PRINTED EDITIONS OF THE HISTORY.

Vautrollier's unfinished and suppressed edition, in 1586 or 1587, has already been noticed at page xxxii. The fate of this edition is thus recorded by Calderwood, in his larger MS. History:—"February 1586. Vauttrollier the printer took with him a copy of Mr. Knox's History to England, and printed twelve hundred of them; the Stationers, at the Archbishop's command, seized them the 18 of February [1586-7]; it was thought that he would get leave to proceed again, because the Council perceived that it would bring the Queen of Scots inxl detestation." The execution of the unfortunate Queen, which followed so soon after, or the death of the Printer himself, in 1588, may have prevented its completion. But copies had speedily come into circulation in its unfinished state. Thus Dr. (afterwards Archbishop) Bancroft, who frequently quotes this suppressed edition, says,—"If euer you meete with the Historie of the Church of Scotland, penned by Maister Knox, and printed by Vautrouillier: reade the pages quoted here in the margent."—(A Survay of the pretended Holy Discipline, &c. Imprinted at London, by Iohn Wolfe, 1593, 4to, p. 48.)

It is most inaccurately printed.⁷⁷   In the foot-notes, the errors and mistakes in Vautrollier's edition are occasionally pointed out. A sample of them may here be brought together:—
P. 40. Aue hes tuit aue spurtill. 41. priests of whordome—trystis of whoredome. 44. Andrewe Balsone—Balfour. 52. Baltlewich, Lyniltquilk, Lemax—Balcleueh, Lynlithgow, Levenax. 54. the time thereof—the teind thereof. 55. paying such losses—paying such teinds. 62. Earle of gleuearne—Earle of Glencarne. 78. appoints—oppones. 97. the Cardinal skipped—the Cardinal scripped. 113. taken from—given to. 116. inversion—intercession. 122. entracted—entreated. 142. enduer him—cummer him. 143. receiving of limes and staues—receiving of lime and stanes. ib. in great number—in no great number. 144. cryed I am Leslie a priest—cryed, I am a priest. 146. the Queen's daughter—the Queen Dowager. 149. Langundrie—Langnidrie. 166. the Gouernoures—the Gunnar's. 169. should be—should not be. 170. Scotish preachers—Scotish prikers. 177. scarcenesse—scarmishing. 180. some drunken beare, which laye in the saudes chappell and church—some drynkin bear, which lay in the syidis Chappell and Kirk. 182. were pressed—were not pressed. 186. Silbard—Sibbald. 187. and for his other William—and for his other villany. 192. Lordes Maxwell flying—Lords Maxwell, Fleming. 195. Wilbock—Willock. 199. Meruses—Mernes. 200. hearie—Harie. 226. according to comely and common lawes—according to the civile and cannon lawes. 249. auow your graces hart—move your Graces heart. 280. Ancheddirdour—Auchterarder. 281. should be—should not be. 301. estates of our religion—estates of our realme. This may have been partly owing to the state of the MS. which he had procured in Scotland, as well as to haste in printing, and ignorance of the names of persons and places which occur in the work.

The following is a fac-simile reprint of the first page, whichxli corresponds with pages 10-11 of the present volume:—

Vautrollier's edition is a small 8vo, commencing with signature B, page 17, and breaking off with signature Mm, page 560, or near the beginning of the 5th chapter of the Book of Discipline, which Knox has introduced at the conclusion of Book Third of his History. Copies of this volume in fine condition are of rare occurrence.

The edition of the History published at London by David Buchanan in 1644, and reprinted at Edinburgh in the same year, in all probability under his own inspection, will be more particularly noticed in the following volume. It might perhaps have been well had this publication been actually prohibited, as Milton⁸⁸See "Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicens'd Printing," addressed to the Parliament of England, London, 1644, 4to. In arguing against the abuses committed by licensers of the Press, he says, "Nay, which is more lamentable, if the work of any deceased Author, though never so famous in his lifetime, and even to this day, come to their hands for license to be printed or reprinted, if there be found in his book one sentence of a venturous edge, uttered in the height of zeal, (and who knows whether it might not be the dictate of a divine Spirit,) yet, not suiting with every low decrepit humour of their own, though it were Knox himself, the Reformer of a Kingdom, that spake it, they will not pardon him their dash: the sense of that great man shall to all posterity be lost for the fearfulness, or the presumptuous rashnesse of a prefunctory licenser. And to what an Author this violence hath bin lately done, and in what book of greatest consequence to be faithfully publisht, I could now instance, but shall forbear till a more convenient season."—(page 22.) seems to indicate was not unlikely to have taken place. So much use at least had been made of the unwarrantable liberties taken by the Editor, in altering and adding passages, as for a length of time to throw discredit on the whole work.

At length there appeared the very accurate edition, published at Edinburgh 1732, with a Life of the author, by the Rev. Matthew Crawfurd. Besides this and the two editions published in a more popular form by William MʻGavin, at Glasgow, there are numerous modernized and spurious republications, all of them taken from Buchanan's interpolatedxliii editions, and published at Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dundee, between the years 1731 and 1832. Even at an early period, both Calderwood, who had made such copious extracts from the work, and Spottiswood, who expressed his doubts respecting its authorship, appear to have employed Vautrollier's inaccurate edition. The necessity of publishing the work with greater care and in its most genuine form, will therefore by readily admitted. The acquisition of the Manuscript of 1566, has enabled the Editor to accomplish this, to a certain extent, by presenting the text of the History in the precise form "wherein he hath continued and perfectly ended at the year of God 1564," according to the declaration made to the first General Assembly which met after his death. Having such a MS. to follow, I have adhered to it with much more scrupulous accuracy, in regard to the othography,⁹⁹In following the MS. of 1566, I have discarded all contractions, and generally avoided the old form of using u and w for v, or v for u; i for j. In order to avoid distracting the attention of an ordinary reader, such words in the MS. as hie for he, on for one, cane for can, don for done, are printed in the usual form; but indeed the orthography of the MS. is very irregular, and might have justified much greater innovations. than otherwise might have been deemed advisable. At first sight, indeed, the language may appear somewhat uncouth, and it may require a Glossary to be subjoined; but it was of essential importance that the work should be published in its original form, with the Author's own marginal notes and relections, as the genuine production of the great Scotish Reformer.

The labour bestowed by the Author in collecting information, with the desire of giving a true and faithful History of these transactions, rendered it also desirable that more than ordinary care should be bestowed in illustrating his narrative. For this purpose, I have taken considerable pains to identify the persons and places mentioned in the course of this History. Knox himself, on more than one occasion, states, that whilexliv he was careful in relating facts, he was no observer of times and seasons, in other words, that he made no pretensions to minute accuracy in dates. It became the more necessary to devote particular attention, either to confirm or correct his dates, by reference to contemporary documents; and no source that was accessible has been overlooked, although I am fully sensible that I may have failed in making suitable use of the information thus obtained. I have at least endeavoured to avoid cumbering the page with notes, unless where they seemed necessary to illustrate the text; and I consider no apology to be required for the Articles inserted in the Appendix.1