Marys

The four Marys. Mary Beaton (or Bethune), Mary Livingston (or Leuson), Mary Fleming (or Flemyng), and Mary Seaton (or Seyton); called the “Queen’s Marys,” that is, the ladies of the same age as Mary, afterwards Queen of Scots, and her companions. Mary Carmichael was not one of the four, although introduced in the well-known ballad.

“Yestreʹen the queen had four Marys,

This night sheʹll hae but three:

There was Mary Beaton, and Mary Seaton,

Mary Carmichael, and me.”

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.