Mary Stuart, Part II [pp. 777-790]

4MARY STUART.
in God that all shall be well. The treachery of your traitors
is better known than before," etc.; and she subscribes herself
"your majesty's most humble and loving mother and aunt."
Here is Mary acquitted by Darnley's mother of all participation in his murder.
Finally, the Earl of Bothwell, on his deathbed in foreign parts,
declared solemnly, in the presence of thirteen of the magnates
and high officials of the country to which he had fled, that Mary
Stuart was innocent of Darnley's death, and that only he himself, his friends, and some of the nobility, whom he named, were
the authors of it.
Prince Alexander Labanoff has published seven octavo volumes concerning Mary Stuart. This admirable collection is
the result of fourteen years' research among state archives and
libraries throughout Europe. It is composed mainly of letters
and documents written by Mary Stuart. They number seven
hundred and sixty-six, of which more than four hundred were
generally unknown before they were published in that work.
Out of these four hundred new letters about two hundred, found
in the English State Paper Office, were mostly intercepted letters
of MIary's, which consequently never reached their destination.
In these papers and letters the reader may see Mary Stuart's
soul and intellect reflected almost day by day throughout her
reign; and no man can read them and not be impressed by the
elevation of her mind, the soundness of her judgment, and the
purity of her thoughts. Yea, no man can read them and believe
that these letters and the pretended casket letters could possibly
come from the same source.
On her way to the hall of execution she was met by her faithful servant, Andrew Melville, who threw himself on his knees
before her, wringing his hands in uncontrollable agony. "Woe
to me," he said, "that it should be my hard lot to carry back
such tidings to Scotland!"
"Weep not, Melville, my good and faithful servant," she said.
"Thou shouldst rather rejoice to see the end of the long troubles
of Mary Stuart. This world is vanity and full of sorrows. I am
a Catholic, thou a Protestant; but as there is but, one Christ, I
charge thee, in his name, to witness that I die firm to my religion, a true Scotchwoman, and true to France"; and after having
given him a message for her son, she concluded with these words:
"May God forgive them that have thirsted for my blood!"
Mr. Froude says that when the executioner, as usual in the
discharge of his duty, raised the head of Mary Stuart to exhibit
it to the crowd, "he exposed the withered features of a grizzled,
I886.]
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