Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/819

Rh by great animosities among the nobility, who contested for the administration of public affairs, and the guardianship of the young queen was at last adjudged to the Earl of Arran, the next heir to the crown in legitimate descent, and the first peer of Scotland.

King Henry VIII. wished to obtain her for his son Edward, and at last it was agreed that she should be given in marriage to that prince; but he wished to have her educated in England, which the Scots would not comply with, which was the occasion of the famous battle of Musselburg. Upon their defeat she was conveyed by her mother into the isle of Inchemahom; where she first learned the rudiments of the Latin, French, Spanish, and Italian tongues: of all which she afterwards became a complete mistress.

By her means, when about six years old, Mary was conveyed to France, where she was with great care educated. Her study was chiefly directed to learning the modern languages; to these she added the Latin, in which she spoke an oration of her own composing, in the great guard-room at the Louvre, before the royal family and nobility of France. She was naturally inclined to poetry and so great a proficient in the art, that her compositions were much valued by M. Ronsard, who was himself esteemed an eminent poet.

She had a good taste for music, and played well upon several instruments, was a fine dancer, and sat a horse gracefully; but her chief delight seemed to be, when she was employed among her women at needle-work.

In 1558, she was married to the dauphin, afterwards Francis II. over whom her beauty and understanding gave her great influence. He dying 1560, she returned to