flood,
Should the approach of this wild river break,
And stand unshaken yours.

SHAKSPEARE.

One Female and Six Male Figures.

Unattended even by a body guard, and confiding in the love of his
subjects, James I. of Scotland was residing within the walls of the
Carthusian monastery at Scone. Graham of Stratham seized the occasion,
and brought down a party by night to the neighborhood. Seconded by
traitors within, he gained possession of the gates and interior
passages. The king's first intimation was from his cup-bearer, who, on
leaving the king's chamber, found the passage crowded by armed men,
who answered his cry of alarm by striking him dead. The noise reached
the royal chamber; a rush of the assassins followed; and Catharine
Douglass, one of the queen's maids of honor, springing forward to bolt
the door, found the bar had been clandestinely removed. With resolute
self-devotion she supplied the place with her naked arm.--To present a
view of the interior of the room, and the passage outside, it will be
necessary to place a partition from the front of the stage, near the
footlights, to the left hand corner in the background. In the
smallest apartment stands Catharine Douglass. The partition running in
this manner will give to the audience a view of the door and iron
fastenings through which the arm of the heroine passes, and also the
passage where the assassins stand. The partition should be made of
light strips of wood, covered with cheap cloth, and painted to imitate
the interior of a room. The door must be quite near the front, of
Gothic form, studded with large nails; two iron sockets, four inches
square, should be placed on the door and frame; a mahogany table,
globe lamp, chairs, carpets, and engravings may be placed in the inner
room; the outer apartment should be empty. The lady who personates the
heroine must be of good figure, tall and stout, fine features, and
have long black hair. Costume consists of a blue silk dress, pink
waist, sleeves five inches long, bordered on the edge with black
crape, under sleeves of white tarleton muslin reaching to the wrist, a
yellow scarf tied loosely around the waist, hair flowing loosely over
the shoulders, a plaid scarf fringed on the ends with gold, bound
around the head, the ends hanging in the neck. Position, facing the
audience, the right arm bare, and thrust through the first socket, the
hand grasping the second; the left is pressed against the d