'Nay, that surely is unnecessary, no one here knows you but ourselves; you have only to resume your incognito, and in Signor Luigi the Venetian Painter, no one will recognise Lewis Arundel. We will keep your secret inviolably." "Can I rely on the discretion of Mr. Leicester?" "Perfectly if he knows you consider the matter important he will remain silent as the grave." "Be it so, then," returned Lewis, after a pause. Having paced up and down the room, he threw himself on a sofa, and covering his eyes with his hand, remained buried in painful thought. Laura watched him with deep interest, till at length she could restrain the expression of her sympathy no longer. "I must speak that which is in my mind," she said, earnestly. "I know that you are good and truehearted, you can have done no wrong that you have cause to be ashamed of, why then do you fear to meet these people ?" Lewis started, raised his head, and flinging back his dark hair, exclaimed, almost fiercely,-"Did you say fear? I fear no living being! There is no man who can accuse me of evil-doing; my name is as spotless as your own pure soul." "Then why refuse to meet them ?" "Because I fear my own heart," was the vehement reply," because I have sworn never to meet her again till I have learned to look upon her with the indifference her weak fickleness deserves, and that," he added bitterly, "will not be till grey hairs bring insensibility to woman's love and such-like gilded toys, or till she has MISS STRICKLAND'S LIVES OF THE THIS first volume of Miss Strickland's New Series of Royal Biographies will be gladly welcomed by the writer of such notices as the following, would be with two engravings,-the one a portrait of Magda- crushed out the last germs of my lingering madness by marrying the heartless scoundrel to whom she is engaged;" he paused, then continued more calmly,"You ask me why I refuse to meet these people; hear the truth, and then judge for yourself whether I can In her preface, Miss Strickland says, that the meet them; nay, for me, if you will, for I am half-Life of Mary Stuart will occupy two volumes of this frenzied by the anguish I have suffered, and am as in- forthcoming series; and she mentions some facts in capable to decide for myself in this affair as a child," connexion with the subject, calculated to arouse the (such puppets are we to our loves and hates); and attention and stimulate the curiosity of those who are then, in eager hurried accents, he told her of his love her fellow students in that double puzzle, the life and for Annie Grant, his struggle for self-conquest, his character of the thorough woman and thorough prince, signal failure, his fearful hope that she returned his Mary Queen of Scots. Miss Strickland promises affection, the parting, his confession to the General, to publish" several unedited letters" of Queen Mary the strange tidings he had learned in London, and then which have "escaped the research of Prince Labanoff;" the cruel paralysing blow of Annie's engagement, re- and she also tenders thanks to the Honourable John newed the very day after he had left Broadhurst, Stuart for favouring her "with the use of Mary's believing, on no slight grounds, that she loved him secret correspondence, recently discovered in the family and him only. All the burning sorrow, pent for two archives of the House of Murray." A secret correlong years within his secret soul, he poured forth before spondence of Mary Stuart!—and,-" found in the arand Laura listened with glowing cheeks and tear-chives of the house of Murray!" "Surely, something ful eyes, and a growing resolve in her brave, pure heart, to set aside all conventionalisms, and every hollow form of society, and if Annie should but prove worthy of him, to labour with all the energy of her earnest nature to bring these young, sad, loving hearts together again. her; (To be continued.) must come out of that!" say the lovers of revealed secrets. But they must bate their curiosity, and bide their time; Miss Strickland's "Life of Mary Stuart " is not published yet. In the meantime, those who are much excited on the subject, and have not before heard of this secret correspondence, may find favour (1) "Lives of the Queens of Scotland and English Princesses. By Agnes Strickland." Author of "Ives of the Queens of England." Vol. I. Blackwood and Sons: Edinburgh and London. with the Honourable John Stuart, and get sight of these letters of the "fairest queen on ground," if they can. The present volume contains the complete biographies of two Queens, and the unfinished life of a third. The first biography is that of Margaret Tudor. She was the daughter of Henry VII., and the sister of Henry VIII. She was married at the age of thirteen to king James IV. of Scotland, at that time in his thirty-first year. It could scarcely be expected that this should be a happy marriage. Margaret's education had been neglected, and even if it had been very carefully attended to, it was impossible she could at that age be a companion, in any sense of the word, to such a husband as James IV. He was an accomplished man,—a man of high intellect and fastidious taste; -he was capable of the strongest love for a woman of corresponding nature, and he could brave many perils to place her on the throne;-as he had shown in the case of the Lady Margaret Drummond, the love of his boyhood, and of his manhood too. Her cruel murder left James in "a distraction of grief such as dispositions at once impetuous and affectionate alone can feel," says Miss Strickland. His daughter by this private marriage, was brought up at " Edinburgh Castle under the appellation of the Lady Margaret, the king's daughter,' and finally married John, Lord Gordon.”—Our authoress goes on to say : "She can scarcely be classed as an illegitimate child; neither can her unfortunate mother, a devoted wife to a loving husband, be ranked in the meretricious sisterhood of royal favourites. James the Fourth, after his heartstrings had been rent by the tragical death of his wedded |_ love, became reckless, and unhappily formed illicit ties which were productive of much evil both to himself and his descendants. But had his second spouse, Margaret of England, been nearer the age of her hapless predecessor, or had assimulated with his temper and pursuits when she grew into companionship with him, perhaps his memory would be freer from such reproach." The great abilities of James as a ruler, the success which attended his plans for civilizing and enriching his people, the formidable position assumed by his country as a naval power, all obtained for him the admiration of contemporary statesmen. There was likewise enough of romance connected with him to attract the attention of the classes delighting in the picturesque and marvellous. The beauty of his person, the variety of his attainments, his skill and taste in music and poetry the wonderful facility with which the hand that struck the lute and clavichord tastefully, could sway the adze of the ship-wright when building his mighty war-ship at Falkirk, captivated every one. Likewise, the singular penance he enjoined himself (for having been brought in arms against his father) by wearing an iron chain about his waist, to awake his remembrance of his sin when it hurt him, was appreciated as a most edifying action in that era." A very proper sort of husband to be married, at thirty-one, to an ignorant, passionate tempered, spoiled young lady of thirteen, whose only recommendations were that she promised to be very handsome, and "danced with great activity!" He, a sovereign, too, accustomed to have every thing made easy for him; and, one can imagine, not much used to the society of boys and girls, seeing that he could command that of the flower of manhood and womanhood in his dominious. Yet he seems to have behaved with great kindness and consideration to this mere child. Their first meeting, after her arrival in his dominions, (she had previously been married, by proxy, in her father's court,) was one planned by him, on purpose "to relieve his young bride from the anxiety of a formal introduction to him, in the midst of tedious state ceremonies, with the eyes of a multitude fixed upon them." Miss Strickland proceeds thus :- "He wished to make acquaintance with her before such ordeal commenced; and if his bride had a heart worth the winning, it was evident the King of Scotland thought it most likely to be won when they were disencumbered of the stiff stateliness ever surrounding royalty on public days. He entered the presence of Margaret Tudor with his hawking-lure flung over his shoulder, dressed simply in a velvet jacket; his hair and beard, curling naturally, were rather long, his complexion glowing from the manly exercise he had just been engaged in. He was the handsomest sovereign in Europe; -the black eyes and hair of his elegant father, James III. being softened in his resemblance to the blonde beauty of his Danish mother. Sir Walter Scott has drawn James IV.'s portrait con amore, and has not exaggerated the likeness. "For hazel was his eager eye, And auburn of the darkest dye of her great chamber. The King of Scotland uncovered This meeting took place at Dalkeith Palace, August 3d, 1503. The account of it quoted here is given by John Young, Somerset Herald, who formed part of the English cortége that brought Margaret to her husband. Soon after this they were married; and after due merry-makings, public and private, her English escort returned home, leaving, however, twenty-four of their nation as attendants on the young queen in her new home. Poor child! in spite of all the kindness, and flatteries, and amusements provided for her by the Scottish king and his court, she sends a very discontented letter to her father by one of the returning ladies. The following is a portion of it. The spelling of Margaret's many letters (for she became a great letter-writer in after life) is always very bad-so is the hand-writing-and so the grammar, very often. The first paragraph is dictated to one of her ladies, the other is in her own hand, "mine evil hand" as she herself calls it : “Sir, as for news, I have none to send, but that my Lord of Surrey is in so great favour with this king here, that he cannot forbear the company of him at no time of the day." It is scarcely to be wondered at that the king should very much prefer the company of such a man as my Lord of Surrey to that of his childish wife; or that she being perfectly unable to comprehend in what my Lord Surrey's attractions consisted, should be displeased at the preference. She goes on with her very natural grumbling : "He and the Bishop of Murray ordereth everything as nigh as they can to the king's pleasure: I pray God it may be for my poor heart's case in time to come. They call not my chamberlain to them, who, I am sure, would speak better for my part than any of them that be of that council. But if he speak anything for my cause, my Lord of Surrey hath such words unto him that he dare speak no further. God send me comfort to his pleasure, and that I and mine, that he left here with me, may be well entreated." In her own hand is the rest : "For God's sake, Sir, hold me excused that I write not myself to your Grace, for I have no leisure at this time; but with a wish I would I were with your Grace now, and many times more. And for this that I have written to your Grace, it is very true; but I pray God I may find it well for my welfare hereafter. No more to your Grace at this time; but our Lord have you in his keeping. Written with the hand of your humble dauter. "MARGARET." Miss Strickland says elsewhere, "Had Margaret Tudor reached one half the age of her spouse, she might have had more success in disputing his heart with the matured beauties of her court; as the case was, it could only be expected that she would grow up to womanhood with the passions of anger and jealousy in a perpetual state of exercise." As she grew older, Margaret became a handsome woman, indeed,—a brilliant beauty, as far as a fine figure, regular features, a complexion à la Tudor, (all lilies and roses,) and a profusion of the finest golden hair can make beauty; she had also the additional attraction of a clever, quick mind, and great vivacity and warmth of manner. She was in many respects strikingly like her brother Henry VIII. She is at times childishly absurd and wilful-always covetous and passionate-full of cunning to gain her ends, yet imprudent in the extreme,—a woman of strong impulse and no principle; running headlong after the gratification of her own passions of the moment, with no regard of consequences, and at other times deceitful and calculating for petty ends. She is by no means an uncommon character; only the generality of such women are not so much exposed to public scrutiny, or indulged with so much power as queens were in those days. After making a tremendous fuss about the legacy which her brother Henry withheld from her, and urging her husband to engage in a war with England, the war was no sooner actually declared than "Queen Margaret began to be.excessively full of lamentations for the measure she had urged on. Her jealousy was excited by the correspondence Anne of Bretagne, Queen of France, commenced with James IV., urging him to do his devoir as chevalier-errant, by invading England, and marching three days, with banners him as her knight, Queen Anne sent him a ring of imdisplayed over the Borders. In token that she had chosen mense value, taken off her finger. "James was eager to make a diversion in favour of his ally by invading England, but soon found that his wedded partner meant to let him have little quiet in consequence, either by day or by night; the cause of grievance being that the Queen of France had written him ane love-letter.' Common sense might have represented to her that the Queen of France was a woman dying of decline. She was withal old enough to be her mother. King James, however gallantly disposed to the French Queen, had never seen her; neither was he likely so to do. The ideas of the disputed jewels, and the message of the Queen of France, working together in Margaret's irritable brain, either produced some uneasy visions or led her to feign some. The tragical events that soon after occurred caused her to give them forth as prophetic, in which representation she was supported by certain grave chroniclers." as The dreams, oniens, and other supernatural occurrences which preceded the fatal battle of Flodden Field, are supposed by many to have originated with Queen Margaret; being devised by her to deter her husband from the expedition on which he was bent. They failed to do so; and he set off with his fine army for the invasion of England, having appointed his queen regent of the kingdom during the minority of their son, in case of his death. If she married a second time, she was to forfeit that dignity. All our readers are familiar with the dreadful result of the battle of Flodden Field. Margaret was left a widow and guardian of the well-nigh ruined kingdom in her four-and-twentieth year;-a terribly difficult position for the wisest and best of women to maintain, and one which it was not possible such a woman Margaret Tudor could maintain long without doing much mischief. The powerful Douglas faction soon secured her to themselves by means of their young and handsome chief, the Earl of Angus, with whom Margaret fell in love, and contracted a second marriage. From that moment there was no peace in Scotland, until James the Fifth was able to assume the government, for Margaret would not yield to the supreme authority, or the guardianship of the young king, and the great nobles would not let it remain with her, but invited the Duke of Albany to be regent. In a short space of time Margaret grew tired of the Earl of Angus, (as Mary Stuart did Darnley, and for the same reason; he was weakminded,) and wished to obtain a divorce from him that she might marry the said Duke of Albany, one of the best intellects of the age. After many years she obtained the divorce, but instead of marrying Albany, who would have nothing to do with so perilous a match, she married Henry Stuart, a young Margaret Tudor left another child besides James V., viz. her daughter by the Earl of Angus, the Lady Margaret Douglas, who was brought up at the English court, and whose descendants were again blended with our royal family. lieutenant of her son's guards, afterwards created | many illustrations of that classic axiom. She was Lord Methven. Nothing can exceed the moral in- carried off by consumption about a year after her dignation of her brother Henry at Margaret's flirta- marriage, at the age of seventeen. Strange as it may tions, marriages, and continual attempts to obtain seem, amid the stern and hard details of history and divorce. The royal Blue-beard is quite shocked at state policy, the intrigues and conventional forms of Margaret's conduct, and writes edifying remonstrances a court, one comes now and then upon a sweet little to her, which contrast strangely with his own matri- bit of romance; and very refreshing it is to the hismonial career. toric student to do so, especially if the student be a woman. We can see that Miss Strickland has written the touching story of this young princess con amore. Women, even when they are historical and biographical writers, and therefore strive to be impartial, are always made partisans by their feelings. It is easy to perceive that our amiable authoress has a strong dislike to the character of the uneducated, severely tried Margaret Tudor, but her best sympathies are at once roused by the romantic story of the carefully nurtured, untempted Magdalene de Valois. "Youth, beauty, and death, when found together, are always interesting," we heard some one say apropos of this princess. But they are of tenfold interest when we find them adorning a royal love tale. Let us repeat this tale for the benefit of such of our readers as are unacquainted with it. This Margaret Tudor, the first of Miss Strickland's Queens of Scotland, is a very important person in our history, being the one from whom the subsequent sovereigns of Great Britain claim their right to rule over the two kingdoms. Her life was a remarkable one, and, in consequence of her unprincipled character and imprudent conduct, she caused much domestic disturbance in Scotland, during the two or three next reigns. She contrived to keep both England and Scotland in a state of political ferment as long as she lived. She was a bad wife, a bad mother, and a foolish wicked woman. In reading her life we are forcibly reminded of Solomon's words, "As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman that is without discretion;" "Every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands." But, though it is impossible not to condemn Margaret Tudor, let us not do so without considering what sort of education she had had, for the situation she was called upon to fill at so early an age; what sort of life she was obliged to lead among flatterers in her | husband's court; the numerous temptations that beset her, and that were double temptations to a weak, lively mind, and undisciplined feelings. Let all mothers and fathers beware lest they indulge their darlings too much, and forget that each one of them will be called in time to rule over some kingdom in this world, great or small, and must be taught in infancy to "rule their own spirits." The history of this queen is a moral lesson to all women of undisciplined nature; such as she is, such (let them not be too incredulous at the comparison,) in corresponding circumstances would they be, perhaps; for Margaret is by no means a woman of extraordinary natural endowments, good or bad. If "history be philosophy teaching by examples," then is this example one that we should consider heedfully, for wisdom calls aloud to us through it. Of a very different nature is the next biography, that of Magdalene of France. She was the first wife of James V., the son of Margaret Tudor, and the daughter of the chivalric Francis I. of France, and had the advantage of being brought up by one of the best and most accomplished women of that age, the celebrated Margaret, Queen of Navarre, that pearl of womanhood, the noble sister of Francis I. Those whom the gods love die young," and the fair | Magdalene, good as she was fair, was one of the When James V. was a boy, his mother, Margaret Tudor, entered into a treaty for the hand of this princess for her son. Her brother Henry offering at the same time to give his own daughter, the princess Mary, to the young King of Scots, Margaret dared not openly refuse that alliance, but kept up negotiations with both France and England, intending all the time that James should marry Magdalene, because she knew that Henry was endeavouring to divorce Katharine of Aragon, and in that case the princess Mary would be illegitimate. James was nine years older than his unknown affianced bride, and was in love many times before he saw her; he had had, indeed, several illegitimate children. But when it came to a question of his marriage, he determined to see the lady before he decided. He travelled to Paris incognito, somewhat in the style of his great grandson Charles I., when he wanted a wife. The results to a certain extent were the same. Each fell in love with the daughter of the reigning king of France, and married her. There is not, we believe any reason for supposing that Henrietta Maria "did love for love allow;" at all events, not to the same extent that the gentle young Magdalene did. She had had the advantage of a noble, pious, loving training, up to the moment when she saw the handsome prince whom she had been taught from infancy to consider as her future husband. She was an invalid, and probably spent half her days in a dream of love for him whose praise was always being sounded in her ears, and when all the circumstances of his visit to France are taken into consideration, it is not to be wondered at that Magdalene "surrendered her heart, at once, to the accomplished sovereign to whom her hand had been pledged in her unconscious childhood." "The advent of a sovereign like James V., under such circumstances, created a wonderful sensation among the nobles and ladies of the French court, more especially the latter. They marvelled at his boldness in undertaking so perilous a voyage, in stormy weather, considering the roughness of the seas and the danger of the coast; that he should have ventured upon such an expedition without asking for a safe conduct from either the King of England or the King of France; and that he should have travelled in a strange land, not only without a military escort for the protection of his person, but attended by so few servants. There was no court in Europe where the spirit of knight-errantry was so highly appreciated as in that of the chivalric Francis I., no man better qualified, both by nature and inclination, to enact the part of a royal hero of romance than the fifth James of Scotland. Gay, gallant, beautiful, and fascinating, he excited the most enthusiastic feelings of admiration in every breast, but in none more ardently than in that of the young delicate invalid, who had been accustomed to regard him from her earliest recollection, as her affianced husband." That she was not too much depressed by illness to have strong feelings, and a strong will of her own, is indicated by these words of Sir David Lindsay of the Mount. Yet, notwithstanding all her sickness and malice (mal ease), fra the time she saw the King of Scotland, and spake with him, she became so enamoured of him, and loved him so well, that she would have no man alive to be her husband, but he allanerlie," meaning him alone. Miss Strickland proceeds thus: "There are instances where sickness, instead of marring, adds a touching charm to female beauty, especially in early youth when the malady is of a consumptive or hectic character. This was the case with the Princess Magdalene of France, who is described by contemporaries as a creature too fair and exquisite for this workday world, in which she was to have but a brief continuance. King James, beholding in her the realization of his beau ideal of feminine loveliness and grace, determined to break through all contracts, treaties and entanglements that might prevent their union, and to woo and win her for his queen." It was in vain that the French king spoke of James's recent attentions to Magdalene's cousin, the Lady Mary of Vendome, whom he ill-treated by thus seeking the hand of his daughter; in vain he urged the opinion of physicians that a residence in so cold a climate as Scotland would kill her, "and offered to bestow her younger sister Margaret on him instead." "The royal lover would not hear of the exchange; but persisted in his suit for Magdalene, who was, according to the report of a quaint Scotch chronicler, une young lady of pleasant beauty, goodly favour, and comely manners, above all others within the realm of France.' King James would have no one but her, sick or well, strong or weak; the Lady Magdalene was the mistress of his heart, and the more difficulties that were made, the more eager he was to call her his own. "As to Magdalene, she was deaf to all warnings. She had made up her mind to be queen of Scotland, were the clime more ungenial than Lapland, and the people greater barbarians than Muscovites. She would be content to leave her own vine-clad hills, and all the refinements and luxuries of her native land, to share the fortunes of King James. Love, and the happiness of finding herself beloved by the object of that first sweet passion that prevailed in her young heart over every other feeling, did that for the fair invalid which the skill of the physicians had failed to do-it recalled her apparently to life, and all the hopes and blissful expectations from which she had been previously eat off in the spring-tide of existence." The lovers carried all before them, and were soon married, at the French Court. James was twenty-five, and Magdalene was sixteen. For the express delectation of our female readers, we proceed to quote Miss Strickland's description of the portrait of Magdalene, prefixed to this volume. It has been 'carefully reduced from the whole-length figure of that Queen, in the curious contemporary painting of her marriage with James V., in Lord Elgin's collection at Broomhall in Fifeshire." "Magdalene is very lovely; her features are small regular, and delicate; her complexion fair, with light brown hair, which is simply and becomingly arranged in curls and plaits. She wears a small round cap, formed of a network of pearls and jewels. She is tall, slender, and graceful in stature, with a long throat, elegantly moulded. Her countenance is indicative of feminine sweetness and sensibility, and there is something very maidenly in her attitude, as she stands with downcast eyes, bending her head slightly forward, and extending her hand to receive the nuptial ring. Her dress is white damask, embroidered with gold, fitting closely to her shape, finished at the throat with a small quilled doubled ruff, parted with a collar of gems. The upper part of her sleeves is formed of three full double frills or puffings rising a little above the shoulders; below these epaulettes the sleeves are tight to the arms, and finish with small ruffles and bracelets at the wrists. It is impossible for anything to be more chastely elegant and becoming than this costume, which would not be at all unsuitable for a royal or noble bride of the present day." The royal couple spent several months after their marriage at the court of France; but, at length, it became necessary for James to return to his kingdom, and they parted from Francis I. with genuine sorrow on both sides. That monarch loved his daughter, and must have had sad forebedings concerning her health; he, however, dismissed her with feasting and magnificent presents. James, whose marriage had infuriated Henry VIII. because his daughter had been rejected, and because he dreaded the alliance of Scotland and France, which had been always dangerous to England, could not expect that his uncle would give him a safe passage through his dominions. The poor delicate girl was therefore obliged to make the long voyage from Dieppe to Edinburgh, and in tempestuous weather. She had to remain in a storm all one night, tossing at anchor off Scarborough; for James dare not land even for a night-the rage of the sea was better to bear than the rage of the Tudor lion. At length, on the fifth day after embarkation they arrived at Leith. They landed at the pier amidst the acclamations of a mixed multitude of loving lieges of all degrees, who came to welcome their sovereign home, and to see their new queen. Magdalene endeared herself for ever to the affections of the people by the sensibility she manifested on that occasion; for when she stepped on Scottish ground, she knelt, and bowing herself down, kissed the moulds thereof for the love she bore the king, returned thanks to God for having brought the king and her safely through the seas, and prayed for the happiness of the country.' This was, indeed, entering on her high vocation, not like the cold state-puppet of a public |