er the 1st of August, tailors and dressmakers arrived at
Fotheringay Castle, sent by Elizabeth, with cloth and black silk stuffs,
to clothe in mourning all Mary's servants. But they refused, not having
waited for the Queen of England's bounty, but having made their funeral
garments at their own expense, immediately after their mistress's death.
The tailors and dressmakers, however, none the less set so actively to
work that on the 7th everything was finished.

Next day, at eight o'clock in the evening, a large chariot, drawn by
four horses in mourning trappings, and covered with black velvet like
the chariot, which was, besides, adorned with little streamers on which
were embroidered the arms of Scotland, those of the queen, and the arms
of Aragon, those of Darnley, stopped at the gate of Fotheringay Castle.
It was followed by the herald king, accompanied by twenty gentlemen on
horseback, with their servants and lackeys, all dressed in mourning,
who, having alighted, mounted with his whole train into the room where
the body lay, and had it brought down and put into the chariot with all
possible respect, each of the spectators standing with bared head and in
profound silence.

This visit caused a great stir among the prisoners, who debated a while
whether they ought not to implore the favour of being allowed to follow
their mistress's body, which they could not and should not let go alone
thus; but just as they were about to ask permission to speak to the
herald king, he entered the room where they were assembled, and told
them that he was charged by his mistress, the august Queen of England,
to give the Queen of Scotland the most honourable funeral he could;
that, not wishing to fail in such a high undertaking, he had already
made most of the preparations for the ceremony, which was to take place
on the 10th of August, that is to say, two days later,--but that the
leaden shell in which the body was enclosed being very heavy, it was
better to move it beforehand, and that night, to where the grave was
dug, than to await the day of the interment itself; that thus they might
be easy, this burial of the shell being only a preparatory ceremony; but
that if some of them would like to accompany the corpse, to see what
was done with it, they were at liberty, and that those who stayed behind
could follow the funeral pageant, Elizabeth's positive desire being that
all, from first to last, should be present in the funeral processio