185

BOOK THIRD.¹⁵¹¹⁵¹The Third Book of the Progress of True Religion within the Realm of Scotland.

1559-1561.

After our dolorous departure from Edinburgh, the fury and the rage of the French increased; for then neither man nor woman that professed Christ Jesus durst be seen within that town. The houses of the most honest men were given by the Queen to the Frenchmen for a part of their reward. The Earl Bothwell, by sound of trumpet, proclaimed the Earl of Arran traitor, with other despiteful words; and all this was done for the pleasure and at the suggestion of the Queen Regent, who then thought the battle was won, without fear of further resistance. Great practising she made towards obtaining the Castle of Edinburgh. The French made faggots and other preparations for assaulting the Castle, by force or by treason. But God wrought so potently with the Captain, the Lord Erskine, that neither did the Queen prevail by flattery, nor the French by treason.

With all diligence, intelligence was sent to the Duke of Guise, who was then virtual King of France, requiring him to use expedition, if he desired the full conquest of Scotland. He delayed no time, and sent away a new army with his brother, Marquis D'Elbœuf, and the Count de Martigues, promising that he himself should follow. But the righteous God, who in mercy looketh upon the affliction of those that unfeignedly sob unto Him, fought for us by His own outstretched arm. One night, upon the coast of Holland, eighteen ensigns of them were drowned, so that there only remained the ship in which were the two leaders with their ladies. These, violently driven186 back again to Dieppe, were compelled to confess that God fought for the defence of Scotland.

Robert Melvin, who had gone to London in company with the Secretary, a little before Christmas, now returned from England and brought certain Articles to be answered by us. Thereupon the Nobility convened at Stirling, and returned answer with diligence. The French, informed of this, marched to Linlithgow, spoiled the Duke's house, and wasted his lands of Kinneil; thereafter coming to Stirling, where they remained for some days. The Duke, and the Earls of Argyll and Glencairn, with their friends, moved on to Glasgow, the Earl of Arran and Lord James, to St. Andrews; for charge had been given to all the Protestant Nobility to conserve their forces until God should send them further support.

The French laid their plans for assaulting Fife first; for it had stirred their great indignation. Their purpose was to have taken and fortified the town, the Abbey, and the Castle of St. Andrews. So they came to Culross, after that to Dunfermline, and then to Burntisland, where they began to fortify. But they soon had reason to desist and march to Kinghorn. For, when the Earl of Arran and the Lord James learned that the French had departed from Stirling, they departed also from St. Andrews, and began to assemble their forces at Cupar. They also sent their men of war to Kinghorn; and to them there resorted divers of the coast side, who were of mind to resist at the beginning, rather than when the French had destroyed a part of their towns. As the Lords had given express command that nothing should be hazarded until they themselves were present, the Lord Ruthven, a man of great experience, and inferior to few in stoutness, was dispatched to Kinghorn.

The men of war, and the rascal multitude, perceiving Frenchmen landing from certain boats which had come from Leith, determined to stop their coming ashore. Not considering the enemies that approached from Burntisland, they unadvisedly rushed down to the Pettycur, as the brae be-west Kinghorn is called, and at the sea-coast187 began skirmishing. They never took heed to the enemy that approached by land, until the horsemen charged down upon their backs, and the whole bands met them in the face. They were thus compelled to give back, with the loss of six or seven men killed, and some others taken prisoner. The reason why there was so small a loss in so great a danger was, next to the merciful providence of God, the sudden coming of the Lord Ruthven. Immediately after our men had given back, he and his company came to the head of the brae, and stayed the French footmen, while some of ours broke upon their horsemen, and so repulsed them that they did no further hurt to our footmen.

The French took Kinghorn, and there they lay, wasting the country about, as well Papists as Protestants, yea, even those that were confederate with them, such as Seafield, Wemyss, Balmuto, Balweary, and others, enemies to God and traitors to their country. They spared not the sheep, the oxen, the kine, and horse of these men, and some say that their wives and daughters got favours of the French soldiers. Thus did God recompense the Papists in their own bosoms, for, besides the defiling of their houses, two of them received more damage than did all the gentlemen that professed the Evangel within Fife, the Laird of Grange only excepted. His house of the Grange the French overthrew by gunpowder.

The Queen Regent, proud of this victory, burst forth in blasphemous railing, and said, "Where is now John Knox's God? My God is now stronger than his, yea, even in Fife." To her friends in France she posted news that thousands of the heretics had been slain, and that the rest were fled; and required that some nobleman would come and take the glory of that victory. Upon that information, the Count de Martigues, with two ships, and some captains and horse, were directed to come to Scotland; but little to their own advantage, as we shall hear.

The Lords of the Congregation, offended at the foolishness of the rascal multitude, recalled the men of war, and remained certain days at Cupar. To them repaired John Knox, and, in our greatest desperation, preached a most comfortable sermon. His subject was, "The danger in188 which the disciples of Christ Jesus stood when they were in the midst of the sea, and Jesus was upon the mountain." He exhorted us not to faint, but still to row against these contrary blasts, until Jesus Christ should come; "for," said he, "I am as assuredly persuaded that God shall deliver us from the extreme trouble, as I am assured that this is the Evangel of Jesus Christ which I preach unto you this day. I am assured, albeit I cannot assure you, by reason of this present rage; God grant that ye may acknowledge His hand, after your eyes have seen His deliverance." In that sermon he comforted many. And yet he offended the Earl of Arran, who apprehended that certain words were spoken in reproach of him, because he kept himself more close and solitary than many men would have wished.

After these things, determination was taken that the Earl of Arran and Lord James, with the men of war and some company of horsemen, should go to Dysart, and there lie in wait upon the French, so that they should not utterly destroy the sea-coast, as they had intended to have done. The said Earl and Lord James did as they were appointed, albeit their company was very small; and yet they did so valiantly, that it passed all credibility. For twenty-one days they lay in their clothes; their boots never came off: they had skirmishing almost every day; yea, some days, from morn to even. The French had four thousand soldiers, beside their favourers and faction of the country. The Lords had never altogether five hundred horsemen, with a hundred soldiers; and yet they held the French so busy, that for every horse they slew to the Congregation, they lost four French soldiers.

William Kirkaldy of Grange, on the day after his house was cast down, sent in his defiance to Monsieur D'Oysel and the rest, declaring that to that hour had he used the French favourably. He had saved their lives, when he might have suffered their throats to be cut; but, seeing that they had used him with that rigour, let them not look for that favour in times to come. The said William Kirkaldy, and the Master of Lyndsay, escaped many dangers. The Master had his horse slain under him: the said William was almost betrayed in his189 house at Hallyards. Yet they never ceased; night and day they waited upon the French.

On one occasion, they with some gentlemen laid themselves in a secret place, before day, to await the French, who were wont to ish in companies, to seek their prey. Forth came a Captain Battu, with his hundred men, and began to spoil. The said Master, now Lord of Lyndsay, and the said William, suffered this without showing themselves or their company, until they had them more than a mile from Kinghorn. Then the horsemen began to break. Perceiving this, the French drew together to a place called Glennis House, and made for debate; some took the house, and others defended the close and yard. The hazard appeared very unlikely, for our men had nothing but spears, and were compelled to light upon their feet. The others were within dykes; and all had culverins: the shot was fearful to many, and divers were hurt. Kirkaldy, perceiving men to faint and begin to recoil, cried, "Fie, let us never live after this day, if we shall recoil for French schybalds¹⁵²¹⁵²Mean fellows.;" and so the Master of Lyndsay and he burst in at the yett, and others followed. The Master struck with his spear at La Battu, and glancing upon his harness, for fierceness stammered¹⁵³¹⁵³Staggered. almost upon his knees. But, recovering suddenly, he fastened his spear, and bare the Captain backward, who, because he would not be taken, was slain, and fifty of his company with him. Those that were in the house, with some others, were saved, and sent to Dundee to be kept. This mischance to the Frenchmen made them more circumspect in scattering abroad in the country; and so the poor folk got some relief.

To furnish the French with victuals, Captain Cullen, with two ships, travelled betwixt the south shore and Kinghorn. For his wages, he spoiled Kinghorn, Kirkcaldy, and as much of Dysart as he might. For remedy, two ships were sent from Dundee, Andrew Sands, a stout and fervent man in the cause of religion, being in command. At the same time Count de Martigues arrived. Without delay he landed himself, his coffers, and the principal gentlemen that were with him at190 Leith, leaving the rest in his two ships until more convenient opportunity. But the said Andrew, and his companion, striking sail and making as if they would cast anchor hard beside them, boarded them both, and carried them to Dundee. In them were gotten some horse and much harness, with some other trifles; but of money we heard not.

The French were incensed, and vowed the destruction of St. Andrews and Dundee. Upon Monday morning, the twenty-third day of January 1560, they marched from Dysart, and crossed the water of Leven; ever keeping the sea-coast, for the sake of their ships and victuals. About twelve o'clock they espied ships. These had been seen that morning by us that were upon the land, but they were not known. Monsieur D'Oysel affirmed them to be French ships, and so the soldiers triumphed, shot their volley for salutation, and marched forward to Kincraig, fearing no resistance. But shortly after, the English ships, meeting with Captain Cullen, seized him and his ships, and this made them muse a little.

Suddenly came Master Alexander Wood, and assured Monsieur D'Oysel, that they were Englishmen, and that they were the fore-riders of a greater number that followed for the support of the Congregation. Then might have been seen the riving of beards, and might have been heard such despite as cruel men are wont to spue forth when God bridleth their fury. Weariness and the night constrained them to lodge where they were. They supped scarcely, because their ships were taken. In these were their victuals, and also the ordnance which they intended to have placed in St. Andrews. They themselves durst not stray abroad to forage; and the Laird of Wemyss's carriage, which likewise was coming with provisions for them, was stayed. Betimes in the morning, they retired towards Kinghorn, and made more expedition in one day in retiring, than they had done in two in advancing.

The storm, which had continued for the space of nearly a month, broke at the very time of the retreat of the French. Many thought they would have been stayed by this until a reasonable company might have been assembled to have fought them; and with that purpose William191 Kirkaldy cut the bridge of Tullibody. But the French, expert enough in such work, took down the roof of a parish kirk, and made a bridge over the water called the Devon. So they escaped, and came to Stirling, and syne to Leith.

In their retreat, the French spoiled the country and lost divers men; amongst whom there was one whose miserable end we must rehearse. A Frenchman—captain or soldier, we cannot tell, but he had a red cloak and a gilt morion—entered upon a poor woman, that dwelt in the Whyteside, and began to spoil. The poor woman offered him such bread as she had ready prepared. But he, in no ways content therewith, demanded the meal and a little salt beef with which she had to sustain her own life, and the lives of her poor children. Neither could tears nor pitiful words mitigate the merciless man; he would have whatsoever he could carry. The poor woman perceiving him so bent, and that he stooped down into her tub to take forth such stuff as was within it, cowped up his heels, so that his head went down; and there he ended his unhappy life.

From this time forward, frequent mention will be made of the comfortable support that we, by God's providence, received in our greatest extremity from our neighbours of England. We therefore think it expedient simply to declare how that matter was first moved, and by what means it came to pass that the Queen and Council of England showed themselves so favourable to us.

John Knox had forewarned us, by his letters from Geneva, of all dangers that he foresaw to ensue from our enterprise; and, when he came to Dieppe, mindful of these, and revolving with himself what remedy God would please to offer, he had the boldness to write to Sir William Cecil, Secretary of England. With him the said John had formerly been familiarly acquainted, and he intended thereby to renew acquaintance, and so to open his mind further....

To this letter no answer was made; for, shortly thereafter, the said John made forward to Scotland by sea, where he192 landed on the third day of May; and had such success as has been declared in the Second Book. The said John, being in St. Andrews after Cupar Moor, entered into deep discourse with the Laird of Grange: the dangers were evident, but the support was not easy to be seen. After many words, John Knox burst forth as follows: "If England would foresee their own commodity, yea, if they did consider the danger wherein they themselves stand, they would not suffer us to perish in this quarrel; for France hath decreed no less the conquest of England than of Scotland." After long reasoning, it was concluded betwixt them two that support should be craved of England. For that purpose, the said Laird of Grange first wrote to Sir Harry Percy, and afterwards rode from Edinburgh and spake with him. To him he made so plain demonstration of the apparent danger to England, that he took upon him to write to the Secretary Cecil; who with expedition returned answer back again. Sir Harry was given to understand that our enterprise was not altogether misliked by the Council, albeit they desired further resolution on the part of the principal Lords. When this was understood, it was concluded by some to write unto him plainly our whole purpose.... With this our letter, John Knox wrote two, one to the Secretary, and another to the Queen's Majesty herself.... These letters were directed by Alexander Whitelaw, a man that hath oft hazarded himself, and his all, for the cause of God, and for his friends when in danger for the same cause.

Within a day or two after the departure of the said Alexander, there came a letter from Sir Harry Percy to John Knox, requiring him to meet him at Alnwick, on the third of August, upon such affairs as he would not write of, nor yet communicate to any but the said John himself. While he was preparing himself for the journey, for Secretary Cecil had appointed to meet him at Stamford, the Frenchmen came forth furiously from Dunbar, intending to have surprised the Lords in Edinburgh, as in the Second Book has been declared. This stayed the journey of the said John, until God had delivered the innocent from that great danger; and then was he (having Master Robert Hamilton, minister of the Evangel of Jesus193 Christ, in his company) directed from the Lords, with full commission and instructions to set forth their whole cause and estate.

The passage was from Pittenweem, by sea. Arriving at Holy Island, and being informed that Sir Harry Percy was absent from the North, they addressed themselves to Sir James Crofts, then Captain of Berwick and Warden of the East Marches of England. They showed to him their credit and commission. He received them gently, and comforted them with his faithful counsel, which was that they should travel no farther, nor yet should they be seen in public, and that for divers considerations. First, the Queen Regent had her spies in England. Secondarily, the Queen and the Council favoured our action, but would that all things should remain secret as long as possible. And last, said he, "I do not think it expedient that, when preachers are so scarce, ye two should be any long time absent from the Lords. Therefore," said he, "ye shall do best to commit to writing your whole mind and credit, and I shall promise to you, upon my honour, to have answer delivered to you and the Lords, before ye yourselves could reach London. And where your letters cannot express all things so fully as your presence could, I, not only by my pen, but also by my own presence, shall supply the same, to such as will inform the Council sufficiently of all things."

The said John and Master Robert followed this counsel, for it was faithful and proceeded of love at that time. They tarried with Sir James Crofts very secretly, within the Castle of Berwick, for two days, when Alexander Whitelaw returned with answer to the Lords, and to John Knox, the tenor of whose letter was this:—

"Master Knox,—Non est masculus neque foemina, omnes enim, ut ait Paulus, unum sumus in Christo Jesu. Benedictus vir qui confidit in Domino; et erit Dominus fiducia ejus.¹⁵⁴¹⁵⁴There is neither male nor female; for, as saith Paul, they are all one in Christ Jesus. Blessed is the man who trusteth in the Lord; and the Lord will be his confidence.—Laing.

"I have received your letters, at the time that I had thought194 to have seen yourself about Stamford. What is the cause of your let, I know not. I forbear to descend to the bottom of things, until I may confer with such an one as ye are; and, therefore, if your chance shall be hereafter to come hither, I wish you to be furnished with good credit, and power to make good resolution. Although my answer to the Lords of Congregation be somewhat obscure, upon further understanding ye shall find the matter plain. I need wish to you no more prudence than God's grace, whereof God send you plenty. And so I end. From Oxford, the twenty-eighth of July 1559.—Yours as a member of the same body in Christ,—W. Cecil."

Albeit the said John received this letter at Berwick, yet would he answer nothing until he had spoken with the Lords. Them he found in Stirling, and unto them he delivered the answer sent from the Council of England.... The answer sent by Master Cecil was so general that many amongst us were despaired of any comfort to come from that country; and therefore were determined that they would request nothing further. John Knox laboured for the contrary purpose; but he could prevail no further than that he should have licence and liberty to write as he thought best. And so took he upon him to answer for all, in form as follows:—

"... Albeit Master Whitelaw, by his credit, Master Kirkaldy, by his letter, and I, both by letters and by that which I had learned from Sir James Crofts, did declare and affirm your good minds towards them and their support; yet could not some of the Council—those, I mean, of greatest experience—be otherwise persuaded, but that this alteration in France had altered your former purpose.

"It is not unknown to your countrymen what goodwill we three do bear to England. Therefore we heartily desire of you that your favours and good minds may appear to the Council by your own writings, rather than by any credit committed to any of us. The case of those gentlemen standeth thus:—Unless money be furnished without delay to pay their soldiers, who in number now exceed five hundred, for their service by-past, and to retain another thousand footmen, with three195 hundred horsemen for a time, they will be compelled every man to seek the next way for his own safety. I am assured, as flesh may be of flesh, that some of them will take a very hard life before they compone¹⁵⁵¹⁵⁵Agree. either with the Queen Regent, or with France. But this I dare not promise at all, unless in you they see a greater forwardness to their support.

"To support us may appear excessive, and to break promise with France may appear dangerous. But, Sir, I hope ye consider that our destruction were your greatest loss; and that when France shall be our full master—which God avert!—they will be but slender friends to you. I heard Béthencourt brag in his credit, after he had delivered his menacing letters to Lord James Stewart, that the King and his Council would spend the Crown of France, unless they had our full obedience. But most assuredly I know that unless by us they thought to make an entrance to you, they would not buy our poverty at that price. They labour to corrupt some of our great men by money, and some of our number are poor, as before I wrote, and cannot serve without support; some they threaten; and against others they have raised up a party in their own country. In the meantime, if ye lie by as neutrals, ye may easily conjecture what will be the end! Some of the Council, immediately after the sight of your letters, departed, not well appeased. The Earl of Argyll is gone to his country for putting order to the same,¹⁵⁶¹⁵⁶That is, to make arrangements there. and is minded to return shortly with his forces, if assurance of your support be had.

"Therefore, Sir, in the bowels of Jesus Christ, I require you to make plain answer, that the Gentlemen here may know what to lippen to,¹⁵⁷¹⁵⁷Trust to. and at what time their support should be in readiness. How dangerous is the drift of time in such matters, ye are not ignorant...."

With great expedition, answer was returned to this letter. It was requested that some men of credit should be sent from the Lords to Berwick, to receive money for immediate support; and promise was made that, if the Lords of the Congregation meant no otherwise than they had written, and if they would enter into league with honest196 conditions, they should neither lack men nor money to aid their just cause. Upon receipt of this answer, Master Henry Balnaves, a man of good credit in both the realms, was sent by the Lords to Berwick. He immediately returned with such a sum of money as served all the public affairs until the next November; John Cockburn of Ormiston was then sent for the second support, and receiving the same, unhappily fell into the hands of the Earl Bothwell, and was wounded, taken, and spoiled of a great sum. Upon this mischance followed all the rest of our troubles before rehearsed....

In the negotiation of the Secretary Lethington with the Queen and Council of England, in which he travailed with no less wisdom and faithfulness than happy success, many things occurred that required the resolution of the whole Lords. Amongst these there was one of which we have made no previous mention.

After the Queen and Council of England had concluded to send their army into Scotland to expel the French, the Duke of Norfolk was sent to Berwick, with full instructions, power, and commission, to do in all things, concerning the present affairs of Scotland, as the Queen and Councillors in their own persons might do. Hereupon, the said Duke required such a part of the Lords of Scotland as had power and commission from the whole to meet him at such day and place as it might please them to appoint. The intimation came first to Glasgow, by means of the Master of Maxwell. When this had been read and considered by the Lords, it was agreed that they should meet at Carlisle. This arrangement was made on the procurement of the said Master of Maxwell, for his own ease.

Letters were directed from the Lords, lying at Glasgow, to Lord James, requiring him to repair towards them for the purpose named, with all possible expedition. When these letters had been read and advised upon, commandment was given to John Knox to make the answer.... And he wrote as follows:—"I have written oftener than once to Mr. Henry Balnaves concerning things that have misliked me in your197 slow proceedings in supporting your brethren, who many days have sustained extreme danger in these parts, as well as in making provision how the enemy might have been annoyed, when they lay in few numbers nigh to your quarters in Stirling; and in making provision how the expectation of your friends, who long have awaited for your answer, might have been satisfied. But although I have complained of those things, of very conscience, I am yet compelled to signify unto your honours that, unless I shall espy some redress of these and other enormities, I am assured that the end shall be such as godly men shall mourn, and that a good cause shall perish for lack of wisdom and diligence.

"In my last letters to Mr. Henry Balnaves, I declared that your especial friends in England wonder that no greater expedition is made, the weight of the matter being considered. I wrote also that, if the fault were with the Lord Duke and his friends, the greatest loss should be his and theirs in the end. And now, I cannot cease both to wonder and lament that your whole Council was so destitute of wisdom and discretion as to charge this poor man, the Prior, to come to you to Glasgow, and thereafter to go to Carlisle, for such affairs as are to be entreated. Was there none amongst you who did foresee what inconveniences might ensue his absence from these parts?

"I cease to speak of the dangers from the enemy. Your friends have lain in the Firth now for fifteen days bypast, and what was their former travail is not unknown; yet they have never received comfort from any man, him only excepted, more than if they had lain upon the coast of their mortal enemy. Do ye not consider that such a company needs comfort and provision from time to time? Remove him, and who abideth that carefully will travail in that or any other weighty matter in these parts? Did ye not further consider that he had begun to meddle with the gentlemen who had declared themselves unfriends heretofore; and also that order would have been taken for such as have been neutral? Now, by reason of his absence, the former will escape without198 admonition, and the latter will retain their former liberty. I am assured that the enemy will not sleep, either in that or in other affairs. They will undermine you and your whole cause; and, especially, they will hurt this part of the country in revenge for their former folly.

"If none of these causes should have moved you to have considered that such a journey, at such a time, was not meet for the Lord James, or for them that must accompany him, discreet men would yet have considered that the men that have lien in their jacks, and travailed their horses continually the space of a month, require some longer rest than yet they have had, both for themselves and, especially, for their horses, before they should have been charged to take such a journey. The Prior may, for satisfaction of your unreasonable minds, make the enterprise; but I am assured that he shall not be able to procure in all Fife six honest men to accompany him. How that stands either with your honour or his safety, judge ye yourselves.

"Again, it is a wonder that ye did not consider to what pain and fashery¹⁵⁸¹⁵⁸Trouble. ye put your friends of England; especially the Duke of Norfolk and his Council, whom ye would cause to travel the most wearisome and fashous gait¹⁵⁹¹⁵⁹Troublesome route. that is in England. In my opinion, whoever gave you that counsel either lacked right judgment in things to be done, or else had too much respect to his own ease, and too small regard to the travail and danger of his brethren. A common cause requireth a common concurrence, and that every man bear his burden proportionably. Prudent and indifferent men espy the contrary in this cause, especially of late days; for the weakest are most grievously charged, and those to whom the matter most belongeth, and to whom justly the greatest burden is due, are in a manner exempted both from travail and expenses.

"To speak the matter plainly, wise men do wonder what my Lord Duke's friends do mean; they are so slack and backward in this cause. In other actions, they have been judged stout and forward; and in this, which is the greatest that ever he or they had in hand, they appear destitute both of grace199 and of courage. I am not ignorant that they that are most inward in his counsels are enemies to God, and therefore cannot but be enemies to His cause. But the wonder is that he and his other friends do not consider that the tinsel of this godly enterprise will mean the rooting of them and their posterity from this realm. Considering, my Lords, that by God's providence ye are joined with the Duke's Grace in this common cause, do ye admonish him plainly of the danger to come. Will him to beware of the counsel of those that are plainly infected with superstition, with pride, and with venom of particular profits. If he do not this at your admonition, he shall smart, before he be aware; if ye cease to put him in mind of his duty, it may be that, for your silence, ye shall drink some portion of the plague with him...."

Upon the receipt of this letter, and consultation thereupon, a fresh decision was made; to wit, that the Lords would visit the Duke of Norfolk at Berwick, where he was.

Thus far have we digressed from the style of the history, to let the posterity that shall follow understand by what instruments God wrought the familiarity and friendship that afterwards we found in England. Now we return to our former history.

The parts of Fife set at freedom from the bondage of those bloody worms, solemn thanks unto God, for His mighty deliverance, were given in St. Andrews. Shortly after, the Earl of Arran and Lord James apprehended the Lairds of Wemyss, Seafield, Balgonie, and Durie, and others that had assisted the French. They were, however, soon set at freedom, upon conditions that they never intended to keep: for such men have neither faith nor honesty. Mr. James Balfour, who was the greatest practiser, escaped. The English ships multiplied daily, until they were able to keep the whole Firth. This enraged the French and the Queen Regent, and they began to execute their tyranny upon the parts of Lothian that lay near to Edinburgh.

200

In the middle of February 1560, the Lord James, Lord Ruthven, the Master of Maxwell, the Master of Lyndsay, Master Henry Balnaves, and the Laird of Pittarrow were directed to England, from the Duke's Grace and the Congregation. All these, except the Master of Maxwell, departed with their honest companies and commission by sea to Berwick. There they were met by the Duke of Norfolk, lieutenant to the Queen's Majesty of England, and with him a great company of the gentlemen of the North, and some also of the South, having full power to contract with the nobility of Scotland. This they did, upon such conditions as in the Contract are specified. And because we have heard the malicious tongues of wicked men make false report of our action, we have faithfully and truly inserted in this our history the said Contract, that the memory thereof may bide to our posterity. They may judge with indifference whether we have done anything prejudicial to our commonwealth, or yet contrary to that dutiful obedience which true subjects owe to their superiors—superiors whose authority ought to defend and maintain the liberty and freedom of the realms committed to their charge; and not to oppress and betray these to strangers. The tenor of our Contract follows.

"... The Queen's Majesty, having sufficiently understood, as well by information sent from the nobility of Scotland, as by the manifest proceedings of the French, that they intend to conquer the realm of Scotland, suppress the liberties thereof, and unite the same unto the Crown of France perpetually, contrary to the laws of the same realm, and to the pacts, oaths, and promises of France; and being thereto most humbly and earnestly required by the said nobility, for and in name of the whole realm, shall accept the said realm of Scotland, the Duke of Chatelherault, Earl of Arran, being declared by Act of Parliament in Scotland to be heir-apparent to the Crown thereof, and the nobility and subjects thereof, unto Her Majesty's protection and maintenance, only for preservation of the same in their freedoms and liberties, and from conquest201 during the time that the marriage shall continue betwixt the Queen of Scots and the French King, and a year after. And, for expelling out of the same realm such as presently and apparently go about to practise the said conquest, Her Majesty shall with all speed send unto Scotland a convenient aid of men of war, on horse and foot, to join with the power¹⁶⁰¹⁶⁰Forces. of Scotsmen; with artillery, munition, and all other instruments of war meet for the purpose, as well by sea as by land, not only to expel the present power of French within that realm, oppressing the same, but also to stop, as far as conveniently may be, all greater forces of French from entering therein for the like purpose. Her Majesty shall continue her aid to the said realm, nobility, and subjects of the same, unto the time that the French, being enemies to the said realm, are utterly expelled thence. Her Majesty shall never transact, compone, nor agree with the French, nor conclude any league with them, unless the Scots and the French shall be agreed; that the realm of Scotland may be left in due freedom by the French. Nor shall Her Majesty leave off the maintenance of the said nobility and subjects, whereby they might fall as a prey into their enemies' hands, as long as they shall acknowledge their Sovereign Lady and Queen, and shall indure¹⁶¹¹⁶¹Remain of firm purpose. themselves to maintain the liberty of their country, and the estate of the Crown of Scotland. And, if any forts or strengths within the realm be won out of the hands of the French at this present time, or at any time hereafter, by Her Majesty's aid, the same shall be immediately demolished by the said Scotsmen, or delivered to the said Duke and his party foresaid, at their option and choice. Nor shall the power of England fortify within the ground of Scotland, being out of the bounds of England, but by the advice of the said Duke, nobility, and estates of Scotland.

"For which causes, and in respect of Her Majesty's most gentle clemency and liberal support, the said Duke, and all the nobility, as well such as be now joined, as such as shall hereafter join with him for defence of the liberty of that realm, shall, to the uttermost of their power, aid and support202 Her Majesty's arm against the French, and their partakers,¹⁶²¹⁶²Allies. with horsemen and footmen, and with victuals, by land and by sea, and with all manner of other aid to the best of their power, and so shall continue during the time that Her Majesty's army shall remain in Scotland. They shall be enemy to all such Scotsmen and French as shall in anywise show themselves enemies to the realm of England in respect of the aiding and supporting of the said Duke and nobility in the delivery of the realm of Scotland from conquest. They shall never assent nor permit that the realm of Scotland shall be conquered, or otherwise knit to the Crown of France than it is at this present time only by the marriage of the Queen their Sovereign to the French King, and by the laws and liberties of the realm, as it ought to be....

"And, finally, the said Duke and the nobility joined with him certainly perceiving that the Queen's Majesty of England is thereunto moved only upon respect of princely honour and neighbourhood for the defence of the freedom of Scotland from conquest, and not of any other sinister intent, do by these presents testify and declare that neither they nor any of them mean by this count to withdraw any due obedience to their Sovereign Lady the Queen, or to withstand the French King, her husband and head, in any lawful thing that, during the marriage, shall not tend to the subversion and oppression of the just and ancient liberties of the said kingdom of Scotland; for preservation whereof, both for their Sovereign's honour, and for the continuance of the kingdom in ancient estate, they acknowledge themselves bound to spend their goods, lands, and lives...."

Shortly after this contract was completed, our pledges were delivered to Master Winter, Admiral of the navy¹⁶³¹⁶³Fleet. that came to Scotland, a man of great honesty, so far as ever we could espy of him, and these were safely convoyed to Newcastle. Then the English began to assemble near the Border; and the French and Queen Regent, informed of this, began to destroy what they203 could in the towns and country about. The whole victuals they carried to Leith; the mills they broke; the sheep, oxen, and kine, yea, the horses of poor labourers, they made all to serve their tyranny. In the end, they left nothing undone which very enemies could have devised, except that they demolished not gentlemen's houses, and burnt not the town of Edinburgh: in this particular, God bridled their fury, to let His afflicted understand that He took care of them.

Before the coming of the land army, the French passed to Glasgow, and destroyed the country thereabout. The tyranny used by the Marquis upon a poor Scottish soldier is fearful to hear, and yet his act may not be omitted. They would give no silver to the poor men, and so they were slow to depart from the town; and, albeit the drum was beaten, the ensign could not be got. A poor craftsman, who had bought for his victuals a grey loaf and was eating a morsel of it, was putting the rest of it in his bosom. The tyrant came to him, and with the poor caitiff's own whinger first struck him in the breast, and afterwards cast it at him. The poor man staggering and falling, the merciless tyrant ran him through with his rapier, and thereafter commanded him to be hung over the stair. Lord, Thou wilt yet look, and recompense such tyranny; however contemptible the person was!

On the second of April, in the year of God 1560, the army by land entered Scotland. Its conduct was committed to the Lord Grey, who had in his company the Lord Scrope, Sir James Crofts, Sir Harry Percy, and Sir Francis Lake; many other captains and gentlemen having charge, some of footmen, some of horsemen. The army by land was estimated at ten thousand men. The Queen Regent and some others of her faction had passed to the Castle of Edinburgh. At Preston the English were met by the Duke's Grace, the Earl of Argyll (Huntly came not until the siege was confirmed), Lord James, the Earls of Glencairn and Monteith, Lords Ruthven, Boyd, and Ochiltree, and all the Protestant gentlemen of West Fife, Angus, and Mearns. For a few days the army was great.

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After two days' deliberation at Inveresk, the whole camp marched forward with ordnance and all preparation necessary for the siege, and came to Restalrig upon Palm Sunday evening. The French had put themselves in battle array upon the Links without Leith, and had sent forth their skirmishers. These, beginning before ten o'clock, continued skirmishing until after four o'clock in the afternoon, when some horsemen of Scotland and some of England charged upon them. But, because the principal captain of the horsemen of England was not present, the whole troop durst not charge, and so the overthrow and slaughter of the French was not so great as at one time it appeared to be. The great battle was once at the trot; but when the French perceived that the great force of the horsemen stood still, and charged not, they returned and gave some resource to their fellows that fled. Thus there fell in that defeat only about three hundred Frenchmen. God would not give the victory so suddenly, lest man should glory in his own strength. This small victory put both the English and Scots in too great security, as the issue declared.

The French enclosed within the town, the English army began to plant their pavilions betwixt Leith and Restalrig. The ordnance of the town, and especially that which lay upon St. Anthony's steeple, caused them great annoyance; and eight cannon were bent against this place. These shot so continually, and so accurately, that, within few days, that steeple was condemned, and all the ordnance on it was dismounted. This made the Englishmen somewhat more negligent than it became good men of war to have been; for, perceiving that the French made no pursuit outside their walls, they got the idea that they would never ish more. Some of the captains for pastime, went to the town:¹⁶⁴¹⁶⁴That is, to Edinburgh. the soldiers, for their ease, laid their armour aside, and, as men beyond danger, fell to the dice and cards. So, upon Easter Monday, at the very hour of noon, when the French ished, both on horse and foot, and entered into the English trenches with great violence, they slew or put to flight all that were found there.

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The watch was negligently kept, and succour was slow, and long in coming; the French, before any resistance was made, approached almost to the great ordnance. But then the horsemen trooped together, and the footmen got themselves in array, and so repulsed the French back again to the town. But the slaughter was great: some say it exceeded double of that which the French received the first day. And this was the fruit of their security and ours.

Matters were afterwards remedied; for the Englishmen, most wisely considering themselves not able to besiege the town at all points, made mounds at divers quarters of it. In these, they and their ordnance lay in as good strength as did the enemy within the town. The common soldiers kept the trenches, and had the said mounds for their safeguard and refuge, in case of any greater pursuit than they were able to sustain. The patience and stout courage of the Englishmen, but principally of the horsemen, is worthy of all praise: for where was it ever heard that eight thousand (they that lay in camp never exceeded that number) should besiege four thousand of the most desperate cut-throats that were to be found in Europe, and lie so near to them in daily skirmishing, for the space of three months and more. The horsemen kept watch night and day, and did so valiantly behave themselves that the French got no advantage from that day until the day of the assault.

In the meantime, another bond to defend the liberty of the Evangel of Christ was made by all the nobility, barons, and gentlemen, professing Christ Jesus in Scotland, and by divers others that joined with us in expelling the French army.... This contract and bond came not only to the ears but to the sight of the Queen Dowager. Thereat she stormed not a little, and said, "The malediction of God I give unto them that counselled me to persecute the preachers, and to refuse the petitions of the best part of the true subjects of this realm. It was said to me that the English army could not lie in Scotland ten days; but they have lain nearly a month now, and are more likely to remain than the first day they came."

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They that gave such information to the Queen, spoke as worldly wise men, and as things appeared to have been. For, the country being almost in all parts wasted, the victuals within reach of Leith either brought in to their stores or else destroyed, and the mills and other places cast down, it appeared that the camp could not have been furnished, unless it had been by their own ships. That could not have been for any long continuance of time, and so would have been of little comfort. But God confounded all worldly wisdom, and made His own benediction as evidently to appear as if, in a manner, He had fed the army from above. In the camp all the time that it lay, after eight days had passed, all kinds of victuals were more abundant, and of more easy prices, than they had been in Edinburgh at any time in the two previous years, or yet have been in that town to this day. The people of Scotland so much abhorred the tyranny of the French that they would have given their substance to have been rid of that chargeable burden which our sins had provoked God to lay upon us—in giving us into the hands of a woman, whom our nobility, in their foolishness, sold unto strangers, and with her the liberty of the realm....

The camp abounding in all necessary provision, arrangements were made for the confirmation of the siege; and the trenches were drawn as near to the town as they well might be. The great camp removed from Restalrig to the west side of the Water of Leith; and the cannons were planted for the bombardment, and shot at the south-west wall. But all was earth, and the breach was not made so great during the day but that it was sufficiently repaired at night. The English, beginning to weary, determined to give the brush and assault. This they did, upon the seventh day of May, beginning before daylight, and continuing until it was near seven o'clock. Albeit the English and Scottish, with great slaughter of the soldiers of both, were repulsed, there was never a sharper assault given at the hands of so few. The men that assaulted the whole two quarters of the town exceeded not a thousand, and yet they silenced the whole block-houses; yea, they once put the207 French clean off their walls, and were upon both the east and west block-houses. But they had not sufficient backing. Their ladders wanted six quarters of the proper height; and so, while the foremost were compelled to fight upon the top of the wall, their fellows could not get up to support them. Thus they were dung back again, by overwhelming numbers, when it was thought that the town was won.

Sir James Crofts was blamed by many for not doing his duty that day. He, with a sufficient number of most able men, had been instructed to assault the north-west quarter upon the sea-side, where, at low-water, as at the time of the assault, the passage was easy: but neither he nor his approached the quarter appointed. At their first coming in, he had spoken with the Queen Regent at the front block-house of the Castle of Edinburgh. Whether she had enchanted him we knew not, but we suspected so that day. He certainly deceived the expectation of many, and, so far as man could judge, was the cause of that great repulse.... All the time of the assault, which was both terrible and long, the Queen Regent sat upon the fore-wall of the Castle of Edinburgh; and when she perceived our overthrow, and that the ensigns of the French were again displayed upon the walls, she gave a guffaw of laughter, and said, "Now will I go to the Mass, and praise God for that which my eyes have seen!"

The French, proud of the victory, stripped naked all the slain, and laid their dead carcases in the hot sun along their wall, where they suffered them to lie more days than one. When the Queen Regent looked towards this, she hopped for mirth and said, "Yonder are the fairest tapestries that ever I saw: I would that the whole fields that are betwixt this place and yon were strewn with the same stuff." This act was seen by all, and her words were heard by some, and misliked by many. Against this, John Knox spake openly in pulpit, and boldly affirmed, that God would revenge that contumely done to His image, not only on the furious and godless soldiers, but even on such as rejoiced thereat. And that which actually happened did declare that he was not deceived, for within a few days thereafter the Queen Regent was smitten with disease.

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The Duke of Norfolk, who then lay at Berwick, commanded the Lord Grey to continue the siege, and promised that he should not lack men, so long as any were to be had betwixt Trent and Tweed; so far was he lieutenant.... While the siege thus continued, a sudden fire chanced in Leith, and this devoured many houses and much victual. Thus did God begin to fight for us, as the Lord Erskine in plain words said to the Queen Regent. "Madam," quoth he, "I can say no more; but seeing that men may not expel unjust possessors from this land, God Himself will do it; for yon fire is not kindled by man." These words offended the Queen Regent not a little. Her sickness daily increasing, she used great craft that Monsieur D'Oysel might be permitted to speak with her. Belike she wished to bid him farewell, for of old their familiarity had been great; but that was denied. Then she wrote as if to her chirurgeon and apothecary, explaining her sickness and requiring drugs. The letter being presented to the Lord Grey, he espied craft. Few lines being written above and much white paper left, he said, "Drugs are abundant and fresher in Edinburgh than they can be in Leith: there lurks here some other mystery." By holding the paper to the fire, he perceived some writing appear, and this he read. But what it was, no other man can tell; for he burnt the bill immediately, and said to the messenger, "Albeit I have been her secretary, yet tell her I shall keep her counsel. But say to her, such wares will not sell in a new market."

When the Queen received this answer, she was not content; and travailed earnestly that she might speak with the Earls of Argyll, Glencairn, and Marischall, and with the Lord James. After deliberation, it was thought expedient that they should speak with her, but not altogether, lest some part of the Guisian practice had lurked under the colour of such friendship. She expressed to them all regret that she had behaved herself so foolishly, and had compelled them to seek the support of others rather than of their own sovereign; and she said that she sore repented that ever it came to that extremity. But hers was209 not the wyte.¹⁶⁵¹⁶⁵Blame. Her action had been dictated by the wicked counsel of her friends on the one part, and the Earl of Huntly upon the other; if he had not been there, she would have fully agreed with them at their communing at Preston. They gave her what counsel and comfort they could in that extremity, and willed her to send for some godly learned man, of whom she might receive instruction; for these ignorant Papists that were about her, understood nothing of the mystery of our Redemption. Upon their motive, John Willock was sent for. With him she talked a reasonable space, and he did plainly show to her the virtue and strength of the death of Jesus Christ, as well as the vanity and abomination of the Mass. She did openly confess that there was no salvation but in and by the death of Jesus Christ. We heard not her confession concerning the Mass.

Some said the Queen was anointed in the papistical manner, a sign of small knowledge of the truth, and of less repentance of her former superstition. Yet, howsoever it was, Christ Jesus got no small victory over such an enemy. For, albeit she had formerly avowed that, in despite of all Scotland, the preachers of Jesus Christ should either die or be banished the realm, she was compelled not only to hear that Christ Jesus was preached, and all idolatry openly rebuked, and in many places suppressed, but also she was constrained to hear one of the principal ministers within the realm, and to approve the chief head of our religion, wherein we dissent from all Papists and papistry. Shortly thereafter she finished her unhappy life; unhappy, we say, for Scotland, from the first day she entered into it, to the day she departed this life, which was the ninth of June, the year of God 1560....

Upon the sixteenth day of June, after the death of the Queen Regent, there came to Scotland Monsieur Randan, and with him the Bishop of Valance, in commission from France, to entreat of peace. Their negotiation was longsome; for both England and we, fearing deceit, sought by all means that the contract should be sure. They,210 upon the other part, intending to gratify those who had sent them and meant nothing but mere falseness, protracted time to the uttermost, even while those in Leith were very scarce of victuals, and those on Inchkeith would have perished, had not they by policy got a ship with victuals, and some munition. Yet in the end peace was concluded....

Peace proclaimed, immediate provision was made for transporting the French to France. The most part were put into the English ships, and these also carried with them the whole spoil of Leith. That was the second benefit which Leith received from their late promised liberty; the end is not yet come. The English army by land departed on the sixteenth day of July, in the year of God 1560. The most part of our Protestant nobility, honorably convoyed them, and in very deed they had well deserved this honour. The Lord James would not leave the Lord Grey and the other noblemen of England, until they had entered Berwick. After that, the Council began to look upon the affairs of the commonwealth, as well as upon the matters that might concern the stability of religion....

A day was appointed, when the whole nobility and the greatest part of the Congregation assembled in St. Giles's Kirk in Edinburgh, and there, after the sermon made for that purpose, public thanks was given unto God for His merciful deliverance, in form as follows:—

"O Eternal and Everlasting God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hast not only commanded us to pray, and promised to hear us, but also dost will us to magnify Thy mercies, and to glorify Thy name when Thou showest Thyself pitiful and favourable unto us, especially when Thou deliverest us from desperate dangers, ... we ought not to forget, nor can we, in what miserable estate stood this poor country, and we the just inhabitants thereof, not many days past.... Out of these miseries, O Lord, neither our wit, policy, nor strength could deliver us; yea, they did show unto us how vain is the help of man, where Thy blessing gives not victory. In these our anguishes, O Lord, we made suit unto Thee, we cried for Thy211 help, and we proclaimed Thy name, as Thy troubled flock persecuted for Thy truth's sake. Mercifully hast Thou heard us.... And Thou hast looked upon us as pitifully as if we had given unto Thee most perfect obedience, for Thou hast disappointed the counsels of the crafty, Thou hast bridled the rage of the cruel, and Thou hast of Thy mercy set this our perishing realm at reasonable liberty. Oh, give us hearts—Thou Lord, that only givest all good gifts—with reverence and fear, to meditate upon Thy wondrous works lately wrought before our eyes....

"We beseech Thee, therefore, O Father of mercies, that, as of Thy undeserved grace Thou hast partly removed our darkness, suppressed idolatry, and taken from above our heads the devouring sword of merciless strangers, it would so please Thee to proceed with us in this Thy grace begun. Albeit that in us there is nothing that may move Thy Majesty to show us Thy favour, O yet for the sake of Christ Jesus, Thy only well-beloved Son, whose name we bear, and whose doctrine we profess, we beseech Thee never to suffer us to forsake or deny this Thy truth which now we profess.... And seeing that nothing is more odious in Thy presence, O Lord, than is ingratitude and violation of an oath and covenant made in Thy name; and seeing that Thou hast made our confederates of England the instruments by whom we are now set at liberty, and that to them we, in Thy name, have promised mutual faith again, let us never fall to that unkindness, O Lord, that either we shall declare ourselves unthankful unto them, or profaners of Thy holy name. Confound the counsels of them that go about to break that most godly league contracted in Thy name, and retain Thou us so firmly together by the power of Thy Holy Spirit, that Satan shall never have power to set us again at variance or discord. Give us Thy grace to live in that Christian charity which Thy Son, our Lord Jesus, has so earnestly commanded to all members of His body; that other nations, provoked by our example, may set aside all ungodly war, contention, and strife, and study to live in tranquillity and peace, as it becomes the sheep of Thy pasture, and the people that daily look for final deliverance212 by the coming again of our Lord Jesus; to whom with Thee, and the Holy Spirit, be all honour, glory, and praise, now and ever. Amen."

After this, the Commissioners of Burghs, with some of the nobility and barons, were appointed to see to the equal distribution of ministers, and to change and transpose as the majority should think expedient. Thus John Knox was appointed to Edinburgh; Christopher Goodman, who during the most part of the troubles had remained in Ayr, was appointed to St. Andrews; Adam Heriot to Aberdeen; Master John Row to Perth; Paul Methven, of whom no infamy was then known, to Jedburgh; William Christison to Dundee; David Ferguson to Dunfermline; and Master David Lindsay to Leith. There were nominated as superintendents Master John Spottiswood for Lothian; Master John Winram for Fife; Master John Willock for Glasgow; the Laird of Dun for Angus and Mearns; and Master John Carswell for Argyll and the Isles. It was agreed that these should be elected upon certain days fixed, unless the districts to which they were to be appointed could in the meantime find out men more able and sufficient, or else show such causes as might inable¹⁶⁶¹⁶⁶Disqualify. them for that dignity.

The Parliament approaching, due notification was made by the Council to all such as by law and ancient custom had or might claim to have vote therein. The assembly was great, notwithstanding that certain of those that are called spiritual Lords, as well as some temporal Lords, did contemptuously absent themselves. The chief pillars of the papistical kirk gave their presence, such as the Bishops of St. Andrews, Dunblane, and Dunkeld, with others of the inferior sort. There were, besides, those that had renounced papistry, and openly professed Jesus Christ with us; such as the Bishop of Galloway, the Abbots of Lindores, Culross, Inchcolm, Newbattle, and Holyroodhouse; the Prior of St. Andrews, Coldingham, and St. Mary's Isle; the Sub-prior of St. Andrews, and divers others whom we observed not.

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At the time of Parliament, John Knox taught publicly from the Prophet Haggai. The doctrine was proper for the time; and the preacher was so special and so vehement in its application, that some who had greater respect to the world than to God's glory, feeling themselves pricked, said in mockage, "We must now forget ourselves, and bear the barrow to build the houses of God." God be merciful to the speaker; for we fear that he shall have experience that the building of his own house, the house of God being despised, shall not be so prosperous, and of such firmness, as we desire it were. Albeit some mocked, others were godly moved, and assembled themselves together to consult as to what things were to be proponed to that present Parliament. After deliberation, the following Supplication was offered by the barons, gentlemen, burgesses, and other true subjects of the realm, professing the Lord Jesus Christ, to the Nobility and Estates of Parliament.

"May it please your Honours to bring to remembrance that, at divers and sundry times, we (with some of yourselves) most humbly made suit at the feet of the late Queen Regent for freedom and liberty of conscience, with godly reformation of abuses which, by the malice of Satan and the negligence of men, have crept into the religion of God, and are maintained by such as take upon themselves the name of clergy. Our godly and most reasonable suit was then disdainfully rejected, no small troubles ensuing, as your Honours well know. But now, seeing that the necessity that then moved us doth yet remain, and moreover, that God in His mercy hath now put it into your hands so to regulate affairs that He may be glorified, this commonwealth quieted, and the policy thereof established, we cannot cease to crave at your hands the redress of such enormities as manifestly are, and of long time have been committed by the place-holders of the ministry and others of the clergy within this realm....

"We therefore, in the bowels of Jesus Christ, crave of your Honours that either they be compelled to answer to our former accusations and to such others as we justly have to lay to their charge, or else that, all affection laid aside, ye, by the214 censement¹⁶⁷¹⁶⁷Judgment. of this Parliament, pronounce them to be as by us they are most justly accused, and cause them to be reputed so; especially, that they be decerned unworthy of honour, authority, charge, or cure within the Kirk of God, and so from henceforth never entitled to vote in Parliament. If ye do not so, then, in the fear of God and by the assurance of His Word, we forewarn you that, as ye have laid a grievous yoke and an intolerable burden upon the Kirk of God within this realm, so shall they be thorns in your eyes, and pricks in your sides, whom afterwards, when ye would, ye shall have no power to remove. God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ give you upright hearts seeking His glory, and true understanding of what this day He who delivered you from bondage, both spiritual and temporal, craves of you by His servants. And your Honours' answer we most humbly require."

This our Supplication being read in audience of the whole assembly, divers men were of divers judgments. As there were some that uprightly favoured the cause of God, so were there many that, for worldly respects, abhorred a perfect Reformation—for how many within Scotland that have the name of Nobility are not unjust possessors of the patrimony of the Kirk? Yet, the barons and ministers were called, and commandment was given unto them to frame in plain and distinct heads the sum of that doctrine which they would maintain, and would desire that Parliament to establish, as wholesome, true, and alone necessary to be believed and to be received within that realm. This commission they willingly accepted, and within four days they presented their Confession of Faith.¹⁶⁸¹⁶⁸Knox embodies the full text of the Confession at this point in his History. In the present edition it will be found, in full, in the Appendix, infra.

This our Confession was publicly read, first in audience of the Lords of Articles, and afterwards in audience of the whole Parliament. There were present a great number of the adversaries of our religion, such as the forenamed Bishops, and some others of the Temporal Estate, and these were commanded, in Gods name, to state any objection to that doctrine if they could.215 Some of our ministers were present, standing upon their feet ready to have answered, in case any would have defended the Papistry, and impugned our affirmations. No objection was made, but there was a day appointed for voting on that and other matters. Again, our Confession was read over, every article by itself, in the order in which these were written, and the vote of every man was required. Of the Temporal Estate there only voted to the contrary the Earl of Atholl and the Lords Somerville and Borthwick; and yet for their dissent they produced no better reason than, "We will believe as our fathers believed." The Bishops (papistical, we mean) spake nothing. The rest of the whole three Estates, by their public votes, affirmed the doctrine.

Many voted in the affirmative rather than in the negative, because the Bishops would or durst say nothing to the contrary. For instance, this was the vote of the Earl Marischall,—"It is long since I have had some favour unto the truth, and since I have had a suspicion of the papistical religion; but, I praise my God, this day has fully resolved me in the one and the other. For, seeing that my Lord Bishops, who for their learning can, and for the zeal that they should bear to the truth, would, as I suppose, gainsay anything that directly repugns to the verity of God; seeing, I say, my Lord Bishops here present speak nothing contrary to the doctrine proponed, I cannot but hold it to be the very truth of God, and the contrary to be deceivable doctrine. And therefore, so far as in me lieth, I approve the one and damn the other. I do further ask of God that not only I but also all my posterity may enjoy the comfort of the doctrine that this day our ears have heard. Yet more, I must vote, as it were by way of protestation, that, if any persons ecclesiastical shall after this oppose themselves to this our Confession, they shall have no place or credit; considering that, they having long notice and full knowledge of this our Confession, none are now found in lawful, free, and quiet Parliament to oppose themselves to that which we profess. And therefore, if any of this generation pretend to do it after this, I protest that he be repute one that loveth his own commodity and the glory of216 the world, rather than the truth of God and the salvation of men's souls."

After the ratification of our Confession by the whole body of Parliament, there were also pronounced two Acts, the one against the Mass and the abuse of the Sacraments, and the other against the supremacy of the Pope....

These and other things done in lawful and free Parliament, we dispatched Sir James Sandilands, Lord St. John, to France, to our Sovereigns, with the Acts of the Parliament, that by them they might be ratified, according to the promise of their Highness's Commissioners made to us by the Contract of Peace. How the said Lord St. John was treated, we list not to rehearse; but, in any case, no ratification was brought by him to us. That we little regarded, or yet do regard; for all that we did was to show our dutiful obedience, rather than to beg of them any strength to our religion. That has full power from God, and needeth not the suffrage of man, except in so far as man hath need to believe it, if ever he shall have participation in the life everlasting.

We must make answer, however, to such as since have whispered that it was but a pretended Parliament and a privy convention, and no lawful Parliament. Their reasons are that the King and Queen were in France; that there was neither sceptre, sword, nor crown borne, and so on, and that some principal Lords were absent. We answer that the Queen's person was absent, and that to no small grief of our hearts. But were not the Estates of her realm assembled in her name? Yea, had they not her full power and commission, yea, the commission and commandment of her head, the King of France, to convocate that Parliament, and to do all things that may be done in lawful Parliament, even as if our Sovereigns had been there in proper person? That Parliament, we are bold to affirm, was more lawful, and more free than any Parliament that they are able to produce for a hundred years before it, or any that hath since ensued; for in it the votes of men were free, and given of conscience; in others, they were bought, or given at the devotion of the prince.

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Parliament dissolved, consultation was had as to how the Kirk, which had been altogether defaced by the Papists, might be established in a good and godly policy. Commission and charge were given to Mr. John Winram, Sub-prior of St. Andrews, Master John Spottiswood, John Willock, Mr. John Douglas, Rector of St. Andrews, Master John Row, and John Knox, to prepare a volume containing the policy and discipline of the Kirk, much as in the Confession of Faith they had done in the matter of doctrine. This they did, and the book was presented to the Nobility, who perused it for many days. Some approved it, and were willing that it should have been set forth by a law. Others, perceiving their carnal liberty and worldly commodity somewhat to be impaired by its provisions, grudged, insomuch that the name of the Book of Discipline became odious unto them.... There were none within the realm more unmerciful to the poor ministers than were they which had greatest rents of the churches. But in that we have perceived the old proverb to be true, "Nothing can suffice a wretch;" and again, "The belly has no ears." Yet the Book of Discipline was subscribed by a great part of the Nobility.¹⁶⁹¹⁶⁹See Appendix....

Shortly after the Parliament, the Earls Morton and Glencairn, together with William Maitland of Lethington, younger, were sent to England as ambassadors from the Council. The chief point of their commission was to crave earnestly the constant assistance of the Queen's Majesty of England against all foreign invasion, and to propose the Earl of Arran (who was then in no small estimation with us) to the Queen of England in marriage....

The Papists were proud, for they looked for a new army from France in the next spring, and there was no small appearance of this, if God had not otherwise provided. For France utterly refused to confirm the peace contracted at Leith, would ratify no Act of our Parliament, dismissed the Lord St. John without any resolute answer, and began to gather new bands of throat-cutters, and to make great preparation for ships. They further sent before218 them certain practisers to rouse up new troubles within this realm....

The certain knowledge of all these things came to our ears, and many were effrayed; for divers suspected that England would not be so forward in times to come, considering that their former expenses were so great. The principal comfort remained with the preachers. They assured us, in God's name, that God would in our hands perform that work in all perfection. He had mightily maintained its beginning, because it was not ours but His own. They therefore exhorted us that we should with constancy proceed to reform all abuses and to plant the ministry of the Church, as by God's Word we might justify it, and should then commit the success of all to our God, in whose power the disposition of kingdoms stands. This we began to do, for threatening troubles made us give ear to the admonitions of God's servants.

[Side note: Death of the King of France: 5th December 1560.]

We had scarcely begun again to implore the help of our God, and to show some signs of our obedience unto His messengers and Holy Word, when, lo! the potent hand of God from above sent unto us a wonderful and most joyful deliverance. For unhappy Francis, husband to our sovereign, suddenly perished of a rotten ear.... And we, who by our foolishness had made ourselves slaves to strangers, were restored again to freedom and the liberty of a free realm. Oh! that we had hearts deeply to consider what are Thy wondrous works, O Lord, that we might praise Thee in the midst of this most obstinate and wicked generation, and leave the memorial of the same to our posterity, who, alas! we fear, may forget Thy inestimable benefits.... The death of this King made great alteration in France, England, and Scotland. France was relieved and in some hope....

The Queen of England and the Council sent back our Ambassadors with answer that she would not marry hastily, and therefore desired the Council of Scotland, and the Earl of Arran, not to depend upon any hope thereof. What motives she had, we omit. The pride of the Papists of Scotland began to be abated, and219 some that had ever shown themselves enemies to us began to think, and plainly to admit in words, that they perceived God to fight for us. The Earl of Arran himself did more patiently abide the repulse of the Queen of England, because he was not altogether without hope that the Queen of Scotland bare some favour unto him. And so he wrote to her, and for credit sent a ring which the said Queen our Sovereign knew well enough. The letter and ring were both presented to the Queen and received by her. Answer was returned to the Earl, and after that he made no further pursuit in the matter: not the less, he bare it heavily in heart, and more heavily than many would have wissed.¹⁷⁰¹⁷⁰Imagined.

The certainty of the death of King Francis was notified unto us both by sea and land. When the news was divulged and noised abroad, a general Convention of the whole nobility was appointed to be holden at Edinburgh on the fifteenth day of January following. The Book of Discipline was thereat perused over again, for some pretended ignorance, because they had not heard it.

At that assembly, Master Alexander Anderson, sub-principal of Aberdeen, a man more subtle and crafty than either learned or godly, was called on but refused to dispute in his faith, abusing a place of Tertullian to cloak his ignorance. It was answered to him, that Tertullian should not prejudge the authority of the Holy Ghost, who, by the mouth of Peter, commands us to give reason for our faith to every one that requires the same of us. It was further answered that we required neither him nor any man to dispute in any point concerning our faith, which was grounded upon God's Word, and fully expressed within His holy Scriptures; all that we believed without controversy. But we required of him, as of the rest of the Papists, that they would suffer their doctrine, constitutions, and ceremonies to come to trial; and principally, that the Mass, and the views thereof taught by them to the people, might be laid to the square rule of God's Word, and unto the right institution of Jesus Christ....

220

While the said Mr. Alexander denied that the priest took upon him Christ's office to offer for sin, as was alleged, a Mass book was produced, and in the beginning of the Canon were these words read: Suscipe, Sancta Trinitas, hanc oblationem, quam ego indignus peccator offero tibi vivo Deo et vero, pro peccatis meis, pro peccatis totius Ecclesiae vivorum et mortuorum, etc.¹⁷¹¹⁷¹"Holy Trinity, accept this oblation, which I, an unworthy sinner, present to Thee, the living and true God, for my own sins, and for the sins of the whole Church of the quick and the dead, etc."—Laing. Now, said the reasoner, if to offer for the sins of the whole Kirk was not the office of Christ Jesus, yea, the office that to Him only might, and may appertain, let the Scripture judge. And if a vile knave, whom ye call the priest, proudly takes the same upon him, let your own book witness. The said Master Alexander answered, "Christ Jesus offered the propitiatory, and that could none do but He; but we offer the remembrance." It was answered, "We praise God, that ye have denied a sacrifice propitiatory to be in the Mass; and yet we offer to prove that, in more than a hundred places of your papistical Doctors, this proposition is affirmed, 'The Mass is a sacrifice propitiatory.' But, to the second part; where ye allege that ye offer Christ in remembrance, we ask, first, unto whom do ye offer Him? and next, by what authority are ye assured of well doing? With God the Father, there is no oblivion: and if ye will yet shift and say that ye offer it not as if God were forgetful, but as willing to apply Christ's merits to His Church, we demand of you, what power and commandment ye have so to do? We know that our Master, Christ Jesus, commanded His apostles to do that which He did in remembrance of Him; but plain it is, that Christ took bread, gave thanks, brake bread, and gave it to His disciples, saying, 'Take ye, eat ye; this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me,' etc. Here ye find a commandment to take, to eat, to take and to drink; but to offer Christ's body either for remembrance or application, we find not: and therefore, we say, to take upon you an office which is not given unto you, is unjust usurpation, and no lawful power."

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The said Master Alexander, being more than astonished, would have shifted; but the Lords called on him to answer directly. He answered that he was better seen in philosophy, than in theology. Master John Leslie, who then was parson of Une, and now is Lord Abbot of Lindores, was commanded to answer to the former argument: and he with great gravity began to answer, "If our Master have nothing to say to it, I have nothing; for I know nothing but the Canon Law: and the greatest reason that ever I could find there is Nolumus and Volumus." And yet we understand that now he is the only patron of the Mass.... The nobility hearing that neither the one nor the other would answer directly, said, "We have been miserably deceived heretofore; for if the Mass may not obtain remission of sins to the quick and to the dead, wherefore were all the abbeys so richly doted¹⁷²¹⁷²Endowed. with our temporal lands."

Thus much we have thought good to insert here, because some Papists are not ashamed nowadays to affirm that they with their reasons could never be heard; but that all that we did, we did by fine force; when the whole realm knows that we ever required them to speak their judgments freely, not only promising them protection and defence, but also that we should subscribe with them, if they by God's Scriptures could confute us, and by the same Word establish their assertions.

At this Assembly also, the Lord James was appointed to go to France to the Queen our Sovereign; and a Parliament was appointed to begin on the twentieth of May next following; for the return of the said Lord James was looked for at that time.... He was plainly premonished that, if ever he condescended that the Queen should have Mass publicly or privately within the realm of Scotland, he then betrayed the cause of God, and exposed religion to the uttermost danger that he could....

While Lord James, we say, was in France, there came an ambassador from France, suborned, no doubt, with all craft that might trouble the Estate of the religion. His demands were—1. That the league betwixt us and England should be broken. 2. That the222 ancient league betwixt France and Scotland should be renewed. 3. That the bishops and kirkmen should be reponed in their former places, and be suffered to intromit with their livings. The Council delayed answer until the Parliament appointed in May. In the meantime, the Papists of Scotland practised with him....

The Papists, a little before the Parliament, resorted in divers bands to the town, and began to brag that they would deface the Protestants. When this was perceived, the brethren assembled together, and went in such companies, in peaceable manner, that the bishops and their bands forsook the causeway.¹⁷³¹⁷³Made no appearance in public. The brethren understanding what the Papists meant, convened in Council in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, on the twenty-seventh of May, in the year of God 1561; and, after consultation, concluded that a humble supplication should be presented unto the Lords of Secret Council, and unto the whole Assembly that then was convened.... Upon this request, the Lords of Council made an Act and ordinance answering to every head of the Articles proponed. And thus gat Satan the second fall, after he had begun to trouble the estate of religion, once established by law. His first assault was by the rascal multitude opposing themselves to the punishment of vice: the second was by the bishops and their bands, in which he thought utterly to have triumphed; and yet in the end he prospered worse than ye have heard.

For, in the meantime, the Lord James returned from France. Besides his great expenses, and the loss of a box wherein was his secret poise, he barely escaped a desperate danger in Paris. The Papists at Paris, hearing of his return from our Sovereign, who then lay with the Cardinal of Lorraine at Rheims, had conspired some treasonable act against him; for they intended either to beset his house by night, or else to have assaulted him and his company as they walked upon the streets. Of this the said Lord James was informed by the Rheingrave, by reason of old familiarity betwixt them in Scotland, and he took purpose suddenly and in good order to depart223 from Paris. This he did on the second day after he had arrived there. He could not, however, depart so secretly, but that the Papists had their privy ambushes. They had prepared a procession, which met the said Lord and his company even in the teeth upon the Pont du Change; and knowing that the Scots would not do the accustomed reverence unto them and their idols, they thought to have picked a quarrel. So, as one part passed by without moving of hat to anything that was there, they had suborned some to cry "Huguenots," and to cast stones. But God disappointed their enterprise; for the Rheingrave and other gentlemen, being with the Lord James, rebuked the foolish multitude, and overrode some of the foremost. The rest were dispersed; and he and his company safely escaped, and came with expedition to Edinburgh, while yet the Lords and assembly were together.

The Lord James's coming was of great comfort to many godly hearts, and caused no little astonishment to the wicked: for, from the Queen our Sovereign he brought letters to the Lords, praying them to entertain quietness, to suffer nothing to be attempted against the contract of peace made at Leith, until her own home-coming, and to suffer the religion publicly established to go forward, etc. Thereupon, the Lords gave the French Ambassador a negative answer to every one of his petitions....

In the treaty of peace contracted at Leith, there were certain heads that required the ratification of both the Queens. The Queen of England, according to her promise, subscription, and seal, performed the same without any delay, and sent it to our Sovereign by her appointed officers. But our Sovereign (whether because her own crafty nature so moved her, or because her uncle's chief counsellors so desired, we know not) with many delatours¹⁷⁴¹⁷⁴Much procrastination. frustrated the expectation of the Queen of England.... This somewhat exasperated the Queen of England, and not altogether without cause; for the arms of England had formerly been usurped by our Sovereign and her husband Francis; and224 Elizabeth, Queen of England, was reputed little better than a bastard by the Guisians. It had been agreed that this title should be renounced, but our proud and vain-glorious Queen was not pleased with this, especially after her husband was dead. "The to-look¹⁷⁵¹⁷⁵Prospect. of England shall allure many wooers to me," thought she, and the Guisians and the Papists of both the realms animated her not a little in that pursuit. The effect will appear sooner than the godly of England would desire; and yet is she that now reigneth over them neither good Protestant nor yet resolute Papist.¹⁷⁶¹⁷⁶At the close of his Third Book, Knox inserts the Book of Discipline. This will be found, in full, in the Appendix, infra....