Miss Strickland from the contemporary annalists, although it had previously escaped the notice of her numerous biographers :

her on horseback, and made her accomHe told her pany him to the chase. stories of martial deeds, romped with her, exerted all his ingenuity to prepare agreeable surprises and pleasures for her, and lavished his gifts on her with profuse generosity; nothing his jewel-house contained was too precious to be thus appropriated. Mary loved him in return with the ardour of a fond and grateful child; for, however terrible to others, he was all tenderness to her; and if he did not succeed in spoiling her, he treated her with an excess of indulgence, of which she ever retained the most lively remembrance.

"Mary was at Paris on the New Year's Day, 1554-5, when she astonished the court of France and all the foreign ambassadors by the ease and grace with which she recited to the King, in the great gallery of the Louvre, in the presence of that distinguished company, an oration in Latin of her own composition, in the style of Cicero, setting forth, in opposition to the general opinion to the contrary, the capacity of females for the highest mental acquirements, such as literature and the fine arts-a proposition which no one who heard and saw the fair and learned young Queen that day felt perhaps disposed to deny. She both spoke and understood Latin admirably well,' says Brantôme, 'as I was myself a witness, and induced Antoine Fochain of Chauny, in the Vermandois, to address her in French on the subject of rhetoric, to which, though unprepared, she replied with as much wit and eloquence as if she had been born in France. It was really beautiful to observe her manner of speaking, whether to the high or low. From the time she arrived in France she had dedicated two hours a-day to reading and study, so that there were few sciences, even, on which she could not converse, and she always expressed herself gracefully and well; but she delighted in poetry above everything, and loved to discourse of it with Ronsard, du Bellay, and Maison Fleur."

Philopomen said, that to soldiers and women dress was a matter of no small consequence; and probably no one who has known either will besitate as to the truth of the remark. Miss Strickland has certainly largely acted upon this hint in her Royal Biographies; but probably there are few readers, male or female, who will not be glad to hear about the costume of the beauteous young Queen on her marriage day. It is thus given by

"She was dressed,' says the official chronicler of the Hôtel de Ville, 'in a robe whiter than the lily, but so glorious in its fashion and decorations that it would be difficult, nay, impossible, for any pen to do justice to its details. Her regal mantle and train were of a bluish grey cut velvet, richly embroidered with white silk and pearls. It was of a marvellous length, full six toises, covered with precious stones, and was supported Her Scotch Maries, by young ladies.'

doubtless, were entitled to that honour; but neither they, nor the commissioners for the marriage, who were present as representatives of the three Estates of Scotland, are mentioned in our contemporary French authorities. The Estates of Scotland had positively refused to allow their regalia to be carried over to France, to decorate their young liege lady and her consort at the nuptial solemnity. Yet Mary, to denote her rank as a Sovereign Queen, wore a crown-royal on this occasion-a crown far more costly than any previous Scottish monarch could ever boast. It was probably made expressly for her, at the expense either of the King of France or her wealthy uncle the Cardinal de Lorraine, and is described in the Rouen contemporary record of the ceremonial as being composed of the finest gold, and most exquisite workmanship, set with diamonds, pearls, rubies, and emeralds of inestimable worth-having in the centre a pendant carbuncle, the value of which was computed at five hundred thousand crowns. About her neck hung a matchless jewel, suspended by chains of precious stones, which, from its description, must have been no other than that well known in Scottish records by the familiar name of the Great Harry. This was not one of the crown jewels, but her own personal property, having been derived from her royal English great-grandfather, Henry VII., by whom it was presented to her grandmother, Queen Margaret Tudor."

The dress of the young Princess, however, is more fully given in the description of the portrait of her, bestowed on the Earl of Cassillis when he took leave of her after her marriage, which is still in possession of that noble family, and from which the beautiful frontispiece of the volume is taken. It is thus described; and

the description will enable the reader to fill up in imagination the colours which clothed the original :

"This most beautiful and undoubted likeness has remained ever since as a

precious heirloom in the noble family of Kennedy, and is still extant in the collection of its representative, the Marquis of Ailsa, at Culzean Castle, in Ayrshire. It is from that portrait the frontispiece of this volume is taken-the noble possessor having favoured us with permission to have an engraving made expressly for the illustration of our present series of royal biographies, Lives of the Queens of Scotland and Princesses of England. This most beautiful and undoubted likeness of Mary Stuart represents her in the morning flower of her charms, when she appeared at the summit of all earthly felicity and grandeur. It is in a nobler style of portrait-painting than that of Zuchero, and worthy, indeed, of Titian or Guercino. It is scarcely possible for an engraving to do justice to a picture of which the colouring and tone are so exquisite. The perfection of features and contour is there united with feminine softness and the expression of commanding intellect. Her hair is of a rich chestnut tint, almost black, which Nicholas White (who had ascertained the fact from her ladies) assures Cecil was its real colour. Her complexion is that of a delicate brunette, clear and glowing; and this accords with the darkness of her eyes, hair, and majestic eyebrows. Her hair is parted in wide bands across the forehead, and rolled back in a large curl on each temple, above the small, delicately moulded ears. She wears a little round crimson velvet cap, embroidered with gold, and ornamented with gems, placed almost at the back of her head, resembling, indeed, a Greek cap-with this difference, that a coronal frontlet is formed by the disposition of the pearls, which give a regal character to the headdress. Her dress is of rich crimson damask, embroidered with gold, and ornamented with gems. It fits tightly to her bust and taper waist, which is long and slender; so is her gracefully turned throat. She has balloon-shaped tops to her sleeves, rising above the natural curve of her shoulders. Her dress is finished at the throat with a collar band, supporting a lawn collarette, with a finely quilled demi-ruff. Her only ornament is a string of large round pearls, carelessly knotted about her throat, from which depends an amethyst cross. This portrait is in an oval frame; but the arms being cut off

just above the wrists, mars the general effect, and suggests the notion that it has been a whole-length reduced to that size."

These feminine decorations, how

ever, did not exclusively occupy Mary's time. She continued her severer studies after her marriage, and was a model of every conjugal virtue.

"The youthful spouses supported their dignity as Sovereigns, and conducted themselves as a married pair with edifying propriety. They were now emancipated from the control of governors, governesses, and preceptors; but Mary continued to read Latin with Buchanan, history with de Pasquier, and poetry with Ronsard, from the delight her cultivated mind took in these pursuits. Music, needlework, and the chase, formed her favourite recreations. She and Francis conformed to the customs of France by presiding over their own little court, being too happy in each other's society to desire to mix in the public gaieties of the Louvre, except at those seasons which etiquette prescribed. She managed her expenditure without either extravagance or parsimony, her greatest delight being to give."

Notwithstanding his tender years and infirmities, Mary was affectionately attached to the Dauphin, and sincerely mourned his death.

"An elegant marble pillar was subsequently erected by Mary, as a tribute of her affection, to mark the spot where the heart of Francis II. was deposited in Orleans Cathedral. She also caused a medal to be engraved in commemoration of her love and grief, having the following simple but quaint device, emblematical of her buried consort and herselfnamely, a liquorice plant, the stem of which is bitter, bending mournfully towards the root, with this motto, Earth hides my sweetness.' The decease of her young consort, so quickly following that of her only surviving parent, impressed Mary's mind with deep conviction of the uncertainty of human life. She surrounded herself with sombre images and emblems of mortality. She had a crystal watch made in the shape of a coffin for her own use, and another in the form of a helmeted death's-head, which she presented to her favourite maid of honour, Mary Seton. Both are in existence. The first is in the possession of Sir Peter Murray Threipland, Bart., of Fingask

Castle, Perthshire; the other belonged to the late Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Bart. It is of silver, and as full of curious workmanship and emblems as the locket of Margaret Douglas. The works are in wonderful preservation, and still perform well. The maker's name is Moyse, of Blois."

Like many of her royal predecessors, Mary was most anxious for the pacific improvement and social amelioration of her subjects-objects of no easy accomplishment, amidst the selfishness, bigotry, and ruthless violence with which she was surrounded. It is not generally known that the manufacture of straw-bonnets, which has since given bread to so many thousands of the subjects of her descendants, owes its introduction into this country to her benevolent foresight.

During her progress through Lorraine, she had observed that the women and children were industriously and profitably occupied in plaiting and making straw-hats. Perceiving, also, that the condition of the peasantry was much better in those districts where this domestic manufacture was practised than where it was not, she conceived a desire of introducing the same light and pleasant handicraft among her own subjects, as a means of enabling the mothers of large families, who had hitherto relied on receiving the alms of the church in times of distress, to earn their own livelihood, and to render their children instrumental in the same object. Under these impressions, Mary, whose talents as a peace Sovereign, like those of all the Stuarts, were much in advance of a ferocious age, engaged a company of the Lorraine strawplaiters to return with her to her own country, in order to instruct her countrywomen in their simple art; and thus was the first straw-hat manufactory established in Scotland under the kind auspices of a female Sovereign of eighteen, whose name, however clouded by calumny, is traditionally dear to the industrial classes, whose ancestors she strove to benefit. The calamities in which Mary Stuart was involved, deprived her little colony and pupils of the encouragement they would otherwise have received from her royal patronage; still they struggled on through much adversity, and continued to exist till her son James, who took a kindly interest in his unfortunate mother's strawplaiters, transplanted them and their useful craft to Luton, in Bedfordshire, after

his accession to the English throne. Several generations, however, passed away before Mary's enlightened projects for the employment of women and children in this department were fully realised by the general popularity of British strawbonnets, both at home and abroad. Those produced by Mary Stuart's Lorraine protegées were probably of the picturesque form, which has been immortalised by Rubens' pencil in his portrait of his second wife, Helena Forman, known by the familiar name of La Paliasse."

Every reader is familiar with Brantôme's beautiful description of Mary's departure from France for her northern realm; but it loses nothing in Miss Strickland's elegant hands; and with her description of this moving scene we must for the present close our extracts from this charming biography.

"When the sails were set, and her galley began to get out to sea, Mary's tears flowed without intermission. Leaning both her arms on the gallery of the vessel, she turned her eyes on the shore she was leaving with longing, lingering looks, crying at every stroke of the oars, 'Adieu, France!-beloved France, adieu!" And thus she remained for the first five hours after her embarkation, motionless as a statue, and deaf to all the attempts of her friends to comfort or divert the sad current of her thoughts. When darkness approached, she was entreated to descend into the state cabin that had been prepared for her accommodation, and partake of supper. But her heart was too full of grief to permit her to taste food. She felt and spoke like a poet on this occasion. 'It is now, my dear France, that I have lost you,' said she, 'for the envious darkness, like a black veil, conceals you from these eyes which are thus deprived of their chief desire. Adieu, then, my beloved France !-I lose sight of you, and I shall never, never, see you again!' She observed, that, unlike Dido, who, after the departure of Eneas, looked evermore towards the sea-her regards were fixed upon the land that was receding from her sight for ever.'Instead of retiring for repose into the cabin in the poop, which was set apart for her use, she ordered a traverse or temporary chamber to be prepared for her above on the poop gallery, and her couch to be spread for the night within that curtained screen. Before she retired she requested the pilot, that, in the event of France being still visible, as soon as it

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