archbishop of St. Andrew's and the prior of Whithorn, for celebrating mass contrary to her proclamation. Mary, however, was still passionately devoted to the Romish church; and though, from political motives, she had granted a temporary indulgence to opinions which she disapproved, there were no grounds to hope that she would agree to establish them for perpetuity. The moderation of those who professed it, was the best method for reconciling the queen to the protestant religion. Time might abate her bigotry. Her prejudices might wear off gradually, and at last she might yield to the wishes of her people, what their importunity or their violence could never have extorted. Many laws of importance were to be proposed in parliament; and to defeat all these, by such a fruitless and ill-timed application to the queen, would have been equally injurious to individuals, and detrimental to the public.

The zeal of the protestant clergy was deaf to all these considerations of prudence or policy. Eager and impatient, it brooked no delay: severe and inflexible, it would condescend to no compliances. The leading men of that order insisted, that this opportunity of establishing religion by law was not to be neglected. They pronounced the moderation of the courtiers, apostacy; and their endeavours to gain the queen, they reckoned criminal and servile. Knox solemnly renounced the friendship of the earl of Murray, as a man devoted to Mary, and so blindly zealous for her service, as to become regardless of those objects which he had hitherto esteemed most sacred. This rupture, which is a strong proof of Murray's sincere attachment to the queen at that period, continued above a year and a half.

The preachers being disappointed by the men in whom they placed the greatest confidence, gave vent

to their indignation in their pulpits. These echoed more loudly than ever with declamations against idolatry; with dismal presages concerning the queen's marriage with a foreigner; and with bitter reproaches against those who, from interested motives, had deserted that cause which they once reckoned it their honour to support. The people, inflamed by such vehement declamations, which were dictated by a zeal more sincere than prudent, proceeded to rash and unjustifiable acts of violence. During the queen's absence, on a progress into the west, mass continued to be celebrated in her chapel at Holyroodhouse. The multitude of those who openly resorted thither, gave great offence to the citizens of Edinburgh, who, being free from the restraint which the royal presence imposed, assembled in a riotous manner, interrupted the service, and filled such as were present with the utmost consternation. Two of the ringleaders in this tumult were seized, and a day appointed for their trial.

Knox, who esteemed the zeal of these persons laudable, and their conduct meritorious, considered them as sufferers in a good cause; and in order to screen them from danger, he issued circular letters, requiring all who professed the true religion, or were concerned for the preservation of it, to assemble at Edinburgh on the day of trial, and by their presence to comfort and assist their distressed brethren. One of these letters fell into the queen's hands. To assemble the subjects without the authority of the sovereign, was construed to be treason, and a resolution was taken to prosecute Knox for that crime before the privy council. Happily for him, his judges were not only zealous protestants, but the very men who, during the late commotions, had openly resisted and set at defiance the queen's authority. It was under precedents drawn

from their own conduct that Knox endeavoured to shelter himself. Nor would it have been an easy matter for these counsellors to have found out a distinction by which they could censure him without condemning themselves. After a long hearing, he was unanimously acquitted. Sinclair, bishop of Ross, and president of the court of session, a zealous papist, heartily concurred with the other counsellors in this decision; a remarkable fact, which shows the unsettled state of government in that age, the low condition to which regal authority was then sunk, and the impunity with which subjects might then invade those rights of the crown which are now held sacred.

In the future remonstrances of the clergy, they repeated their grievances with increasing vehemence, and Mary found it necessary to give more flattering promises. But, notwithstanding these declarations in their favour, they could not help harbouring many suspicions concerning Mary's designs against their religion. She had never once consented to hear any preacher of the reformed doctrine. She had abated nothing of her bigoted attachment to the Romish faith. The genius of that superstition, averse at all times from toleration, was in that age fierce and unrelenting. Mary had given her friends on the continent repeated assurances of her resolution to re-establish the catholic church. She had industriously avoided every opportunity of ratifying the acts of parliament 1560, in favour of the reformation. Even the protection which ever since her return she had afforded the protestant religion was merely temporary, and declared by her own proclamation to be of force only "till she should take some final order in the matter of religion." The vigilant zeal of the preachers was inattentive to none of these circumstances. The coldness of their principal

leaders, who were at this time entirely devoted to the court, added to their jealousies and fears. These they uttered to the people, in language which they esteemed suitable to the necessity of the times, and which the queen reckoned disrespectful and insolent. In a meeting of the general assembly, Maitland publicly accused Knox of teaching seditious doctrine concerning the rights of subjects to resist their sovereigns who trespass against the duty which they owe to the people. Knox was not backward to justify what he had taught. And upon this general doctrine of resistance, so just in its own nature, but so delicate in its application to particular cases, there ensued a debate, which admirably displays the talents and character of both the disputants; the acuteness of the former, embellished with learning, but prone to subtlety; the vigorous understanding of the latter, delighting in bold sentiments and superior to all fear.

The reformation now began rapidly to acquire strength. In the assembly of the church in June 1565, several of the malecontent nobles were present, and seem to have had great influence on their decisions. The high strain in which the assembly addressed the queen, can be imputed only to those fears and jealousies with regard to religion which they endeavoured to infuse into the nation. The assembly complained with some bitterness of the stop which had been put to the progress of the reformation by the queen's arrival in Scotland ; they required not only the total suppression of the popish worship throughout the kingdom, but even in the queen's own chapel; and besides the legal establishment of the protestant religion, they demanded that Mary herself should publicly embrace it. The queen, after some deliberation, replied, that neither her conscience nor her interest would permit her to take such a step. The former would

for ever reproach her for a change which proceeded from no inward conviction; the latter would suffer by the offence which her apostacy must give to the king of France, and her other allies on the continent.

Knox continued to support the cause of the reformation till the day of his death, which happened in the sixty-seventh year of his age. Zeal, intrepidity, disinterestedness, were virtues which he possessed in an eminent degree. He was acquainted, too, with the learning cultivated in that age, and excelled in that species of eloquence which is calculated to rouse and to inflame. His maxims, however, were often too severe, and the impetuosity of his temper excessive. Rigid and uncomplying himself, he showed no indulgence to the infirmities of others. Regardless of the distinctions of rank and character, he uttered his admonitions with an acrimony and vehemence, more apt to irritate than to reclaim. This often betrayed him into indecent and undutiful expressions with respect to the queen's person and conduct. Those very qualities, however, which now render his character less amiable, fitted him to be the instrument of Providence for advancing the reformation among a fierce people, and enabled him to face dangers and to surmount opposition, from which a person of a more gentle spirit would have been apt to shrink back. By an unwearied application to study and to business, as well as by the frequency and fervour of his public discourses, he had worn out a constitution naturally strong. During a lingering illness he discovered the utmost fortitude, and met the approaches of death with a magnanimity inseparable from his character. He was constantly employed in acts of devotion, and comforted himself with those prospects of immortality, which not only preserve good men from