Tho' we ourselves have fancied forms,
And beings that have never been,
We unto something shall be turned--
Which we have not conceived or seen.

G.H.

* * * * *


MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.

(_For the Mirror_.)


The ensuing letter, though very short, discloses one or two instances
connected with a subject of unfading interest--the death of Mary Queen
of Scots. It need hardly be stated, says an able writer on this subject,
that Queen Elizabeth's conduct with respect to the execution of Mary was
a mixture of unrelenting cruelty, despicable cowardice, and flagitious
hypocrisy; that whilst it was the dearest wish of her heart to deprive
her kinswoman of her existence, she attempted to remove the odium of the
act from herself, by endeavouring to induce those to whose custody she
was intrusted to assassinate their prisoner; that when she found she
could not succeed, she commanded the warrant to be forwarded; and that
when she knew it was too late to recall it, asserted that she never
intended it should be carried into execution, threw herself into a
paroxysm of affected rage and grief, upbraided her counsellors, and
first imprisoned and then sacrificed the fortunes of her poor secretary,
Davison, one of her most virtuous servants, as a victim to her own fame,