The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-07-31

4 altt, but denied..that she was beautl-s
ful girl even for queen: lie her nose tr ~,
her, trick TX Of the sdelong look He lower
| lids were nearly straight, her upper
appearances, When, slowly lifting. they
revealed the elimmering hazel Of the eyes
themselves. Hazel, 1 say, If hazel they
we're. which sometimes seemed to be vel
low and sometimes showed all black. the
Hight acted upon hers as upon a cats
Be,qn she de- a arnnto hsye sssd
never allow 1t, but fine; fine she was all
over--siarply. exquisitely cut and med
.eled; her sweet, smooth chin, her amorous
lips bright red where all else was pale
as a tinged rose; her sensitive nose, her
broad. high brows; her neck, which two
hands could hold: her smal i shoulders and
her waist, no bigger than a stalk, her lit
tie feet! She had sometimes an intent,
considering. wise look-the look of the
queen \, of desire who knew not where to
70 no, one what that was. And belyng
that look askance of hers-shy, or wise,
or sleepy, rs YOU choose--her voice was
those of a lively, graceful boy, her ges-
lures lures, qulrh, her spirit impa tient and Ten-
rely wit, WITHOUT fear Her changes OF
the soul out of a saint and thcl, fling
It back to him as worthless because It
had besn g easily ssns got She wrote
perfumes and dipped her body every day
IN bath OF wine. AT this hour she was
sain l eileen years old and not two months
The record of tho six Years following
his advent into Scotland fills n stout vol
.ume of some five hundred pages. Mr.
"a wlett dclvcs deep and drags forth With
no hating hand he1 whole belragglcd.
musty, blood-stained, sin-smrched gar
ment and holds it high, hiding none of
the ugly spots. What a queen is this
girl whengon is anxious to love, but cam
not, andAyet cannot hate. She would rule
Scotland With love: she was wont to
boast that none could Withstand her kiss.
She learned better in time, but how
hardly and at what cost 1t We're an idle
task TO try to folloY here the maze Of
intrigue and plot through which one is SO
skilfully led by Mr. Hewlett He wcaves
fact and fiction until it, is Impossible to
separate the two Where history fails
Imagination lends a ready aid. Dcs Es-
sars, the queens French page, a creature
of the authors fertile brain, is always
there with the Secret. des Secrets''S$to
smooth the way and give an intimate
view where history gives none at all
i On one huge and sometimes not too disc.
stinct canvass the court lift of the day
us passed in review, and one gasps q t
the figures that stand forth so bodily
upon it-.Moray, whom great! historian
calls stainless. but who 5, is here the
5vericst of knaves;; Lithngton, Of whom
Mr., Andrew Lang thinks kindly, butSwho
is in this pictureEa coward andSa villain;
8Dornlcy, the King, an uncouth, raw, slln-
#tutored fool; Boutwell,. Morton, Douglas.
and the rest. Intriguers all-seekng their
own ends and bowling to the young queen
&as long as a Bonded knee served better
to further these ends. IS there a. man
among them? Not one. unless it be John
Knox, the preacher, stern and unbend-j
ing. ..Honeypot,' & he called her, but
loved her none the less. Boutwell,, with
ali his brutal coarscness, is, after him, the
nearest approach, III +.
Into this circle The young queen steps,
and the six years of ira gedy begins * She
is n pawn in the hands of clever, but
subscriptions, manipulators. 10 love and
ito be loved--this was her first and lasting
hope. and she lived only&to see it8dashed|
from her. Sine is not a lorahle figure
indeed, In some of#these pages. The mad
jrevelry, of which she is too often the CEN
trail figure; the wild and unbridled desires
In which she irdElges; the freedom within
which she diSpenses her affections and
receives those of her none too scrupulous
courtiers-all lead one insensibly along
until, at Dunbar. the veil Is rent In twain
and the naked truth stands revealed.
One reads here with 8disgust-reads and
remembers the murder OF Dornley. to
whom she was we'd. and cannot fall to
Judge There IS here no pity for her;
But, t-eadng on the fierce flame tina
had begun 10 burn against her fllckers
lower and lower. and pity grows strong
again In those last moments, just be-
fore the door closes for the last time
upon Mary Stuart, one forsets her folly
and her lsins and thinks only Of her youth
and her haunting search for 1ove--a. heart
broken girl who was, tranpled beneath
the feet 4nf a man roug hshodi n
Eere is, perhaps where Mr.. Hewlett
shows his hand most cleverly Of all. lie 4
hides nothing; extenuates nothing, though
AattiImeS, he was the II ngue of I)es TIs- A
sars iii an endeay0r to obscure the real
meaning and gravity OF some Of the
al Gems fnisdeeds. But as q rule. he
throws a strong light across the whole
ugly surface and exposes 1t all. There is !
no mincing .Df words. Tile time is point
cd as 1t was not ms modern literary
critics and modern refinement and mod.
esty may wishEitto be. And yet through
ssll. Mr., Hewlett never let's us lose sight
OF the pity Of lit, of the pain and the
suffering and tile death of the girl queen.
| BE pitiful to a woman" she begs near
| the close and who can help y now
| though as the author says In his pro-
logne.5 there was scant Ply for her then
There are some strong and terrible
scenes IN this book and one Inarpes al
| the way in which Mr., Hewlett handles
| them. Such a scene is that in the kings
| sick chamber, when Paris Bathwell's ser
| want, enters and sees the king lying there
and dreadful mysterious hooded fig
ure near him: A few Gtens away the.
! queen Is psnning a love letter to Both
| we'll. Another such scene Is whore the
same Paris, after blowing up the house
| IN which the king lay III, hid IS himself
in a field He diaccrns two figures in
The darkness ! drew nearer; the light
feE upon those two VINO lay Goftil My