, whose admirable writings were
then allowed to have given more delight and suggested better
feelings to a large class of readers in every rank of society than
those of any other author, with the exception of Shakespeare alone,
and which were, therefore, thought likely to be remembered long after
this act of gratitude on the part of the first generation of his
admirers should be forgotten. He was born at Edinburgh 15th August
1771: and died at Abbotsford, 21st September 1832._
We also passed that ancient and picturesque mansion in the High Street
known as the "House of John Knox," in which the distinguished reformer
died in 1572. Born in the year 1505, it was he who, in the reign of Mary
Queen of Scots, stirred Scotland to mighty religious impulses, boldly
denouncing Mary as a Papist and a Jezebel. How he escaped being beheaded
or burned or assassinated was, considering the nature of the times in
which he lived, a mystery almost amounting to a miracle.
[Illustration: MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS]
Queen Mary sailed from France and landed at Leith, near Edinburgh, on
August 19th, 1561, where she was welcomed by the Scots as Dowager of
France, Queen of Scotland, and heiress of England, and was "gorgeouslie
and magnificentlie" received, according to Scottish ideas, by the lords
and ladies who came to meet and accompany her to Edinburgh; but,
according to the diary of one of the Queen's ladies, "when they saw them
mounted on such wretched little hackneys so wretchedly caparisoned they
were greatly disappointed, and thought of the gorgeous pomp and superb
palfreys they had been accustomed to in France, and the Queen began to
weep.
Pages:
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324