her hand. After kissing her female attendants in the most affectionate manner, she desired Jane Kennedy, who was nearest to her, to bind her eyes with a handkerchief, which the Queen had prepared for the purpose. And now, laying herself on the block, she repeated from the Psalm, “In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust, let me never be confounded." Then stretching out her body, and repeating many times, "Into thy hands, O Lord, do I commend my spirit," . the executioner, either from want of skill, or because the axe he used was blunt, struck three blows before he separated her head from her body. His comrade lifted the Queen's head by the hair, which falling in disorder, was observed to be quite grey, and called out, "God save Elizabeth, Queen of England :"* The Earl of Kent crying out, "So let Elizabeth's enemies perish;" but overpowered with the solemnity and horror of the sight, none were able to respond, Amen.+

A circumstance occurred which added greatly to the interest of the truly affecting scene. When they were about to remove the body of the unfortunate Queen, her little dog, which had followed her to the scaffold unobserved, amidst more striking objects, was found under her clothes, and could not be got forth but by force, and afterwards would not depart from her dead corpse, but laid down between her bloody head and shoulders,-a thing diligently noted; and while fidelity shall be considered as a virtue, this remarkable instance of affectionate attachment will be regarded with satisfaction.

We have thus beheld how the Queen of Scots could die, and if we look how Queen Elizabeth could live, we will see that the life or death of her unfortunate victim made her equally miserable. Had Mary, however, enjoyed a more tranquil life, it is probable that she would have possessed much less of that peace and resignation which

* Chambers states that the Dean of Peterborough pronounced this pa of the tragic ceremony.

Jebb, vol. II. p. 640. Bell, vol. II. p. 256.

she displayed at the hour of death, and which appears totally incompatible with the guilt with which she has been charged.

On reading, and reflecting on the lives and deaths of these two rival Queens, one can scarcely avoid exclaiming, "Remember," Elizabeth, "that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things, and likewise Mary evil things; but now at the hour of death she is comforted, and thou art tormented."

Mary's remains were immediately taken from her servants, who were anxious to pay them the last sad office of affection, and were carried into an adjoining apartment, where a piece of old green baize, stripped off a billiard-table, was thrown over that form which had once lived in the light of a nation's eyes! It lay thus ignominiously covered for some time, but was at length ordered to be embalmed, and buried with Royal pomp in the cathedral of Peterborough, -a vulgar and shallow artifice adopted by Elizabeth to make empty atonement for her cruelty, and if possible to stifle the horror with which her conduct was viewed by the greater part of both nations.

Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, died in the forty-fifth year of her age, after nearly nineteen years imprisonment in England. To great and natural endowments-to feelings constitutionally warm-and to a disposition spontaneously excellent, were added all the advantages which education could confer, or wealth purchase. That she was one of the most talented and accomplished women of the age, even her enemies allow. But talents do not always ensure success, nor accomplishments command felicity; and this was fatally experienced by Mary, who met

* Mary died on the scaffold; Elizabeth of a broken heart; Charles V. a hermit; Louis XIV. a bankrupt in means and glory; Croinwell of anxiety; -the greatest is behind-Napoleon died an exile !

Twenty-five years afterwards, James VI. of Scotland, and I. of England, wishing to perform an act of tardy justice to the manes of his persecuted mother, ordered her bones to be removed to Henry VII.'s chapel in Westminster Abbey-where a splendid monument was erected, adorned with an inscription, which, if it spoke the truth, James must have blushed with shame and indignation whenever he thought of his mother's cruel fate.

The Castle of Fotheringhay was once a noble structure, containing numerous apartments secured by strongly fortified walls, and surrounded with double ditches; the millbrook serving for part of the inner, and the river Nen for the outer moat.

On the accession of James VI. to the throne of England, an order was issued for the demolition of the fortress, and nothing now remains but the site, marked by the moats, with the agger on which the keep was erected, which has now become nearly levelled. When the Castle was demolished, several pieces of stained glass were removed from the windows, and inserted in those of Abbey Milton, the seat and property of the Earl of Fitz-William. This mansion also contains several pictures, and other objects of beauty and rarity which belonged to the Castle. Among the portraits is one of Mary Queen of Scots, painted in 1582. Another of James VI. when a boy, with the following inscription: "This picture was given to Sir William Fitz-William by Mary Queen of Scots on the morning of her execution, for the humane treatment she had met with during her imprisonment at Fotheringhay, whereof he was governor."

Notwithstanding the Castle has been demolished, the walls of Mary's prison levelled with the dust, and the hall of judgment now no more, Fotheringhay will, to the latest posterity, transmit the deplorable event, and record in its name and site, the nefarious transaction which stained its halls.

INDEX.