AT this time in Scotland as in England there ruled a Queen. These
two Queens were cousins, for Margaret, the sister of Henry VIII.,
had married James IV., King of Scotland, and this Mary who was
now Queen of Scotland was their granddaughter and Elizabeth's
cousin.
In spite of the fact that an English Princess had married a Scottish
King, the two peoples continued to be enemies as they had always
been, and Elizabeth of England did not love her cousin Mary of
Scotland. She hated and feared her.
Mary had been brought up in France, which is a Roman Catholic
country, and she had married the French King. So she was Queen
of France and Scotland.
When Mary of England died, Mary of Scotland thought that she
had a better right to the throne of England than Elizabeth, so
she called herself Queen of Scotland, France, England and Ireland.
Many people agreed with Mary, among them the Pope, who was angry
with Elizabeth because she would not be ruled by him and would
no longer punish the Protestants as her sister had done. So it
was little wonder that Elizabeth hated and feared her cousin.
The Protestants of England hated Mary of Scotland too. They were
afraid that if she became Queen of England, she would bring back
the dreadful days of the English Mary.
When Mary was only nineteen, her husband, the French king, died,
and she left France where she had been living and returned to
Scotland. As she sat upon the deck of the ship which took her
to Scotland she wept bitterly. "Adieu, France, adieu,"
she sobbed, "I shall never see you more."
Scotland seemed cold and dark to Mary after sunny France, and
the people harsh and rough. Yet the Scots loved their Queen and
were eager to show her that they did so, and Mary wanted to be
loved. But Mary and her people did not understand each other.
Although she was clever and beautiful she was perhaps the most
unhappy and most unwise Queen who ever sat upon a throne.
In Scotland, as in England, many dreadful things happened because
of the Reformation and change of religion. Mary was a Roman Catholic,
while many of her people had turned to the new religion. There
were other causes for quarrels, so there was sorrow and war, until
at last the Scottish people imprisoned their beautiful Queen in
a lonely castle, upon an island, in the middle of a loch.
But although many people hated Mary, many loved her too, and
these helped her to escape. One evening, a boy called the Little
Douglas, who lived in the castle where she was imprisoned, stole
the keys while the Governor was at supper. In the middle of the
night he unlocked the door of Mary's room. Fearfully and silently
she crept with him through the dark passages till they reached
the great gate. Douglas unlocked it, and Mary passed out, holding
her little frightened maid by the hand. Douglas locked the gate
behind them and led the way to the place where a boat was waiting
for them.
They were soon out on the dark water, getting farther and farther
away from the castle. Half way to the shore, Little Douglas leaned
over the side of the boat and dropped the great castle keys into
the water. Mary's gaolers were prisoners in the castle, and she
was free.
On land some of Queen Mary's friends were waiting for her with
horses, and she rode joyfully away. Soon more friends joined her,
and a battle was fought near Glasgow. But Mary's soldiers were
defeated, and she was obliged to flee.
She did not know where to go. It would have been safest to go
to France, but no ship was ready to take her there. So she crossed
the border into England, and went to ask her cousin Elizabeth
to take pity on her.
Elizabeth had never seen her beautiful cousin, and she refused
to see her now. She gave her a castle to live in, not as a royal
guest, but as a prisoner.
Mary had had to run away from Scotland so quickly that she had
brought no clothes except those she wore. She wrote to tell Elizabeth
this, but although Elizabeth had hundreds of beautiful dresses,
she only sent some old clothes quite unfit for a queen to wear.
Poor Mary would have been badly off, but her enemies were kinder
than her cousin, and sent her dresses and clothes from Scotland.
When Queen Mary found that Elizabeth meant to treat her as a
prisoner and not as a friend, she begged to be allowed to go away
to some other country. But Elizabeth would not set her free. She
feared if she did, Mary would go to the Kings of France or Spain
and ask them to make war on England. She felt it was safest to
keep her great enemy in prison.
Mary was so beautiful that she had many friends, and they were
very angry with Elizabeth. Plot after plot to free Mary was formed.
But all plots failed. For nineteen years this poor Queen was kept
in prison. She was moved from castle to castle, for it seemed
as if no place was strong and safe enough to keep her from her
friends. At last she was shut up in a castle called Fotheringay.
When Mary had been in prison about nineteen years, a plot to
kill Elizabeth and put Mary on the throne was discovered. Then
the English Parliament persuaded Elizabeth that Mary must be put
to death.
Elizabeth either really felt, or pretended to feel, very unwilling
to give her consent to this. But in the end she signed a paper
ordering Mary's head to be cut off.
A few days later the beautiful Queen, who had been so unhappy
and who had caused so much unhappiness, walked into the great
hall at Fotheringay. In one hand she carried a Bible, in the other
a crucifix. The hall was hung with black; at one end was a low
scaffold, also covered with black.
Nineteen years before Mary had come to England, young and beautiful,
and, although she was not yet old, the long years in prison had
made her look like an old woman. She could only walk with difficulty,
and when she laid her head upon the block, it was seen that her
hair was white.
Mary's servants cried bitterly when she said good-by to them,
although she comforted them by saying that, to her, death was
a happy release out of prison. Her little dog would not leave
her even after she was dead, but crept close to her dress, whining
sadly, as the Dean of Peterborough cried, "So perish all
Elizabeth's enemies."
woman seated at desk resting head on her hand
'FOR NINETEEN YEARS THIS POOR QUEEN WAS KEPT IN PRISON.'
When Elizabeth was told that Mary was dead she was very angry.
She said that although she had signed the death warrant, as the
paper was called, she had not meant that Mary should be killed.
It is difficult to know what Elizabeth did mean, for she was deceitful
as well as clever. But whether she meant it or not, Elizabeth
had no right to behead Mary.
Mary's son James, who was now the King of Scotland, was very
angry with Elizabeth for the manner in which she had treated his
mother, but he had neither money nor soldiers enough with which
to fight against England, so he did nothing.
