Finally the Queen begs His Holiness with many prayers, that whomsoever she shall choose as a priest, she may be by him, in sacramental confession, absolved from all censures, even from those reserved to the Holy Apostolic See, and contained in the Bull "Coena Domini."
Illustration: SILVER-GILT HAND-BELL. Height 4-½ inches. (_Used by Queen Mary in Captivity._)
Poem composed by Queen Mary in view of her Approaching Death.
O Domine Deus, speravi in te! O care mi Jesu, nunc libera me! In dura catena, in misera poena, Languendo, gemendo, et genu flectendo, Adoro, imploro ut liberes me.
O Lord my God, I have trusted in thee; O Jesu my dearest one, Now set me free. In prison's oppression, In sorrow's obsession, I weary for thee. With sighing and crying, Bowed down as dying, I adore thee, I implore thee, set me free!
1587.--February 8. Narrative of the Execution, sent to the Court.
_Ellis's Letters_, Ser. ii. vol. iii. p. 113, from the Lansdowne MS. 51, Art. 46.
First, the said Scottish Queen, being carried by two of Sir Amias Paulett's gentlemen, and the Sheriff going before her, came most willingly out of her chamber into an entry next the Hall, at which place the Earl of Shrewsbury and the Earl of Kent, commissioners for the execution, with the two governors of her person, and divers knights and gentlemen did meet her, where they found one of the Scottish Queen's servants, named Melvin, kneeling on his knees, who uttered these words with tears to the Queen of Scots, his mistress, "Madam, it will be the sorrowfullest message that ever I carried, when I shall report that my Queen and dear mistress is dead." Then the Queen of Scots, shedding tears, answered him, "You ought to rejoice rather than weep for that the end of Mary Stuart's troubles is now come. Thou knowest, Melvin, that all this world is but vanity, and full of troubles and sorrows; carry this message from me, and tell my friends that I die a true woman to my religion, and like a true Scottish woman and a true Frenchwoman. But God forgive them that have long desired my end; and He that is the true Judge of all secret thoughts knoweth my mind, how that it ever hath been my desire to have Scotland and England united together. Commend me to my son, and tell him that I have not done anything that may prejudice his kingdom of Scotland; and so, good Melvin, farewell;" and kissing him, she bade him pray for her.