e feelings which beauty seldom fails to excite, every
heart offered up prayers for her future welfare and happiness. She was
now at that age when feminine loveliness is perhaps most attractive. It
is not to be supposed, indeed, that her charms, in her sixteenth year,
had ripened into that full-blown maturity which they afterward attained;
but they were on this account only the more fascinating. Some have
conjectured that Mary's beauty has been extolled far above its real
merits; and it cannot be denied that many vague and erroneous notions
exist regarding it. But that her countenance possessed, in a pre-eminent
degree, the something which constitutes beauty, is sufficiently attested
by the unanimous declaration of all contemporary writers. Her person was
finely proportioned, and her carriage exceedingly graceful and
dignified.

Shortly after the espousals, Mary and her husband retired to one of
their princely summer residences, where she discharged the duties of a
wife without ostentation. But the intriguing and restless ambition of
her uncles could not allow her to remain long quiet. About this time
Mary Tudor, who had succeeded Edward VI. on the English throne, died;
and although the Parliament had declared that the succession rested in
her sister Elizabeth, it was thought proper to claim for Mary Stuart a
prior right. But it was destined that there was to be another and more
unexpected death at the French court. Henry II. was killed at a
tournament by Count Montgomery. Francis and Mary succeeded to the
throne. Mary was now at the very height of European grandeur, for she
was queen of two powerful countries, and heir presumptive of a third.
She stood unluckily on too high a pinnacle to be able to retain her
position long. Francis died after a short reign of seventeen months, and
the heir to the throne Charles IX., being a minor, Catharine de Medicis
became once more virtually queen of France; and from her Mary could
expect no favors.

In August, 1561, Mary left France with tears, and was received in
Scotland with every mark of respect. She came, alone and unprotected, to
assume the government of a country which had long been distinguished for
its rebellious turbulence. Contrasted, too, with her former situation,
that which she was now about to fill appeared particularly formidable.
By whatever counsel she acted, the blame of all unpopular measures would
be sure to rest with her. If she favored the Protestants, the Ca