husband, Lord Darnley, (her cousin, Henry Stuart), she quickly married
the man to whom the deed was directly traced. Her marriage with
Bothwell was her undoing. Scotland was so indignant at the act, that
she took refuge in England, only to fall into Elizabeth's hands.

Mary Stuart had once audaciously said, "the reason her cousin did not
marry was because she would not lose the power of compelling men to
make love to her." Perhaps the memory of this jest made it easier to
sign the fatal paper in 1587.

[Sidenote: Mary Stuart's Death, 1587.]

When we read of Mary's irresistible charm, of her audacity, her
cunning, her genius for diplomacy and statecraft, far exceeding
Elizabeth's--when we read of all this and think of the blood of the
Guises in her veins, and the precepts of Catharine de Medici in her
heart, we realize what her usurpation would have meant for England, and
feel that she was a menace to the State, and justly incurred her fate.
Then again, when we hear of her gentle patience in her long captivity,
her prayers and piety, and her sublime courage when she walked through
the Hall at Fotheringay Castle, and laid her beautiful head on the
block as on a pillow, we are melted to pity, and almost revolted at the
act. It is difficult to be just, with such a lovely criminal, unless
one is made of such stern stuff as was John Knox.

[Sidenote: James VI., King of Scotland. Defeat of Spanish Armada, 1597.]
The son of Mary by Henry Stuart (Lord Darnley) was James VI. of
Scotland. With his mother's death, all pretensions to the English
throne were forever at rest. But Philip of Spain thought the time
propitious for his own ambitious purposes, and sent an Armada (fleet)