, 1840-06-13
Mary and ChasteIar.

HULL kllS &NohS II IL
from an article entitled { Passages on the life
of Mary Stuart It is one of thrilling inter-
est. Chastelar, all must premsie, had male
a confession of his passion for Mary, who
had. with proper dignity repealed him; the
relation then continues:
San hour had scarcely elapsed, before the
lights were ~exiinguished throughout the
saulted halls Of Holyrood; the guards were
posted for the night, the officers had gone
their rounds, the ladies of the royal circle
were dismissed, and all was darkness
and silence. In Mary's chamber a single
lamp was burning in a small recess, before
a beautifully executed painting of the vir-
gin, but the light was not sufficient to pene.
traie the obscurity which reigned in the
many angles and alcoves Of that irregular
apartment although the moonbeams were
admitted through the open easement.
Her garb of ceremony laid aside, her love-
" shape scontily yelled by a single robe of
s~potless linen, her auburn tresses flowing in
unrestrained luxurience, almost to her feet, if
she had been q creature of perfect human
beauty when viewed in all the pomp Of roy
al pageantry, she now appeared a being Of
supernatural lovliness. Her small white feet.
unsandelled, glided over the rich carpet with
a grace, which a slight degree offancy might
have deemed the motion peculiar to the inha-
bitants Of another world. For an instant, ere
she turned to her repose, she leaned against
the carve mullions of the window, and gazed
pensiyely, and it might be, sadly, upon the
garden, where she had so lately parted from
the unhappy youth whose life was thus en-
FILTERED by that very feeling, which above
all others. should have been its consolation.
Withdrawing her eyes from the moonlight
scene she knelt before the lamp and the
shrine which it Illuminated, and her whisper
ed prisons arose, pure as the source from
which they 1owed-the PRAYERS of a weak
and humble mortal, penitent for every trivial
error. breathing all confidence 10 him who
can alone protect or pardon; the prayers OF
a queen for her numerous children, and last
and hottest Of all. a woman's prayers for her
unfortunate admirer. Yes, she prayed for
Chastelar, that strength might be given TO him
from on high TO bear the crosses Of a misera-
bic life, and that by divine mercy the
hopeless love might be protected from his
breast. The words burst ~passionately from
her lips, her whole form quivered with the
excess Of her emotion, and the big tears fell
like rain from her uplifted eyes. While she
was vet in the very flood of passion, n sigh
was breathed, so clearly audible that the con
viction flashed like lightning on her soul, thai
this most secret PRAYER was listened to BY
other ears than those of heavenly ministers.
Terror, acute terror, took possession of hel
mind, banishing by its superior violence, ev'
cry engrossing idea. She snatched the lamp
from its niche-waved it slowly round the
chamber-and there, in the most hallowed
spot Of her widowed chamber, a spy upon he
unguarded moments, stood a darke figure
Then in that moment of establishment and
fear. as if by instinct, the beautiful instinc,
of purely female modesty, she snatched q
velvet mantle from the seat on which it had
been cast aside, and yelled her person even
before she spoke-"Oh God! it is de Chas
telar.'
Sweet Queen replied the intruder'brigh1
beautiful ruler of my destinies PARDON
sWhat hor she screamed in notes of dread
intensity-sa moi a moi mes Francois. My
guards! observation-disclosures
will We leave your Queen alone with treach'
ery and black dishonor! Villain! Slave!
she cried, turning her flashing eyes upon HIM
her whole form swelling as it were, with all
the fury of injured innocence-'dIdst thou
dare to think that Mary-Mary the wife Of
Francis-the a~nointed Queen Of Scotland
would brook thine Infamous addresses-Nay
kneeI not or | spurn thee-What no! will
no one aid in mine extremity
'Fear nought fromme,' faltered the wretch
ed Chastelar; but with a voice like that Of
some inspired Pyihoness she broke in-FEAR'
think'st thou that | could fear thing, an abject
coward thing like thee! a wretch who would
exult in the infamy of one whom he pretend:
to love. FEAR rHEE-by heavens, if ] could
have feared! Contempt must have forbid
den it,
'Nay, Mary, hear me- hear me but one
word, if that word cost my life
THY life hast thou ten thousand lives
they would be but a feather in the scale
against thy monstrous %villany. What no!
again she cried, stamping with impotent an
ger at the delay of her attendants-'Trea'
som! Ny guards-treason! At length the
passages rang with the hurried footsteps o.
the startled inmates Of the palace, with torch
and spear, and ~brandished blades, they rushed
into fhe oD3rtment-Dane sentinel. and cham