ng lived very religiously: he was a German by birth, and
had served as an officer in the army a long time.

"He entered Cluny, and made his profession there, much detached from
all this world's goods and honours; he only kept, with his superior's
permission, this book, which he knew had been in use with Mary Stuart,
Queen of England and Scotland, to the end of her life.

"Before dying and being parted from his brethren, he requested that, to
be safely remitted to us, it should be sent us by mail, sealed. Just
as we have received it, we have begged M. L'abbe Bignon, councillor of
state and king's librarian, to accept this precious relic of the piety
of a Queen of England, and of a German officer of her religion as well
as of ours.

"(Signed) BROTHER GERARD PONCET,

"Vicar-General Superior."

SECOND CERTIFICATE

"We, Jean-Paul Bignon, king's librarian, are very happy to have an
opportunity of exhibiting our zeal, in placing the said manuscript in
His Majesty's library.

"8th July, 1724."

"(Signed) JEAN-PAUL BIGNAN."

This manuscript, on which was fixed the last gaze of the Queen of
Scotland, is a duodecimo, written in the Gothic character and containing
Latin prayers; it is adorned with miniatures set off with gold,
representing devotional subjects, stories from sacred history, or from
the lives of saints and martyrs. Every page is encircled with arabesques
mingled with garlands of fruit and flowers, amid which spring up
grotesque figures of men and animals.

As to the binding, worn now, or perhaps even then, to the woof, it is in
black velvet, of which the flat covers are adorned in the centre with
an enamelled pansy, in a silver setting surrounded by a wreath, to which
are diagonally attached from one corner of the cover to the other, two
twisted silver-gilt knotted cords, finished by a tuft at the two ends.