But who could govern a country such as Scotland was? It was a land of
broils and feuds, of clan enmities and fierce vendettas. Its nobles
were half barbarous, and they fought and slashed at one another with
drawn dirks almost in the presence of the queen herself. No matter whom
she favored, there rose up a swarm of enemies. Here was a Corsica of
the north, more savage and untamed than even the other Corsica.

In her perplexity Mary felt a woman's need of some man on whom she
would have the right to lean, and whom she could make king consort. She
thought that she had found him in the person of her cousin, Lord
Darnley, a Catholic, and by his upbringing half an Englishman. Darnley
came to Scotland, and for the moment Mary fancied that she had
forgotten Bothwell. Here again she was in love with love, and she
idealized the man who came to give it to her. Darnley seemed, indeed,
well worthy to be loved, for he was tall and handsome, appearing well
on horseback and having some of the accomplishments which Mary valued.

It was a hasty wooing, and the queen herself was first of all the
wooer. Her quick imagination saw in Darnley traits and gifts of which
he really had no share. Therefore, the marriage was soon concluded, and
Scotland had two sovereigns, King Henry and Queen Mary. So sure was
Mary of her indifference to Bothwell that she urged the earl to marry,
and he did marry a girl of the great house of Gordon.

Mary's self-suggested love for Darnley was extinguished almost on her
wedding-night. The man was a drunkard who came into her presence
befuddled and almost bestial. He had no brains. His vanity was
enormous. He loved no one but himself, and least of all this queen,
whom he regarded as having thrown herself at his empty head.

The first-fruits of the marriage were uprisings among the Protestant
lords. Mary then showed herself a heroic queen. At the head of a motley
band of soldiery who came at her call--half-clad, uncouth, and
savage--she rode into the west, sleeping at night upon the bare ground,
sharing the camp food, dressed in plain tartan, but swift and fierce as
any eagle. Her spirit ran like fire through the veins of those who
followed her. She crushed the insurrection, scattered its leaders, and
returned in triumph to her capital.

Now she was really queen, but here came in the other motive which was
interwoven in her character. She had shown herself a man in courage.
Should she not have the pleasures of