rd James, a man with whom he was very much more likely to find
himself in sympathy than with the young Queen. A grave temper and some
learning, and also the charm of early association, would naturally
attract the elderly scholar more than Mary's feminine gifts, however
great their charm. It was Murray, no doubt, who presented him to the
Queen, and procured him his position at Court; and just as the tragic
moment approached, when Mary's brilliant life was about to plunge into
darkness, Murray bestowed on Buchanan the place of all others best
suited for him, and to which his whole previous existence tended--that
of Principal of the College of St. Leonard's in the University of St.
Andrews. A more fit position, as the best field for his great gifts and
dignified retirement for his old age, could not be imagined. Buchanan
was sixty; he was of all the scholars of his time _facile princeps_,
according to the opinion of the great French printer and scholar, whose
expressions were adopted in the register of the University as describing
the qualifications of the new Principal. It might well have been
supposed that in the reconstitution and improvement of that old
University, in the supervision of his students, in the periodical visit
to Edinburgh for Church matters or educational duties, which has
afforded the necessary relaxation to many a succeeding principal, the
peaceful days of the greatest scholar in Europe would now have passed
tranquilly, until he found his resting-place, like so many others, under
the soft green mantle of the turf which, broken only by solemn
mounds--the last traces of individuality--encircled the great Cathedral
of St. Andrews as it now encircles the ruins of that once splendid
shrine.

The events of the time, however, permitted no such dignified and calm
conclusion. One can imagine the horror and dismay with which the little
community at St. Andrews heard the dreadful news, carried far and wide
on every breeze, with every kind of whispered comment and
suggestion--soon to be no longer whispered with pale face and bated
breath, but proclaimed from the housetops--of Darnley's murder. Buchanan
had poured forth his celebrations of Mary's marriage and of the birth of
the heir while still a member of her household. And no doubt he had
become aware of the dissensions in that royal house, of Darnley's
ingratitude and folly and the Queen's impatience, before he escaped from
all the talk and endless gossip to th