The History of Scotland, During the Reign of Queen Mary and of King James VI. Till His Accession to the Crown of England: With a Review of the Scottish History Previous to that Period: and an Appendix, Containing Original Letters

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Derby and Jackson, 1857 - Scotland - 460 pages

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Page 134 - Distinctions of colours are of his ordination. It is he who gives existence* In your temples, to his name, the voice is raised in prayer; in a house of images where the bell is shaken, still he is the object of adoration. To vilify the religion and customs of other men, is to set at naught the pleasure of the Almighty.
Page 72 - It is to the discovery of the passage to India, by the cape of Good Hope, and to the vigour and success...
Page 273 - Her eyes were a dark gray, her complexion was exquisitely fine, and her hands and arms remarkably delicate, both as to shape and colour. Her stature was of a height that rose to the majestic. She danced, she walked, and rode with equal grace. Her taste for music was just, and she both sung and played upon the lute with uncommon skill.
Page 265 - And worn out, as I now am, with cares and sufferings, the prospect of a crown is not so inviting that I should ruin my soul in order to obtain it. I am no stranger to the feelings of humanity, nor unacquainted with the duties of religion, and abhor the detestable crime of assassination, as equally repugnant to both.
Page 271 - Weep not, good Melvil, there is at present great cause for rejoicing. Thou shalt this day see Mary Stuart delivered from all her cares, and such an end put to her tedious sufferings, as she has long expected. Bear witness that I die constant in my religion ; firm in my fidelity towards Scotland ; and unchanged in my affection to France. Commend me to my son. Tell him I have done nothing injurious to his kingdom, to his honour, or to his rights ; and God forgive all those who have thirsted without...
Page 328 - You know very well, that the injury she has received is exceeding great, and her majesty will never forget it.
Page 273 - With regard to the queen's person, a circumstance not to be omitted in writing the history of a female reign, all contemporary authors agree in ascribing to Mary the utmost beauty of countenance and elegance of shape of which the human form is capable. Her hair was black, though, according to the fashion of that age, she frequently wore borrowed locks, and of different colours.
Page 272 - ... valets. With calm but undaunted fortitude, she laid her neck on the block ; and while one executioner held her hands, the other, at the second stroke, cut off her head, which, falling out of its attire, discovered her hair already grown quite grey with cares and sorrows. The executioner held it up still streaming with blood, and the dean crying out, "So perish all Queen Elizabeth's enemies," the Earl of Kent alone answered, Amen.
Page 107 - that (says the historian) by intermarriages, and exchange of good offices, the inhabitants of these two great continents might be gradually moulded into a similarity of sentiments, and become attached to each other with mutual affection.
Page 272 - Mary added those accomplishments which render their impression irresistible. Polite, affable, insinuating, sprightly, and capable of speaking and of writing with equal ease and dignity. Sudden, however, and violent in all her attachments; because her heart was warm and unsuspicious. Impatient of contradiction, because she had been accustomed from her infancy to be treated as a queen. No stranger, on some occasions, to dissimulation; which, in that perfidious court, where she received her education,...

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