Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/379

Mary Stuart 's nephew and pupil, Benedetto Gennari, whom she much patronised, and others also painted her. The likeness in the National Portrait Gallery is by William Wissing.

 MARY (1542–1587), third child and only daughter of James V of Scotland [q. v.] and Mary of Guise [q. v.], was born in Linlithgow Palace on 7 or 8 Dec. 1542. The 7th is the date in the register of Lothian (, i. 2) and that given by Leslie (De Origine, &c, p. 459); for the 8th there is the authority of the 'Diurnal of Occurrents' (p. 25), Knox (Works, i. 91), and Mary herself (, vi. 68). To the king, overwhelmed by the rout of Solway, the birth of a daughter seemed only a portent of calamity. 'It [the dynasty] came,' he exclaimed, 'from a woman, and, it will end with a woman' (, i. 91). By his death on 14 Dec. 1542 the infant princess became queen, Negotiations for a treaty of marriage between her and Prince Edward of England were frustrated by Cardinal Beaton, who on 23 July 1543 removed her and her mother to Stirling Castle (cf. ). After she had been crowned there by Beaton on 9 Sept., she was entrusted to the care of Lords Erskine and Livingstone. Shortly after Pinkie Cleugh, 10 Sept. 1547, she was sent for security to the priory of Inchmahome, on an island in the Lake of Menteith (Discharge of Lords Erskine and Livingstone in Red Book of Menteith, ii. 3), and on the last day of February 1547-8 (note in, Works, i. 219) she was transferred to Dumbarton Castle, the stronghold most accessible to France. On 7 July 1548 the estates not only ratified an agreement for her marriage to the dauphin of France (Francis II), but decided that she should immediately be sent thither. She accordingly on 7 Aug. set sail in one of the royal galleys of France, and, disembarking on the 13th at Brest, arrived at St. Germains on 11 Oct. (, La Première Jeunesse, 1891, p. 19). Lady Fleming was assigned her as governess, and she was accompanied by her companions, the ' Four Marys ' — young maidens of the houses of Livingstone, Fleming, Seton, and Beaton.

Mary was educated with the royal children of France, her studies being directed by Margaret, sister of Henry II, one of the most accomplished and learned ladies of her time. That she acquired a fair knowledge of Latin is attested by exercises written in 1554 (published by the Warton Club, 1855), and she had some acquaintance with Greek and Italian, but was not taught English or Scots, it being the first care of her guardians that France should be paramount in her affections. She had a preference for poetry, in which she was instructed by Ronsard, but her own verses lack distinction. Although she early displayed exceptional intelligence and discretion, her chief endowment was the unique charm of her personality, which won for her affection even more than it attracted admiration. Writing in 1553, the Cardinal of Lorraine affirmed that among daughters of noble or commoner he had never seen her equal in the kingdom (, i. 9). Her beauty, supposed to be unrivalled in her time, owed its enchantment rather to brilliancy of complexion and grace of manner than to finely formed features. Possessing a sweet and rich voice she sang well, accompanying herself gracefully on the lute. Her skill in elocution evoked the admiration of the French court when in 1554 she delivered a Latin oration in praise of learned ladies ( in Dedication of Retoric Françoise; ).

Perhaps insufficient allowance has been made for careless exaggeration in Brantôme's portraiture of the French court in the time of Mary; but one of h«r devoted advocates has affirmed that her mother, after her visit to her in 1550, 'arranged for her removal to a healthier moral atmosphere' (, Mary Stuart, First Eighteen Years of her Life, p. 91). No such arrangement was carried out. She was neither separated from the 