tiers; and, amidst the enthusiastic loyalty expressed on the occasion of her arrival by all ranks of the people, it is not surprising that every opportunity was taken to impress the queen's mind with a sense of the value which her subjects attached to their new-born liberties. Knox and the other leading reformers, who have been censured for their uncompromising deportment towards their sovereign, were, in addition, influenced by a just regard for their personal safety, which could not fail to be seriously compromised in the event of popery regaining its ascendency in Scotland. The recent history of France, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, and England, bore testimony to the perfidious and truculent foe with which they had to contend in the Romish church. "The rage for conquest on the continent (remarks Dr M'Crie) was now converted into a rage for proselytism; and steps had already been taken towards forming that league among the popish princes, which had for its object the universal extermination of protestants. The Scottish queen was passionately addicted to the intoxicating cup of which so many of the kings of the earth had drunk.' There were numbers in the nation who were similarly disposed. The liberty taken by the queen would soon be demanded for all who declared themselves catholics. Many of those who had hitherto ranged under the protestant standard were lukewarm in the cause; the zeal of others had already suffered a sensible abatement since the arrival of their sovereign; and it was to be feared that the favours of the court, and the blandishments of an artful and accomplished princess, would make proselytes of some, and lull others into security, while designs were carried on pregnant with ruin to the religion and liberties of the nation." On the first Sunday after her arrival, Mary was so ill-advised as to have mass celebrated in the chapel at Holyrood, on which occasion her attendants received some rough treatment at the hands of the people. John Knox denounced the observance of mass as idolatry, in the pulpit on the succeeding Sabbath. Two days afterwards, the queen sent for Knox to the palace, and held a long conversation with him in the presence of her brother, the prior of St Andrews, afterwards earl of Murray. She plied all her blandishments to soften the reformer; failing in which she resorted to threats, in the hope of overawing him. The firmness of the reformer was as immovable as his faith was inflexible, and both were proof against the smiles and tears of the youthful princess. On taking leave of her majesty, Knox said, "I pray God, madam, that you may be as blessed within the commonwealth of Scotland as ever Deborah was in the commonwealth of Israel."

Mary soon afterwards made her first public entry into Edinburgh. Mounted on her palfrey, and suitably escorted, she proceeded up the High Street to the castle, where a banquet was prepared for her. The reception she met with from the citizens was extremely gratifying, notwithstanding the somewhat obtrusive manner in which many of them indicated their contempt for her religion, and their resolution to defend their own. In a subsequent progress through Linlithgow, Stirling, Perth, St Andrews, and the neighbouring districts, she was welcomed with high-hearted loyalty, such as the Scottish nation never withheld from Mary or her descendants so long as they respected the religious principles and political liberties of the people. On one occasion, during the royal tour, some public demonstration of the reformers moved the queen to tears. On her return to Edinburgh she evinced a disposition to check the practice of publicly insulting her faith. Within a few days after her arrival, the civil authorities issued a proclamation, proscribing the "wicked rabble of the antichrist of the pope," and ordering them to withdraw from the bounds of the town, within four and twenty hours, under pain of carting through the streets, burning on the cheek, and perpetual banishment. Mary, however, did not allow this invasion of her authority to pass with the same impunity which she

had permitted in some other instances of a similar kind. She ordered the town council to deprive the provost and baillies instantly of their offices, and to elect others in their stead.

All the French friends who had accompanied her to Scotland, excepting her uncle, the marquis D'Elbeuf, disgusted with the treatment which they met with from the reformers, now returned to their own country; and the young and inexperienced queen was thus left nearly alone, to maintain the elevated and dangerous position in which hereditary right had placed her, against the stormy and conflicting interests and passions of those by whom she was surrounded. She was now thrown upon her own resources, and, at a most critical period, left to rely wholly upon the firmness and energy of her own character, to carry her through the arduous part which destiny had assigned her.

The fame of Mary's beauty and accomplishments, as was naturally to be expected, procured her many suitors, not only amongst her own nobility, but amongst foreign princes. She, however, declined all addresses of this nature, and resolved, in the mean time at least, to remain as she was: a resolution, which it had been well for the unfortunate queen she had always adhered to.

In the month of August, 1562, little of any interest having occurred in the interval, Mary set out on a progress through the northern part of her dominions, accompanied by her brother, the earl of Murray, and a numerous train of nobles and attendants. On this expedition she spent three months, when she again returned to Edinburgh. The two following years, viz., 1563 and 1564, were undistinguished by any public event of importance, and were, on that account, probably the happiest that Mary ever spent in her native land.

Though no circumstance of national consequence, however, occurred during this period, one of a singular and melancholy interest did take place. This was the execution of the young French poet, Chatelard. This unfortunate gentleman, who was attached to Mary's court, had fallen wildly and desperately in love with his royal mistress. He wrote numerous verses to her; and, encouraged by the unreflecting approbation with which they were received, and mistaking the good-natured courtesy of Mary for a return of his passion, he madly intruded himself into her bed-room. Here he was discovered by her maids of honour; but, after being severely reprimanded by the queen for his audacity, was allowed, from a natural feeling of lenity, as it was his first offence, to escape further punishment. Undeterred by the imminence of the danger to which he had been exposed, and of which he must have been fully aware, Chatelard, in two nights afterwards, again entered the queen's bedchamber. On this occasion, it was at Dunfermline, where Mary had stopped for one night on her way to St Andrews. Highly incensed by the young man's insolent pertinacity, Mary, after having in vain ordered him to quit her apartment, called out for assistance, and was instantly attended by the earl of Murray, who happened to be within hearing. The unfortunate Chatelard was immediately taken into custody, tried at St Andrews, condemned to death, and executed on the 22nd of February, 1563. Before laying his head on the block, which he did with the utmost composure, he turned towards the house in which the queen lodged, and where he presumed her at the moment to be, and exclaimed, "Farewell, loveliest and most cruel princess whom the world contains!"

Mary, if she had not hitherto enjoyed positive happiness, had at least been free from any very serious annoyances, since her accession to the throne. This comparative quiet, however, was now about to be disturbed, and the long series of miseries and misfortunes, which render her history so remarkable, were on the eve of assailing her. These began with her unfortunate marriage to

Darnley, an event which took place on the 29th of July, 1565. The ceromony was performed in the chapel of Holyrood, on a Sunday, between the hours of five and six in the morning.

Henry Stuart, lord Darnley, at the time of his marriage, was in the nineteenth year of his age; Mary in her twenty-third. The former was the son of Matthew, earl of Lennox, and of the lady Margaret Douglas, niece of Henry VIII. Even at this early period of his life, Daruley was esteemed one of the handsomest men of his time; but, unfortunately, there was little correspondence between the qualities of his person and his mind. He was weak, obstinate, and wayward, possessing scarcely one redeeming trait, unless it were a simplicity, or rather imbecility, which rendered him an easy dupe to the designing.

Amongst the first evil results which this unfortunate connexion produced to Mary, was the hostility of her brother, the earl of Murray, who foresaw that the new character of a king consort would greatly lessen, if not entirely put an end to, the almost regal power and influence which he enjoyed whilst his sister remained single. Impressed with this feeling, he had, at an early period, not only expressed his displeasure at the proposed marriage, but, in concert with some other nobles, whom he had won over to his interest, had taken measures for seizing on the queen's person, whilst she was travelling between Perth and Edinburgh. Being earlier on the road, however, and better guarded than the conspirators expected, she reached the latter place without experiencing any interruption; and in a few days afterwards, her union with Darnley took place.

On the 15th of August, 1565, seventeen days after the celebration of the queen's marriage, Murray, who now stood forward as an open and declared enemy, summoned his partizans to meet him, attended by their followers, armed, at Ayr, on the 24th of the same month. To oppose this rebel force, Mary mustered an army of five thousand men, and, with a spirit worthy of her high descent, placing herself in the midst of her troops, equipped in a suit of light armour, with pistols at her saddle bow, she marched from Edinburgh to the westward, in quest of the rebel forces.

Murray, who had been able to raise no more than twelve hundred men, finding himself unable to cope with the queen, retired from place to place, closely pursued by the royal forces. Being finally driven to Carlisle, whither he was still followed by Mary, with an army now increased to eighteen thousand men, his troops there dispersed, and he himself and his friends, abandoning their cause as hopeless, fled to the English court.

This triumph of Mary's, however, in place of securing her the quiet which might have been expected to result from it, seemed merely to have opened a way for the admission of other miseries, not less afflicting than that which had been removed. Murray, and the other lords who had joined him in his rebellious attempt, though now at a distance, and under a sentence of expatriation, still continued their machinations, and endeavoured to secure, by plot and contrivance, that which they had failed to obtain by force. In these attempts they found a ready co-operator in the earl of Morton, who, though entertaining every good-will to their cause, having taken no open part in their rebellious measures, was now amongst the few counsellors whom Mary had left to her. Working on the vanity and weakness of Darnley, Morton succeeded in inducing him to join a conspiracy, which had for its object the restoration of the banished lords, and the wresting from, or at least putting under such restraints as they should think fit, the authority of the queen. Tempted by promises of undivided sway, that imbecile prince, slighting the ties of natural affection, and forgetting

all the kindnesses and honours which his wife had heaped upon him, became an active partizan in a plot devised against her interest, her dignity, and her happiness. There was, however, one person whose fidelity to the queen made him sufficiently dangerous to render it necessary, for the safety of all, that he should be removed out of the way. This was David Rizzio, Mary's secretary. Sincerely interested in the safety and honour of his royal mistress, he was known to have exerted his influence with her, against those who had aimed at depriving her of her authority; and he was also known to have exerted that influence to prevent her yielding up too much of that authority to Darnley. Being thus equally detested by both, and generally unpopular on account of his religion and his country, and for the high estimation in which he was held by the queen, his destruction was determined upon.

On the evening of the 9th of March, 1565, the conspirators, headed by lord Ruthven, entered the queen's chamber, whilst she was at supper with several of her household, including Rizzio. On their entering, the queen indignantly demanded the meaning of this intrusion. This they soon explained; and immediately proceeded to attack their victim with their drawn weapons. Rizzio, by taking shelter behind the queen, for some time escaped the blows of the assassins, but was at length stabbed in the side over the queen's shoulder, and immediately after dragged into an adjoining apartment, and despatched with no fewer than fifty-six wounds. Immediately after the assassination, Darnley and Morton placed the queen in ward; and, on the following morning, issued a proclamation, in the king's name, proroguing the parliament, which was then sitting, and which had discovered such a disposition in favour of the queen, as rendered it highly dangerous. In the evening of the same day, Murray, with the other banished lords, returned from England.

At this critical period, the vacillating Darnley, unable to pursue any course, whether for good or evil, steadily, began to repent of the part he was acting, and allowed himself to be persuaded by Mary, not only to desert his accomplices, but to assist and accompany her in making her escape from Holyrood. Attended only by the captain of the guard and two other persons, Mary and her husband left the palace at midnight for Dunbar, to which they rode without stopping. Here the queen found herself, in the course of a few days, surrounded by the half of her nobility, and at the head of a powerful army. With these she returned, after an absence of only five days, in triumph to Edinburgh, where she was again reinstated in full and uncontrolled authority. The conspirators, unable to offer the slightest resistance, fled in all directions; while their leaders, Morton, Maitland, Ruthven, and Lindsay, sought safety in Newcastle. Mary had, a few days before, with not an unwise policy, lessened the number of her enemies, and increased that of her friends, by receiving Murray, and several others of those who had been associated with him, into favour; and, therefore, now again enjoyed the benefit of the judicious counsel of her able, but ambitious brother.

Soon after the occurrence of the events just related, Mary became aware of the near approach of the hour which was to make her a mother. In the anticipation of this event, she took up her abode, by the advice of her privy council, in the castle of Edinburgh, where, on the 19th of June, 1566, between the hours of nine and ten in the morning, she was delivered of a son, afterwards James VI. of Scotland, and I. of England.

The intelligence of Mary's accouchement was received with the utmost joy throughout the whole kingdom. In Edinburgh, it amounted to enthusiasm All the nobles in the city, accompanied by the greater part of the citizens, went in solemn procession to the high church, and returned thanks to the Al

mighty for bestowing a prince upon them, and for the mercy which had been extended to their queen. This impressive ceremony was followed by three entire days of continued revelry and triumph.

After her recovery, the queen proceeded on an excursion through various parts of the country; and again returned to Edinburgh on the 11th or 12th of September, having previously placed the infant prince in charge of the earl and lady Mar.

From this period, the page of Mary's history rapidly darkens; and it is now that her enemies assail her character, and that her friends find themselves called upon to defend it. Each have written volumes, in their turn, to establish her guilt or her innocence, but hitherto without approaching to anything like complete success on either side.

At the suggestion of the earl of Bothwell, now one of the most active of Mary's officers of state, the privy council submitted to Mary, then (December, 1566) residing at Craigmillar castle, the proposal that she should divorce her husband Darnley, to whom she had now been married about a year and a half. There were sufficient reasons, both of a public and personal nature, to make such a proposal neither singular nor unwarrantable. Darnley's intellectual incapacity rendered him wholly unfit for his situation; and his wayward temper had wrecked the happiness of his wife. But the proposal originated in neither of these considerations. It was the first step of the new ambition of Bothwell, which aimed at the hand of his sovereign. Mary refused to accede to the proposal, alleging, amongst other considerations, that such a proceeding might prejudice the interests of her son. This resolution, however, in place of diverting Bothwell from his daring project, had the effect only of driving him to a more desperate expedient to accomplish it. He now resolved that Darnley should die. Attended by a band of accomplices, he proceeded, at midnight, on Sunday, the 9th of February, 1567, to the Kirk of Field house, situated near to where the college of Edinburgh now stands, and where Darnley, who was at the time unwell, had taken up a temporary residence. The mode of his death had been matter of some discussion previously, but it had been finally determined that it should be accomplished by the agency of gunpowder. A large quantity of that material had been, therefore, secretly introduced into the chamber beneath that in which Darnley slept. This, on the night spoken of, was fired by a match applied by the assassins, but which burat slowly enough to allow of themselves escaping to a safe distance; and in a few minutes, the house, with all its inmates, including Darnley, was totally destroyed.

For some time after the murder, vague and contradictory surmises regarding the assassins, filled the kingdom. Suspicion, however, at length became so strong against the true perpetrator, that, at the instigation of Darnley's father, the earl of Lennox, he was brought to a public trial. Bothwell, however, was too powerful a man, and had too many friends amongst the nobility, to fear for the result. He had provided for such an occurrence. On the day of trial, no one appeared to prosecute him, and he was acquitted. Thus far the dark and daring projects of Bothwell had been successful, and he now hurried on to the consummation of his guilty career.

On the 20th of April, little more than two months after the assassination of Darnley, Bothwell procured the signatures of a number of the nobility to a document setting forth, first, his innocence of that crime; secondly, the necessity of the queen's immediately entering again into the married state; and, lastly, recommending James, earl of Bothwell, as a fit person to become her husband. In two or three days after this, Mary left Edinburgh for Stirling, on a visit to her infant son; and as she was returning from thence, she