not be taken at a disadvantage. Sir Amias concluded by a neat suggestion, that she had better at once confess the offences and faults which could be proved against her, and ask pardon of the Queen, adding that as this was his recommendation, he was quite willing to write such reply as she wished. Mary seems to have smiled at the simplicity which could lay so very obvious a trap for her, and preferred to await the coming of the Lords. She said "She recognised truly that as a sinner she had offended her Maker in many things, and she was willing to ask pardon of Him, but as she was a Sovereign Queen, she did not see that she was responsible to any below for any faults or offences, recognis ing only God and the Church. She concluded by saying, mockingly, “that she thought he had not travelled far enough, and had taken a great deal of trouble for very little."

On Tuesday, October 11, the Queen's Commissioners arrived in the evening, and on Wednesday, after attending prayers and preaching in the chapel, Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer, with some attendants, waited upon Mary with a letter from the Queen. Miss Strickland says * Mary was in bed, ill, when this was presented to her, but our diarist does not say so, and as he does mention similar matters on other occasions, I think there is reason to think Miss Strickland was mistaken. The Queen's letter appears to have been of a very imperious nature, for the diary says it had no superscription of title, nor "Madame," nor "My Sister," nor anything else, and was signed at the end simply "Elizabeth," without "Your Sister." It was sealed with the Great Seal, and at the foot the address was, "To the Scottish." The letter simply stated that as Mary had refused to reply to the questions put to her, it had appeared right for the Queen to send down a Special Commission to

hear and decide upon the matter; as Mary was a resident in the kingdom and under the protection of Elizabeth, so she was subject also to the laws. Mary appears to have given a dignified answer to all this, which was duly written out for the Queen's edification, and it is strong proof of the authenticity of the diary that the answer of Mary, as given in it, is almost word for word the same as is given in the State papers, under the title of "The Scottish Queen's first answers," allowing, of course, for the fact that one is in French and the other in English. Mary, for a day or two, with many words, tried to prove that she was not responsible to an English Court; and she certainly seems to have made out a good case for herself, which, however, was of no avail, as it was intended that she should be tried, whether she was willing or not; so finally "Her Majesty replied that she cared little about it. God would inspire her and direct her to do according to His will and justice, and she thought she would consent to it."* The next morning (Oct. 14), Mary sent for the Commissioners, and made an address to them, which seems in its sum to amount to thisthat she had not attempted the life of the Queen, but she did not deny her correspondence with foreign princes. As the address has not been published before, and as it contains in a few words Mary's defence to the charges brought against her, I translate it thus: "Gentlemen, considering the position that I hold-a born queen, a foreigner, a near relative of my good sister the Queen-I cannot but object to your assemblage and your procedure, as I do not hold myself subject either to your laws or your Queen. I must decline to reply to your charges, and so prejudice my high estate and that of other kings and similar persons. As I have always held my honour in esteem, and will not spare my life in its defence, I am ready, rather than prejudice other princes and *Marie Stuart, &c., p. 511.

my son, to die or endure such other penalties as you may pronounce upon me, if it is only thus that the Queen, my good sister, who has so bad an opinion of me, and who has been misinformed in that I have attempted any plot against her person, can be satisfied of my innocence and of the good will which I have borne and still bear towards her, as I have frequently shown in the offers which I have made, and in my conduct. In order, then, that it may not be considered that I refuse to reply because I am guilty, and lest it may be thought that ambition may have induced me to commit any act, blameable or unworthy of my sacred person, I offer to reply to you upon this point only-Upon the life of the Queen, of which I swear and protest that I am innocent; but on no other matter whatever, as to intelligence, friendship or correspondence which I may have had with foreign princes. In making protest of this, I demand, also, a written copy of the act of accusation." *

It is unnecessary for me to follow the course of the trial; suffice it to say that it is difficult to see how any jury or court could do otherwise than bring in a verdict of guilty on the evidence laid before them. Mary denied everything that was charged against her, and to any proofs which were brought forward of her complicity in the conspiracy of Babington, she only replied by denials, and by a refusal to acknowledge the right of any to question her. There are, however, one or two unpublished words of hers that it may be desirable to read. For instance, at the close of the second day's sitting, the diary says the proceedings had been "conducted in such a manner that the poor Princess said to us, in returning to her chamber, she remembered the Passion of Jesus Christ, and, without making any comparison, it appeared to her that they were doing in her case as the Jews did to Christ, when they cried, 'Away with Him; crucify

* Marie Stuart, &c., p. 512.

Him,' and she was sure there were none in the company who had any pity for her, or who would say what they thought."

Another speech of hers, of which the English accounts of the trial give no particulars, reads as follows in the diary :— "Her Majesty remonstrated on the wrong which the Queen had done her in keeping her prisoner, who had come on parole and a princess to a country where she had been, for nearly eighteen years, annoyed by treatment so bad that the meanest person should not have been subjected to it, though she had given no occasion for it, and there was still less right; by such treatment she had lost her health and the use of her limbs, as they could see; she could neither walk nor use her arms; she was ill, and almost always confined to her bed; old before her time, and consumed with misery, having lost the little spirit God had given her; unable to remember that which she had seen and read that could aid her at the present time, and the knowledge of matters that had enabled her to conduct and direct the necessary business which appertained to the state to which God had called her, and of which she had been traitorously and unjustly deprived by those who had detained her, and prevented her from claiming her rights. Not content with this, her enemies, by their ill-will, were trying to ruin her by proceeding in this trial by methods not customary in her own country, and not known in this kingdom before the reign of the present Queen, and further than that, by judges sanctioned only by illegal authority, from whom she appealed to the Omnipotent God, to His Church, and to all Christian princes, and to the estates of the realm duly and legitimately assembled. She was ready and willing to sustain and defend her honour, and prove herself innocent of the suspected wrongs, if they would give her public opportunity in the presence of some princes or foreign judges; and would show to such judges that she

had done nothing against her mother the Church, or against kings, sovereign princes, or her son. Specially with respect to the right which the English have long claimed over the predecessors of her Majesty, Kings of Scotland, which right she utterly denied, and, as a woman or person of courage, would never admit or strengthen by any act of hers. She would be able to show them she was not ambitious, and that she had never undertaken anything against the Queen, from ambition or wish to reign; that she was past all that, and for herself wished only to pass the remainder of her life in peace, rest and tranquillity of spirit. Her age and weakness rendered her unwilling to take the responsibility of reigning, and gave her no opportunity of wishing for or aspiring to any government or public charge, being ill and diseased in her body, and having only probably but two or three years to live in this world; and considering the pain and wretchedness which surrounded her to-day in her endeavour to obtain justice and the recognition of her rights, in this age so evil disposed and so full of all wickedness and trouble, which seemed to fill all parts of the earth."

Poor woman! her own kingdom rejected her; her French friends did not want her, and now the asylum in which had she been disposed she might have lived peaceably and died happily, was to be refused her. The long course of restlessness, duplicity and chicanery of which her letters give ample proof, had produced its natural result, and it was necessary for the peace of the realm that she should die.

One of the Scottish historians says:— "Had Queen Mary abandoned the world and its politics, the opportunity might have been given for her abiding in England in a retirement becoming a fallen monarch. From the moment, however, when she set foot on English soil she was so beset