piece of thread sticking to his dress. This thread he pompously returned to the master of the house, saying that it would be sinful in him, a priest, to take anything out of the house that had not been given him.

Moral. Do not be a hypocrite.

THE PAINTED FOX.

A fox finding a deserted dyer's sink containing blue colour, painted itself all over of a beautiful azure hue, and went and showed itself to the other animals. They did not recognise him, and asked him, "Who are you?" The fox replied, "I am the king of the beasts."

you can decide the question, and know whether or not your king is a fox."

When that night came all the other foxes howled aloud, and the blue fox, afraid lest its hair should fall off, howled in a low voice, but still loud enough for the other beasts to hear him. They thus knew that their pretended king was but a fox after all, and the lion, enraged at being deceived, killed him with one stroke of his paw. Moral. Though you attain to high rank, do not oppress your inferiors.

THE PEARL BORER.

A lad learned to bore pearls, and, priding him

The lions and other creatures then all did him homage, and the fox, when he travelled, rode on the lion's back, lording it over all classes of animals generally, but carrying it with an especially high hand in the assembly of the foxes. After a time the fox sent provisions to his mother, who hearing the whole tale, sent back word to her son not to trouble himself about her, but to occupy himself with the affairs of his kingdom. The messenger foxes hearing this, filled with envy, went to the other beasts and said, "This king of yours is but a fox after all; if you honour him, why don't you honour us; he is just like us."

"Like you," said the other beasts, "why, he is a different colour altogether."

The foxes replied, "As to the colour, wait till the first month of spring. In that month, on the night of the star called Bos, we foxes howl. If we don't howl our hair falls off. On that night

self on the attainment, learned nothing more. Other lads, his companions, learned many things, and succeeded in life to such an extent that he who could bore pearls before they could do any thing was left far behind them, and was glad to hire himself out to them as their servant.

Moral. Do not be too proud of any attainment, and always be diligent to learn more.

THE BAD-TEMPERED MONKEY.

A sparrow had its nest half way up a tree, in the top of which dwelt a monkey. After a heavy rain, the sparrow, snug and dry in its nest, saw the monkey shaking his dripping body, and addressed him thus: "Comrade, your hands are skilful, your strength great, your intellect clever, why do you live in such a miserable state? Can't you build a snug nest like mine?" The monkey,

angered at the complacency of the sparrow, replied: "Am I to be mocked by an evil creature like you? Your nest is snug, is it?" So saying he destroyed it and threw it down.

Moral. Do not talk with a passionate man.

FOX AND BIRD.

A fox and a bird made friends and lived together. While the parent bird was away searching for food, the fox used to devour one of the young birds. This continued till all the fledgelings were gone. The mother bird, then aware of the fate of her young, resolved to be avenged, and, finding a trap set, decoyed the fox to it and saw him caught.

Moral. Beware of an evil-intentioned man.

MOUSE AND ELEPHANT.

A mouse fell into a pit and could not get out. An elephant hearing its little piteous voice, looked into the pit, and, seeing a mouse, lowered down his tail, which the mouse laid hold of and thus reached the surface. The little animal thanked his great deliverer, and said he would never forget the kindness he received. The elephant said he had helped him only because he had been moved by pity, and disclaimed any hope of being repaid

for his trouble, and dismissed the mouse with a benediction.

Years passed by, and the same elephant, old and infirm, fell into a ravine too narrow to permit him to rise. This same mouse, seeing his distress, collected all the mice in these parts, and scraped away one side of the ravine, making it wide enough for the elphant to rise.

Moral. Be helpful to others and you will be helped yourself.

PEBBLES FOR JEWELS.

A set of half-witted people went to the sea to gather precious stones. Not being well able to discriminate between true and false stones, they took for precious a lot of common pebbles, thinking they must be good because they were of bright colour and heavy. The really precious stones, being of uncertain colour and light weight, they rejected as worthless.

Moral. The generality of people make the same mistake with regard to religion. Wealth, fame, honour, look brighter and better, and are preferred to the fruits of religion; but in reality those who reject religion for worldly things are rejecting diamonds and choosing common pebbles.

J. GILMOUR.

WE

TE believe that Scotch history surpasses every other in point of romantic interest. Stories

full of terror, stories full of pathos, stories which mingle those qualities together in a wonderful way, abound in the national records, and are familiar to historical readers. But in the by-ways of Scotch literature, in obscure outlying fields of research, there are found many more of a private and domestic character which cast a strange spell over the imagination, and some of these curiously interlink themselves with well-known names and fortunes. An example of this kind, partially related long ago, has lately received fresh illumination, and to it we call the reader's attention.

The family of the Gordons figure conspicuously amongst the Scotch clans of the fifteenth century. Alexander Seaton Gordon, or the first Earl of Huntly-" cock of the North," as he was called —is caught sight of at that time, on the border of the Highlands, busily employed in increasing his domains-in plain English, appropriating land without any other title than that which the strong claim over the weak.

George, the second earl, married Joanna, third daughter of James I of Scotland; and a son of the same earl formed a matrimonial alliance with a sister, and sole heir of the Earl of Sutherland. Thus allied, the Gordons rose to a high position, and at the opening of the sixteenth century lived with regal splendour at Strathbogie Castle.

George, the fourth earl, became further enriched by monastic spoils at the period of the Reformation, but, carrying his ambition too far, he came to an untimely end. His son John was beheaded, and Mary Queen of Scots, at the instance of her brother Murray, attended the execution of the unhappy young man. The Gordons were now at the bottom of fortune's wheel; presently they were again at the top. Earl George had a daughter named Jane, who in 1556 had reached her twentieth year-a lady of no great beauty, but, judging from her portrait at a later date, and from her subsequent history, she must have pos sessed considerable abilities, a strong will, and an adequate capacity of holding her own. Just about this period James, Earl of Bothwell, who is described as of a turbulent and restless disposition, was at enmity with the Earl of Arran, and with Earl Murray too. He, however, leagued himself with the young Earl of Huntly, who was brother to Lady Jane just mentioned; and, together with Huntly, took the side of Mary against the nobles opposed to her policy, and these persons were reported to the English court as Mary's "new counsellors." Bothwell became Warden of the Border Marshes, on which account the English representative told Secretary Cecil, he despaired of business being properly managed, for, said he, Bothwell "neither fears God nor loves justice; he is "as naughty a man as liveth, and much

given to the most detestable vices." At this period also Lady Jane Gordon became affianced to Bothwell. There is no proof of any love having existed between them, and it would appear that the alliance arose out of the intimacy of the bridegroom and the bride's brother; and out of intrigues with a view to political combinations. common in that age, and difficult-even impossible for us now to unravel. At all events, Jane got a bad husband-a man ungainly in his appearance, hateful to many of the nobility, violent and unscrupulous, notorious for profligacy, and, on the eve of his marriage, said to have been "clanned by a Danish wife,"-whatever that might mean. Also, he is described as having been "quyetly marreit or hand fast" to Janet Betoun, of Cranstoun Riddell, heroine of "The Lay of the Last Minstrel," who, marvellous to say, was afterwards "charged with administering philtres for riveting the infatuated affection of Mary to him, which, indeed, is not easily explained." It seems incredible that the woman jilted by Bothwell should have helped to get him married to Mary, but the stories of that day are full of what is incredible.

The contract of marriage between Bothwell and Jane Gordon is still in existence, dated 12th February, 1565, and it is signed by Queen Mary, by George, Earl of Huntly, by James, Earl Bothwell, by the bride, and by Elizabeth, Countess of Huntly, "with her hand laid on the pen of the Lord Bishop of Galloway;" from this we conclude that she could not write herself. Mary and Darnley took a great interest in the wedding, and her Majesty presented the bride with a dress" of cloth of silver, lined with taffeta." She also, ten years afterwards, in what is called her " testamentary inventory," bequeathed to Lady Jane a coiff, garnished with rubies, pearls, and garnets. The wedding ceremony, if performed according to the wish of the queen, would have taken place in the chapel of Holyrood House, with the accompaniments of Roman Catholic worship. But instead of this, the bride and bridegroom went to the Canongate Church, near the palace gates, and there were united by the bride's relative, Gordon, Bishop of Galloway. In the Kirk Session Records of the parish there is a record, dated February 24th, 1565-6, of James, Earl Bothwell, and Jane Gordon, sister of the Earls of Huntly, being "married in our own kirk." Popery had been disestablished; Presbyterianism had taken its place. Marriages had come within the jurisdiction of the kirk, and here was a bishop of the old church marrying two people together, after the Presbyterian fashion. John Knox informs us, "the queen was desirous that the marriage might be made in the chapel at the mass, which the Earl of Bothwell would by no means grant;" for it appears that this unprincipled person set his face against Popish worship, and refused to enter the Chapel Royal when the infant prince was baptized, "because it was done against the points of their religion."

Neither Mary nor Darnley were present at the ceremony, but they gave a wedding banquet the first day, and continued the festivities for five

days, with jousts and tournaments, and, says the chronicler, Lindsay, "there were made six knights of Fife at the time." So there must have been splendid doings that week in Holyrood Palace: a grand display of Scotch chivalry and beauty; magnificent feasts in the royal hall; gay dresses and superb decorations; nobles and their attendants, titled ladies and their maids; men in armour with squires and heralds in the courtyard; multitudes assembled to behold the encounters between knight and knight; the queen enthroned with her courtiers round her to behold the show, and bestow the prize; the shock of arms, the breaking of lances, the unhorsing of champions, and the shout of applause-all that and much more must have been witnessed in old Edinburgh, then so different from what it is now. And could we have seen it all with our own eyes, we should have discovered an odd medley of splendour and semibarbarism, to which folks then with their habits and associations were quite blind.

In the month of May that same year occurred another wedding. Marie Beatoun was married to Alexander Ogilvie, of Boyne, and the previous contract, dated May the 3rd, 1566, was signed by Mary and Darnley, "they undertaking to cause George, Earl of Huntly, James, Earl of Bothwell, and others, to become cautioners for the said Alexander Ogilvie." Thus the bridegroom is connected with the husband and brother of Jane Gordon; and it will appear from the sequel that new threads were thus gathered up into the web of these destinies, to appear in an unanticipated fashion another day. Before then other things occurred, which we proceed to tell.

The story of Queen Mary and James, Earl of Bothwell, has been written over and over again in very different ways; and documents and traditions belonging to it have been a battle-ground for historians, who have had encounters with each other, such as may not inaptly be compared with the tournaments at Holyrood just mentioned. With the literary quarrels of the whole question we dare not meddle. Whether Mary fell in love with Bothwell under the influence of a misguided passion, or whether policy more than affection had to do with her conduct-because she needed a strong arm to rest upon, to fight her battles, and such an arm she found in this unscrupulous nobleman-whether on his side ambition or personal attachment was the mainspring of his conduct; whether or not she was privy to the deeds of darkness committed one memorable night at the kirk of Field, we do not here attempt to determine, for it is not required by our present story that we should do so. It is sufficient to say that Bothwell was taken more and more into favour by Mary as the year 1566 rolled on; that in the month of December, at the prince's baptism, according to despatches sent to England, he was "appointed to receive the ambassadors, and all things at the christening were at his appointment,' much to the annoyance of many of the nobilityand that he appeared in "royal apparel;" gorgeous robes with hangings from Aberdeen Cathedral being bestowed on him by the queen. Her capture by the earl, and her consequent residence

at Dunbar for five days, occurred in April, 1567, and then it was blazed abroad in Edinburgh, and throughout Scotland, that Mary was going to marry Bothwell, the man accused of having murdered Darnley.

People were amazed, the more so because Bothwell was already married; and we can imagine the talk there must have been amongst the citizens and housewives of Edinburgh, and how Jane Gordon would get mixed up with Queen Mary. Mary and Jane had been friends, and now Jane's husband was going to be married to that very Mary. How could this be? How could such a marriage be legalised? What did she, who had lived with the earl for about a year, think of the new match, and of her own wifely rights? No doubt such questions arose, and were keenly debated in houses on both sides the High Street, as the spring of the year opened on the northern metropolis.

All we can here discover bearing on such questions are the following curious facts:-Two suits of divorce turn up at the end of April. First, one against the earl at the instance of his wife Jane, on the ground of his adultery with one Bessie Crawford, the lady's maid-servant. This suit came before the Edinburgh Commissaries, as they were called, recently constituted judges of divorce cases, in place of the suppressed Consistorial Court of the Archbishop of St. Andrews. A sentence of divorce was consequently pronounced on the third of May. Secondly, another suit in another court, described "as the recently restored Court of the Archbishop of St. Andrews, was instituted by the Earl of Bothwell to procure divorce from Jane Gordon on the ground that his marriage with her had been illegal, because, he averred, that he and she were within limits of consanguinity, and that no dispensation had been obtained to set aside that difficulty. The suit was successful. Sentence was given to the effect that the marriage was null, because it had taken place without the necessary dispensation. It is strange to find a husband and a wife at the same moment thus proceeding against each other for the same purpose; stranger still that two different courts should have been employed on the case, one court instituted to supersede the other, and the other court restored to concur with the first in making perfect this desired divorce; strangest of all was something which we must not mention at present, but reserve to the end of our story, when it will be set forth with its full particulars. However, thus much should at present be stated, that there were those at the time who asserted that a dispensation of the necessary kind had been obtained, that the marriage between Bothwell and Jane Gordon was perfectly legal, and was known to be so by both parties, and, in all probability, even by Queen Mary herself. It was the general belief that the whole affair of the divorces resulted from collusions; that the parties involved connived at what was done for reasons of their own, and that the sentence proceeded "only because the dispensation was abstracted." The puzzle remained, Who abstracted it? What became of it? and how could Jane Gordon's part in the affair be ac

counted for? Further, how came the Earl of Huntly to connive at the treatment of his sister? It is thought that Jane Gordon was willing to get rid of a bad husband; that, through agreeing to a divorce, she assisted her brother by binding to him more closely the divorced husband, who had it in his power to improve the Gordon fortunes; and, further still, by her consenting to the arrangement, she pleased her mistress, Queen Mary.

The divorce instantly bore its desired fruit. On the 8th of May, the very day after the sentence had been pronounced, proclamation was made at Holyrood House, that the queen meant to marry Bothwell, and accordingly, on the 15th, the wedding took place at the palace. After a Roman Catholic or a Protestant ceremony? it is natural to ask. Most persons would say, of course, Queen Mary, as a Catholic, would not be married according to the rites of a Reformed Kirk; she could not regard such a marriage as legal, as binding, as

valid in any way. Whatever might be thought

beforehand, however, she did submit to be married after the Protestant fashion. It was arranged, she said to the court of France, "without weighing what was convenient for us, that have been nourished in our own religion, and never intended to leave the same for him or any man upon earth;" words which would imply that she had acted under compulsion. At the same time she vindicated her marriage as legal.

What followed publicly with respect to Mary and Bothwell every one knows. The marriage was unpopular. The disaffection of the people assumed unmistakable forms. Mary and Bothwell became alarmed. They fled from Holyrood. Then came the armed conference at Carberry. The separation of the husband and wife soon followed. He galloped off, after a parting kiss; she surren dered to her nobles, and returned to Edinburgh a captive. The private relations of the guilty and unhappy pair have been variously related. Some say he treated her brutally; others that they lived. together in peace and love; and amongst other floating reports there was this, that after his marriage with Mary, Bothwell "corresponded with Lady Jane, protesting his affection for her, and reflecting on the queen."

After Bothwell's separation from Mary, another question of divorce came upon the carpet, the divorce of Mary from Bothwell. "I have advised her," said the English ambassador, "to enforce herself to renounce Bothwell for her husband, and to be contented to suffer a divorce to pass between them. She hath sent me word that she will in no wise consent unto it, but rather die." The confederated lords urged on her the same step, but for a time with no better success, until in May, 1569, she gave power to institute an action for procuring her divorce from Bothwell. The course now taken was that the marriage between Mary and Bothwell was illegal, "because that he was before contracted to another wife, and he not lawfully divorced from her." Lady Jane, after residing to the south of Edinburgh, proceeded to Strathbogie, her brother's seat, and there took up her abode. She would not fail to become ac

quainted with what was going on in the case of the queen, and a report of the intended divorce of her Majesty from the earl would be sure to reach the ears of his first wife. How would it affect her? So far as any action for the divorce of Bothwell from the queen might rest on the assumption that Bothwell had not been legally divorced from Jane Gordon, it must fail if it could be established as a fact that a dispensation had been secured. The other sentence of divorce, on the ground of adultery, would, however, remain valid; but attention seems to have been mainly fixed on the sentence of divorce resulting from the alleged want of a dispensation.

As

The possibility of her being again claimed as Bothwell's wife, it is said, flitted before her mind very unpleasantly, and it is added that she resolved she would never live with the man any more. the legality or illegality of her own divorce mainly depended upon whether or not there had been a proper dispensation obtained for her marriage, and she could not help being acquainted with the real facts of the case, the secret of her own position must have been in her own keeping. If a dispensation had really been obtained, she might still be treated as Bothwell's lawful wife, and she knew it; if no dispensation had been obtained, then he had no longer any control over her, and she might make herself quite easy. The mystery about that document continued in her own breast, and none could satisfactorily solve it but herself. To the end of her life she gave no solution. She resided at Strathbogie from 1567 to 1573. In July, 1567, Henry Parkhurst, writing a news-letter from Ludham to Henry Bullinger in Switzerland, says, "After the murder of Henry Darnley, King of Scotland, the queen married the Earl of Bothwell, who has lately been created Duke of Orkney. His wife is still living, and is, I am told, a most noble and excellent lady the duke has fled, I know not whither, detested by almost every one on account of this cruel murder of his sovereign." In 1573 a new chapter opened on Lady Jane's history. The Earl of Sutherland, who was related to the Huntly family, came to live at Strathbogie whilst she was there. At the age of fifteen he had been inveigled by the Earl of Caithness into a marriage with that earl's daughter, Barbara Sinclair, a woman of thirty-two, of most profligate character, who made the union to cover her own intrigues. Sutherland was seventeen when he arrived at Strathbogie, and he and Lady Jane gradually formed an attachment to each other, and this resulted in a contract of marriage between them in spite of consanguinity, for which marriage another divorce had to be obtained. Lady Barbara's conduct was such that proceedings against her could be easily conducted, and the result was a,legal dissolution of their marriage. Soon afterwards Sutherland was united to Jane Gordon, she then having reached the age of twenty-eight. Bothwell was still living an exile in Zealand, and he did not die till 1578. Therefore, if the mysterious dispensation had really been granted, her divorce was illegal, on the allegation of its nonexistence, and doubts might be thrown on her new marriage. But in 1573 Bothwell was supposed

to be dead, and, with the apparent idea that his decease set Lady Jane Gordon free, her son, Sir Robert Gordon, speaking of her divorce from Bothwell, adds, "This Lady Jane Gordon, after the death of the Earl of Bothwell, was married to Alexander, Earl of Sutherland." At any rate, we should have imagined that, after his divorce and supposed death, Lady Jane could have nothing to do with Bothwell's property; yet it is one of the singularities of this story that she retained and exercised claims on his estates, and received an income from them accordingly.

She seems to have lived happily with the Earl of Sutherland, but he, being of a sickly constitution, the management of affairs was left chiefly in her hands, and she proved herself a very clever woman of business, not only keeping things well together, but considerably improving the estate by working the coal mines upon it, which turned out to be a source of large revenue. "Some of her letters, written to Sir Robert Gordon, who was tutor to her nephew, John, thirteenth Earl of Sutherland, are preserved at Dunrobin, and exhibit her as the sagacious, astute woman of business, looking at things mainly as they would affect the weal of our house;" and even with reference to the anticipated nomination of a new bishop to the see of Caithness, expressing only her hope that any "unfriend of the house might not be appointed." Her son, Sir Robert Gordon, records her merit, as practically the head of the Sutherland family, and dwells with filial affection upon her distinguished womanly virtues.

-a

Earl Alexander died at Dunrobin in 1594, at the age of forty-two, his widow then being fortynine; but five years afterwards, at the ripe age of fifty-four, she resolved to enter into the bonds of matrimony once more. With whom? With no other than Alexander Ogilvie, Laird of Boyne, whose marriage with Mary Bethune we have recorded as taking place within a short time of Jane's marriage with Bothwell. Bothwell and her brother Huntly had been sureties for Ogilvie at her first wedding circumstance which indicates friendship between the Ogilvies and the Gordons; and out of this friendship probably sprung the alliance between the couple so late in life. Indeed, the match is described as one more of convenience than love, for it is expressly said, that what she did was "for the utility and profit of her children." She had still a keen eye for the maintenance of her own rights, and we find her stipulating for the retention, "in her own hand and possession," of certain property which pertained to her out of the Earldom of Sutherland.

The Laird of Boyne did not live many years, and after his death Lady Jane remained a widow to the end of her days. She was a thorough Roman Catholic, and retained her early faith at the cost of persecution. In 1587 she was "vehemently suspected to have had mass;" and it appears that the Earl of Sutherland, and some at least of their household and retainers, shared with them in their religion. In 1597 the Assembly of the Church of Scotland ordered the Presbyteries of Dundee and Arbroath to summon before them the countess, and require her to sign the Confes