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- Herausgeber: Charles River Editors
- Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
- Sprache: Englisch
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Seitenzahl: 584
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018
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THE LIFE OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
P.C. Headley
CHIOS CLASSICS
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This book is a work of nonfiction and is intended to be factually accurate.
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Copyright © 2015 by P.C. Headley
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE.
LIFE OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTERX.
The Life of Mary Queen of Scots
By
P.C. Headley
PREFACE.
THE UNIVERSAL INTEREST FELT IN the romantic and tragical career of Mary Stuart, seemed to demand an American biography, adapted to the popular mind. Such a work the one now offered to the public was designed to be. The authors mainly consulted and quoted are, Mrs. Strickland, Miss. Benger, Mignet, McCrie, and Hume. Some of these historians, in their unqualified and extravagant admiration of the Queen of Scots, apologize for every fault, and illustrate glowingly every virtue. Others lean to the defence of Elizabeth, at the expense of Mary s cause.
Both extremes have been avoided in purpose, if not in fact, in this biography. Less pure and loving than Josephine, Mary Stuart was more beautiful, and tossed on more tempestuous seas; a weary captive, she laid at length her crowned head on the executioner’s block, affording an historical record, and a moral lesson, none can contemplate without benefit to the intellect and to the heart.
LIFE OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.
CHAPTER I.
Personal and Historical Interest of Mary’s Life— Her Ancestry
—Circumstances of her Birth—Death of James V.—Henry the
VIII. of England, Solicits the Hand of Mary Stuart for the Young—Prince of Wales—Mary’s coronation—The Treaty with England Broken, and an Alliance with France Formed —War is Declared by King Henry—Upon the Death of Henry, Somerset Becomes Protector—He Prosecutes the Plans of his Late King—Battle
of Pinkie—Mary’s Removal to Inchmahome — She Sails for France—Her Arrival—Her Residence in the Convent—She is Removed to the Palace—The Court of Henry II.—Mary’s Education— Letter to her Mother—Incidents—Her Beauty and Accomplishments—Her Character at the Age of Fifteen.
The name of Mary, like that of Josephine, awakens a universal and mournful interest. Born to royalty, she was the most beautiful and accomplished sovereign in the world during a stormy period of the Scottish monarchy, and after a captivity of nearly half of her life-time, died on the scaffold, in the full maturity of her womanhood; illustrating the mutability of “ all things terrene,” and how great a misfortune may be the heritage of greatness. The peninsula of Northern Britain, which was the mountainous home of the Gallic race, after the ceaseless war of clans for centuries, and invasions of the Saxons, Angles, and Danes, became an independent monarchy about the middle of the fourteenth century, when David II. ascended the throne founded by his illustrious father, Robert Bruce. An alliance with France modified the severe manners of the Scottish nobility, and opened a refuge for the unfortunate Mary. Of the four kings who reigned before Mary’s father took the sceptre, James I. and James III. died by the hands of the assassin, and James II. and James IV. were slain in battle. James V. succeeded to the throne in 1513, then only eighteen months old, under the regency of Margaret of England, his mother.
The biography of Mary Stuart, therefore, has not only the interest of tragedy, but is a focal point in history, in which the past and present meet, with an intensity of life, perhaps, unknown in the annals of woman, if we except the rise and decline of the Empress, whose destiny was the dial of Napoleon’s fate.
Mary Stuart was born December 8,1542 — (according to Miss Benger’s Memoirs, December 7,) — at the palace of Linlithgow, situated on the shore of a beautiful lake in the heart of Scotland. Her father, James V., assumed the reins of government when seventeen years old, and at twenty-three, married Magdalen, daughter of Francis I. She died two years later, and the King married Mary, eldest daughter of Claude de Guise, of Lorraine, and widow of Louis of Orleans — an accomplished and fascinating woman. There was a sad omen in the circumstances attending the birth of Mary. James, who had refused to meet Henry the Eighth of England at York, to form a religious union, was caressed and nattered by the cardinal and bishops, while the increasing spirit of faction spread among his nobles. When, therefore, his army came to battle with five hundred English, at Solway Moss, they immediately fled. His proud and passionate heart was stung with mortification, and weakly yielding to the calamity, he died a few days after hearing the tidings of Mary’s birth. Upon the factious desertion of his forces, “ the King passed out of Holy rood House to Falkland, and there became heavy and dolorous, that he never ate nor drank that had digestion ; and so he became vehement sick that no man had hope of his life: then he sent for certain of his lords, both spiritual and temporal, to have their counsel, but ere they came, he was well nigh strangled to death by extreme melancholy. By this the post came to the King out of Linlithgow, showing him good tidings that the Queen was delivered. The King inquired whether it was a man-child or a woman ; the messenger said, ‘It is a fair daughter;’ the King answered, Adieu! farewell: it came with a lass, and it will pass with a lass ; and so he recommended himself to the mercy of Almighty God, and spake little from that time forth, but turned his back to his lords, and his face to the wall. At this time Laird Beaton, Cardinal of Scotland, standing in presence of the King, seeing him begin to fail of his strength and natural speech, held a throck of paper to his grace, and caused him to subscribe the same, wherein the said cardinal wrote what pleased him, for his own particular thinking, to have authority and preeminence in the government of the country. But we may know hereby the King’s legacy was very short, for in this manner he departed, as hereafter I shall show you. He turned him upon his back, and looked and looked and beheld all his nobles and lords about him, and gave a little smile of laughter, then kissed his hand, and offered the same to all his nobles round about him, thereafter held up his hands, and yielded his spirit to God.”
No sooner was the King buried, than the unconscious infant, his only daughter, became the object of political intrigue and bitter jealousies. The English monarch dispatched Sadler, a distinguished negotiator, to secure the marriage of his son Edward to the heiress of Scotland. His design was to consolidate the interests of the two kingdoms, and establish abiding peace. The difficulties to be overcome were “manifold. The nobility were divided. A large party was dependent on England, another sympathized with France, and a third, the smallest faction, was composed of genuine patriots — high-minded men, ready to defend with their blood, the independence and glory of their ancient realm. The clergy were of course hostile to the Reformation, and actively fanned the flame of discord between England and semi-catholic Scotland. Meanwhile, the Earl of Arran, through the ascendency of the nobility, was appointed by Parliament Regent of the kingdom. To him Sadler proposed the alliance. Cardinal Beaton, who had aspired to the regency, employed his influence over the
earl, to prevent the consummation of the politic scheme, and obtain a similar arrangement with France, a papal power. Although Arran vacillated, Henry the VIII. might have succeeded, had not his fiery and impetuous nature urged his claims too vehemently. He demanded the guardianship of Mary till she was of marriageable age, and also asked the surrender of several of the most impregnable fortresses in Scotland. This exaction roused popular feeling, and Henry was compelled to contract his royal ambition, to the simple requisition, that the juvenile Queen be sent to England when she had reached her tenth year, and espouse the Prince of Wales. On the 1st of July, 1513, a treaty was concluded between the Regent and King Henry. During this excitement, spreading over two monarchies, and enlisting the diplomacy of lords and kings, Mary Stuart was smiling in the dreams of helpless infancy at Linlithgow. The loch sparkled beneath the castle windows — fountains sent up their showers of diamonds — and the soothing accents of Janet, her nurse, were more welcome than the salutations of steel-clad barons and earls, who came to look on the child, and congratulate the widowed mother. It was well that neither parent nor offspring saw the strange contrasts and fearful hours of the future. Mary was about nine months old, when her coronation was appointed, on the 9th of September, 1543, at Stirling Castle — less than a score of miles from Linlithgow—where this pageant had for many years been witnessed.
The day was one of universal and thrilling interest in Scotland. The first female sovereign on the throne of Bruce, was to be invested with crown and scepter. Two rival kingdoms, and the reformers of Europe were concerned in the significant event. To behold the magnificent scene, came pilgrims from highland and lowland, and from adjacent realms, winding up the hill sides from the beautiful vales, to the rocky summit, frowning with the battlements and towers of Stirling Castle. In the glittering train that followed the infant Mary, the Earl of Arran bore the crown — Lennox held the scepter. It is a singular fact, that the fathers of Darnley and Bothwell, the immediate instruments of Mary’s tragical overthrow, were among the attendants, who assisted in her coronation. Cardinal Beaton placed the symbol of regal power upon the brow of the laughing babe, around whom factions sternly faced each other, and the shouts of the multitude made the old fortress rock to its base. The only bewildered and unconscious being there, was the heiress to scarcely less than a crown of thorns.
When the imposing ceremonies had passed, and the intrigues of aspiring men were renewed, the Earl of Arran began to feel the force of a long cherished family preference for French alliances, and the artful appeals of Cardinal Beaton. Renouncing his Protestant tendencies, he joined the Catholic party, of which the Queen Dowager, distinguished for her dissimulation and diplomacy, was the head. The covenant with England was therefore annulled, and on the 15th of December, less than six months after the treaty with Henry was formed, an alliance with France was signed
at Edinburgh, by the Regent and Estates of Scotland, who at the same time ratified, in Mary’s name, all the treaties which had been made between the realms, since the reign of Robert Bruce.
This was the signal of war, which was declared by the enraged monarch of England, and a fleet was dispatched to the Frith of Forth. This armament left black desolation in its path along the coast, and at length threatened with the torch of conflagration the noble city of Edinburgh. Upon the southern frontier hung the English army, ravaging the Scottish plains with frequent and lawless incursions. It was the folly of a prince, haughtily impatient of restraint, to anticipate success by urging young Edward’s light to Mary’s hand, upon the resolute Scotch, with the ruthless enterprise of a freebooter. The inevitable result was, a deepening hatred of the English, and more determined resistance. From France, auxiliary troops were called, to prosecute vigorously the war. The whole country was in a state of alarm. Persecution went abroad, with unrelenting cruelty. The castle of St. Andrews and. the French galleys received the leaders of the English Reformation in Scotland. The virtuous and gifted Wishart went to the stake under the religious despotism of Cardinal Beaton; and bloody deeds were everywhere common. The death of Henry VIII. in January, 1547, left his experiment of uniting the houses of the Stuarts and the Tudors, a total failure, and the kingdoms of Scotland and England wider asunder than at any previous period.
The Duke of Somerset, uncle of Edward VI., was appointed Protector of the kingdom, during the minority of the Prince, and carried forward energetically the plans of the late King. “With an army of eighteen thousand men, he appeared on Scottish soil, and offered to retire, only on conditions that Mary should remain in her native land till old enough to marry, and that all negotiations with France cease forever. But the spirit of national independence, which spurned the humiliation of concession, lived among the highlands, and in the palaces of the divided nobility. The Earl of Arran gathered a force of more than thirty thousand soldiers, and marched to the banks of the Eske, four miles from Edinburgh, where Somerset had taken his position. The Protector then renewed his proposals to evacuate the realm, and also repair damages which he had committed, upon the same terms as before. The Scotch, confident of victory, refused, and after some manoeuvring, the battle opened. The strife was fierce ; and when the clashing of spears had died away, and the tempest of arrows ceased, there lay ten thousand of Arran’s host on the field, and the remainder were flying hotly before the shouting enemy, whose loss was scarcely two hundred men. This decisive contest was called the battle of Pinkie, from the seat of a nobleman near the scene of bloody encounter. The English, advancing to Leith, finally entrenched themselves in the southern part of the country, and received the surrender of the lairds along that frontier. Somerset, alarmed by cabals against him at home, hastened to London ; and Scotland, improving the delay, turned anxiously to France, tendering that power the guardianship and inheritance of Mary Stuart. The Princess had passed the period of these exciting events at Stirling Castle, under the care of her governors, Lords Erskine and Livingston, a lovely, laughing girl, not six years of age, when the tidings of defeat at Pinkie reached the royal fortress.
Stirling was now in danger of assault, and it was determined to remove Mary to the island of Inchma-home, in the lake of Monteith. There was a monastery there, sheltered by its isolation from the foraging troops of the English army. It was a romantic retreat, devoted to religious purposes mainly, and like Calypso’s island to the young captive of Stirling Castle. In addition to the curators of her person, she was attended by Erskine, the prior of Inchmahome, the parson of Balmacellan, the nurse, Janet Sinclair, her governess, Lady Fleming, daughter of James Fourth, and over all, Mary of Guise, whose clear intellect was stimulated to activity and vigilance by maternal affection. To increase the pleasures of an only daughter, and give completeness to her culture, she formed a social group, or school, of four girls, about the same age, and bearing the name of the Queen. The first was Mary Beaton, niece of the cardinal ; the second, Mary Fleming, daughter of Lord Fleming; the third, Mary Livingston, and the fourth, Mary Seaton.
Little is known of Mary Stuart’s history in Inchmahome. She had begun an acquaintance with the French language, and, it is paid, with other classics. Doubtless, excepting the occasional recitations, matins and vespers, these children, six years of age, passed their time as others do, amid the pleasant scenes of quiet life, in juvenile pastimes, and rambles over the green esplanade of their consecrated home. In a few months the Marys were removed from this tranquil and delightful refuge, to Dumbarton Castle; where bold and romantic scenery has furnished glowing themes for Scottish song. This transfer, which contemplated the interference of the Duke of Somerset to prevent the escape of Mary to France, was, on that account, of short continuance. Admiral Villegognon, with four galleys, was in the Clyde, to convey the Queen and her retinue to the dominions of Henry II., who had succeeded Francis I. The fleet sailed from harbor the 7th of August. The parting with her mother was affecting ; but it is affirmed by biographers, that no murmurs escaped the young exile’s lips. She wept with a multitude of her people, as the royal vessel floated away, and her native land began to recede from her radiant eye. Scarcely had the fleet passed out into the deep, before the English squadron arrived at St. Abb’s Head, to oppose its departure from the coast of Scotland. After a pleasant voyage, the flying Mary, with her company, arrived at Brest, August 13th, 1548. She was received with great pomp by the King of France, and the procession moved on to Paris amid the regal splendor of that extravagant period of French history. Prison doors were thrown open at the approach of the cavalcade,
and the captives restored to freedom. It was a strangely exciting scene to the laughing girl who was the cause of it all.
After a brief residence in the palace of St. Germain, surrounded with courtly pageantry, Mary was removed to a convent, to complete her education. She was subjected to strict rules of discipline, and regularly accustomed to join the nuns in their devotional exercises, and ascetic humiliations: and so readily did she comply with whatever was required by her spiritual directors, that they began to cherish ambitious hopes of their royal pupil, and to boast that she had a religious vocation. This persuasion was too agreeable to self-love and to enthusiasm, to be confined to their own community ; the nuns officiously proclaimed their conviction that the little Mary Stuart would be a saint on earth : and with such zeal was the rumor propagated, that it oven reached the King, who had just returned from Boulogne, and who, not relishing the suggestion, immediately demanded that his daughter-in-law elect should be transferred to apartments in the palace, where she could no longer be accessible to sainted maids, or exposed to their pious seductions. According to her learned biographer, the execution of this mandate drew from Mary more tears than she had shed on leaving Scotland. Whether the endearing manners of the community had so strongly engaged her affections, or that, in the tranquility of her retreat, so congenial to the simple wishes of childhood, the sensibilities of her nature had prematurely expanded, we are assured not only that she evinced deep sorrow at this change of residence, but that she eagerly embraced every permission that was offered, of revisiting the sisters of the community, and long after employed her needle in embroidering an altar-piece for the church of their convent. In the palace, as before, Mary was attended by her two scholastic preceptors, her governess, the Lady Fleming, and her curator, Reid, Bishop of Orkney, who had succeeded Lord Livingston in that important trust. Her Marys continued to be her constant companions ; and as she discovered uncommon aptitude to application, nothing was omitted to stimulate her exertions or increase her diligence. Exclusive of the Latin and French, she began also to study the Italian language; but music was rarely cultivated by the great as a science, and it was not till a later period that she learnt to play on the virginals and clavichords.
The education of Mary was precisely such as was given to the daughters of France, with certain supplementary literary advantages, for which she appears to have been exclusively indebted to the superintendence of her uncle, Cardinal Lorraine. In the education of a royal personage, mental cultivation, however highly valued, was of subordinate importance to the acquisition of those external accomplishments, essentially necessary to that public exhibition which is unavoidably imposed on the station of a sovereign. For those who live exposed to the public gaze, alternately the objects of criticism and admiration, to be wanting in a dignified carriage, or gracious demeanor; to be untasteful in dress, of ungraceful speech, or shy, repulsive manners, has ever been an irreparable defect, for which neither moral nor intellectual qualities could compensate to their possessor. To guaranty the royal pupils from this misfortune, appears to have been a primary object with the French teacher: and whilst the prince was taught to ride, to fence, and to perform all the athletic exercises suited to his sex and rank, he was at the same time habituated to speak in public, to recite discourses, which he, perhaps, scarcely understood, and to address, in a tone of confidence and friendship, those to whose persons and character he was almost a stranger.”
The influences which were to attend Mary, appear in a brief and vivid description of royalty. “ This court was then the most magnificent, the most elegant, the most joyous, and, we must add, the most lax in Europe. Still retaining certain military customs of the middle ages, and at the same time conforming to the intellectual usages of the time of the renaissance, it was half-chivalric and half-literary, mingling tournaments with studies, hunting with erudition, mental achievements with bodily exercises, the ancient and rough games of skill and strength with the novel and delicate pleasures of the arts. Nothing could equal the splendor and vivacity which Francis I. had introduced into his court, by attracting thither all the principal nobility of France, by educating as pages B
therein young gentlemen of all the provinces, by adorning it with nearly two hundred ladies belonging to the greatest families in the kingdom, and by establishing it sometimes in the splendid palaces of Fontainbleau and St. Germain, which he had either built or beautified, on the banks of the Seine, and sometimes in the spacious castles of Blois and Amboise, which his predecessors had inhabited, on the banks of the Loire. A careful imitator of his father’s example, Henry II. kept up the same magnificence at his court, which was presided over with as much grace as activity by the subtle Italian, Catherine de Medici, whose character had been formed by Francis I., who had admitted her into the petite bande de ses dames favorites, with whom he used to hunt the stag, and frequently sport in his pleasure-houses! The men were constantly in the company of the women ; the Queen and her ladies were present at all the games and amusements of Henry II. and his gentlemen, and accompanied them in the chase. The King, on his part, together with the noblemen of his retinue, used to pass several hours every morning and evening in the apartments of Catherine de Medici. “ There,” says Brantome, “ there was a host of human goddesses, some more beautiful than others ; every lord and gentleman conversed with her he loved best; whilst the King talked to the Queen, his sister, the dauphiness, (Mary Stuart,) and the princesses, together with those lords and princes who were seated nearest him.” As the kings themselves had avowed mistresses, they were desirous that their subjects should follow their example, “and if they did not do so,” says Brantome, “ they considered them coxcombs and fools.”
Mary’s education had, therefore, all the elaborate culture and glaring faults incident to royal munificence, Romish instructors and a corrupt court. Pride of lineage, and a self-respect that would repel a stain upon hereditary honors, sooner than an assault upon personal virtue, were conspicuous in the splendid reign of Henry the Second. There was pageantry reflecting the ancestral glory of past ages, and a polished surface-dressing of society, which concealed a melancholy want of religious tone and purity. Instead of the power of Puritan faith, the young Queen embraced ardently the dogmas of persecuting Rome. These early influences upon her character were afterwards developed in acts which partially eclipsed her amiable qualities and brilliant genius.
When nearly eight years old, her mother, Queen Dowager of Scotland, reached Rouen. The arrangements for this anticipated visit were expensive and imposing. After the dazzling reception given by the King and his attendants, Mary of Guise was conducted to the apartments of Mary Stuart. The sight of the beautiful girl, whose deportment had the refined dignity of queenly womanhood, was like a rapturous vision to the ambitious mother. Tears of joy fell fast, and smiles of maternal affection played brightly round her tremulous lips. But the Princess stood in the conscious greatness of her destiny, and with the subsiding ecstasy of her mother, quietly demanded, “ whether
any fends continued to subsist in the noble families of Scotland; at the same time inquiring by name for those who had evinced most attachment to the ancient faith. She then proceeded to ask, with all the usual expressions of royal benevolence, if the English still harassed her dear native country ; whether divine worship had been preserved in uncontaminated purity ; whether the prelates and priests attended to their respective duties, expressing detestation for all who had forsaken the faith of their fathers.” This premature display of powers, betrayed both her docility toward her teachers, and the artificial training of the palace and the times. For two days, festal scenes were witnessed in the ancient town of Rouen.
“ The only classical part of the show, was a triumphal arch, under which passed a procession, at once superb and grotesque. The first object was a chariot, drawn by a unicorn, after which came two elephants, or rather horses so disguised as to represent them, bearing on their backs two litters, in which were seated ladies, of whom a transient glimpse was taken from the latticed apertures. Religion followed in her triumphal car, bearing in her arms the appropriate symbol of a church. Next to these walked a man, carrying the image of the Virgin and the child Jesus. Then followed the car of Fortune, in which rode another man, young and handsome, as the representative of Henry the Second, behind whom stalked a boy, to personate the Dauphin. To crown the whole, Neptune glided along with Amphitrite, attended by tritons and sea monsters.”
This display was followed by a public entry into Paris. For a year, Mary enjoyed the society of her mother, surrounded with scenes of festivity and all the pleasures of a court, of which she was the favorite. It is not strange that her early love grew strong for France, and that in after life, she turned to memory’s record of those departed joys, with tears. But the Queen Dowager had more ambitious aims to secure before leaving the palace of Henry, than the society of her daughter and the brilliant succession of entertainments which she enjoyed. Her aspiring heart had been long fixed on attaining the regency of Scotland, which now she saw within her grasp. It was only necessary to obtain the assent of the King to the conditions, upon which the Earl of Arran might be induced to resign his office in her behalf. With this pledge, she prepared to leave her native land. Her widowed mother, Antoinette of Bourbon, was wasting away at Joinville, under the rayless gloom of cherished mourning for the dead, and self-inflicted mortifications, heightened by the sympathy she extorted from all around her. To this mother, sitting in the shadow of death, a weeping monument of inexorable despair, Mary of Guise, with filial respect, made a toilsome journey. Entering the ample apartments of the maternal mansion, which were hung in black, she communed for the last time with a spirit, beneath whose surface, calm with habitual grief, burned intensely a persecuting in toleration towards heretics. From the tomb of the living she hastened again to Fontainebleau, to bid adieu to Mary Stuart; and breaking away from the ties of family and country, embarked for England, to consummate her ambitious plans.
The parting look was her last upon Mary ; they met no more this side the vale of eternal scenes. The education of the young Princess was continued with dazzling progress. Living in the atmosphere of literature, where the King’s daughters were linguists, and the arts a theme of constant criticism, her genius outshone the more mature, lending its fascination to her unrivaled beauty of person. At ten years of age, she wrote the following letter to the Queen Dowager, concerning the affairs of Scotland, with a practical sense and precision which astonished even her admirers, as an exhibition of precocious talents and culture, both in science and belles-lettres, and in the policy of ambitions sovereigns:
“ 1552.
“Madame — I have received the letters which you have been pleased to write me by Aztus Asquin, by which I have learnt the pleasure you have felt that I have kept secret the things which it pleased you to send to me. I can assure you, madame, that nothing
that comes from yon shall be known by me (ne serasceupar moy)…I humbly beg you to believe that I shall not fail to obey you in everything in which yon are pleased to command me, and to think that the chief wish I have in the world is to be obedient and agreeable to you, doing you every possible service, as I am bound. I have seen, by your letters, that yon beg me to approve the marriage-gift of the late M. Asquin to his son, who is here. I humbly entreat you never to give me anything but your commands, as to your very humble and very obedient daughter and servant, for otherwise I shall not think I have the happiness of being in your good graces. As for my master, I will do as you have told me. I have shown the letters you have been pleased to write to me to my uncle, Monsieur de Guise, thinking that you would wish it, though, after the directions you have given me, I should not have shown them but that I was afraid I could not arrange things without his help. I write two other letters with my own hand; the one concerning Mde. de Parroys, and the other for my master, that you may be able to show that of my said master without this, so that they may not think that you have told me anything about it. . . . . I should have written to you in cipher, but my secretary has told me that it was not necessary, and that he was writing to you in cipher. I write also to my natural brother, (frere bastard,) according to the advice of my uncle, M. de Guise. The said letters are open, in order that you may deliver them if you approve of them.”
Music, poetry, drawing, the exciting pleasures of the chase, aquatic excursions, and social scenes, were crowded into the premature experience of Mary. On one occasion, riding at full speed in pursuit of a stag, attended by a party of the nobility, her dress caught in the boughs of a tree, and in a moment she was unhorsed, and lying upon the turf. The company passed on without seeing the fallen Queen. Her coolness was admirable ; she made no outcry, and when her steed was brought back, she arranged her disheveled hair, and remounting, again dashed forward in the chase.
The following letter, written about this time, when Mary was twelve years old, and addressed to her mother, gives a glimpse of the careful guardianship with which she was environed, and of her filial temper:
“ Madame—I have been well pleased to find so good an opportunity to write you, as I still remain here in this place of Mendon, with madame, my grandmother, where the King and the Queen are to come Thursday next, to the baptism of my little cousin. My uncle, the cardinal, has informed me that all the lords of my kingdom are well disposed to obey you, and to do for you, as well as for myself, whatever you may please to command them, for which I am very grateful, and well pleased, desiring very much to hear your news, and awaiting which, I present my very humble compliments to your good grace—praying God to give you, madame, happiness and long life, I am your very humble and very obedient daughter Mary. Madame, once more I thank you.”
A year later she composed a Latin speech, and recited it in the presence of the King, the Queen, and the entire court, assembled in the hall of the Louvre. The Cardinal of Lorraine wrote to her mother in the following strain of eulogy:
“ Your daughter has so increased, and indeed increases daily in height, goodness, beauty, wisdom, and virtues, that she is as perfect and accomplished in all things honest and virtuous as it is possible for her to be ; and there is no one like her to be found in this kingdom, either among noble ladies or others, of whatever low or mean condition and quality they may be: and I am constrained to tell you, madame, that the King takes such a liking to her, that he often passes his time in chatting with her for the space of an hour ; and she knows quite well how to entertain him with good and wise conversation, as if she were a woman twenty-five years of age.”
The homage paid to Mary’s beauty and graceful mien was universal. Upon a grand religious occasion, when a magnificent procession moved at evening, each lady bearing aloft in her right hand a lighted torch, and in her left waiving a plam of victory, it is recorded that a woman, with superstitious wonder, approached Mary, while her beaming face reflected the brightness of her beacon, and exclaimed, “ Are you not indeed an angel ?” Mary also excelled in the art of embroidery, then a popular and essential part of female education, and which she cultivated, together with the invention of heraldic and other devices, under the eye of the dignified, refined and imperious Catherine, the Queen of France. It is related by Conaens, that while Mary Stuart was passing the limited hours, with the King’s daughters, in the royal apartment, she “had neither eye nor ear but for her elect stepmother; she eagerly treasured every word that fell from her lips, watched her looks, imitated her motions, and evidently was anxious to form herself upon the accomplished model before her.” The same writer adds, that when Catherine inquired of the princess, why she preferred her society to the companionship of youthful persons, the womanly maiden replied, “that with them she might, indeed, enjoy much, but could learn nothing; whilst in her Majesty’s wisdom and affability she found an example and a guide for her future life.” Catherine smiled at the reply, as an idle compliment. She naturally felt her maternal pride wounded by the transcendent attractions of her protege in contrast with her own daughters, and fearing future rivalry in the claim to royal honors, soon betrayed a secret enmity towards the unoffending Mary. ,
Contemplating the extraordinary endowments of the fair exile, with her subsequent history before the mind, who can suppress a rising sadness in view of the beauteous victim, having all of life that was joyous, and kept like a pagan offering in the temple of sacrifice, caressed and crowned with garlands, for the altar.
And it cannot be denied that Mary Stuart’s heart and conscience were continually in danger ; if neither were stained by her friendships and contacts with the accomplished and unprincipled nobility, she were a greater marvel than the Hebrew amid the convivial population of the cities, from which he fled to escape the retributive storm. Her guardian uncle, Cardinal of Lorraine, stamped upon her religious character his own hostility to John Knox and the spirit of reform, which must have modified those sensibilities that are refined by a pure Christianity. Thus, at the age of fifteen, the fairest princess of Europe is a fascinating, flattered, and educated maiden ; virtuous, but her gentle spirit expanding in a tainted air; conscientious in religious duties, but according to the unsoftened dogmas of an ancient and persecuting faith. Realms and their sovereigns are deeply interested in the destiny of the exiled daughter of the House of Stuart — a destiny which at this early age reached an exciting and decisive turn, in its gay and onward march to the abyss of human woe.
CHAPTER II.
The Dauphin — Mary’s Attachment to him—The Treacherous Conditions of Marriage—The Magnificent Nuptials—The Commissioners’ Return to Scotland—Rejoicings and Developments—Elizabeth Ascends the Throne of England—Her Person and Character— Henry of France Makes her the Rival of Mary Stuart—Changes in the French Court—Death of Henry II.—Results—the Dauphin’s Joy at his Elevation to the Throne—The Condition of
Affairs in Scotland—The Regent’s Death—Treaty of Peace—Death of Francis II.— Mary’s Mourning— Elizabeth’s Condolence— Foreign Ambassadors—Catherine’s Jealousy—Mary Prepares to Return to Scotland— Letter of the Laird of Lethington—Negotiations—The Queen’s Journeyings—Elizabeth Refuses a Safe Conduct—Mary’s Departure—Her Adieu.
Francis, son of Henry II. and Catherine de Medici, was born at Fontainebleau, January 19, 1511; and was, therefore, about a year younger than Mary Stuart, by whom, from early childhood, he had been regarded as her future husband. This was the arrangement of royal policy ; and the youthful heirs to sovereignty had, during the pastimes of childhood within the same palace, formed a mutual affection. The Dauphin was constitutionally and mentally weak, yet amiable, and when aroused, energetic. His personal appearance was plain, and his disposition extremely retiring. Shrinking with timid sensibility from responsibilities, he was neither formed to command, nor win the popular homage. Although Mary was in all respects his superior, eclipsing by the splendor of her talents, his ordinary endowments, and fond of learning as he was of intellectual indolence, she evidently loved him for his virtuous habits and enthusiastic devotion to her, whose smile and pleasant words would always kindle into animation, the habitual repose of his yet juvenile features. But had she even felt a repugnance to the alliance, so completely was she under the influence of her uncles, Duke of Guise, who was at the head of military affairs, and Cardinal of Lorraine, who controlled the clergy and finances, that her real sentiments would not have been revealed by lips which were carefully trained to the concealment of kingly designs and motives. Whatever the depth of Mary’s love, the nuptials were appointed to be celebrated on Sunday, April 24th, 155S. Catherine opposed the marriage as premature, while the secret reason was the glory of the princess, in conflict with the hopes of her own aspiring family. The Protestants of Scotland, also, desired to defeat a union which threatened the dawning reformation with powerful restraint, if not temporary overthrow. So bitter was the animosity, that, according to historical anecdote, Stewart, an archer in King Henry’s guard, attempted to poison Mary, but was detected and beheaded. There were other factions at home and abroad, hostile to the approaching marriage. All these sources of solicitude stimulated Henry to consummate the favorite purpose of his heart. In the meantime, on the 31st of October, 1557, he wrote to the parliament of Scotland, inviting them to send a deputation to Paris, and sanction the marriage in the name of their kingdom, and attend the ceremonies of the wedding. December 14th, Parliament met, and, assured by the regent’s plausible representation, appointed nine commissioners to fulfill the royal request. These were, Archbishop of Glasgow; the Bishops of Ross and Orkney; the Earls of Rothes and Cassillis; and Lords James Stuart, James Fleming, George Seaton and John Erskine of Dun. They were instructed to secure as an indispensable condition of approval, from both the Queen and the Dauphin, “ a promise to preserve the integrity of the kingdom, and observe its ancient laws and liberties.” We now have to record a treacherous act, matured and completed by a corrupt court, but in which Mary was a party by consent. She was only a maiden, truly, but a tender conscience and resolute will would have dared, for honor’s sake, to offend unscrupulous aspirants for crowns. On the 4th of April, Mary signed, at Fontainebleau, two secret acts of sweeping and dangerous import. The first of these acts was a full and free donation of Scotland to the Kings of France, in consideration of the services which those monarchs had at all times rendered to Scotland, by defending her against the English, her ancient and inveterate enemies, and especially for the assistance which she had received from King Henry II , who had maintained her independence at his own expense during the minority of her Queen. “The second act seemed framed merely to meet the case of the non-execution of the first, in which she also conveyed to him any claims which might accrue to her upon England and Ireland. The usufruct of the kingdom of Scotland was granted to the King of France, until he should have been repaid the sums which he had expended in her defence. Estimating these sums at a million of pieces of eight, which Scotland, in her existing state of poverty, could not restore, Mary Stuart ordained that the King of France should have the enjoyment of her kingdom until they were entirely liquidated. With the consent of her uncles, the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine, whose opinion she had consulted on the matter, she thus placed Scotland in pledge for debts which Scotland had never accepted.”
April 19th, the youthful Queen entered into the most solemn engagements with the commissioners, directly in opposition to her private pledges.
“ The eldest son sprung of this marriage was to be King of France, and, if daughters only were born, the eldest of them was to become Queen of Scotland, to receive four hundred thousand crowns as a daughter of France, and not to marry without the consent of both the estates of Scotland and the King of France; the Dauphin was to assume the title and arms of King of Scotland, and if he died after his accession to the throne of France, the Queen, his widow, was to receive a jointure of six hundred thousand Iivres.”
Without the prospect of ultimate benefit to Henry, the conflicting articles of agreement were a sad lesson for Mary in the art of royal treachery. The glow of virtuous feeling must lose intensity by such contact and yielding, and the lovely instrument of ambitious princes did not escape the inevitable result. This was the day of her betrothment, and in conformity with custom, it was performed in the great hall of the Louvre; the scene was private, and closed with a brilliant ball. Paris was now alive with preparation for the public celebration of the nuptials.
The workmen were busy with the church of Notre Dame, erecting a covered gallery to connect with the Episcopal palace of the Bishop, affording to the spectators through its long vista, a view of the royal procession when it entered. It was lined with purple velvet, and embossed with rich and elaborate ornaments, and opened at the cathedral into an amphitheater of grand outline and finished proportions. The Sabbath dawned, and the throngs of excited people were hastening towards the ample area, to witness the dazzling pageant, which was called in honor of the event celebrated, the Triumph. A royal canopy, strown with the fieurs de lis, which were symbols of reverence and marriage, hung over the entrance of Notre Dame, around which stood the papal legate, archbishops and prelates, in their sacerdotal robes. Military bands, with the music of Swiss melodies, joined the imposing group of prelatical magnates.
“After these came the Duke of Guise, as grandmaster of the King’s household, who, having with his accustomed dignity, sainted the Bishop of Paris, Cardinal Enstathius du Bellay, and the princes of the blood, turned towards the assembled crowd, and perceiving that they were impeded in their view, waved his hand, and signified to the grandees that they should retire, for the accommodation of the lower orders, whilst he himself marshaled the procession, which was heralded by music. The performers wore an uniform of yellow and red; but endless was the variety of their harmonious strains, in which the trumpet and the lute, the bass-viol and the flageolet, the violin and hautboy, all intermingled in harmonious concert: immediately after followed the two hundred gentlemen attached to the King’s person ; next, the princes of the blood, with their immediate attendants; bishops and abbots, before whom were borne their crosiers and mitres, the ensigns of their dignity; a cluster of high-capped cardinals, among whom were conspicuous John of Bourbon, Charles of Lorraine, and John of Guise ; lastly, came the Pope’s legate, before whom was borne a cross of massive gold; after these marched the Dauphin Francis, conducted by the King of Navarre. Although his feeble and ill-proportioned figure was plainly contrasted with the tall martial form of Anthony of Bourbon, the impression was somewhat relieved by the presence of his two younger brothers, the Dukes of Orleans and Angoulême. Far different was the sensation created by the appearance of his fair bride, affectionately supported by her father-in-law, the King of France, and who was also attended by her youthful kinsman, the Duke of Lorraine : though she had not completed her sixteenth year, her stature rose considerably above the female standard ; but so perfect was the symmetry of her form, and so graceful were her movements, that even this lofty height but gave to her person an air of mingled dignity and elegance, that added to her attractions. On this day, Brantome describes her, as “ more beautiful and charming than a celestial goddess; for as every eye dwelt with rapture on her face, every voice echoed her praise; whilst, universally, in the court and city it was re-echoed, happy, thrice happy, the prince who should call her his, even though she should have had neither crown nor sceptre to bestow !” Unlike Brantome, the frigid chronicler, instead of expatiating on Mary’s charms, descants with much energy on her superb attire : “ The robe, white as the lily with which it was embroidered, but so prodigally rich and gorgeous, glittering with diamonds and silver, as to be too dazzling for words to describe.” Her sweeping train was borne by two young girls, whom grace and beauty fitted for the office; her neck was encircled with a diamond carcanet, from which was suspended a ring of inestimable value ; on her head she wore a golden coronet, encircled with precious stones, in which the diamond, the ruby, and the emerald contended for magnificence, and in the centre of the coronet shone a carbuncle valued at five hundred crowns. Although it was impossible but that such habiliments should have attracted the vulgar eye, we may be permitted to suspect, that they rather disguised than embellished a youthful beauty; nor is it an equivocal proof of Mary’s superior grace, that under all this pomp and state, she preserved her accustomed elegance and tin embarrassed movements. Behind the young Queen (not without secret envy) walked Catherine de Medicis, with the Prince de Conde ; after whom follow ed, in due gradation, Madame Marguerite, the Queen of Navarre, and an almost interminable train of ladies.
When the procession had reached the great door of the church, the King drew from his linger a ring, which he gave to the Archbishop of Rouen, who, having placed it on the young Queen’s linger, pronounced the nuptial benediction. Mutual congratulations followed, and Mary gracefully saluted her husband by the title of King of Scots. The Scottish deputies, whom the chronicler does not once deign to mention, followed her example; after which, the Archbishop of Paris delivered a suitable discourse, which, probably, extorted not much attention. In the mean time, the Duke of Guise had succeeded in his efforts to induce the nobles to open a vista to the people, who stood clustering in the streets, at the windows, on turrets, and scaffoldings, to catch a glimpse of the imposing spectacle ; but not even his vigilance and activity were adequate to the task of preserving order and decorum among the motley crowd; and when, according to custom, the heralds, having proclaimed largess, in the name of the King and Queen of Scots, began to shower money on the people:
“Then,” says the chronicler, “you might have witnessed the tumult and confusion of the multitude; some, in their avidity, precipitating themselves on their companions, others fainting, whilst many were stript of hats, cloaks, or even skirts; so terrible was the conflict, that at length even the populace, in dismay unutterable, implored the heralds to desist from throwing among them the golden bait of discord.”
The bridal procession advanced to the choir, or main space of the edifice, under the royal canopy, and celebrated mass. This was followed by a costly collation in the bishop’s palace, and then a ball. At five o’clock in the evening the royal train returned to their palace. The two Queens of France sat together in a litter escorted by cardinals; Henry and Francis rode on horseback, and after them on richly caparisoned steeds came the ladies of princely rank. The Duke of Guise presided over the ceremonies of the evening entertainment. The King’s band of a hundred men, poured through the ample apartment, strains of ravishing music. While the guests were becoming animated with the prospective pleasures, twelve artificial horses, mantled in golden cloth, entered with the motion of life, and bestrode by sons of the nobility. Next came a company of pilgrims, each reciting a poem; then were ushered into the hall six diminutive galleys, “ covered like Cleopatra’s barge, with cloth of gold and crimson velvet; so skillfully contrived as to appear to glide through the waves, sometimes rolling, sometimes tacking, then veering, as if agitated by a sudden swell of the tide, till the delicate silken sails were cracked asunder.” Upon the deck of each sat a cavalier, who, while the miniature navy moved along, in turn sprang to land, and seized a fair lady, bearing her to a vacant chair ready for her reception. After these splendid panoramic scenes there was a grand tournament, in which Francis; from physical debility, was forbidden to break a lance. For fifteen days this extravagant and resplendent festivity continued. An English writer gives the following translation from Buchanan, a poet of that period, who describes Mary’s beauty :
“For say, if met as once on Ida’s height,
The assembled gods had held their awful state;
Heard thy young vow, and to thy prayer had given,
In wedded love, the choicest boon of heaven;
What brighter form could meet thy ravish’d sight,
Or fill thy bosom with its pure delight?
On her fair brow a regal grace she wears,
While youth’s own lustre on her cheek appears;
And soft the rays from those bright eyes that gleam,
Whose temper’d light and chasten’d radiance seem,
As thought mature had given the beams of truth,
Gently to mingle with the fire of youth.”
There is a tribute to the brave and hardy people of Scotland, whose worth Mary did not overvalue, from her foreign education :
“I will not tell of Scotia’s fertile shores,
Or mountain tracts that teem with choicest ores
Or living streams, from sources rich, that flow,
For other regions nature’s bounties show—
(And thirst of wealth alone their souls employ,
“Whose grov’ling spirits feel no loftier joy.)
But this her own, and this her proudest fame,
The strength, the virtue, of her sons to claim.
Tis theirs in early chase to rouse the wood,
And fearless theirs to breast the foaming flood.
A land beloved to guard in many a field,
Their swords her bulwark, and their breasts her shield;
‘Tis theirs to prize pure fame, ev’n life above,
Firmly, their faith to keep, their God to love.
And while stern war its banner wide unfurl’d,
Terror and change o’er half the nations hurl’d ;
This the proud charter that in ages gone,
Saved their lov’d freedom and its ancient throne.
To the parliament of this nation, the commissioners returned, believing their instructions faithfully fulfilled ; and December following the marriage of Mary, their mission and its results were ratified by that body, and the matrimonial crown was bestowed upon Francis. It was also ordered that future acts be published in the name of “Francis and Mary, King and Queen of Scotland, Dauphin and Dauphiness of Vienne.”
The youthful sovereigns retired to a country residence near Paris, while the highlands of Scotland echoed back the shouts, and shone with the illuminations of popular rejoicing, as the tidings of the marriage spread. Put these soon died away before the practical developments that succeeded the surface excitement of a kingdom.
The Queen Dowager having secured her object, began to show without disguise her French affinities, in official appointments and treating carelessly those whose influence she had before feared. This palpable change in the exercise of her sovereignty, gave a decisive blow to the supremacy of foreign views; it broke the spell of quiet control which had stolen over the people from the court of France. Another cause of threatening disquietude was the conflict of Calvinism with prelacy. The Queen of Navarre, and other distinguished subjects of Henry, warmly espoused the cause of reform, sustained as it was by intellect, intelligence, and purity of both worship and life. In Scotland, the Earl of Arran sympathised with the re formers. Just as this crisis was reached, Mary Tudor of England died, and the Protestant Elizabeth ascended the throne, restoring immediately, on the second downfall of popery, the faith of her father, Henry VIII., and of her brother, Edward VI. Soon as this new order of things was established, introduced November, 1558, Mary Stuart’s relation to England assumed an aspect widely different from that occupied before, and modified essentially the condition of factions in her native realm. Elizabeth was declared by the French court, in accordance with the Catholic sentiment, illegitimate; and Mary, as a direct descendant of Henry VII., through Margaret Tudor, was deemed heir to the crown. The King of France, with a strange infatuation, ordered the arms of England to be quartered on the regal escutcheon with those of Scotland, proclaiming by the act, the assumed right and the aspiration to the sceptre of England, in behalf of the Dauphin and Dauphiness. These disclosures naturally aroused the fiery spirit of the English Queen, who saw in Mary her rival to royalty and glory. Under the bloody reign of her sister, she had lived in comparative seclusion, dissembling the religious faith and strong feelings, which were cherished like subterranean fires, beneath an exterior haughtily calm, and delusively smiling. Giovanni Michele, the Venitian ambassador, describes her person, accomplishments, and hints at her character, in his records of the times, when Elizabeth was twenty-three years of age:
“She is no less remarkable in body than in mind, although her features are rather agreeable than beautiful. She is tall in person and well-made; her complexion is brilliant though rather dark. She has fine eyes; but above all, a splendid hand, which she is very fond of showing. She possesses great tact and ability, as she has abundantly proved by the wise way in which she has conducted herself in the midst of the suspicions of which she was the object, and of the perils which surrounded her. She surpasses the Queen, her sister, in her knowledge of languages. Besides English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Latin, which she knows as well as her sister, she has no slight acquaintance with Greek. She is haughty and high-spirited. Although born of a mother beheaded for adultery, she esteems herself no less highly than the Queen, her sister, and considers herself equally legitimate. It is said that she is very much like the King, her father, to whom she was always very dear on that account, and who had her as well educated as the Queen, and made an equal provision for them both in his will.”
Elizabeth was clearly Mary Stuart’s superior in vigorous intellect, masculine judgment, and general force of character; while she was her equal, if not in beauty, in mental culture and the fascination of a lively imagination. Though less gentle and winning than her rival, she was endowed with the qualities of a great and successful Queen. Surrounding herself with a cabinet of strong minds and devoted hearts, she swayed them and her subjects with a will which disdained counsel, only as an expression of views which might strengthen, without controlling her own unbiased decisions. She declared this independence with self-glorying, when she said, “that she would let the world know that there was in England a woman who acted like a man, and who was awed neither by a constable of Montmorency, like the Bang of France, nor by a bishop of Anas, like the King of Spain.” The reformers and restive parties of Scotland found a friend in the English sovereign, and these events ripened the royal collision; when changes in France gave a new form and interest to the struggle for dominion.
The 26th of June, 1559, was appointed for the espousals of Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Henry, to Philip of Spain. The order of arrangements resembled that of Mary’s marriage. The princess passed the night of the 24th in the bishop’s palace, and was led to the altar of Notre Dame through a covered gallery, attended with the lavish display of royal treasures, which never failed, whether the poor and toiling masses were fed, or lifting their piteous cry for bread. The bride appeared in robes of golden
texture, studded with diamonds, her brow resplendent with a crown of jewels, beneath which beamed her dark and expressive eyes, while the flush of excitement betrayed a sensitive nature, oppressed with the burden of queenly honors. This gorgeous scene was succeeded by banquets and balls, with the usual pageant of a grand tournament.
The Place Antoine was selected for the field of contest.
An ample theatre was erected for the spectators, and crowded with noble and anxious beholders. Never before was gathered to such an entertainment so great an assemblage of foreign princes, ambassadors, and generals. The national costumes and the insignia of rank bewildered the eye. That vain glory which had emblazoned on the heraldic scroll Mary’s claim to the sceptre of England, displayed the device on the Dauphin’s banners, carried by his band, who opened the jousts. The British ambassadors frowned, and the attendants of the fair Stuart exclaimed, as she was borne to her royal balcony, “Place, place for the Queen of England!” There can be no apology for this insult to Elizabeth of England, which foreshadowed future sorrow.
