sentment of Elizabeth. Henry the Seventh had married his eldest daughter, Margaret, to James, king of Scotland, who, dying, left no issue that came to maturity except Mary, afterwards surnamed Mary queen of Scots.

3. At a very early age, this princess, being possessed of every accomplishment of person and mind, was married to Francis, the dauphin of France, who, dying, left her a widow at the age of nineteen. Upon the death of Francis, Mary, the widow, still seemed disposed to keep up the title; but, finding herself exposed to the persecutions of the dowager queen, who now began to take the lead in France, she returned home to Scotland, where she found the people strongly impressed with the gloomy enthusiasm of the times. 4. A difference of religion between the sovereign and the people is ever productive of bad effects; since it is apt to produce contempt on the one side, and jealousy on the other. Mary could not avoid regarding the sour manners of the reforming clergy, who now bore sway among the Scots, with a mixture of ridicule and hatred; while they, on the other hand, could not look tamely on gaieties and levities which she introduced among them, without abhorrence and resentment. The jealousy thus excited began every day to grow stronger; the clergy only waited for some indiscretion in the queen to fly out into open opposition; and her imprudence but too soon gave them sufficient opportunity.

5. Mary, upon her return, had married the earl of Darnley; but, having been dazzled by the pleasing exterior of her new lover, she had entirely forgotten to look to the accomplishments of his mind. Darnley was but a weak and ignorant man; violent, yet variable in his enterprises insolent, yet credulous, and easily governed by flatterers. She soon, therefore, began to convert her admiration into disgust; and Darnley, enraged at her increasing coldness, pointed his vengeance against every person he supposed the cause of this change in her sentiments and behaviour.

6. There was then in the court one David Rizzio, the son of a musician at Turin, himself a musician, whom Mary took into her confidence. She consulted him on all occasions; no favours could be obtained but by his intercession; and all suitors were first obliged to gain Rizzio to their interests by presents or by flattery. 7. It was easy to persuade a man of Darnley's jealous and uxorious temper

that Rizzio was the person who had estranged the queen's affections from him; and a surmise once conceived became to him a certainty. He soon, therefore, consulted with some lords of his party, who accompanying him into the queen's apartments, where Rizzio then was, they dragged him into the antechamber, where he was dispatched with fifty-six wounds; the unhappy princess continuing her lamentations while they were perpetrating their horrid crime. 8. Being informed, however, of his fate, Mary at once dried her tears, and said she would weep no more, for she would now think of revenge. She, therefore, concealed her resentment, and so far imposed upon Darnley, her husband, that he put himself under her protection, and soon after attended her to Edinburgh, where he was told the place would be favourable to his health.

9. Mary lived in the palace of Holyrood-house: but, as the situation of that place was low, and the concourse of people about the court necessarily attended with noise, which might disturb him in his present infirm state, she fitted up an apartment for him in a solitary house at some distance, called the Kirk of Field. Mary there gave him marks of kindness and attachment; she conversed cordially with him, and she lay some nights in a room under him. 10. It was on the ninth of February that she told him she would pass that night in the palace, because the marriage of one of her servants was to be there celebrated in her presence. But dreadful consequences ensued. About two o'clock in the morning, the whole city was much alarmed at hearing a great noise; the house in which Darnley lay was blown up with gunpowder. His dead body was found at some distance in a neighbouring field, but without any marks of violence or contusion. No doubt could be entertained but that Darnley was murdered, and the general suspicion fell upon Bothwell, a person lately taken into Mary's favour, as the perpetrator.

11. One crime led on to another; Bothwell, though accused of being stained with the husband's blood, though universally odious to the people, had the confidence, while Mary was on her way to Stirling, on a visit to her son, to seize her at the head of a body of eight hundred horse, and to carry her to Dunbar, where he forced her to yield to his purposes. 12. It was then thought by the people that the measure of his crimes was complete; and that he who was supposed to kill the queen's husband, and to have offered

violence to her person, could expect no mercy; but they were astonished upon finding, instead of disgrace, that Bothwell was taken into more than former favour; and to crown all, that he was married to Mary, having divorced his own wife to procure his union.

13. This was a fatal alliance to Mary; and the people were now wound up, by the complication of her guilt, to pay very little deference to her authority. An association was formed, that took Mary prisoner, and sent her into confinement to the castle of Lochlevin, situated in a lake of that name, where she suffered all the severities of an unkind keeper, and an upbraiding conscience, with a feeling heart.

14. The calamities of the great, even though justly deserved, seldom fail of creating pity, and procuring friends. Mary, by her charms and promises, had engaged a young gentleman, whose name was George Douglas, to assist her in escaping from the place wherein she was confined; and this he effected by conveying her in disguise in a small boat, rowed by himself, ashore. It was now that, the news of her enlargement being spread abroad, all the loyalty of the people seemed to revive once more, and in a few days she saw herself at the head of six thousand men.

Questions for Examination.

1. What were the first acts of Elizabeth in favour of?
2. Who was the first person that excited her resentment?
From whom was Mary queen of Scots descended?

3. To whom was she first married?

4. Why is the difference of religion between the sovereign and the people apt to produce bad effects?

5. Describe the character of the earl of Darnley.

6. Who was David Rizzio ?

7. What was the fate of Rizzio?

8. On what did Mary determine in consequence?

9. How did she affect to treat her husband?

10. Relate the circumstances of the earl of Darnley's death.

13. Where was Mary confined?

14. By what means did she escape ?

SECTION II.

"But malice, envy, cruelty and spleen,

To death doom'd Scotia's dear devoted queen."-MACDONALD.

7. Malig'nity, s. malevolence, malice. 15. Preparatory, a. introductory, pre10. Assas'sinate, v. to murder.

12. Incontest'ible, a. indisputable.

vious.

1. (A.D. 1568.) A BATTLE was fought at Langside, near Glasgow, which was entirely decisive against the queen of Scots; and now, being totally ruined, she fled southward from the field of battle with great precipitation, and came with a few attendants to the borders of England, where she hoped for protection from Elizabeth, who, instead of protecting, ordered her to be put in confinement, yet treated her with all proper marks of respect. 2. She was accordingly sent to Tutbury-castle, in the county of Stafford; and put into the custody of the earl of Shrewsbury; where she had hopes given her of one day coming into favour, and that, unless her own obstinacy prevented, an accommodation might at last take place.

3. The duke of Norfolk was the only peer who enjoyed the highest title of nobility in England; and the qualities of his mind were correspondent to his high station. Beneficent, affable, and generous, he had acquired the affections of the people; and yet, from his moderation, he had never alarmed the jealousy of the sovereign. He was at this time a widower, and being of a suitable age to espouse the queen of Scots, her own attractions, as well as his interest, made him desirous of the match. 4. Elizabeth, however, dreaded such an union, and the duke was soon after made prisoner, and sent to the Tower. Upon his releasement from thence, new projects were set on foot by the enemies of the queen and the reformed religion, secretly fomented by Rodelphi, an instrument of the court of Rome, and the bishop of Ross, Mary's minister in England. 5. It was concerted by them that Norfolk should renew his designs upon Mary, and raise her to the throne, to which it was probable he was prompted by passion as well as interest; and this nobleman entering into their schemes, he, from being at first only ambitious, now became criminal. His servants were brought to make a full confession of their master's guilt; and the bishop of Ross, soon after, finding the whole discovered,

did not scruple to confirm their testimony. 6. The duke was instantly committed to the Tower, and ordered to prepare for his trial. A jury of twenty-five peers unanimously passed sentence upon him and the queen, four months after, reluctantly signed the warrant for his execution. He died with great calmness and constancy; and, though he cleared himself of any disloyal intentions against the queen's authority, he acknowledged the justice of the sentence by which he suffered.

7. These conspiracies served to prepare the way for Mary's ruin, whose greatest misfortunes proceeded rather from the violence of her friends than the malignity of her enemies. Elizabeth's ministers had long been waiting for some signal instance of the captive queen's enmity, which they could easily convert into treason; and this was not long wanting. 8. About this time, (A.D. 1586,) one John Ballard, a popish priest, who had been bred in the English seminary at Rheims, resolved to compass the death of the queen, whom he considered as the enemy of his religion; and with that gloomy resolution came over to England in the disguise of a soldier, with the assumed name of captain Fortescue. He bent his endeavours to bring about at once the project of an assassination, an insurrection, and an invasion. 9. The first person he addressed himself to was Anthony Babington, of Dethick, in the county of Derby, a young gentleman of good family, and possessed of a very plentiful fortune. This person had been long remarkable for his zeal in the catholic cause, and in particular for his attachment to the captive queen. He, therefore, came readily into the plot, and procured the concurrence and assistance of some other associates in this dangerous undertaking. 10. The next step was to apprise Mary of the conspiracy formed in her favour; and this they effected by conveying their letters to her by the means of a brewer that supplied the family with ale, through a chink in the wall of her apartment. In these, Babington informed her of a design laid for a foreign invasion, the plan of an insurrection at home, the scheme for her delivery, and the conspiracy for assassinating the usurper, by six noble gentlemen, as he termed them, all of them his private friends, who from the zeal which they bore the catholic cause, and her majesty's service, would undertake the tragical execution. 11. To these Mary replied, that she approved highly of the design; that the gentlemen might