The Sun.
London, England, 1830-04-16 00:00:00

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.

•But when, on the Sunday after Mary's land-
ing, preparations were made to say mass in the
Royal Chapel, the reformers said to each other,
" Shall that idol the mass again take place within
this kingdom ?—it shall not." The young
master of Lindsey, showing in youth the fierce-
ness of spirit which animated him in after-life,
called out, in the Cut►rt-yard of the loyal
Palace, that " the idolatrous priest should die
the death according to God's law." The prior
of St. Andrew's with great difficulty appeased
the tumult, and protected the priests, whose
blood would otherwise have been mingled with
their sacrifice. But u►►willing to avow an inten-
tion so unpopular, he was obliged to dissemble
with the reformers ; and while he allowed that
he stood with his sword drawn at the door of
the Chapel, he pretended that he did not do so
to protect the priest, but to prevent any Scottish
man from entering to witness or partake in the
idolatrous ceremony.
It was immediately after this riot, and the dis-
play of the insulting and offensive pageant before
mentioned, that the young Queen had the first
of her celebrated interviews with John Knox, in
which he knocked at her heart so rudely as to
cause her to shed tears. The stern apostle of
' presbytery was indeed unsparing of rebuke,
without sufficiently recollecting, that previous
conviction is necessary before reproof can work
repentance ; and that, unless he had possessed
powers of inspiration, or the gift of working
miracles, he could not have, by mere assertion,
converted a Catholic from the doctrines, however
false, which she had believed in from her ear-
liest childhood.—Dr. Lardner's Cabinet Cy-
clopedia, Vol. IV.

COLUMBUS'S S CRATAGEM TO OBTAIN
SUPPIES FROM THE NATIVES OF JAMAICA.

The horrors of famine began to threaten the
terrified crew, when a fortunate idea presented itself
to Colombus. From his knowledge of astronomy,
he ascertained that within three days there would
be a total eclipse of the moon, in the early part
of the right. He summoned, therefore, the
principal caciques to a grand conference, appoint-
ing for it the day of the eclipse. When all were
assembled, he told them by his interpreter, that
he and his followers were worshippers of a Deity
who lived in the skies, and held them under his
protection ; that this great Deity was incensed
against the Indians, who had refused or neg-
lected. to furnish his faithful worshippers with
provisions; and intended to chastise them with
famine and pestilence. Lest they should dis-
believe this warning, a signal would be given
that very night in the heavens. They would
behold the moon change its colour, and gradu-
ally lose its light : a token of the fearful punish-
ment which awaited them.

Many of the Indians were alarmed at the so-
lemnity of this prediction, others treated it with
derision ; all, however, awaited with solicitude
the coming of the night. When they beheld a
black shadow stealing over the moon, and a
mysterious gloom gradually covering the whole
face of nature, they were seized with the utmost
consternation. Hurrying with provisions to the
ships, and throwing themselves at the feet of Co-
loinbiis, they implored him to intercede with
his God to withhold the threatened calamities,
assuring him that thenceforth they would bring
him whatever he required. Colombus retired to
his cabin, under pretence of communing with
the Deity, the firests and shores all the while
resounding with the howlings of the savages.
He returned shortly, and informed the natives
that the Deity had deigned to pardon them, on
condition of their fulfilling their promises, in
sign of which he would withdraw the darkness
from the moon.„ When the Indians saw that
planet restored presently to its brightness, and
rolling in all its beauty through the firmament,
they overwhelmed the Admiral with thanks for
his intercession. They now regarded him with
awe and reverence, as one enjoying the peculiar
favour and confidence of the Deity, since he
knew upon earth what was passing in the hea-
vens. They hastened to propitiate him with
gifts; supplies again arrived daily at the harbour,
and from that time forward there was no want of
provisions.---FamilyLibrary,No.XLColumbus.