Alike by her own character and gifts
and by the momentous policy of which she was the agent, Mary of Lorraine
is one of the remarkable figures in Scottish history. It was her
misfortune--a misfortune due to her birth and connections--that she
found herself from the first in direct antagonism to the natural
development of the country of her adoption, and that the circumstances
in which she ruled were such as to bring into prominence the least
worthy traits of the proud race from which she sprang. Yet in personal
appearance, as in courage and magnificence, she was the true sister of
Henry of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine, "the Pope and King of
France." Construed to a larger and more charitable sense than that in
which they were written, the words of Knox fitly enough sum up her
career. She was "unhappy--to Scotland--from the first day she entered
into it unto the day she finished her unhappy life."
On June 16th commissioners arrived from England and France with powers
to effect an arrangement between the contending parties. From England
came Cecil and Dr. Wotton, Dean of Canterbury and York; and from France,
Monluc, Bishop of Valence, and Charles de Rochefoucauld, Sieur de
Randan. From the beginning, the French representatives gave it to be
understood that any treaty that might be made was exclusively between
England and France; the Congregation were rebel subjects with whom their
prince could in no wise treat.
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