rd, sprung from the
principal reigning families of Europe: first, the Archduke Charles, third
son of the Emperor of Germany; then the Duke of Anjou, who afterwards
became Henry III. But to wed a foreign prince was to give up her claims
to the English crown. So Mary refused, and, making a merit of this to
Elizabeth, she cast her eyes on a relation of the latter's, Henry Stuart,
Lord Darnley, son of the Earl of Lennox. Elizabeth, who had nothing
plausible to urge against this marriage, since the Queen of Scotland not
only chose an Englishman for husband, but was marrying into her own
family, allowed the Earl of Lennox and his son to go to the Scotch court,
reserving it to herself, if matters appeared to take a serious turn, to
recall them both--a command which they would be constrained to obey,
since all their property was in England.

Darnley was eighteen years of age: he was handsome, well-made, elegant;
he talked in that attractive manner of the young nobles of the French and
English courts that Mary no longer heard since her exile in Scotland; she
let herself be deceived by these appearances, and did not see that under
this brilliant exterior Darnley hid utter insignificance, dubious
courage, and a fickle and churlish character. It is true that he came to
her under the auspices of a man whose influence was as striking as the
risen fortune which gave him the opportunity to exert it. We refer to
David Rizzio.

David Rizzio, who played such a great part in the life of Mary Stuart,
whose strange favour for him has given her enemies, probably without any
cause, such cruel weapons against her, was the son of a Turin musician
burdened with a numerous family, who, recognising in him a pronounced
musical taste, had him instructed in the first principles of the art. At
the age of fifteen he had left his father's house and had gone on foot to
Nice, where the Duke of Savoy held his court; there he entered the
service of the Duke of Moreto, and this lord having been appointed, some
years afterwards, to the Scottish embassy, Rizzio followed him to
Scotland. As this young man had a very fine voice, and accompanied on
the viol and fiddle songs of which both the airs and the words were of
his own composition, the ambassador spoke of him to Mary, who wished to
see him. Rizzio, full of confidence in himself, and seeing in the
queen's desire a road to success, hastened to obey her command, sang
before her, and pleased her. She b