Volume I Part 2 (2/2)

The thirteen happiest years of Mary's life were spent in France Towards the end of July 1548, she sailed froe, landed at Brest on the 14th of August She was there received, by Henry II's orders, with all the honours due to her rank and royal destiny She travelled, with her retinue, by easy stages, to the palace at St Germain En Laye; and to ates of every town she came to were thrown open, and the prisoners set free Shortly after her arrival, she was sent, along with the King's own daughters, to one of the first convents in France, where young ladies of distinction were instructed in the elementary branches of education

The natural quickness of her capacity, and the early acuteness of her ress in acquiring that species of knowledge suited to her years, and her lively i a more than ordinary interest to the calm and secluded life of a nunnery It hispered, that she had already expressed a wish to separate herself forever from the world; and it is not improbable, that had this wish been allowed to foster itself silently in her bosoht ultimately have taken the veil, in which case her life would have been a blank in history But these vieere not consistent with the more ambitious projects entertained by Henry and her uncles of Lorraine As soon as they were infor, she was again removed fro with the vestal sisters, Henry, whose conduct towards her was always marked by affection and delicacy, selected, fro in France, a certain number to constitute her future household The tears which Mary shed, however, upon leaving the nunnery, proved the wars were not of merely momentary duration, is evinced by the frequent visits she subsequently paid this asylum of her childhood,--and by the altar-piece she embroidered with her own hands for the chapel of the convent

In no country of Europe was education better understood than it then was in France Francis I, who renificent scale, the University of Paris, only followed the example which had already been set him by Louis XII The youth of all countries flocked to the French schools The liberal principles which induced the government to maintain, at its own expense, professors, who lectured to as many students as chose to hear the froe of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Mathematics, Moral Philosophy and Medicine, could be acquired in France for literally nothing Nor was it necessary, that he who sought for the blessings of education, should profess any particular systeious faith The German Protestant, and the Spanish Catholic, were allowed, in these noble institutions, to take their seat side by side

Henry supported the church as an engine of state, whilst he detested the arrogant pretensions and ey, and was deterhtened viehich he himself entertained In this, he only followed the opinions of his illustrious father, Francis, who used to re linnets to whistle, playing at dice, tippling, and gorion or enius, who flourished in France about this period, was another cause of its literary e the badge of singularity, had become the attribute of a superior station” ”There was,” observes the ingenious Pasquier, ”a glorious crusade against ignorance” Many of the names then celebrated have since, it is true, passed into oblivion, but the multitude who cultivated letters, show the spirit of the times Beza, Seve, Pelletier and others, led the van in the severer departments of intellect; whilst Bellay, Ronsard and Jodelle, showed the way, to a host of followers, in the cultivation of poetry, and the softer arts of coreat statesmen and warriors, whose presence lent a lustre to the court, be forgotten in this view of the existing pre-eminence of France The two Houses of Bourbon and Guise, had each given birth to many names destined for immortality The present chiefs of Bourbon were Anthony, Duke of Navarre, and Louis, known in the history of the world as the first Prince of Conde There were six brothers of the Guises, of whom the two most illustrious were Francis Duke of Guise, and Charles Cardinal of Lorraine But they all held the very highest offices in the church or state; one was a Cardinal, and another a Grand Prior; a third, the Duke d'Aumale, commanded the army then in Italy; and the fourth, the Marquis d'Elbeuf, was intrusted with the charge of the French troops in Scotland

But he who held the balance of power between all these contending interests, was the great Montmorency, Constable of France He had, by this time, become a veteran in the service of the French ed his virtues, and Francis I looked to hiency Henry felt aluished a statesman and patriot; and Diana de Poictiers herself, the fascinatingof the Duke de Valentinois, frequently found that she possessed less influence with the monarch than the venerable and unostentatious Montmorency The minister was at all times surrounded by a formidable phalanx of friends and supporters Of these his own sons were not the least considerable; and his nephews, the two Colignys, need only to be mentioned, to awaken recollections of some of the most remarkable events of French history

Neither hest places in the French Court The sister and the wife of Henry II resembled each other but faintly, yet both secured the adaret had established herself by her patronage of every liberal art, and her universal beneficence, in the hearts of the whole people Her religion did not degenerate into bigotry, and her charity, whilst it was at all times efficient, ithout parade She became afterwards the duchess of Savoy; but till past the meridian of life, she continued constantly at her brother's Court,--a bright example of all that was virtuous and attractive in fe and fostering the talents of its great Chancellor Michel L'Hopital; and the honourable name by which she was universally knoas that of Minerva The King's wife, Catherine de Medicis, was more respected for her talents than loved for her virtues But as yet, the ambition of her nature had not betrayed itself, and little occasion had been afforded for the exercise of those arts of dissimulation, or the exposure of that proneness to envy and resentment, which at a later period became so apparent She was still in the blooh character, not without eneral aspect of the country and the Court, it cannot fail to becoret, nothing could have redounded e than her education and residence in France If bigotry prevailed ay, it was not countenanced at the Court, for Henry cared little about religion, and his sister Margaret was suspected of leaning to the Reformed opinions If Parisian manners were known to be too deeply tinctured with licentiousness, the palace of Catherine e; for even the deportrave and decorous, and for his sister's sake, the King dared not have countenanced any of those grosser ied

The Cardinal of Lorraine, as at the head of the Parisian University, quickly discovering Mary's capabilities, directed her studies with the most watchful anxiety She was still attended by the two preceptors who had accompanied her froood progress in the French, Latin, and Italian languages French was all her life as faue; and she wrote it with a degree of elegance which no one could surpass Her acquaintance with Latin was not of that superficial kind but too coarded as almost the only one on whose stability any reliance could be placed It was consequently deemed indispensable, that all who aspired at any eminence in literature, should be able to coe Buchanan, as then in France, and hatever other praise he may be entitled to, was unquestionably one of the best scholars of his ti Queen's attention was likewise directed to Rhetoric, by Fauchet, author of a treatise on that subject which he dedicated to his pupil,--to history by Pasquier,--and to the delightful study of poetry, for which her genius was best suited, and for which she retained a predilection all her life, by Ronsard

Nor ined that Mary's childhood was exclusively devoted to thesecohters of Henry, were frequently present at thosehihted, and which were so particularly in unison with the taste of the tirace, as at the French Court The summer tournaments and fetes champetres, and the winter festivals and masquerades, were attended by all the beauty and chivalry of the land In these arew up, took a lively and innocent pleasure The woods and gardens also of Fontainbleau, afforded a delightful variation fro on the lakes, or fishi+ng in the ponds; and in winter, a construction of fortresses on the ice,--a , becanified and noble, acquired an additional char The favourite dance at the time was the Spanishconsort, to the adailliarde, she was unequalled, as was confessed, even by the beautiful Anne of Este, who, in a pas des deux, acknowledged that she was eclipsed by Mary

The activity of her body indeed, kept, upon all occasions, full pace with that of her ; and she and her h the ancestral forests of France Her attachment to this amusement, which continued all her life, exposed her, on several occasions, to so in France, soh of a tree, and she was cast off her horse when galloping at full speed Many of the ladies and gentle her, and so-dress As soon as the accident was discovered, she was raised froh the shock had been considerable, she had tooher hair, which had fallen into confusion, she againat the accident[12]

Another, but more sedentary amusement with Mary, was the composition of devices To excel in these, required so of a few expressive words with any engraved figure or picture It was an art intimately connected with the science of heraldry, and seeested the modern seal and motto The composition of these devices was, as it is so;” but it had so intellectual in it, which the best informed ladies of the French court liked An old author, rites upon this subject, elevates it to a degree of ihts the eye,” he says, ”it captivates the iination, it is also profitable and useful; and therefore surpasseth all other arts, and also painting, since this only represents the body and exquisite features of the face, whereas a device exposes the rare ideas and gallant sentiments of its author; it also excels poetry, in as much as it joineth profit with pleasure, since none merit the title of devices unless they at once please by their grace, and yield profit by their doctrine”

Mary's partialities were co, and when in very different circumstances, she frequently loved to return to this amusement of her childhood Soance and sensibility of mind On the death of her husband Francis, she took for her device a little branch of the liquorice-tree, whose root only is sweet, all the rest of the plant being bitter, and the it_ On her cloth of state was embroidered the sentence, _En ma fin est mon commencement_; ”a riddle,” says Haynes, ”I understand not;”

but which evidently meant to inculcate a lesson of hurandeur, was the ue to eternity

The French historian, Mezeray, mentions also that Mary had a medal struck, on which was represented a vessel in a stor, illustrated by thea deterrity[13] When she was in England, she embroidered for the Duke of Norfolk a hand with a sword in it, cutting vines, with the motto _Virescit vulnere virtus_ In these and sihts with much delicacy

In the midst of these occupations and aet her native country Frequent visits were paid her from Scotland, by those personally attached to herself or her family In 1550, her mother, Mary of Guise, came over to see her, accoer, a wohted with the ihter's mind and person, that she burst into tears of joy; and her Scottish attendants were hardly less affected by the sight of their future Sovereign Henry, with his young charge, was at Rouen, when the Queen-dowager arrived To testify his respect for her, he ordered a triurotesque allegorical exhibitions then so ue; and, shortly afterwards, the two Queens made a public entry into Paris

Mary of Guise had there an opportunity likewise of seeing her son by her first husband, the Duke de Longueville, Mary's half-brother, but who seems to have spent his life in retirement, as history scarcely notices him It may well be conceived, that theof Jaency of Scotland with reluctance, since she purchased the gratification of her ambition by a final separation from her children[14]

It was about the same time that Mary first saw Sir James Melville, as then only a few years older than herself, and as sent over in the train of the Bishop of Monluc, when he returned after signing the Treaty of Edinburgh, to be one of Mary's pages of honour Sir James was afterwards frequently en ambassador, and his name will appear more than once in the sequel We have spoken of hi anecdote, which he gives us in his own Memoirs, and which illustrates the state ofat Brest, the Bishop proceeded direct to Paris But Sir Jaue of this entlemen, who had come over in the same shi+p Their first step was to purchase three little ”naigies,” on which they proposed riding to Paris, any thing in the shape of a _diligence_ being out of the question To ensure greater safety on the journey, three others joined the party,--two Frenche at Paris On the evening of the first day, they arrived at the town of Landerneau, where all the six were lodged in one rooether in one, the two Scotsmen in another, and Melville and the Spaniard in the third The company on the whole does not appear to have been of the most respectable kind; for, as Melville lay awake, he heard ”the twa Scotch; therefore, said they, ill pay for his ordinair all the way, and shall count up twice as meikle to his master e come to Paris, and sae shall win our ain expenses” The two French that nobody in the rooers are all young, and know not the fashi+on of the hostelries; therefore we shall deal and reckon with the hosts at every repast, and shall cause the strangers pay more than the custom is, and that way shall we save our expenses” At all this Melville, as he tells us, could not refrain frouard ”Yet the twa Scotch young y, ”would not consent that I should pay for uile the Bishop, but the Spaniart and I writ up every day's co intentions, had recourse to a still bolder h a wood, two other Frenchmen, who had joined them a short ti their swords, demanded that the others should deliver up their purses Melville and his Scotch friends, however, were not to be thus intimidated They also drew their swords, and prepared for resistance; on seeing which, the French that they e of the Scotchmen, in case they should have been attacked by robbers ”But the twa last loons,” says Melville, ”left us at the next lodging; and the twa Scotch scholairs never obtenit payment frae the Bishop for their pretendit fraud” Sir Ja taken thirteen days to ride from Brest to the capital[15]

Thus diversified by intercourse with her friends and with her books, by study and recreation, Mary's early life passed rapidly away It has been already seen, that whatever could have tended to corrupt theQueen As soon as Mary entered upon her teens, she and her cohters, spent several hours every day in the private apartment of Catherine de Medicis, whose conversation, as well as that of the foreign ambassadors and other persons of distinction who paid their respects to her, they had thus an opportunity of hearing Conaeus reat earnestness, of these opportunities of acquiring knowledge; and it has been hinted, that the superior intelligence she evinced, in cohters, was the first cause of exciting that Queen's jealousy It was perhaps at some of these conferences that Mary imperceptibly imbibed, from her future mother-in-law, and her not unfrequent visitor, Nostradaht portion of that tendency to superstitious belief then so prevalent

One of the most remarkable characters about Henry's court, was Nicolas Cretin, or Nostradamus, as he was more commonly called, who coruous professions of physician, astrologer, and philosopher He asserted, that he was not only perfectly acquainted with the laws of planetary influence, but that, by the inspiration of divine power, he could predict the events of futurity The style of his prophecies was in general sufficiently obscure; yet such was the reverence paid to learning in those days (and Nostrada), that he was courted and consulted even by the first statesmen in France Mary had far too lively a fancy to escape the infection; and the force of this early bias continued to be felt by her more or less all her life

CHAPTER IV

MARY'S MARRIAGE, PERSONAL APPEARANCE, AND POPULARITY

The ti the French authority in Scotland, by consu existed between Francis and Mary This was not, however, to be done without considerable opposition from several quarters The Constable Montrowing influence of the Guises, plainly foreseeing, that as soon as the niece of the Duke and Cardinal of Lorraine became wife to the Dauphin, and consequently, upon Henry's death, Queen of France, their own influence would be at an end It is not i one of his own sons to Mary At all events, he endeavoured to persuade Henry that he eous alliance for Francis The Guises, however, were not thus to be overreached; and the King ly listened to their powerful representations in favour of thebeen a favourite scheency of any of those who opposed it, an attempt which was made some time before by a person of the nauards, to poison Mary

Stuart being detected, was tried, condemned, and executed, but made no confession which could lead to any discovery of his motives It is ion, and was actuated by a fanatical desire to save his country from the dominion of a Catholic princess