company her. To Melvil, the chief of her train, she said, weeping:-"Tell my son that I thought of him in my last moments, and that I have never yielded, either in word or deed, to aught that might lead to his prejudice; desire him to preserve the memory of his unfortunate parent, and may he be a thousand times more happy and more prosperous than she has been." She perished in the room that had been the scene of her trial. A scaffold, carpeted with black, was at one end, and on it were two English earls and the executioners. Thither she was led, Melvil bearing the train of her royal robe. She was dressed in state. "She wore a gown of black silk, bordered with crimson velvet, over which was a satin mantle; a long veil of white crape, stiffened with wire, and edged with rich lace, hung down almost to the ground; round her neck was suspended an ivory crucifix." The ruins of her former stately and blooming self, she was still beautiful and dignified. The warrant of death was read aloud; she trembled not, nor changed her sublime tranquillity of countenance. The Dean of Peterboro' stepped forth from the two hundred spectators and soldiers, and began to lecture her on points of doctrine. She turned from him, knelt, and prayed aloud for her enemies, and for the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Rising, her veil and necklace were removed. The cross, she was about to give to Jane Kennedy, but the executioner snatched it away as a part of his customary spoils. Her eyes were bound with a gold-embroidered handkerchief, her head laid on the block, and from her lips breathed the words "O Lord, in thee have I hoped, and into thy hands I commit my spirit." Three awkward blows of the axe severed her neck; her head was held up to the gaze of the dumb crowd; the executioner cried-"God save Elizabeth Queen of England!" The Earl of Kent responded, "Thus perish all her enemies." Her remains were left rolled up in "old green baize, taken from a billiard-table," afterwards buried with display in the Peterboro' cathedral, and finally, a quarter of a century after, placed in a splendid tomb at Westminster Abbey, by her son James, who removed every vestige of the scene of her trial and death, Fotheringay castle. Mary reached the age of forty-five years. Her active life was between the ages of sixteen and twentyfive. No queen ever possessed higher talents or vir tues. Her faults were the noble ones of a warm, trustful heart and of ardent youth. She confided in the treacherous too often; she had not learned that there are always many persons utterly dead to every claim of reason, honor and generosity. Reigning in maturer years, she would have vindicated her commanding intellect. As her enemies were often detestable in the face of their truer belief, so was she tolerant, deeply religious and grandly upright, in spite of her superstitious creed. Her character was frank and beautifully proportionate. Never would mere brilliancy of person and of mind, have excited such glow. ing friendships, such bitter envies, such lasting admiration and world-wide sympathy. VIII. Catherine of Russia. "Why, I can smile, and murder while I smile; And frame my face to all occasions."-SHAKSPEARE. THE long and conspicuous reign of Catherine II. was one of great tragical interest, and signalized by memorable events. Her mind was subtle and vigorous, but it is impossible to regard her character with any other feelings than those of disgust and pity. She presented herself to the world, under a mask of benevolence, sincerity, wisdom, and piety, beneath which lurked detestable hypocrisy, licentiousness, vanity, and an ambition that aspired to great actions and reforms, for the sake of renown, rather than the good of mankind. Anxious to out-figure her "great" predecessors in the eyes of posterity, she selected her historian, and charged him not to record the assistance of any one in the accomplishment of certain events, but to give the entire credit to her own wisdom and courage. She would have succeeding generations accept her as a model empress!-she who began her reign |