Her face was somewhat long, the nose long and straight, the lips and chin beautifully moulded, the eyebrows very slender, the eyes of a reddish brown, long and narrow.

Her hair was russet, drawn back from a lofty brow; her smile was captivating; she was rather fascinating than beautiful; her courage and her love of courage in others were universally confessed.

{118} In January, 1561, the Estates of Scotland ordered James Stuart, Mary's natural brother, to visit her in France.

In spring she met him, and an envoy from Huntly (Lesley, later Bishop of Ross), who represented the Catholic party, and asked Mary to land in Aberdeen, and march south at the head of the Gordons and certain northern clans.

The proposal came from noblemen of Perthshire, Angus, and the north, whose forces could not have faced a Lowland army.