Rehearses I was fruitful to my hearse,
Tell that my days are told, and soon I'm toll'd away!


THE VEIL OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.


Maria Stuart has been canonized, and placed among the martyrs by the
Jesuits. Of course there are relics of hers. Her prayer-book was long shown
in France; and her apologist published in an English journal a sonnet which
she was said to have composed, and to have written with her own hand in
this book. A celebrated German actress, Mrs. Hendel-Schutz, who excited
admiration by her attitudes, and also performed Schiller's "Maria" with
great applause in several cities of Germany, affirmed that a cross which
she wore on her neck was the very same that once belonged to the
unfortunate queen. Relics of this description have never yet been subjected
to the proof of their authenticity. But if there is anything which may be
reasonably believed to have been once the property of the queen, _it is the
veil with which she covered her head on the scaffold, after the
executioner_, whether from awkwardness or confusion is uncertain, _had
wounded the unfortunate victim in the shoulder by a false blow_. This veil
still exists, and is in the possession of Sir J.C. Hippisley, who claims to
be descended from the Stuart's by the mother's side. He had an engraving
made from it by Matteo Diottavi, in Rome, 1818, and gave copies to his
friends.

The veil is embroidered with gold spangles by (as is said) the queen's own
hand, in regular rows crossing each other, so as to form small squares, and
edged with a gold border, to which another border has been subsequently
joined, in which the following words are embroidered in letters of gold:--