a series of incidents, which, for their atrocity and
rapid succession, were scarcely to be paralleled in the pages of
history. A general infamy fell upon the Scotch nation, which was
regarded, from these circumstances, as a people void of decency,
humanity, and honor.

[Illustration: Mary Stuart and Rizzio.]

The discontented nobles confederated together and flew to arms. Bothwell
and Mary were unable to stem the opposition; she surrendered to her
enemies, and was conducted a captive to the castle of Lochleven. Mary
had for some weeks suffered the terrors of a prison; of her deliverance
there seemed to be but little prospect; no one had appeared as her
defender or advocate. Thus solitary, deserted, and distressed, her
persecutors reckoned on her fears and on her sex. Lord Lindsay, the
fiercest zealot of the party, was employed to communicate their plan to
the queen, and to obtain from her a subscription to the papers with
which he was charged. In the execution of his commission, he spared
neither harshness nor brutality; certain death was offered to the
unhappy victim, as the alternative of her refusal. Thus urged, she
yielded to the pressure of circumstances, and put her signature to the
papers presented to her by Lindsay. By one of these papers she resigned
the crown, renounced all share in the government, and consented to
the coronation of the young king. By another, she appointed Murray to
the regency, and vested him with the powers and privileges of the
office. Pierced with grief, and bathed in indignant tears, she signed
the deed of her own humiliation, and furnished to her adversaries the
instrument of her abasement.

The people were not generally satisfied with the conduct of Murray, the
regent, and the scattered party of the queen began gradually to reunite.
Such was the disposition of the nation when Mary, through the medium of
George Douglas, a youth of eighteen, contrived to escape from prison.
She flew on horseback, at full speed, to Hamilton, where, before a train
of great and splendid nobles, and an army 6,000 strong, she declared
that the deeds signed by her during her imprisonment, and the
resignation of her crown, were extorted from her by fear. An engagement
between her forces and those of Murray took place at Hamilton; her army
was defeated. She stood on a hill and saw all that passed. In confusion
and horror she began her flight, and so terrible was the trepidation of
her spirits, that she stopp