[CHAPTER X]
THE LAST DAY ON EARTH
“ON Tuesday the 7th of February several persons arrived, among whom it is supposed was the sheriff, who all dined with Sir Amyas. After dinner came the Comte de Kent, and last of all Monsieur de Sheresburg, at whose arrival we were all dismayed and in great fear, having for the last three days imagined many coming evils for Her Majesty, who herself felt convinced that the blow was about to fall."[107]
Bourgoing's simple words need no comment. It is easy to realise the suspense and anxiety experienced during these days by Mary's faithful servants. Bourgoing thus continues: "They sent to ask to speak with Her Majesty, who replied that she was in bed, but that if the matter were pressing she begged for a little time to get up. Receiving for answer that the matter was of consequence, Her Majesty prepared to receive them in her chamber seated in her chair at the foot of her bed. When the two said Counts, together with Mr. Beale, Mr. Paulet, and Sir Drue Drury, were come, all of whom remained uncovered while conversing with Her Majesty,[108] the Comte de Sheresburg commenced to say that the Queen of England had sent them to her in her own name and that of the state, to make known to her that after having proceeded as she knew honourably and as was expedient for the affair of which she was accused, found guilty, and therefore condemned, as she knew and had been made aware of, on the part of the Queen, she must now hear her sentence read, which he and le Comte de Kent, together with Mr. Beale, were appointed to carry out according to the Queen's intention; and thereupon the said Beale began to read a document on parchment, to which was appended the great seal of England in yellow wax, in which Her Majesty was named Mary Stuart, daughter of James V., otherwise called Queen of Scotland, Dowager of France."[109]
Other writers give us a few more details which here supplement Bourgoing's narrative.[110] The Queen seems to have received the commissioners surrounded by her whole household, among whom her physician is specially mentioned. We are also told that Shrewsbury informed her that his royal mistress had delayed the execution of the sentence as long as she was able, till at last, being pressed on all sides, she had been obliged to cede to the importunities of her subjects. Mary listened to the warrant with her usual calmness and dignity.[111] "When it was finished, Her Majesty, with great constancy and without emotion, replied:—
'I thank you for such welcome news. You will do me a great good in withdrawing me from this world, out of which I am very glad to go, on account of the miseries I see in it, and of being myself in continual affliction. I am of no good and of no use to any one. I have long looked for this, and have expected it day by day for eighteen years. Unworthy though I think myself, I am by the grace of God a queen born and a queen anointed, a near relative of the Queen (of England), granddaughter of King Henry VII., and I have had the honour to be Queen of France, but in all my life I have had only sorrow. I am very happy that it pleases God by your means to free me from so many evils and afflictions. I am quite ready and very happy to die, and to shed my blood for Almighty God, my Saviour and my Creator, and for the Catholic Church, and to maintain its rights in this country, for the welfare of which I have always done everything that has been possible, loving the Queen, my good sister, and this island as dearly as myself, as I have often shown. I have constantly offered to arrange matters peacefully and to bring things to a happy issue, but have always been rejected and put aside. I have been held a prisoner without having merited it, for I came into this country of my own free will in hope of succour, according to the promise of the Queen. We should have agreed very well, and would together have arranged matters so well as to satisfy every one if I had at once been permitted to speak to her.' Mary continued to speak on this capital point, her unjust imprisonment for eighteen years, in violation of all laws human and divine, as also of all the humiliation and sorrow it had brought upon her; and then, placing her hand on an English New Testament which lay on the table by her, she protested on oath that she was innocent of the crime imputed to her. 'I have never,' she said most solemnly, 'either desired the death of the Queen, or endeavoured to bring it about, or that of any other person.' The Earl of Kent objected that it was a Catholic Bible, the Pope's version, and that therefore the oath was of no avail. 'This is the translation approved by the Church,' replied Mary, 'and if I swear on the book which I believe to be the true version, will not your lordship believe my oath more than if I were to swear on a translation in which I do not believe?'"
Kent now urged Mary to think of her soul, and, being so near death, to confess her faults and embrace the "true religion." Here are Bourgoing's words:—
"They offered her the Dean of Peterbourg, one of the most learned in Europe, to comfort her, from whom she might learn regarding her salvation and which was the true religion. She had, they said, remained in that in which she had been instructed in her youth, and for want of some one to show her the truth, and that now as she had little time to live—only a few hours to remain in this world—she must think of her conscience and recognise the true religion, and not remain longer in these follies and abominations of popery. 'We have the true Word of God,' said they, 'and you can make the comparison when you have spoken to the minister, and then make your choice. We speak in conscience and with the desire that you should be in good case at the hour of death and be converted to God.' Her Majesty said, 'I have been for long sufficiently instructed in my religion. I know well what I ought to know of it, for my salvation and the good of my soul. I have not only heard, or read, the words of the most learned men of the Catholic religion, but also of the Protestant religion. I have spoken with them and heard them preach, but I have been unable to find anything in them which could turn me from my first belief. When I came to this country, being in the house of Monsieur de Sheresburg, in order to satisfy every one, and to show that I acted only by conscience, I listened to the most able Protestant preachers for nearly the whole of one Lent, but at the end, finding no edification, I withdrew.' This the Earl confirmed, adding that he had invited her to return. Mary continued: 'Having lived till now in the true faith, this is not the time to change, but, on the contrary, it is the very moment when it is most needful that I should remain firm and constant, as I intend to do. Rather than be unfaithful to it I would wish to lose ten thousand lives, if I had as many, and, if it were possible, shed all my blood several times over, and endure all the most cruel torments you could threaten me with. No,' concluded the Queen; 'for my consolation I beg you to let me see my own priest, so that he may help me to prepare the better for death. I wish for no other.'"
On this subject Elizabeth had given stringent orders to the commissioners,[112] and the dying Queen's last request was cruelly denied. "It is our duty," said the lords, "to prevent such abominations which offend God," and they once more pressed her to see the Dean.