MARY

MARY, queen of Scotland, daughter of James V. was born in December 1542. Her father dying a few days after her birth, she scarce existed before she was hailed queen of Scotland. Violent were the disputes among the nobility, who should obtain the guardianship of her infant majesty, and government of the kingdom. It was however at length adjudged to the earl of Arran, as the heir-apparent and first peer of the realm. Whilst yet in her infancy, Henry VIII. of England demanded her in marriage for his son Ed-

ward; but her guardian refused his consent, and the famous battle of Musselburgh was the consequence. The Scots being defeated, she was conveyed by the queen-mother to the isle of Inchmahom; where, we are told, she was instructed in the Latin, French, Spanish, and Italian languages.

At six years old she was sent to France; where, after continuing a few days with the king and queen, she was removed to a monastery, and was there educated with the daughters of the French nobility. In this seminary she acquired a taste for poetry, and also became a notable proficient in music, dancing, and the art of sitting gracefully on horseback: but needle-work was her favourite amusement, in which she particularly excelled (A). On the 20th of April, 1558, she was married to the young dauphin; who dying in December 1560, she returned to her native country. She had not been long in Scotland, before she received proposals of marriage from Charles, archduke of Austria. Queen Elizabeth of England disapproved the match; and recommended Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, son to the earl of Lenox. To this nobleman she gave her hand; and by him she had one son, James I. of England. They had not been many months married before Darnley was barbarously murdered; and, in three months after, she espoused the earl of Bothwell, a man of no estimation, and who is generally supposed to have been the murderer of her late husband. From that fatal moment her life was a continued series of misfortunes: Scotland became a scene of confusion; her subjects rebelled; her husband fled to Denmark; and she herself was made a prisoner, and treated with the utmost indignity. She found means to escape from the persecution of her subjects, and fled to England for safety: but she was too beautiful to find a friend in Elizabeth; who, with constant professions of esteem, after keeping her in confinement during 18 long years, at last brought her head to the block.

The fair heroine received her sentence of death with great composure; wrote her will the day before her execution; for which, on the succeeding morn, she prepared with religious solemnity, and perfect resignation. She was executed on the 8th of February 1587, in the 46th year of her age, in the castle of Fotheringhay, where she had been long confined, and on the first of August was interred in the cathedral church at Peterborough, with great pomp. Twenty-five years after, her remains were, by order of her son king James I. removed to Henry VII.'s chapel in Westminster abbey, and a magnificent monument erected to her memory. See (History of) SCOTLAND.

She wrote, 1. Poems on various occasions, in the Latin, French, and Scotch languages. One of her poems is printed among those of A. Blackwood; another in Brantome's Dames illustres, written on the death of her first husband Francis. 2. Consolation of her long imprisonment, and royal advice to her son.

3. A copy of verses, in French, sent with a diamond-ring to queen Elizabeth. There is a translation of these verses among the Latin poems of Sir Thomas Chaloner. 4. Genuine Letters of Mary queen of Scots, to James earl of Bathwell; translated from the French, by E. Simmonds, 1726. There are, besides, many other of her epistles to queen Elizabeth, secretary Cecil, Mildmaye, &c. which are preserved in the Cotton, Ashmolean, and other libraries.