young queen was a Guise-one of that wonderful race who seemed advancing onwards to a destiny of which it was not easy to fix the probable limits. Scotland, by her royal alliances, might now be said to have hold of England with one hand and France with the other. The question came to be, which would pull hardest?

Chapter IV.

The Birth of Queen Mary-French Writers on her Life and Character-Her Influence on the Fate of Europe-Catherine of Medici-Their StrifeMary's Bequest to Philip-The apparent Supremacy of the Old League-The Underworkings that were destroying it-French Government in Scotland-Reaction-Recent Revelations-The Reformation in Scotland, and how it came about—The Winding-up.

the 7th of December in the year 1542 was born the infant afterwards renowned over the world as Mary Queen of Scots. The heir to the throne of England was a boy five years older Edward, the son of her grand - uncle, Henry VIII. They were in the degree of what is called first and second cousins. Nothing seemed so rational as that these two should be united, and so heal the wounds of two bleeding countries. It was indeed so extremely reasonable, that Henry VIII., to prevent any possibility of its

falling through, resolved to effect it at once by force the most dangerous of all means for accomplishing any object with the Scots. He demanded the personal custody of the royal child; and when this was refused, he restored the old claims of superiority, and sent an army to fetch her. Here again history is overloaded with the cruel feats of one exterminating army following on the heels of another, and all set to their bloody work because their passionate tyrant had resolved to cut the child out of the very heart of her people. He had almost accomplished his object, and Scotland seemed but a step from annexation, when, on the 16th of June 1548, strange sails were seen in the Firth of Forth, and, to the joy of high and low, the Sieur d'Essé, a tried soldier, landed with a small army in the pay of France, accompanied by a field-train of unusual strength for the times. These men were of all nations-soldiers by trade, and ready to fight for any paymaster. They were well accustomed, of course, to all sort of scenes of ruffianism; but they had yet to know, and they did so with some twinges of revulsion, the ferocity imparted to those who fight for their homes against the invader. When the mercenaries took prisoners from the English, they were of course ready to sell them, by way of ransom, to the highest bidder-friend or enemy. The highest bidders were in many instances the Scots, who thus invested their scant supply of money that they might have the gratification of putting

the hated invaders to death. These were symptoms of a spirit that snapped at once all the ties of diplomacy and royal alliances. The great object now was how to render Henry's object impossible. This was done by spiriting the royal infant off to France-a feat skilfully and gallantly accomplished with the assistance of the French vessels.

We now approach the time when the destinies of Europe depended on the character and actions of three women-a sort of three Fates who spun and cut the threads of nations. These were Catherine of Medici, Queen Elizabeth, and Mary of Scotland. It is with the last that we have chiefly to do here. The story of the alliance between France and Scotland had reached its climax when

both had the same queen. Her influence on the

two nations is not alone historical: it has affected the tenor of French literature, and the eye with which it has regarded Scotland; and in this respect the position of the two countries towards each other can be exemplified among the people of our own generation.

French authors have indeed lately thrown themselves, with their natural impetuosity, on the great problems of Mary's character and actions.*

And

* Besides Mignet's-beyond any question the best Life of Queen Mary-and also, besides, the works of Teulet and Michel, a considerable portion of which applies to her, we have,

'Etudes sur W. Shakspeare, Marie Stuart, et L'Arétin

though we claim credit for more coolness and historical impartiality than our neighbours, yet it may be that those qualities which we count defects in them, enable them to take a more genial and natural view

Le Drame, le Mœur, et la Religion au xvi. Siècle,' par M. Chasles-Philarète, 1854.

'Marie Stuart et Catherine de Medicis, étude historique sur les Relations de la France et de l'Ecosse,' 1858.

'Histoire de Marie Stuart,' par J. M. Dargaud.

'Les Crimes Célèbres,' par Alexandre Dumas-Marie Stuart.

'The Life of Mary Stuart,' by Marie Louis Alphonse Prat de Lamartine.

‘Marie Stuart et le Comte de Bothwell,' par L. Wiesener, Professeur d'Histoire à Lycée Louis-le-Grande, 1863.

́ Lettres de Marie Stuart, publiées avec summaires, traductions, notes, et fac-simile,' par Jean Baptiste Alexandre Theodore Teulet.

The last is intended as a supplement to the collection by Prince Labanoff, with which my reader either is or is not acquainted. This venerable member of the select circle of Russian grandees, claiming descent from the pristine Rurik, stands conspicuous as a living illustration of the fascinations of our northern Cleopatra. It is related among the triumphs of Ninon de l'Enclos, that she had lovers among the contemporaries of her grandchildren, one of them, according to a questionable legend, turning out to be an actual descendant in that degree. But the fascinations of Mary present to us a far more potent testimony in a living lover, who loves and must love on, as some of the sentimental songs say, down into the third century after that in which the object of his passion breathed the breath of life. The Prince has spent a great portion of a long life in the functions of a knight-errant, vindicating the spotless honour of the lady of his love. If it has not been his lot to put the spear in rest against the caitiff maligners, or to knock on