Evening star., 1937-07-03
By Mary.Carfer Roberts.

bleday Doran & Co.
"HANKS to having lost her head,
/ the lovely Mary Of Scotland
seems destined to be a figure
L of never ending fascination to
writer's, whether they be poets or his
torians or dramatists. Yes. thanks to
having come to a harsh death. For,
If Mary had lived to prosperous old
age, or if she had been pardoned by
her English cousin, her fame. one feels
would have had much less celebration
logue of fair, amorous queens whose
mortality Francis Villon had la
mented in verse even before her
death. But tragedy overlook her.
and, as consequence, she has come
into seemingly immortal glamour
Volumes have been poured out about
her already; volumes will continue
to be.
The present work, to be sure, is con-
eerned primarily with the reputation
Of James Hepburn, Lord Boutwell,:
but, as Hepburn's fame for good or
III. was earned in his service of Mary,
there is no separating study OF his
life from examination of hers. 1t is
the authors contention-and, we are
told, he has devoted seven years Of
research to proving it-that the evil
name which some historians have
fixed on Boutwell, was not justly
earned and that. contrary to general
belief, the Borderer was faithful,
honorable gentleman, who well bore
out the reputation which his fathers
had earned before him of being kind
to widow queens" AS Mr.. Gore
Browne interprets history Lord Both
well could have enriched himself
many times by the acceptance OF Eng
lsh bribes and been in the best FASH
ion prevailing among Scottish lalrds
by doing so. He was instead stub
hornly honest, according to this book,
and his ill-fame has been the result
of that honesty, and not, as previous
Interpreters have put it, of his treach-
cry. The volume is devoted to prov
Ing this contention, and, in its course,
it covers rather minutely the success
sive episodes OF James Hepburns ca
geer and association with his queen.
The greatest interest to the reader
40 doubt will center in the adultery
trial and the Casket Letters, which
we're produced as the chief evidence
In that ordeal of the Queen and Both
well. Mr.. Gore-BroWne's conclusion
is that the discriminating passages In
the letters were written to Boutwell,
not by Mary, but by Anna Throndsen,
a Danish woman, who had been his
former mistress. The style OF these
passages, says this author, Is utterly
unlike the cultivated language OF the
Queen on the other hand, he claims,
it bears a marked resemblance to
other writings OF Annals. AS to the
handwriting, Mr.. Gore-Browne points
out that the original letters were lost,
and that the process Of making the
copies which have been considered the
chief evidence against Boutwell, ana
Mary afforded perfect opportunity for
a skilled forger to insert paragraphs
of Anna's composition. He compares
the crude love poems included in these
n1issives with the polished verses which
are OF Mary's unquestioned authorship,
and comes to the conclusion that the
same person could not possibly have
written both.
Again, in the death OF Darney,
which has commonly been attributed
to a plot between Mary and Boutwell,,
this author alters the prevalent inter-
pretation of history somewhat radl-
cally. He arrives at the conclusion
that the fatal explosive was placed IN
Darnley's residence for the purpose
Of causing Mary's death, and that
Boutwell,, learning of the plot, touched
off the fuse at a time when the Queen
was absent He Eakened Darnley in
doing so and the latter in frantic
effort to escape, rushed in his night
shirt out of the house and was
strangled in the garden, being dead
before the fuse had had time to reach
the explosive. The murderers, says
MIR. Gore e-BroWne, were the Douglases
These two episodes are the most
conspicuous in the book, but the whole
career of Boutwell, is considered in
work. and always the author finds
his hero faithful and chivalrous to
his sovereign The black reputation
which history has inflicted on Both
we'll, he says, has been founded on
testimony brought forward by Both
wells bitter enemies, whose own in
terests made the earls discreditins
imperative, since most of these enc
mics were actively engaged in treach-
cry and in the actual pay OF Eliza
beth. From pension list" found in
English archives he quotes the exact
salaries paid to various Scotsmen for
their services in embarrassing and
running poor Mary.
1t is an interesting study, on the
accuracy of which the reviewer can
have no opinion. The evidence Is
sometimes pieced out by the authors
own deductions and it is clear that
he has admiration for his hero that
amounts to affection. However, it is
new light on the always interesting
career of the tragic queen, and that
large section of the public which
some months ago read her latest
biography may we'll find comparable
interest here. While, as aforesaid,
unable to form an opinion to the
books accuracy, the reviewer, for her
own part, hopes that Mr.. Gore
Brownies findings are true. For if
they are, they improve the story i'm
mensely. And the fact that they
have gone so long undiscovered like
wise adds its piquancy-if such a
word can be used of matter so fraught
with human suffering.
INTEGRITY. BY Richard L. Neu-
berger and Stephan Kahn. New
York: The Vanguard Press.
THIS is the life history OF Senator
George W. Norris Of Nebraska. It
is written in frankly adulatory spirit:
the authors clearly have great case
of hero worship. But their book traces
the Senator's career pretty completely,