Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/203

Rh of respect due to her exalted station; and was soon afterwards sent, with the king's own daughters, to one of the most celebrated monasteries in France, to receive such an education as should become the future queen.

Remarkable as was the beauty of Mary's person, it was not more worthy of admiration than her intellectual superiority. In all the various and numerous branches of education in which she was instructed, she made rapid progress, and attained in all a proficiency that excited universal admiration. She rode fearlessly and gracefully, and in dancing was unrivalled, even at the gay and refined court of Henry II.

Caressed and admired by all, and surrounded by every enjoyment within the reach of humanity, the earlier part of Mary's life glided rapidly away, while she herself, in her person, gradually advanced towards that perfection of beauty, which is to this hour matter of interesting speculation, and which she seems to have possessed in the highest degree of which, perhaps, the human form is susceptible.

A desire long entertained by Mary's mother, the queen dowager, and Henry of France, to unite the interests of the two kingdoms, had early produced a contract of marriage between Francis, the young dauphin, and the Scottish queen. This contract, Henry now thought it full time to consummate, and the youthful pair were accordingly united. The nuptials took place on the 24th of April, 1558. Mary was then in the sixteenth year of her age, and her husband but little older. The ceremony, which was celebrated with great pomp, was attended, amongst others, by the lord James, prior of St Andrews, and other eight persons of distinction, from Scotland, who had been deputed for that purpose by the parliament of that kingdom.

Mary, already queen of Scotland, and heir presumptive of England, was now, by her marriage to the dauphin, queen consort apparent of France; a concentration of dignities which perhaps never before occurred in one person. The last of these honours was realized, but only for a short period. In 1559, a year after her marriage, her husband, the dauphin, succeeded to the throne, by the death of his father; but in another year afterwards, in 1560, he died, while yet only in the seventeenth year of his age.

Mary's husband was not, either in mental attainments, or personal appearance, at all equal to his beautiful and accomplished wife; he was, besides, of a weakly and sickly habit of body, but he appears to have been of a mild and affectionate disposition; and there is every reason to believe that he was sincerely beloved by his royal consort.

On the death of her husband, Mary was invited to return to Scotland, in order to undertake the government. Political motives seconding this invitation, she complied with it, and, in August, 1561, sailed from the harbour of Calais, and on the 21st of the same month, arrived safely at Leith. Her reception in her native land, was warm and enthusiastic; and although she soon discovered many things to increase her respect for the country she had left, she yet fully appreciated the sincerity with which she was welcomed.

The period of Mary's arrival in Scotland was singularly inauspicious for a sovereign educated as she had been in devoted attachment to the faith which her Scottish subjects had just abjured. The reformed religion had gradually advanced from small beginnings, amidst great opposition, until it had now attained a parliamentary establishment. Mary had been taught to regard the late proceedings of her Scottish subjects in the light of rebellion agaiust her lawful authority. Before she left France her mind was filled with prejudices against the reformed faith and its promoters. She came to Scotland prepared to subvert the reformation. The reformers apprehended such an attempt on the part of Mury and her French cour-