A Child's History of England.160

The one great trouble of this reign, and the unfortunate cause of the greater part of such turmoil and bloodshed as occurred in it, was Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. We will try to understand, in as few words as possible, who Mary was, what she was, and how she came to be a thorn in the royal pillow of Elizabeth.

She was the daughter of the Queen Regent [摄政] of Scotland, Mary of Guise. She had been married, when a mere child, to the Dauphin [法国太子], the son and heir of the King of France. The Pope, who pretended that no one could rightfully wear the crown of England without his gracious permission, was strongly opposed to Elizabeth, who had not asked for the said gracious permission. And as Mary Queen of Scots would have inherited the English crown in right of her birth, supposing the English Parliament not to have altered the succession, the Pope himself, and most of the discontented who were followers of his, maintained [坚持] that Mary was the rightful Queen of England, and Elizabeth the wrongful Queen. Mary being so closely connected with France, and France being jealous of England, there was far greater danger in this than there would have been if she had had no alliance with that great power. And when her young husband, on the death of his father, became Francis the Second, King of France, the matter grew very serious. For, the young couple styled [称呼] themselves King and Queen of England, and the Pope was disposed [wanting] to help them by doing all the mischief [使坏] he could.

How did Mary Queen of Scots have a claim to the English throne? As Henry VII of England's great-granddaughter, Mary was next in line to the English throne, after Henry VIII's children.

Now, the reformed religion, under the guidance of a stern and powerful preacher, named John Knox, and other such men, had been making fierce progress in Scotland. It was still a half savage country, where there was a great deal of murdering and rioting continually going on; and the Reformers, instead of reforming those evils as they should have done, went to work in the ferocious old Scottish spirit, laying churches and chapels waste, pulling down pictures and altars, and knocking about the Grey Friars, and the Black Friars, and the White Friars, and the friars of all sorts of colours, in all directions. This obdurate [执拗的] and harsh spirit of the Scottish Reformers (the Scotch have always been rather a sullen and frowning people in religious matters) put up [raise] the blood of the Romish French court, and caused France to send troops over to Scotland, with the hope of setting [put] the friars of all sorts of colours on their legs again; of conquering that country first, and England afterwards; and so crushing the Reformation all to pieces. The Scottish Reformers, who had formed a great league which they called The Congregation of the Lord, secretly represented [describe] to Elizabeth that, if the reformed religion got the worst of it with them, it would be likely to get the worst of it in England too [唇亡齿寒]; and thus, Elizabeth, though she had a high notion of the rights of Kings and Queens to do anything they liked, sent an army to Scotland to support the Reformers, who were in arms against their sovereign. All these proceedings led to a treaty of peace at Edinburgh, under which the French consented to depart from the kingdom. By a separate treaty, Mary and her young husband engaged to renounce their assumed title of King and Queen of England. But this treaty they never fulfilled.

be on one's legs: 病后康复

It happened, soon after matters had got to this state, that the young French King died, leaving Mary a young widow. She was then invited by her Scottish subjects to return home and reign over them; and as she was not now happy where she was, she, after a little time, complied.

六级/考研单词: reign, turmoil, thorn, pillow, mere, heir, parliament, jealous, disposition, throne, reform, stern, potent, preach, fierce, savage, riot, perpetual, chapel, gray, harsh, frown, secular, conquer, crush, congregate, thereby, sovereign, treaty, consent, depart, engage, fulfil, widow, comply

标签：England,she,Queen,had,England.160,Child,was,Mary,History
来源： https://www.cnblogs.com/funwithwords/p/15815534.html