruthven with his party ascended +the stairs, entered the bed-chamber through the little door at _d_, +and thence advanced to the door of the cabinet, his heavy iron armor +clanking as he came. The queen, alarmed, demanded the meaning of this +intrusion. Ruthven, whose countenance was grim and ghastly from the +conjoined influence of ferocious passion and disease, said that they +meant no harm to her, but they only wanted the villain who stood near +her. Rizzio perceived that his hour was come. The attendants flocked +in to the assistance of the queen and Rizzio. Ruthven's confederates +advanced to join in the attack, and there ensued one of those scenes +of confusion and terror, of which those who witness it have no +distinct recollection on looking back upon it when it is over. Rizzio +cried 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 out +through the bed-chamber, _B_, and through the ante-room, _R_, to the +door, _o_, where he fell down, and was stabbed by the murderers again +and again, till he ceased to breathe. + +After this scene was over, Darnley and Ruthven came coolly back into +Mary's chamber, and, as soon as Mary recovered her senses, began to +talk of and to justify their act of violence, without, however, +telling her that Rizzio had been killed. Mary was filled with +emotions of resentment and grief. She bitterly reproached Darnley for +such an act of cruelty as breaking into her apartment with armed men, +and seizing and carrying off her friend. She told him that she had +raised him from his comparatively humble position to make him her +husband, and now this was his return. Darnley replied that Rizzio had +supplanted him in her confidence, and thwarted all his plans, and +that Mary had shown herself utterly regardless of his wishes, under +the influence of Rizzio. He said that, since Mary had made herself +his wife, she ought to have obeyed him, and not put herself in such a +way under the direction of another. Mary learned Rizzio's fate the +next day. + +The violence of the conspirators did not stop with the destruction of +Rizzio. Some of Mary's high officers of government, who were in the +palace at the time, were obliged to make their escape from the +windows to avoid being seized by Morton and his soldiers in the +court. Among them was the Earl Bothwell, who tried at first to drive +Morton out, but in the end was obliged himself to flee. Some of these +men let themselves down by ropes from the outer windows. When the +uproar and confusion caused by this struggle was over, they found +that Mary, overcome with agitation and terror, was showing symptoms +of fainting again, and they concluded to leave her. They informed her +that she must consider herself a prisoner, and, setting a guard at +the door of her apartment, they went away, leaving her to spend the +night 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, in +his own name alone. He organized an administration, Mary's officers +having fled. In saying that _he_ did these things, we mean, of +course, that the conspirators did them in his name. He was still but +a boy, scarcely out of his teens, and incapable of any other action +in such an emergency but a blind compliance with the wishes of the +crafty men who had got him into their power by gratifying his +feelings of revenge. They took possession of the government in his +name, and kept Mary a close prisoner. + +The murder was committed on Saturday night. The next morning, of +course, was Sunday. Melville was going out of the palace about ten +o'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 for +her. She told him to go to the provost of Edinburgh, the officer +corresponding to the mayor of a city in this country, and ask him to +call 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." Just +then the guards came up and challenged Melville. He told them he was +going to the city to attend church; so they let him pass on. He went +to the provost, and delivered Mary's message. The provost said he +dared not, and could not interfere. + +So Mary remained a prisoner. Her captivity, however, was of short +duration. In two days Darnley came to see her. He persuaded her that +he himself had had nothing to do with the murder of Rizzio. Mary, on +the other hand, persuaded him that it was better for them to be +friends to each other than to live thus in a perpetual quarrel. She +convinced him that Ruthven and his confederates were not, and could +not be, his friends. They would only make him the instrument of +obtaining the objects of their ambition. Darnley saw this. He felt +that he as well as Mary were in the rebels' power. They formed a plan +to escape together. They succeeded. They fled to a distant castle, +and collected a large army, the people every where flocking to the +assistance of the queen. They returned to Edinburgh in a short time +in triumph. The conspirators fled. Mary then decided to pardon and +recall the old rebels, and expend her anger henceforth on the new; +and thus the Earl Murray, her brother, was brought back, and once +more 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 month +of July following the murder of Rizzio, she gave birth to a son. In +this son was afterward accomplished all her fondest wishes, for he +inherited in the end both the English and Scottish crowns. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +BOTHWELL. + +1566-1567 + +Earl of Bothwell.--His desperate character.--Castle of Dunbar.--The +border country.--Scenes of violence and blood.--Birth of James.--Its +political importance.--Darnley's conduct.--Darnley's hypocrisy.--Mary's +dejection.--A divorce proposed.--Mary's love for her child.--Baptism +of the infant.--James's titles.--The prince's cradle.--Bothwell and +Murray.--Mary's visit to Bothwell.--Its probable motive.--Plot for +Darnley's destruction.--Bothwell's intrigues.--Desperate schemes +attributed to Darnley.--His illness.--Mary's visit.--Return +to Edinburgh.--Situation of Darnley's residence.--Kirk of +Field.--Description of Darnley's residence.--Plan of Darnley's +house.--Its accommodations.--French Paris.--The gunpowder.--A +wedding.--Details of the plot.--The powder placed in Mary's room.--The +big cask.--Bothwell's effrontery.--Mary's leave of Darnley.--Was Mary +privy to the plot?--Anecdotes of Mary.--Return to Holyrood.--French +Paris falters.--The convent gardens.--Laying the train.--Suspense.--The +explosion.--Flight of the criminals.--Mary's indignation.--Bothwell +arrested, tried, and acquitted.--Bothwell's challenge.--His plan to +marry Mary.--The abduction.--Mary's confinement at Dunbar.--Her account +of it.--Bothwell entreats Mary to marry him.--She consents.--Bothwell's +pardon.--The marriage.--Doubts in respect to Mary.--Influence of beauty +and misfortune. + + +The Earl of Bothwell was a man of great energy of character, fearless +and decided in all that he undertook, and sometimes perfectly +reckless and uncontrollable. He was in Scotland at the time of Mary's +return from France, but he was so turbulent and unmanageable that he +was at one time sent into banishment. He was, however, afterward +recalled, and again intrusted with power. He entered ardently into +Mary's service in her contest with the murderers of Rizzio. He +assisted her in raising an army after her flight, and in conquering +Morton, 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 the +eastern coast of Scotland. It was called the Castle of Dunbar. It was +on a stormy promontory, overlooking the German Ocean: a very +appropriate retreat and fastness for such a man of iron as he. + +In those days, the border country between England and Scotland was +the resort of robbers, freebooters, and outlaws from both lands. If +pursued by one government, they could retreat across the line and be +safe. Incursions, too, were continually made across this frontier by +the people of either side, to plunder or to destroy whatever property +was within reach. Thus the country became a region of violence and +bloodshed which all men of peace and quietness were glad to shun. +They left it to the possession of men who could find pleasure in such +scenes of violence and blood. When Queen Mary had got quietly settled +in her government, after the overthrow of the murderers of Rizzio, as +she thus no longer needed Bothwell's immediate aid, she sent him to +this border country to see if he could enforce some sort of order +among its lawless population. + +The birth of Mary's son was an event of the greatest importance, not +only to her personally, but in respect to the political prospects of +the two great kingdoms, for in this infant were combined the claims +of succession to both the Scotch and English crowns. The whole world +knew 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 with +universal rejoicings. The tidings of it spread, as news of great +public interest, all over Europe. Even Elizabeth pretended to be +pleased, and sent messages of congratulation to Mary. But every one +thought that they could see in her air and manner, when she received +the intelligence, obvious traces of mortification and chagrin. + +Mary's heart was filled, at first, with maternal pride and joy; but +her happiness was soon sadly alloyed by Darnley's continued +unkindness. She traveled about during the autumn, from castle to +castle, anxious and ill at ease. Sometimes Darnley followed her, and +sometimes he amused himself with hunting, and with various vicious +indulgences, at different towns and castles at a distance from her. +He wanted her to dismiss her ministry and put him into power, and he +took every possible means to importune or tease her into compliance +with this plan. At one time he said he had resolved to leave +Scotland, and go and reside in France, and he pretended to make his +preparations, and to be about to take his leave. He seems to have +thought that Mary, though he knew that she no longer loved him, would +be distressed at the idea of being abandoned by one who was, after +all, her husband. Mary was, in fact, distressed at this proposal, and +urged 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 such +methods as these, wrote, it is said, to the Catholic governments of +Europe, proposing that, if they would co-operate in putting him into +power in Scotland, he would adopt efficient measures for changing the +religion of the country from the Protestant to the Catholic faith. He +made, too, every effort to organize a party in his favor in Scotland, +and tried to defeat and counteract the influence of Mary's government +by every means in his power. These things, and other trials and +difficulties connected with them, weighed very heavily upon Mary's +mind. She sunk gradually into a state of great dejection and +despondency. She spent many hours in sighing and in tears, and often +wished that she was in her grave. + +So deeply, in fact, was Mary plunged into distress and trouble by the +state of things existing between herself and Darnley, that some of +her officers of government began to conceive of a plan of having her +divorced from him. After looking at this subject in all its bearings, +and consulting about it with each other, they ventured, at last, to +propose it to Mary. She would not listen to any such plan. She did +not think a divorce could be legally accomplished. And then, if it +were to be done, it would, she feared, in some way or other, affect +the position and rights of the darling son who was now to her more +than all the world besides. She would rather endure to the end of her +days the tyranny and torment she experienced from her brutal husband, +than hazard in the least degree the future greatness and glory of the +infant who was lying in his cradle before her, equally unconscious of +the grandeur which awaited him in future years, and of the strength +of the maternal love which was smiling upon him from amid such sorrow +and tears, and extending over him such gentle, but determined and +effectual protection. + +The sad and sorrowful feelings which Mary endured were interrupted +for a little time by the splendid pageant of the baptism of the +child. Embassadors came from all the important courts of the +Continent to do honor to the occasion. Elizabeth sent the Earl of +Bedford as her embassador, with a present of a baptismal font of +gold, which had cost a sum equal to five thousand dollars. The +baptism took place at Stirling, in December, with every possible +accompaniment of pomp and parade, and was followed by many days of +festivities and rejoicing. The whole country were interested in the +event except Darnley, who declared sullenly, while the preparations +were making, that he should not remain to witness the ceremony, but +should go off a day or two before the appointed time. + +The ceremony was performed in the chapel. The child was baptized +under the names of "Charles James, James Charles, Prince and Steward +of Scotland, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Lord of the Isles, +and Baron of Renfrew." His subsequent designation in history was +James Sixth of Scotland and First of England. A great many +appointments of attendants and officers, to be attached to the +service of the young prince, were made immediately, most of them, of +course, mere matters of parade. Among the rest, five ladies of +distinction were constituted "rockers of his cradle." The form of +the 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 and +delegates returned to their respective courts, carrying back glowing +accounts of the ceremonies and festivities attendant upon the +christening, and of the grace, and beauty, and loveliness of the +queen. + +In the mean time, Bothwell and Murray were competitors for the +confidence and regard of the queen, and it began to seem probable +that Bothwell would win the day. Mary, in one of her excursions, was +traveling in the southern part of the country, when she heard that he +had been wounded in an encounter with a party of desperadoes near the +border. Moved partly, perhaps, by compassion, and partly by +gratitude for his services, Mary made an expedition across the +country to pay him a visit. Some say that she was animated by a more +powerful motive than either of these. In fact this, as well as almost +all the other acts of Mary's life, are presented in very different +lights by her friends and her enemies. The former say that this visit +to her lieutenant in his confinement from a wound received in her +service was perfectly proper, both in the design itself, and in all +the circumstances of its execution. The latter represent it as an +instance of highly indecorous eagerness on the part of a married lady +to express to another man a sympathy and kind regard which she had +ceased to feel for her husband. + +Bothwell himself was married as well as Mary. He had been married but +a few months to a beautiful lady a few years younger than the queen. +The question, however, whether Mary did right or wrong in paying this +visit to him, is not, after all, a very important one. There is no +doubt that she and Bothwell loved each other before they ought to +have done so, and it is of comparatively little consequence when the +attachment began. The end of it is certain. Bothwell resolved to +kill Darnley, to get divorced from his own wife, and to marry the +queen. The world has never yet settled the question whether she was +herself his accomplice or not in the measures he adopted for +effecting these plans, or whether she only submitted to the result +when Bothwell, by his own unaided efforts, reached it. Each reader +must judge of this question for himself from the facts about to be +narrated. + +Bothwell first communicated with the nobles about the court, to get +their consent and approbation to the destruction of the king. They +all appeared to be very willing to have the thing done, but were a +little cautious about involving themselves in the responsibility of +doing it. Darnley was thoroughly hated, despised, and shunned by them +all. Still they were afraid of the consequences of taking his life. +One of them, Morton, asked Bothwell what the queen would think of the +plan. Bothwell said that the queen approved of it. Morton replied, +that if Bothwell would show him an expression of the queen's approval +of the plot, in her own hand-writing, he would join it, otherwise +not. Bothwell failed to furnish this evidence, saying that the queen +was really privy to, and in favor of the plan, but that it was not +to be expected that she would commit herself to it in writing. Was +this all true, or was the pretense only a desperate measure of +Bothwell's to induce Morton to join him? + +Most of the leading men about the court, however, either joined the +plot, or so far gave it their countenance and encouragement as to +induce Bothwell to proceed. There were many and strange rumors about +Darnley. 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 he +had a plan for seizing the young prince, dethroning Mary, and +reigning himself in her stead, in the prince's name. Other strange +and desperate schemes were attributed to him. In the midst of them, +news came to Mary at Holyrood that he was taken suddenly and +dangerously sick at Glasgow, where he was then residing, and she +immediately went to see him. Was her motive a desire to make one more +attempt to win his confidence and love, and to divert him from the +desperate measures which she feared he was contemplating, or was she +acting as an accomplice with Bothwell, to draw him into the snare in +which he was afterward taken and destroyed? + +The result of Mary's visit to her husband, after some time spent with +him in Glasgow, was a proposal that he should return with her to +Edinburgh, where she could watch over him during his convalescence +with greater care. This plan was adopted. He was conveyed on a sort +of litter, by very slow and easy stages, toward Edinburgh. He was on +such terms with the nobles and lords in attendance upon Mary that he +was not willing to go to Holyrood House. Besides, his disorder was +contagious: it is supposed to have been the small-pox; and though he +was nearly recovered, there was still some possibility that the royal +babe might take the infection if the patient came within the same +walls with him. So Mary sent forward to Edinburgh to have a house +provided for him. + +[Illustration: VIEW OF EDINBURGH.] + +The situation of this house is seen near the city wall on the left, in +the accompanying view of Edinburgh. Holyrood House is the large square +edifice in the fore-ground, and the castle crowns the hill in the +distance. There is now, as there was in the days of Mary, a famous +street extending from Holyrood House to the castle, called the Cannon +Gate at the lower end, and the High Street above. This street, with +the castle at one extremity and Holyrood House at the other, were +the scenes of many of the most remarkable events described in this +narrative. + +The residence selected was a house of four rooms, close upon the city +wall. The place was called the Kirk of Field, from a _kirk_, or +church, which formerly stood near there, in the fields. + +This house had two rooms upon the lower floor, with a passage-way +between them. One of these rooms was a kitchen; the other was +appropriated to Mary's use, whenever she was able to be at the place +in attendance upon her husband. Over the kitchen was a room used as a +wardrobe and for servants; and over Mary's room was the apartment for +Darnley. There was an opening through the city wall in the rear of +this dwelling, by which there was access to the kitchen. These +premises were fitted up for Darnley in the most thorough manner. A +bath was arranged for him in his apartment, and every thing was done +which could conduce to his comfort, according to the ideas which then +prevailed. 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 very +sumptuous, after all, for a royal guest; but royal dwellings in +Scotland, in those days, were not what they are now in Westminster +and at St. Cloud. + +The day for the execution of the plan, which was to blow up the house +where the sick Darnley was lying with gunpowder, approached. +Bothwell selected a number of desperate characters to aid him in the +actual work to be done. One of these was a Frenchman, who had been +for a long time in his service, and who went commonly by the name of +French Paris. Bothwell contrived to get French Paris taken into +Mary's service a few days before the murder of Darnley, and, through +him, he got possession of some of the keys of the house which Darnley +was occupying, and thus had duplicates of them made, so that he had +access to every part of the house. The gunpowder was brought from +Bothwell's castle at Dunbar, and all was ready. + +Mary spent much of her time at Darnley's house, and often slept in +the room beneath his, which had been allotted to her as her +apartment. One Sunday there was to be a wedding at Holyrood. The +bride and bridegroom were favorite servants of Mary's, and she was +intending to be present at the celebration of the nuptials. She was +to leave Darnley's early in the evening for this purpose. Her enemies +say that this was all a concerted arrangement between her and +Bothwell to give him the opportunity to execute his plan. Her +friends, on the other hand, insist that she knew nothing about it, +and that Bothwell had to watch and wait for such an opportunity of +blowing up the house without injuring Mary. Be this as it may, the +Sunday of this wedding was fixed upon for the consummation of the +deed. + +The gunpowder had been secreted in Bothwell's rooms at the palace. On +Sunday evening, as soon as it was dark, Bothwell set the men at work +to transport the gunpowder. They brought it out in bags from the +palace, and then employed a horse to transport it to the wall of some +gardens which were in the rear of Darnley's house. They had to go +twice with the horse in order to convey all the gunpowder that they +had provided. While this was going on, Bothwell, who kept out of +sight, was walking to and fro in an adjoining street, to receive +intelligence, from time to time, of the progress of the affair, and +to issue orders. The gunpowder was conveyed across the gardens to the +rear of the house, taken in at a back door, and deposited in the room +marked _M_ in the plan, which was the room belonging to Mary. Mary +was all this time directly over head, in Darnley's chamber. + +The plan of the conspirators was to put the bags of gunpowder into a +cask which they had provided for the occasion, to keep the mass +together, and increase the force of the explosion. The cask had been +provided, and placed in the gardens behind the house; but, on +attempting to take it into the house, they found it too big to pass +through the back door. This caused considerable delay; and Bothwell, +growing impatient, came, with his characteristic impetuosity, to +ascertain the cause. By his presence and his energy, he soon remedied +the difficulty in some way or other, and completed the arrangements. +The gunpowder was all deposited; the men were dismissed, except two +who were left to watch, and who were locked up with the gunpowder in +Mary's room; and then, all things being ready for the explosion as +soon as Mary should be gone, Bothwell walked up to Darnley's room +above, and joined the party who were supping there. The cool +effrontery of this proceeding has scarcely a parallel in the annals +of crime. + +At eleven o'clock Mary rose to go, saying she must return to the +palace to take part, as she had promised to do, in the celebration of +her servants' wedding. Mary took leave of her husband in a very +affectionate manner, and went away in company with Bothwell and the +other nobles. Her enemies maintain that she was privy to all the +arrangements which had been made, and that she did not go into her +own apartment below, knowing very well what was there. But even if we +imagine that Mary was aware of the general plan of destroying her +husband, and was secretly pleased with it, as almost any royal +personage that ever lived, under such circumstances, would be, we +need not admit that she was acquainted with the details of the mode +by which the plan was to be put in execution. The most that we can +suppose such a man as Bothwell would have communicated to her, would +be some dark and obscure intimations of his design, made in order to +satisfy 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 communicate +to her beforehand any of the details of the arrangement, would have +been an act of littleness and meanness which such magnanimous +monsters as Bothwell are seldom guilty of. + +Besides, Mary remarked that evening, in Darnley's room, in the course +of conversation, that it was just about a year since Rizzio's death. +On entering her palace, too, at Holyrood, that night, she met one of +Bothwell's servants who had been carrying the bags, and, perceiving +the smell of gunpowder, she asked him what it meant. Now Mary was +not the brazen-faced sort of woman to speak of such things at such a +time if she was really in the councils of the conspirators. The only +question seems to be, therefore, not whether she was a party to the +actual deed of murder, but only whether she was aware of, and +consenting to, the general design. + +In the mean time, Mary and Bothwell went together into the hall where +the servants were rejoicing and making merry at the wedding. French +Paris was there, but his heart began to fail him in respect to the +deed in which he had been engaged. He stood apart, with a countenance +expressive of anxiety and distress. Bothwell went to him, and told +him that if he carried such a melancholy face as that any longer in +the presence of the queen, he would make him suffer for it. The poor +conscience-stricken man begged Bothwell to release him from any +further 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 to +order him to follow _him_. Bothwell went to his own rooms, changed +the silken court dress in which he had appeared in company for one +suitable to the night and to the deed, directed his men to follow +him, and passed from the palace toward the gates of the city. The +gates were shut, for it was midnight. The sentinels challenged them. +The party said they were friends to my Lord Bothwell, and were +allowed to pass on. + +They advanced to the convent gardens. Here they left a part of their +number, while Bothwell and French Paris passed over the wall, and +crept softly into the house. They unlocked the room where they had +left the two watchmen with the gunpowder, and found all safe. Men +locked up under such circumstances, and on the eve of the +perpetration of such a deed, were not likely to sleep at their posts. +All things being now ready, they made a slow match of lint, long +enough to burn for some little time, and inserting one end of it into +the gunpowder, they lighted the other end, and crept stealthily out +of 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 the +facilities afforded by its silence and solitude. This advantage is, +however, sometimes well-nigh balanced by the stimulus which its +mysterious 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. Bothwell +became desperate. He wanted to get over the wall again and look in at +the window, to see if the slow match had not gone out. The rest +restrained him. At length the explosion came like a clap of thunder. +The flash brightened for an instant over the whole sky, and the +report roused the sleeping inhabitants of Edinburgh from their +slumbers, throwing the whole city into sudden consternation. + +The perpetrators of the deed, finding that their work was done, fled +immediately. They tried various plans to avoid the sentinels at the +gates of the city, as well as the persons who were beginning to come +toward the scene of the explosion. When they reached the palace of +Holyrood, they were challenged by the sentinel on duty there. They +said that they were friends of Earl Bothwell, bringing dispatches to +him from the country. The sentinel asked them if they knew what was +the cause of that loud explosion. They said they did not, and passed +on. + +Bothwell went to his room, called for a drink, undressed himself, and +went to bed. Half an hour afterward, messengers came to awaken him, +and inform him that the king's house had been blown up with +gunpowder, and the king himself killed by the explosion. He rose with +an appearance of great astonishment and indignation, and, after +conferring with some of the other nobles, concluded to go and +communicate the event to the queen. The queen was overwhelmed with +astonishment and indignation too. + +The destruction of Darnley in such a manner as this, of course +produced a vast sensation all over Scotland. Every body was on the +alert to discover the authors of the crime. Rewards were offered; +proclamations were made. Rumors began to circulate that Bothwell was +the criminal. He was accused by anonymous placards put up at night in +Edinburgh. Lennox, Darnley's father, demanded his trial; and a trial +was ordered. The circumstances of the trial were such, however, and +Bothwell's power and desperate recklessness were so great, that +Lennox, when the time came, did not appear. He said he had not _force +enough_ at his command to come safely into court. There being no +testimony offered, Bothwell was acquitted; and he immediately +afterward issued his proclamation, offering to fight any man who +should intimate, in any way, that he was concerned in the murder of +the king. Thus Bothwell established his innocence; at least, no man +dared to gainsay it. + +Darnley was murdered in February. Bothwell was tried and acquitted in +April. Immediately afterward, he took measures for privately making +known to the leading nobles that it was his design to marry the +queen, and for securing their concurrence in the plan. They +concurred; or at least, perhaps for fear of displeasing such a +desperado, said what he understood to mean that they concurred. The +queen heard the reports of such a design, and said, as ladies often +do in similar cases, that she did not know what people meant by such +reports; there was no foundation for them whatever. + +Toward the end of April, Mary was about returning from the castle of +Stirling to Edinburgh with a small escort of troops and attendants. +Melville was in her train. Bothwell set out at the head of a force of +more than five hundred men to intercept her. Mary lodged one night, +on her way, at Linlithgow, the palace where she was born, and the +next morning was quietly pursuing her journey, when Bothwell came up +at the head of his troops. Resistance was vain. Bothwell advanced to +Mary's horse, and, taking the bridle, led her away. A few of her +principal followers were taken prisoners too, and the rest were +dismissed. Bothwell took his captive across the country by a rapid +flight to his castle of Dunbar. The attendants who were taken with +her were released, and she remained in the Castle of Dunbar for ten +days, entirely in Bothwell's power. + +[Illustration: DUNBAR CASTLE--The Residence of Earl Bothwell.] + +According to the account which Mary herself gives of what took place +during this captivity, she at first reproached Bothwell bitterly for +the ungrateful and cruel return he was making for all her kindness to +him, by such a deed of violence and wrong, and begged and entreated +him to let her go. Bothwell replied that he knew that it was wrong for +him to treat his sovereign so rudely, but that he was impelled to it +by 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 to +become his wife; he complained of the bitter hostility which he had +always been subject to from his enemies, and that he could have no +safeguard from this hostility in time to come but in her favor; and +he could not depend upon any assurance of her favor less than her +making him her husband. He protested that, if she would do so, he +would never ask to share her power, but would be content to be her +faithful and devoted servant, as he had always been. It was love, not +ambition, he said, that animated him, and he could not and would not +be refused. Mary says that she was distressed and agitated beyond +measure by the appeals and threats with which Bothwell accompanied his +urgent entreaties. She tried every way to plan some mode of escape. +Nobody came to her rescue. She was entirely alone, and in Bothwell's +power. Bothwell assured her that the leading nobles of her court were +in favor of the marriage, and showed her a written agreement signed by +them to this effect. At length, wearied and exhausted, she was finally +overcome by his urgency, and yielding partly to his persuasions, and +partly, as she says, to force, gave herself up to his power. + +Mary remained at Dunbar about ten days, during which time Bothwell +sued out and obtained a divorce from his wife. His wife, feeling, +perhaps, resentment more than grief, sued, at the same time, for a +divorce from him. Bothwell then sallied forth from his fastness at +Dunbar, and, taking Mary with him, went to Edinburgh, and took up his +abode in the castle there, as that fortress was then under his power. +Mary soon after appeared in public and stated that she was now +entirely free, and that, although Bothwell had done wrong in carrying +her away by violence, still he had treated her since in so respectful +a manner, that she had pardoned him, and had received him into favor +again. A short time after this they were married. The ceremony was +performed in a very private and unostentatious manner, and took place +in May, about three months after the murder of Darnley. + +By some persons Mary's account of the transactions at Dunbar is +believed. Others think that the whole affair was all a preconcerted +plan, and that the appearance of resistance on her part was only for +show, to justify, in some degree, in the eyes of the world, so +imprudent and inexcusable a marriage. A great many volumes have been +written on the question without making any progress toward a +settlement of it. It is one of those cases where, the evidence being +complicated, conflicting, and incomplete, the mind is swayed by the +feelings, and the readers of the story decide more or less favorably +for the unhappy queen, according to the warmth of the interest +awakened in their hearts by beauty and misfortune. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE FALL OF BOTHWELL. + +1567 + +Mary's infatuation.--Excuses for her.--Mary's deep +depression.--Interposition of the King of France.--Bothwell at Edinburgh +Castle.--He is hated by the people.--The opposing parties.--How far +Mary was responsible.--Melrose.--Ruins of the abbey.--Mary's +proclamation.--The prince's lords.--Bothwell alarmed.--Borthwick +Castle.--Bothwell's retreat.--He is besieged.--Makes his +escape.--Bothwell at Dunbar.--Proclamation.--Approaching +contest.--Mary's appeal.--Approach of the prince's lords.--Carberry +Hill.--Efforts of Le Croc to effect an accommodation.--Bothwell's +challenge.--Morton.--Mary sends for Grange.--Proposition of +Grange.--Dismissal of Bothwell.--Question of Mary's guilt.--The +supposition against her.--The supposition in her +favor.--Uncertainty.--The box of love letters.--Their genuineness +suspected.--Disposal of Mary.--Return to Edinburgh.--The +banner.--Rudeness of the populace.--Bothwell's retreat.--He is +pursued.--Bothwell's narrow escape.--He turns pirate.--Bothwell +in prison.--His miserable end. + + +The course which Mary pursued after her liberation from Dunbar in +yielding to Bothwell's wishes, pardoning his violence, receiving him +again into favor, and becoming his wife, is one of the most +extraordinary instances of the infatuation produced by love that has +ever occurred. If the story had been fiction instead of truth, it +would have been pronounced extravagant and impossible. As it was, the +whole country was astonished and confounded at such a rapid +succession of desperate and unaccountable crimes. Mary herself seems +to have been hurried through these terrible scenes in a sort of +delirium of excitement, produced by the strange circumstances of the +case, and the wild and uncontrollable agitations to which they gave +rise. + +Such was, however, at the time, and such continues to be still, the +feeling of interest in Mary's character and misfortunes, that but few +open and direct censures of her conduct were then, or have been +since, expressed. People execrated Bothwell, but they were silent in +respect to Mary. It was soon plain, however, that she had greatly +sunk in their regard, and that the more they reflected upon the +circumstances of the case, the deeper she was sinking. When the +excitement, too, began to pass away from her own mind, it left behind +it a gnawing inquietude and sense of guilt, which grew gradually more +and more intense, until, at length, she sunk under the stings of +remorse and despair. + +Her sufferings were increased by the evidences which were continually +coming to her mind of the strong degree of disapprobation with which +her conduct began soon every where to be regarded. Wherever Scotchmen +traveled, they found themselves reproached with the deeds of violence +and crime of which their country had been the scene. Mary's relatives +and friends in France wrote to her, expressing their surprise and +grief at such proceedings. The King of France had sent, a short time +before, a special embassador for the purpose of doing something, if +possible, to discover and punish the murderers of Darnley. His name +was Le Croc. He was an aged and venerable man, of great prudence and +discretion, well qualified to discover and pursue the way of escape +from the difficulties in which Mary had involved herself, if any such +way could be found. He arrived before the day of Mary's marriage, but +he 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 guard +as intended to prevent Mary's escape, and many thought that she was +detained, after all, against her will, and that her admissions that +she was free were only made at the instigation of Bothwell, and from +fear of his terrible power. The other nobles and the people of +Scotland began to grow more and more uneasy. The fear of Bothwell +began to be changed into hatred, and the more powerful nobles +commenced forming plans for combining together, and rescuing, as they +said, Mary out of his power. + +Bothwell made no attempts to conciliate them. He assumed an air and +tone of defiance. He increased his forces. He conceived the plan of +going to Stirling Castle to seize the young prince, who was residing +there under the charge of persons to whom his education had been +intrusted. He said to his followers that James should never do any +thing to avenge his father's death, if he could once get him into his +hands. The other nobles formed a league to counteract these designs. +They began to assemble their forces, and every thing threatened an +outbreak of civil war. + +The marriage took place about the middle of May, and within a +fortnight from that time the lines began to be pretty definitely +drawn between the two great parties, the queen and Bothwell on one +side, and the insurgent nobles on the other, each party claiming to +be friends of the queen. Whatever was done on Bothwell's side was, of +course, in the queen's name, though it is very doubtful how far she +was responsible for what was done, or how far, on the other hand, she +merely aided, under the influence of a species of compulsion, in +carrying into execution Bothwell's measures. We must say, in +narrating the history, that the queen did this and that, and must +leave the reader to judge whether it was herself, or Bothwell acting +through her, who was the real agent in the transactions described. + +Stirling Castle, where the young prince was residing, is northwest of +Edinburgh. 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 attractive +objects of interest in the whole island of Great Britain. The region +is now the abode of peace, and quietness, and plenty, though in +Mary's day it was the scene of continual turmoil and war. It is now +the favorite retreat of poets and philosophers, who seek their +residences there on account of its stillness and peace. Sir Walter +Scott's Abbotsford is a few miles from Melrose. + +About a fortnight after Mary's marriage, she issued a proclamation +ordering the military chiefs in her kingdom to assemble at Melrose, +with their followers, to accompany her on an expedition through the +border country, to suppress some disorders there. The nobles +considered this as only a scheme of Bothwell's to draw them away from +the neighborhood of Stirling, so that he might go and get possession +of the young prince. Rumors of this spread around the country, and +the forces, instead of proceeding to Melrose, began to assemble in +the neighborhood of Stirling, for the protection of the prince. The +lords under whose banners they gathered assumed the name of _the +prince's_ lords, and they called upon the people to take up arms in +defense of young James's person and rights. The prince's lords soon +began to concentrate their forces about Edinburgh, and Bothwell was +alarmed for his safety. He had reason to fear that the governor of +Edinburgh Castle was on their side, and that he might suddenly sally +forth with a body of his forces down the High Street to Holyrood, and +take him prisoner. He accordingly began to think it necessary to +retreat. + +Now Bothwell had, among his other possessions, a certain castle +called Borthwick Castle, a few miles south of Edinburgh. It was +situated on a little swell of land in a beautiful valley. It was +surrounded with groves of trees, and from the windows and walls of +the castle there was an extended view over the beautiful and fertile +fields of the valley. This castle was extensive and strong. It +consisted of one great square tower, surrounded and protected by +walls and bastions, and was approached by a draw-bridge. In the +sudden emergency in which Bothwell found himself placed, this +fortress seemed to be the most convenient and the surest retreat. On +the 6th of June, he accordingly left Edinburgh with as large a force +as he had at command, and rode rapidly across the country with the +queen, and established himself at Borthwick. + +The prince's lords, taking fresh courage from the evidence of +Bothwell's weakness and fear, immediately marched from Stirling, +passed by Edinburgh, and almost immediately after Bothwell and the +queen had got safely, as they imagined, established in the place of +their retreat, they found their castle surrounded and hemmed in on +all sides by hostile forces, which filled the whole valley. The +castle was strong, but not strong enough to withstand a siege from +such an army. Bothwell accordingly determined to retreat to his +castle of Dunbar, which, being on a rocky promontory, jutting into +the sea, and more remote from the heart of the country, was less +accessible, and more safe than Borthwick. He contrived, though with +great difficulty, to make his escape with the queen, through the +ranks of his enemies. It is said that the queen was disguised in male +attire. 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, to +deliver her from her dangers. At the same time, the prince's lords +issued _their_ proclamation, calling upon all faithful subjects to +assemble with them, to aid them in delivering the queen from the +tyrant who held her captive. + +The faithful subjects were at a loss which proclamation to obey. By +far the greater number joined the insurgents. Some thousands, +however, went to Dunbar. With this force the queen and Bothwell +sallied forth, about the middle of June, to meet the prince's lords, +or the insurgents, as they called them, to settle the question at +issue by the kind of ballot with which such questions were generally +settled in those days. + +Mary had a proclamation read at the head of her army, now that she +supposed she was on the eve of battle, in which she explained the +causes of the quarrel. The proclamation stated that the marriage was +Mary's free act, and that, although it was in some respects an +extraordinary one, still the circumstances were such that she could +not do otherwise than she had done. For ten days she had been in +Bothwell's power in his castle at Dunbar, and not an arm had been +raised for her deliverance. Her subjects ought to have interposed +then, if they were intending really to rescue her from Bothwell's +power. They had done nothing then, but now, when she had been +compelled, by the cruel circumstances of her condition, to marry +Bothwell--when the act was done, and could no longer be recalled, +they had taken up arms against her, and compelled her to take the +field in her own defense. + +The army of the prince's lords, with Mary's most determined enemies +at their head, advanced to meet the queen's forces. The queen finally +took her post on an elevated piece of ground called Carberry Hill. +Carberry is an old Scotch name for gooseberry. Carberry Hill is a few +miles to the eastward of Edinburgh, near Dalkeith. Here the two +armies were drawn up, opposite to each other, in hostile array. + +Le Croc, the aged and venerable French embassador, made a great +effort to effect an accommodation and prevent a battle. He first went +to 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 that +they should lay down their arms and submit to the queen's authority, +and that she would forgive and forget what they had done. They +replied that they had done no wrong, and asked for no pardon; that +they were not in arms against the queen's authority, but in favor of +it. They sought only to deliver her from the durance in which she was +held, 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 up +in despair, he returned to Edinburgh, leaving the contending parties +to settle the contest in their own way. + +Bothwell now sent a herald to the camp of his enemies, challenging +any one of them to meet him, and settle the question of his guilt or +innocence by single combat. This proposition was not quite so absurd +in 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. Many +negotiations ensued on Bothwell's proposal. One or two persons +expressed themselves ready to accept the challenge. Bothwell objected +to them on account of their rank being inferior to his, but said he +would fight Morton, if Morton would accept his challenge. Morton had +been his accomplice in the murder of Darnley, but had afterward +joined the party of Bothwell's foes. It would have been a singular +spectacle to see one of these confederates in the commission of a +crime contending desperately in single combat to settle the question +of the guilt or innocence of the other. + +The combat, however, did not take place. After many negotiations on +the subject, the plan was abandoned, each party charging the other +with declining the contest. The queen and Bothwell, in the mean time, +found such evidences of strength on the part of their enemies, and +felt probably, in their own hearts, so much of that faintness and +misgiving under which human energy almost always sinks when the tide +begins to turn against it, after the commission of wrong, that they +began to feel disheartened and discouraged. The queen sent to the +opposite camp with a request that a certain personage, the Laird of +Grange, in whom all parties had great confidence, should come to her, +that she might make one more effort at reconciliation. Grange, after +consulting with the prince's lords, made a proposition to Mary, which +she finally concluded to accept. It was as follows: + +They proposed that Mary should come over to their camp, not saying +very distinctly whether she was to come as their captive or as their +queen. The event showed that it was in the former capacity that they +intended to receive her, though they were probably willing that she +should understand that it was in the latter. At all events, the +proposition itself did not make it very clear what her position would +be; and the poor queen, distracted by the difficulties which +surrounded her, and overwhelmed with agitation and fear, could not +press very strongly for precise stipulations. In respect to Bothwell, +they compromised the question by agreeing that, as he was under +suspicion in respect to the murder of Darnley, he should not +accompany the queen, but should be dismissed upon the field; that is, +allowed to depart, without molestation, wherever he should choose to +go. This plan was finally adopted. The queen bade Bothwell farewell, +and he went away reluctantly and in great apparent displeasure. He +had, in fact, with his characteristic ferocity, attempted to shoot +Grange pending the negotiation. He mounted his horse, and, with a few +attendants, rode off and sought a retreat once more upon his rock at +Dunbar. + +From all the evidence which has come down to us, it seems impossible +to ascertain whether Mary desired to be released from Bothwell's +power, and was glad when the release came, or whether she still loved +him, and was planning a reunion, so soon as a reunion should be +possible. One party at that time maintained, and a large class of +writers and readers since have concurred in the opinion, that Mary +was in love with Bothwell before Darnley's death; that she connived +with him in the plan for Darnley's murder; that she was a consenting +party to the abduction, and the spending of the ten days at Dunbar +Castle, in his power; that the marriage was the end at which she +herself, as well as Bothwell, had been all the time aiming; and then, +when at last she surrendered herself to the prince's lords at +Carberry Hill, it was only yielding unwillingly to the necessity of a +temporary separation from her lawless husband, with a view of +reinstating him in favor and power at the earliest opportunity. + +Another party, both among her people at the time and among the +writers and readers who have since paid attention to her story, think +that she never loved Bothwell, and that, though she valued his +services as a bold and energetic soldier, she had no collusion with +him whatever in respect to Darnley's murder. They think that, though +she must have felt in some sense relieved of a burden by Darnley's +death, she did not in any degree aid in or justify the crime, and +that she had no reason for supposing that Bothwell had any share in +the commission of it. They think, also, that her consenting to marry +Bothwell is to be accounted for by her natural desire to seek +shelter, under some wing or other, from the terrible storms which +were raging around her; and being deserted, as she thought, by every +body else, and moved by his passionate love and devotion, she +imprudently gave herself to him; that she lamented the act as soon as +it was done, but that it was then too late to retrieve the step; and +that, harassed and in despair, she knew not what to do, but that she +hailed the rising of her nobles as affording the only promise of +deliverance, and came forth from Dunbar to meet them with the secret +purpose of delivering herself into their hands. + +The question which of these two suppositions is the correct one has +been discussed a great deal, without the possibility of arriving at +any satisfactory conclusion. A parcel of letters were produced by +Mary's enemies, some time after this, which they said were Mary's +letters to Bothwell before her husband Darnley's death. They say they +took the letters from a man named Dalgleish, one of Bothwell's +servants, who was carrying them from Holyrood to Dunbar Castle, just +after Mary and Bothwell fled to Borthwick. They were contained in a +small 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 him +for this box, charging him to convey it with all care to Dunbar +Castle. The letters purport to be from Mary to Bothwell, and to have +been written before Darnley's death. They evince a strong affection +for the person to whom they are addressed, and seem conclusively to +prove the unlawful attachment between the parties, provided that +their genuineness is acknowledged. But this genuineness is denied. +Mary's friends maintain that they are forgeries, prepared by her +enemies to justify their own wrong. Many volumes have been written on +the question of the genuineness of these love letters, as they are +called, and there is perhaps now no probability that the question +will ever be settled. + +Whatever doubt there may be about these things, there is none about +the events which followed. After Mary had surrendered herself to her +nobles they took her to the camp, she herself riding on horseback, +and Grange walking by her side. As she advanced to meet the nobles +who had combined against her, she said to them that she had concluded +to come over to them, not from fear, or from doubt what the issue +would have been if she had fought the battle, but only because she +wanted to spare the effusion of Christian blood, especially the blood +of her own subjects. She had therefore decided to submit herself to +their counsels, trusting that they would treat her as their rightful +queen. The nobles made little reply to this address, but prepared to +return to Edinburgh with their prize. + +The people of Edinburgh, who had heard what turn the affair had +taken, flocked out upon the roads to see the queen return. They lined +the waysides to gaze upon the great cavalcade as it passed. The +nobles who conducted Mary thus back toward her capital had a banner +prepared, or allowed one to be prepared, on which was a painting +representing the dead body of Darnley, and the young prince James +kneeling near him, and calling on God to avenge his cause. Mary came +on, in the procession, after this symbol. They might perhaps say that +it was not intended to wound her feelings, and was not of a nature to +do it, unless she considered herself as taking sides with the +murderers of her husband. She, however, knew very well that she was +so regarded by great numbers of the populace assembled, and that the +effect of such an effigy carried before her was to hold her up to +public obloquy. The populace did, in fact, taunt and reproach her as +she proceeded, and she rode into Edinburgh, evincing all the way +extreme 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 earnestly +against this, and called, half frantic, on all who heard her to come +to her rescue. But no one interfered. They took her to the provost's +house, and lodged her there for the night, and the crowd which had +assembled to observe these proceedings gradually dispersed. There +seemed, however, in a day or two, to be some symptoms of a reaction +in favor of the fallen queen; and, to guard against the possibility +of a rescue, the lords took Mary to Holyrood again, and began +immediately to make arrangements for some more safe place of +confinement still. + +In the mean time, Bothwell went from Carberry Hill to his castle at +Dunbar, revolving moodily in his mind his altered fortunes. After +some time he found himself not safe in this place of refuge, and so +he retreated to the north, to some estates he had there, in the +remote Highlands. A detachment of forces was sent in pursuit of him. +Now there are, north of Scotland, some groups of dismal islands, the +summits 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 to +these islands. His pursuers, headed by Grange, who had negotiated at +Carberry for the surrender of the queen, embarked in other vessels, +and pressed on after him. At one time they almost overtook him, and +would have captured him and all his company were it not that they got +entangled among some shoals. Grange's sailors said they must not +proceed. Grange, eager to seize his prey, insisted on their making +sail and pressing forward. The consequence was, they ran the vessels +aground, and Bothwell escaped in a small boat. As it was, however, +they seized some of his accomplices, and brought them back to +Edinburgh. These men were afterward tried, and some of them were +executed; and it was at their trial, and through the confessions they +made, that the facts were brought to light which have been related in +this narrative. + +Bothwell, now a fugitive and an exile, but still retaining his +desperate and lawless character, became a pirate, and attempted to +live by robbing the commerce of the German Ocean. Rumor is the only +historian, in ordinary cases, to record the events in the life of a +pirate; and she, in this case, sent word, from time to time, to +Scotland, of the robberies and murders that the desperado committed; +of an expedition fitted out against him by the King of Denmark, of +his being taken and carried into a Danish port; of his being held in +imprisonment for a long period there, in a gloomy dungeon; of his +restless spirit chafing itself in useless struggles against his +fate, and sinking gradually, at last under the burdens of remorse for +past 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 at +night.--Loch Leven Castle.--The square tower.--Plan of Loch Leven +Castle.--Lady Douglas.--Lady Douglas Mary's enemy.--Parties for and +against Mary.--The Hamilton lords.--Plans of Mary's enemies.--Mary's +tower.--Ruins.--The scale turns against Mary.--Proposals made to +Mary.--The commissioners.--Melville unsuccessful.--Lindsay +called in.--Lindsay's brutality.--Abdication.--Coronation of +James.--Ceremonies.--Return of Murray.--Murray's interview with +Mary.--Affecting scene.--Murray assumes the government.--His +warnings.--The young Douglases.--Their interest in Mary.--Plan for Mary's +escape.--The laundress.--The disguise.--Escape.--Discovery.--Mary's +return.--Banishment of George Douglas.--Secret communications.--New +plan of escape.--The postern gate.--Liberation of Mary.--Jane +Kennedy.--The escape.--Mary's joy.--Popular feeling.--Mary's +proclamation.--Ruins of Loch Leven Castle.--The octagonal +tower.--Visitors. + + +Grange, or, as he is sometimes called, Kircaldy, his title in full +being Grange of Kircaldy, was a man of integrity and honor, and he, +having been the negotiator through whose intervention Mary gave +herself up, felt himself bound to see that the stipulations on the +part of the nobles should be honorably fulfilled. He did all in his +power to protect Mary from insult on the journey, and he struck with +his sword and drove away some of the populace who were addressing her +with taunts and reproaches. When he found that the nobles were +confining her, and treating her so much more like a captive than like +a queen, he remonstrated with them. They silenced him by showing him +a letter, which they said they had intercepted on its way from Mary +to Bothwell. It was written, they said, on the night of Mary's +arrival at Edinburgh. It assured Bothwell that she retained an +unaltered affection for him; that her consenting to be separated +from him at Carberry Hill was a matter of mere necessity, and that +she should rejoin him as soon as it was in her power to do so. This +letter showed, they said, that, after all, Mary was not, as they had +supposed, Bothwell's captive and victim, but that she was his +accomplice and friend; and that, now that they had discovered their +mistake, they must treat Mary, as well as Bothwell, as an enemy, and +take effectual means to protect themselves from the one as well as +from the other. Mary's friends maintain that this letter was a +forgery. + +They accordingly took Mary, as has been already stated, from the +provost's house in Edinburgh down to Holyrood House, which was just +without the city. This, however, was only a temporary change. That +night they came into the palace, and directed Mary to rise and put on +a traveling dress which they brought her. They did not tell her where +she was to go, but simply ordered her to follow them. It was +midnight. They took her forth from the palace, mounted her upon a +horse, and, with Ruthven and Lindsay, two of the murderers of Rizzio, +for an escort, they rode away. They traveled all night, crossed the +River 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 the +loch. It is nearly north from Edinburgh. The castle buildings covered +at that time about one half of the island, the water coming up to the +walls on three sides. On the other side was a little land, which was +cultivated as a garden. The buildings inclosed a considerable area. +There was a great square tower, marked on the plan below, which was +the residence of the family. It consisted of four or five rooms, one +over the other. The cellar, or, rather, what would be the cellar in +other cases, was a dungeon for such prisoners as were to be kept in +close confinement. The only entrance to this building was through a +window in the second story, by means of a ladder which was raised and +let 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 were +various other apartments and structures about the square, and among +them there was a small octagonal tower in the corner at _m_ which +consisted within of one room over another for three stories, and a +flat roof with battlements above. In the second story there was a +window, _w_, looking upon the water. This was the only window having +an external aspect in the whole fortress, all the other openings in +the 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, page +236.] + +This castle was in possession of a certain personage styled the Lady +Douglas. She was the mother of the Lord James, afterward the Earl of +Murray, who has figured so conspicuously in this history as Mary's +half brother, and at first her friend and counselor, though afterward +her foe. Lady Douglas was commonly called the Lady of Loch Leven. She +maintained that she had been lawfully married to James V., Mary's +father, and that consequently her son, and not Mary, was the rightful +heir to the crown. Of course she was Mary's natural enemy. They +selected her castle as the place of Mary's confinement partly on this +account, and partly on account of its inaccessible position in the +midst of the waters of the lake. They delivered the captive queen, +accordingly, to the Lady Douglas and her husband, charging them to +keep her safely. The Lady Douglas received her, and locked her up in +the 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 of +provisional government was instituted, which assumed the management +of public affairs. Mary had, however, some friends, and they soon +began to assemble in order to see what could be done for her cause. +Their rendezvous was at the palace of Hamilton. This palace was +situated on a plain in the midst of a beautiful park, near the River +Clyde, a few miles from Glasgow. The Duke of Hamilton was prominent +among the supporters of the queen, and made his house their +head-quarters. They were often called, from this circumstance, the +Hamilton lords. + +On the other hand, the party opposed to Mary made the castle of +Stirling their head-quarters, because the young prince was there, in +whose name they were proposing soon to assume the government. Their +plan was to depose Mary, or induce her to abdicate the throne, and +then to make Murray regent, to govern the country in the name of the +prince until the prince should become of age. During all this time +Murray had been absent in France, but they now sent urgent messages +to him to return. He obeyed the summons, and turned his face toward +Scotland. + +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, and +about as many male attendants; though, if the rooms which are +exhibited to visitors at the present day as the apartments which she +occupied are really such, her quarters were very contracted. They +consist of small apartments of an octagonal form, one over the other, +with tortuous and narrow stair-cases in the solid wall to ascend from +one 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, and +the one window remain, enabling the visitor to reconstruct the +dwelling in imagination, and even to fancy Mary herself there again, +seated on the stone seat by the window, looking over the water at the +distant hills, and sighing to be free. + +The Hamilton lords were not strong enough to attempt her rescue. The +weight of influence and power throughout the country went gradually +and irresistibly into the other scale. There were great debates among +the authorities of government as to what should be done. The Hamilton +lords made proposals in behalf of Mary which the government could not +accede to. Other proposals were made by different parties in the +councils of the insurgent nobles, some more and some less hard for +the captive queen. The conclusion, however, finally was, to urge +Mary 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 of +age. + +They accordingly sent commissioners to Loch Leven to propose these +measures to the queen. There were three instruments of abdication +prepared for her to sign. By one she resigned the crown in favor of +her son. By the second she appointed Murray to be regent as soon as +he should return from France. By the third she appointed +commissioners to govern the country until Murray should return. They +knew that Mary would be extremely unwilling to sign these papers, and +yet that they must contrive, in some way, to obtain her signature +without 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 and +Lindsay. Melville was a thoughtful and a reasonable man, who had long +been in Mary's service, and who possessed a great share of her +confidence and good will. Lindsay was, on the other hand, of an +overbearing and violent temper, of very rude speech and demeanor, and +was known to be unfriendly to the queen. They hoped that Mary would +be induced to sign the papers by Melville's gentle persuasions; if +not, Lindsay was to see what he could do by denunciations and +threats. + +When the two commissioners arrived at the castle, Melville alone went +first into the presence of the queen. He opened the subject to her in +a gentle and respectful manner. He laid before her the distracted +state of Scotland, the uncertain and vague suspicions floating in the +public mind on the subject of Darnley's murder, and the irretrievable +shade which had been thrown over her position by the unhappy marriage +with 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 him +patiently, but replied that she could not consent to his proposal. By +doing so she should not only sacrifice her own rights, and degrade +herself from the position she was entitled to occupy, but she should, +in some sense, acknowledge herself guilty of the charges brought +against her, and justify her enemies. + +Melville, finding that his efforts were vain, called Lindsay in. He +entered with a fierce and determined air. Mary was reminded of the +terrible night when he and Ruthven broke into her little supper-room +at Holyrood in quest of Rizzio. She was agitated and alarmed. Lindsay +assailed her with denunciations and threats of the most violent +character. There ensued a scene of the most rough and ferocious +passion on the one side, and of anguish, terror, and despair on the +other, which is said to have made this day the most wretched of all +the wretched days of Mary's life. Sometimes she sat pale, motionless, +and almost stupefied. At others, she was overwhelmed with sorrow and +tears. She finally yielded; and, taking the pen, she signed the +papers. Lindsay and Melville took them, left the castle gate, entered +their boat, and were rowed away to the shore. + +This was on the 25th of July, 1567, and four days afterward the young +prince was crowned at Stirling. His title was James VI. Lindsay made +oath at the coronation that he was a witness of Mary's abdication of +the crown in favor of her son, and that it was her own free and +voluntary act. James was about one year old. The coronation took +place in the chapel where Mary had been crowned in her infancy, about +twenty-five years before. Mary herself, though unconscious of her own +coronation, mourned bitterly over that of her son. Unhappy mother! +how little was she aware, when her heart was filled with joy and +gladness at his birth, that in one short year his mere existence +would furnish to her enemies the means of consummating and sealing +her ruin. + +On returning from the chapel to the state apartments of the castle, +after the coronation, the noblemen by whom the infant had been +crowned walked in solemn procession, bearing the badges and insignia +of the newly-invested royalty. One carried the crown. Morton, who was +to exercise the government until Murray should return, followed with +the scepter, and a third bore the infant king, who gazed about +unconsciously upon the scene, regardless alike of his mother's lonely +wretchedness and of his own new scepter and crown. + +In the mean time, Murray was drawing near toward the confines of +Scotland. He was somewhat uncertain how to act. Having been absent +for some time in France and on the Continent, he was not certain how +far the people of Scotland were really and cordially in favor of the +revolution which had been effected. Mary's friends might claim that +her acts of abdication, having been obtained while she was under +duress, were null and void, and if they were strong enough they +might attempt to reinstate her upon the throne. In this case, it +would be better for him not to have acted with the insurgent +government at all. To gain information on these points, Murray sent +to Melville to come and meet him on the border. Melville came. The +result of their conferences was, that Murray resolved to visit Mary +in her tower before he adopted any decisive course. + +Murray accordingly journeyed northward to Loch Leven, and, embarking +in the boat which plied between the castle and the shore, he crossed +the sheet of water, and was admitted into the fortress. He had a long +interview with Mary alone. At the sight of her long-absent brother, +who had been her friend and guide in her early days of prosperity and +happiness, and who had accompanied her through so many changing +scenes, and who now returned, after his long separation from her, to +find her a lonely and wretched captive, involved in irretrievable +ruin, if not in acknowledged guilt, she was entirely overcome by her +emotions. She burst into tears and could not speak. What further +passed at this interview was never precisely known. They parted +tolerably good friends, however, and yet Murray immediately assumed +the government, by which it is supposed that he succeeded in +persuading Mary that such a step was now best for her sake as well as +for that of all others concerned. + +Murray, however, did not fail to warn her, as he himself states, in a +very serious manner, against any attempt to change her situation. +"Madam," said he, "I will plainly declare to you what the sources of +danger are from which I think you have most to apprehend. First, any +attempt, of whatever kind, that you may make to create disturbance in +the country, through friends that may still adhere to your cause, and +to interfere with the government of your son; secondly, devising or +attempting any plan of escape from this island; thirdly, taking any +measures for inducing the Queen of England or the French king to come +to your aid; and, lastly, persisting in your attachment to Earl +Bothwell." He warned Mary solemnly against any and all of these, and +then took his leave. He was soon after proclaimed regent. A +Parliament was assembled to sanction all the proceedings, and the new +government 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 of +escape. She knew that there must be many who had remained friends to +her cause. She thought that if she could once make her escape from +her prison, these friends would rally around her, and that she could +thus, perhaps, regain her throne again. But strictly watched as she +was, 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, two +young men, George and William Douglas. The oldest, George, was about +twenty-five years of age, and the youngest was seventeen. George was +the son of Lord and Lady Douglas who kept the castle. William was an +orphan boy, a relative, who, having no home, had been received into +the family. These young men soon began to feel a strong interest in +the beautiful captive confined in their father's castle, and, before +many months, this interest became so strong that they began to feel +willing to incur the dangers and responsibilities of aiding her in +effecting her escape. They had secret conferences with Mary on the +subject. They went to the shore on various pretexts, and contrived +to make their plans known to Mary's friends, that they might be ready +to receive her in case they should succeed. + +The plan at length was ripe for execution. It was arranged thus. The +castle not being large, there was not space within its walls for all +the accommodations required for its inmates; much was done on the +shore, where there was quite a little village of attendants and +dependents pertaining to the castle. This little village has since +grown into a flourishing manufacturing town, where a great variety of +plaids, and tartans, and other Scotch fabrics are made. Its name is +Kinross. Communication with this part of the shore was then, as now, +kept up by boats, which generally then belonged to the castle, though +now to the town. + +On the day when Mary was to attempt her escape, a servant woman was +brought by one of the castle boats from the shore with a bundle of +clothes for Mary. Mary, whose health and strength had been impaired +by her confinement and sufferings, was often in her bed. She was so +at this time, though perhaps she was feigning now more feebleness +than she really felt. The servant woman came into her apartment and +undressed herself, while Mary rose, took the dress which she laid +aside, and put it on as a disguise. The woman took Mary's place in +bed. Mary covered her face with a muffler, and, taking another bundle +in her hand to assist in her disguise, she passed across the court, +issued from the castle gate, went to the landing stairs, and stepped +into the boat for the men to row her to the shore. + +The oarsmen, who belonged to the castle, supposing that all was +right, pushed off, and began to row toward the land. As they were +crossing the water, however, they observed that their passenger was +very particular to keep her face covered, and attempted to pull away +the muffler, saying, "Let us see what kind of a looking damsel this +is." Mary, in alarm, put up her hands to her face to hold the muffler +there. The smooth, white, and delicate fingers revealed to the men at +once that they were carrying away a lady in disguise. Mary, finding +that concealment was no longer possible, dropped her muffler, looked +upon the men with composure and dignity, told them that she was their +queen, that they were bound by their allegiance to her to obey her +commands, and she commanded them to go on and row her to the shore. + +The men decided, however, that their allegiance was due to the lord +of the castle rather than to the helpless captive trying to escape +from it. They told her that they must return. Mary was not only +disappointed at the failure of her plans, but she was now anxious +lest her friends, the young Douglases, should be implicated in the +attempt, and should suffer in consequence of it. The men, however, +solemnly promised her, that if she would quietly return, they would +not make the circumstances known. The secret, however, was too great +a secret to be kept. In a few days it all came to light. Lord and +Lady Douglas were very angry with their son, and banished him, +together with two of Mary's servants, from the castle. Whatever share +young William Douglas had in the scheme was not found out, and he was +suffered to remain. George Douglas went only to Kinross. He remained +there 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 strict +and rigorous than ever, her keepers being resolved to double their +vigilance, while George and William, on the other hand, resolved to +redouble their exertions to find some means to circumvent it. +William, who was only a boy of seventeen, and who remained within +the castle, acted his part in a very sagacious and admirable manner. +He was silent, and assumed a thoughtless and unconcerned manner in his +general deportment, which put every one off their guard in respect to +him. George, who was at Kinross, held frequent communications with the +Hamilton lords, encouraging them to hope for Mary's escape, and +leading them to continue in combination, and to be ready to act at a +moment's warning. They communicated with each other, too, by secret +means, across the lake, and with Mary in her solitary tower. It is +said that George, wishing to make Mary understand that their plans for +rescuing her were not abandoned, and not having the opportunity to do +so directly, sent her a picture of the mouse liberating the lion from +his snares, hoping that she would draw from the picture the inference +which he intended. + +At length the time arrived for another attempt. It was about the +first of May. By looking at the engraving of Loch Leven Castle, it +will be seen that there was a window in Mary's tower looking out over +the water. George Douglas's plan was to bring a boat up to this +window in the night, and take Mary down the wall into it. The place +of egress by which Mary escaped is called in some of the accounts a +postern gate, and yet tradition at the castle says that it was +through this window. It is not improbable that this window might have +been intended to be used sometimes as a postern gate, and that the +iron grating with which it was guarded was made to open and shut, the +key being kept with the other keys of the castle. + +The time for the attempt was fixed upon for Sunday night, on the 2d +of May. George Douglas was ready with the boat early in the evening. +When it was dark, he rowed cautiously across the water, and took his +position under Mary's window. William Douglas was in the mean time at +supper in the great square tower with his father and mother. The keys +were lying upon the table. He contrived to get them into his +possession, and then cautiously stole away. He locked the tower as he +came out, went across the court to Mary's room, liberated her through +the postern window, and descended with her into the boat. One of her +maids, whose name was Jane Kennedy, was to have accompanied her, but, +in their eagerness to make sure of Mary, they forgot or neglected +her, and she had to leap down after them, which feat she +accomplished without any serious injury. The boat pushed off +immediately, and the Douglases began to pull hard for the shore. They +threw the keys of the castle into the lake, as if the impossibility +of recovering them, in that case, made the imprisonment of the family +more secure. The whole party were, of course, in the highest state of +excitement and agitation. Jane Kennedy helped to row, and it is said +that 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 the +fugitive. They mounted her on horseback, and galloped away. There was +a strong party to escort her. They rode hard all night, and the next +morning they arrived safely at Hamilton. "Now," said Mary, "I am once +more a queen." + +It was true. She was again a queen. Popular feeling ebbs and flows +with prodigious force, and the change from one state to the other +depends, sometimes, on very accidental causes. The news of Mary's +escape spread rapidly over the land. Her friends were encouraged and +emboldened. Sympathies, long dormant and inert, were awakened in her +favor. She issued a proclamation, declaring that her abdication had +been forced upon her, and, as such, was null and void. She summoned +Murray to surrender his powers as regent, and to come and receive +orders from her. She called upon all her faithful subjects to take up +arms and gather around her standard. Murray refused to obey, but +large masses of the people gave in their adhesion to their liberated +queen, and flocked to Hamilton to enter into her service. In a week +Mary 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 the +loch have been lowered by means of an excavation of the outlet, and a +portion of land has been left bare around the walls, which the +proprietor has planted with trees. Visitors are taken from Kinross in +a boat to view the scene. The square tower, though roofless and +desolate, still stands. The window in the second story, which served +as the entrance, and the one above, where the chain was worked, with +the deep furrows in the sill cut by its friction, are shown by the +guide. The court-yard is overgrown with weeds, and encumbered with +fallen stones and old foundations. The chapel is gone, though its +outline may be still traced in the ruins of its walls. The octagonal +tower which Mary occupied remains, and the visitors, climbing up by +the narrow stone stairs in the wall, look out at the window over the +waters of the loch and the distant hills, and try to recreate in +imagination the scene which the apartment presented when the unhappy +captive was there. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE LONG CAPTIVITY. + +1568-1570 + +Dumbarton Castle.--The situation and aspect.--Attempt to +retreat to Dumbarton.--Mary's forces defeated.--Mary's +flight.--Dundrennan.--Consultations.--Carlisle Castle.--Mary's +message to the governor.--Lowther.--Mary's reception at the +castle.--Is Mary a guest or a prisoner?--Precautions for +guarding her.--Elizabeth's hypocrisy.--Dishonorable +proposal.--Removal.--Separation from friends.--Proposed +trial.--Opening of the court.--Adjourned to London.--Failure +of the trial.--Mary's indignant pride.--Elizabeth's negotiations +with Murray.--Their failure.--Cruel treatment of Lady +Hamilton.--Hamilton resolves on revenge.--Hamilton's plans.--Death +of Murray.--Hamilton's flight.--Mary's grief.--Duke of Norfolk +beheaded.--Mary's unhappy situation.--Mary almost forgotten in +her 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 of +defense. It was situated, as has been already stated, on the River +Clyde, _above_ Glasgow; that is, toward the southeast of it, the +River Clyde flowing toward the northwest. The Castle of Dumbarton, +which has already been mentioned as the place from which Mary +embarked for France in her early childhood, was below Glasgow, on the +northern shore of the river. It stands there still in good repair, +and is well garrisoned; it crowns a rock which rises abruptly from +the midst of a comparatively level country, smiling with villages and +cultivated fields, and frowns sternly upon the peaceful steamers and +merchant ships which are continually gliding along under its guns, up +and down the Clyde. + +Queen Mary concluded to move forward to Dumbarton, it being a place +of greater safety than Hamilton. Murray gathered his forces to +intercept her march. The two armies met near Glasgow, as the queen +was moving westward, down the river. There was a piece of rising +ground between them, which each party was eager to ascend before the +other should reach it. The leader of the forces on Murray's side +ordered every horseman to take up a foot-soldier behind him, and ride +with all speed to the top of the hill. By this means the great body +of Murray's troops were put in possession of the vantage ground. The +queen's forces took post on another rising ground, less favorable, at +a little distance. The place was called Langside. A cannonading was +soon commenced, and a general battle ensued. Mary watched the +progress of it with intense emotions. Her forces began soon to give +way, and before many hours they were retreating in all directions, +the whole country being soon covered with the awful spectacles which +are afforded by one terrified and panic-stricken army flying before +the furious and triumphant rage of another. Mary gazed on the scene +in an agony of grief and despair. + +A few faithful friends kept near her side, and told her that she must +hurry away. They turned to the southward, and rode away from the +ground. They pressed on as rapidly as possible toward the southern +coast, thinking that the only safety for Mary now was for her to make +her escape from the country altogether, and go either to England or +to France, in hopes of obtaining foreign aid to enable her to recover +her throne. They at length reached the sea-coast. Mary was received +into 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 determine +what should be done. Mary herself was in favor of going to England, +and appealing to Elizabeth for protection and help. Her friends and +advisers, knowing Elizabeth perhaps better than Mary did, recommended +that she should sail for France, in hopes of awakening sympathy +there. But Mary, as we might naturally have expected, considering the +circumstances under which she left that country, found herself +extremely unwilling to go there as a fugitive and a suppliant. It was +decided, finally, to go to England. + +The nearest stronghold in England was Carlisle Castle, which was not +very far from the frontier. The boundary between the two kingdoms is +formed here by the Solway Frith, a broad arm of the sea. Dundrennan +Abbey, to which Mary had retreated, was near the town of +Kirkcudbright, which is, of course, on the northern side of the +Frith; it is also near the sea. Carlisle is further up the Frith, +near where the River Solway empties into it, and is twenty or thirty +miles from the shore. + +Mary sent a messenger to the governor of the castle at Carlisle to +inquire whether he would receive and protect her. She could not, +however, wait for an answer to this message, as the country was all +in commotion, and she was exposed to an attack at any time from +Murray's forces, in which case, even if they should not succeed in +taking her captive, they might effectually cut off her retreat from +Scottish 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 persons +constituted her train. This was all that remained to her of her army +of six thousand men. She proceeded to the shore. They provided a +fishing-boat for the voyage, furnishing it as comfortably for her as +circumstances would admit. She embarked, and sailed along the coast, +eastward, up the Frith, for about eighteen miles, gazing mournfully +upon the receding shore of her native land--receding, in fact, now +from her view forever. They landed at the most convenient port for +reaching Carlisle, intending to take the remainder of the journey by +land. + +In the mean time, the messenger, on his arrival at Carlisle, found +that the governor had gone to London. His second in rank, whom he had +left in command, immediately sent off an express after him to inform +him 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. He +directed the messenger to inform her that he had sent to London for +instructions from Elizabeth, but that, in the mean time, she would be +a welcome guest in his castle, and that he would defend her there +from all her enemies. He then sent around to all the nobles and men +of distinction in the neighborhood, informing them of the arrival of +the distinguished visitor, and having assembled them, they proceeded +together toward the coast to meet and receive the unhappy fugitive +with the honors becoming her rank, though such honors must have +seemed 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 princes +and queens in royal castles, there is little or no distinction +between the ceremonies which mark the honored guest and those which +attend the helpless captive. Mary had a great many friends at first, +who came out of Scotland to visit her. The authorities ordered +repairs to be commenced upon the castle, to fit it more suitably for +so distinguished an inmate, and, in consequence of the making of +these repairs, they found it inconvenient to admit visitors. Of +course, Mary, being a mere guest, could not complain. She wanted to +take a walk beyond the limits of the castle, upon a green to which +there was access through a postern gate. Certainly: the governor made +no objection to such a walk, but sent twenty or thirty armed men to +accompany her. They might be considered either as an honorary escort, +or as a guard to watch her movements, to prevent her escape, and to +secure her return. At one time she proposed to go a-hunting. They +allowed her to go, _properly attended_. On her return, however, the +officer reported to his superior that she was so admirable in her +horsemanship, and could ride with so much fearlessness and speed, +that he thought it might be possible for a body of her friends to +come and carry her off, on some such occasion, back across the +frontier. So they determined to tell Mary, when she wished to hunt +again, that they thought it not safe for her to go out on such +excursions, as her _enemies_ might make a sudden invasion and carry +her away. The precautions would be just the same to protect Mary from +her 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 the +commander of the castle to be sure and keep her safely. Mary asked +for an interview with Elizabeth. Elizabeth's officers replied that +she could not properly admit Mary to a personal interview until she +had been, in some way or other, cleared of the suspicion which +attached to her in respect to the murder of Darnley. They proposed, +moreover, that Mary should consent to have that question examined +before some sort of court which Elizabeth might constitute for this +purpose. Now it is a special point of honor among all sovereign +kings and queens, throughout the civilized world, that they can, +technically, do no wrong; that they can not in any way be brought to +trial; and especially that they can not be, by any means or in any +way, amenable to each other. Mary refused to acknowledge any English +jurisdiction whatever in respect to any charges brought against her, +a sovereign queen of Scotland. + +Elizabeth removed her prisoner to another castle further from the +frontier than Carlisle, in order to place her in a situation where +she would be more safe _from her enemies_. It was not convenient to +lodge so many of her attendants at these new quarters as in the other +fortress, and several were dismissed. Additional obstructions were +thrown in the way of her seeing friends and visitors from Scotland. +Mary found her situation growing every day more and more helpless and +desolate. Elizabeth urged continually upon her the necessity of +having the points at issue between herself and Murray examined by a +commissioner, artfully putting it on the ground, not of a trial of +Mary, but a calling of Murray to account, by Mary, for his +usurpation. At last, harassed and worn down, and finding no ray of +hope coming to her from any quarter, she consented. Elizabeth +constituted such a court, which was to meet at York, a large and +ancient city in the north of England. Murray was to appear there in +person, with other lords associated with him. Mary appointed +commissioners 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 and +ceremony, commenced the investigation of the questions at issue, +which led, of course, to endless criminations and recriminations, the +ground covering the whole history of Mary's career in Scotland. They +went on for some weeks in this hopeless labyrinth, until, at length, +Murray produced the famous letters alleged to have been written by +Mary to Bothwell before Darnley's murder, as a part of the evidence, +and charged Mary, on the strength of this evidence, with having been +an abettor in the murder. Elizabeth, finding that the affair was +becoming, 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 draw +her still further into her power, ordered the conference, as the +court was called, to be adjourned to London. Here things took such a +turn that Mary complained that she was herself treated in so unjust a +manner, and Murray and his cause were allowed so many unfair +advantages, that she could not allow the discussion on her part to +continue. The conference was accordingly broken up, each party +charging the other with being the cause of the interruption. + +Murray returned to Scotland to resume his government there. Mary was +held a closer captive than ever. She sent to Elizabeth asking her to +remove these restraints, and allow her to depart either to her own +country or to France. Elizabeth replied that she could not, +considering all the circumstances of the case, allow her to leave +England; but that, if she would give up all claims to the government +of Scotland to her son, the young prince, she might remain in peace +_in_ England. Mary replied that she would suffer death a thousand +times rather than dishonor herself in the eyes of the world by +abandoning, in such a way, her rights as a sovereign. The last words +which she should speak, she said, should be those of the Queen of +Scotland. + +Elizabeth therefore considered that she had no alternative left but +to keep Mary a prisoner. She accordingly retained her for some time +in confinement, but she soon found that such a charge was a serious +incumbrance to her, and one not unattended with danger. The +disaffected in her own realm were beginning to form plots, and to +consider whether they could not, in some way or other, make use of +Mary's claims to the English crown to aid them. Finally, Elizabeth +came to the conclusion, when she had become a little satiated with +the feeling, at first so delightful, of having Mary in her power, +that, after all, it would be quite as convenient to have her +imprisoned in Scotland, and she opened a negotiation with Murray for +delivering Mary into his hands. He was, on his part, to agree to save +her life, and to keep her a close prisoner, and he was to deliver +hostages to Elizabeth as security for the fulfillment of these +obligations. + +Various difficulties, however, occurred in the way of the +accomplishment of these plans, and before the arrangement was finally +completed, it was cut suddenly short by Murray's miserable end. One +of the Hamiltons, who had been with Mary at Langside, was taken +prisoner after the battle. Murray, who, of course, as the legally +constituted regent in the name of James, considered himself as +representing the royal authority of the kingdom, regarded these +prisoners as rebels taken in the act of insurrection against their +sovereign. They were condemned to death, but finally were pardoned at +the place of execution. Their estates were, however, confiscated, and +given to the followers and favorites of Murray. + +One of these men, in taking possession of the house of Hamilton, with +a cruel brutality characteristic of the times, turned Hamilton's +family out abruptly in a cold night--perhaps exasperated by +resistance which he may have encountered. The wife of Hamilton, it is +said, was sent out naked; but the expression means, probably, very +insufficiently clothed for such an exposure. At any rate, the unhappy +outcast wandered about, half frantic with anger and terror, until, +before morning, she was wholly frantic and insane. To have such a +calamity brought upon him in consequence merely of his fidelity to +his queen, was, as the bereaved and wretched husband thought, an +injury not to be borne. He considered Murray the responsible author +of these miseries, and silently and calmly resolved on a terrible +revenge. + +Murray was making a progress through the country, traveling in state +with a great retinue, and was to pass through Linlithgow. There is a +town of that name close by the palace. Hamilton provided himself with +a room in one of the houses on the principal street, through which he +knew that Murray must pass. He had a fleet horse ready for him at the +back door. The front door was barricaded. There was a sort of balcony +or gallery projecting toward the street, with a window in it. He +stationed himself here, having carefully taken every precaution to +prevent his being seen from the street, or overheard in his +movements. Murray lodged in the town during the night, and Hamilton +posted 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 at +the proper point, Hamilton took his aim in a cool and deliberate +manner, screened from observation by black cloths with which he had +darkened his hiding-place. He fired. The ball passed through the body +of the regent, and thence, descending as it went, killed a horse on +the other side of him. Murray fell. There was a universal outcry of +surprise and fear. They made an onset upon the house from which the +shot had been fired. The door was strongly barricaded. Before they +could get the means to force an entrance, Hamilton was on his horse +and far away. The regent was carried to his lodgings, and died that +night. + +Murray was Queen Mary's half brother, and the connection of his +fortunes with hers, considered in respect to its intimacy and the +length of its duration, was, on the whole, greater than that of any +other individual. He may be said to have governed Scotland, in +reality, during the whole of Mary's nominal reign, first as her +minister and friend, and afterward as her competitor and foe. He was, +at any rate, during most of her life, her nearest relative and her +most constant companion, and Mary mourned his death with many tears. + +There was a great nobleman in England, named the Duke of Norfolk, who +had vast estates, and was regarded as the greatest subject in the +realm. He was a Catholic. Among the other countless schemes and plots +to which Mary's presence in England gave rise, he formed a plan of +marrying her, and, through her claim to the crown and by the help of +the Catholics, to overturn the government of Elizabeth. He entered +into negotiations with Mary, and she consented to become his wife, +without, however, as she says, being a party to his political +schemes. His plots were discovered; he was imprisoned, tried, and +beheaded. Mary was accused of sharing the guilt of his treason. She +denied this. She was not very vigorously proceeded against, but she +suffered in the event of the affair another sad disappointment of her +hopes of liberty, and her confinement became more strict and absolute +than ever. + +Still she had quite a numerous retinue of attendants. Many of her +former friends were allowed to continue with her. Jane Kennedy, who +had escaped with her from Loch Leven, remained in her service. She +was removed from castle to castle, at Elizabeth's orders, to diminish +the probability of the forming and maturing of plans of escape. She +amused herself sometimes in embroidery and similar pursuits, and +sometimes she pined and languished under the pressure of her sorrows +and woes. Sixteen or eighteen years passed away in this manner. She +was almost forgotten. Very exciting public events were taking place +in England and in Scotland, and the name of the poor captive queen +at length seemed to pass from men's minds, except so far as it was +whispered secretly in plots and intrigues. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE END. + +1586-1587 + +Plots and intrigues.--How far Mary was involved.--Babington's +conspiracy.--Secret correspondence.--Seizure of Mary's papers.--Her +son James.--Elizabeth resolves to bring Mary to trial.--Fotheringay +Castle.--Great interest in the trial.--Preparations for it.--The +throne.--Mary refuses to plead.--The commission.--The great +hall.--Mary pronounced guilty.--Elizabeth's pretended sorrow.--Signing +the warrant.--Shuffling of Elizabeth.--Mary's letter to +Elizabeth.--Interposition of Mary's friends.--Elizabeth signs the +warrant.--It is read to Mary.--Mary hears the sentence with +composure.--Protests her innocence.--Mary refused a priest.--Mary +alone with her friends.--Affecting scene.--Supper.--Mary's farewell +to her attendants.--Mary's last letters.--Her directions as to the +disposal of her body.--Arrangements for the execution.--The +scaffold.--Proceeding to the hall.--Interview with Melville.--Mary's +last message.--She desires the presence of her attendants.--Mary's +dress and appearance.--Symbols of religion.--Mary's firmness in her +faith.--Her last prayer.--The execution.--Heart-rending +scene.--Disposition of the body.--Elizabeth's affected surprise.--Her +conduct.--The end of Mary's ambition realized.--Accession of James +I.--Tomb of Mary at Westminster Abbey.--Mary's love and ambition.--She +triumphs in the end. + + +Mary did not always discourage the plots and intrigues with which her +name was connected. She, of course, longed for deliverance from the +thraldom in which Elizabeth held her, and was ready to embrace any +opportunity which promised release. She thus seems to have listened +from time to time to the overtures which were made to her, and +involved herself, in Elizabeth's opinion, more or less, in the +responsibility which attached to them. Elizabeth did not, however, in +such cases, do any thing more than to increase somewhat the rigors of +her imprisonment. She was afraid to proceed to extremities with her, +partly, perhaps, for fear that she might, by doing so, awaken the +hostility 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 the +commencement of Mary's captivity, a plot was formed in which she +became so seriously involved as to subject herself to the charge of +aiding and abetting in the high treason of which the leaders of the +plot were proved to be guilty. This plot is known in history by the +name of Babington's conspiracy. Babington was a young gentleman of +fortune, who lived in the heart of England. He was inspired with a +strong degree of interest in Mary's fate, and wished to rescue her +from her captivity. He joined himself with a large party of +influential individuals of the Catholic faith. The conspirators +opened negotiations with the courts of France and Spain for aid. They +planned an insurrection, the assassination of Elizabeth, the rescue +of Mary, and a general revolution. They maintained a correspondence +with Mary. This correspondence was managed very secretly, the letters +being placed by a confidential messenger in a certain hole in the +castle wall where Queen Mary was confined. + +One day, when Mary was going out to ride, just as she was entering +her carriage, officers suddenly arrived from London. They told her +that the plot in which she had been engaged had been discovered; that +fourteen of the principal conspirators had been hung, seven on each +of two successive days, and that they had come to arrest some of her +attendants and to seize her papers. They accordingly went into her +apartments, opened all her desks, trunks, and cabinets, seized her +papers, and took them to London. Mary sat down in the scene of +desolation and disorder which they left, and wept bitterly. + +The papers which were seized were taken to London, and Elizabeth's +government began seriously to agitate the question of bringing Mary +herself to trial. One would have thought that, in her forlorn and +desolate condition, she would have looked to her son for sympathy and +aid. But rival claimants to a crown can have little kind feeling to +each other, even if they are mother and son. James, as he gradually +approached toward maturity, took sides against his mother. In fact, +all Scotland was divided, and was for many years in a state of civil +war: those who advocated Mary's right to the crown on one side, and +James's adherents on the other. They were called king's men and +queen's men. James was, of course, brought up in hostility to his +mother, and he wrote to her, about a year before Babington's +conspiracy, in terms so hostile and so devoid of filial love, that +his ingratitude stung her to the heart. "Was it for this," she said, +"that I made so many sacrifices, and endured so many trials on his +account in his early years? I have made it the whole business of my +life to protect and secure his rights, and to open before him a +prospect of future power and glory: and this is the return." + +The English government, under Elizabeth's direction, concluded to +bring Mary to a public trial. They removed her, accordingly, to the +Castle of Fotheringay. Fotheringay is in Northamptonshire, which is +in the very heart of England, Northampton, the shire town, being +about sixty miles northwest of London. Fotheringay Castle was on the +banks of the River Nen, or Avon, which flows northeast from +Northampton to the sea. A few miles below the castle is the ancient +town of Peterborough, where there was a monastery and a great +cathedral church. The monastery had been built a thousand years +before. + +They removed Mary to Fotheringay Castle for her trial, and lawyers, +counselors, commissioners, and officers of state began to assemble +there from all quarters. The castle was a spacious structure. It was +surrounded with two moats, and with double walls, and was strongly +fortified. It contained numerous and spacious apartments, and it had +especially one large hall which was well adapted to the purposes of +this great trial. The preparations for the solemn ordeal through +which Mary was now to pass, brought her forth from the obscurity in +which she had so long been lost to the eyes of mankind, and made her +the universal object of interest and attention in England, Scotland, +and France. The people of all these nations looked on with great +interest at the spectacle of one queen tried solemnly on a charge of +high treason against another. The stories of her beauty, her graces, +her misfortunes, which had slumbered for eighteen years, were all now +revived, and every body felt a warm interest in the poor captive, +worn down by long confinement, and trembling in the hands of what +they feared would be a merciless and terrible power. + +Mary was removed to the Castle of Fotheringay toward the end of +September, 1586. The preparations for the trial proceeded slowly. +Every thing in which kings and queens, or affairs of state were +concerned in those days, was conducted with great pomp and ceremony. +The arrangements of the hall were minutely prescribed. At the head +of it a sort of throne was placed, with a royal canopy over it, for +the Queen of England. This, though it was vacant, impressed the court +and the spectators as a symbol of royalty, and denoted that the +sovereignty of Elizabeth was the power before which Mary was +arraigned. + +When the preparations were made, Mary refused to acknowledge the +jurisdiction of the court. She denied that they had any right to +arraign or to try her. "I am no subject of Elizabeth's," said she. "I +am an independent and sovereign queen as well as she, and I will not +consent to any thing inconsistent with this my true position. I owe +no allegiance to England, and I am not, in any sense, subject to her +laws. I came into the realm only to ask assistance from a sister +queen, and I have been made a captive, and detained many years in an +unjust and cruel imprisonment; and though now worn down both in body +and mind by my protracted sufferings, I am not yet so enfeebled as to +forget what is due to myself, my ancestors, and my country." + +This refusal of Mary's to plead, or to acknowledge the jurisdiction +of the court, caused a new delay. They urged her to abandon her +resolution. They told her that if she refused to plead, the trial +would proceed without her action, and, by pursuing such a course, she +would only deprive herself of the means of defense, without at all +impeding the course of her fate. At length Mary yielded. It would +have 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. They +were 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 was +to 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 the +hall from the court; and this formed an outer space, to which some +spectators were admitted. + +Mary took her place in the seat assigned her, and the trial +proceeded. They adduced the evidence against her, and then asked for +her defense. She said substantially that she had a right to make an +effort to recover her liberty; that, after being confined a captive +so long, and having lost forever her youth, her health, and her +happiness, it was not wonderful that she wished to be free; but +that, in endeavoring to obtain her freedom, she had formed no plans +to injure Elizabeth, or to interfere in any way with her rights or +prerogatives as queen. The commissioners, after devoting some days to +hearing evidence, and listening to the defense, sent Mary back to her +apartments, 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 an +accessory to Babington's conspiracy, and had compassed the death of +Elizabeth, queen of England." + +Elizabeth pretended to be very much concerned at this result. She +laid the proceedings before Parliament. It was supposed then, and has +always been supposed since, that she wished Mary to be beheaded, but +desired not to take the responsibility of it herself; and that she +wanted to appear unwilling, and to be impelled, greatly against her +own inclinations, by the urgency of others, to carry the sentence +into execution. At any rate, Parliament, and all the members of the +government, approved and confirmed the verdict, and wished to have it +carried into effect. + +It has always been the custom, in modern times, to require the +solemn act of the supreme magistrate of any state to confirm a +decision of a tribunal which condemns a person to death, by signing +what is called a warrant for the execution. This is done by the king +or queen in England, and by the governor in one of the United States. +This warrant is an order, very formally written, and sealed with the +great seal, authorizing the executioner to proceed, and carry the +sentence into effect. Of course, Queen Mary could not be executed +unless Elizabeth should first sign the warrant. Elizabeth would +herself, probably, have been better pleased to have been excused from +all direct agency in the affair. But this could not be. She, however, +made much delay, and affected great unwillingness to proceed. She +sent messengers to Mary, telling her what the sentence had been, how +sorry 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 feared +it might not be in her power, and she advised Mary to prepare her +mind for the execution of the sentence. + +Mary wrote a letter to Elizabeth in reply. She said in this letter +that she was glad to hear that they had pronounced sentence of death +against her, for she was weary of life, and had no hope of relief or +rest from her miseries but in the grave. She wrote, therefore, not to +ask any change in the decision, but to make three requests. First, +that, after her execution, her body might be removed to France, and +be deposited at Rheims, where the ashes of her mother were reposing. +Secondly, that her execution should not be in secret, but that her +personal friends might be present, to attest to the world that she +met her fate with resignation and fortitude; and, thirdly, that her +attendants and friends, who had, through their faithful love for her, +shared her captivity so long, might be permitted to retire wherever +they pleased, after her death, without any molestation. "I hope," +said she, in conclusion, "you will not refuse me these my dying +requests, but that you will assure me by a letter under your own hand +that 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 somewhat +vigorous efforts to arrest the execution of the sentence which had +been pronounced against Mary. From these and other causes, the +signing of the warrant was delayed for some months, but at length +Elizabeth yielded to the solicitations of her ministers. She affixed +her signature to the instrument. The chancellor put upon it the great +seal, and the commissioners who were appointed by it to superintend +the execution went to Fotheringay. They arrived there on the 7th of +February, 1587. + +After resting, and refreshing themselves for a short time from their +journey, the commissioners sent word to Mary that they wished for an +interview with her. Mary had retired. They said that their business +was very important. She rose, and prepared to receive them. She +assembled all her attendants, fourteen or fifteen in number, in order +to receive the commissioners in a manner comporting, so far as +circumstances allowed, with her rank and station. The commissioners +were at length ushered into the apartment. They stood respectfully +before her, with their heads uncovered. The foremost then, in +language as forbearing and gentle as was consistent with the nature +of his message, informed her that it had been decided to carry the +sentence which had been pronounced against her into effect, and then +he requested another of the number to read the warrant for her +execution. + +[Illustration: FOTHERINGAY, IN ITS PRESENT STATE.] + +Mary listened to it calmly and patiently. Her attendants, one after +another, were overcome by the mournful and awful solemnity of the +scene, and melted into tears. Mary, however, was calm. When the +reading of the warrant was ended, she said that she was sorry that +her cousin Elizabeth should set the example of taking the life of a +sovereign queen; but for herself, she was willing to die. Life had +long ceased to afford her any peace or happiness, and she was ready +to exchange it for the prospect of immortality. She then laid her +hand upon the New Testament, which was near her, of course a Catholic +version, and called God to witness that she had never plotted +herself, or joined in plots with others, for the death of Elizabeth. +One of the commissioners remarked that her oath being upon a Catholic +version of the Bible, they should not consider it valid. She rejoined +that it ought to be considered the more sacred and solemn on that +account, as that was the version which she regarded as the only one +which was authoritative and true. + +Mary then asked the commissioners several questions, as whether her +son James had not expressed any interest in her fate, and whether no +foreign princes had interposed to save her. The commissioners +answered these and other inquiries, and Mary learned from their +answers that her fate was sealed. She then asked them what time was +appointed for the execution. They replied that it was to take place +at eight o'clock the following morning. + +Mary had not expected so early an hour to be named. She said it was +sudden; and she seemed agitated and distressed. She, however, soon +recovered her composure, and asked to have a Catholic priest allowed +to visit her. The commissioners replied that that could not be +permitted. They, however, proposed to send the Dean of Peterborough +to visit her. A dean is the ecclesiastical functionary presiding over +a cathedral church; and, of course, the Dean of Peterborough was the +clergyman of the highest rank in that vicinity. He was, however, a +Protestant, and Mary did not wish to see him. + +The commissioners withdrew, and left Mary with her friends, when +there ensued one of those scenes of anguish and suffering which those +who witness them never forget, but carry the gloomy remembrance of +them, like a dark shadow in the soul, to the end of their days. Mary +was quiet, and appeared calm. It may however, have been the calm of +hopeless and absolute despair. Her attendants were overwhelmed with +agitation and grief, the expression of which they could not even +attempt to control. At last they became more composed, and Mary asked +them to kneel with her in prayer; and she prayed for some time +fervently and earnestly in the midst of them. + +She then directed supper to be prepared as usual, and, until it was +ready, she spent her time in dividing the money which she had on hand +into separate parcels for her attendants, marking each parcel with +the name. She sat down at the table when supper was served, and +though she ate but little, she conversed as usual, in a cheerful +manner, and with smiles. Her friends were silent and sad, struggling +continually to keep back their tears. At the close of the supper Mary +called for a cup of wine, and drank to the health of each one of +them, and then asked them to drink to her. They took the cup, and, +kneeling before her, complied with her request, though, as they did +it, the tears would come to their eyes. Mary then told them that she +willingly forgave them for all that they had ever done to displease +her, and she thanked them for their long-continued fidelity and +love. She also asked that they would forgive her for any thing she +might ever have done in respect to them which was inconsistent with +her duty. They answered the request only with a renewal of their +tears. + +Mary spent the evening in writing two letters to her nearest +relatives in France, and in making her will. The principal object of +these letters was to recommend her servants to the attention and care +of those to whom they were addressed, after she should be gone. She +went to bed shortly after midnight, and it is said she slept. This +would be incredible, if any thing were incredible in respect to the +workings of the human soul in a time of awful trial like this, which +so transcends all the ordinary conditions of its existence. + +At any rate, whether Mary slept or not, the morning soon came. Her +friends were around her as soon as she rose. She gave them minute +directions about the disposition of her body. She wished to have it +taken to France to be interred, as she had requested of Elizabeth, +either at Rheims, in the same tomb with the body of her mother, or +else at St. Denis, an ancient abbey a little north of Paris, where +the ashes of a long line of French monarchs repose. She begged her +servants, if possible, not to leave her body till it should reach its +final home in one of these places of sepulture. + +In the mean time, arrangements had been made for the last act in this +dreadful tragedy, in the same great hall where she had been tried. +They raised a platform upon the stone floor of the hall large enough +to contain those who were to take part in the closing scene. On this +platform was a block, a cushion, and a chair. All these things, as +well as the platform itself, were covered with black cloth, giving to +the whole scene a most solemn and funereal expression. The part of +the hall containing this scaffold was railed off from the rest. The +governor of the castle, and a body of guards, came in and took their +station at the sides of the room. Two executioners, one holding the +axe, stood upon the scaffold on one side of the block. Two of the +commissioners stood upon the other side. The remaining commissioners +and several gentlemen of the neighborhood took their places as +spectators without the rail. The number of persons thus assembled was +about 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 at +her devotions, and she asked a little delay that she might conclude +them: perhaps the shrinking spirit clung at the last moment to life, +and wished to linger a few minutes longer before taking the final +farewell. The request was granted. In a short time Mary signified +that she was ready, and they began to move toward the hall of +execution. Her attendants were going to accompany her. The sheriff +said this could not be allowed. She accordingly bade them farewell, +and they filled the castle with the sound of their shrieks and +lamentations. + +Mary went on, descending the stair-case, at the foot of which she was +joined by one of her attendants, from whom she had been separated for +some time. His name was Sir Andrew Melville, and he was the master of +her household. The name of her secretary Melville was James. Sir +Andrew kneeled before her, kissed her hand, and said that this was +the saddest hour of his life. Mary began to give him some last +commissions and requests. "Say," said she, "that I died firm in the +faith; that I forgive my enemies; that I feel that I have never +disgraced Scotland, my native country, and that I have been always +true to France, the land of my happiest years. Tell my son--" Here +her voice faltered and ceased to be heard, and she burst into tears. + +She struggled to regain her composure. "Tell my son," said she, "that +I 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 his +prejudice. Tell him to cherish the memory of his mother, and say that +I sincerely hope his life may be happier than mine has been." + +Mary then turned to the commissioners who stood by, and renewed her +request that her attendants, who had just been separated from her, +might come down and see her die. The commissioners objected. They +said that if these attendants were admitted, their anguish and +lamentations would only add to her own distress, and make the whole +scene more painful. Mary, however, urged the request. She said they +had been devotedly attached to her all her days; they had shared her +captivity, and loved and served her faithfully to the end, and it was +enough if she herself, and they, desired that they should be present. +The commissioners at last yielded, and allowed her to name six, who +should 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 court +dress, and walked into the apartment with the air and composure of a +reigning queen. She leaned on the arm of her physician. Sir Andrew +Melville followed, bearing the train of her robe. Her dress is +described as a gown of black silk, bordered with crimson velvet, over +which was a satin mantle. A long veil of white crape, edged with rich +lace, hung down almost to the ground. Around her neck was an ivory +crucifix--that is, an image of Christ upon the cross, which the +Catholics use as a memorial of our Savior's sufferings--and a rosary, +which is a string of beads of peculiar arrangement, often employed by +them as an aid in their devotions. Mary meant, doubtless, by these +symbols, to show to her enemies and to the world, that though she +submitted to her fate without resistance, yet, so far as the contest +of her life had been one of religious faith, she had no intention of +yielding. + +Mary ascended the platform and took her seat in the chair provided +for her. With the exception of stifled sobs here and there to be +heard, the room was still. An officer then advanced and read the +warrant of execution, which the executioners listened to as their +authority for doing the dreadful work which they were about to +perform. The Dean of Peterborough, the Protestant ecclesiastic whom +Mary had refused to see, then came forward to the foot of the +platform, and most absurdly commenced an address to her, with a view +to convert her to the Protestant faith. Mary interrupted him, saying +that she had been born and had lived a Catholic, and she was resolved +so to die; and she asked him to spare her his useless reasonings. The +dean persisted in going on. Mary turned away from him, kneeled down, +and began to offer a Latin prayer. The dean soon brought his +ministrations to a close, and then Mary prayed for some time, in a +distinct and fervent voice, in English, the large company listening +with breathless attention. She prayed for her own soul, and that she +might have comfort from heaven in the agony of death. She implored +God's blessing upon France; upon Scotland; upon England; upon Queen +Elizabeth; and, more than all, upon her son. During this time she +held the ivory crucifix in her hand, clasping it and raising it from +time to time toward heaven. + +When her prayer was ended, she rose, and, with the assistance of her +attendants, took off her veil, and such other parts of her dress as +it was necessary to remove in order to leave the neck bare, and then +she kneeled forward and laid her head upon the block. The agitation +of the assembly became extreme. Some turned away from the scene faint +and sick at heart; some looked more eagerly and intensely at the +group upon the scaffold; some wept and sobbed aloud. The assistant +executioner put Mary's two hands together and held them; the other +raised his axe, and, after the horrid sound of two or three +successive 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 adjoining +apartment, and prepared for interment. Mary's attendants wished to +have it delivered to them, that they might comply with her dying +request to convey it to France; but they were told that they could +not be allowed to do so. The body was interred with great pomp and +ceremony in the Cathedral at Peterborough, where it remained in +peace for many years. + + * * * * * + +Now that the deed was done, the great problem with Elizabeth was, of +course, to avert the consequences of the terrible displeasure and +thirst for revenge which she might naturally suppose it would awaken +in Scotland and in France. She succeeded very well in accomplishing +this. As soon as she heard of the execution of Mary, she expressed +the utmost surprise, grief, and indignation. She said that she had, +indeed, signed the death warrant, but it was not her intention at all +to 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 the +officer denied. Elizabeth insisted, and punished the officer by a +long imprisonment, and perpetual disgrace, for his pretended offense. +She sent a messenger to James, explaining the terrible accident, as +she termed it, which had occurred, and deprecating his displeasure. +James, though at first filled with indignation, and determined to +avenge his mother's death, allowed himself to be appeased. + +About twenty years after this, Elizabeth died, and the great object +of Mary's ambition throughout her whole life was attained by the +union of the Scotch and English crowns on the head of her son. As +soon as Elizabeth ceased to breathe, James the Sixth of Scotland was +proclaimed James the First of England. He was at that time nearly +forty years of age. He was married, and had several young children. +The circumstances of King James's journey to London, when he went to +take possession of his new kingdom, are related in the History of +Charles I., belonging to this series. Though James thus became +monarch of both England and Scotland, it must not be supposed that +the two _kingdoms_ were combined. They remained separate for many +years--two independent kingdoms governed by one king. + +When James succeeded to the English throne, his mother had been dead +many years, and whatever feelings of affection may have bound his +heart to her in early life, they were now well-nigh obliterated by +the lapse of time, and by the new ties by which he was connected with +his wife and his children. As soon as he was seated on his new +throne, however, he ordered the Castle of Fotheringay, which had been +the scene of his mother's trial and death, to be leveled with the +ground, and he transferred her remains to Westminster Abbey, where +they still repose. + +[Illustration: MARY'S TOMB AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY.] + +If the lifeless dust had retained its consciousness when it was thus +transferred, with what intense emotions of pride and pleasure would +the mother's heart have been filled, in being thus brought to her +final home in that ancient sepulcher of the English kings, by her son, +now, at last, safely established, where she had so long toiled and +suffered to instate him, in his place in the line. Ambition was the +great, paramount, ruling principle of Mary's life. Love was, with her, +an occasional, though perfectly uncontrollable impulse, which came +suddenly to interrupt her plans and divert her from her course, +leaving her to get back to it again, after devious wanderings, with +great difficulty and through many tears. The love, with the +consequences which followed from it, destroyed _her_; while the +ambition, recovering itself after every contest with its rival, and +holding out perseveringly to the last, saved _her son_; so that, in +the long contest in which her life was spent, though she suffered all +the 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 to +ensure 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 as +banners in the page headers, and have been collected at the beginning +of each chapter for the reader's convenience. + +3. 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