QUEEN MARY OF HOLYROOD.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XX, Issue 51, 7 October 1892, Page 29

QUEEN MARY OF HOLYROOD.

(From the Glatgon Observer.') The name of Mary Queen of Scot a has become so intimately connected with the palace of Holy rood that it ia very generally termed Qaeeo Mary's palace. The historical portions are visited daily by thousands of strangers, and as they wander from room to room the story of many cf the thrilling events in her romantic career are told, and the spots where they took place pointed oat. Mary was bat eight days old when she was crowned Queen of Scotland. At the age of sis years it was deemed prudent to send her to France that bo she might be secure from the intrigues of England. Here she was married to the King of France, and thus became Qaeen of that country. By the death of Henry VIII of England, she added to her greatness the crown of England and Ireland, for Christian Europe looked upon Eliiabetb as illegitimate. Bat far above her high honours as sovereign of four countries was Mary by beauty and culture. Like a delicate flower from some warm clime, Mary was little fitted to live in the midst of the rough manners of "reformed " Scots. Her love for the land of her adoption was unbounded, and in tearing it she bade farewell not only to the land she loved so well but to the happy days of her life. Bitterly she wept as France slowly receded from her sight, and we may say those tears never dried, for the orown of Scotlacd was truly a crown of thorn b to her. Had Mary been a man wish the heart of a Wallace or a Bruce, she could not have coped with the difficulties of her day. It is not our purpose to write the story of Queen Mary, but simply to point out her connections with Holy rood, and we Bhall do that best by relating • few of the incidents which happened within its walls: When the Qaeen arrived in England she found that many of her nobles were in the pay of England, and these traitors received her with ill-disguised hatred. John Knox and his " rascal multitude" had overthrown the Church of Scotland, and the religion of Wallace and Bruce was denounced as idolatry 1 The magistrates had issued a proclamation commanding all idolaters, fee, to leave the town ; subjecting them in the first place to the following punishments : — The said idolators to be defamed, by setting them on the Market Gross, there to remaia for the space of six hours for the first fault, burning of the cheek for the tecond fault, and death for the third. Picture to yourself Mary, Queen of the country, on the first Sunday after her arrival in the capital. AH is quiet within the walls of the Palace. The altar has again bten erected in the Royal Chapel, and the sacrifice of the Mass is offered np onca more by the chaplain to Her Majesty. The news flies through the town that Mass has been said. The Master of Lindsay, a fiery zealot, buckled on his armour, and, followed by his retainers, rushed sword in baud into the court of the Palace crying—" Death to the Priests ! " The rabble all day long remained in the streets in great numbers vowing vengeance. Knox thundered from the pulpit that one Mass was more to be feared than ten thousand warrior* landed to oppose them. The attendants to the Queen were so terrified that they desired to return to their own country. Thus Mary passed her first Suaday in the midst of her loyal (?) subjects in Scotland. So changed were the times that even mirth wasasin,andso Aytoan describes the dismal spirit that clothed the religion of the period in— Gone were the merry times of old, The masque, and mirth and glee ; And wearier was the palace then Than prison needs to be. Twas Bin to smile, 'twas sin to laugh, Twas sin to sport or play ; And heavier than a hermit's fast Was each dull holiday. Though Mary granted by a Royal proclamition full liberty to the "reformed " religion, that liberty was den el the Court and Catholic subjects. The Earl of Arran declared that the Qjeea'sservasta who wure guilty of idolatry should be put to death, and ought no moro to be olerated than i£ they hal committed murier. Much to the annoyance of the " Reformers," the popular feeling towards the Queen began to change, and Campbell of Keaziec lough ihas describes the change :— " I have been here now five days, and at first 1 heard every man say — ' Let us hang the priest 1 " but after they had been twice or thrice in the Abbey, all that fervency passed. I think there be sjme enchantment whereby men are bewitchei." Mary thought to win Knox, and we can picture to ourselves, as we stand in the Audience Room of Holy rood, the following controversy between the gentle lady and the fiery " Reformer." The Queen asked him why he had instigated her subjects to rebel against her, and why he had written the book called ■' First blast of the Trumpet," in which he pieached that it was unlawful for a woman to reigu ? Knox answered he had oimply obeyed the Bible. You think, then, eaid the Qaeen, I have no authority ? Kuox replied that learned men in all ages had expressed their opinions freely, and he defended his views in the " First blast of the Trumpet/ against the

monstrous regiment (rale) of women. If the realm finds no lnoon* veaience from the regiment of women, that which they approve I shall not farther disallow than within my breast, bat shall be v well content to live under your Grace as Paul was to live under Nero. Imagine, gentle reader, that any one in our day would so address Qaeen Victoria 1 Queen Mary askeA him how he conld reconcile his conduct with the Commandments of God, and when he insinuated that the early Obristians did not obey the Caesars, the Qaeen triumphantly rejoined, 11 Bat none of these men ratsed, ( the sword." Knox replied, " God had not given them the power and the means I " The Qaeen followed up her advantage by asking him plainly, whether he believed "that subjects having the power may resist their princes ? " " If," Mid the "reformer," " princes exoeed their bounds, madam, no doubt they may be resisted even by power." Then, said the Sovereign, as she seised the great problem, " I perceive that my subjects shall obey you, and not me, and shall do, what they list, not what I command." She pointed out how by private judgment each obeyed, what suited him* Belf. The Qaeen, with firmness, continued, that she believed, not in the changing opinions of individuals, " bat she believed the Charoh of Borne to be the Church of God." She was too much for Knox. "Your will, madam," he replied, "is no reason; neither doth your thoughts make the Roman harlot to be the true and Immaculate Spouse of Christ," and he broke forth into invectives against the Catholic Church. "My conscience," said the Queen, "is not so," and then with significance, she added, " you interpret the Scriptures in one way, and they in another. Whom shall 1 believe, and who shall be Judge l" "I will defend the true Church of God." John Kooz's roughness could not get the better of that one word— " Who shall be judge t They say one thing, yon say another I " We now coma to the .murder of Ricoio. The guide at the palace will point oat the spot where the body lay, the screen rua across the audience room to hide the place from the Queen's sight, and the secret staircase by which the murderers entered the royal apartments. The great object the " reformers " bad in view was the destruction of the Catholic religion, and to attain this they hesitated at nothing. Riccio was judged by some to be a priest, others deemed him the agent arranging with foreign powers to overthrow the new state of things. Bat he was dangerous in their eyes, and therefore must be i removed. Jobn Koox kept out of denger. " Desperate as were the dt signs, " says Tytler, '■' the Protestant part in Scotland did not hesitate to adopt them. The horror they had of idolatry — the name they bestowed upon the Catholic religion — misled their judgments and hardened their feelings, and they regarded the plot as the act of men raised up by God for the destruction of an accursed superstition." Queen Elizabeth of England was aware of aU, and partaker in their guilt. Saturday, the last day of the fast, was chosen for the murder. Lord Buthveo, the Earl of Morton, and Lord Lindsay, with an arm6d band of one hundred and fifty men, broke into the palace, where they were joined by Darnley. The Queen, with the Countess of Argyle and some friends, were at supper, and Riccio with them. Darnley entered the room and sat down beside the Queen. Suddenly Buthven, pale and haggard looking, rushed into the room, which in an instant was filled by his followers. He drew bis dagger and rushed upon Riccio, who cried out to Queen Mary, " Madame, save my life ; Lord Jesus, save me ; Christ, save me." The Qaeen, springing forward, placed herself between the murderers and her servant, but quickly they stabbed him over her very shoulder, and Kerr of Faudonside even held a pistol at her breast, and threatened to murder the sovereign. Poor Riccio fell, pierced with fifty-six wounds. Bell describes the scene thus— " But hark 1 the tramp of armed men, the Douglas battle cry I They come I they cone I and 10, the scowl of Buthven's hollow eye I And swords are drawn and daggers gleam, and tears and words are vain ; The ruffian steel is in bis heart, the faithful Riccio slain I Then Mary Stuart brush 'd aside the tears that trickling fell, " Now for my father's arm," she said, " my woman's heart farewell." Before leaviog the palace the visitor will be directed to the ruins of the Chapel Royal, and here we cannot do better than quote the following from Canon Donlevj's " Historical Account of 8t Mary's Cathedral," a little work from which much may be learnt, and which may be had through any bookseller or from the Canon himself for one Bbilling — " Often with awe-strnck thought and pitying tear have we stood on the dust of the mighty dead, and viewed that noble and stately pile of Holyrood, where Scotland's heroes had their royal horns, and wondered if ever again the Church'd chant would echo through those broken archee, and a throog of crowned heads and mitred prelates, and belted knights kneel before that now naked sanctuary—if ever again the lamp would bum, and, like the Star of Bethlehem, lead the soul to adore the Word made flesh. How changed the times 1 The royal name is in the duat, and these broken arches, black with time» also remain, like the skeleton, to veil us of the soul that was. The su/ibeams, as they play amidst the tracings and the creeping ivy, try to penetrate the dark mist of the past, and amidst the gloom and silence a hundred proud names and deeds, and terrible crimes, flash

•cross the mind. But abore all, standing ont in bold relief, throwing a lustre of beanty and dignity and romance around, there are the name and figure of Mary Queen of Scot. The grandest monument to her honour is the hold her name has secured in every heart, and the crowds of pilgrims who stand in awe, year after year, in Holyrood witness the influence of that name. Poor Queen Mary I little understood, less appreciated in her day, betrayed and slandered by those who fawned on her, belied and misrepresented by those who differed from her, persecuted even to death by her nearest friends I Time will yet do her justice. Even now the film of prejudice is melting from the eye, the noise and confusion of angry strife are wearing away, the dust and mist of the struggle are disappearing, and the day is coming when Scotland will rejoice in the vindicated honour of her Queen."