nought but death! I see my tragedy written in thy brows. And let me see the stroke before it comes, Edw. What mean'st thou to dissemble with me thus? Light. These hands were never stain'd with innocent blood, Nor shall they now be tainted with a King's Edw. Forgive my thought, for having such a thought! One jewel have I left, receive thou this! Still fear I and I know not what's the cause, But every joint shakes as I give it thee. Oh! if thou harbour'st murder in thy heart, Let this gift change thy mind, and save thy soul! Now, as I speak, they fall; and yet with fear Open again!-Oh! wherefore sitt'st thou here? Light. If you mistrust me, I'll be gone, my Lord! Edw. No, no; for if thou mean'st to murder me, Thou wilt return again; and therefore stay. Light. He sleeps! Edw. (In sleep.) O let me not die! Q stay! O stay awhile! Light. How now, my Lord? Edw. Something still buzzeth in mine He We do not fear to say that this drama will stand a comparison even with Shakspeare's Richard II. There undoubtedly are some glorious emanations and flashings of Shakspeare's soul in Richard that could burst from no other shrine; but not even Shakspeare himself could have drawn a picture of more pitiable suffering than what Marlow has given us in the concluding scenes of his Edward. has not painted the fallen Monarch alone, but he has wearied, wasted, and withered away the body and the soul of the Man, by ceaseless, foul, and agonizing penance. Having first reduced the king to the level of the man, he has then reduced the man to the condition of the brute, and brought his victim through every imaginable agony, down from the glory of the throne to the filth of the dungeon. He seems unable to satiate his own spirit with dreams of hideous degradation; and the darkness, and dampness, and solitude of a cell, is not an imprisonment equal to his imagination of cruelty; but he has thrust the sufferer into noisome stench and begriming mire, that he may lose the very form of a human creature, and become as it were incorporated with the foulness, and loathsomeness, and putridity, of the rotten earth. And when this tormented skeleton is to breathe no more, his miseries are terminated by a death of unimagined horror, so that our last dream of the dungeon is filled with the outcries and shrieks of madness. Such a catastrophe is too pitiable; and accordingly Marlow has mitigated its severity by the noble conclusion of the Drama. The young Edward, as yet a beardless boy, seems on a sudden inspired by a divine impulse to avenge his Father's murder; the guilty but remorseless Queen is led to prison, and Mortimer is beheaded; and thus the soul turns from the melancholy remembrance of degradation and misery to the august spectacle of righteous retribution and princely virtue.* H. M. We cannot but consider it a flattering distinction, that our account of the "Tragi ma. cal History of Dr Faustus" has attracted the notice of the eloquent Critic on "Manfred" in the Edinburgh Review; and that he has thought it incumbent on him to express his dissent from a supposed opinion of ours, that Lord Byron borrowed the plan and general character of his noble Poem from that singular and extraordinary DraNone can estimate Lord Byron's originality higher than we do; and we think, that if our readers will take the trouble of referring to our paper on "Faustus," they will not agree with the Edinburgh Reviewer, in supposing that we accused Byron of plagiarism from Marlow. We merely stated, that there was a general resemblance in the subjects, and that, therefore, independently of its great intrinsic merits, Marlow's Tragedy possessed an extraordinary present interest. One passage of great force and energy we quoted as equal, in our opinion, to any thing of a similar strain in "Manfred, "-a passage in which the miseries of hell are described as consisting in the tormented consciences of the wicked. Though we supposed it not improbable that Lord Byron might have read this passage, we never insinuated that he had imitated, much less borrowed it; but we said that there was in it much of a congenial power, and no small portion of that terrific gloom in which his Lordship's poetry is so often majestically shrouded. That Faustus" is, as a composition, very inferior to Manfred, we perfectly agree with the Reviewer; for the wavering character of the German magician will not bear comparison for a moment with that of the Princely Wanderer of the Alps: and the mixed, rambling, headlong, and reckless manner of Marlow, in that play, must not be put into competition with the sustained dignity of Byron. In the concluding sentences of our paper, where we say that Lord Byron has been surpassed both in variety and depth of pas ACCOUNT OF THE ATTEMPT OF FRAN CIS EARL OF BOTHWELL UPON THE PALACE OF HOLYROODHOUSE, IN 1591. MR EDITOR, THE following is a contemporary account of the desperate attempt of Francis Earl of Bothwell, upon the Palace of Holyroodhouse, in the year 1591, for the purpose of seizing the person of James the Sixth; being the contents of an Original Letter, indorsed in an old hand," Letter of News about the Erl of Bothwell's Plot." It is the fullest Narrative of the event hitherto published, and, independently of correcting its date, pointedly alludes to some other particulars, which are, perhaps, not susceptible of easy explanation. J. R. "Upon mononday, ye 3 of Januar, suld bein ane justing befoir the Quenis Grace in ye Linkes. The Chancellare suld bein extraordinare he banketting in ye Abbay. the ane partie yairof, for this zuill hes bein Quhairof ye erll bothwell ande his conplices being forsein dar not yam selvis in leith. The day became foul, and swa yat purpose in the first beginning was disapointit. Ye nixt nicht at evin, he entret in ye Abbay be ye duikis stables at fyve houris at evin, and remanet in ye lang stabill quill neir sion, we did not allude to Marlow alone, but to the great body of the old English Dramatists. And though this opinion may by many be held erroneous, it will not, we are sure, be thought absurd by those well acquainted with the transcendant excellence of those immortal Writers. We beg to advise our readers, that they cannot better prepare their minds for the study of the old English Drama, than by a careful perusal of an Essay in the Edinburgh Review on "Ford's Works,"-in which the spirit and character of the great Writers of the Elizabethan Age are described with all the philosophical eloquence of a Schlegel, united with that grace and vivacity peculiar to the ingenious Essayist. This, we believe, iş the Essay which roused the blind and blundering wrath of Coleridge, and which, after speaking with unqualified contempt of the critical disquisitions in the Review, he rather unluckily asserts, was borrowed from a letter of his to the Editor. It appears, however, that only two sentences in that famous letter had any reference to that subject; and they who know how little Mr Coleridge can expand into 150 pages, will imagine how much he was likely to compress into half-a-dozen lines. • Maitland. eight houris, leving without ye horse and fourtie men; within entret threscoir, of quhom ye principales ar, the erll himself, the Erll Murray, Sehir William Keith, ane soune of lochlevinnes, William Stewart Constable, Maister Jhone Colvin, etc. "The laird of Spott was this tym in the Kingis house, and immediatlie afoir yair kything, in the duikes chalmer, quha eftir yair cry crying a bothweill, Justice Justice, ran to ye zett and tuik ye keyis fra bog portar, and tuik out his twa servantis captives but culd not get ye laird of Cumbadge quha was kepit in ane uther chalmer, all his leggis with ye buittis dong in crosche, swa it is thocht yat Spot hes not bein of long forsein heirof, bot throw the unworthie misusing his servantis hes latlie run headlonge yarto. In the tym of ye crying the Chancellar being sowpit was gangand in ye end of ye galrie befoir his hall, quhilk is devidit be ane perpan, and sudditlie ran up to the Chalmer with his servantis, casting doun in ye narrow turnpek fayer beddis, and at unknawin flaugueris with muskattis repowsit ye persewaris, slew ane Scott, and schot ane uther in the buttokis with ane schott, it is said yat Wauchop laird of Nathrie is schott throw ye bodie. "In this tym, ze ken his chalmer is devidit fra ye duikis chalmer be ane burden weran, the Chancellar earnestlie lukis throw to ye duik, craving yat he micht be receavit in his chalmer, or yat ye duik wold cum in to him, quha refusit, answering it war better for yaime baith to keip yaire awin lodg ingis. With the samin cry, they of ye kingis house ware warnit, quha tuik up the King and the Quein in to ye tour, and caest to ye Yrn Zett. The persewaris seeing yai culd not haue entrie to ye Chancellar, purposit to entir into ye king be ye quenis chalmer, and with hammers brak up hir durr to have ye king in yair power. Thus they continew quhill neir ten houris, and yareeftir begin to retyr be ye durr yat leidit in to ye kirk, these quha were sett to keip ye laird burlie, and uther quha kennit nocht ye way, being eight in nomber war tain, and, upon Weddnesday, eftir preiching, hangit, all simple servantis, matho colvin, ane sone of heckie Stewartis in paislay, ane gentleman of the mersse, and utheris. "The King with his domestiques tuik inquisitione of thir eight yain depositione. Quhile yai war at ye inquisitione, the lorde Montrose, and lorde Maxwelle cum down, and war haldin at ye durr; quhilk was market, and reportet be him qula was present, and sawit this, and siclyk worket a mislyking of the Nobiltie. Sua sone as thir reportis war spred, The crliss of Anguse quha wes in tentalloune, and Mortoune qua wes in lochlevin, cumis to ye toun, and court, and sic is the wisdome of the Chancellar, war receavit be ye king with gud countenance." CURIOUS FACTS RELATIVE TO THE ABDICATION OF QUEEN MARY, COMMUNICATED BY J. R. ESQ. MR EDITOR, stowed upon every thing connected THE publicity which has been bewith the History of Queen Mary, may serve as an apology for adducing the following notice of what occurred at a critical and interesting period of her life. Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, English ambassador to Scotland in the year 1567, intimates to Queen Elizabeth, in a letter dated at Edinburgh upon the 25th of July of that year, that, after certain conferences among the confederate Lords upon the 23d, the deposition of Mary, then a prisoner at Lochleven, had been finally resolved.* He, at the same time, informs her, that, "The Lord Lindsay departed this Morning (the 24th) from this Town, accompanied with Robert Melvill. He carrieth with him three Instruments to be signed by the Queen. The one containing her con sent to have her son crowned, and to relinquish the Government of the Realm. The other is a Commission of Regeney of the Realm, to be granted to the Earl of Murray during the King's minority. The third is a like Commission, to be granted to certain of the Nobility and others, for the Govern ment of the Realm during the King's minority, in case the Earl of Murray will not accept the Regency alone." Register, we learn, that upon the 25th, By an entry in the Privy Council Lord Lindsay returned to Edinburgh, having accomplished the object of his mission. The Queen signed upon the 24th the three instruments mentioned above; and these, though their warrant be no longer preserved, professing to have been regularly sealed upon that day, are engrossed at full length in the acts of parliament of the year. So stands the matter as narrated by historians, founded upon public record and official correspondence. I, not very long ago, happened to meet with an original Notorial Protocoll of a James Nicholson, whether the same who, in the above year, was appointed Comptroller of the Thirds of Benefices, a character of some notoriety in his day, I cannot precisely determine. It is, however, evidently the production of the 16th century, and is authenticated by his attestation throughout, as well as by that of the Director of Chancery. Between the exterior binding and the backs of the leaves, where it had been pretty effectually concealed, there appeared a thinly folded scrap of paper, which proved to be a minute of a protest, taken at the request of parties by Nicholson, acting in his professional capacity, in the view of being afterwards extended. Of this document, which fills a single sheet, and is besides evinced by the water-mark to be of corresponding antiquity with the protocoll, the following is an accurate transcript: "Upone the xxv day of July anno etc. LXVII., hora tertia post meridiem, præsentibus Richardo Carmichaell de edderm, Niniano lamby,† patricio Cranston, Henrico Sincleir. My lord lyndesy requyrit thomas sinclair to seall thir three writtingis eftre following contenit in yis writtinge, • Regina, Keipare of our privy seill, It is our will and we charge ze, It is our will and we charge ze that, incontinent eftre the sight heirof, ze put our prive seill to our thre lettres underwritten, subscrivit wyt oure hand, ane of yame beirande dimmissioune, and renunciatioune of the governmente of our realme, in favouris of our maist deir sone: Ane uyer makande our breder James erle of murray Regent to our said sone, during his minoritie; And the third, in caise of our saide brudris deceise, or quhill he cum wytin our realme, etc. Makande James duke of chasteautarault, Mathow erle of lennox, Archibalde erle of crgile, Johne erle of athole, James erle of Mortoune, alexandre erle of Glencarne, and Johne erle of Mar,-And, in caise of the said James erle of murrayis refuising of acceptatioune of the saide office singularlie upone him, makande him, & yaine Regentis to oure said sone; as the saidis lettres at lenthe beris, kepande yir presentis for ze warrande, subscryvit wyt our hande at lochlevin, the xxIII day of Julii, and of oure Records of Assumption of Thirds of Benefices, unprinted Acts of Sederunt, &c. This Ninian Lamby was a burgess of Edinburgh; he is a witness to a discharge in the year 1557, entered in a protocol of a John Robertson. This repetition, as well as other things in the deed, indicate the precipitancy of its execution. Regne the xxv zeire, sic subscribitur Marie R.-And, in name, and behalfe of the Remanent lordis foursaidis, Requyrit Thomas Sinclair to seall the saidis lettres, and offerit him the said warrande. Quha onswerit yat sa lang as the quenis majeste is in warde, he walde seall na sic lettres that are extreordinare, And yereafter the saide lorde preissit him yerto, And tuke fra him the privy seill, and wyt cumpany of folkis, compellit him to sell the same, Quilk ye said thomas protestit wes agains his vi maiori,' to ye quhilkis he culd not resist. Ande the saide Lord tuke instrumentis yat he offerit to him the letter for his warrande." will We are thus furnished with a con temporary copy of a missing document -the warrant of Mary for her own abdication. The privy seal, then "de facto," was not appended to the three instruments until late in the 25th of July. A curious instance is afforded of the resolute manner in which Lyndsay, styled by Robertson "the Zealot" of his party, hurried on the accomplishment of their measures, at a crisis of considerable difficulty. And additional proof of the hazard, and perhaps unpopularity, of the enterprize, may be discoverable in this marked opposition of a public officer, might not be altogether uninfluenced by the national feelings of the moment, asserted to have undergone a change favourable to the interests of the Queen. who The above circumstance, though unnoticed by any historian, is, as will be seen by the extract which follows, alluded to in the supplication presented to the Queen's Parliament, upon the 12th of June, in the year 1571, inserted in Bannatyne's MS. Journal in the Advocates' Library. "It is not to be past over in silence, in what manner the privie seale was appendit to that Letter (the Royal Letter of Demission), how it violentlie, and be force [was] reft out of the Keperis' handis as may ap peir be authentick documentis, sua as hir Maiestis subscription was purchased by force, so was the Scill extorted be force." Without, however, what has been premised, the fact, resting merely upon ex parte statement, might have been discredited, if not utterly disbelieved. J. R. Thomas Sinclair, we are informed by the Register of the Privy Seal, filled the situation of deputy of that seal from the year 1555 to the year 1574, when he was succeeded by a Henry Sinclair, probably the same who figures as one of the witnesses to the protest, P. S.-The order for the proclamation of the marriage between Darnley and Queen Mary is still extant in the "Buik of the Kirk of the Canagait," one of the oldest and most curious registers of the kind that is extant. The 21 of July anno domini 1565. "The quhilk day Johne Brand Mynister presentit to ye kirk ane writting-written be ye Justice Clerk hand, desyring ye kirk of ye cannogait, ande Minister yarcof, to proclame harie duk of Albaynye Erle of Roise on ye one part, And Marie be ye grace of god quene of Scottis, Soverane, on ye uyer part. The quilk ye kirk ordainis ye Mynister to do, wyt Invocatione of ye name of God." ON THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF MOTHER-OF-PEARL, AND THE METHOD OF COMMUNICATING THEM TO WAX AND OTHER SUBSTANCES. By DAVID BREWSTER, LL.D. F.R.S. Lond. and Edin. MOTHER-OF-PEARL is a well-known substance, obtained principally from the shell of the Pearl Oyster; and from the facility with which it can be cut and polished, it has been long employ ed for a variety of useful and ornamental purposes. Every person must have observed the fine play of the prismatic colours, to which mother-of-pearl owes its value as an ornamental substance, &c. and the ever varying succession of fresh tints which may be developed, either by changing the inclination of the plate, or the direction of the light in which it is placed. The nature and origin of these colours have never been investigated: they have been carelessly ascribed to the laminated structure of the shell, and have been regarded as a fine proof of the Newtonian Theory of the colours of natural bodies. I. On the Optical Properties of Motherof-pearl. In order to observe all the properties which we propose to describe in this paper, we must select a piece of regularly formed mother-of-pearl, which is known by the uniformity of its white colour in day-light, resembling somewhat the pearl itself, and scarcely exhibiting any of the prismatic tints. This regularity of structure is not often to be met with in the ordinary pieces of mother-of-pearl, nor is it indispensably necessary for the mere exhibition VOL II. of some of its most remarkable properties; but in order to understand the nature and origin of the colours, the experiments must be repeated with pieces that are regularly formed. If we take a plate of regularly formed mother-of-pearl, having its two opposite surfaces ground perfectly flat (but not polished), either upon a blue stone, or upon a plate of glass, with the powder of schistus, and if, with the eye placed close to the plate, we view in it, by reflection, a candle standing at the distance of a few feet, we shall observe a dull and imperfect image, free from all prismatic colours. This image is formed upon the ordinary principles of reflection, and is faint and undefined, owing to the imperfect reflecting power of the ground surface. On one side of this imperfect image will be seen a brighter image, glowing with the prismatic colours, and separated to as great a degree as the colours formed by one of the angles of a common equilateral prism of flint glass. If the plate is now turned round in its own plane, the observer continuing to see the image, the prismatic image will follow the motion of the plate, and perform a complete revolution about the common image, the blue rays always keeping nearest the common image, and the red rays farthest from it.. Let the plane be now placed in such a position, that the prismatic image is in the plane of reflection, and between the common image and the observer, and let the image of the candle be viewed, at various angles of incidence. It will then be found, that the angular distance of the prismatic image from the common image gradually increases as the candle is viewed more obliquely, the distance being 2° 7', when the candle is seen almost perpendicularly in the plate, and 9° 14', when it is seen at the greatest obliquity. This angular distance varics with more rapidity when the plate is turned round 180°, so as to place the common image between the prismatic image and the observer; but in this case, we cannot observe the angle much beyond 60° where it amounts to 4° 30'. On the outside of the prismatic image will be observed a mass of coloured light, nearly at the same distance beyond the prismatic image that the prismatic image is from the common image. These three images are always in the E |