Life of Mary Queen of Scots, Volume 1 (of 2)
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Bell Henry Glassford. Life of Mary Queen of Scots, Volume 1 (of 2)
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I. SCOTLAND AND ITS TROUBLES DURING MARY’S INFANCY
CHAPTER II. SCOTLAND AND THE SCOTTISH REFORMERS, UNDER THE REGENCY OF THE QUEEN-DOWAGER
CHAPTER III. MARY’S BIRTH, AND SUBSEQUENT RESIDENCE AT THE FRENCH COURT, WITH A SKETCH OF THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND MANNERS IN FRANCE, DURING THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
CHAPTER IV. MARY’S MARRIAGE, PERSONAL APPEARANCE, AND POPULARITY
CHAPTER V. MARY THE QUEEN DAUPHINESS, THE QUEEN, AND THE QUEEN DOWAGER OF FRANCE
CHAPTER VI. MARY’S RETURN TO SCOTLAND, AND PREVIOUS NEGOTIATIONS WITH ELIZABETH
CHAPTER VII. MARY’S ARRIVAL AT HOLYROOD, WITH SKETCHES OF HER PRINCIPAL NOBILITY
CHAPTER VIII. JOHN KNOX, THE REFORMERS, AND THE TURBULENT NOBLES
CHAPTER IX. MARY’S EXPEDITION TO THE NORTH
CHAPTER X. CHATELARD’S IMPRUDENT ATTACHMENT, AND KNOX’S PERSEVERING HATRED
CHAPTER XI. THE DOMESTIC LIFE OF MARY, WITH SOME ANECDOTES OF ELIZABETH
CHAPTER XII. MARY’S SUITORS, AND THE MACHINATIONS OF HER ENEMIES
CHAPTER XIII. MARY’S MARRIAGE WITH DARNLEY
CHAPTER XIV. MURRAY’S REBELLION
CHAPTER XV. THE EARL OF MORTON’S PLOT
CHAPTER XVI. THE ASSASSINATION OF DAVID RIZZIO
CHAPTER XVII. THE BIRTH OF JAMES VI
CHAPTER XVIII. MARY’S TREATMENT OF DARNLEY, AND ALLEGED LOVE FOR THE EARL OF BOTHWELL
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A new work on the subject of Mary Queen of Scots runs an eminent risk of being considered a work of supererogation. No period of British history has been more elaborately illustrated than that of her life and reign. She ascended the Scottish throne at a time replete with interest; when the country had awakened from the lethargy of ages, and when the gray dawn of civilization, heralding the full sunshine of coming years, threw its light and shade on many a bold and prominent figure, standing confessed in rugged grandeur as the darkness gradually rolled away. It was a time when national and individual character were alike strongly marked, – a time when Knox preached, Buchanan wrote, Murray plotted, and Bothwell murdered. The mailed feudal barons, – the unshrinking Reformers, founders of the Presbyterian Church, and mailed in mind, if not in body, – the discomfited, but the still rich and haughty ecclesiastics of the Romish faith, the contemporaries and followers of the stern Cardinal Beaton, – all start forth so vividly before the mind’s eye, that they seem subjects better suited for the inspired pencil of a Salvator Rosa, than for the soberer pen of History. Mary herself, with her beauty and her misfortunes, shining among the rest like the creation of a softer age and clime, fills up the picture, and rivets the interest. She becomes the centre round which the others revolve; and their importance is measured only by the influence they exercised over her fate, and the share they had in that strange concatenation of circumstances, which, as if in mockery of the nobility of her birth, and the splendour of her expectations, rendered her life miserable, and her death ignominious.
There is little wonder if such a theme, though in itself inexhaustible, should have exhausted the energies of many. Yet the leading events of Mary’s reign still give rise to frequent doubts and discussions; and the question regarding her character, which has so long agitated and divided the literary world, remains undetermined. It is indeed only they who have time and inclination to dismantle the shelves of a library, and pore over many a contradictory volume, – examine many a perplexing hypothesis, – and endeavour to reconcile many an inconsistent and distracting statement, – who are entitled to pronounce upon her guilt or innocence.
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Such is an impartial view of the chief works extant upon Mary Queen of Scots; and it would appear in consequence, that something is still wanting to complete the catalogue. Three causes may be stated in particular, why so many persons of acknowledged ability should have devoted their time and talents to the investigation without exhausting it.
First, Several of the works we have named are Histories; and these, professing as they do, to describe the character of a nation rather than of an individual, cannot be supposed to descend to those minutiæ, or to enter into those personal details necessary for presenting the vivid portraits in which biography delights. History is more conversant with the genus or the species; and is addressed more to the judgment than to the feelings. There is in it a spirit of generalization, which, though it expands the mind, seldom touches the heart. Its views of human nature are on a comprehensive scale; it traces the course of empires, and marks the progress of nations. If, in the great flood of events, it singles out a few crowned and conspicuous heads, making them the beacons by which to guide its way, it associates itself with them only so long as they continue to exercise an influence over the destiny of others. It is alike ignorant and careless of those circumstances which make private life happy or miserable, and which exercise an influence over the fate of those who have determined that of so many others. Neither Hume, nor Robertson, nor Stuart, nor Keralio, therefore, have said all of Mary that they might have said; – they wrote history – not biography.
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