sons who instigated him to the
deed, was a desperate determination to save Scotland, at all hazards,
from falling under the influence of papal power.

Mary's mother, the queen dowager of Scotland, was of a celebrated
French family, called the family of Guise. She is often, herself,
called in history, Mary of Guise. There were other great families in
France who were very jealous of the Guises, and envious of their
influence and power. They opposed Queen Mary's marriage to the
dauphin, and were ready to do all in their power to thwart and defeat
it. Queen Catharine, too, who seemed to feel a greater and greater
degree of envy and jealousy against Mary as she saw her increasing in
grace, beauty, and influence with her advancing years, was supposed
to be averse to the marriage. Mary was, in some sense, her rival,
and she could not bear to have her become the wife of her son.

King Henry, finding all these opposing influences at work, thought
that the safest plan would be to have the marriage carried into
effect at the earliest possible period. When, therefore, Mary was
about fifteen years of age, which was in 1557, he sent to Scotland,
asking the government there to appoint some commissioners to come to
France to assent to the marriage contracts, and to witness the
ceremonies of the betrothment and the wedding. The marriage
contracts, in the case of the union of a queen of one country with a
prince of another, are documents of very high importance. It is
considered necessary not only to make very formal provision for the
personal welfare and comfort of the wife during her married life, and
during her widowhood in case of the death of her husband, but also to
settle beforehand the questions of succession which might arise out
of the marriage, and to define precisely the rights and powers both
of the husband and the wife, in the two countries to which they
respectively belong.

The Parliament of Scotland appointed a number of commissioners, of
the highest rank and station, to proceed to France, and to act there
as the representatives of Scotland in every thing which pertained to
the marriage. They charged them to guard well the rights and powers
of Mary, to see that these rights and all the interests of Scotland
were well protected in the marriage contracts, and to secure proper
provision for the personal comfort and happiness of the queen. The
number of these commissioners was eight. Their departure from
Scotland was an