In his next effusion the poet rises to a more passionate height in his admiration. It is such as we might imagine Randolph to have penned in his enthusiasm, could we, by any flight of fancy, suppose him capable of such scholarly verses as those of Buchanan:-- Should I rejoice, or should my heart despair, That Beton's yoke the Fates have made me bear? O, Comeliness, what need have I of thee, When hope of mutual love is dead for me? For favours such as these, in life's young day, E'en life had seemed no heavy price to pay; And though my earthly bliss had been but brief, Its fulness would have soothed my dying grief; Now, ling'ring fires consume; I lack life's joy, And death would bring me comfort, not annoy; In life, in death, be this my comfort still, That life and death are at my Lady's will. The third epigram is more particularly interesting, as bearing reference, we think, to Mary Beton's literary tastes:-- Beneath cold Winter's blast the fields are bare, Nor yield a posy for my Lady fair; E'en so my Muse, luxuriant in her prime, Has felt the chill and numbing grip of time; Could lovely Beton's spirit but inspire, 'Twere Spring again, with all its life and fire. The will drawn up by Mary Stuart, in 1556, which, it is true, never took effect, seems to point to Mary Beton as the most scholarly amongst the maids of honour. It is to her that the French, English, and Italian books in the royal collection are bequeathed; the classical authors being reserved for the University of St. Andrews, where they were intended to form the nucleus of a library: "Je laysse mes liuures qui y sont en Grec ou Latin à l'université de Sintandre, pour y commencer une bible. Les aultres ie les laysse à Beton."[94] This is further borne out by the fact that, many years later, William Fowler, secretary to Queen Anne of Denmark, wife of James VI, dedicated his "Lamentatioun of the desolat Olympia, furth of the tenth cantt of Ariosto" "to the right honourable ladye Marye Betoun, Ladye Boine". Of the literary accomplishments which may fairly be inferred from these circumstances, we have, however, no further proof. Nothing of Mary Beton's has come down to us, except a letter, addressed by her in June, 1563, to the wife of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, whose acquaintance she may have made either in France or in Scotland, Sir Nicholas having been English Ambassador in both countries. In this short document the writer acknowledges the receipt of a ring, assures the giver that she will endeavour to return her love by making her commendations to the Queen, and begs her acceptance in return, and as a token of their good love and amity, of a little ring which she has been accustomed to wear daily.[95]