al. But Davison, who marked
her hesitation, did not think it advisable at this moment. Through
Hatton he acquainted Lord Burleigh with the matter, and Burleigh put
the question to the other members of the Privy Council: they took it
on themselves to despatch the order, signed and sealed as it now was,
without further delay to Fotheringhay.[265]

On the 8th of February 1587 it was executed on Mary in the very hall
where the sittings of the court had been held. As compared with
Elizabeth's painful disquiet, who shrank from doing what she held to
be necessary, and when she at last did it wished it again undone and
thought she could still recall it, the composure and quiet of soul,
with which Mary submitted to the fate now finally decided, impresses
us very deeply The misfortune of her life was her claim to the English
crown. This led her into a political labyrinth, and into those
entanglements which were connected with her disastrous marriage, and
then, through its combination with the religious idea, into all the
guilt which is imputed to her more or less justly. It cost Mary her
country and her life. Even on the scaffold she reminded men of her
high rank which was not subject to the laws: she thought the sentence
of heretics on her, a free queen, would be of service to the kingdom
of God. She died in the royal and religious ideas in which she had
lived.

It is undeniable that Elizabeth was taken by surprise at this news:
she was heard sobbing as though a heavy misfortune had befallen
herself. It may be that her grief was lightened by a secret
satisfaction: who would absolutely deny it? But Davison had to atone
for taking the power into his own hands by a long imprisonment: the
indispensable Burleigh hardly obtained pardon. In the city on the
other hand bells were rung and bonfires kindled. For the universal
popular conviction agreed with the judgment of the court, that Mary
had tried to deliver the kingdom into the hands of Spaniards.

NOTES:

[250] Consultation at Greenwich 1579, In Murdin 340. 'Pluck down
presently the strengthe and government of all your papists and deliver
all the strengthe and government of your realm into the hands of wise
assured and trusty protestants.'

[251] Bishop Leslie's negociations, in Anderson iii. 235.

[252] 'De praesenti rerum statu in Anglia brevis annotatio,' in
Theiner, Annales ecclesiastici iii. 480 (at the year 1583). As mention
is made in this writing of the restoration o