candid mind in her excuse.

The grant by which she bestowed her kingdom upon strangers was carefully concealed from the Scots: they seem, however, to have had some intimation of what had passed.

The nuptials between Mary and the Dauphin were, on the fourteenth of April, 1558, celebrated with great pomp. In the marriage treaty, the commissioners had agreed that the dauphin should assume the name of king of Scotland; a title which they considered merely as honorary, but to which the French laboured to annex some solid privileges. They insisted on its being publicly acknowledged, that the crown-matrimonial should be conferred upon him, and that he should be invested with all the rights pertaining to the husband of a queen.

The princes of Lorraine, intoxicated with successful ambition, extended their daring schemes yet farther. The marriage of their niece to the dauphin allied them nearly to the royal dignity, the only object which was yet unattained. To gratify their vanity, which had in proportion to their elevation become inordinate, and render their niece more worthy of the heir of the French monarchy, they set on foot her claim to the crown of England, founded on the declared illegitimacy of Elizabeth. The capricious Henry VIII. who

had caused both his daughters to be disinherited by act of parliament, and in his last will, with his characteristic inconsistency, called them back to the throne on the demise of their brother Edward, had (passing by the posterity of his eldest sister Margaret queen of Scotland) appointed the line of succession to continue in the younger sister, the descendant of the duchess of Suffolk. The validity of these deeds was never recognised by foreigners, though Mary had reigned in England without any complaint from the neighbouring princes. But the same cause which had facilitated her accession, raised an obstacle to the elevation of her sister Elizabeth. Rome trembled for its faith under a protestant queen of her abilities; the same fear seized the court of Spain; and France beheld, indignantly, a throne to which the queen of Scots had pretensions, occupied by a princess whose birth, in the opinion of the catholics, excluded her from any legal right of suc-cession. Instigated by the Guises, Henry persuaded his daughter-in-law to assume, with her husband, the title of king and queen of England, a fatal presumption which led to the most disastrous consequences. The naval power of England was growing in reputation; the marine of France had been wholly neglected; the territories of Elizabeth therefore could only be approached

on the side of Scotland, where the princes of Lorraine determined to commence their attack. By using the name and pretensions of the Scottish queen, they hoped to rouse the English catholics, formidable for their zeal and numbers, and exafperated by the changes introduced in the national religion.

The aid of the Scots protestants to dethrone a queen, regarded by the reformed as the guardian of their faith, was not to be expected: to break their power and reputation in Scotland, therefore, became a part of the scheme. The queen regent was with difficulty prevailed on to enter into these views, which were contrary to the dictates of her unbiassed judgment. The conflicts which ensued it is not necessary here to relate; persecution produced its usual effects, and embittered the spirit it was meant to repress: both parties went farther than had at first been foreseen; political principles mingled with religious disputes, and Scotland was torn by intestine commotion.

About this time, July, 1559, died Henry II. of France. Towards the close of his reign, the favour of the house of Lorraine had begun to decline, and the constable Montmorenci regained his ascendant. This prudent minister imputed the disturbances in Scotland to the violent measures of the princes of Lorraine, and counselled the

king to adopt a more moderate system, by which union and tranquillity might be restored to the kingdom. But the untimely death of the king, and the accession of Francis II. defeated the wisdom and policy of the constable: allied so nearly to the throne by the dignity of their niece, the Guises again assumed the direction of affairs. Their former measures were now resumed, and prosecuted with additional vigour : the protestants, oppressed beyond the powers of endurance, called in the arm of Elizabeth to their aid: skirmishes and hostilities. were renewed. The English fleet appeared in the road of Leith, and facilitated the operation of its forces by land. The members of the congregation, assembling from all parts, joined their allies, while the French army was unable to keep the field against an enemy so much superior in numbers.

The queen regent had, on the approach of the English troops, retired to the castle of Edinburgh, where she soon after expired, a victim to her attachment to the Guises and the consequent misfortunes of her administration. Prudent, discerning, intrepid, humane, gentle without weakness, and just without rigour, Mary of Lorraine possessed qualities which might have rendered her people happy and her regency illustrious, but for her devotion to the princes her brothers, and the

interest of France, her native country. A few days previous to her death, she lamented this docility, and the fatal issue of those intemperate councils which she had been seduced against her judgment to pursue. With the candour of a generous mind, she confessed the errors of her administration, deprecated their effects, and implored the forgiveness of those to whom they had been hurtful. She even invited the attendance of one of the most eminent of the reformed preachers, listened to his instructions with attention, and prepared herself to meet death with firmness.

In the mean time, the French, shut up in Leith by the English who laid close siege to the place, were compelled to negociate. The situation of France, menaced in its turn by civil commotions, called off the attention of the Guises from Scotland, whence it became necessary to withdraw the troops. A treaty was accordingly entered into with England, among the articles of which the right of Elizabeth to her crown was expressly acknowledged in the strongest terms; and Francis and Mary solemnly engaged neither to assumé the title, nor to bear the arms of king and queen of England, in any time to come. Honourable as was this concession to Elizabeth, the conditions. she obtained for her allies the Scots were not less advantageous. Thus the reformed party acquired