cuted.

A conspiracy soon after took place, through the blind affection of the
English Catholics for Mary, and their implacable hatred of Elizabeth;
that, while it proved fatal to the life of one queen, has left on the
memory of the other an indelible stain. It was a conspiracy of two
zealous Catholics, to take the life of Elizabeth. The plot was revealed
in confidence to Anthony Babington, a young gentleman of Derbyshire,
possessing a large fortune and many amiable qualities, whom the
Archbishop of Glasgow had recommended to the notice of Mary. The
conspirators, through treachery, were arrested, and it is said two
letters from Mary were found with Babington. This was a pretext to
represent these fanatics as the instruments of the captive queen.
Determined that no circumstance of solemnity suited to the dignity of
the person arraigned might be wanting, Elizabeth appointed, by a
commission under the great seal, forty persons, the most illustrious in
the kingdom for their rank and birth, together with five judges, for the
decision of the cause.

On October 11, 1586, the commissioners arrived at Fotheringay, where
Mary was confined. She solemnly protested her innocence of the crime
laid to her charge, and having never countenanced any attempt against
the life of Elizabeth, she refused to acknowledge the jurisdiction of
the commissioners. "I came," said she, "into the kingdom an independent
sovereign, to implore the queen's assistance, not to subject myself to
her authority. Nor is my spirit so broken by past misfortunes, or
intimidated by present dangers, as to stoop to anything unbecoming the
majesty of a crowned head, or that will disgrace the ancestors from whom
I am descended, and the son to whom I shall leave my throne."

Mary made her own defence; and her conduct before her judges displayed
the magnanimity of a heroine, tempered by the gentleness and modesty of
a woman. The judges were predetermined to find her guilty: the trial was
a mere pretence to give a sanction to their proceedings; they were
unanimous in declaring Mary "to be accessory to the conspiracy of
Babington, and to have imagined divers matters, tending to the hurt,
death, and destruction of Elizabeth, contrary to the express words of
the statute made for the security of the life of the queen."

On Tuesday, February 7, 1587, the Earls of Shrewsbury and Kent arrived
at Fotheringay, and read in Mary's presence the warrant for her
execution, which was