Protestantism in Scotland - James Aitken Wylie

with marked and lasting effect on both Romanism
and Protestantism. We have repeatedly referred to
the league of the three Papal Powers France, Spain,
and Rome -- to quench the new light which was
then dawning on the nations, and bring back the
night on the face of all the earth. We have also said
that of this plot Mary Stuart had become the center,
seeing the part assigned her was essential to its
success. It is surely a most instructive fact, that the
series of frightful crimes into which this prince as
plunged was one of the main instrumentaries that
Providence employed to bring this plot to nought.
From the day that Mary Stuart put her hand to this
bond of blood, the tide in her fortunes turned, and
all things went against her. First came her sudden
and ill-starred affection for Lord Darnley, the son
of the Earl of Lennox; then followed her marriage
with him, accomplished through treachery, and
followed by civil war. The passion which Mary felt
for Darnley, a weak, vain, and frivolous youth, and
addicted to low company, soon gave place to
disgust. Treated with neglect by her husband, Mary
was thrown upon others, and then came her worse
than unseemly intimacy with the low-born and
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