CHAPTER XIII.

MARY SEATON AND THE MAIDS OF HONOR.

MARY SEATON was the only daughter of the sixth lord by his second wife, and consequently she was half-sister to the seventh lord. She was one of the "Four Marys," celebrated in song and tradition, daughters of Scottish noblemen, all of the same age and Christian name as Mary Stuart. They were brought up as her playmates at the Priory of Inchmahome, on an islet in the lake of Monteith under the shadow of the highlands, and afterward accompanied her as little maids of honor when she was taken to France in childhood.

The New York Tribune is quoted by John Seaton of Greenup, Kentucky, as saying that Mary Seaton was the most beautiful and the favorite of the Four Marys that figured as maids of honor to the ill-fated Mary Queen of Scots, accompanying her from Scotland to France, and finally back to Scotland and into captivity. The same paper further says: "There is not a chapter in the annals of Scotland which does not contain mention of the Setons. They are represented to this day in the aristocracy of Sweden, and have occupied for three centuries a conspicuous place in the patritiate of Milan; while students of Shakespeare may remember that a Lord Seyton is described as being in attendance on Macbeth. The present head of that branch of the Seton family which has remained in the United Kingdom is Sir Bruce Maxwell Seton of Abercorn, while the head of the American branch known as the Setons of Parbroath descended from a Seton who came to America in the reign of George II. is William Seton, elder brother of the right reverend author of the family record, 'An Old Family.'

"The words of an old ballad founded on the dying lament of one of the four Marys have often been quoted to us:

"Yestereen the Queen had four Maries,

This night she'll have but three;

There was Mary Seton, and Mary Beton,

And Mary Carmichael, and me.”

"They remained in France from 1548 to 1561, receiving there a finished education. Mary Seton was the only one who never married, although not for want of noble suitors, among whom the most ardent and persistent was Andrew Beton, nephew of the murdered Cardinal and brother of the then Archbishop of Glasgow. He was a faithful friend and servant of the Queen; but Mary Seton had cherished from her earliest years, amid the monastic cloisters of Inchmahome, a pious inclination to retire from the world, when she could do so without seeming to desert her unfortunate sovereign, whose captivity she had shared in Scotland, France and England. Once, on being pressed by her kind-hearted mistress to marry, she declared she was not free to do so, having made a vow of virginity. She would never admit an earthly bridegroom.

"Finally, in September, 1583, she obtained the Queen's permission to retire from her services and fulfill her desire of entering a convent. She became a nun at Saint Pierre-aux-dames in Rheims, of which the Queen's aged aunt, Renée de Lorraine, was abbess, and died there some time after 1615."

There is a letter in the Manuscript Department of the British Museum from Mary Seton to the Countess of Roxburgh, dated at Rheims, September, 1614. But the most curious of several memorials of Mary Seton is a Mori watch made in the shape of a human skull, that was given her by Queen Mary.

I have seen several different pictures of this watch, and while it must have been quite a curiosity, it was surely rather a ghastly affair. From the Philadelphia Ledger and other papers we learn that the watch was about two inches and a half in diameter. It is supposed to have been purchased by Queen Mary when on a visit to Blois with her husband, the Dauphin of France, as it has the name of a celebrated Blois manufacturer engraved on it.

The entire skull is curiously engraved. On the forehead there is a picture of Death, with the usual scythe and the hour-glass and sand-glass. He is depicted as standing between a palace and a hovel, to show that he is no respecter of persons, and underneath is the familiar quotation from Horace: "Pallida mors æquo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas Regumque turres." At the back of the skull is another representation, this one being of Time devouring everything. Time also carries a scythe, and behind him is the emblem of eternity-the serpent with its tail in its mouth.

The upper section of the skull is divided into two pictures. On one side is the crucifixion, with the Marys kneeling at the foot of the cross, and on the other side are Adam and Eve surrounded by animals in the Garden of Eden.

Below these pictures, running around the skull, there is an open-work band, to allow the sound of the striking of the watch to be heard. This open-work is a series of designs cut to represent the various emblems of the crucifixion, such as scourges, the cross, swords, spears, the lantern used in the garden, and so forth. All the carvings have appropriate Latin quotations.

By reversing the skull and holding the upper part in the palm of the hand, and lifting the under jaw on its hinge, the watch may be opened, and on the plate inside is a representation of the stable at Bethlehem, with the shepherds and their flocks in the distance.

The works of the watch are in the brains of the skull, the dialplate being where the roof of the mouth would be in a real skull. This is of silver and gold, with elaborate scrolls, while the hours are marked in large Roman letters. The works are remarkably complete, even to a large silver bell with a musical sound, which holds the works in the skull when the watch is closed.

This curious old watch is still in perfect order, and when wound every day keeps accurate time. It is too large to be worn, and was probably intended for a desk or private altar.

Perhaps it may interest some to learn more of the four Marys. In addition to what we have learned from Archbishop Seton and other sources, we read from Abbott's Life of Mary Queen of Scots that they were Mary Beaton, Mary Fleming, who is also mentioned by Scott, Mary Livingston, and Mary Seaton. We have no ex

planation as to whether Mary Livingston or Mary Carmichael was really the Maid of Honor, and it is possible that both may have occupied that honorable station at different times.

But, evidently, the lament herein given must have been that of either Mary Fleming or Mary Livingston. Abbott further says the four Marys were educated with Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland, and that the French king claimed that he had expended five million pieces of gold in their maintenance and education.

Knollys, writing of Mary Queen of Scots, speaks of her daring grace and openness of manner, her frank display of a great desire. to be avenged of her enemies, her readiness to expose herself to all peril in hope of victory, her delight to hear of hardiness and courage, commending by name all her enemies of approved valor, sparing no cowardice in her friends, but above all things athirst. for victory by any means, at any price; so that for its sake pain and peril seemed pleasant to her, and all other things, if compared with it, contemptible and vile. From this description we may form some opinion of those who were her favorites, among whom were the Seatons of her reign, and especially Lord Seaton and Mary Seaton the Maid of Honor.

In the Metropolitan Magazine, 1904, page 119, in the story of "The Queen's Quair," a story of Mary Queen of Scots, by Maurice Hewlett, mention is made of Lord Huntley, his sons, John and Adam Gordon, Mary Seton, Lord Seton, and Niddry House.

While on the subject of Mary Queen of Scots and the Seatons, it may not be out of place to give a few instances where the Scottish sovereign visited at the Seaton home, or made some use of their services, that are to be found in Buchanan and Watkins's History of Scotland:

In June, 1488, Buchanan tells us, when James III. was slain, his eldest son, the Prince, ordered the Admiral of the fleet, Andrew Wood, to come ashore to him. This, Wood refused to do unless hostages were given for his safe return, upon which Seaton and Fleming, two noblemen, were sent for that purpose. They were safely landed after a stormy interview between the Prince and the Admiral, which might have terminated differently had it not been for the hostages on board the ships.

In the reign of James VI., who began his reign August 29, 1567, the king found his finances running low, and that he had no prospect of pecuniary assistance from England; so he began to devise measures for the improvement of his treasury. With this object in view he appointed eight commissioners, all of whom were of the legal profession, and who, because of their number, were called the Octavians. Among these men was Alexander Seaton, president of the board, and seven other noblemen. To these eight men, any five of them, was given full and free management of the rents. and duties of the controllers and collectors, with almost unlimited power of jurisdiction. "The national affairs were so well managed by these men," says Buchanan, "that the king was relieved from his embarrassment and the country benefitted at the same time."

or

At the time of the murder of David Rizzio, the Queen's Secretary, Mary went with George Seaton, attended by one hundred mounted soldiers, to his castle, and afterward to Dunbar, where she gathered a force together and turned her fury against the murderers of her favorite.

After the murder of Lord Darnley, and before twelve days were passed, Queen Mary went to Seton and while there never allowed Bothwell, who was supposed to have been the cause of the murder of her husband, "to be one moment from her side." The palace was full of the nobility, and she went abroad every day to the usual sports, although it was proper for a widow not to be seen for some time after the death of her husband. The coming of M. de Crocq, the French embassador to Scotland, to Seton somewhat disturbed her arrangements, for he told the guests how infamous the matter looked among foreigners. Mary then returned to Edinburgh, but Seaton had so many conveniences the queen was not contented till she returned there again.

However, Mary was finally married to Bothwell, and during their nuptials their party were at Seton House, where it appears she was a frequent visitor, especially when she sought shelter from her enemies, as were many others of the Catholic portion of the citizens of turbulent Scotland. It was while at Seton House on this occasion that Moray (or Murray), the Prime Minister, was summoned to appear before the Queen, which he did, and the party