was a Protestant, and as Mary's mother was a
Catholic, and as the Protestant interest was the strongest, it was at
length decided that Arran should be the regent, and govern the
country until Mary should be of age.

It is a curious circumstance that Mary's birth put an end to the war
between England and Scotland, and that in a very singular way. The
King of England had been fighting against Mary's father, James, for a
long time, in order to conquer the country and annex it to England;
and now that James was dead, and Mary had become queen, with Arran
for the regent, it devolved on Arran to carry on the war. But the
King of England and his government, now that the young queen was
born, conceived of a new plan. The king had a little son, named
Edward, about four years old, who, of course, would become King of
England in his place when he should himself die. Now he thought it
would be best for him to conclude a peace with Scotland, and agree
with the Scottish government that, as soon as Mary was old enough,
she should become Edward's wife, and the two kingdoms be united in
that way.

The name of this King of England was Henry the Eighth. He was a very
headstrong and determined man. This, his plan, might have been a very
good one; it was certainly much better than an attempt to get
possession of Scotland by fighting for it; but he was very far from
being as moderate and just as he should have been in the execution of
his design. The first thing was to ascertain whether Mary was a
strong and healthy child; for if he should make a treaty of peace,
and give up all his plans of conquest, and then if Mary, after living
feebly a few years, should die, all his plans would fail. To satisfy
him on this point, they actually had some of the infant's clothes
removed in the presence of his embassador, in order that the
embassador might see that her form was perfect, and her limbs
vigorous and strong. The nurse did this with great pride and
pleasure, Mary's mother standing by. The nurse's name was Janet
Sinclair. The embassador wrote back to Henry, the King of England,
that little Mary was "as goodly a child as he ever saw." So King
Henry VIII. was confirmed in his design of having her for the wife of
his son.

King Henry VIII. accordingly changed all his plans. He made a peace
with the Earl of Arran. He dismissed the prisoners that he had taken,
and sent them home kindly. If he had been contented with kind and
gentle measures like