Volume I Part 1 (1/2)
Life of Mary Queen of Scots
Volume I
by Henry Glassford Bell
PREFACE
A neork on the subject of Mary Queen of Scots runs an eation No period of British history has been n She ascended the Scottish throne at a time replete with interest; when the country had awakened froray dawn of civilization, heralding the full sunshi+ne of coht and shade on ed grandeur as the darkness gradually rolled away It was a tily marked,--a time when Knox preached, Buchanan wrote, Murray plotted, and BothwellReformers, founders of the Presbyterian Church, and mailed in mind, if not in body,--the discohty 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 herthe 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 noh in itself inexhaustible, should have exhausted the energies of ive 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 overhypothesis,--and endeavour to reconcilestateuilt or innocence
Not that it is meant to be asserted, that unpublished ht upon the subject, slu the collections of the learned, which have hitherto escaped the notice of the antiquarian and the scholar On the contrary, there is every reason to believe, that all the papers of value which exist, have already been found, and given to the world After the voluminous publications of Anderson, Jebb, Goodall, Haynes, Hardwicke, Strype, Sadler, and Murdin, it is by no means probable, that future historians will discover additional uide them in their narrative of facts But few are disposed to wade through works like these; and they who are, find, that though they indicate the ground on which the superstructure of truth may be raised, they at the same time, from the diffuseness and often contradictory nature of their contents, afford every excuse to those ander into error The consequence is, that aliven exactly the same account of the principal occurrences of Mary's life And it is this fact which would lead to the belief, that there is still an opening for an author, ould endeavour, with impartiality, candour, and decision, to draw the due line of distinction between the prejudices of the one side, and the prepossessions of the other,--ould expose the wilful misrepresentations of party-spirit, and correct the involuntary errors of ignorance,--ould ai scrupulously just, but not unnecessarily severe--steadily consistent, but not tamely indifferent--boldly independent, but not unphilosophically violent
It seems to be a principle of our coe an honourable warfare against doubt; and no one is more likely to fix the attention, than he who undertakes to prove what has been previously disputed It is this principle which has attached so much interest to the life of the Queen of Scots, and induced so ate her character both as a sovereign and a woman; and the consequence has been, that one half have undertaken to put her cried themselves to establish her innocence It may seele author, whether an accuser or a defender, has been entirely successful To arrive at a satisfactory conclusion, the works of several must be consulted; and, even after all, theamidst a sea of difficulties The talents of many who have broken a lance in the Marian controversy, are undoubted; but, if we attend for a ress, the reasons why it is still involved in obscurity may probably be discovered
The ablest literary e Buchanan; the Earl of Murray was his patron, and Secretary Cecil his ad the Queen, came from his pen; it ritten with consuh not unnatural leaning to the side which was the strongest at the time, and which his own interests and views of personal and farandizement pointed out as the most profitable The eloquence of his style, and the confidence of his stateave a bias to public opinion, which feebler spirits laboured in vain to counteract--Less powerful as an author, but not less virulent as an ene the banner of as then considered religion, converted every doubt into conviction, by appealing to the bigotry and the superstition of the uninformed multitude Yet Knox was probably conscientious, if the term can be applied with propriety to one who did not believe that the Church of Role virtuous member--In opposition to the productions of these authors, is the ”Defence of Mary's Honour,” by Lesley, Bishop of Ross, an able but somewhat declamatory work, and as liable to suspicion as the others, because written by an avowed partisan and active servant of the Queen A crowd of inferior compositions followed, useful soly tinctured with party zeal, that little reliance is to be placed on their accuracy A these may be enumerated the works of Blackwood and Caussin, rote in French,--of Conaeus, Strada, and Turner, (the last under the assumed name of Barnestaple,) rote in Latin,--and of Antonio de Herrera, rote in Spanish
The calaain overtook the house of Stuart, recalled attention to the discussions concerning Mary; and though time had softened the asperity of the disputants, the question was once more destined to become connected with party prejudices From the publication of Crawford's ”Memoirs,” in 1705, down to the appearance of Chalmers's ”Life of Mary,” in 1818, the history of the Queen of Scots has continued one of those standard subjects which has given birth to a neork, at least every five years A few of the more important may be mentioned In 1725, Jebb published his own life of Mary, and his collection, in two volumes folio, of works which had previously appeared both for and against her The forly useful, and indeed no one can write with fairness concerning Mary, without consulting it Lives of the Queen by Heywood and Freebairn, shortly succeeded, both of ere anxious to vindicate her, but in their anxiety, overshot the mark In 1728, Anderson's ”Collections” were presented to the public, containing many papers of interest and value, which are not to be found elsewhere But they are often disingenuously garbled, that Mary ht; and a more recent author informs us, that they were, in consequence, ”sold as waste paper, leaving the editor ruined in his character, and injured in his prospects”
In Scotland, the Rebellion of 1715, powerfully revived the animosities which had never lain entirely dormant since the establishment of a new dynasty, in 1688; and the transition from Charles to his ancestor Mary, was easy and natural The second Rebellion in 1745, did not diminish the interest taken in the Queen of Scots, nor the ardor hich the question of her wrongs or criitated In 1754, Mr Goodall, librarian to the Faculty of Advocates, made a valuable addition to the works already extant on the subject, in his ”Examination” of the letters attributed to Mary His habits of laborious research, co, enabled hiinal papers, not before published, but to found on these ument, and deduce from them many sound conclusions Goodall's ill never be popular, because it is full of ancient docu to refer to than to read; but, as may be remarked of Jebb and Anderson, he who means to write of Mary, should not commence until he has also carefully perused the ”Examination”
Four years posterior to Goodall's two volumes, appeared Robertson's ”History of Scotland” Of course, the leading events of Mary's reign were narrated at length, but too ined constituted historical dignity, and which was continually betraying a greater anxiety about the ained in constraint, his subject lost in interest No one has said so much of Queen Mary, to so little definite purpose, as Robertson;--no one has so entirely failed in uilty, on the authority of Buchanan, and has consequently thrown a false gloss over her character fro to end He was supported in his opinions, it is true, by the historian Hu devoted land, cannot be supposed to have been very deeply versed in the affairs of Scotland; and in so far as these are concerned, his authority is not of the highest weight Yet, from the reputation which these triters have acquired, and deservedly, upon other grounds, they have done more mischief to Mary than perhaps any of her caluet, when once thoroughly _juratus in verba uishes himself in one department, may be, and commonly is, deficient in another--In 1760, the credit both of Robertson and Huood deal shaken, by Tytler's ”Enquiry” into the evidence against Mary This work is neither historical nor biographical, but argumentative and controversial It is founded upon Goodall, to whos are h not so coht have been, it is, upon the whole, the ablest andproduction which has yet appeared on the side of the Queen of Scots
Of the five works of greatest consequence which have appeared since Tytler's, only one has ventured to tread in the footsteps of Buchanan The first in order of date is the French ”Histoire d'Elizabeth,” in five volue portion of her book to Mary, and, with a degree of talent that does honour to the sex to which she belongs, vindicates the Scottish Queen froreat a share in casting upon her--Nearly about the same time, was published Dr Gilbert Stuart's ”History of Scotland” It came out at an unfortunate period, for Robertson had pre-occupied the field; and it was hardly to be expected, that a writer of inferior note would dispossess hilected, is in many essential particulars, superior to Robertson's, not perhaps in so far as regards precision of style, but in research, accuracy, and i to say, that Stuart has colaring than those of his predecessor--Towards the end of the last century, Whittaker stood forth as a champion of the Queen of Scots, and threw into the literary arena four closely printed volureat industry and enthusiasested, and his violence often weakens his argus to Whittaker; he seeood as well as in a bad cause; in his anxiety to es into error, and in his indignation at the virulence of others, he not unfrequently becoed his work by one-third, it would have gained in force what it lost in declamation, and would not have been less conclusive, because less confused and verbose--Whittaker was followed early in the present century by Mr Malcol, ith a far clearer head, if not with a sounder heart, has, in his ”Preliminary Dissertation,” to his ”History of Scotland,” done ainst Mary than Whittaker has done for her Calht be expected froed, fro the whole so well together that it is at first sight extremely difficult to discover a flaw in the chain Yet flaws there are, and serious ones; indeed, Mr Laing's book is altogether a piece of special pleading, not of unprejudiced history His ingenuity, however, is great; and his arguments carry with them such an air of sincerity, that they are apt to be believed ales them to be true It is to be feared, that he is powerful only to be dangerous,--that he dazzles only to e quarto, or three thick octavo volue Chalmers
There was never a ator of public and private records, deeds, and registers,--a more zealous stickler for the accuracy of dates, the fidelity of witnesses, and the authenticity of facts His work, diffuse, tedious, and ill-arranged though it be, full of perpetual repetitions, and abounding in erroneous theories, (for it is one talent to ascertain truth, and another to draw inferences), is nevertheless a valuable accession to the stock of knowledge previously possessed on this subject His proofs are too disjointed to be conclusive, and his reasonings too feeble to be convincing; but the ht be moulded by a more skilful hand into a shape of much beauty and excellence
Such is an impartial view of the chief works extant upon Mary Queen of Scots; and it would appear in consequence, that soue Three causes ed ability should have devoted their ti it
_First_, Several of the works we have na as they do, to describe the character of a nation rather than of an individual, cannot be supposed to descend to those minutiae, or to enter into those personal details necessary for presenting the vivid portraits in which biography delights History is enus or the species; and is addressed s 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 ereat flood of events, it singles out a fened and conspicuous heads, uide its way, it associates itself with the 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 raphy
_Second_, Many of the productions we have na aluu these , works which do not sothe life and character of Mary, as of settling the abstract question of her guilt or innocence They present, therefore, only such detached portions of her history as bear upon the question of which they treat To become intimately acquainted with Mary, we must have recourse to other authors; to forht suffice, were it fair to be guided on that subject by the opinions of others
_Third_, In most of the works, in which historical research is fully blended with argumentative deductions, erroneous theories have been broached, which, failing to ood their object, either excite suspicion, or lead into error Thus, Goodall and Chalmers have laid it down as a principle, that in order to exculpate Mary, it was necessary to accuse her brother, the Earl of Murray, of all sorts of cri Bothwell, as an inferior tool in his hands, they have involved theth of a good cause by a mistaken reater or less degree of force, to all the vindications of Queen Mary which have appeared Why transfer the burden of Darnley's murder from Bothwell, the actual perpetrator of the deed, to one who may have been accessory to it, but certainly ainst her they wish to defend, by unjustly accusing another, whom they cannot prove to be cri is comparatively useless, and their labour has been nearly lost
If the author of the following ”Life of Mary Queen of Scots,” has been able in any measure, to execute his oishes, he would trust, that by a careful collation of all the works to which he has referred; he has succeeded, in separatinga freshness, perhaps in one or two instances, an air of originality to his production He has affected neither the insipidity of neutrality, nor the bigotry of party zeal His desire was to concentrate all that could be known of Mary, in the hope that a light ht thus be thrown on the obscurer parts of his subject, sufficient to re-animate the most indifferent, and satisfy the s with an unbiassed mind, and was not aware at the outset, to what conviction they would bring him But if a conscientious desire to disseminate truth be estimable, it is hoped that this desire will be found to characterize these Meraphy of a Queen, who lived two hundred and fifty years ago, cannot be like the biography of a contemporary or immediate predecessor; but the inherent interest of the subject, will excuse many deficiencies Omissions may, perhaps, be pardoned, if there are noand trifling distinctions, may not be coeeneral deductions Fidelity is at all times preferable to brilliancy, and a sound conclusion to a plausible hypothesis
CONTENTS OF VOL I
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER I
Scotland and its Troubles during Mary's Infancy 11
CHAPTER II
Scotland and the Scottish Reforer 25
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 42