Page:Life and history of Mary, Queen of Scots.pdf/21

MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS. therefore, to be tied to the ladder: then all to rest descending, they turned the ladder, and thus mounted with ease over the belly of the epileptic person. When the party gained the summit, they slew the sentinel ere he had time to give the alarm, and easily surprised the slumbering garrison, who had trusted too much to the security of their castle. This exploit of Crawford may compare with any thing or the kind which we read of in history.

In the meantime, poor Mary was kept in close confinement, carried from castle to castle, and put under various keepers. At last Elisabeth determined to bring her unhappy cousin to a public trial, for having encouraged and aided some zealous Catholics to assassinate Queen Elizabeth. And, in spite of the absurdity of trying the Queen of Scotland by the laws of England, she was found guilty by her judges, and the Parliament of England ratified this iniquitous sentence. A warrant for her execution immediately followed, and the Earls of Kent and Shrewsbury, with the High Sheriff of the county, were commanded to see this fatal mandate carried into effect.

Mary received the news of her immediate execution with the utmost firmness. "The soul," she said, "was undeserving of the joys of heaven, which would shrink from the blow of an executioner. She had not," she added, "expected that her kinswoman would have consented to her