Arizona silver belt., 1893-01-21
QUEEN MARY's HOUSE
AN HISTORIC OLD MANsloN IN THE.
 ANCIENT TOWN OF JEpeuRG.


 Queen of the Scots Held Court and for
 Three weeks Lay Sick of Fever Her
 Near Approach to Death.
 There is one house in Jedburg to .i'hieh. above all others, strangers who ! isl the ancient town are sure to find ,aeir way, and that is the old and an- i,qHe mgnsiop known us Queen Mary's house MaiS will therefore be pleased 10 learn that Steps are about to be taken for the better preservation of this his torie edifice, and for the improvement of it's surroundings On Oct 8, 1856, Mary left Holyrood to hold assizes at Jed burg. the magistrates having been pre- viously 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 nobles. among whom were the Earls of Moray. Huntly, Argyll. Rothes and Caithness, and the Lords Livingstone, Seton, Tester. Borthwick, Arbroath, Hume and Somerville, besides q num- Der of barons and bishops. What stir there must have been in the old border burg on that occasion, and what anxiety it would cost the worthy pro. vost and magistrates to keep up the good name of their town in the presence of so many great personages, and even royalty itselfl
 The assizes continued for six sneces. live days, and terminated without single execution. Mary presided at priyy council held on the 10th, and at another held on the following day. On the 18th, 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, a noted freeboorer, and after conferring with her wounded lieutenant for two hours in presence of several of her nobles who accompanied her on the journey she returned to Jedburg the same evening, having ridden mere than forty-cight miles. Next day Mary was attacked with an intermittent fever, which kept her prostrate for over fortnight On the same day she took III the sum of six shillings was paid to 'ane boy passing from Jedburg with anc mass of writings of our sovereign to the Earl of Boutwell,,
 The room in which Queen Mary lay during her serious illness is, according te tradition, a small two widowed apartment in the turrot, but Miss Strick- land in her "Livcs of the Queens Of Scotland. says in reference to this point that the spacious suite of apartmente on the opposite side of the staircase, one of which still bears the name of the guardrooni. is moro likely to have been occupied by royalty as anteroom, priyy chamber and bedroom It is, however, the small back apartment thstfs pointed mt to visitors as Queen Mary's bedroom, and it was there, if we are to credit tra- didon, where she lay nigh unto death, attended by her French physician Charles Nau
 Ou Inc 25th she lay for dead threo hours--her iimbs cold and rigid. her eyes closed. her mouth compressed, her feet and arms stiff, every one supposing that be vital spari, had fed. Master Nau. who was "a perfect man Of his craft, would not, however, give the matter mp, but resOrted 10 friction and which ho continued ios some hours, until the queen recovered again her sight and speech and got great sweating When her illness had assumed mortal tendency she expressed her willingness 10 resign her spirit to God. She wished to impress on her nobles the necessity of living in unity, and that they should do ell in their power to protect the infant ry;ace-her only tie 10 life fo Du Croix, the French ambassador, she made a request that he would ask his royal master L. protect her des1 son, and she also recon mendcd his protection to Queen Eliza beth, IS her nearest kinswoman.
 On the 2sth Darnley arrived in Jed burg, tut left again the next day, and # Is not certain that he was ever allowed 10 See Mary When she was recovering the wearisome hours were beguiled by one John Hume playing to her on the ute and John Heron playing on the pipe and 'quhissil," the former receiving forty shilliugs for his services, ths latter four pounds for his As a thank offer ing to tiod for her recovery she caused twenty pounJs 10 be given to the poor of tho burg. and the same day she wrote a letter ordering materials for new freas. which letter was to De sent to Ed nburgh "in all possible haste
 What curious Old World picturel But the scene again changes. On Nov. )--exactly month after her arrival Queen Mary left Jedburg, accompanied by her nobles, among whom was Both well, and with an escort of thousand iorsemen. She arrived on the goth Gt traigmillar castle, with sorrow, suffer- ng and captivity in the near future, and n the distance the bloody scaifold of Fotheringay. -Four months after her departure from our ancient burg" says ] local chronicler, "her husband, Lord Darnley, was murdered; three months more and she was the wife of Boutwell,; ret twelve months, and she was lodged IS prisoner in the Castle of Carlisle. As ime rolled on and the clouds of misfor- tune were rolling dark and thick around her, she was often heard to exclaiin, in ,he anguish of wounded spirit, Would ,hat had died in Jedburgr " Scotsman.
 Mir. Curtis First Speech.
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