Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1936-02-06
MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
(By Rev. H. II. Scott)

/ lll6HuS " IHdluldlu LudC she was
good, and her enemies have taken
the same facts to show that she was
! very bad woman. Judge for your
self. When all is said that can be
said, a great deal of mystery re-
mains.
| Born at Linlithgow, her father
/ dying soon after the bonnie lassie
! became queen Of Scotland when she
was only seven days old. She was
| French on her mothers side, and
Mary Of Guise, her mother, became
regent. She was carried in arms to
her coronation, at nine months Of
age, at Stirling Castle.
The castle was a very ancient
fortress; it was the early strong
hold Of even the Picts and Scots. 1t
is called the key to Scotland, be-
cause Of its typographical advan-
tages, being on a precipioe, 419 feet
high. We climbed much the hill,
and had one Of the most magnii-
cent views CT Scotland One can
see the great Wallace monument
mile away on another elevation Of
362 feet. A notable statue Of Bruce
is passed on the hill, where he looks
over the field of Bannockburn,
where he achieved his triumph in
1914
Mary was all her life besieged by
lovers. Henry VIII desired to have
her marry his son Edward. and
sent an army to force the suit. The
Scots said they did not object so
much to the suit, but they did not
like the method Of wooing, and the
suit was rejected. So it fell out at
last, Mary was betrothed to the
Dauphin of France. A French army
came TO Dumbarton and carried
her away, to be educated in France,
and Mary came under the super
vision of the famous, or infamous.
Catherine de Medicis. Some say
she exceeded at last Catherine in
her Wicledness. Her French extrac-
tion ard training account for some
OF her otherwise unexDlainable
characteristics.
at IS, amid great pomp she was
married to the Daupbfn, Francis II.
At the great cathedral at Notre
Dame. She was queen Of France as
well as queen Of Scotland. In few
months, Francis died, and as a wild
owed queen, Mary was forced by cir
cumstances TO seek her throne and
home in Scotland Unfortunately
she had proclaimed her right to the
throne Of England. For this reason
Elizabeth was 1oath to permit her
safe conduct to Scotland, and a feet
was sent out to intercept her which
she escaped, and arrived safe at
Edinborough. She took up her
royal residence at HoIyrood, one of
the most interesting places in the
world ever since.
Against the good advice Of her
friends, she married Lord Darnley,
Weak-minded and strong willed. A
son was born at Holyrood Every
tourist goes to look at the wee
room where the future James VI of
Scotland, and later James | of Eng
land, was born. The room remains
unchanged, except that the wall pic
lures have faded entirely. The room
has but one little window.
Because John Knox threatened to
bring an army to see that the child
was baptized as d Protestant, the
story goes, she let down her babe
through this window in a basket,
some 200 feet over the rocks. He
was hurried to Stirling, where he
was baptized in splendor, as a Cath
olic, the father, purposely, absent
ing himself. One month before this
her Italian secretary, Rizzio, was
dragged from her side at the dining
table, and slain before her eyes, by
Darnley's friends. a large brass
tablet marks the place where he
was murdered. The intimacy of
Rizzio with the queen had incensed
her husband to a frenzy.
From this time the queen sought
to be rid of Darnley. 1t is believed
she Joined with her lover, the Earl
of Boutwell,, in plot to blow up
the house, where the very sick
Darnley was confined. Mary, no
doubt thought Of him as unworthy,
a cruel, ungrateful and dangerous
husband, himself plotting for the
throne. But the world agrees that
this was not the right way to get
rid of him.
The university now stands on the
plot where the unfortunate husband
came to his end The flash of pow
! der, and the noise, awoke the city.
But Edinburg was more stunned
\ that their sovereign queen had en-
tered ON such tragic enterprise.
I Three months after the frightful
death of Darnley, the queen was
married to Boutwell,, the slayer of
her husband. The murder was in
March, 1867, and the marriage took
place in May. Worst of all, Mary
yielded to mild abduction, and to
stay in the castle of Boutwell, be-
fore the marriage.
The wrath of Protestant Scotland
was now terrible. The Scottish no.
bility were united in overthrowing
her rule. Her own armies made
feeble and futile attempts to save
her from the indignation she had
aroused
Her army melted away. She was
captured, imprisoned, and made her
escape. 1t is romantic story how
she escaped. A brief space of time
and she was driven across the bor-