Queen Mary’s Book - A Collection of Poems and Essays #245472

The reader will understand that the compositions of Mary Stuart which are brought together in this volume were all, with the exception perhaps of some of the Sayings at the end, originally written either in French or Latin. What the originals were like may be gathered partly from the facsimile reproductions which appear amongst the illustrations and partly from the Appendix no. VII, which gives one of the Essays in French, and shows the amount of altera tion which it underwent. For the general reader the translations, which are partially borrowed from Miss Strickland and are partially my own work, will pro bably give a better idea of Mary's inner life, the thoughts, moods, and feelings which swept over her throughout her troubled career, than would the some what illegible originals. The portrait which forms the frontispiece has been chosen as being perhaps the most pleasing likeness among those which are undoubtedly authentic. The other illustrations are facsimiles of original documents preserved in various public collections, the State Paper Office, the Bodleian Library, the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, and the Imperial Library in St. Petersburg.