It was on the 9th of August, 1561, after having lost her mother and her
husband in the same year, that Mary Stuart, Dowager of France and Queen
of Scotland at nineteen, escorted by her uncles, Cardinals Guise and
Lorraine, by the Duke and Duchess of Guise, by the Duc d'Aumale and M. de
Nemours, arrived at Calais, where two galleys were waiting to take her to
Scotland, one commanded by M. de Mevillon and the other by Captain
Albize. She remained six days in the town. At last, on the 15th of the
month, after the saddest adieus to her family, accompanied by Messieurs
d'Aumale, d'Elboeuf, and Damville, with many nobles, among whom were
Brantome and Chatelard, she embarked in M. Mevillon's galley, which was
immediately ordered to put out to sea, which it did with the aid of oars,
there not being sufficient wind to make use of the sails.

Mary Stuart was then in the full bloom of her beauty, beauty even more
brilliant in its mourning garb--a beauty so wonderful that it shed around
her a charm which no one whom she wished to please could escape, and
which was fatal to almost everyone. About this time, too, someone made
her the subject of a song, which, as even her rivals confessed, contained
no more than the truth. It was, so it was said, by M. de Maison-Fleur, a
cavalier equally accomplished in arms and letters: Here it is:--

"In robes of whiteness, lo, Full sad and mournfully, Went pacing to and
fro Beauty's divinity; A shaft in hand she bore From Cupid's cruel store,
And he, who fluttered round, Bore, o'er his blindfold eyes And o'er his
head uncrowned, A veil of mournful guise, Whereon the words were wrought:
'You perish or are caught.'"

Yes, at this moment, Mary Stuart, in her deep mourning of white, was more
lovely than ever; for great tears were trickling down her cheeks, as,