Mary of Scotland

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Mary Of Scotland Georgia Mae Foster (The immediate interest in Helen Hayes' performance of Mary of Scotland makes the appearance of this paper pal' ticularly timely and valuable). To be a legend in one's own coun- ground and setting of the drama try is an honor which comes to very which Queen Mary lived, it is neces few women, but to be a subject of sary to know Scotland in its political controversy for three centuries was and religious aspects, its relation with the fate of Mary, Queen of Scotland. England and England's queen, Eliza Was she the violent, over-indulgent beth. woman who . while in love with an Mary became Queen of Scotland other man could calmly plan to amid.st a religious conflict whiCh murder her husband? Was she seethed over all Europe. England ambitious and so greedy for power and France both were eager to gain that she over-reached herself? Was an alliance with Scotland, England she so steeped in the pageantry of being Protestant while France was the Roman church that she could tol definitelv Roman Catholic. Scotland, erate no other religion-? Or, was she like Gaul, was divided-in two parts, brave and energetic, pursued by dis Protestant and Catholic. The Pro aster? Whatever the motive behind testant movement seemed to strike a her actions, historians have found responsive spark in the breasts of the much to say on this subject. As Scottish people as there was some Elizabeth says in Mary of Scotland, thing in it of the harsh mountains and moors of their country. Perhaps "Child, child, are you gulled without John Knox, its fiery, fanatic By what men write in histories, this leader, Calvinism would have spread or that over the land. as it was popular not And. never true? I am careful of my only with the middle-class but with name the hard-living, hard-riding noblemen As you are, for this day and longer. as well; but with him to guide it, it It's not what happens soon became a widespread fear in the That matters, no, not what happens hearts of the Roman adherents. . that's true, Into these mad, fantastic religious But what men believe to have hap controversies came the young Queen, pened. "1 fresh from the pageantries and artifi cialities of French court life. "What men believe to have hap Scotland was likewise seething po pened" to Marv of Scotland is varied. litically. The government was in the There are some who believe that had hands of a few nobles who were re modern methods of detection been ap gents while the young queen was un plied to the various crimes laid at her der age. So "armed neutrality" might door. she would have been clearly have been said to be the form of gov vindicated. There are others who see ernment. her only as a murderess and wanton. When Mary was but a baby, an Which was she? Against the wild alliance had been sought with Prince chaos of Scotland she played her part Edward. afterwards Edward VI of and left the novelist. the historian, and England. This did not materialize the playwright her heroic vitality and for Mary of Guise (Mary's mother) spirit to do with as they saw fit. had other plans which would further To understand clearly the baek- her own ambitions towards the throne 21 22 THE MSS of France. No alliance with Protest tournament. Mary, realizing that she ant England was to unite the two was an unwelcome guest in France, countries. Instead, the little queen and after an unsuccessful attempt to was sent to France to be grounded marry the Spanish heir, found no in the Roman Catholic faith and edu~ alternative but to go home to Scot cated for the exalted position of land. Queen of France, and Scotland, and As she watched the receding shores perhaps of England also. of France. she must have reviewed During the ten years that Mary her life of gayety, the pomp and ex lived in France, English ambassadors travagance of the court, and must were sent to try to prevent the in have hoped that life would not be evitable marriage of the Queen of too hard in the harsh, cold country Scotland to the heir to the French which she called her own. When throne. At one time, so the story Mary asked Elizabeth for a passport goes, an attempt was made to poison to cross Engfand, was it to attract the young queen, a fitting example of Catholic followers to her picturesque the malevolent forces which tried to procession? When Elizabeth refused stem Mary's career.2 In spite of all it. was this an acknowledgment that the efforts of the opposing faction, Mary was her rival? and due to the tireless work and in Elizabeth won this first scrimmage numerable promises of Mary Guise, in her long battle with Mary which, Mary Stuart was married to Francis, although under cover most of the Daulphin of France, in 1558. time. was none the less deadly. Meanwhile in England, the reign When Mary had left Scotland, it of Mary Tudor had come to a bloody had been a land of monarchy, but end and Elizabeth became Queen, when she returned, she found it a thus bringing again the old question religfous republic. A year before her of her legitimacy. According to the return the Roman Catholic religion Roman church, Henry VIII could not had been abolished; alt churches had divorce Catherine of Aragon and been destroyed and the priests driven marry Ann Boleyn.3 If Elizabeth was from the ·country. We find the not the lawful daughter of the much Roman Catholic Queen returning to married Henry, then Mary, daughter a Protestant country, but she trusted of James VI of Scotland, and great her own personal charm and men~l grand-daughter of Henry VII of Eng irifts to see her through the conflict. land, was the next in line. She fitled her court with Protestant When the Queen of Scots proudly advisers and adopted a policy of had the arms of England embroidered peaceful arbitration. She hoped to on her banners with the heraldic sym win the respect of her people and so bols of Scotland and France, there have more power to change that were many who thought it was right which she disapproved and to force fully there. Thus, Mary at the very reforms upon tliem. beginning of her career won the Mary. at this time, wished the enmity of Elizabeth who carefully, strength of a foreign power to aid in step by step, planned her ultimate her governing. All such plans were downfall.4 useless as Catherine of Merci (mother The King of France died and Fran of Francis II) and Elizabeth were cis and Mary became King and Queen combined against such alliances. Mary of France with all the pageantry of had no choice but to ally herself with medieval splendor. This splendor was an Englishman of Elizabeth's choos short-lived as fourteen months later ing.6 Francis died of a septic ear5 fol There was Lord Darnley, connect lowing an injury he received in a ed with both her houses, and there MAGAZINE 23 was the Scotch noble, Bothwell. Ad only succeeded in hastening the vised by Riccio, her Italian secretary, Queen's doom, for then Mary was Mary decided that the Lord Darnley held prisoner in Holyrood. Scotland's was the most desirable of all her Queen was in a plight known only suitors. He had charm, a claim to to heroines of romance. Baffled and the English throne, and was a Roman grieved by the gruesome murder, she Catholic. The Queen hoped by this mastered herself, swore vengeance,9 marriage to ally all the Roman Cath and looked around for a way of olics in England and Scotland and escape. also strengthen her claim to the Realizing that Darnley was only throne. an instrument in the hands of more In July, 1565, Mary was married to powerful leaders, she also knew that Lord Darnley. Elizabeth was seem the next thing to do was to win him ingly furious because Mary had dis to her cause, for she was soon to regarded her wishes, although it is give to the world an heir to the believed that Elizabeth had worked Scottish throne. toward this end, realizing that the It was an easy task to impress only thing Mary would gain by this Darnley that he had been in the marriage was a weakling husbandwho wrong. and together they fled to would be a great hindrance to her Dunbar Castle, where Bothwell and ambitions.7 Huntley joined her forces. After the Again Elizabeth scored, for it was birth of her son, Mary severed all not many weeks after the marriage civilities with Darnley. The breach until the Queen realized her grave between them became more apparent mistake. Darnley was weak, self when Darnley, realizing his position, willed, and very jealous of Mary. was always in a rage. It was during Moray, the Queen's half-brother, and this time that scandalous tales were Maitland, leaders of the Lords of the told about Marv and Bothwell which Congregations who had been banished have no authenticity whatsoever.lo from the court when they protested Since Riccio's death Mary had ap against the marriage, were most anxi pointed Maitland as her adviser. ous to avenge themselves. They Months went by and this weakling whispered into the willing- ears of husband of Mary's stood in the way Darnley tales about his wife and her of her political success. A group ot Italian secretary, Riccio. Darnley, her councilors with Maitland as already envious of the position that spokesman proposed the plan of be Riccio held as chief adviser of the ing rid of Darnley. But Mary in Queen, disliked the little Italian all stantly insisted "that nothing should the more and. with the aid of the be done whereby any spot might be Prot~stant nobles, olanned and carried laid to her honour and conscience."11 out the murder of the Italian. When Darnley was reported to be The Queen was seated at supper ill in Glasgow, Mary went immediate with her ladies when the murder took ly to attend him and bring him back place. Helpless in the grip of the to Edinburgh. Mary had no idea how burly Scotchmen, the little Italian set her councilors were in their deci sought protection behind the Queen's sion to be rid of Darnley. person. Dragged out and murdered, Since the place he was staying was Riccio left a story behind him that considered unhealthful, Mary wished is the source of many discussions. to move Darnley to Craignillar Castle, Was he Mary's lover? Was Mary's but Darnley expressed the desire to feeling toward Riccio only friendship be moved to Kirk O'Field. Although and gratitude for his understanding? many critics and contemporaries Whatever it might be, Lord Darnley write about the unworthiness of this 24 THE MSS house, and its deserted locality as Rumor had already accused Both being a most desirable place for the well of the crime. If Bothwell had destruction of Darnley, it can be committed this crime, he would have said that Darnley never made any to · be brought to justice, but if he complaints and he liked the seclusion were sentenced, who would be left of the place, for smallpox had left its to fight for her? Mary knew all the mark.12 other lords as traitors who only There is also the story that while stood for her cause when it was to on the journey Mary corresponded their advantage. The investigation of with Bothwell and Maitland who ad the crime was left to Darnley's father, vised her to move Darnley to Kirk the Earl of Lennox, who, half crazy O'Field where they would have ev with grief, thought only of venge erything in readiness. ance. Bothwell and his followers Some of Mary's historians 13 claim were named and a day was set for that she was aware of the plot to the trial. On the appointed day, murder her husband and that a cele Bothwell and his armed men ap hration was planned to take her away peared in town with su~h an array so that she might not be implicated; of force that Lennox was fearful for others say that she was innocent of his life and stayed at home. So all knowledge and went to the party great was the Lord Bothwell's power only because she wished to honor that a mock trial was enacted in one who had been of service to which he was declared not guilty. her.14 That night Bothwell gave a ban At two o'clock in the morning an quet. Of all the lords invited, none explosion occurred which awakened dared refuse ! When they were all the whole countryside. Kirk O'Field loose-witted from too much wine, had been entirely demolished. The Bothwell produced a document for bodies of Darnley aIJd his servant them to sign stating that they and were found some distance from the their families would stand by his house. Such was the outcome of the cause, and that they consented to a bond which had been signed by Both marriage between the Queen and him well, Huntley and Belfour at Craig self. nillar Castle. Moray the ambitious looked upon Behind her mourning drapes Mary these proceedings with much interest tried to assemble her jumbled for he knew if Bothwell married the thoughts. She knew she would be Queen, the people would rise up blamed, for had she not brought against Bothwell and in doing so de Darnley to the very house? She had throne her. been an innocent decoy. She knew One day while Mary was riding she would be seen only as the scarlet with a group of nobles, she was sur woman of the Roman faith, the mur rounded by a troop of Bothwell's deress, the light-minded creature who men and taken prisoner to Dunbar adored music and dancing.15 Castle. There he forced her to be The Queen received letters from lieve that together they could rule the archbishop of Glasgow and from Scotland successfully. The document Elizabeth, advising her to find the with the lords' signatures helped his guilty persons and deal with them cause.16 mercilessly, in order to stop talk im Even though Mary's name was plicating her. never cleared of her connection with The Catholic following was much the Darnley plot, she was to add weakened by all this. These trials and more to her tragic story by marrying tribulations were looked upon as the Bothwell, the man who was the revenge for Riccio's death., acknowleoged murderer of her bus- MAGAZINE 25

band. Meville, a Scottish noble, pre Although Mary's army was greater sented the Queen with letters from in numbers, the lack of good leader her people warning her against such ship caused her to lose the battle a marriage. In spite of these numer which took place shortly after her ous warnings Mary was married by a escape. The only alternative left w~s Protestant minister to the Earl of to flee from Scotland. Mary decided Bothwell after he had obtained a di to go to her "dear" cousin Elizabeth vorce from his wife. for help. Elizabeth had written many The forced marriage after the comforting letters offering help and forced visit to Dunbar Castle has friendship while Mary was imprisoned opened many suppositions. Was it all at Lochleven. done with the consent of Mary in On May 16, 1568, Mary landed at order to account to the people for Cumberland with her little party, her hasty marriage ?17 George and Willie Douglas. When If Mary and Bothwell were the Elizabeth received word of Mary's lovers that history proclaims them, arrival her first impulse was to wel they were only granted a very short come her as was her due, as Mary time of happiness, for immediately Stuart, Queen of Scotland, in her after the ceremony the Scottish nobles own right; but Sir William Cecil, made it very apparent that they were Elizabeth's head councilor, realizing against Bothwell. Mary and Bothwell the danger of Mary's presence in Eng· were now absolute rulers but they land, vetoed this plan. In order to had no one to rule but their servants. cover up her lack of welcome, Eliza They tried to raise forces against beth wrote to Mary explaining that Maitland and his followers, but they she, Mary, could not be accepted in soon learned that the Protestant cere court until her name was cleared of mony had been the means of dimin the charge involving her in the mur ishing Mary's Catholic following to a der of Lord Darnley. very small number. Whereupon a trial was held to Bothwell's army was defeated and prove whether Mary was innocent or Mary was taken prisoner. Bothwell guilty. The "Casket letters" were fled northward, sailed to Norway, re presented by Maitland as proof visited an old love, Ann Thorssen, against Mary. The authenticity of settled in Copenhagen and sat down these Casket Letters has been the to write his memoirs.ls subject of almost unexampled contro Mary was imprisoned at Lockleven, versy. Numerous volumes have been the gloomy castle-stronghold of the written to prove they were forgeries. Douglas family. Many times Moray Many historians19 have spent years came to see her in order to persuade sifting the evidence and have come her to sign a bond abdicating her to the conclusion that they must have throne to her youthful son, James. been forgeries. Their reasons are : She finally consented with reserva ( 1) The Casket Letters were sent to tions in her own mind to change all England a year after their discovery this when free, and signed the bond. and were in a Scotch translation, not Her son was crowned King of Scot the original French. A messenger land, but still Mary remained in was sent to England with these prison. Scotch translations and with a mes In April, 1568, with the help of sage to Queen Elizabeth asking if the George and Willie Douglas, Mary French originals were produced, escaped from Lochleven and again would they be sufficient evidence attempted to mobilize an army to against Mary? What was the reason fight against Maitland and Moray, in of sending translations if the French order to gain back her kingdom. originals could have been sent? 26 THE MSS

The hypothesis of the Scotch trans ters (they were supposed to have lations has been explained satisfac been found a year before they were torily to some historians in this way. used at the trial), why did they not The Scotch nobles sent the Scotch publish them, and put this evidence translations to England, and if Queen before the people of Scotland to prove Elizabeth did not regard this as con Mary's guilt? This would have demning evidence enough, they would stamped out the increasing number of take the trouble to translate the let Mary's loyal followers. ters into French and while doing so ( 4) When the contents of the to add more incriminating touches. Casket Letters were first known, (2) The similarity between the Lords Sanquhor and Tullibardina Glasgow Letter and the Crawford'_; were there and heard what was said. Disposition is a fact that needs ex Later their names appeared on the plaining. bond for securing Mary's release from The Crawford Disposition is a writ Lochleven; the evidence, therefore, ten account of a conversation which culled against Mary from the Casket had taken place between Mary and Letters could not have been so very Darnley. Crawford, a servant of bad. Darnley, was supposed to have an (S) The original Glasgow Letter exact reproduction of the conversa was never seen by anyone but the tion. The Glasgow Letter was one Lords and Elizabeth's commissioner which Mary was supposed to have and the Council. It has never been written to Bothwell informing him of seen since it was returned to Moray. the same conversation. The exact (6) No copy of the original French similarity in phrasing is so apparent Glasgow letter has ever been pub that it seems impossible for two peo lished. ple making a report of the same con (7) Kirkcaldy of Grange known as versation to have written two such the "flower of chivalry" deserted the identical letters. It is believed that Scottish lords and went over to the the two accounts were written by the Queen's side when he learned that the same persons and that Mary's Glas Casket Letters were to be used gow l~tter was forged and was based against her. on the Crawford Disposition. This is (8) The confession of all the re Andrew Lang's argument and solu tainers of Bothwell excluded Mary tion to this intrigue. from any connection with the murder T. F. Henderson believed that the of Darnley. Nicholas Hubert, who Glasgow Letter was authentic enough was alleged to have carried the Glas in the original but incriminating evi gow Letter, at the time of his execu dence had been added to it, and then tion stated that he would answer to the Crawford Disposition was copied God that he never carried any such from it. It is known that Crawford letter, and that the Queen was not a did see the Glasgow Letter before he participant in the affair. wrote his Disposition and probably (9) There is no other writing by refreshed his memory by doing so. Mary which throws the least doubt If this be true, this fact would cancel upon her innocence of complicity all incriminating evidence against in or knowledge of Darnley's murder. Mary. (10) Bothwell in his declaration to (3) When Mary was imprisoned the King of Denmark stated on oath in Lockleven her followers increased that the Queen was altogether inno in great numbers, so much so that it cent and knew nothing of the murder. gave cause for the lords to question According to Sinclair's manuscript the stability of their positions. If "History of Scotland" which was they really possessed the Casket Let- written at the time, Bothwell swore MAGAZINE 27 to this effect at his death and several given every care possible.2• Other times before. authorities24 contend that most of Last of all, it must be kept in mind the nineteen years, Mary spent in that this special group of Scottish Titbury, a draughty manor-house noblemen who were working against with little, if any sanitary provisions, Mary were fighting for their own and there suffered quite often with lives. If Mary was not silenced, she rheumatism. It is needless to go would be allowed an interview with into the details of her daily life, her Queen Elizabeth ; then she would be negotiations with foreign powers, her able to tell how these same lords tireless efforts to secure her freedom. were involved in Darnley's murder Sufficient it is to say her vitality and how they had sworn to the in never allowed her to give up hope for nocence of Bothwell before Mary was the ultimate victory of her cause. One married to him.H writer describes her as "sick but proud, weak, determined, closely kept After the evidence of the letters but very ambitious, struggling cease had been presented at this trial. lessly in a complicated and tenacious which English commissioners had no net."20 jurisdiction to hold over her, Mary was invited to answer. Her answer The Babington plot was the turn was to withdraw her commissioners. ing point. It is generally believed This seemed high-handed, but was that Walsingham was aware of the really justified as her accusers had details of this plot. It was intended all been guilty of the crime of which to liberate Mary, foment a Catholic she was being accused. Judgment rising, and murder Elizabeth. Bab was given in January. Nothing was ington was a young -enthusiast who proved against Mary, but the Casket with over-confidence and impractic forgeries had been very useful in able schemes ruined her. For, of blackening her character.21 course, all communications were in tercepted and Mary was carried to Mary was for nineteen years a pris Fotheringay Castle and three weeks oner in England. The ultimate un later was tried for her part in the kindness of Elizabeth has been gen plot. era:lly excused by implying that for years Mary was a menace to the Mary conducted her own defense. peace of England. There is little She asserted her status as an inde doubt that while in England she did pendent soverign and insisted that try by conspiracy to obtain her free Elizabeth had no jurisdiction over dom, better her condition by mar her. She accused Walsingham of riage, provoke the invasion of Eng forgery; in fact, she held her accusers land by a foreign power, and in many off. Later, when at her insistence, ways annoy her cousin. But it must the commissioners met in the Star be remembered that the English Chamber, with but one dissenting Queen had no right to keep her in voice, Mary was judged gujlty and confinement when Mary had taken sentenced to die. sanctuary in her country. It has been The story of the next three months argued that while Elizabeth was hold is Elizabeth's more than Mary's for ing Mary in England, she was spend one can not help but sympathize ing at least four thousand pounds a with her honest distress. For when year on her, Mary's, household.!% every other devise to have Mary Mary, according to the same author privately killed, failed, she signed the ity, was allowed much freedom of death warrant which ended the long action; she hunted, rode -after the duel of the two queens. hounds, was allowed a Catholic priest On February 8, 1587, after writing to attend her spiritual needs, and and saying farewell to many follow- 28 THE MSS ers, and dividing her money and jew FOOTNOTES els among her ladies, Mary mounted 1 . Anderson. Mary of Scotland. Dou the scaffold and at last found peace bleday. 1934. p. 203. after her many struggles. 2. Gorman. The Scottish Queen. Far In reviewing Mary's life calmly it rar & Rinehart. 1932. p.49. is possible to draw a few conclusions 3. Henry VIII obtained his divorce which have no controversial charac from the church of England, which he ter. Mary, given a country normal created. and willing to be ruled, would have 4. Anderson. Mary of Scotland. Dou made an excellent sovereign. Wit bleday. 1934. ness her first few years in her own 5. Linklater. Mary, Queen of Scot- kingdom, when there was peace in land. Appleton. 1933. p.2. Scotland. She was fair and straight 6. Gorman. Op. cit. p.63. forward in her dealings with her sub 7. Anderson. Op. cit. for this theory. jects in the matter of religion. She 8. A Protestant party. devoutly believed in the Roman 9. Linklater. Op. cit. p.63. church, but was willing that those 10. Gorman. Op. cit. who found pleasure in Calvinistic be 11. Daker. The Tragic Queen. Hough liefs be free to save their souls in this ton Mifflin. 1931. p.93. bleak way. A willful gayety made 12. Dakers. Op. cit. p.99. her often misunderstood by her peo 13. Hume-Froud. Op. cit. Dakers, ple. Mary's rugged Scotch spirit p.132. with her French training made her 14. Linklater. Op. cit. p.93. tenacious in holding on to that which 15. cf. Gorman. p.317. was hers. One can not always ad 16. Gorman. Op. cit. p.329-330. mire her judgment but under condi 17. Shelley. The Tragedy of ;µ._ary tions such as she had to endure, one Stuart. p. 133. can hardly condemn. She possessed 18. Linklater. Op. cit. p.117. a vitality which would never sur 19. Whiteaker, Gasdall, Hosach, T. F. render, a spirit which would not be Henderson and Andrew Lang. quenched,and which was the source of 20. Dakers. Op. cit. p.142-143. her tragedy, and the power to "trouble 21. Linklater. Op. cit. p. 134. the ages with thoughts that will not 22. Shelley. Op. cit. be sti'lled."26 23. Shelley. Op. cit. After all, beauty and queenliness 24. Linklater. Op. cit. p :135. and tragedy do not make a legend of 25.Gorman. Op. cit. p.425. themselves. Only a more than com 26. Linklater. Op. cit. p:153. mon personality filled with this heroic quality can be remembered • • through the ages. It seems that this BIBLIOGRAPHY abundance of personality must sur Anderson, Maxwell; Mary of Scotland; vive from century to century, filling a play in three acts. Doubleday, Doran men's minds with its tragedy, and & Company, New York, 1934. that the legend of Mary of Scotland Dakers, Andrew Herbert; Tragic Queen; has taken on some of Scotland's vigor a study of Mary, Queen of Scots. Hough and some of its mysticism; to have ton Mifflin Company, Riverside Press, become, in fact, a very part of itself. Cambridge, 1931. Encyclopedia Britannica. Ninth edition. Kurlbamn, Frau Margaret (Siebert); Mary, Queen of Scots; translated from • • the German .by Mary Agnes Hamilton. Jonathan Cape, Ltd. London, 1929. Linklater Eric; Mary, Queen of Scot.. MAGAZINE 29

D. Appleton-Century Company, New York, 1933. Nolan, Mrs. Jeanette Covert; The Maggie Lawns Young Douglas; Robert M. McBride & Company, New York, 1934. 'Irvin Caplin Schiller, Johann Christoph Friedrich von; Maria Stuart; Ginn & Company, More than ten years ago, when I New York, 1908. first became conscious of things about Shelley, Henry Charles; The Tragedy me and remembered happenings from of Mary Stuart. Little, Brown, & Com one day to the next, tales about Mag pany, Boston. 1913. gie Lawns were fixed in my memory. • • Maggie Lawns lived in a one room FRESHMAN BONERS shack which stood in the center of the lot later named after her. No Miracle plays were about saints and one remembered when she first came virg-ins with elaborate settings. to live there. No one knew where (Sir Edward) Dante is a writer of she came from. She never worked, the 16th century who wrote the Count and yet she always had enough ol Monte Cristo. money to pay the corner grocer. This Tamburlaine is a musical instru was all that was known about her. ment which was used to accompany the lyrics and songs written in the Weird stories concerning Maggie 16th century. Lawns circulated in our neighbor Question: Identify Holyhead. hood. Some said that she was more Answer: At this time people were than two hundred years old. Others divided into two classes. the round said that she was a witch and asso heads. and the holy heads. ciated with the devil. Since she al Milton has accomplished the dirtv ways paid her bills, many thought her work by writing Paradise Lost. He an immortal who had come to this has done remarkablv welt by having world disguised as the ugly old wo 1)art of this good. Some day another man that she was. She was blamed wilt write a hook on the same subject for every misfortune that took place. using Milton's bases and it wilt be There were many who sug-gested that good. she be driven from the neighborhood, Petrarch was a poet who expanded but there were none who were wilt the depressed lover to his esteemed ing to do the driving. She was a ladv in 14 line sonnet form. topic of discussion at every com Shakespeare was serious. He also munity gathering, from the meeting had reflexibility. of our Rinky-Dinks to the meeting Saga: a old wise man. of the Women's Sewing Society. It was a success through' the iron I was returning from a meeting of hand of Shakespeare. the Rinky-Dinks one summer night Morte de Author was the story after an entire evening spent gossip written about the Life of Author from ing about Maggie Lawns. She had beginning to end and the author was been pictured as the most wicked and Malory. the ugliest woman alive, and now I The five University Wits made the must pass her lot in order to reach last stage of develoriment that reallv my home. set the stage for Shakespeare when he As I neared the lot, I could see the arrived on the scene. · - one-room shack which was made vis The cook liked to eat garlic and ible by a foll moon overhead. The drink rotten wine. shack was dimly lighted, and I could The University Wits were great hear· what seemed to be the meowing adders to the drama. ' · · .,of a thousand cats. I lowered my