MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2929, 1 August 1911, Page 7

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.

HER LAST HOURS.

On the 7th February, 1587, the Earls of Shrewsbury and Kent arrived at Fotheringay with the commission of the Council for the exe-

cution of the Queen of Scotland. Mary received the. announcement with majestic tranquility, expressing in dignified terms her readiness to die, her consciousness that she Was a martyr for her religion, and her total ignorance of any conspiracy against the life of Elizabeth.

At night she took a graceful and affectionate leave of her attendants, distributed among them her money and jewels, wrote out in full the various legacies to be conveyed by her will, and charged her apothecary Gorion with her last messages for the King of Spain. ,

In these messages the whole nature of the woman was revealed. Not a single friend, not a single enemy, was forgotten ; the slightest service, the slightest wrong, had its place assigned in her faithful and implacable memory for retribution or reward. Forgiveness of injuries was as alien from her fierce and loyal spirit

as forgetfulness of benefits ; the destruction of England and its liberties by Spanish invasion and conquest was the strongest aspiration of her parting soul. At eight o'clock next morning she entered the hall of execution, having taken leave of the weeping envoy from Scotland, to whom she gave a brisf message for her son ; took her seat on the scaffold, listened with an air of even cheerful unconcern to the reading of her sentence;- solemnly declared her innocence of the charge conveyed in it and her consolation in the prospect of ultimate justice, rejected the professional services of Richard Fletcher, Dean of Pcterborough, lifted up her voice in Latin against his in English prayer, and when he and his fellow-worshippers had fallen duly silent prayed aloud for the prosperity G f her own Church, for Elizabeth, for her son, and for all the enemies whom she had commended overnight to the notice of the Spanish invader ; then, with no less courage than had marked every

hour and every action of her life, received the stroke of death from the wavering hand of the headsman. Mary Stuart was in many respocts ihe creature of her of hpr creed, and of her station ; but the noblest and most noreworthy qualities of her nature were independent of rank, opinion, qr time. Even the detractors who defend her conduct on the plea that she was a dastard and a dupe are rompelled in the same breath to retract this implied reproach, and to admit, with illogical acclamation and incongruous applause tint the world never saw more splendid courage at the service of more brilliant intelligence ; that a braver if not "a rarer spirit never did steer numanitv."

A kinder or more faithful friend, a deadlier or more dangerous enemy, it would he impossiqle to dread or to desire.—Algernon Swinbourne.