The Dickinson press., 1892-11-26

HI AulS VIA tl>nleuCN tne
Queen of the Scots Held Court and for
Three Weeks Lay sick of IL Fcycr--lIer
Near Approach to Death.
There Is one house in Jedburs to
which. above all others, strangers Who
visit the ancient town are sure to find
their way. and that is the old and an
tique mansion known as Queen Mary's
house. M.uv will therefore be pleased
to learn that steps are about To be taken
for the better preservation of this his
1oric ot;iiice, and for the Improvement of
its surroundings. On Oct. s, 1856. Mary
left Eolyrood TO hold assiZes at jed
burg, the magistrates having been pre-
Vlonsly instructed to prepare meat,
drink and lodgings for men and horses,'
and she arrived next day. The queen
was accompanied by her ministers of
state, her law officers and by many of
her mobiles, among whom We're the Earls
of Moray. Huntly, Argyll, Rothes and
Caittuess, and the Lords Livingstone,
Seton, Iester, Borthwick, Arbroath,
Hume and Somerville, besides a num-
Der of harons and bishops. What stir
there must have been il the old border
burg on that occasion, and what
anxiety it would cost the worthy pro-
vost and magistrates to keep up the
good nHme of their town in the presence
of So man: great personagcs, and even
royalty itself!
The assizes continued for six success
sive days, and terminated without a
single execution. Mary presided at a
privy council held on the 10th, and at
another held on the following day. On
the 10th, after the pressure of business
was over, she rode to Hermitage castle
to see Boutwell,, who had been wounded
! by Little jock Elliott" of the park, Il
noted freebooter, and after comforting
with her wounded lieutenant for two
hours i'll presence of several of her
mobiles who accompanied her on the
Journey she returned to JedburS the
same evening, having ridden more than
forty-cight miles. Next day Mary was
attacked with an intermittent fever,
which kept her prostrate for over a
fortnight. On the same day she took
i'll the sum of six shillings was paid to
zane boy passing from Jedburg with
ane mass of writings of our sovereign to
the Earl of Boutwell,"
The room in which Queen Mary lay
during her serious illness is, according
to tradition, a small two windowed
apartment in the turret, but Miss Strick-
land, in her "Lives of the Queens of
Scotland, says III reference to this point
that "the spacious suite of apartments
on the opposite side of the staircase, one
Of which still bears the name of the
guardroom, is more likely to have been
occupied by royalty as anteroom, privy
chamber and bedroom" 1t is, however,
the small back apartment that is pointed
out to visitors as Queen Mary's bedroom,
and it was there, if we are to credit ira
dition, where she lay nigh unto death,
attended by her French physician
Charles Nau.
On the Goth she ''lay for dead" three
hours-her limbs cold and rigid, her
eyes closed, her mouth compressed, her
feet and arms stiff, every one supposing
that the vital spark had fled. Master
Nau, who was ''a perfect man of his
craft" would not, however, give the
matter up, but resorteu to friction and
manipulation, which he continued for
some hours, until the queen recovered
again her sight and speech and got a
great sweating. When her illness had
assumeda mortal tendency she expressed
her willingness to resign her spirit to
God. She wished to impress OH her
mobiles the necessity of living in unity,
and that they should do all in their
power to protect the infant princc--hel
only tic to life. To Du Croix, the
French ambassador, she made u request
that he would ask his royal master IL
protect her dear son, and she also recon,
mended his protection to Queen Eliza
beth, as her nearest kinswoman.
On the 2sth Darnlcy arrived in jed
burg, but left again the next day, and il
is not certain that he was ever allowed
to see Mary. When she was recovering
the wealisomc hours We're beguiled b,
one John Hume playing to her on the
: lutte and John Heron playing on the pipt
, and "quhissil," the former receivin.
forty shillings for his services. the latte,
= four pounds for his. AS thank offe1.
} ing to God for her recovery she cause,
twenty pounds to be given to the poor O
the burg, and the same day she wrot
a letter ordering materials for a nev
dress, which letter was to be sent to Ed
inburyh sin all possible haste"
What IL curious Old World picture
But the scene again changes. On Nov
9-exactly a month after her arrival
, Queen Mary left Jedburg, accompanie,
, by her mobiles, among whom was Both
we'll, and with an escort Of a thousan
horsemen, She arrived on the Goth a
CraiSlniilar castle, with sorrow, suffer
l ing and captivity in the near future, an
\ in the distance the bloody scaffold Q
f Fotherinyay. "Four mo14tl,s after he
departure from our ancient burg" say
local chronicler, cher husband, Lor
Darnley, was murdcrel; three month
more and she was the wife of Bothwel
j yet twelve months, and she was lodge
a as a prisoner in the Castle of Carlisle. A
& time rolled on and the clouds of misfol
l. tune were rolling dark and thick aroun
her, she was often heard to exclaim,
" the anguish of Il wounded spirit, 'Woul
that had died in Jedburg! !"-Scotsmal
i Always Dying.
d Life indeed consists in series ,
changes of tissue, and the human ecol