_Till the terrible Day unreveal'd_; Much of course is and will probably
remain unknown among the details of that fatal and fascinating drama,
Mary's life. But all hitherto ascertained evidence has now, mainly by
Mr. Hosack, been sifted so closely and so ably that the main turning
points in her career seem to have reached that twilight certainty beyond
which History can rarely hope to go, and are placed beyond the reach of
reasonable controversy. Such, (not to enter upon the Queen's life as
Elizabeth's captive), is the more than Macchiavellian--the almost
incredible--perfidy of the leading Scottish politicians, united with a
hypocrisy more revolting still, and enabled to do its wicked work, (with
regret we must confess), by the shortsighted bigotry of Knox:--The
gradual forgery of the letters by which the Queen's death was finally
obtained from the too-willing hands of Elizabeth's Cabinet:--The all but
legally proved innocence of Mary in regard to Darnley's death, and the
Bothwell marriage. Taking her life as a whole, it may be fairly doubted
whether any woman has ever been exposed to trials and temptations more
severe, or has suffered more shamefully from false witness and fanatical
hatred. But the prejudices which have been hence aroused are so strong,
such great interests, religious and political, are involved in their
maintenance, that they will doubtless prevail in the popular mind until
our literature receives,--what an age of research and of the scientific
spirit should at last be prepared to give us,--a tolerably truthful
history of the Elizabethan period. (1889)