March 9, 1566: When you settle down for the night, what sort of book do you dig out of the shelves? History? Mystery? Romance? A book Lewis finds in his uncle’s house is Volume IX of
Stoddard's Lectures, labeled "Scotland, England, and London":
He [Lewis] was reading about how the Scotch nobles had murdered poor Rizzio right in front of Mary, Queen of Scots. Stoddard compared Rizzio to a purple-velvet plum spurting plum juice in all directions. The nobles dragged the poor man, kicking and screaming, into the hallway, where they stabbed him some more. Fifty-six times, said Stoddard, though he didn't say who counted the stabs.
Rizzio was the private secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary's husband, Henry Stuart was supposedly jealous of the friendship between the two and rumors that Rizzio impregnated Mary; Stuart joined a conspiracy to murder the courtier - an event occurring on this date in 1566.
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