the government in his name. This was called the Raid of Ruthven. James having effected his escape, Arran re gained his power over the King: the Lords concerned in the Raid of Ruthven were banished; but Gowrie linger ing at Dundee in hope of a counter-revolution which might restore him to his estates and honours, was taken and executed. The profligate Arran, re-instated as Prime Minister, continued his career of infamy, and by his rapacity and tyranny, earned, both for himself and his sovereign, a high degree of unpopularity. Douglas of Mains, and Cunningham of Drumquhassel, were executed on frivolous and ill-sustained charges. The Earl of Athol was imprisoned, because he would not entail his estate upon the unprincipled Minister-Lord Home, because he would not convey to him a part of the lands of Dirleton-and the Master of Cassilis, because he would not lend him a sum of money. Encouraged by the growing unpopularity of Arran, the banished Lords returned in 1585, and being joined by many of the other nobles, advanced to Stirling with ten thousand men, where they drove the infamous Minister from the King's presence, and were themselves received into favour. Mary had all this time been kept a close prisoner in England. The marks of honour and respect at first accorded to her were gradually withdrawn. She was hurried from prison to prison, being confined successively at Carlisle, Bolton, Tutbury, Wingfield, Coventry, and Hardwicke Hall; and every removal was accompanied by an increased rigour of captivity. This severity excited a sympathy for Mary in various quarters, especially among those of her own religion. The Roman Catholics were still a numerous and powerful body in England, and the captive Princess was the centre of all their hopes and machinations. Plot after plot was formed for the liberation of the Scottish Queen; and some of these even embraced a scheme for the murder of Elizabeth, that Mary as her legitimate successor might at once assume the sovereignty of England. These machinations repeatedly shook the stability of Elizabeth's throne, and kept her in perpetual terror for her crown and her life. Her Prot estant subjects, seeing their religion thus endangered, were clamorous for the execution of Mary, whom they regarded as the root and source of all these evils. In 1585, a conspiracy for the assassination of Elizabeth was formed by Anthony Babington, a young gentleman of fortune; which being detected, he and his fellow-conspirators were executed. Elizabeth's Ministers were as eager as herself for the death of Mary; for they trembled for their own life, if that injured Princess, whom they had offended beyond forgiveness, should ever succeed to the English throne, which by right she must do, if she outlived the present sovereign. It was therefore determined that Mary should be brought to trial on a charge of being concerned in Babington's conspiracy. With dignity and firmness Mary declined the jurisdiction of the Court, saying, that she was an independent sovereign, and could not be tried by the subjects of the Queen of England. She argued, and justly, "English laws can only be binding upon English subjects-the laws of this country have never afforded me protection; let them not now be perverted to take away my life." She at the same time protested her innocence of that, or of any other plot, touching the life of Elizabeth. During the trial, which took place at Fotheringay Mary conducted herself with great calmness and courage. She pointed out the defects in the evidence, and the irregularity of the proceedings, and shewed a readiness and aptness in her replies, which gave a very favourable idea of her judgment and good sense. The Commission having adjourned to the Star Chamber in London, found her guilty of treason against Elizabeth; and the latter, after affecting much reluctance to carry the sentence into execution, at the very time that she was urging Mary's keepers to put her privately to death, at last ordered Davidson the Secretary to prepare the death-warrant. Mary ascended the scaffold on the 8th of February 1586, and laid her head upon the block with the same calm courage she had displayed at her trial; and at two strokes the executioner severed her head from her body. Thus perished, in the forty-fourth year of her age, Mary, Queen of Scots. In reviewing her character, we must admit that she was guilty of great imprudence in marrying a fool like Darnley, and there was worse than imprudence in her infatuated attachment to an unprincipled villian like Bothwell: but when we look at the dark characters that figured in the drama around her, and at the determination so manifestly existing on the part of the ambitious nobles to deprive her of her power, on whatever pretext-a treatment so often practised to the youthful monarchs in the preceding reigns-we will be disposed to impute her misfortunes rather to the fault of the times than to any depravity in herself. In 1588 Philip of Spain fitted out against England the largest fleet that had ever been seen in Europe, and which he proudly termed the Invincible Armada. After entering the English Channel, a tempest disabled many of the ships the English gallantly attacked the huge floating masses, when many were destroyed-and some attempting to escape by sailing round Scotland and Ireland were wrecked on the rugged shores of those countries. In 1589 James married Anne, daughter of the King of Denmark. James's reluctance to punish crimes, and his want of vigour in administering the laws, had produced much disorder and violence. Bothwell, the infamous successor of the more infamous Hepburn, after a daring attempt upon the king's person in the palace of Holyrood, had retreated to the north: and Huntly, who had received a commission to pursue and capture him, instead of proceeding against the rebel earl, burned Donibristle house, and slew the youthful Earl of Murray. This slaughter of the heir of the late popular regent created a high degree of discontent. James strongly resented the freedom with which the preachers discussed political matters in the pulpit, and strenuously resisted their assumed independence of the civil jurisdiction. Having haughtily refused a petition presented to him in the tolbooth for a redress of grievances, he was immediately surrounded by a furious mob that threatened his life. Having with difficulty escaped this danger, he retired to Linlithgow, where he deprived Edinburgh of its charter, withdrew the courts from a town that had offered so serious an affront to his author ity, and threatened to level the rebellious city with the ground. The magistrates made an humble submission, and the king's wrath was with difficulty appeased. The two principal events which took place during the remainder of his reign in Scotland, were, the deliverance of Kinmont Willie, from the Castle of Carlisle by the gallantry of Buccleuch, in 1596, and the Gowrie conspiracy, which nearly proved fatal to the King in 1600. Whilst hunting at Falkland, Alexander Ruthven, younger brother of the Earl of Gowrie, took the King aside, and told him a mysterious story about a suspicious character, whom he had apprehended with a pot of foreign gold coins on his person; and he urged the King to accompany him to his brother's Castle at Perth, where the man was confined, that he might himself examine him. After the chase, the King rode to Perth with a small retinue, where he was coldly received by the Earl of Gowrie. Alexander Ruthven led him into a small closet in a turret, where, instead of a prisoner, the King was surprised to find a man in armour. This was Henderson, one of the Earl's retainers, from whom Ruthven snatching a dagger, told the King he was his prisoner. The king reasoned with him on such extraordinary conduct, and when Ruthven attempted to bind his hands, he resisted, and struggling, with the assailant, he reached a window that looked into the Court, shouting, "Treason! Murder!" The cry was heard by some of the King's followers who happened to be standing below. They rushed to his rescue-Ruthven still grasping the throat of the King, was stabbed; and Gowrie coming to his aid was encountered and slain. Elizabeth died on the 24th of March, 1603; and James succeeded to the throne of England, amid the general rejoicings of all parties. The two Kingdoms have since been ruled by the same sovereign; but it was not till a century after, that the two Parliaments were incorporated into one by the Union of 1707. I SECTION IV. NATURAL HISTORY. I.-Man. THOUGH all the human race have sprung from one common stock, yet we find man presenting very different aspects in different parts of the globe. Cuvier, the celebrated Naturalist, has divided the human species into three varieties, viz.: 1. the fair or Caucasian race; 2. the yellow or Mongolian race; and, 3. the black or Ethiopian race. Blumenbach, also famous in this department of science, makes the varieties five, by subdividing the Ethiopian race into three classes; 1. the American; 2. the Negro; and, 3. the Malay. 1. The Caucasian Variety. Of all the varieties of the human race, the Caucasian is indisputably the first, whether we regard corporeal or mental endowments. This class is distinguished by a white skin, red cheek, expansive forehead, ample beard, graceful limbs, and a profusion of curling or waving locks. Their native seat appears to be that mountainous region between the Black Sea and the Caspian, near which Noah's Ark rested after the deluge; and at no great distance from which our first parents had their primeval abode. This race far excelling the others in vigour of understanding, in habits of industry, and in the refinements of arts, have been the most famous in all ages of the world. They founded, in ancient times, the Assyrian and Persian, the Roman and Grecian, empires-and in modern times the powerful kingdoms of Europe, which at present give laws to the civilized world. Besides the Europeans, this class comprises the Georgians, the Circassians, the inhabitants of Asia Minor, Syria, and the northern parts of Africa. By some it is even believed, that the Persians and Hindoos must be regarded as a branch of the same class. |