Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-02-27
Marie stuart and Her Farewell 90
France,

HAhHAN w
France.
The halls and state chambers of the Louvre
were draped in mourning the young king,
Francis H., was dead, and Marie Stuart was
left n widow in her nineteenth year Young
as she was this daughter of James V. Of
Scotland had already worn the royal diadem
of two nations. She was crowned queen of
Scots in her babyhood in her seventeenth
year she became queen consort of France.
Her first betrothal, to the son of Henry
VIII of England, being broken, she was be-
trothed in her sixth year to the dauphin of
France and sent to that country to be edu-
Gated The two children, who were of the
same age, were reared together in the royal
household, where Marie was treated Us
daughter by her future father-in-law, Henry
H.. who was a relative of her mother. The
romantic castle of Chenonceaux in Tourralne
was n favorite abode of the royal family, and
here in the companionship of the four Marys,
who had accompanied their little queen across
the sea, Francis and Marie lived a life bliss
full rs n fairy dream. Amid all the sorrows
of her after years Marie Stuart recalled low
ingly these enchanted days, this heaven that
had been about her in her infancy.
The best masters were chosen for the
dauphin and his betrothed Marie, who
learned almost without effort, was at home in
the most abstruse studies as well as the most
elegant accomplishments. Ronsard the king
of French poets, initiated her into the mys-
tcries of his divine art, and Buchanan, one
of the first scholars of that day, taught her
Latin, language which she learned to speak
with such fuency that in her thirteenth year
she pronounced n much-admired Latin ora
tion, composed by herself.
Her hand was sought by many princes, but
she had loved Francis from her childhood
and her marriage to him in the sixteenth year
of her age realized her fondest dream of love
and ambition. Her happiness was brief for
two years and eight months she was his wife
for seventeen months of this time she wore
with him the crown of France-the country
she ndored.
When her sky was brightest, the storm
clouds gathered, and the lightning smote her.
| Francis died suddenly; his mother, the
naughty cruel and perfdious Cnthariue de
Mcdici, who had always hated Marie, was
chosen regent, and the widowed young
| queen retired with her four faithful Marys to
| Chenonceaux, the scene Of her childhoods
| idyl and her happy bridal days.
! The Princess Elizabeth her sisterin-la
! and her overture friend aud confdant, was
now far away, consigned to IA fate sadder
than her own She had become the reluctant
wife of the morose Philip H. of Spain, and
languished in hopeless exile amid the gloomy
/ hIlltluuTb VI MS iilutt III tAhulAif "hNii
! death brought her an early and welcome re-
/ lease.
Two heavenly guests, Music and Poetry,
shared the retreat of the widowed young
queen, aud bcguiled many weary hour. She
was mistress of the harp, and possessed a
voice of marvellous sweetness. Her we'll
! known Lines on the Death of Francis ii. ~
and her Farewell to France bear witness to
her poetic gifts The Farewell was composed
on board the ship that was bearing her from
the pltisdnt patrie Il, France to the cold un-
congenial North, whore she was to reign an
unloyed wnloving queen.
The nobler part Of Marie Stuart, her first
and carly love indeed remained in France,
| her other and more ignoble self was ere long
iusnarod in the tolls of intrigue and ambition,
led astray in the mnzes of coquetry and dis
stimulation But often, when she tried to
satisfy her heart with shallow affections. sh e
would recall that earlier day, aud repeating
| her own line. ".imoy Crdjs tst sans ttiHt,, '
sigh for the olden time with its perfect trust
and truth.
A life Of strange ycssitude-no giddy
dance of pleasure now q political maelstrom
threatening to ingulf her-wns the lot of this
| most beautiful and gifted Of women. Adored
| and hated extolled and condemned, a saint
to Que party, demon to the other, the tool
of wicked advisers and interested tatterers
harassed on all sides by enemies who sought
her ruin, but always more siuned against
than shining she lived an alien in the land
over which She was born 10 reign and, her
brief day Of sovereignty ended, she fled to
| England, where a captivity Of nineteen years
| awaited her.
Her true home was always France, the
scene of her beautiful days the cradle of
her love and her religion, for whose sake she
suffered persecution and exile, and for which
| she at last laid down her life. With all her
errors, and they were many, She never
swerved from that one principle most deeply
rooted in her heart tickle in many things,
here she was a rock against which the waves
| OF popular feeling and personal interest beat
in vain Not all the kingdoms of the world
or the glory of them could ALLEVIATE her from
the Mother Church, from that which she be-
| lieved TO be the one true faith.
When after a long and cruel imprisonment
she laid her head bleached by suffering upon
| the block and met her fate with the dignity
of a queen and the resignation Of a martyr,
| perhaps the spirit Of her one only love was
| near comforting and sustaining her so that
she scarce felt the stroke that released her
from a world of illusion, cruelty and deceit,
to bear her to the faithful arms of him who
had so long awaited her.
Francis II. had passed from the earth in
! lifes radiant morning unscathed by sorrow,
! untouched by care Marie Stuart fingered on
| through its noontile heats, bearing burdens
heavier than often falls to the lot of women.
| Scottish reyolts aud English inyasions open
warfare and murderous intrigues at home and
abroad had had their day aud wrought their
| work the Massacre OF st. Bartholomew had
| convulsed the world aud left lasting stain
upon his family but the young king rested
| peacefully through all, unstained by crime,
| GlrnaI only in lpyipN remembrance for