No one can help feeling sympathy with the lonely girl of nineteen who had left all that she loved to come and rule over a country that seemed to her almost barbarous in contrast with her beloved France. She was a Catholic; most of her people were Protestants. She won many friends and admirers, but she never gained the confidence and steady affection of her people that made Elizabeth strong. The queen and her subjects grew further apart. Mary had been brought up to believe that the marriage of Anne Boleyn was not lawful, and that therefore she herself and not Elizabeth was the rightful queen of England. The French king had taught her to sign herself “Queen of Scotland and England.” Now that she had returned to Scotland, she dropped the latter part of the title, but demanded that Elizabeth should declare her heir to the throne, as she certainly was by all laws of the hereditary descent of the crown. Elizabeth firmly refused.
It was probable that Mary would marry, and it was a matter of importance to Elizabeth that the husband should not be one who could strengthen the Scotch claim to the throne. Mary consulted Elizabeth about one or two of her suitors, and suddenly the English queen surprised all Europe by offering to Mary the unwilling hand of her own favorite, the Earl of Leicester, and hinted, though in her usual equivocal fashion, that if Mary would marry the earl, she would be recognized as the next heir to the crown. “I would marry Robin myself,” declared the queen to Mary’s commissioner, Sir James Melville, “save that I am determined to wed no man.”
Elizabeth talked with Sir James most familiarly, and this woman who was so shrewdly guiding her millions of Englishmen and guarding her throne from Mary of Scotland, often seemed to think of nothing but whether she or her rival had the prettier face.
“Which is the fairer?” she demanded, “I or the queen of Scotland?”
“Your Majesty is the fairest queen in England, and ours is the fairest queen in Scotland,” replied Sir James wisely.
“That is not an answer,” declared Elizabeth. “Which of us two is the fairer?”
“Your Majesty is whiter, but our queen is very winsome.”
“Which is of greater stature?”
“Our queen,” replied Sir James.
“Your queen is over high then,” said Elizabeth, “for I am neither too high nor too low. But tell me, how does she amuse herself?”