MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS.

In December, 1542, Mary Stuart, daughter of James V. of Scotland, then
seven days old, succeeded to the throne of a kingdom rent by religious
and political factions, and suffering from the consequences of a
disastrous war with England.

The union of Scotland to England had ever been a favorite project with
English sovereigns, and the present seemed to Henry VIII. a favorable
opportunity for peaceably effecting it. He lost no time, therefore, in
proposing a match between the infant queen and his own son, Edward.
His proposal found little favor; the haughty nobles could not endure
to see their country become a mere province of England; and the queen
mother and her religious advisers feared for the security of the
Catholic religion. Henry might, however, have ultimately succeeded,
had he acted with prudence. But he sought to terrify the Scots into
submission; and those who succeeded to the government of England upon
his death, which happened soon after, persisted in the same policy. An
army was sent into Scotland, to ravage the country and pillage the
towns and villages. This mode of wooing did not suit the temper of the
Scots; and an end was soon put to all hopes by the negotiation of a
marriage treaty between the queen and Francis, the infant dauphin of
France. In pursuance of this treaty, Mary, then in her sixth year, was
sent to France to be educated. She was at first placed in a convent
with the king's daughters, where she made a rapid progress in all the
accomplishments they attempted to teach her. Here her enthusiastic
disposition was so strongly impressed with religious feelings, and she
evinced such a fondness for a cloistered life, that it was thought
proper to remove her to the gayer scenes of the court--a change which
cost her torrents of tears. The fashion for learning prevailed at
this time, and Mary profited by it. Her instructors were the most
eminent men of the time; Buchanan taught her Latin; Pasquier
instructed her in history; Ronsard, the most famous of the early
French poets, cultivated her taste for poetry: they found her not only
a willing but an able pupil. Other accomplishments were not neglected;
she sung, and played on the lute and the virginals; she rode on
horseback fearlessly, yet with feminine grace; her dancing was always
admired; and we are assured that in the Spanish minuet she was
equalled only by her aunt, the beautiful Anne of Este, and no lady of
the court