Scotland -- History -- Stuarts, to the Union, 1371-1707
To sketch Mary's character further would be trenching on debatable
ground and overstepping the limits which we have imposed upon ourselves.
There is one trait, however, which may be recorded on the authority even
of her enemies--her personal courage. Randolph represents her as riding
at the head of her troops "with a steel bonnet on her head, and a pistol
at her saddle-bow; regretting that she was not a man to know what life
it was to lie all night in the fields, or to walk upon the causeway with
a jack and a knapscull, a Glasgow buckler, and a broadsword". The
author of the poem preserved in the Record Office, to which we have
already made reference, allows that "no enemy could appal her, no
travail daunt her intent", that she "dreaded no danger of death", that
"no stormy blasts could make her retire", and he likens her to Tomiris:
Tomiris hir selffe
Who dreaded (_awed_) great hosts with her tyrannye
Cold not showe hir selffe more valiant.
But never, surely, was her fortitude shown more clearly to the world
than when, three hundred years ago, "she laid herself upon the block
most quietly, trying her chin over it, stretching out her hands, and
crying out: 'In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum'".
FOOTNOTES: for MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS
[1] For an account of this poem, _Maister Randolphe's Fantasie_, see
pages 91-98.
[2] As bearing on the subject of Mary's personal appearance and the
fidelity of her portraits, the following passages from an article
contributed to the _Glasgow Herald_, as a review of Mr. J. J. Foster's
work, _Concerning the True Portraiture of Mary Queen of Scots_, may here
be reproduced: "Mr. Foster points out 'in some cases a slight but
perceptible squint'. We have noticed this in one or two instances only,
and in portraits which, though they may be authentic, are technically
inferior; and we are consequently more inclined to attribute the defect
to the artist than to nature. The majority of the most trustworthy
portraits agree in making the upper eyelids thick, with an uninterrupted
curve, in setting the arched, well-marked eyebrows wide apart, and in
giving an exceptionally broad space between the eyes and the ears. The
oval face, the high cheek-bones, the round, well-proportioned and
capacious forehead, the long but shapely Greek nose, are features with
regard to which there is practical unanimity. Even if Sir George Scharf
had not pointed it out, it would hardly be possible to overlook the
peculiarity of the compressed lips. They are not thin, however, though,
on the other hand, they are very far from possessing that fulness which
physiognomists look upon as an indication of sensuality. Another
feature, so often reproduced as to be almost characteristic and
distinctive, is the strongly-marked V depression in the middle of the
upper lip. The cheek is full in its lower part, but not unduly so. The
chin is well-developed, but is neither cloven nor dimpled.... Prince
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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