th a vessel of
that country, richly laden, he attacked it, but was himself taken, and
carried to Norway, where for ten years he languished in captivity;
till, by melancholy and despair deprived of reason, unpitied and
unassisted, he ended his wretched life in a dungeon. A declaration
addressed to the king of Denmark, in which he gives a succinct account
of all the transactions in which he was engaged in Scotland, is yet
preserved in the library of the king of Sweden. In it he completely
exonerates Mary from having the slightest concern in the murder of
Darnley; and again, before his death, when confessing his own share in
it, he solemnly acquits her of all pre-knowledge of the crime.

Mary now, in her distress, found assistance from an unexpected
quarter. Her misfortunes, and gentle resignation under them, excited
the pity and sympathy of the _little William Douglas_, a boy of
fifteen, a son of her jailer; and he resolved to undertake her
deliverance. The first attempt failed. The queen had succeeded in
leaving the castle in the disguise of a laundress, and was already
seated in the boat, to cross the lake, when she betrayed herself by
raising her hand. The beauty and extreme whiteness of that hand
discovered her at once, and she was carried back to her chamber in
tears and bitterness of heart. The next attempt was more successful,
and she reached Hamilton in safety. Many nobles of the highest
distinction hastened to offer their support, and, in three days after
leaving Lochleven, she was at the head of six thousand men, devoted to
her cause.

The other party made haste to assemble their forces. At their head was
Murray, a half-brother of the queen--a man whom she had loaded with
benefits and honors, and to whom she had twice granted life, when
condemned for treason. He now acted as regent, in the minority of the
infant prince, whom the confederates assumed to be king. The hostile
bands met at Langside. From a neighboring hill, Mary viewed a conflict
on which her fate depended. She beheld--with what anguish of heart may
be imagined--the fortune of the day turn against her; she saw her
faithful friends cut to pieces, taken prisoners, or flying before the
victorious Murray. When all was lost, her general, Lord Herries, came
up to her, seized her bridle, and turned her horse's head from the
dismal scene. With a few adherents she fled southwards; nor did she
repose till she reached Dundrennan, sixty miles from the field o