of the reign belong to the history of England and the life of William. Mary took no prominent part in public affairs, except when he was absent in Ireland and on the continent. At these times he left the administration of the regal prerogatives in her hand, and the trust was discharged by her with a zealous regard to his interests. In 1694 she was attacked by small-pox, and the disease speedily proved fatal. She is reported to have displayed on her death-bed much religious tranquillity. The event plunged William in excessive grief; and as there was no offspring of their union, the throne passed at his decease to her sister Anne.—W. B.
MARY, Queen of Scots, was the daughter of James V. and of Mary of Guise. She was born probably on the 11th or 12th of December, 1542, and succeeded her father when she was only two days old. Her coronation did not take place till the 9th of September in the following year. She was the child of misfortune from her cradle. The untimely death of her father at a great crisis of public affairs, had exposed the kingdom to all the perils of a long minority. Rival factions carried on a keen contest for superiority at home, while the independence of the country was threatened by the ambitious designs of Henry VIII. His object was to unite the two kingdoms by the marriage of Edward, prince of Wales, with the infant queen of the Scots; and if the terms proposed had been fair and honourable, such an alliance would have been highly advantageous to both countries. In the end the treaty of marriage was annulled by the Scottish parliament, and the ancient league was renewed with France. The result of these proceedings was a bloody and protracted war with England, repeated invasions of the country by the English forces, and its merciless devastation with fire and sword. This rough mode of wooing served only to exasperate the Scottish people, and to alienate them still farther from the alliance with England. And after the disastrous battle of Pinkie, 10th September, 1547, it was determined to provide for the personal safety of the young queen by sending her to complete her education in France, and to affiance her to the dauphin, son of Henry II. Mary accordingly embarked at Dumbarton, accompanied by her "four Maries," her three natural brothers, her governors, preceptors, and a numerous retinue, and reached the French shores in safety on the 15th of August, 1548. Her marriage to the dauphin, Francis, was solemnized with great pomp at Paris on the 14th of April, 1558. The terms of the union had been carefully considered, and every precaution was adopted by the Scottish parliament to secure the independence of the kingdom; but ten days previous to the public ratification of the articles, the young queen was induced by the French monarch and her uncles, the Guises, to subscribe three secret documents, by which, among other perfidious stipulations, the kingdom of Scotland was to be conferred upon the king of France if Mary should die without issue. Shortly after, Mary and her husband, instigated by her ambitious uncles, put forth pretensions to the throne of England, on the ground of Elizabeth's alleged illegitimacy, and assumed the title of king and queen of England—an unfortunate step, which excited the implacable resentment of the English queen, and exercised a disastrous influence on the fortunes of the Scottish princess. On the death of Henry II. Mary's husband became king of France; but her splendour was short-lived, and by the death of Francis on the 6th of December, 1560, Mary was left a widow at the age of eighteen. The Scottish parliament immediately invited her to return to her own kingdom; but her departure from France was delayed for some time by proposals which were made for her hand in marriage by the king of Denmark, the king of Sweden, and the prince of Spain. Her preparations were at length completed; and though Elizabeth had not only refused her the safe-conduct which she sought, but had even sent some ships of war to intercept her on her voyage, she boldy put to sea on the 14th of August, 1561, and with deep emotion bade farewell to the land of her adoption. Screened by an auspicious fog from the notice of the English ships, she made a prosperous voyage, and landed at Leith, 19th August, amid the hearty rejoicings of her people. Great and important changes had taken place in Scotland during the twelve years of Mary's absence in France. The Romish church had been completely overthrown, the authority of the pope in Scotland abolished, the celebration of mass forbidden under severe penalties, the protestant confession of faith ratified, and the presbyterian system of government established by the authority of parliament, though the queen had steadily refused her sanction to these proceedings. The Roman catholics, however, were still a powerful party in the country, and entertained sanguine hopes of recovering their supremacy with the help of their young sovereign. Mary had a difficult part to play in these circumstances, and her situation was one which required the forbearance and sympathy of her subjects. Her return was welcomed with enthusiasm by all parties, and her remarkable beauty, the gracefulness of her manners, and her varied accomplishments, at the outset won the hearts of her people, and predisposed them to put the most favourable construction upon her actions. "May God save that sweet face," was the cry, as she rode in procession to the parliament; "she speaks as properly as the best orator among them." "Nature had endowed her," says Castelnau, "with every requisite for realizing the beau ideal of a female sovereign, and the Scotch were proud of possessing a queen who was the most beautiful and perfect of the ladies of her age." This fair prospect, however, was soon overcast. At the outset indeed she conducted herself both with prudence and spirit. In her general policy she favoured the protestant party, and its leaders were intrusted with the administration of public affairs. She manifested an earnest desire to secure the good-will of Elizabeth, and left no means untried to induce that princess to recognize her claims to the right of succession to the English throne. Her straightforward, just, and friendly policy at this period presents a marked contrast to the disingenuous, selfish, and crooked devices of her "good sister" of England, who amused Mary with promises which it is evident she never intended to fulfil. The two queens at length came into collision on the delicate subject of marriage. Elizabeth expressed her determination to oppose an alliance between the Scottish queen and every foreign potentate; and Mary, partly from deference to the views of Elizabeth and the feelings of her own subjects, and partly for other reasons, declined the proposals of the various continental aspirants to her hand, and manifested a strong desire to consult the wishes of the English queen. Elizabeth insinuated that if Mary's choice should fall upon one of her subjects, she would immediately recognize her right of succession to the English throne; and after long delay and many disingenuous intrigues, she at length proposed for her acceptance (though not sincerely) her own favorite, Dudley, earl of Leicester. So anxious was Mary to secure the friendship of Elizabeth and the sanction of her claims, that she expressed her willingness to acquiesce in this proposal on the conditions specified; but in the end, after many evasions, Elizabeth declared that she would not bind herself to recognize the pretensions of the Scottish queen. Mary, provoked beyond measure at this capricious and dishonest policy, withdrew her confidence both from Elizabeth and her own confidential advisers, Moray and Lethington, (who had strongly recommended a union with England), and threw herself headlong into the arms of the Romish party. Lord Darnley, eldest son of the earl of Lennox, who, through his mother, was after Mary the nearest in succession to the English throne, had recently visited Scotland with the hope of gaining the queen's affections, and had favourably impressed her by his personal appearance. To him Mary's thoughts now turned; and although he was a young man evidently of weak understanding and passionate temper, and had made himself many enemies at court by his overbearing and insolent behaviour, the queen, hurried away as usual by the predominant feeling of the moment, determined to bestow upon him her hand. The opposition of Elizabeth and of Murray and the protestant party to this match, only caused her to adhere more firmly to her resolution; and accordingly on the 29th July, 1565, the nuptials of Mary and her cousin were solemnized in the chapel-royal at Holyrood. It has recently been discovered, however, that a secret marriage had taken place four months earlier at Stirling castle in the apartment of David Riccio, Darnley's special confidant.
Scarcely had this most inauspicious union taken place, when the queen was called on to suppress an insurrection which it had created among her nobles. Moray, Argyll, Glencairn, and other powerful barons, encouraged by Elizabeth who had thought fit to take grievous offence at Mary's proceedings, appeared in arms at Ayr in defence, as they alleged, of the protestant religion, which the marriage of the queen with Darnley, a zealous Romanist, had seriously perilled. Mary with the utmost promptitude assembled an army of five thousand men, and chased them out of the kingdom. They took refuge in England, where, to add to their troubles, Elizabeth, who had furnished them with money
