SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Under this Heading we notice Such Books of the week as hare not been Merced for review tin other forms.)
Glary Queen of Scots. Edited by Robert S. Reit. (D. Nutt. 2s.) This is the second of a series of "Scottish History from Contem- porary Writers," .to be conducted on the same principles as the series relating to English history. The period included is the six years (about) beginning with Mary's arrival in Scotland and ending with her imprisonment in Lochleven Castle. Section VIII.; however, contains some details of Mary's English imprisonment, and the narfative of her execution from the pen of* an eye-witness (from Ellis's Letters"). Her lips stirred up and down a quarter of an hour after her head was cut off," a fact which reminds us of the blush on Charlotte Corday's cheek. The courtship of Darnley and the marriage, the death of Darnley, the abduction by Bothwell, the casket letters and love sonnets, are among the- highly interesting documents here published. The description of the Queen's illness at Jedburgh, brought on, in the opinion of an eminent physician, by " over-exertion and vexation," is noteworthy. The great controversy about Mary's character will probably never be settled—it is very much a matter of latitude—but the evidence here brought together does not leave, on the whole, a favourable impression. It is scarcely too much to say that the balance inclines, as the discussion stands at present, to the Anti-Marian party.
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