PERIOD VIII.

FROM DECEMBER 1563, WHEN HE WAS ACQUITTED FROM A CHARGE OF TREASON, TO THE YEAR 1570, WHEN HE WAS STRUCK WITH APOPLEXY.

THE indignation of the Queen at the Reformer's escape from punishment did not soon abate*, and the effects of it fell both upon the courtiers who had voted for his exculpation, and upon those who had opposed it. The Earl of Murray was among the former†; Maitland among the latter. In order to appease her, they again attempted to persuade Knox to soothe herby some voluntary submission; and they engaged that all the punishment which should be inflicted on him would be merely to go within the walls of the castle, and return again to his own house. But he refused to yield, being convinced that by such compliances he would throw discredit on the judgment of the nobility who had acquitted him, and confess himself to have been a mover of sedition. Disappointed in this, they endeavoured to injure him by whispers and detraction, circulating that he had

*Keith, 248, 251.

+ In a letter of Randolph, 27th Feb. 1564, there is mention made of "some unkindness between Murray and the Queen, about Knox, whose parte he [Murray] taketh." Keith, 249,

no authority from his brethren for what he had done; and that he arrogated a papal and arbitrary power over the Scottish church, issuing his letters, and exacting obedience to them. These charges were very groundless and injurious; for there never was any one perhaps who possessed as much influence, and at the same time was so careful in avoiding all appearance of assuming superiority over his brethren, or acting by his own authority, in matters of public and common concern.

In the General Assembly, which met in the close of this year, he declined taking any share in the debates. When their principal business was settled, he requested liberty to speak on an affair which concerned himself. He stated what he had done in writing the late circular letter, the proceedings to which it had given rise, and the surmises which were still circulated to his prejudice; and insisted that the church should now examine his conduct in that matter, and particularly that they should declare whether or not they had given him a commission to advertise the brethren, when he foresaw any danger threatening their religion, or any difficult case which required their advice. The courtiers strenuously opposed the discussion of this question; but it was taken up, and the Assembly, by a great majo rity, found that he had been burthened with such a commission, and, in the advertisement which he had lately given, had not exceeded his powers

*Keith, 527, 528... Knox, 344, 345.....

Knox had remained a widower upwards of three years. But in March 1564, he contracted a second marriage with Margaret Stewart *. daughter of Lord Ochiltree +, a nobleman of amiable dispositions ‡, who had been long familiar with our Reformer, and steadily adhered to him when he was deserted by his other friends. She continued to discharge the duties of a wife to him, with pious and affectionate assiduity, until the time of his death. The popish writers, who envied the honours of the Scottish Reformer, have represented this marriage as a proof of his great ambition; and, in the excess of their spleen, have ridiculously imputed to him the project of aiming to raise his progeny to the throne of Scotland; because the family of Ochiltree were of the blood royal! They are quite clear, too,

* Randolph, in a letter to Cecil, 18th March, 156, says: "Knox askt in church to be marryed to Margrett Steward, the daughter of the lord Ochiltre:" referring to the proclamation of banns, Keith, 251.

+ Lord Ochiltree was descended from Robert, duke of Albany, second son of king Robert II. His father exchanged the lands and title of Evandale for those of Ochiltree. Douglas's Peerage, 522. Crawford's Renfrew, and Royal House of Stewart, by Semple, part i. p. 92---94. The second son of lord Ochiltree, and brother-in-law of the Reformer, was Sir James Stewart of Bothwelmair, afterwards the infamous favourite of James VI. who created him Earl of Arran. Crawfurd, in his Officers of State, (p. 448.), has published a protestation which he made of his lineage, and title of priority to the Duke of Lennox, his rival in James's favour.

66

He was usually called, the good Lord Ochiltree. Knox says, that he was a man rather borne to mak peace then to brag upoun the calsey.". Historie, p. 304.

that he gained the heart of the young lady by means of sorcery, and the assistance of the devil. But it seems, that, powerfully as he was seconded, he could not succeed in another attempt which he had previously made; for the same writers inform us, that he had paid his addresses to Lady Barbara Hamilton, eldest daughter of the Duke of Chastelherault, and widow of Lord Fleming, and that he was repulsed. The account of the appearance that he made about the time of his marriage, which shall be inserted in the notes, the reader will receive according to the degree of its probability, and the credit he may think due to the authority upon which it rests *.

Her

The country continued in a state of quietness during the year 1564; but the same jealousies still subsisted between the court and the church. Majesty's prejudices against the reformed religion were unabated, and she maintained a correspondence with its sworn enemies on the continent, which could not altogether escape the vigilance of her protestant subjects +. The preachers, on their

See Note T.

+ Robertson's History of Scotland, vol. ii. 108. Lond. 1809. MS. Letters (extracted from the Barberini Library). Adv. Lib. A. 2. 11. In a letter to the Council of Trent, 18th March 156 Mary expresses her regret that the situation of her affairs (hujus temporis tanta injuria) did not permit her to send some of her prelates to that council; and assures them of her great and unalterable devotion to the apostolic See, "nostra perpetua mente ac voluntate, in ejusdem sedis observantia et submissione." In a letter written Jan. 3. the same year, she entreats the Cardinal

side, did not relax in their zealous warnings against popery, and concerning the dangers which they apprehended; they complained of the beggary to which the greater part of their own number was reduced, and of the growing lukewarmness of the protestant courtiers. The latter were uneasy under these reproaches, and, in concert with the Queen, were anxious to restrain the license of the pulpit. They began by addressing themselves in private to some of the more moderate and complying of the ministers, whom they gained over, by their persua→ sions, to a partial approbation of their measures. Having so far succeeded, they ventured to propose the matter more publicly, and to request the sanction of the leading members of the General Assembly.

Without designing to vindicate the latitude which might be taken by particular preachers at this time, I may say, in general, that a systematic attempt to restrain the liberty of speech in the pulpit (farther than the correction of any occasional excess might require) would have been a measure fraught with danger to the protestant interest. The reformed preachers were the most vigilant and incorrupt guardians of the public safety; an honourable dis

of Lorrain to assure the Pope of her resolution to live and die a Catholic. And on the last day of the same month, she writes to his Holiness himself, laments the damnable errors. (damnabili errori) in which she found her subjects plunged, and informs him that her intention, from the time she had left France, had uniformly been to re-establish the ancient religion.