., Mary's
father, and that consequently her son, and not Mary, was the rightful
heir to the crown. Of course she was Mary's natural enemy. They
selected her castle as the place of Mary's confinement partly on this
account, and partly on account of its inaccessible position in the
midst of the waters of the lake. They delivered the captive queen,
accordingly, to the Lady Douglas and her husband, charging them to
keep her safely. The Lady Douglas received her, and locked her up in
the octagonal tower with the window looking out upon the water.

In the mean time, all Scotland took sides for or against the queen.
The strongest party were against her; and the Church was against her,
on account of their hostility to the Catholic religion. A sort of
provisional government was instituted, which assumed the management
of public affairs. Mary had, however, some friends, and they soon
began to assemble in order to see what could be done for her cause.
Their rendezvous was at the palace of Hamilton. This palace was
situated on a plain in the midst of a beautiful park, near the River
Clyde, a few miles from Glasgow. The Duke of Hamilton was prominent
among the supporters of the queen, and made his house their
head-quarters. They were often called, from this circumstance, the
Hamilton lords.

On the other hand, the party opposed to Mary made the castle of
Stirling their head-quarters, because the young prince was there, in
whose name they were proposing soon to assume the government. Their
plan was to depose Mary, or induce her to abdicate the throne, and
then to make Murray regent, to govern the country in the name of the
prince until the prince should become of age. During all this time
Murray had been absent in France, but they now sent urgent messages
to him to return. He obeyed the summons, and turned his face toward
Scotland.

In the mean time, Mary continued in confinement in her little tower.
She was not treated like a common prisoner, but had, in some degree,
the attentions due to her rank. There were five or six female, and
about as many male attendants; though, if the rooms which are
exhibited to visitors at the present day as the apartments which she
occupied are really such, her quarters were very contracted. They
consist of small apartments of an octagonal form, one over the other,
with tortuous and narrow stair-cases in the solid wall to ascend from
one to the other. The roof and the floors of the tower are now gon