opened up an alternative which promised aid from England. Her affections, however, turned to Maximilian; for though they had probably never met, she had heard the praise of his abilities and address from the lips of her father, and the former negotiations for their betrothal had led to an interchange of gifts betwixt them. Accordingly when these tokens were presented to her by the elector of Metz, who came with other noble envoys to renew the proposals of alliance in the name of the emperor, she decided in favour of Maximilian. Her influence over her subjects also was still sufficient to procure their concurrence; and the marriage took place before the first year of her accession to the duchy had expired. The union yielded great political advantages, as well as much personal happiness to Mary; but it was of short duration. By a fall from her horse whilst hunting, she sustained a serious injury, which delicacy prompted her to conceal; and its effects proved fatal. She died in 1482, leaving two children—Philip, who is known as Philip I. of Spain; and Margaret (see Margaret of Austria).—W. B.
MARY of Guise, Queen of James V. and Regent of Scotland, was the daughter of Claude, duke of Guise. She was married in 1534 to Louis II. of Orleans, duke de Longueville; and having been left a widow, she became in 1538 the second wife of James V. of Scotland, to whom she bore three children, only one of whom, the celebrated Queen Mary, survived to maturity. On the death of her husband in 1542, Mary joined the party of the primate. Cardinal Beaton, and covertly assisted that astute prelate in his opposition to the alliance with England. By alternate bribes and threats, her daughter, affianced by her to the French dauphin, was induced in 1544 to surrender the regency on receiving the duchy of Chatelherault and a liberal pension from France; and Mary of Lorraine, with the consent of the Scottish Estates, was immediately invested with the title and authority which she had abdicated. The estrangement between the regent and the nobles, commencing with her bestowal of several important offices of state upon Frenchmen, greatly increased after the marriage of the young queen to the dauphin and the accession of the young couple to the throne of France. Her confidence was now placed exclusively in her fellow-countrymen. Her altered treatment, too, of the reformed party widened the breach, and soon rendered it incurable. At the instigation of the priests, the regent attempted by severe measures to stem the tide of insubordination. Knox was obliged to take refuge in Geneva from the storm which was about to burst upon him, and a number of other ministers were summoned by the regent to appear before her, and give an account of their conduct. On the other hand, the barons and gentry who had embraced the protestant faith drew up, in 1557, the memorable national covenant, and formed themselves into an association for their mutual protection. In 1559, however, she ratified the decisions of a synod of bishops, condemning all the innovations which had been introduced from time to time into Scotland, and requiring the complete restoration of religious uniformity. The people immediately rose in tumult and pulled down the monasteries, and destroyed the monuments of the old faith, and the lords of the congregation took up arms and gained possession of Edinburgh and most of the other large towns in the kingdom. The regent, on the other hand, having received reinforcements from France, fortified and garrisoned Leith, reduced the confederates to great straits, and compelled them to abandon the capital. Noways discouraged, however, the lords of the congregation took the bold step of deposing the regent from her office; and having received from Elizabeth of England the assistance of a fleet and army, they laid siege to Leith with the view of compelling the French troops to evacuate the kingdom. In the midst of these hostilities Mary, overwhelmed by fatigue and anxiety, fell mortally ill. In a most affecting interview with the leaders of the protestant party, she expressed her regret that she had been compelled to obey the orders she had received from France, advised them to send away both the French and English troops, and exhorted them to maintain their national independence. She died on the 11th of June, 1560, in the forty-fifth year of her age, and, says Archbishop Spottiswood, "ended her life most christianly." Mary possessed excellent natural talents, and a gentle and humane disposition. Her capacity for government was undoubtedly great, and if she had been allowed to follow the dictates of her own sound judgment, the close of her reign, like its commencement, would have secured for her the confidence of the nobility and the affections of the people.—J. T.
MARY DE MEDICIS, wife of Henry IV. of France, was born at Florence on 26th April, 1573, being the daughter of Francis I., grand duke of Tuscany. She was educated by her aunt, Christine of Lorraine. Though her intellect was quick and cultivated, she was deficient in force and depth of character. Weak and yielding with her favourites, she was vindictive and tyrannical to those who displeased her. Though not very beautiful, her portraits represent her with regular features, fine eyes, and an imposing demeanour. Henry did not choose her for his wife from any personal inclination, as he wished to marry Gabrielle D'Estrées, and for that purpose sought the pope's sanction to a divorce from Marguerite de Valois. Sully opposed the marriage with Gabrielle, and held out as the reward of the pope's complaisance in the matter of the divorce, a prospect of making his relative, Marie de Medicis, queen of France. The sudden death of Gabrielle hastened these negotiations, and the marriage of Henry and Marie was celebrated by proxy at Florence, on the 5th of October, 1600, with extraordinary pomp. The new queen's voyage to France was no less splendid than her marriage ceremony. But her husband's heart was already engaged to another mistress. Three weeks after the death of the beloved Gabrielle, the king had chosen her successor in Mademoiselle D'Entragues, afterwards Marquise de Verneuil. On reaching France Marie proceeded in great state from Marseilles to Lyons, and there had to wait for the arrival of the king, then engaged in a war with France. The first interview was disappointing. His majesty entered the queen's apartment about midnight very unceremoniously, wearing his boots and spurs. The haughty pomp-loving queen, unable to speak French, and with stiff Spanish manners, had grown fatter than she was when the portrait that beguiled him had been taken. Although in public he expressed himself as highly gratified by the union, he quitted his bride on the second day after his marriage, and on his way to Paris spent three days at Verneuil, the residence of his mistress. Marie was not of a temper to brook slights and insults of this kind. Differences soon arose between the royal pair. The king, resolute in the indulgence of his pleasures as in everything else, gave his mistress apartments in the Louvre, where the queen became a personage of secondary importance. The birth of a dauphin saved Marie from a divorce. She took part in political intrigues, acting as a partisan of Spain. On the 20th March, 1610, she was named regent, with a council, during the war then about to begin. On the 13th May she was crowned at St. Denis; the day following Henry was assassinated by Ravaillac, and Marie was proclaimed regent during the minority of her son, Louis XIII. "The policy of the state," says Michelet, "was immediately reversed like a glove." Although Sully remained minister for a few months longer, the Spanish party under Concini, Epernon, and others, in secret council ruled Marie and the nation. The double Spanish marriage in 1612 of Louis XIII. to Anne of Austria, and Elizabeth of France to the Infant Philip, excited great alarm among the French protestants who, during Marie's regency, which lasted four years, were frequently on the point of re-commencing a civil war. Condé, as the head of the Huguenot party, demanded the suppression of the treaty for the Spanish marriages. The queen ably defended her conduct, but agreed to the treaty of Sainte Menehould in 1614, by which the protestant chiefs were bribed into temporary submission. The troubles broke out again the following year while Marie still held the reins of power, although her son had been declared of age. Large sums of money were distributed among the discontented nobles, but no settlement of the kingdom seemed possible while the favourite Concini governed the queen. He was murdered on the 24th of April, 1617, and the young king asserted his intention of ruling the kingdom himself. Marie obtained permission to retire to Blois, where she was kept in strict surveillance, from which she escaped in February, 1619, through a window of the castle, and fled with Epernon to Angoulême. Marie once more assumed a position conformable to her rank. Her favourite Luynes, however, caused great discontent in the provinces which remained under her control. A revolt ensued, which was promptly suppressed by the king. Luynes' death restored Marie to favour, and to her place at the council board, where she conducted business with unexpected vigour and intelligence—due to the influence of the master mind of Richelieu, whom she had taken into her confidence. Her confidence was turned into passionate hatred when, in the course of time, she discovered that the man whom she had made cardinal and
